London Mayor Ken Livingstone suspended

[Luke90]

Many of you will be pleased to hear that Ken Livingstone has been suspended over his offensive comments to a journalist.
Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4746016.stm)

[scattergood]

Many of you will be pleased to hear that Ken Livingstone has been suspended over his offensive comments to a journalist.
Mayor is suspended over Nazi jibe (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4746016.stm)

Hoorah for the rule of law. You should note that the Adjudication Panel for England found Livingstone guilty of breaking not the laws of England but the GLA code of conduct:

"The case tribunal is, however, concerned that the mayor does seem to have failed, from the outset of this case, to have appreciated that his conduct was unacceptable, was a breach of the code (the GLA code of conduct) and did damage to the reputation of his office."

The conflict is that Livingstone thinks that elected officials should only be removed by the voters of breaking the law:

The mayor said: "This decision strikes at the heart of democracy."

He added: "Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law.

Unfortunately that is just not the case. I went to look up what the hell the GLA code of conduct is and found out it is the official policy of the Greater London Administration. In other words it is the 'corporate handbook' for the London government. It includes gems on how to declare gifts, avoid sexual harrasment, hire and fire properly, etc. It also includes this nifty little item:

5.7.1. Conduct constituting Gross Misconduct may lead to instant dismissal and will normally be considered to include, for example, such things as:

(a) theft of Authority property or from an employee of the Authority

(b) wilful damage to Authority property

(c) physical assault upon a fellow employee, contractor, work colleague or member of thepublic in the course of employment

(d) serious acts of discrimination, victimisation, bullying or harassment or verbal abuse amongst employees, contractors, people on secondment to the Authority or members of the public on grounds of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

(e) criminal acts in the course of employment

(f) bringing into disrepute public confidence in the Authority

(g) breach of the Authority’s standing orders or financial regulations

(h) serious breach of the standards of conduct expected of staff of the Authority within this Code of Ethics and Standards.

So basically Livingstone is just completely wrong. Elected officials are held to the standards of the GLA which HE signed up to, and it is the pitard upon which he is being hoisted. I believe that the Adjudication Panel found his anti-semetic remarks to fall under 5.7.1d and 5.7.1f of the code and have punished him accordingly.

As I said, hoorah for the rule of law.

[minusthejihad]

About the only good news that ever came out of CNN. Thats where I saw it this morning.

[Annaliese]

About the only good news that ever came out of CNN. Thats where I saw it this morning.


By CNN, would that be the Clinton News Network or what some of us have begun calling AFINN (Apologists For Islamofascist News Network ... btw, a wholly owned subsidiary of Al Jazerra)?

[minusthejihad]

Yes, I'm speaking of the network that won't run the cartoons out of respect (fear) of Islam.

[Annaliese]

Precisely. Respect? ... I don't think so ... :D ;)

[physics]

Great News! :D

Maybe now he can finally pursue his dream, giving anti-Israeli speeches across the Islamic world. I am sure he'll be welcomed.

[takeo]

He is only suspended for 4 weeks but he'll go to office as usual. And why? Because he insulted a journalist who was harassing him, a journalist of a newspaper which constantly slandered him, called him an anti-semite and other insults. He has plans to sue the newspaper for personal slander and stalking. By the way, the journalist came to him on the street, not on any official occasion or press-conference, and didn't go away when he was told to get lost. Then he told him he acted as a camp-guard. So? Last year Berlusconi called a socialist German parliament member a "nazi camp guard" IN the European parliament because he dared to criticise him!

Of course the fact that the mayor is one of the main criticisers of the war in Iraq and Blair is not totally unrelated to the ruling...

And all those idiots screaming and abusing the word "anti-semitism" whenever someone irritates them: how exactly was this remark "antisemitic" rather than just insulting? It was by the way the journalist who mentioned he was Jewish, not Livingstone, who couldn't care less about the background of this idiot who was harassing him and following him around "as a camp guard".

Of course this post will be used by insane braindeaths to prove I'm a nazi-terminator (of course, those braindeaths have the unique right to insult people, but if other people insult them the hell erupts...) but whatever... I can't stand people abusing the word "anti-semitic" for their own political little games, it's sick, there are enough real anti-semitics, neo-nazi's, negationists, etc. around.

[scattergood]

He is only suspended for 4 weeks but he'll go to office as usual. And why? Because he insulted a journalist who was harassing him, a journalist of a newspaper which constantly slandered him, called him an anti-semite and other insults. He has plans to sue the newspaper for personal slander and stalking. By the way, the journalist came to him on the street, not on any official occasion or press-conference, and didn't go away when he was told to get lost. Then he told him he acted as a camp-guard. So? Last year Berlusconi called a socialist German parliament member a "nazi camp guard" IN the European parliament because he dared to criticise him!

Of course the fact that the mayor is one of the main criticisers of the war in Iraq and Blair is not totally unrelated to the ruling...

And all those idiots screaming and abusing the word "anti-semitism" whenever someone irritates them: how exactly was this remark "antisemitic" rather than just insulting? It was by the way the journalist who mentioned he was Jewish, not Livingstone, who couldn't care less about the background of this idiot who was harassing him and following him around "as a camp guard".

Of course this post will be used by insane braindeaths to prove I'm a nazi-terminator (of course, those braindeaths have the unique right to insult people, but if other people insult them the hell erupts...) but whatever... I can't stand people abusing the word "anti-semitic" for their own political little games, it's sick, there are enough real anti-semitics, neo-nazi's, negationists, etc. around.

Takeo, you miss the point entirely. He was suspended for bringing disgrace to his office as per the GLA code of ethics, not any British law. His actions are not judged under the same rules as Berlusconi since Berlusconi isn't the Mayor of London. If you have a problem with the ruling take it up with the GLA ethics committee.

[takeo]

Takeo, you miss the point entirely. He was suspended for bringing disgrace to his office as per the GLA code of ethics, not any British law. His actions are not judged under the same rules as Berlusconi since Berlusconi isn't the Mayor of London. If you have a problem with the ruling take it up with the GLA ethics committee.

A code of ethics can be interpreted in various ways, I can't imagine that other politicians didn't say worse things to journalists who are stalking them. It's of course a political decision, Blair is really embarrassed that he can't control Livingstone and this man actually gathers a lot of support in his own party and is more popular than himself.

[scattergood]

A code of ethics can be interpreted in various ways, I can't imagine that other politicians didn't say worse things to journalists who are stalking them. It's of course a political decision, Blair is really embarrassed that he can't control Livingstone and this man actually gathers a lot of support in his own party and is more popular than himself.

And your point is? Laws, codes of ethics, and the like are OF COURSE subject to the human interpretation. You and many others say that about Islamofacists all the time. 'It isn't Islam per se, it is just these fundies who interpret it'.

And while you can't imagine other politicians saying worse things, why don't you come up with an example or two of the GLA not applying their own code of ethics evenly before you pop off like a whiny kid?

[Aviva]

I was very pleased with the result of Livingstone's suspension but few people seem to be happy about it in London.

The news stories are all talking about free speech and how could a panel of unelected officials have the power to suspend an elected politican.

Everyone seems to be missing the point that the suspension was about the Mayor bringing himself and his office into disrepute.

The average Londoner is being swayed by the argument posed that if Islam gets insulted by free speech (ie: the Danish cartoons), few people condemn that but when Judaism gets insulted, people get suspended or, in David Irving's case, jailed.

This sensationalism is all adding to turn public opinion against Jews, in my opinion. It's all very worrying.