1/27/2008

Interfaith Commemoration on Holocaust Memorial Day, 2oo8.

Having seen both the Auschwitz (shown above with me)
and Birkenau Nazi Death Camps with my own Anglican
eyes on my journey to Poland's Cracow two years ago, I
now have even a deeper feeling of the diabolical horror
that took place there when I was only in an English cradle
at then a baby boy of the Second World War.
n
As an avid and an avowed and an affirming adult Anglican,
Protestant Christian, and living Gentile, I have a true fond-
ness today for our Jewish friends and their tradition and
culture and not to mention my utter fascination with the long
history of the fathers and mothers of the Jewish Diaspora.
The East End of London speaks of their diaspora as clear as
a bell. Today, however, the East End has become almost
everything but traditionally Jewish. The once local Jews
have now gone to new abodes at places like Edgware,
Chigwell, Finchley, and Camden Town and they have
seemingly abandoned their maternal home. At WWII,
there was 150 synagogues in the East London.
Today, there's just 4 ... It's like a vanishing act all of
its own. So now, the once proud community of British
Jews sees the rise and expansion of Muslims, Bangla-
dashis and Asians galore at the East End. The masses
of textile, clothing and schoolwear wholesale businesses
along the hub of Commercial Road is now controlled,
for the most part, by the new immigrants with hardly
a vestige left of Jewish entrepreneurship and owner-
ship to be anymore found.
n
So to sit, talk, and listen for almost four hours, like I
did, inside the East London Central Synagogue (ELCS)
-- opened in 1923 or at the Rabbinical Year of 5684 --
was my public affirmation and open solidarity with our
Semitic brothers and sisters along with those present
of differing faiths and creeds to me and to them. I have
always felt at home in the Synagogue for I have visited
such before in America, Morocco, and Germany. It was,
however, my first visit to any British Synagogue and I
was so pleased that I did. Unlike the Christian tradition,
at the synagogue one's head must remain covered
either with a "couple" or "yarmulka" or skullcap
or one's own hat. So you don't take your hat off.
If you do, you'll be gently told to cover your
bare head like I was at the synagogue.
n
The important occasion at ELCS was to mark
Holocaust Memorial Day, 2oo8, with an Interfaith
Commemoration. Thus came the local mayor Anne
Jackson, the local police inspector Paul Sloan, and
the local priest the Rev'd Father Allan Green,
among perhaps 95 or so other good folkz that
gathered inside the synagogue to pay remembrance
and homage to the six million people who so savagely
perished by the utter Nazi barbarity and Fascist
mechanization of now more than 60 years ago.
n
And there was Ilana Cravitz with her folksey violin
and James Siverly with his old accordian playing such
Yiddish pieces as "Zog Nit Keyn Mol," "Der Yidisher
Soldat in Di Trentshes," and my favourite "Doyne
un Khosidl." Yiddish music simply haunts me.
n
The memorial theme was"Imagine, Remember,
Reflect, React." Indeed, we did in our own way.
We then heard from Jane Barraclough speak
from a multifaith perspective. Ram Chandra
Saha from an Hindu point of view and Ansar
Ahmed Ullah from his Muslim overview.
n
Readers Alice Kingsnorth, Barry Davis,
Roland Maltman, and Henry Glanz, read
poetry and Hebrew writings about the
Holocaust for us all to remember. The
shofar was befittingly sounded to the mark
the close of the Interfaith Commemoration.
I think the presence of the local rabbi would
have been rather nice, too, for such an inter-
faith assembly, but I didn't see any sight or
sound of any rabbi. Perhaps, he was busy
elsewhere at another synagogue like the
one I saw from the outside as I walked
passed Watney Market to see the 1903
Synagogue of the Congregation of Jacob
and Chevra Yisroel and Bikur, which I
promptly photographed on such a lovely
Sunday afternoon in late January at the
dying Jewish heart of the East End.
n
Before I entered the synagogue, I took
a long stroll around the East End since I
had never really been there before other than
perhaps driving thru it at years and years ago.
I discovered a couple of interesting things at least
to me. At Parfitt Street, I saw the closed Jewish
Boxers Cafe with two large enamel signs in the
shape of boxing gloves ... It was neat. But my
biggest surprise was at Varden Street just the
next block up from ELCS at Nelson Street.
There I noticed the Free Presbyterian Church
of Scotland (FPCS) that I'd never before
encountered. I popped my head inside
and thought it was like one of those old
Welsh Congregational Church chapels that
I remembered well from Gwynedd of my
first teens ... (See more about FPCS at
the end of this post).
n
But for now, the Interfaith Commemoration
was indeed commendable. The only thing
that wasn't commendable was during the
morning cultural walk from Aldgate to
Whitechapel. Stones were thrown at the
defenceless walkers and one person was then
rushed to hospital after being hit badly by one
or two of the stones ... While I wasn't there
personally, the open anti-Semitic incident was
graphically told to me just moments before
the start of the Interfaith Commemoration.
I was truly appalled at what I was told. Are
the Fascist ghosts of Sir Oswald Moseley
and his black-shirt thugz still acting out
at London's East End?
Faithfully, Monty. + Sexagesiuma, 2oo8.
The FPCS has about 60 churches worldwide from
Oban to Odessa, from Santa Fe to Stornaway, and from
Vatten to Vancouver. Plus, presence even in Jerusalem.
While I was at the Zoar Chapel, Paul Rowland intro-
duced himself to me and asked me what interest
I had in visiting. I told him I curious about FPCS.
He told me his church was fundamentalist, evan-
gelical and strictly biblical. It was also, to say the
least, ultraprotestant in its preaching and
religious outlook. If rigid Rev'd Ian Paisley of
Northern Ireland is considered to be a rip-
raw protestant, then FPCS makes him look
like a flaming liberal ... Indeed, The Free
Presbyterian Church of Scotland rejects
Catholicism, interfaith endeavours, gay
marriages, and open-minded Anglicanism,
among its other "anti-isms." When I told
Paul Rowland I was going to the synagogue,
he replied: "You did claim to be an Anglican,
didn't you? To him, the thought of someone
like me going to an interfaith event wasn't
his cuppa of tea. I later discovered he,
Mr. D. P. Rowland, was general secretary
of the Trinitarian Bible Society, which
publishes its 48-page periodical "The
Quarterly Record" in glossy format and is
most professionally written and presented
like a quarterly treatise on biblical questions
and Free Presbyterianism, religiously
conservative to the enth degree. So by
exploring the East End, I not only learned
about the death of the old Jewish enclave
but also of Calvanistic religiosity just one
block away from the Central Synagogue.
n
London (ENI). The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and Britain's Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, will mark Holocaust Day 2008 by attending a national ceremony in Liverpool which this year is a European Capital of Culture. The west coast English city was chosen in November to hold the national commemorations for the Holocaust memorial day. This is commemorated on 27 January each year on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. [516 words, ENI-08-0064]--Posted
By thebiggerissue.org to thebiggerissue.org at 1/27/2008 11:58:00 AM
:: UPDATE: More 1,600 people attended the above International
Holocaust Day ceremony at Liverpool, so reported the British media
the day after the major religious event ::

1/24/2008

Cases Studies + Stories on Big Issue Vendors in UK + Abroad ...

I'm posting just a few weblinks of cases studies and news
stories on Big Issue vendors, et al, and the homeless from
around the globe. I shall add more weblinks
from time to time ...

:: The Joseph Roundtree Foundation ::
www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/510.asp
:: A Primary Health Care Study of Vendors
of The Big Issue in the North ::
www.crashindex.org.uk/database/500.htm
:: Peer Education Among Big Issue Vendors ::
www.nice.nhs.uk/nicemedia/documents/peereducation.pdf
:: Big Issue Vendors in Australia ::
http://www.bigissuevendors.net/
bigissuevendors.net/vendors/vendorroom/Kerrie/Kerrie.html
"More than one-third of (UK) Big Issue vendors are ex-prisoners."
www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/381-38k
:: Football, Homeless & Big Issue Vendors ::
:: "His worst period was the 2-3 months after The Sun
newspaper ran an article alleging that The Big Issue
sellers were earning over £100 a day." ::
Scroll Down To 'A Big Issue. Street Life'
www.n16mag.com/issue1/p5i1.htm
:: Small Papers, Big Issues ::
The Ryerson Review of Journalism
http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2002/summer/373/
:: Homelessness Sunday ::
:: American Case Studies and Solutions to Homelessness ::
:: Story on Neil The Ex-Prep School Boy-Cum-Big Issue Vendor ::
:: The Big Issue in Japan: "Small Body, High Hopes." ::
http://www.bigissue.jp/english/english1.htm
:: Has the Big Issue's founder become its biggest problem? ::
guardian.co.uk/media/2002/jul/01/mondaymediasection.homelessness
:: Romanian families muscle in on the (Big Issue)
magazine market ::
Also Scroll Down To Readers Comments on The Big Issue
streetnewsservice.org/index.php?page=archive_detail&articleID=511

Best regards, Monty. +St Francis de Sales, 2oo8.

1/23/2008

So-Called Big Issue "Vendors Party" That Was ...

Of the hundreds of Big Issue vendors just
in London alone, only about 15 or so got to
last Saturday's so-called "Vendors Xmas
Party" that was held at the Turnmills Night
Club at London's Clerkenwell Road, EC1.
There was more TBI staffers than vendors at
the "do," so I'm told when I finally found out
this afternoon about the "party" that was ...
It's almost as if they wanted to keep the
thing a secret or to tell only a very select
few of vendors ...

For over a month I had repeatedly asked and
asked about the time and date of the vendors
xmas party. I finally gave up asking since none
of The Big Issue staffers I asked seemed to know
or they simply didn't want to tell me ...

Whatever, there was no meal given to
vendors at this year's "xmas party," I am
told. When I was there two years ago, nice
home-cooked meals were given to all the
vendors present. Staffers Jeanine Walker,
Paul Joseph and John Duffy were among those
who helped do the great cooking. I know because
I have a photo (shown above) that I took of the
cooks and helpers there at that time. This year
the vendors only got coke and I guess chocolate
bars with little else for the handful of vendors
arriving for the so-called "party" that was ....

If The Big Issue really wants its vendors
to attend such a "party," they would surely
publicize it either in the magazine's weekly
section "Streetlevel," or distribute flyers
for all to know in advance or simply have
the staffers at the various distribution spots
make a point of telling all the vendors when
they come to buy their magazines that they'll
be a party for them on so and so date and
at so and so place ... Nothing of the sort
happened as far as I know ...

Okay, so I, like hundreds of other vendors, miss-
ed this year's so-called "vendors party" because
we wasn't told it was on or when or how.

Never mind, I guess we didn't miss much after
all ... So just after I got the late news of the party
that
was, a young fellow stopped at my pitch want-
ing money because he said he'd just gotten back
to London from Ireland after burying his dead
mom over Christmas. What he forgot was that
he'd told me the same exact story the Christmas
before with teary eyes. In other words, he'd no
more buried his mom than I'd taken a jump from
the top of The Gherkin. I gave him a few quid
no matter what. I would have done that even if
he'd have simply asked me to help him out alittle.


Before him, came a middle-aged fella with a
rather strange inquiry ... He wanted to know
if I was aware of any case studies of homo-
sexuality, pediphilla, and beastality among
Big Issue vendors. "What? Say that again,"
I retorted contemptuously ... He repeated
much what he'd already said, but used the
word "gay" the second time around. I won-
dered if the fella was looking for some kind
of sexual titillation or something else. I told
him to go "googling" and see if he was sub-
liminally satisfied with whatever he may or
may not find on the search engines. While I
doubted very much
that he'd find the
specific study he seeks, if
such was ever
done or even exists, on the
human sex-
uality of the homeless and specifically
on the sexuality of Big Issue vendors
or sellers, I became otherwise curious
about what kind of case studies had
been thus far undertaken regarding
the lifestyle, condition, and personal cir-
cumstances of Big Issue vendors both
in the UK and abroad.

With the results of my online research,
I
shall shortly present weblinks to some
case studies that should be of interest to
such vendors and the public at large.


In the meantime, I shall now plan for next
year's 2oo9 Big Issue "Vendors Xmas Party"
in the hope that I will not miss it yet again ...
Cheers, Monty. Big Issue Vendor No. 236.
+St. Ildefonsus, 2oo8.
:: Above Photo Caption: Cooks and helpers at The Big Issue
"Vendors Xmas Party," of two years ago and which was then
held on January 14th, 2oo6 ::
UPDATE: Another London vendor made these
comments to me today since my first post above
about this year's "do." He went to last year's 2oo7
Vendors Xmas Party that he said was at Kings Cross.
"When I got there all they had was a bowl of soup.
They told us the bar was open not for us. We could
only drink orange juice or bottled water ... I'd say
there was 20 (Big Issue) sellers at the most. I shall
not go again, mate, never ... " Why? "Didn't like it ...
No fun. Not worth going for that bowl of veg soup.
No mate, not for me or you ..."
+The Conversion of St. Paul, 2oo8.

1/18/2008

From Rabid Robbery To Rapt Righteousness ...


Incense was everywhere at St.
Andrew's to mark the beginning of
the Centenary of Christian Unity
Week with three Oecumenical
Bishops present among the gather-
ing of interfaith clergy and laity.


I knew two of the bishops present from
having met them before. They were
Bishop Bernard Longley, Catholic
Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and
Bishop Christopher Chessun, Anglican
Bishop of Woolwich, who I first met with
Episcopal Visitor, Rt. Rev'd Sebastian
Bakare, Anglican Bishop of Zimbabwe.
It was good to spend an evening with
them along with first meeting
Bishop Basil of Amphipolis of the Russian
Exarchate of the Greek Orthodox Parish
of the Dormition.


The Prayer Vigil was in full harmony as I
arrived having just been robbed on the bendy
bus 25 that happened also to be on the eve
of the birthday. What a birthday gift to go
from a rabid robbery to rapt righteousness
at St. Andrew's ...


Rev'd Father Lyle Dennen is the rector
of St. Andrew and the Archdeacon of
Hackney. He, along with Rev'd Rhys
Martin of the Diocese of Chelmsford,
opened the service under the banner
of "Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life"
(JCFL) with chants of 'Holy Ghost, our
souls inspire' to 'Ubi Caritas et Amor,'
which followed next by readings and mov-
ing Intercessions throughout the dignified
service that saw the quietness and
prayfulness of all present.

I was especially intrigued by Rev'd Rhys
Martin, age 39, with his hair grown beyond
his shoulders and numerous tattooes on his
left arm. With his specs and tosh, he spent
most of his time at the Prayer Vigil literally
on his knees as he also directed the heavenly
religious chants with the bishops and congre-
gation meekly and agreeably in tow with Rhys.
I was quite surprised when he told me that he
was indeed an Anglican priest and not what
I first thought Rhys was - a "reformed" gang
leader or a belated hippie. Here then is an-
other example of the beauty of Anglicanism
as seen in the lifestyle of Rev'd Rhys Martin.



While I see Christian Unity as most vital
at this centenary year, I also see too
much unneeded dissension among mem-
bers of the Anglican faith of which I have
been a lifelong and an affirming member.
It is all well and good to seek unity among
those of other Christian branches - which
I personally support unconditionally -
yet at the same time cannot put its own
house in order. Anglicans need to stop
bickering and complaining and they need
to gather in unity and faith as one unto
one another whether we style ourselves
as traditional or liberal or something else.



The beauty of the Anglican faith is that we
are open enough to accommodate every
thing from Historic Anglicanism to liberation
theology to Anglo-Catholicism. We seem
to have everything, but no concrete unity
among us at this time. So as we endeavour
in giving open fellowship to our non-
Anglican friends and adherents in the cause
of Christian Unity, let us not forget to also
work hard to bring about greater Christian
love and respect for our fellow Anglicans
and Episcopalians wherever and however
we are out of the 78 million of us ...

The almost schismatic gadfly of the up-
coming Global Anglican Future Conference
(GAFCON), which is set for June at Jerusalem,
is another clear example of inter-Anglican
division and feud. GAFCON seems to be provo-
catively timed to wound and divide even further
the all-important 2oo8 Lambeth Conference
that's also set for June at Canterbury. Held
biennially, the Lambeth Conference began in
1867. In 1968, it first opened the conference
to observers and laity and not just to the
Protestant episcopate. Essentially, the purpose
has always been to bring the leaders and voices
of the worldwide Anglican Communion to
Canterbury to advance the faith and the
frame work of living Anglicanism ...

GAFCON is the opposite to that. It is
in danger of politicizing and secularising
and compartmentalizing the Anglican
faith it seems to me. I almost think we're
dealing with over-grown school kidz, who
need to first learn to grow up and stop
behaving like spoiled bratz demanding
they get their selfish and self-centered
way at the expense of Anglican unity
and fellowship. I also think it is some-
think like the bumper sticker on the back
of those 18-wheelers: "If you cannot see
my front mirrors, I cannot see you."
That's the problem with GAFCON, I'm
afraid. They cannot see us, because we
cannot see their Anglican front mirrors.
At least I cannot ... So, I'd rather listen
to Scriaban and Smetana right now than
adjust my rear view for them at GAFCON.


I have also been invitied to attend The
Holocaust Memorial Day Inter-Faith
Commemoration at the East London
Synagogue of which I am privileged to
accept without hesitation as an avowed
Anglican since I believe that Christian Unity
must also be truly interfaith with other faith
traditions be they Jewish or Islamic or Hindu
or of whatever belief held by others outside
of Christianity. There are a few exceptions
to that like: Scientology, Mormonism, and
evil cults with dubious 'preachers' of delusion.



At the end of the Prayer Vigil at St. Andrew's,
we all gathered for the 'Agape Meal' that prov-
ides fraternal space to meet with each other
over a simple and healthy supper together. It
also allowed me to personally photograph the
three bishops both individually and collectively.
It was the first time I was able to photograph
such Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican bishops
together. But best of all, I was able to spend
sometime conversing with them as Christian
friends above all else. I was happy, too, to pre-
sent Bishop Longley with a gift of one of my
photos of him in his full bishopric vestments
and mitre from when we last met at St.
Patrick's parish of Father Alexander
Shelbrooke, who is my favourite priest.


As for the robbery on the bendy just
thirty minutes before I was to arrive at
St. Andrew's, and just thirty minutes
after my earlier birthday eve bash, I
was suddenly grabbed by the copz as
the bendy stopped dead at New Oxford
Street when the doors quickly opened
with the packed bus of passengers
looking on with amazement at the un-
folding spectacle of handcuffs and instant
arrests at around 7:00pm.

I immediately protested being grab-
bed, but was soon told that I had
done nothing wrong, except I'd
been robbed by the two fellas
standing next to me on the packed
bendy. I had just caught one of
them putting back my Freedom
Pass minus some 20 quid he'd
taken from my left jacket pocket.
He'd dropped my pass on the floor
and as I was bending down to
retrieve it was then when the bendy
doors opened and I was grabbed
by the arms of the law ... It is the
police policy to grab the suspect (s)
at the same time they grab the
victim (s), too. The reason for that,
so PC Lynnette Gough informed
me, is that oftentimes the victim (s)
is terrified of being identified or
being asked to testify against
those who have victimized them ...

In my case, I am certainly not
terrified to be identified nor to testify
if required by the law. It seems the
two black gang fellas were already
known to the police for they seek
out white elderly victims who they
figure they can rob with impunity
on the bendy buses like I was ... One
cop even described them as "animals"
to me. Let me say that they're "not
beautiful people" at least ...


It was the first time I had been
robbed in London and hopefully the
last time ... Although, I was robbed last
time at South Africa's Johannesburg by
four or five professional street thugz
who put me in a tight choke hold from
behind my back and took
everything from my watch, rings,
passport, and cash all within less
than a minute right in broad day
light near Bree Street at where I
was staying at the Rand Hill Hotel.
Joberg is now considerably more
dangerous and lawless for visitors
than anything in New York City ...
When visiting Sud Africa, avoid Jo-
berg like a plague of gang violence.

When I told some of the clergy of my
bendy ordeal, they expressed alot of
sympathy, naturally. They were glad I
was not harmed for one of the suspects
I believe carried a firearm or knife on
him. If I had remonstrated to hard
with him about robbing me, I might
now been a stabbed or a dead Anglican
goose after all for all I know. What I do
know is that many of the London bendy
buses have now become a "ghettoized"
ride for folkz like me ...

Praise be to God and His protection
of me and for a wonderful day of
extremes from rabid robbery to
rapt righteousness. Who could ask
for a more stranger birthday eve
than me?
Faithfully, Monty.
+The Chair of St. Peter, 2oo8.

UPDATE: The Church Times, which I read
regularly, reports this week that Bishop Sebastian
Bakare of Zimbabwe is in a rather vile and messy
situation with the police thugz of the lunatic
government of president Robert Mugabe.
According to CT reporter Pat Ashworth
based at the capital of Harare, "Police in full
riot gear stormed (Anglican) churches last
Sunday, after a police circular was issued
saying that services could be conducted
only by priests loyal to the deposed bishop,
the Rt. Rev'd Nolbert Kunonga. All parishes
in Harare have voted to remain in the
Church of the Province of Central Africa
(CPCA) under Bishop Bakare. But Mr.
Kunonga announced this week that he had
formed a new province, the 'Anglican Church
of Zimbabwe,' under his (own) primacy."
The idea of a deposed bishop (Mr. Kunonga)
using the government's police to forcibly stop
Sunday services is tantamount to Nazism ...

"The police have no power to tell me or my
people where to worship and under whose
leadership. I am not going to be told. That's
the gist of it," so Bishop Bakare is reported
to have stated as he and his congregation
await possibly more violent actions against
them by Mugabe's corrupt police apparatus ...

Let us now pray for the safe keeping of
Bishop Bakare and his good people.
+Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 2oo8.
The Above Caption: JCFL's "Our Father."
Ecumenical News International (ENI)
Pope and WCC head to pray together
for Christian unity
Geneva (ENI). 21 January 2008.
Pope Benedict XVI and the Rev. Samuel Kobia, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, will meet in Rome on 25 January, at a ceremony to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The WCC said in a statement on 21 January that Kobia will meet the Pope in a private audience along with members of the Joint Working Group of the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC, during a yearly working group meeting in Rome
from 21-26 January. [ENI-08-0050]

1/16/2008

My Next 8-Week Tentative Schedule ...

January 10th, 2oo8:
Diana, Princess of Wales, and Mr.
Dodi Al Fayed Inquests at the
Royal Courts of Justice.
January 17th, 2oo8:
In the presence of three Oecumenical
Bishops at St. Andrew's for the start
The Centenary of Christian Unity Week.
January 27th, 2oo8:
The Holocaust Memorial Day
Interfaith Commemoration at the
East London Central Synagogue
January 31st, 2oo8:
An Evening with Poet Laureate
Andrew Motion.
February 2nd, 2oo8:
The Candlemas Service at the
Royal Martyrs Church Union.
February 7th, 2oo8:
Attend Middle Temple Lecture on "Civil
and Religious Law in England" by His
Grace, The Archbishop of Canterbury,
Dr. Rowan Douglas Williams.
February 8-9th, 2oo8:
Visit Cymru's Capital City.
February 10th, 2oo8:
Quadragesima Luncheon at the
stately home of Bruce and Sabina
Dunbarton.
February 18th, 2oo8:
Will undergo an Echocardiogram
at Old Thomas Guy House.
February 20th, 2oo8:
Highbury Magistrates Court
to testify as robbery witness
February 21st-24th, 2oo8:
Visit to Ulster's Northern
Island via Stranraer, Scotland,
on Stena Ferry.
February 28th, 2oo8:
Journey to the sacred Holy
Island for Lindisfarne Weekend.
(^Now re-sheduled for mid-summer)
March 1st, 2oo8.
St. David's Day Supper with
Elizabeth Middleton and friends.
March 7th, 2oo8:
Attend Sir Frederick Ashton's
"Sylvia" at the Roayl Opera House.
March 14th, 2oo8:
"Law and Religion" at LSO with
the former Anglican Archbishop of
All Ireland, Lord Robin Eames, et al.
(It's correctly set for April 14th,
not March 14th ... My mistake)
March 16th, 2oo8:
Invitation to Contessa Maria's Birthday
Dinner Party to be held at her home in Rome
or perhaps somewhere else of her own choice.
Whatever or wherever, I'll be there!!
March 26th, 2oo8:
Travel to Cuba's Old Havana
via Cubana Airways.
Sincerely, Uncle Monty.
St.Mungo, 2oo8.
:: I will add additions and/or subtractions to
my present schedule as time goes by. My travels
this year will take me to West Africa's former Upper
Volta; to Old Havana, Cuba; and to Papua New Guinea,
then to New Zealand's Wellington, and on then to
Tasmania's Holbart, and finally to Austalia's
Melbourne ... I shall go there via Los Angeles
or Hong Kong ... More details, later ::

1/12/2008

No Whisper Yet Of The Diana Look-A-Like At The Princess & Dodi Inquests. Part 3 of 3.

Poised. Self-Controlled. Methodical.
Polished. Such were the unquestionable
qualities of former Royal Marine John
Johnson as he testified at the Diana,
Princess of Wales, and Mr. Dodi Al
Fayed Inquests via videoconference
from Kenya's capital of Nairobi to
London's British High Court. He was
the first witness of the day and was,
has it turned out, also the best of the
day. He didn't play any "head games"
as he spoke without kibosh, unlike
the later witnesses like faith healer
Simone Simmons and the ever vain
ex-BBC television news reporter
Michael Cole.




John Johnson was a bodyguard for
the romantic couple of Diana and
Dodi for about a year until their brutal
death in 1997. He stated that at one
point he had secured an American visa
and airline tickets to go ahead of them in
preparing for the high profile couple to
move to California's Malibu at where he
was told they wished to settle and live.
This was to take place shortly before
the infamous car crash that killed
them to deadly smithereens ...




The more I listened to John Johnson the
more impressed I was. If "skills talk and
trash walks," then he was the one to talk and
talk he did. During the 60-minute testimony
of his, he only moved his hands just once,
unlike Simone Simmons whose hands and
arms constantly flew in every direction in
the air during her self-serving and
idiosyncratic presentation at the coroner's
hearing. He was no ninny either, that's for
sure. Focussed, with not even moving his
thick eyebrows once, he was so straight for-
ward when quizzed or asked questions by
inquest counsel. John Johnson soon put dry
ice to such claims that Princess Diana had
tried on an engagement from Dodi at a
brief stop-off at St. Tropez. The former
Johnson body guard then declared without
hesitation -- "We never went to St. Tropez."
He couldn't have been clearer than he was ...
now could he?



And has I watched the videolink, I
thought if ever I needed and could afford
a bodyguard, then John Johnson would be
my man ... He reminded me so much of my
friend Zack Dellinger (not his real name),
who was at one point a top-paid bodyguard
to the Saudi Royal Family. Clearly, the
ex-Royal Marine admired the couple and
took extra pains to ensure their safety. He
spoke of what he called "movements" -- or
his jargon for security steps -- that was
needed at each stage of their travels to-
gether. His favourite word seemed to be
arranging "walkabouts" for them rather
than making "visits" at various travel stops.


John Johnson, I thought, unintentionally gave
us glimpses of life in a fish bowl for such folkz like
Diana and Dodi due primarily to fears for their
personal safety come day in and day out ... Bravo
to John Johnson for sharing his insight and
candour for those of us at the important inquests.




:: NO WHISPER YET ABOUT
THAT DIANA LOOK-A-LIKE ::


Diana never died in the Paris Tunnel.
She was already dead at The Ritz Hotel
before the staged car crash took place
hours later with a Diana Look-A-Like.

Diana herself had been injected with
poison by an assembled fake medical staff.
They came under the guise of checking
out her four-month pregnancy by Dodi
Al Fayed.


Dodi knew of the Diana look-a-like and
went along with it and the car ride believing
it was to thwart the paparazzi away from
Diana by setting up a wild goose chase.
He was unaware that his beloved Diana
was already dead when he left the hotel.
Nor did he realise he was also targetted
for death. With the cunning paparazzi
now well distracted chasing Dodi and the
Diana look-a-like, Diana's dead body
was then quickly removed and instantly
cremated at the French crematorium.
Her ashes were then mixed with dozens
of others so cremated on the same day. No
bodily trace, henceforth, of The People's
Princess was then to be had ... And,
the medical and forensic evidence of
her murder was gone forever ...




Diana was killed because she was pregnant
with a Muslim child. What Charles didn't know,
as he sat fretfully sobbing at her body in Paris,
was that it was her look-a-like and not actually
Diana. The look-a-like was believed to have
been perhaps a homelss female or a street
prostitute with no family links to speak of. So
she was then ideal for the plot and gruesome
task at hand and where she also would lose her
own life.
Nor did Charles know that before his ex-wife
was secretly cremated, that the embryo of her
pregnancy was cut out of her royal body and
shipped to America to be preserved for later
gynaecological expriment and research at per-
haps Johns Hopkin's or Harvard Medical School.



The British Royal Family had no knowledge at
either before, during, or after the murder of
Diana. In a coorinadated endeavour, British,
French and American intelligence operatives
worked to remove the princess from the world
stage. The operatives worked in collusion with
High Church figures at Lambeth Palace and
Westminster's Church House. They were horrified
at the thought of such a Royal Anglican as Diana
crossing the line with her Muslim pregnancy.
An anti-Muslim mindset was strongly at work
among them from the very beginning. Such
was to doom both Diana and Dodi by calculated
death.


The fear and trembling of the Anglican Church
of England of a Royal Anglo-Muslim staring
right at them in the face could and would not
be tolerated under any circumstance, if such
could be first prevented before the full birth
became inevitable. Such a birth, especially a
male, would have devastated The Royal
Family like a big monkey wrench hitting
"The Firm." Philip uses the term "The
Firm" to describe the royal family itself.
Plus, such an event would have put Charles
at his greatest anger and humilitation by
Diana and Dodi. For Charles' apocalyptic
temper is legendary and would have been
even more so at the birth of such a bastard
child, especially an Islamic one ... Diana's
sons William and Harry would have also
been saddled with a princely Muslim half-
brother, which would have no doubt
complicated the consitututional order
of succession to the British Throne.


And if the People's Princess by chance
had had male twins by Dodi Al Fayed,
then all hell would have been let loose by
The Crown and The Church. But by then
such would be too late and they knew that
right from the start. The Death Plan was
marked and made ready ...




Not amazingly, nobody twigged at the State
Funereal that no remains or ashes of Diana
was inside the sealed coffin, which almost
slipped of the shoulders of the military pall-
bearers due to the sheer weight and size and
slippery surface of the lead-lined royal casket.
Such presumably contained instead the
embalmed corpse of the Diana look-a-like.


After the Memorial Service, the coffin was
shipped off to the ancestral home of Lady Diana
Spencer at Althrop House, near Harlestone, at
Northamptonshire. It's in the heart of Old
Albion, too.


Now ten year later, the name and casket of
Princess Diana is still enshrine there with
more than 150.000 visitors per year to
Althrop House, which has been the home of
the Spencer Family for twenty generations.



A couple of my acquaintances thought my
copyrighted Diana conspiracy theory as
I've set out only in skelton form here
would at least make a great thriller
and/or a shining docudrama. I'd love
to play the role of Charles, too. So fame
and fortune at last for me, ah? He'll be
age 60 in this year of 2oo8 and still has
no throne to sit on just like poor me.

Nor no throne for murdered Diana, who
in the most endearing English fairytale,
would have become Queen Diana of
England ...
How cruel and cold was the
finale of what we first thought
was going to be such a beautiful and
lovely fairytale like the true Rose
of England. But that's now all dead
and gone ... All we have left now is
the grim and legalistic inquests of
Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr.
Dodi Al Fayed. And Diana's fellow
country men and women pay so
little homage to her now and as
the years go by she'll be made
just a mere footnote in the History
of England ... Who cares that nobody
cares? Nobody ....

Truly, Monty.

+Eve of 1st Sunday after Trinity, 2oo8



1/11/2008

His Head Was Like A Boiled Egg Was The Pipsqueaker At Diana & Dodi Inquests: 2 of 3.

Among the majority of the 20 ticket
holders to the coroner's hearing today
came a dozen or so aloof old matrons and
sexless spinsters with an open aversion to
male company or even speaking to them
like me. They spoke in hurdy-gurdy tones
to each other and refused to be socialable to
all others around them. But the pipsqueak-
er with his pathetic propensity to speak so
squeaky was the most annoying to me. He
has attended the Diana and Dodi Inquests
every day since they first began back in
October, 2oo7. I was convinced he was living
on job seekers allowance or claiming disability
benefit from the way he came over ... Worse
still, he had his egg-boiled face painted with
large capital blue letters on his forehead and
under his eyes: DIANA AND DODI. If only
the jerk could see himself for the weirdo
he really is, then he'd go and wash his ugly
face right away. That's the problem with
such high profile events like the Diana and
Dodi Inquests is that they tend to attract
some of the weirdest oddballs around ...
They're there for gratuitous attention and
little else ... No wonder the pipsqueaker's
head looked like a boiled egg. I just wished
I could have cracked it right then and there.



Ex-BBC reporter Micheal Cole, now Mohammed
Al Fayed official spokesman, didn't sit well with
Lord Justice Scott Baker, who is Her Majesty's
presiding coroner. His Lordship didn't much like
the spokesman's PR manner nor his lobotomy of
loquaciousness. Nor did I ...
Micheal Cole seemed at first to be a courtly figure
sitting all grandiose at the witness table with his
boss Al Fayed, the elder, just feet away from him.
Yet he, Cole, was so vain and so verbose I suspect
the jurors, like the coroner himself, soon tired of
him much like myself. Counsel for the Inquests,
Nicholas Hilliard, pointedly asked Michael Cole
why it was that Mohammed Al Fayed had never
mentioned that Princess Diana was pregnant
with his son's child at the beginning days after
the car wreak inside the Paris Tunnel; nor that
marriage was in the making and nor that Prince
Philip was somehow behind plots to kill Diana.
Being as he is the all skilled shyster PR man,
Micheal Cole glibly answered it was an Al
Fayed "family matter." He answered the
questions, but gave few real answers at the
Inquests. He would smile his PR smile, but
it seemed so deadpan after he'd shown his
bright white teeth with cued theatricality.
His greying hair had all been elegantly cut
and all so coiffure ... His thick black-rimmed
bi-focals he took off and on with demons-
trative showiness and at one point took his
blue hanky and breathed on his specs to
clean them for us all to see. Michael Cole
was at best a B-rated showman and at
worst a complete jackass ... If that's the
best spokesman Al Fayed can come up
with, then perhaps I should apply for the
job myself ... Heaven forbid ... Lanky with
huge hands and a large cranium, Michael
Cole was not only something else inside
the coroner's court, but also outside when
I caught him with my cameras after he'd
finished his 150 minute testimony at the
High Court. As other news photographers
got his mugshot, he was now like a biting
bat doing aerial sommersaults in the night
as he tried to grab the first taxi to avoid
the likes of me with my flash cameras. I
still got him at least three times despite
the pouring rain and his lucky taxi ride.
The Diana and Dodi Inquests will not
conclude for at least a couple of month
from now. I'm wonder if Prince Philip
will testify for I think he should defend
himself under the grave circumstances
of the couple's savage deaths and
questions of him being somehow in-
directly involved with their tragic
and untimely demise. At age 85 now,
I think he needs to speak his mind
before he dies of old age ... If he does
finally testify, I will be sure to return
to the High Court to hear what he says
of Diana and Dodi ... It could be pretty
explosive, I suspect, knowing how Philip
doesn't mince his words or apologise for
what he says ...
Next is Part 3 of 3: "No Whisper
Yet About That Diana Look-A-Like
At The Inquests."
Kudos everybody. Monty.
+St. Brendan, 2oo8.