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Journalism of Courage
Elect a monarch
One of Queen Elizabeth II8217;s chaplains has said it is time to consider the possiblity of electing a monarch in Britain, criticising the present hereditary system as a lottery. 8220;In England, until 1213, the monarch was elected. Maybe the time is returning for election to the task and role,8221; Canon Eric James said in a speech at London8217;s Westminster Abbey, the British press reported. 8220;The problem of a hereditary monarchy is obvious and simple. The monarch now may be above reproach, but you can never tell what you are going to get 8212; and there8217;s not a lot to be said for such a lottery,8221; he said. Canon James praised the queen for her work but said it was time for 8220;profound reflection and reconsideration of the role of monarch8221;. The 73-year-old cleric added: 8220;Abdication ought surely to be seen to be an honourable alternative before a coronation, and indeed, during a reign.8221; Canon James has been extra chaplain to the queen since his retirement in 1995 as one of her full-time chaplains,a post he had held from 1984.
Van Gogh or not
Art experts are gearing up for a new round in a debate on the authenticity of an unsigned Van Gogh Sunflowers canvas that set a sales record of 40 million when it was sold to a Japanese firm in 1987. The battle has dragged on for more than a decade over whether the painting owned by the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Tokyo is indeed by the great impressionist master, with the next bout at a symposium at London8217;s National Gallery on May 15. The conference is organised by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which contends the painting is authentic. Sijraar van Heugten, the museum8217;s curator of prints and drawings, said the Japanese owner had nothing to do with the symposium, which would offer 8220;no final word on the painting8221;. It just seemed 8220;like a good moment8221; to raise it again as part of a wide-ranging look at the artist8217;s work, he said. But French researcher Benoit Landais, a noted expert on Van Gogh, is set to raise the tone. He said hewould give an 8220;unequivocal demonstration8221; with new evidence in London to prove the painting is a fake. Experts who contend it is a fake say the prime suspect is Claude-Emile Schuffenecker, a Parisian admirer of Van Gogh who made several copies of the master8217;s works in the early 1900s.
An Israeli who owns Auschwitz
An Israeli woman has disclosed that she has papers proving that she is the rightful heir to part of the land on which the Nazis built their death camp at Auschwitz in Poland. Tzippora Franck, 63 who lives at Hedera North of Tel Aviv said in an interview published in the Haaretz that she had recently travelled to Poland to clarify 8220;this cursed inheritance. My parents prefered to keep this dreadful secret to themselves but my mother, who suffered from Alzheimer8217;s disease and from a feeling of guilt for having escaped the Nazi hell, finally told me the truth a few years ago,8221; she added. The contents of the documents were backed by aerial photographs taken by Allied troops. Hergrandfather, Yossef Metzer, owned a factory producing tarred paper on the site of the future concentration camp but his land was confiscated by the Nazis after Poland was invaded in September 1939. 8220;The documents show that my entire family, except my mother, my father and myself, perished in Auschwitz and were buried in a common grave on the land which belonged to them.8221; Franck said she would keep the deeds to the camp site 8220;just to stop the Poles building commercial or rented buildings8221;.
Mayor for London
Voters in London endorsed plans for a directly elected mayor for the capital, under Prime Minister Tony Blair8217;s ongoing decentralisation programme in a referendum marked by a low turnout. The poll passed the winning post early on Friday after the results from 28 of London8217;s 32 boroughs and the City of London financial district showed that nearly one million voters backed the move. As final votes trickled in, 72 per cent had voted yes8217; against 28 per cent no8217; for the first elected mayor inthe capital8217;s history, a post that promises to be the second most prominent political job in the country. Blair, who proposed an elected mayor and an assembly for London, said he was 8220;delighted that the people of London have voted so convincingly for a mayor and an assembly. This will be a great boost for the capital.8221; However, Thursday8217;s poll yielded a disappointingly low turnout of 33 per cent among the capital8217;s five million voters. The future mayor, due to take office from 2000, will be supported by a 25-member Greater London Authority and will be given extra powers over transport, jobs and the environment. The mayor will have 8220;power, real power8221; Blair has promised, modelled on the mayors of Paris, Moscow and New York.
