Alex Broodkin berates the Conservative mayoral candidate, Boris Johnson, for missing a House of Commons debate about Holocaust Memorial Day and for calling his leader's trip to Auschwitz "a gimmick" (Where were you, Boris?', Times Letters, April 3).

Mr Brodkin should keep things in perspective and compare these "misdemeanours" with those of Mr Johnson's main opponent, Ken Livingstone.

The mayor was severely reprimanded for comparing a Jewish Evening Standard reporter with a Nazi concentration camp guard, simply for doing his job and asking questions, a practice Mr Livingstone loathes.

More importantly, he should remember Mr Livingstone is a staunch supporter of the radical Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has def-ended suicide bombing by Palestinians in Israel .

What's more, Mr Livingstone appears to take the same stance as his radical friend. "Given that the Palestinians don't have jet planes, don't have tanks, they only have their bodies to use as weapons," Mr Livings-tone told Sky News in an interview shortly after the July 7, 2005 bombings.

I think Mr Johnson's alleged neglect of Jewish issues pales into insignificance when compared to Mr Livingstone's support for radical Islamists (just one of the many radical causes that the current mayor has embraced during his career).

Petru Clej, Birley Road, Whetstone