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Visiting the South Atlantic: British Foreign Minister Cameron passes on his knowledge to children
Photo: Stefan Rousseau / empics / picture alliance
When David Cameron visited the Falkland Islands earlier this week, it was all about big politics: for the first time in 30 years, a British Foreign Secretary was a guest there - and probably not entirely coincidentally, shortly after Argentina's President Javier Milei announced the handover of the archipelago his country had demanded.
The islands are “a valued part of the British family,” Cameron said.
"As long as they want to remain part of the family, the issue of sovereignty is not up for discussion." Argentina and the United Kingdom went to war over the Falklands in 1982, Argentina continues to claim the islands - and London apparently had to set an example.
Another episode of Cameron's visit received less attention - namely the leisure program.
The minister's tour through the harsh nature of the South Atlantic islands was apparently only captured by a reporter from the British news agency PA and his photographer.
Several English-language newspapers published the report, which goes into detail about the minister's daily activities.
It goes something like this: “On Tuesday morning, Lord Cameron began his day with a swim in the cold South Atlantic before observing some of the Falkland Islands penguins.”
Photos show Cameron in sporty casual clothing, black fleece jacket, black pants, black hiking boots.
Sometimes in the blazing sunlight, sometimes under dense cloud cover.
"While walking through Gypsy Cove, the Secretary of State saw a small group of Magellanic penguins in the dunes and a group of dolphins swimming in the water below the windswept footpath," it continued.
In one of the pictures, Cameron can be seen with a group of children, with his left hand he puts something in his mouth that looks a bit like leeks.
The text explains: "He talked to children who were involved in a local nature conservation group." They persuaded him to try a piece of "edible grass" that grew on the coast.
And what do you say when you've just been made to eat a piece of grass by children?
Cameron decides: "It tastes like celery."
Afterwards, it is said, the minister offered the children to try some of the blade of grass.
“They all refused.” Which is what you immediately believe when you see the faces in the photo.
Afterwards, the report reveals, the big politics continued: Cameron met members of a Zimbabwean demining team as well as military personnel and their families at an air force base.
We then went on to Paraguay, where the minister wanted to talk to the country's leadership about cooperation in the areas of trade, the environment, education and human rights.
What remains of that day is the caption that the Irish Times gave the world: "Lord Cameron tries to eat edible grass with schoolchildren in Gypsy Cove."
Sol