John Bull Profile picture
13 Nov, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Milton was one of those people you could disagree completely with, but see where he was coming from, and vice-versa. A good man.

I wrote yesterday about Boris always wanting a deputy to do the work. That was Milton early on in London.
His ability to play Warwick to Boris' boy king was critical to Boris navigating London politics and government early on.

And his tragically early death is really the point at which the shine and functional drive started to come off his mayoralty.

He never replaced Milton IMHO.
Milton is why Boris has been so wedded to Cummings. He's been trying to recreate that power-behind-the-throne model with someone he feels he can trust and delegate the actual thinking of government to, ever since.
@GreenJennyJones can describe better what the power balance felt like from inside the chamber.

But covering it from the outside, it felt like there was a long period where Milton and Hendy were really driving government/policy in London, while Boris mucked about on zip wires.

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More from @garius

13 Nov
Because someone was asking for a photo...
And how it sounds.
(Prologue to Henry V, in case you're wondering what I was typing)
Read 5 tweets
12 Nov
Something to remember about Boris: his spectacular laziness is always at war with his fragile ego.

So he hires people to tell him what to do. But eventually gets upset at jokes about him being told what to do. Then fires those people and hires someone ELSE to tell him what to do
There's a couple of stages between the two, but it's relatively easy to see coming.

You just watch for him announcing giant pointless projects. That's normally his last attempt to make people talk about him instead. If they don't get traction, he gets sulky and starts firing.
One of the advantages he had as mayor was that he could just appoint a shitload of deputy mayors to do a lot of the legwork. And they had no political power OUTSIDE of him.

Made binning them as part of temper tantrum nice and easy.

Doesn't work as well with MPs or proper SPADs.
Read 4 tweets
9 Nov
If I was showrunner on a new Columbo these days, I'd be setting up my tent outside Donald Glover's house and refusing to leave until he at least agreed to do a pilot.
Because, as I said in my thread, Columbo is EXPLICITLY about privilege, a detective who has zero time for it, and who will use people's perceptions of his class and background to bring them down.

In 2020 LA, Columbo isn't Italian American working class. He's black working class.
Read 6 tweets
9 Nov
This gets to why Columbo is one of my screen heroes.

He's smart, kind, humble. A poor kid done good.

And he quietly but persistently refuses to accept that privilege and power put you above the law.

And when you DO see flashes of anger, it's about that. newyorker.com/humor/daily-sh…
He also, in a very 70s/80s way, is the absolute opposite of the definition of masculinity at the time.

He's a quiet, scruffy but deeply caring man who uses his brain and words, not his fists.

As a kid who wasn't into sports I was FASCINATED by that being 'allowed' of a man.
Columbo is the very epitome of the 'greatest generation' concept, in US terms. He's a poor kid from New York who fought in Europe in WW2 and returned home to become a cop.

And he's passed over for promotion, and looked down on by LA society.

And he doesn't give a shit.
Read 28 tweets
8 Nov
No CK3 stream today as I've got bits to do later.

BUTTTT...

I do have an hour or two. So:

If you have a relative who fought in WW1, and want to know a bit more about them, reply to this and at 10am I'll do a research stream for a bit. We'll see what we can find, live.
We won't have time for any deep dives, but we can have a quick look on the big online sources (including war diaries). Talk a bit of history about what they might have seen/done and it may give you ideas/tips for how to research beyond that yourself.
Should add: needs to be British forces they've served in.

Obviously if none of you have anyone you want looking up, then no worries! I'll just skip the stream today.

But seems an appropriate way to potentially spend an hour or two on Remembrance Sunday.
Read 5 tweets
6 Nov
Something to remember when those who care passionately about politics start arguing, shortly about whether Biden's policies were leftwing or not leftwing enough.

Most voters barely give a shit about policies. Or if they do, it's probably one specific local one.
There's no mythical voter sitting there, holding two manifestos, waiting for the kettle to boil so they can have a good read.

It's all relationships, upbringing, education, perceived trust and how angry/not angry they are about a local traffic scheme or bin collection days.
"they look like less of a shit than the other one" has won more elections than any fully-costed policy ever has.
Read 4 tweets

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