Boris Johnson's Blog, page 47

A hard task — spreading gloom in the sunshine

~~~~~ The dispiriting job of the Opposition spokesman — to spread alarm and despondency at all times ~~~~~ Sunday blessed the people of London with a lovely Spring morning :  bright sunshine, beautiful blossom, more daffodils that you could count, a gentle breeze and everywhere in a certain park the sounds of Spring … and "the [...]

Protogenoi (primordial gods) – Part II

~~~~~ Janina Davison Forder continues her brief introduction to the early period of Greek myth ~~~~~ As Part I of our story of the Theogony (the genesis of the gods) ended, we had just witnessed the birth of the first wave of Titans, the hecatoncheires (100-handed monsters), the Fates and the Furies. Titans Oceanus Titan [...]

Now, about this 'alternative' …

~~~~~ If this hypocritical silence is the best 'alternative' The Labour Party can come up with, it will be in opposition for years. ~~~~~ In his article this week, Boris derides Labour's 'alternative' to bringing the British economy back to a state of fiscal sanity :  attacks on Fortnum's and the Ritz and the setting of [...]

The risks that attend our noble cause in Libya

~~~~~ Have we thought this through ?  Shall we continue to have the blessing of the Arabs ? ~~~~~ Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, puts these questions in his article in The Daily Telegraph yester-day (March 21, 2011). The best we can say of this venture, he says, is that, for the time being, it seems the [...]

Anthropogenic earthquakes ?!

~~~~~ Boris Johnson points out the stupidity of man's blaming himself for natural disasters ~~~~~ In The Daily Telegraph yester-day (March 14, 2011) Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, relates that, on Friday morning, a caller to a London radio station said something as illuminating as it was breathtakingly stupid :  he attributed the magnitude-8.9 earthquake that [...]

Protogenoi — the primordial gods

~~~~~ Janina Davison Forder gives a brief introduction to the early period of Greek myth Part I ~~~~~ Greek mythology is a vast collection of stories — most of them inconsistent — about the gods, demigods and monsters of the ancient World.  But what came before the gods ?  Well, the Titans did ;  but what came [...]

AV — Labour's death rattle and a gigantic fraud

~~~~~ First-past-the-post has served this country well …  We should be mad to adopt a system less fair than the one we have — Boris Johnson ~~~~~ I hope I will be forgiven if I indulge in a few tasteless comparisons between the crazed and increasingly blood-soaked tyrant Muammar al-Gaddafi and former UK Prime Minister [...]

The BBC Trust

"The extent to which the audience feels its trust betrayed … bodes ill for the BBC.  In the long term the loser will be public-service broad­casting itself ;  the winners the revengists of 'old' New Labour." Dr Robert Frew reflects on the role of the BBC Trust BBC Trust Chairman Sir Michael Lyons has recently revealed [...]

Where next for climate change ?

Prof. Hal W. Lewis resigns from the American Physical Society Resignation letter cites fraud across the field … the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, … has corrupted so many scientists …  It is the greatest and most successful pseudo­scientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a [...]

Ski helmets have a lesson for us … on 'localism'

~~~~~ Centralisation of power has massively pushed up the costs of government in this country ;  the sensible way forward is to simplify and devolve. ~~~~~ OK, OK, I admit it.  I have done a terrible thing.  I have been naughty.  I have defied the wrath of some of our more vengeful newspaper editors and I [...]