The new London Mayor is a righteous priest!

The views of a group of French Jews who are now living in London

It occurred to me that Sadiq Khan, with a little twist with letters, could mean in Hebrew the righteous priest. Funny, isn’t it? In France, people focus on his religion: London has a Muslim mayor! Some say it is the sign of a healthy, open, diverse society. Others mourn the end of a civilization. I tried to explain that in London, the voters were not really interested in his Muslim identity, but rather in his ability to make a difference for the city. Of course, some tried to use this as a turn-off during the mayoral campaign, which I found quite absurd and a very low political argument. The fact is his victory is final.

As I said in a previous post, I exercised my right to vote in a local election, as a European citizen living in a EU country (as do thousands of Brits in France and beyond). I am not going to tell whom I voted of course; it is a private matter, but I found quite interesting the choice Londoners made.

There is something special about London: a megalopolis with hundreds of identities, a sort a laboratory for the future, but in the same time, an island in a country for which London is the capital city, but also much more. London attracts many people who come here to try their chances, and very often face a harsh reality: the housing crisis, the distances and the hours spent in public transport, employment laws that seem sometime purely indicative, and a huge gap between the poorest and the richest. And yet, London is a great place to be for the opportunities it offers. A friend of mine said once that London is a phantasy, a dream that often turns into a nightmare. He was partly right, but the potential is real.