Comment: Ken and the lessons of Beijing

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Already the Beijing Games are putting new perspectives on the London Olympics. In that respect it is right that officials from the London organising committee, the Olympic Delivery Authority and Boris Johnson's team should attend. We deplore the Chinese regime's human-rights record but that does not mean we can afford to ignore the important practical lessons for London's Olympic organisers. Yet the former Mayor, Ken livingstone, now has no role in the London Games - so why has he visited Beijing as a guest of the Chinese government?

As we report today, China paid, through the Beijing authorities, for Mr Livingstone and his former aide, John Ross, to fly business-class to Beijing and stay at a top hotel. The trip is estimated to have cost £20,000. Mr Livingstone initially turned down the offer from the Chinese embassy but said he accepted when the officials said they felt he should attend because of the work he did with the Chinese government on the Olympics.

Mr Livingstone is free to accept such hospitality but it puts his remarks on the subject of human rights into a different light. Mr Livingstone has said he thinks China is "going in the right direction of travel" in terms of human rights and asks why it should "take any notice of a country which launched an illegal war?" - in his view, Britain. That is vintage Ken - but the independence of his opinions is compromised by his decision to accept a free trip from China.

But as ever since his election defeat, Mr Livingstone's words are in fact peripheral. The most important thing now is that the 2012 organisers learn the lessons of Beijing - above all, the need for a smaller-scale, more human Games - and apply them to London on their return.