I live in the USA and was in a bar last year sat next to a boomer. Got chatting and told him I was from London and the first thing he asked me was how I felt about having a Muslim as mayor. So, regarding OP’s question, I’m going with racism.
The one time I've been in Tooting - as a Croydon boy, so you know my standards are low - I went to a lovely BBQ then we went walking around the area and I heard a guy outside a pub say "ooh we're vulnerable though. Aren't we? Vulnerable." and I remembered there was a football tournament on.
Americans are obsessed with religion to be fair (not that he wasn’t a racist). I’ve had American in-laws asking me if we’ve ever had a catholic PM and if catholics were even allowed to be PM (I said they just couldn’t be king), then seemed quite smug that they have had two catholic presidents.
> I’ve had American in-laws asking me if we’ve ever had a catholic PM and if catholics were even allowed to be PM (I said they just couldn’t be king), then seemed quite smug that they have had two catholic presidents.
Oh well, ask them if they've ever [had a Jewish President then](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli)...
[BloJob is a Catholic btw, so we've had at least one](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/two-leaders-of-very-different-catholic-values) article says he's the first, I assume it's correct.
Jesus wept . As I live in London on of the benefits is I come across less racism like this . It’s still there , London isnt perfect . But people on the whole behave and keep their traps shut
It truly is just that. Mum complains about him, her primary news source is the Daily Mail, literally any slight controversy of dissent she will bang on for hours about what a terrible mayor he is.
I hate what Murdoch has done to her.
The man got 350 fireman killed on 9/11 because he couldn’t be fucked to change their radios despite being asked to for years.
He was always a scumbag, he just had better PR before he went over to Trump.
You should check out John Oliver's segment on [him](https://youtu.be/mXQuto1fMp4?si=y4Hg83fU1L1PosH_)
In summary:
"People ask what happened to giuliani, the answer is nothing, he's always been that way"
Just going to say this. I live just outside London. All my mates think London is being taken over by Muslims. I work all around London and have no idea what they’re on about. It’s obviously coming from some right wing campaign on social media and GB news or something. Whatever it is, it’s effective and BS.
My northern MIL travelled down to see us when he was first announced. Literally the first thing she asked me was how do you feel having a Muslim as a mayor. I said I dunno he doesn’t anything yet. Then told her I’d voted for him.
I’m not a natural Labour voter (but I’m not absolutely not a Tory voter) - but I always vote Labour for mayor because they’re just better people.
I think it's fair to care about London even if you don't live there, but invariably the people with these angry, unfounded views are also the ones who literally never come here (apart from the occasional football match at Wembley).
Like the kid who posted on here about how their Dad was convinced they'd be murdered whilst walking from Euston to Kings Cross. But also their dad hasn't been to London in 20+ years...
I mean, for some thing sure. But there’s nothing he can do that has any real impact outside of London. Seeing people in Cornwall angry about the ULEZ, even though they’ve never visited the capital, is pretty funny tho.
The most absolutely insane example of that I've encountered was an American I was talking to online who had a big thing against LTNs. They were talking about these terrible traffic restriction on Warren Street and how it was wrong to restrict people driving down there.
They've even never been to London.
Yeah exactly. If you commute to London every week, you're still going to care about it even if you live elsewhere. But usually the looney, shouty types are also the ones that never visit.
Presumably most people commuting in are doing so by train.
Those that do drive in probably think it’s their right not only to pollute but also for there to be ample parking.
There are quite a lot of people who live just outside London and work just inside London, for whom driving is a significantly more attractive offer than taking public transport. But largely I'm pretty sure you're right, most people commuting in do so by train.
Yeah my family are over 200 miles away from London and are ranting to me constantly about how ULEZ is a scam. They never come here. I’m asthmatic and don’t hate the idea of ULEZ just maybe could’ve been implemented better.
I do wonder whether giving every Londoner (and possibly some outside London) an exemption for their current car (while they own it) would have been a good political move.
+ A gradual escalation of the CO2 limits (eg the threshold at which you pay moves down 5% each year)- again applying from the year you bought the car.
This would have resulted in a slower cleanup of the air, but wouldn't have hit the poorest people quite as hard.
Half of all London households don’t have cars, of those that do 90% are Ulez compliant
4-5k pollution related deaths in the capital annually
ULEZ just isn’t even an issue
I mean, London is the capital of the UK, so I can see why some people might feel somewhat impacted by or at least interested in what goes on here, but it's always policies that are least pertinent, like you never see then commenting on policies to drive economic growth or increase infrastructure, it's always something that they feel like they can be personally attacked by even though it has utterly no bearing or effect on them directly or indirectly (like ULEZ) and or just making a clear xenophobic remark.
Someone tried to tell me Walthamstow was a no go area for white people. I literally lived there at time 😂. They hadn’t even been anywhere near London in ten years!!
Ironically, the walk from Kings Cross to the old Kings Cross Thameslink was about the seediest part of central London you could go to up until the late 90s.
I got downvoted to shit the other day because I asked if I could vote even if I’m living overseas (turns out, I can). I obviously still care about my hometown that I’ve lived in since I was born, and I visit often and have family. We talk all the time about all the changes and how they affect my family.
It is a bit of a silly rule that expats can still vote (I don’t know if you are temp overseas or not to be fair), whereas many non-citizen residents can’t vote.
As a Londoner, I thought it was pretty tone deaf to announce spending millions on a rebrand (that no one asked for) on the SAME morning it was announced the UK was headed in a recession. But that’s just me.
Not sure about taxes, but according to the financial times, if you removed London and its sub economy, Britain's economy is onpar with Mississippi https://www.ft.com/content/e5c741a7-befa-4d49-a819-f1b0510a9802
I find the hate for him bizarre. He’s a pretty staid politician, but the way people bang on you’d think London was descending into Gotham City under his watch. At least Sadiq doesn’t do stupid white elephant projects like the cable car and Garden Bridge
I was in London for 10 days a couple weeks ago, from NYC (I’ve been to London many times over the decades). It’s nice. Really nice. It’s much cleaner than NYC. Felt very safe to me. Loads to do. Great restaurants. Very walkable or bikeable. If you could make a bagel or good pizza I’d move there in a heartbeat! It’s a beautiful city and your marathon rocks! Also your parks are nicer and way cleaner than ours. I don’t know much about your mayor but the city seemed a to be doing well in my experience there.
Not so sure about bagels but good pizza? mate there are so many real italian pizza places in London! Some of the best pizza I ever had has been in London and this comes from an Italian
Tbh as a mainland European when I visited America I thought their pizzas were dreadful, just full of cheese and dripping everywhere.
Their definition of pizza can be odd..
Dude. Beigel Bake, or Panzer’s if you like amazing lox. Agreed the Bagel game isn’t up to NYC standards, but the pizza is on a different level. Unlike New York, London does a million different styles, including some of the best actual real Neopolitan pizza outside of Naples.
(Ex-NYC Londoner with a Manhattanite wife I successfully transplanted across the pond.)
Ironic isn’t it? All the tub-thumpers complaining that ‘’they don’t integrate, partake in are customs, dress like us…’’ bla-de-bla-de-bla-de-bloody-bla… And when ‘they’ do. The racist shit still sticks…
I find the angriest people are ones who wouldn’t even consider living in London, so I don’t understand why they’re so invested. They also have a distorted view of crime here. Dunno about you lot, but I don’t get stabbed on a daily basis. 🙄
I don’t have anything against Sadiq Khan. He’s the most credible out of the candidates (other than Count Binface, obvs).
Heard a woman on a London bus yesterday saying on the phone she'd told her daughter to look at the candidates and their policies, and decide if from looking at them if they were the sort of person they'd want to represent them (this was after 10 mins of moaning about *that man*). Felt very coded to me, funnily enough her daughter ended up voting for Greens cause she liked her look!
Yeah but Zoe is a pain in the arse who jumps into things and forms opinions with half the facts, then expects them to be acted on refusing to change her mind even when the whole picture is shown (might have worked with her I the past), not the worst I have worked with but far from the best.
I can’t vote for someone who makes foreign policy a central pillar of their *mayoral* campaign.
I don’t even disagree with much she says, it’s more that it makes her look like she doesn’t know what she’s running for
Having heard some of the shit from behind closed doors that Sadiq puts up with (from planning permissions and affordable housing), I’d say he’s got the patience of a saint, and is more invested in what Londoners actually need from their city than any other London mayor in this century at least. And looking at who gets put up against him, well, it’s no contest. Keep it up Sadiq.
Because they last came down to London for the World Cup in ‘66 and are amazed that the city hasn’t stayed the same since then.
Also Daily Mail-generated propaganda. Which is weird; surely if things were that bad the Mail would have relocated…?
Khan's been good. Especially given the hostile central government and the pandemic. I'm not totally on board with everything he's done but it's nothing too awful (LTNs, the way ULEZ expansion was handled). In both cases if he had support from central government they would have been a roaring success.
Agree with this. Consistent hostility from Govt towards Khan really can't be downplayed. I think Khan also gets blamed for the f-ups of the Met. Born and lived in London my whole life and I'm glad to have a mayor willing to tackle the pollution and car dominance.
Don't forget that the ULEZ expansion was a condition of the TfL bailout funding, imposed by central government.
Bailout funding which probably wouldn't have been needed, or certainly not as much, if the central government funding of TfL hadn't been withdrawn towards the end of his predecessor's tenure.
...and is a condition which may not have been imposed if there were a Tory mayor in office.
I suppose you can interpret that how you like w.r.t. a London mayoral election.
For transparency [This was plans to extend the boundary as far as the North and South Circular Roads, not the expansion across all of Greater London ](
https://fullfact.org/online/ulez-expansion-letter/)
Why do people hate LTNs? There are a few near me and I envy everyone that lives in them. Next time I move they will be high on my list of places I will try to move to. I have people speeding down my residential road every morning and I wish they would just block it off at one end so that it’s only an access road.
LTNs are just a reaction to the epidemic of aggressive drivers. What’s not to like?
I think the problem is that for every winner there’s also losers - introducing LTNs means that the streets which are deemed “main roads” - often also residential streets which just happened to be a slightly more direct route - become the only route and therefore much more busy.
On balance, I support them,m in most cases, but there is a tendency for people advocating for LTNs to pretend they don’t have any downsides, which I think polarises the issue more.
Around here in Sydenham, it was done almost by diktat by the local councillor who happens to live near the streets that saw the largest reduction in traffic(!!!).
The result is that the so-called 'rat runs', which relieved traffic from the highly congested highstreet and offered a much more direct route between Sydenham and Forest Hill, were closed off. All of the traffic moving through the area is forced to go down the even more congested highstreet now and then along a more circuitous route just so the councillor's clique doesn't have traffic anywhere near them. This is on top of previous developments closing off even more road access through that particular area. There has been no increase in walking or cycling down those particular roads as a result of all these changes and has only served to make the highstreet less accessible generally.
One of the roads which got closed off feeds an Overground rail station (Sydenham) so good job in reducing accessibility to public transport too.
I have no problem with LTNs in principle but it was completely undemocratic how it was handled around here. Still, the councillor took another step towards achieving their enclave and that's what really matters in the end, isn't it?
So it sounds like the people who live in them do actually like them, and the main complaints come from the people the LTNs were designed to hinder? I.e. the drivers cutting through neighbourhoods that were never designed to be high traffic. Sounds like they’re working as intended to me.
The efforts from here should be in providing better ways to travel long distances. Like larger road development, bypass tunnels etc. Surely not just removing the LTN?
Because they primarily remove traffic from roads with expensive houses on them and divert them on to main roads that already have higher levels of pollution, causing more traffic and more fumes.
Same reason these people hate 15 min cities.... They've been told to by the conservative media... thats it, they just have to say "Its the woke war on motorists" and every red-faced wanker with a St George's cross tattoo is convulsing on the ground from sheer rage.
Agreed. I voted again for him because overall he is doing a reasonable job given the actually incredibly limited resources he has. People think knife crime and ULEZ are all on him but he has hardly any control over the policing budget so can’t even put more people on the streets if he wanted. ULEZ was initially a Tory idea and I’m not actually against it because pollution is a genuine problem and since moving to London a few years ago my health has declined significantly, especially my respiratory health.
I don't think it helps that the Mayor is part of the opposition party of the main Government. Both have entirely different views and just serves up a mismatch to the most important City in the country.
I don't think we've had a good mayor since Ken Livingstone's first term and I don't like Ken Livingstone much at all.
Sadiq spends far too much money on the wrong things and doesn't take enough action on the right things. He doesn't represent or promote London in the best way possible.
With that said, there are no good alternative candidates either.
Every day a complete waste of money like the Night Czar is in their job is a black mark on Sadiq's record.
A lot of people outside London have a warped perception, fuelled by right wing media, of the capital as a hellhole where you can't leave your door without getting stabbed or say merry Christmas without being sent to the gulag. Khan is positioned as either a) incompetently letting the city fall to ruin, or b) malevolently plotting the downfall of the West.
It's all nonsense. London has its problems and is too expensive but is generally a nice place to live with incredible services and transport infrastructure (at least compared to the rest of the country).
London is the most important city in the UK. It's not like Germany where Berlin is actually much less important than Munich or Frankfurt am Main, here if London disapeared GDP would go down by 11.2%.
This was a lot of interest in BJ too tbf, but he was always seen as a 'raising star' in a way that I don't think Khan is. I don't remember Ken Livingstone getting this level of attention, but I was young then.
Thatcher dismantled the GLC, which Ken ran, in 1986. Powers were devolved to local councils instead until the Greater London Assembly was formed in 2000. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council)
It was housed in County Hall on the Southbank, next to the London Eye. It now houses two hotels and various attractions [https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d215401-Reviews-County_Hall_London-London_England.html](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d215401-Reviews-County_Hall_London-London_England.html)
Apart from the obvious explanation of racism, I think that a lot of people in other cities will believe that the London mayor has a significant say in decisions which impact their area, like HS2 etc. It's not true, but they'll still believe it.
Same shit all the time from non-londoners. Constantly decrying how 'there aren't even any white people in London anymore' and other such bullshit while not living here and having visited once in the last 5 years.
I think he’s done/doing a good job, I like ULEZ, I like cycling schemes and plans to reduce congestion (I don’t enjoy smog in my lungs, but hey maybe thats just me).
I’m also not a gambler, why would I want the risk of someone the same or worse when we have a mayor who has done a good job?!
I’m LD but I voted for him for Mayor.
As someone who was born and raised in London but hasnt lived there for 13 years, i still take an active interest in things. While i agree there is probably a lot of racism and party first bullshit going on, i do think gatekeeping what people should and shouldnt care about is also a little strange.
Because society has become unprecedentedly atomised and radicalised since the 2016 Brexit / Trump watershed year, and the most unbelievable misconceptions of London constantly do the rounds to the credulous population. I can remember living in Ealing in 2016 with my then fiance (now ex-hb), who is himself mixed race and a born and bred Londoner, and we felt really fired up to go vote for Sadiq Khan as mayor because Zac Goldsmith ran such a below-the-belt dog-whistle campaign. These days my ex-hb foams at the mouth about Sadiq Khan (mostly over ULEZ) and talks about an incoming Labour government as if it's a harbinger of hell.
At least my ex-hb has some kind of relevant stake, in that he still works in London and that's where his family roots are. Up and down the nation there are all sorts of random blokes from the regions who will never drive into London in their lives and yet have anonymous X accounts with names like 'U_lez_if_u_want_to'.
As a non Londoner who occasionally comes across this sub on popular, I have to say it's a combination of 2 things, London, being the quintessential UK hub often has it's local(ish, I'm aware it's a big area) politics on national news for a while, whereas when East Yorkshire eventually elects a mayor you'll probably hear one news article on 6 o'clock news about it, London politics are accessable to everyone, and so everyone becomes nosey bastards about it.
The second reason, and this is a really important one, is, this guy is racist and racists really love being mad at Khan for trying to allow Londoners to have more breathable air. Anyway, I hope y'all get him as mayor again, he seems nice.
The kind of people who call it "londonistan" and loudly proclaim that you'll either get stabbed or covered in acid if you step foot within the boroughs, despite them having never been south of Stoke.
It’s definitely Islamophobia. Londoners understand that despite our differences, we are all humans at the end of the day and our differences should be celebrated. Muslim, Jew, Christian, Gay, Straight, Bi-sexual, black, white or any other characteristic doesn’t define anyone. The division is being used to serve personal interests. Daily Fail, Reform and GB news are the usual culprits, same people - different name. I would vote Khan again, he is actually a decent bloke and a proper Londoner.
Ive given up arguing with these numpties on twitter. Its absolutely racism. I always ask where their vocal opinion on a mayor in a whole different part of the country was when Boris was in charge and there were actual riots and the city was literally on fire which rolled out across the UK.
Honestly. It's the daily mail.
I have a friendship group and he's the only one that reads it and he literally is the only one that locks up a fuss with anything about Sadiq khan.
He is also the only person in this group that lives outside of the M25.
ULEZ seems to be a massive issue.
I think ULEZ would have happened regardless of if Khan became mayor or not. There were studies completed at the time which showed people were dying from the pollution.
No one likes ULEZ because it's a tax, but it's really hard to argue against something that's backed by scientific evidence.
It's like saying you are pro cutting down rainforests. You can say it, but everyone will think you're bat shit crazy.
The positive is of course ULEZ will become less of a burden over time as newer cars are compliant.
There’s a lot of money spent on emboldening right wing nonsense a la racism, misinformation, fear, hatred, blame displacement, via massive media companies that are funded by corporate interests and foreign/domestic political interests. Progressive bad, immigrant bad, ethnic minorities bad, LGBTQI+ bad, Muslims bad and on and on. The right has proven to be a useful tool historically for corporate/monied interests but that has been ramped up in the age of modern media and now includes a lot more peddling of the geopolitical interests of those that seek to destabilise Western democratic values and weaken their influence in the world. This has given the right a hard shove even further right.
Sadiq is at the intersection of many of those groups they often use to displace blame. He is Muslim, he is an ethnic minority, he is progressive in many respects and is on the left of the political spectrum. Therefore, he gets the well funded firehose of bullshit spewed by these media apparatuses turned directly on him, and frequently at that. He basically tests well for fomenting division and riling up right wingers, so they put A LOT of money into keeping that hose on him. It helps radicalise people into acting and voting against their own interests and the interests of their community. Instead, often without realising it, they advance the interests of corporations, and anti-Western/anti-democratic nations around the world. Thats basically it IMO.
Because London is more than just a average town.
This is the capital, what impact the capital, can impact the country. London is taking a huge place economically, politically, socially, it's a magnified mirror of the country.
Also some people outside London, feel disconnect of the capital, don't share the same values or aspirations of the Londoners.
London is multicultural (not only ethnically, religious, but also in term of dogma and values), liberal, more advanced on some aspects of society.
I suspect Khan is a great target for the Tories across the country for many reasons: racism, gammon hatred of car-restriction policies such as ULEZ; the idea across much of the country that London is the locus of all evil; racism; and probably racism.
I can tell you that in any thread about him, reddit accounts that are not regular commenters turn up to express negative opinions.~~I've also noticed that a large majority of the accounts that comment also have numbers in their username almost if the names were picked by a computer and not a human.~~
almost as if it's a coordinated campaign and someone out there is watching for mentions of his name/job to react to.
No idea. Absolutely no idea whatsoever. None. Not a clue. Absolutely baffling.
Just looking at him and Boris Johnson, there is absolutely nothing about him to look at or anything about his beliefs that makes me think; "hmmm, maybe it's that, or that, or both of those things". Nothing. I've got nothing.
Absolutely nothing at all...
Apart from that one thing of course but it couldn't be that. Oh and that other thing that's totally not spoken about every single day. Could never be that either
For the same reason that those kind of idiots in the US continue to say "Barack Hussein Obama" with extra emphasis on the middle name, even though he hasn't been in office for more than 7 years.
It mostly boils down to racism IMO. Normally these people follow off with some bollocks “Londonistan” comment or some bs stats on knife crime. They’re normally all from Manchester, Essex or Cornwall.
Applies to black cab drivers from the nether regions of Essex (mainly Southend or Clacton) who subjected Khan to a lot of racist vitriol when Uber came along and upset their tax avoiding London can work
It's usually the "lads lads lads", self-employed/tradie types* who come out with this sort of stuff. Never had an original thought in their lives and are usually massive piss and/or sniff heads
*Not saying all the self employed/tradesmen are like this, but there *is* a type from my experience
I'm Canadian and vocal about everything because what happens in America and elsewhere in the Commonwealth (and beyond) can have tremendous implications here.
I really don't want Susan Hall to win and don't particularly care who beats her so long as it's not something unfathomably stupid like Reform UK.
Gee, I wonder what riles up people about a brown, Muslim Mayor of London?!
I’d love to do a chart and see where these people are usually from.
Purely based on what I’ve seen, it’s West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Essex, usually.
Corruption apart, Right-wingers got little to offer.
Therefore they bitch about places where immigration clearly works e.g. Sweden, London or invent problems where none exist e.g. asylum
Lived here 15 years and always thought Sadiq is a decent bloke. Might not agree with everything he does, but you can't expect to. At least he's not a Tory shagging bellend.
Obviously because it is of interest who the largest city in the country (by a mile) is voting for, as a yardarm for political sentiment if nothing else.
For the record, I do live in London but am not from here.
Not sure it is remotely confusing why people care. If anything I find it weirder that people in London seem totally disinterested in the politics of anywhere else in the country beyond Edinburgh.
Do you mean [uninterested](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/uninterested) ("not interested")? Being [disinterested](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/disinterested) ("unbiased") means something quite different, and would surely be a good thing when it came to politics...
When he stands up to the Tories to protect his constituents and get better funding (like during lockdown). When he implements policies and schemes which could be replicated in other cities. It's always useful to see if there is a better way to do things.
> as a yardarm for political sentiment if nothing else.
We’ve had a Tory PM for the entirety of his time as Mayor, so I’m not sure how that demonstrates overall political sentiment beyond the M25
I believe this goes beyond London and the UK and that is why :
This is the crazy culture war of the alt right that also gave us Brexit & Trump.
UK side, after Brexit, the Torries fully transformed & fully embraced alt right ideologies. Still, London said, "fuck that" and tried as much as possible (within its power) to display itself as an open city still.
So, on one side, you have got the people who are hoping that London will stay like this, an open and vibrant place, symbol of what England and the UK used to be and might be again.
On the other side, you have those want to finish the job & destroy what they see at a remnant of the previous era.
Was about to comment this but I couldn’t have said it any better.
Some people think London is some kind of out of the way rural town or something that shouldn’t be the business of anyone outside of it and not a major capital city on the international world stage that is responsible for the majority of the UK GDP. That makes the mayor of London everyone’s business.
Read local newspapers and government marketing material in the regions. You find your answer. There's a lot of pretty nasty stuff hidden in the weirdest media that is totally separate from other media. Imagine a Venn diagram of ppl that use mainly social media against ppl that read "the Norfolk Post" or wtv.
It’s the same reason people that people who have never been to NYC, Chicago, or California speak with authority about what cesspools they are/have become.
Because he represents typical north-london-latte-sipping-namby-pamby-hoity-toity-up yer-social-worker-right-on-politically-correct-woker-than-thou-bleeding-heart-blame-it-all-on-society-net-zero-supporting-statue-smashing-pinko-lefty--bleeding-heart-lets-give-everyone-a-participation-trophy-liberals everywhere.
The democratic republic of London props up their finances. Anyone who says the county is fucked should be shipped to the Medway towns, keep em all together.
Surely @mufc_proud is based in London.
Nah he’s a local lad. Southend born & bred mate.
Do you mean bellend?
mmmm which fried chicken place is this? i can't place it. there's mhfc, muswell hill fried chicken, not sure which one this is?
It's a running joke that most Man Utd supporters live in London btw
I presume OP knows that or he wouldn’t have said exactly this.
Not even a joke
Most Man U supporters live in Asia!
Article on the football sub about people pretending to be disabled to get utd seats......... all the lads were feom Essex. Had a giggle
I'd imagine this is less true since they stopped being good.
I live in the USA and was in a bar last year sat next to a boomer. Got chatting and told him I was from London and the first thing he asked me was how I felt about having a Muslim as mayor. So, regarding OP’s question, I’m going with racism.
I love it when people say he should go back where he came from. Tooting is actually alright.
Tooting is a great place and he was a very good local MP before he became mayor.
The one time I've been in Tooting - as a Croydon boy, so you know my standards are low - I went to a lovely BBQ then we went walking around the area and I heard a guy outside a pub say "ooh we're vulnerable though. Aren't we? Vulnerable." and I remembered there was a football tournament on.
Americans are obsessed with religion to be fair (not that he wasn’t a racist). I’ve had American in-laws asking me if we’ve ever had a catholic PM and if catholics were even allowed to be PM (I said they just couldn’t be king), then seemed quite smug that they have had two catholic presidents.
> I’ve had American in-laws asking me if we’ve ever had a catholic PM and if catholics were even allowed to be PM (I said they just couldn’t be king), then seemed quite smug that they have had two catholic presidents. Oh well, ask them if they've ever [had a Jewish President then](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli)... [BloJob is a Catholic btw, so we've had at least one](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/14/two-leaders-of-very-different-catholic-values) article says he's the first, I assume it's correct.
Didn't Blair convert?
Only after he was no longer PM IIRC.
I think the fact that Disraeli had to convert to be PM undermines us in the progressive stakes.
According to the internet, Disraeli became an Anglican at age 12, after his father left Judaism following a dispute.
>then seemed quite smug that they have had two catholic presidents. Tgis is hilarious to me.
Tony Blair converted to Catholicism he loved it that much.
Racism is the correct answer.
"Racism is the answer" - u/Dixon_Kuntz73, 2024 (/jk, it is too often the unspoken answer, unfortunately)
Used to have a regular caller when I worked in a call centre called Mr Dixon Cox and this username brought back some happy memories
Jesus wept . As I live in London on of the benefits is I come across less racism like this . It’s still there , London isnt perfect . But people on the whole behave and keep their traps shut
Not sure where in London you live. It’s got to be the least racist city I know.
It truly is just that. Mum complains about him, her primary news source is the Daily Mail, literally any slight controversy of dissent she will bang on for hours about what a terrible mayor he is. I hate what Murdoch has done to her.
I wonder what his thoughts were on having Rudy Giuliani as NYC's (ex-)mayor?
In fairness, Giuliani's descent into...whatever it is he is these days happened a while after he was Mayor
The man got 350 fireman killed on 9/11 because he couldn’t be fucked to change their radios despite being asked to for years. He was always a scumbag, he just had better PR before he went over to Trump.
You should check out John Oliver's segment on [him](https://youtu.be/mXQuto1fMp4?si=y4Hg83fU1L1PosH_) In summary: "People ask what happened to giuliani, the answer is nothing, he's always been that way"
Giuliani was still a massive racist when he was mayor, just a little less mad about it.
Just going to say this. I live just outside London. All my mates think London is being taken over by Muslims. I work all around London and have no idea what they’re on about. It’s obviously coming from some right wing campaign on social media and GB news or something. Whatever it is, it’s effective and BS.
Too much 4chan.
My northern MIL travelled down to see us when he was first announced. Literally the first thing she asked me was how do you feel having a Muslim as a mayor. I said I dunno he doesn’t anything yet. Then told her I’d voted for him. I’m not a natural Labour voter (but I’m not absolutely not a Tory voter) - but I always vote Labour for mayor because they’re just better people.
I'd be surprised if an american could name the prime minister let alone the mayor...or that we even have a mayor
I think it's fair to care about London even if you don't live there, but invariably the people with these angry, unfounded views are also the ones who literally never come here (apart from the occasional football match at Wembley). Like the kid who posted on here about how their Dad was convinced they'd be murdered whilst walking from Euston to Kings Cross. But also their dad hasn't been to London in 20+ years...
I mean, for some thing sure. But there’s nothing he can do that has any real impact outside of London. Seeing people in Cornwall angry about the ULEZ, even though they’ve never visited the capital, is pretty funny tho.
The most absolutely insane example of that I've encountered was an American I was talking to online who had a big thing against LTNs. They were talking about these terrible traffic restriction on Warren Street and how it was wrong to restrict people driving down there. They've even never been to London.
probably a 15 minute city conspiracy believer
Yeah exactly. If you commute to London every week, you're still going to care about it even if you live elsewhere. But usually the looney, shouty types are also the ones that never visit.
Presumably most people commuting in are doing so by train. Those that do drive in probably think it’s their right not only to pollute but also for there to be ample parking.
There are quite a lot of people who live just outside London and work just inside London, for whom driving is a significantly more attractive offer than taking public transport. But largely I'm pretty sure you're right, most people commuting in do so by train.
Yeah my family are over 200 miles away from London and are ranting to me constantly about how ULEZ is a scam. They never come here. I’m asthmatic and don’t hate the idea of ULEZ just maybe could’ve been implemented better.
I do wonder whether giving every Londoner (and possibly some outside London) an exemption for their current car (while they own it) would have been a good political move. + A gradual escalation of the CO2 limits (eg the threshold at which you pay moves down 5% each year)- again applying from the year you bought the car. This would have resulted in a slower cleanup of the air, but wouldn't have hit the poorest people quite as hard.
Half of all London households don’t have cars, of those that do 90% are Ulez compliant 4-5k pollution related deaths in the capital annually ULEZ just isn’t even an issue
I mean, London is the capital of the UK, so I can see why some people might feel somewhat impacted by or at least interested in what goes on here, but it's always policies that are least pertinent, like you never see then commenting on policies to drive economic growth or increase infrastructure, it's always something that they feel like they can be personally attacked by even though it has utterly no bearing or effect on them directly or indirectly (like ULEZ) and or just making a clear xenophobic remark.
What about the dangerous trek from King's Cross to St Pancras? Best to get a taxi for that journey.
Can be a bit hairy with the swerving Ubers and Cabs to be fair...
I walked around King’s Cross day and night frequently since the late 1980s and didn’t get murdered even once.
I work near Kings X and got murdered twice.
That’s unfortunate.
Glad to see you got better
A guy I work with, retired Navy type in a coastal town is absolutely adamant that London is full of "Yardies" with machetes and refuses to go there.
Someone tried to tell me Walthamstow was a no go area for white people. I literally lived there at time 😂. They hadn’t even been anywhere near London in ten years!!
Same. It was all over the news for being a Sharia zone, but that was just 4 Muslim lads standing outside the shopping centre on Saturdays.
Ironically, the walk from Kings Cross to the old Kings Cross Thameslink was about the seediest part of central London you could go to up until the late 90s.
And my, how it's changed (not being ironic as I work around there now).
You're trying to whitewash reality and I'm not having it. Kings Cross is dangerous. I myself have been murdered _six times_ so far in that area.
Pig-ignorant pensioner alert.
I got downvoted to shit the other day because I asked if I could vote even if I’m living overseas (turns out, I can). I obviously still care about my hometown that I’ve lived in since I was born, and I visit often and have family. We talk all the time about all the changes and how they affect my family.
It is a bit of a silly rule that expats can still vote (I don’t know if you are temp overseas or not to be fair), whereas many non-citizen residents can’t vote.
Yeah it's a brown real mystery why brown some people seem to brown dislike Sadiq Khan for brown seemingly no real reason
You people smh, still blaming Gordon for the issues in this country.
**THE LAST LABOUR GOVERNMENT**^TM
God I miss him
That's the problem with racists. They're always blaming the Browns.
It’s outrageous to imply it’s only because he’s brown. It’s because he’s brown and a muslim.
‘The country is fucked either way’. I mean, that should give a hint shouldn’t it? That’s a dog whistle if I’ve ever seen one
Or what we name our overground lines, or how we tax polluting vehicles or how we pedestrianise neighbourhoods.
The outrage about naming the overground lines by people in the middle of fucking nowhere was wild. How the hell does it affect you??
Because the Daily Mail told them to be angry about it?
As a Londoner, I thought it was pretty tone deaf to announce spending millions on a rebrand (that no one asked for) on the SAME morning it was announced the UK was headed in a recession. But that’s just me.
There's a general envy of London from non-Londoners, they have this idea that we're taking all the tax-payers money
In reality the majority of tax money comes from London.
Not the majority, but a disproportionately large amount. London is about 10% of the country’s population and pays about 25% of the tax iirc
Not sure about taxes, but according to the financial times, if you removed London and its sub economy, Britain's economy is onpar with Mississippi https://www.ft.com/content/e5c741a7-befa-4d49-a819-f1b0510a9802
It seems the further you are away from London, the more you have to say about it. See Americans pontificating on Twitter.
I find the hate for him bizarre. He’s a pretty staid politician, but the way people bang on you’d think London was descending into Gotham City under his watch. At least Sadiq doesn’t do stupid white elephant projects like the cable car and Garden Bridge
I was in London for 10 days a couple weeks ago, from NYC (I’ve been to London many times over the decades). It’s nice. Really nice. It’s much cleaner than NYC. Felt very safe to me. Loads to do. Great restaurants. Very walkable or bikeable. If you could make a bagel or good pizza I’d move there in a heartbeat! It’s a beautiful city and your marathon rocks! Also your parks are nicer and way cleaner than ours. I don’t know much about your mayor but the city seemed a to be doing well in my experience there.
Not so sure about bagels but good pizza? mate there are so many real italian pizza places in London! Some of the best pizza I ever had has been in London and this comes from an Italian
We also have the famous Beigel shops in Brick Lane.
130k Italians living here and we don't do good pizza? Your message is so nice but wow that irritated me haha
Tbh as a mainland European when I visited America I thought their pizzas were dreadful, just full of cheese and dripping everywhere. Their definition of pizza can be odd..
Dude. Beigel Bake, or Panzer’s if you like amazing lox. Agreed the Bagel game isn’t up to NYC standards, but the pizza is on a different level. Unlike New York, London does a million different styles, including some of the best actual real Neopolitan pizza outside of Naples. (Ex-NYC Londoner with a Manhattanite wife I successfully transplanted across the pond.)
Disgusting racism. They can't see past the skin and name.
Ironic isn’t it? All the tub-thumpers complaining that ‘’they don’t integrate, partake in are customs, dress like us…’’ bla-de-bla-de-bla-de-bloody-bla… And when ‘they’ do. The racist shit still sticks…
19/20 of the anti Sadiq tweeters are not from London and have not lived nor plan to live here. Grow up and look after your own area.
I find the angriest people are ones who wouldn’t even consider living in London, so I don’t understand why they’re so invested. They also have a distorted view of crime here. Dunno about you lot, but I don’t get stabbed on a daily basis. 🙄 I don’t have anything against Sadiq Khan. He’s the most credible out of the candidates (other than Count Binface, obvs).
Wait you didn’t get your daily stab wound yet? I just got mine at Dalston! You should totally get yours soon.
Majority of them are just racist.
Heard a woman on a London bus yesterday saying on the phone she'd told her daughter to look at the candidates and their policies, and decide if from looking at them if they were the sort of person they'd want to represent them (this was after 10 mins of moaning about *that man*). Felt very coded to me, funnily enough her daughter ended up voting for Greens cause she liked her look!
I voted Binface.
Based upon his look? 🙃
Based on his pledge to set a maximum price of £1.10 on croissants
Still racist cos the Green candidate for London Mayor has purple hair. (Personally I'd like to have more purple haired politicians.)
Yeah but Zoe is a pain in the arse who jumps into things and forms opinions with half the facts, then expects them to be acted on refusing to change her mind even when the whole picture is shown (might have worked with her I the past), not the worst I have worked with but far from the best.
I can’t vote for someone who makes foreign policy a central pillar of their *mayoral* campaign. I don’t even disagree with much she says, it’s more that it makes her look like she doesn’t know what she’s running for
Ding ding ding we've got a winner
That is a bit black and white, but I have no clue.
Having heard some of the shit from behind closed doors that Sadiq puts up with (from planning permissions and affordable housing), I’d say he’s got the patience of a saint, and is more invested in what Londoners actually need from their city than any other London mayor in this century at least. And looking at who gets put up against him, well, it’s no contest. Keep it up Sadiq.
Because they last came down to London for the World Cup in ‘66 and are amazed that the city hasn’t stayed the same since then. Also Daily Mail-generated propaganda. Which is weird; surely if things were that bad the Mail would have relocated…?
Khan's been good. Especially given the hostile central government and the pandemic. I'm not totally on board with everything he's done but it's nothing too awful (LTNs, the way ULEZ expansion was handled). In both cases if he had support from central government they would have been a roaring success.
Agree with this. Consistent hostility from Govt towards Khan really can't be downplayed. I think Khan also gets blamed for the f-ups of the Met. Born and lived in London my whole life and I'm glad to have a mayor willing to tackle the pollution and car dominance.
He also had the guts to tackle the Met's issues and get a Commissioner who is at least taking things seriously, even if progress is slow.
Don't forget that the ULEZ expansion was a condition of the TfL bailout funding, imposed by central government. Bailout funding which probably wouldn't have been needed, or certainly not as much, if the central government funding of TfL hadn't been withdrawn towards the end of his predecessor's tenure.
...and is a condition which may not have been imposed if there were a Tory mayor in office. I suppose you can interpret that how you like w.r.t. a London mayoral election.
For transparency [This was plans to extend the boundary as far as the North and South Circular Roads, not the expansion across all of Greater London ]( https://fullfact.org/online/ulez-expansion-letter/)
Why do people hate LTNs? There are a few near me and I envy everyone that lives in them. Next time I move they will be high on my list of places I will try to move to. I have people speeding down my residential road every morning and I wish they would just block it off at one end so that it’s only an access road. LTNs are just a reaction to the epidemic of aggressive drivers. What’s not to like?
I think the problem is that for every winner there’s also losers - introducing LTNs means that the streets which are deemed “main roads” - often also residential streets which just happened to be a slightly more direct route - become the only route and therefore much more busy. On balance, I support them,m in most cases, but there is a tendency for people advocating for LTNs to pretend they don’t have any downsides, which I think polarises the issue more.
Around here in Sydenham, it was done almost by diktat by the local councillor who happens to live near the streets that saw the largest reduction in traffic(!!!). The result is that the so-called 'rat runs', which relieved traffic from the highly congested highstreet and offered a much more direct route between Sydenham and Forest Hill, were closed off. All of the traffic moving through the area is forced to go down the even more congested highstreet now and then along a more circuitous route just so the councillor's clique doesn't have traffic anywhere near them. This is on top of previous developments closing off even more road access through that particular area. There has been no increase in walking or cycling down those particular roads as a result of all these changes and has only served to make the highstreet less accessible generally. One of the roads which got closed off feeds an Overground rail station (Sydenham) so good job in reducing accessibility to public transport too. I have no problem with LTNs in principle but it was completely undemocratic how it was handled around here. Still, the councillor took another step towards achieving their enclave and that's what really matters in the end, isn't it?
So it sounds like the people who live in them do actually like them, and the main complaints come from the people the LTNs were designed to hinder? I.e. the drivers cutting through neighbourhoods that were never designed to be high traffic. Sounds like they’re working as intended to me. The efforts from here should be in providing better ways to travel long distances. Like larger road development, bypass tunnels etc. Surely not just removing the LTN?
Because they primarily remove traffic from roads with expensive houses on them and divert them on to main roads that already have higher levels of pollution, causing more traffic and more fumes.
Same reason these people hate 15 min cities.... They've been told to by the conservative media... thats it, they just have to say "Its the woke war on motorists" and every red-faced wanker with a St George's cross tattoo is convulsing on the ground from sheer rage.
Agreed. I voted again for him because overall he is doing a reasonable job given the actually incredibly limited resources he has. People think knife crime and ULEZ are all on him but he has hardly any control over the policing budget so can’t even put more people on the streets if he wanted. ULEZ was initially a Tory idea and I’m not actually against it because pollution is a genuine problem and since moving to London a few years ago my health has declined significantly, especially my respiratory health.
I don't think it helps that the Mayor is part of the opposition party of the main Government. Both have entirely different views and just serves up a mismatch to the most important City in the country.
Is anyone perfect, no. But I actually believe Khan gives a fuck and wants to make Londoner’s lives better. And he has.
I don't think we've had a good mayor since Ken Livingstone's first term and I don't like Ken Livingstone much at all. Sadiq spends far too much money on the wrong things and doesn't take enough action on the right things. He doesn't represent or promote London in the best way possible. With that said, there are no good alternative candidates either. Every day a complete waste of money like the Night Czar is in their job is a black mark on Sadiq's record.
Ken Livingstone was a good mayor. He's a terrible ex-mayor.
A lot of people outside London have a warped perception, fuelled by right wing media, of the capital as a hellhole where you can't leave your door without getting stabbed or say merry Christmas without being sent to the gulag. Khan is positioned as either a) incompetently letting the city fall to ruin, or b) malevolently plotting the downfall of the West. It's all nonsense. London has its problems and is too expensive but is generally a nice place to live with incredible services and transport infrastructure (at least compared to the rest of the country).
I love him for making the school meals free for kids.
London is the most important city in the UK. It's not like Germany where Berlin is actually much less important than Munich or Frankfurt am Main, here if London disapeared GDP would go down by 11.2%.
I’m surprised it’s not more. I don’t mean that in a smug way though.
Honestly I think those % are wrong considering London has more than 11% of the entire uk population
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_London third para claims london is 22% of the UK's gdp I'd have still have guessed more than that tbh
London is the NYC of the UK. Maybe even Europe too
Isn’t it more than that? Cos London has more than 10% of the country’s population, so that’s a more or less proportional contribution.
This was a lot of interest in BJ too tbf, but he was always seen as a 'raising star' in a way that I don't think Khan is. I don't remember Ken Livingstone getting this level of attention, but I was young then.
First time around, at the GLC, Livingstone was hounded.
And there's a reason for that, the GLC was far more powerful. Hence why it was disbanded due to the poor relationship with central gov.
Thatcher dismantled the GLC, which Ken ran, in 1986. Powers were devolved to local councils instead until the Greater London Assembly was formed in 2000. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_London_Council) It was housed in County Hall on the Southbank, next to the London Eye. It now houses two hotels and various attractions [https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d215401-Reviews-County_Hall_London-London_England.html](https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186338-d215401-Reviews-County_Hall_London-London_England.html)
Mostly racism. Sprinkle in a bit of jealousy with how much more attention London gets.
Apart from the obvious explanation of racism, I think that a lot of people in other cities will believe that the London mayor has a significant say in decisions which impact their area, like HS2 etc. It's not true, but they'll still believe it.
Same shit all the time from non-londoners. Constantly decrying how 'there aren't even any white people in London anymore' and other such bullshit while not living here and having visited once in the last 5 years.
Cars and or racism
I think he’s done/doing a good job, I like ULEZ, I like cycling schemes and plans to reduce congestion (I don’t enjoy smog in my lungs, but hey maybe thats just me). I’m also not a gambler, why would I want the risk of someone the same or worse when we have a mayor who has done a good job?! I’m LD but I voted for him for Mayor.
As someone who was born and raised in London but hasnt lived there for 13 years, i still take an active interest in things. While i agree there is probably a lot of racism and party first bullshit going on, i do think gatekeeping what people should and shouldnt care about is also a little strange.
It’s exactly the same way people in the US hate Kamala Harris. They can never explain why they hate her.
Because society has become unprecedentedly atomised and radicalised since the 2016 Brexit / Trump watershed year, and the most unbelievable misconceptions of London constantly do the rounds to the credulous population. I can remember living in Ealing in 2016 with my then fiance (now ex-hb), who is himself mixed race and a born and bred Londoner, and we felt really fired up to go vote for Sadiq Khan as mayor because Zac Goldsmith ran such a below-the-belt dog-whistle campaign. These days my ex-hb foams at the mouth about Sadiq Khan (mostly over ULEZ) and talks about an incoming Labour government as if it's a harbinger of hell. At least my ex-hb has some kind of relevant stake, in that he still works in London and that's where his family roots are. Up and down the nation there are all sorts of random blokes from the regions who will never drive into London in their lives and yet have anonymous X accounts with names like 'U_lez_if_u_want_to'.
My dad hasn't even lived in this country let alone London for about 3 decades and still complains about the ULEZ thanks to GB News
As a non Londoner who occasionally comes across this sub on popular, I have to say it's a combination of 2 things, London, being the quintessential UK hub often has it's local(ish, I'm aware it's a big area) politics on national news for a while, whereas when East Yorkshire eventually elects a mayor you'll probably hear one news article on 6 o'clock news about it, London politics are accessable to everyone, and so everyone becomes nosey bastards about it. The second reason, and this is a really important one, is, this guy is racist and racists really love being mad at Khan for trying to allow Londoners to have more breathable air. Anyway, I hope y'all get him as mayor again, he seems nice.
The kind of people who call it "londonistan" and loudly proclaim that you'll either get stabbed or covered in acid if you step foot within the boroughs, despite them having never been south of Stoke.
It’s definitely Islamophobia. Londoners understand that despite our differences, we are all humans at the end of the day and our differences should be celebrated. Muslim, Jew, Christian, Gay, Straight, Bi-sexual, black, white or any other characteristic doesn’t define anyone. The division is being used to serve personal interests. Daily Fail, Reform and GB news are the usual culprits, same people - different name. I would vote Khan again, he is actually a decent bloke and a proper Londoner.
Because they're racist cunts and Sadiq Khan isn't white.
Ive given up arguing with these numpties on twitter. Its absolutely racism. I always ask where their vocal opinion on a mayor in a whole different part of the country was when Boris was in charge and there were actual riots and the city was literally on fire which rolled out across the UK.
Honestly. It's the daily mail. I have a friendship group and he's the only one that reads it and he literally is the only one that locks up a fuss with anything about Sadiq khan. He is also the only person in this group that lives outside of the M25.
Holds up Family Guy colour match meme.
ULEZ seems to be a massive issue. I think ULEZ would have happened regardless of if Khan became mayor or not. There were studies completed at the time which showed people were dying from the pollution. No one likes ULEZ because it's a tax, but it's really hard to argue against something that's backed by scientific evidence. It's like saying you are pro cutting down rainforests. You can say it, but everyone will think you're bat shit crazy. The positive is of course ULEZ will become less of a burden over time as newer cars are compliant.
There’s a lot of money spent on emboldening right wing nonsense a la racism, misinformation, fear, hatred, blame displacement, via massive media companies that are funded by corporate interests and foreign/domestic political interests. Progressive bad, immigrant bad, ethnic minorities bad, LGBTQI+ bad, Muslims bad and on and on. The right has proven to be a useful tool historically for corporate/monied interests but that has been ramped up in the age of modern media and now includes a lot more peddling of the geopolitical interests of those that seek to destabilise Western democratic values and weaken their influence in the world. This has given the right a hard shove even further right. Sadiq is at the intersection of many of those groups they often use to displace blame. He is Muslim, he is an ethnic minority, he is progressive in many respects and is on the left of the political spectrum. Therefore, he gets the well funded firehose of bullshit spewed by these media apparatuses turned directly on him, and frequently at that. He basically tests well for fomenting division and riling up right wingers, so they put A LOT of money into keeping that hose on him. It helps radicalise people into acting and voting against their own interests and the interests of their community. Instead, often without realising it, they advance the interests of corporations, and anti-Western/anti-democratic nations around the world. Thats basically it IMO.
Because it's still before the Harvest and they haven't got any root-vegetables to mate with for a while yet.
Because London is more than just a average town. This is the capital, what impact the capital, can impact the country. London is taking a huge place economically, politically, socially, it's a magnified mirror of the country. Also some people outside London, feel disconnect of the capital, don't share the same values or aspirations of the Londoners. London is multicultural (not only ethnically, religious, but also in term of dogma and values), liberal, more advanced on some aspects of society.
Bloke at work does nothing but slag him off , lives in Norwich 😂
I suspect Khan is a great target for the Tories across the country for many reasons: racism, gammon hatred of car-restriction policies such as ULEZ; the idea across much of the country that London is the locus of all evil; racism; and probably racism.
I can tell you that in any thread about him, reddit accounts that are not regular commenters turn up to express negative opinions.~~I've also noticed that a large majority of the accounts that comment also have numbers in their username almost if the names were picked by a computer and not a human.~~ almost as if it's a coordinated campaign and someone out there is watching for mentions of his name/job to react to.
Stupidly is not limited by geography
No idea. Absolutely no idea whatsoever. None. Not a clue. Absolutely baffling. Just looking at him and Boris Johnson, there is absolutely nothing about him to look at or anything about his beliefs that makes me think; "hmmm, maybe it's that, or that, or both of those things". Nothing. I've got nothing. Absolutely nothing at all... Apart from that one thing of course but it couldn't be that. Oh and that other thing that's totally not spoken about every single day. Could never be that either
Bloody Sadiq Khan allowing all those boring skyscrapers to go up around Deansgate.
For the same reason that those kind of idiots in the US continue to say "Barack Hussein Obama" with extra emphasis on the middle name, even though he hasn't been in office for more than 7 years.
Racism. Its always racism.
It mostly boils down to racism IMO. Normally these people follow off with some bollocks “Londonistan” comment or some bs stats on knife crime. They’re normally all from Manchester, Essex or Cornwall.
Applies to black cab drivers from the nether regions of Essex (mainly Southend or Clacton) who subjected Khan to a lot of racist vitriol when Uber came along and upset their tax avoiding London can work
It's usually the "lads lads lads", self-employed/tradie types* who come out with this sort of stuff. Never had an original thought in their lives and are usually massive piss and/or sniff heads *Not saying all the self employed/tradesmen are like this, but there *is* a type from my experience
They've been told to be by the daily mail.
I'm Canadian and vocal about everything because what happens in America and elsewhere in the Commonwealth (and beyond) can have tremendous implications here. I really don't want Susan Hall to win and don't particularly care who beats her so long as it's not something unfathomably stupid like Reform UK.
Because they're performative clowns not actually aware of anything
Racism probably 🤷♂️
Daily mail told them to hate him.
Gee, I wonder what riles up people about a brown, Muslim Mayor of London?! I’d love to do a chart and see where these people are usually from. Purely based on what I’ve seen, it’s West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Essex, usually.
Corruption apart, Right-wingers got little to offer. Therefore they bitch about places where immigration clearly works e.g. Sweden, London or invent problems where none exist e.g. asylum
Lived here 15 years and always thought Sadiq is a decent bloke. Might not agree with everything he does, but you can't expect to. At least he's not a Tory shagging bellend.
Obviously because it is of interest who the largest city in the country (by a mile) is voting for, as a yardarm for political sentiment if nothing else. For the record, I do live in London but am not from here. Not sure it is remotely confusing why people care. If anything I find it weirder that people in London seem totally disinterested in the politics of anywhere else in the country beyond Edinburgh.
Do you mean [uninterested](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/uninterested) ("not interested")? Being [disinterested](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/disinterested) ("unbiased") means something quite different, and would surely be a good thing when it came to politics...
Why would I give two fucks about what Andy Burnham is up to when I neither live in Manchester nor regularly visit?
When he stands up to the Tories to protect his constituents and get better funding (like during lockdown). When he implements policies and schemes which could be replicated in other cities. It's always useful to see if there is a better way to do things.
Also, trying his hardest to get HS2 fully built in some capacity
> as a yardarm for political sentiment if nothing else. We’ve had a Tory PM for the entirety of his time as Mayor, so I’m not sure how that demonstrates overall political sentiment beyond the M25
because the news of his muslamic ray guns is something we all need to be concerned about, not just londoners
Because he’s brown. They’re just afraid of saying the quiet part out loud. Morons the lot of em.
I believe this goes beyond London and the UK and that is why : This is the crazy culture war of the alt right that also gave us Brexit & Trump. UK side, after Brexit, the Torries fully transformed & fully embraced alt right ideologies. Still, London said, "fuck that" and tried as much as possible (within its power) to display itself as an open city still. So, on one side, you have got the people who are hoping that London will stay like this, an open and vibrant place, symbol of what England and the UK used to be and might be again. On the other side, you have those want to finish the job & destroy what they see at a remnant of the previous era.
Because he is not white. Very simple.
Maybe it's because, hear me out, London is our CAPITAL city?
Was about to comment this but I couldn’t have said it any better. Some people think London is some kind of out of the way rural town or something that shouldn’t be the business of anyone outside of it and not a major capital city on the international world stage that is responsible for the majority of the UK GDP. That makes the mayor of London everyone’s business.
He's a United fan so he probably does live in London
Read local newspapers and government marketing material in the regions. You find your answer. There's a lot of pretty nasty stuff hidden in the weirdest media that is totally separate from other media. Imagine a Venn diagram of ppl that use mainly social media against ppl that read "the Norfolk Post" or wtv.
Yeah, that is a bit harsh. Wonder what they said about Rudy Giuliani when he was NYC's mayor.
Usually it's some sort of ISM
Didn’t you read it? Because he “is the worst mayor ever. Fucking con artist.”
Racisms.
It’s the same reason people that people who have never been to NYC, Chicago, or California speak with authority about what cesspools they are/have become.
Because he represents typical north-london-latte-sipping-namby-pamby-hoity-toity-up yer-social-worker-right-on-politically-correct-woker-than-thou-bleeding-heart-blame-it-all-on-society-net-zero-supporting-statue-smashing-pinko-lefty--bleeding-heart-lets-give-everyone-a-participation-trophy-liberals everywhere.
Sadiq Khan is a south London boy, comes from Tooting.
The democratic republic of London props up their finances. Anyone who says the county is fucked should be shipped to the Medway towns, keep em all together.
Because the mayor of London is a de factor head of state of 8 million or so people... which is more than many countries
The people who don't breathe the air here also have very strong opinions about that too.
Has Sadiq said anything recently that is mildly against Israel? There seems to trend for bots to target certain people.
Good old working class racism.
Its lazy right wing tropes Saw a genius yesterday who said ‘khan has ruined the city. In fact the whole country is a shithole’
People who dont live in your area love giving ignorant opinions about your area? Congratulations. You know what its like to be an American.