LONDON: Theresa May boogied away one of her last weekends as British prime minister, showing off some of her famously awkward dance moves to Abba hits such as “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” at a festival.
In a video clip, she is shown dancing at the Henley Festival as her husband and other men in black tie swing their arms to the tunes.
May, whose premiership was riven by crises over Brexit and who was cast as robotic by opponents, occasionally sought to bring some humor to the job by performing dances in public.
She last year danced with school children in South Africa and then grooved onto stage at the Conservative Party conference to “Dancing Queen” — exhibiting a puzzling robotic hand movement that went viral on social media.
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Dancing queen? Theresa May boogies to Abba in final days as British PM
Dancing queen? Theresa May boogies to Abba in final days as British PM
- May, whose premiership was riven by crises over Brexit and who was cast as robotic by opponents, occasionally sought to bring some humor to the job
- She last year danced with school children in South Africa and then grooved onto stage at the Conservative Party conference to “Dancing Queen”
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
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