London Falling

WHEN the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone (formerly known as “Red Ken” because of his activities on the far, far left), learned of the bombings in his city that killed more than 50 people, he expressed his horror that ordinary working-class people should be killed in this brutal fashion as they went about their daily lives. This suggested that had the bombers been a little more selective in their targets-had they killed, say, 50 lawyers, bankers, or even Jews as they went about their daily lives-the mayor would have been considerably less horrified. Intentionally or not, he was challenging the bombers to be more careful next time.

These future bombers might also be forgiven for supposing that the mayor’s opposition to terrorism is less than rock solid. In the 1980s, when the IRA’s bombing campaign was randomly killing significant numbers of ordinary working-class people, Livingstone saw fit, as a member of London’s city council, to give a platform to Gerry Adams, of the public-relations arm of IRA terrorism. And more recently, he invited to London and then publicly embraced a Muslim cleric banned from his native Egypt, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has been outspoken in his support of suicide bombing in Israel.

About the Author

Anthony Daniels

Mr. Daniels, a retired doctor who worked in several parts of the world, is the author of Mass Listeria, a book about health scares.

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WHEN the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone (formerly known as “Red Ken” because of his activities on the far, far left), learned of the bombings in his city that killed more than 50 people, he expressed his horror that ordinary working-class people should be killed in this brutal fashion as they went about their daily lives. This suggested that had the bombers been a little more selective in their targets-had they killed, say, 50 lawyers, bankers, or even Jews as they went about their daily lives-the mayor would have been considerably less horrified. Intentionally or not, he was challenging the bombers to be more careful next time.

These future bombers might also be forgiven for supposing that the mayor’s opposition to terrorism is less than rock solid. In the 1980s, when the IRA’s bombing campaign was randomly killing significant numbers of ordinary working-class people, Livingstone saw fit, as a member of London’s city council, to give a platform to Gerry Adams, of the public-relations arm of IRA terrorism. And more recently, he invited to London and then publicly embraced a Muslim cleric banned from his native Egypt, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has been outspoken in his support of suicide bombing in Israel.