27 December, 2008

Benazir and the Beeb

We get BBC World here, and I have just gone through the astonishing experience of them observing a minute's silence for the anniversary of the death of Benazir Bhutto.

I knew Benazir slightly, years ago. She was self-obsessed, almost to the point of insanity, hedonistic, look-at-me hubristic and, of course, rich. In her time as a politician she enriched herself further at the expense of some of the poorest people on earth, her husband, who is now president, creaming off a slice of any major contract in the country. What the BBC fawningly describes as 'her vision for Pakistan' was that the keys of the treasury should be in her pocket and that her opponents should be in prison.

It is difficult to get the BBC to respect the minute's silence for our war dead. This was a disgrace, which must go into the pot with so many other incidents when we finally get to decide its future. Mene Mene Tekel upharsin. I hope it's soon.

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