(no subject)

[naath]

Today the Americans are voting. So the interwubs are all American Elections all the time; also if I were a betting person I would put money on BBC News 24 being all American Election when I get to the gym (geee, that'll be so fun. Maybe I'll watch Pointless instead).

Next week I get to vote on our Police and Crime Commissioner (he's going to commission crime? and btw it will be a 'he' 'cos all the candidates are men). I'm not sure who I want to vote for although I think I do want to actually vote in order to vote against the frightful fascists from the English Democrats and UKIP. We have two independents who might be decent (but I've heard nothing from them!) one of whom is on the Police Authority at the moment (actual experience!) the LDs have an ex-councilor, Labour a current councilor (does he have to quit that to be PCC?) not sure that a very political person is the best choice.

I thought we had a Loony; but apparently we don't. Sad. 'cos I'd totally have voted for them first.

Of course I could spoil my ballot, which would more accurately express how much I feel this whole thing is a REALLY STUPID IDEA. But I worry about what the EDL would do with the job.

Comments

[pseudomonas]

The OMRLP are actually a bit worrying, in terms of being the sort of people who complain about "political correctness" &c.

[naath]

Yes, rather irritating really.

They've even had some genuinely good policies sometimes.

[liv]

My sympathies. I've got a couple of career politicians, a Con man who wants to be tough on crime and "efficient" on money management, and a Lab woman who wants to spend more money on policing and get more bobbies on the beat. Basically I am pretty certain she will win, given the area, and I suppose I slightly favour her of the two anyway, (Con for policing seems like a bad plan) though really I do not like voting Lab as the least-bad option. Nobody I might positively favour, no Liberals, no independents, nobody with police experience, nobody with actual policies rather than vague sound-bites. Though on the positive side, no fascists, so I could live with myself if I spoil the ballot or even (horrors!) don't vote.

[kaberett]

I am actively anti voting in the LD candidate and will make a flocked post about it shortly.

[naath]

I know sod all about the guy, so your more informed opinion is sure to be interesting.

[simont]

he's going to commission crime?

Hmm. If he's going to commission both police and crime, there's surely only one explanation: he's going to put on a Punch and Judy show!

We have two independents who might be decent

I note in particular that, among the election statements on http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk, Farooq Mohammed's is the only one in which I can see any mention at all of holding the police to account for their actions. Everyone else wants to make the police bigger and/or more efficient and/or more powerful, but only Mohammed is suggesting the least hint of also making sure they don't abuse their power.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Good point. I hadn't spotted that.

[chess]

Yeah, Farooq is looking like my second preference at the moment, although I know basically zero things about him other than his election statement.

[chess]

I thought it was the Labour dude who was on the Police Authority previously? I can't see it in the statement for either of the independents (one of which comprehensively lost my vote by listing 'family man' as a qualification for the position).

There was a Loony in the advance leaks that the Guardian published but not on the official http://www.choosemypcc.org.uk/ site, alas.

The LD candidate has experience in actual _commissioning_ for the police service (i.e. working out who gets what slice of the budget, as far as I can tell), but mostly on the IT side. But I'm biased.

The Labour candidate dropped some literature which made me feel better about him (he's also taking the anti-G4S angle) but still seems a bit fond of 'tough on crime' and 'victim rights' rather than the LD line of 'let us try the thing where we rehabilitate first time offenders, which actually works'.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Ansar Ali was on the Police Authority says http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19511791

[chess]

Ah, he was the 'family man' :-)

Reading the BBC article makes me disfavour the Labour guy even more - he seems very much like he wants to use the position to score points for Labour against the current govt rather than to do the best job.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

Strongly, strongly request that people do not vote for the LD candidate on the grounds of my personal interactions with him. And I say this as someone very keen to spend significant amounts of time on Julian Huppert's reelection campaign, if it happens, for which I am crossing my fingers.

[chess]

Can you elaborate? I don't know the guy at all and would like to know and spread the word if there is something wrong there... but 'a friend of a friend said he was a bad egg' isn't a very strong message...

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

Have written detailed post under access-lock on my own LJ; will add you so's you can read it (don't totally feel up to c/ping).

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Sadly I know far too little of the candidates in this area to form an opinion. Only one has put a leaflet through the door, and he is not an independent.

It is so difficult to know enough about candidates for anything that it seems to me difficult to make adequate use of the democratic process, if that makes sense. Maybe in theory electing someone for this role make sense, but what they say and what they do are often different, so that choosing on the basis of leaflets and stated policies seems to me not excellent.

BTW what is fascist about not liking being governed by the EU Commission - which cannot be said to be democratically responsive, or indeed democratically chosen?

[naath.livejournal.com]

Oh, but the anti-EU parties have *other positions* than not wanting to be governed from Brussels. Like wanting to throw all the Polish people out an' stuff; in this election they seem to be very keen on the hanging and flogging approach to policing.

Oh and I love the EU, bless its little cotton socks, but (yes) it is flawed and needs a lot of improvement and MOAR DEMOCRACY PLEASE yesyes.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

We've got a similar selection here in Kent - 2 independents (one of whom has been a Mayor and was at one point a LD, one of whom chairs the Police Committee doodah thing at the moment (and has been accused of massaging crime figures - but at least Kent hasn't broken entirely under her control previously)), a Conservative who's previously run for UKIP in European-related roles and used to be my local councillor (I did not vote for him), an English Demoncrats chap who believes the solution to crime in Kent is to send the criminals to somewhere else in the UK (Scotland, then close the border??) and a Labour person who hasn't even filled in her profile on one of the main election-related websites. I'm not thrilled by any of the candidates, but at least we have 2 independents who seem to actually campaign a little bit, and so a few options for opposing the scary loony.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

I mainly used to watch MTV at the gym. Some of this modern mainstream music isn't that bad. Though I've had to slack off lately, so I'm back to being out of touch...