"Boris the forest"
Good Day Readers:
While there's a movement afoot by the Liberals to democratize Parliament (Not bloody likely under the Harper government!) by: giving backbenchers more power to speak freely on behalf of their constituents versus towing the Party line; get rid of the Party Leader; and having riding associations approve candidates versus the Leader, truth is that may really not be the problem.
Could Rob Ford and brother Doug pass a basic intelligence test? Based on their recent performance the answer has to be a resounding "NO!" What about your Member of Parliament? Better yet senators.
CyberSmokeBlog advocates the first requirement for running or being appointed to public office is that all potential candidates pass a basic IQ test. This should also include the judiciary.
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
Boris the duffer: After that storm over his comments about low IQ, London Mayor fails intelligence test on live radio
London Mayor said only those with high IQs rise to the top. Inequality is 'essential for the spirit of envy,' Mr. Johnson argued. But on LBC 97.3 he got IQ questions on bears and apples wrong. He pleaded with Radio Host Nick Ferrari: 'It's not about me Nick.' He also got into a tangle over how much a tube fair costs.
By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Boris Johnson's controversial speech on people with low IQs backfired today as the London Mayor failed intelligence questions on live radio.
The top Tory was accused of 'unpleasant elitism' in a speech last week when he said that 16 per cent of ‘our species' had an IQ of less than 85 and just 2 per cent over 130 - before adding 'the harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top.’
But challenged to answer IQ questions on his monthly radio phone-in today, he failed questions on bears and apples before refusing to answer a third on alarm clocks.
Blunder: Boris Johnson got two IQ tests wrong before refusing to answer a third
Senior Conservatives including David Cameron and George Osborne have moved to distance themselves from Mr Johnson’s speech, which appeared to suggest some people were just too stupid to get on in life.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg condemned the remarks as ‘unpleasant, careless, elitism.’
In the Commons today Labour's shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt accused the Mayor of an 'unpleasant whiff of eugenics'.
Mr Johnson insisted his speech had been wilfully misconstrued, but when put on the spot on LBC 97.3 about his own IQ he failed dismally.
As presenter Nick Ferrari began reading out the IQ questions, Mr Johnson insisted: ‘This is not about me Nick.’
After raising the impact of IQ on social mobility, Boris Johnson should not have been surprised that he would face questioning on LBC this morning.
As presenter Nick Ferrari (pictured) began the test, the London Mayor pleaded: 'This is not about me Nick.'
But the radio host continued, undeterred.
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari: A man builds a house with four sides of rectangular construction. Each side having a southern exposure. A big bear comes along. What colour is the bear?
Boris Johnson: The bear is probably brown, I haven’t got a clue what colour the bear is. Nor is it relevant to this discussion.
Ferrari: White actually, because the bear is on the South Pole. [The house is actually at the North Pole] Let’s try another one.
Johnson: Listen mate…
Ferrari: Take two apples from three apples, what do you have?
Johnson: You have … you’ve got loads of apples mate, you have got one apple left
Ferrari: You say you’ve got one apple? You haven’t you’ve got two apples. So you are now on zero for two. Let’s do one more. I went to bed at eight o’clock last night…
Johnson: I think the point that I made …
Ferrari: You were the one that brought IQ into the conversation … I went to bed at eight o’clock in the evening and I wound up my clock to set the alarm to sound at nine o’clock in the morning. How many hours would I get before being woken by the alarm?
Johnson: Well I slept like a log because I was looking forward to seeing you on LBC 97.3. We are waiting for some more sensible questions.
Ferrari: You are declining are you?
Johnson: All I am telling you … No one has said that IQ is the only measure of ability but what I have been saying repeatedly is that our system is letting down people who do have ability and could do much better.
[Answer: Mr Ferrari would only have got one hour's sleep, because a wind-up alarm clock would have gone off at nine o'clock at night]
But Mr Ferrari ploughed on, asking him what colour bear would be found at a house where all four walls face south.
Mr Johnson guessed 'brown', before being told that the bear would be white, because it would be a polar bear found at the North Pole.
However, Mr Ferrari also blundered, wrongly announcing on air that polar bears are found at the South Pole.
Mr Ferrari then asked: ‘Take two apples from three apples, what do you have?’
Clearly riled, Mr Johnson replied ‘you’ve got loads of apples mate’ before guessing the answer was one. The correct answer is two.
As Mr Ferrari began asking a third question about winding up an alarm clock, Mr Johnson made clear he was not going to play the game any longer: ‘We are waiting for some more sensible questions.’
Last week Mr Clegg got his own IQ question right during his own radio phone-in.
Delivering the Margaret Thatcher Lecture last week, Mr Johnson said: ‘Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent have an IQ above 130.
‘The harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top.
‘And for one reason or another – boardroom greed or, as I am assured, the natural and God-given talent of boardroom inhabitants – the income gap between the top cornflakes and the bottom cornflakes is getting wider than ever.’
Today he was forced to defend the remarks, insisting they had been misintrepeted.
He said: ‘What I was saying actually is there is too much inequality and my speech was actually a warning, as correctly reported by many newspapers, actually a warning against letting this thing go unchecked.
'Because if you look at what's happened in the last 20, 30 years there's been a widening in income between the rich and the poor, there's no question about that.
‘What hacks me off is that people with ability have found it very difficult to progress in the last 20 years and we have got to do something about that.
‘The key thing I said was that inequality was only tolerable in our society if you, number one, you looked after those who are finding it tough to compete and, number two, where people do have talent and ability you let them get on and so I went on to explain what you needed to do."
Asked about the criticism his speech had provoked, he said: ‘People are entitled to misinterpret, wilfully to misconstrue what I said if they so choose.
‘I notice that many newspapers, many commentators did not. I think the real issue is we need to do more to help people, both who are finding it tough and people who... 20 or 30 years ago we had much more fluidity...’
Yesterday Mr Cameron distanced himself from Mr Johnson's controversial suggestion that one in six people is too stupid to get on in life.
The Prime Minister, speaking on a trade visit to China said he believed in equality of opportunity for all.
'This is not about me Nick': Boris struggles with IQ questions
Some critics have suggested the row will dent Mr Johnson's chances of succeeding Mr Cameron and help ensure Home Secretary Theresa May does so instead.
In the House of Commons Labour's Mr Hunt condemned the speech, accusing the mayor of London straying into eugenics - improving a population by controlled breeding to promote those with desirable genetic traits.
During a Commons statement on the OECD PISA study of global performance in education, Mr Hunt asked Education Secretary Michael Gove: 'Do you believe that a culture of zero tolerance for low expectations in other education systems produces high results across the board? That no child should be left behind?
'Could you use this opportunity to join the Deputy Prime Minister and myself in condemning the unpleasant whiff of eugenics from the mayor of London and instead use the opportunity provided by the PISA data to pursue excellence for all, both academic and vocational, in all our schools?'
Mr Cameron and his key ally George Osborne appear to be revelling in Mr Johnson's discomfort.
Speaking on a trip to China, the Prime Minister made clear he disagreed with the Mayor.
'I let Boris speak for himself,' the Prime Minister said. 'I think it's very important that we make sure we do everything so that we maximise people's opportunities to make the most of their talents.
Clegg 1 - Boris 0: Deputy Prime Minister passed LBC's IQ test
Nick Clegg's long-running rivalry with Boris Johnson continues, this time over their IQ.
While Mr Johnson failed to answer any questions correctly today, Mr Clegg got his right last week.
Speaking as he condemned the IQ speech as 'unpleasant elitism', Mr Clegg was challenged to answer IQ questions.
Nick Ferrari: This is from an official IQ test. Take two apples from three apples what do you have?
Nick Clegg: Yeah but I cheated because you told me this earlier.
Ferrari: Oh that’s true .... I’ll give you one more then. If you only had one match and entered a cold and dark room where there was an oil heater, an oil lamp and a candle which would you light first? If you had only one match and entered a cold and dark room where there was an oil heater, an oil lamp and a candle which would you light first? It’s an IQ question.
Clegg: Well obviously the match first.
Ferrari: There you are. You’ve added one, yeah absolutely right.
Clegg: I’ve passed the Boris Johnson test. I’m not ... I haven’t been passed on to the scrap heap.
Some critics have suggested the row will dent Mr Johnson's chances of succeeding Mr Cameron and help ensure Home Secretary Theresa May does so instead.
In the House of Commons Labour's Mr Hunt condemned the speech, accusing the mayor of London straying into eugenics - improving a population by controlled breeding to promote those with desirable genetic traits.
During a Commons statement on the OECD PISA study of global performance in education, Mr Hunt asked Education Secretary Michael Gove: 'Do you believe that a culture of zero tolerance for low expectations in other education systems produces high results across the board? That no child should be left behind?
'Could you use this opportunity to join the Deputy Prime Minister and myself in condemning the unpleasant whiff of eugenics from the mayor of London and instead use the opportunity provided by the PISA data to pursue excellence for all, both academic and vocational, in all our schools?'
Mr Cameron and his key ally George Osborne appear to be revelling in Mr Johnson's discomfort.
Speaking on a trip to China, the Prime Minister made clear he disagreed with the Mayor.
'I let Boris speak for himself,' the Prime Minister said. 'I think it's very important that we make sure we do everything so that we maximise people's opportunities to make the most of their talents.
'I believe in equality of opportunity. No-one should be held back by not being able to get the training, the education, the skills that they need. Everyone has their own way of putting these things and I'll leave Boris to talk to Boris.'
Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister condemned the comments for revealing a 'fairly unpleasant, careless elitism' that siuggested giving up on 'a whole swathe of our fellow citizens'.
He added: 'To talk about us as if we are a breed of dog, a species he called it... I think the danger is if you start taking such a deterministic view of people and start saying they’ve got a number attached to them, in this case an IQ number, somehow they’re not really going to rise to the top of the cornflake packet...
'That is complete anathema to everything I’ve always stood for in politics, which is, yes of course, you shouldn't aspire - and as an old-fashioned Liberal I don’t aspire to a perfectly homogenous society where everyone has the same kind of outcomes but you’ve got to try and do more to instil greater opportunity in society.'
And Mr Osborne joined the chorus of disapproval. 'I wouldn't have put it like that. I don't agree with everything he said,' the Chancellor added.
'You can't achieve equality of outcome but you should be able to achieve equality of opportunity. Education is, I think, the best key to this.'
Trouble on the line: Boris struggles on costs of a tube fare
Boris Johnson also got himself in a tangle over the cost of fares on the underground.
Asked how much a one-way ticket from his 'nearby station' Angel to London Bridge, near City Hall, would cost he replied: 'Oh blimey. I've got the figures here.'
Rummaging through a dossier prepared by aides, he announced: 'A cash single, it is currently, in zones one to seven, it is £6.70. Can that be right?
'That's what it says here. Seems unbelievably expensive to me. That's outrageous. That cannot possibly be right.'
After some considerable further study of the chart, he added: 'Oh zone one, here we go, £4.50.'
He announced that public transport fares in London are, on average, being held at the inflation rate for 2014.
But some Tube season ticketholders will have to fork out for rises of more than 1% above inflation in January.
While the average rise in January for bus, Tube and tram rides in the capital will be 3.1 per cent in the new year, a Tube season ticket covering six Underground zones will be rising 4.3% to £2,320.
Mr Johnson said: 'I'm not going to pretend that this is a massive, massive, swingeing fare cut, it's not that and everybody can see that but what we are doing is doing our level best to keep fares as low as we possibly can and to modernise the network, to modernise the system.'
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
While there's a movement afoot by the Liberals to democratize Parliament (Not bloody likely under the Harper government!) by: giving backbenchers more power to speak freely on behalf of their constituents versus towing the Party line; get rid of the Party Leader; and having riding associations approve candidates versus the Leader, truth is that may really not be the problem.
Could Rob Ford and brother Doug pass a basic intelligence test? Based on their recent performance the answer has to be a resounding "NO!" What about your Member of Parliament? Better yet senators.
CyberSmokeBlog advocates the first requirement for running or being appointed to public office is that all potential candidates pass a basic IQ test. This should also include the judiciary.
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
London Mayor said only those with high IQs rise to the top. Inequality is 'essential for the spirit of envy,' Mr. Johnson argued. But on LBC 97.3 he got IQ questions on bears and apples wrong. He pleaded with Radio Host Nick Ferrari: 'It's not about me Nick.' He also got into a tangle over how much a tube fair costs.
By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Boris Johnson's controversial speech on people with low IQs backfired today as the London Mayor failed intelligence questions on live radio.
The top Tory was accused of 'unpleasant elitism' in a speech last week when he said that 16 per cent of ‘our species' had an IQ of less than 85 and just 2 per cent over 130 - before adding 'the harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top.’
But challenged to answer IQ questions on his monthly radio phone-in today, he failed questions on bears and apples before refusing to answer a third on alarm clocks.
Senior Conservatives including David Cameron and George Osborne have moved to distance themselves from Mr Johnson’s speech, which appeared to suggest some people were just too stupid to get on in life.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg condemned the remarks as ‘unpleasant, careless, elitism.’
In the Commons today Labour's shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt accused the Mayor of an 'unpleasant whiff of eugenics'.
Mr Johnson insisted his speech had been wilfully misconstrued, but when put on the spot on LBC 97.3 about his own IQ he failed dismally.
As presenter Nick Ferrari began reading out the IQ questions, Mr Johnson insisted: ‘This is not about me Nick.’
After raising the impact of IQ on social mobility, Boris Johnson should not have been surprised that he would face questioning on LBC this morning.
As presenter Nick Ferrari (pictured) began the test, the London Mayor pleaded: 'This is not about me Nick.'
But the radio host continued, undeterred.
LBC presenter Nick Ferrari: A man builds a house with four sides of rectangular construction. Each side having a southern exposure. A big bear comes along. What colour is the bear?
Boris Johnson: The bear is probably brown, I haven’t got a clue what colour the bear is. Nor is it relevant to this discussion.
Ferrari: White actually, because the bear is on the South Pole. [The house is actually at the North Pole] Let’s try another one.
Johnson: Listen mate…
Ferrari: Take two apples from three apples, what do you have?
Johnson: You have … you’ve got loads of apples mate, you have got one apple left
Ferrari: You say you’ve got one apple? You haven’t you’ve got two apples. So you are now on zero for two. Let’s do one more. I went to bed at eight o’clock last night…
Johnson: I think the point that I made …
Ferrari: You were the one that brought IQ into the conversation … I went to bed at eight o’clock in the evening and I wound up my clock to set the alarm to sound at nine o’clock in the morning. How many hours would I get before being woken by the alarm?
Johnson: Well I slept like a log because I was looking forward to seeing you on LBC 97.3. We are waiting for some more sensible questions.
Ferrari: You are declining are you?
Johnson: All I am telling you … No one has said that IQ is the only measure of ability but what I have been saying repeatedly is that our system is letting down people who do have ability and could do much better.
[Answer: Mr Ferrari would only have got one hour's sleep, because a wind-up alarm clock would have gone off at nine o'clock at night]
But Mr Ferrari ploughed on, asking him what colour bear would be found at a house where all four walls face south.
Mr Johnson guessed 'brown', before being told that the bear would be white, because it would be a polar bear found at the North Pole.
However, Mr Ferrari also blundered, wrongly announcing on air that polar bears are found at the South Pole.
Mr Ferrari then asked: ‘Take two apples from three apples, what do you have?’
Clearly riled, Mr Johnson replied ‘you’ve got loads of apples mate’ before guessing the answer was one. The correct answer is two.
As Mr Ferrari began asking a third question about winding up an alarm clock, Mr Johnson made clear he was not going to play the game any longer: ‘We are waiting for some more sensible questions.’
Last week Mr Clegg got his own IQ question right during his own radio phone-in.
Delivering the Margaret Thatcher Lecture last week, Mr Johnson said: ‘Whatever you may think of the value of IQ tests, it is surely relevant to a conversation about equality that as many as 16 per cent of our species have an IQ below 85, while about 2 per cent have an IQ above 130.
‘The harder you shake the pack, the easier it will be for some cornflakes to get to the top.
‘And for one reason or another – boardroom greed or, as I am assured, the natural and God-given talent of boardroom inhabitants – the income gap between the top cornflakes and the bottom cornflakes is getting wider than ever.’
Today he was forced to defend the remarks, insisting they had been misintrepeted.
He said: ‘What I was saying actually is there is too much inequality and my speech was actually a warning, as correctly reported by many newspapers, actually a warning against letting this thing go unchecked.
'Because if you look at what's happened in the last 20, 30 years there's been a widening in income between the rich and the poor, there's no question about that.
‘What hacks me off is that people with ability have found it very difficult to progress in the last 20 years and we have got to do something about that.
‘The key thing I said was that inequality was only tolerable in our society if you, number one, you looked after those who are finding it tough to compete and, number two, where people do have talent and ability you let them get on and so I went on to explain what you needed to do."
Asked about the criticism his speech had provoked, he said: ‘People are entitled to misinterpret, wilfully to misconstrue what I said if they so choose.
‘I notice that many newspapers, many commentators did not. I think the real issue is we need to do more to help people, both who are finding it tough and people who... 20 or 30 years ago we had much more fluidity...’
Yesterday Mr Cameron distanced himself from Mr Johnson's controversial suggestion that one in six people is too stupid to get on in life.
The Prime Minister, speaking on a trade visit to China said he believed in equality of opportunity for all.
'This is not about me Nick': Boris struggles with IQ questions
Some critics have suggested the row will dent Mr Johnson's chances of succeeding Mr Cameron and help ensure Home Secretary Theresa May does so instead.
In the House of Commons Labour's Mr Hunt condemned the speech, accusing the mayor of London straying into eugenics - improving a population by controlled breeding to promote those with desirable genetic traits.
During a Commons statement on the OECD PISA study of global performance in education, Mr Hunt asked Education Secretary Michael Gove: 'Do you believe that a culture of zero tolerance for low expectations in other education systems produces high results across the board? That no child should be left behind?
'Could you use this opportunity to join the Deputy Prime Minister and myself in condemning the unpleasant whiff of eugenics from the mayor of London and instead use the opportunity provided by the PISA data to pursue excellence for all, both academic and vocational, in all our schools?'
Mr Cameron and his key ally George Osborne appear to be revelling in Mr Johnson's discomfort.
Speaking on a trip to China, the Prime Minister made clear he disagreed with the Mayor.
'I let Boris speak for himself,' the Prime Minister said. 'I think it's very important that we make sure we do everything so that we maximise people's opportunities to make the most of their talents.
Clegg 1 - Boris 0: Deputy Prime Minister passed LBC's IQ test
Nick Clegg's long-running rivalry with Boris Johnson continues, this time over their IQ.
While Mr Johnson failed to answer any questions correctly today, Mr Clegg got his right last week.
Speaking as he condemned the IQ speech as 'unpleasant elitism', Mr Clegg was challenged to answer IQ questions.
Nick Ferrari: This is from an official IQ test. Take two apples from three apples what do you have?
Nick Clegg: Yeah but I cheated because you told me this earlier.
Ferrari: Oh that’s true .... I’ll give you one more then. If you only had one match and entered a cold and dark room where there was an oil heater, an oil lamp and a candle which would you light first? If you had only one match and entered a cold and dark room where there was an oil heater, an oil lamp and a candle which would you light first? It’s an IQ question.
Clegg: Well obviously the match first.
Ferrari: There you are. You’ve added one, yeah absolutely right.
Clegg: I’ve passed the Boris Johnson test. I’m not ... I haven’t been passed on to the scrap heap.
Some critics have suggested the row will dent Mr Johnson's chances of succeeding Mr Cameron and help ensure Home Secretary Theresa May does so instead.
In the House of Commons Labour's Mr Hunt condemned the speech, accusing the mayor of London straying into eugenics - improving a population by controlled breeding to promote those with desirable genetic traits.
During a Commons statement on the OECD PISA study of global performance in education, Mr Hunt asked Education Secretary Michael Gove: 'Do you believe that a culture of zero tolerance for low expectations in other education systems produces high results across the board? That no child should be left behind?
'Could you use this opportunity to join the Deputy Prime Minister and myself in condemning the unpleasant whiff of eugenics from the mayor of London and instead use the opportunity provided by the PISA data to pursue excellence for all, both academic and vocational, in all our schools?'
Mr Cameron and his key ally George Osborne appear to be revelling in Mr Johnson's discomfort.
Speaking on a trip to China, the Prime Minister made clear he disagreed with the Mayor.
'I let Boris speak for himself,' the Prime Minister said. 'I think it's very important that we make sure we do everything so that we maximise people's opportunities to make the most of their talents.
'I believe in equality of opportunity. No-one should be held back by not being able to get the training, the education, the skills that they need. Everyone has their own way of putting these things and I'll leave Boris to talk to Boris.'
Mr Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister condemned the comments for revealing a 'fairly unpleasant, careless elitism' that siuggested giving up on 'a whole swathe of our fellow citizens'.
He added: 'To talk about us as if we are a breed of dog, a species he called it... I think the danger is if you start taking such a deterministic view of people and start saying they’ve got a number attached to them, in this case an IQ number, somehow they’re not really going to rise to the top of the cornflake packet...
'That is complete anathema to everything I’ve always stood for in politics, which is, yes of course, you shouldn't aspire - and as an old-fashioned Liberal I don’t aspire to a perfectly homogenous society where everyone has the same kind of outcomes but you’ve got to try and do more to instil greater opportunity in society.'
And Mr Osborne joined the chorus of disapproval. 'I wouldn't have put it like that. I don't agree with everything he said,' the Chancellor added.
'You can't achieve equality of outcome but you should be able to achieve equality of opportunity. Education is, I think, the best key to this.'
Trouble on the line: Boris struggles on costs of a tube fare
Boris Johnson also got himself in a tangle over the cost of fares on the underground.
Asked how much a one-way ticket from his 'nearby station' Angel to London Bridge, near City Hall, would cost he replied: 'Oh blimey. I've got the figures here.'
Rummaging through a dossier prepared by aides, he announced: 'A cash single, it is currently, in zones one to seven, it is £6.70. Can that be right?
'That's what it says here. Seems unbelievably expensive to me. That's outrageous. That cannot possibly be right.'
After some considerable further study of the chart, he added: 'Oh zone one, here we go, £4.50.'
He announced that public transport fares in London are, on average, being held at the inflation rate for 2014.
But some Tube season ticketholders will have to fork out for rises of more than 1% above inflation in January.
While the average rise in January for bus, Tube and tram rides in the capital will be 3.1 per cent in the new year, a Tube season ticket covering six Underground zones will be rising 4.3% to £2,320.
Mr Johnson said: 'I'm not going to pretend that this is a massive, massive, swingeing fare cut, it's not that and everybody can see that but what we are doing is doing our level best to keep fares as low as we possibly can and to modernise the network, to modernise the system.'
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 8:17 AM
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