Mayor Mare

Blimey, I am getting very wobbly about tomorrow's Mayoral election. The result feels like a mystery, wrapped up in an enigma, locked in a riddle at the bottom of Rupert Lewis's wallet. Deep, dark and very, very hard to penetrate.

Ken's polling is OK given the drubbing the Labour Party has had over the last few months. Our poll of polls (conducted at work) put Boris on about 43% and Ken on 40%. With a margin of error of about 3% this would make the result anyone's. On the other hand Ken is notorious at polling under the pundits' predictions. Last time out he came in at about 36%, although the turnout there was a factor.

The whole thing will stand and fall on two things: the weather (which impacts the "can't be bothered" faction - more likely to be Labour than the crazy-eyed Tory zealots desperate to ruin the city, eh Rupes? EH?) and the second preferences. If enough Lib Dems and Greens pick Ken he could just make it back.

What's awful is the "Boris is a right larf" mentality knocking around town at the moment. Charlie Brooker gets it spot on. Anyone that watched Question Time last week and thought that Boris had a grip of the issues and didn't have Lynton Crosby's hand up his back, wants locking up (IMHO).

Come on now. Be sensible. Vote Ken!

Hail to the geek

Stratford Town Hall. Now there's a grand Victorian building. I was there last night at a Labour fundraiser for Ken Livingstone's Mayoral campaign.

There is one fundamental reason why Ken should win this election. He loves the job. He's a total nerd about London and he revels in the minutiae of City Hall politics. There's no way Boris would sit through the interminable meetings that Ken does. Or make politically unpopular decisions that ultimately change the way this city works for the better.

We need Ken, the thick-skinned policy geek. The man that takes on the Evening Standard. The radical. The lover of London.