- Boris Johnson opening the COP26 conference in Glasgow - Nov 1st 2021
Soon after delivering this speech, Johnson flew back to London by private jet. His urgent prime-ministerial mission was to keep a dinner date at the exclusively male Garrick Club. There he guzzled and quaffed with one Charles Moore, a former editor of "The Daily Telegraph". They left the club together at 10pm. Incidentally, it was Johnson who made prominent right winger Moore a life peer in The House of Lords. He is now Baron Moore of Etchingham. Moore was the editor of "The Spectator" when he gave an aspiring young journalist his first job in the 1980's and yes, you may have guessed it - that young upstart was Boris Johnson himself.
However, the key point I wish to register here is the blatant hypocrisy. How can a leader talk of climate crisis one minute - telling us it's one minute to midnight - and then jump in a private jet burning up fossil fuel like there's no tomorrow? In my opinion, it's unforgivable but very characteristic of Johnson's boorish leadership. It comes as no surprise.
Because it only applies to others, not him. There seems to be a lot of that in the world.
ReplyDelete"Do as I say, not as I do" or as Frank Sinatra sang: "Do-be-do-be-doo".
DeleteTrue, but aren't we all? My family lives what many would consider to be a low impact lifestyle, but according to calculations we each produce about 4 to 5 tonnes of CO2 p.a. My understanding is we each need to get down to a maximum of 2 tonnes. I can't see how at the moment. But what would you do to reduce yours? Walks nearer home that don't involve driving? Give up meat? No more holidays? Colder house?
ReplyDeleteYou and I don't spout lofty speeches at climate conferences and then jump into a private jet. Besides, I already live an igloo.
DeleteSo, there are hypocrites and there are big hypocrites.
DeleteLeaders ought to lead by example. This blogpost was focused on Johnson, not upon ordinary citizens
DeleteThere is so much hypocrisy in the world and may don't seem to care, even when it's pointed out to them. No consequences.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Trump could stir up an assault on the US Capitol and get away with it scot free.
DeleteIt appears so. And 10 who were at the assault/protest could get elected to office. Beyond disturbing.
DeleteIn truth we are all hypocrites if we are not willing to give some of our lifestyles up. I can only hope that Boris's fall from grace will be so large that it will create a dent in the concrete. He may have even blown what remains of the goodwill to him in this country, running it like a fiefdom should not allow him to undermine the laws.
ReplyDeleteI hope that more of our fellow citizens are waking up to the realisation of what kind of unprincipled clown they have put in Number 10.
DeleteHe's not doing anything to reduce the world population either, is he!
ReplyDeleteThat is true. Having lots of children is no way to save The Earth.
DeleteHas anything really changed. I believe that Churchill still ate very well and smoked his large cigars all through the war when the 'little people' were on rations.
ReplyDeleteNeil Oliver has it right when he suggests that the whole lot of them should be sacked and we should start again. Trouble is that it wouldn't take very long for the new rulers to become as corrupt as the old one, its human nature.
I'm losing faith in a lot of things these days.
People get fined for putting the wrong thing in the wrong bin and yet the big boys are still allowed to pack everything in plastic.
I'm thinking of getting a soap box in Speakers Corner, lol. Is that still allowed I wonder.
Briony
x
I will happily vote for you Briony! The New Broom Party.
DeleteWell, at least he attended.
ReplyDeleteHe couldn't do otherwise since the conference is on this island.
DeleteI often wonder whether anything worthwhile comes from these meetings of global leaders. They just seem to be filled with a lot of pontificating. Too bad all the hot air generated can't be put to good use.
ReplyDeleteIf harnessed it could satisfy all the energy needs of a small country for several months.
DeletePrivate jets should be illegal. They should be regulated like automatic weapons.
ReplyDeleteApproval should be sought for any journeys by private jet. Just because someone is rich should not mean that they automatically receive approval.
DeleteHis whole demeanour at the conference reflected a man who seemed completely baffled what the fuss was about, but decided to read the speech written for him, so that he could pick up the freebies. This man is completely clueless, and I don't think he would even recognise the incongruity of using a private jet if it was pointed out to him. I laughed when the papers pointed out that his wife was a champion of recycling garments as she had been seen wearing the same jacket twice! I don't know what strange faraway place these people inhabit, but I hope I never have the misfortune to go there!
ReplyDeleteYour description of Johnson seems spookily accurate.
DeleteI want to join Briony's party. Boris should have set an example and rode to Glasgow and back on his bicycle.😊
ReplyDeleteBriony will make you Minister Without Portfolio. And Johnson could at the very least have taken a scheduled flight. Better still, he could have been driven in an electric car.
DeleteApparently if he had taken a scheduled flight, or maybe gone by train, he would have missed his posh dinner with his chum! We can't have that can we? The man is a disgrace and his hair says it all!!
DeleteHis hair says - "Time to mop the kitchen floor!"
DeleteI think all the big wigs set very bad examples. I think we're going to have to suffer greatly before we start to turn things around.
ReplyDeleteThe bigwigs are just posing and making the right noises.
DeleteI suppose many of us could be accused of overusing energy but hardly to the degree of a private jet. I believe, in fact I know, there is an excellent train service between Glasgow and London. It is fast, frequent and comfortable.
ReplyDeleteFour and a half hours to London.
DeleteThank you my dear friends for your, uhhmm, critique.
ReplyDeleteI can only echo the words of Oscar Wilde:
*Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.*
My adorable wife says Oscar stole it from some frog called La Rochefoucauld, but I think she got it from that nut Hamel(d), but anyway we're out of the bally EU, so who gives a fcuk?
I shall win the next General Election, whatever you tub-thumping Lefties think.
I'm sexy and Clueless Keir isn't, it's that simple.
Middle England Womanhood finds me desirable and it's more than my Aftershave.
Boris
If you are indeed the odious Johnson, may I humbly request that you stay well away from this blog in future just as you kept well away from The Commons today as difficult questions were raised about your careless style of leadership.
DeleteThere is a lot of backlash about our President Biden for the same thing along with an excessively large motorcade while over there and then falling asleep during the actual meeting. I guess I get the frustrations of people over it. But at the end of the day, nothing will get solved unless we pass legislation back in our respected countries to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteTalk is cheap. Biden's motorcade was ridiculous. He is an old man but he's not Trump. I hope he makes it to the end of his term in office but I wouldn't put money on it.
DeleteHe can do it, I'd suggest, because like so many of his ilk, he has a narcissistic sense of entitlement - a belief that he is special; that the burden is for the rest of us to carry, and that the rules don't apply to him. The arrogance is appalling, and yet so many simply laugh it off as his being a 'chancer' - sadly, that says as much about public attitudes to probity as it does about him.
ReplyDeletePolitics now makes me so mad that I try not to think about it.
That's probably a good philosophy. I look around at my fellow citizens and wonder how on earth the majority of them could vote for Brexit and Johnson. What were they thinking?
Delete