Demonstrable

You have to laugh at the little missive from the King of Cambodia pleading a prior engagement. It is a very useful antidote to Anglocentrism. The restoration of the monarchy in Cambodia is also very well worth examining by those, such as they are these days, who would wish to abolish the monarchy here or in any other the Queen's Realms.

Meanwhile, a very warm welcome to the Crown Prince of Bahrain. May one even stage a demonstration saying that? A little march to and rally outside where he was staying, in support of the action being taken to preserve the eight indigenous ethnic groups, the small but very ancient and entrenched Jewish community, the Gulf's only synagogue and Jewish cemetery, the black community that is part of the East African diaspora, the fifth of the population that is non-Muslim, the half of that fifth which is Christian, the strictly optional status of the women's headscarf, the Sunni third of Bahraini Muslims, the requirement that all legislation be approved by both Houses of Parliament, the election of the Lower House by universal suffrage, the regular appointment of women to the Upper House to make up for their dearth in the elected Lower House, the presence in the Upper House of a Jewish man and a Christian woman (the latter the first woman ever to chair a Parliament in the Arab world), the present position of a Jewish woman as Ambassador to the United States, the very close ties to Britain, and the fact that all of this is perfectly acceptable even to Salafi Members of Parliament.

In the intervening days, another such march and rally should be held to and outside the Embassy of Syria, in support of the Christian-majority provinces, the Christian festivals as public holidays, the extensive and expensive government programme restoring Jewish holy sites for the use of what must therefore be a thriving Jewish community, and the support for a Lebanese coalition headed by a Sunni but including Shi'ites, Maronites and Armenians.