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And so the Muppet Show starts May 3, 2008

Posted by cathrynsymons in : Camden, Politics , add a comment

It was enough to keep me under the duvet this morning, waking up to see that Boris Johnson, famous for the muppet haircut, riding a bicycle and being very entertaining on Have I Got News For You, is now Mayor of London. The blues descend.

The results make interesting reading. The turn out was a lot higher than last time, showing the effect of a controversial, engaging campaign. There is received wisdom is that a high turnout favours the left-leaning parties, but this time, it seems to have favoured the Tories.

Often close-run elections squeeze out the smaller parties, and that seems to have happened here. In the Assembly elections particularly, and to a lesser extent in the Mayoral ones, the swing to the Tories has been at the expense of the Lib Dems and UKIP, rather than Labour. The Greens held up well, as did the other, less appealing but sadly significant small party. Obviously Ken Livingstone has a large personal following which won’t be swayed by the general turning away from Labour, but its hard to see why that would apply in the Assembly party vote where Labour kept the same number of seats . UKIP has pretty well imploded over the last couple of years, so their disappearance isn’t surprising. Perhaps the lacklustre Paddick campaign has affected the wider Lib Dem vote, while the far more exciting Ken show has at least helped to keep Labour afloat.

And finally, its wonderful to see we have another Green on Camden Council, with Alex Goodman winning the Highgate Ward by-election, and joining the other two Greens on the Council.

Crisis over Christmas to operate in Camden December 9, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Politics , add a comment

It’s good to hear that the Christmas spirit has prevailed, and Camden Council have changed their minds and are letting Crisis go ahead with their Crisis over Christmas centre on Euston Rd this year.   I’m not sure what made the difference, but am very grateful to St Pancras and Somers Town Ward councillor Roger Robinson for raising it with the powers that be.

Sometimes shining a little light in these dark corners helps in very meaningful ways, and I’m very happy to be proved wrong in my opinion of those involved in this.