graffic
24th January 2008, 17:57
Did anyone watch channel 4 dispatches on Monday night? Martin Bright investigated the hard left mayor of London, Ken Livingstone - known as Red Ken for his support of the IRA and hatred of Middle England.
I used to admire Red Ken, his drinking of whiskey in debates - the way he consistently outwitted the Torys. He was an independant and alternative character in British Politics. That was until he started associating with reactionary bigots, spending tax payers money defending a reactionary bigot and organising immoral deals in international politics and relations. He has one of the most responsible jobs in the country and if what Martin Bright showed on Monday night is true - one of the most succesful socialists in the UK is a dead man walking.
Livingstone was elected mayor a while back and to be fair has done some amazing things for London. His colleagues in Socialist alliance managed to spin their way into the London office and make London the "beacon of socialism" for cities worldwide - that was the original plan anyway. He managed to get everyone from his private socialist alliance group - which used to meet at the top of a cafe in London - into his office. It started to go wrong for Ken when he introduced the "congestion charge" for people working in London who lived outside. At the same time he set up schemes giving the homeless and unemployed free travel. He also befriended a hardline Muslim cleric who says on his own website that all "homosexuals should be hanged" plus various other remarks about female circumcison and anti-semitism. When people pointed this out and questioned whether the cleric should be giving speeches to Kens supporters and "representing" Muslims in the UK - Ken responded by labelling criticism "Islamophobic", he went as far to spend tax payers money on quite a detailed report defending the Muslim cleric even though the evidence was indisputable.
Ken also decided to give Hugo Chavez advice about Transport and economics in Venezuala, this was in return however for £15 million (money for Londons fuel costs). Thats one of the poorest countrys in the world giving one of the richest capitals in the world £15 Million for fuel. He abused power in many other ways which is showed in the clip..
Watch the clip:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2243912,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SiPQf5JkpY
I used to admire Red Ken, his drinking of whiskey in debates - the way he consistently outwitted the Torys. He was an independant and alternative character in British Politics. That was until he started associating with reactionary bigots, spending tax payers money defending a reactionary bigot and organising immoral deals in international politics and relations. He has one of the most responsible jobs in the country and if what Martin Bright showed on Monday night is true - one of the most succesful socialists in the UK is a dead man walking.
Livingstone was elected mayor a while back and to be fair has done some amazing things for London. His colleagues in Socialist alliance managed to spin their way into the London office and make London the "beacon of socialism" for cities worldwide - that was the original plan anyway. He managed to get everyone from his private socialist alliance group - which used to meet at the top of a cafe in London - into his office. It started to go wrong for Ken when he introduced the "congestion charge" for people working in London who lived outside. At the same time he set up schemes giving the homeless and unemployed free travel. He also befriended a hardline Muslim cleric who says on his own website that all "homosexuals should be hanged" plus various other remarks about female circumcison and anti-semitism. When people pointed this out and questioned whether the cleric should be giving speeches to Kens supporters and "representing" Muslims in the UK - Ken responded by labelling criticism "Islamophobic", he went as far to spend tax payers money on quite a detailed report defending the Muslim cleric even though the evidence was indisputable.
Ken also decided to give Hugo Chavez advice about Transport and economics in Venezuala, this was in return however for £15 million (money for Londons fuel costs). Thats one of the poorest countrys in the world giving one of the richest capitals in the world £15 Million for fuel. He abused power in many other ways which is showed in the clip..
Watch the clip:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2243912,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SiPQf5JkpY