17 November 2004 Blog Home : November 2004 : Permalink
In case you hadn't noticed this year is the centenery of the year that the British Empire signed the "Entente Cordiale" with our froggy neighbours. There have been various celebrations of this bit of paper in both countries and now Frère Jacques is popping over to London to visit Her Majesty and say thanks for helping out again and again. Or not as the case may be as somehow I sort of wonder just how cordiale things really are,
Frère Jacques seems to have got his knickers in a twist about Iraq again (possibly because he's had to face the fact that he won't be getting any further share of the $20+ Billion rakeoff) and is bitching and moaning that Tony is Mr Bush's poodle not his own - "Eef 'e was my poodle I'd call 'im Fifi hand give 'im ze best feed". And then there is this:
"But it also provoked reactions, such as the mobilisation in a number of countries, of men and women of Islam, which has made the world more dangerous," Mr Chirac says.
"There's no doubt that there has been an increase in terrorism and one of the origins of that has been the situation in Iraq.
"I'm not at all sure that one can say that the world is safer," President Chirac says.
This is not precisely the words of a man who is willing to kiss and make up. One wonders if this has anything to do with the fact that he will be spending some time in Windsor Castle listening to music in a rather special room - The Waterloo Room - which is being referred to as "the Music Room". Fortunately, as the Torygraph notes,
Even after the subtle rebranding, the French President will not be able to avoid the reminder of his country's defeat on the battlefield. The chamber was built to commemorate a famous British victory.
It is adorned with the portraits of heads of state and military leaders who helped defeat Bonaparte.
There have been lots of excuses about why the room was chosen (too big an audience for another one blah blah blah) but one wonders whether this was intended as a subtle hint by Her Majesty and/or her ministers.