Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstoneis an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Councilfrom 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliamentfor Brent East from 1987 to 2001. A suspended member of the Labour Party, he was on the party's hard left, ideologically identifying as a democratic socialist...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth17 June 1945
detest loathe
I loathe and detest all this trivialisation of politics.
biggest
The press keep asking me, 'What was your biggest mistake?' But if I had made a big mistake, they'd all be writing about it, wouldn't they?
amazed people shocked
Most people are not shocked that I am occasionally rude to journalists. They are probably amazed I don't punch one in the face.
My political beliefs are my moral, quasi-religious framework.
allow civil difficult energy life ministers pressure public sources talked
I actually think the civil service, who are the malignancy at the heart of public life, have consciously prevented, talked ministers out of, made it difficult regulatory-wise, to allow more pressure on alternative energy sources to grow.
afford available cab taxi time
We just afford them taxi cab fare. You're car's available by the time you get back.
loss pay reduction week wondering
Londoners will be wondering what the RMT actually want. They are getting a 35-hour week with no loss of pay and no reduction in staffing.
choices life
We are responsible for our own choices in this life I always have been and so have reporters.
build links london strong
We want to try and build very strong links between London and Beijing.
camp concentration ends extreme horrific moral others prepared reporters responsibility stand thin version
But when reporters say to me I'm only doing this because it's my job... that's the same abdication of moral responsibility at the thin end of the wedge that in its most extreme and horrific version ends up with others being prepared to stand as a concentration camp guard.
bring greatest help public space statesmen time
one of the greatest statesmen of our time and help bring this internationally important public space into the 21st century.
absolutely caught horrendous indication position rush terrorist
There's no indication of any terrorist involvement, but it is an absolutely horrendous position because it has caught the rush hour, ... disgrace.
I spent the 1960s and 1970s seeking myself - the working-class tradition of self-education.
children excellent london news parents positive results
These excellent GCSE results are positive news for parents and children and London as a whole.