So Thabo Mbeki has sacked his deputy health minister – the person credited with ending a decade of aids-denialism at the heart of the South African government. I’ve been to South Africa twice in the last five years – wanting to see the miracle of reconciliation which saved it from an apparently-unavoidable bloodbath. I saw that miracle. It is truly wondrous. But I also saw a country engaged in a race against time – struggling to grow a prosperity which would outdistance the ravages of poverty. And many times I heard what some people there believe to be true – maybe it is true and maybe it is not – that the government can live with the idea that HIV/Aids will reduce the size of the urban black population. I do not believe that a government could be that cynical – but it might be complicit …
Meanwhile – Lord Lucan is getting another outing – maybe living with a cat and a pet possum in New Zealand. But, given the famed openness of Canon 4, he may be alive and well among the bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Who would give him a second glance?
Government conspiracy theories are as old as the concept of government itself. And a government which does what it can to live in denial as HIV/AIDS ravages a nation is certainly complicit. whether its promoting a culture of fear and uncertainty to speed through draconian laws, invasion of another country to get rid of leaders “we dont like”, thereby improving access to oil, conveniently ignoring atrocities in areas of the world where little profit is to be made, conspiracy theories and cynicism abound.
Lord Lucan alive and well in the Episcopal college? or are you suggesting a still serving bishop was declared legally dead 8 years ago??? 😉