This is Northumberland Calling 10.11.23
To understand Britain, you need to understand the importance of the Doubly Thankful villages
Hello America (in particular Central Ohio) This is Northumberland calling.
In order to understand what has been happening in Britain this week, you need to understand about the Doubly Thankful villages. Out of all the villages, towns and cities in Britain, just fourteen had everyone come home from both World Wars. You need to remember it was total war and every place in Britain sent someone. In other words, only 14 places in Britain have no war memorial to the fallen of either World War as everyone came home. Included in that number is the magnificently named Upper Slaughter in the Cotswolds – a wonderful chocolate box of a village but one which is incredibly lucky. All the others have war memorials with the names of the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that Remembrance Sunday has always been a very personal day for people to remember those who left and never came back. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/what-are-doubly-thankful-villages
Hopefully, this will give you some idea of the scale of devastation Britain endured and why the exhortation of ‘We will remember them’ is so key to many and why so many buy paper poppies. The Festival of Remembrance always happens on the Saturday evening before Remembrance Sunday and honours those who serve, have served and those who have fallen, including in recent conflicts. When I first watched the service in 1988, the oldest veteran, a Chelsea Pensioner, attending had been a drummer boy in the Boer War. The youngest attending the service this year will be cadets still in high school. On Sunday, the national act of remembrance will take place at the Cenotaph, a structure which was supposed to be temporary when first erected but became permanent due to popular pressure in years immediately after WWI. For many people with military connections, it is a huge pilgrimage to walk past the Cenotaph and remember them on Remembrance Sunday after the wreaths have been laid by all the dignitaries. This gives the details of where the Royals will be during the ceremonies. https://www.royal.uk/remembrance-2023
The pro-Hamas apologists are intent on doing a protest in London on Saturday. They are starting 2 hours after the 2 minute silence and supposedly not going anywhere near the Cenotaph. The police say that they will keep everything under control. Past experience suggests a modicum of arrogance.
Suella Braverman did an op-ed stating that public perception was that the police treated certain groups differently than others. She highlight the BLM protests v the anti-lockdown or indeed the Sarah Everard one. People are now calling for her to be sacked because she called it a disgrace and apparently declined to make ‘suggested’ alterations. This is the op-ed she wrote so you can judge for yourself: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pro-palestine-protest-london-met-police-cbqnxbtv3 or https://archive.is/bSlEH
This is an op ed about the kerfuffle which does distract from Labour’s internal turmoil https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/11/09/suella-is-right-the-mets-double-standards-are-a-disgrace/
If there is a reshuffle, unelected civil servants would once again be running the department as it takes several months for any MP to learn the ropes and the Home Office is notoriously dysfunctional. This would play straight into Labour’s hands as there will a General Election within the year. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/11/09/rishi-sunak-faces-calls-to-sack-suella-braverman/ or https://archive.is/cRJ3A
It appears Dame Alison Rose’s £10 million golden goodbye will be less than that as Nat West decided to claw back some of the discretionary payments due to getting in trouble with the regulator over the handling of Nigel Farage de-banking scandal. Dame Allison has hired lawyers to argue she is entitled to the vast majority of the payout. Funny that. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/natwest-cuts-alison-roses-payout-amid-farage-debanking-fallout-kqrdl7btg or https://archive.is/pmBOw
The ONS has admitted it made mistakes over its gender question as people who speak English as a second language might not have understood the question. It still maintains that this error has not rendered the data useless. Opinions vary. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ons-digs-in-over-misunderstood-trans-census-question-t8ssj7cg7 or https://archive.is/aWkq3
The Iran outpost in Glasgow the Al-Mahdi Islamic Centre received significant funds from the Scottish government to help promote awareness of climate change. Besides supposedly working hard on the environment or just knowing how to fill out a grant application, it is rumoured to keep tabs on dissent Iranians, threatening their families etc. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/iran-base-in-glasgow-gets-200-000-climate-change-funding-273sr6vxp or https://archive.is/CwB1s
It is important to remember that Iran is not only Middle Eastern entity to do this, Hamas also threatens the relations back home if Palestinians abroad criticise it. The First Minister Yousaf still has relatives in Gaza, in case anyone hasn’t noticed. Layla Moran, a Palestinian MP does not have any relatives in Gaza and says that you can support the Palestinians without supporting Hamas. Moran in contrast to Yousaf actively condemns Hamas. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/09/layla-moran-palestinian-mp-lib-dem-israel-gaza/ or https://archive.is/bTzpb
Finally, my revisions are getting done and I am enjoying the story. Paddy had his walk this morning but remains a young dog and therefore inclined to mischief and to forget to put his listening ears in. He considers them an optional extra.
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Hello Northumberland! This is Central Ohio calling. Calling a little slow this morning.
I'm glad to see You're feeling well, and firing on all eight cylinders, Michelle. Wonderful round-up of articles.
I'm very provincial, I hafta admit. So was glad to learn about the Doubly Thankful villages. And triply thankful Upper Slaughter. (What a name!)
I donno what the kerfluffle is about what Suella Braverman said. The Spiked op ed explained all. Politics. Sheesh on all-a them.
All I can say about Dame Alison Rose is that she's a real piece of work. And that Iran and Hamas are what they are.
I'm exceedingly glad to hear the revisions are going well. And laughed that Paddy thinks his "listening ears" are "an optional extra." Ah well...
Me? I was delayed reading Yasha Mounk's "The Identity Trap." This on account I found I'd never read his "The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure" which I'd already bought and paid for. I should finish it today. Also, I forgot to say Thank You for telling me about JKR/Robert Galbraith's "The Running Grave." I read it last week and it was great. All I'll say about it is that it kept me on the edge of my seat, and I fell off a couple times.
TY for all You do, Michelle.
I never heard of the Doubly Thankful Villages. The WWII loss of life was significant to Americans, but we can’t imagine the loss the UK suffered, especially from the First World War. At Althorp (family home of Princess Diana) they carved the names of their WWI dead into a wall, and relatives of those men today journey to the wall to honor them.
I’ve read stories about towns in France where nearly all the men were killed who fought in WWI. JRR Tolkien lost every one of his friends in the Great War. I’m hoping Remembrance Day isn’t ruined by the current protests.
Paddy is adorable! A stray cat gave birth to three kittens in my parent’s backyard and now I’m tasked with finding homes for them. And I want to keep them all!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!