Politics 25 April 2010 That memo against the Pope is no joke Benedict XVI, his visit, and an aggressively secular mindset in Whitehall. Print HTML There is widespread confusion over the extraordinary Foreign Office "brainstorming" memo entitled "The ideal visit would see . . .", and it has caused huge diplomatic tensions between the UK and the Holy See, which have enjoyed unprecedentedly strong relations in recent years -- until now. People think it is a joke. That is to say, that it was written as a joke. This is not surprising, given the range of suggestions, which include a form of contraception named after the Pope, the Pope opening an abortion clinic, and the Pope overseeing a homosexual wedding. In fact, I am reliably told by a senior Whitehall source: "This was not written as a joke. It was meant to be a serious brainstorming by various people [and was] designed for a meeting. I know it is hard to believe, but it is serious." In which case, the memo says more about the mindset of what one official calls the "aggressive secular fundamentalism" that is entrenched in the Foreign Office than it does about the papal visit, which, for all the Vatican's faults, remains a good thing. Don't get me wrong. I deplore the sick culture of child abuse that has been unearthed in the Roman Catholic Church. And I will upset some Catholic friends by saying that I have some sympathy with the view that the Pope should show leadership, take overall responsibility and "resign" over the issue. Even before that grotesque scandal was reported, I didn't have much time for a Pope who is into Gucci shoes and iPods. However, much work has been put in by the British embassy in the Vatican -- and by ministers who should not be blamed -- to improve relations with the centre of a religion followed by millions. In an age when interfaith recognition is vital, that is very important work indeed. That this memo has been setback, caused by the childish and frankly idiotic provocations of sniggering officials with too much time on their hands, is an embarrassment to Britain. Secularists should offer faiths the same freedom of thought that they hold so dear. I will be returning to this subject. UPDATE: A query I submitted to the Foreign Office about whether or not the document is a joke has not had a response (2 May). › Back to the 70s? If only James Macintyre is political correspondent for the New Statesman. More Related articles Doorknocking and divisions: a year in the life of a constituency Labour party secretary Is Donald Trump finally imploding? How Tony Benn’s deputy leadership campaign was defeated
Show Hide image Africa 17 August 2016 How South Africa’s Luvo Manyonga beat crystal meth to win an Olympic medal The long jumper had help from a former Coney Island strongman in overcoming his addiction problems to make it to the Rio Olympics. Print HTML In most ways, Luvo Manyonga is touchingly similar to the other young men of his age who haunt the street corners of Mbekweni township outside Paarl in South Africa’s Western Cape. Like them, he is ill-educated, comes from a broken home, and has fought an intermittent battle with crystal meth, a ubiquitous township drug called “tik”, “crank” or “tjoef” in South Africa. Yet in one crucial respect, Manyonga, whose family made the trek to Mbekweni from the Eastern Cape in search of a better life when he was younger, is not like his Mbekweni homeboys at all. Unlike them, he can jump. He can jump with or without shoes, indoors or out; he can hurdle parked cars and pre-cast concrete walls. He jumps for fun and jumps to impress. Jumping is so much a part of his chemistry that he might as well be breathing. He was born to jump, say those close to him. Manyonga jumps with charm and easy grace. On Saturday night in Rio he won the silver medal in the men’s Olympic long jump, beaten into second place by the USA’s Jeff Henderson by a single centimetre. “I had the gold medal and that guy [Henderson] snatched it away from me,” said Manyonga with a rueful smile. In 2010, Manyonga and Wayde van Niekerk were part of the South African youth team at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada. Manyonga won gold in Moncton, doing so almost carelessly, while Van Niekerk (who had yet to graduate to the 400m) could only muster fourth place in the 200m finals. The following year, Manyonga placed fifth in the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea; suddenly the world’s athletics cognoscenti sat up and took notice. The prize money Manyonga won in Daegu cursed him and his family, initiating a hellish ride of excess and waste. Manyonga didn’t go to the London Olympics the following year and by the time of 2014’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games he’d already been banned by the South African athletics authorities for failing a drugs test. His situation was so desperate – and he was deemed such a public relations time bomb – that Nike’s local office weren’t even prepared to toss him a pair of spikes. His career had nosedived before it had ever really begun. The story of Manyonga’s plight was heard by Irish strongman and power-lifter, John McGrath, who had recently set up a gym on the sunless outskirts of Paarl. The Irishman and Coney Island strongman performer liked a yarn and he liked a dare. He went in search of Manyonga, driving through Mbekweni’s puddles and past its malnourished dogs – called braks in South Africa – in search of this kid he’d been told jumped like the wind. Eventually McGrath found Manyonga, charming him with his soft Irish burr. Manyonga began to train at McGrath’s gym but progress was slow. Sometimes he went walkabout. The tik beckoned. McGrath would go ballistic with frustration and worry. It didn’t help that in 2014, Mario Smith, Manyonga’s much-loved coach, died in a car accident close to Stellenbosch, not far away from Paarl. Manyonga dodged Smith’s memorial service because he was getting high with his buddies and missed his train. In his darkest moments, McGrath felt that Manyonga was never going to reclaim his former glories. Tik was going to destroy him; he was going to die, he was just another walking township statistic. Eventually, by calling in a favour here and bending an ear there, McGrath and the South African Olympic swimmer, Ryk Neethling, hatched a plan. They’d ship Manyonga to Cuba, with its illustrious tradition of long-jumping. But the Cuba ruse didn’t work out. There were money and visa and responsibility problems. They were stuck back at square one. Suddenly, though, a glimmer of light. The High Performance Centre (HPC) at the University of Pretoria could house him, feed him and coach him. Serendipitously, Manyonga found himself boarding in the same HPC house as Sizwe Ndlovu, a member of the lightweight coxless fours who had won rowing gold at the London Olympics. The two bonded, Ndlovu lighting up Manyonga’s eyes with Olympic tales, what he had seen in London and what he had done. Ndlovu didn’t make the fours boat to Rio but he’d lit the fire. Manyonga trained well, grew stronger and snuck into the final in Rio with the fifth-longest jump. Eventually he lost the final by a feather’s width. He returned to South Africa on Tuesday afternoon, a hero. His mother hasn’t been able to go to work this week because her front door has been blockaded by well-wishers, journalists, television crews and kansvatters (a pejorative Afrikaans word here in South Africa for chance-takers). There are likely to be a few more of them in the months to come. More Related articles The horror of the Olympics marriage proposal Hygge: the secret of Danish happiness Is Donald Trump finally imploding?
