This was withheld for one day in case something tragic happened during the Grand Prix. Better safe than sorry, if one *May* say so.
Cartoon.
a) “A drawing depicting a humorous situation, often accompanied by a caption.”
b) “A drawing representing current public figures or issues symbolically and often satirically: a political cartoon.”
At best, a cartoonist will capture a facial expression or encapsulate a situation with humour, brevity and élan, while at worst he will produce a laboured, racist, malicious, libelous, unfunny, overworked, overrated visual polemic.
On Saturday’s early morning paper review a cartoon was mentioned, depicting a car belonging to Bernie Ecclestone being filled up with blood. Which category that fits into depends on the outlook of the beholder.
F1 racing is cartoon-like, right from the starting grid. Cars, drivers, costumes, commentators in Groucho face-masks and the octogenarian pixie Bernie Ecclestone who was obviously startled at being asked for a political opinion, politics having never occurred to him until that moment.
The hooha over Bahrain has a cartoon-like quality. The name of the capital sounds like ‘banana.’ Direct-Action Boycott/Divestment/Sanction is an ill-conceived concept that usually amounts to pointless, illogical, vigilante posturing.
I don’t know much about the Bahraini Royal family, but they sound at least as charming as the Saudi Royals who we suck up to, or the Chinese whose human rights abuses we set aside for the sake of sport, or the Pakistanis who I believe we play cricket with.
A likeable Bahraini Prince was interviewed on the BBC. He spoke with a cultured English accent, like a respectable British businessman; the tea towel on his head was set at a jaunty, possibly ironic, angle. The protesters, who are they? His Royal Highness compared them to our own rioting protesters, a theory that gains credence with every molotov cocktail.
The QT panel were all for the boycott. George Galloway was off colour that day but even he managed to outdo his own hypocrisy. As if he doesn’t habitually suck up to murdering dictators.
John Humphrys interviewed another pleasant Bahraini spokesman yesterday morning who sounded extremely plausible. Humph was taken aback when this gentleman refused to cave in at the very mention of Amnesty International and human rights abuses. He was far too polite to say bad things about such an inherently virtuous body, but he stood his ground.
The Any Questions panel were all for the boycott. All except Alan Duncan. Far be it for me or anyone else to agree with Alan Duncan, but by the same token if Andy Slaughter and the odious Jeremy Corbyn are campaigning against F1 in Bahrain, I’m all for it.
Go Lewis!!
The BBC has carried on all weekend about the wretched Formula One race in Bahrain – as if it really matters.
I gather Bahrain is ruled by Sunnis – mostly civilised, it has been a financial centre since the 1970s. But there are a lot of Shia, mostly from Iran, who want to take control. The Shia are the relatively uncivilised lot, “invaders” – and they should be kept in their place, say I !
Typical of the BBC – always appeasing violence, always ignorant of the real issues.
They have had hatred laws in Bahrain for years as is common in countries full of ethnics. They can imprison anyone who hates the Bahraini Royal Family. We used to regard such laws as inferior and backward, now Europeans who say something hateful about ethnics in Britain are being imprisoned.
After a ‘success’ in getting the Bahrain GP called-off, the leftoids would’ve sat round and looked at the next sporting event they could exercise power over. How fortunate for them to have at their disposal a uniquely funded, global propaganda machine that answers to no-one.
“The name of the capital sounds like ‘banana.’”
Ah Sue, doesn’t it sound more like this? :_)
Craig,
it IS that!
Jeremy Corbyn vs Bernie Ecclestone. It’s an Iran-Iraq War thing – wish they both could lose.
A whipped-up souffle of a story that shows the liberal elite up for what they are.
Why didn`t that ridiculous Aussie bloke from prep school choose to dive onto the track between the cars of the capitalist fascist elite instead of spoil the Boat Race?
I myself could only have approved of his stand against the lack of lead in petrol, or whatever it is I`m supposed to be unhappy with.
Despite the bad vibes and terrible body language of the BBC, they still managed to show the pointless chariot race in the desert-but with a curled lip, which will surely give Assad food for thought.
I myself refuse to take part in the Exeter camel race in protest at what happened to Mark Duggan-and will tell Al Jazeera why others should do the same…
Good point about China, sue. They kill and oppress far more people than the Bahraini barbarians do, yet there was much less hand-wringing over the BBC’s Beijing Olympics coverage. Has Bahrain blocked the BBC website yet?
Beijing Olympics? They couldn’t even stir themselves for last week’s Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Must be that ‘nuance’ thing again.
Check around the forums. I have seen several submissions from ex-pats saying that Bharain has been politically quiet for a whole year, and there is a SMALL increase in rioting, exclusively where there are foreign news crews.
One person pointed out that the majority of pictures were exactly a year old, so I checked every time I saw an image of violence in Bharain, very few included the word ‘yesterday’ or ‘this week’, most were titled ‘a Bharainian protestor throws a stone’ or ‘Bharain police attack protestors’.
I think the whole thing has been a lefty-media smokescreen.
When a meek lefty like Damon Hill said he never felt threatened or noticed any activity, and that it seemed like a storm in a tea-cup, that was also significant. Lastly, in the evening news last night there were huge plumes of smoke from piles of tyres burning, during the race there was no sign, so either the tyre-burning and race were far apart, or they happened at vastly different times.