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Ken Livingstone There are several reasons why no sane Londoner would want former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, to ever hold sway over even the smallest fragment of life in this fine old town ever again. But even by the standards of his immoderate, incendiary rhetoric over a long and inglorious career, this material I link to via Harry’s Place blog surely has to take the proverbial biscuit.
Last year, investigative journalist – and no right-wing hack – Andrew Gilligan, had a fascinating story about Ken’s interesting sources of funding. From Iran, no less.
Update: Livingstone’s anti-semitism has been a feature for some time. Even his own party is starting to get seriously rattled. He’s playing a very dangerous game: pandering to fundamentalist islam and trying to score points with them by bashing Jews. FFS.
Another update: Harry’s Place has more on the latest outrage.
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That report is from January 2011 – where has it been all this time?
Livingstone is a repulsive little popinjay who should have been ostracised from British political life decades ago. That he has not been shows the tribalism of the Left.
I don’t recall any of the Londoners I know, who are all sane, asking for a Mayor of London in the first place.
Scrap the office and the noddy assmbly that goes with it – and the noddy Scottish and Welsh assmblies that New Labour introduced at about the same time.
It’s intriguing to see just how persistent Gilligan is in hounding Livingstone. His Telegraph columns are good, provocative investigative journalism of the kind you don’t see much – wasn’t previously a big fan as I saw him as The BBC Enemy.
The fact that Ken Livingstone is standing again is enough to make me go and vote, I fear.
Amen to that, pete.
Trouble is, 42% of the electorate up here in Jockland actually voted for the damn thing fifteen years ago. That counts as a “majority” and represents the “settled will of the Scottish people”, apparently, so we’re pretty much stuck with it for the foreseeable.
Sam:
I wouldn’t put any stock in the result of that vote, or indeed any vote conducted in this country. I never understand why Briton’s feel so superior because “we’re a democracy”.
I don’t see any inherent advantage to it. We have no constitutional guarantees of our liberty at all – parliament has a free hand and no restraints on the kinds of laws they can pass. We only get to vote every 4-5 years, and we don’t even get to chose who the candidates are. That’s not freedom, that’s a crock.
My family and I currently live in housing association property. They are very democratic. This year they sent round a survey asking whether we would like a 4.5%, a 5.5% or a 6.5% increase in our rent.
The newsletter said that there was almost unanimous support for a 4.5% increase in our rent…..
Democracy doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have a say in the alternatives you must choose from. All of this talk of Britain being a “free country” is an utter fiction.
I’ve friends in London who absolutely loath and detest KL and are adamant that they will do everything in their power to ensure he doesn’t get back in! Personally I cannot abide him and what he stands for so I hope all who can vote make the sensible choice!
When I first heard of that little German ‘egor’ who ‘plasticized’ dead bodies, I thought it might be interesting “business” experiment – to set up a company to sell a pre-mortis version to those will go to any length to in pursuit of eternal celebrity:
I was thinking of calling it the: Star Plasticization And Storage Technology Innovative Conglomerate. – to offer an extra-long lasting stardom state for those of a more discriminating celebrity taste.
Ken Livingston being such an upstanding and discerning human bean I reckon if I offered him a free trial and post-op permanent postion – he really might go for it.
Alisa – the glory of the internet.
One can get back old articles when one needs them – such as at election time.
Guido has been bashing Red Ken over the head (on his tax and other matters) for a long time now. But aspects of the msm are finally starting to get the message that Ken is a nasty, corrupt, piece of work.
Unlike Comrade Barack in the United States in 2008, Comrade Ken is being exposed in parts of the msm (although not really the BBC).
So people who vote for the unnatural alliance of Marxism and Islamism (indeed even Iranian regime Islamism) that Ken is the front man for – know what they are voting for, and can not hide behind ignorance.
Jaded Voluntarist makes a valid point – choices are limited.
I do not think much of Boris Johnson (to put it mildy) – yet he is the alternative to Red Ken, and it would be better if there were truly libertarian alternatives (with a chance of winning),
But there are not – so that is that.
By the way….
A principle reason why rents are so high in this country is not the limited range of choices that housing associations offer.
It is HOUSING BENEFIT.
When tens of billions of Pounds are spent making sure millions of people do not pay rent from their own pocket, then OF COURSE rents get inflated up.
People who pay rent from their own wages (such as me) are victims of this.
Housing benefit is about as much an example of the free market as American “Food Stamps” are.
“No one would claim that they were examples of the free market, Paul”.
Some Bushbabies in the msm would.
No Paul, I was just wondering if it was known at least around Britain and I missed it – apparently that is not the case. Well, better late than never.
Sadly I doubt that it is known even now Alisa.
Ask most London residents “does Ken Liveingstone get money from the Iranian regime” and they will not have a clue.
It is like the budget – already the opinion formers (BBC etc) are following the Labour party lead that it is a “millionaries budget”.
I was just listening to some Labour party liar (who works for the Daily Telegraph -?????) explaining how this was a budget for the rich ….. (and on and on).
Actually even if the cut in the top rates happens next year (which it will not) the tax INCREASES on the wealthy are five times bigger.
As for the poor – we are to get a tax cut.
If one can work out “thresholds” and send paperwork off to the Inland Revenue to “claim back” tax (which most working-poor people do not have a clue about) and (little point) the tax cut for the poor is another PROMISE (for next yers).
But the increases on taxes on the poor – on smoking and driving a car and…..
Oh they come in this year.
They are not promises – they are reality.
To be fair…..
Some of the “threshold” change happens this April.
Osbourne’s presentation was a such a mess, that I missed that.
Even though I sat there listening to the man for an hour.
Also to be fair…
I live in a housing association home, and I have just received a letter telling me that my rent has FALLEN for the second year running. (Correct points about housing benefit inflating rents notwithstanding) my rent is already significantly cheaper than rents for a similar flat in the for-profit sector (the housing association is technically a private company that is forbidden to make a profit and any money “surplus” is spent on property improvements).
Is this not how housing associations are run elsewhere in the country? I had always assumed it was, but perhaps i am just lucky…