‘Thou shalt not………
A recent issue of the Church Times, an independent Anglican weekly, records that to celebrate the fourth centenary of the King James Bible, York University had organised a competition, asking five to sixteen year olds to compose a new ‘Ten Commandments’ for the 21st Century. Some of the entries contained practical advice ‘Don’t leave the bathroom light on, the world is short of energy’, ‘Don’t build nuclear power stations where there are likely to be earthquakes or tsunamis’. Some were modern paraphrases of the original Ten Commandments: ‘Don’t worship celebrities’, ‘Try to see everyone gets a fair wage for his work’. One, possibly from a reader of the now defunct ‘News of the World’, advised ‘Don’t snog the wrong person and, if you do, don’t try to cover it up with a super-injunction’.
This report prompted me to revisit a 19th century parody of the Ten Commandments by Victorian poet, Arthur Hugh Clough, possibly best known for his inspiring ‘Say not the struggle naught availeth’. The Latest Decalogue lampoons a false piety and a cynicism that was apparently as common in the 19th century as it is in the 21st. Here are a few of the verses:
Thou shalt have one God only, who
Would go to the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped except the currency.
Honour thy parents; that is - all
From whom advancement may befall.
Thou shalt not kill, but needst not strive
Officiously to keep alive*
Thou shalt not steal, an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat**.
Do not adultery commit,
Advantage rarely comes of it.
Thou shalt not covet, but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.
*I have just heard on BBCtv news that some Hospital Managers are delaying operations in the hope that before the operations are due and the NHS has to spend money on them. patients will decide to ‘go private’ –or will die! How well the Hospital Managers have heeded that ‘commandment’!
**And how well some of our elected representatives have heeded that one!
Yet another step down that slippery slope!
It started – was it only four months ago? – with the imposition, authorised by the United Nations, of a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the civilian population from air attack by Colonel Gaddafi’s forces. That, so it was confidently expected, would be sufficient to topple the Colonel’s ramshackle autocracy.
It wasn’t, and almost at once first France and then Britain began air attacks on Libyan government tanks and other ground forces ‘to protect innocent civilians’ and also, of course, to support the rebel forces ranged against the government. Quite quickly eastern Libya (Cyrenaica) where Gaddafi had never been popular, fell to the rebels. Surely Tripolitania (western Libya) would soon follow. It didn’t. It became clear that an army of untrained volunteers, however enthusiastic, couldn’t stand up effectively to Gaddfi’s tanks, artillery and disciplined infantry. Some volunteers, who had demonstrated their machismo by firing their rifles into the air (no wonder the rebels are permanently short of ammunition!) discovered that being under fire from a real enemy with heavy weapons wasn’t quite so much fun.
It also became clear that in and around Tripoli Gaddafi enjoyed a great deal of genuine support.
Britain and our allies stepped up our involvement. The scope of the bombing was widened to include arms dumps and command posts, some within Tripoli itself. There were well-publicised deaths of the civilians we were supposed to be protecting.
We began to use helicopters to give closer support to rebel forces on the ground. Still Gaddafi obstinately declined to abdicate his power.
Now another step towards all-out war has been taken by our government. We have declared our recognition of the rebels as the lawful government of Libya. This should make it possible for us to release frozen Libyan assets to allow them to purchase more arms from us. It could also be an excuse for us to put troops on the ground ‘in response to an urgent request from the legitimate government of Libya’.
This evening (26th July) on BBC News I heard John Simpson explain why it was that the rebels hadn’t yet managed to capture Tripoli. It was Libya’s awful climate. During the summer the heat was so great that touching metal objects, a rifle for instance, could burn your hands. After about 10.30 a.m. fighting was impossible.
I wish someone had told us that when we were there. The barrels of our guns, undoubtedly made of metal, must have been a real danger – and not just to the enemy!
Can John Simpson really be unaware that between 1940 and 1943 there were opposing European armies in both Libya and Egypt? Ferocious tank battles and artillery engagements took place each summer. Believe me, the Libyan weather was among the least of our worries. In North Africa, World War II certainly didn’t stop between 10.30 in the morning and the cool of the evening!
Why haven’t the rebels taken Tripoli yet? Probably because they are a disorderly and undisciplined – if enthusiastic – rabble. It now seems that their ‘supreme commander’ has been assassinated because of doubt about which side he was supporting! They are not, I would say, our government’s most reliable allies.
What an ignorant lot we are!
It seems that we Clactonians are the most uneducated community in North Essex and that the folk of Harwich, just a few miles away, are among the best!
A University and College survey among people between the ages of 16 and 64, revealed that 23 percent (nearly a quarter!) of those in that age range in the Clacton Parliamentary Constituency, have no qualifications whatsoever. In the Harwich and North Essex Constituency this applies to only 7.4 percent, in Colchester 8.7 percent, Braintree 10.9 percent, Maldon 13 percent and Witham 10.4 percent. Clacton is well above the national average of 11.1 percent.
This concerns our MP Douglas Carswell, who I am sure wouldn’t wish it to be suggested that he has voter ignorance to thank for his comfortable majority. He points out that a great many people move here after having been educated elsewhere. Quite so, but a high proportion of them will have come here for retirement – and that takes them out of the age range. The County Council says that we Clactonians are trying to rectify the situation. 3,400 of us enrolled on Adult Community Learning Courses last year. But – again I wonder – how many of those 3,400 are over 64?
A more valid reason for Clacton’s low educational standing is the effect of those who move out, rather than those who move in. In the Clacton area there simply aren’t the jobs for academic high flyers – so they move out to London or Ipswich or some other town where their abilities are more likely to be in demand. .
My sons both regard Clacton as their home town and are glad to come back here – but neither of them has ever even thought of living and working here. In 1971, my elder son was one of four Clacton County High School pupils who obtained a place in Cambridge University. Many others in that academic year went to other universities. It would surprise me very much to learn that any one of them is still in Clacton.
I would also like to know on what information the University and College survey was based. I wouldn’t have thought that information about everyone’s qualifications was readily available. I am well outside the age range of the survey but I haven’t always been. How could anyone know, unless I told them, the details of my own modest academic achievements?
The Evil Empire
Day by day we seem to learn a little more of the depths to which the Murdoch press was prepared to sink in pursuit of its mercenary aims. The evil effects of the press campaign for ‘Sarah’s law’ have always been at least as evident as its ultimate dubious benefits. It brought lynch mobs out onto the streets hunting down paedophiles. Obviously totally innocent people suffered. You can’t expect a regular reader of The Sun or The News of the World to appreciate the subtle difference between a paedophile and a paediatrician!
Now, as more and more victims of phone hacking come to light we learn that Sara Payne, mother of the abducted and murdered Sarah, who had fondly imagined that Rebekah Brooks was her friend, had also had her phone hacked!
But all the phone hacking, all the intimidation of politicians, and all the bribing of the Police were simply by-products of the greater, ultimate evil – that one very wealthy man from a foreign country was able to influence and exert his power over the makers of British Government policy both at home and overseas and, through his news media empire, influence public opinion and decide the outcome of British elections!
Two recent programmes on Channel 4 tv confirmed that the Murdoch influence on our politicians was even greater and more malign than I had suspected. Did you know that, since he became Prime Minister, David Cameron has made no less than 26 visits to News International senior executives? When the great Rupert himself was invited to No 10 Downing Street, he was asked to come to the back door – presumably in an attempt to keep the visit from the public’s notice.
Tony Blair was even more sycophantic. Mrs Thatcher and Gordon Brown also regularly consulted and consorted with Mr Murdoch and his minions. An honourable exception was Prime Minister John Major. As a result he was treated to constant derision by the Murdoch press. Radio and TV personality Anne Diamond was singled out for even more savage special treatment by the Murdoch press for having had the temerity to accost and beard Rupert Murdoch at a posh reception to which they both had been invited.
I believe that the influence of Rupert Murdoch and News International on our country has been wholly evil but, even if it had been good, it would still have been quite wrong for one wealthy individual, not a British citizen, to be able to exercise such a profound influence on our nation’s policy makers and public opinion.
I hope most fervently that our legislators will make absolutely sure that similar circumstances can never arise again. I shall never trust politicians who have succumbed to the Murdoch spell.
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