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London elections - how will you vote?

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    #26
    London elections - how will you vote?

    Glad there's one less person in the world who thinks a racist old Etonian should be running London.

    There were some folk outside Archway tube today leafletting for newt-keeping egomaniac shagboy - I said "shame you're up against all those dicks handing out the free papers, who are effectively leafletting for the opposition". Bloke said "ahahahahahahaha", looked nervous. He was a posh kid, bit scared by scruffy dissolute man talking in London accent, I think. Ironically enough.

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      #27
      London elections - how will you vote?

      For some reason, I've just remembered this. Ken should use it for his campaign.

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        #28
        London elections - how will you vote?

        1st choice: [not Johnson]
        2nd choice: Livingstone
        Constituency: probably none
        List: probably none

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          #29
          London elections - how will you vote?

          a racist old Etonian
          I don't see why an old Etonian shouldn't be considered for the position on merit like anyone else frankly.

          As for the "racist" epithet, which numerous OTFers trot out in relation to him in a tediously repetitive and utterly unsubstantiated fashion, I have seldom felt more cynical about any view expressed on OTF. If he is so "racist", why the hell are neither the liberal media nor any of his political opponents saying anything about that? Can we please have some debate founded on hard evidence and rational analysis rather than tribalist hatred and totally unsubstantiated character assassination?

          Personally I'm voting against Johnson because his stated policies and views are massively backward on environmental topics. Certainly not because of the number of posters on here who trot out the word "racist" in relation to him with such frequency that it is danger of acquiring legitimacy by dint of sheer familiarity, without a single meaningful shred of evidence having been provided.

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            #30
            London elections - how will you vote?

            As Lyra.

            Isn't piccaninnie a racist term any more? When did it become acceptable?

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              #31
              London elections - how will you vote?

              Carcass, I've no idea what the connotations of that word are. I don't think I've ever previously heard anybody use it, ever, so I'm not best placed to judge its implications either generally or in whatever specific context it may have been used by Johnson.

              But as I guess your reply is supposed to be some kind of counter to my complaint about the unsubstantiated nature of the allegation against Johnson, perhaps you or somebody else could post some link to some authoriative account of when, how, in what circumstances and with what apparent intent Johnson used the word. Am I to conclude that the permanent assessment amongst the OTF majority of Johnson as a "racist" is based on a single recorded use by him of a rare word, in circumstances so obscure that the only accounts of it which my google search picked up are references in discussion on a few obscure message boards? It'd take rather clearer evidence than that to persuade me that somebody was unfit to be mayor of London.

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                #32
                London elections - how will you vote?

                Lord Mauleverer wrote:
                ... perhaps you or somebody else could post some link to some authoriative account of when, how, in what circumstances and with what apparent intent Johnson used the word.
                Those circumstances so obscure again.

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                  #33
                  London elections - how will you vote?

                  Berry then Livingstone, incidentally.

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                    #34
                    London elections - how will you vote?

                    Berry first, without a doubt. As for the seond vote, I have a nasty feeling that it's going to have to go to Livingstone. There's a very real danger that in doing so I'll actually vomit all over the paper and thus spoil my ballot. Now I know how French people felt during the Chirac/Le Pen runoff.

                    What was it he said after the de Menezes Health & Safety verdict? "this will make the fight against terrorism more difficult", or something very similar. The only thing that makes me feel more sick than giving him even qualified approval is the thought of that fucking venomous slob Johnson ("watermelon smiles" for fuck's sake) being seen by non-Londoners as in any way my representative or spokesman.

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                      #35
                      London elections - how will you vote?

                      The picaninny (It is also spelled pickaninny and piccaninny) was the dominant racial caricature of Black children for most of this country's history. They were "child coons," miniature versions of Stepin Fetchit. Picaninnies had bulging eyes, unkempt hair, red lips, and wide mouths into which they stuffed huge slices of watermelon. They were themselves tasty morsels for alligators. They were routinely shown on postcards, posters, and other ephemera being chased or eaten. Picaninnies were portrayed as nameless, shiftless natural buffoons running from alligators and toward fried chicken.

                      Source: Dr. David Pilgrim, Professor of Sociology
                      Ferris State University

                      She was one of the blackest of her race; and her round, shining eyes, glittering as glass beads, moved with quick and restless glances over everything in the room. Her mouth half open with astonishment at the wonders of the new Mas'r's parlor, displayed a white and brilliant set of teeth. Her woolly hair was braided in sundry little tails, which stuck out in every direction. The expression of her face was an odd mixture of shrewdness and cunning, over which was oddly drawn, like a veil, an expression of the most doleful gravity and solemnity. She was dressed in a single filthy, ragged garment, made of bagging; and stood with her hands demurely folded in front of her. Altogether, there was something odd and goblin-like about her appearance -- something as Miss Ophelia afterwards said, "so heathenish..."

                      And Boris is well aware of what the word means. He's also referred to the watermelon smiles of black people before. This is racism 101 stuff. Only a simpleton or disingenuous wanker would think otherwise.

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                        #36
                        London elections - how will you vote?

                        Thanks for posting that link, Wyatt, it makes things quite a bit clearer. I was, needless to say, totally unaware of the existence of that Telegraph article, which I agree is pretty appalling. I find it odd that, as I noted above, none of the main candidates' campaigns are making anything of the issue, and the commentary on Johnson in the Guardian also doesn't consider it worthy of mention (or at least not frequently enough for it to come to my notice from irregular Guardian reading).

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                          #37
                          London elections - how will you vote?

                          I don't think it's that surprising. Papers like The Guardian only ever offer very qualified mealy-mouthed support to candidates (not that that's particularly a bad thing), which can't be said of other papers.

                          In fact, in many respects, despite all Livingstone's compromises and flaws, there's been much about how this elections' been covered that's a complete throwback to the 80s and early 90s: Most of the tabloids (plus London's only paid-for daily) lining up to vehemently demonise a Labour candidate and not remotely cover their pro-Tory bias, versus only limp pro-Lab backing in reply from a couple of other papers. Veronica Wadley's clearly angling for her "It's the Standard wot won it" moment. It's worth pulling out all the stops to deny her it.

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                            #38
                            London elections - how will you vote?

                            It's been mentioned at both the hustings I've done. As E10 says, I'm not surprised it's not been covered in banner headlines in the media.

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