St. Boris' victory - is this a turning of the tide?

As Israel's 60th approaches, life seems to be getting easier for the Jews of Great Britain:

Relief will be palpable that Ken Livingstone has been ousted as Mayor of London. He was the single most common reason given here in Israel for why aliyah from Britain to Israel was advisable.

http://www.engageonline.org.uk/archives/index.php?id=22

and

http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/article.php?id=1862

Livingstone sent a shiver down the spine of a great many people in the Jewish community. A very wily politician, who knew when to quote the Chief Rabbi out of context, for instance, he (together with others in recent history) had the populist touch and a penchant for improving public transport. He also knew that Jew-baiting is popular with certain segments of the community. And as he made it clear, time and time again, it was votes that he was after, i.e. power at all costs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3888419.stm

The response of some of the most thoughtful bloggers has been very encouraging.

Here is Cranmer, for instance:

http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2008/05/mayor-johnson-what-music-to-ears.html

and here is Ruth Gledhill of The Times on May 2nd being St. Boris Day in the Russian Orthodox Church:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2008/05/st-boriss-day.html

But there are also other signs of the slight easing of pressure on the British Jewish community.

For example, the BBC has broadcast a number of programmes that have demonstrated a slight thawing in their relationship towards the State of Israel:

http://irenelancaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/the-bbc-on-gaza.html

Yours truly was even phoned up yesterday evening by one of their journalists, who wanted assistance in tracking down an Israeli hero from the Mandate period for a programme that they will be broadcasting shortly as part of their 60th anniversary celebrations

The Church of England has also demonstrated greater understanding of the problems faced both by the Jewish community and by Israel than it did even three years ago:

http://www.zionismontheweb.org/Anglicans_have_betrayed_the_Jews.htm

and

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=43222

The Council of Christians and Jews is now being led professionally and has taken on some of the aid organisations, whose bias and language had been all too obviously anti-Jewish in tone:

http://www.ccj.org.uk/Presidents.html

And we now also have Anglican Friends of Israel, whose recent booklet in celebration of Israel's 60th, with its Forward by Anthony Julius, has been extremely well received:

http://www.anglicanfriendsofisrael.com/

What still remains to tackle are the British universities, and their ridiculous penchant for boycotts

http://www.engageonline.org.uk/blog/article.php?id=1780

as well as those Jews in Great Britain who seem to have something of an identity crisis:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/02/israelandthepalestinians

But this is a good day for London, for Great Britain, for St. Boris and for St. George, and will be welcomed by the vast majority of fair-minded people.