London gets a new Mayor
May 3rd, 2008 | Posted by Pauline
I am not an expert on politics in England, but thought I would post a summary of the results from Thursday’s local election and some links to articles with more information.
The Labour Party, headed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, are currently in power (and do not have to have an election until 2010), but the local elections put Labour in 3rd place with 24% of the vote, after the Conservatives (44%) and the Liberal Democrats (25%). This is Labour’s worst local election results in 40 years and may signal a change in English politics.
Tony Blair brought the Labour Party into power in 1997. Gordon Brown took over the leadership in June last year. David Cameron is the leader of the Conservatives.
Read more on BBC News - Cameron hails Tory ‘big moment’
London gets a new Mayor
Boris Johnson (Conservative) beat the incumbent Mayor Ken Livingston (Labour) by just over 50% of the votes (of over 2 million total votes). Livingston, called “Red Ken”, was mayor since May 2000. This is going to be interesting to watch because Johnson is quite a controversial figure in England. I love that floppy hair!
Autolycus, who lives in London, posted his comments: Cripes!
Read more on BBC News - Johnson wins London mayoral race
Read more on BBC News - The Boris Johnson story
Read more on BBC News - BNP wins seat in London Assembly
Read more on the New York Times - Colorful Tory Beats Laborite to Become Mayor of London
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 - Podcast
The Friday Night Comedy show on Radio 4 broadcasts with “The Now Show” or ”The News Quiz”. Both are very funny shows with local comedians discussing the week’s news. The News Quiz, which we get on our iPod as a Podcast, is my current favorite thing on the radio (for now it has slightly beat out my devotion to Michael Feldman’s What do you Know? on NPR). Yesterday’s broadcast had some funny bits about the election.
The Friday Night Comedy is best appreciated if you listen to the daily BBC news - then you get all the jokes!
May 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Just discovered Cotswolder. It’s an enjoyable, well-written blog and travelogue - a rarity these days. And the garden photos are lovely. I’m really tempted to search for a Cotswold cottage for next April right now.
Congratulations on your new endeavor.