A national comedian has stepped into the escalating absurdity over who next will become secretary general of the United Nations.
As we all heard last month, the fact that former Portuguese prime minister António Guterres has already won five ballots in the race towards ‘victory’ counts for very little (click here).
Today (Wednesday) is the first time ‘countries with a veto’ cast their votes, and as we wrote this text everything pointed towards Guterres’ bid heading down the Swannee.
Russia is known to favour European Commission Vice President Kristalina Georgieva. So is German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Thus fun-loving morning radio personality Nilton – famous for his ludicrous cold-call antics to unsuspecting citizens – decided to take it on himself to ‘set the record straight’ by calling the UN and speaking in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish and very occasionally English.
“We are very chateados”, he explained, before being transferred to the Spanish-speaking department, where his devilry continued in defence of the country’s former Socialist leader. Hilarity aside, however, it was clear from the conversation that very few people outside Portugal seem to be aware of Guterres’ bid for power, or indeed the identity of another once-powerful figure in European politics, Durão Barroso.
For a delightful listen to five minutes of madness, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ6pwE7uEYE&feature=youtu.be&a
