bojo

you may have noticed it has been snowing.


you may have also noticed that the snow has caused some problems – with warnings of apocalyptical proportions coming from some, if there is not a thaw soon.

who would have thought snow (so nice, so soft, so white, so fluffy, so cold: aaaah) could cause so many problems and so much consternation. probably those who nay-sayers who say: ‘but canada, switzerland, norway blah blah blah’ (pick a country, any country) deal with the snow so much better than we do (could it be, and i am just floating this as an idea, just a thought, y’know a brainstorming exercise thing: could it be that they are countries that have snow often and regularly? just saying).

while we get a lot of weather in the uk, we don’t get lots of extreme weather, which is why most drivers don’t have snow chains for their tyres, while most households don’t have snow shoes. why should we? not like we get this every year for very long.

yet come that first blast of snow “where are the gritters? where are they?”

you may have also noticed that england’s world cup bid came crashing down around our ears (quite why anyone thought that sepp blatter was going to let it happen is beyond me). in order to promote the bid the great and the good of england had pitched up in zurich to do the song and dance routine that fifa demand (done to the strains of liza minnelli singing ‘money’).

among the group was boorish johnson who i am sure was there to press the flesh and sing the wonders of london, rather than being there just for the jolly, after all it was just zurich. either way he was there.

boris is the mayor of london. it means he heads a very large team of people who administer the city. it doesn’t mean he is pounding the streets of london rescuing cats, and so sorting out every problem that befalls london.

yet the london evening standard reports that mr. johnson is being criticised for being in zurich. as his official spokesman has said “what else would he do other than get a shovel and move the snow himself? there's nothing he could do in london he can't do from here.” quite what is boris supposed to do when london city airport is closed, after all it is a private company. what was he supposed to do for the 100 stranded passengers who had to spend a night in a train – drive over to them and tell them stories? surely the question should be what are the overpaid executives of some of these companies doing? why haven’t they responded to the situation, why hadn’t they acted on the weather forecasts?

if this highlights a weakness in boris johnson’s administration it is that there seems to be no one who can step up and take responsibility when boris is not around.

still i am sure there will be some more snow this year and boris can leap into action to save the day, unless he is off on another junket.