Virginia Blackburn

AND so farewell then, Julian Assange. Or rather, not. One of the best soap operas in town has just taken another twist as the Ecuadorian ambassador said that Assange’s stay in the London embassy, where he has sought asylum for the past five years, had become “untenable”. I bet it has. By all accounts the embassy is housed in rather a small building. Can you imagine spending half a decade cooped up with Assange?

And so they’re getting a mediator involved to boot him out. The preposterous prat has brought this on himself of course, as just about all his travails have been self-inflicted. This time round he tweeted in support of the Catalan separatist movement despite being specifically asked not to by one Lenin Moreno, who just happens to be the president of Ecuador. You’d have thought that if you were seeking asylum in an embassy then it might be an idea to try not to offend the head of the country to which it belonged but on Planet Assange they do things differently. The normal rules don’t apply to Assange, you see.

It is telling that absolutely everyone who has had anything to do with the silly twit, including those who share his world view, end up hating the ground he stands on. He may still have the odd deluded admirer but quality time in the company of Assange tends to put paid to those too. Jemima Goldsmith has spoken of her regret at putting up his bail money. He had a massive falling out with his ghost writer Andrew O’Hagan, who then wrote a savage critique of him. To know, know, know him is to loathe, loathe, loathe him and they do.

When he first took shelter in the embassy the Ecuadorians gave every impression of being pleased to cock