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Boris Johnson has won a £1,000 prize for a rude poem about the Turkish president having sex with a goat.

The former mayor of London’s limerick, published by the Spectator as a rebuff to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s efforts to prosecute a German comedian’s offensive poem, also calls the president a “wankerer”.

Johnson, a former editor of the magazine, won the Spectator’s “President Erdoğan offensive poetry competition”, despite judge Douglas Murray saying the contest had received thousands of entries. The prize money has been donated by a reader.

The limerick was written off-the-cuff by the Conservative MP during an interview with the Swiss weekly magazine Die Weltwoche.

Johnson – whose great-grandfather was Turkish – called it “a scandal” that a German court had granted an injunction to prevent comedian Jan Böhmermann repeating his offensive skit about the Turkish president.

“If somebody wants to make a joke about the love that flowers between the Turkish president and a goat, he should be able to do so, in any European country, including Turkey,” Johnson told interviewer Nicholas Farrell, who then challenged him to enter the Spectator’s poetry prize.

Johnson then offered the limerick: “There was a young fellow from Ankara, Who was a terrific wankerer.

“Till he sowed his wild oats, With the help of a goat, But he didn’t even stop to thankera.”

The former mayor is reported to be surprised that his efforts were officially entered into the competition.

In awarding Johnson the prize, Murray appeared to contradict his own rule that “wankerer” was not a word, despite rhyming with the Turkish capital, but defended his choice in a blogpost, saying the prize was “entirely anti-meritocratic”.

McDonald's has apologised for a Halloween marketing campaign which promoted a dessert in Portugal with the words: "Sundae Bloody Sundae".

The term Bloody Sunday is used to refer to one of the worst days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, when 13 people were shot dead by the Army.

The adverts sparked outrage when photos were shared on social media.

McDonald's said the marketing campaign was not intended to be an "insensitive reference to any historical event".

"We sincerely apologise for any offence or distress this may have caused," a spokeswoman for McDonald's Portugal said.

She explained the "Bloody" sundae adverts were designed as a Halloween celebration but the promotion has since been cancelled.

In a speech at Battersea Arts Centre, south London, Mr Corbyn received loud cheers from supporters when he said Labour would launch "the biggest people-powered campaign in history".

Flanked by members of the shadow cabinet, he said: "You know what really scares the elite? What they're actually afraid of is paying their taxes. So in this election they'll fight harder and dirtier than ever before. They'll throw everything at us because they know we're not afraid to take them on.

"So we're going after the tax dodgers. We're going after the dodgy landlords. We're going after the bad bosses. We're going after the big polluters. Because we know whose side we're on."

The GOP’s defense of Trump has me sinking into cynicism

You stick to your election and stay out of ours.

revelette3 wrote:

Trump lures GOP senators on impeachment with cold cash

Doesn't this reek of bribery ... which is a federal felony?

Kenneth Heslep’s divorce from Katie Hill had grown nasty by the time he told a podcaster in late September that he was ready to talk publicly about his split with the Democratic congresswoman.

“Any interest in an interview, and the whole story yet?” Heslep texted Stephen Daniels, host of “Talk of Santa Clarita,” punctuating the offer with a smiling-face emoji. It was 1:40 a.m.

Daniels declined. “It was clear he wanted to air dirty laundry,” Daniels recalled Wednesday.

Conservative websites soon revealed that they had obtained some of Hill’s private texts and nude photos of her, including one with a campaign aide.

The main authors of the articles, it turns out, were former campaign advisors to Steve Knight, the Republican congressman ousted by Hill a year ago.

....indeed they have the sacred duty - to extend their influence into other nations' affairs.