The Aged P

With nearly all votes counted, Ms Hyde-Smith had taken 53.9% of the vote in the staunchly Republican state compared to 46.1% for Mr Espy.

That’s quite a decisive win considering traditionally the mid term elections trend against the incumbent President’s party. Plus the overwhelming disdain for President Trump from almost all the media, showbiz and the establishment “conservative” punditocracy

Naturally the BBC was disappointed. Taking the lead from their friends at NYT, WaPo and CNN they had orgasmed over what was claimed to be Hyde-Smith’s macaca moment….

The race narrowed after Ms Hyde-Smith, who is white, was recorded saying she would happily attend a public hanging. The comments evoked the lynching of African-Americans in a state scarred by a history of racial violence.

Of course the beeb failed to point out that state officials who turned a blind eye to Jim Crow, the KKK and the lynchings were almost entirely Democrats. But why spoil a good narrative with historical facts….

To be fair the beeb did refer to Espy’s “ethical issues”

The Democrat has himself come under scrutiny for his 2011 lobbying work in the Ivory Coast, whose former leader Laurent Gbagbo is on trial at the International Criminal Court. Mr Espy was agriculture secretary under President Bill Clinton, but resigned under a cloud of corruption allegations, on which he was later acquitted.

Nevertheless, although forced through gritted teeth to declare the Trump supported Hyde-Smith’s win as decisive, the BBC had to weasel something out of it

Yet Democrats and their candidate Mike Espy may well claim some sort of moral victory. In a state widely regarded as a Republican stronghold they made this run-off election a genuine battle.

Trump 1 Macaca 0

A 90 year old Marine veteran who served from 1947 until 1969 died in a care home a few days ago. It is a sad fact that many who survive to a ripe old age outlive their family and when they die their funerals are sparsely attended, usually just a handful of staff from their care home.

He faced a basic public burial but a local undertaker got in touch with the Royal British Legion, who launched a nationwide appeal for support for his funeral.

So when people heard about Marine Kerr’s death, especially so near to our own Remembrance Day, hundreds of them turned out to pay their respects and to honour his service.
There was a substantial presence from service men and women and veterans, local folk from in and around Shrewsbury including a group of teenagers from the local college.

Students from Shrewsbury college attended Royal Marine David McLaren Kerr’s funeral. Charlotte Taylor Jones said she saw the appeal for people to attend. Over 40 students were at the service. pic.twitter.com/eQIDMEli9x

— BBC Shropshire (@BBCShropshire) October 16, 2018

Was a pleasure to be there, even though we didn’t know him it gave us all a chance to show our respects and how grateful we are for fighting for our country.

The words of these students, expressing their gratitude for the military service of those who either gave or risked their lives to protect future generations, stood in stark contrast with the academic “high flyers” of the Cambridge University Union who voted to reject the red poppy of Remembrance Day as “imperialist propaganda”

God Bless You, Marine Kerr. Rest in Peace and thank you for you service.

This nonsense about Winston Churchill just shows how the lunatic fringe has moved into the mainstream. Ben Shapiro and Andrew Roberts have both forensically dismissed the claim that Churchill should not be regarded as a hero so I need not attempt to walk in their shoes but there are some points to be made arising from the “debate”

Even in the 1930s public opinion saw Churchill as an old fashioned figure, a relic of the Victorian/Edwardian era out of sync with modern attitudes. He had opposed votes for women, self government for India and helped break the General Strike of 1926. He believed in the Empire, hated Bolshevism and despised the League of Nations.
Within the Conservative Party he was seen as a relic and a troublemaker. Even as late as 1960 when, as a university student I helped campaign for the Tories in a council election I heard the local candidate use those very words about Churchill even when most of us saw him as the hero who saved our nation in 1940.

After Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933 he became almost a one man band constantly warning against the rise of German militarism and the need to re-arm. His warnings fell largely on deaf ears, not just from his fellow politicians but also the general public. My parents remembered vividly times in cinemas when the newsreels showed Churchill and there were cries or “warmonger” from the audience. Rumours swirled that he wanted war because he had shares in the armaments industry. He was a voice in the wilderness when he refused to acclaim Chamberlain for Munich.

Yet when the nation was awakened to the possibility of defeat in 1940, when many politicians and media figures were pushing for “terms” and Chamberlain sought to create a government of national unity the Labour Party refused to serve under anybody else except Churchill. When George VI unwillingly appointed him Prime Minsister the country largely fell in behind him…..beecause, at that moment of crisis, his old fashioned, outdated ideas of patriotism mirrored the public mood

“It is to wage war by sea, land, and air, war with all our minds and with all the strength that God gives us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crimes.”

For a country totally alone, weakened militarily and economically it was manifestly an irrational response. No “modern” politician would have dared used that phrase…..which was why Churchill was the only one who could say it with conviction.

Subsequently as a wartime PM his path was not always even. The latecomers from Washington and Moscow gradually took up the greater part of the burden. But without that moment in 1940 the “monstrous tyranny” could well have been secure in Europe even until this present day…..

Like most of the “official” US media the UK Daily Telegraph covered the whole Kavanaugh saga in a manner so shallow and biased that at times I thought I was reading the Guardian. Very little was reported of the gaping holes in the allegations and the lack of evidence. Certain Democrat senators were presented as honest brokers without any suggestion that the process had been orchestrated. Even worse a veritable regiment of Polly Fillers were allowed imply that Kavanaugh’s accusers were telling the truth and the man himself was a sinister rapist…..no mention of the 75 former fellow students, girl friends or colleagues who vouchsafed for his character

Strangely the strong defence of Mr Kavanaugh by Sen Graham was hardly mentioned which was rather odd as until now, as a regular GOP critic of the president he was often wheeled out by the resident DT US team to provide ammunition against Trump.

And of course, the whole chorus was part of the sustained anti Trump agenda that has been carefully followed by the DT since the moment he announced his candidature in 2015 – magnified by the embarrassment and humiliation of the paper’s so called US “experts” who refused to even countenance the possibility of his victory.

I think the people who run the DT need to seriously address this issue of bias. By all means criticise Trump but please cut out the sneers about him and his family. Indeed it might even be possible to address the lack of balance by getting some input by folk like Don Surber, John Nolte or Candace Owens who could give an alternative perspective.

Or, of course, you could continue to be the cut and paste surrogates for the Washington Post or the NYT….

Students at Manchester University have decided that applause and cheers create an unsafe environment for some people because it can be intimidating for students with autism, sensory issues or deafness.

Ms Khan, the union’s liberation and access officer, who proposed the motion at a recent meeting said clapping can “discourage” some from attending democratic events.
So-called “jazz hands”, she said, encouraged an “environment of respect”.
“I think a lot of the time, even in Parliamentary debates, I’ve seen that clapping, whooping, talking over each other, loud noises, encourages an atmosphere that is not as respectful as it could be,” she said.

But the pic of Emma Sone doing jazz hands did seem to stir a long forgotten memory buried way back in TV Past – The BBC’s Black and White Minstrel Show from the 1970s where white men in blackface danced and sang surrounded by a troupe of pretty white girls, recreating the long established tradition of American minstrel shows.

Although it initially attracted strong audience numbers the basic premise of the show, a stereotype of the child like black man, alternately jolly and sad but without any depth of intellect began to fit less comfortably with the times and in 1978 it was cancelled.

And if there was one image which characterised this patronising  of of the intellectually stunted black man it was this

A direct descendant of the nineteenth century image

So maybe those Manchester students might be a tad less comfortable if they were aware that they were perpetuating an action that could be considered demeaning to black people and just……racist….

All those youngsters and nervous parents heading for reception class this week took me back to my own reception experience in 1945 at my London County Council primary school at the top of Brixton Hill. We gathered with our mums (dads didn’t do schools in those days) on the pavement outside the school entrance. A teacher came into the playground and blew a whistle. Some of us left mum and went into the playground. My mum told me years later she was hurt because I didn’t look back!!
The teacher, a rather stern looking lady called Miss Bowker, marshalled us into a line then blew the whistle again. Mums prodded their kids into the playground. Some were tearful but Miss Bowker just pushed them into the line then marched us into the school, ignoring the waving mums.
I guess Miss B must have started teaching in 1910 because she eventually retired in 1950. She certainly was old school. English and arithmetic in the morning and, if we worked hard, arty crafty stuff in the afternoon.
She ruled us with a gimlet eye and, when necessary, a sharp look of disapproval which would quell any rebellious soul. My working class mum had taught me to read and write so I managed to bumble along quite well but many of my thirty nine fellow pupils were thrown into the deep end. But nobody left Miss B’s class unable to read or write.
When we did art we painted on sheets torn out of old telephone directories because there was a national shortage of paper…..which is why we had to fill every space in our copy books if we wanted to avoid Miss B’s ire…..
Wonder how she would fare in our more “caring” culture….lol…

Very good news…..

I suspect that some of the drivers of this escapade were

1. Police and BBC guilt over covering up the Jimmy Savile stuff for so long
2. Sir Cliff’s insistence that his sexuality is a private matter
3. Sir Cliff’s very unfashionable public stance as a Christian

Points 2 & 3 do not appear to fit easily into the world view of the 21st century BBC…..indeed the beeb seems positively antagonistic to such sentiments as discretion about sexuality and declarations of Christian faith.

Hence an almost fanatical determination to use the naming of Sir Cliff as a suspect in an underage sexual abuse investigation and the resultant police search as a golden opportunity to publicly humiliate the man.

Naturally the BBC and the rest of the media are bloviating about “press freedom” and “the public’s right to know.

Pure bollocks.

The BBC didn’t post the report discreetly on the TV equivalent of page 15 – it was not only given a front page splash but also subsequently entered for a “scoop of the year” competition. They probably saw it as an opportunity to humiliate someone whose slightly old fashioned views just didn’t resonate with their own “liberated”, progressive outlook.

Strangely my Facebook timeline (usually full of anti Trump, anti Brexit, pro Corbyn bloviations) is almost silent over the judge’s damning indictment. Imagine. however, the cacophony from certain quarters if it had been the Mail or The Sun “wot done it”….

Well that was a bit of a nuisance. Got referred to East Surrey by GP at end of February. Consultant told me I had neck cancer (relatively rare, apparently) Went into Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead in April for an op. Big but neat scar on my neck and a bit knackered but still compos mentis. .

Just about to start second part of procedure – four weeks of radiotherapy

Keeping calm and carrying on…….

WHEN THE LENS OF WISHFUL THINKING TURNS HISTORY INTO MYTH

Much of the reporting about the centenary of the granting of votes to women has been strong on emotion and weak on historical facts. Most of the narrative has been about the “suffragettes” and their militancy, with various celebs and politicians decked out in purple, white and green, the WSPU (suffragette) colours.

In fact most of the heavy lifting for women’s suffrage was done by Millicent Fawcett’s “suffragists” (NUWSS) who favoured non violent campaigning. It could well be argued that it was the NUWSS effort that won the right to vote. Yet they (and their colours of red.white and green) have today been overshadowed by the Pankhursts and the suffragettes.

Curiously enough the NUWSS was a tad more left wing than the suffragettes. The WSPU abandoned action in 1914 and fully supported WW1. Although Fawcett also supported the war she had to be more circumspect because many of her members were pacifists. Nevertheless today even left wingers were decked out in purple white and green when they should have been red, white and green.

Maybe the passionate grandstanding of the suffragettes has a greater resonance with 21st century culture than the equally determined but less theatrical behaviour of the suffragists. However, although the current commemorations focus, quite rightly, on women gaining the right to vote and the democrat in me celebrates that landmark, the historian in me does get irritated when facts get….massaged…..

“The failure of a second bill in 1867 led to the formation of the National Society for Women’s Suffrage in Manchester, gradually joined by numerous other branches around the country, which were united in 1897 in the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. The suffragists of the NUWSS were many more in number than the militants who in 1903 set up the WSPU (Women’s Social and Political Union) and adopted direct militant action as tactics. By 1914 the NUWSS had 50,000 members, the WSPU 5,000. The NUWSS retained their focus on peaceful campaigning: petitioning, demonstrating, writing, speaking and teaching, organising and lobbying in favour of the vote. Many of them saw the violent tactics of the suffragettes as bringing the movement and the credibility of women as aspiring responsible members of political society into disrepute and compromising the female values which they argued were needed in government and society and which necessitated that women should have a vote.”