Well, it’s election day. I haven’t been following the political debate as much as I’d have liked due to the employment turmoil I’ve had recently. That said, I still can’t understand why anyone would vote for Boris Johnson. I’ve tried and failed to find any concrete policies he’s advocating and I’m still at a loss for what he’s actually standing for, as he just seems to rewrite Ken’s ideas badly, push forward totally stupid and unworkable populist reactionary policies or just uhm and ah over issues.

I’m actually terrified that Johnson will make it purely off the Ken backlash vote but more importantly those who will vote for him purely because of his appearances on Have I Got News For You et al. and because “it’d be SO RANDOM if Boris was Mayor!” Is a deeply racist, homophobic bigot who carefully cultivates an image of being a bumbling buffoon really a good choice for governing the lives of nearly 8 million people?

When Ken took power in 2000, London was one of the most congested cities in the world. Ken took a chance that no other politician would try - the Congestion Charge. This and the money he has pumped into Transport For London for new buses and free travel schemes for the young and elderly has eased congestion and put more people on public transport and bicycles. Other capital cities are looking at this and thinking of implementing their own take on it.

Ken backs the Police rather than endlessly critising them. The Met’s employment rates are up, literally putting more Police on the streets (even if some of them are those jumped up little cunts of Community Support Officers). Despite what the Daily Mail and Evening Standard will try and tell you, crime rates are down across London, even darkest Hackney reported the largest drop in crime last year. All candidates are promising policies to cut London’s crime rate - but Ken has already done so.

The best bit? Ken admitted to conning the Government into pushing for the Olympics so that East London could finally get some decent capital for redevelopment. Personally, I don’t like the Olympics, but I think coming up with a scheme like that and then admitting to it in the run up to an election is pretty fucking hilarious.

Call me a fanboy if you like, but one of the reasons I like Ken is due to an anecdote my ex-housemate Sam told me. When Ken re-joined the Labour Party, Sam wrote to him saying that if Ken stayed independent, Sam would be out flyering and door-to-door campaigning for him. He received a written response back saying in effect “I’m not too keen on rejoining either but by being an independent or opposition candidate, most of the time is spent fighting against the Government whereas by being a part of them that whole process is bypassed and more time can actually be spent on being Mayor and trying to improve London.” Even if it wasn’t personally hand-written by him, it sure beat a cookie-cutter form letter response.

In short - vote Ken Livingstone or at least second choice him. Whatever his faults may be (and believe me, I don’t like his courting of Muslim extermism and China and the way he stuck up for Gerry Healy), I honestly believe that he thinks he’s doing the right thing for London and it’s citizens. Boris will just think he’s doing the right thing. My only issue with voting for Ken is that it counts as a vote for Labour and the Government will spin it that way.

I think Ken is a pretty cool guy. eh trolls journalists and politicians and doesn’t afraid of anything.