The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is a politician so revolting, so sleazy and so authoritarian, that the London Eye should be weeping with shame that this appalling individual is the city’s most visible public representative. That said, what <a href=”http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2057545,00.html

“>has just happened to Red Ken is yet another reminder that legal restrictions on ‘offensive’ speech are a real danger to the freedom of expression that once was the pride of the West .

The facts are not savory, to put it mildly. Basically, and with typical unpleasantness, Livingstone took it upon himself effectively to compare a (Jewish) journalist from London’s Evening Standard to a concentration camp guard. The appropriate remedy, for that, and for much else besides, is to vote Livingstone out of office. What happened instead was that some Blair creation called the ‘Adjudication Panel For England’ decided that Livingstone should be “suspended” from his job for a month.

And have no doubt that somewhere an Islamic extremist is watching – and just loving the precedent.

“Free speech is free speech is free speech. There is no but.”