Lords!

Waterstones

There is a great joy in finishing a book, especially a book which has been enjoyable, educational or entertaining.  This book was certainly educational if not entertaining.
Already in control of much of the middle east desperate to control the Suez Canal and once the Royal Navy began to use oil to fuel its many ships the desert lands had become an important part of British planning.  From before the Great War and up to 1945 the British were everywhere and everywhere they were found they were in control.  In just over 20 years they had only Oman! Arab nationalism, Israel and more importantly as this book reveals the United States came to realise oil was important and they wanted it all.
The book takes us through the allies working together while trying to usurp the other.  We travel through the loss of Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the last port, Aden.  The internal politics were used for and against Britain, Prime Ministers leant on the USA while desperate to borrow money, gave the cash to Arabs who would aid British interests and borrowed more!  Various US presidents supported the UK while also sending operators to work for the best interest of the USA alone.  
Nothing changes!
Governments were created, removed, supported and opposed at will, sometimes by both the US and UK and at other times in opposition to one another.  Murder of leaders was often contemplated, lies abounded and 'Nation shall speak peace unto one another' was not found anywhere.
The book gives a detailed insight into the political fighting that occurred over many years.  By 1967, when the book ends, Britain was out from everywhere, the financial losses, economic failure and the end of Empire left Britain with only Oman as a friend in the middle east.  Recently the Sultan died, we have yet to find out what will happen there now.

Maudlin Monday

Once again we note that that nice US president has been watching 'Fox News' again.  We can tell be cause he has discovered that Iran is a problem and he must declare war on that ancient land.  The war he is now working on, between MacDonald's and Coke, is one that continues the Syrian war the Saudi's and that nice Israeli president started and failed with.  They had intended to curtail Iran by attacking the proxy Syria but having failed, thanks to Russia's intervention, another nice man the Mr Putin, the Middle East rulers now wish a direct US attack on Persia.
The Persians will tell you they go back to Cyrus the Great which means they have been around since he died, at war, in 530 BC.  As such they consider all nations around bar China and India and newcomers and the variety of Arab states they treat with undisguised contempt.  This is not helped when Iran takes the Shia Muslim line and the majority of the rest take the Sunni line, something ignored when Britain and France and the rest divided up the middle east after the Great War.
Today the west's interference has removed almost all Christians from the area, most Jews and all those of lesser faiths either diminish or suffer according to passing fashion.  Such interference continues, with Trump following whatever he is told, a 'hawk' or two in the White House demanding action similar to that dealt to Iraq and again uncaring re the millions who will suffer and die, including their own men of course, they have never been considered by leading politicians.
World War 3 will begin on Twitter...

Getting away from that I have put aside all my other reading and become captive to this small book.  This is one of several found in Waterstones, the 'Penguin Monarchs' series, and so far I have rushed through this easy to read history of William the Conqueror.  Ideal for train journeys, flights, sitting in the loo, the short easy chapters inform, educate and bring to life well known monarchs, all from the past obviously, and appear worth the £4:99.
I have got one or two others to read also and I think this is a good way to get to know the past.  One thing I wonder concerns the rumours of how he married his wife Matilda.  Nothing is said re him pulling her off a horse or battering her or raping her to ensure a marriage.  Maybe these rumours were out of place or too much of a rumour to put into a short book?  Being short it cannot cover all ground right enough.
Enough good information is given however to review the character of the man.  Usually we hear a little half hearted basic information concerning some great man and once we investigate for ourselves we quickly discover things are not quite as we have been told.  William was indeed a religious man, not just for show either.  He placed reforming Archbishops into Canterbury and Rouen  and listened to their spiritual counsel.  This enabled him to rule humanely and judge justly.  We forget or know little about what went before but William improved life for many, even when treating this who opposed him severely.  One aspect unknown to me was the vast degree of slavery in England and Wales at the time, this William outlawed!  Once again a foreigner came to England and freed the English from themselves!  His piety was real but his wrath no less real, opponents felt this but I suspect the reason many disliked him in England was the tax he raised, mostly from those who had the money to spare.
I have finished this book, unputdownable and quickly read. 
I like this one.

Guardian

It is most unfortunate that the Electoral Commission, a somewhat tardy organisation today, has been forced by one time Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step in and investigate the flow of money onto the Brexit Party coffers.  It appears money is coming from outside the UK via PayPal which converts the cash into £s from whatever source and in Brexit eyes does no wrong.  Foreign cash as you know is not acceptable in funding political parties at an election.  It could be our man might be forced out, tsk the 'establishment' again!

Exhibition Opening Talk

Saturday was a busy day, I rose very early as I had to be at work by ten, and it takes a while to get ready.  Before ten I arrived to be greeted with the phrase "Go away!"  This was because the email system at work had failed, again, and the email telling me to arrive at one p.m. had not arrived at my end, it did arrive around 11:30 that day however when I was back home.  So I dragged my weary bulk back home via the market ensuring I bought nothing and rested my intellect until time to retrace my steps.    

At two p.m. we had a talk to open the 'Cold War' Exhibition which runs alongside the exhibition featuring the 60's to 80's period, a very good idea indeed.  Here the curator of the 'Wethersfield Airfield Museum' give a talk on the history of the base during the days of Cold War activity.  This base was used by the USAF from the early 50'suntil sometime in the 90's when the world was once again safe for democracy, if you vote the way we say.  There appears to be no webpage but there is a 'RAF Wethersfield' Museum page on facebook which is worth visiting.  

Originally built for World War 2 bombers, twin engined A-20 'Havocs' flew from here, the runway was lengthened for jet fighter bombers when the US returned in the early 50's.  The 'Thunderstreak' and later the 'Sabre' jet that became famous during the Korean War were later superseded by the 'F100 Super Sabre' supersonic jet and later the first prototype 'F 111' arrived here.  
These and other aircraft put on airshows attended by many locals.  When asked how many in our audience of 60 persons had attended one of these around half had done so.  The locals and the Americans got on very well indeed.  The friendships were such that between the early 50's and 1990 around 4000 weddings took place, not all from the town but from the wider area.  One anecdote concerned a bus driver who often drove girls from Ipswich to the base on a Saturday night for the dances and events staged there.  He commented that when he left for home after midnight the bus was always half empty.  Many women went to the States, some men remained here and one of those was in the audience last night, by chance his photo and details were mentioned during the talk.  Many of the US folks return regularly to the town, often visiting the museum as they ought!

There was little fear during the Cold War that I can remember.  Certainly we knew of the cost if war broke out but the 'Cuban Missile Crisis' was the only time that this came close and then neither side wished to pursue this.  'MAD,' Mutually Assured Destruction, ensured no successful war was possible and few entertained the idea.  Today there is more danger from small militant groups carrying even smaller nuclear weapons in hand luggage!  
However the first CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament') march left from Wethersfield and marched to the House of Commons.  I often wondered why these folks did not march through the streets of Moscow or campaigned to get the Soviets to stand down their weapons.  In war two sides participate not just one, Soviet influence was strong among these groups, feeding on fear and a one sided 'appeasement' attitude that prevailed mostly amongst the middle classes as far as I can remember.  They do not gather in large groups to oppose North Korea or Iran or Israel having such weapons, is there a reason for this? 

A very popular and enjoyable talk which afterwards encouraged some attending to wander again through the exhibits and even spend money in the shop.  This we were delighted to encourage!
It did mean we did not close until late and then I got home just in time for the 6 pm football which was acceptable after a hard day enjoying myself working.  It has been a physical hard week on my knees and I am dead beat today.  Coming home from St P's I had to crawl up the stairs and sleep of my exertions.  Sadly I feel I must do the same tomorrow, but I will manage to do so even if I would rather be hard at work somewhere...honest.

I have just discovered this on YouTube, a video by Ross from the Wethersfield Museum which is worth a look.

Tuseday Tittle-Tattle

Last night I sat entranced at the bright red sky as the sun went down.  Had I not been otherwise occupied I may have tries to get outside and capture the sky.   Around half nine the sky was still stunning and I attempted pityfully to capture the night.  It was almost like this.  I awoke at ten past four this morning and found the sky lighter and still stunning.  How wonderful this time of the year can be, if it doesn't rain or cloud over.    
Of course as the sun shone I was inside the museum meeting good people and watching the boss work three peoples jobs.  I could not help while working the shop, most unfortunate.  The school was good, cheery kids.  
I had to rush home because the man was coming to check out the sink that had sunk.  Naturaly he came after two as planned, around five actually as not planned.  They had been working in Camoludunum.  Once here they quickly decided the job would entail replacing the entire unit, this meant a big job in a narrow space and both agreed it was time for going home.  So this will be replaced in time, probably a long time, and I will struggle on with the damaged tap until he can work up the courage and time to do the job. 
I might leave home while they do it!

Another outrage in Manchester, not the first they have suffered.  The media are filling spaces with masses of speculation and little substance so I am avoiding them. When I awake at four this morning I heard the early news and the guesswork as to what was happening.  I gave up as they began the tedious repeating of the same question to different people to get the same story over and over with little understanding of what was going on.  This is not journalism just filling air time.
 So what are we to do, what are we to make of this killing of around 22 people and wounding of dozens of others?  The rest of the audience, mostly adolescent and teenage girls, will be somewhat traumatised for years after this.  The apparent lack of stewards to guide or control them after the event was worrying and a greater disaster was avoided by luck it appears to me.
Today everyone is 'standing with Manchester' as you might expect.  This is good but we must ask will it happen again and why does it happen?  

The UK and the French, then the USA have been kicking Arabs about for over two hundred years.  The needs of Empire, or just greed, have ensured the woshes of what was considered the backward Arabs was of no importance to London or Paris.  The greater game was their concern and the dying Ottoman Empire and Arab opinion dd not count.  
Britain and France under the Sykes-Picot agreement, with Russian acceptance, divided the dead Ottoman Empire between themselves after the Great War.  The only Arabs considered worthy of discussion were lied to and their understanding of the situation totally amended to suit the agreement.  They were not happy.  
The resultant creation of several new nations, not all split thoughtfully enough it must be said, has led to nothing but war, assassination and bad feeling ever after.  
Now in more recent times to save the west from the nasty Iranians under the Ayattollah the Americans (That nice Mr Rumsfeld again) gave the Iraqis help when fighting Iran and ignored the million or two dead and dying because they were not 'us' and anyway far away.  What could possibly go wrong?
Well Saddam did not play ball for a start, the first Gulf War causing many thousands of deaths, but mostly Arabs, the second, needless, war cost more and being badly managed by Rumsfeld and Cheney led to the break up of Iraq, the growth of Al-Queda and Islamic State and how many other Islamic type groupings.
Now add Obamas desperate attepmt, an attempt desired by most in the US, to bring his troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and see the fear rise in Saudi Arabia at the growth of Iran and their nuclear weapons.  Result?  The war against Syria led and paid for by Saudi's using ISIS and all the others to break up a peaceful and more tolerant state than Saudi Arabia. The result of this is the growth of ISIS and their attempt to build up and take over Saudi!  
It gets confusing from here on so I will let you guess the rest.

Now we have young men in many places convinced they ought to be strict Muslims fed a diet of radical teaching by persons unknown.  Those less competent as well as those who should know better respond to this as young men do who wish to change the world.  Many have died fighting in the Middle East.  Others have attempted action in the UK with only police action defeating them and usually with information from Islamic sources.  Fed a belief that dying makes you a martyr and glory awaits encourages many to enlist.  Young men respond to this and some take action.  
Whoever took action last night considers his act worthy of his faith.  With Muslim men, women and children killed by the west he considers his actions defending his faith.  Any Muslim killed would be seen as a martyr also, others merely unbelievers.  The fact that most were young girls will not deter him, the Middle East has seen many such suffer terribly over the years from Muslims and a few westerners would not cause the conscience much trouble.

We cannot defeat this behaviour by force.  It requires propaganda and actions to stabalise the Middle East and deal with each nations fears.  There appears little suggestion of such happeneing these days.  The US has just sold billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, no doubt also to Israel, and anyone else who toes the western line.  That will not ensure peace.  
I thought I had a conclusion to put in here and I discovered I have none.  All that is in my mind remains the thousands of Muslims who die this way and we care not.  Baghdad, Beirut, Kabul anywhere in Pakistan all suffer outrages and most are not reported in the west.  We stand with one another in the west heightening the separation of two sides, each outrage polarising opinion and killing sensible debate on both sides. 
No wonder people read the media for easy answers.

  

Numpty Donald

Donald is in the Middle East at the moment.  He is on a mission to end wars there by selling Saudi Arabia and Israel $100 billion worth of weaponry.  This will help.  Of course he is not the actual salesman, he just takes the credit while others bribe sell the goods so they can bomb children in Yemen or bump of another Palestinian or two.  What does Jesus really say about this I ask?

Anyway our boy is still tweeting, carefully in a land where they cut bits off, and revealing to the world the reason he is considered mentally unbalanced, rash to the point of dangerous and unfit for the office of President of the United States of America.  

However, there are those who would say that he is no worse than many others who have held this esteemed post, indeed he is clearly more capable than some.  While I agree that he is a danger to society, that nuclear war will be avoided only by the US military chiefs ignoring his commands and the Russians backing down Khrushchev like, that North Korea might soon be a blackened wastlend and while it is true that he is likely to fall out with the leaders of Japan and France and possibly attempt to seduce Merkel if he ever gets to meet her this man still remains no worse than many who have sat in the Oval Office before.

Lets peruse some.

Abraham Lincoln.  Abe is seen as a great man.  His standards were high, his integrity great, these combined to get him shot while watching a play at the end of the civil war.  This was inevitable as Lincoln had failed in almost everything else he did.   In 1832 he lost his job, in 35 his sweetheart died, a year later he had a nervous breakdown.  He was however elected to the Illinois House for the Whigs.  He tired for Congress and failed, eventually being elected three years later, he later lost the nomination for this.  In 1849 he was defeated for Land Officer, 1854 defeated while attempting to enter Senate, 1856 defeated as Vice President, 1858 defeated again in attempt to enter Senate.  He did however become President and cause a major civil war.  He then got shot dead.

Andrew Johnson.  While Licoln lay on his deathbed Andrew Johnson the vice president arrived, Mrs Lincoln, like Abe no friend of their associate, screamed at him to get out.  This he did and wandered off to get drunk.  When Lincoln was pronounced dead Johnson had to be woken from sleep to be sworn in as President.  His first speech as president abused the beaten South, though he himself was senator from Tennessee and agreed with slavery, and was somewhat thoughtless.  He had his own slaves, his first, a woman, had three children who were somewhat light skinned it was said, hmmm.  He handled the rebellious southern states roughly possibly because he was one of them, he survived attempts at assassination and soon fell out with both Republican and Democrats, the Republicans had him impeached but acquitted but he was acquitted by one vote.  Tact was not his greatest talent.

Warren Harding.  Some say this was the worst President the US ever had.  Women had just received the vote in the US during 1920 and he was chosen as Presidential candidate because of his good looks.  I know how he must have felt.  Harding himself did not bother to be there when the vote for such emancipation was taken.  This was not because he did not like women, indeed he liked them so much he often mde use of them, women are attracted to power.  That explains why I do my own ironing.  He also favoured drunken parties at the White house which was considered unfortunate by some as Prohibition was then at its height. Scandals abounded, possibly behind his back his chosen helpers being not as nice as he and while he probably did not know about them till later he probably didn’t bother much even then. 

Ronald Reagan.  None in the free world outside of the United States could ever imagine electing a ‘B’ actor of such limited intellect as this yet the Americans did so, twice!  Famous for doodling (or was that drooling) during cabinet meetings and stuffing down jellybeans while his wife searched astrological charts to inform him of what days he ought to do certain actions he was however remarkably good at communicating with the American people.  His stye would have him laughed out of office in any other nation but he knew how to appear before an American audience and many loved him for it.  He reigned through and possibly did not notice, the Iran-Contra affair, war in the Middle East, the shooting down of an Iran passenger jet leading to the downing of Pan-Am 103 over Lockerbie awarding the US captain who shot down the Iran jet a war medal!  

We know all about him so let him speak for himself: -  

''I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself.''   

''Well, I learned a lot....I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries'' 

“I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting.”  

It is not known if he was joking.

George W. Bush.   George became Governor of Texas and managed to do very little.  Following on from Dad George entered the White House with a desire to emulate and possibly better his father in his job, this however was somewhat spoiled as he was aided by Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, two of the more murky characters ever to be found in Washington, and that says something.  Tony Blair’s aids indicated that at no time was he left alone with George, Cheney was always there a strange presence at George’s side.  We know about the needless Iraq war, the huge deficit increase, 9/11 and all the rest, too soon to have forgotten, but have we forgotten his statements.  These were delicious even for a US President :-  

''You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that.''—President George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three in Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005. 

''Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.''  

"You don't need to be smart to be president"--Republican Congressman J.C. Watts - said at a February campaign appearance on Bush's behalf. Washington Post, 6/11/00 "I think anybody who doesn't think I'm smart enough to handle the job is underestimating."
--U.S. News & World Report, April 3, 2000.                                                          "Rarely is the question asked: is our children learning" --Florence, SC, Jan. 11, 2000
"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." -George W. Bush

"It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it."--Reuters, May 5, 2000
"I think we agree, the past is over." --On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000.

I have not bothered to mention Richard Nixon as he was more sad than bad, too stupid to really appreciate how bad he was. ''When the President does it, that means it's not illegal.''  A great phrase which he probably believed.  To avoid upsetting some I ignore George Washington who never told a lie, he said, and who failed at every battle he fought yet with French help defeated the failing English redcoats.   

I will however mention one or two clever Presidents.   

Thomas Jefferson.  This man spoke French, Latin and Greek, knew his History, philosophy and maths, and became a competent architect.  He was a competent musician also as well as a keen gardener, he studied ancient life and wrote poetry.  In between he managed to come up with "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal."  Beat that!

I doubt he would be elected to Congress today.

James Madison.  Another who would not get the power is James Madison.  This president also became fluent in Latin and Greek adding Italian and Spanish also.  He put his mind to History, maths and science also and was influenced by Aristotle and John Locke concerning liberty.  He was influential in developing the US Constitution, so blame him!

John Adams.  As you know this president was the great, great, grandson of Henry Adams who with his wife and seven children emigrated from Braintree in the heart of Essex to the New England Colonies in the 1630's.  John Adams was famed for his oratory as well as working with Madison on the Constitution.  They say his speeches pushed this through the then parliament.  He worked well with Madison and they got on spedidly together, they got on so well they both died on the same day in 1826, the 4th of July! 

   

There are many others to mention, both good and bad, but the point I am making is that Trump is dangerous and illogical but no better or worse than what has gone before.  The chances of nuclear war are slim, but always possible, the chances of him being impeached much greater.  

We need worry only about Mother May dictating to her cabinet and forcing them to follow where she leads them and us, even though she does not know where she is heading.