The Stonewall hustings took place on Saturday morning. Dave Hill has kindly provided an MP3 and selected video clips. I recommend listening to the whole debate as it is rather good and there is some genuine interplay between the candidates who attended – Sian Berry, Lindsay German, Brian Paddick, Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone – but if you don’t have time, do watch the clips as they give a good flavour of the debate.

The format was a short, introductory speech by each candidate followed by questions. I’m not trying to provide a full account of the debate, but to bring out a few, key themes.

Homophobia

Ken Livingstone spoke about having voted and campaigned against Section 28 and setting up the GLA register of civil partnerships that gave the impetus to the national, legal civil partnerships. All the other speakers, notably Lindsay German, spoke about their campaigning work for LGBT rights.

I was really pleased that a few people picked up on the issue of homophobic bullying in schools. It is a huge problem as it is, for the most part, brushed under the carpet but it is also an opportunity to explain to people in an educational setting about the diversity and variety of the human condition.

A question was asked of Mr Johnson on why and how his views on LGBT people had changed; he contested that his views had not and tried to justify his ‘three men and a dog’ comparison for civil partnerships for same-sex couples on libertarian grounds. He was jeered out of court on this and other attempts of his to brush over his past, anti-LGBT writings.

There was also some discussion about an LGBT museum. Beyond an instinctive support for anything with free entry, I don’t know much about it or the history of it; can anyone enlighten me?

All of the candidates except Mr Johnson had been on at least one Pride march; Mr Paddick spoke (I thought) rather movingly about marching in uniform after coming out. Mr Johnson has committed, whether he wins or loses the Mayoral election, to attend the next London Pride march.

A lot of the debate on homophobia took place in the context of Sheikh Qaradawi. I think it’s useful to start with a quote from Lindsay German: “Islamophobia is the last respectable racism in Europe”. There was a lot of criticism of the media for its homophobia in the debate and I think there was a grudging acceptance that Sheikh Qaradawi has not been given a fair hearing in the press on the basis of his religion. Ken Livingstone defended his decision to make the invitation to Qaradawi and said that he was not perfect – not by a long shot – but that he represented a strand of Islam far removed from the extremism of the Wahhabist interpretation that business can be done with.

I think, as I said, that there was a general grudging acceptance of Ken’s stance but, in fairness, there were cheers of support for Sian Berry’s statements against religious bigotry of all forms and an interesting tension between the two positions. There was also support for Sian Berry’s opposition to deportation of LGBT people to countries where they would be persecuted on that basis and her statement that a Green GLA would not support such deportations. I agree with her position.

Transport

To my mind, transport is the most important issue facing London. Beyond the obvious but important issue of ‘getting around’, transport affects poverty, the environment, the economy, tourism, crime, security and health.

I rather like Brian Paddick; I think he comes across really well. However, I haven’t voted for him, either first or second preference, because I simply cannot agree with his transport policies. Focussing on trams, he is looking for projects that can be delivered within four years. That is absolutely the wrong way to go; London needs long term investment to counter the years of underinvestment prior to 2000 under governments of all colours. Orbirail, Overground, Crossrail, Cross-River Tram and so on are long term projects that would, I fear, be undermined by a focus on delivering improvements within the term of office.

Lindsay German was disingenuous when she said that the tube cost £4 and the bus cost £2; with Oyster, it is a lot less. Boris Johnson’s suggestions about a no-strike deal with the RMT are laughable for the single reason that they have already been rejected out of hand. Mr Johnson also suggested banning alcohol on public transport; to my mind, that sits uneasily with his protestations of libertarian leanings with regard to the now-infamous ‘three men and a dog’ comment. Unless Mr Johnson proposes to search every bag going onto the Tube, I’m not sure how workable the policy would be and, to be honest, I’m not sure it’s a priority.

Accessibility on the tube and buses was also an issue; I will stop at saying that the vast work that needs to be done to make a tube system started in the nineteenth century fit for today will take a vision that extends past 2012.

Cycling is evidently a hot topic – no bad thing. In answer to a question on which single intervention would do most to promote cycling, everyone supported a system similar to the French Velib (which I have talked about here) that should be rolled out in the next year or so. Ken Livingstone added that the revenue raised on the £25 charge for the most polluting cars would be spent on cycling superhighways. Lindsay German similarly supported cycleways. I thought Sian Berry had an interesting point about safety; aside from the obvious benefit, it normalises cycling if people don’t have to don lots of protective gear and, to that end, she supports a 20mph speed limit in London. I tend to agree.

I deal with Dial-a-Ride below.

Housing

Mr Johnson talked about building on brownfield sites to increase affordable housing stock. On that, his idea is spot on; there is one, huge flaw. He will not force the boroughs to build affordable housing but will, rather, ‘work with them’, at best a nebulous concept. Ken Livingstone’s experience has shown the recalcitrance of some boroughs to actually do a damned thing to provide affordable housing (City of Westminster, I’m looking at you) and the need to compel at times.

For Lindsay German, economic inequality is at the root of the housing problem; her call was to stop building unaffordable housing and to stop helping property developers.

Media

The distrust expressed of the media on almost all sides was quite remarkable. In his opening speech, Brian Paddick received applause when he related his successful legal actions against both the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday. Sian Berry also criticised the media for having been openly hostile to gay rights over the years.

Unsurprisingly, Ken Livingstone was less than fulsome in his praise of certain sections of the media. With the exception of Boris Johnson, who averred to comment, everyone felt that the allegations around ‘Jaspergate’ were blown out of all proportion. Brian Paddick thought, on the basis of having dealt with him and his contacts with the black communities of London, that if Lee Jasper was guilty of anything it was “overenthusiasm”. Sian Berry felt that there was no corruption but that a lot of the problems could be avoided in future if funding were more transparent and, crucially, given for longer periods. I think all the other candidates agreed with her on the latter point, and Ms Berry scored a hit with “if that’s the best the Standard can do after eight years, we don’t really have a problem”.

Cross-cutting discriminations

There were questions on particular discriminations against older or disabled LGBT people. None of the candidates had a particularly satisfactory answer other than to work with community groups and improve things – such as transport accessibility – where possible. Dial-a-Ride was raised. The issue here is the unwillingness of the boroughs to properly support a scheme that would help lots of people with restricted mobility; Ken Livingstone is bringing the powers for Dial-a-Ride up to the GLA level so that people aren’t hindered in their lives because they live in a borough – and there are bad boroughs of all colours – that doesn’t fund the service properly. As I mentioned above on housing, there are areas where the boroughs are pretty recalcitrant and Mr Johnson’s belief in negotiation has been shown not to work.

Both Lindsay German and Sian Berry called on their supporters to second preference Ken Livingstone. There are write-ups at Pink News and the Tory Troll (via Dave Hill).

xD.

Posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Categories: London Votes 2008.
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The Stonewall hustings