“Nothing can go wrong!” Boris Johnson said, jumping into the driver’s seat of a tram he was about to take for a test ride. “Nothing. Can. Go. Wrong.”
The prime minister was visiting a factory outside Birmingham, campaigning on behalf of the local mayor ahead of “Super Thursday”—a spate of elections across England, Scotland, and Wales in early May. These elections would give voters a chance to have their say on Johnson’s two years in office, during which quite a lot did go wrong.
Johnson was, as usual, unkempt and amused, a tornado of bonhomie in a country where politicians tend to be phlegmatic and self-serious, if not dour and awkward. Walking in, he had launched into a limerick about a man named Dan who likes to ride trams. The mayor, Andy Street, looked horrified, tomorrow’s disastrous headlines seeming to flash before his eyes. (The limerick, I’m sorry to say, was not at all filthy.)
Johnson’s aide told me the prime minister had been excited about his tram ride all morning. He loves infrastructure, mobile infrastructure especially —planes, trains, bicycles, trams, even bridges to Ireland and airports floating in the sea. And he loves photo ops. There would be no point in displaying action and intent and momentum if no one were present to document it.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av The Atlantic.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July - August 2021-utgaven av The Atlantic.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
JOE ROGAN IS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA NOW
What happens when the outsiders seize the microphone?
MARAUDING NATION
In Trumps second term, the U.S. could become a global bully.
BOLEY RIDES AGAIN
America’s oldest Black rodeo is back.
THE GENDER WAR IS HERE
What women learned in 2024
THE END OF DEMOCRATIC DELUSIONS
The Trump Reaction and what comes next
The Longevity Revolution
We need to radically rethink what it means to be old.
Bob Dylan's Carnival Act
His identity was a performance. His writing was sleight of hand. He bamboozled his own audience.
I'm a Pizza Sicko
My quest to make the perfect pie
What Happens When You Lose Your Country?
In 1893, a U.S.-backed coup destroyed Hawai'i's sovereign government. Some Hawaiians want their nation back.
The Fraudulent Science of Success
Business schools are in the grips of a scandal that threatens to undermine their most influential research-and the credibility of an entire field.