Boris Johnson

Perhaps his fans see in Boris what many Americans see in Trump Jane 10

Annie we'll just never agree on this. I've said repeatedly that I don't understand his likeability. Soon we'll end up at the nah nah ne nah nah stage! No point in continuing. You haven't changed my point of view and I haven't changed yours. The usual stalemate we always end up with on political threads.

I don't do nah de nah Jane10, I offer my opinions , never give a thought to trying to change anyone 's point of view , we don't agree on political threads , this I agree with

To see ourselves as others see us.

Not a thing one can do about those who choose to judge POGS

Oh I think Boris's fans see him as a nice guy, a bit bumbling and ineffective but with a sense of humour and a really nice nature. He's the stereotypical upper class English eccentric and we always love them (well some of us do!). I wonder if anyone would find him half so amusing if he had a broad northern accent?

I read somewhere this morning that if Jeffrey Archer had suggested a plotline in which the schoolboy rivalry of two Old Etonians caused political chaos across Europe, it would have been rejected out of hand.

Broad northern accents are lovely! I've always liked visiting Newcastle and also Manchester. Especially Manchester. I think its my lifetime addiction to Corrie. Auf Wiedersehen Pet cemented my liking for Geordies. I owe so much to my TV!

They're not real, Jane.
They are watered down accents so that they can be understood down south.

As I said I've also been to Manchester and Newcastle as well as other places too numerous to mention. I found all sorts of variation of accent in use by the various people I met and worked with. Somehow i had no problem understanding them. Not everyone in every area speaks with the strongest accents! Its not a competition in language comprehension

I'm not particularly a fan, but I do think that behind that eccentric, bumbling exterior is a very sharp mind, probably rather calculating too.

People don't generally choose where they go to school, their parents choose for them so I would never hold that up as a form of contempt (why would you?). I think that Boris's whole family is rather eccentric; as far as I remember his father was MP for the constituency where some of my family live.

I Meant the telly accents, Jane.
Believe it or not, I live in the North East.
I couldn't understand my husband's parents when I first met them. However, they lived in north Northumberland, not Newcastle.

I agree, Jalima, about kids not choosing where they go to school, but they can choose what they do after that.
Even if they went to Eton and Oxford, they didn't have to join the Bullingdon Club.
Lots of them didn't.

It seems a bit hard to hold being members of the Bullingdon Club against DC and BJ. How many of us did stupid things in our younger days?

There's stupid and stupid, nottooold.
Cameron, Johnson and Osborne are the three most influential people in this country, and they still behave like they are in the Bullingdon Club.
It's just our money they are spending, not their parents'.
Private jet, anyone?

Do we really pay for a private jet for one of them?

Isn't the Bullingdon Club a 'dining' club where they just chuck bread rolls about and act like idiots? I seem to remember doing something similar in our local Wimpy Bar when I was about 14. OK, point taken about being stupid and stupid.

Elegran - I don't think so.

www.rt.com/uk/322699-cameron-private-jet-government/

Found it. It is not being provided to them for their exclusive use, it is an RAF refuelling plane that is being adapted so that it can be used to transport government ministers. Most of the time it will be going about its main use. It should save more than the cost of refitting over its lifetime of use (The US president has a plane for his exclusive use, Air Force One)

"An RAF Voyager A330 air-to-air refuelling aircraft will be refitted at a cost of about £10m."

"The government says the move will save about £775,000 a year as the plane will be cheaper than chartering flights."

"A source said the PM's flights, using either Royal Squadron planes or long haul charter, cost on average £6,700 per flying hour and the RAF aircraft would cost £2,000. It would be available for refuelling when it wasn't in use."

"The prime minister's spokesman said the plane's "primary use" would still be refuelling and it would continue to carry RAF livery, but 158 new seats would be fitted and it would provide "secure communications" for the prime minister."

"A government spokesperson said; "As part of the government's defence review, we have been looking at ways to make better use of the RAF fleet to transport senior ministers and consequently deliver savings for taxpayers.

"We have decided to adapt one of our existing Voyager aircraft so that, in addition to its primary air tanking role, it can transport Ministers and it will also be available for the Royal family to use."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34864328

Ha, dj, a link for every occasion! Did you notice further down the article it says this is a cost-cutting exercise and it will work out cheaper than the current arrangement. Hmm......

I do not think you can compare Wimpy's with the Bullingdon.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/camerons-cronies-the-bullingdon-clubs-class-of-87-436192.html

I think your parents might have been very annoyed.

I hold no particular brief for Cameron, Johnson or Osborne, though I should declare that one of them went to the same college as I did, but to say that they still behave as if they are in the Bullingdon Club (to which I did not belong) is a bit OTT.

My post x-d with Elegran's.

dj - I expect you are right that you cannot compare the Wimpey with the Bullingdon. For one thing the Wimpey doesn't expect one to wear a penguin suit! You are certainly right that my parents (had they known) would not have approved of me chucking rolls about Wimpey's premises but I don't think I told them.