AP Photo

There is strength in life beyond the exercise of high principle. Boris has twice now defeated Ken Livingstone, the previous mayor of London, a man of rigid ideology and therefore grinding prejudice. Boris's success so far might well be explained by his believing in nothing. Where conviction kills, an amused and vivacious nihilism - or, more cynical still, the affectation of nihilism - will look attractive, no matter how self-serving. It could be enough to take Boris further still.