Morning:
8°c
Tonight, when I get home, the first thing I'll do is take down the "Vote Ken" poster from my bedroom window. It's been up for just over a week, a purple badge of shame in my neighbourhood, where only one other has been publicly displayed - in the local Labour councillor's house.
It's telling that so few homes have put up posters. Cycling around my area - populated with young families and professionals - I've seen barely a handful of Kens and a single Paddick. To date, I've passed not one Boris, though I think he'll get more than a few north London votes.
Elections used to mean a riot of different coloured posters in every street. But the liberal-minded middle classes are much cannier now about how they cast their votes - and a lot less ready to wear political colours on their Prada lapels.
It hadn't occurred to me to put up a sign of my political leaning in the race, but last week I came home from work to find one on the dining room table. "We need to talk about the election," said my partner ominously, daring me to come to a decision about today's vote.
Like everyone I've talked to, I'm disappointed by Ken. I find much of his politics dated. He looks weary. And the murky goings on among some of his closest associates, exposed by my colleague Andrew Gilligan, leave a very nasty taste in the mouth. Whether or not Ken is personally corrupt, one thing is sure: he has compromised the integrity of the office by allowing these things to continue unchecked.
But I've weighed up the negatives and I'd still rather Ken ran London than Boris - a man I don't believe is competent to do so - or Paddick, who's even less up to the job. Yet for months people like me have been agonising: can we still stomach voting for Ken?
For some, it's genuinely hard to decide - even yesterday several friends were still stumped. They are hardly born-again Tories but for the first time are giving serious thought to a Conservative.
Others have been vague because they have secretly plumped for Boris. They mumble excuses about Ken's inadequacies, but quiz them further and you'll find they've still got a gas-guzzling people carrier and don't much fancy shelling out £25 each time they do the school run. Others confess to saving up to send their kids to private school, so no longer feel the knee-jerk antipathy to being ruled by an Old Etonian.
But Boris's pedigree does matter to those who, like me, can't square voting in a Bullingdon boy, even if it means re-electing Ken. Boris is campaigning for the already privileged, for big car drivers and west London. For all his faults, Ken's net is wider, more to do with putting London first, not select groups who live here. That's the approach that tallies best with my gut instinct and, when all the arguing is done, that's what drives us to place our cross where we do.
Reader views (2)
I'll be voting for Boris & voting out any signs of labour in my area. Sick of Ken - he has lost sight of what real Londoners need! Buses are overcrowded & fares are much higher. Tube are overcrowded & fares are much higher. Yet we are penalised for using our cars! Petrol (though not his fault) is much higher. We also have to deal with corrupt parking wardens & congestion charges which not only affect the pocket but has a very negative effect for retailers within the zone. I understand the charging for some parts of the central zone, but the extension? Why Ken? I am approx 1/4 outside the Western extension. Within the zone is my local hospital, my supermarket, access to the A40. Why Ken must I pay £8 every time I want the freedom of the city? Freedom to shop, freedom to go to my hospital or freedom to access a motorway. Why? Why is the money being taken from our pockets to be ploughed into corrupt businesses? Why should we subsidise travel for the 'lazyclass'. This is why you must go Ken & why I'll be voting with my feet!
- Suzieq, London
Livingstone is a disgrace. Boris will prove to be both a brilliant and disastrous mayor, probably in the same day. He will hire good people to run the place, he will score some wonderful coups and also insert foot in mouth - just look at his tenure as editor of the Spectator. He isn't a racist as Livingstone has tried to smear him. He isn't just in favour of the rich, but is speaking up for the middle classes who are being squeezed by both Alistair Darling and Ken Livingstone. The really rich don't mind paying £25 a day. Forget Bullingdon, remember Lee Jasper - a crony who Livingstone is committed to rehiring. How can you live with yourself and vote for Ken?
- Ken, Oxford
