As vague as a Hague

British Foreign Secretary, William Hague


Poor William Hague was never going to have it easy. Looking like a Klingon and sounding like a Dalek from Yorkshire was never a happy combination. Then there were the optics gone wrong; looking so trendy not with a baseball cap at the Notting Hill carnival he looked just like the hoodie PR Dave urged us to hug and then there were the photos of him looking totally heterosexual with his “assistant” Chris Meyers. But now the disembowelling of Britain’s military, which I wrote about in the last post comes home to roost, as more than 5,000 Britons are trapped in the chaos as Libya turns against the Mad Dictator, Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi and his son Saif who only mere months ago was shooting (birdies!) at Waddesdon with the Rothschild’s and Peter “some of my best friends are millionaires” Mandelson.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/waddesdon-manor-buckinghamshire.html


But unbelievably the Dalek is now in charge of the Foreign Office which is looking decidedly amateurish in looking after British citizens in Libya – a country Britain has cosied up to get oil and other contracts. Hundreds of terrified Britons have found evacuations arrangements decidedly vague as they were still trapped in Libya last night as the plane meant to rescue them sat on the tarmac at Gatwick with a ‘technical fault’. The first specially-chartered flight to Tripoli designed to rescue 500 stranded men and women had been announced yesterday by Foreign Secretary William Hague. But as Colonel Gaddafi’s regime teetered on the brink of bloody civil war, and other nations evacuated their citizens from danger, Britain’s response to the crisis descended into chaos.



Last night, the Royal Navy’s HMS Cumberland was due to arrive off Libya’s second city Benghazi – but will not seek to dock as it is not safe.Yesterday, in a menacing 70-minute address delivered by Libya's leader, the ruler instructed his followers to "fight until the last drop of my blood". Colonel Gaddafi's remaining supporters have joined forces with foreign mercenaries to terrorise the streets of Libya. It appears they are ready to kill as many people as it takes to stay in power.

It emerged that the Ministry of Defence had thought about sending C-17 transport planes to Malta, but abandoned the plan over fears that Gaddafi would see it as a prelude to an invasion. The Cobra crisis group, normally convened to handle emergencies has not yet met. Prime Minister David Cameron is on a trip to the Gulf, statesman as he is selling arms to the Arab Dictators; Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is on holiday with his children – thought to be in Switzerland.


Mr. Hague with a Special advisor

As criticism mounted, Mr Hague cancelled a trip today to Washington, where he had been due to meet Hillary Clinton, to take ‘hands-on’ control of the crisis. HMS Cumberland has three dozen soldiers and Marines but they will not go ashore at Benghazi until it is safe. A source said: ‘We can’t just go into the port as we don’t know who is in control. They could be hostile.’ Mr Hague said Britain will send ‘as many planes as necessary’ to evacuate Britons.


Somebody called Hague said I was blowing my trumpet in Venezuela!

‘Our preference clearly is for people to leave on commercial flights as they have been doing, or on our specially-arranged charter flights as they will now be able to do, rather than to send in military flights without permission – although we don’t by any means rule out doing that,’ he said. Well to call this a rubbish response as France, Germany, Italy evacuated their nationals using military planes and Turkey took out 2,000 of its citizens by ship is just to understate the position – at the same time Britons have been unable to contact their embassy in Tripoli and found nobody from the Foreign Office at the airport. It is not that Britain doesn’t have two Sovereign Military Bases in Cyprus and long standing relationships with Malta, less than 20 minutes flying time from Libya, to which they could run a shuttle. Indeed after the recent hiatus in Egypt the Foreign Office said they “helped” people leave on commercial flights (as if that had anything to do with them) and ran ONE Charter Plane where they trumpeted the fact people were charged £300 a seat “so as not to undermine commercial operators!” Nothing like being taken advantage of by your own country in an emergency!



Even my own dear Ireland which has nothing resembling the UK’s Military assets or bases had this morning a Learjet and a Casa Air Ambulance in Malta to evacuate Irish Citizens. The aircraft flew into Malta overnight for a possible evacuation. The Casa aircraft, routinely used for fisheries patrols, can carry 21 people. On behalf of other governments Air Malta was running shuttle planes between Valletta and Tripoli. The Foreign Office finally managed to load 300 Britons onto a plane at Tripoli, but only after it had borrowed the jet from BP. The plane the Government had intended to use to evacuate Britons waited on the runway at Gatwick airport for 10 hours before taking off late on Wednesday night. Mr Hague admitted the efforts had been a failure and said he would establish a review to investigate. Portugal, Turkey, France and the EU had already pulled out thousands of citizens.


Irish Air Force Med Vac plane in Malta


Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said ministers seemed to have been “slow off the mark” and should convene the Cobra emergency committee. He said British nationals deserved to have had a senior Minister taking a grip of the Government’s response earlier. Hague and Britain’s Foreign Office have not impressed throughout in a country Britain ran from 1943 to 1948, where it has extensive interests and many stranded citizens in danger. William Hague announced yesterday that he thought Gaddafi was on his way to Venezuela according to his intelligence. Unfortunately for the Yorkshire Dalek’s credibility he was on the phone to UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon who had rung him in Tripoli at the same time! Oil worker James Coyle, who was barricaded with 90 British colleagues in a compound, said: "We are living a nightmare and we have asked the Government and they have just totally ignored us. They don't reply to emails, they have cut off the phones to Tripoli. We told them the situation three days ago, they never even replied to us. We have been left without any protection whatsoever."



William Hague can pontificate all he likes, they clearly didn't have a plan and it shows. Ryan Air to the rescue! Where is the Ark Royal, Harrier Jump Jets, Royal Naval support vessels and Nimrod Surveillance aircraft when you need them? Why, sent to the scrap yard by the Coalition of Convenience. This is a fine introduction to the reality of the Big Society or Britain Lite as we should rebadged it. Cutback so much “It’s a useful as a chocolate fireguard” as the say in Hague’s native Yorkshire!


Scenes at the Libya /Egypt border post

Opera in the Square

Walking into Trafalgar Square last night reminded me why I enjoy London and its variety so much for this great showpiece public space was abuzz with thousands of people watching on a giant screen a live performance of Carmen from just up the road in the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and joining in lustily on the choruses. Trafalgar Square en fete in summer is a great urban set piece with Nelson’s Column at the centre overlooked by the National Gallery and the church of St. Martin in the Fields.

Lord Nelson, Britain's greatest military hero, and the mighty lions that surround him, pay testament to the position of Trafalgar Square at the heart of the London, at one time, the heart of an empire that controlled three fifths of the world. Yet, though it is dominated by these imperial symbols, and by the magnificent Victorian edifice of the National Gallery, the square is no relic of a bygone age. It was transformed under the City Squares programme when the road was paved over by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone in a £25million scheme in 2003, creating a piazza free of traffic fumes. At the same time lifts were put in to improve access along with toilets and a café under the paved area on the Northside of the square creating a quality, accessible and pedestrian friendly urban space in place of the previous traffic roundabout. A great pity then that Livingstone’s successor, Boris Johnson, abandoned the programme which was to do a similar much needed improvement of Parliament Square.

Now the oil company BP is getting a deserved bad press at the moment but they were sponsoring this wonderful open air relaying of Carmen last night on the 8th June 2010 at 7pm in Trafalgar Square and Walthamstow Town Square. Wayne McGregor's award winning ballet Chroma/Tryst/Symphony in C will be screened on 10th June 2010 at 7.30pm at Trafalgar Square and General Gordon Square, Woolwich. There’s also the chance to see Verdi's opera Simon Boccanegra on 13th July 2010 when it is screened live from 7.30pm to both Trafalgar Square and Canada Square Canary Wharf, and this is the last of the BP opera and ballet screenings to take place.




So last night London was exercising its vocal chords as part of a nationwide sing-a-long to the opera Carmen at the event hosted by Gareth Malone of the BBC television series The Choir. As for Carmen it is basically an everyday tale of sex, crime and murder set in a cigarette factory (!) in Seville. Gypsy girl Carmen plays a dangerous game of seduction and betrayal. After an ardent love-affair with an army corporal, Carmen abandons him - and his jealousy proves fatal for her. It was slated at its premiere as its heroine was working class and the setting was so unusual. Georges Bizet never saw the popular success Carmen was to become as he died 3 months after its premiere. The opera premiered at the Opéra-Comique of Paris on 3 March 1875, but its opening run was denounced by the majority of critics. It was almost withdrawn after its fourth or fifth performance, and although this was avoided, ultimately having 48 performances in its first run, it did little to bolster sagging receipts at the Opéra-Comique. Near the end of this run, the theatre was giving tickets away in order to stimulate attendance. Bizet died of a heart attack, aged 36, on 3 June 1875, never knowing how popular Carmen would become. In October 1875 it was produced in Vienna, to critical and popular success, which began its path to worldwide popularity. It was not staged again at the Opéra Comique until 1883.

But on this night in Trafalgar Square it was as popular as ever with Gareth also doing Vox pop interviews in the square in the intervals which were also shown on the Big Screen which was somewhat voyeuristic but added to the sense of occasion. You just can’t beat Opera for the masses!



Also adding to the sense of occasion and which caused me to chuckle at its sheer cleverness and inventiveness was Yinka Shonibare’s display on the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square of a replica of Nelson's ship, HMS Victory, in a giant glass bottle. Using brightly coloured 'African' fabric he buys at Brixton market to fashion into the ship's sails, Shonibare set out to reflect the story of multiculturalism in London today, which began with Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. It's particularly appropriate given that admiral Nelson himself can survey the scene, looking down from his nearby column on the model of the ship on which he died. Shonibare himself was born in London but grew up in Nigeria - returning to Britain when he was 17 - and issues of race and class are recurrent themes throughout his work, which earnt him a nomination for the Turner Prize in 2004. With this nautical work his message in a bottle is set to reach an even wider audience.



The fourth plinth was originally created to accommodate an equestrian statue but because of insufficient funds nothing was ever commissioned and it remained unused until 1999. Now its aim is to raise awareness of art to the public and generate cultural discussion. Works which have been displayed on the plinth include Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper Pregnant and Thomas Schutte's Model for a Hotel.

It is good to see a public space like this being used so well and bringing pleasure and, dare I say, culture to Londoners and visitors alike. Not to mention that all this was being generously put on at the publics’ favourite price, FREE!

For my RLT (Reduced London Tour) featuring more free attractions see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/day-in-london.html