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So now it is British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire who turns up in Sri Lanka, leaving his chilly, rain-soaked country for warmer climes. Recently our one-time friends and peace-makers, the Norwegians were in Colombo. In years gone by they used to drop in often to meet our leaders and share crab curry in Kilinochchi.

Never mind the past, some say, as our hospitable leaders now embrace the modern Norse with their new smorgasbord of goodies. So now we are all bosom pals like the British, who until a year ago were directing all their ire and fire at us.  See how concerned British ministers are about our well being. The Swires and squires who some claim pollute the British political scene, do not move a muscle on Sri Lankan affairs without having a good heart- to- heart chat with the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (and previously some domesticated Sri Lankan Tamil groups) before setting forth on their regular pilgrimages to Colombo.

I suppose now that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has graciously lifted the ban on some of the Tamil groups (even recently unidentified persons were collecting money supposedly for Eastern province flood victims) who are said to have been seriously wronged by the Rajapaksa administration, Swire finds enough of their proxies ensconced in the All Party Group for Tamils without having to talk to each of them.

Hugo Swire apparently finds it unnecessary to talk to associations or groups from Sri Lankan communities in the UK other than the All Party Group for Tamils

Some names might have changed after the Labour Party and Lib Dems were thrashed at the parliamentary elections last May. But some of those who used to appear at the Heroes Day commemorations held in London or at other pro-LTTE gatherings are still in the APPG for T.

Swire apparently finds it unnecessary to talk to associations or groups from other Sri Lankan communities in the UK. After all it has been British colonial policy for several centuries to use subservient minorities to subdue the majority. Hugo Swire will surely remember how the colonial rulers in Hong Kong with the help of British business giants such as Swires and Jardines (not to mention the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club) made use of the minority Indian entrepreneurial class in Hong Kong to keep sections of the Chinese majority demanding more freedom and social welfare at bay.

In the end generations of persons of Indian and Pakistani origin who had made Hong Kong their home but many of whom were stateless would have been left adrift after China regained sovereignty had it not been for the efforts of the last governor of the colony, Chris Patten.

Anyway it is a good time to be away from the cold of the UK and Norway. Lucky chaps, these foreign ministry types who, like migratory birds, find ways of heading out to tropical climates for official visits that seem like holidays. Now that is what is called climate change.

In Colombo, addressing the Council for Business with Britain, Swire said that UK-Sri Lanka relations have gone from “strength to strength” most notable when President Sirisena met the Queen and Prime Minister Cameron last November. As a once subject people there would still be some who would be simply thrilled to get a glimpse of the Queen, let alone shake hands with her. So it would appear that presidency meeting royalty is to be celebrated and recorded in stone like edicts of our ancient monarchs and planted in one of the presidential abodes for generations to see.

What might fall if the historical tree of the English monarchy is given a good enough shake is difficult to conceive as it does have its shady side. It surely cannot be as old as our own monarchy that is seeing resurrection in song and dance in recent years.
I cannot be sure whether Mahinda Rajapaksa did shake the Queen’s hand when he popped over for occasions such as the Commonwealth Golden Jubilee celebrations or the Commonwealth summit.

But long before the Rajapaksa and Sirisena presidencies were elevated to the status of royalty J.R.Jayewardene had claimed to be part of a 2,500-year old monarchy unbroken except when the British grabbed it for some 150 years. Despite monarchy being an anachronism Rajapaksa was venerated as a modern-day Dutugemunu from ancient Ruhunu Rata for defeating the Tamil Tigers and songs were sung in praise of the new King.

Not to be outdone loyalists of Maithripala Sirisena composed a song to coincide with his first anniversary as president, equating him with ancient kings like Parakramabahu the Great. It is true that Sirisena like Parakramabahu has his origins in Polonnaruwa. But when sycophants out of loyalty perhaps try to thrust greatness upon a man who is still far from proving it and the media believing it was an officially approved song publicized it, all hell broke loose.

The ‘social media’ immediately deprecated the effort at turning the president who had promised at the very beginning to step down when his time was up, into a king who should rule forever. It was a reckless attempt at lyrical hyperbole. Within a couple of days this episode like some others before it turned into a comedy of errors. It vanished from Youtube and elsewhere. The president’s secretary denied it was an officially sanctioned lyric. So it may be but are the sentiments contained in the lyrics rejected too? On that the secretary and the president’s media division maintained a profound silence.

This is not the first time the social media which former president Chandrika Kumaranatunga said played a lead role in displacing Mahinda Rajapaksa, have zeroed in on presidential activity and his family. Pictures which if they first appeared in the presidential media division’s website vanished faster than the Halley’s comet or were quickly withdrawn from the social media platforms of the president’s son or his son-in-law such as the one showing the latter at the Enrique Iglesias concert.

All these amateurish attempts at publicizing themselves and then hiding behind the barricades at the first sign of criticism are symptomatic of the eccentricities increasingly prevalent in domestic politics. Not too long ago the Law and Order minister honourably resigned after he was accused of talking out of turn. But the Justice Minister whose admission that he told the Attorney-General not to arrest the former defence secretary and allegedly has friendly relations with a person under investigation over the Avant Garde affair, remains firmly in position despite persistent calls for his resignation which he simply ignores.

The other day there was a report which cited Minister Wijeyadas Rajapakshe as saying that anybody who opposes the new constitution is a traitor. If he was correctly quoted it is surely a foolish thing to say. How is a person expected to support a constitution which has still to be seen in its final form? If this is the kind of remark made by politicians who project themselves as ‘intellectuals’ and legal luminaries, then Sri Lanka would be better off without them in public life.

Shakespeare’s character Dick the Butcher said in Henry Vl part 2 “The first we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” One would not wish such punishment on even the worst lawyer and rest assured there are many around. Perhaps President Sirisena could usefully employ his madu walge on those in his government whose constant gibberish makes a mockery of this government.