Partir, c’est mourir un peu

As Didier Saugy was leaving the National Press Club in Washington DC on Friday 13 January following a gruelling job interview, suddenly the streets lled with police o cers and tra c came to a grinding halt. e next moment the presidential helicopter carrying Joe Biden came into land at the White House, which is just around the corner from the club in the US capital.

“It was like something you see on TV, but there it was taking place right in front of my eyes,” said the Swiss national who has helmed the FCC since 2018, and, despite riots in the streets, the depredations of COVID-19 and the collywobbles over the renewal of the lease, still looks a long way short of his 61 years.

After an initial approach from a headhunter last August, Saugy sat through a dozen interviews of one sort or another before nally being advised that he would be appointed as Executive Director of America’s foremost press club, which counts 3,000 journalism and media professionals, public relations gurus, writers, authors, students and educators in its membership, and occupies two oors in the National Press Building, which is about as close to the beating heart of the world’s leading superpower as it’s possible to get.

“I’ve worked in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and China, but never in the US, so this is a great opportunity, one I simply couldn’t turn down,” said Saugy.

“My background is in F&B, and I think this is one of the main reasons that they hired me, as they want to improve their dining.

“Of course, I am terribly sad to leave, as I love my job here and will miss the club, sta and members very much.

e FCC is very special, it goes without saying. In hotels, where I used to work, it’s all about the bottom line, nothing else. Of course we’re concerned about the nancial side at the FCC but it’s also about supplying happiness, providing a comfortable place.

“I’m proud to say I’ve done what I have done here; most

MH370: the doco

e three-part Net ix documentary MH370: e Plane that Disappeared was released just as e Correspondent went to press.

Former FCC President Florence de Changy, who has tracked the story for more than eight years, said she hoped it will support some of the arguments she made in her book e Disappearing Act: e Impossible Case of MH370

She commented: “ e plane did not crash in the Southern Indian Ocean (SIO). Neither the Inmarsat data nor the untraceable debris found on the African coast should count as tangible or credible evidence.

“Captain Zaharie Shah was a good man by all accounts importantly, we have systems in place now so the club should continue to run very smoothly.”

No precise date has been set for Saugy’s departure, however he and his wife Summer and eight-year-old son Quentin are likely to be jetting across the Paci c sometime in the next few months.

And what of the future? “I told them one thing at the nal interview – I have no intention of retiring at 65!

“Quentin was born here, and I’m not selling my apartment in Tung Chung, so we certainly haven’t gone for good.”

Like the song says: “You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.” and a great pilot too, and most likely not responsible for this disaster.

And for someone who has fed e Eagles in his time – as well as Bill Clinton, the late Queen Elizabeth II, the Dalai Lama, Buzz Aldrin, Dire Straits and numerous international rugby teams (“they eat like a horse”) – that’s a pretty good line to end on.

“ e narrative of the crash in the SIO is a heavy handed fabrication that has been passively promoted by most mainstream media who failed to question its lack of evidence.

“As a journalist, committed to nding the truth and exposing a lie when I spot one, I am con dent that it will soon be further proven that there was no crash in the SIO.

“Truth is owed rstly to the families of the 239 passengers who died, but also to the millions who board a plane every day assuming that they will land safely.”