Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Mayor of London trashes holidays in Cornwall, Skegness, Scotland, Bognor, Eastbourne, Norfolk Broads, Southwold etc etc

So, let's just check Boris Johnson's "global itinerary of apology" so far:

Liverpool
Papua New Guinea
Portsmouth
Norwich

...and now with one single article in the Telegraph he has more than doubled that list with:

Skegness
Bognor
Eastbourne
Cornwall
Scotland
The Norfolk Broads
Southwold

Many of those places were insulted in this single paragraph:

So let me lay it on the line. Some time before the end of August, I will grab a week's leave, like a half-starved sealion snatching an airborne mackerel, and whatever happens that leave will not be taken in some boarding-house in Eastbourne. It will not take place in Cornwall or Scotland or the Norfolk Broads. I say stuff Skegness. I say bugger Bognor.

I am going to take a holiday abroad, and in my view it would be absurd, hypocritical and frankly inhumane...

I have nothing against foreign holidays in the sun. Indeed, I had one a few months ago. However, it really is objectionable to write off the joys of holidaying in Britain. Scotland in the summer is an absolute joy. So are the other places listed. And it is ridiculous that many people automatically head south without considering the UK for their holidays. I tend to alternate. I am not prescribing that for others. I just wish Johnson would not so high-handedly trash British locations. Just take the example of the Norfolk Broads - when the weather is nice it is heavenly. Ditto Cornwall, Skegness etc etc. Johnson criticises Gordon Brown for holidaying in Southwold but that town really is a magical place for a holiday.

No doubt Johnson has frazzled himself recently, particularly given his second job, writing a column for Telegraph, which he does at the weekend. So good luck to him. But once again, the stupidity of his continuing Telegraph column is highlighted. It really is ludicrous that he continues this nonsense now that he is Mayor. It is entirely incompatible with his position. Do the towns of Skegness, Bognor and the counties and nation he insulted really deserve to have the Mayor of London trashing them?

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