Weird sense of déjà vu
THERE was a weird dense of déjà vu about President Donald Trump's official visit to Britain last week. On such a visit all kinds of diplomatic niceties are usually observed.
Yet Trump gave a wide-ranging interview to the Sun newspaper in which he trashed the Brexit formula that his host, Prime Minister Theresa May, is struggling to get through parliament. He also had warm words for Boris Johnson – who had just resigned as foreign secretary, in protest as May's formula – and said he would make a great prime minister.
Trump also said May's Brexit formula would kill any chance of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
It would be difficult to imagine anything more incendiary. Trump of course described the Sun interview as "fake news", but it was tape recorded and his words were broadcast on TV. The Sun's political editor, who conducted the interview, himself appeared on Sky News, saying he was shocked by what Trump had to say.
Has anything like this ever happened before? Well, perhaps in Canada back in 1967.
General Charles de Gaulle, president of France, was on an official visit. It was at a time there were stirrings in French-speaking Quebec for secession from Canada.
De Gaulle addressed a crowd in Montreal, ending with the words:"Vive Quebec libre!" (Long live free Quebec!)
The crowd went wild. The Canadian federal government described De Gaulle's words as "unacceptable". Federal Prime Minister Lester Pearson went on TV saying: "The people of Canada are free. Every province in Canada is free. Canadians do not need to be liberated. Indeed, many thousands of Canadians gave their lives in two world wars in the liberation of France and other European countries."
De Gaulle was supposed to travel on to Ottawa to meet Pearson. Instead he flew home in a French military jet.
Nothing of the kind happened in Britain this time. Trump and May tried to patch things up. How successfully only time will tell. But it's exceedingly weird, you couldn't make it up.
At time of writing, Trump would have been meeting Vladimir Putin, of Russia, in Helsinki, Finland. Hoo boy!
Great final
VIVE la France! And whatever the words are to say the same about Croatia!
This Football World Cup Final was a cracker, quite the most entertaining of the matches I managed to see, both sides going at it full tilt.
And the entire tournament was a feather in the cap of hosts, Russia.
Bad luck for Kevin Anderson at Wimbledon. The poor guy seemed exhausted by the strenuous run-up to the final.
But hey, he got there. More is nog 'n dag.
Fingernails
NEWS from India – Shridhar Chillal has cut his fingernails for the first time in 66 years. The fingernails on his left hand, that is. On his right hand, the fingernails have been in immaculate trim, regularly clipped.
Chillal, now 82, started growing the fingernails on his left hand when he was still at school, aged 14, according to Huffington Post. The Guinness Book of World Records didn't exist in those early days, but by 2014 it did and it recognised his world record status, the fingernails on his left hand having a combined length of 909 centimetres.
We're not told what length they had grown to by the time he flew to New York last week to have the nails removed by a doctor, to be deposited on display in Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium on Times Square.
"I was a little bit scared that my celebrity status would go now," Chillal said. "But today after coming here I realise that after this I have become a real celebrity. Now, forever my nails will be remembered and forever my nails will be seen by people from all over the world."
Yes, the Odditorium is the appropriate place. As Joseph Conrad put it: "The East, the East, the mysterious East …"
Tailpiece
THE three bears go into their parlour.
Daddy bear: "I've no porridge. Who's been eating my porridge?"
Baby bear: "I've also got no porridge. Who's been eating my porridge."
Mummy bear: "Shut up, you two! I haven't made the damn porridge yet. Do we have to go through this every morning?"
Last word
The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.
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