A lasting image (at least for me) of the 2012 Summer Olympics is of London mayor Boris Johnson suspended on a zip line several feet above the ground. As I recall, each of his chubby hands held a small Union Jack. The announcer, Bob Costas, painted the mayor as something of a buffoon, unaware, probably, of his journalistic career which included editorship of The Spectator, in whose pages I first made his acquaintance. I thought it unfortunate that this learned, witty man would now be seen by Americans as an ineffectual clown. How things can change in four years.
