Ken Livingstone Suspended!

He was not suspended for making the jibe, but for not backtracking afterwards.

While the suspension is excessive, it does have merit.

From Southpark:

'Oh My God! They killed kenny!'

'You B******S!'

He shouldn't have been suspended, it was an overreaction. Still, Ken should just have just said sorry at the time and left it at that. It was no big deal, he is just too stuburn for his own good sometimes.

Salam

The Lord Mayor of London is kicked out of his office for insulting a Jewish reporter.

I think this is going to create more hatred against the Jews.

Now the extreme far right are going to have a field day. And this can only lead to negative consequences.

[url=http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2… News[/url]

Omrow

This has been a very good week for anti-jewish interests.

There was the whole anglican church issue, then Irving and now this.

He made tasteless remark and has to pay for it.

Unfortunatley being the mayor of London and being in the publics eye means hes supposed to watch what he says/does. Any mistake on his part will have reprocussions.

Salam

[quote="salaf"]This has been a very good week for anti-jewish interests.

There was the whole anglican church issue, then Irving and now this.[/quote]

Exactly.

These type of stories only go to serve the interests white supremisist movements.

Omrow

I cannot agree to argue that enforcing egalitarian laws weakens the power of the argument to enforce egalitarian laws.

salaf,

I appreciate the openmindedness of sympathy for Jews but I consider:

The Anglican church has taken a highly disturbing hostile stance to Israel. That is in itself upsetting.

Irving has been held bang to rights.

A decision has been taken about Mayor Livingstone that takes a strong stand against the mayor calling a Jewish reporter he did not know a Nazi. We could debate the harshness of the penalty but I anyway dislike the mayor so much that I am not going to. Four weeks' suspension is good by me, and if he's thinking of penance he could also lower the huge cost of public transport, make it reliable, end the petty victimisation of motorists and cut out the ridiculous expenditure on promoting himself to Londoners. Half of London is at a standstill and going bankrupt.

The only problem I have is that there is a job to do.

How is suspending him (with full pay) gonna affect the job he does?

What did he have planned? I'll do it.

naah I will do it.

just give me 50% extra.

Well he must have had to do something? right?

:?:

While I agree that managers do not seem to do anything, they must surely do something.

Otherwise there would not be so many.

[quote="[url=http://www.mayor-of-london.co.uk/blog/]Mayor of London Blog[/url]"] The Guardian quotes Ken Livingstone on his 4 week suspension:
[quote="The Guardian"]Last night it seemed certain that Mr Livingstone would challenge the decision in the courts.

"This decision strikes at the heart of democracy. Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law," he said. "Three members of a body that no one has ever elected should not be allowed to overturn the votes of millions of Londoners." He said he will decide next week whether to challenge the decision at the high court."
[/quote]

Both The Guardian and Ken Livingstone seem to have conveniently forgotten just how few people did actually bother to vote for him in the 2004 election

1st Choice votes: 685,541

2nd Choice votes: 142,839

(On papers where the 1st and 2nd choice vote were for the top two candidates, the second choice votes were not counted.)

Total votes for Ken Livingstone: 828,380

Electorate: 5,197,647

So only about 13% (1st choice) to 16% (including the 2nd choice votes) of the electorate chose to vote for him.

Even including the 2nd choice votes, to claim that "the votes of millions of Londoners" were cast in favour of Ken Livingstone is untrue

[url=http://www.mayor-of-london.co.uk/blog/2006/02/how_many_millions_of_lond…]

How does that matter?

He WAS elected either way.

You cannot demand democracy and then shun it when it does not favour your chosen outcome.

That is hypocrisy.

even If he won by one vote, he is the elected mayor of London.

Point is he routinely lies.

I like the guy.

He is the small guy that habitually gives the two fingers.

There was a case for him being sanctioned in some way for his jibe.

But at school I thought of suspension as cool. you do not have to study/work. Just put your feet up. chill out.

can I have a 4 week suspension from work with pay? hell no.

I agree with most of that and I'm sure he's personable. I appreciate your support for the embattled little guy but that isn't what he is by a margin.

I am not supporting him in this issue.

read the second post in the topic.

right now we seem to juts be discussing personality and not the topic...

not too bothered either way...

but he was the little guy when he stuck it to Newlabour. Then he rejoined.

He uses his own brain. That may lead hiom to trouble, but at the same time he is not a crony, and will say what he thinks.

I like straight talkers. Even if I disagree, I respect them for straight talking.

Fair comment.

Why should he get any special treatment. Some ppl have implied the suspension is too harsh. But would you say it were too harsh had he made a derogatory comment about the Muslims somehow I doubt it.

No he didn't know the reporter was Jewish, but once he was informed he could have apologised, instead he continued with his disgusting comments, knowing it would cause offence. So do I feel sympathy for him er....NO

He deserves the suspension, but I don't think he'll learn any lessons from it, he's far too arrogant for that, i've never liked him.

One thing I will say about this case is the stupidity of people who say that he wouldn't have called a black guy a Klu Klux clan member or something along those lines.

The difference is that jewish people don't clearly stand out (because it isn't a race whereas black is). More importantly though is that the image of concentration camps has become part of western culture so calling someone a nazi is quite common whereas the clan is not as promenant an image.