February 22, 2005

Livingstone, Campbell, Galbraith

Posted by Daniel

Just to note that the Ken Livingstone Nazi comparison apology scandal has now reached day fourteen and is therefore across the Campbell Threshold (Alastair Campbell’s rule of thumb that a story which stays in the headlines for more than thirteen days will begin to have some effect on the voters; usually used for deciding to sack Labour ministers). However, Red Ken currently has a Galbraith score (based on JK Galbraith’s observation that anyone who says four times that he will not resign, will) of zero. His Galbraith score with respect to refusing to apologise is four by my count, however, so I’m guessing that in the next couple of days he will do so.

Posted on February 22, 2005 04:13 PM UTC
Comments

I don’t think that Livingstone panders to the forces of political correctness as quickly as some American politicians. Have there been any polls taken concerning the opinions of the British public on this matter?

Posted by Xguy · February 22, 2005 04:41 PM

Actually, one would think the opinions of the London public would be most germane.

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden · February 22, 2005 06:41 PM

As for the opinion of an unscientific sample of the Guardian readers, it’s (now) 77% pro Ken. About the same number as Ken’s sample from his correspondence (76%).

I wouldn’t wait for any serious apology, given those numbers.

Posted by Luc · February 23, 2005 03:04 AM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.