Boris Johnson - An Apology
This is priceless. Boris Johnson's apology for having linked Papua New Guinea to cannibalism and chief-killing deserves to be quoted in full. (The BBC edits it and loses too many of the nuances):
I would like to thank the High Commissioner very much for her clarification.
I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea who I’m sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us.
My remarks were inspired by a Time Life book I have which does indeed show relatively recent photos of Papua New Guinean tribes engaged in warfare, and I’m fairly certain that cannibalism was involved.
I’d be happy to show the book to the High Commissioner but I’m of course also very happy to take up her kind invite and add Papua New Guinea to my global itinerary of apology.
It reminds me that earlier this week I was kindly sent a link to a document marked Frequently Asked Questions about Papua. At the time, I didn't realise there were any. But now I suppose there are.
What on earth would we do without dear old Boris to cheer us all up? In a week which has seen two of our top politicians acting like Papuan Head Hunters, Boris puts his head(oops) on the block yet again. His fulsome apology surely must lead to an invitation to visit this beautiful country, where I can assure him the Natives are courteous, civilised, and very friendly.
Posted by: Michael Rigby | 8 Sep 2006 19:48:45
According to Wikipedia the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea is New Guinea Pidgin, otherwise known as "Tok Pisin". I reckon Boris in his column was only tok pisin!
Posted by: John O'Byrne | 8 Sep 2006 21:08:36
Fink. You've omitted something else he said: It seemed a "perfectly fair, florid, flowery metaphor for what's going on in the Labour Party".
The Beeb reported it and so should you.
Posted by: RW | 8 Sep 2006 23:32:27
Am I right in recalling that Prince Philip in pidgin English is: 'him fella blong Queen'?
Posted by: Gwilym Rhys-Jones | 9 Sep 2006 11:09:08
Papua is a province of Indonesia, acquired under dubious circumstances, Papua New Guinea is an independent sovereign nation. What's the point of linking the two. It would be like cracking a joke about England then adding a link about Ireland. Doh. Boris is very funny though.
Posted by: John Rotten | 13 Sep 2006 23:33:49
Well done to him in using a Time Life book to fizzle the Papua New Guineans argument.
Posted by: William Hartley | 22 Jul 2007 18:11:23