Scylla and Charybdis

I think he comes over as an over indulged idiot. I would be much more impressed if he spoke to the ordinary people of our country in an appropriate tone and language.

Callistemon

I said a disease because I was trying not to lower the tone Oopsminty ?

But I was thinking the same as you

Ha! Great minds think alike

I am rather pleased he said it actually. Just today my 23 year old daughter has been looking it up. I'm sure she's not the only one

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning about not knowing his audience. Implying that we're all rather dense and shouldn't even be introduced to these things

So, I for one am pleased he mentioned it as I've added to my poor education o-0

Far be it from the PM to use plain language when a classical allusion will muddy the waters. He could just have said 'between a rock and a hard place' though that's not a literal translation.

Possibly suziewoozie, but I just love her for her wit, and of course her ability to see beneath the veneer of society.
She's not so hot at self analysis though !

You learn something new every day luckygirl

Just shows how out of touch he is with the general population; and how lacking in nouse he is.

I do not regard the absence of knowledge about an ancient Greek author's work as evidence of the country being poorly educated. It indicates that the sort of education BJ had is out-dated and irrelevant, as indeed is he.

By the way - I just looked up the spelling of nouse before typing it, and in America it is slang for penis, something that we must assume that BJ does not lack.

Myths and Legends are taught as part of Literacy (English) lessons in primary schools and Ancient Greece and its heritage were/ are part of the primary school History curriculum.

Anyone with any credible feminist beliefs knows and values JB and her contribution to the feminist cause including trans issues and the material reality of biological sex as a fact.

Grandma70s

Funny how people say they have had an excellent education, but have no knowledge of the classics. That’s an education with a very big gap.

Funny how people say they have had an excellent education but can't explain quantum mechanics. That's an education with a very big gap.

Funny how people say they have had an excellent education, but have no knowledge of the classics. That’s an education with a very big gap.

Julie Birchill could certainly be bitchy but at the same time amusing and insightful.

Another one here who can only reference war ships.
Certainly not for the masses.

But he seems unable to think critically, I have watched him in numerous debates and his contribution is not particularly thought provoking even when I agree with him.

MaizieD

Who is Julie Burchill and why should we be in any way impressed by her judgement? Sounds like bitchiness to me...

Agree. Whether you like him or not Stephen Fry is undeniably clever, articulate and well read !

So does being 'between Scylla an Charybdis' mean you're up sh*t creek minus paddle? If so, he'd be right, wouldn't he?

Who is Julie Burchill and why should we be in any way impressed by her judgement? Sounds like bitchiness to me...

I don't think parents have managed to teach Greek mythology during homeschooling.
How nice that Boris has had such a good education. A chance not available to many children recently.
Don't expect he needed free school meals in the holidays.

Julie Burchill described Stephen Fry as 'a stupid person's idea of a clever person'.
I think that this equally applies to Johnson.

I have never heard of S&C.
Well, have heard of C, but nothing more.
I've been fortunate to have had a very good education, but I know very little about the Classics.

I would imagine someone writes or rewrites his speeches. So I can only assume they thought it scanned ok?

He could have used the Navy equivalent 'Between the devil and the deep blue sea'. Or from the Bible 'Between a rock and a hard place'.
Which others have suggested up thread.

Given that most things the PM says is scrutinised, I do wonder why he chose to say this.

I said a disease because I was trying not to lower the tone Oopsminty ?

But I was thinking the same as you

LadyStardust

Scylla and Charybdia. I thought it was a thread about plants.

I wondered if it was about sexually transmitted diseases

I didn't think he was showing off or trying to impress anyone at all. In fact his use of those words would imply that his speech wasn't scripted by anyone else but him.
Actually, I watched the speech with narrowed suspicious eyes but found that it made sense to me. There really are no easy answers to curbing Covid and the government are trying their hardest but in the face of howls of derision from those who somehow think they'd do it better but must be thanking God they're not landed with this impossible task.

He doesn't want to upset his own, South of the border by doing a full lockdown, sod the North at Tier 3 !

I suppose when something is very familiar to you, you assume others know what you're talking about.
My retired head teacher sister used to talk to me in what seemed like random letters of the alphabet and assume I had a clue ' the ABC spoke to the DEF after filling out a GHI in direct contravention of the JKL'.
I could probably baffle some with acronyms from my own profession as most of you could baffle me with yours.
Boris Johnson probably credits most of the UK public with more intelligence than he should judging by the number who can't seem to understand a few basic rules re covid.

It's Boris's way of showing the peasants how clever he is. It works for a bit but now his real lack of ability is so obvious.
Incidentally if you are interested in the subject there is a brilliant podcast called "Natalie Haynes stands up for....". on BBC sounds. She talks about characters from Ancient Greece. I've just listened to the one about the Amazons.