Today, as we all know, is the anniversary of the assassination Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo by the young Bosnian nationalist Gavrilo Princip.
This became the justification for events that led to the Great War of 1914-1918.
This was the single most catastrophic event to befall Europe, since the Bubonic Plague of the 14th century.
Strangely enough, there were huge ramifications, an end to empires, the greater emancipation of women, and of course the rise of the Labour Party.
It also puts me in mind of Henry Allingham who celebrated his 113th birthday a few weeks back. Mr Allingham is the oldest ever surviving member of any of the British Armed Forces and the oldest surviving veteran of the Great War.
And on the occasion of the first ever Armed Forces Day, our thoughts go to him and all those who served the nation.
Sunday 28 June 2009
Saturday 27 June 2009
Ich bin ein Berliner!
I forgot to say that yesterday was the anniverasry of Jack Kennedy's famous speech from the balcony of Rathaus Schöneberg in Berlin, when he said,
"Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'"
Who would have thought that a quarter of a century later, The Wall would have fallen, and that we'd have the privilege of living in a United Europe, where never the spectre of war will haunt us?
I echo JFK's words in saying, "Civis Europaeus sum".
"Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'"
Who would have thought that a quarter of a century later, The Wall would have fallen, and that we'd have the privilege of living in a United Europe, where never the spectre of war will haunt us?
I echo JFK's words in saying, "Civis Europaeus sum".
The Stonewall Riots-40 years on
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that took place in Greenwich Village in New York.
This event marked the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement.
Last week-end I had the huge honour of opening Calderdale's first Pride event, at the Piece Hall, the sun shone, there were hundreds of people, dozens of stalls and loads of cabaret acts.
It was brilliant.
I believe that there has been a revolution in attitudes towards gays and lesbians, and that a majority of the public want them to share identical rights to everyone else.
According to a Times poll, 61% of the public want gay couples to be able to marry just like the rest of the population, not just have civil partnerships.
Half believe that gay couples should have equal adoption rights.
But perhaps the most surprising discovery is that more than half of the public want children to be taught in school that gay relationships are of equal value to marriage.
Overall, nearly 70% of the public back "full equal rights" for gay men and lesbians.
I couldn't agree more.
This event marked the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement.
Last week-end I had the huge honour of opening Calderdale's first Pride event, at the Piece Hall, the sun shone, there were hundreds of people, dozens of stalls and loads of cabaret acts.
It was brilliant.
I believe that there has been a revolution in attitudes towards gays and lesbians, and that a majority of the public want them to share identical rights to everyone else.
According to a Times poll, 61% of the public want gay couples to be able to marry just like the rest of the population, not just have civil partnerships.
Half believe that gay couples should have equal adoption rights.
But perhaps the most surprising discovery is that more than half of the public want children to be taught in school that gay relationships are of equal value to marriage.
Overall, nearly 70% of the public back "full equal rights" for gay men and lesbians.
I couldn't agree more.
Tuesday 23 June 2009
Anna Akhmatova
Today is the 120th anniversary of the poet Anna Akhmatova's birth, and a quatrain from her beautiful work "Requiem" come to mind, as I think of what's going on in Iran.
No foreign sky protected me,
no stranger's wing shielded my face.
I stand as witness to the common lot,
survivor of that time, that place.
No foreign sky protected me,
no stranger's wing shielded my face.
I stand as witness to the common lot,
survivor of that time, that place.
Monday 22 June 2009
Iran's Election Fraud
Interesting paper by Chatham House and the University of St Andrews analysing the voting figures in this month's Iranian Presidential Elections.
Comparing this and the previous elections of 2005, the team come up with some fascinating observations:
* In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded.
* If Ahmadinejad’s victory was primarily caused by the increase in voter turnout, one would expect the data to show that the provinces where there was the greatest 'swing' in support towards Ahmadinejad would also be the provinces with the greatest increase in voter turnout. This is not the case.
* In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
* In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas.
That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in provinces that are more rural flies in the face of these trends.
So whichever way you play it the election was STOLEN!
The complete paper can be downloaded from:http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/14234_iranelection0609.pdf
Comparing this and the previous elections of 2005, the team come up with some fascinating observations:
* In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded.
* If Ahmadinejad’s victory was primarily caused by the increase in voter turnout, one would expect the data to show that the provinces where there was the greatest 'swing' in support towards Ahmadinejad would also be the provinces with the greatest increase in voter turnout. This is not the case.
* In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
* In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas.
That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in provinces that are more rural flies in the face of these trends.
So whichever way you play it the election was STOLEN!
The complete paper can be downloaded from:http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/14234_iranelection0609.pdf
Tories... Modest as ever!
Oh dear, David (call me Dave) Cameron, presses his front bench to give up as many of their extra-Parliamentary activities and interests as possible, or at least to declare how much they get paid for them, just to show that the Tories are no longer the "Nasty Party".
They're not all posh nobs you know. Yes, some of them have the moats of their second homes cleaned at the public's expense. Yes, some of them spent £1,645 on a floating duck house in their garden pond. Yes, half the front-bench went to private schools.
Yes, some of them had jolly japes up at Oxford, a few were members of the Bullingdon Club (think Bertie Wooster, but without the wit, charm, likeability, and certainly not Jeeves).
But apart from that, honest, they're just like you and me.
Along comes the MP for Windsor, or at least his chief of staff, who fires off an e-mail to a magazine for having the temerity to paint his boss as some sort of a pauper, according to the Independent.
"Would you mind taking on board one correction?" wrote Russell Walters. "You say he is worth £13m but this is a significant understatement. Earlier this decade he sold one company... of which his share was £13m, but... his actual worth is somewhere between £50m and £100m".
I'm glad that's cleared up then.
Ah, plus ça change, plus c'est pareil.
They're not all posh nobs you know. Yes, some of them have the moats of their second homes cleaned at the public's expense. Yes, some of them spent £1,645 on a floating duck house in their garden pond. Yes, half the front-bench went to private schools.
Yes, some of them had jolly japes up at Oxford, a few were members of the Bullingdon Club (think Bertie Wooster, but without the wit, charm, likeability, and certainly not Jeeves).
But apart from that, honest, they're just like you and me.
Along comes the MP for Windsor, or at least his chief of staff, who fires off an e-mail to a magazine for having the temerity to paint his boss as some sort of a pauper, according to the Independent.
"Would you mind taking on board one correction?" wrote Russell Walters. "You say he is worth £13m but this is a significant understatement. Earlier this decade he sold one company... of which his share was £13m, but... his actual worth is somewhere between £50m and £100m".
I'm glad that's cleared up then.
Ah, plus ça change, plus c'est pareil.
Thursday 18 June 2009
Disgusting news from Belfast
How tragic to see the hunted faces of the 100 Romanians being chased out of their homes in Belfast, by gangs of hooligans.
What was doubly horrible was that it was obvious that these people were Roma and so visibly dark-skinned.
You would have thought that this level of racist xenophobia would be nigh on impossible in a place that is coming out of its own long nightmarish period of "The Troubles".
The positive thing we can take is that nearly everyone else has come out in support of the Roma, the main political parties, the churches, and ordinary decent folk.
There is no room for this sort of thuggery in today's society.
What was doubly horrible was that it was obvious that these people were Roma and so visibly dark-skinned.
You would have thought that this level of racist xenophobia would be nigh on impossible in a place that is coming out of its own long nightmarish period of "The Troubles".
The positive thing we can take is that nearly everyone else has come out in support of the Roma, the main political parties, the churches, and ordinary decent folk.
There is no room for this sort of thuggery in today's society.
Waterloo! I was defeated, you won the war!
Apart from providing the title for the greatest ever Eurovision Song Contest winners Abba, thirty five years ago, today is the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
On this day in 1815, the French under Napoleon and Marshall Ney were defeated by a coalition, including Prussians under Blücher and an Anglo-Allied army under Wellington.
It was to be Napoleon's last, and put an end to his rule as the French Emperor.
It was decisive inasmuch as it ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe for more than 25 years, and ushered in almost half a century of peace in Europe; no major conflict was to occur until the Crimean War.
It was one of The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World wrote Sir Edward Creasy in 1851.
More interestingly, it was the subject of a thought-provoking essay by Trevelyan entitled "If Napoleon had Won the Battle of Waterloo", where he argued that Europe would have experienced a period of stability, but England would have undergone a domestic upheaval.
Makes you think.
On this day in 1815, the French under Napoleon and Marshall Ney were defeated by a coalition, including Prussians under Blücher and an Anglo-Allied army under Wellington.
It was to be Napoleon's last, and put an end to his rule as the French Emperor.
It was decisive inasmuch as it ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe for more than 25 years, and ushered in almost half a century of peace in Europe; no major conflict was to occur until the Crimean War.
It was one of The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World wrote Sir Edward Creasy in 1851.
More interestingly, it was the subject of a thought-provoking essay by Trevelyan entitled "If Napoleon had Won the Battle of Waterloo", where he argued that Europe would have experienced a period of stability, but England would have undergone a domestic upheaval.
Makes you think.
Tuesday 16 June 2009
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika
Today is the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising in 1976.
On the morning of the 16th, thousands of black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to peacefully protest against having to learn through the medium of Afrikaans rather than English in school.
The students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. The crowd of some 10,000 students began to sing and waving placards saying, "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu".
The Police tried to disperse the students using dogs and tear gas and eventually they fired shots into the crowd, and pandemonium broke out.
The first person to be shot was Hastings Ndlovu, followed by 12-year-old Hector Pieterson.
The photo of his body became a symbol of police brutality.
The rioting continued and 23 people, died on the first day in Soweto.
This was one of the seminal moments in my political education and led me to join the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and the Young Liberals which was led by the young Peter Hain (!).
On the morning of the 16th, thousands of black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to peacefully protest against having to learn through the medium of Afrikaans rather than English in school.
The students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. The crowd of some 10,000 students began to sing and waving placards saying, "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu".
The Police tried to disperse the students using dogs and tear gas and eventually they fired shots into the crowd, and pandemonium broke out.
The first person to be shot was Hastings Ndlovu, followed by 12-year-old Hector Pieterson.
The photo of his body became a symbol of police brutality.
The rioting continued and 23 people, died on the first day in Soweto.
This was one of the seminal moments in my political education and led me to join the Anti-Apartheid Movement, and the Young Liberals which was led by the young Peter Hain (!).
Happy Bloomsday
Congrats to Brian Friel on being awarded the Ulysses Medal at UCD, on Bloomsday.
16 June was when James Joyce first went out with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle (cracking name) in Ringsend.
Bloomsday is a celebration of Joyce's life and works, and folk all round Dublin relive the events in the novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in 1904.
The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, after whom Gene Wilder's character in Mel Brooks's "The Producers" was named.
16 June was when James Joyce first went out with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle (cracking name) in Ringsend.
Bloomsday is a celebration of Joyce's life and works, and folk all round Dublin relive the events in the novel Ulysses, all of which took place on the same day in 1904.
The name derives from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, after whom Gene Wilder's character in Mel Brooks's "The Producers" was named.
Monday 15 June 2009
We want a "Public" enquiry on Iraq
Gordon Brown's announcement that an independent inquiry into the country's role in the Iraq War will be held in private, is just not good enough.
We Lib Dems want, demand an full open public enquiry. We are not alone in this the overwhelming majority of the public demands it and more poignantly so do the families of the 179 sevice personnel who've lost their lives there.
Iraq has been a terrible "adventure", horribly wrong and catastrphic for the Iraqi people, hundreds of thousands of whom have died and been injured, and millions made homeless or become refugees.
We Lib Dems were the ONLY major party against the war, and I fought Keighley in 2005 on a policy of withdrawal.
We need that full and open public enquiry now.
We Lib Dems want, demand an full open public enquiry. We are not alone in this the overwhelming majority of the public demands it and more poignantly so do the families of the 179 sevice personnel who've lost their lives there.
Iraq has been a terrible "adventure", horribly wrong and catastrphic for the Iraqi people, hundreds of thousands of whom have died and been injured, and millions made homeless or become refugees.
We Lib Dems were the ONLY major party against the war, and I fought Keighley in 2005 on a policy of withdrawal.
We need that full and open public enquiry now.
Sunday 14 June 2009
Bibi boobs
First the good news, Israeli PM Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu has said that he can visualise a Palestinian state, this is a first by an Israeli leader, EVER. Hooray!
Now the bad news, only if it has no army or control of its airspace.
Furthermore, he supports continual development of settlements in occupied West Bank.
So one step forward and two steps back.
We Lib Dems support Nick Clegg's call to and end to arming Israel.
We have long supported the Two-State Solution, namely for Israel to revert to its "internationally recognised" pre-1967 borders.
This may be unwelcome to some, but we have Israel's long-term interest at heart, as well as wanting justice for the Palestinian people.
Now the bad news, only if it has no army or control of its airspace.
Furthermore, he supports continual development of settlements in occupied West Bank.
So one step forward and two steps back.
We Lib Dems support Nick Clegg's call to and end to arming Israel.
We have long supported the Two-State Solution, namely for Israel to revert to its "internationally recognised" pre-1967 borders.
This may be unwelcome to some, but we have Israel's long-term interest at heart, as well as wanting justice for the Palestinian people.
Friday 12 June 2009
Los Angeles, Cannes, Venice... Bradford?
Brilliant news that Bradford, yes that one, has just been nominated the world's first City of Film.UNESCO has judged it more worthy than Los Angeles, Cannes, and Venice.
Bradford now joins Edinburgh (City of Literature) and Glasgow (City of Music) as part of Unesco's Creative Cities Network.
Congratulations to all involved especially the National Media Museum, the most visited museum outside London, and one of my favourites over the past quarter century.
Bradford now joins Edinburgh (City of Literature) and Glasgow (City of Music) as part of Unesco's Creative Cities Network.
Congratulations to all involved especially the National Media Museum, the most visited museum outside London, and one of my favourites over the past quarter century.
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