MIKE WHITLAM, as director-general of the Red Cross, was the man
whose invitation to Diana, Princess of Wales to join a campaign against
landmines was to change the way the world viewed one of the cruellest
weapons of war.
It also led to a warm friendship, and, on the eve of the third anniversary of her
death, he explained that she would have understood why he has left one of
Britain's highest-profile charity jobs and is now working on a shoestring
budget with a tiny charity. She would have appreciated the challenge, he said
of the plans to open a Bogota office for the Mentor Foundation, a
Government-funded drug prevention charity.
He said: "She would have been great at getting support for this. I really miss
her. I only wish she were alive - I would bring her in here straightaway." The
project has some powerful supporters. Next month Mo Mowlam, the Cabinet
Office Minister, and John Battle, the Foreign Office minister, will visit the
Colombian capital to launch the venture, which will receive £400,000 in
public funding over three years.
The sum is tiny compared with the £110 million annual turnover of the Red
Cross; the task of changing attitudes to drugs in a nation like Colombia is
colossal, yet Mr Whitlam is upbeat. He said: "Colombia is the biggest supplier
of cocaine to the UK, and the Government wants to be seen to be assisting
ordinary Colombians while trying to combat the trade."
"Some people think I am stark, staring bonkers . . . and I am somewhat
nervous about it. We are arranging security through local partners but I hope
that because we are helping Colombians we won't be seen as too much of a
problem since most of their drugs are exported."
Mr Whitlam achieved national recognition after he was filmed taking the
Princess to meet landmine victims in Angola.Her involvement transformed the
previously little-noted campaign, leading to the British Government, among
others, banning the use of landmines against civilian targets.
During his eight and a half years with the Red Cross, Mr Whitlam rid the
charity of its dowdy image and raised turnover from £40 million a year to
£110 million. Last month, he was rewarded with a lifetime achievement
award. As he is 53, with two grown-up daughters and one grandchild, he
could have been forgiven for resting on his laurels.
Instead the former assistant governor of Brixton prison has switched from
directing 3,500 staff and 90,000 volunteers to being the leader of a team of
10 and making his own fundraising phone calls from a basement just off
Oxford Street.
The Mentor Foundation was set up five years ago by a Swedish United
Nations official who wanted to bring in the private sector to generate income
for drug prevention programmes. Its impressive board of trustees includes the
financier George Soros, who last year decided to find someone to put the
charity on a proper footing.
Mr Whitlam now finds himself working long hours, doing "silly" amounts of
travelling and under enormous pressure to get things moving. On occasions,
he admits ruefully, he wonders why he did it. "I wasn't thinking of leaving the
Red Cross, but they rang when I was in the middle of persuading the board to
cut down from 35 to 15 - a lot of jobs were disappearing. They sold it to me
on the argument that 'you must have one more big challenge left in you'."
One of the biggest difficulties is raising funds. "We are costing projects out at
price-per-child. One of our projects cost £3 per child, per year, whereas a
police operation to deal with eight kids on drug offences in Leeds cost
£500,000. We face a difficult, long-term and expensive struggle which may or
may not be durable. But we have a vision of what's possible, and if I were not
an optimist, I would never have survived 20 years in the voluntary sector."
The Princess, he said, would have shared the vision. "I know she would have
been interested in the subject, because she was involved with Turning Point
and other agencies. She was very aware and concerned at the ease with
which young people get involved with drugs.
"The hardest thing is the frustration at not being able to get the support we
need from large corporations who see people who use drugs as their own
worst enemies. I keep thinking of how much easier it was when I was going
around with the Princess."
~*~
King faces revolt over 'naughty' new
bride(Electronic Telegraph)
By Christina Lamb, Diplomatic Correspondent
THOUSANDS of bare-breasted young virgins will don grass skirts tomorrow
for Swaziland's annual Reed Dance, at which the king traditionally picks a
new bride. Many Swazis, however, are expected to boycott the ceremony in
an unprecedented challenge to one of the world's last absolute monarchies.
Stung by unprecedented media criticism, 32-year-old King Mswati III has
closed down one of the country's main newspaper groups and had the editor
of the other arrested and sacked.
The controversy began when Liphovela Senteni Masongo, 18, was selected
at last year's Reed Dance. A series of articles in the Sunday Times of
Swaziland described her as "wild and irresponsible" and "a very naughty girl",
who had been expelled from two schools and who could expose the royal
household to the Aids virus, HIV - a clear implication that she was not a
virgin.
The furious king, who has the power to order beheadings, had the editor,
Bheki Makhubu, thrown into jail, then closed down the state-owned Swazi
Observer group which had repeated the allegations. Mr Makhubu, who was
later released, appeared in court last week on criminal defamation charges.
The case is expected to be dropped after strong international pressure.
Earlier this month, the king made Miss Senteni his seventh wife in a secret
ceremony at which, following tradition, she was presented with a spear, a
child daubed in red ochre, and a slaughtered goat. A wedding ring in the form
of a bracelet was cut out of its skin.
The row over Miss Senteni goes to the heart of the country's future.
Swaziland, a small mountainous kingdom in southern Africa, has been ruled
by royal decree since 1973 when the then monarch, Sobhuza II, scrapped the
Westminster-style constitution inherited upon independence from Britain in
1968 and banned party politics.
King Mswati III is one of the world's only remaining absolute monarchs, ruling
with the help of a royal council and astronomers, wearing head-dresses made
from the scarlet feathers of a rare bird, and constantly preceded by a
traditional praise-singer heralding his approach. With the rest of southern
Africa having embraced multi-party democracy, however, he is under
increasing pressure to introduce reform.
When he became king unexpectedly in 1986, at the age of only 17, Mswati
was expected to be a modernising monarch. He had studied at Sherborne
school, Dorset, where he loved to escape to Bournemouth to enjoy a ride on
the bumper cars. In power, he quickly installed a disco in one of his palaces,
where he played Michael Jackson, and a small cinema which showed his
favourite Eddie Murphy films. He drove his security to distraction by adopting
disguises and going out into the night.
He also introduced a constitutional review commission to appease reformers,
although the opposition remains banned. The commission has been touring the
country since 1996, asking many of the one million inhabitants what kind of
political system they would favour. Critics point out that it is hardly impartial
as it is headed by a member of the royal household, whose powers would
diminish with any move towards multi-party democracy.
Originally scheduled to complete its work in 1998, the commission has twice
asked for extensions, fuelling speculation that it is deliberately dragging its feet.
Its report is now due to be presented this week. "This is just political
window-dressing" said Mario Masuku, president of the banned People's
United Democratic Movement. "We know that the commission will say that
the majority of Swazis do not want political reform, and that will be the end of
it."
In a sign that traditionalists are still dominant, a man who wants HIV-positive
people to be sterilised and who believes that the Aids virus will solve
Swaziland's demographic problems has been elected speaker of the national
assembly.
Nicholas S'kakadza Matsebula took the post last month after his
predecessor, Mgabhi Dlamini, was caught stealing cow dung from the king's
kraal. Royal advisers said he had intended to use the dung as a talisman to
strengthen his position with the royal clan. Mr Dlamini said he was following
the orders of ancestral spirits, who told him in a dream to take the dung to
protect the monarchy from impending peril.
Mr Matsebula's first move was to suggest that the government should scrap
its family planning programme as the spread of HIV would arrest the rapid
population growth. Aids is a highly contentious issue in Swaziland, where,
according to a recent report, more than 50,000 people have died of the
disease in the past two years.
A group of parliamentarians is lobbying to have the country's estimated
120,000 HIV carriers herded into concentration camps. Tfolongwane
Dlamini, an influential royal adviser, described HIV-infected people as "bad
potatoes" who must be isolated from the general population or "all will go
rotten".
Aid workers point out that a major reason for the high incidence of HIV is
polygamy, and that King Mswati could set an example by refraining from
taking so many wives. Instead, he has bowed to traditionalists' pressure and
begun taking a new wife every year in an attempt to emulate his father,
Sobhuza, who had almost 90 wives when he died, and hundreds of children.
Things have changed since his father's time, however, and many Swazis are
questioning the wisdom of taking so many wives - each of whom has to be
provided with a palace, a fleet of cars, staff and security - in a poor county
with 40 per cent unemployment. For most Swazis, their only hope of
upliftment is that their daughter be picked as a royal bride at the Reed Dance.
During King Sobhuza's reign, his spouses were rarely seen, but King Mswati's
wives have taken on a much more public role, appearing at charity functions
and being photographed in the latest Swazi fashions. One recently completed
a law degree.
"The king cannot have it both ways," argued Bheki Makhubu, who now edits
the Nation magazine. "If his wives are going to be public figures - sort of
mini-Princess Dianas - then the public has a right to know more about them,
and, at the very least, a background check should be carried out."
~*~
Devout earl to keep Camilla out of
castle (Uk Sunday Times)
Christopher Morgan
THE Prince of Wales will not be welcome at the secluded
Welsh castle where he has been an annual guest for the past
five years, if he takes Camilla Parker Bowles with him.
Charles has stayed at the imposing 13th-century Powis Castle,
home of the Earl of Powis, while undertaking four days of official
engagements in the principality each July.
However, the earl, a deeply religious man, does not want any
further visits with Parker Bowles.
Last year the earl wrote to the prince suggesting a temporary
break from what appeared to have become an established
tradition after five consecutive visits. He subsequently
discovered Parker Bowles had accompanied the prince to a
concert during his 1999 visit, but made no inquiries about the
sleeping arrangements. It was reported that Parker Bowles
stayed with Charles at the castle.
Powis, who is hosting a prayer conference at the castle next
weekend, said: "You don't sleep in the same bed if you are not
married."
Powis Castle, near Welshpool, was built in the early 13th
century and now belongs to the National Trust, of which Charles
is president. Powis has retained his own private apartments in
the castle. Asked if the prince had consulted him about Parker
Bowles staying, Powis said: "There is very little of the asking
[with the prince]."
Although this year Charles accepted Powis's desire to have a
break from hosting the royal visit, he has made it known that he
would like to return in the future. Powis has disclosed to his
friends, however, that this would not be acceptable if Parker
Bowles went too.
Last month Charles stayed with Parker Bowles at the nearby
4,000-acre Vaynor Park during his annual four-day visit. William
Corbett-Winder, the owner, and his family moved out for a week.
A spokesman for the prince said: "There had never been an
intention for it always to be Powis Castle. There are plenty of
other invitations."
Powis Castle is a much more striking setting for a prince to hold
court while visiting his principality. It has some of the finest
murals and tapestries in Europe and is surrounded by formal
gardens that have a backdrop of the Welsh hills. Charles is
understood to have found it a relaxing place and to have enjoyed
comparing gardening tips gleaned from his own estate at
Highgrove.
For centuries it has been the home of the earls of Powis,
including Edward Clive, the son of Robert Clive of India.
Powis is known locally for his enthusiasm for the Pentecostal
church and is actively involved with two Assembly of God
churches. Next weekend he will co-host the Powys Prayer
Conference, for more than 100 representatives from around the
county.
Dr Justin Cooper, president of Redeemer University College in
Canada, where Powis was an assistant professor of English
literature in the early 1990s, said he was not surprised at the
earl's decision about Parker Bowles. "I think it is consistent with
his traditional Christian morality," he said. "I know him to be a
committed Christian and it does not surprise me that he has
taken a principled approach to this issue and has applied it
consistently, irrespective of the importance of the persons
involved."
It is not the first time that Charles's relationship with Parker
Bowles has disturbed religious figures. In May he upset several
Church of Scotland ministers by taking her to stay at
Holyroodhouse while acting as lord high commissioner to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Former
moderators and senior officials were offended when they
discovered just two hours before a dinner that she was going to
be present.
A friend of the Queen disclosed that she would "tell off" the
prince for his behaviour when she next saw him, and a senior
member of the royal household disclosed that the Queen herself
was dismayed that Charles had taken Parker Bowles to
Holyroodhouse during the religious gathering.
~*~
Edward to make sexy docusoaps
for Channel 5 (Uk Sunday times)
Nicholas Hellen, Media Editor
PRINCE Edward's television production company is to produce
titillating docusoaps.The prince decided to diversify from
heritage programmes and serious drama after Ardent lost
£1.7m in almost seven years of trading.
X-Pats, a series about the hedonistic existence of young
British expatriates, will be screened next year on Channel 5,
which has been criticised by broadcasting watchdogs for
showing sexually explicit programmes.
Michael Attwell, a Channel 5 commissioning editor, likened the
series to the notorious Ibiza Uncovered, which was shown on
satellite television and Channel 4.
The first programme will follow financial traders in the Far East.
Footage has already been shot of one female trader whipping
off her top and a colleague who uses transvestite male
prostitutes.
When Edward launched Ardent in 1993 he vowed not to trade
on his royal status. But after Channel 4 dropped Annie's Bar, a
satirical sitcom set in Westminster, and ITV failed to
commission a full series of the Inspector Pitt Mysteries,
despite a successful pilot show, he was forced to turn to royal
subjects and won critical acclaim for Edward on Edward, a
two-part documentary on his great-uncle, King Edward VIII. He
made 38 episodes of Crown and Country, which was shown on
ITV and exported to 60 countries, and also a programme on the
restoration of Windsor Castle.
After his wedding last summer, controversy arose over his
money-making ventures, which included £15,000-an-hour
speaking engagements. Concern was also voiced about the
business activities of his wife, the Countess of Wessex, who
runs a public relations company.
The prince cancelled plans for a drama about the Queen
Mother, announced a £500,000 donation to charity from the
proceeds of footage of his wedding and has, with little publicity,
embarked on a career as a film producer. He recently oversaw
the making of two American television films in Canada.
Ardent's diversification will continue into documentary profiles of
sporting and musical celebrities. It has filmed interviews with
Sir Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton and wants
to make a documentary about Andrew Loog Oldham, who
discovered and managed the Rolling Stones.
Robin Bextor, Ardent's director of programmes, said yesterday:
"The new type of shows can co-exist with our previous output.
We are becoming much more mainstream."