Nor that nastiness with Ann Chovy.
Damn you - I almost Googled her!
Here’s CNN’s coverage of Johnson’s taking the reins: Boris Johnson becomes British Prime Minister at critical moment | CNN
If anyone ever deserved to be called a grammar Nazi…
Johnson will wait a few weeks to see if the polls shake out as he expects, indicating a big swing to the Tories from the Brexit party. If so, he will call a snap election.
People on the other side of the political spectrum are severely underestimating him. Yes, he’s going to fuck up. A lot. But he’s done a remarkable job of immunising himself against the negative effects of his own foolishness. He’s like Trump but with thicker skin.
His first exchange with Jeremy Corbyn was instructive. The latter went on the offensive, looking to trip or embarrass the new PM on his first outing. Johnson absolutely eviscerated him. Contrary to the dogma on Labour’s left wing, all Tories are not the same. Their man isn’t up against Cameron or May anymore. Whatever one might think of their politics, both of them at least had some genuine beliefs and principles by which you might skewer them. Johnson, by contrast, does not give a solitary fuck about anything but Johnson. And, most importantly, his supporters are fully aware of this. That’s why they gave him the job. For the original Corbyn, whose brand was built around clarity, principle, and authenticity, taking aim at Johnson’s weaseling mendacity might have had some merit. For the current Corbyn, whose brand is now defined by his own weaseling mendacity on Brexit and anti-semitism, that approach was far too easily turned right back against him.
And herein lies the problem: while Corbyn and his supporters seem to have no idea how he looks to the world outside their bubble, Johnson and his supporters know exactly how he looks.
Something his opponents ignore at their peril is that Johnson was president of the Oxford Union - a world-famous debating society. Among other things, they host competitive debating competitions.
Johnson knows all the tricks of rhetoric and debate, and can probably name the exact rhetorical devices and logical fallacies he is so unscrupulously using. Unlike Trump, he is not stupid. His opponents will have to up their game to win a debate with him. Corbyn is not capable of it, but perhaps some others are.
I agree. He’s appointed Dominic Cummings as his chief advisor - the brains behind the Brexit referendum, and a man whom David Cameron described as a ‘career psychopath’. He makes Steve Bannon look like a harmless kitten.
Cummings is there to run an election campaign, and he will do it ruthlessly and effectively.
The best hope if there’s an election is that the Lib Dems will hold the balance of power, if not anything approaching a majority, and inject a little bit of sense into proceedings. A battle between an ego-driven career politician who only wants to recognise the economic interests of a minority of the population, and has a questionable history when it comes to racism, and his mirror image on the other side, helps no-one.
rumor has it the Queen does not like Boris because he is an adulterer. Does she think it’s OK for an adulterer to be the next king when she dies? 
I guess she’s OK with Charles taking over or maybe she is not but she cannot stop him.
I mean, she probably would have preferred he hadn’t been an adulterer.
And just as Ms. Symonds was not invited to the Palace, neither was Camilla for quite a while, until it became obvious that she was not going away, and that her exclusion was going to result in more and worse problems than her inclusion. The Queen wouldn’t even attend her son’s 50th birthday party, as Camilla was the de facto hostess.
It’s not quite cricket to appoint someone to a post in HMG who was held in contempt of Parliament just four months ago, is it?: Dominic Cummings - Wikipedia
He is one strange character. I read his Wikipedia article. Even with all of that, my takeaway is that he’s still not even 1/10th as fucked up as Donald Trump. The idea of Trump studying classics at Oxford or being the assistant editor of a newspaper makes this Onion article about George W. Bush regaling dinner guests with an impromptu oratory on Virgil’s minor works sound downright plausible.
Boris Johnson is intelligent, and he’s an exceptional entertainer when he’s in ‘clown mode’. But he is utterly and completely self-centred and amoral. His lies are as blatant as those of Trump. Also, you can tell his real character by the company he keeps.
If you want to see Boris Johnson at his very best, watch the video below. Even though it’s long, it’s worth it.
It’s a formal debate before a large audience about which is better, ancient Greece or ancient Rome. Johnson argues for Greece and Mary Beard argues for Rome.
When the audience arrived they were asked to vote for either Greece or Rome, and at the end they were asked to vote again. They voted for Greece before the debate, but Mary Beard succeeded in changing their minds and they voted for Rome at the end. Although Boris Johnson loses the debate, he argues knowledgeably, competently, and persuasively, and in the end loses with good grace.
I like Ancient Greece. And I like Ancient Rome. But which is better? There’s only one way to find out…
That seems to be strangely narrow and short-sighted view, to compare them in terms of military power. Military power was hardly mentioned in the debate.
Boris Johnson gave a rousing and inspiring opening speech - but filled with major omissions, distortions and inaccuracies as soon as you looked a little closer.
Mary Beard promoted Rome as a far more inclusive society than Greece, welcoming immigrants and refugees, incorporating people from all cultures, freeing slaves, giving more independence to women, making urban living and government work well on a large scale. She pointed out that people today would feel far more at home in Rome than Greece.
Just in case it’s unclear, in the phrasing Gyrate was referencing a running gag on Harry Hill’s TV Burp. Google “only one way to find out” and you’ll get the idea. I don’t think he was actually suggesting military prowess was the main/only indicator of who is best.
Sorry - in my head my inside jokes are more obvious and less… inside.
Sorry, I’ve never seen the show.
The main segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night was about Boris Johnson. John’s argument was that Boris’ disheveled hairstyle, speaking style and dress are all carefully calculated. It’s not something I’ve thought of previously.
Yes, it’s all an act.
Here’s a wonderful story about how carefully and deliberately Johnson designs his act of being a disorganised clown:
My Boris Johnson story
by Jeremy Vine
It makes him seem more evil than Trump, who appears to be naked in his narcissism and greed.