Tony Blair is just elected leader in 1997 and he gathers the members of his Labour cabinet for a photo behind the Parliament. He's setting up the camera and giving directions, "move to the right" he says, 5 or 6 times, and the cabinet goes so far that they all fall into the Thames. How were they supposed to know he was talking politics, not art?
How things change. Once, one Briton helped the Arabs rise up and fight for freedom, and another Briton carved up the map of the Middle East to suit petroleum politics, YES, including Iraq, an "unworkable country from the beginning." Now, the PM went to these princes (pic. below), cap in hand, to have them 'help the IMF', i.e. his country, with its financial problems. This is progress, for the Arab nation.
Salam, everyone.
