Tag: Boris
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Testy Times
So after nearly two years of mayhem, we’re back to where we started. Yes, we do have a vaccine, but it is one that works only by limiting serious illness in the most vulnerable after three jabs. It’s fascinating how the vaccine narrative has shifted from the heady euphoria of the first jab to the…
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Unsquared Circles
Hardly unpredictably, ‘Frosty the No Man’ became ‘Frosty the Go Man’, as Lord Frost departed the Cabinet. Notwithstanding the mystery of how he got in there in the first place – he is after all not even an MP – he belatedly discovered the crystal-clear truth that nobody can comfortably square the Brexit circle. The…
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Party Poop
As the covert party scandal unfolds, I for one am relieved that it wasn’t a bin bag covering a CCTV camera in that Downing Street shot of the Christmas quiz. That would have been a scandalous waste of PPE. Witnessing the defenstration of Dough Piffle will doubtless be delectable, but it won’t bring seismic change…
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No Offence
Once again, it’s by-election time, and the Bexley swing to Labour was by mid-term standards somewhat anaemic – about half of that achieved by Blair prior to 1997. Add to that the rock-bottom turnout, and you’re likely to draw the conclusion that this was scarcely a ringing endorsement of Sir Drear’s vision for the future.…
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Co-Pout
After ‘Trolley’s’ woeful performance at the equally abysmal COP26, we might be justified in lamenting the failure of our Government to set the shining example to the nation that their position demands. I beg to differ. Were they a shining beacon of excellence, we might mark them out as being more hypocritical than they are.…
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Wordsworths
It’s a rum old thing, and one that confounds linguists, but there’s an inherent paradox in language. When we communicate a message, the logic of the sentence will often have little bearing on how it will be interpreted. Audiences bring their fears, preferences, and very often their psychoses to the table, and then home in…
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Bacon Mid-Air
I’m not sure what is the most troubling – Dominic Raab avoiding calls like a temp in a 1990s call centre or the fact that he reputedly spunked £40k on a holiday in Crete. That’s a shedload of kleftiko, or possibly some other form of middle-class entertainment. Meanwhile, Johnson has announced that the situation around…
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Ping Pong
You’d have to have a heart stone not to laugh like a drain. The Government set up a track-and-trace app, but there’s a growing concern that too many people are being pinged and are self-isolating. It’s the pingdemic. Let’s just recap: the Government put a system in place and asked the public to use it.…
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Crazy Paving
Without making any comment on the merits of Brexit, it is mesmerising that an advisory referendum reflected an inexorable path, whereas a treaty bound in international law represents a starting point for ongoing negotiation. We seem to be lacking one clear reference point to anchor our logic. It’s a double-jabbed post-fact existence that makes anything…
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Replica Shirks
Shell-shocked, I’ve been eating gargantuan wedges of humble pie after Gareth Southgate steered the Three Lions to their first major final in 55 years. Whatever the ultimate outcome, the team has, after a sluggish start, performed magnificently. Forget the tactical analysis, and that’s not just because, like most punters, I don’t really understand the technicalities.…
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