Had a lot to do today, mainly in preparation for my language class tonight, so Madam Paddy Cat enjoying the sun in the garden gets the top spot today.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Monday under pressure
Had a lot to do today, mainly in preparation for my language class tonight, so Madam Paddy Cat enjoying the sun in the garden gets the top spot today.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Rhine Wine ...
We have spent a very pleasant day on the wine estate owned by the Raddeck family just above Nierstein on the banks of the Rhine. Mausi took some pictures of the view to be obtained from the vineyard and we bought a few bottles of their excellent reds and one white. The pictures are taken from a point above the town and looking north-north west - downstream for the rhine.
Friday, 6 May 2011
Referendum
I dare say there will be rejoicing in some quarters over the rejection of the Alternative Voting system in the UK, but I do wonder how valid it is when less than 50% of the voters bother to vote. Not voting is NOT the same as voting no. If anything it shows that those who don't vote, don't even begin to understand democracy. This is why Britain, and I dare say other countries as well, so often find themselves saddled with huge bureaucracies (unelected) and permanent politicians who never seem to get the message from the voters.
No, I'm not suggesting they don't occassionally listen to the violent mobs who take to the streets, the people they don't listen to are those from whom they take regular payments in the form of tax, and 'redistribute' it to all the worthless parasites in Whitehall and their own bank accounts, friends and relations.
The AV system is probably not the best in the world but it would be an improvement on the first past the post dinosaur which allows and encourages the growth of 'Safe' Seats where particular parties can put up talking baboons as candidates and still get elected. This is why, I suspect, so many no longer even bother to vote. They've worked out that it is a pointless exercise, the Party of Choice in their area will be elected whether they vote or not.
The anti-change vote is amusing from one aspect, the AV system is already in use in Wales and has produced what is likely to be a shake-up as the Liebor Party has lost its majority. It is in use in Northern Ireland and in the EU elections and has demonstrated some advantages in those. Perhaps voting should be made, as it is in Australia, compulsory. That way at least people would have to make their preferences known, and Australia uses a form of AV ...
In the meantime Liebor-Labour has lost ground in Scotland and in Wales, gained some ground in its usual heartlands in England and the big losers are the LibDems who are now trying to blame their partners in government for the loss. Heads, methinks, will soon begin to roll in some quarters.
No, I'm not suggesting they don't occassionally listen to the violent mobs who take to the streets, the people they don't listen to are those from whom they take regular payments in the form of tax, and 'redistribute' it to all the worthless parasites in Whitehall and their own bank accounts, friends and relations.
The AV system is probably not the best in the world but it would be an improvement on the first past the post dinosaur which allows and encourages the growth of 'Safe' Seats where particular parties can put up talking baboons as candidates and still get elected. This is why, I suspect, so many no longer even bother to vote. They've worked out that it is a pointless exercise, the Party of Choice in their area will be elected whether they vote or not.
The anti-change vote is amusing from one aspect, the AV system is already in use in Wales and has produced what is likely to be a shake-up as the Liebor Party has lost its majority. It is in use in Northern Ireland and in the EU elections and has demonstrated some advantages in those. Perhaps voting should be made, as it is in Australia, compulsory. That way at least people would have to make their preferences known, and Australia uses a form of AV ...
In the meantime Liebor-Labour has lost ground in Scotland and in Wales, gained some ground in its usual heartlands in England and the big losers are the LibDems who are now trying to blame their partners in government for the loss. Heads, methinks, will soon begin to roll in some quarters.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Revenge is mine ...
The Dragon is dead; long live the Dragon. Watching the news regarding the death of Osama Bin Laden several things must become apparent to those who take time to look objectively at this affair. On the one hand the man who apparently masterminded - certainly he claimed to have - the attack on the USA in 2001, has been killed. Perhaps executed is the better term since there was evidently no intention of placing him in a court or subjecting him to any sort of legal process. It may draw a veil over the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran and Iraq, but, somehow, I doubt it.
I have long believed that it takes a rather sick and twisted psyche to embark on the sort of campaign Bin Laden fronted, and it is not unique to the “Arab” world or to Islam. Many of these terrorist organisations have their origins in the so-called Cold War, with Moscow and Washington/NATO funding groups of “freedom fighters” in each other’s “client” states. Sometimes both parties were funding similar groups in the same state, usually with the same objective in view. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda is a product of that process as are the many terror groups scattered around the world and active in places like the Philippines, the Congo and several South American states.
Much of the explosion in drugs use and drug trafficking can also be traced to “Black Operations” managed by both Super Powers in the late 20th Century.
Following Bin Laden’s death I do not believe Al Qaeda will die with him. A new leader will emerge and new campaign will be planned. Al Qaeda and similar groups have no trouble recruiting followers, the “Madrasa” system operated in Pakistan and other impoverished Muslim states as “schools” provide a solid grounding in a twisted and extremely fundamentalist Islamic interpretation and thinking. The real problem with these “schools” is that anyone can set one up and no real qualification other than being able to read the Quran is necessary.
Al Qaeda will not die simply because Bin Laden is dead. It now has a martyr who is an international figure. We should take note of the hysterical demonstrations on the streets of Hamas controlled Gaza. Summary justice certainly has been seen to be done, but whose justice is served by it? His supporters see his campaign as justifiable because of the damage we have done to their belief system, to the countries they live in and, of course, our Christian heritage which the Madrasa teachers identify as an offence to God and Blasphemy. Citizens of the US feel that his death in some way brings “justice” to a close for the deaths of those who died in the attacks of 9/11 and perhaps they are justified in so thinking. After all, the scenes of mass rejoicing in cities and nations across the Middle East after those attacks appalled and sickened all of us, but we need to take care we do not sink to the same level.
We need to be concerned about the uprisings in the Arab world and North Africa because these are being and will be used, by radical fundamentalists, to seize the reins of power. We need to look carefully at the abuses and failures in all our societies which promote and encourage the rise of such organisations and the “causes” they claim to promote.
Now, more than ever, we need to exercise restraint and demonstrate that we do not regard the ordinary people there as the enemy. Nor do we have, as some seem to think, to give up everything our forefathers have worked and fought to create in our societies. We do need to reform and rethink some aspects and many of our current attitudes and practices, but we must also seek reconciliation rather than revenge if we are ever to find a solution.
I have long believed that it takes a rather sick and twisted psyche to embark on the sort of campaign Bin Laden fronted, and it is not unique to the “Arab” world or to Islam. Many of these terrorist organisations have their origins in the so-called Cold War, with Moscow and Washington/NATO funding groups of “freedom fighters” in each other’s “client” states. Sometimes both parties were funding similar groups in the same state, usually with the same objective in view. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda is a product of that process as are the many terror groups scattered around the world and active in places like the Philippines, the Congo and several South American states.
Much of the explosion in drugs use and drug trafficking can also be traced to “Black Operations” managed by both Super Powers in the late 20th Century.
Following Bin Laden’s death I do not believe Al Qaeda will die with him. A new leader will emerge and new campaign will be planned. Al Qaeda and similar groups have no trouble recruiting followers, the “Madrasa” system operated in Pakistan and other impoverished Muslim states as “schools” provide a solid grounding in a twisted and extremely fundamentalist Islamic interpretation and thinking. The real problem with these “schools” is that anyone can set one up and no real qualification other than being able to read the Quran is necessary.
Al Qaeda will not die simply because Bin Laden is dead. It now has a martyr who is an international figure. We should take note of the hysterical demonstrations on the streets of Hamas controlled Gaza. Summary justice certainly has been seen to be done, but whose justice is served by it? His supporters see his campaign as justifiable because of the damage we have done to their belief system, to the countries they live in and, of course, our Christian heritage which the Madrasa teachers identify as an offence to God and Blasphemy. Citizens of the US feel that his death in some way brings “justice” to a close for the deaths of those who died in the attacks of 9/11 and perhaps they are justified in so thinking. After all, the scenes of mass rejoicing in cities and nations across the Middle East after those attacks appalled and sickened all of us, but we need to take care we do not sink to the same level.
We need to be concerned about the uprisings in the Arab world and North Africa because these are being and will be used, by radical fundamentalists, to seize the reins of power. We need to look carefully at the abuses and failures in all our societies which promote and encourage the rise of such organisations and the “causes” they claim to promote.
Now, more than ever, we need to exercise restraint and demonstrate that we do not regard the ordinary people there as the enemy. Nor do we have, as some seem to think, to give up everything our forefathers have worked and fought to create in our societies. We do need to reform and rethink some aspects and many of our current attitudes and practices, but we must also seek reconciliation rather than revenge if we are ever to find a solution.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
History in Fiction
I started writing a new historical fiction story as a challenge from Mausi. I have set the tale in the Baltic beginning in 1809 and it will track the events that eventually led to Napoleon's downfall after the disaster for the French at the gates of Moscow. In the process of doing the background research for the story I uncovered a fascinating side show of the history of the French Revolutionary Wars that fed directly into the Napoleonic War. It is fascinating as it was a key 'domino' in the chain that eventually toppled Bonaparte and gave rise to the British Empire.
It is fascinating for several reasons, not least because, until Napoleon succeeded in imposing a blockade on trade with Britain through the Baltic, British Trade in this area was worth more than 43 million Pounds a year. In 1809-10 the blockade began to bite and trade fell steadily until it was only 5 million pounds in 1812. The British economy almost collapsed, but was saved by the opening of new markets in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Americas. In part, the disputes over who carried what to where and under what flag also led to the War of 1812 with the USA - a war which was fortunately resolved quite quickly, probably because both sides realised they had better things to do.
The Baltic Trade recovered, once Sweden, Russia and the Northern German States evicted the French and re-opened their ports and harbours, but it never again held the primary importance it had in 1809.
Equally interesting is the fact that these upheavals and the French invasions and threats of invasions also led to a series of alliances and agreements between the rulers of the Germanic Principalities and Kingdoms which paved the way for Bismarck's Grand Plan of a Unified German State and People. Prussia - once covering all of what is today Northern Poland, Mecklenburg Strelitz, Schwerin Mecklenburg, Schleswig and the Danish province of Holstein, Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringen and the Hanseatic City States of Rostock, Wismar, Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen were all part of these early beginnings. Until 1836 the English Royal House were also the Electors of Hannover and the English Crown held onto the Islands of Heligoland
until a Treaty was agreed in 1900 with the Kaiser, handing them back to German control.
Having always been fascinated by the way in which seemingly unconnected actions and events lead to consequences and events elsewhere, this is a fascinating journey for those interested in the history of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
My story is entitled 'A Baltic Affair' and can be found online by clicking on the title. I hope you'll take the time to read the chapters posted so far and perhaps leave some feedback.
It is fascinating for several reasons, not least because, until Napoleon succeeded in imposing a blockade on trade with Britain through the Baltic, British Trade in this area was worth more than 43 million Pounds a year. In 1809-10 the blockade began to bite and trade fell steadily until it was only 5 million pounds in 1812. The British economy almost collapsed, but was saved by the opening of new markets in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Americas. In part, the disputes over who carried what to where and under what flag also led to the War of 1812 with the USA - a war which was fortunately resolved quite quickly, probably because both sides realised they had better things to do.
The Baltic Trade recovered, once Sweden, Russia and the Northern German States evicted the French and re-opened their ports and harbours, but it never again held the primary importance it had in 1809.
Equally interesting is the fact that these upheavals and the French invasions and threats of invasions also led to a series of alliances and agreements between the rulers of the Germanic Principalities and Kingdoms which paved the way for Bismarck's Grand Plan of a Unified German State and People. Prussia - once covering all of what is today Northern Poland, Mecklenburg Strelitz, Schwerin Mecklenburg, Schleswig and the Danish province of Holstein, Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringen and the Hanseatic City States of Rostock, Wismar, Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen were all part of these early beginnings. Until 1836 the English Royal House were also the Electors of Hannover and the English Crown held onto the Islands of Heligoland
until a Treaty was agreed in 1900 with the Kaiser, handing them back to German control.
Having always been fascinated by the way in which seemingly unconnected actions and events lead to consequences and events elsewhere, this is a fascinating journey for those interested in the history of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
My story is entitled 'A Baltic Affair' and can be found online by clicking on the title. I hope you'll take the time to read the chapters posted so far and perhaps leave some feedback.
Monday, 2 May 2011
Gardening ...
We spent Saturday cutting things, weeding out, relaying a part of our patio and laying out the area around our "Krauter Schneckel."
It was a very satisfying day, but the work is far from finished and I will post pictures when it is.
It was a very satisfying day, but the work is far from finished and I will post pictures when it is.
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Nonentity Celebrity
I confess I have never understood the handing out of medals and honours to Civil Servants and actors. For the most part they have always been very well paid to do what they do, the main difference, of course, being that actors generally do it well and the Civil Servants ...
Friday's Royal wedding list had some strange invitees, though these things are usually diplomatic occassions as well as weddings. The strangest was David Beckham, honoured under the Blair regime for playing football occassionally at vast cost to his club and its supporters. Blair and his coterie handed out MBEs (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the Britsih Empire), OBEs and Dame and Knight of the same to all their actor chums (Labour's Luvvies) and to dustmen, housekeepers and hordes of civil servants for doing their jobs. And to the likes of Beckham.
Who paraded himself yesterday wearing the decoration on his right lapel. The moron doesn't even know which side of the chest to wear a medal...
What an insult to all the men and women who have actually earned it by doing something way beyond what they were paid to do or indeed, needed to do.
Friday's Royal wedding list had some strange invitees, though these things are usually diplomatic occassions as well as weddings. The strangest was David Beckham, honoured under the Blair regime for playing football occassionally at vast cost to his club and its supporters. Blair and his coterie handed out MBEs (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the Britsih Empire), OBEs and Dame and Knight of the same to all their actor chums (Labour's Luvvies) and to dustmen, housekeepers and hordes of civil servants for doing their jobs. And to the likes of Beckham.
Who paraded himself yesterday wearing the decoration on his right lapel. The moron doesn't even know which side of the chest to wear a medal...
What an insult to all the men and women who have actually earned it by doing something way beyond what they were paid to do or indeed, needed to do.
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