We are delighted to unveil our first patron, Cllr Merrick Cockell, Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, and Chairman of London Councils.
Cllr Cockell is a passionate advocate for London, representing its 33 boroughs to the Government and the GLA and developing policies on a range of issues designed to make life better for Londoners, such as the Freedom Pass and Taxicard transport schemes.
His role as Leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council puts him in direct contact with his constituents on a day to day basis, giving him a genuine understanding of the wide range of issues facing Londoners today.
Cllr Cockell well understands the challenges which London faces and we are delighted that he has agreed to both give us his backing and lend his considerable expertise to LondonSays.
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In the coming weeks we hope to announce our other patrons (who will balance us politically) and update the site to reflect our more formal structure. Stay tuned for more!
Today marks 100 days before the London elections.
Aside from the neat symbolism, and the mild sense of panic it evokes at LondonSays HQ, it is worth pointing out that there is a campaign running which helps you register to vote, LondonElects.
We urge everyone who hasn’t registered to do so - it’s a simple and painless process and allows you to have your say about the direction which you want London to take for the next four years.
Please, tell your friends, family and colleagues and make a difference on 1st May.
The latest briefing from ComRes has interesting data on the Mayoral Election, and Boris Johnson’s chances of unseating Ken Livingstone:
“At first sight, it seems quite straightforward – all Boris needs to do is close the gap between himself and Ken on the total tally of first and second preference votes…
“But all is not as it seems. In both the 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections, the Liberal Democrat candidate won more second preference votes than either of the other main party candidates.”
Clearly Brian Paddick’s influence on the race is going to be huge, and this explains the Mayor’s strategy of stating that there is little difference between their positions, attempting to hoover up those second preferences for himself. Boris’ strategy will surely be to appeal to Labour and Lib Dem voters alike to retain a realistic chance of winning their second preferences and squeaking past Ken in the final count.
The battle for this middle ground highlights how crucial fresh and exciting thinking will be for the candidates to display their viability to the electorate. As the document states, there is an appetite for “the ‘time for a change’ slogan after two terms and eight years of Ken as Mayor” amongst the electorate.
The mantle of ‘change’ is open to any of the candidates, but it will require decent and thoughtful policies to convince the electorate that the race for it is more than just talk.
You can find the full document here, (pages 5 - 7).
Whilst we work away, attempting to secure the patrons whose standing will (hopefully) allow us to approach the calibre of authors that we want for our first project, we have been thinking long and hard about the issues which we want to cover in that publication.
These should be issues which affect all Londoners, both directly and indirectly, from when they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night: the issues which define their lives.
Below is the list we have compiled so far. Have we missed anything out? Are there any topics that you’d like to see added to the rota?
The Met || Crime || Transport || Olympics || Sustainability || Community Cohesion || the Arts || Green Spaces || Political Involvement || Charities || Environment || The City || Small Business || Health || Housing || Homelessness
If there’s something that you’d like to see here, get in touch.
After the holiday break, LondonSays is now engaged in the process of drawing patrons to our project.
These patrons (we’re aiming for two or three) should be public figures, respected in London, and people whose presence lends us the credibility we need to approach other respected figures to come and help us out on our policy papers.
At the moment we’re in something of a Catch-22 situation - without a body of work we expect to find it difficult to convince the patrons we want to join us on our quest, however, without patrons getting that body of work together will be even more difficult.
Consequently we have to use all our powers of persuasion to get our passion for this project across - and believe me, we are passionate about London.
