Footnote: I don't personally know the 66 year-old man from Bath who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison in Iraq for picking up a few shards of pottery at an archeological site there, but I do know him as someone who would sometimes come into my pub who I saw in the street enough times to recognise him.
His family are imploring the British government to intervene on his behalf, but God help them if Boris gets involved. He single-handedly managed to add another 6 years on to Nazarnin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence in an Iranian prison (even though he blamed his advisors as he always has and always will do) by saying something which, although technically not a lie, was certainly not true either.
Partygate was a red herring. For the Tories, this vote of no confidence was all to do with the damage he is inflicting on the Conservative Party. For the rest of us it is more to do with the damage to the country as a whole. I was about to say that if he is not gone soon, the Conservatives will lose the next general election, but I don't think that is strictly true. A week is a long time in politics, and the electorate are pretty stupid.
You wonder if it will actually make a difference
ReplyDeleteSee my footnote above.
DeleteSad news all round
ReplyDeleteBoris lives and a sad 60 year old is imprisoned for being a nice geek
66.
DeletePoor Boris, though he could do worse than be called a greased piglette.
ReplyDeleteYour comment was put into spam, Joanne. He could do a lot worse, indeed.
DeleteBJ is like Teflon, nothing sticks. Watch him slide.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing he has in common with D.T. He will be dragged out of the office eventually.
DeleteSeeing as he is a retired geologist he should have known better. The sentence they were expecting was one year. 15 years is very harsh. He sounds like a twat to me.
ReplyDeleteHe should have known better but I don't see what that has to do with him being a geologist. He is a small revenge for the Americans parking their tanks on the archeological sites and creating all those bits of broken antiquity.
DeleteHe had a background where at least he should know you don't pick up pieces of pottery from archeological sites and pocket them for yourself, educated if you like. I can think of people I know who wouldn't think like this so I think it fair to say "seeing as he is a retired geologist" in my comment.
DeleteI still don't get it, unless you are confusing geology with archeology. A retired road sweeper would be just as likely to know that picking up stuff from an Iraqi site and putting them in your baggage would be bound to cause problems if you were caught, but maybe they would risk it for a slap on the wrist. The German had the right idea - hand his pickings over to the Brit and let him take the rap if anything went wrong.
DeleteAs you wish.
DeleteAn unjust sentence, both for that poor man from Bath and us sentenced to more of BJ.
ReplyDeleteB.J. has never really understood the minds of Iraqis or Iranians, and he sacked anyone who did.
Delete