Boris Johnson was trolled by school staff – or possibly a pupil prodigy – during his PR-stunt visit to a school this week.
As Johnson gave a speech from a podium in front of a bookshelf, the books on the top shelf – arranged face-on to stand out – told a story of what school staff thought of ‘Bunter’:
The message was spotted by actor and author Nicholas Pegg, who pointed out that the titles were, in order:
The Subtle Knife, Fahrenheit 451, Betrayed, The Resistance, Exodus (this title was identified by Chryston High School Library after Pegg asked for help), The Toll, Crisis Point, Glass Houses, and The Twits.
Each book’s plot can be summarised as follows:
The Subtle Knife
A boy searches for his missing father – the frequently AWOL Johnson has an undetermined number of children
Fahrenheit 451
In a dystopian world, books are burned and truth is suppressed to serve an elite agenda
Betrayed
A vampire pretends to be good but is revealed to be treacherous
The Resistance
A drug enables people to live forever, but they must give up the right to have children. Those who break their promise are called ‘Surplus’ – and one couple escapes to Scotland, as Johnson hid there last weekend during his faked camping trip
Exodus
In a dystopian future, global warming has caused the oceans to rise – and the heroes are dispossessed migrants seeking refuge by boat
The Toll
The world has gone to hell in a handcart and is run by the most corrupt
Crisis Point
The most terrible villain ever has a plan to tear apart time
Glass Houses
A town is run by vampires always hungry for more blood
The Twits
A hideous, vindictive, spiteful and not very bright couple do evil, but eventually shrink away to nothing
The school’s librarian has denied responsibility for the arrangement of the books, but the telling commentary puts the cap on what has rapidly become a disastrous PR stunt, in which Johnson Johnson:
- was caught misleading viewers during a carefully-staged appearance in a classroom
- put pupils at risk and ignored social distancing
- was called ‘arsehole’ by one young student, with the audio captured inadvertently by ITV’s mics
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