And the next Mayor of London is ...

... not Jenny Jones of the Green Party.

Gawd bless those Greens; I do like them - personally that is. Many of the Greens I know are fine people. However today's announcement by their London Mayoral hopeful Jenny Jones does make you wonder for their collective political sanity.

Ms Jones wants to raise the congestion charge to £50 per day and extend it out to the M25.

No, you didn't read that wrongly. Look again. Nope, still bonkers.

Now, we know that Ms Jones has form; when I was at UEA I was amazed when I heard her in a public meeting say that the solution to traffic was to rip up the roads and go back to dirt tracks. But this does hit a new level of idiocy. A lot of people in Norwich who commute to London will be very worried by this policy.

It will cripple anybody who wants to live in the Home Counties and work in London, stifle business, be almost impossible to collect and hit the poorest the hardest. I assume people within the M25 would be allowed to drive for free (because if not it would cost them £50 to get off their drives or out of their roads) and so house prices just within the zone would soar. It actually beggars belief that any candidate for high office, who claim to be a grown up serious political party would suggest this. The likes of Adrian Ramsay and Claire Stephenson must have their heads in their hands tonight, weeping ...

Although, it would give me an excuse to visit my parents less often ... so not all bad then! ;-)

Don't do it, Boris, don't do it

Perception, especially in politics, is as important as reality. The way people feel and what they see really counts.

So the news that Mayor of London Boris Johnson is to carry on writing his Telegraph column worries me. I've said I think he should stand down as MP for Henley ASAP (especially given the disasterous LibDem candidate selection decision) and let another fight the by-election. I don't think he should write newspaper columns regularly either.

It doesn't matter if he has the spare time to do it on a Sunday or otherwise. It's the message it sends.

He wants to say, "I'm a full time Mayor, I am working all day to make the City better for you." This move doesn't say that. Come on, Boris, speaking as someone who has read your column year after year, it's time to hang up the pen and get on with enacting your excellent manifesto.

Go now, Boris

There is a lot of speculation that Boris Johnson, newly elected Conservative Mayor of London, will step down immediately as MP for Henley, Oxfordshire, despite a Times claim on polling day that said he would cling onto both jobs.

I think this would be a mistake and that Boris must step down immediately. The public are very suspicious about politicans, and more so when they appear to hang onto jobs for the sake of it. The news that Independent MEP for the Eastern Region Tom Wise has been recorded saying he is surprised how much money he can screw out of the EU should shock, but not surprise us. If you have the time and energy to do both - for example, a county and district councillor - then that is fine (although you'g have to have very nice constituents to manage that and hold down a full time job!) but you cannot possibly represent a constituency as an MP and be Mayor London.

Do it, Boris, resign. Go out on a high, give the people of Henley the chance to vote for new Conservative representation. It'll look good on you, on the party and on politics itself.

All this talk of second preferences...

The moment Jack Straw blurted something out about the use of AV at elections, against the current political backdrop of the SV London Mayoral election, you knew that political hacks would spend more time wondering about the use of second preferences rather than solving any political issues.

I would hate the concept of being elected on the back of second preferences, particularly if I had not won at least a plurality of first preferences. You become the least disliked candidate rather than the partially popular one.

But true to form, I found myself talking to an old school friend who still lives in London today. Naturally the conversation turned to politics and knowing that she had never stuck with the same party for two elections running, I asked which Mayoral candidate got her X,

"Well, Boris, of course..." came the reply. OK then, I enquired, what about your second preference?

"A second preference? I don't have one because Boris is going to win."

Of course, I thought, you only think of the second preference when your candidate is obviously going to lose. So the sight of Ken, Paddick and the Green candidate all slogging it out for second preferences amused me greatly.

The choice for London and the choice for the LibDems

The announcement of the LibDem shortlist to be their candidate for Mayor of London has made very little news - even in London - but is a really important one. The LibDems have controversial policeman Brian Paddick standing against two worthy but very little known candidates, both of whom will benefit from the experience even though they will be trounced.

Like the Tories the LibDem announcement is rather a fait accompli. Unlike the dull-but-worthy Susan Kramer and the controversial full time politican Simon Hughes, Paddick adds the star quality of almost-celebrity candidature without being too political. For them he's the best of a very poor bunch.

The next election has, thus, been decided by the parties rather than the people. When Livingstone, Johnson and Paddick battle it out - with apologies to smaller party candidates - the choice for Londoners will have been limited. This is an exciting job with a big budget and loads of responsibility. The Tories have "had a go" at an open primary but wouldn't a full US-style primary be an exciting prospect and where better to start than London? Just a thought.