Abacus | Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gives Boris Johnson his Churchill moment, if he can finally engage some British intelligence
- The UK prime minister has made a startling recovery from party-gate threatening to end his career to leading the allies against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
- But to end the aggression, there must be a better understanding of Vladimir Putin’s motives – rather than simply calling him a mad man
Having lived in Asia for so long now that I’ve lost my right to vote in British elections, I can only gaze at the politics from afar. And recently, it has looked like insanity. I must say that at times I envy my 82-year-old mother who suffers from progressive dementia and is probably better in tune with the live broadcasts from Westminster than I, as she benefits from almost instantly forgetting what has just been said.
One of the most memorable orations of his before he snagged the job of PM was the acceptance speech for the London Olympics. It was masterful, engaging and absolutely magical:
“Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century, and it was called wiff-waff! And there, I think, you have the difference between us and the rest of the world. Other nations, the French, looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner; we looked at it and saw an opportunity to play wiff-waff.”
Priceless. Even while accepting the job of hosting an event aspiring to unite the world in brotherhood through sports, he still managed to slip in a swipe at the French.
