Forum Topic

Khan returned - Londoners obviously don't mind being stabbed.

Luckily, Khan doesn't mind either.

Rosco White ● 83d48 Comments

Khan is killing London, and if you gave him more power he'd just finish the job quicker.Hall was an obvious disaster too.We have NO decent options at Local or National level, but most delusional status is reserved for those who think money fixes everything, and that "It'll be better under Labour".

Rosco White ● 75d

Not Clickbait, Rosco really believes what he is saying. He is entitled to say what he thinks. Perhaps through gentle correction he can be brought to realise that if he wants to be treated as a human being he should treat others as humans too. The alternative to Sadiq Khan is truly terrifying, Susan Hall has some basic disconnects in how the world works, the Garden Bridge is an example of what the Torys brought up for fixing London. Sadiq needs money to rejuvenate and modernise and make London more sustainable and he needs the powers to do this. At least he has a brain. Susan Hall and the likes of Joy Morrisey should be put through basic psychological tests before they are even proposed by their parties

Mark Hammond ● 75d

The Met needs to be fixed, you only have to go around some of the later night bars and pubs in Ealing and onto the green spaces at night to see that something is very wrong. Though I wonder, what powers does Khan really have to do this?

Mark Hammond ● 75d

Yes Brooks, shit does rise to the top, this country's top-floating shit is Rishi Sunak. We have Rishi Sunak only offering Covid jabs free to anyone over 75, I AM JUST SO ANGRY! The Boots on Ealing Broadway is charging £100 for a private Covid jab, in France any pharmacy will give anyone a Covid jab for seven-and-a-half Euros so long as you do not have more that one every three months. France has started a new vaccination campaign running from April to July. Many who don't need to will die, and for that matter from a Tory perspective many working hours will be lost. Why? Because of the Tories. Brooks,or whatever your name, I can only wish you 29 hours in three different A&Es waiting areas with no free water, no free food, nothing like one friend of mine went! Not even a blanket to sleep under. That is all you deserve if you think that Khan is shit!The Tory opponent wouldn't survive a day in a call center or stacking shelves

Mark Hammond ● 76d

One last time. London is a Labour leaning city; their candidates should outperform Labour nationally. Khan beat Bailey in 2021 by 5 points when Labour were 5 points behind nationally. This is exactly what one would expect. This year, with Labour 20 points ahead nationally, Khan won by 11 points.  A significant underperformance.

Vlod Barchuk ● 76d

I like your Postings Mr Hayes, they're quite informed and I always learn, you blow the Political BS away.......👍

Rosco White ● 77d

Well, you can make all the claims you like but Khan simply cannot recruit enough police officers, despite his pledges. You also ignore the extra funding he got just for that purpose, most of which he had to return unused. This is also the guy who enthusiastically extended the tenure of Cressida Dick as Met Commissioner and then unceremoniously dumped her a few months later. She wasn’t up to the job from day one, yet Khan didn’t see that.He was on the radio earlier spouting more untruths about knife crime, following the latest tragic stabbing. He said knife crime has been reduced, yet it’s up one fifth in the past year. Even the leftie bible admits this: https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/26/fact-check-has-sadiq-khan-really-overseen-a-surge-in-londonBoris was a disaster as Mayor and Khan is no improvement.He’s bumped up his precept to cover the massive extra costs incurred by TfL, including the big pay offers he made shortly before the election. He moaned about having no money for years but that magic tree showered himwith lolly at just the right time. Seems he enjoys a bit of Boris cake eating and keeping too.I wasn’t ‘impressed’ by local Labour. They are only seen out and about at election times, the rest of the time is spent discussing policies with their preferred pressure groups.Considering the poll leads Labour has nationally, khan massively underperformed last week. All the post election analysis has said that, but he benefits from a high level of Tory antipathy among voters. Most campaigning was negative, making personal attacks on Susan Hall at every opportunity, rather than highlighting his own very modest achievements.

Simon Hayes ● 77d

What you say seems to make sense, but it is undeniable that Labour/Khan benefit from a not insignificant "Donkey Vote."Such people haven't got a clue, no idea, let alone a basic understanding of any issues, and they don't care, it's just "I ALWAYS vote Labour!"As I say, Donkeys many of them.Note, I of course accept there are intelligent & informed people who vote Labour/Khan, and that is obviously their prerogitave.

Rosco White ● 77d

Clickbait - ignore.

David Scott ● 77d

The increases in the Mayoral precept are not welcomed but a large part of this is being driven by additional support for the Met. The Mayor has doubled funding for policing and crime prevention after it was reduced by 28% in real terms by the previous incumbent. The Mayor is also having to deal with reduced funding from the Home Office for the Met on a per capita basis.You can't have it both ways - if you want more done about crime then the precept needs to rise to pay for the measures that are taken.If you were impressed with the Labour campaign locally, bear in mind party strategists had assumed Sadiq Khan would win and asked activists to go to other areas such as the West Midlands so it wasn't firing on all cylinders.These argument seem to boil down to Sadiq Khan being unpopular because some people don't like him. The reality is he is supported by people across London's communities and around 70% voted either for him or candidates whose parties will support his administration in the Assembly. The notion that this huge level of support for a man entering his third term is simply 'tribal', unthinking or solely based on his party's national polling is clearly untrue.

Mark Evans ● 77d

More important Khan has ignored Louise Casey and refused to do anything about racist and mysoganstic officers in the Metropolitan Police.Surely now the election is over something will be done to end the hate march Khan and now Assemblyman Bassam Mahfouz actively encouraged.

Martin Cain ● 78d

"What’s obvious is how Labour mobilised its canvassers to persuade floating voters on the doorstep. The Tories hid themselves away. Strangely, one never encounters Labour councillors doing anything useful in our area."This is a VERY accurate statement.Something has gone VERY wrong with the Conservatives, they have completely lost their way and are headless chickens, a simple reurn to Thatcherism would see them making huge headway.

Rosco White ● 78d

He’s popular with some sections of society and much less so with others.Tribal voting is nothing to do with race, only someone with little understanding of politics would think that. It’s more to do with voting for the people you always vote for. Of course there’s an antipathy towards the national government and that’s always been the case, but the fact that don’t really take much notice of locally made decisions is evident.Khan put his precept up by 8.6 percent this year. That’s despite of his failure to recruit more police (with government money) and his abject failure to control spending on TfL (gimmicks like Friday fares and £30m pay settlements for Tube staff are just two recent examples).What’s obvious is how Labour mobilised its canvassers to persuade floating voters on the doorstep. The Tories hid themselves away. Strangely, one never encounters Labour councillors doing anything useful in our area.

Simon Hayes ● 78d

If true it would indicate an innate trust in the party among a large part of the community which will have been well earned. Sadiq Khan may well be benefitting from it but the numbers suggest the support for Labour has broadened over his first two terms and he deserves some credit for that. It is vanishingly rare that a politician gets an increased majority for a third term no matter what other forces were at play.

Mark Evans ● 78d

I would put forward that Labour, FAR more than any other party, has a vast army of entrenched, zombie supporters who neither know nor care about the candidate/issues/whatever, “I ALWAYS Vote Labour!”, they would happily vote for a donkey as long as it was wearing a red rosette.Hardly a ringing endorsement of Khan IMHO.

Rosco White ● 78d

I wouldn't say that statistics are my strong point but I do have a basic grasp of them. Obviously if you start with a higher base you won't get as big a swing and if Sadiq Khan was to do what you seem to think he had to to make par he would have needed 67% of the vote.Khan didn't get clobbered in outer London. Although he lost the vote in Ealing & Hillingdon he did so last time with a similar share of the vote. The previous Tory candidate for the South West constituency has highlighted what an error it was to believe that banging the drum on ULEZ was. Even I recognise it is a flawed scheme but perhaps the electorate is more sophisticated than you give them credit for and they are aware that it was originated by a Conservative Mayor and expansion was assumed in the funding given by the Department of Transport to TfL so who exactly is to blame for it is ambiguous.

Mark Evans ● 78d

Statistics not your strong point. The national swing to Labour since the previous mayoral election in 2021 was 30 points, the swing to Khan was 6 points. You can speculate about Reform voters switching to Conservative just as anyone else could speculate about Green and Lib Dems switching to Khan. Khan got clobbered in outer London where the ULEZ expansion moved opinion but inside the North and South Circular it didn't matter and so people tended to vote based on national views.

Vlod Barchuk ● 78d

You are still clutching at straws here. Obviously most people didn't think he was doing a good job because most people didn't vote for him but, as at the previous two elections he was the candidate that the highest proportion of people thought would do the best job by a wide margin.He hasn't underperformed Labour massively nationally, his vote share is almost the same as the latest polling for Labour at 44% or well ahead of the figures used earlier this week based on the election results with Labour at 35%. His margin of victory was smaller because this was a two horse race and those that wanted him out had one option so unlike in national polls more Reform voters backed the Tories.Like it or not a candidate elected for a third time with a record majority has succeeded personally.

Mark Evans ● 78d

Polls showed that even though Khan was the preferred Mayoral candidate, most people thought he was not doing a good job. There's no mystery to the Mayoral result, it reflects national voting preference (as do most local elections). In 2021, Khan was 5 points ahead of Bailey on first preference votes when the Tories led Labour by 5 points nationally. Now, Labour are about 20 points ahead of the Tories and yet Khan beat Hall by 11 points. Khan massively underperformed Labour nationally.

Vlod Barchuk ● 78d

Not sure whether to be impressed or amused by the claims that a Mayor winning a third term by his highest ever margin is somehow deeply unpopular with Londoners.The energy put into trying to make knife crime a key issue in this election appears to have been entirely wasted. Sadiq Khan has increased the proportion of the GLA budget spent on crime and policing to its highest ever level to compensate for reduced central government funding for the Met. Nobody believes knife crime is a good thing but any rational person sees that it is a complex issue and, if they are willing to research the facts, they will see that the Mayor has been working very hard to do what he can to reduce it. The fact that he has failed is not good but every other part of the UK has seen rising knife crime in the same period.As for the 'tribal' nature of London voting, we all know what you are saying here so no need to be too coy. If you look at the actual data, it is indeed true that in 2012 the majority of white Londoners did not vote for Ken Livingstone. This has changed since Sadiq Khan became Mayor and he outpolled Zac Goldsmith among white Londoners according to You Gov and the trend increased when he was up against Shaun Bailey. We don't have analysis for the latest election but given the increase in his majority it can be assumed that the gap over the Tories has widened even further.If you add to this that the Greens and Lib Dems support Sadiq Khan in the London Assembly and under the old system he would have received most of these votes as a second preference he has been given a massive endorsement by Londoners. You may believe that this is because people who live in this city are less intelligent than you but personally I find this line of thinking profoundly unconvincing.

Mark Evans ● 78d

'Trumpian', oh dear, the laziest insult lefties can throw at anyone right wing at present. Let's re-visit Susan Hall's words at the Conservative Party Conference, shortly before the Hamas pogrom on 7 October:"I will ask for as much help as I can get in London because we need to defeat him," she said of her opponent, adding: "Particularly for our Jewish community."Given the blind eye turned to anti semitism in the last six months by the Met (politically accountable to Sadiq Khan) and Khan having to apologise to the Chief Rabbi after suggesting his criticism of Khan was because the Mayor was a Muslim, I'd say Hall's remarks were bang on the money.

Vlod Barchuk ● 79d

Judging by the Hall and Reform vote, they're clearly not.

Kevin Wilson ● 80d

"one individual saying he hoped Khan would bring down interest rates!" ......... sums up the majority of his voters perfectly.

Rosco White ● 80d

Very difficult for an independent to get broad enough appeal. People often vote tribally, with the relatively small proportion of floating voters swinging the result. It was evident that a fair few voters didn’t really understand what his powers are, one individual saying he hoped Khan would bring down interest rates!Ironic that Hall’s campaign was negative, considering Khan’s literature was largely based on keeping a Tory out of City Hall. His record is appalling, though a certain small tranche think he’s great. His policies have already made it almost impossible for tradespeople to get round London quickly and efficiently, with a knock in effect for customers.Crime is an ongoing and escalating issue. Not just knife crime but burglary and theft is on the rise. Khan won’t be able to keep his promise to recruit 1300 police officers, he could barely get any last time he tried, even with £100m from the government to do so. He had to return £90m of that pot a month ago.London doesn’t really need a mayor. Too much power in one individual and very little accountability. Mayor question time is a farce, with Khan denying knowledge of projects he instigated and then simply attacking his questioners when rattled.

Simon Hayes ● 80d

Ignoring the drivel about left and right wing,we need someone who is not in the pocket of interest groups with divisive agendas,which we tend to get from the main parties.How about an independent who has a mind of their own?

Keith Iddon ● 80d

"he has made London a terrible place is something that Londoners will recognise is not true."Increasing knife crime? Which the twat, with a straight face, denies."If the Conservatives drift further to the right, this will be completely out of step with the views of the average Londoner."Totally disagree with that, Londoners are desperate for a bit of Right Wing Law & Order.

Rosco White ● 80d

Can't believe I'm saying this but there is a very good article in the Spectator which a poster on the Chiswick forum referred me to. It is by Nick Rogers who was the previous Conservative Assembly Member for the South West constituency.He is obviously no fan of Sadiq Khan but he points out that basing a campaign on the idea that he has made London a terrible place is something that Londoners will recognise is not true. Susan Hall insulted the intelligence of the electorate by trying to pretend that issues like knife crime and tranport weren't complex while offering no positive vision for the future of London.If the Conservatives drift further to the right, this will be completely out of step with the views of the average Londoner. We have already seen in Ealing that the Lib Dems have become the main opposition and the party took their first Assembly Constituency seat so they are starting to become the obvious choice from those on the centre right who can no longer stomach voting for the Tories.

Mark Evans ● 80d

Better alternatives might enthuse and encourage a better turnout.

Philippa Bond ● 81d

& there ladies & gentlemen, lies the whole trouble.Blinkered, tunnel visioned, poisoned views, based on nothing factual &blatant lies

Peter Yale ● 81d

That's not what happened.There were fight right people there.He tried to help the guy that asked him about ULEZ but was heckled by...

Paul James ● 81d

As I have said on the Acton Forum, the turkeys keep voting for Christmas!   

Rosco White ● 81d

Some of us will remember when Khan graced us with his presence last year. Anyone who held a different point of view to him was automatically labelled far right. I think that indicates the level of his thinking. In the same way he described his mandate as record support despite only 17.7% endorsing it.

Bettina Margaret Thwaite ● 81d

Susan Hall's comments about Sadiq are disgraceful. Her comments about him and the Jewish community showed her Trumpist lying attitude. Yes London has a problem with knives and other crime but it doesnt help when the government decide to slash the budget of the metropolitan police by so much. Sadiq unlike the other big mayors has been a constant hostage of this government. The big decisions are never his but the blame is. at least londoners in the mail can see this. ULEZ was imposed in order that the government would subsidise TFL over COVID. So look at the budget cuts over his time in office to the Police. Over £850 million of cuts demanded by government since 2010. So together with the privatisation of forensics and probation we have seen the the criminal justice system gutted. I do have some criticism of Sadiq but only that perhaps he could have been bolder and more creative in creating more homes.

Peter Chadburn ● 81d

I'm always keen to stay informed about the issues that matter most to the people of this great Borough. Which is why I was astonished to discover that the Ealing Today News Website, a publication that serves the vibrant community of Ealing, appears to have a glaring omission in its coverage.I've searched high and low, but I couldn't find a single article, update, or even a whisper of election coverage on the website. Not a mention of the crucial issues that are shaping the future of Ealing, nor a whisper of the candidates vying for the votes of the good people of Ealing.I must confess, I'm not alone in my curiosity. I've spoken to numerous constituents who are equally perplexed by this glaring lack of coverage. They, like me, are eager to stay informed about the electoral process and the choices that will shape their community.So, I must ask: what is the reason behind this remarkable oversight? Is it a deliberate omission, or simply an oversight? I, for one, would love to know why the Ealing Today News Website has chosen to ignore the most critical democratic process of our time.I implore the editors of the Ealing Today News Website to enlighten us: what is the reason behind this lack of election coverage? The people of Ealing deserve to know, and I, for one, am eager to hear the explanation.

Lou Hill ● 82d

".....shit rises to the top."Ain't that the truth, with ALL the Parties.

Rosco White ● 82d

Yes it does but they get lost in the selction process where, as has been proven by the 'quality' of candidates in general, shit rises to the top.

N V Brooks ● 82d

"SHOCKING SILENCE: Ealing News Website Goes Dark on Election Coverage - Has Tragedy Struck?Concerned citizens are demanding answers after a usually reliable source of local news, the Ealing Today news website, has mysteriously failed to provide ANY coverage of the recent elections. The eerie silence has sparked whispers of a possible tragedy, leaving readers wondering: Has someone at the heart of the operation fallen ill or, heaven forbid, passed away?We ask the question on everyone's lips: What's behind the deafening silence from this once-trusted source? Has the team been struck by personal tragedy, or is something more sinister at play?One thing is certain, the people of Ealing deserve answers and transparency from those who claim to serve them. We demand to know: What's going on, Ealing News?"

Eric Lipowski ● 82d

>is such a shame the tories didn't put up a decent candidate.Such a thing exists?

Paul James ● 82d

In the eight years he has been mayor,what has improved?Fewer buses,no police anywhere to be seen,more knife crime and violence onthe streets,business suffering because of ulez expansion,which was not in his manifesto last time.He is a poor public speaker and appeals mostly to those with vested interests in keeping him in power,although that is not unusual in politics.He has had his chance and failed imo.It is such a shame the tories didn't put up a decent candidate.

Keith Iddon ● 82d

Advisable not to type when pissed.

David Burke ● 82d

There is no truth in what you say, just downright offensiveness. Nothing new in that

Simon Bell ● 82d

Burke and James, the Morecombe and Wise on this forum.What thick people don’t realise is that  Sadiq Khan can’t recruit police. He had a £100m pot from the government last year but so dismally failed to entice baby LBE to join the Met he had to hss as bf £91m back.To underline the twisted priorities of the likes of Burke and James, 18 stabbing deaths last year. Seven cyclists killed. Any death is sad but the idea that Being on a bike makes you somehow more important is plain stupid.

Simon Hayes ● 83d

You geddit Mr Yale........

Rosco White ● 83d

It’s simple facts, knife crime, homicide - however they phrase it now, is through the roof.These murdering scum, quite often out of their heads on drugs, claim mental health. Manage to buy this crap while not working & when they randomly attack with intent to kill, are well enough to destroy evidence, hide things & go no comment.khan is anti police & wants drugs legalised.London is lost

Peter Yale ● 83d

Yeah. Probably shouldn't have responded. Ho hum.

Paul James ● 83d

It's click bait they've got nothing left.

David Burke ● 83d

Hit a nerve have I?The truth hurts.

Rosco White ● 83d

That's a f**cking horrible thing to say really isn't it? Where has your humanity gone?

Paul James ● 83d