Boris Johnson: nincompoop

One of the worst PMs, ever.

(From April 9th)

I’m not going to lie. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson triggers me. Whenever I see his blonde hair - coiffed to make it look uncoiffed – it brings it all back. Lockdown, the hysteria, the manufactured bullshit of it. So when I saw a tweet from Johnson pop up on my X feed at the weekend, I got a little sweary on Twitter/X. This is why I should stay off Twitter/X for lent or indeed forever. I just piled sin upon sin.

Johnson (stop calling him by his first name) wrote in the Daily Mail, “Adolescence is tosh. What's doing REAL damage to teenagers is Starmer's spiteful Pol Pot hatred of anything aspirational or that requires effort.”

Johnson’s piece was in reply to the current Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer making policy by tweet. Starmer tweeted last week, “as a father, watching Adolescence with my teenage son and daughter hit home hard. We all need to be having these conversations more. I've backed Netflix's plan to show the series for free in schools across the country, so as many young people as possible can see it.”

Johnson in the Daily Mail wrote, “Who does he think he is, telling teachers what TV programmes to show the kids? According to the BBC – and if you can’t believe the BBC, what can you believe? – Starmer has personally mandated every classroom in the land to have formal showings of a four-part TV drama called Adolescence.”

He continued “In making this announcement with full prime ministerial authority amid the ancient solemnity of the Cabinet Room, Keir Starmer has perfectly encapsulated the fundamental flatulence of the Government, and its emetic finger-wagging mixture of humbug and wokery.”

No one does verbal flatulence better than Boris Johnson. That is the very point of an education at Eton. Johnson added that he believes the move to show the series in school time demonstrates the government’s “cruel indifference to the real educational needs of children today.” Boris Johnson should wind his neck in.

So now Johnson cares about the educational needs of children. Give me a break. This from the former PM who, when Covid hit, sacrificed the education of every single school aged child on the altar of Our NHS (peace be upon it) and closed every school, university, sports club and playground in the land. The 5^th anniversary of this mad lockdown experiment was a week or so ago. I marked it by taking to a darkened room.

“Cruel indifference to the real educational needs of children today.” This from the Prime Minister who let his Health Secretary, the odious Matt Hancock, run around implying that teenagers who dared break out of their home were little better than granny killers. The same Health Secretary who implied that young children were little more than vectors presenting a real and present danger to adults everywhere. I am dangerously close to committing the sin of wrath.

Five years ago the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson didn’t seem to care one jot about the real educational needs of children. The fallout from Lockdown for the rising generation has been devastating.

(A place to park Boris Johnson. From a pub in Enniskillen.)

Let the Guardian explain, “Five years on the fallout continues. Uncertainty, increased inequality, accelerated screen use and crippling anxiety are just a few of the Covid legacies affecting children and young people. Covid babies are now five and struggling to meet basic developmental milestones; 1.6 million children in England are still persistently absent from school; and students whose university years were stolen by the pandemic are still struggling with low mental health.”

As Johnson dragged the lectern out day after day he wasn’t concerned about young men like Felix. The Guardian explains, “Felix* was in his second year at university when the pandemic struck. His campus closed, lectures went online and his international student flatmates left the UK. He was alone and is still counting the cost.

“There’s a stark difference between me before and after,” he said. “Outwardly I might appear the same but the profound loneliness of those two years stunted my social development. I feel massively let down. Those two years, I remember almost nothing.”

Faith in those in charge was damaged. “I feel robbed by government and by the university. My ability to form relationships has been affected. I’m almost 25 and I’ve no idea what I want to do,” Felix said.”

You were robbed, Felix. You were robbed by public enemy number one Boris Johnson.

The Guardian again, “the “tsunami” of mental health problems affecting children since lockdown – one in five experience a common mental health problem such as anxiety or depression – remains a huge concern.” Tsunami you say. It should be noted that the Guardian were as pro-lockdown as anyone else.

The fall – out of the Boris Johnson lockdown has been the huge increase in the number of young people claiming disability benefit due to mental health difficulties.

“Since the pandemic, the number of working-age adults in England and Wales paid disability benefits has increased by nearly 1 million people to 2.9 million in 2024, with 7.5% of 16- to 64-year-olds claiming. A report by an influential economic thinktank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has calculated that about 500,000 of this rise is due to more claims for mental ill-health.”

Back to Boris Johnson. In the same piece he also said, “In case you haven’t watched Adolescence I can save you the bother. It’s tosh – well-acted tosh.” He went on to say that the show’s depiction of “incels” as the causes of teenage knife crime as “irrelevant”, adding that “unlike the teenage couple in this drama, the victims and perpetrators are disproportionately young black males.”

In other words Adolescence is a propaganda campaign. Well Johnson would know all about propaganda having shamelessly used war hero and grandfather Captain Tom Moore to push Covid hysteria. Captain Tom was knighted - for walking in his garden. When he died Johnson flew the flag above 10 Downing Street at half mast and spoke to Captain Sir Tom’s daughter Mrs Ingram-Moore to offer his condolences.

Mrs Ingram - Moore. She, of the spa. The Times reported in November 2024 that “Captain Tom’s daughter shamed over ‘serious’ charity misconduct. Inquiry finds Hannah Ingram-Moore received ‘significant personal benefit’ and said the foundation set up in the fundraiser’s name has not lived up to his legacy.” Things fell apart quickly. Honestly, if you ever want to teach teenagers the anatomy of a media propaganda campaign surely the case of Captain Sir Tom is it. Absolutely shameless it was and mercilessly pushed by PM Boris Johnson.

Boris Johnson. If I ever have to write about that man again it will be too soon.