Boris Johnson As much as I dislike the man (altho his lame attempt at presenting Have I Got News For You was funny as fuck), has he really said anything wrong? OK, so the Hillsborough comment was out of order but surely he just said what everyone else was thinking about the Bigley situation?
i think he's class. would i like him running the country? no - but he brings a bit of 'you know where u stand with him' honesty
Boris Johnson is visiting Liverpool to apologise for an article in his magazine which described the city as being "hooked on grief". The Spectator editor and Tory culture spokesman will take part in a series of interviews and a radio phone-in. The article said grieving Liverpudlians were wallowing in a victim status after the murder of hostage Ken Bigley. Mr Johnson says the article presented an "outdated stereotype". Council leaders say his visit is a PR stunt. Conservative leader Michael Howard demanded the Liverpool visit as a penance for Mr Johnson's comments. Tory officials are keeping details of Mr Johnson's visit secret but it is thought he travelled to the city on Tuesday and spent the night in a local hotel. Mr Bigley's nephew, Ken Jones, has already criticised the visit. He told the Liverpool Daily Post: "The comments Boris Johnson made about my uncle and the Hillsborough situation are unforgivable... "Mr Howard should not send him here, he should send him packing." The Spectator editorial criticised the way Liverpudlians reacted to the killing in Iraq of Mr Bigley and accused them of "mawkish sentimentality". It also blamed drunken Liverpool fans for contributing to the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. In a letter to the Liverpool Daily Post, Henley MP Mr Johnson said: "I am sorry, too, for the hurt and dismay we have so evidently caused in our description of Liverpool. "There may well be Liverpudlians who still answer to the characteristics in question, just as there are all over the country. We should not have generalised. "I repeat that the leader [Spectator leading article] made a serious point about risk and sentimentality, and the culture of blame, and I stick by it. "In so far as it imposed an outdated stereotype on the whole of Liverpool, and thereby caused offence, I sincerely apologise." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3758340.stm
he sed drunken liverpool fans were partly to blame for the hillboro disaster, and sed summat else about liverpool people being generally false wen it comes to greiving and making up a big public display of it
I think what he said was spot on. Unfortunately theres sections of this country and society who are obsessed with waving their own flags for attention, no matter what issue its over - News about paedophiles and you get 1000 chavs taking to the streets as 'vigilantes for justice', Ken Bigley gets his head chopped off and the masses seem to fall over themselves trying to perpetuate the focus on themselves, Princess diana... September 11.... As much as i dont like portions of the conservatives (especially the screaming nutter in charge of them right now), the one thing i do find refreshing about them compared to labour is the fact that some of them are so 'establishment' that they will point blank say what they think, even if it bends noses, or is an unpopular notion with the 'masses'... as opposed to labour who seem to want to sell anything they want to do under a blanket of lies. We shouldnt shoot this man down for saying what i reckon alot of us think about the whole Bigley 'thing'.
i reckon boris' comments are cock on. fair play for having the bottle to publish them... i think that the fact people from liverpool are up in arms confirms their mental status as victims
Shame he didnt have the bottle to say "No Howard I wont say sorry, I stand by everyword & I wont be going to Liverpool to say sorry either"
