The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

27 December 2002

Unexpected subject

Listeners to Today on the BBC's Radio 4 have nominated five persons "most deserving of honourary status as a British citizen," and one of the five is Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.

Are the British thumbing their nose at the States? Not necessarily. The popup window for nominee profiles suggests the reason for selecting Saddam: "He will cause less problems over here where we can keep an eye on him."

Voting continues through New Year's Eve. I shudder to imagine what Stephen Chapman thinks of this.

Posted at 11:07 AM to Political Science Fiction


Also Saddam would presumably be ineligible as president of Iraq if he had a British passport; conversely, Aung San Suu Kyi is easily the best person of the lot, but wouldn't her winning compromise her and the struggle in Burma in the eyes of the Burmese authorities? This is why this is such an interesting poll.
:)

Posted by: steven at 10:45 AM on 28 December 2002

I suspect being a British subject wouldn't disqualify Saddam — he's probably rewritten the unwritten laws to make sure nothing gets in his way — but just the idea that someone came up with that notion is, I think, rather gratifying.

Posted by: CGHill at 4:15 PM on 28 December 2002