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.
Thursday, 18 June 2009
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.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Will John Demjanjuk finally face justice?
John Demjanjuk is a "suspected" and "convicted" war criminal who has been deported to Munich to begin his trial.
He was deported to Israel in the 1980s and later sentenced to death for war crimes, based on his identification by Israeli Holocaust survivors as "Ivan the Terrible", a notorious SS guard at Treblinka, who committed murder and savage acts of violence against camp prisoners.
His conviction for crimes against humanity was later overturned in 1993 because of reasonable doubt.
He was put on trial again in 2001 on charges that he had served as a guard at the Sobibor, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg on charges of accessory to 29,000 counts of murder.
He is an old man and frail, nevertheless he must face trial, so that justice must be done, for all the victims of the Holocaust.
He was deported to Israel in the 1980s and later sentenced to death for war crimes, based on his identification by Israeli Holocaust survivors as "Ivan the Terrible", a notorious SS guard at Treblinka, who committed murder and savage acts of violence against camp prisoners.
His conviction for crimes against humanity was later overturned in 1993 because of reasonable doubt.
He was put on trial again in 2001 on charges that he had served as a guard at the Sobibor, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg on charges of accessory to 29,000 counts of murder.
He is an old man and frail, nevertheless he must face trial, so that justice must be done, for all the victims of the Holocaust.
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