This is Northumberland Calling 13.1.23

The Please Spare me edition

Spanish Armada wins! A primary school decided Sir Francis Drake was inappropriate and to change its name. However the BBC decided to lead on the fact that Drake was a 16th slave trader rather than  the saviour of England during the Spanish Armada, the first man to successfully circumnavigate the world,  and basically his privateering exploits paid off the entire national debt and laid the foundations for the British Navy. Historical figures such as Drake as complicated but should they be erased? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11616267/Spanish-Armada-hero-Sir-Francis-Drake-CANCELLED-school-named-him.html

The With Women organization scored a major win in getting the NHS to pause its ill advised £100k roll out of its trans inclusive policy, a policy based on flawed research.

With Woman @WeAreWithWoman

1/ We’ve done it! The £100K NHS trans maternity training programme that would have covered 40 Trusts has been paused! Why is this important? It was based on flawed research and was linked to activist organisations.

In a major intervention, a UK think tank warns the new Scottish law on trans would affect all UK nations, something which is prohibited by the Scotland Act. This makes it more likely that the UK government will intervene. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11625461/SNPs-transgender-reforms-rewrite-equality-laws-UK-think-tank-warns.html

The Church of England should sort out its own mess with rural parishes etc before pledging to spend £100 million in an apology for slavery. The Queen Anne’s Bounty which has provided a huge investment fund the church had some of its origins with the South Sea Company, a slave trading company. Thus far, they have refused to compensate parishes for the deficits they were forced to run under the Church’s lockdown regime and have been reducing clergy to unsustainable levels in order to save money. Equally victims of child abuse continue to get no compensation for what happened to them (payment is being delayed until 2025) .  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/11/church-england-told-sort-house-paying-slavery-reparations/

Prince Harry’s editors should have been more rigorous with their fact checking. Howlers include Harry claiming to be a direct descendent of Henry VI (quite forgetting the War of the Roses and Henry VII’s very dubious claim), Bermuda doesn’t have a governor-general, just a governor, TK Maxx does not do annual sales (everything is super discounted and they have a rolling sale)  and perhaps most damning  that he was at Eton when the Queen Mother died (he was on a skiing trip with his father, brother and certain members of the royal press pack and had done a photo call the day before). Where else have recollections varied? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-harry-spare-fact-checked-details-incorrect-accuracy-kpgjxxw0b

If you feel the need to read a review/crib notes on the Harry book, the one in the Guardian has a certain humorous bent. When all is said and done, basically he just is a naughty boy who wants his mummy. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/12/i-was-alone-abandoned-with-only-a-hundred-million-in-the-bank-spare-digested-by-john-crace

And King Charles, and the Prince  and Princess of Wales  were out and about on Thursday – large smiles and waves for the crowds, nothing about the book. Princess Catherine had on her Black Watch coat as the Prince and Princess opened the Royal Liverpool hospital. The King petted a collie, spoke with locals and toured a workshop in Scotland (he was wearing a kilt).  Smiling and waving is a huge part of the job description. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2023/01/12/king-charles-first-public-appearance-prince-harry-spare/

The Royal Mail experienced a cyberattack orchestrated by a Russian based gang and currently cannot ship anything overseas. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/01/12/russia-linked-hackers-behind-royal-mail-cyber-attack/

After being forced to have an independent investigation, the National Union of Students has been deemed to be antisemitic. The report issued 11 recommendations which the NUS will now take forward in an effort to excise the rot of antisemitism.  Will they succeed where the NUS has failed so many times before? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/12/jews-suffered-antisemitic-harassment-national-union-students/

And finally, after two decades of restoration, the Pompeian villa which belonged to two slaves turned businessmen has reopened to tourists along with its erotic frescoes. One room belonged to a slave who was forced to work as a prostitute (perhaps showing how the men acquired their wealth), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/astonishing-pompeii-home-of-men-freed-from-slavery-reopens-to-public