Sam_b
8th September 2011, 18:18
...Except that he appears to have fought for Argentina and refers to the Falklands as the Malvinas. You couldn't make it up.
http://londonist.com/2011/09/bnp-picks-falklands-veteran-as-mayoral-candidate-sort-of.php
The British National Party have named their candidate for next years London mayoral election (youll forgive us, were sure, if we dont link to the announcement).And in what looks at first glance like a clever move theyve chosen Carlos Cortiglia, a Uruguyan former party press officer of Spanish and Italian descent. Not only is Cortiglia rather more international than weve come to expect from the BNP, hes also a great patriot volunteered, it seems, to fight in the Falklands war.
The only slight problem, if sources are to be believed, is that it was for Argentina.
You can kind of see the logic in the partys choice. The partys many opponents are united around the idea that its just a bunch of racists, obsessed with protecting the indigenous white race, a meaningless notion thats offensive to modern Britain and absolutely alien to modern London. By picking Cortiglia, they must have thought, theyd undermine all that at a stroke, despite the Uruguayans rather vexing commitment to creating a British Britain.
But Cortiglia has been around long enough to shoot his mouth off a little. In 2004 he apparently told Argentinas La Nacion (http://web.archive.org/web/20050503041838/http:/www.lanacion.com.ar/coberturaespecial/argentinos/inglaterra/NotaMostrar.asp?nota_id=552379) newspaper:
Soy argentine oriental, o dicho de otro modo, uruguayo de nacimiento, y me siento muy ligado emocionalmente a la Republica Argentina. En 1982 me ofreci como voluntario par ir a las Islas Malvinas
That roughly translates to:
I am east Argentine, in other words, Uruguayan by birth, and I feel very emotionally linked to Argentina. In 1982 I volunteered to go to the Falkland Islands
In other words, the BNP have picked a mayoral candidate so dedicated to this country that, the last time he had the chance, he wanted to go to war against it, at least if the linked source is accurate. That should neatly upset the partys supporters, without convincing anyone else to change their minds.
A pity, perhaps, that Cortiglia is no longer in the BNPs press team. They seem to need all the PR help they can get.
(Hattip: the Lancaster Unity (http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/05/daily-telegraph-part-deux.html) blog), photo by McTumshie (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mctumshie/2428554069/in/photostream/) from the Londonist Flickr pool (http://www.flickr.com/groups/londonist)
[Last edited 15:35]
http://londonist.com/2011/09/bnp-picks-falklands-veteran-as-mayoral-candidate-sort-of.php
The British National Party have named their candidate for next years London mayoral election (youll forgive us, were sure, if we dont link to the announcement).And in what looks at first glance like a clever move theyve chosen Carlos Cortiglia, a Uruguyan former party press officer of Spanish and Italian descent. Not only is Cortiglia rather more international than weve come to expect from the BNP, hes also a great patriot volunteered, it seems, to fight in the Falklands war.
The only slight problem, if sources are to be believed, is that it was for Argentina.
You can kind of see the logic in the partys choice. The partys many opponents are united around the idea that its just a bunch of racists, obsessed with protecting the indigenous white race, a meaningless notion thats offensive to modern Britain and absolutely alien to modern London. By picking Cortiglia, they must have thought, theyd undermine all that at a stroke, despite the Uruguayans rather vexing commitment to creating a British Britain.
But Cortiglia has been around long enough to shoot his mouth off a little. In 2004 he apparently told Argentinas La Nacion (http://web.archive.org/web/20050503041838/http:/www.lanacion.com.ar/coberturaespecial/argentinos/inglaterra/NotaMostrar.asp?nota_id=552379) newspaper:
Soy argentine oriental, o dicho de otro modo, uruguayo de nacimiento, y me siento muy ligado emocionalmente a la Republica Argentina. En 1982 me ofreci como voluntario par ir a las Islas Malvinas
That roughly translates to:
I am east Argentine, in other words, Uruguayan by birth, and I feel very emotionally linked to Argentina. In 1982 I volunteered to go to the Falkland Islands
In other words, the BNP have picked a mayoral candidate so dedicated to this country that, the last time he had the chance, he wanted to go to war against it, at least if the linked source is accurate. That should neatly upset the partys supporters, without convincing anyone else to change their minds.
A pity, perhaps, that Cortiglia is no longer in the BNPs press team. They seem to need all the PR help they can get.
(Hattip: the Lancaster Unity (http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/05/daily-telegraph-part-deux.html) blog), photo by McTumshie (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mctumshie/2428554069/in/photostream/) from the Londonist Flickr pool (http://www.flickr.com/groups/londonist)
[Last edited 15:35]