{UAH} Allan/Pojim/WBK: Cameron goes wife-swapping all on his lonesome... and gets what he - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Britain-European-Union-exit/-/434750/3094178/-/vf4hy6/-/index.html

Cameron goes wife-swapping all on his lonesome... and gets what he

Pardon me if I've already told you this one, but it's a favourite of mine from a film I watched as a young man. It was based on Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King, and starred Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

Two young English adventurers arrive at the gate of in a town in Afghanistan, probably occupied by the Pashtun. This is an area forever in thrall to the legend of Alexander the Great — Sikandar — who conquered everyone on his way to India, and who is still revered as a god.

The guard at the gate asks them, "Are you gods?" and the character played by Connery answers back, "No, but we are English, the next best thing!" They are nevertheless received as gods, but their undoing is soon upon them courtesy of their lust for the riches of the land.

Trevor Jagger, who served as a colonial administrator in Tanganyika in the early 1950s, recounted to me how, on their first day at school, he and his classmates were addressed by the headmaster in these words: "Boys, you must always remember you were born English, and that means you have won your first lottery in life."

In another movie, Zulu Dawn, an English expedition arrives at the Cape, and is confronted by a warrior on sentry duty. "Why do you come to the land of the Zulu?" The reply? "We come in the name of Victoria, Queen of all Africa!"

These statements attest to the disproportionate sense of self-importance the English — and by extension the British — have of themselves and their station in the world. I read somewhere that prior to the 18th century, Englishmen would travel across Europe without passports, only declaring at the border, "I am an Englishman!", which would suffice.

The cheek of it all is what makes these people fascinating. Imagine such a tiny little, damp island putting it in its head to go and colonise a country with a population twenty times its own, and with the magnificent civilisation of the the Mogul Empire, to say nothing of America.

Still, give it to them; they have pluck, they have cojones, they have chutzpah. What more pluck can you have than to declare Queen Victoria, a woman with hardly a drop of English blood in her veins, Empress of India?

They are still displaying all those traits to this day, when all the might of the Empire is gone and their country is on its way to a middling economic status somewhere between Brazil and Russia. They are still doing it, as we witness David Cameron do his Macarena with Brussels.

In short, what Cameron promised his electorate was that he was going to Brussels to tell the Europeans — because the British are not Europeans — that if they wanted Britain to remain in Europe — apparently it is in the interest of the Europeans — then they would have to agree a special status for Britain that would make her enjoy "the best of two worlds": In, yes, but also out.

I am frankly amazed that the Europeans even deigned to listen to Cameron's cajoling. Just what does Europe lose if boring old Albion walks out? She is not even a full-fledged member of the group, being out of the Eurozone and all that. Someone even likened it to a man going to a wife-swapping party without his wife.

It has been suggested that the Europeans are wary of a British walkout because it could could trigger a stampede for the exit, what has been called the "British Disease," especially if Marine Le Pen of le Front National (FN) has any say in the way France decides, because she definitely wants out.

There are so many dissentions in Brussels one does not know which particular issue will be the proverbial straw that will break the camel's back. Will it be immigration, will it be "ever closer union" or will it be the crises of the laggards, such as Greece?

In all that I ask myself, if Britain is playing hard to get, but poor Turkey, faithful member of the Nato alliance, dogged pursuer of Islamic State with the West, is kept at the door, would it not be time to let Britain go and embrace Turkey as a full member? Just asking.

Jenerali Ulimwengu is chairman of the board of the Raia Mwema newspaper and an advocate of the High Court in Dar es Salaam. E-mail: ulimwengu@jenerali.com

Cameron goes wife-swapping all on his lonesome... and gets what he - Comment

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/Britain-European-Union-exit/-/434750/3094178/-/vf4hy6/-/index.html

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