Indeed
These incidents are said to have happened right through Farage’s secondary school career, up to the age of 17/18, including an evident abuse of disciplinary powers as a prefect.
The “just banter” defence seems to me to be no real defence. I can see in that a twisted logic - but “I didn’t mean it seriously” must imply an admission of bullying, just using what was most obviously to hand.
And if that’s a part of his mindset…
The comparison with Farage misses something very important and very simple.
Mamdani is running by appealing to people who care about these sorts of things even when they’re done by a staffer.
Farage is running by appealing to people who don’t care about these sorts of things, even when done by the candidate themselves.
It’s not purely a left vs right thing - see: Graham ‘the Boy with the Nazi Tattoo’ Platner who somehow hasn’t dropped out yet - but it’s a strong correlation.
Nevermind.
Zohran has been sworn in.
Andy Cohen managed to get out one last rant at Mayor Adams before the end of his broadcast tonight.
Mamdani seems to have kept a lot of Adam’s’ staff members. Not a criticism, more observation.
He’s a terrific orator. I’m sure he’s more than just that — and we’ll all find out how much more, in the next several years — but at least you can say that much. I say this with admiration, not dismissiveness — I think oratory can have real value.
Is that surprising? Sure, some of them are probably jerks who should be shown the door, incompetents who got their position by sucking up to the right people, and/or people whose political vision disagrees with Mandami’s, and anyone in any of those categories should be replaced. But there should also be a sizable contingent of people who aren’t in any of those categories-- Why would he replace them?
“Meet the old boss. Same as the new boss.” Granted, there’s always going to be something he does that no one likes, and it would be impractical to scour the city government down to the bone just to give the image of a clean sweep.
He should stay there.
I imagine most administrations leave most of the staff in place. There are a lot of bureaucratic, technical things the office of the mayor needs to do, and the office is full of people who know how to do those things.
Yeah, there are political appointees and then there are the people who keep things running. Sometimes they overlap, but not as often as one might think.