It may not be as BIG as Trump’sindictment (& all the revelations with it) BUT this is STILL HUGE — both for the U.K. & the World.
Boris TOO was an important, influential Word Leader. For Christ’s sake he was the U.K. Prime Minister. THE MAN who made Brexit a reality.
He had trump were in office in parallel. They were both physically big & rotund, had ‘interesting’ blonde hair & publicily womanized. That, however, is as far as any similarities went. Boris is ultra smart & competent. Yes, like Clinton he thought he could get away with some mischief. Like Clinton he got caught (alas, multiple times).
I had visions that he, like OUR SHARED HERO ‘Churchill‘, would come back as PM. Bit difficult now that he quit being an MP. Yes, he can run again at a future election. He most likely will win.
Oh, dear. I feel bad. I have ALWAYS been a BIG Boris believer. I like Boris. I don’t like Trump.
I am fortunate enough to have met & spoken to the charismatic ‘Jawaharlal Nehru‘. He, as Prime Minister of India came to our house for dinner during his official visit to Ceylon in 1962. {Smile. What can I say? My father was in charge of that visit & I guess he wanted something other than a very fancy, state dinner for at least one night.} I still remember meeting him. I would have been 9. He towered over me, all dressed in his trademark white. He GLOWED. He was so tall. So erect. Wow. What a man.
I have nothing, whatsoever, against Nehru. He was a GOOD MAN. One of my third-tier heroes. Under any other circumstances I would have applauded Sri Lanka honoring him with a flag.
But, this is so, so shameless. Political pandering, bordering on political prostitution.
Yes, Sri Lanka is so, so desperate for India to bail it out of its dire financial crisis. But, this is so obvious & pathetic. It will also annoy the Chinese. The Indians must be falling over themselves laughing at the weak, groveling Sri Lanka. Not good. Very sad. We were once a proud nation.
Obama was elected (& reelected) by THE PEOPLE (albeit through the Electoral College (though he did win the Popular Vote (both times)) in a general election.
Rishi Sunak was NOT elected by THE PEOPLE of the U.K.!
THE PEOPLE elected the Party, i.e., the Conservatives, when it was being led by a dashing, white man, i.e., (dear) Boris Johnson.
Rishi Sunak was elected Prime Minister by his Party, his fellow Members of Parliament (MPs). That is how it works in the U.K.
The people had NO DIRECT say in the election of THIS Prime Minister.
I had BIG hopes for the U.S. when Obama was elected (which is why I campaigned for him thrice, like a black). Well my hopes were dashed within 4 months of him entering the White House.
The U.K., that to hour long heritage with an Empire that spanned the globe & our GLORIOUS COMMONWEALTH is more multi-cultural & racially integrated, as of now, than the U.S. Different dynamics. We didn’t have a slave issue to contend with per se.
But, we will all be STUPID to think that race does not play a part in U.K. life, U.K. society.
I lived through the 1970s ‘Paki-bashing’ & was fortunate to emerge unscathe.
I, however, & ALAS, left the U.K. in 1983 (ostensibly to return after 2-years). During the 17-years I lived in the U.K. I did NOT experience any blatant, over racism. But, I was lucky.
Italy, just down the road, just elected an ultra right-wing government. France is seeing rampant nationalism. Immigration is an issue across the European continent.
There is NO QUESTION, whatsoever, that Rishi Sunak, who was born in Southampton is 100% British. There can be no questions as to his birth certificate.
But, I have a nagging feeling that him becoming P.M. will NOT sit well with some in the country. I hope I am wrong.
He is definitely in the running ALREADY & I am ecstatic! He is in the TOP 3 contenders & that is good enough. There is talk that he might be the ONLY one that has the CREDENTIALS, credibility & chutzpah to get the 100 nominations over the weekend. I hope so. Fingers cross. I like Boris — always has. He is a much, much, much, much smarter, much better looking, much better educated, much more personable, much more charismatic, much nicer version of us. I am at heart Boris. We are both scamps — he ALL what I said above. You shouldn’t punish scamps like Boris. Bill Clinton was a scamp too.
Wow. This will be such a turn for the book. I am on edge. Go, Boris, GO.
One of the highest compliments I ever received was from a very smart guy who worked for me at ITT (UK) c. 1982. One night, over much wine (as was our wont) he said: “Anu, come the revolution they are going to line you up, TO THE RIGHT OF THATCHER, before they shoot you all …” Well, I am still waiting.
I have always liked Boris! As far as I am concerned there is very little about him that you can’t like. Yes, he has been a bit of a naughty boy here & there, BUT in the scheme of things none were that egregious & basically he was being nothing more than a ‘bit of a scamp‘. But, we can’t deny that he is extremely smart, ultra competent & can — & MORE IMPORTANTLY, DID — get the job done. We have already seen that his successor, ‘Liz Truss‘, is badly in need of a TRUSS to hold her up. I doubt whether she will be PM for much longer. I hope not.
They should just reinstate Boris then & there. But, I doubt that will happen. Saving face & all of that.
But, I have a feeling that Boris is far from done. He will come storming back.
The Party, the people & THE COUNTRY will want him BACK — just like they did with dear Winston (my HERO).
For now just mark my word that I am predicting that Boris will be back as PM — just like Winston. What a great day that would be.
What the protestors, irresponsibly led by Buddhist monks, set fire to on Saturday was the Sri Lankan Prime Ministers OFFICIAL RESIDENCE, viz., ‘Temple Trees‘, rather than, per ignorant media reports, his private residence. Monumental Difference.
The Official Residence, Temple Trees, is the PEOPLE’S HOUSE! Belongs to the COUNTRY — to its people — than the Prime Minister. Much of what would have been inside would also not have been his. At most, at the time, he would have had some of his clothes. He will make sure he gets reimbursed for that! So, no skin off the PM’s nose.
The idiotic protestors were hurting themselves. Their property. The country’s heritage.
STUPID. But, then again, that is US (& I, alas, have to include myself with them given my birth). We, as a nation, are not very smart. These protests just highlighted it.
I will also admit that I have a rather soft spot for Temple Trees. In the 1960s, when I was growing up there, it was a BEAUTIFUL place. You approached it via a long drive lined, on both sides, with flowering (mainly white) Temple Trees. Hence, the name.
White ‘Temple Tree’ flowers. Image from ‘Wikipedia’
It was, as now, painted white. I remember going there a few times, possibly around four. This was during (one of) Aunty Bandaranaike’s terms as Prime Minister. (Given that I left Ceylon in 1969, this had to have been during her 1960 – 1965 term.) My father was one of her closest collaborators at the time & there was a period of about 9 months (during what was the height of the so called ‘Schools Takeover’) when she called our house, first thing every morning & I would rush to answer the phone. Nothing like starting your day wishing good morning to your country’s PM. I had lunch there once. I still remember that vividly. My father had a meeting with her & he had picked me up from school & didn’t have time to drop me off at home or with one of other aunties. Instead he had arranged for me to have lunch there. I ate alone. It was in a long, very shaded (meaning it was sheltered from sunshine), dark wood paneled dinning room with a very long table made from dark wood. Very solemn room. I was served by two white-dressed servants. That part was not new to I. Was used to being served at meals. Well … So, Temple Trees is not just a name to I.
That said I have never been inside the President’s Official Residence — the Governor General’s in my day. I have sat outside, in the car, while my father went inside. But, I was never taken in. My father was not as close to the then Governor General’s as he was to Mrs. Bandaranaike. (My father had also been her husband’s Private Secretary when HE was PM.)
So, yes, I have a personal take on this.
Aggravates me that the media gets this SO, SO WRONG.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Click here for the CNN original.
That is pretty young. It was his age, i.e., 35, rather than anything that caught my eye to begin with — even though the gratuitous ‘leftist‘ part did make me smile. Leftist is not always a bad thing. Some folks call ‘Bernie Sanders’ a leftist & he is, for the mots part, good & decent. But, let’s get back to the age.
35, coincidentally, is the STATED minimum age in order to be elected President in the U.S. or to be a Catholic bishop. [In the case of being U.S. President, that 35 refers, alas, to physical age rather than mental. I will leave it at that.]
Who was the youngest U.S. President is kind of a TRICK question. Depends whether you mean elected President or became President. At 43.65 years, ‘John F. Kennedy’ was the youngest elected. ‘Theodore Roosevelt’, who had been V.P., stepped into the Presidency when he was 42.88 years when ‘William McKinley’ was assassinated in 1901. So, the new Chilean President is much younger.
Wikipedia, bless them, has a list of the 10 youngest serving state leaders. Currently the youngest, at 27, is the Captain Regent of ‘San Marino’. [Coincidentally, I mentioned San Marino just last week in another post!] Then it is the Prime Minister of Finland — ‘Sanna Marin‘, who came to office when she was 34. That is impressive. New Zealand’s admirable ‘Jacinda Arden‘, who was elected when she was 37 is 8th on the Wikipedia list. She is quite the lady.
Wikipedia, alas, does NOT have the youngest ever! The best they can currently do is ‘from 1942‘. That is not that useful — PLUS the first 9 are all Kings. That doesn’t count. But, #10 is ‘Baby Doc’, viz. Jean-Claude Duvalier, of Haiti. Hhhmmm. He wasn’t elected & he was NOT a good man. He came to power when he was 19. I will, when I have time, dig into this more.
The youngest Prime Minister of the U.K. was the estimable ‘William Pitt the Younger‘, at age 24.5 in 1783.
