This fine, upstanding socialist has just declared he'll run for Mayor of the world's greatest city...

In case there's any doubt, I'm talking about George Galloway, rather than the thing next to him. But he says he won't run if another fine, upstanding socialist stands. He means...

No, honestly - he does. I'm relieved only one of them will be in the race, otherwise it would be a bit like choosing between faeces and vomit. George Orwell once wrote, "...the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents." Indeed.

The official Labour candidate could very well be former minister, Tessa Jowell, whose husband, you'll remember... oh, let's not go there. She's so boring and meaningless, I can't even be bothered posting a photograph of her. 

Of course, if Galloway ends up standing, it could deprive the official Labour candidate of a lot of Muslim votes, as well as those of the Occupy crowd, so those of us who care about London should really be doing our best to encourage the blighter in his delusions.

Whichever two of these three political titans ends up duking it out for London's substantial left-wing vote, here are a few thoughts on socialism to sustain those of us disinclined to return to the dark days of Ken Livingstone's atrocious mayoral reign:

Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
Thomas Sowell.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples' money.
Margaret Thatcher

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston Churchill

Socialism has no moral justification whatsoever; poor people are not morally superior to rich people, nor are they owed anything by rich people simply because of their lack of success.
Ben Shapiro

Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
Alexis de Tocqueville

To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukaemia with leeches.
Margaret Thatcher

All socialism involves slavery.
Herbert Spencer

Socialism violates at least three of the Ten Commandments: It turns government into God, it legalizes thievery and it elevates covetousness. Discussions of income inequality, after all, aren't about prosperity but about petty spite. Why should you care how much money I make, so long as you are happy?
Ben Shapiro

In practice, socialism didn't work. But socialism could never have worked because it is based on false premises about human psychology and society, and gross ignorance of human economy.
David Horowitz

Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Yes? Well socialism is exactly the reverse.
Len Deighton

From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time.
Friedrich Hayek

I remained a socialist for several years, even after my rejection of Marxism; and if there could be such a thing as socialism combined with individual liberty, I would be a socialist still. For nothing could be better than living a modest, simple, and free life in an egalitarian society. It took some time before I recognized this as no more than a beautiful dream; that freedom is more important than equality; that the attempt to realize equality endangers freedom; and that, if freedom is lost, there will not even be equality among the unfree.
Karl Popper

The socialist pretends to have glimpsed paradise on earth. Those who decline the invitation to embrace the vision are not just ungrateful: they are traitors to the cause of human perfection. Dissent is therefore not mere disagreement but treachery. Treachery is properly met not with arguments but (as circumstances permit) the guillotine, the concentration camp, the purge.
Roger Kimball

One of the consequences of such notions as "entitlements" is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.
Thomas Sowell 

Socialism is workable only in heaven where it isn't needed, and in hell where they've got it.
Cecil Palmer