Author: Boadicea

On This Day – 20th March 2003

On the 20th of March 2003 the US launched missiles on Baghdad.

I was opposed to the war then and I am still opposed to it.

I have no doubt that the ‘Verdict of History’ will find Bush, Blair and Howard guilty of Crimes Against Humanity, my only sorrow is that they will never stand trial in their lifetimes.

Please note that I have nothing but admiration and respect for the soldiers who were and still are being sent to  fight and die in this war which was based on the lies and deceit of men who thought they were above the Will of their people.

When Will We Ever Learn

Bermondsey Workhouse 1900

It was always an obligation of Christianity to provide for the poor.  With the loss of monasteries and other such institutions it became  necessary for the State to intervene and provide for their welfare. In 1562, Justices of the Peace were authorised and empowered to raise compulsory funds for the relief of the poor who were put into different categories:

  • those who could work but would not: the idle poor.
    They were to be whipped through the streets, publicly, until they learned the error of their ways.
  • those who would work but could not: the able-bodied or deserving poor.
    They were to be given help either through outdoor relief or by being given work in return for a wage.
  • those who were too old, ill or young to work: the impotent or deserving poor.
    They were to be looked after in almshouses, hospitals, orphanages or poor houses. Orphans and children of the poor were to be given a trade apprenticeship. Continue reading “When Will We Ever Learn”

I Hate Dogs

There I’ve said it. Christina will tear me to pieces and all the dog lovers will ostracise me for ever.

A minute or so down the road there’s a little wood, with a creek and a bridge that leads to a narrow path between two houses. Overnight the spiders have usually been busy spinning their webs across the path from tree to tree. One of the houses has a dog, which always barks as I pass. But it’s OK, because there are two fences between me and it.

At the end of the path I turn left and stroll down a road with the wood on one side, through a park and along the other side of the wood until I reach the house with THE DOG. I know it’s got a dog, there’s a huge notice proclaiming “BEWARE – DANGEROUS DOG”.

Continue reading “I Hate Dogs”

On this Day – 9th March 1562

On the 9th of March 1562, kissing in public was banned – the penalty was death. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out how many people were punished!

That was not the first time that public kissing had been prohibited. The Emperor Tiberius banned kissing in public ceremonies in the hope that it would prevent the spread of herpes. In 1439, Henry VI banned kissing to stop the spread of plague and pestilence. More recently in 2004,  Indonesia passed laws that banned not only public nudity, erotic dancing, and “sex parties”, but also punished public kissing with up to five years in prison.

According to one article, people in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, are not permitted to kiss strangers and women in Hartford, Connecticut, are not legally allowed to lock lips with their husbands on Sundays.  And according to Indiana law, it is illegal for men who have a mustache to “habitually kiss human beings”. Continue reading “On this Day – 9th March 1562”

On This Day – 4th March 1975

Charlie Chaplin

On the 4th of March 1975 Charles Spencer Chaplin was knighted, he was 85.  Wiki claims that the honour had first been proposed in 1931, and again in 1956, when it was vetoed after a Foreign Office report expressed concerns about Chaplin’s communist views and his moral behaviour in marrying two 16 year girls; it was felt that honouring him would damage both the reputation of the British honours system and relations with the United States.

Charlie was born on 16 April 1889, in Walworth, London. His parents were both entertainers. His father, Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr and Hannah Harriet Hill, both singers and actors, were married at St John the Evangelist, Walworth in June 1885.  The couple had separated by the time Charlie was three. The 1891 census shows Hannah living in three rooms at 94 Barlow Street, Walworth with her two children: Sydney S.H, aged 6, and Charles, aged 2. Apparently Charlie’s mother moved around a great deal in and around Kennington Road, Lambeth. His father was an alcoholic and had little contact with his son, though Charlie lived with him and his mistress, Louise, briefly while their mentally ill mother was in asylum in Coulsdon. Louise sent Charlie to Archbishop Temples Boys School. Charles Chaplin Senior died in 1901, and Charlie was then, more or less on his own – and didn’t he do well!

Continue reading “On This Day – 4th March 1975”

On this Day – 1st March 1954

Bikini Bomb

On the 1st of March 1954, the USA produced the biggest ever man-made explosion so far in the Pacific archipelago of Bikini, part of the Marshall Islands. One of the atolls was totally vaporised, disappearing into a gigantic mushroom cloud that spread at least 100 miles wide and dropping back to the sea in the form of radioactive fall-out. The Atomic Energy Commission announced this was the first in a series of tests to be carried out in the area.

The bomb was up to 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and was so violent that it overwhelmed the measuring instruments, indicating that the bomb was much more powerful than scientists had anticipated. Continue reading “On this Day – 1st March 1954”

Hurray for Professor Buckland!

Some years ago when I worked in a State Education Department here in Oz, a number of employers declared their intention to set their own examinations for school leavers who applied for jobs. They claimed that the youngsters leaving school were inadequately educated and that the Year 12 Examinations had no value.

In an attempt to prove that the employers were wrong, the Education Department set new papers in Maths and English. The results were so appalling, that the markers were told to ‘upgrade’ the marks so that any student who wrote his name correctly would get 20%. If they got the date right – they got a pass mark.

It is about time that more people took Professor Buckland’s stand…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7332452/The-university-professor-who-stood-up-against-dumbing-down-of-degrees.html

The employers were not convinced…

Who’s the Second Class Citizen?

Most of us have been brought up in a Judeo Christian tradition, where the bible has been used to shape our way of thinking and culture. The following verses have had a huge influence on the way the two genders have been treated, and are expected to behave:

Genesis, 2

v. 21:
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

v.22:
And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

v.23:
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

And the rest, as they say, is history. But there’s more, read on …