Half a million people oppose knighthood for Tony Blair

More than half a million people have signed a petition calling for Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair to be prevented from receiving a knighthood, with some arguing he should instead be prosecuted for war crimes.

Mr Blair, whose Iraq war legacy continues to taint his image almost two decades after the conflict began, was named in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours list.

The former Labour leader is set to be appointed a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British Order of Chivalry.

But on Tuesday, just days after Buckingham Palace announced the list a petition calling for Mr Blair to be denied the title surpassed 540,000.

Angus Scott, who started the online campaign calling on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ask the Queen to reconsider her decision.

“Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation's society,” Mr Scott wrote.

Tony Blair was criticised for his decision to agree to a joint military invasion of Iraq in 2003 with then US president George W Bush. Photo: PA

The former prime minister was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts, he said.

"For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes," Mr Scott said.

“Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honour, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.

“We petition the Prime Minister to petition Her Majesty to have this honour removed.”

Mr Blair was dubbed “George Bush’s poodle” for his decision to bow to pressure from then then US President to join the US in invading Iraq in 2003.

People who put their names to the Change.org petition did not hold back in their criticism of Mr Blair, one of the chief architects of the conflict.

“Tony Blair should be prosecuted, not knighted,” said petitioner Deborah Warford. “Someone like this being honoured shows how corrupt and vile the system is.”

Another supporter of the petition, Fergus Murray, said if Mr Blair is bestowed the honour “the whole system dishonours us”.

A third person, Kevin Nobles, said Mr Blair had lied about Iraq’s former leader Saddam Hussein harbouring weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of the Middle Eastern country and should therefore be “tried as a war criminal”.

“His policies have done irreparable damage to Britain,” Mr Nobles said.

After his tenure at 10 Downing Street, Mr Blair became a special Middle East envoy and set up his own non-profit group, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

Each year, Royal Knights and Ladies of the Order of the Garter gather at St George’s Chapel in Windsor for a colourful procession and ceremony.

Crowds watch as they walk down the hill to the chapel from the state apartments, dressed in blue velvet mantles, red velvet hoods, black velvet hats and white ostrich plumes.

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Basquiat in Abu Dhabi

One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.

It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.

“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October

UAE v IRELAND

All matches start at 10am, and will be played in Abu Dhabi

1st ODI, Friday, January 8

2nd ODI, Sunday, January 10

3rd ODI, Tuesday, January 12

4th ODI, Thursday, January 14

UAE currency

Mubalada World Tennis Championship 2018 schedule

Thursday December 27

Men's quarter-finals

Kevin Anderson v Hyeon Chung 4pm

Dominic Thiem v Karen Khachanov 6pm

Women's exhibition

Serena Williams v Venus Williams 8pm

Friday December 28

5th place play-off 3pm

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Novak Djokovic v Thiem/Khachanov 7pm

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3rd place play-off 5pm

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Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier

Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman

The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August

Group A

Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar

Group B

UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

UAE group fixtures

Sunday Feb 23, 9.30am, v Iran

Monday Feb 25, 1pm, v Kuwait

Tuesday Feb 26, 9.30am, v Saudi

UAE squad

Ahmed Raza, Rohan Mustafa, Alishan Sharafu, Ansh Tandon, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Basil Hameed, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Ayaz, Zahoor Khan, Chirag Suri, Sultan Ahmed

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Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Christensen, Silva, Chalobah, Sarr, Azpilicueta, James, Kenedy, Alonso, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Saul, Barkley, Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Havertz, Lukaku.

Silent Hill f

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Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Rating: 4.5/5

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CSIL 2-star 145cm One Round with Jump-Off

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Yahya Al Ghassani's bio

Date of birth: April 18, 1998

Playing position: Winger

Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda

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Name: JustClean

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If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

GOLF’S RAHMBO

- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)