15th June

On this date, the 15^th June 1215 The Magna Carta (Great Charter) was sealed by King John at Runnymede on the Thames, near Windsor.

English kings are a thuggish breed. ‘Richard the LIonheart’ spent only a handful of days in his kingdom and the rest of his time in the Middle East shoving his sword into Saracens. At home brother John took over and as Kings do, developed a penchant for riches. This annoyed the nobles as it was their riches he had a penchant for! John was excellent at obtaining money but useless at the wars in which he spent it. As an Englishman he considered France to belong to him, which is why so many English buy houses there and refuse to speak the local language and demand that 'Marmite' is available in all the shops, but Johns wishes caused problems with the natives who did not see things his way. Upsetting the Pope was also a bad idea. He took the huff and closed all the churches, thus upsetting the English who thought they could only reach heaven by the churches authority, (Their theology was poor then as it is in the Church of England now!). The Barons did not like this either, they wished to avoid Hell also! The usual convention was for the King to ask for money and discuss this with the powerful Barons. John had instead just demanded all the money he wanted, I told you he was English. Losing the war, having watched the Pope close the churches, having John demand more taxes, combined to ensure the Barons got miffed. So they rose up, captured London, and forced John to ‘discuss’ things. The discussion led to the ‘Magna Carta’ being signed!

The ‘Magna Carta’ is seen by many as the beginning of a legal system which brought law to all, although Hammurabi had done this years before. Many look to it as the beginnings of democracy, but not if you were a serf! The idea of ‘Freedom’ from oppressive kings has been used to justify many similar ‘revolutions.’ However the serfs and vassals remained serfs and vassals, the poor remained poor, and the rich remained rich, and in control! Written constitutions, as many have discovered, can be used for good or ill, no matter the intent behind them.

Naturally, as soon as he was clear of the Barons John repudiated all he had signed away! The Pope was none to pleased also as it meant his hold over the King , the people, and the land, was reduced. Civil war ensued, and this probably pleased the English as they like that sort of thing. I bet they blamed the foreigners!

15th June1381 Saw the end of 'Wat Tyler,' leader of the Peasants Revolt.

After the plague had ravaged the land in the 14th century there was a desire among the lower orders for a fairer society. Naturally those at the top disagreed. Had they increased wages and allowed more freedom the ‘Peasants Revolt’ may never have occurred. However this was not the attitude, and indeed never is the attitude of those who are at the top! The imposition of the ‘Poll Tax’ led to Jack Straw, John Bull and others leading the revolt.

Around fifty thousand approached London and gained admission. Bad leadership, lack of clarity of the aims, and a few beheadings of some leading Bishops and the like occurred before the revolt came to an end. The end came when Richard II, then only fifteen years old, rode out to confront Tyler. Tyler foolishly came alone. In the middle of the discussion the Lord Mayor of London, then an important position, used his sword to dispatch Wat Tyler, (Did he cry “Wat about that then?” as he did so I wonder?). This brought the revolt to an end, and indeed brought the end of most of the ringleaders of the revolt.

15th June1836 Arkansas.

On this day also in 1836 Arkansas became the 25^th state of the US. Whether this has been a good thing for the United States or not I have no idea. I await further information on this. But I could make an educated guess if pushed.....

15th June 1888 In Germany, Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II.

I said at the time this did not look a good idea but nobody listened then. They still don't!

15th June1971 Britain.

The Mad Baroness, Margaret Thatcher, while secretary of State for Education showed her concern for others by banning the distribution of ‘Free milk’ to primary schools. One of the benefits of an education during the fifties and sixties was the free milk, a benefit much required at the time. 'Thatcher the milk Snatcher' brought this to an end because it cost money! Childrens health has never been important to Margaret, money yes, children, or indeed adults, never!

She fell over recently, I want it put on record I did not push her, but I think I would have!

I note she is using an NHS hospital, had she got her way it would never have been built!

Sat Staring at the Wall

Here I am sitting staring at the wall. Saturday afternoon has arrived and I have nothing to say and less to report. Where did the week go? Did anything happen? On Monday I noticed there was a long list written out awaiting my gentle touch, it is still there, waiting.

Actually some things have been done, attendance at the Dole to meet a bullying woman who attempted to give me a positive attitude. "Don't say 'Fail' when a job has turned you down, be positive!" she said. "OK," said I, "I am positive I failed there." She did not respond positively to this in my view. I also reported to the man who signs me on, and mentioned the bully. A somewhat vile grin crossed his face at this, he has known her for many years! His constant chuckling for the next twenty minutes were unnecessary in my view. Whether he accidentally mentioned 'Jackboots' I could not work out.

My main action was the second driving lesson that I undertook on Monday. In 1972 I almost took driving lessons as they were about to increase in price from £2 to £2:50. I did not have the cash, and then no cash and no time. In London I obtained a provisional licence and then discovered I could not afford lessons there although I did have a small Suzuki motorbike for a while. These Japanese things fall apart easily don't they? Anyway, as I could make Marble Arch in twenty mins walking at that time I decided against it. Learning to drive in London did not scare me much, it was just the other cars and those driving them that worried me. Now out here, where in some regards it is still 1964, I find cars are a necessary. Just to get away from the folks around me! It is also a requirement to drive in most jobs these days, merely to get to them. For reasons beyond my limited comprehension there are a vast number of small companies which have decided to base themselves miles from anybody else, either on disused airfields or farm buildings, or deliberately at a distance from human society. Possibly it is cheaper to rent the building but the cost of transport must equalise that!

So I drove along bendy country lanes, failing to work out how to change gear, push down the clutch and brake at the same time whenever a junction came upon us. Two hours of that and I was worn out for the day. The instructor muttered something about being tired out also from his position in the back seat. I should point out he did not intend to sit there but just outside of Thaxted I made a slight mistake and that's where he ended up. I hope that farmer and his tractor got out all right in the end. Do the 'AA' deal with farm machinery?

However, those small intrusions apart nowt else has occurred. I walked up to the far end of town and back down the old railway line passing occasional sweating joggers and lonely women with dogs and suspicious looks,the women not the dogs. I trailed through the shopping centre wondering why women find these places so entrancing. If there were shops selling worthwhile stuff it would be OK, but it is so mundane, and there are at least six charity shops. Now that is fine as that is where I look for books, although the cretins in this backwater tend to read vast quantities of empty headed wimmens fiction and little else. Occasionally I come across a beauty, the last was John van der Kiste's 'Kaiser Wilhelm II' which was a worth while read although a bit too concise I thought. Did he really start the Great War because he was an imperialist bully, or was he just a weak man easily led by his officer corps who, like the French, wanted war? I go for the latter as with or without the Kaiser war was inevitable with the imperial and patriotic pride that coursed through everyone's veins at that time. There are few books available usually, maybe I should try a Rosalind Pincher or a Margaret Atwood and see how I react? I suspect I will be inspired to get a Kalashnikov and run riot through the streets removing those who read such stuff from the world.

I have looked at houses on the web as this is the time to buy one. It's not that I have any money but I foolishly bought a Lottery ticket and am now indulging in those dreams of what it would be like to possess things again. Now I am not claiming to worship Mammon or anything like that but think of the good you could do with all that money - from that island in the Mediterranean that I would buy with it - would be a blessing to many folks. It would of course also be nice not to live off the nation, and be able to pay back what I take out, and that is a guilt trip for some of us, it would of course be good to be rich rather than handsome for a change. What did you say at the back there?

Ah money, that reminds me I had better wander round to the market, it will be closing now and the left overs will be getting sold of cheap and other greedy folk will be picking up all the damaged veg and fruit before I get there. Selfish I calls them! Then I can come back and stare at the wall and try and think of something worth writing.