John Harris in The Guardian: A comfy consensus has been reached on the merits of elected Mayors, despite an absence of any real debate on the issue.
For all the claims that mayoral contests can weaken the grip of party bureaucracies, it’s probably also traceable to the fact the usual machines remain very powerful.
ideally positioned to lead local economic revivals, there is no evidence to this effect, nor any proof that mayors’ arrival on the political scene increases political engagement – indeed, if the narcissistic tedium that currently grips the London contest is anything to go by, sooner or later you may well get the opposite.
Note also that contrary to all those claims that elected mayors are ideally positioned to lead local economic revivals, there is no evidence to this effect, nor any proof that mayors’ arrival on the political scene increases political engagement – indeed, if the narcissistic tedium that currently grips the London contest is anything to go by, sooner or later you may well get the opposite.
By contrast, look at Manchester, whose spectacular regeneration has been accomplished with the leadership of a boring old traditional city council, and where plenty of local opinion is completely bamboozled by the imposition of a mayoral referendum. “Structural change rarely does anything other than take time and energy away from more important things,” reckons its eminently successful leader, Richard Leese. “What is on offer at the moment does not – in any way, shape or form – help us with what we want to do.”
Three posts in two days! You’ll need a holiday, Councillor. I’m told that Cuba is very pleasant this time of the year, or North Korea has an exciting space launch to watch, and you could join in with the synchronised crying if it crashes back to earth like the last one. Oh, and the political prisons are five star, so I’m told.
Actually, Duffers, you’ll be pleased to know I’m planning a trip to Cambodia.
The posts are the product of being given a couple of days off for some Christian festival or other.
Bob; Looking at the drivel that Duffers has had the audacity to post in reply to your post on the upcoming referendum in Birmingham on wether to have a directly elected mayor or not; no comment on the mayoral vote just the usual snide remark that you expect from those spotty faced, snotty nosed 16 year old p****s that the tories put up on programmes like Question Time, inevitably spouting a bigger load of anti-union/Labour drivel than Duffers, if that’s at all humanly possible, not a supposedly mature 80?year old. All the time Iv’e been following your blog I don’t think he has made a sensible, serious mature comment from him. Gary, for all his boring incoherent babblings has made at least 1 or 2 sensible comments( no, don’t give him my email address, I’m not sure which was the most amusing, his incoherence or your narky responses) and if you had to delete one of them, for my money it would be Duffers, hands down.
Squeaky bum time for Birminghams 2nd team Bob, like I said the other week, I can see you at Elland Rd next season; while I’ll be expecting Neil Warnock to work his usual sporting guile to get us back where we belong, back in the Premier League, delayed by at least 2 seasons by that useless p***k “Larry” Grayson; watch Huddersfield rue the day they set him on. While I know your’e busy with canvassing over the next couple of weeks I thought you may have found time to congratulate the magnificent Famous Glasgow Celtic over the way they destroyed Kilmarnock, with a scintillating performance, the way football should be played, and in the process clinched the league.
The difference is whilst I disagree with Duffers, I can at least understand what he is saying. Elsby writes meaningless drivel motivated by a personal grudge instead of any political coherence. It is just boring, and it seems even you are unwilling to have a dialogue with him, so don’t blame me.
I have said before, Warnock is ideally suited to manage Leeds. He is a cheat of the highest order (remember his attempt to get a Sheffield United game abandoned by deliberately getting players sent off) and his teams play the sort of kick and rush football which makes his appointment by dirty Leeds a marriage made in hell.
I don’t follow Scottish football, the Welsh League, nor the Blue Cross Southern League, or whatever they call non-league clubs these days. I bow to your greater knowledge of lower/non league football.
Bob; With regards to the article in the Guardian by John Harris, it was a 1st class article but it was a pity that you left out what I thought was equally the most important part, granted that it was a lengthy article and you possibly thought that you had got enough in your post for what your article needed. The comments that Harris made about the present Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies(father of ultra -Thatcherite Tory M.P.for Shipley, Peter? Davies) and only elected public office holder of the previously unheard of English Democrats; whose only memorable public utterances of any significance have been, to quote Harris “There’s no such thing as child poverty” and another remark about how we could all learn something about family values(that just about puts him on a par with that T**t and dinosaur, Duffers) from the Taliban, and Harris also gave a mention to Martin Winters the 1st directly elected Mayor in Doncaster, a New Labour whizzkid they found from somewhere in the backwoods of Caroline Flints constituency, who, in the New Labour traditional belief in democracy, refused to accept the agreement that he only stand for 2 terms and split with,and wrecked the Labour Group on Doncaster M.B.C. which, apart from disillusionment with the labour government and Gordon Brown led ultimately to the election of ” Chopper” Davies, and the Labour candidate Sandra Holland(presently Labour Group Leader on Doncster M.B.C. and clone and puppet of those 2 revolutionary socialists ,Rosie Winterton, M.P. for Doncaster Central, and Caroline Flint, M.P.for Don Valley) coming 3rd in the Mayoral election in 2009. So therefore Bob, I hope that this little potted history of what can happen in an election for a directly elected mayor can help in the campaign against a directly elected mayor in Englands 2nd city and all the other cities and towns that they are trying to foist directly elected mayors on. As you and Harris rightly state these mayors just take control of the council chambers away from the annually elected ward/borough councillors and replace control with the mayor and a clique of 5 or 6 councillors to run the council for 4 uninterrupted years. Another Blair/ New Labour modernising scheme. Btw what have you done with Gary? don’t tell me that you have Banned him.
Unusually, Gerald, very little to argue about there.
On the idiot Elsby I’ve just decided not to print the incoherent rubbish he writes. Other people were as bored as I was, but as I said before, if you enjoy him so much (or if any other reader is missing him) if you want I can send him your e-mail address and you can have a dialogue with the boring git yourself to your heart’s content, and spare us his nonsense.