Nelson Mandela

[HighlyTrainedNovaTeacher 2]

Well, he had his birthday in hospital, still going.

[JA2340 16]

He's now 95! Had a good innings, despite the maltreatment he suffered at the hands of the apartheid regime, and deserves to rest easy. Unfortunately, I feel that the media will hound him until he finally passes, then they'll be all over his family like jackals.

[NoFakie 45]

In his autobiography, he describes a pretty impressive exercise regime he kept up while inside. I know other people exercise in prison too, but he did his in a tiny cell.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

From what my mate says (who used to be a screw in Brixton nick), there aren't any weights rooms in UK prisons. He says that it's just in the movies (or at least US jails)

[NoFakie 45]

Nah, they've only got Playstations and Sky pay-per-view #dailymailworldview

[iiyamadude 6]

Read the book just now finished.

Good read Must admit to not knowing an awful lot about his background etc.

[Thundercat 60]

RIP Nelson Mandela

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Me too Iiyamadude, only knew the bare bones.....very interesting to read.

[HighlyTrainedNovaTeacher 2]

David Cameron was a member of the Young Conservatives in the 1980s. At that time, some fellow members sold "hang Nelson Mandela" tee-shirts. And now he has delivered a "Great Man" tribute saying "Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time"

 

True?

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Yes

[BagOfCrisps 24]

I wonder if Bono will go to the fureral.

[surfarthur 22]

Apparently he is.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

I wonder if Bono will go to the fureral.

 

Why? What's the story with Bono® and Mandela?

[surfarthur 22]

Just another opportunity for bono to show off his African charity work and generally be the giant douche that he is I am guessing.

[Tubby Beaver 209]

Ah right, yeah......Bonor is a tool

[tokabochi 9]

Nelson Mandela was often described as the "world's elder statesman", a father figure tackling global problems. His moral authority made him, in some people's eyes, a successor to Gandhi. Who might play a similar role now?

 

Lockerbie, Burundi, DR Congo, Lesotho, Indonesia, Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Stephen Lawrence murder, HIV awareness and World Cup football.

 

The list of subjects addressed in some way by Nelson Mandela is long and varied.

 

In some disputes, like Burundi's long-running conflict, he was a mediator. On other intractable issues, like the stigma of HIV, he was the campaigner and bereaved father who tried to address prejudice.

 

Not all his contributions were successful or universally welcomed. He opposed intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and often strongly criticised US foreign policy, while his warm relations with Colonel Gaddafi and President Suharto raised eyebrows. Many thought he spoke out too late about the HIV crisis.

 

But even his critics would concede that he became a figure with unequalled status on the global stage.

 

"It seems to me that uniquely he negotiated his transformation from prisoner of conscience and iconic human rights leader to practical political leader who became in every single way the father of modern South Africa and then transformed again into elder statesman," says Simon Marks, global affairs correspondent at Feature Story News based in Washington.

 

He had unquestioned legitimacy, someone that a very broad array of people looked up to, including pop singers and supermodels, says Marks.

 

Easy... Bono!

[Saitaman 1]

...or Sting.

 

But how about Tony Blair!

[pie-eater 207]

Surely Shinzo Abe is the perfect candidate, bringing the Abetastic Abenomics to the world.