So the sentiment is that May "didn't try hard enough"?
There are advantages to having a sociopathic buffoon in power willing to push through tough legislation, like Trump and immigration reform...provided they don't tear the society apart.
There's an equal chance his own party will help bring down the government, and force an election, to help prevent that catastrophic outcome (no-deal exit).
There is no appeal, really. He wasn't elected by the general public, he was elected by 0.35% of the population in the form of the Conservative party members.
He comes across as an affable buffoon, and total failure dealing with everyone on the international stage, including the EU, during his stint as Foreign Secretary.
He's a racist liar with a track record of causing problems every time he opens his mouth.
Appeal? Bear in mind neither MPs or electorate got to choose him to lead the Tory party, and hence become PM. Just paid up members of the Tory party, who are well to the extreme right even compared to the parliamentary party.
> Bear in mind neither MPs or electorate got to choose him to lead the Tory party
It's worth pointing out that Tory MPs absolutely voted for him before Tory party members got the chance to, and that if MPs in general don't like him then they can vote to bring down the government whenever they like. Quite why non-Tory MPs should get to pick who leads the Tory party I have no idea.
They got to shortlist him, by eliminating candidates until just 2 remain. Then the choice is with the party membership. Which is not the same as voting for him.
That's for the shortlist. It's perfectly possible, albeit vanishingly unlikely that everyone preferred Hunt and the buffoon as second choice. Going on the party's difficulties the last three years it's perfectly likely he was second choice for a clear majority. The disjoint between MPs and membership seems to be becoming a chasm.
He's seen as a populist, and a buffoon, yes, but he occasionally exhibits flashes of an intelligence rarely found in a politician.
Unfortunately though, he does appear to hold some rather elitist views, has more than once, made racist comments in public, and has been found to lie on numerous occasions, about a countless range of topics.
Even a number of his own supporters acknowledge these issues.
So it's very hard to believe his appointment will be a good thing for the UK.
It's Boris-season in the press at the moment, for obvious reasons. Sadly, this article is very poor, seeking to harness anything vaguely related to tech (apparently, that is - a garden bridge?) and spin it negatively, whatever the real situation.
Within the article, he's criticised for:
* supporting ideas which were explored but abandoned (the estuary airport idea, and the garden bridge) - when surely this shows a leader who is willing to be imaginative but who is also willing to listen to reason... which I would have thought would be a good model to espouse?
* supporting people in his wider organisation in exploring tech ideas which were innovative (the gang matrix, for example) - when surely we should praise our governments for adopting more of a tech-style approach to be willing to try new ideas and fail fast?
* things being popularly named after him, whether they were controversial (Boris buses), highly successful (Boris bikes) or unsuccessful (Boris island) - when none of these would have been officially named like that by him (they would probably have been thus named by the press due to his prominence in their creation or start-up, and his newsworthiness, approaching meme status) and when it would have been impossible for him to influence the popular name once adopted by the public.
Don't get me wrong - I'm genuinely not a Boris supporter. But this article is nonsense, jumping on the zeitgeist with weak, trash journalism.
15 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 41.2 ms ] threadWhat's the appeal of this guy? He seems like a buffoon. Is he the British Donald Trump?
There are advantages to having a sociopathic buffoon in power willing to push through tough legislation, like Trump and immigration reform...provided they don't tear the society apart.
This is worth a read if you're trying to understand Boris Johnson: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/08/15/boris-johnson-ha...
Perfect, thanks.
He's a racist liar with a track record of causing problems every time he opens his mouth.
Appeal? Bear in mind neither MPs or electorate got to choose him to lead the Tory party, and hence become PM. Just paid up members of the Tory party, who are well to the extreme right even compared to the parliamentary party.
It's worth pointing out that Tory MPs absolutely voted for him before Tory party members got the chance to, and that if MPs in general don't like him then they can vote to bring down the government whenever they like. Quite why non-Tory MPs should get to pick who leads the Tory party I have no idea.
Unfortunately though, he does appear to hold some rather elitist views, has more than once, made racist comments in public, and has been found to lie on numerous occasions, about a countless range of topics.
Even a number of his own supporters acknowledge these issues.
So it's very hard to believe his appointment will be a good thing for the UK.
Within the article, he's criticised for:
* supporting ideas which were explored but abandoned (the estuary airport idea, and the garden bridge) - when surely this shows a leader who is willing to be imaginative but who is also willing to listen to reason... which I would have thought would be a good model to espouse?
* supporting people in his wider organisation in exploring tech ideas which were innovative (the gang matrix, for example) - when surely we should praise our governments for adopting more of a tech-style approach to be willing to try new ideas and fail fast?
* things being popularly named after him, whether they were controversial (Boris buses), highly successful (Boris bikes) or unsuccessful (Boris island) - when none of these would have been officially named like that by him (they would probably have been thus named by the press due to his prominence in their creation or start-up, and his newsworthiness, approaching meme status) and when it would have been impossible for him to influence the popular name once adopted by the public.
Don't get me wrong - I'm genuinely not a Boris supporter. But this article is nonsense, jumping on the zeitgeist with weak, trash journalism.
This article is just another example of how their thinking is political points scoring first, journalistic quality second and technology detail last.
Sadly politics is infecting everything now including HN.