Comments by "Ash Roskell" (@ashroskell) on "Was Boris aware of the anti-semitic tone of his attack on Sir Keir Starmer?" video.

  1. You described that very well, nailing the precise nature of Johnson’s sly, nodding and winking to his mates attitude, imagining he’s getting away with something that most editors would have spiked before letting it go to print, which all comes from a place of supreme arrogance and entitlement that he tries so hard to hide behind his bumbling clown persona. Yet, anyone who saw him at the Covid enquiry knows what he truly looks, talks and acts like when the mask drops, and it isn’t pretty looking into the cold, angry glare of a sociopath as his sense of entitlement is being interfered with.
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  2.  @marksimons8861  : Exactly.
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  3. That’s not all he’s missing. Justice and a long prison sentence would be a start.
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  4. Of course he doesn’t have an enmity toward any specific group. But he knows how to nod and wink to those who do. And when he gets called out on it, he scuttles off to hide behind his bumbling clown persona, pleading ignorance and stupidity. But people who have been around for a while know that he is a skilled writer who knows precisely what he’s doing. Don’t let him fool you.
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  5.  @joelhall5124 : In the way that was fully and articulately described to you in this video. Put that together with what you know about Johnson’s history. This is precisely the type of exploit that so exasperated his tutors at his private schools. Johnson is a skilled writer and he understands subtlety far better than many good writers do. Don’t be fooled by the bumbling clown act. That’s all it is: an act.
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  6. I haven’t read the article and now feel compelled to ask, would I get anything out of reading it now, since you have already imparted the salient facts? I’d rather not read anything from that rag if I don’t have to, but if you feel it’s one of those topics that needs more attention in order to form an informed opinion, I will. I think certainly you’re right, as it’s precisely the type of exploit that so strained his relationships with his tutors at Eton. Consider the themes of that article? MONEY. It’s always the topic of money that is used to ding that antisemitic bell, isn’t it? And to use that term you described (one I didn’t know of before now) in a complaint related to finances is obviously meant to trigger antisemitic images in the mind of the reader. His calculation will have been that he would get away with it because it’s a largely unknown term and its full meaning will pass many by, despite having a sufficiently Semitic chime to it to strike a chord in the imaginations of readers, yet only chiming fully with the crowd that he intends to raise a nod and a wink from. He also will have considered that he could dismiss any complaints from within the Labour Party by suggesting that their track record on antisemitism is not so great. If I were thinking in truly Machiavellian terms, I might even suggest that this could be just the first in a series of attacks to come? Johnson’s way of, “sending up a balloon,”to see if he can refocus the public discourse onto Labour’s weak spots? But, perhaps that’s a little deep, even for him? Johnson is a lot of things, but the bumbling buffoon persona is all part of the act, convenient for defending himself at times like these. He’s a good writer and he knows exactly what he’s doing as a skilled manipulator of the reader’s imagination (once again taking notes from his idol, Winston Churchill) especially in prose, when he’s had time to martial his thoughts and edit himself. A Times editor would probably have questioned his use of that term, perhaps even spiked it, but a Daily Mail editor is more likely be one of the nodding winkers that Johnson is attempting to appeal to. I hope someone with a little pull over there lodges a formal complaint. I certainly think someone should.
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  7. Indeed, it is people like him that represent the strongest argument for, “nurture,” in the nature v nurture debate, when it comes to how society produces sociopaths. I believe it’s usually a little of both. You can be neurodivergent and never have a chance because you were born with a brain shaped that way into a society that didn’t have the wherewithal to spot you early enough and reshape you. Or, you can be like Johnson, a monster nurtured into being through an upbringing of total entitlement and never having to hear the word, “No!”
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