I went to hear Daniel Pipes speak at SOAS on Thursday night. I came away very gloomy about Saturday's debate with Ken Livingstone. Pipes had been so negative - Oslo was a failure, the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan had been failures, Israel has lost through diplomacy what it gained militarily, diplomacy is almost hopeless, the only solution will be when one side gives up its aspirations, the NGOs should adopt the same definition of 'refugee' as UNHCR - someone who has personally fled rather than including the children and grandchildren of a first generation refugee too.

I’m so happy to admit that I could not have been more wrong. Pipes was magnificent at the Conference. Daniel went into the lion’s den and not only did he survive, he pulverised the lion.

Moreover, he (and his co-speaker, Douglas Murray) got just as much applause as Ken and his co-speaker, Councillor Salma Yaqoob. This was quite remarkable, given the timing of the Conference, which meant that many in the Jewish community missed the daytime programme. And yet more – Israel was not even mentioned in any of the four principal morning speeches on the main topic...