Not to be seen as ‘bully’ is now the FCDO’s priority

 

Looking at this morning’s ‘news’ I was staggered by the entitlement displayed by the well-educated, middle-class dual-citizenship Brits stranded in Sudan. Here are the headline for the obligatory compilation of print editions’ front pages: “Newspaper headlines: ‘Crisis in Sudan’ and Harry ‘drags’ William into hacking case” (link). Good thing, innit, that we have ‘Teh Royals’ to provide material for an alternative front page display.

Next, let’s jump right into ‘entitled victim’ on display, for example in this little gem, a ‘report’ in Al Beeb, with a picture and name:

“I had hope that the British were coming to save us, but after a while I gave up hope,” British national Einas Khojaly told the BBC’s Tom Bateman upon arriving in Egypt. Her father – heart surgeon Kamal Ahmed Khojaly – described the fear in Khartoum as bombs struck and water stopped flowing.” (link)

Then there’s Remain Central, providing the shining example for how to pull  together the tear-inducing items of ‘civil war’ and ‘NHS doctors’ into one package. See this headline: “Sudan crisis: NHS doctor shot in leg refuses to leave elderly mother” (link, paywalled). We’re told that he was shot in the foot and dragged from his 4X4 but that he refused to leave without his mother who is 86 and cannot travel because the bad British government has “rejected her request for a temporary visa.” We ‘re not told if his daughter is here or in the Sudan, but she surely knows how to press all the buttons:

“It’s very disappointing. This is a state of war,” the man’s daughter, 35, who is also an NHS consultant, said. “My dad has lived in the UK since 1992. For someone who has worked for the NHS for over 30 years, who has paid his taxes in this country, we’re not asking for much.” (link, paywalled)

Neither are all we non-NHS-workers ‘asking for much’, but nobody cares about that! I am utterly amazed by the number of NHS consultants who are stuck in Sudan. All were visiting the families and their mums are apparently all well into their 80s:

“An NHS consultant cardiologist said he had survived a treacherous three-hour journey through military checkpoints to reach the safety of the airfield. Dr Eltigani Abdelaal, 48, a married father of four from Manchester, has been in the NHS for 20 years and was in Sudan to visit his 86-year-old mother, who has cancer. […] Another British father of four described how he and his 84-year-old mother made the 1,300-mile journey from Khartoum to Egypt. Abaker Adam, 58, from west London, sent his family ahead of him by coach before escaping himself on Saturday, after running out of medication for his diabetes and blood pressure.” (link, paywalled)

Yep, it’s all there: ‘NHS consultant’, ‘cancer’, ‘running out of medicines’, ‘aged mum’ : where’s the FCDO? Why isn’t Cleverly lambasted? Or would that be racist?

One lady of the British staff of the Khartoum American School was dismayed that she followed all the guidance of the FCDO but “not once did I get a personalised email,” (link, paywalled). Yes, that’s bad service: so impersonal! The DT found another stranded lady, an IT specialist with dual citizenship who was “staying with her mother, four brothers, two sisters and their families in the Al Taif neighbourhood of Khartoum when the fighting started 10 days ago on April 15.” and also didn’t get proper emails:“Before today, they just sent a couple of emails: one to say stay indoors and the other with a number for emotional support. We feel abandoned.” (paywalled link).

Yon lady told the DT that there was ‘no power, no water, no internet, nothing’. So how did all those highly educated dual-citizen Brits expect to receive ‘personal emails’ from the FCDO or just the embassy? Still, the precious smartphones seem to work because they keep talking to their partners in the UK. 

Visiting families is good, especially at Ramadan, and never mind the volatile situation in sudan of which their families must have been aware. I will point out that the entitlement these people display is staggering: we can do what we like and the government has to protect us.

However: how come that our glorious MSM aren’t asking what the Foreign Sec is doing to sort this out? That’s a rhetorical question because there’s a report about him, firstly mentioned in the Speccie last night and then picked up in their sister publication, the DT: he’s working hard on our relationship with China! The DT’s report is a confused mess, so here’s the brief paragraph from the Speccie’s email:

“What is the UK government’s policy towards China? It seems to change often enough to merit a live blog of its own. Tonight, the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will change tack again, arguing in a speech to the Lord Mayor’s Easter Banquet that ‘no significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic stability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China’.”

China is of course an important country! Of course Cleverly’s speech is vital! Of course he can’t be expected to spend time on the Sudan! He’s got minions to do that, right? So why hasn’t his top mandarin given him ‘guidance’, hinting that a PR remark or tow might be useful?

Are the FCDO mandarin and serpents working hard to get rid by Cleverly by sly, covert means, by promoting his China speech rather than presenting him as tireless worker for the stranded 4,000 dual-citizenship Brits? Perhaps they don’t want to be seen as racist, preferring to let Mr Cleverly walk right into the knives of this ‘crisis’ by not informing him properly and giving him ‘guidance’ … 

Has the FCDO become unfit for purpose, thanks to the navel-gazing of mandarin and serpents, scared of even seeming to look ’robust’? When will the Westminster Press connect the dots of ‘bullying ministers’ and woefully inadequate policies? Never, that’s when, or rather: not until Labour has had their opportunity to drive our country even harder against the wall: that would be fair.

That’s all I have for today. I think I need a lesson in how to display victimhood and ‘entitlement’ … Have a good day.



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