Well done Boris!

I can't believe that Boris Johnson has actually won the election for London's Mayor, but then I never thought that Suburban London would actually turn out to vote. For the eight years of his reign, Ken concentrated on wooing voters from inner London and whilst ignoring the car owning middle class residents of greater London. That turned out to be his undoing.

There was a lot of talk from the left about Ken being the more "progressive" candidate, even from members of London's Jewish Community. It's hard to see what's progressive about inviting Yusuf Qaradawi to London (a man whose racist and homophobic views makes the BNP look like bleeding heart liberals). I also scratch my head to see what's progressive about embracing autocrats such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. But that's always been the weak spot of the left. Obsessed with their hatred of the BNP, the Bush administration and right wing dictators such as Augusto Pinochet whilst simultaneously displaying admiration for Cuba's communist regime. (The title of one of Daniel Finkelstein's articles once summed it up: "Murderous dictators, Cool huh?"). As a "progressive" mayor, he showed little interest in local democracy, extending the congestion charge to Kensington and Chelsea despite the fact that most of the local residents were opposed to it.

Many of the left still can't understand what was so offensive about Ken's infamous "concentration camp guard" comments, which again illustrates the left's major weakness. Their belief in identity politics means they must bend over backwards not to offend certain minorities whilst ignoring the sensitivities of other minorities. Ken may have made the buses run on time and his congestion charge is widely admired (so much so that there are no plans to scrap it), but at the same time he was an embarrassment to London. It's not the London Mayor's job to dabble in international politics, nor is it his job to champion one interest group over another. London's mayor should be representing the interests of all Londoners, inner London as well as greater London, Muslims as well as non-Muslims, motorists and non-motorists. Boris Johnson has a golden opportunity to demonstrate how London should be run. For the sake of London (and the conservatives) let's hope he doesn't squander it.

Could the 21st century be China's century?

When the Berlin wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Nelson Mandela was freed, it seemed as though the worldwide march towards democracy was unstoppable. We in the West assumed that economic progress was tied to democratic progress. China's meteoric rise has gone to show how wrong we were. To quote Charles Moore from Saturday's Telegraph:

We in the West have been brought up to think that to be rich, you have to be free. But Deng had no such thought. The Chinese communists had once proclaimed the defeat of capitalism: they now proclaimed its rebirth in their own interests.....

....As the choice of Berlin for the Olympic Games in 1936 marked Hitler's success and international acceptance, so the choice of Beijing for 2008 marks China's. But only since the Olympic torch started its would-be triumphal progress round the world have we begun to notice this virtual fait accompli, and to resent it.

He also makes an interesting note about critics of America...

We have spent much time in recent years complaining about America's abuse of power. Sometimes the criticism is justified, but we have hardly begun to consider the alternative, and how appalling it would be.

Whenever we attack America, we do so in the knowledge that it has a visible system of self-correction that might listen to us. It has a constitutional structure which is built to accommodate differing views. China has nothing of the sort, and never has had.

It has become fashionable amongst the European intelligentsia to attack America for every ill in the world from global warming to capital punishment. Have they even begun to think about what the world would be like if China became the world's biggest military and economic power. That day is drawing ever nearer, and I have a feeling that even "old Europe" will look back nostalgically to the 1990s when America was the world's sole superpower.

Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe's partner in crime

For too long, the world's media has let Thabo Mbeki off the hook. He has been much criticised for the failure of his "quiet diplomacy" towards Mugabe. It's now clear that he has been anything but an honest broker. He has actively supported Mugabe, and done everything possible to frustrate efforts to remove the 84 year old despot from power. The smiles and warmth that the two leaders display towards each other in front of the world's media says it all.

If this is the way the leader of Africa's largest democracy behaves, what hope is there for the rest of Africa? More ominously, what future is there for South Africa? If I was a citizen of the rainbow nation right now, I'd be looking at my passport.

Now even pirates are having their human rights breached

Every day brings another daft news story about how either terrorists or criminals have had their "human rights" breached. The latest story that I read must be a belated April fools joke, but apparently it's true. The Royal Navy has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates because doing so may breach their human rights.

Alongside the recent ruling that Abu Qatada has indefinite leave to remain here, it's another nail in the coffin of sanity, and it does little to advance genuine human rights. Whilst Al-Qaeda suspects remain free to carry on planning out atrocities here, genuine asylum seekers facing ill treatment and in many cases certain death are routinely deported to dangerous places such as Zimbabwe and Iraq. As Joan Bakewell recently highlighted in the Independent:

The fuss over this man's right to stay in the country is all the more surprising considering how many and how often otherwise worthy and innocent people are returned to their country of origin. Earlier this year, Ama Sumani, a 39-year-old Ghanaian, was deported home even though she was undergoing treatment for cancer, a treatment that would not be available in Ghana. Friends protested and saved money to help her. But their pleas went unheard. She was returned home and died in Accra alone and friendless just a month ago.

There are other stories to wring the heart: Iraqis now being sent back because it is judged that life in Iraq has improved. Any one of these individuals would make a better humanitarian case for remaining here than Abu Qatada.

It's clear that we could have been rid of Abu Qatada years ago. France is also a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights, but its judiciary loses no sleep over deporting terror suspects to countries where they may face ill treatment. Where there's a will, there's a way, but much of England's judiciary clearly have their own political agenda and are determined to do everything in their power to undermine the governments war on terror. In the light of this, it was an act of staggering naivety on the part of Tony Blair to sign the European Convention of Human Rights.

The importance of learning the right lessons from Northern Ireland

Ten years after the Good Friday agreement, I have very mixed feelings about the peace in Northern Ireland. Yes, on one hand, the terrorists are no longer bombing and shooting their way to the negotiating table. But on the other hand, the process has hugely empowered the extremists on both sides whilst pretty much destroying the moderates. Despite the peace agreement, many of the paramilitaries tied to Sinn Fein have not put down their weapons but have migrated to organised crime. The calm in Northern Ireland is a very uneasy one with "peace walls" dividing the protestant and catholic communities. As far as I'm concerned the jury is still out. As Charles Moore has so aptly put it:

The present peace is brittle. What has happened is not the creation of a modern plural polity, but of a subsidised statelet in which the warring gangs have, for the moment, been bought off. This is unstable, and unjust to all of those - the majority - who do not want to be defined by gang membership.

Many of those who call Northern Ireland a great success story are making the same mistake they made with Mugabe. When he came to power in 1980, there was a lot of hope among Western politicians that Mugabe would unite Zimbabwe's people and bring reconciliation. They turned a blind eye to his increasingly autocratic style, and they turned a blind eye to the massacre of over 20,000 in Matabeland. We were told all along that it was more important to encourage Mugabe than to condemn him. Twenty eight years later, we have helped to turn him into the dictator he is today.

What applies to Mugabe also applies to China, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taleban and all the other autocratic regimes and assorted terrorist outfits. Talking to extremists sends a very dangerous message. Why bother with democracy when it's abundantly clear that the more ruthless and repressive you are, the more likely you are to get a place at the negotiating table?

Similar sentiments are echoed by Gary McKeone in the Independent

So much for China embracing the Olympic spirit

When China was awarded the 2008 Olympics, there were many in the West who argued that this would focus the world's attention on China and encourage the regime to improve its human rights record. That argument is looking increasingly threadbare. The spotlight certainly is on China right now, but the only thing it's highlighting is the fact that China has no intention of changing its ways. I thought the Olympic spirit was all about peace, fair play and the brotherhood of man. What a farce!

Brave enough to dodge the Talebans bullets, but not to wear their uniforms in Britain

It has been reported that RAF personnel have been told not to leave their base in uniform to avoid being verbally abused by civilians. The verbal abuse is bad enough in itself, but to add insult to injury, the same armed forces who are standing up to the taliban haven't got the bottle to stand up to a few yobs. You can understand why the Americans consider us to be unreliable allies.

Daniel Finkelstein - Winner of the Chaim Bermant Prize for Journalism

Daniel Finkelstein, Associate Editor of The Times, has been named winner of the inaugural Chaim Bermant Prize for Journalism.

The prize was launched by the Jewish Chronicle and the Jewish Book Council in memory of Chaim Bermant, the outstanding writer and journalist who wrote a weekly column for the Jewish Chronicle for nearly 40 years until his death in 1998. The award recognises journalism on Jewish and Israeli themes.

Finkelstein submitted a series of columns published in the Times and the Jewish Chronicle. Although he writes a monthly Jewish Chronicle column, the judges were insistent that this connection had no bearing on their decision.

The judges said: “He was simply the writer who most closely reflected the values, spirit and qualities of Chaim Bermant’s journalism, his controlled playful and witty columns effectively drawing the reader in by anecdote and humour to a deeper issue or painful truth, bringing to a wide national readership issues such as Holocaust denial or property restitution in a fresh, lively, conversational style.”

Daniel Finkelstein is a weekly Times columnist and that newspaper's Comment Editor. He is the author of the popular blog Comment Central and the weekly football column Fink Tank.

Finkelstein said, "It is a tremendous honour for a columnist to have their name associated with Chaim Bermant in any way. I was delighted that the judges detected some of his spirit in my work - his erudition and wit were justly celebrated."

An award for an Aspiring Journalist was won by Ross Perlin, for Ladino in Lagado, a comment piece on the decline of the Ladino language.

The awards were judged by David Rowan, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian and literary agent Jonny Geller to mark the end of Jewish Book Week.

Europeans are woefully ignorant of US politics

Gerard Baker's recent article on the presidential election illustrates the ignorance that many Europeans and much of the world have about America.

The competition between Obama and McCain for President (as is looking increasingly likely) is being seen interpreted a fight between good and evil. Obama is a modern day JFK who will atone for all the sins America has committed over the Bush years. McCain by contrast represents more of the same, a hangover of the Bush years (Despite the fact that he is a centrist who is anti torture, pro immigration, is big on the environment and who wants to reach out to Europeans).

Should Obama become President, the world is in for a shock. Despite all his rhetoric, Obama will not be serving at the altar of multilateralism. He will do what every President is elected to do....put American interests first.

Will opponents to Heathrow stop flying?

There's nothing that irritates me more than those who oppose airport expansion yet carry on flying. Regardless of whether there is another runway at Heathrow or not, the expansion pales into insignificance when you consider that China plans to open 97 regional airports over the next 10 years. Why should Westerners who have benefited from decades of mass air travel deny those in the rest of the world from enjoying the same benefits?

The left and their flimsy excuses for Fidel Castro

Lately, we've been hearing a lot of predictable drivel from George Galloway, Harriet Harman and others defending Fidel Castro which brings to mind that old cliche "He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch".

George Galloway was recently interviewed on Channel 4 News. When asked about the lack of democracy in Cuba, he responded that Cuba has been under siege from America for nearly 50 years, and that when you're at war, you have to suspend democratic norms.

It's funny, but the right wing fascists who defend Augusto Pinochet make exactly the same argument: that Pinochet was defending Chile from the threat of communism and that when you're at war, you have to suspend democratic norms. Thankfully, Chile is now a liberal democracy, the same unfortunately cannot be said for Cuba.

It's funny how the left were all clamouring for Augusto Pinochet to be put on trial for human rights abuses, yet they continue have a soft spot for good old Fidel Castro. What a bunch of hypocrites!