London Mayoral Election

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/14/sadiq-khan-thames-garden-bridge-boris-johnson-mayor-london

Sadiq Khan looking at the way Boris fiddled the procurement process for his friends.
I hope it gets stopped. That money would be better going into housing.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/11/muslim-cleric-suliman-gani-sues-michael-fallon-claim-he-backed-isis

Yes, but it is so outdatedand unfair, so is the large representation of CofE in the Lords. Prince Charles has said it very clearly, and CofE Archbishops too.
How crazy that 'the Faith' doesn't even include other Christians in this day and age- aand still explicitly exclude Catholics as the enemies of the State. I thought the First Elisabeth had got that sorted out a VERY long time ago.

I suppose the monarch must be a Christian Protestant as Head of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.
It would be difficult to fulfill that role if he/she were not.

A British friend btw.

It looks like it to me. Look at Jalima's link.
Just imagine how much more damage Boris could have done if it hadn't controlled him.
Will the new London bridge still be built, does anyone know?

Now here is a post a friend sent to me today- out of interest:

"A CHRISTIAN COULD NEVER BE ELECTED MAYOR IN A MUSLIM CITY!"

Since Sadiq Khan's election as Mayor of London, many people seem to be suggesting that no Muslim city would ever be open-minded enough to elect a Christian as mayor.

So, in the interests of accuracy, and because FACTS ARE OUR FRIENDS, I present a list of some of the many Christians who have done just what Mr Khan has done - been elected to high office in Muslim countries where they are a religious minority:

* In 2005 Alees Salman became the first Christian and first woman to chair Bahrain's upper house of Parliament. Bahrain is 70% Muslim.

* Pakistan currently has a Christian minister of ports and shipping, Kamran Michael. Pakistan is 96.4% Muslim.

* The Turkish city of Mardin recently elected its first female Christian mayor, Februniye Akyol. Turkey is 96.5% Muslim.

* Boutros Boutros Ghali, a coptic Christian and former head of the UN, was Egypt's Foreign Minister for 14 years. Egypt is 90% Muslim.

* The capital of the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia, has a Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaya Purnama. Indonesia is 87.2% Muslim.

* Senegal had a Catholic president, Léopold Sédar Senghor, for 20 years. Senegal is 92% Muslim.

* Lebanon had a Christian president, Michel Suleiman, from 2008-2014. Lebanon is 54% Muslim.

* The mayor of Ramallah, the capital of Palestine, is Janet Mikhail, a Roman Catholic (thanks to Jason Faulkner for that one!).

******* BONUS ROUND!!!! *******

In Iran, five seats in parliament are reserved for recognised religious minorities - one for a Jew, two for Christians and two for Zoroastrians. That's right - Iran has to have a Jewish MP by law. They don't teach you THAT at Bigot School.

_________________________________

It is fantastic that London has resisted the tide of Islamophobia sweeping our culture to elect a mayor based on his policies and personal qualities, but let's not pretend that 'western' countries are the only places where religious minorities can be elected to office.

On the other hand, it would be irresponsible to suggest that no countries have restrictions on the religion of those who occupy public office. Some countries have laws explicitly stating that the Head of State must belong to one particular religion, a form of religious bigotry that is unacceptable in the 21st century.

One such country is Britain, where the law states that the monarch must be a Christian Protestant.

Thanks. I understand now. Does the London Assembly have any real power?

The London Assembly is London wide, daphne.
That's the one that holds the Mayor to account.
There are two different sorts of assembly members, some voted on by area, and others by party lists.

We had 3/4 votes last Thursday - 2 for the mayor ( 1st and 2nd preference), 1 vote for the London Assembly which is a sort of London - wide council which the mayor is answerable to, sits at city hall, and one for our local council, all on different coloured papers. All a bit confusing. 4 councils in London also have elected mayors, including the one I live in, separate elections - a complete waste of time - I did go to City Hall once when Ken was there it was a hoot, there was some big event going on outside . Goodness knows how anything got done it was Hilarious.

So there's no all-London political body? Have I got that right?

I live in a shire county and I would imagine the system is similar in other similar counties.

We have either two or three tier local government.

The County Council is the biggest. The county is divided into different areas and we vote for our County Councillor. Nearly all of them are Conservatives, because it's a first past the post system. They don't poll the majority of votes, so the majority of people are unrepresented. They decide the cabinet positions and leader amongst themselves.

Then we have Borough Councils or District Councils. It's still first past the post, but the wards are smaller and so there is a greater diversity of councillors. Again the cabinet and leader are decided by the majority party although they're a bit more democratic about handing out working party leads.

Borough Councils don't have Parish or Town Councils, but the District Councils do. I live in a town, so we have a Town Council, which at the moment is dominated by independents. We have a mayor, who is the most senior councillor, and is a ceremonial role. At the moment we have a female mayor (the first in her own right as mayor), who does a brilliant job, turning out in her full garb for all sorts of charity events.

There is much more democracy in the Parish and Town councils than in the District and County Councils, who seem very distant and unresponsive. As for the Chief Crime Person (or whatever he's called)...... ;-(

Assembly meetings are open to the public. Has anyone been to one?

Yes, I knew there was something else
www.london.gov.uk/about-us/london-assembly/about-london-assembly

it gets more complicated than ever.

I thought the votes for the London Assembly happened last Thursday as well. Three of the candidates for the mayor were elected.

Interesting daphnedil, the elections are in between the election for London Mayor:

www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/who-runs-london/london-elections/how-elections-work
There is a link to the elected mayoral system too

Oh dear, although we do have a laugh here, as it seems to be a case of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, they shuffle round and take turns being Mayor. We have a Labour one at the moment (just a small Council, not the County Council).

Can somebody in London enlighten me? Since the abolition of the GLC, is there any all-London body apart from the mayor?

Elected by voters, or chosen by their Council members as mayor?
And perhaps he should meet them all of whatever political party

We have a leader of the council and a cabinet system. The cabinet just seems like 'jobs for the boys'. Whichever party has a majority just shares out the jobs and awards themselves a not ungenerous allowance and expenses. The public and other council members aren't allowed into the meetings. You need a 'funny handshake' to join. The leader of the council is the chief bully boy. I'd rather have a mayor.

My dad was a bus driver as well. I get sick on buses, particularly if they go round lots of roundabouts.

Strangely enough, London has a lot of Labour elected mayors as well. I presume Khan will be meeting them today.

what they wear in the case of the ousted Bristol mayor, red trousers. I used to wonder if he only had the one pair of trousers.

I posted this on another thread, but it is more relevant to this thread:

Torbay is scrapping its elected mayoral system after a referendum - back to having a leader and cabinet system.
Common sense prevails!
Bath and NES voted no to an elected mayor in a referendum

Perhaps this is the beginning of the end of this ridiculous idea (and waste of taxpayer's money) which encourages personality cult over sensible decisions.

London may be different because it probably has the budget of a small country - but even so, the focus always seems to be on the mayor, which political party he or she is, what they wear, what they say, who they associate with, do they ride a bike, go on the Tube, dare to use a car etc etc, rather than a whole group of elected councillors and their leader getting down to work for the benefit of all those who live there.
I suppose Sadiq Khan will be expected to use the buses and criticised by some if he doesn't, his father having been a bus driver

It has become almost like a presidential position.

Ah, but durhamjen apparently knows that he 'did not think that the rest of the country's Labour mayors are important.' Never mind what he actually said...

Did he actually say something wrong or omit to say a word which would make what he said absolutely pedantically correct?

I do not understand. What Khan said was wrong.
What this man says is also wrong.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tory-tweets-criticism-of-sadiq-khans-jihadi-associates-and-their-infleunce-a7019521.html

He can be sued, I hope. Just like this woman was.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/09/suspended-snp-mp-natalie-mcgarry-pays-damages-over-holocaust-denier-twitter-row