[Malcolm Armsteen]

John Crace lacerates Johnson.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... are_btn_tw

You can sense the growing disbelief and anger. All his life Boris Johnson has been told that he is the Special One. A person for whom all rules are there to be broken. He is a man who has consistently managed to fail upwards. Sacked from one job for lying or incompetence, he has always effortlessly moved on to a better one. Friends, family and children have only ever been collateral damage in a ruthless pursuit of an entitled ambition.

Yet now there is no hiding place. Boris has achieved his narcissistic goal of becoming prime minister and from here the only way is down. And it’s a lonely place to be because even he can’t escape the fact that he’s just not cut out for the top job. It’s not just that it’s too much like hard work and he is basically lazy: it’s that he’s not that good at it. Lame gags, bluster and Latin free association just don’t cut it.

Put simply, Boris isn’t as bright as he has come to believe he is. In fact, he’s quite dim.

The truth is that Boris is a beaten man even before he stands up to speak at the dispatch box. He knows that. Keir knows that. Worst of all, the country knows that. The shouting is all just empty, white noise. A distraction from his own limitations. And at a time of national crisis you can’t get away with putting that on the side of a bus.

[davidjay]

Some people are just like that, though. I'm sure we all know at least one person who can breeze through life doing whatever they please, getting everyone else to do their bidding and there's never any comeback, never a bad word said about them and if you should ever point out that they're less than perfect you're the one who ends up ostracised.

I think it was John O'Farrell in An Utterly Impartial History of Britain who wrote that the difference between Charles I and Charles II was charm. I argued with Parliament and ended up executed, II had a deputation of MPs confront him and invited them to share the contents of his wine cellar. Despite the absolute shitstorm he's steered us into, I have no doubt that the charming Boris Johnson will step down as PM at a time of his own choosing, with the thanks of a grateful nation ringing in his ears.

[Cyclist]

This grateful nation who'll be thanking Johnson. Would that be Russia by any chance?

[youngian]

Put simply, Boris isn’t as bright as he has come to believe he is. In fact, he’s quite dim.

I’ve always thought his lazy self-entitlement was the source of his mediocrity but Crace is right he’s not that bright.

[davidjay]

Put simply, Boris isn’t as bright as he has come to believe he is. In fact, he’s quite dim.

I’ve always thought his lazy self-entitlement was the source of his mediocrity but Crace is right he’s not that bright.

Johnson is further proof that a public school education won't necessarily make you any brighter but it instills self-confidence and a sense of entitlement that can conquer the world.

[Oblomov]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... appearance

Forgot to check for this on the relevant day but the barbs still have plenty of sting in them. And I'm reassured he also found Starmer underwhelming that day.

[Kreuzberger]

It's all too easy now. Crace is going to struggle not to have to repeat himself. There again, Johnson is so unspeakably awful that there are a fair few columns left in larder. The only question is whether either of them can keep this up for nigh on four and a half more years.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ack-a-mole

[Andy McDandy]

Quick roundup of the last few days. Have a good weekend, folks!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ose-change - Wednesday

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... l-over-tfl - Thursday, review of PMQs

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... chancellor - Thursday again

[Andy McDandy]

On Dido Harding at the select committee:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... tradiction

On Johnson's latest press conferences:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... r-meltdown

On yesterday's PMQs:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -offensive

All good, or as good as parliamentary sketches can be.

[Boiler]

Crace picks up on something that has grated on my nerves for a bloody long time; Johnson's inappropriate levity.

We're in the middle of a major public health crisis and the cunt prattles on about pummelling the virus with metaphorical boxing gloves.

Can you imagine Macron or Merkel coming out with that wank? Because I certainly bloody can't.

[Oblomov]

I'm still gobsmacked at his "Operation: Last Gasp" gag attempt to ventilator manufacturers back in March.

[Boiler]

And still there are prats who think he's a statesman.

[Andy McDandy]

Journalistic instinct, I guess. Michael Dobbs once said that every election, it looked as if the racing correspondents took over the headline-writing job. Johnson engages slightly old-fashioned sporting terms because a) lowest common denominator, and b) it plays to his preferred image of a slightly shambolic duffer.

As a character in Game of Thrones once said, wear your insults like armour. If you tell the world that you're an absolute shambles, it can't be used against you and it's a nice surprise when you do a good thing. The funny thing in Johnson's case being that he's clearly trying this, but the attacks obviously do still hurt him.

[davidjay]

Journalistic instinct, I guess. Michael Dobbs once said that every election, it looked as if the racing correspondents took over the headline-writing job. Johnson engages slightly old-fashioned sporting terms because a) lowest common denominator, and b) it plays to his preferred image of a slightly shambolic duffer.

As a character in Game of Thrones once said, wear your insults like armour. If you tell the world that you're an absolute shambles, it can't be used against you and it's a nice surprise when you do a good thing. The funny thing in Johnson's case being that he's clearly trying this, but the attacks obviously do still hurt him.

Or as was said in Pride - when a word is used as an insult, reclaim it and use it as a badge of honour. We have a long tradition of preferring an honest bumbler to a smartypants, too clever by half expert.

[Andy McDandy]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ver-learns

It's been a while, but John Crace is also playing a blinder.

Boris still needs to believe that saying everything will be OK will somehow make it so. His only goal is to make it through to the end of each day unscathed having maintained the veneer of acting as if he was in charge and appearing to know what he was doing. Because even he must know it will take a miracle to deliver on his latest promises. But that’s a problem for six weeks’ time. And in Boris World tomorrow never comes.