Femi J. Kolapo |
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Did tactical votes defeat Kemi?
Charlie Palmieri : A Giant Step ( for dancing )
Is it any wonder that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appealed to his people to "support anyone but Rishi Sunak" ?
We are to infer, that RS is the man who stabbed Boris in the back.
Treason.
History is busy recording the ongoing drama in which Rishi Sunak leads the rebellion ( the slew of resignations) to depose his boss Boris Johnson the UK Prime Minister who appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer , and from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's point of view, as soon as he was thereby so ignominiously forced out of office, Rishi Sunak the ingrate ( himself guilty of some of the infractions with which the dear PM is being tarred and feathered: "Amid the Partygate scandal, he became the first Chancellor of the Exchequer in British history to have been sanctioned for breaking the law while in office after being issued a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations during lockdowns"), "sharper than a serpent's tooth", the ingrate wasted no time in declaring himself the Messiah / Saviour of the Conservative Party in general and the Messiah and Redeemer of the United Kingdom in all particulars, the Messiah who is going to liberate his country (the UK) and the Brits from the shackles of debt and inflation.
So, we may well ask, ``how did Sunak bag the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer in the first place?". Well , " He ( Boris) has also, remember, cleansed his party of the wisest of them – the 'Remainers'; all except Truss" , according to Porter in "Boris's Legacy (and the Morning Star - and, by the way, in the latest opinion polls Labour is leading the Conservatives by a whopping 14 points...
"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn't" - according to Mark Twain
When it comes to the autobiographical some of us are familiar with A mouth sweeter than salt, just as we know that for some people, "proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten"
Sometimes, fiction is sweeter than facts, at other times it's vice-versa, i.e.uncontaminated & undecorated facts can be sweeter than fiction, myths. miracles and legends, as in the scriptures. Where do the facts begin and where does fiction end in this kind of tall claim :
" Westminster Abbey was an ancient Hindu Temple /built on the site of an ancient Hindu Temple,"
Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim Mayor was officially sworn in as Mayor in a multi-faith ceremony held in Southwark Cathedral in Central London.
Boris Johnson was appointed to the premiership by Queen Elizabeth II in a formal meeting at Buckingham Palace - he was not "sworn in " by taking an oath of office on the Bible at Westminster Abbey ( which incidentally was being claimed as an ancient Hindu Temple /built on the site of an ancient Hindu Temple, and this was at the height of the Ayodhya palaver
Perhaps, we are too colour, too religion and sexual orientation conscious : Leo Varadkar of Indian heritage and openly gay , was Taoiseach ( Prime Minister ) and Minister for Defence of Ireland from 2017 to 2020.
Rishi Sunak's trajectory is perhaps a little more spectacular. First you lead the rebellion against the Prime Minister who appointed you to the highest cabinet position. Then you want to take over his job , which he has described as " the best jog in the world." It's a fast evolving drama, potentially of Shakespearean proportions, a n old Shakespeare type drama of five acts waiting to be played out. Whether it's a comedy or tragedy remains to be seen. WE are now approaching Act 3. If it turns out to be a tragedy, what is Sunak's "particular fault"? What's Boris's , if any? :
"So oft it chances in particular men
That for some vicious mole of nature in them,
As in their birth (wherein they are not guilty,
Since nature cannot choose his origin),
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion
(Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason),
Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens
The form of plausive manners—that these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature's livery or fortune's star,
His virtues else, be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo,
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault. The dram of evil
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal."
https://www.google.com/search?q=Hamlet+%3A+Act+1+Scene+4
On Sunday, 31 July 2022 at 04:27:26 UTC+2 kol...@uoguelph.ca wrote:
"Still, all said and done, Rishi Sunak will readily agree that it should be easier for Sunak to become the UK's next Prime Minister than for a Bible thumping ethnic Oyibo Brit born and bred in India to be elected India's next President, any time soon"I agree.
I suppose that Saddiq Khan on becoming Mayor of London swore his oath of office on the Quran without any issue raised in any quarters at all.
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2022 5:30 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Did tactical votes defeat Kemi?CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the University of Guelph. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. If in doubt, forward suspicious emails to ITh...@uoguelph.ca
Somehow the world, including the Black World, the African world, is usually more interested in US Presidential elections. Even in this forum the flicker of hope that was ignited by Kemi Badenoch's prominence in the race has been more or less extinguished
Around 160,000 or so Conservatives, 97% of them white, half of them over 65 years of age are going to decide who becomes the next leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of Britain.
What Adam Raphael says in the latest edition of BBC Dateline London should put GG's heart at ease :
" The other odd thing about it is maybe it's over before it's begun; you've got Liz Truss who is so far ahead of Sunak, that unless some incredible stumble along the way - which is possible but is unlikely, she's going to have a bigger majority than Boris Johnson had over Jeremy Hunt… Rishi Sunak in particular is on the defensive , he knows that he is far, far, behind..."
I had feared that GG was possibly hinting at Sunak's race and colour being a distinct disadvantage, as something that could not possibly advance his dream or ambition to lead the Conservative party to election victory in 2025 as their leader and commander-in-chief, and in the intervening years to lead Britain to greater glory as Britain's first Hindu Prime Minister to take the oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita instead of on the Church of England's Holy Bible.Even considering what the symbolism of the Union Jack represents.
It may be payback time, but I've had serious reservations about that happening anytime soon not that the people of that great country ( Britain) have not much evolved from an earlier colonial era spirit unto a more global/ cosmopolitan mindset and outlook of the type that elected Barack Obama US President - but of course mindful that that would not have been likely to happen if Obama had not distanced himself from Rev. Jeremiah Wright who instead of blessing had once fatefully preached against America the Great, and secondly at that historic juncture, there was no way Barack Hussein Obama was going to be elected the next President of the United States if there was the slightest hint that he was going to take the holy Oath of Office on the Holy Quran instead of on Lincoln's Bible…
Secondly, as students of colonial history, we all know that Britain is really not as " insular" as some detractors would like to see her and that ought to include anyone who is conversant with Professor Porter's British Imperial - What the Empire Wasn't . Of acute relevance , the whole book, Chapter Six - " The Empire at Home" — fast forward to e.g pages 130 -195 of that book, should do, beginning with
" One other possibility , sometimes mooted, is that the British had to be instinctive imperialists because of their attitudes to " race". The idea here seems to be that because they regarded "non-white" peoples as inferior, they felt it have them a right to annex and rule them. There is indeed plenty of evidence of casual racism in British society throughout the imperial period ; and from about the middle of the nineteenth century of some proper "scientific" racist theories emerging. Those exhibitions of natives "natives" travelling the country undoubtedly encouraged the former, which was mirrored in children's books, comics, cartoons, art, even music ( John Pridham's Abyssinian Expedition, with its "Ethiopian Song" , the words of which are " Yah ha yah ha yah ha") , and a dozen other forms."
I don't have the stomach to post the latest blog piece feature in Porter's Pensées..It is far too hostile and cruel to the wannabe leaders of the British Conservative Party
Still, all said and done, Rishi Sunak will readily agree that it should be easier for Sunak to become the UK's next Prime Minister than for a Bible thumping ethnic Oyibo Brit born and bred in India to be elected India's next President, any time soon…
--On Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 12:35:43 UTC+2 GG wrote:
Fascinating analysis. Speculative all the way, but I believe it certainly gives way too much credit to these Tory MPs as voters.
Whatever alignment Rishi Sunak does and with whoever, as long as we have a Rishi Sunak versus a Liz Trust or a Penny Mordaunt, then Rishi Sunak is out in the final race.
I concede we would have had a keen context on our hands if the last two candidates were Rishi Sunak versus Kemi Badenoch. But that happens only in my dreams.
I do not have to think about it; I feel confident that Liz Truss is the next Prime Minister. That last vote was the final vote. With the two candidates left and the general Tory Party members voting, the result is as clear as daylight.
GG
On Thu, 21 Jul 2022 at 11:03, Femi Kolapo <kol...@uoguelph.ca> wrote:
A thought for the month:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -a tenacious and unreflective pursuit of social justice as a necessary end can produce a worst case of social injustice
Master, you sowed good seed in your field, didn't you? Then where did these weeds come from?' . . . . "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them out?' "He said, 'No! If you pull out the weeds, you might pull out the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest." [Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Bible, Matt 13:27-30]
--
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