London mayor Livingstone suspended from office over Nazi gibe

[Coastie for Truth]

London Mayor Ken Livingstone refused to apologize for comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi camp guard, and is now facing four weeks off the job - suspended for bringing his office into disrepute.

The famously combative mayor said Friday's ruling by a disciplinary panel struck a blow against democracy, but many wondered why he couldn't just apologize.

"Had the mayor simply recognized the upset his comments had caused, this sorry episode could have been avoided," said the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which brought the case before the Adjudication Panel for England. "He has been the architect of his own misfortune."

The Board of Deputies also said it has not "sought anything other than an expression of regret and an acknowledgement that the words used were wholly inappropriate for the elected representative of Londoners of all faiths and beliefs."

<<<snip>>>

[GrumpyGreg]

1. London did fine without a mayor for years. Ken is nuts !

[Coastie for Truth]

2. He's a Bevinite (Ernest).

[Dutch]

11. He's from the opposite wing of the party to Bevin.

If anything he's more of a Bevanite (Nye), not that I'm comparing him to the great man in stature.

[Coastie for Truth]

15. Calling him an Ernest Bevinite in terms of his I/P attitudes.

Ok- he is also following the I/P policies of Sir Robert Sykes, VC, OBE.

[Dutch]

16. Their views on the I/P situtation are comparable,

Although I suspect Ken would take issue with the worst excesses of Bevin's mismanagement of the then Mandated territory. Nevertheless if Bevin were still alive they would disagree on virtually everything else, including foreign policy in general, and would probably hate each others guts. Plus I very much doubt his I/P views are particularly influenced by Bevin, even if they are shaped by similar attitudes to a certain extent.

[Coastie for Truth]

17. My point exactly---

the worst excesses of Bevin's mismanagement of the then Mandated territory.

even if they are shaped by similar attitudes

[Dutch]

14. It didn't, and imo he isn't

London local government was a complete mess after Thatcher's vindictive, politically-driven assassination of the GLC, it badly needed a new overarching authority. Ken is prone to spewing both the views and the rhetoric of the hard-left milieu he emerged from- and doesn't seem to grasp that as mayor he can't expect to rant about anyone to his right being a Nazi with the same lack of discrimination that they use within the murky halls of the Anti-Nazi league, but personally I think he's done a decent job with the limited powers he has. Either way, Londoners have seen fit to elect him twice. I happen to think he's full of shit when it comes to Israel/Palestine, but it's not like he has much power in the realm of foreign affairs...

[Voice1]

3. Livingstone is an elected representative

yet has been suspended by an unelected body. What does that tell you about the state of our country today?

[Coastie for Truth]

4. How is England "Our" country. The DU server is in the US

Besides - the Brits variously elected Ernest Bevin and Tony Blair - about as dumb as the US electing Bush and Shot Gun (or is it "Shot Glass") Cheney.

If you're a Brit - have your Salvation Army invade the US - take our two alcoholics prisoner - and subject them to the "torture" of the Twelve Step Program"

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol; that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Yes - I realize this is Alcoholics Anonymous, but the Salvation Army also uses it - and Bush and Cheney have this thing about Armies and Uniforms and Posse Comitatus - so they might be helped by the Salvation Army.

[Voice1]

5. Speaking as a Brit, yes

Regarding electing Blair - you ought to read up on some facts - just over 20% of elligible voters voted for Blair's Labour Party at the last election, additionally, we do not elect Blair as the Prime Minister, we vote for candidates at a local level, elected to parliament.

If a party gets more than half the seats in parliament, then it becomes the government. Each individual party is responsible for electing its leader.

And, before you ask, yes, there are many of us who have been calling for electoral reform for some time.

[sabbat hunter]

7. what percentage of eligible

what percentage of eligible voters actually voted in your last general election.

and even though you do not directly elect the PM, it is understood that the party head (ie blair) would become the PM if his party wins. so when you vote for labour, you indirectly vote for blair.

[Dutch]

12. Except many on the left voted Labour on the "vote Blair get Brown" ticket

Hoping Blair would vacate No 10 shortly after the election. They were kidding themselves all along, but nevertheless the onyl realistic alternative was the Tories and they were worse.

[Dutch]

13. Well, Bevin was only elected by the people of his constituency

Not Britain as a whole- and whilst I regard him with loathing for his handling of the Mandate, he was a minister in probably the best government either the UK or the US has ever elected, imo.

Besides, the fact that people (of all countries) are at times inclined to elect assholes or morons to office is poor justification for a clique of out of work civil servants to override the will of the electorate.

[Scurrilous]

6. Court blocks Livingstone suspension

Britain's High Court delays London mayor's suspension over Nazi jibe until appeal can be heard; Livingstone refused to apologize for referring to Jewish reporter as 'Nazi guard'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3222215,00.html

<snip>

"Britain's High Court has blocked a four-week suspension of London's Mayor Ken Livingstone imposed for comparing a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard.

The mayor was ordered suspended for a month beginning March 1 by a tribunal last week for bringing his office into disrepute during an exchange with the reporter outside a party.

But a High Court judge accepted his request to have the suspension delayed until an appeal can be heard.

Livingstone refused to apologize for his remarks and said the panel that suspended him had overstepped its bounds.

"If the issue hadn't been this, it would have been something else," he said. "For far too long, the allegation of anti-Semitism has been used against anybody critical of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians."

[Coastie for Truth]

8. Procedural "stay" - not a "reversal" or "dismissal" on the merits.

[Englander]

9. The "dismissal" is next week.

"Comrade".

[TomClash]

10. I suppose

that's better than weeks of rioting around the globe.

So much for "free speech."