Category: History

The Pogey

This post was initiated as a result of a recent one by Araminta commenting on the use (or misuse)  by Tesco of a “back to work” program in Britain.  It reflects only one person’s experience of the system  employed here and I make no claim that such system is more effective than those used elsewhere, however it is different.

 

The Pogey

 

The Pogey, the Dole, or as my old dad used to say the Parish.  “If you don’t watch out son you’ll be on the Parish” that’s how old he was, and back then that’s who supported you, if anyone did, the charity of the parish.

I was on the parish once, in the US, it was 1998, I was 54 and it was the middle of winter.   The company I had been working for since 1984 declared bankruptcy, just like that, in February.  The whole operation, about two hundred people, was closed down and a trustee brought in to liquidate the assets. There was no severance pay or golden, silver, tin or lead handshakes, no pensions or settlements just pay-to-date and goodbye. Continue reading “The Pogey”

Entente cordiale or wha’?

Politics is always good for a larf. The ink is hardly dry on France’s vituperative propaganda against the UK’s protection of its sovereignty and its ‘City’, when suddenly the excess of sweetness and light is enough to induce chronic nausea. Maybe Bismarck was right: politics really is only the art of the possible. But I wonder if it is also the art of selective amnesia.

A caption or two wouldn’t come amiss either.

Græcia delenda est

I’m borrowing a thought from the insightful Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (to name but a few!) in today’s DT, where he describes the German proposals for Greece as ‘Carthaginian’. (Google, if you will.) The point is that when Carthage lost to Rome in 146 BC (3 – 0) the ensuing ‘peace’ settlement was unforgiving and ruinous. (Not unlike Man Utd’s moral defeat of Liverpool after Suarez-gate.)

The facts indicate that since Greece has never been able to implement any plan involving the collection of taxes and control of its civil service, yesterday’s ‘approval’ by the Parliament is worth less than the paper the local Hansard will waste on recording it. If the Troika of money-lenders (sinners that they are) decides to drop further trillions down the Hellenic drain, it will precipitate revolution in Greece: a phenomenon which has relatively frequently been the result of any attempt at government there.

Better by far, if like a parent out of patience with a profligate teenager, the Troika says no. Then the Greeks can find out what their economy is worth, as opposed to what it costs the rest of Europe.

The Germans have a word for it

It’s Danaergeschenk, meaning a (suspicious) gift from the Greeks. Anybody who has holidayed in the Ægean archipelago will vouch for the locals’ charm and skill as hosts and caterers. And we usually give good old Homer the credit for pointing out the inherent danger in accepting their offerings. But as so often with Homer, that’s just another myth. No, not the bit about Greeks; the idea that Homer said it.

Vase 670 BC Continue reading “The Germans have a word for it”

Mystified Marxist Mouse

I have recently been involved in an interesting discussion Elsewhere on the subject of Cultural Marxism and the Frankfurt School. Simplistically, Political Marxism morphed into Cultural Marxism from there to Political Correctness and Multiculturalism. Thus Marxism is responsible for all the ills of the Western World today.

But that is just the background. I have made mention on this site that I studied history, and I was intrigued by the views of Marxist Historians. Very simply, it was a way of looking at historical events which gave more importance to underlying socio-economic factors.

Continue reading “Mystified Marxist Mouse”

A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)

Yesterday I read Charles Moore’s review of Stephen Spielberg’s latest film, War Horse. Having seen and thoroughly enjoyed the play, which I saw inLondon, 18 months ago, I read the review with some interest. Without going into details,Moore was less than enthusiastic, criticising Spielberg for the gratuitous sentimentality. What was perhaps more interesting, was the comment section, some of which dealt with aspects of the Great War and the vast tragedy attached to it. Continue reading “A War Monkey Called Sue! (Further adventures on the Internet.)”

Now that’s what I call conscription

I was swapping life stories with a new friend, Jørn the other day. He’s a Dane who was born in Flensburg, just south of the current border with Germany, in 1938. His family had lived there for many generations, during which time his hometown had been both north and south of the border! But they lived in a Danish-speaking community. Continue reading “Now that’s what I call conscription”

We can’t escape history

I’ve heard the words so often oop narth: “Will yer ha’ a dram?” And these days over here I hear it again as New Year approaches: “Vil du ha’ en dram?”

And after 40-odd years, I now know that one of the first local phrases I heard in Lancashire was as Nordic as they come. I was visiting a factory and was told the boss was out on the shop-floor, somewhere. So I asked a chap where I could find him. “He’s fast in th’hoist!” came the reply. Do I need to translate?

Of course we are unfortunate that many of our inherited expressions never reached the ears of William Shakespeare – he was born south of the southern boundary of Viking influence – and so were not fossilised in his plays, encapsulated in his marvellous  lines. Even Hamlet, did you ask? I’m afraid so.