Come back, Oliver, all is forgiven

Except for the bit about chopping off the monarch’s head (Leave good Queen Bess alone, after all, the armed forces swear allegiance to her and she is a very nice lady), we could do with another Oliver Cromwell to deal with the self-serving nonentities that occupy the present British parliament.

Here is what he said when dissolving the 1653 Parliament :-

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,

which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!

Any volunteers? Nigel, mayhap?

 

5 thoughts on “Come back, Oliver, all is forgiven”

  1. I was never, nor ever will be, a republican. However, I think there is a stark difference between Oliver Cromwell and Oliver Robbins and right now I much prefer the former.

    OZ

  2. OZ, I,too, am not a republican, and originally neither was Oliver Cromwell. It was only when Charlie boy started buggering about and plotting that OC decided he had to go.

  3. Hi FEEG.

    Sorry, but historical accuracy matters to me. The speech is a total fabrication, cobbled together by Ken Hughes for his 1970 hagiography of the boy Cromwell as portrayed by Richard Harris. No record exists of the actual speech.

    My opinion, and I could, of course be wrong is that Cromwell was a militaristic thug who imposed autocratic government on England, Ireland and Scotland. I also believe him to have been a megalomaniac who was totally convinced of his own rightness in all things.

    So, probably a bit like Nigel, to be fair.

  4. FEEG, I’m sure you don’t want anarchy so try this: a simple referendum! The result will of course be 55% in favour of us or them so the two factions will set a time table for negotiations which will slip imperceptibly into the distance and result in very little change. Sound familiar?

  5. I have never understood the intense dislike so many people have for Nigel Farage. While I accept that many would disagree with his campaigns for Britain to leave the EU, I cannot see anything in the way he behaves that would garner such vitriol as appears in the media and elsewhere.

    As far as I am concerned, Nigel Farage comes across as being charming, intelligent, articulate and far more honest and possessing of integrity than any other politician or public commentator. Of course he has made mistakes, but have any of them been remotely serious? For somebody as much in the public eye as he is and with so many political enemies, and so few advisers to protect him, it is almost impossible not to do or say something unwise. Which of us has not done so? More than most, he has apologised for any bad decisions he has made and even better, he has refused to apologise for actions he has taken and words that he has spoken that he believes to be morally justifiable or factually correct.

    I have just read his Wikipedia entry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Farage
    While this may not be the definitive profile of the man, given the ability of anyone to contribute critical content, (accompanied by reliable sources) on the subject, it appears to me that there is remarkably little there that is worthy of scorn. This is particularly impressive given the unrelenting efforts of the press, politicians, left wing movements and interest groups to destroy his character. Even where he clearly made mistakes, the nature of them is somewhat petty and barely worth mentioning.
    e.g.
    Undeclared gifts
    In June 2014, Farage declared £205,603 for gifts over 10 years, including free use of a barn for his constituency office, which had been declared in the EU register in Brussels each year. The Electoral Commission said that the gifts should have been also declared in the UK within 30 days of receipt and fined Farage £200.[83][84]

    The £200 fine sums it up.

    While allowing for a degree of occupation of JM’s buccal cavity by his organ of speech, to describe Nigel Farage as a megalomaniac, is preposterous in my view. As for his rightness, he only really claims to be right about one thing, a view demonstrably shared by the majority of the British electorate.

    If you really want a modern day Cromwell, look no further than Tony Blair.

    I would invite Farage to dinner for for the pleasure of his company. I would invite Blair, only so that I could poison his soup.

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