BORIS JOHNSON’S sister, Rachel Johnson, who has a weekend slot on LBC, spent an hour last Sunday (22) discussing how families can be split by politics. She revealed that when Boris came to dinner, Brexit was off the menu. Boris’s siblings didn’t agree with him.
One man rang LBC to say he hadn’t spoken to his brother who had “nicked” his partner. Another man said his sister was “a really nasty person”.
One woman said her two elder brothers had cut her out of their mother’s will. She was fobbed off with £2,000 while they keep the proceeds from the sale of the house. At her mother’s funeral, she was not allowed to sit with her brothers at the front, but right at the back of the chapel.
Rachel really wanted to discuss the fall-out from the current Israel-Palestinian/Hamas conflict.
Imran Khan’s former wife, Jemima Khan (nee Goldsmith), should have called in. She has had a spat with her brothers Zac and Ben Goldsmith.
While Ben believes there is “no other option” for Israel than going into Gaza “to root out Hamas” and Zac says many people marching in London to support the Palestinians are “celebrating murderous depravity”, Jemima argues that “targeting innocent Palestinian civilians will not bring back the poor hostages”.
As with many historic disputes, this is one without a solution. The best one can hope for are long periods of relative peace between wars.
There is now a growing risk of the conflict spilling over into the UK. Incidentally, the total number of people self-identifying as Jews in England and Wales in 2021 was 271,327. That compares with the UK’s Muslim population of about three million.
Rachel Johnson
The police worry about “lone wolves”. How can one forget that on July 7, 2005, four home-grown British suicide bombers struck London’s transport network, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770 others? When assistant commissioner Neil Basu was counter terrorism chief at Scotland Yard, he was also worried about terrorists from the far right.
Going through Charing Cross station last week, I found the place swarming with police cars and officers with sniffer dogs.
Politicians and the media should be very careful with their language and do everything possible to calm passions.
THERE has been very little substantive coverage of Sir Keir Starmer’s first visit to India as prime minister in the British press.
One paper ignored the visit altogether, preferring to devote three pages to something it considered far more important – David and Victoria Beckham. There was also the regular instalment of just how awful Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is, especially when compared to Kate, the Princess of Wales. One paper did have a story, but it was about how Starmer would not liberalise visas for India.
Britain once became rich through ruling India. History could repeat itself, though now the partnership is of equals.
The UK economy could be rescued, indeed transformed, though a closer engagement with India made possible by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The FTA is probably Starmer’s biggest foreign policy success, which might be one reason why his enemies want to play it down. The Times did carry a story, “British Airways to expand its flights to India”, and quoted the airline’s CEO Sean Doyle, who was part of the Starmer delegation to India.
He said: “India is not just another market. It is one of the fastest-growing major economies, the world’s most populous democracy, and a tech and innovation hub that is reshaping global business. Forging stronger links with India is not only logical – it’s essential. British Airways has been flying to India for 100 years, making us one of the longest-serving international carriers in the country.”
The Times made only a passing reference to what Starmer found on landing in India: “During his visit to Mumbai this week, the prime minister received the kind of reception politicians in Britain can only dream of. As his convoy made its way into the city centre, it passed more than 5,700 posters bearing his face. At one point, Sir Keir Starmer even found himself joining in with a traditional Indian dance to celebrate Diwali.”
The Financial Times covered the visit,but wrote at length about visas.
To be sure, papers publish stories they think will boost sales. But they need to cover stories other than boats, Farage and Meghan. The India story is much more exciting and has the potential to make life better for everyone.
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