If Lord Baden Powell
was living , he would have turned red!
Not because he would see the ubiquitous handkerchief of our industrious politico. It was all over his high spirited remarks.
The occasion was a scout jamboree in the salubrious climes of Pallekele.
As our man strode along from one campsite to another, he came by one pitched by young men from Kilinochchi.
"Have you brought bombs", he exhorted in his unmistakable baritone voice.
Even if the scout motto said"be prepared", the boys were not ready with an answer .
Who needs a hearts and minds operations to win over boys from the north when we have such spirited men?
The Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the Greater London Area (not to be mistaken with a military title though the man is fond of the subject) is an angry man.
The Prince of Wales has come and gone but his fury about not being invited to the Presidential banquet continues.
He tried Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera many times. Then he tried Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris. He too could not be contacted. So he tried the British High Commission. That did also not succeed.
He did not give up or fly to Greater London. The man managed to get an invitation to a musical evening. There he saw Prince Charles and listened to some classical music. He says that not fitting treatment for someone from Rajput lineage.
The independence day
reception hosted by the Sri Lankan mission to the United Nations drew an
unprecedented crowd of over 750, the largest gathering of Sri Lankan expatriates
ever in New York.
The joyous occasion was almost marred by a mad scramble for food. "Some of the expatriates behaved as they have never seen food before. It was worse than the food lines in Somalia and Burundi," one UN official was heard complaining.
The cultural show and the celebrations were, however, successful events, though security was tight with body searches on everyone entering the reception.
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