Day One - supporters 4

My name is Alcuin Edwards and last night, I decided that I wanted to become Mayor of London. I have no idea how to do that, but I intend to find out over the next four years, and in the process, gather supporters ready to take on the big boys of the Labserveral Cartel, the Greens and the Far Right (and Far Left too for that matter but at the moment as London is concerned, there is no competition from that diresction for the time being). So. It's not something we decide every day now is it, so why do I want to stand for Mayor. The reasons go some way to developing a manifesto so here goes. First of all, as a London voter, I was faced with a group of candidates, none of which I could support wholeheartedly and added to that, the knowledge that, rather than a single transferrable vote, we in London get the abortion known as an alternative vote, where for the second round, only the first two (who we knew would be Ken or Boris) would be counted. It might as well have been first past the post with a choice between Ken and Boris. I wanted another choice. Secondly, there's the old joke, a conservative is a revolutionary who has nopt yet had his front door kicked in by the jackbooted thugs we pay to fight our imaginary "wars" against drugs, against "terror", against "dangerous dogs", against the poor agaisnt the disabled, against anyone who isn't a member of the club of privilege that sits at the top of our society. My door was kicked down two years ago while police were looking for non existent drugs after having "intelligence" that my stepson was a dealer. They found nothing, they apologised, but that doesn't fix my front door. And now, this week, they kicked down a door near me and handcuffed a twelve year old girl, "justifying" the raid on the grounds that they found a grinder that had been used to grind cannabis. If the police can justify a raid on the grounds that someone on the premises USES drugs, then they must raid EVERYONE who ever smoked a joint. Now here, I admit to an admiration of the late Robert Jasper Grootveld, one of the founders of the Dutch provo movement, whoa rranged coach trips to Belgium just so that the police could be embarrassed and the Dutch anti-drugs laws become untenable. I propose that we get as many people as possible to grow COFFEE in their attics and basements and make sure the press are there when these micro-plantations get raided, which they will. But there's more. London is wonderful. It's the only place in the world where you could see a band playing didgeridoo, bongos, Chinese violin and marimba. How beautiful is that? I want to encourage diversity in art, but more than that, i want to encourage artists that have little or no money and make their art without major grants and the like. Instead, let us make sure that galleries like the Palatine, or Stoke Newington International Airport in Dalston, indie radio stations like ill.fm and small independent venues that put on five bands a night for a fiver get the recognition they deserve. They all go toward making London the most vibrant city in the world. This is a beginning. If you like what you read, follow me, help me, and between us, we can take City Hall by storm.