I went to a talk Brian Paddick gave to guides on Police in London, and he seemed a nice enough guy, but I'm not sure whether he would have had the confidence to be Mayor.  My second vote went to Livingstone, just to keep out the others.

I can't  understand how a man who was at least perceived as unsympathetic to non-whites (to put it as mildly as possible) and produced headlines in the black press, could have been voted in in a City with an almost 50% non-white population in its centre.

At the risk of sounding frivolous, at least there's a chance of scrapping bendy buses.  (Although the design of the bus is secondary to their frequency and reliability.)

One would never have thought that Blaenau Gwent or Merthry Tydfil would be anything other than Labour but in fact there was not a swing to the Tories but to the Lib Dems and the Independents in two cases.  In Blaenau Labour lost 8, Lib Dems gained 2 (from having none previously) and the Independents gained 6.  In Merthyr Labour lost 9, Lib Dems gained 6 (again from previously having none) and the Independents gained 3.

The traditional Labour 'safe seats' in the Welsh Valleys are no longer there.  People there are totally disillusioned with Labour and feel the Party no longer cares about them.  

Precisely, except that I'm not sure that voting "has turned" into that. I think it always has been for many, unfortunately.

... and then decide not to vote? Then the proportion of the population which votes will go down (which it has), the political parties will become more and more desperate, in ways which more and more resemble each other, to encourage people's mindless selfishness rather than their understanding of the issues and sympathy for their fellow citizens (which they have), and the "democratic process" will increasingly become a travesty (which it has and will), and as a nonvoter you won't have exercised the only opportunity you have to do something about it. Fundamentally it's only partly about whether you "agree" with the policies of one or other party; it's also partly about whether you are committed to the idea that people should have some choice in the way they're ruled. Not voting is guaranteed to devalue that idea further, give those rulers ever more spurious "mandates" and in the long term make things worse for everyone.

And there is a way of voting "none of the above", it's called spoiling your ballot paper.

Not naive at all, and it's a very moot point.  Despite their high scoring in both the Elections and in Opinion-Polls, the Opposition (whichever Party it might be) always has the easier task...  sitting on the sidelines and sniping at the failings of the Party in power.

Bozza is now on a promise to deliver, and somehow or other he has got to do so.  This throws the onus on the Conservatives to prove they can really do it (after 10 years of name-calling and PM-bating) and pull the rabbit out of the hat. 

I wonder if Kate Hoey will really take up the offer to be BoJo's Sports honcho?  I believe she's threatened with withdrawal of the Nu-Layba whip by Geoff Hoon if she does.  However, it's hard to think of a more repulsive invertebrate than Hoon, and I sincerely hope she boots that vicious imbecile firmly in the grollies if he attempts to remonstrate with her.  Perhaps his rule about "one set of body armour per two soldiers" doesn't apply to the protection of his own gonad region?  On the other hand, it's quite likely that Hoon has no grollies worth protecting anyhow.

There are such countries, like Australia, I think. But it would be necessary to have a box for "none of the above" - and I'm not sure I would go along with compulsory voting.

I'm strongly inclined to agree with you there, Ariosto    Although he might well have entered upon the Mayoral campaign out of bravado or for a lark,  BoJo will now have Conservative Central Office watching (and vetting) his every move, because he's Dolly The Sheep - a test-tube prototype who must be made to succeed if credibility is to be maintained.  No skylarking will be permitted, and BJ's more outlandish soundbyte tendencies (like his famous crack about Liverpudlians) will have to be tamed.  Can he manage that?  Can they manage it?  It'll be fun to watch them try, anyhow