Regretful Expressions

The Venerable Tony, Ascended Incarnation of the Vicar of Downing Street, chum of the sixteenth Daddy Goodspeak, personal confidant of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jephthah, Ariel Sharon and the Pharisees, and Representative of the Middle East Quartet of (in descending order of importance) the USA, European Union, Russia and the United Nations, has expressed deep regret and shock at the tragic loss of life resulting from Israel's latest vanquishment of an existential threat (which, incidentally, appears also to have been an act of war by a nuclear power against a member of NATO with no suspected weapons of mass destruction). "I express deep regret and shock at the tragic loss of life," expressed the Venerable Tony, whose inner states are evidently too exalted to discuss these days. "There obviously has to be a full investigation into what has happened," said the Venerable Tony, without expressing whether the investigation should be held by Turkey, whose vessels were boarded in international waters, or by Israel, which was, as always, battling an existential threat. The Venerable Tony once again expressed his view that we need a better way of helping the people of Gaza than starving and bombing them, but again showed uncharacteristic reticence in expressing what that way might be. Perhaps, if someone were to throw money at him, the Venerable Tony might be persuaded to open up a little and express a clue or two?