Mary Beard V Boris Johnson

[sandyRoe]

I came across a debate between them on YouTube.  They talked about the relative merits of ancient Greece and imperial Rome.

The question came to me,  would the UK be a better place if Johnson had followed a career in academe, became an Oxbridge don, perhaps.

[diddlydo]

None so blind as those who cannot see......and certain people continue to bury their heads in the sand.

[Khandro]

It seems there is a buried assumption in the OP that it's an 'either, or'  choice; being an MP (in this case PM) or an academic.

Isn't it better to have people in government who have good training in history, the liberal arts, & the humanities?

[naomi24]

You're singing the same tired old tune.  Just accept that some people - the majority in the case of Brexit - don't agree with you and do not feel the need to be led by the nose by unelected foreigners.  That's weak.  Man up, diddly.  

[douglas9401]

" Just accept that some people - the majority in the case of Brexit - don't agree with you..."

Substitute 'a small' for 'the' for accuracy. x

[youngmafbog]

A majority nonetheless.

[Peter Pedant]

Isn't it better to have people in government who have good training in history, the liberal arts, & the humanities?

yeah they are called civil servants / mandarins and cant add. and dont know what a virus is - see covid inquiry

[Peter Pedant]

The UK, yes - Oxbridge, no, not unless being a shambolic, lying philanderer is a great attribute for a don.

no it isnt even as a joke

my college had one - Mr X - might well have been in my year. - so we have had more presidents of College than we have had prime ministers in the last 12 months

one or two senior tutors have fallen on their swords

money poured into lawyers' pockets.

( The Master CPSnow, it was nart)

includes an incredible

"I thought we had agreed that you would not be present if undergraduates were attending."

"No, I dont recollect agreeing that, at all."

[piggynose]

Sorry but w-t-f is Mary Beard ? 

[tomus42]

'The trolley' as he was known by his colleagues would have been fine in academia or staying as a journalist.

Would the UK have been a better place? Who knows. We might have got Truss sooner than we did, or even Corbyn.

[Peter Pedant]

She is a Latinist ( yes the word exists) Prof of Classics, specialising in Latin

( most of them do Greek) - BoJo reads 100 lines of Aeneid everyday to keep his eye in. Nisbett and Parsons are two other well-known ( famed - well not on AB of course) Latinists.

She is not really a good-looker and someone was trolling her on the internet about this

Her reaction was  - - - look, you need to do something, can I help you get a job?

which considering that others may shout and scream about harassment ( yes even on AB reader) , I thought was a proper job

[Peter Pedant]

to clarify - trolley - -  yes trolley

https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/national/23891635.everyone-called-indecisive-boris-johnson-trolley-dominic-cummings-claims/