Boris Johnson to write for Daily Telegraph again
- added May 16, 2008
- 13 responses
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- rebbill
- added this
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The newly elected London Mayor is heading back to the daily paper to write his column. Oh and he'll get about £250k a year to do it. Obviously the task of fighting escalating street crime is not a full time job. But he is donating £25k a year to a 'Boris Bursary' to help trainee journalists out - liberals need not apply. Oh, and another £25k to help teach classics to London state schools; that'll appeal to today's troubled youths. Go Boris.
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Interesting pub facts:
Boris Johnson's mayoral salary is £137,579 (which is more than the Prime Minister's, as far as I'm aware).
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's salary is $1 a year. He's a billionaire, having made his money in media, so the chances are he's not going to miss the extra pennies.
In defence of the classics, Boris Johnson's dad, Stanley, would argue that a good knowledge of them would give those troubled youths the opportunity to do almost anything they like. When his Boris won the election, Stanley said: "He's very good at Greek and Latin and I can tell you something – if you can do Greek and Latin you can do anything, certainly run a city like London." -
If you can do Greek and Latin - chances are, you have a posh public-school education. So yes, if you believe that nepotism and the old-boy network are still serving the country well, knowledge of the classics equals being able to do anything.
Thanks for reaffirming that, Boris Senior. Though I'd like to see how your knowledge of Homer's Iliad would stop you from getting the happy-slapping you deserve. -
Funny, I think Caesar spoke Greek and Latin and found it incredibly hard to run London.
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I think everyone's getting blinded by the fact its Tory Boris making the suggestions ... cos promoting the classics, Latin or simply the Greek myths can't in itself be a bad thing!?
Surely we're not arrogant enough to assume that no one growing up in modern London would be interested in them, and by extension, getting a more diverse education?
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How far can £25k towards getting more students studying the classics in central London? It's a noble gesture but I wonder if more money's needed for it to have real impact.
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@emmahill: I agree that promoting the classics is a positive thing - but why single out the classics above other subjects and mention it at the beginning of his term?
Maybe it is because he feels that the classics are under-represented and genuinely need funding?
I'm more cynical - I think that by singling out the classics, Boris is making a statement about his own education and in turn is also showing where his allegiance lies (to the middle classes).
Class divisions are alive and well in the UK, and the Tory agenda generally monopolises on this fact. If anything, I think Boris is trivialising the problems our schools face.
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Here's my thoughts on Boris's ideas, and Greek speaking hoodies...
Get your thoughts down via a webcam and you could maybe make it onto our open-sourced news product, Current:News.
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The "Boris bursary" could have twice the amount of influence on any another part of our city's educational body. The LCC branches are by far the most affluent in donations.
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- Mr_Costello
- 2 months ago
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Well, are there suggestions as to what it could contribute towards? Builders and cat flap men have let me down due to work loads recently; how about good old trades?
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but look at his hair its amazing!!!!
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it's like a little halo.
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Its fascinating, could he be one of Hitlers genetically engineered super Arians ?
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He looks like a grown up version of the milky bar kid. If milky-bars still exist, Boris should be their poster boy.
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