Londoner’s diary
Nigel Farage was preparing to address students at Latimer High School in Hammersmith this week. As we reported earlier this month, parents at the £24,000-a-year school feared their children would be exposed to Mr Farage’s views and tried to have the lecture canceled.
But they needn’t have worried. In the end, according to Farage, “Latimer lost out to Mar-a-Lago.” The former Brexit Party leader was in the US to speak at the right-wing CPAC conference. He was going to talk about it until a surprise happened.
“I had booked a flight home for Sunday night and then I received an invitation from the president,” he told the Londoner.
Farage dumped Latimer and stormed to Mar-a-Lago. On the day the meeting was scheduled to take place, Mr Farage shared a photo of himself grinning with Donald Trump at his home in Florida. “People were devastated,” one student told us. “Even the teachers were excited. Everyone was preparing questions to attack him.”
Was this a case of trading up to get a better offer? “That’s exactly what happened,” Farage said. At least he’s honest. But he promises this won’t be the last time Latimer will see him. Reorganize. ”
The lecture was organized by the school’s JS Mill Society, which includes various politicians and economists. Over the years, speakers have included Jacob Rees-Mogg, Vince Cable, Graham Brady and Zac Goldsmith.
Liberal Democratic Party’s “Bionic Man”
All eyes are on London’s mayoral race between the incumbent mayor, Sadiq Khan, and his Tory rival, Susan Hall (the latest Evening Standard poll shows Khan leading by several miles). But what about the dark horse in the race, Liberal Democrat Rob Blackie? He hasn’t made a big splash yet, but with two months left in his campaign until Election Day, Blackie has a conspiracy, or rather a scheme under his collar.
That’s because Mr. Blackie has been jokingly dubbed the “bionic man” by his campaign after it was recently revealed that he has a titanium neck. Six years ago, Blackie, a digital marketer by trade, was robbed so badly that his neck was broken. Surgeons were able to miraculously repair him by grafting synthetic titanium vertebrae into the rest of his neck. How does “Bionic Man” Blackie feel about his new nickname?
“I’ve been told worse things,” he quips.
It’s no surprise that he has made law and order a major focus of his mayoral campaign.
hacking attack
British political journalists have a new target on their backs: the fashion police. American menswear influencer Derek Guy, who relentlessly dissects celebrities’ outfits on his own X/Twitter account, seems tired of criticizing celebrities for their fashion missteps. Now Guy turns his attention to the Congressional press corps.
Yesterday, he rather surprisingly criticized The Sun’s political editor Harry Cole for wearing a suit that appeared to have armholes that were too low. That really should be the least of his worries. Few places have more fashion crimes per square meter than the Houses of Parliament. Is anyone really safe from Guy’s beady eyes?