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While preparing for a British examination, one of the things the seniors mentioned before going for a clinical examination or viva você was this. Just because the examiner is smiling at you, do not think that he is happy with what you say. He may be helping you to dig your own grave. Then another shared his experience. His boss was complimenting him at work. Only half a day later, did he realise that his boss was being sarcastic. His conclusion was that the Brits have an inbuilt capacity to insult you while smiling in your face, and you say thank you. This capability must have been over the generations, being an imperialist power and hoodwinking natives to play into their playbook.
This event played on my mind as I read excerpts about King Charles III's visit to the USA. At the Joint Congress in Washington, the King delivered a speech that many observers praised as a masterclass in soft diplomacy. True, Trump, of late, has showcased himself as a brash, fickle-minded, foul-mouthed, uncouth, narcissistic, and war-mongering leader. If during his first term, he was the President who wanted to end wars and criticised his predecessors for the wars around the world, he is now doing just the same as the others. Everyone agrees he is off his rocker. Some Americans are even thinking of getting Trump medically boarded.
So in came King Charles III to diplomatically voice everybody's opinion in a polite way that only the English can deliver. 'Just the other day', he said, telling how long the British were as a world power, when the US were their colony. He reminded everyone that both countries used democracy, Magna Carta, and Christianity as the basis of their governance.
The first jolt came when Trump was reminded that even leaders are held to checks and balances under the Magna Carta. To play to Trump's grandiosity and ego, the King presented a refurbished, gold-coloured brass bell from the British WW2 submarine, bearing the inscription 'HMS Trump'. To this icon of US-UK collaboration symbol, King Charles told Trump to give it a ring, meaning do not act unilaterally, give us a call and let us collaborate in so few words.
What I noticed is the change of tide. From a time when the colonies were made to pay taxes to fatten the British coffers after depleting them in wars against the Spanish and French, the Americans rose to the occasion. They dumped East India Company tea in Boston harbour, which essentially made the US independent. Since then, the British have had a not-so-cordial relationship.
The Americans chased the Brits by dumping their most valuable asset, Indian tea, into the sea in what we call the Boston Tea Party, which, as it turned out, was no party. And they became coffee drinkers. The Americans could not sail across the Atlantic for fear of being hunted down by the British Navy. The French offered protection. How the tide had changed.
First, it was Churchill circling between London and Washington for joint WW2 efforts. Then their Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was their lapdog rather than the Bulldog the Brits called themselves. Now, the British monarch has to cross the same Atlantic Ocean that his ancestors were hurled across for a tête-à-tête over tea. The former colonial masters are now returning to see the former natives, now the new masters, with a 'begging bowl'.
Farouk Gulsara (asokansham@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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