Your constant, obsessive praise of 'Deform' (sic) is annoying. The Farage gang in my opinion is no genuine political alternative to anything. The real opposition is still to emerge. Maybe it never will but the Farage illusion is a damaging distraction. 😇
Honestly I'd like to see more quasi-oligarchical corporations take control of our cities again. The ravages of democracy haven't been a boon to Manchester as opposed to its heyday when under the Corporation. Not to mention anything would be better for Birmingham than its current arrangement.
In my days as a naive liberal I thought the initial election of Sadiq Khan could be good for London: "Multicultural London turned it's back on division, yeah"
Unfortunately he has gone on to prove the sceptics precisely right, taking a sectarian approach to politics and crapping all over the city's *English* heritage.
The fundamental problem isn't having elected mayors, but that any kind of functional democratic politics breaks down past a certain point of ethnic heterogeneity. And the demographics of London, the capital of the UK, are so out of wack with those of the hinterland it may as well be a different country. This is causing increasing political dysfunction.
Abolishing mayors *could* help stabilise the situation in the medium term (though it could also cause riots in the short term), but the real problems are much deeper.
After Mr Farage's utterly appalling lack of support, indeed betrayal (one of his constant areas of behaviour), of Ms Pochin's anodyne and accurate observations about advertising, I doubt that Reform is the answer.
I guess two observations, one as a disinterested observer, and the other as someone intensely interested in the city region I grew up in, GM. London is a contestable mayoralty for centre right politics, the Tories just put up two duffers in succession against a mediocre Sadiq Khan. If they’d fielded the London equivalent of Andy Street we’d be having a different conversation. When it comes to other cities in the UK like Manchester, it always takes me back to Norman Tebbit’s famous get on your bike quote, not because he was wrong, but because he was right I.e. nobody was coming to the rescue apart from the person you saw in the mirror, and that means those places need their own political tools.
Can't say I agree, for two reasons. First, we have few enough checks and balances in this country - and that's been a steadily worsening thing. One of the few measures this government has actually taken has been to further weaken the Lords. So I quite like having other points of authority that stop what is effectively an unchallanged executive doing what it wants. We should have more of them - and if you like the idea of an untrammelled Farage, would you want the same for Zack Polanski?
Second, the City of London, with it's very strange electoral arrangements, has survived and preserves a little corner of efficient local government only because it has been brilliant at staying out of political controversy. Give them sway over a vastly bigger slice of London and that would be untenable. Central and local government are largely hopeless at the moment. Agreed. But there's not a cat in hell's chance anyone is thinking that unelected technocrats are the answer.
Most of the problems in this country come directly from the supposed "checks on the executive". They are effectively the means of ensuring a permanent Blairite government, no matter who gets in to Number 10.
The whole gamut of human rights law and associated quangos, which elevated Sir Starmer into his current position, as well as the illegitimate "Supreme Court" are perfect examples.
Excellent idea, abolish the mayor etc - mostly because have long thought it - and as the capital London should have someone who represents the country as a whole.
Mayoralties are fiefdoms that soon end up as self-serving like most bureaucracies.
Your constant, obsessive praise of 'Deform' (sic) is annoying. The Farage gang in my opinion is no genuine political alternative to anything. The real opposition is still to emerge. Maybe it never will but the Farage illusion is a damaging distraction. 😇
Honestly I'd like to see more quasi-oligarchical corporations take control of our cities again. The ravages of democracy haven't been a boon to Manchester as opposed to its heyday when under the Corporation. Not to mention anything would be better for Birmingham than its current arrangement.
In my days as a naive liberal I thought the initial election of Sadiq Khan could be good for London: "Multicultural London turned it's back on division, yeah"
Unfortunately he has gone on to prove the sceptics precisely right, taking a sectarian approach to politics and crapping all over the city's *English* heritage.
The fundamental problem isn't having elected mayors, but that any kind of functional democratic politics breaks down past a certain point of ethnic heterogeneity. And the demographics of London, the capital of the UK, are so out of wack with those of the hinterland it may as well be a different country. This is causing increasing political dysfunction.
Abolishing mayors *could* help stabilise the situation in the medium term (though it could also cause riots in the short term), but the real problems are much deeper.
After Mr Farage's utterly appalling lack of support, indeed betrayal (one of his constant areas of behaviour), of Ms Pochin's anodyne and accurate observations about advertising, I doubt that Reform is the answer.
I guess two observations, one as a disinterested observer, and the other as someone intensely interested in the city region I grew up in, GM. London is a contestable mayoralty for centre right politics, the Tories just put up two duffers in succession against a mediocre Sadiq Khan. If they’d fielded the London equivalent of Andy Street we’d be having a different conversation. When it comes to other cities in the UK like Manchester, it always takes me back to Norman Tebbit’s famous get on your bike quote, not because he was wrong, but because he was right I.e. nobody was coming to the rescue apart from the person you saw in the mirror, and that means those places need their own political tools.
Can't say I agree, for two reasons. First, we have few enough checks and balances in this country - and that's been a steadily worsening thing. One of the few measures this government has actually taken has been to further weaken the Lords. So I quite like having other points of authority that stop what is effectively an unchallanged executive doing what it wants. We should have more of them - and if you like the idea of an untrammelled Farage, would you want the same for Zack Polanski?
Second, the City of London, with it's very strange electoral arrangements, has survived and preserves a little corner of efficient local government only because it has been brilliant at staying out of political controversy. Give them sway over a vastly bigger slice of London and that would be untenable. Central and local government are largely hopeless at the moment. Agreed. But there's not a cat in hell's chance anyone is thinking that unelected technocrats are the answer.
Most of the problems in this country come directly from the supposed "checks on the executive". They are effectively the means of ensuring a permanent Blairite government, no matter who gets in to Number 10.
The whole gamut of human rights law and associated quangos, which elevated Sir Starmer into his current position, as well as the illegitimate "Supreme Court" are perfect examples.
Excellent idea, abolish the mayor etc - mostly because have long thought it - and as the capital London should have someone who represents the country as a whole.