Youth vote is split over Ken

FORMAL opinion polls show Ken Livingstone enjoying a commanding lead over his rivals in the race for Mayor. But what does young London think?

TIM MARSH canvassed opinion in some of the capital's leading nightspots P At the Social Bar, Little Portland Street, Amy Mamchia, a trainee solicitor, 22, from London, said: "Ken rocks. He knows what London needs - I don't think the Tube should be privatised. The way Labour treated Ken is shocking."

Fellow trainee solicitor, 23-year-old Janice Adams, also from London, said: "Ken's making a point by standing but doesn't have good enough policies."

P In the Jerusalem Bar, Rathbone Place, Rohan, a 35-year-old musician from Hampstead, said: "I don't think Ken would be right.

That doesn't mean go for Malcolm McLaren - he's an idiot. I think Trevor Phillips should do the job.

He has a modern outlook. Ken has been around too long."

Rob Hale, 23, an IT consultant from east London, said: "Ken is okay but should do something to promote motorbikes. We are a minority but are the solution to a lot of London's traffic problems and virtually pollution free.

Ken is a voice of London but it remains to be seen whether he can listen."

P At Mo-Lu, the Annexe, Dean Street, musician Sean Quinn, 33, from south London, said: "I'd like to see Ken sort out public transport. I don't trust politicians, but give him a go. I remember him from my student days. He stood for what he believed."

P At Swerve, in the Velvet Rooms, Charing Cross Road, Yemisi Olasehinde, 27, a forensic scientist from east London, said: "Ken could be good. It's a new age, so we all live in hope." Talvin Singh, the Mercury Award-winning musician, said: "I couldn't tell you anything about Ken. I've been in India, so this is of no relevance to me."

P At Sophisticats, in Marylebone Lane, the club's promoter "Catman", from north London, said: "I would prefer David Beckham and Poshy."

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