The lovely Steve Bullock was up on a podium sounding the starting klaxon for the green start line of the marathon.
Definately gave my marathon effort a boost to see our mayor there!
Abolish the Mayor of Lewisham?
Starting marathons AND on a podium! Where will this end? Clearly this despot needs to be stopped before he goes any further! Or is that an "ad hominem" argument?
If you want to see the true dishonesty and opportunism of those now trying to overturn the democratic results of the mayoral elections, you need look no further than their own election addresses when they stood for mayor.
Nick's main accomplice in the campaign to undemocratically unseat Steve Bullock is John Hamilton who stood as an independent for mayor. What did John's election address say about the system of directly-elected mayors? That it was undemocratic? That he intended to disband the post if elected? Not a single word on the subject appears in his address. Instead he offered to do the job for £25,000 pa. Oh, and ihe would invite other political parties to join his cabinet if elected (Steve Bullock issued the same invite when elected but of course he's a maniac dictator, so that doesn't count)
John, like all the others politicians (Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens) would have grabbed at the job had Lewisham electors voted for them. Now, rather late in the day they all see a chance to make political capital out of the result and have suddenly decided the election they all embraced so actively at the time is now an undemocratic sham.
Wouldn't it be better if the opposition parties spent more time on issues people really care about like roads, transport, crime, waste disposal, lighting? Get back to work guys - we're paying your wages.
If you want to see the true dishonesty and opportunism of those now trying to overturn the democratic results of the mayoral elections, you need look no further than their own election addresses when they stood for mayor.
Nick's main accomplice in the campaign to undemocratically unseat Steve Bullock is John Hamilton who stood as an independent for mayor. What did John's election address say about the system of directly-elected mayors? That it was undemocratic? That he intended to disband the post if elected? Not a single word on the subject appears in his address. Instead he offered to do the job for £25,000 pa. Oh, and ihe would invite other political parties to join his cabinet if elected (Steve Bullock issued the same invite when elected but of course he's a maniac dictator, so that doesn't count)
John, like all the others politicians (Conservatives, Lib Dems, Greens) would have grabbed at the job had Lewisham electors voted for them. Now, rather late in the day they all see a chance to make political capital out of the result and have suddenly decided the election they all embraced so actively at the time is now an undemocratic sham.
Wouldn't it be better if the opposition parties spent more time on issues people really care about like roads, transport, crime, waste disposal, lighting? Get back to work guys - we're paying your wages.
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Nick Ingham
- Posts: 10
- Joined: 11 Apr 2006 14:53
- Location: Catford
Some facts.
John Hamilton's election address said and I quote
"Do we need a directly elected Mayor?
In 2001 only 9% of us voted to have the directly elected Mayoral system, which leaves ward councillors powerless. Only 11 other councils in England have gone for this and I think we should go back to the more democratic system used by other boroughs. Councillors from all parties will be invited to join my cabinet. The office of Mayor attracts a salary of over £70,000 a year. This is too much. I would accept £25,000."
James Cleverly's election address said
"A Conservative Mayor will give Lewisham a referendum on the future
of the directly elected Mayor system. Councillors should be the
champions of their communities rather than spokespeople for the Mayor."
The document is available to download from
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres ... ooklet.pdf
The Section 45 of the Local Government Act 2000 states that "A local authority may not hold more than one referendum in any period of five years".
See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/00022--c.htm
The Lewisham referendum was held on 18th Oct 2001. The earliest a new referendum could be held was therefore 18th Oct 2006. The Lewisham Mayoral election fell on 4th May 2006.
All candidates were therefore forced to work under the old system until they could hold a referendum to change it.
Nick
John Hamilton's election address said and I quote
"Do we need a directly elected Mayor?
In 2001 only 9% of us voted to have the directly elected Mayoral system, which leaves ward councillors powerless. Only 11 other councils in England have gone for this and I think we should go back to the more democratic system used by other boroughs. Councillors from all parties will be invited to join my cabinet. The office of Mayor attracts a salary of over £70,000 a year. This is too much. I would accept £25,000."
James Cleverly's election address said
"A Conservative Mayor will give Lewisham a referendum on the future
of the directly elected Mayor system. Councillors should be the
champions of their communities rather than spokespeople for the Mayor."
The document is available to download from
http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres ... ooklet.pdf
The Section 45 of the Local Government Act 2000 states that "A local authority may not hold more than one referendum in any period of five years".
See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/00022--c.htm
The Lewisham referendum was held on 18th Oct 2001. The earliest a new referendum could be held was therefore 18th Oct 2006. The Lewisham Mayoral election fell on 4th May 2006.
All candidates were therefore forced to work under the old system until they could hold a referendum to change it.
Nick
So out of the six mayoral cadidates, only two made any meaningful comments on changing the directly elected mayoral system. The Tories were totally divided on the issue - a short time after the election, James Cleverly had to reprimand one of his elected councillors who understandably wanted to represent his constituents as best he could and take a place on the new cabinet.
Nick - you should get out a lot more. The directly elected mayor issue must appear to be the most important question on earth, sitting in a flat in Catford with only the Local Government Act 2000 and the Handbook of Statutory Instruments for solace. But it is a complete non-issue to everyone else. Those who were interested, voted in the last mayoral election and they didn't elect a candidate who wanted to change the system.
To date a dizzy total of 14 people have responded to the webmaster's poll on whether we should retain the directly elected mayor or not. I think that this fairly gauges the level of local interest in the topic.
P.S. Perhaps you could join your fellow conspirator John Hamilton whose favourite way of relaxing is to conduct local choir Strawberry Thieves in a rendition of "Arise you Swimmers from Your Slumbers" - sung to the tune of The Internationale (I'm not making this up!) On the other hand, The Local Government Act 2000 suddenly seems quite appealing.
Nick - you should get out a lot more. The directly elected mayor issue must appear to be the most important question on earth, sitting in a flat in Catford with only the Local Government Act 2000 and the Handbook of Statutory Instruments for solace. But it is a complete non-issue to everyone else. Those who were interested, voted in the last mayoral election and they didn't elect a candidate who wanted to change the system.
To date a dizzy total of 14 people have responded to the webmaster's poll on whether we should retain the directly elected mayor or not. I think that this fairly gauges the level of local interest in the topic.
P.S. Perhaps you could join your fellow conspirator John Hamilton whose favourite way of relaxing is to conduct local choir Strawberry Thieves in a rendition of "Arise you Swimmers from Your Slumbers" - sung to the tune of The Internationale (I'm not making this up!) On the other hand, The Local Government Act 2000 suddenly seems quite appealing.