Tendring Topics………on Line
Why not a White Poppy Day for the Civilian Dead?
Last Sunday we especially remembered the servicemen and women slain in World Wars I and II and in subsequent and continuing conflicts.
In World War II at least, and probably in other more recent conflicts, the number of civilian dead greatly outnumbered the casualties in the armed forces. We have, it is true, a day (27th January) on which the victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered, another on 11th September for the victims of ‘nine-eleven’, and yet another (6th August) on which many remember those who were vaporised when the first very nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima. Although we worry desperately about ‘rogue nations’ or terrorists gaining control of ‘weapons of mass destruction’, it is worth remembering that the only countries that have so far actually used such weapons are Britain and America!
The Soviet Poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s best-known poem Babiy Yar, about the ravine near Kiev where a notorious massacre of Ukrainian Jews took place during the German occupation, begins, ‘Over Babiy Yar there are no memorials’.
Much the same could be said about the civilian dead of Coventry, of London’s East End, and of other British cities during the Blitz, not forgetting the tens of thousands killed in British and American air raids on Berlin, Hamburg and (quite inexcusably in my opinion) on Dresden at a time when the end of the war in Europe was clearly in sight? And, of course, the estimated one million civilians who lost their lives during the German siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and the comparable loss of life in Warsaw, Stalingrad (now Volgagrad) and other towns and villages throughout Poland, Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine? Nor must we forget the many thousands of civilians who have died and are still dying as a result of conflicts in Africa.
I believe that there is a strong case for an International Day of Remembrance of the Civilian Dead in every country and in every conflict. Almost every country in the world has at least some civilian war dead to remember and mourn, and there are very few countries that have no responsibility for the civilian dead of others.
It could be a day to remember the victims of Dresden and Hamburg, as well as those of Coventry, Warsaw and Leningrad; of Lebanon and Gaza as well as of the Holocaust; of Serbs in Bosnia under Croatia’s puppet Fascist regime during World War II, as well as of Muslims during the more recent conflict; of the civilian victims of Japan in mainland Asia during World War II as well as those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and of course, the victims of ‘nine-eleven’ and of terror bombings throughout the world.
For almost all of us it could be a day of national repentance as well as of mourning. It could also be a day on which we all wore an appropriate emblem (perhaps a white poppy) as a symbol of our determination never, ever, to let it happen again. These emblems could be sold worldwide to help the all-too-many civilian victims of national, tribal or sectarian violence in the world today.
‘Global Warming is just hot air’, claims our MP
Nobody could possibly accuse our MP, Mr Douglas Carswell, of allowing himself to be swept along with the tide of public opinion, or even of following blindly the leadership of his own political party.
Like me, he has a blog on the internet and doesn’t hesitate to use it to promote currently unpopular causes about which he feels strongly. A subject on which we both have strong views is global warming. The difference between us is that I am convinced that global warming is a rapidly accelerating threat to humankind and that our own human activities are hastening it. In this I am for once with the overwhelming majority of informed political and scientific opinion. Mr Carswell, on the other hand, is gallantly swimming against the tide in declaring, ‘I have thought long and hard about it and in my view, the climate is not changing because of human activity’.
What a pity Mr Carswell didn’t announce this revelation in time to stop the world’s leaders and most of their leading scientists journeying to Copenhagen to discuss what our MP knows to be ‘just hot air’.
Mr Carswell believes too that this ‘dangerous obsession with climate change’ is costing us money. It has, he says, already led to an increase of 25 percent in our electricity bills and this is expected to rise to 60 percent in five years time. Funny that, because my combined gas and electricity direct debit payments have recently been almost halved, partly as a result of my heeding warnings of climate change and having.jpg)
had solar water-heating panels installed on my roof.
Why not a White Poppy Day for the Civilian Dead?
Last Sunday we especially remembered the servicemen and women slain in World Wars I and II and in subsequent and continuing conflicts.
In World War II at least, and probably in other more recent conflicts, the number of civilian dead greatly outnumbered the casualties in the armed forces. We have, it is true, a day (27th January) on which the victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered, another on 11th September for the victims of ‘nine-eleven’, and yet another (6th August) on which many remember those who were vaporised when the first very nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima. Although we worry desperately about ‘rogue nations’ or terrorists gaining control of ‘weapons of mass destruction’, it is worth remembering that the only countries that have so far actually used such weapons are Britain and America!
The Soviet Poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s best-known poem Babiy Yar, about the ravine near Kiev where a notorious massacre of Ukrainian Jews took place during the German occupation, begins, ‘Over Babiy Yar there are no memorials’.
Much the same could be said about the civilian dead of Coventry, of London’s East End, and of other British cities during the Blitz, not forgetting the tens of thousands killed in British and American air raids on Berlin, Hamburg and (quite inexcusably in my opinion) on Dresden at a time when the end of the war in Europe was clearly in sight? And, of course, the estimated one million civilians who lost their lives during the German siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and the comparable loss of life in Warsaw, Stalingrad (now Volgagrad) and other towns and villages throughout Poland, Belarus, Russia and the Ukraine? Nor must we forget the many thousands of civilians who have died and are still dying as a result of conflicts in Africa.
I believe that there is a strong case for an International Day of Remembrance of the Civilian Dead in every country and in every conflict. Almost every country in the world has at least some civilian war dead to remember and mourn, and there are very few countries that have no responsibility for the civilian dead of others.
It could be a day to remember the victims of Dresden and Hamburg, as well as those of Coventry, Warsaw and Leningrad; of Lebanon and Gaza as well as of the Holocaust; of Serbs in Bosnia under Croatia’s puppet Fascist regime during World War II, as well as of Muslims during the more recent conflict; of the civilian victims of Japan in mainland Asia during World War II as well as those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and of course, the victims of ‘nine-eleven’ and of terror bombings throughout the world.
For almost all of us it could be a day of national repentance as well as of mourning. It could also be a day on which we all wore an appropriate emblem (perhaps a white poppy) as a symbol of our determination never, ever, to let it happen again. These emblems could be sold worldwide to help the all-too-many civilian victims of national, tribal or sectarian violence in the world today.
‘Global Warming is just hot air’, claims our MP
Nobody could possibly accuse our MP, Mr Douglas Carswell, of allowing himself to be swept along with the tide of public opinion, or even of following blindly the leadership of his own political party.
Like me, he has a blog on the internet and doesn’t hesitate to use it to promote currently unpopular causes about which he feels strongly. A subject on which we both have strong views is global warming. The difference between us is that I am convinced that global warming is a rapidly accelerating threat to humankind and that our own human activities are hastening it. In this I am for once with the overwhelming majority of informed political and scientific opinion. Mr Carswell, on the other hand, is gallantly swimming against the tide in declaring, ‘I have thought long and hard about it and in my view, the climate is not changing because of human activity’.
What a pity Mr Carswell didn’t announce this revelation in time to stop the world’s leaders and most of their leading scientists journeying to Copenhagen to discuss what our MP knows to be ‘just hot air’.
Mr Carswell believes too that this ‘dangerous obsession with climate change’ is costing us money. It has, he says, already led to an increase of 25 percent in our electricity bills and this is expected to rise to 60 percent in five years time. Funny that, because my combined gas and electricity direct debit payments have recently been almost halved, partly as a result of my heeding warnings of climate change and having
.jpg)
had solar water-heating panels installed on my roof.Solar Panels being installed on the roof of my bungalow earlier this year. I do try to practise what I preach!
Even if it could be proved conclusively that no global warming is taking place, or that, if it is taking place, it is not as a result of human activity, there would still be an energy crisis. We would still have an urgent need to end our dependence on fossil fuels, to conserve all the energy that we can, and to find and develop more and more renewable sources of energy.
Fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, were all created millions of years ago from the luxuriant vegetation of long-prehistoric periods in the world’s history. There developed vast reservoirs of all these materials below the earth’s surface. Vast, but not infinitely vast! Nor are they renewable. As a result of the accelerating industrialisation that has taken place worldwide over the past century and a half, reserves of coal, oil and natural gas are rapidly diminishing. As they diminish market forces decree that they become ever more expensive. Future generations will not have the easy option of fossil fuel to warm their homes, light their streets and power their factories!
Not even Mr Carswell and the Australian geologist Ian Plimer, who shares his view that climatic change is not taking place as a result of human activity, can possibly imagine that the depletion of the world’s natural resources (coal, oil and gas) has been caused other than by energy-hungry humanity
North Sea Gas is already running out. The USA, whose reserves of oil were once considered to be almost inexhaustible, is now an importer. What’s more, the oil supplies on which we heavily depend come from the notoriously volatile and unstable Middle East, and our gas supply from Siberia. Is Mr Carswell happy that his (I am sure very comfortable) first and second homes depend for their warmth, lighting and power on oil from Saudi Arabia or the Persian Gulf, and gas from Russia. The Russians, recent converts to capitalism, have learned quickly how to use market forces to their own advantage. And why not? All’s fair in the global market place. Those who need a commodity in short supply must expect to pay its price to those who, for the moment at least, have it in abundance.
So if, as Mr Carswell believes, talk of man-made global warming is just ‘hot air’ humanity’s predicament is no less serious. We still need those wind turbines, solar panels, tidal and wave energy generators and, indeed, any other source of renewable sustainable energy that we can discover and develop, together with every means of recycling and conserving energy that we can find. That is, of course, if we have a vision that extends beyond the next Public Opinion Poll or the next General Election.
REAL Christmas Stamps
How refreshing to find that this year the Post Office has rediscovered the fact that Christmas is a Christian Festival and has given us (well, perhaps ‘given’ isn’t quite the right word) unmistakeably Christian Christmas Postage Stamps.
Last year, you may remember, customers at Post Offices who simply asked for Christmas Stamps were handed somewhat garish stamps with Pantomime Characters printed on them. I remember that the one used for correspondence with mainland Europe had a picture of Captain Hook. It occurred to me that in a thousand Continental homes, recipients of mail from England will have been asking, ‘Why on earth have the mad English put a one-armed pirate on their Christmas stamps this year?’
.jpg)
There were a limited number of ‘religious’ Christmas stamps available, if you specially asked for them. The first and second-class stamps both bore different, and very attractive, pictures of the Virgin and Child. I bought quite a lot of both and have used them throughout the year as an unobtrusive affirmation of Christian Faith. I think that I may have just one or two left.
Fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, were all created millions of years ago from the luxuriant vegetation of long-prehistoric periods in the world’s history. There developed vast reservoirs of all these materials below the earth’s surface. Vast, but not infinitely vast! Nor are they renewable. As a result of the accelerating industrialisation that has taken place worldwide over the past century and a half, reserves of coal, oil and natural gas are rapidly diminishing. As they diminish market forces decree that they become ever more expensive. Future generations will not have the easy option of fossil fuel to warm their homes, light their streets and power their factories!
Not even Mr Carswell and the Australian geologist Ian Plimer, who shares his view that climatic change is not taking place as a result of human activity, can possibly imagine that the depletion of the world’s natural resources (coal, oil and gas) has been caused other than by energy-hungry humanity
North Sea Gas is already running out. The USA, whose reserves of oil were once considered to be almost inexhaustible, is now an importer. What’s more, the oil supplies on which we heavily depend come from the notoriously volatile and unstable Middle East, and our gas supply from Siberia. Is Mr Carswell happy that his (I am sure very comfortable) first and second homes depend for their warmth, lighting and power on oil from Saudi Arabia or the Persian Gulf, and gas from Russia. The Russians, recent converts to capitalism, have learned quickly how to use market forces to their own advantage. And why not? All’s fair in the global market place. Those who need a commodity in short supply must expect to pay its price to those who, for the moment at least, have it in abundance.
So if, as Mr Carswell believes, talk of man-made global warming is just ‘hot air’ humanity’s predicament is no less serious. We still need those wind turbines, solar panels, tidal and wave energy generators and, indeed, any other source of renewable sustainable energy that we can discover and develop, together with every means of recycling and conserving energy that we can find. That is, of course, if we have a vision that extends beyond the next Public Opinion Poll or the next General Election.
REAL Christmas Stamps
How refreshing to find that this year the Post Office has rediscovered the fact that Christmas is a Christian Festival and has given us (well, perhaps ‘given’ isn’t quite the right word) unmistakeably Christian Christmas Postage Stamps.
Last year, you may remember, customers at Post Offices who simply asked for Christmas Stamps were handed somewhat garish stamps with Pantomime Characters printed on them. I remember that the one used for correspondence with mainland Europe had a picture of Captain Hook. It occurred to me that in a thousand Continental homes, recipients of mail from England will have been asking, ‘Why on earth have the mad English put a one-armed pirate on their Christmas stamps this year?’
.jpg)
There were a limited number of ‘religious’ Christmas stamps available, if you specially asked for them. The first and second-class stamps both bore different, and very attractive, pictures of the Virgin and Child. I bought quite a lot of both and have used them throughout the year as an unobtrusive affirmation of Christian Faith. I think that I may have just one or two left.
This year things are very different. Those charming 1st and 2nd class Virgin and Child stamps are again available if you want them. The ‘ordinary’ Christmas stamps though are reproductions of detail from the stained glass windows of a village church in Norfolk.
1st Class is another picture of the Virgin and Child, 2nd Class is a pre-Raphaelitish angel with a medieval mandolin (or is it a harp?) accompanying an angelic choir) and the 56p (European) one, depicts an elderly haloed man – possibly St. Joseph looking down at the Christ-child in the manger?
.jpg)
No doubt similar stamps are available in other denominations but those are the ones in which I was interested, and I didn’t feel justified in holding up the Post Office queue while I viewed the others! The 1st Class stamp could certainly be used as an afirmation of faith on all personal mail throughout the year.
.jpg)
This year’s stamps will clearly please all Christians. Will those of other faiths or none resent them? I don’t see why they should. There will, I am sure, be plenty of stamps and books of stamps bearing the usual ‘Queen’s head’ picture. No one who doesn’t wish to do so need use an overtly ‘Christian’ stamp.
.jpg)
No doubt similar stamps are available in other denominations but those are the ones in which I was interested, and I didn’t feel justified in holding up the Post Office queue while I viewed the others! The 1st Class stamp could certainly be used as an afirmation of faith on all personal mail throughout the year.
.jpg)
This year’s stamps will clearly please all Christians. Will those of other faiths or none resent them? I don’t see why they should. There will, I am sure, be plenty of stamps and books of stamps bearing the usual ‘Queen’s head’ picture. No one who doesn’t wish to do so need use an overtly ‘Christian’ stamp.
No comments:
Post a Comment