Sir Mark's Guinea Ghost

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SUNDAY PIONEER Agenda Foray
FORAY Sunday, November 8, 2009 Email Print

Sir Mark’s Guinea ghost

Venkata Vemuri

The past keeps pursuing Sir Mark, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His alleged role in a plan to overthrow the Government of Equatorial Guinea in western Africa in 2004 has come back to haunt him with another accused now saying the alleged coup plotters including Sir Mark should “face justice”.A former SAS officer, Simon Mann, said to be the second in command of the plotting team, has returned to London earlier this week after being pardoned and released from jail in Equatorial Guinea. He now wants to be a witness for the prosecution in Britain and has implicated Sir Mark and a London-based businessman, Ely Calil, for planning and financing the coup.The plotters wanted to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. However, Mann and 70 mercenaries were arrested at Harare airport in Zimbabwe in 2004. Extradited to Equatorial Guinea, he was sent to prison for 34 years. But Mann was released after serving only 16 months and officials in London said among the factors believed to have played a part in his release was his willingness to give evidence against others.As to Sir Mark, he was arrested by the South African police in 2004, and the following year he admitted financing a helicopter and received a suspended sentence and a fine of £265,000.Mann said: “As far as I’m concerned, I am very anxious that Calil, Thatcher and one or two of the others, should face justice.” Sources said that the only likelihood of any prosecution would be if Mann turned Queen’s Evidence, offering him immunity in return for giving evidence against others. Sir Mark did not comment.Booze buzzAlcohol abuse is a ticking time bomb in Britain and there are now calls for increasing the minimum drinking age and pricing controls on alcohol after it was revealed more and more minors and retired people are taking to it. The Government has not yet reacted to the issue which is fast becoming the British media’s talking point, after a recent survey revealed that one-third of children aged 11 to 15 who drink, consume more than 15 units in a week, the equivalent of seven pints of lager or one-and-a-half bottles of average strength wine. It means 178,560 children in England are consuming more alcohol in a week than the recommended limit for an adult woman.The survey conducted in all the police station area if England and Scotland showed that younger people are being struck with liver cirrhosis than ever before. Just under one-fifth of children or 558,000 children, aged 11 to 15-year-old have consumed alcohol. The amount of alcohol children are taking, on average, has increased from 5.3 units in 1990 to 9.2 units in 2007.Pensioners too accounted for 357,300 alcohol-related hospital admissions in England in 2007-8, a 75 per cent rise in just five years. The survey found that 13 per cent of over-60s said that they had drunk more since retiring, either to ease feelings of depression or because of bereavement.All goofed upHe’s called the Minister for gaffes in British Parliament. And the latest by Home Office Minister Phil Woolas provoked fury in the House by claiming British troops are fighting in Afghanistan in part to keep immigration under control.Woolas told some members of Parliament during a meeting of the home affairs select committee: “If this country and others were to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan and the Taliban were able to take control of Afghanistan, our evidence is that the number of asylum seekers coming to the EU would significantly increase. An argument that is not aired strongly enough in my view is the benefit of the presence of our armed forces and other countries is to help us control immigration.”The opposition benches vent their anger against the Government as his comments came on the very day five British soldiers were killed allegedly by a rogue Afghan police constable.Fun signsThe Times newspaper has launched its third annual competition for the funniest road signs in Britain. Sample some of them:
Bedlam (in North Yorkshire): Please drive carefully
Big Sand (in Wester Ross, Highland): No Beach Access
Bleary (near Co Armagh): Welcome to Bleary
Old (in Northamptonshire): Please drive carefully.