Johnson's poem about Erdogan:
“There was a young fellow from Ankara,
Who was a terrific wankerer.
Till he sowed his wild oats
With the help of a goat,
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.”
There are several leaders and politicians who I am not at all keen on, Erdogan being one of them, but I think alleged "jokes" of this nature are indicative of the thought processes and character of the person making them - and could have serious national and international consequences.
Johnson has a history of making ignorant and insulting remarks, especially with regard to sex. This, apparently, counts as "entertainment" to some people.
Of course, mostly everybody has heard of his references to black children as "piccaninies" and Muslim women in burkhas as "letterboxes" but he has made many insulting comments about a variety of people.
Some time ago he expressed the opinion that a gay marriage in effect sets a precedent for any sort of random union, eg between "three men and a dog". He also referred in another article about Peter Mandelson to "tank-topped bum-boys".
His stock of demeaning language and behaviour extends, unsurprisingly, to women. When working at the Telegraph he acknowledged that the Pirelli calendar of nude women prominently displayed at his work desk had "caused something of a stir" - apparently several women had complained - but he appeared to find it rather amusing.
When referring to his reporting on a Party Conference he spoke of the quality of the "hot totty" present, describing women in general as "fickle", and saying "Hot totty is on the agenda" , as the women had smelt the "whiff of power" - and women are "attracted to power".
There are just so many examples of this man's disrespectful remarks, that I was not at all surprised to hear he had again caused "something of a stir". I didn't know what onanism meant until I looked it up. What I read was that it means "coitus interruptus" or "masturbation". Couching a comment in terms that a lot of people will not understand does not cancel out the fact that the making lazy and stupid comments about a political rival is, in my view anyway, pretty adolescent behaviour.
It seems that Johnson finds any number of matters suitable material for clowning around and making jokes. However, his brand of leadership does not seem to lend itself to responding, either verbally or practically, in a timely, effective and sensitive manner to large numbers of people flooded out of their homes and businesses.
