We can imagine that Boris likes to sit down with a good, stout ale and puff away on a hearty cigar, setting the world to rights with that unfeasably large lexicon of his.

Indeed, when promoting Cask Ale Week 2009 this week he noted, “There is nothing better then chatting to an old friend over a pint of bitter.” Lager, ashamedly, is Boriswatch’s preferred option thanks to years of student-based nights out, but Boris hits the nail right on the head – when all around are losing their heads, a sit down with a beer in hand sets everything straight again.

Bottoms up!

A piece in The Telegraph today assesses where the Boris the Buffoon persona has gone, and takes in his first year of Mayordom in a positive, glowing light. “Has Boris Johnson left the buffoon behind?“  argues that while there have been a couple of episodes Boris would rather forget, the overall path the administration is taking is to be applauded – and if nothing else, having a man like Boris at the helm is a great deal better than some grey, drab, political-line-toeing politician London could have landed itself with…

Boriswatch, meanwhile, is rocketing – no doubt because of the enduring, endearing allure of the man! March was Boriswatch’s most popular month so far, with a fabulously tense conversation happening in the comments of the recent post Kitten Voodoo. So hello everyone, don’t be shy – Boriswatch is continuing to track the big Bozza so you don’t have to!

It seems Boris’s black cloud has finally lifted a little bit, as the Guardian reports on the founding of the Mayor’s Fund for London. This is an organisation entirely separate from City Hall, and aims to help some 600,000 of the Capital’s disadvantaged youths. Quoth Boris:

More than 600,000 children live below the poverty line and London is home to some of the most deprived boroughs in the country. Like Robin Hood, we want to draw riches from wealth-creators to give life-changing support to the poorest Londoners.

With £4.5 million already in the pot (and a target of five times that by 2013), it seems like this is an organisation that might be able to do some real good to those young people who need it — a fact that can only be beneficial. With a focus on everything from education to child safety and support, the blanket nature of the scheme means that it can help everyone, and not just a specific few. Hopefully Boriswatch’s loyal readership will join us in wishing the Powers That Be the best in this new charitable venture.

PS. In response to the flood of emails we’ve had regarding the welfare of the kitten mentioned in the last entry (and to keep the PETA people from breaking down our door), we here are Boriswatch Towers would like to assure all our readers that he is, in fact, fine and well and completely unsacrificed.

Honest.

See for yourself.

Poor Boris. This has been a busy week for his detractors, what with the particularly unflattering documentary about his policies and the criticism about how he dealt with the snow earlier this year. Now, with the Mail deciding that it’s the right time to run a full (and not entirely unbiased) look at the Darius Guppy Phonecall, it seems like the week isn’t going to be improving for Boris any time soon.

Now, we could take the opportunity to shore up on Boris’s side here. We could write about him defending the skyline of the city by voicing his discontent over a planned skyscraper that the Government want to place on the South Bank. Similarly, we could look at Boris’s catchy new ‘Only in London’ tourism campain that’s hit the headlines this week. Frankly, though, we’re terrified of angering whatever gods have decided to smite Boris this week — a week this bad must have some kind of supernatural cause — and so here’s a picture of a cute kitten instead.

Hopefully this sacrifice will appease whatever higher being has decided Boris deserves such a bad run of it recently, and things can get back to normal. Hopefully.

Anti-Boris blogs are cockahoop with the news today that Boris stormed out of the Transport Select Committee investigating the reponse of the Mayor and his team to the blankets of lovely snow we experienced earlier this year.
The upside? Boris described the layering of snow, grit, snow then more grit “grit-snow lasagne”, which has earned an instant entry into the Boris Quotes section.
The downside? Some very partisan members of the committee didn’t just ask question – they used it as an opportunity to dig their boots into Boris, in an episode that reminded me a little of a school playground at lunchtime.
I’m guessing Boris is a little peeved that he has to spend a good deal of time talking about inclement weather to people that plainly don’t want him there – at a time when a severe recession is kicking in and there are violent protests on the streets. Still, it’s all about priorities, eh?
Here’s the video:

Boriswatch Towers had a great time this morning, sifting through the many online April Fools gags. However, Mr & Mrs Smith, the boutique hotel specialists, involved Boris and his hatred of bendy buses in an elaborate gag. They claimed that Boris was turning decommissioned bendy buses into travelling hotels. Five-star hotel accommodation on wheels sounds like an excellent plan for the controversially-flexible mode of transport, but Boriswatch hs just one concern – when the bus goes round a corner, do the occupants of the middle two “rooms” have to become intimately acquainted?