I don't live in London, i live is Brisbane, Australia in fact, but as an observer i think this is one huge beat up. I thought we would have gone past the point of society expecting a couple to stay together just because they were married, or they had children, is it better for a child to have parents in a bitter and venemous relationship, or two loving parents who can get along? I believe that Mr Livingstone's chilren are his private life, he doesn't parade them around, they don't advise him on policy, they aren't popularly elected, they are his offspring, simple as that, whats next? someone being chastised because they had to give away a pet?
I think we should get a real sense of what matters most, not some pumped up scandal

Jared, Brisbane, Australia

Ken Livingstone's politics have always had a strong feminist streak and he has always enjoyed lots of feminist support. There is a long history of alpha socialist males who advocate female sexual freedoms, the most notable of whom was the notorious womaniser Friedrich Engels, whose long essay "The Origin of Family, Private Property and the State" was a cornerstone in the development of modern feminism, which has long decried the traditional family. Engels was a rich and handsome man, and a sexual adventurer who, unlike poorer men, had much to gain from female sexual freedom, which tends to lead to insemination by high status males. Feminists behave no differently from other women in this regard: the underlying drivers are hormonal and driven by evolutionary forces, expressed through genetics, which favour females who mate with dominant men. The losers are poor and low status men, of course, the official politics of socialist alpha males notwithstanding. Suckers to the end!

Jordan Eakwall, London, UK

So it is OK for a Tory MP to leave his wife & kids to go off with the same gender, not that I am condoning Ken Livingstone.

J.A.M., East sussex,

It's a sad reflection on our society that some readers think it's perfectly normal to father children and then move on.
Where's the sense of responsibility?
I don't believe that anyone can separate their public and private lives. Someone with no understanding of private morality should not be trusted in public matters.

D.Henry, Edinburgh, Scotland UK

Which are the luckiest children? The 2 who live with him or the 3 that don't?

James McLeish, London, England

Now if he had three children by five different woman - that would be slightly more interesting.

Carl Teper, Jerusalem, Israel

We are only interested in Ken's achievements. News about his three wives and many children does not tell us what he has done for London or where he had failed.

Dr J Hashemi, solihull, w. midlands

I can't find it very environmentally friendly to add five future drivers to all the others who'll want to drive their car into London. But what matters most - does Ken pay for the upbringing of his flock of children?

RobB, Brielle, NL

The mantra the "what you do in private has no bearing on your public life" is so obviously false it is a wonder that it is repeated so often. Clearly what you do in your private life demonstrates something fundamental about what you are like as a person. The fact that he has had a number of children by a number of different women obvioulsy says something about bothhis personality and his morality.

Andrew Brown, derby, UK

I am afraid I simply do not believe that "Mr Livingstone’s team is concerned by the impact the news could have on his campaign".

Affairs and illegitimate children really do not cause the scandal they used to. It strikes me that this is rather a convenient opportunity for Ken to characterise himself as 'victim' - both of the hostile media and the old stick in the muds who just "don't understand modern Britain / London, blah blah, blah".

He's clearly going for the sympathy vote and no doubt hoping he'll get the sort of sex story bounce that boosted Paddy Ashdown after his affair was revealed.

As for his idea that “I don’t think anybody in this city will be shocked by what two consenting adults do, as long as you don’t include children, animals and vegetables”, I'd like to ask Yusuf Al Qaradawi (the violently homophobic cleric who Ken graced with the full red carpet treatment) whether he shares those views.

Ken is a disgrace and must go, but not because of his children.

John W, London, UK

I guess things really have hit rock bottom. It's a sad day in my view when the number of illegitimate children one fathers, and the casualness of procreation, no longer raises eyebrows. God forbid the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, or anyone else in the Church or the government say anything. As has become the norm in this politically correct world, no one wants to cause offence, pass judgement, or be perceived as infringing on someone's basic human rights. Everything is fine, “as long as you don’t include children, animals and vegetables”, as Livingstone himself says.

Mike, London, London

Who cares? Step families etc are nothing new. Rather that than be stuck in an unhappy marriage/relationship "for the children", which in my opinion has a much worse effect on them.

We are so naive here in the UK that we think politicians, actors etc should be super human and lead perfect, exemplary lives. In fact, an Italian friend of mine claimed the UK was a laughing stock, in the sense that we have kittens over politicians' private lives, whereas in Italy they have more actual problems such as widespread corruption.

This was a really pointless article.

Jess, Strasbourg,

who?

Del, Manchester, Greater Manchester

How many children Ken LivingStalin has is his business. What he should feel guilty about is making travelling in the capital a slower, more painful, and more expensive nightmare than ever before - on public transport or private transport.

The congestion charge is fine but for heaven's sake use the revenue to effectively improve tube and bus services and do it quickly.

JF, London, UK

Why the big deal? He's a normal male who protects his loved ones from the glare of publicity.

Let He (or She) who is without Sin cast the first vote!

Martin, Poole, UK

What has Mr Livingstone got against vegetables? Is the Mayor of London veggyphobic? I think we should be told.

Tony Jones, Grantham, Lincs

All part of the typical bourgeois socialist type , as long as he feeds and clothes them all and not the state then ok
I personally still prefer the traditional approach one proper family unit but then we all have different morals and principles

Ron Sealey, Croydon, England

"Ken Livingstone has five children by three women"

And your point is?

jono, canaries, spain

Ben Nicholson:"The slandering of public figures for political aims is appalling. Shame on them that expose and criticize other peoples' *private* lives!"

If people can't or won't behave with integrity in private towards loved ones and intimates then how can they be expected to behave with integrity in public office. When it comes down to trustworthiness there is no separation between private and public life. Politicians are not there as skilled technicians to keep an engine ticking over: they are there as leaders, and their self-control/trustworthiness is paramount.

By all means allow a private individuals to run his own business without integrity and without public scrutiny, but once public office is sought lack of private integrity should be exposed.

Greg Lorriman, Leatherhead, UK

I am just surprised about all this. I mean, who would have thought that 1, never mind 3 women, have wanted to sleep with Ken Livingstone. He'll soon be up there with NickClegg!

John Duff, Forfar, UK

It seems the man of Moral convictions politically has the morals of an alley cat privately.

Gary Rasch, London,

He should be grateful he hasn't had 4 by 4, otherwise could be very expensive!

James, Bedford, UK

Ok, so maybe he should have mentioned that he had more kids, but I'm sure that not many of you people would like your family to be thrust in to the public eye, if nothing else it opens them up to unwanted attention. And to SK, East Sussex, you really should get out more. Me and my Sister come from a single parent family, she earns a fortune in Canary Warf and thanks to my Law degree I'm not doing to bad either.

VOTE BRIAN!

CT, London,

Jes of Sevenoaks has it in one (or maybe two). Bonkers and bonkers. Best comment this year.

John B, Woking, UK

Livingstone: “I don’t think anybody in this city will be shocked by what two consenting adults do, as long as you don’t include children, animals and vegetables.”

Agree with you on the kids and animals, Ken, but leaving vegetables out is your loss.

Julian, Warwick, UK

Ken simply represents what New LAbour are about. That is the destruction of any sense of belonging including the family unit. Still, in the modern era where realtivism reigns, I dont expect people to see anything wrong with it?

Elisa, Napoli, Italy

Are all of Ken's mistresses 'White British'? If so, whatever happened to equal opportunities? This is blatant betrayal of something or other.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

So Mr Livingstone is not to be relied on, even by his
beloved " wimin ". Good to know , as a father , he is in touch with his children.
This story is relevant for Livingstone does not represent a political party, rather himself.
If you put yourself forward as a leader you will be judged as a man and your abilities ( agressive bullying ? ) will ,as they have in the in the past, reflect on the position you hold.
I would have thought that Londoners would be well rid of him - and his cronies.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

The only matter I find suprising in this article is why so many women would find Livingstone remotely attractive. This is another none issue, hardly worthy of comment. Boris Johnson is known as 'bonking Boris'. Brian Paddick is gay. So what? Where are the real issues for the people of London?

M.J. Frizell, Payzac, France

it is very sad that people like Ken do not hold any respect for basic family values. The idea of a core family unit , with married parents living at home is proven to be the most stable enviroment for children to grow up. I hope that all ken's children grow up to be outstanding people but he has not given them much of a helping hand.

Matthew, London, UK

SK from East Sussex - I'm from a broken home, I'm a Doctor, I have no criminal record, I am qualified to state I'm healthy and I have been with my beautiful wife for 7 years, we have three well rounded children. My two brothers (from the same broken home) are to a more or lesser degree equally educated, settled and stable. There are plenty of us out there that prove your theory wrong. I am curious to know what "picking up of mess" you have undertaken?

Garry, Cheshire, UK

So this is what the BBC is spending my licence fee on is it? There must be far more important things for it to investigate than the home life of the Mayor. I am a London voter and no particular fan of Ken's, but really don't consider this to be significant news unless he is found to be abusing public funds for the benefit of his large family...............like some others we could mention. If not, big deal.

Fiona B, London,

Let us be clear here. 'Someone' has criticised Boris Johnson publicly for being a philanderer, and said that it has an effect on the way he would work as mayor.

The same is also true for Ken Livingstone.

If being a philanderer will have an effect it will have an effect on them both.

As for me, it's just another reason not to vote for him - he's clearly got no sense of committment except to himself.

dominic, Teddington, Middlesex, UK

What a load of absolute rubbish from sk from East Sussex.

Myself from a "broken home", several off my closest friends aswell, none of which have been arrested, all of which go to university and ,myself excluded - ive always been lazy, are heavily involved in sports.

and as far as ken livingstone having children from different mothers, hardly makes him a criminal. I'll admit I know very little about his policices as Mayor but his private life has not been an issue before and i dont see why it should now.

Nick, Glasgow,

Politicians do not have private lives in the UK, this is not France. Here it is very odd for a father in public life not to acknowledge all of his children or their mothers. It may not be sinister but it is certainly odd. And also we need to know about the full background of those we vote for. Someone who drinks or takes drugs or cannot hold down a relationship or beats their wife or is nasty to their children, I want to know. For example, if Dianne Abbot kept her son a secret we would not know she was a hypocrite about state schooling. If Derek Conway's family was unknown we wouldn't have discovered they were on the Commons payroll. And so on. It is important to know just a little about the families and children of politicians - such as they exist, it informs us about them. Your children should get the MMR jab but I'm not giving it to my baby because I'm not sure if it causes autism .... who was that again?

Tom Moncrieff, London, England

There are many reasons I don't like Mr Livingstone but the number of children he's had with various women isn't one of them.

Alice, Lille, France

Children need fathers so it does matter. Marriage is a life-long commitment. OK we make mistakes but one gets the impression from the article that Mr Livingstone thinks it's perfectly alright to have one relationship, bear children with that woman, and then move on to another. If so, that is the height of irresponsibility.

Andrew Chapman, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

None of our business - why is this a story?

Alan, london, uk

He is my least favorite politician, but how on earth his private life has anything to do with any of us, beats me!

Alastair Roy, London, UK

Bye Bye Ken, Bye Bye :)

Phill, Heswall, England

Boring!

R Bingham, Lauzun, France

So what ?

luca turin, London, UK

yeh - but is irresponsible.

you cant be a proper father

no comittment - no loyality

geoge, tunbridge wells, kent

The slandering of public figures for political aims is appalling. Shame on them that expose and criticize other peoples' *private* lives!

Ben Nicholson, Redhill, UK

*yawn*

Annie, Cambridge, UK

So both Ken and Boris are bonkers.

Jes, Sevenoaks,

Just how involved can a father be with the job of full time Mayor of London and flitting backwards and forwards to see different children in different homes with different mothers. Statistics show that children from broken homes are more likely to commit crime, do poorly in education, be unhealthy and have problems forming lasting relationships when they are adults - so much for it being nothing to do with anyone else, what consenting adults get up to - the rest of society picks up the mess

sk, East Sussex,

As long as he's paying for them, who cares? I can't see what he's got myself. I find him a little repulsive.

judy, Liverpool, England