Artwork

Nội dung được cung cấp bởi The New Statesman. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được The New Statesman hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.
Player FM - Ứng dụng Podcast
Chuyển sang chế độ ngoại tuyến với ứng dụng Player FM !

Boris Johnson: the death of the clown

33:38
 
Chia sẻ
 

Manage episode 335208652 series 3339421
Nội dung được cung cấp bởi The New Statesman. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được The New Statesman hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.

On 7 July 2022 Boris Johnson announced he would resign as Prime Minister. Despite surviving a series of scandals, Covid-19 and a parliamentary no-confidence vote, Westminster’s “greased piglet” was finally undone by the alleged sexual improprieties of his chief whip, Christopher Pincher, and the mass resignation of his cabinet.


For many, the mystery was that such a policy-light, contradiction-heavy leadership had lasted so long. But in this dazzling satirical essay, the novelist Ed Docx shows us exactly how Johnson got away with it for so long – by playing the clown, a sustained performance he charts through four acts of increasing complexity. First, his breakthrough show, “Mayor”; his widely celebrated follow-up, “Brexit: the Referendum”; the underrated international piece, “Foreign Secretary”; and his most ambitious artistic work, “Prime Minister”, featuring “the largest cast of supporting clowns he had ever used. Those he called ‘ethics advisers’ were custard-pied one after another as they came by on a merry-go-round featuring characters from Peppa Pig. Those he called ‘donors’ showered the stage with money.”


Both wildly funny and deeply revealing, Docx captures the antics and emptiness of the Johnson premiership – as well as the public’s and politicians’ willingness to applaud, or at least accommodate, this “perfect ambassador of meaninglessness”. When did the booing start? Shamefully late, it turns out.

This article originally appeared on the newstatesman.com on 13 July, and in the 15-21 June edition of the magazine. You can read the text version here.


Written and read by Edward Docx.


You might also enjoy listening to Stalin and Putin: a tale of two dictators by Simon Sebag Montefiore.


Podcast listeners can get a subscription to the New Statesman for just £1 per week, for 12 weeks. Visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

88 tập

Artwork
iconChia sẻ
 
Manage episode 335208652 series 3339421
Nội dung được cung cấp bởi The New Statesman. Tất cả nội dung podcast bao gồm các tập, đồ họa và mô tả podcast đều được The New Statesman hoặc đối tác nền tảng podcast của họ tải lên và cung cấp trực tiếp. Nếu bạn cho rằng ai đó đang sử dụng tác phẩm có bản quyền của bạn mà không có sự cho phép của bạn, bạn có thể làm theo quy trình được nêu ở đây https://vi.player.fm/legal.

On 7 July 2022 Boris Johnson announced he would resign as Prime Minister. Despite surviving a series of scandals, Covid-19 and a parliamentary no-confidence vote, Westminster’s “greased piglet” was finally undone by the alleged sexual improprieties of his chief whip, Christopher Pincher, and the mass resignation of his cabinet.


For many, the mystery was that such a policy-light, contradiction-heavy leadership had lasted so long. But in this dazzling satirical essay, the novelist Ed Docx shows us exactly how Johnson got away with it for so long – by playing the clown, a sustained performance he charts through four acts of increasing complexity. First, his breakthrough show, “Mayor”; his widely celebrated follow-up, “Brexit: the Referendum”; the underrated international piece, “Foreign Secretary”; and his most ambitious artistic work, “Prime Minister”, featuring “the largest cast of supporting clowns he had ever used. Those he called ‘ethics advisers’ were custard-pied one after another as they came by on a merry-go-round featuring characters from Peppa Pig. Those he called ‘donors’ showered the stage with money.”


Both wildly funny and deeply revealing, Docx captures the antics and emptiness of the Johnson premiership – as well as the public’s and politicians’ willingness to applaud, or at least accommodate, this “perfect ambassador of meaninglessness”. When did the booing start? Shamefully late, it turns out.

This article originally appeared on the newstatesman.com on 13 July, and in the 15-21 June edition of the magazine. You can read the text version here.


Written and read by Edward Docx.


You might also enjoy listening to Stalin and Putin: a tale of two dictators by Simon Sebag Montefiore.


Podcast listeners can get a subscription to the New Statesman for just £1 per week, for 12 weeks. Visit www.newstatesman.com/podcastoffer



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

88 tập

Semua episod

×
 
Loading …

Chào mừng bạn đến với Player FM!

Player FM đang quét trang web để tìm các podcast chất lượng cao cho bạn thưởng thức ngay bây giờ. Đây là ứng dụng podcast tốt nhất và hoạt động trên Android, iPhone và web. Đăng ký để đồng bộ các theo dõi trên tất cả thiết bị.

 

Hướng dẫn sử dụng nhanh