Boris Johnson paid £40, 000 an hour for three hours in New Delhi

India Today reportedly paid £122,899.74 for a rambling speech at its Conclave in Delhi in March. It also coughed up for his travel expenses and stay in Delhi. In all, he spent barely three hours at the event which, The Independent newspaper pointed out, worked out to £40, 000 an hour.

Johnson, who became a bit of a joke around the world for his gaffes as foreign secretary, used the India Today forum to flog his extreme line on Brexit (he is a Brexit fanatic), and praise Narendra Modi describing him as a “firecracker” who—he said—had a better chance of becoming Britain’s prime minister than him.

“Modi is a firecracker. I have formed a very positive impression of him. He came to meet me when I was London’s mayor. He then went and held a rally at Wembley. And I knew we were dealing with an absolute political phenomenon because he got a huge number of people to support him.”

I remember attending the Wembley rally, organised by local BJP/RSS fanatics; it was an intimidating affair for anyone with a Muslim-sounding name and those known to be critical of BJP or Modi.

With Johnson leading the race to become Britain’s next prime minister, businesses are keen to cultivate him. Clearly, India Today doesn’t want to be left behind. Makes business sense.

...but snubbed at home

White India Today was rolling out the red carpet for Johnson, he was snubbed by his own father and sister over his Brexit fixation.

Both (father Stanley and sister Rachel) are passionate Remainers and in a public snub to Boris they have decided to contest the coming European Parliament elections that he opposes.

While the father is to contest on a Tory ticket, the sister is being fielded by ChangeUK, a new centrist party formed by a group of Tory and Labour MPs who broke away from their respective parties to campaign to remain in the EU and a second referendum.

Ms Johnson , a journalist and broadcaster, said she was standing up for her children and grandchildren who would be denied the opportunities their parents and grandparents enjoyed as part of the European Union if Britain left the EU.

She said she didn’t want to see Brexit “rubbing my children’s prospects and chances of living, travelling and working in Europe”.

Meanwhile, her brother is positioning himself as the hard Brexiteers’ candidate to replace Theresa May as the next prime minister.

To Sir, with hate

One was told: “I will stab you in your pregnant belly.” Another was punched in the face. And a third had his arm pushed through a window.

If you thought these were racist attacks by white thugs on non-white immigrants, think again. The victim in each case was a school teacher, and their attacker one of their pupils, mostly young schoolchildren in the seven-to-ten age group.

These were some of the incidents narrated by teachers at the annual conference of the National Association of Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers in Belfast to highlight the growing problem of classroom violence. According to a survey, nearly a quarter of teachers suffer violence at least once a week at the hands of their pupils, according to a union survey. Some 89 per cent said they had been subjected to physical or verbal abuse over the past year. In some schools, it was said to be a daily occurrence.

Physical attacks included headbutting, punching, kicking, being spat at and having personal property damaged. “I feel unsafe in my place of work, and I feel like I have had all of my powers to deal with unruly behaviour stripped away from me,” one teacher said.

Indiscipline in British classrooms is an old problem —a result of a “progressive”

teaching culture in which children are treated with kid gloves —but in recent years it has started to spiral out of control and become an “occupational hazard,” as one teacher said.

“Having taught for almost 40 years I have witnessed a demonstrable and seemingly unstoppable deterioration in pupil behaviour...teachers are, it seems, now expected to tolerate verbal abuse and threats as par for the course,” he said.

Teachers in India: watch out!

Et tu Charles?

For a member of the royal family, no less than the future king, it is nothing short of linguistic treason to use American English. Prince Charles is facing flak after a letter he wrote to the French President Emmanuel Macron after the Notre Dame tragedy was found to be full of American spellings.

He repeatedly used “z” instead of “s” —for example “civilization” instead of “civilisation”, and “agonizing” instead of “agonising”.

He said: “I realize only too well what a truly special significance the cathedral holds at the heart of your nation.”

The Times wrote: “If Prince Charles, that great upholder of traditional virtues, does not realise... that any self-respecting Englishman uses -ise rather than -ize, then surely nothing is sacred?”

On Twitter, someone commented: “...not impressed by the americanisation of the spelling here. Are we British or what???”

Another taunted: “Are you an American or the future king?”

And, lastly, “#MeToo is now a verb—as in “he is the latest to be “#metoo-ed”!