London

LAST SATURDAY, the mayor of London, “Red Ken” Livingstonee, hosted one of the more bizarre events of recent times: a massively-promoted debate between himself and the Middle East Forum’s Daniel Pipes. The official title of the event, which lasted all day and included many more speakers of less distinction, was “A World Civilization or a Clash of Civilizations?”

Livingstone opened by asserting that the Cold War had been started by the United States and that every action of the West for the last 60 years had been based on support for corrupt dictatorships. He preened over the diversity of London’s populace and treated the July 2005 bombings, which are now the subject of a court proceeding, as a mere footnote.