Bringing out the vote

It feels exhilirating to be really involved.
Tuesday night I ended up at a major hustings for the black community in Cricklewood. We had a good turnout already outside the venue when I arrived soon after 8:15. Now the previous "Left List" people I had met had been very friendly. They were mainly young people under 25 and we entered into a bit of friendly banter as we fought to make sure guests got both leaflets. This bunch of left list supporters were the wizzened and embittered old (almost elderly) guard and there was nothing friendly about them. From the moment that I put my shirt on, I had them barracking me and telling me I was a war monger, a racist, an imperialist. Now I am definitely willing to have an open debate, to put arguments, to debate. But to be shouted down, before I have said anything and to be called a racist was too much. Right there and then I accessed the campaigning voice that I have been developing for several weeks on the street and I took them on at their own volume. Who were they to call me a racist? After I had pummeled them into an ashamed corner, they started up again this time telling me (and the others) that we didn't care about the workers or the miner's during the strike in the 80's and that the current levels of poverty in the UK were the fault of the Conservative government in the 80s. This was almost too easy, who now contests that some tough decisions made by Thatcher have left the economic legacy that Labour have frittered away? There I was face to face with some unpleasant and angry socialists and they were talking about the 80s, that was the 20th century! I pointed this out, that they should live in the 21st century and deal with 21st century issues, particularly ones that deal with London. And I reminded them that the Conservative Party is committed to helping the weakest in society and alleviating poverty. And that is something that I will always strive to uphold. The new conservative party adopts this position, and it must always.
Wednesday, I needed to have a day off the campaign. I realised that I had been campaigning for the last 6 days, albeit 1 or 2 hours a day.
Thursday I covered Oxford Circus again and on the whole had a fairly positive reception and gave away a number of flyers. As the battle hots up it's important to get the messages out there, so now I am peppering my proclamantions with "let's vote for better transport, let's vote for safer streets, let's vote for more accountability in city hall". As well as the more directly accurate 'Let's get rid of Ken and his cronies, let's get rid of corruption in city hall'.
I recognised a few familiar faces amongst the crows, people who I had seen the previous week and one or two people who I had worked with over the years.
Again I had the same two smaller brained lefties, the girl who tore up the leaflets and threw it on the floor. How typical that a Ken supporter doesn't care about London and throws litter. The same guy who came past last week and told me to "F-off" came by and called me a C- this week. How charming and again indicative of the sort of people that support Ken. Bitter, bad mannered, yobs, amongst others. Again I challenged him to have a debate, but he ran away. Like all of Ken's supporters, they run away.
I still haven't seen any Ken leafleters other than at the hustings, but I know that if I did see them I would engage them in a debate, maybe start handing out my own flyers to try and disrupt them, but I would always treat them with respect and I would never dream of swearing at them.

I thinkit is a good sign that there are no Ken supporters handing out leaflets. I signed up as a supporter on his website and now I am getting invites to get involved. Amusingly my spam filter catergorised it as junk - who says computers aren't intelligent!
The invite was quite keen to get me leafleting for Ken, check it out!:
http://www.kenlivingstone.com/page/event/search_results?type=simple&orderby=zip_radius&zip_radius%5B0%5D=SW1H+0HA&zip_radius%5B1%5D=100&radius_unit=kilometers&country=GB

I'm going to keep an eye out for any that are meant to happen near me and then get along there and see who turns up. I'll definitely take my leaflets too.

Tonight, there is meant to be some Boris leafleting over West that I will join. I'll be canvassing locally on Saturday and back to Boris on Sunday for an hour or two.

Marathon, Edmonton and Oxford Curcus

We're getting very close to the election now, but it's good to know that there is a growing band of supporters right across the capital.
I was out at the Marathon on Sunday. I found a very good spot on Hungerford bridge that allowed me a good view of the runners on the embankment. I managed almost 2 hours in the pretty cold and windy weather, before it started really raining at 2pm and I had to head back home. I'm not a fair weather supporter normally, but after 2 hours I felt I'd done enough. And it was proper nasty rain, cold and wet, not at all summery. I guess the runners had the worst of it though.
Monday and I headed up to Edmonton for my first face to face with Ken supporters. (I can't remember whether I mentioned that I met "The Left List" supporters at the event on Euston road. The one guy I was talking to was very friendly and we discussed a number of issues in the gaps in the flow of people). I must admit that Ken's supporters were also on the whole very friendly and mostly young. We didn't get into any debates as such and they outnumbered me about 6 to 1! There wasn't much 'passing traffic' on the street outside the venue and by the time we arrived most people were already inside waiting in the bar. I bit the bullet and snuck inside and started handing out flyers and newsletters as far and wide as I good. It was quite exhilirating being in amongst a crowd like that, quite a few people who said they definitely wouldn't vote for Boris (or something like that) and I had a chance to make a couple of ripostes. The majority did at least want to read his newsletter. I did a circuit or two before returning outside to the cold, where I met the Ken supporters. We started into a bit of banter and before long they had amassed a web across the road to reach anyone who walked past. I joked that I would get fit running around between them trying to keep up, but in the end there really weren't that many punters.
Boris arrived at around 7. As he got out of his car, I let out an involuntary "Hooray for Boris" and he looked up suddenly and whacked his head on the door frame. Whoops, sorry Boris. I hope he didn't have concussion for the hustings. Ken stumbled in by himself at about 7:20.
The Ken supporters disintegrated at around 7:30 and I followed suit, because it was becoming freezing!
This morning (Tuesday) I was out at Oxford Circus again. It's hard to spot a trend, especially at a station that I have flyered before. I got rid of a good stack of leaflets and had a lot of comments of support. I didn't have as many hecklers as usual, but I did have my first slightly aggresive response, two in fact. One lady who told me I was a 'stupid idiot', to which I pointed out that at least I was getting involved rather than just complaining. The second I didn't really see but it was a guy who shouted "F** off" and I shouted after him, "That's a great political argument, come and have a debate if you think you're smart enough". Needless to say he didn't.
Maybe there is a slight polarisation now. I think also some left wing people who were laughing off Boris a few weeks back, now have seen the polls and are worried and have become slightly more vocal.
I have a huge amount of respect for the Ken and left list supporters, who like me volunteer their time to get out on the streets and support their candidate. As I mentioned to them, we all want a better London. But being on the street like this morning, you realise that there are a lot of people who don't have the same level of maturity or intelligence and who would rather just shout abuse. Well, let them. Sticks and stones, we're still going to win.
Two hustings this evening, should be fun. I'm going to be very very hoarse tomorrow.