Word of the week: the foreign secretary’s attempted slur on the EU backfires The British public has been gratefully exposed to almost every conceivable way of insulting the EU, but Boris Johnson has offered a novel one. Johnson, who gave a key speech on Brexit this week, calls the EU a “teleological construction”; it is “ends-driven”, towards total political unity. In ancient Greek philosophy, teleology is the study of things that have a purpose or are directed towards a goal (_telos_). So beware the goal those foreigners are plotting towards! Shun teleological constructions! Related: Boris Johnson warns thwarting Brexit vote would be disastrous Continue reading...