Robert Mugabe's lessons in arithmetic!

Robert Mugabe is a cunning crook. Seems he's left all semblance of being a good Catholic boy well behind him. As the votes in this latest Zimbabwean election are counted, Mugabe is sipping soda and telling his cohorts how one wins an election by getting 30% of the vote. According to the Movement for Democratic Change (the opposition party), it has won 60% of the vote, against 30% for Robert Mugabe. But the electoral commission was planning to announce that Mr Mugabe had won 52% of the vote! They should think very carefully before they twist things much further.

I don't know of anybody who wants to live under a despot's rule. Mugabe has three options on offer. 1) Resign with what shred of dignity he has left and keep quiet. 2) Wait to be strung up like Saddam Hussein or gunned down like Caucescu and his vinegary wife or 3) Chance his luck in The Hague. I'd suggest he goes for the first option. Oh, and he can forget about the memoirs!

New parking rules come into force

Ever since double yellow lines came into existence, there's been a problem with parking in the UK. Nobody seems capable of addressing the issue without an element of short-termism entering in. Yellow lines just push the illegal parkers elsewhere.

The difficulty the government has is that the vast majority of the public, both drivers and pedestrians, are convinced that local councils see parking fines as revenue raising bonuses. The councils deny it, but is it a case of "they would say that"? The drivers have a gripe because the feel they are being got at for driving (not going by public transport), so resent the parking conditions imposed on them.

These new rules are OK if fairly implemented. The trouble is it seems that many local council officials have indulged in what is tantamount to criminality. That is, encouraging the imposition of fines just for the sake of it. Turning a blind eye to overkeen patrol officers who see cars as a "commission" opportunity.

It all goes to the core of the problem. That unfair or unjust taxes cause public resentment. What we need is a proper long-term strategy. Good car-parking, linked to efficient public transport. I use both car and bus. However, it behoves the likes of Transport West Midlands, part of National Express, to rid their buses of pot-smoking feral youths who habitually fare-dodge and curse at driver and passengers alike. It also means red routes should mean good traffic flow and not a load of vans unloading. Speed limits should be enforced, not to be seen as another revenue raising technique, but as a common sense approach to traffic management.

All too often one can drive around a big city in the UK and see countless drivers racing between red lights, cutting up others at roundabouts, talking on mobile phones, tail-gating and making turns without indicating. My neighbour does a good business in knocking dents out of cars. Plenty of work, apparently!

Underinvestment is the problem. We need more park-and-rides, more integrated city transport systems. We need better planning considerations - some recent ones have allowed new exits from retail parks to be placed at junctions! But more importantly, we need our road raising taxes to be spent on roads and transport and not put into the Chancellor's Big Kitty so he can bale out botched banking policies. It's called hypothecation. In the USA, the gasoline tax goes towards road building and other transport related policies.

If we had our road taxes going into the work of the Highways Agency, with democratic accountability, we might see an improvement. If our local roads were properly policed and tended, we would not have so many problems.

The BBC report, though, shows the divide is still with us. David Sparks of the Local Government Association sees motorists his way! "Those selfish individuals who park in main roads out of cities will finally get their comeuppance" and Barrie Segal of AppealNow.com sees local government officials his way! "Just issuing a fine actually doesn't move the traffic along at all". Both have points, but both see it from one perspective. We need common ground if we are to shift all the rubbish that has accumulated under this giant carpet we've created.

States rights? Some think they're wronged!

When 9/11 happened, the world went into shock. It was a terrible crime. Something had to be done, of course. But was G.W.Bush the right person in the right place at the right time? Americans now are being vetted, checked, spied on, and processed as if they were chickens lined up for Colonel Sanders!

This REAL ID is nothing short of a way for the state to keep tabs on everyone. "MR JOHNSON OF ATLANTIC CITY!! WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!!" How wretched! Is this a true and proper response to a rag-headed, gun-totting caveman's demonic actions? I don't think so.

Some states are up in arms about it. REAL ID is a controversial post-9/11 law that aims to make drivers' licenses more secure. Nearly all states are opposed to the Department of Homeland Security's requirements, which set Monday as the deadline for them to get an extension for implementing REAL ID. Miss this deadline, DHS warned resistant states, and come May, residents won't be allowed to board planes with their current driver's licenses. A sort of blackmail. Now the DHS appears to have backed down for a while.

This sorry saga begs a couple of questions. First, how much rule from Washington can the states take? This seems to have ignited old memories! Second, if this REAL ID programme is costing $3.9 billion, who is getting the cash? Surely not the license printers!?!

I think the people of America have taken enough over recent years, but being computerised for a number cruncher's delight is something they may want to resist. I notice John McCain is in favour of this Act. Those who are in favour say "If you've nothing to hide, then you've nothing to fear!". Sounds good, doesn't it? But wasn't McCain just a bit put out when he was told his passport details had been accessed?

Nothing convinces me that governments anywhere can justify so much intrusion into a person's life. I'm all for security but this is not security. It is interference!

Five killed as plane crashes into houses

Two pilots and three passengers in a Cessna Citation 1 jet have been killed after it crashed into a housing estate in Farnborough, Kent. The plane had left London Biggin Hill Airport just after 2pm but apparently got engine trouble almost immediately after take-off.

All crashes are horrendous, but this one has left a memory on many eye witnesses. Because the plane was so low, one person could actually see the faces of the people in the plane. They lost their lives and it is only miraculous that there were no further victims on the ground. The house that took the direct hit was unoccupied at the time, as the owners were away.

Executive air travel is usually extremely safe, but the numbers of plane trips are increasing. Biggin Hill use to be a small airport where people learnt to fly and is famous for the Biggin Hill Air Fair. Now it is vying to become the executive's first choice for air travel from London. Is it wise to have such an airport so close to the suburban outreaches of London? This question has already been asked on TV tonight.



Probably we require a far more integrated approach to airport expansion and flight numbers. Currently it appears all too ad hoc.


BBC News report

Ron Paul's supporters make inroads at Texas GOP conventions

The Texas Republican Party bosses seem to have taken a few leaves out of the Robert Mugabe Book of Election Procedures! It's amazing that, although these caucuses and primaries are about choosing a candidate, the grandees of the party appear more concerned about manipulating the outcome.

Ron Paul is seen as a man who should never have entered the race. They made it a handicap. Like the Grand National at Aintree, they hoped Paul would fall at the first hurdle! But his supporters continue to fight for their legitimate places at conventions. Texas is not alone.

In Senate District 10, Paul supporter Jeremy Blosser challenged longtime Republican organizer Stuart Lane for chairmanship of the convention. Blosser bristled at Lane's characterization of Paul's supporters as "outsiders bent on taking over the party." Blosser said, "We are Republicans. I don't know how you take over something you're already part of." Precisely!

What people like Stuart Lane mean is "You can say or mean anything so long as you say and mean it my way!" Well, he's been rumbled!

US actors' unions go separate ways

Hollywood is often seen as a business operating on hardball bases rather than softball. In the union politics it is no different. Screen Actors Guild, representing mainly those in the cinema and TV movie business, have fallen out with their TV news anchor and radio jock colleagues. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is going in separate direction so that they can negotiate their own contracts. The movie moguls must be pleased. I've read Larry Hagman's autobiography and he explained quite candidly how brutal the business can be. Usually it is the bosses that try the divide and conquer technique. It's not usually the unions that set about promoting a divided front.

The war of words has begun. "It's really tragic," said SAG president Alan Rosenberg. "It's tough enough to compete with the Hollywood studios and try to get fair wages and working conditions for actors. Now we have to compete against our own union. . . . What they did today was turn their back on every actor in America."

For those of us who enjoy TV shows, it's worth remembering that not all actors are stars. That great producer Quinn Martin used to get a guy to announce such stuff as "BARNABY JONES! A Quinn Martin production! Starring Buddy Ebsen. Also starring,......" It's the "also starrings" that need the support of the union.

SAG is made up exclusively of actors who work in film, television and commercials and has jurisdiction over such popular prime-time series as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost." AFTRA, which has its roots in radio, represents local TV anchors, disc jockeys and even recording artists. The two may not be competing over the same work territory, but I'm sure the Hollywood bidwigs have ordered the champagne!

Jacqui Smith is out of touch!

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has appeared on the Andrew Marr Show to dismiss claims by a fellow minister that the government is out of touch. She said Ivan Lewis was wrong. She had the brass neck to say that it was "fundamentally important that we listen to the British people". Since when has New Labour listened? Over Iraq, devolution, top-up fees, EU referendum, ANYTHING????

I say hold on, Jacqui! I'll give you a good example of political dumb insolence.

Ruth Kelly is supposed to be Transport Secretary. She has taken a vow of silence it seems, as British Airways fumbles over baggage problems. She's not even out of touch. She's out of hearing too!

The Willie Walsh job interview!

"Good morning, Willie. We'd just like to ask you a few questions. OK?"
"Yes!"
"What makes you think you'll make a good job of running Terminal 5?"
"Well, I've kissed the Blarney Stone. Will that help?"
"Could do. Have you had any experience handling bags?"
"Not actually carrying bags, if that's what you mean, but I once carried the bishop's mitre when I was an altar boy!"
"Very commendable. How are you at car parking? Have you much experience?"
"Not with parking other people's cars. I did come top in my driving test with my three-point turns, though."
"Excellent! Very good. Well, that's about it then, Willie. Have you any questions before you start?"
"Yes. Where do I pick up the key to start that conveyor belt thing?"

Euro to replace dollar?

Following on from the Today giggling episode, I noticed they had a piece on the Euro and the Dollar. The programme asked "Could the euro replace the dollar as the world's largest reserve currency within ten to fifteen years?"

I've long since believed that part of the Iraq War strategy was to stop Saddam Hussein buying and selling oil in euros. Seems that might be overtaken by other events. Interesting piece.

Story is here.

Radio 4 News giggling fit is naughty but nice

I was listening this morning to the Today programme on Radio 4. Charlotte Green, the newsreader, had to read a piece about the oldest known recording of the human voice. Green's hysterical outburst started after a studio member remarked that the recording of a woman singing the French song Clair de Lune, made in 1860, played, sounded like a "bee buzzing in a bottle". I thought it a good laugh, just like many others who have contacted the BBC. Makes the show all that more human, I'd say. Jim Naughty managed to follow on with what sounded very straight-laced voice!

It reminded me of the newsman in Seattle, I think, who commented on a report of a golfer who somehow took his golf kit through a car wash with the top of his car down. Without sensing any irony, the newsman said "I suppose he's got the cleanest balls in town!". Unfortunately, his co-anchor got the giggles big time and fell into convulsive laughter and helplessly tried to carry on with the autocue.

GOP playing machine politics with Ron Paul delegates!

As I've said before, don't you just love democracy! In Missouri, those who were rash enough to vote for Ron Paul are being given the runaround by the party bosses. What's the point of having a caucus, if some armtwister tells you you voted the wrong way?

The Paul campaign believes that a handful of GOP officials are playing machine politics and breaking their own rules to disenfranchise Paul supporters. “The Republican party is in trouble and needs more participants in 2008, not less,” said campaign manager Lew Moore. “It makes no sense for Missouri party leaders to exclude and marginalize the new activists they badly need to work at every level this fall.” Quite so!

I thought I would publicise this bit of intrique as good American democracy!

Arnie terminates Clint's day job!

Clint Eastwood, former Mayor of Carmel, California, got a day that he wasn't expecting to pan out the way it did. Arnold Schwarzenegger had decided that his actor pal and mentor could be replaced on the State Parks Commission. All because Clint is against a plan to build the Foothill South toll road through San Onofre State Beach, a park in Orange County that is popular for its surfing and scenery. The project was defeated by the California Coastal Commission in February.

Arnie may think a six-lane highway will help global warming, but I would have thought that Eastwood had more in the way of local support. But if you've got opposition, why not "terminate" them? Eastwood seems more bemused than annoyed. "I think it was just somebody got a bee under their bonnet at the right moment, so there we are," he said. Of the governor, he added, "I guess he felt we were going to be guys who were going to be obstructionists for anything through state parks."

Damian Hockney quits London mayoral race!

Well, it's going to be a kind of ten green bottles, etc. One down, twelve to go. Damian Hockney, One London leader, has quit saying, "The BBC, ITV - they give a kind of what I would call uncritical patsy coverage". They do, don't they.

What they don't get is that most people don't vote now. It's only us pure bred political creatures that seem interested. It's a very incestuous relationship - media and politicians.

Hockney's remarks could easily have fitted Ron Paul's campaign. Uncritical patsy coverage, I like that. Agree with it mostly. There's a lot of it around, excluding the fine John Humphrys, who gave that weaseler Straw a few dodgy moments this week.

The race continues...........

Pregnant man's sex is not his gender!

I've long since stopped worrying about the oddities in the world. This story just takes me aback, though. I'm all for happy families. I'm glad my father didn't wear dresses and call my mother dad! But medical science and times are a'changin'.

In Bend (good name for a transgender person to live!), Oregon, a man who was born a woman claims he is five months pregnant. He now calls himself Thomas Beatie and married a woman named Nancy. However, he kept all his sexual organs from his time as a woman. So the possibility of a pregnancy is high up on the radar. Not with Nancy, of course.

Now I've got nothing against people going in for transsexual surgery. This person may be very sure she is now a man. But I do have issues with bringing children into a world where manipulation and personal greed may be lifting their ugly heads.

Here we have someone who is defying motherhood bigtime. Then we have the desire to sell a story for money, no doubt making it juicy enough for the press. I hope they know what they are doing. Dr. Mark Nichols, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University, said, "The definition of family has changed a lot. There's not a set definition anymore." That's true. I'm just not sure all kids are ready for it!

Of course, it could all be a hoax. I remember many moons ago, travelling up from California into Oregan by Greyhound Bus. That was back in the 70's. Then there were bumper stickers saying "Do not californicate Oregon". I wonder if these still exist?

Horrors in Heathrow's New Terminal 5

The check-in procedures have been suspended at Heathrow's new £4.3bn Terminal 5, which opened to the public today. It seems to get worse. One worker said, "The computer cannot cope with the number of bags going through". Oh yes! Is that so? What sort of management have the shareholders of British Airways hired?

It is all crazy! British Airways, which has sole use of the terminal, cancelled 34 flights due to "teething problems" and was later forced to stop the luggage check-in. In a statement, BA said it had experienced "initial teething problems" first thing in the morning, which had caused delays in staff arriving at their posts. Difficulties included car parking provision, delays in staff security screening and staff familiarisation and "some baggage performance issues", it said.

It's all wing and a prayer stuff! Didn't they check on all this before deciding to open up. All it does is further the belief that management is far more concerned with bonuses that it is with performance.

"Could do better" should go down on any report!

Chelsea Clinton ticks off questioner

Maybe Chelsea Clinton should consider running for president if her mother fails to get the nomination. Obviously not now, she's barred by the 35 years old rule, but later on.

When a questioner at Butler University, Indianapolis, asked if her mother's credibility had been injured by the infamous sexual relationship her father had with the White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, she replied like this. "Wow, you're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know, maybe 70 college campuses I've now been to.'' Then she fired, "And I do not think that is any of your business."

Quite right. Maybe the questioner would like to be asked publicly about personal activities affecting his/her family life? Chelsea added, "And I also don't think that should be the last question." She fielded one more, on global warming, and wrapped it up.

Nice touch. Maybe her mother should take lessons in straight talking!

Back to baggage trouble at Heathrow!

Baggage problems have hit the Terminal 5 public opening at Heathrow Airport. Some wag employed by British Airways blamed glitches with the bags on problems with "staff familiarisation". Many passengers apparently faced problems with their baggage. A BBC reporter on a flight to Paris said no passenger bags had arrived. Luggage belonging to travellers landing in the UK also failed to arrive.

What is it with large companies today? They take the pounds but appear to have little or no interest in customer service. It beggars belief that British Airways, trumpeting this big hangar as the be all and end all of flight delays and passenger problems, sees this cock-up as a lack of "staff familiarisation"!! They've had years to plan to get it right!

Do those running the company deserve their top jobs?

Hillary's Highs turn to Low Poll Ratings!

MSNBC have conducted a poll and they seem surprised that Hillary Clinton is dipping in the Democratic race. "As expected, one of the two major Democratic candidates saw a downturn in the latest NBC/WSJ poll, but it's not the candidate that you think," reports Chuck Todd. How come he thinks we would be surprised? It only goes to show how out of touch these pundits really are!

It's not going to be rocket science, Chuck! Obama will get the nomination and Obama will beat McCain. Obama will be President! Always assuming that no skeletons are about to come out of an unknown closet somewhere.

Why do I think this? Because Americans want change. They want it to happen, so that the sleazebags and legalised crooks are no longer in control. Obama has been given the airtime to vent this message. If only Ron Paul had been given the same opportunity, but, hey, shucks Chuck, that's life, isn't it?

Cameron's Conservative Conundrum

There would be a time when I couldn't wait to vote Conservative. With both my head and my heart! The very idea of voting Labour filled me with a shiver. After all, they were a bit "commie", wanted nationalisation, were into pip-sqeaking taxation, and generally were economic trouble. It was a no brainer for me.

Then two things happened. The Berlin wall collapsed, so who were now the socialists, who were now the anti-capitalist campaigners? And along came Blair, a political hybrid with a "well, yeah" response to all matters in his way. We now have a three party set-up in a two-party system.

It was all so easy when it was just Conservative and Labour. Straight fights were the norm. The Liberals came in just for the ride. They had to do deals with the Conservatives in Bolton and Huddersfield just to get a couple of seats!

Now the voters have a multitude of choices. The Electoral Commission is registering a new party a month! The Conservatives should be an easy bet for winning the next election. But that's not a dead cert. Why? I think the first is for the reasons above. Thatcher and Blair between them blew the party bedrock apart. Now all parties are vying for a similar base.

But the main reason is loyalty. People no longer feel they belong to a party or that a party belongs to them. Once the Conservative Party had a huge number of members. Members create activists, and activists bring in the votes. If you lose the members the whole thing starts to unravel. So those who used to be Conservative activists are now either armchair philosophers or are in other parties such as UKIP, English Democrats, or even the BNP! Some have defected to the LibDems (a hybrid party) or to the Greens or the Nationalists. There are others in minor one-man-band parties, such as Veritas and the New Party. All these people are lost to the Conservatives. And the internet is giving them the chance to air their views.

The Labour Party is now worried by the lack of support it is getting. "Ominously for Labour there are warning signs that southern discomfort is re-emerging in a new and more complex form." I wouldn't think it that complex. Just that these conniving New Labour spin merchants have been rumbled for what they are. Those now disaffected with the Government may well serve up a bashing. But will it be to the Tories advantage? I can see Hove going Conservative but maybe the Greens could win in Brighton? That's the conundrum across the country- and it's heading us to a hung, or divided, House of Commons, I think.

Family seeks $8 million in Phoenix airport death

The family of a woman who died last year while in police custody at Phoenix, Arizona's, Sky Harbor International Airport haved filed an $8 million claim against the city of Phoenix and its police department. This is the first step in filing a wrongful death suit.

Such deaths occur relatively frequently, not just in the US but around the world. The UK has had its fair share of custodial deaths. Without wanting to prejudice anything, it does seem that police and prison officers sometimes overeact when confronted with hysteria or abnormal activity. It is always put down to the apprehended person just being a damned nuisance at best or an evil-minded terrorist at worst. They seem oblivious to senility, or diabetic/epileptic fits, or any other complaint. I've been in the company of someone having a diabetic fit in public and was looked on as if I was comforting a drunk. Also, I've witnessed an epilepic fit. I've seen the results of drugs, drinking, and debauchery. Not all three in myself, but in others. The human body cannot always cope.

Maybe the stereotypes the police think of are just as bizarre as our steretypes of the police? But in this case, as in so many others, why on earth was a vulnerable woman not given 24-hour monitoring? Here, the Phoenix Police department does have some answers to give!

Egg McMuffin Inventor dies at 89

Herb Peterson, inventor of the Egg McMuffin, has died, a Southern California official of McDonald's restaurants said yesterday (Wednesday). He was 89. Now that must be some testament to so-called junk food. I bet a lot of those posers, as Sir Alan Sugar calls them, who frequent restaurants where you get such things caramelised seaweed sitting on top of seared tuna steaks don't live as long. But it won't be the food that shortens their lives, it will be the attitude!

Now I don't frequent fast food restaurants that much, but I'm not snobbily opposed to them either. I'd rather a thousand Herb Petersen's served me food than one self-righteous foody, lips all smothered with sour sauces and red meat! McDonald's has taken a battering recently. Funny how fish and chip shops (where you get a literal battering!) don't. I love fish and chips. I quite like Egg McMuffins, but don't crave them. That's the point. There's nothing wrong with the food in McDonald's, it's the fact that some people can't help over indulging.

We get "you can't do this, you can't do that!" from the nanny state. New Labour is so keen on the can'ts. "Health and safety", they scream. Yes, in their right place, of course. But not to restrict choice, to restrict fun, or just to be plain bloody-minded.

Whilst staying at a friend's in Atlanta, I remember admitting that I'd be to Mrs Winner's Chicken & Biscuit. An outlet I just love! "You've been there!?!" I was beratingly asked. "Sorry, Bob", I limply replied, trying a repenting technique, but thinking "that's not going to put me off!"

I don't gorge on the stuff, but I don't want to be told by foody-freaks, who may end up with some ulcer or something, what I can and can't do. I like good food, posh nosh or otherwise. So goodbye Herb. You gave the world a fun thing. 89 is a hell of a lot better than most. And St. Peter probably won't mention it on any sin list!

Experts Deride McCain’s Mortgage Crisis Fix!

Just following on from my post below, I run into this piece from the New York Sun. John McCain, who is a self-confessed economics amateur, has been derided for his call for a meeting of the nation's top mortgage lenders as part of a solution to the rise in home foreclosures. He reckons 0% financing will help. Help whom, exactly? Certainly not the bankers, who would be more out of pocket than they are now. Certainly not the borrowers, who would have property at inflated prices.

No wonder the economists scoffed at this idea. Has the fat lady finished her song? I'd say it was about time there was a national debate between Ron Paul and John McCain on TV. Then McCain could tell the people of America how he plans to run the economy.

To hell in a handbasket might be one answer!

Time to Listen to Ron Paul?

Interestingly, just as the last puffs of the active Republican Party campaign to nominate are expiring, Fox News offers this intriguing question. Time to Listen to Ron Paul? This is posed by Elizabeth MacDonald on the FoxBusiness site. Pity she's a bit late in trumpeting his message.

She says "Time to listen to Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the lone voice of reason in Congress today who’s got to feel like he’s shouting into a field of cotton with his repeated warnings about the dangers of a collapsing dollar, while the administration goes AWOL on the problem." One wonders if the American people are so used to the admen's messages that they are walking over the cliffs on this one. Why did none of the other Republican candidates say ANYTHING on this. For heaven sakes, Mitt Romney is supposed to be a businessman. Some businessman! Just out for himself?

MacDonald quotes Ron Paul as saying “Empires fail because they run out of money, or more accurately, run out of the ability to spend or inflate. We need to control spending, immediately, before it is too late.” Too late, indeed. I bet John McCain's not committed to this. He's rumbling on about keeping the pot boiling.

It won't be just votes that will be required this November, but prayers as well. On bended knee!!

Divide and Rule? Gordon Brown's Britain!

This is a good You Tube presentation from the English Democrats. Our part-time, job-sharing Prime Minister thinks this is all OK. So much for his talk of "Britishness" and constitutional reform! With Jack Straw in charge, it will all end in tears.



Watch it and weep!

The Boris, Ken and Uncle Tom Cobley handicap stakes

Boris Johnson is a Conservative who has broken quite a few moulds. Ken Livingstone is a socialist who has cracked many moulds. This mayoral contest in London seems more about personalities than about policies. Is Boris bananas, bohemian or brilliant? Is he all three? Much is written about his perceived character, but not so much on his political ideas. Red Ken, Cheeky Ken, or just plain KEN! is a man living on the edge. Tony Blair tried the full-frontal Caesar attack, then aped Brutus, but still Ken stood standing. I think Londoners would have a fit if the mayor was boring. Nothing to talk about in the offices or cafes or bars.

The others in the contest are equally flamboyant, controversial, or mould-crackingly suitable. The Liberal Democrats have an openly gay ex-police chief in Brian Paddick, the Greens have Sian Berry (who is encouraging "EU citizens" to vote). Respect has disrespectfully split and is in two parts, one with Lindsey German as a Left List entrant and the other called Respect Renewal (not standing). UKIP is flying the flag with Gerard Batten, the BNP has its London leader in Richard Barnbrook, and the English Democrats have picked ex-rooftop protester Matt O'Connor. Added to them is Alan Craig of the Christian Peoples Alliance and Damian Hockney of One London.

Ten politicians hanging on the wall, or will it be sitting on the fence? Either way, this is probably the most mixed bunch of candidates any electoral contest in the British Isles has seen. And it has just five weeks to run!

In the late entrants enclosure is John Flunder of the Senior Citizens Party, Dennis Delderfield who has announced he would stand for the New Britain Party, and Chris Prior from the Stop Congestion Charging Party.

And them to the mix and you get a baker's dozen! Happing voting, London!

London Elects!