Boris and the Boy Band Singer

Today (31st January 2020) is ‘Brexit’ Day in the U.K. At 11pm tonight, Great Britain will formally cease to be a member of the European Union.

The referendum to decide whether we should remain a member of the EU, or leave, took place three and a half years ago in the summer of 2016.

The fight over what would happen next, however, was only ended last December, when the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson won a decisive victory in the General Election.

Prior to that, the Conservative Party’s lack of Parliamentary majority meant that it was not inconceivable that Brexit might not happen at all.

Tonight, however, it will, and a few days ago Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, leader of the House of Commons, raised the tone of public discourse regarding Brexit (not a difficult job, admittedly) in what can only be described as a very interesting manner by comparing Boris Johnson to Alexander the Great.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Rees-Mogg said

“our current Prime Minister is a great cutter of Gordian knots, and where there is administrative inefficiency, the Alexander the Great of our time will be cutting these Gordian knots”…

The Daily Telegraph

Well, to his credit, Johnson certainly did that but there the similarity ends. Alexander was a soldier and king not a democrat; he created an empire rather than leave it, and faced danger rather than run away from it (I am thinking here of the way in which Johnson refused to be interviewed by Andrew Neill). You knew where you stood with Alexander. With Boris Johnson I am not at all so sure. I hope, therefore, and trust that Rees-Mogg had his tongue in his cheek when he made that comparison.

***

From The Mail Online

After spending hours researching portraits and statues of famous historical figures, graphic designer Becca Saladin has painstakingly recreated them to give them a makeover for the 21st century.

The Mail Online

Here is her Alexander,

Well, the image makes sense, but I do rather think she has made a mistake with his hair. It looks good on top but Alexander would never have it so short on the sides. He is the descendent of Herakles, after all.

Of course, Ms Saladin has made him look like a boy band singer but isn’t there a sense in which that’s the modern equivalent of what he was - young, handsome, talented, charismatic etc.