the times | Thursday May 26 2022 5
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MATEUSZ SITEK; GARETH EVERETT/THE PRINCES TRUST; ASSOCIATED PRESSviolence, what I can try to do as a
lawyer is tackle these things one case
at a time, one policy at a time, one
country at a time.
“We’re destined to repeat crimes
against humanity if we don’t punish
them. I think in the arc of history the
plight of women has improved, and
there are metrics in which that’s
undoubtedly the case: women’s right to
vote; the fact there are fewer laws that
are, on their face, discriminatory. But
then when you think of the worst
forms of abuse, what we’re now seeing
in Bucha, in the heart of Europe.
And it’s pretty obvious that in some
respects, things are not improving
or have been moving in the wrong
direction.”
Does talking of atrocities around the
world make her think that women in
this country have achieved what they
need to in terms of equality?
“I think that the worst thing we
could do is be casual about our rights.
This is not just a developing world
issue. Sometimes in western countries
you assume that women are equal to
men in the workplace, for example.
“Then you have the #MeToo
movement and more transparency
about pay, and you see that’s not
necessarily the case. We’re seeing now
in the US that some rights are being
reversed. So you have to be very
vigilant.”
Then the meeting is done and the
mood changes. Clooney jumps up
and offers Khan and me pizza. From
somewhere appears Clooney’s mother,
Baria Alamuddin, a political journalist
by trade, who wears a fabulous white
silky pyjama suit with feathers at the
cuffs and tells me an anecdote about
a job that took her to Downing Street.
George Clooney even has a mother-
in-law who is impossible to resist.
The Prince’s Trust awards are
broadcast tonight on ITV at 8.30pm,
princestrustinternational.orgsays: “I don’t want you to become one
of my clients.
“The other thing I’ve definitely
come across is female journalists who
say the same thing as you, which is:
‘How can I go wrong if I’m just telling
the truth?’ ” In one instance, says
Clooney, her client Khadija
Ismayilova, an Azerbaijani female
investigative journalist, was
blackmailed by footage captured by a
secret camera hidden in her bedroom.
Khan says needless period shame is
holding many girls back from school
and work in Pakistan. I ask Clooney if
she is determined to be open about
periods with her daughter. “Yeah, I
mean, it’s science,” she says. “You
want to give them facts. And not use
euphemisms for everything and just
be very matter-of-fact.”
I know my time is nearly up when
Clooney’s assistant crouches forward
to show her boss something on a
mobile phone then indicates that we
need to finish. How does she want the
world to be different for her daughter?
“To give each girl a chance to chase
any dream that she has,” Clooney
says, explaining that their foundation
focuses on a girl’s right to education
as a starting point. Also, referring to
cases in which she has represented
victims of sexual abuse and genocide,
“in the cases I work on, women are
the victims of the worst forms of
abuse. So of course, I want my
daughter to grow up in a world where
that’s not the case and [that means]
not just that she herself would not be
under particular threat, but [so] that
doesn’t happen to any girl.
“It’s happening now in Ukraine. You
see history repeat itself and women
often being victims during war in a
different way to men. I hope that, with
increased accountability, you can start
to deter that kind of behaviour. So
whether it’s discrimination and
unfairness or the worst forms ofOf lockdown, George told The
Guardian, “I felt like my mother in
1964, doing dishes and six loads of
laundry a day.” He said that it was his
wife who managed to weaken, in the
course of a brief conversation, his
defence against fatherhood. She
reminded him that the pair were
extraordinarily lucky in their life,
George told Elle magazine this year,
and told him, “It seems like that luck
should be shared with some other
folks.” George said he thought about
it for one minute. “Well, I’m in if
you’re in,” he said, wisely.
It is Clooney’s vast experience in
women’s human rights — two of her
female clients have gone on to win the
Nobel Peace prize — that makes me
register concern when she begins a
conversation with Khan about safety.
I ask Khan how people react to her
openness in Pakistan. Khan says she
is not afraid. Clooney, who has set
up with her husband the Clooney
Foundation for Justice, which uses
litigation to improve the lives of
women, seems more troubled.
“Our foundation also monitors
trials,” says Clooney. “And [that
includes] a lot of trials in Asia, where
people are speaking out against the
government, [and] they’re being
prosecuted.” Clooney politely indicates
to me that she would like to ask Khan
some questions, and of course I nod
back. “Do you worry,” Clooney asks
Khan, “that there’ll come a point in
your advocacy where you won’t be in
such a safe place in terms of potential
retaliation?” Khan says: “When you’re
talking about something that is right,
you don’t have to fear.”
I can almost detect a wince from
Clooney. “I have so many clients who
are in prison for just telling the truth,”
she trails off. “Unfortunately.” After
describing a horrible case in Kenya of
a woman attacked for providing refuge
for victims of forced marriage, she
S
ometimes in life it pays to
focus on the big picture,
and right now that picture
is clearly bunting. Are you
for or against? Will you
hoist some in celebration
of the jubilee, or do you
look down your nose at it,
you miserable party pooper? It would
be nonsense to suggest that bunting
wars are breaking out all over the
country, but let’s do it anyway.
In Barnes, southwest London,
disappointed high street traders are
unable to close the street and put up
bunting for a jubilee party. Wealthy
residents of a nearby road don’t want
buses diverted down their street,
leading one tabloid to declare “the
battle of the bunting”. Depending on
who you believe, it is either because
they don’t want the diesel fumes
going past their £3.5 million houses
or the buses will stop them putting
up bunting of their own.
Meanwhile, John Lewis has
reported that searches for bunting
are up 31 per cent this month
compared with last, and B&Q has
sold 100,000m of the stuff. Almost
1,500 public events and 2,000 street
parties or private events have been
officially registered to take place
over the jubilee weekend, and if I had
my way they’d all go big on bunting.
Some party planners advocate
elegant tablescapes, with real china,
tasteful napery and a discreetly
patriotic candle or two, in shades of
red, white and blue. Yawn. Far more
fun to go for the full bunting monty.
Bunting-warehouse.co.uk has sold
out of its more tasteful purple and
silver offerings, but you can still get
10m of vibrantly vulgar Union Jack
bunting for £15.95 excl VAT.
Party Pieces, the Middleton family
company, is asking the question on
all of our lips — perhaps especially
those members of the Middleton
family due to appear on the balcony
at Buckingham Palace — “Are you
jubilee ready?”
“We have everything you need to
make your jubilee celebrations
memorable!” the company promises,
although possibly not up to and
including a surprise appearance
by the Duchess of Cambridge.
I do have a couple of caveats: first,
bespoke bunting is nauseating. I’m
thinking of the house in Fulham I
once visited where they had their
surname strung across the kitchen.
No. Just, no. Second, bunting should
be time-limited, multicoloured and
cheerful, not the black and white
corporate variety strung in my gym
in a false attempt at jollity. Apart
from that, in these divisive times, we
can all agree on one thing: bunting
has never been more important.You can
get 10m of
vibrantly
vulgar
Union Jack
bunting
for £15.95
excl VAT
Hilary
Rose
The battle of the
bunting: let’s go big
Queen garland, £15,
RebeccasLeaves at
etsy.comAmal Clooney with the activist and entrepreneur Tanzila Khan, to whom she has presented her inaugural award