Iain Anderson
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European Parliament Web Team
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Stephanie Allen
:Behind the Façade of the G8
Jeremy Cook
:The King Is Dead, Love Live the Carney
Boyan S. Benev
:Protesting with the Police on Your Side
I'm typing this on the train back to London after spending the last two weeks trying to get John elected.
He spent the last year trying to get selected as Labour's candidate and then elected as one of the first Police and Crime Commissioners.
I'll write a bit more about the campaign for Labourlist next week but I want to share this with you.
Turnout across England and Wales was shocking and though our region had amongst the highest at 19.5%, Hull was only 15.6%, with some polling stations on the day as low as 6%.
But Alice wasn't put off by the arguments against voting.
She called our phone asking for a lift to the polling station. Turns out she was 86, almost blind with a wooden leg called Oscar (Her granddaughter named it for her.)
Alice was proud that she'd voted Labour in Hull for more than 60 years and never missed an opportunity to back JP.
So I drove her to the polling station off Holderness Road in the Jag only to be told by the officials that as she was registered for a postal so couldn't vote.
Her face sank and her pleas were politely and guiltily repelled by the polling station staff. She was convinced her vote would get John elected and wanted to help him.
I kept reassuring her as we went back to the car that she shouldn't worry about it. That it really wouldn't have made the difference. But as we were about to drive away, there was a shout.
The polling official ran out clutching her advice pamphlet on electoral law. It turned out Alice could vote if she got an amended ballot from the Guildhall.
She almost jumped out of the car with the excitement. So 30 minutes later, I returned with her ballot paper and she made her mark - with a little help from the staff - for John.
As I dropped her off, he asked for a hug saying she couldn't have lived with herself if she hadn't voted for him.
And I started to well up.
Alice was one of 33,282 people who voted for JP yesterday, overturning a notional Tory seat with a 30,000 vote majority to a Labour lead of 3,842.
But in spite of winning three of the four local authorities - Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire - that make up the Humberside Police area and winning the popular vote via Fast Past the Post, JP lost on second preferences, thanks to the supplementary vote system.
Even on this, we were still leading with a 2,223 vote cushion after Hull, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire's second references were redistributed.
But the second preferences for the Tory candidate in the affluent East Riding area proved too much and we lost by just 2,231 votes.
Oh the irony of the Tories beating a Labour heavyweight with a form of PR that they actively campaigned against in the AV Referendum.
Anyway, as I drove John and Pauline back home from the count in Bridlington, there was a call.
It was Alice ringing to commiserate. She told us not to be downhearted and that we'd made her proud.
So we made a detour and turned up on her doorstep as a surprise. And we gave her a Commissioner's badge.
I'm enormously proud of what John and our team did.
He had the guts to go for it and even when he lost, showed great grace.
But it's people like Alice who made this campaign worthwhile.
If only we could have found another 2,232 like her.
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http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1998/mar/31/government-of-london
I bet he's regretting that now....
Also, remember, that it was Labour who introduced SV for the London Mayoral elections. You made your bed, so lie in it.
I spoilt my ballot paper and would do the same if there was a vote for the head omlette chef in my region - the whole thing was meaningless and a smokscreen for what we should really be voting on i.e. membership of the EU!
Surely for a service role like this it would be advantageous to appoint the most qualified person, rather than electing the most popular.
A police commissioner should surely be a civil service position rather than a political one.
The basic truth is, no one really wanted to know, The political luvvies set about getting their snouts in, and now the electorate have in effect told them to go suck, they are as usual full of bluff and bluster.
The old excuse of... if you didn't vote, don't complain.... does not wash, that may apply in the matter of a general election, even locals, where at least a majority with the vote, do vote, even if the turn out is apathetically low, but to try that on this disaster for UK democracy, is utterly wrong.
The people HAVE spoken, silently perhaps, but as many see it, loudly enough to be heard by those with ears to hear. Which of course does not apply to the political classes. It must be very comforting to reside in the palace of Westminster where the clamour of the voters is not discernible from the sound of the air conditioning.
Shame as he appears quite a decent chap, just low on delivery.
MPs have been PROVEN to lie, cheat, undermine and show no concern for the wants, needs and expectations of the people of this nation.
ALL Parties have shown contempt to do what is the "right" thing for and on behalf of the people of this nation.
We DO NOT want to waste our time "electing" yet another layer of political appointees at £100,000 a year when there are already senior POLICE chiefs who know more about modern day policing, its pressures and its difficulties in 21st century Britain who are more than capable of taking these positions.
Each year the number of people bothering to vote is droping; because each year we, the people of this great nation; see clearly, that we, as an elctorate are simply a "bothersome" burden on the plastic, no passion, no balls and no conviction puppets that follow the party line, take their money and have never and will never live, work or understand the lives of the hardworking men and women of this great nation.
Feel free to pass this on to your political comrades in the "Westminster Bubble", i am sure you have a pass to get in!