However, the side of Ken iIdon’t like and that I suspect was the real reason he lost, was what I think of as his “dodgy” side. i should like more financial openess - donations declared and everything financial clearly set out on the web. The Lee Jasper thing hurt Ken because he did not seem to welcome the enquiry.

Ken has had two chances, many people feel that that is enough.

i don’t remember ever having a tory government, and im sad to admit that soon, i’ll have too:(

I do, very well indeed. In fact I actually remember some of the Thatcher one too…

Doesn’t mean we don’t know what she did, i don’t remember ever having a tory government, and im sad to admit that soon, i’ll have too:(

> London isn’t going to “die”.

I agree.

> Ken supporters now want to disenfranchise the “suburbs”

If you’re referring to the other thread about the Standard (wot I wrote), you need to get your dictionary out. I don’t want to disenfranchise them. Just send them to another franchise, where they belong.

And now I’m off for the day – to the suburbs.

“Everyone likes Ken, except those who actually know him.” Neil Kinnock I think that was.

I like that sign above County Hall - “Trust the People”.
Well the people have spoken.
And it’s rather pathetic that Ken supporters now want to disenfranchise the “suburbs” as a result.

And FFS can we please, as Leon says, cut the bloody hyperbole.
London isn’t going to “die”.

If you think that then you are in for a nasty shock if the Tories ever get back in. It’s not about being a ‘natural’ party of government but about making the Labour Party the representatives of the working class once more. Or is the working class also irrelevant and only students count?

Remember what they say about those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Saying that I don’t see where this article is seeking comfort from the old thatcher blanket or at 25 am I too old to understand how the doors are wide open now.

No, but London might be about too.

You’re off your rocker if you think the election of Boris Johnson is going to cause London to ‘die’.

Another sad leftie harking back to… you guessed it! Margaret Thatcher!!!

It just hasn’t hit anyone on the left yet that this year’s new intake to the NUS- the freshers- were all born AFTER Thatcher was deposed. The doors are wide open now- there is no longer any notion of Labour being a ‘natural’ party of government.

Writers still looking for comfort from the old Thatcher blanket are about as relevant today as she is.

Find a new story to tell.

“Jesus…you know he hasn’t died you know!”

No, but London might be about too. Or at the very last change for the worse.

As Steve Platt says it’s a far better place than it was -congestion charge, transport, etc have made a difference. It’s also a better place than when I came to London 15 years ago and I don’t want to see it going backwards.

These reactions to his electoral defeat - that even he takes the blame for - is a getting a bit ‘Diana syndrome’ like…

Spot on. And reading these articles just makes me more depressed. :(

For all the things he’s said and done, and for all that he might not be the nicest person in the world, he has, even if it has been at times for electoral gain, done all the things you outline and more. As I say, I don’t agree with a lot of the things he’s said and done but it’s hard to think of many people who have done more for progressive politics in Britain. I love Ken and I know I really shouldn’t.

But the best we can hope for from him is that he doesn’t mess up on what Livingstone has begun. It’s hard to imagine Bojo being so brave or imaginative in his own right.

Boris won’t be running our city, his advisers and Conservative HQ will be.

As for the Evening Standard, how on earth are they going to fill their pages now that they’ve won their 30-year war on Ken?

The Daily Express have done very well out of a dead Diana, I’m sure the Evading Standard will find something else to bitch about….