Random pictures - ridiculousness

 

Source: Royals defend palace refurbishment and new helicopter and Time to turn the Pages of history?

Good grief, the outfits.... And I'm not talking about the Duchess of Cambridge's... 

And from the latter: "... Looking the very picture of noble obesiance and honourable tradition in his Daz-white lace jabot and smart scarlet court dress, 13–year-old Viscount Aithrie, HM The Queen's current Page of Honour was back on duty yesterday — serving his Monarch at The Order of the Garter Ceremony yesterday. Lord Aithrie (son of the Earl of Hopetoun and grandson of the Marquess of Linlithgow) was the poor chap who made headlines two weeks ago when he fainted during his previous engagement at the State Opening of Parliament.." 

Wow, brings this to mind: 

Picture credit

Open Society?

Ah yes, Bahrain, an open society... and "a flourishing democracy" which has "demonstrated remarkable strides in political governance, including an impressive movement towards the inclusion of women in politics"... even if they do say so themselves... If there is a snake in this Garden of Eden, it surely must have slithered in from Iran!

Openness, freedom, democracy, the love of a people towards their rulers.... in a nutshell paradise, Bahrain. The proof? Why, the King very generously appointed some non family members to be cabinet ministers! And also allows the populace to vote for the 40-member Chamber of Deputies (note: the King appoints the 40-member Consultative Council, which can block any legislation that passes the Chamber of Deputies). What more could the hoi polloi want?

Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifah - King
Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa - Crown Prince, Commander in Chief of the Bahrain Defense Forces.

Shaikh Khalifah ibn Sulman al-Khalifah, Prime Minister.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa - Deputy Premier Minister.
Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa - Deputy Premier Minister.
Jawad Salem Al-Urayyedh - Deputy Premier Minister.
Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa - Deputy Prime Minister.
Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa - Minister of Defense Affairs.
Fahmi Al Jowder - Minister of Electricity & Water.
Abdulaziz Al-Fadhel - Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
Shaikh Rashed bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa - Minister of Interior of Bahrain.
Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa - Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Hassan Abdulla Fakhro - Minister of Commerce & Industry.
Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf - Minister of Works.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa - Minister of Finance.
Majed Ali Al No'aimi - Minister of Education.
Majeed Mohsen Al Alawi - Minister of Labor.
Abdulhussain Mirza - Minister of Oil & Gas.
Faisal Al Hamar - Minister of Health.
Fatima Mohammed Al-Balooshi - Minister of Social Development.
Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al-Khalifa - Minister of Justice & Islamic Affairs.
Juma Ahmed Al Kaabi - Minister of Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning
Nizar Sadeq Al-Baharna - Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
Shaikh Ahmed bin Attiyatallah Al-Khalifa - Minister of Cabinet Affairs.
Sheikha May Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa - Minister of Culture and Information.
Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad bin Salman Al Khalifa - Minister of the Royal Court
Shaikh Ali bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa - Minister of Royal Court Affairs.
Shaikh Ahmad bin Atiyatallah Al Khalifa - Minister of the Royal Court for Follow-Up Affairs

Bahrain (CIA World Factbook)
Bahrain (Fullbright Scholar Program)
Bahrain links (University of Oklahoma)
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain (Washington, D.C.)

Ed.Note: No guarantee that I got this 100% correct, it's hard to keep this lot straight! However, even if there's an error or two, it doesn't invalidate the point being made...

Crikey!

The frigate HMS Iron Duke intercepted a speedboat north of Barbados and seized a large haul of cocaine. Rates about a two or three on a ten-point interest scale. However, Sub Lieutenant Wales a.k.a Prince William was serving on board and was involved, so in the British press this rates a ten!

If you read the articles in the more staid newspapers you find that “The British Royal Navy ship on which Prince William is serving” was involved in this, with “Wills” serving as a spotter on a Lynx helicopter, along with a pilot, a command observer, a Marine armed with a high-powered sniper rifle, another commando with a machinegun, and an American coastguard.

Either they followed the vessel in question for three days (following a tip) before seizing it OR the Lynx/Prince William spotted it and they became suspicious that a small speedboat was so far out to sea….

The story starts to grow as you get to the yellow press. Now it’s “Prince William’s ship”; “Wills’ helicopter”; they “swooped on a suspicious powerboat north east of Barbados”; “the group of young sailors battled for 14 hours in rough seas - often in darkness - to enable coastguards to seize the speedboat and its cargo”; “The six-strong crew put themselves in dire danger as they hovered just feet above the craft and ordered it to stop”; etc., etc.

OK, so “The six-strong crew put themselves in dire danger as they hovered just feet above the craft and ordered it to stop. A military source said last night: “If the drug runners had decided to open fire with machineguns it could have been very sticky for Prince William.” Very clever indeed!

One's nicked
Prince William's ship makes major cocaine bust
Prince William's Navy ship pulls off £40million cocaine bust
Prince William plays key role in Royal Navy's £40 million cocaine bust