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Boris admits bendy-buses are safe - but he'll axe them anyway
On 22 Oct, 12:45, John B wrote:
On Oct 22, 12:27*pm, David Cantrell wrote: I'm deeply sceptical, although it's possible that the people you spoke to were idiots. In real life, bendies provide a much better service than other buses on a given route. That is, I'm afraid, not true. Route 38 had a better service before it went all bendy. *By which I mean there were more seats (which were more comfortable) and a more frequent service, with journey times being about the same. *There was also less fare-dodging. But more standing capacity with bendies, right? Which is the important thing when the issue is bus-you-can-get-on vs bus-you-can't. The people of London didn't want Boris as their mayor. The people of various unsavoury outposts that the Tories gerrymandered into Greater London in the first place to end Labour's dominance of the County of London wanted Boris as their mayor; the people of actual London voted for Ken. If what you say was true, then Livingstone wouldn't have got in in the first place. *Nor would Labour have won the GLC elections in 1964, 1973, and 1981. Aye, fair; while it's true that Inner London voted for Ken this time round, and that Outer London reliably swings Tory, I do accept it makes more sense for the outer boroughs to be included in the administrative unit. It's kind-of annoying that their vote dictates what happens on issues like bendies and pedestrianisation in the centre, which is of peripheral interest to them at best - but that's democracy, and while democracy is crap we know pretty much every other way of doing things is worse. He lost because he stood as a Labour party candidate at a time when Labour are deeply unpopular. *If he'd stayed as an independent right from the start, he would, I am sure, have done better, maybe even well enough to win. I suspect you're right (although having rejoined for the second election, I don't think he could realistically have left again for the third). By this year, the small-c-conservative-suburban-middle-class had finally returned to their natural Tory habitat... Not just conservatives; don't forget that a lot of the Left would no sooner vote New Labour than Tory, lest their hands wither and fall off. But one can't be sure if he had the resources to run and win as an independent in 2004 without the New Labour machinery. And he wouldn't just have to leave the party again, he would also have to have yet another dramatic change of politics (as he did when he rejoined) to convince people. |
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