Battle of the mavericks in London

I have been dying with a heavy cold this week and also have had to provide sickness cover at work so I have had less time for blogging this week. However, I did manage to get to the London Mayoral hustings last night for the Green Party which, unfortunately, was not filmed due to one of the candidates objecting. From what I am hearing there is a big turnout already in members voting.

I have already blogged about my support for Farid Bakht but this mayoral election as a whole is shaping up to be the battle of the mavericks. Bad enough having Boris Johnson, but now we have Lembit Opik throwing his hat in the ring.

Jenny Jones related the story last night that having met Boris Johnson in a lift in City Hall en route to the event, Boris enquired as to her destination. When she told him that she was going to the hustings, he wished her good luck and said that he would consider having her as his running mate. She replied that he would have to join the Green Party to which he answered that he was not a member of any party. And this man is the Mayor of London? The Falstaff of City Hall.

With news of Lembit Opik’s candidacy and leopard skin hats on display, this is gearing up to be a battle of the mavericks! What has London done to deserver this? At a tme when London's problems are deeping, as was said at the hustings last night, with increasing homelessness, unemployment and poverty and thousands being forced out of the centre into the new banlieus, there has never been a more crying need for a serious politiician with real practical policies to run for office. As Farid said last night, the Green Party must "move out of its comfort zone" and attempt to reach voters it does not normally appeal to with a radical and pertinent message for today's youth, students and others left behind by the neo liberal steamroller which reaches its apogee in the City of London - the Moloch on the Thames.