An eighties babe

No-one living in the UK in the 1980s can fail to have an opinion of Margaret Thatcher – former British prime minister (1979-1990) who died today.

I distinctly remember the moment she was elected as leader of the Conservative (Tory) Party, in 1975.

In my chemistry class, at an all-girls’ private school, our teacher came in to announce the decision of the leadership ballot when Thatcher won control of the Tory Party.

Our teacher, Mrs Crabbe, wore very smart clothes, lots of make-up, bleached blond hair, slim as a rake, and was always sneaking out for a fag. We all loved her to bits. There weren’t very many of us, around ten or so, as doing physics and chemistry for ‘O’ level was not popular. The other choice was doing physical science and biology which most girls chose. Two sciences were required at our school, and physics and chem was regarded as the harder option.

So there we all were, pens poised at the ready doing our chemistry equations and doing the periodic table, while Mrs Crabbe was busy filling her lungs with smoke out in the corridor. Or in the science block teachers’ staff room.

‘Girls!’ she announced, on her return from the fag break. ‘I have some great news. Margaret Thatcher has won the leadership of the Conservative Party.’

‘Hurrah!’ we all shouted in unison. We spoke like that back then. We were a posh school, technically direct-grant/private/independent (which is far too difficult to explain for non-UK readers – but it is basically partially paid for by parents, partially funded by local taxes, and partially funded by trustees).

Some of us were from working-class backgrounds, others from professional ones, all aspiring to get somewhere, and here is a woman chemist who has just acquired the leadership of a political party putting her in the running to lead the country.

No wonder we all shouted HURRAH!

Before that, her fame was as the milk snatcher when she reduced free milk to schools when she was Secretary of State for Education. Thatcher Thatcher, Milk Snatcher. No doubt if she had retained her maiden name of Roberts no-one would have made anything of it, but the rhyming was too good an opportunity to miss for a bright journalist.

And did anyone actually care? All those of us who had freezing cold milk that was at least half ice, at our mid-morning break, or worse, freezing cold milk warmed up on cast-iron radiators and tasting disgusting, or ghastly warm milk in summer, would have been extremely grateful had the bloody stuff never been a part of school life.

My partner told his teacher he couldn’t possibly drink it or he would be sick. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said his teacher. He drank the milk and vomited all over her. Thatcher the milk snatcher did a hell of a lot of kids a favour. She put academic quals before free school milk and so would I. Any day.

But moving onto my university years, I made my first vote in a general election in 1979. I voted Conservative. I was surrounded by students who wore badges saying ‘Don’t blame me, I voted Labour.’

This may come as a shock to those of you who are possibly aware of my rather more left-wing views. But there you go.

Thatcher years were marked by union disputes. While she was leader of the opposition before she came to power, we had the Grunwick dispute (photo-processing in a London factory).

Later we had Wapping (newspapers) and the miners’ strike.

In the UK at the time, it was always held that the three powerful unions were mining, print and publishing, and teaching. So let’s get rid of at least two of the big three unions – mining and printing.

Thatcher wasn’t content with having a go at mining and printing, she also went for the health service, wanting to privatise that on an American-style model.

The biggest dispute was of course, the miners’ strike. I lost interest in it. I cleared off around the world. It was still happening when I was in Australia.

Meanwhile I met my partner out there. He’d previously been working at a British Leyland car plant spray-painting in the UK. Being a union delegate he’d challenged Ian MacGregor, who managed to decimate not only the British steel industry, the coal industry, and the car industry too.

‘Will the plants be closed?’ asked the Union Activist Partner.

‘I have no knowledge that will be the case,’ (or some such shit) said MacGregor.

Made no difference to Partner as he was off to Australia. Within two or three months the plant was closed. As were a load of pits and steel plants.

Signs of the times. Or rather the eighties in the UK.

But when we returned from Australia, we reaped the benefits. Oh, the lovely Nigel Lawson and the economic boom if you lived down south. Although only if you bought and sold houses at the right time.

Perhaps one of the most defining moments of Thatcher’s rule, was taking Britain to war. Over the Falklands. I thought at the time it was a totally political decision to win the next election. How I criticised it. These days, living in Gib, I would love a Thatcher. How we change in our old age.

So my views of Thatcher. Great on foreign policy and nationalism. Did nothing for a lot of people in the UK, shagged British industries in the arse, destroyed the trade union movement, council housing, the benefit system, and tried to destroy the National Health Service (but medics rule OK).

First British woman prime minister and first woman leader of the western world. Longest-serving Brit prime minister of the 20th century. Obama’s tribute about shattering the glass ceiling rather misses the mark however.

Seriously stuck to her guns, so to speak. Got to admire that.

I ended up not admiring her policies, but did admire her conviction.

There are many tributes and quotes kicking around, but my favourite was always:

‘Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.’

Whatever your view of her, as others say, the greatest British post-war politician.

Sweet dreams, dear. Even if you did stuff all for feminism.

http://wp.me/p2zqNT-pV

http://wp.me/p2dd8X-3aH

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067155

The time has come ..

.. the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things ..’

I’ve managed ships and cabbages in the last post, so let’s move on to sealing wax and kings (not sure I can fit in the shoes) with the Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713.

First up, a little context, and a rush through some Gibraltarian history.

Archaeological remains have shown that Neanderthals inhabited Gibraltar at least 100,000 years ago, and the Rock was possibly the last place of refuge for them, with other remains being found dating back to around 24-28,000 years ago. More on every pic about our archaeology.

The first modern occupation of Gibraltar, though, is regarded to have started from the eighth century (AD or whatever it is currently called) when it was conquered by Moslems in 711. Berber general Tarik ibn Ziyad landed in Gib to begin his conquest of southern Spain. The Rock became known as the Mountain of Tarik – Jebel Tarik – and the current day name Gibraltar comes from that.

Gibraltar was happily Moslem for many years, as was Andalucia, and we have the Moorish castle and remains of Moorish baths in the basement of our city museum. But in 1309, the Spanish decided to get their sticky little mitts on it, the 1500 inhabitants were allowed to leave for North Africa and Spain held it until 1333 when they surrendered to a Moslem siege.

As part of the reconquest of (Moslem) Spain, Gibraltar was taken by Spain in 1462 and remained part of Spain until 1704.

Note then, to get this into perspective, Gibraltar was Moslem for more than 700 years, and Spanish for less than 250.

So, how did England (it was before the Union of Great Britain in 1707) come into it? The short answer is the Spanish war of succession following the death of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, who left no direct heir.

Back in the early eighteenth century things were no different to now, countries were hungry for power, territory, money – the usual really.

The main players at the time were England, France, Spain, Austria/Prussia/Hanover, the Netherlands and Portugal. This is a time of big empire building, particularly in the North Americas, and while all these countries were grappling for power in Europe, they were fighting for ownership and possession in the Americas and the Caribbean too.

Plus ça change?

Needless to state, France and England weren’t very pally, and when Spanish King Charles II died leaving his relative by marriage, Philip of (Anjou) France as his heir, England wasn’t prepared to see a potential union between two of the biggest powers in Europe. Neither was the Netherlands. So they found a different candidate for the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles, also a Hapsburg but from the northern (ie Austria/Prussia/Hanover) branch of the family. Portugal joined in with the Dutch and the English.

It’s slightly more complicated than that, but you get the general idea, and the war lasted from 1701 to 1714, although various countries continued in a state of war long after that.

So this is the background to why an Anglo-Dutch fleet took Gibraltar from the Spanish in 1704 in the early years of the war.

Towards the end of the war, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, although it is in effect a number of treaties relating to all the various participants and different provisions eg some trading ones, slavery for example.

While the main provision of the treaty was to ratify Philip as king of Spain and for him to renounce all claims to the French crown, there were numerous articles where the countries swapped bits of ground around. Including Gibraltar. And interestingly Britain gained Minorca too, but we didn’t hang onto that one too long.

So, here is the bottom line. In 1713, through the Treaty of Utrecht, Spain ceded Gibraltar to Great Britain in perpetuity, ie for ever. Later in 1729, Britain’s right to Gibraltar (and Port Mahon in Minorca) were repeated in the Treaty of Sevilla.

Perpetuity however, wasn’t on the Spanish agenda, (still isn’t), and so they besieged the citadel of Gib in 1727, and again with a joint French force in 1779. This Great Siege lasted for three and a half years – Gib stuck it out, or rather the British forces did. The war finally ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1784. And the reason for that war, incidentally, was a trade war regarding the Americas.

As I said, power, territory, money.

So that’s the background and the reason why Gibraltar is British and has been for more than 300 years. Longer than it was Spanish, although not as long as it was Moslem.

Let’s get up to date with a laugh at a few journalistic blunders. I’ll start with my favourite, one of, or the oldest newspaper in the world, depending on whose claims you believe, our very own Gibraltar Chronicle, first published in 1801, and hopefully their standard of journalism was slightly better then. These days it rivals the Grauniad in terms of errors.

The Spanish cross-border workers association Citypeg has apologised to the Gibraltar Government over claims of discrimination it made last December. The claims led to Employment Minister Joe Bossano and the Gibraltar Joinery and Building Society issuing libel proceedings against Citypeg’s president, Francisco Ponce.

Unless I have something wrong, GJBS is a construction firm not a building society, Gibraltar Joinery and Building Services, I believe. Either way, I won’t be rushing to their offices to invest my money.

And in a story about the Royal Marines running to the top of the Rock, here we have a nice little error, regarding dates. Those of you who have paid attention to this history lesson will remember that Gibraltar was taken from the Spanish in 1704. Not 1702. Fine proof-reading there, Chron. And lack of historical knowledge/walking around with eyes shut. It’s not as though there aren’t flags all over the place proclaiming Gib’s tercentenary with the dates 1704-2004.

The Royal Marines were founded in 1664 and were instrumental in leading the capture of The Rock for the British in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession; hence the only battle honour which adorns their caps is the legend ‘Gibraltar’. Next year they celebrate their 350 years and it is fitting that they should commemorate the anniversary back on ‘their’ Rock where it all began – in aid of Royal Marine and Gibraltar charities.

Moving onto British/international newspapers, nice little gaffe from the FT (Financial Times – the pink pages). I used to like the FT and thought it was a decent paper.

Our Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, had a letter published in the FT correcting the hopeless journalism, written apparently, in a leader column (aka editorial). His letter was restrained in my opinion.

(quote from the Chron which at least can manage to criticise other newspapers accurately)

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo this week wrote to the Financial Times after the respected financial daily made a glaring error about Gibraltar in an editorial column centred on Argentina.



“To be fair, the UK does not insist that Gibraltar islanders attend talks with the Spanish,” the FT said. 

“Then again, Spain has not elevated Gibraltar to the centre point of its foreign policy.”

Let’s deal with these one by one:

1) Gibraltar is NOT an island. The Falklands are islands. Gibraltar is a peninsula stuck on the end of Spain (and happily dominating the entrance to the Mediterranean – just thought I would add that one). Writing about the Falkland Islanders and then calling Gibraltarians Gibraltar Islanders because you are comparing the two is the sloppiest of journalism. And this from a leading international newspaper. Appalling. Equally as bad as a Gib Chron reporter getting the date of the Anglo-Dutch victory wrong.

Don’t they have atlases any more in newspaper rooms? Or alert news editors, sub editors with an iota of general knowledge?

2) Some sleazy deals were being done between the UK and Spain when Jack Straw was kicking around back in 2002 and Peter Caruana was Chief Minister of Gibraltar. But that was more than ten years ago. Perhaps the FT reporter isn’t aware our government has changed, we have a new Chief Minister, and the government is putting the interests of Gibraltarians before political deals.

Similarly the UK government has changed too. And as Picardo wrote in the FT:

“Successive British Foreign Secretaries have insisted that they will not engage bilaterally with Spain on Gibraltar issues, referring their counterparts to the Trilateral Process for Dialogue in which the UK, Spain and Gibraltar have agreed to discuss all matters of mutual interest except sovereignty.

“In addition, the UK has long agreed that it will not engage in talks about Gibraltar’s sovereignty with Spain unless the people of Gibraltar wish such talks to be commenced.



“Rightly, the UK is therefore clearly on record setting out that it is not going to engage bilaterally with Spain on the future of our homeland.”

[Another pedantic journalistic point. Someone on the Chron obviously hasn't learned how to use quotation marks. I've changed them on the above quotation, but when you open a quote, you put the marks at the beginning of each par. You only add them to the end par when you close the quote. I always remember that one because I got it wrong when I first started on a newspaper.]

3) Spain hasn’t elevated Gib to the centre point of its foreign policy. Does Spain have a foreign policy I ask myself? Does Spain have any policies at all apart from corruption, funding banks, continuing to employ dubious executives and chief officials in top positions, and stamping its foot and blustering about Gibraltar?

Meanwhile, I pointed out to my partner these appalling examples of journalism. He rolled his eyes, and said, ‘People aren’t what they were, they’ve been dumbed down.’

‘Down down, deeper and down,’ I sang, launching into a rendition of Status Quo at 7.12 am. It wasn’t popular.

Note, more posts to follow on the Treaty of Utrecht, and Spanish claims, border incidents, and some more on the comparison between Argentina and Spain, and the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar (not an island).

Key dates:

Falklands referendum on sovereignty: March 10 and 11 2013

Tercentenary of Treaty of Utrecht: April 11 2013

Credits: Andrew in Hong Kong for his witty take-off on my last post in the comments.

And Lewis Carroll for the original.

Falklands and Twelfth Night

Cristina Kirchner has once again repeated Argentina’s erroneous claim to the Falkland Islands.

Really. What is it with Argentina and Spain that they want to claim territory that quite frankly is not theirs?

Unless the forthcoming Falkland Islands referendum proves otherwise, it seems to me that Falkland Islanders are quite happy being British. As are Gibraltarians.

So that should be the end of the story.

Or maybe Britain should say that it wants to recolonise America, Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, Mauritius, Ceylon, South Africa, New Zealand, half of France, Belize, British East Indies, Malaysia etc etc

In cabinet papers released at the end of 2012, more information has been revealed about the Falklands War.

I do think this silly insistence on calling it a conflict is ridiculous. When one country invades another, people are killed, and a lot of armed forces are deployed, that strikes me as a war. Just because war hasn’t been ‘declared’ doesn’t alter the facts.

Unsurprisingly, our local newspaper, the Gib Chron, includes news from three parts of the world. Gibraltar, the UK, and the Falklands – because of the similarity in our status, ie British overseas territories claimed by a Spanish-speaking country. Because you know, we are nearer to them than we are to the UK.

There is a great comment in this Yahoo answers page about territorial integrity which is the phrase used by aggressive countries who want to expand – and colonise? invade? take over? – the nearest possible place.

 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006052303523

The main items in the Chron were about :

1) Supply of arms from various countries to both sides
2) Reagan’s plea to Thatcher to hand over the Falklands to ‘international peacekeepers’ (my quote marks as I have no high opinion of peacekeeping)
3) Thatcher’s fear that Spain would invade Gibraltar

My personal memories of the Falklands War are limited. Although I was working in journalism at the time, our stories were limited to the ‘human interest’ ones. Who was going to sail to the Falklands, and what their families were feeling. Invariably pride that they were serving their country and hope that they would return safely.

I also remember the Gotcha headline. This, for anyone who doesn’t know, was published by The Sun newspaper when the Argentinian ship, the Belgrano, was sunk by British forces.

The sinking was controversial, apart from the huge loss of lives, because the Belgrano was outside the 200 mile exclusion zone (sounds a bit like fishing limits) and allegedly sailing away from the Falklands.

However, reading around, it seems that the British had changed their military rules to ‘attack anything that is a potential threat.’ And, the captain of the Belgrano later said that he was to attack anything that came within firing range. Seems the Belgrano was also preparing to return to the zone for a rendezvous, and not going home at all. A report at the time about the true destination of the Belgrano wasn’t made public by the British government as Thatcher didn’t want to compromise British intelligence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano

Kirchner, of course, referred to it as a war crime last year. I ask you. Apparently the Argentinian government was considering taking the UK to the International Court of Justice. I mean that’s a bit rich isn’t it? Invade somewhere and complain when your ship gets sunk?

On the other hand, the Argentinian navy has always regarded the sinking as a legitimate act of war. (Even though we weren’t at war of course).

At least the military was honest about what was going on, even if politicians weren’t – and still aren’t.

I confess to not being pro the war at the time. I saw it as nothing more than Thatcher being desperate to be re-elected, and willing to risk military lives. Now I’m living in Gibraltar with continual claims from Spain to repossess Gibraltar, I have a somewhat different view.

So the release of the three documents I mentioned all look at very different aspects of the war.

1) Apparently Libya, ie Gaddafi, was planning to supply arms to Argentina. I read elsewhere that this was a route used by Russia, to save them getting directly involved.

2) Argentina was using a Brasilian airport as a staging post to receive weapons and then ship them into Argentina. And Reagan suggested sending a joint US/Brasilian peace-keeping mission to the Falklands? Seems not only America, but Brasil (allegedly in favour of the British) were both sitting on the fence, or jumping on and off as convenient.

But what about the American involvement in the war? Again, my memories of that, are that America didn’t help, and was initially sticky about letting ‘planes refuel at the American base on Ascension Island (which just happens to be British, I might add). Reading around however, it seems that America did provide significant help in terms of weapons and political support in the end too.

It’s interesting what a distorted view we have of international events. I didn’t realise how split the Reagan government was regarding the issue, with Secretary of State Alexander Haig, and UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick both in favour of a settlement on the side of Argentina. Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger, however, leaned towards Britain.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577313852502105454.html

And yet, even when the British were entering Port Stanley, Reagan asked Thatcher to hand over the Falklands to avoid humiliation for the Argentinians. Uh?

However:

Thatcher was having none of it. The United Kingdom, she said, could not contemplate a ceasefire without Argentinian withdrawal.

According to the official No 10 note, she told him: “Britain had not lost precious lives in battle and sent an enormous task force to hand over the Queen’s islands to a contact group.

“As Britain had had to go into the islands alone, with no outside help, she could not now let the invader gain from his aggression. The prime minister asked the president to put himself in her position.

“She had lost valuable British ships and invaluable British lives. She was sure that the president would act in the same way if Alaska had been similarly threatened.”

Got to say, Good one there, Maggie.

And the British ambassador in Washington at the time, Sir Nicholas Henderson, had this to say:

“For a long time Britain has been identified with decline in the American press and in the mind’s eye of many people here – a deterioration not just in industrial output but in national will, in the essential dash and doggedness that were regarded by Americans as a hallmark of the British character,” he wrote.

“Well, the Falklands have corrected that.”

3) Perhaps the most interesting document from my perspective is the concept of Spain invading Gibraltar as a result of the Falklands war.

Margaret Thatcher feared a Spanish military assault on Gibraltar in the wake of the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, previously secret papers have revealed.

Three days after Argentina’s ruling military junta seized the British dependency in the South Atlantic; the Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher called for an “urgent assessment” of Britain’s ability to defend Gibraltar, prompted in part by the “jubilant reaction” to the invasion in the Spanish press.

and

“Are we READY should such an invasion occur?”

In secret evidence to the Franks inquiry into the Falklands crisis in October 1982, which has been declassified today, Mrs Thatcher admitted that the threat to Gibraltar had left her living “on a knife edge”.

And at the same time, negotiations were ongoing to lift the border closure imposed by Spain.

Despite a delay, caused by the Falklands crisis, the land border with Spain was opened to pedestrians on 15 December, 1982. 

After Franco died November 20 1975 Spain worked towards democratic government and Britain tried to encourage the opening of the border by offering discussions on Gibraltar issues, including allowing sovereignty to be raised, through the Lisbon Agreement in 1980. When Spain joined NATO in 1981 it aspired to have use of military facilities on the Rock, but the 1982 Argentinean invasion of the Falklands saw negotiations suspended.

Can’t say I’m too happy about the raising of the sovereignty issue. Why defend the Falklands and allow sovereignty discussions about Gib? Politics, politics.

Browsing around, I also found out about Operation Algeciras. An Argentinian plot to blow up a Royal Navy ship in Gibraltar, the theory being that if the UK was having problems in Europe they wouldn’t send so many ships down to the Falklands. Simple enough operation. Divers leave Algeciras, attach mines to ship in Gib and swim back before detonation.

Bahia de Algeciras

The operation failed, fortunately, and the Argentinian agents were arrested by Spanish police, and discretely flown back to Argentina without charges or trial to avoid any international repercussions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Algeciras

And:

An interesting Falklands site

But onto a totally different topic. Gibraltar celebrates Three Kings with a parade – cabalgata – on the evening of 5 January.

This is clearly a Spanish custom, which is ironic, as the UK certainly never did anything like that in the 40 years I lived there.

Traditionally in Spain, children would get their gifts on the eve of Three Kings, rather than Christmas Eve. Now of course, they get presents on both nights. We have a similar parade in my Spanish pueblo, where they use real horses, but in Gib the animals are fake and mounted on floats. Having said that, it is a spectacular parade. It starts in Casemates, and finishes a couple of minutes away from my house at the southern end of Main Street, giving me chance to go back and take extra pix when the floats grind to a halt.

This float was a well-deserved first prize winner with a Brasilian theme and lots of samba music. What a great effort.

Stunning bird

My Christmas cards (all nine of them) are now down, and the festive season is truly over. But it’s nice to mark the culmination with a parade, with lots of happy people and a good-natured atmosphere. So more pix on the slideshow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cigarettes and whiskey and wild wild smugglers

New Year’s Day dawned like Christmas Day in Gib. Slowly and damp.

There was probably an extremely good fireworks display – well it was certainly noisy – but we spent 30 or 40 minutes stroking and reassuring a trembling shaking dog who was having a panic attack.

Enough of festivities, let’s look at some news.

Festive lights

I see the Gib Govt has brought in a new recycling scheme for paper and cardboard. This is a good thing, is it not?

Apparently, like the rest of Europe, we have a target to recycle 50% of all household waste by 2020. We are nowhere near that. In fact I have no idea where we are, apart from low, as the government press release didn’t say what the current figures are.

Now, I have a gripe with this somewhat pie-in-sky figure-plucked-out-of-the-air target.

As with Spain, commercial businesses use domestic rubbish bins and the existing recyclers for glass and plastic bottles/cartons/cans.

So, does someone sift through the recyclers and the rubbish bins separating the rubbish, saying oh yes, this comes from roughseas flat, she’s put a little tag around her rubbish so that is domestic, and this bottle here comes from the Piccadilly bar and this carton here comes from … etc etc?

To my knowledge there is no commercial refuse collection. Well, if there is, I’ve never seen it.

We live near two tobacconists. One puts cartons outside the domestic bins near us. Another puts them outside other bins, just up the street.

Cigarette and whiskey cartons

It would seem entirely sensible if the aspiration is to recycle waste, to include commercial waste in that. Or at least fudge the figures and pretend they were domestic as that way you will reach your target faster.

In which case, why are there no proposed paper/cardboard recycling bins on Main Street near these two shops? Because although the nearest one will be literally only two minutes walk away, it is uphill to the back streets on the border with Upper Town. Quite frankly, you don’t run a business and walk out of your way to drop off all your cigarette and bottle cartons. They could easily have put something nearer for both these two shops who throw cartons out every single day of the week.

That’s before I’ve even mentioned the deli/mini-market, the café in John Mack Hall, the tax office, Lloyds TSB, the lighting shop, Saverland, the list is endless. Paper and cardboard recyclers are needed either on Main Street or just off. They could go in a parking bay (after all we are trying to encourage less driving), or they could be put underground like some of the rather swish Spanish ones.

Good idea. But I’m not convinced it’s well thought through. After all, looking at this shot of our local bins – what’s on top? A tetra brick carton of skimmed milk from Mercadona. They can now be recycled in the can bank. But the nearest bin is more than five minutes walk away, and why walk when you can just chuck it outside your house?

Semi-skimmed milk carton – not being recycled

Although, in theory, we should be having some glass and plastic/can bins added to the proposed paper/cardboard one, two minutes walk away. Still, I doubt my idle neighbours will walk up there. Big culture change needed here.

In Spain we have a plastic/can recycler virtually outside our house. Fortunately not right outside but a mere 30 seconds walk down the street. It gets used. Down the town, five minutes away, we have a bottle bank, cardboard/paper, and cooking oil. At the church (also five minutes or so), we have a clothes bank.

And while I agree with the concept of re-cycling – in many different ways – and not wasting precious resources, I do wonder how much of this is lip service.

But speaking of cigarettes however, just before new year, a Spanish woman was arrested for allegedly possessing 120,000 Red Ducal cigarettes (whatever they may be). The cheapest cigarettes here are less than £2 a packet, so we are looking at somewhere between £10K and £20K outlay for those cigarettes. Who the hell is funding that? Because I sure don’t walk into a tobacconist with ten grand in my pocket.

The limit, incidentally to take across the frontier, is 200 per person. And that’s not every day either, as far as I know, it is once a month, but as I don’t smoke, don’t hold me to that.

However, a Spanish colleague on the building site smoked, and took out 200 fags a day to sell to his local estanco in the provincia de Cádiz. Apparently even the Guardia Civil used to go in there and buy cheap fags. He did say if he ever got pulled and registered on the computer, he wouldn’t take any more out for another month. Hence the monthly rule.

An even bigger arrest before new year was a drugs bust. Amazingly the Guardia Civil and the Gib Defence Police managed to co-operate on this one, when a boat was lurking suspiciously in the Straits of Gib. The Chron report is somewhat unclear about what happened. People in RIB escaped, and the next thing they were arrested in Gib! Either they escaped or they didn’t. Anyway, the bottom line is they had 460 kilos of cannabis resin worth an estimated £2.3 mill on the street.

But this is how the GC and Gib forces should be working – to deter smuggling of drugs, and tobacco, not having stupid spats over fishing in British Gib waters.

Yet there appears to be no let-up in the territorial waters ‘dispute’ aka illegal invasions by Spain into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW).

Diamond Jubilee flotilla sails around the Rock marking Brit Gib waters

An extract from a Gib govt press release:

BRITAIN CONFIRMS SPANISH MEDIA REPORTS WRONG

Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar notes the reports in Spanish news media suggesting that meetings have been held between UK and Spanish officials on “joint management of the marine environment” in what they erroneously refer to as “the disputed waters around the Rock.”

These reports have, rightly, been immediately denied by the Foreign Office in London in clear and unequivocal terms. The FCO statement illustrates that the Spanish media reports are simply wrong.

The fact is that the management of the marine environment in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters is a matter exclusively for the Government of Gibraltar. For that reason, there is no question of any “joint management” with Spain being agreed in respect of BGTW.

There is even less likelihood that the UK Government might be engaging on reaching such arrangements – given that they have no Constitutional competence whatsoever to do so in respect of environmental matters and no mandate to do so insofar as related Sovereignty issues might be relevant.

Or at least, I certainly hope the UK govt isn’t doing dirty deals behind our back.

Next we will have Obama telling us to accept a US/Spanish peacekeeping force to control the rebellious natives.

I referred to the governor’s Christmas speech on my last post, and have found a copy. I’ll finish with some of his words:

There have been so many good things to celebrate in this Diamond Jubilee year but it is deeply frustrating that at the same time we have had to deal with so many challenges to our sovereignty from our Spanish neighbours. Illegal fishing activity and incursions into our waters by Spanish state vessels have been a persistent theme through most of the year and have made heavy demands on our security and law enforcement agencies.

In recognition of this, I was pleased recently to award my personal commendations to the marine units and sections of the Royal Gibraltar Police, the Gibraltar Defence Police and to the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron in acknowledgement of their skill and professionalism in dealing with confrontations on an almost daily basis in the most testing of circumstances, and often in the face of serious pressure and provocation.

But in this uncertain world one thing we have always been sure of is the Queen herself. Her dedication, her dignity, her steadfastness have been constants that have helped bind us all together under her Crown. She has been our Rock and lest anyone has any doubts, Gibraltar is her Rock, hers alone, and no-one else’s to claim.

Sir Adrian Johns, Governor of Gibraltar.

The Rock of Gibraltar

I’ll be writing more about the Treaty of Utrecht this year, signed 300 years ago this April, and the continual claims by Spain, both by diplomacy and by force, to retake Gibraltar against the wish of the people of the Rock.

11 November 2012, Gibraltar

Only Gibraltar would have two ceremonies to commemorate Armistice Day/Remembrance Sunday.

The first was held at Parliament House at 11am.

Buglers from the Royal Gib Reg

I was surprised there were quite a few people gathered outside the building. Many of them were smartly dressed, a lot in dark colours, and with poppies.

There wasn’t much to see to be honest, and it took around ten minutes.

Fast forward to 12 noon and we had another ceremony at the British War Memorial.

And another two minute silence, marked by a huge gun blast to start and end with.

Perhaps it was to tie in with the 11am two minute silence in the UK.

There was a lot of music. Three verses of Abide with Me is far too much. I think there was Rock of Ages. There was also that ghastly Amazing Grace.

We had the Ode of Remembrance. There was the Lord’s Prayer. There was some religious blessing whereupon all the catholics standing next to me promptly and automatically crossed themselves. I didn’t.

I did wear black. Gibraltar is so small that you are likely to see someone you know. I saw a few people I knew, wearing jeans – and medals. I remember some years ago, at one Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, poor old Diana, Princess of Wales, was wearing something that wasn’t black, maybe it was jewellery or some other accessory. Apparently the queen pointed out that one didn’t do that. One wore black and only black.

For anyone who hasn’t yet read one of my favourite poems, here is Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!– An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.–
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Previous roughseas posts:

http://roughseasinthemed.wordpress.com/2007/11/14/armistice-day/

http://roughseasinthemed.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/strange-meeting/

Are we safe in Gibraltar?

Would you feel safe knowing that an Al Qaeda terrorist was freely walking around the streets of Gib and working for a legitimately registered business here?

People may or may not have heard that three suspected Al Qaeda terrorists were arrested late Wed/early Thursday in southern Spain.

One was arrested at a flat in La Linea (the border town in Cadiz province across the frontier from Gibraltar) and the other two were on a bus in Almuradiel which is in the province of Cuidad Real, just across the border from the Andalucían province of Jaen.

I saw this on the BBC webs site when I was in the midst of writing my blog post about not blogging much during August! Oh no. Such a missed opportunity.

Yesterday my partner casually came home and pointed out that one of them was employed as a construction site manager on one of the Gib firms. I couldn’t let this one go. Yes! A real live terrorist wandering and working amongst us!

He’s Turkish, as reported in the news, and has been on the firm for three years as contracts manager.

One of the Spanish lads, who had actually met the Turk, shivered on the spot. And then said ‘He won’t be getting any finiquito, will he?’ Finiquito is the Spanish for severance money. And as some of the staff are being laid off, it’s a topical issue right now.

According to more building site goss, the Turk was already in a Madrid jail at this point. It’s a fair drive from La Linea to Madrid so someone got moving fast.

I thought I would have a little look around and see what other info I could find. Yesterday the two on the bus were originally reported as being arrested in Valdepeñas which is actually north of Almuradiel (which looks like somewhere in the middle of nowhere). I had a look at Al Jazeera and discovered they said that all three had been arrested in the southern province of Cadiz.

Oh dear. Pedantic Roughseas kindly wrote to them and pointed out their error. I notice they have finally updated their piece (and added a few more inaccuracies) but I never received an acknowledgement. Rude gits. Shan’t be trusting them as an accurate source of info.

But how about the Spanish press? I hopped over to El Pais this morning which is one of my preferred Spanish national dailies. It does an English internet version but there isn’t as much info in inglés. The Spanish version has some nice background features.

It also cleared up a few mysteries. There were reports about the three living in San Roque and La Linea. The two are not the same. San Roque town is a few miles away and up on the hill – def not walking distance for a quick chat with your bomb-making pals.

Apparently though, while the Turk lived in La Linea, the other two lived slightly over the municipal border, so were technically in San Roque, and about two kilometres, ie 20 minutes walk away.

The area where the Turk lived, let’s call him T, is one of the most deprived ones in La Linea, and there are a few of those given the huge unemployment in the town. There are about 10,000 people in the area and according to El Pais mostly ‘humble and working class’ (humilde y obrera). In recent years, there has been an influx of strangers into the area. Because of this, T, and his few friends, passed unnoticed in the barrio.

This barrio has social problems (as it would being poor) and often has police intervention, and there are disputes created by drug trafficking – you get the general idea.

According to neighours, T had been living in this rented flat for more than a year and a half, and the other two had been visiting him for around ten months. They mixed very little with anyone and were only occasionally seen having the odd coffee in a local bar. Neighbours added that T was married to a Moroccan woman and worked for a firm in Gibraltar.

At which point I realised that a) the construction site gossip was actually correct info and b) it doesn’t matter where you live in Spain, the neighbours know who you are, even if they don’t know what you are doing on the side. Comes of living under Franco I guess and spying and informing on your neighbours.

A few more facts. One of the three was reported as having trained with the Pakistani terrorist group, Lashkar and Tayiba, known in Urdu as the Army of the Pure. They were responsible for an attack in Mumbai in 2008 where 170 people died. They are independent of Al Qaeda but have links with them. As they would.

The police found a small amount of explosives in the flat in La Linea, and some containers that seemed to have been recently emptied. Hmm, wonder where that went? They also found drawings of radio-controlled lightweight aircraft. Microlights?

Like me, El Pais indulged in a bit of speculation. The official line is that they were suspected of planning an attack in Spain or elsewhere in Europe. Well, that’s pretty vague. How about Gib?

El Pais suggested that they were pretty near to the American naval base at Rota up the coast in Cadiz province and even nearer to the British base in Gibraltar. Just as I said, especially when one of them was working here.

Although the Spanish newspaper names the firm T was working for, I shall be discrete for once. They were hardly to know they were employing a terrorist. It is fair to point out though that one of their clients is the Government of Gibraltar, and that they work on blocks of flats, and on occasion carry out work inside peoples’ flats.

Our government however, considers it not to be an issue. Govt press release:

ARRESTS IN SPAIN

Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar notes the news that a foreign national resident in Spain has been arrested in La Linea de la Concepcion in relation to alleged terrorist offences.

The Government would like to reassure the public that it has received no indication to suggest that the threat level to Gibraltar has changed in any way as a result of these events.

Terrorism is a cruel evil that, unfortunately, affects the whole world. This latest incident so close to Gibraltar reminds us of the need always to remain vigilant and report any concerns or suspicions to the Royal Gibraltar Police.

Hello Gib gov, so you don’t mind that this guy was working in Gib and on govt contracts? Dear me. I would not call working for a Gibraltar construction firm that has government contracts ‘close to Gibraltar’. I would call it right in the midst. Now go away and do your homework. What a crappy press release.

El Pais raises the issue of the small amount of explosives found in the flat, although the Spanish Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández, said that, mixed with shrapnel there was enough to blow up a bus.

According to anti-terrorist forces in Spain, T’s Moroccan wife had said by ‘phone shortly before the arrest, that she had cleaned the flat……..

A quick look at one of the other two, described varyingly as Chechen or ex-Russian. Investigators believe that one of them could have formed part of the special Russian forces, Spetsnaz. I wouldn’t be wanting to meet him in broad daylight let alone at night. When the two were arrested in Almuradiel, one of them used force to resist the Special Operations Group of the Spanish National Police, although he was obviously overcome.

It seems this has been a European-wide collaboration and the men had been under surveillance for some time. Well, obviously if they were tapping ‘phones.

Remember when we are talking Andalucía – and Gibraltar – that they were both Moorish for some hundreds of years. Gib was Moorish longer than it was Spanish. While Islamic fundamentalists may have a lot of aims – and targets, Andalucía never drops off the list.

My interpretation of history – and luckily I have studied this period – says that the Moors left Andalucía a fantastic legacy and Andalucía thrived under Moorish rule. You only have to look at the classic three cities of Córdoba, Granada, and Sevilla to see what they contributed to the Andalucían heritage. And in the countryside the terracing where they cultivated almond, olive, and lemon trees is still in evidence. And of course it’s in the name, Al Andalus, and so many villages in Andalucía have Moorish derived names too.

That’s not to justify Al Qaeda or any terrorism. But they got a raw deal from Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Wars fought in the name of religion. When I did my degree, I was horrified how many wars were carried out for someone’s interpretation of a deity. Nothing changes.

In the meantime, from sunny Gibraltar, full of tourists, cross-border employees (ever more coming across to fiddle on the black I might add), and the odd suspected terrorist, this is the non-blogging Roughseas wishing you a happy weekend.

And hoping you don’t have too many terrorists working in your midst.

Links here should you choose to read more. The two Spanish El Pais ones are the best.

BBC
Please note this is another inaccurate article. Groan. I swear journalists aren’t trained these days. Their proof-reading is worse than mine. They have confused San Roque with La Linea. The explosives were found in La Linea. Just to be clear.

El Pais, in Spanish regarding the barrio in La Linea

El Pais, again in Spanish, with the more in-depth article

El Pais in English
More of a summary, and just as bad as the BBC, as they can’t tell the difference between San Roque and La Linea. Wonder if it was translated by someone English?

On the other hand the Torygraph has written an extremely good post.

And if you haven’t already read this post, you can read about when I got caught up in shooting at the frontier. Just to show that we aren’t such a sleepy little place after all.

Anzac Day

It has to be said we didn’t exactly do our best by our colonial friends in Australia and New Zealand at Gallipoli.

Nor incidentally, did we do ourselves any favours. Depending on which sources you read, the British had 21,000 casualties, the French 10,000, somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 from Australia, nearly 3,000 from NZ, 1,300 from British India, and 49 from Newfoundland. The Ottoman Empire suffered nearly 87,000 deaths. Those figures don’t include wounded soldiers or the ones who became sick because of the appalling sanitary conditions.

Those are wiki figures, so accuracy is not remotely guaranteed, but at least they give an idea of the scale of deaths.

The intention of the Gallipoli campaign was to capture the Gallipoli Peninsula and then crack on to take Constantinople and push the Ottoman Empire out of the First World War, as they were German Allies. It failed.

On 25 April, 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed at Gallipoli. It was the first major military action fought by Australian and NZ forces in the First World War. From 1916 the two countries have commemorated those who died, on Anzac Day, and as with many other countries whose memorial days started off with the First World War, it has now become a day to remember all those who have died in wars.

I thought I’d see if I could find any links with Anzacs and Gib, as you would imagine Anzacs had to go past/via Gib to get to Gallipoli and the Dardanelles.

Here from the Museum Victoria, is a book by George Simpson Millar. He was in the 5th Australian Light Horse, Gallipoli 1915-1917.

Album of photographs believed to have been taken by Australian serviceman George Simpson Millar, 5th Australian Light House, Gallipoli, 1915. Contains 103 small black and white photographs.

The photographs, apparently sent back home, depict life in Gallipoli 1915, as well as war ships, the Suez Canal, Gibraltar, a hospital ship, trenches, men massing for battle, a soldier reading a letter, soldiers at rest, cutting hair, etc., tunnels, and individual soldiers, graves and shell holes. A few photographs of France are included.

He returned to Australia in January 1919.

Link to full post here.

From the Argus, again in Victoria, 12 November 1915, I found this tiny snippet.

Cable messages for soldiers

The following arrangements have been adopted as regards cable messages to and from Australian soldiers in Gibraltar – to apply to the weekend system and via Eastern route only:-
a) Messages will be accepted from the public in Australia for Australian soldiers in Gibraltar without prepayment of reply that may be desired. “Reply RTP” to appear in text, and be counted as one word.
b) Australian soldiers in Gibraltar may also initiate collect messages to persons in Australia not exceeding 12 words in length.

And from Angela Woollacott’s book ‘To Try Her Fortune in London: Australian Women, Colonialism, and Modernity’:

“..letter and diary writers commented, for example, on the vivid impression that Gibraltar, signifying British naval power in the Mediterranean and imperial strength more generally, made on them, whether they sailed by it or stopped there.”

The English poet Rupert Brooke died shortly before the invasion of Gallipoli. He was serving with the Royal Naval Division and a septic mosquito bite led to his death from blood poisoning.

His war poetry is not my taste as I think it is somewhat idealistic. Had he lived longer perhaps his poetry may have changed. However, it happens to be appropriate to the geography of this post. He is buried on the Greek isle of Skyros, where there is no doubt one corner that is forever England.

III. The Dead

Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold
These laid the world away; poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
That men call age; and those who would have been,
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.

Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,
Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
And we have come into our heritage.

The War Memorial in Gibraltar at the ‘British Steps’.

Some other ANZAC links:

http://thewanderlustgene.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/here-in-paradise-no-sunshine-today/
http://therootsofmanytrees.wordpress.com/
http://skinnycapwithtwosugars.com/2012/04/25/on-anzac-day-its-un-australian-to-not-reflect/
http://beefaerie.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/make-it-stop/

Strange meeting

A solitary poppy left at Gibraltar's memorial to The Great War (Line Wall Road), by a visitor from Seaham, County Durham

I thought I would go for a different pitch for my Armistice Day/Remembrance Day post this year.

Sort of mid-way between the ‘Gosh we owe these people so much – they are all super heroes’ and the ‘I really don’t agree with any of this and wars are just a damn nuisance invented by politicians’ stance.

Mainly because of my ignorance, I thought I would check out the casualty lists for the world wars by nation.

But before I start on my exciting statistical analysis – I’ll add the personal stuff.

Like anyone of my generation, my great-uncles were in WW1 and my uncles were in WW2.  And similarly, there is always at least one family death.

So because I don’t have accurate details for WW1, lets go to WW2.  On my father’s side, he and his brother went to sea.  My dad was in the RN and Uncle Harry joined the Merch.  I think Uncle H got the raw end of the deal, as he seemed to spend half his time swimming around being rescued when his ships were torpedoed. Just as well the family were swimmers.  My dad had a nice time in the Mediterreanean – including Gibraltar.

On my mother’s side, one uncle was in the air force as a pilot, and the other was in the army.  The older one was killed not long before peace was declared, shot down over Holland.  Uncle Arthur was in the army in India, no idea what he was doing, but I do have a nicely carved box from his days over there.

Her youngest brother went into the RAF after the war and made it his career, coming out as a Wing Commander.  Not too bad for a lad from a council estate. Well done Uncle Bill.

And therein lies the difference of a few years.  He volunteered.  My father was conscripted, or whatever it was called in WW2 – called up I suppose.  Would he have gone otherwise?  Of course, not, and he said so too.  He wanted to stay at home working in the power station as a trainee engineer – essential services – but seems the manager’s son had to go to war, so he refused to sign exemption papers for my father.  Well, that’s the story I was told.  So he ended up in the engine room of destroyers as Chief Petty Officer at 21, or so.

Onto deaths from wars.

I’ve done a real wiki thing here because it’s going to be broad brush anyway.  The Great War aka WW1 resulted in around ten mill military deaths and seven mill civilian ones.

Memorial to those who served in the Great War patrolling the Straits of Gibraltar

Now, remember how WW1 started? Yes, that’s right, it was the whole Austrian-Hungarian empire thing.  So not surprisingly, there were nearly three mill deaths in the Ottoman Empire, nearly two and a half from Germany, and just over one and a half for Austria-Hungary.  Plus a couple of hundred thousand in Bulgaria.

In percentage terms, the Ottoman Empire wins the prize with nearly 14%, the other three come in between three and four per cent of the population.  Cos that’s important.  You need to decide whether you are looking at total numbers of people killed or the percentage of the population killed – big difference.

And – those figures are for total deaths, because even back in 1914-1918 we had collateral damage (aka killing civilians), and disease and famine.  For military deaths alone – Germany wins outright, (if not the war) with more than two million killed.

WW1 war memorial

Onto the so-called Allied Powers – biggest number of deaths without a doubt – Russia.  Nearly two million military, and one and a half mill civilians.  Followed by France, Italy, and the British Empire.

But if you look at percentages, the figures are totally different.

Quick check out of history here in case you don’t remember your lessons from the past. Serbia was a key player in all this which is probably why in percentage stakes, it wins hands down with a huge 16% of the population killed. Small population, but so many of them dead.  And similarly Romania, small population compared with Britain and France, but a disporportionate number of deaths.

And similar to absolute numbers of deaths, the percentage figures show Serbia and Romania, were followed by France, Greece, Italy and the British Empire.  Do look at the figures  for WW1 - they are interesting.

Moving swiftly on a few years to WW2, which records somewhere between 50 and 70 million people killed. Just wow!

We all learn our history from our own perspective.  So naturally I learned about how Britain suffered in WW2.  Um.  Not really when you look at the figures.  Not even half a million deaths and less than one per cent of the population.  Nowhere near WW1.

But look at Russia. Took the fall in WW1, and again in WW2 with a huge twenty three and a half million people killed, nearly 14 per cent of the population.   Russia, without a doubt has had a crap deal in world wars.

Next surprises, China was the one with the second most deaths in WW2.  China????  Somewhere between ten and twenty mill, of which three to four were military.  Small in population terms but mega in deaths.

Other surprising ones were Dutch East Indies, three to four million deaths, French IndoChina, one to one and a half million deaths, British India – one and a half to two and a half, Japan – two and a half to three mill, Poland – nearly six million people killed, and finally Germany, six to eight mill.

In terms of military, the only ones in the millions were Russia, Germany, China, and Japan (in that order).

But, and here we have a big but – let’s look at other WW2 deaths.  Holocaust deaths.  Approximately six mill Jewish people killed, plus Roma (gypsies), people with handicaps, prisoners of war – millions of Russians, millions of Polish people, homosexuals, Serbians, and erm, Roman Catholic clergy, Jehovah’s and Freemasons.   The list is never ending!!

I haven’t even mentioned the Japanese war crimes.  In fact, the so-called Great War, to end all wars, came nowhere near the atrocities committed in the second world war.

Check it out here, if you are interested.

So, here I am, realising that actually the UK and most other western countries weren’t the biggest sufferers in WW2.  I did look up a few later wars, you know, Korea, Vietnam, but seemed like the figures were pretty low.  Not in the 20 million dead rate anyway.

And then I found this interesting site because it seems Americans go big on ‘Veterans Day’, and I wondered why.

Here is a quote from the intro -

The United States of America has a somewhat unique relationship with war. While America is considered to be the most militarily powerful country in the world today, Americans as a whole have never experienced war in the way that many other countries of the world have. There is a huge disparity between the American experience of war and the global experience. This may have an impact on American attitudes towards war. Presented below are various statistics on causalities of war. The information is useful for reference material, but it is also useful for gaining an understanding of the human cost of war, and the cost of war for Americans compared to the rest of the world, which may be helpful in understanding cultural attitudes about war.

The total number of Americans killed in action from all major wars combined, the ten listed below, is 2,757,196, which, while a disheartening number, is about the same as the number of Vietnamese that died in the Vietnam War alone.

Interestingly, of the ten wars listed – the second biggest total number of deaths (after those in WW2) was actually the Civil War, where nearly 200,000 Americans were killed.

Do look at the pie charts on the site linked above, they pretty much summarise the earlier stats I quoted, although slightly different figures.  The effect is the same however, and all the more startling in graphical representation.

I don’t know what you all learned at school, but I sure as hell didn’t learn any of that.

And, back to WW1, one of my favourite poets.  Not Dulce et Decorum Est, which is what I normally post but a different one.  Still by Wilfred Owen though, who died a week before the Armistice was declared. A British First World War poet, if you haven’t heard of him.

Strange meeting

It seemed that out of battle I escaped

Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.

Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands, as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, -
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.

With a thousand pains that vision’s face was grained;
Yet no blood reached there from the upper ground,
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan.
‘Strange friend,’ I said, ‘here is no cause to mourn.’
‘None,’ said that other, ‘save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world,
Which lies not calm in eyes, or braided hair,
But mocks the steady running of the hour,
And if it grieves, grieves richlier than here.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled,
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress.
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Courage was mine, and I had mystery,
Wisdom was mine, and I had mastery:
To miss the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels,
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even with truths that lie too deep for taint.
I would have poured my spirit without stint
But not through wounds; not on the cess of war.
Foreheads of men have bled where no wounds were.

I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark: for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now…’

Armistice Day/Remembrance Day is not a day to be sentimental.  It is a day to pay respects to those who died in whatever wars in the past. Nor is it a justification to engage in future wars, for whatever reason.  These days wars are rarely conducted in defence of one’s own country – but rather because of politics, foreign policy, money – and power. Perhaps there is nothing new there either.

Read the words of Wilfred Owen, read about the wars of the 20th century -  and then – if you can – justify extra war, but don’t glorify it.   Because I can’t. Dulce et decorum est it will never be.

A ration party of the Royal Irish Rifles in a trench