Above, the Western Front, 1916 – 1917.
Today is Armistice Day. Yesterday the TV News broadcast a ceremonial firing of WWI era light howitzers to commemorate the Allied capture of the village of Passchendaele in Flanders.
GOTO: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/ww1-centenary/passchendaele-100/
I remember my father telling me about the Armistice Days when he was a student in London between 1929 and 1931. This was just over a decade from the guns falling silent. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, everything stopped. And yet they DID NOT. For those hundreds of thousands of men who those years before were knee deep in the mud of Flanders the mind did not stop. For many, surrounded by the stillness and the silence in the street, the cacophony of memory came back. With a vengeance. Of the fear, of the stench. Of the sights and sounds of broken men and broken bodies. For those who have not experienced it, when you look at the face of a colleague half blown away by the blast from one of those shells fired by those light howitzers those memories at such times do not go away.
My father also told me about the changeover from Armistice Day to Remembrance Sunday. The reason for the switch was electrical. The two minutes silence caused huge problems for the electrical generators and industry in general. Today, manufacturing industry has both changed and shrunk and the two minutes silence is not the problem it once was.
I must admit to a change of mind on the subject of Armistice Day. The re-commemoration of the 11th hour on the 11th day on the 11th month is a relatively recent phenomenon and initially I disagreed with it – as I still do with the latest fashion to wear the poppy a fortnight before the day.
Part of the reason – and is the reason for my objection to the fortnight poppy wearing – is that both my parents were members of the wartime generation and for them Remembrance Sunday was the time to remember the fallen and the time when the poppy was worn. They would both put the poppy on before going to church and take it off when they came home.
However, I have changed my mind on the issue of the Armistice commemoration. This is because society has and always will change. When Remembrance Sunday was instituted, most Britons were Christian (either nominally or practising) and church attendance on a Sunday was much much more than it is today. Today we live in a very secular state – as far as the indigenous “white British” population is concerned. Thus since most Britons are not to be found in the pews on a Sunday morning then it is right and fitting that Armistice Day is reinstituted.
It also affords an opportunity for the countries Muslims and Sikhs of Indian Empire heritage to pay their respects as well. This is because the Indian Army was for the most part made up of Muslims and Sikhs. In fact, during WW2 many Hindus actually fought in a rebel army allied to the Japanese.
This explains why the Britain of the 1950s was far more welcoming of Muslims and Sikhs than it was of Hindus. This was not a case of religious discrimination but one of remembering which side you were fighting on.
Now for a brief digression: It is with some irritation we read the Daily Mail’s columnist Amanda Platell having a go at princes William and Harry for going to a rugby match today – Saturday. We would remind Ms Platell that both these young men have served in the colours with Harry seeing active service in Afghanistan and William serving as a SAR pilot on Sea Kings. Thus, if these two chaps want to go to a rugby match let them go without commenting on such. It is not a problem.
And now: The FACT of the matter is this, that the two world wars of the 20th Century fundamentally shaped the politics of Europe (and of the world). The enormous losses (material and human) experienced by the Benelux countries, France, Germany and Italy was the motivation for the Great European Project.
At this time and on this day Britons remember the fallen and the tragedy of two world wars. What most do NOT remember is that the citizens of ALL other 27 EU member states (including Ireland) remember also!
EuroRealists such as UKIP members MUST realise that the EU is not going to stand by and see a project that started in the 1950s come to an end because of Brexit!
Hard bargaining is all very well but one must see where the other side’s red lines are!
Dimwit Davis’s present strategy will NOT result in a deal. It can and WILL only result in deadlock!
However, it is beginning to be clear that Dimwit’s strategy is NOT aimed at getting a deal! It is aimed at appointing guilt!
Today’s Daily Mail reports that according to an opinion poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft, Six out of ten British voters think the EU is trying to punish Britain in the Brexit talks.
GOTO: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5071907/Tory-MPs-fury-Brussels-blackmail-trade-deal.html
The British Gazette has repeatedly commented that Brexit is a poison chalice for whoever is in government. Thus it appears to be the case that the government’s strategy is focused on laying the blame on the EU for whatever may come from the talks. It is also why they keep stressing the importance of following the wishes of the voters expressed on Thursday 23rd June 2016.
A far more authoritative and informative source for finding out what is going on in Brussels and London is of course the blog of the estimable and learned Dr. North. Today, Dr. North laments the obfuscation practised by Dimwit and worries what fate is to befall the nation.
GOTO: http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=86666
There is one aspect that has so far escaped serious comment. Until now!
That is Madame Mayhem’s barmy idea to write in the time and date of Brexit into statute.
The move escaped comment until now because it was largely seen and pointless and irrelevant. This is because whether or not the act containing Madame’s new clause is enacted or not, Brexit will take place at 11:00PM on Friday 29th March 2019.
What enacting the date WILL do is to make it more difficult to seek an extension of the Article 50 clock.
We are now 503 days or 1 year, 4 months, 18 days away from Brexit Day.
Here is a FACT: A “treaty creating a “trade deal” or a transitional arrangement CANNOT be negotiated, agreed and ratified in 500 days!
We are therefore left with THREE possible outcomes.
They are:
1. A “no deal Brexit”.
2. “Purgatory” aka “Quasi-Dependent-Territory Status” (QDTS) aka a vassal state! This is where the UK remains in the EEA (which some legal authorities claim will happen unless the UK formally withdraws from the EEA giving 12 months notice) and the “withdrawal agreement” admits the UK into the EU’s Custom’s Union upon Brexit.
3. Revoking Article 50 and remaining in the EU.
NB: IF #1 occurs then the EU is likely to issue a “rescue package” of emergency re-entry into the EU. This will mean signing up to the Euro and also the Schengen Agreement!
So the question YOU have to ask yourself today Dear Reader is this:
Do I choose #1, #2 or #3?
The choice as they say is YOURS!
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
