The other Presidential election

One of my great regrets of having been spending months down at my mother's pleasure in Chichester is that I have been missing out on the great spectacle of Ken v Boris v Brian v Sian v a selection of other parties many of whom I have never heard of before in the contest for the only political office I would really like to have - Mayor of London. That changes tomorrow when I am going to a live Mayoral debate - I can hardly wait... and I need to remember the rather convoluted question about the westward extension of the congestion charge I said I wanted to ask. But I am sure they won't ask me.... at least I hope so as the debate is then broadcast on Sky News.

But what has come true - at least in certain London restaurants - is that this is a contest that has engaged people... whether on the level of how on earth did a city like London end up with these candidates; to the agonies of what to do with that precious second vote, knowing that what might be best for London could also have unintended national repercussions. And then there is the need to remember just how the system works -- no ones and twos but a column one X and a column two X. And no "none of the above options". And for someone who has always lived in a dull Parliamentary constituency, there is finally a contest where someone can be slightly bothered to go after my vote.

I was flicking through the manifestos as helpfully summarised by Anthony Mayer (for whom I worked on the poll tax - bet he doesn't admit that much around County Hall) who turns out to be the GLA returning officer. One side of A5 probably doesn't offer much scope for sophisticated policy offerings but there was a definite hint of headline populism about most of what was being proposed. And one policy that everyone seemed to have was to lift the curfew on the so-called Twerlies.... those people with Freedom Passes who have at the moment to wait until 9.30 to get on the tubes and buses. I only discovered the concept of the Twerly (based on eager over 60s waiting at bus stops asking "is it too early" at 9.27) at a No. 10 reunion dinner party where Rachel Lomax (Deputy Governor of the Bank of England), Sir Roderic Lyne (former Ambo to Moscow and now consultant to mega-capitalism) and Lord Turnbull (he of Macavity and Stalin and also not short of a non-executive chairmanship or three) were all waxing lyrical about their freedom passes. And indeed coming down to Victoria on Friday I saw a 9.34 Norman Lamont get on the 148 bus to his Mayfair employer -- a man who told me during the last Mayoral contest that he thought Ken had done great things for the buses when he discovered he could get a bus virtually door-to-door for nothing instead of a taxi for rather a lot.. So do we want all these people taking up our seats for nothing before 9.30? Is anyone on the side of London;s workers?

So since I can't remember my question for tomorrow, maybe I will ask which candidate will get the Twerlies under control and promise not to let them compete with honest farepayers who need to work to live rather than supplement already generous pensions.

Further update post debate... and meanwhile, more milestones... first trip on bus unaccompanied (may find it hard to break the taxi habit; first outing without any crutch!!!). Bottomline is I just keep on bouncing.