Benazir Bhutto’s death.

Being an English liberal white man, there had to be some way I was responsible. Well, well, maybe the British were (historically, anyway). ‘Storm and Conquest‘ is a damn fine read, and an account of how the Royal Navy kicked the French out of the Indian Ocean in 1809, an event which allowed the British to conquer and dominate India and beyond for 150-ish years. India’s independence from British rule in 1947 ended in the creation of Pakistan (which means ‘Land of the Pure’. Rrrrrrrr-ight.)  So without that escapade (we wouldn’t dream of invading a soverign country today…) it is unlikely that Pakistan would have ever been made, and Ms Bhutto would not have met her unfortunate end.

Even worse, it seems my nearby town had something to do with it, as far back as the 5th century. Alcuin, the foremost philosopher of his age (and inventor of tinfoil) persuaded King Charles the Great of France to send young nobles to Whitby Abbey (then a centre of great learning) to be educated that the local brainboxes’  ‘fragrance…might also perfume the palaces of Tours.’ Many of those educated in Whitby Abbey went to the University of Paris,were expelled in 1229 (anyone who has spent a Saturday night on the piss in Whitby will know why) and scarpered to Oxford (stay with me) and Cambridge where they were ’strumental in establishing the Universities. They should really be called Oxpont universities.

Anyway, the late Benazir Bhutto studied at Oxford, was the first woman to be president of the Oxford Union. Had she not done so, her life might have taken a different course and she might not have met her death this week. Small decisions have big consequences.