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| By Adam Bienkov Boris fever is spreading across our newsrooms. All along Fleet Street normally sane and healthy journalists are donning blonde wigs and breaking into Latin. The announcement this week that Boris Johnson is to stand again as an MP has caused intense excitement among certain sections of the press. So why is this? What is it about Johnson that causes normally snarling hacks to roll over and ask for their tummies to be tickled? What is it about the man that causes the most cynical of commentators to lose their critical faculties in his presence? Is it his sense of humour? This is often referred to but never really analysed. What after all does his sense of humour amount to? As far as I can tell it consists of studied bumbling, the use of unneccessarily long words, the occasional piece of Latin and some repeated gags about cake. It's like a Fast Show sketch that never ends. I kind of get the joke, but after ten years of it I'm no longer laughing. But then perhaps I'm missing something that everybody else can see. Perhaps he's Michael Mcintyre and I'm just a grumpy Stewart Lee fan chucking my remote control at the telly. So let me drop my cynicism for a moment and try to think positively about the man that talk show host Nick Ferrari refers to as "the blonde genius." What is it that makes him so bleeding marvellous? What is his great legacy for London? Well he's built a cable car over some scrapyards that nobody uses, and he's constructed a red curly-wurly steel thing in East London and he's built some buses with windows that don't open and air conditioning that doesn't work. Oh and he's put up fares and closed police stations and done a few other things that he promised not to because of efficiency or something. Okay so that might not sound like a great deal to you, but politics isn't just about doing big things, it's also about talking about doing big things And he's been absolutely brilliant at doing that. He's made lots and lots of plans. Big plans. Big plans for big airports and big bridges and all kinds of big things that whoever is the mayor in 2050 may or may not actually do. He's also employed lots of people. Unemployment might remain stubbornly high in other parts of the country, but in City Hall it's been a veritable job creation scheme. He's appointed armies of deputies and legions of advisers, he's hired battalions of commissioners and embassies of ambassadors. No old friendship has been left unrewarded, no admirer left un-flattered and no former colleague un-thanked. And what an effect they've all had. Who can deny the impact made by Johnson's "street party ambassador" Barbara Windsor? Or his "chair of the London Food Board" Rosie Boycott? Or the former editor of the Evening Standard, Veronica Wadley who volunteered to be his "volunteering czar" for £76,000 a year and is now reported to be working on his leadership campaign? Okay, so some of these people may have left their job quite soon after they started it. Like Nicholas Griffin, who was given £100,000 a year to make City Hall more efficient, only to leave just two years later with a £34,000 pay off. But who can deny Boris Johnson's own dedication to the job, which he fits in between his other jobs writing a £250,000 column for the Telegraph and an exhaustive biography of Winston Churchill? Some scurrilous types have claimed that he now only works four days a week, but his team have strenuously denied this. They do say that he sometimes "works from home" on Fridays, but so what? Who can blame him for taking it a bit easier after all he's done for Londoners? Why shouldn't he go off and take another job as an MP and spend the time we're paying him to be mayor campaigning for the Tory leadership instead? Why shouldn't he, after seven years of selfless devotion to Londoners, look after his own career for once? I for one don't begrudge him it for a minute. Best of newsKen Clarke: Germany 'no longer a place to bomb' Even self-confessed grumpy old men like Ken Clarke don't think the best policy towards Germany is as a "place to bomb". The Sun backs calls for relaxation of drugs laws Newspaper endorses calls by Nick Clegg for a radical rethink of the law The evidence that Israel deliberately targeted hospitals and ambulances Amnesty International publishes evidence that Israeli Defence Forces specifically targeted hospitals, health workers and ambulance personnel during the attack on Gaza The dam breaks: Warsi resignation sparks government division over Israel Lib Dems break away from government consensus, amid growing criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza Pro-Palestinian activists shut down Israeli arms firm A Staffordshire factory owned by an Israeli military company is shut down by pro-Palestinian activists Immigration restrictions will do serious long-term damage to UK economy Political consensus on cutting immigration will lead to lower wages and higher taxes. Best of Comment and AnalysisWho will replace Boris Johnson as the next Mayor of London? First look at the runners and riders for the 2016 Mayoral election. Suicide, assault and despair: The story of Glen Parva prison More evidence that young offenders' institutes do more harm than good Alex Salmond fails to find game-changer in independence debate Salmond didn't live up to expectations in debate with Alistair Darling. Warsi's resignation shows how far right the Tories have drifted On foreign policy, immigration and Europe, the Tory party is no longer a place for moderates Privatisation at any cost: East Coast Main Line sale forced through Railway has made £1 billion for taxpayers since it was nationalised. The Home Office's campaign of lies and intimidation against a mother Detained, bullied, harassed and lied about: How the Home Office treated one visitor to Heathrow Comment: Raped and tortured in the Congo – left to starve in Britain The victims of torture who make it to Britain face a live of poverty in what they thought was a safe haven | Government bans state funding of creationist and extremist nurseriesNicky Morgan is today announcing that creationist and extremist nurseries will be banned from receiving state funding through the Government's scheme of providing 15 hours per week of free tuition. Oxford hosts world’s largest gathering of free speech campaigners1000 humanist activists from 67 countries meet at World Humanist Congress. Kadcyla's rejection from NHS accessEmma Pennery, Clinical Director at Breast Cancer Care says: “Kadcyla being rejected from routine NHS access will come as another devastating blow to women with HER-2 positive advanced breast cancer, denying them the chance of a longer and much better quality of life". Chemical Industry says European Union regulation proposal aimed at adding understanding would confuse an already clear situationCIA has questioned a new European Union proposal on a register for Nanomaterials. NASUWT comments on Institute of Education report into free schools“The findings of this Report come as no surprise. The Institute of Education is not the first organisation to draw attention to these concerns. For example, this report echoes many of the findings of the Academies Commission". PAYE shift to digital will disadvantage vulnerable taxpayers, say tax charityThe Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) has criticised the Government’s planned changes to how and when HMRC notify taxpayers if their PAYE tax code changes. |
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