Just a reminder for anyone who still thinks Boris is a lovable buffoon....

[beansprout]

When Blair visited Congo in 2002: "No doubt," he said, "the AK47s will fall silent and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird."

On Liverpool:
"A society that has become hooked on grief and likes to wallow in a sense of
vicarious victimhood."
· A Spectator editorial, 2004 (Johnson didn't write the editorial, but he approved it)

"Gay marriage can only ever be a ludicrous parody of the real thing."
· Daily Telegraph, 2005

"If gay marriage was OK - and I was uncertain on the issue - then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog."
· From his book, Friends, Voters, Countrymen, 2001

Quite - and don't forget that The Evening Standard's smear campaign against Livingstone has been orchestrated by Andrew Gilligan. That same Andrew Gilligan who was jobless after the Hutton enquiry until his mate Boris gave him a job at The Spectator. Interesting, non?

Not that most sane people believe anything written in The Evening Standard.

Would I be right in thinking you're not keen on him then?

Illuminating interview with Andrew Gilligan in the Guardian yesterday. I fervently hope that this is ths Standard's swan-song, as the article suggests - filthy little rag.

Absolutely, policywonk - a very enlightening interview. I don't think Andrew Gilligan protrayed himself in a particularly favourable light.

just to get a balanced view
of livingstone

Finegold: Was it a good party? What does it mean for you?

Livingstone: What did you do before? Were you a German war criminal?

Finegold: No, I'm Jewish, I wasn't a German war criminal and I'm actually quite offended by that. So, how did tonight go?

Livingstone: Ah right, well you might be Jewish, but actually you are just like a concentration camp guard, you are just doing it because you are paid to, aren't you?

Finegold: Great, I have you on record for that. So, how was tonight?

boris at least had to good grace to say sorry, ken still refuses to apologise because he doesnt think he can do any wrong.

I'm no defender of Ken and his strange friends but, in truth, Boris only apologised when told to do so.

Nancy the Evening Standard is mad

It's journos are mad

No one REALLY thinks Livingstone is racist ffs

I'm aware that I might start a huge row with this, and if I do I ought to point out in advance that I'm about to go out for the day , but I never understood why that 'German concentration camp guard' comment was considered the worst possible thing someone could have said in the circs. Admittedly it lacked finesse, and possibly taste, but Associated Newspapers' status as fervent supporters of Nazism in the 1930s is well-konwn.

Well actually, I'm not fan of Johnson, Livinstone, Gilligan or the Evening Standard but to be fair to the first set of quotes, the first one was clearly intended ironically and the second one was (a) taken out of its broader context and (b) is one that has been expressed along similar lines in many other publications without attracting similar vitirol. His views on gay marriage, however, are just unacceptable.

Paddick for me!

Who cares? We don't all live in London you know!

but if I did, I would vote Boris, as Ken makes my teeth itch, snivelling little man

it was only an issue becuase the standard spend all their time trying to find dirt on Livingstone

what was the journo's response? "I'm upset"? No - he said "GREAT. I've got you on record for that" - JOB DONE as far as he was concerned.

and he is right about Liverpool

Yes, quite, mp. Obv. that doesn't say a lot for Livingstone's self-control, but that's partly why people like him I think.

(Obviously I take it personally because they ran a two-page spread entitled "THESE TERRORIST SLURS" when someone mentioned something about rockets about some baby care guru. DESPITE that person ACTUALLY saying that babies were strapped to rockets and fired into LEBANON which would ACTUALLY mean that the Standard was implying that ISRAEL is a TERRORIST STATE which I'm sure is far worse than anything Livingstone said...)

Yes PW. I love an old man with very little self-control

Paper, that Jewish journo had just been compared to a concentration camp guard. I'm sure he wasn't punching the air when he said "great". "Job done" -- that's a ridiculous comment, sorry but it really is.

Mp, I agree that the journalist was obviously overjoyed at getting that from Livingston!!!

Oh you love it, you media tart. I DREAM of having a two-page hate-spread in a Tory loo-paper substitute.

well to be fair stuffit, it's not a BAD analogy

disclaimer: but yes yes obviously highly inappropriate and tasteless etc

...the Nazi comment referred to the "Neuremburg defence" when Nazi camp guards on trial for war crimes argued they were not guilty of murder as they were "only following orders", so was it fair to say the journalist was being horrible because he "was paid to" as I recall the journo was basically saying to Ken that his own actions/views were not important and thus prompted the remark that following orders was no defence against acting like a total shit?
I don't particularly like Ken and I'm not voting for him but I think the point he was rather clumsily trying to make i.e. acting like a shit using the defence "it is my job" is not morally defensible was actually valid.

That's a good point miggsie.

Also, I don't think that a journalist, Jewish or not, working for AN has any right to act like a maiden aunt at the mention of concentration camps. It was hardly an anti-semitic remark, despite the Standard's desperate attempts to present it as such.

i don't know mp I think if Boris compared a Jewish person to a concentration camp guard you might think rather differently..

Comparing anyone who questions them, to someone who oversaw the murders of thousands of people -- that really says something about the person who made the comparison. I think it says they cannot stand questions or criticism of any kind. Which I think is probably true, he's very used to all sorts of fawning (see above ) !