Anders Hanson

I can’t help but feel sorry for the other two people going for the Lib Dem nomination for Mayor of London, as Brian Paddick is always going to be the star attraction and I’d be astonished if he doesn’t get selected.

I was going to reserve judgement on him until I had read more about his platform and heard him at conference, but having read Alex Wilcock’s excellent and informative posting about him I am pretty convinced already. I wouldn’t say that I always agree with Alex, because I don’t. But he is one of the best people I know for effectively articulating what the Liberal Democrats are about, and if he is convinced and thinks Brian Paddick can articulate those ideas too then that’s a pretty strong recommendation for me.

I do though have two particular concerns about Brian Paddick:

• He might have the right beliefs and principles, but how will he work with the party? I am not too worried about him having a very short track-record in supporting the party, I think we get too hung up about things like that when it comes to candidates. But what I don’t know is how he will interact with the party’s organisation in London and how he will work with the party’s members and campaigners - something that will be crucial if he is to run an effective campaign. All political parties have their quirks in the way that they operate and organise - will he be able to cope with ours, just as can we cope with his?
• There have been all sorts of allegations made about him over the years. Are we sure that they are all completely unfounded? I know that our candidate approval process is supposed to weed these things out, (on reflection, perhaps not the best phrase I could have used), but with someone who has been so high profile and so controversial we need to be absolutely certain.

All in all though, I am pretty impressed that he is one of our potential candidates, and I hope that if he doesn’t win, he will stick with us and keep campaigning for the party. I don’t like celebrity politics, and that is one of the main reasons I don’t like having directly elected mayors in the first place. But if we are to stand any chance of winning a contest as big as the election of the Mayor of London, we either have to be capable of campaigning on the ground in every part of London or we need a candidate that is already well known but is also a Liberal Democrat.

ALEX WILCOCK: Brian Paddick: He’s not the Messiah, He’s a… Very Distinguished Police Officer

Progammes about history, the countryside and art have become pretty staple fair on Sunday nights recently. You can even watch them back to back at the moment with “Britain’s Favourite View” and “Mountain”. I quite enjoy these programmes though, and for a Sunday they are pretty good for winding down at the end of the weekend before you go back to work on Monday.

Tonight though, the two fitted together pretty well, with “Mountain” reminding me of what I would probably pick as my favourite view - the view across Sheffield from the Long Causeway between Redmires and Stanage Pole. On tonight’s “Mountain”, Griff Rhys Jones walked up to Stanage Edge and showed many views across the edge itself, which admittedly are very dramatic, but to me it is the view back down the hill towards Sheffield (particularly on a bright sunny day) that are the best.

Sheffield itself is not beautiful, but its setting built on hills on the edge of the Pennines and surrounded by many more makes it one of the most dramatic settings for a city in the whole country. The great thing about this view though is that it extends far further than just the hills around Sheffield, which is why having brilliant weather is important. Beyond Sheffield it gets flatter and flatter as you head towards the Humber Estuary. According to a nearby viewpoint it should be possible to see as far as Humber Bridge and Lincoln Cathedral which is pretty impressive and quite believable.

Other views that I think are up there as some of the best are:

• The view of the Rivelin Valley in Sheffield from the crags near Hagg Lane. This plae is about five minutes from where I grew up and is a view point that looks across the woodland, fields and crags of the Rivelin Valley and out to the Hallam Moors and the Peak District. It is beautiful and yet incredibly near to home.
• The view down the River Thames towards the City of London from Hungerford Bridge is a view that I never get bored by. During my time living in Eastleigh, I would often deliberately use Embankment Underground Station and walk to/from Waterloo instead, just so I could enjoy this view. It is still able to generate a feeling of excitement about London and all you can do there whenever I see it.
• The view from the A487 between Dolgellau and Corris down towards Tal-y-Llyn. This view down a mountain pass comes out of the blue as you drive from Dolgellau past Cader Idris and down towards Corris. Spectacular.