The day I head for the UK, New York decides to begin five days of largely uninterrupted sunshine and temperatures of over 80F. The forecast in London is for largely uninterrupted drizzle and a high of 62F.

New York Magazine reports that pro BMXers will be giving stunt riding demos at the Queens Museum this Sunday to kick-off NYC Bike Month. I wonder if visitors will see anything to compare with this? (Via Kottke.)

Not because it’s anything new. But because it needs repeating again…and again…and again:

There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians confront the anti-Semitism that they now openly encourage, and which British pro-Palestinian groups and international funding agencies tacitly accept. They must acknowledge the reality and pain of the Holocaust. The Israelis must also acknowledge Palestinian suffering, the loss of life, land and livelihoods, and the present discrimination against Palestinians within Israel.

There will probably never be an agreed Palestinian/Israeli version of history, but mutual acknowledgement of historical and present suffering are a necessary precondition of peace.

Sigrid Rausing, writing in the New Statesman.

The New York Post’s Sean Delonas got into trouble a couple of months ago for a cartoon that many people said was racist. You remember, the one with the chimp that Al Sharpton was convinced was supposed to be President Obama. Well, Chimpgate has nothing on today’s offering. Funny thing is, I don’t hear Sharpton railing against this one. I guess there aren’t enough votes in it.

Former Gawker alum Alex Balk and Choire Sicha kick off their new blog The Awl with this take on Gordon Brown’s Number 10 TV.

WARNING: It will appear as if he’s going to reach out and grab you, but it is only an illusion borne of TERRIBLE MEDIA TRAINING.

Watching Gordon is truly painful. I hope his spin doctors put him out of his misery soon.

Meanwhile, The Awl also links to a looong Daily Intel article cataloging the politicians and talking heads who have defended America’s harshest, bordering-on-torture-if-not-actually-torture, interrogation techniques. Skimming through the list I landed on this pearl of astounding logic from Rush Limbaugh:

If somebody can go through water-boarding for 183 times, 6 times a day …. it means you’re not afraid of it, it means it’s not torture. If you’ve found a way to withstand it, it can’t possibly be torture.

Ha! I was just commenting to Sofie the other day how the Subway map of the five boroughs looks like a you-know-what. And then Jason Kottke goes and links to this.

If you’ve found EiNY via Manhattan Users Guide today, check out these other Brits in New York: A Brit Out of Water, A Brooklyn Lad, Big Apple Little Britainer, Brit in Brooklyn, and David Galbraith.