McGrath praises Ken Livingstone and calls his words effective and impressive. Livingstone used the word 'cowardly' to describe the terrorist action at a time when he couldn't know whether the bombings were suicide bombings or not. I agree with McGrath here. But is this the same McGrath who once said:

And as if it made sense to describe a suicide bomber as "cowardly", as if that was the ultimate insult that has to be dragged in, however absurd. It's a way of filling in the space and saying something that sounds appropriate, but which doesn't make any kind of sense at all. The trouble is, that space could be filled by saying things that did make sense.

Ah, I see: If Livingstone says 'cowardly' that's impressive, but if Bush in a similar situation uses these words that doesn't make sense.

Wolfgang