Denis: Sting’s sour note

Feb 26 2010 By Denis Kilcommons

Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray commented: "He did not take a guitar and jam around the parks of Tashkent.

"He got paid over a million pounds to play an event specifically designed to glorify a barbarous regime.

"Is the man completely mad?"

The singer could take note of the action taken by a star of an earlier era – George Formby – when faced with a cruel regime.

Formby, who entertained thousands of frontline troops during the war for free, toured South Africa in 1946. He and wife Beryl took a stand against apartheid and refused to play segregated audiences. They played concerts in the townships and when a black child presented Beryl with a box of chocolates, they both hugged and kissed her. The white National Party leader expressed outrage and ordered them out of the country. Beryl retorted, "Why don’t you **** off you horrible little man."

Shame Sting didn’t say the same to Islam Karimov.