Perhaps it's none of my business, but I must ask - has your mayor Ken Livingstone always been like this, or is this something new?
As you can tell, I am writing this from afar, the United States, a former colony of yours, so I am not quite up to date (since my European honeymoon) about what goes on over there in your neck of the continent. Actually, I once lived in Canada, also a former colony of yours. My, you chaps do get around.
Anyhow, the reports we're getting about your mayor make him out to be quite daffy.
Winston Churchill he is not.
Lucky for you, lucky for all of us, that it was the one prime minister, Churchill, and not the other, Neville Chamberlain, who saw you through World War II.
But how about this Livingstone?
Here is one disturbing quote of his, post July 7: "What's important is not to alienate Muslim opinion any further." Now, to Chamberlain, going back to September 30, 1938, and following his meeting in Munich with Adolph Hitler: "We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference."
Are Livingstone and Chamberlain the same man? Have they ever been seen together in the same room? Or - maybe there is something to this reincarnation business after all.
Chamberlain will always be remembered for, "I believe it is peace in our time." After that, since his meeting with Hitler went so well, jolly good, he advised his countrymen to, "Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
Unless it got lost in translation, from your English to ours, your mayor condemns Islamic terror in England, but apparently supports it in Israel, as in these words: "Dispossession of the Palestinians is an Islamic wound." Hitler, you may recall (and Livingstone is no Hitler, mind) was likewise agitated by "dispossessed" Germans and thus claimed all of Europe for himself. Hitler also used the term "wound", incidentally.
Incidentally again, the million and a half Arabs living in Israel have complete freedom of expression (denied to them in most Arab countries) and are privileged with all the rights of citizenship. They are Israeli citizens. They vote, sit as judges and are members of the Knesset. Those four million who reside in the territories and consider themselves oppressed were offered nearly half the land of Israel, including half of Jerusalem, but turned it down in favor of terrorism.
Indeed, following the Oslo agreements, Israel did as promised and removed itself from Arab townships to allow for self-government -- only to find, however, that these townships, fully run by Arab mayors and Arab councils, had been turned into bomb-making factories from which explosive children were launched into Jewish shopping malls, restaurants and buses. The words "occupation" and "dispossessed" and "apartheid", so favored by your newspapers and the BBC, ought to be looked into again, when you have a moment.
From any reasonable perspective, Israel (never Great Israel, is it?) hardly rates as an Empire; you know, the kind of nation upon which the sun never sets after imposing its will around the globe. Israel sits on land not quite the size of our New Hampshire. The 22 Arab nations surrounding Israel occupy territories nearly twice the size of the United States.
Perhaps this should also be looked into after tea.
Your government, according to your newspapers and the BBC, has begun legislation to crack down on Muslim extremists, and thank goodness for that, but has Livingstone been given the news, or, like Lawrence, has he gone native? He seems to feel that Muslims are oppressed and therefore are entitled to some, though not all, terrorism.
A spot of terrorism here and there is deserved and justifiable against Israel, the United States, and even England, if we read your mayor correctly.
By now, it is known by all that the men who committed the atrocities in London July 7 were homegrown and quite well off. They were not oppressed any more than you or me. In a sense, yes, we are all oppressed. The man who delivered my mail this morning during our heat wave was not happy. But I doubt that he is making plans to blow up the neighborhood.
From America, I can truly say that of all the countries in Europe, England is our favorite. You are with us and we are with you and besides, if the Beatles came from France and spoke only French, rock and roll would only be a rumor. Just the other day, I met a man from Calcutta who, to prove that the US is not as influential as the British Empire used to be, reminded me that back home the big sport is not baseball, but soccer and, still, cricket.
Come to think of it, India is also a former colony of yours. Brother, you folks do get around!
My question is this: Does Mayor Livingstone speak to us from London, or for London? The news and commentaries we get are out of sync with our image of the British. We respect your culture, your courage, and yes, your politeness. But is it true that nowadays Americans are insulted in public merely for being American?
It was a Frenchman who called Israel that "sh---y little country," but he felt comfortable saying it in England.
But we Americans, Jews, Christians and otherwise - we are a busy people and have no time for grudges. We hardly remember your Prince Harry all decked out as a Nazi. So we forget all that, and we have even begun to forget all that nonsense from your Association of University Teachers that, of all places, picked out the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, upon which to stage an academic boycott. (The effort came to naught, but nice try.)
Very odd that Israel should be singled out when Muslim professors are free to teach in any Hebrew university while no Hebrew professor is allowed to set foot in any Arab university in most of the Arab world. Oh, by the by, where do your Anglican Church leaders (as opposed its members) find so much time to dither over divestment from Israel when they, and all of us, are so busy running and hiding from Islamic suicide bombers?
But never mind. The question remains. Does your mayor speak from London or for London?
We need an answer so we can go home and get a nice, quiet sleep.
As you can tell, I am writing this from afar, the United States, a former colony of yours, so I am not quite up to date (since my European honeymoon) about what goes on over there in your neck of the continent. Actually, I once lived in Canada, also a former colony of yours. My, you chaps do get around.
Anyhow, the reports we're getting about your mayor make him out to be quite daffy.
Winston Churchill he is not.
Lucky for you, lucky for all of us, that it was the one prime minister, Churchill, and not the other, Neville Chamberlain, who saw you through World War II.
But how about this Livingstone?
Here is one disturbing quote of his, post July 7: "What's important is not to alienate Muslim opinion any further." Now, to Chamberlain, going back to September 30, 1938, and following his meeting in Munich with Adolph Hitler: "We are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference."
Are Livingstone and Chamberlain the same man? Have they ever been seen together in the same room? Or - maybe there is something to this reincarnation business after all.
Chamberlain will always be remembered for, "I believe it is peace in our time." After that, since his meeting with Hitler went so well, jolly good, he advised his countrymen to, "Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
Unless it got lost in translation, from your English to ours, your mayor condemns Islamic terror in England, but apparently supports it in Israel, as in these words: "Dispossession of the Palestinians is an Islamic wound." Hitler, you may recall (and Livingstone is no Hitler, mind) was likewise agitated by "dispossessed" Germans and thus claimed all of Europe for himself. Hitler also used the term "wound", incidentally.
Incidentally again, the million and a half Arabs living in Israel have complete freedom of expression (denied to them in most Arab countries) and are privileged with all the rights of citizenship. They are Israeli citizens. They vote, sit as judges and are members of the Knesset. Those four million who reside in the territories and consider themselves oppressed were offered nearly half the land of Israel, including half of Jerusalem, but turned it down in favor of terrorism.
Indeed, following the Oslo agreements, Israel did as promised and removed itself from Arab townships to allow for self-government -- only to find, however, that these townships, fully run by Arab mayors and Arab councils, had been turned into bomb-making factories from which explosive children were launched into Jewish shopping malls, restaurants and buses. The words "occupation" and "dispossessed" and "apartheid", so favored by your newspapers and the BBC, ought to be looked into again, when you have a moment.
From any reasonable perspective, Israel (never Great Israel, is it?) hardly rates as an Empire; you know, the kind of nation upon which the sun never sets after imposing its will around the globe. Israel sits on land not quite the size of our New Hampshire. The 22 Arab nations surrounding Israel occupy territories nearly twice the size of the United States.
Perhaps this should also be looked into after tea.
Your government, according to your newspapers and the BBC, has begun legislation to crack down on Muslim extremists, and thank goodness for that, but has Livingstone been given the news, or, like Lawrence, has he gone native? He seems to feel that Muslims are oppressed and therefore are entitled to some, though not all, terrorism.
A spot of terrorism here and there is deserved and justifiable against Israel, the United States, and even England, if we read your mayor correctly.
By now, it is known by all that the men who committed the atrocities in London July 7 were homegrown and quite well off. They were not oppressed any more than you or me. In a sense, yes, we are all oppressed. The man who delivered my mail this morning during our heat wave was not happy. But I doubt that he is making plans to blow up the neighborhood.
From America, I can truly say that of all the countries in Europe, England is our favorite. You are with us and we are with you and besides, if the Beatles came from France and spoke only French, rock and roll would only be a rumor. Just the other day, I met a man from Calcutta who, to prove that the US is not as influential as the British Empire used to be, reminded me that back home the big sport is not baseball, but soccer and, still, cricket.
Come to think of it, India is also a former colony of yours. Brother, you folks do get around!
My question is this: Does Mayor Livingstone speak to us from London, or for London? The news and commentaries we get are out of sync with our image of the British. We respect your culture, your courage, and yes, your politeness. But is it true that nowadays Americans are insulted in public merely for being American?
It was a Frenchman who called Israel that "sh---y little country," but he felt comfortable saying it in England.
But we Americans, Jews, Christians and otherwise - we are a busy people and have no time for grudges. We hardly remember your Prince Harry all decked out as a Nazi. So we forget all that, and we have even begun to forget all that nonsense from your Association of University Teachers that, of all places, picked out the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel, upon which to stage an academic boycott. (The effort came to naught, but nice try.)
Very odd that Israel should be singled out when Muslim professors are free to teach in any Hebrew university while no Hebrew professor is allowed to set foot in any Arab university in most of the Arab world. Oh, by the by, where do your Anglican Church leaders (as opposed its members) find so much time to dither over divestment from Israel when they, and all of us, are so busy running and hiding from Islamic suicide bombers?
But never mind. The question remains. Does your mayor speak from London or for London?
We need an answer so we can go home and get a nice, quiet sleep.