The Conversation (0)
James Besanvalle
Jul 17, 2020
Image:
Getty
Philip Pullman made headlines this week for launching an absolutely scathing attack on Boris Johnson and Brexit.
The 73-year-old His Dark Materials author took aim at the “villainy of Brexit”, Boris Johnson “causing trouble”, and the “terribly inefficient, rickety, fly-blown, worm-ridden, rotten, sagging, splintering old system” in the UK.
You can really tell he has a way with words...
With this in mind, we wanted to put together a list of the most satisfying takedowns from the award-winning author (counting the above as one)
1. ‘I don’t recognise his right or his fitness to hold that office’
Straight after Boris Johnson won the 2019 general election, Pullman tweeted:
2. When he called Johnson a 'supreme leader in a tinpot tyranny'
3. And a 'dictator'
4. Or this subtle dig right before the 2019 general election
5. ‘Great start’
Pullman gave a scathing evaluation of Boris Johnson after four months of him being PM:
6. 'Beget and run'
7. ‘Greedy brute’
Pullman called out Boris Johnson for going on a £15,000 Caribbean holiday in February:
8. This double takedown
9. ‘This country is sleepwalking into a far-right nightmare’
Pullman is not a fan of Brexit and he has absolutely no problem expressing that:
10. And his disdain for the 50p Brexit coin
11. ‘There is no good Brexit’
12. ‘Brexit looks like an utter tragedy’
13. ‘Ignorant, brutish folly’
When the government announced a points-based immigration system in February, Pullman wasn’t having any of it:
14. ‘Grotesque, brutal, sadistic’
Pullman described the hoops people in the Windrush generation had to jump through to stay in the UK as:
15. When he destroyed Matt Hancock in two simple words
16. Or these two words...
17. ‘Smooth-voiced Tory lickspittle’
On Robert Jenrick, Pullman said:
18. ‘No one trusts you’
19. ‘The arrogance of these people’
When Matt Hancock told Rosena Allin-Khan to watch her “tone”, Pullman responded:
20. And this wins the list
Well played, Pullman...