December 6, 2024 - 10:00am
Arise, Sir Sadiq! Really? Sadiq Khan has been Mayor of London for just over eight years, a period in which crime has soared and the Metropolitan Police has been mired in scandal after scandal. Under Khan’s tenure, London has become a city where kids carry knives, women don’t trust the police, and commuters have to plan their journeys around tube strikes. The capital’s nightlife has collapsed, while protests have sprung up over the rapid expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone.
It’s hard to think of a single metric by which life in London has improved since Khan was first elected in 2016. So my jaw dropped when I read reports that he is to receive a knighthood in the New Year honours list. In fact, it sent me scurrying to the royal.uk website, where I learned that the honour is granted “to those who have made a significant contribution to their field, usually on a national level”. The Mayor of London is a national figure, but it is hard to think of anything Khan has done that isn’t performative, designed to display his allegiance to faddish causes.
Six months ago, billboards appeared in London advertising the Mayor’s support for this summer’s Pride parade. One of them showed a bare-chested woman with mastectomy scars, a form of self-mutilation euphemistically called “top surgery” by trans activists. The poster prompted outrage, and was described as “monstrous” by Kate Barker-Mawjee, CEO of the LGB Alliance.
Three years ago, I was sacked as co-chair of the Mayor’s Violence Against Women and Girls’ Board after trying to get an assurance that refuges in London would not be penalised financially for excluding trans-identified males. Khan still hasn’t answered my question as to whether he continues to support the single-sex exception in the 2010 Equality Act, which he voted for as a Labour MP.
The Mayor is on record as believing that trans people suffer “disproportionately high levels of hate crime and violence” and that “their basic human rights remain unmet”. These are perplexing claims, given how few trans murders there have been in this country, while trans people have exactly the same rights as everyone else.
The constituency that actually suffers disproportionately high levels of violence is women, not least in London where a rape is reported every hour. Khan’s response has included the risible “say maaate to a mate” campaign, designed in collaboration with an advertising agency, which claimed to use behavioural science to challenge “misogynistic behaviour”.
In 2021, when women in London lost confidence in the Met following the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, Khan backed an extension for the widely-criticised Commissioner, Cressida Dick. She was forced out five months later after a report revealed a catalogue of racist and sexist messages exchanged by officers at Charing Cross Police Station, but the Mayor’s withdrawal of support came much too late.
Research published by Queen Mary University of London earlier this year, shortly before Khan went on to win a third term, showed that almost half of Londoners (45%) were unhappy with his performance, with only 27% approving. His apparently unshakeable grip on City Hall is explained by the fact that the Tories long ago gave up on London, leading them to field candidates who could politely be described as sub-optimal in the last two mayoral elections.
Last week, Khan posed at a London train station on what he has renamed the “Suffragette” overground line. It was a typically empty gesture on his part, costing £6.3 million and all the more absurd because of his views on “gender identity”. Whatever his reputed knighthood is for, it certainly isn’t services to women.
Joan Smith is a novelist and columnist. She was previously Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board, and is on the advisory group for Sex Matters. Her book Unfortunately, She Was A Nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women was published in November 2024.
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SubscribeOr funding NGO open border advocates, that according to the Left simply don’t exist.
I think a great many of us are sickened by this news. The man has overseen so much that has degraded the capital city he appears to rule like his own fiefdom.
Of course he promotes every subversive and corrosive trend, anything that undermines and corrupts the long established culture. Of course he is being rewarded for his efforts. This is the world we are now in.
It’s all so deeply unpleasant. But I think this shows that liberalism has failed, must fail. The assumption of rational sovereign secular individuals making choices in a void – doesn’t lead to an absence of ideology. Secular individualism has opened the door to aggressively illiberal ideologies (Islam but also woke/cultural marxism) – which are worse in every respect than the Christian framing of liberalism that preceded them. The Sam Harris/Richard Dawkins idea of Church of England – just without the actual religion, is a bust. The diversity and immigration are not necessarily bad per se (although just way way too much, too fast). If I go to Catholic mass, as I did this morning, I’m surrounded by diversity: Nigerian pastor; South American Deacon; Indian lady behind me; white bloke in front – None of this matters, as long as they share a life in Christ and the common culture of Christendom. But with Church of England running headlong into the the ultra-liberal woke void, there is nothing to hold England together. The fall into chaos and darkness will be violent and awful – unless we manage to find that shared culture. As far as I can see that means restricting the inflow and going back to Church.
But if you’re sick of this – blame the Tories. They were in power for over a decade, had a massive win with Boris, and simply refused to take wield power. Compare that to Thatcher (who got many things wrong – not least Sunday trading)…I’m not even sure if Farage has the necessary testicular fortitude to do what is necessary – Yes leave the European court; yes shot down immigration….But the culture war….the kind of vision necessary for a Renaissance …I can’t see it, because not even the political right agree. Until there is a real collapse/crisis…a Dunkirk sink or swim moment, I can’t see that kind of cohesive imaginary emerging. What IS our national story now? Atlee’s Keynesian New Jerusalem has run its course. All novelty and no Jerusalem. Now we will either accelerate the Promethean Enlightenment ‘solutionism’ – and doomed attempt to create heaven on earth…and fail even more dramatically, or we will find someway to rearticulate natural law and a vision of virtue ethics in which it is not policies, goals, targets and standards of wealth that are of first concern, but how we live in this world, together…We need to start by articulating what constitutes a good life…a life well lived. The only-fans model who wants to break the record and sleep with 1000 men in 24 hrs provides a Dr Seuss image of what a good life is not. Do we have the courage to condemn even this level of depravity?
The courage will be forced on us, like it’s been forced on Argentina. If it can’t go on, it won’t go on.
At some point nobody will lend us any money.
Hopefully, we won’t have gone as far down the road as Argentina but putting Britain back on the straight and narrow will be painful.
My instinct is that Badenoch has the courage to face that, Farage too probably but those in their parties?
The most terrifying thing is that Khan gets no pushback at all against his promotion of these progressive causes from the Muslim community. There’s another agenda at work here.
Permissible dissimulation?
the Messenger of Allah said: “It is not lawful to lie except in three cases: Something the man tells his wife to please her, to lie during war, and to lie in order to bring peace between the people.
Knighthoods often go to people for the strangest reasons; none that I can think of have been for contribution to the furtherance of hatred, which is presumably what would be the justification.
Thatcher dealt with the GLC problem by abolishing it. The best we can hope for is that whoever wins in 2024 will do the same to this feckless apology for a ‘mayor’.
The interesting questions are whether the can ever again be a white mayor of London and whether London will go the way of the failed US cities
Well if London ever do elect a white mayor it will be because of racism and misogyny – You Know!!!
Like in America
Is London ready for its first Filipino trans mayor?
I thought Sadiq was it
Only in your fevered imagination, you little rascal!
Sub-optimal. Yeah that could be said of the Tory candidates. Woeful would be another.
Anyway Khan what’s his catchphrase – Diversity is our strength. Been to Leicester recently Mayor? Any comment on Marc Guehi or the Man Utd first team approach to Pride.
Anyone who can’t define a woman, or worse uses mealy mouthed obfuscation as Khan often does on issues, deserves to be laughed at.
The idea of a knighthood for Khan is beyond madness. It is bad enough having a narrow minded deeply socialist PM with a knighthood he does not deserve; but this ghastly destroyer Khan of LONDON should be deported rather than Knighted.
Does anybody know who recommended this odious, self-serving little weasel for a Knighthood then?
I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if he’d recommended himself.
Starmer, who else.
Weasel. Yep, can see the likeness….
Nigel for mayor! Now that would be something.
He seems to have plenty of spare time on his hands. God help the poor fools in Clacton who thought that he gave a sh!t about them…
This man is the living embodiment of the gradual islamic takeover of nu britn, whilst politicians cower in fear of the ever more potent ” weaponisation” of the sinister ” islamophobia” and its ruthless use to suppress any discussion, let alone concern. The ” vox pop” across our country tells me that it is the largest single concern amongst and across the entire spectrum of British voters…. with one obvious exception, of course.
Yes. The longer the problem continues, the more ruthless and violent is likely to be the correction. Not advocating. Just observing
The fact that this racist drivel gets 32 upticks and counting with no down votes just further confirms that the majority of Unherd posters are inbred gammons. Good job I’m here to keep you right!
‘You’re an inbred gammon’ and ‘You’re a racist’. An you’re clearly not very bright and very tedious.
What part didn’t you understand, gramps?
Don’t feed the troll.
Don’t feed the thick troll.
I hope that Sadiq Khan will stand by his avowed ‘decolonialist’ principles and refuse to accept a Knighthood as all such ‘honours’ are symbolic of Britain’s imperialism. But I doubt he will reject it.
Sir Jimmy Savile
“It’s hard to think of a single metric by which life in London has improved since Khan was first elected in 2016”
He isn’t being judged by your metric; he is being judged by the BlackRock & WEF leaders who put him there.
The utter chaos of London furthers their aims tremendously. Hence, Sir Sadiq.
How does chaos in London help Blackrock? Aren’t London voting blocs primarily ethno-religious?
Besides he is not really English, is he?
He was born in England. Not sure of the point you are making.
I think it may have something to do with our boy mac being a bit of a racist. He doesn’t seemed to have learned the code words that most of the the racists around here use when talking about people of colour…
Maybe ‘mahmood’ is an Arabic name.
Can people with an Islamic background be racist against themselves?
Yes — it turns out — according to a quick Google — that they often can…
It is one version of an Arabic name. No, they can’t be racist against themselves other than,perhaps, in the way ‘frogs’ are towards ‘le rosbeef’ or ‘poms’ are towards ‘bogans’ or ‘prods’ towards ‘papists’.
No one has mentioned ethnicity, and criticising religion is not racist.
As with so many aspects of perma-mess Britain, this must ultimately be traced back to the voters. No sane, grown-up Londoner could ever have thought that electing this person to the mayoralty was a good idea. What does that tell you?
It tells me that you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
unfortunate
Why not? They gave a nobel prize to Obama… One of the most “Anti-Western” and worst presidents and warmongers we’ve seen for a while.
It’s quaint notion that one actually has to “deserve” a Knighthood.
You’ve been watching too much Yes Minister
Some people have the knack of failing upwards. I’ve known such people but could never understand how they did it.
LOL! Naming an Overground train line after the bombers of the WSPU.
The knighthood, like the ‘faddish causes’, will become another billboard for the Mayor to advertise himself.
I still call it the Overground. Not playing along
I think the whole Honours thing a load rubbish, so not defending his or anyone’s award.
Author clearly has axe to grind after a sacking where she’s probably a bit blind to some of the reason, although at least she declares that. Some of her criticism I concur with too though. But she doesn’t contextualise Policing the capital with how Police services are funded and what has happened to that over the last decade. It’s flat-lined. She also seems to blame the Mayor for the minority, but significant minority, of officers who have been racist and misogynistic and as a result damaged community cohesion. That culture goes back decades. At least one senses now it’s being tackled.
Yesterday there was some media focus on the use of facial recognition in London policing with positive results from a number of pilots. I’m v much for this. Criminals certainly won’t be. The Mayor can take some credit for these and clearly hasn’t just fallen in line with some civil liberties twaddle that would be mana from heaven for the villain.
I suggest we look at quality. What are the challenges facing the police and therefore what are the qualities needed. How do we recruit, select, train and test in order to produce the honest courteous and high quality police officer?
No, Blair takes that honour: so many thousands of lives lost because of his greed.
He represents the tacit Democrat-ization of the Labour Party which explains the ineptitude of the UK government today. Can anyone see Starmer, Reeves or even Streeting’s government getting to a proposed 2028 election?
What has he done that is worthwhile or extraordinary?
I have an idea. Instead of answering Chump Socialist, or even down voting him, what if we just ignored him. No down votes, no answers, no matter how tempting. Just non-person him. It will probably drive the silly twot to distraction.
Fully agree. I loathe the man. London does not deserve this popinjay.
Originally honours were given for courage on the battlefield, an esquire was knighted. At Crecy Edward III when informed his seventeen year old son was fighting for his life he ” Let him earn his spurs”. Spurs being a sign of knighthood.
Once honours such as knighthoods were given for acts other than courage on the battlefield, they become methods by monarchs and prime politicians to obtain and reward favours.
There is a Chinese saying ” Putting armour on a chicken does not make a warrior “. Putting ermine on a clerk does not make a noble.
Dafydd Gam was worthy of is knighthood.
Dafydd Gam – Wikipedia
In WW2 women who served in the SOE in occupied Europe were lucky to receive the MBE. To receive the OBE one had to be exceptional or a captain of merchant navy ship who successfully survived the convoys.
List of female SOE agents – Wikipedia
If people want to destroy the honours system and the House of Lords they going the right way about it by making it ridiculous. Nothing kills quicker than ridicule.
Melanie saw it …….. Londonistan