Archive for category: Voices

  • Meet Stephen Knight, newly elected Lib Dem AM

    Big Smoke spoke to newly elected Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Stephen Knight about the election, the future and who he voted second preference for Mayor.   Congratulations on your election. What was the best part of the election campaign for you (apart from it being over!)? The declaration of the […]

     
  • Number crunching: the rise of the postal vote

    Over the last ten years there has been a steady rise in the number of voters casting their ballot by post. It was in 2001 that the law was changed introducing the right to vote by post on demand rather than, as previously, where the voter had to have a […]

     
  • Big Smoke interview: Andrew Boff

    We put our questions to the London Assembly Conservative group leader, Andrew Boff. Congratulations on being re-elected last week. How was the election for you? Tiring (when it stopped my husband suggested I volunteer to distribute pizza leaflets as pushing messages through letterboxes had become a tough habit to kick) […]

     
  • Becky Wright: How do we move from campaigning to organising?

    Becky Wright is the Director of the TUC’s Organising Academy which is responsible for the development and delivery of the TUC’s training programme for union organisers and officers. She regularly blogs on Stronger Unions (www.strongerunions.org)   The local elections are over, France and Greece have seen people vote for an alternative […]

     
  • Number crunching: Looking closer at the Green vote

    The Green Party achieved an incredible result on Thursday. In a city the size of London it is no mean feat for a minor party with just two councillors to come third place. Although Greens will be disappointed that both they and the Lib Dems have an equal number of […]

     
  • Number crunching: Was there a “Coleman effect” in Barnet and Camden?

    In Barnet and Camden local traders, campaigners and bloggers came together with a campaign to sack their Conservative Assembly Member Brian Coleman. The reasons for this are long and arduous but are essentially a combination of a reaction to Coleman’s generally boorish and offensive manner to his constituents, with a […]

     
  • How will the left vote in London?

    Gone are the days when lefties just voted Labour and got on with their lives. Today’s socialist about town has to actually do a bit of thinking when deciding how to vote. In London’s elections it gets even more complicated because you have four votes on three  ballot papers and, […]

     
  • Shock as Green candidate found to be greenest candidate

    Most of the major candidates in the London poll may be the same as 2008, but this election has been different in a few ways this time around. The most striking difference is that specific environmental issues such as cycling and air pollution have risen spectacularly up the political agenda, […]

     
  • Alex Hilton: Why I’m voting Siobhan Benita

    In third of our series on how Londoners are voting Alex Hilton explains why he’s giving his support to independent candidate Siobhan Benita.   Having been a Labour Party member for 21 years, twice a parliamentary candidate and for four years a London Councillor, I have to admit it’s a […]

     
  • Elliot Folan: Why I’m voting Jen then Ken

    In the second in our short series on how Londoners are using their second preferences Elliot Folan (pictured with Ken Livignstone) explains why he’s voting for Ken Livingstone, after the Greens’ Jenny Jones.   So, on May 3 Londoners will have a field of 7 candidates to choose between. Of […]