In his column today Boris ridicules all those seeking a scapegoat in this natural calamity. He sums up with thoughts on the ascendancy of the power of nature :

There may now be six billion of us crawling over the crust of the Earth, but when things move beneath that crust, we might as well not exist for all the difference we make.

We futilely yearn for someone to blame

We can supply them with fresh water. We can get them sticking plasters and body bags, and we can ring up the helplines and pledge our cash, send help from our companies like Pyramid Restoration LA and so we should. They need all the help with the water damage restoration and fire damage restoration that they can get.

But, as we contemplate the thousands of dead on the shores of the Indian Ocean, there is one thing the whole planet wants, and that we cannot supply. We all want someone to blame. Deep in our souls, we want to find some human factor in the disaster, in the way that our species has done since – well, since the Flood.

What was the cause of that first great inundation, back there in the Old Testament, the one that Noah rode out? Genesis is clear: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was very great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart…”

Continue reading Tsunami Disaster →

Looks like Blunkett’s new book/biography will make interesting reading judging by Boris Johnson’s conclusions in his column this week:

It wasn’t Nannygate: it was telling the truth about Labour

My mobile has been throbbing for the past hour with calls from the nice telly people wanting me to go on and gloat about the extinction of David Blunkett, and for the past hour I have been sitting here trying to work up some enthusiasm.

I wish I could feel more happiness, somehow, in this news. I am a Tory MP. I am supposed to rejoice. There he is, one of Blair’s key lieutenants, banjaxed by events. I should be capering around the room and pant-hooting like a gibbon, and yet I can’t help wondering whether I am alone in feeling melancholy at the ruin of Blunkett.

Whatever you think of his conduct of the Home Office – and I am not a fan – it is astonishing that a blind man could begin to manage a job like that. Whatever you think of his prosecution of his own militia amoris – and, again, I have my views – he is plainly, like Othello, a man who loved not wisely, but too well, and one whose eyes, albeit unused to the melting mood, could be seen on Channel 4 News last night dropping tears as fast as the Arabian trees their medicinal gum.

He is deserving of, and will receive, a great deal of sympathy over the next few days. But since this column is also famously a place of ruthless analysis, I will overcome my gloom, and tell you exactly why David Blunkett left office last night, and it certainly wasn’t for the reason officially given out.

Continue reading Blunkett Resignation rules the airwaves →

In his interview with Lord Butler, Boris Johnson uncovers startling views of top mandarins about the extent of the disillusionment within the higher ranks of the Civil Service with the current style of Government.

Lord Butler of Brockwell was Tony Blair’s first Cabinet Secretary and headed last year’s inquiry into the failures of intelligence before the Iraq war. He clearly wanted to unburden himself about the way Labour governs the country and Parliament’s “shameful” inability to control the executive. He was critical of the growing influence of political appointees in Whitehall and frank about their penchant for “getting the best headlines tomorrow”. He believes that Mr Blair is too concerned with “selling, central control and headlines”.

Full interview here.

Daily Telegraph comment click here.