BoJo may have lost his MoJo

Walking past a bunch of English schoolchildren outside London’s City Hall… all no more than 8 years old, bundled up in puffa jackets, woolly hats and gloves, their cheeks rosily glowing in the bitter chill of London’s sudden cold snap.  Their teacher asked: ‘And who’s the Mayor of London?’

‘Gordon Brown!’ they all chanted in unison.

Boris better start reviewing his PR methodology.  Perhaps a spot on Blue Peter then?

Superb (Overheard) Conversation

Standing in line to enter Château Versailles on our second visit (more on why later), it became evident that terrorism’s arm had stretched far enough to permeate even this touristey outing to the Sun King’s domain on an overcast, muggy September Sunday afternoon. My idle musings on various means and methods of annihilating all who stood before me in the ever-increasing queue was interrupted by a piercing (American) female voice.

American Lady 1: Why does Osama hate us so much?

American Lady 2: Well, honey, you have to understand – he’s an extremist. Oh by the way, that’s a lovely jumper you have on.

Fact – more comical than fiction, non?

Bush (and Blair) on the brain

Just a quick one… it’s late and I’ve still got some pieces to churn out, so I can get a head start on my Blair / Bush relationship research tomorrow. Yep, it’s three days into my work experience placement at a national Sunday paper… and I am up to my eyeballs in it. Though thoroughly enjoying the experience.

After all, it’s not often when you overhear a workplace telephone conversation (between an editor and a Middle East-based correspondent) end with “Right, give me a call back when you sort out the problems with your armoured vehicle.”

And now I can also tick off my ‘Life – to do’ list, the box marked ‘Call the White House Press Office and be stonewalled all afternoon’. The final upshot: after pestering them for the umpteenth time, I was told emphatically that the White House did not have the information I was after.

One step closer to becoming World President…

In case you’re not a music fan or the news has not trickled beyond the confines of the British Isles, Paul Hewson aka ‘Bono’ of U2-type fame, has added yet another string to a CV already bulging with ‘genuine bonafide stadium sell-out RAWK star’, ‘activist’, ‘environmentalist’ and ‘political big man’. The be-coloured-sunglassed one painted Tuesday’s Independent newspaper ‘RED’ during a one day stint as Editor. It seems that the Indy, always a sucker for a celeb – particularly celebs and their causes – had succumbed lock stock and barrel to one of the biggest celebs in the world and his cause. Needless to say the rather left of centre enviro-centric paper was even more chockful of doom and gloom re Africa, global warming and dying coral reefs, not to mention particularly annoying ads for ‘RED’ motorola mobile phones. Bono’s edition also featured a rather unenlightening interview of Giorgio Armani by Stella McCartney, and an interview of Eddie Izzard by Bon Bon himself which i scanned quickly through and a rather self congratulatory sanctimonious declaration that the Indy commissioned Banksy to stencil an image of a maid sweeping something (humility, perhaps?) behind a curtain on a wall in Chalk Farm.

All well and good. But does this mean I’ll have to front an internationally successful rock band, not to mention start hobnobbing with Nelson, Dubya and Tone (or Gordo, as the case may be) before I have a decent crack at editing a national?