Pitching Against Brown

City Nation Edit Op-Ed Business The Big Story World VivaCity Avenues Sports Columnists Forecast Editor's Mail
STATE EDITIONS Bhopal Bhubaneswar Ranchi Kochi Lucknow Chandigarh Dehradun
SUNDAY PIONEER Agenda Foray
FORAY Sunday, November 22, 2009 Email Print

Pitching against Brown

Venkata Vemuri

The gunny bags from Afghanistan are now veritable millstones around Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s neck. Growing calls for a pullout of British troops have put him on the defensive and for all practical purposes he has begun a countdown for Britain’s exit from the war in Afghanistan.That is how the British media sees the Prime Minister’s most recent announcement for a meeting of Nato allies in London next January to set in motion the process of transfer — a district-by-district transfer to full Afghan control in 2010.His office says the proposed meeting is no exit summit, but it is more Brown’s way of reassuring an anxious public that the British mission in Afghanistan is not indefinite. Deaths of British soldiers are being reported almost on a daily basis in recent weeks and calls by their relatives to bring back the troops are gaining popular support.The Prime Minister’s aides are saying Brown is unhappy that the people do not realise that it is the British presence in Afghanistan that is keeping the country safe from terrorism. Yet, Brown’s Nato summit call is being seen as a matter of political expedience, given his unenviable task of leading Labour into a General Election next year amid growing public frustration with unchecked unemployment and price rise.His own Cabinet is also at unease with the rising death toll which stands at 230 at last count. Welsh secretary Peter Hains became the first Cabinet Minister to question the Government’s Afghanistan strategy by openly saying earlier this week that “we need to get a grip on it”.Black & WhiteAs if Brown’s headaches are not enough, a Labour candidate seeking election to a London council caused much embarrassment to the Prime Minister just a day before this Wednesday’s Queen’s speech before both Houses of Parliament by calling her a “parasite” and “vermin”.Peter White, who is seeking election to Havering Borough Council next year, posted a message on the Facebook page of a Conservative MP, Andrew Rosindell, who wanted the Queen’s diamond jubilee in 2012 be celebrated with a national holiday.The message says: “What is the point of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of someone who is born into a position of privilege, she is a parasite and milks this country for everything she can… Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with a public holiday but lets (sic) have one that means something, rather than celebrating vermin.”White has been summoned by his party for an explanation and possibly his words may cost him his candidature.Dravid-ianSachin Tendulkar was, of course, the cynosure of British media when he completed 20 years as a cricketer, but The Times’ kudos went to Rahul Dravid for an entirely different reason: The fitness of the Indian “Wall”.The newspaper says it is largely due to Dravid’s “astounding fitness” that he is only less than 2,000 runs behind Tendulkar in Tests even though he made his debut seven years after the little master.Highlighting the fact that Dravid missed out on just one test out of 135 India played since his debut, it says: “… but otherwise has had no tweaked thingies, no sprained whatsits, no snuffles and coughs, no selectorial whims, no missing the bus, no disciplinary breaches, no excuses. Tendulkar, by contrast, has played in only 121 of those games. Even Gods can have mortal moments.”Wi-fi zoneThe town of Swindon in England is to become the country’s first wi-fi town with free Internet access for its population. Nearly £1 million will be spent in placing 1,400 access points on street lamps, ensuring no one within the town’s boundary is left out of range of a wireless connection after next April.The free access will, however, be limited to certain hours in a day. Swindon, home to a number of high-tech businesses, already has the country’s highest broadband usage. The service will also be available to visitors to the town, upon payment of a one-off fee for access.There are many towns and cities of Britain whose city centres have free wi-fi, but Swindon will be the first case of the whole town having wireless access.Fake incestThe British Home Office is ever on the prowl to deport illegal immigrants, but is shut-eyed when it comes to checking on its own staff. A Nigerian, who works in the Home Office, came up with a daring plan, that included him ‘marrying’ his own daughter, to get British visas for his family back home, and nearly succeeded.Jelili Adesanya, employed as an occupational health nurse for the Home Office working with immigration officials at Gatwick airport, has been a British resident for 30 years and holds a British passport. He wanted his daughter, her husband and their children to live in the UK. So, he faked a wedding ceremony in Lagos and fooled British officials into giving his daughter permission to live in the UK by making them believe she was his wife. Had the case not been exposed, the next step in the saga would have been the ‘wife’ eventually divorcing her ‘husband’ and then marrying her real husband so that the entire family could then stay in the UK.A whistleblower sent letters — including specific details such as names, addresses, passport numbers and even a copy of the wedding photograph — to the High Commission in Lagos and the UK Border Agency. When nothing happened, he emailed then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Ministers Vernon Coaker and Phil Woolas this February. He heard nothing. The Home Office eventually launched action after the incident was reported by the media.