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LISTEN GUV'NOR: THE CABBIES SPEAK
On his experience in three Conservative terms:
303K/27 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
On cabbies' vote this year:
160K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
On election coverage:
241K/22 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
On a common European currency:
192K/18 sec. AIFF or WAV soundLONDON (CNN) -- After staying to the right in Britain's past three elections, London cabbie Dave Freeman is turning toward the middle of the road.
"My own quality of life has probably gone down," he says, easing his black taxi through heavy midday traffic in the West End. "From my point of view, I've been no better off over the last three terms."
"I suppose," he says, "you could call me a floating voter."
The stereotypical London cabbie backs the ruling Conservatives, and isn't shy about sharing his views. But, as the May 1 election approaches, a spot check on the city's streets suggests otherwise. If it's true that most drivers are happy to tell you what they're thinking, it's also true that they're hardly thinking alike.
"I'm going to be voting Conservative," says a cabbie waiting outside the Kings Cross train station, "because I believe in Conservative policies."
Minutes later, another writes off Prime Minister John Major's government as "incompetent and corrupt."
All across town, the drivers mostly talk about taxes, Britain's role in Europe and concerns that Tony Blair's reshaped Labour party will be hijacked by the hard left if it takes power.
At a 19th-century taxi shelter in the western Notting Hill neighborhood, where off-duty cabbies hang out, a cook named Ruth says, "From what we hear, most of them are going away from Major."
But a driver sitting at one of the hut's narrow tables says he'll vote Conservative, because the party has done the most for the cabbie. Labour, he recalls, refused to give the drivers a pay raise in the late 1970s.
Sue, on materialism:
169K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Rick, on Labour's shift to the right:
303K/25 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Sue, on her concerns:
210K/20 sec. AIFF or WAV sound"Since the Conservative government has been in power," he says, "we've had a rise every year."
Then an argument breaks out -- over the European Union's power to make rules in Brussels affecting Britain. "We have less rights now," shouts a young driver, furious at the Tories for leading the country into Europe, "than we had in 1940 to '45 when the war was on!"
Back in Freeman's cab, the loudest sound is the stutter of the engine. Along the River Thames, he picks up Rick and Sue Hyde, who've come in from southwest England to buy shoes. A robust political discussion, anyone?
"I think," Rick says, smiling, "it's very foolish to get into conversations about politics with cab drivers."
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