[Watchman]

I agree, as you say, it was the narrative put out by his supporters. A narrative that has over the past year been slowly peeled away

[Crabcakes]

Also, the fact is in most cases there wasn’t even a call to make because he held back and dithered or simply wasn’t engaged at all until it was too late, and there was only 1 realistic choice left. There’s no bold NZ-like decision here, or drastic action like China. There’s just a pathetic, vain man pathologically afraid of delivering difficult news in case it makes him look bad. Far better to let people die and then have exhausted NHS staff do the tricky conversations with devastated relatives, or have bank managers tell business owners they’re going under, or have those owners tell their staff they have to be let go. After all he’s far too busy off planning a wedding and finding people to pay for it, and popping in for a few drinkies to play Mr Fun Boss.

[Andy McDandy]

Fear of looking bad is, I think, central to him. Forget the shots of him up a zip wire - they're him saying "I choose to be silly funtime Boris", calculating that his approval rating will go up because as we know, for many people, having a sense of humour is up there at the top of desirable characteristics.

As for the rest of Crabcakes' above post, spot on, save for one thing. Swap out "planning" a wedding for wanting one. Because that's all he is - a screaming toddler in a department store demanding the latest whatever and it being up to someone else to explain why they can't just take one home. Garden bridges, estuary airports, weddings - all for someone else to arrange, or carry the can for.

[davidjay]

If you can get your narrative out there first, if you don't go into specifics and if you just say, "This, this and this. All my own work - didn't I do well?" it's much easier to get your version accepted as truth. Because the opposition then have to produce facts and come across as the bad, negative guys.

[Andy McDandy]

Which is the other brilliant thing about the "big calls" argument - he's not claiming to be 100% successful, far from it. But he has this "not a big call" pile to dump anything he doesn't want to be associated with.

[Abernathy]

Lordy !

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ha ha ha. Bozo and Sunak don't give a fuck.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Even better.

[Watchman]

Or is Spinless playing a double bluff, releasing the names with the unspoken caveat..."told you he had no respect for the public"

[Andy McDandy]

"Sir" Michael Fabricunt.

Maybe now they'll stop that "Sir Starmer" shit.

[Samanfur]

So far, we have Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Dame Priti Patel, Dame Andrea Jankyns, Lord Shaun Bailey and Lord Ben Houchen amongst the more recognisable names.

[Abernathy]

Shiva on a fucking spacehopper ! Sir Mickey Fab?

These people really do hold us in utter contempt, do they not?

[Dalem Lake]

It's like the list has been made to wind up "lefties". TBH I'm not really fussed by it as I've always thought the "honours" list was crony bullshit anyway. Another thing for Starmer to look at if/when he gets into power.

[Youngian]

So far, we have Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Dame Priti Patel, Dame Andrea Jankyns, Lord Shaun Bailey and Lord Ben Houchen amongst the more recognisable names.

Good ol’ Boris owning the libtards. A peerage from Johnson isn’t going to add to Houchen’s diminishing credibility.

[Crabcakes]

Not content with destroying the Tory party, Johnson has just handed the incoming Labour majority the perfect reason to undertake drastic Lords reform and put an end to resignation ‘honours’. Quite possibly booting out some of these utter losers along the way and cutting off their expected nice little Lords pay packets. He may think he’s pulled off the U.K. equivalent of Trump packing the Supreme Court, but it’s nothing of the sort.

And, ironically, he’s made such a mockery of the process and has been so openly, blatantly corrupt he’ll now probably never see one of those titles himself.

[Abernathy]

Andrea fucking Jenkyns !!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Crabcakes]

Also: something else has just struck me. This lot, and the likes of ‘sir’ Gavin Williamson and let’s not forget Paul ‘cunt’ Dacre (though I’m sure we wish we could), all clamour for titles. Because they know they will never *deserve* them, being as they are incompetent and/or corrupt and/or plain appalling humans. So this is how they do it instead. It’s the ultimate in faking it - sticking the titles on and assuming the gravitas, deference and respect they think they deserve will automatically follow. Rather than the title being earned because your hard work earns respect, which in turn lends you gravitas and makes people willingly defer to you because you actually know your shit. As opposed to this lot who just *are* shit.

And by that token, Johnson could declare them all “International God Emperor King of Space and Time” and dish out golden top hats encrusted with jewels and finished with a revolving crown, and it wouldn’t make an iota of difference to how much respect people have for them. This bunch of emperors have no clothes and never will.

[Watchman]

Did Stanley WifeBeater get anything?

[Andy McDandy]

It's like M put it regarding Blofeld's demand for a title - a curious bit of snobbery.

These people are already in the elite bracket. They have the money and connections, so I suppose titles are a way of keeping score. It can be quite pathetically funny - "he's got a Sir, so I deserve a lordship". They may believe that a title looks better on the corporation notepaper, or gets them bragging rights at the summer fête. Ultimately though, the people it impresses aren't the sort of people I'd particularly want to appeal to.

Still, it's theirs for life, and it's not as painful as carving "wanker" into their foreheads, Inglorious Bastards style.

[Andy McDandy]

Another thought: while the "assistance" Jenkyns and Dorries offered is rather obvious, what about Fabricunt etc? Just the thought of Johnson clinging onto the wig as he rode the guy, any port in a storm and so on.