Our more right wing members need to take a few notes from Boris:

http://www.boris-johnson.com/archives/2006/01/yob_culture.php

It's even better when you can hear the whole thing delivered in his usual befuddled Old Etonian voice...

Ah, good ol' Boris. I wonder how much of his "startled deer in the headlights" persona is an act?

Most of it I suspect. Though I think he's played the class clown for so long it's second nature.

Wait a minute... this guy is for real?
That would mean that a politician has a... what's the word... personality? Hard for an American to fathom.

Yes. He's the opposition spokesman on Higher Education...

Wow. I simply *must* get to Europe one of these days.

He plays the fool in much the same way Bush does. i.e. he IS a fool, but he overdoes it because it's part of his 'act' and people have come to expect it.

He's a regular tory, though, so he's kind of a dick.

Not only is he a bonafide politician with a likeable personality[1], he also makes a semi-regular appearance on a satirical news quiz (Have I Got News For You) both as a contestant and a guest-host and a) quite happily goes along with the jokes made at his expense[1], and b) manages to avoid coming across as an insufferable ass (which is what most other politicians end up looking like when they appear on it). His speech and aura of bemusement reminds me very much of Hugh Laurie's performances as Bertie Wooster, but as he's managed to remain a politician for a while, been editor of a magazine, etc., I guess he can't actually be quite as slow on the uptake as he makes out, and quite possibly there's actually a razor-sharp mind in there somewhere.

[1] I don't really agree with much of what he says from a political standpoint, but he's still a joy to listen to.
[2] The first time he appeared on it he didn't take it too well, but I don't really think he knew exactly what he'd let himself in for. Now, though, the episodes in which he appears are always amongst the more entertaining ones.

It's hardly fair to mention Boris and Bush in the same breath. After all, Boris was editor of the Spectator so it's a fairly good bet that he's actually able to read. And speak English.

Yeah but has Boris ever done cocaine?

"so he's kind of a dick."
Er, kind of a click, don't you mean? :)

Mat, all:
You guys are constantly making me jealous with your "culture" and your "history" and your "civilization". I don't think you really understand just what a harrowing, solu-crushing experience being an American is. To wit: our *most* likable politician is Arnold Schwarzeneggar. And he's certainly a dick--er, click--and he's Austrian anyway.
Oh, and he's a scofflaw:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/13603362.htm

And the best part is, he's not getting charged with a crime, since the cops "didn't see it". Wow, whatta precedent... I'm going to use that next time I show up in court.

Bush acts like he doesn't have a clue what's going on unless someone's giving him instructions all the time because he really *doesn't* have a clue. Boris acts like he hasn't got a clue what's going on because he's a somewhat amplified version of all those stammering English fops that Hugh Grant has made a living from portraying.

"Yeah but has Boris ever done cocaine?"

From Wikipedia: "He returned to front Have I Got News For You in November 2005. He admitted on the show that he once tried to snort cocaine but sneezed and failed."

Boris is the kind of person we could all vote for if it wasn't for the vile and disreputable company that he keeps, that is the Cornservative Pahrty.

"To wit: our *most* likable politician is Arnold Schwarzeneggar."

He was preceded by Jessie "The Body" Ventura, of professional "wrestling" fame, who was the governor of Minnesota.

Yeah, I remember Jesse.
Didn't Italy have a former porn starlet as a MP? I seem to remember she was some kinda fascist, though... in any event, it's entirely probable that none of the aforesaid is based in fact, and is only the figment of my sad, twisted little imagination.

Thanks, Big D.

Cicciolina, Cicciolina, Cicc, Cicc, Cicc, Cicciolina!
Cicciolina, Cicciolina, for Italia, Italia!

And Gorgeous George is in the House ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/06/nbro06.xml

- an earlier performance:

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0517-35.htm

- a pen portrait

http://crookedtimber.org/2005/05/07/gorgeous-george-how-are-ya/

colourful, no?

"our *most* likable politician is Arnold Schwarzeneggar"

You've had some personable politicians in the past, though, JFK and Clinton being the two obvious choices. (Clint was another, although he was only minor-league; Reagan was probably a nice guy, but the early-onset Alzheimer's did somewhat dampen his appeal.)

And then we've had our share of dullards, with the top personality-free spot being occupied by John Major who almost literally ran away from the circus to become an accountant.

Boris, though, is (as Simon said) someone that *everyone* would vote for if only he weren't a Tory (and if truth be told, if I lived in his constituency I'd vote for him regardless of his party affiliation).

It's the safest Tory seat in the country. You do NOT want to live there.

NOTHING happens there. NOTHING.

I tell a lie. Something did happen a long time ago. My friend (who was unfortunate enough to grow up there) tells me that there was once an armed robbery.
cept if you looked at the local newspaper the next day, you wouldn't know it. Not unless you turned to page 4.

Page one relayed the story of a pensioner who was inconvenienced and kept up all night by a helicopter making a racket right by her house. A helicopter that had the audacity to chase a suspected felon.

So unless you're addicted to righteous indignation or suffer from chronic reminiscing then stay the hell away.

On the other hand it has a decent campsite with (what I'm reliably informed is) a bloody good fishing lake*.

*Weekend away meeting up with my brother in law and his family who live in Reading just up the road. Many worms drowned...