Category: Politics

Oliver Cromwell v Charles 1 : Setting the Scene

Where to start? Firstly in writing this, my intention is not to try to write a biography of either of my two main characters, Oliver Cromwell or Charles I. Neither will I try to condense the events of the English Civil War into a few paragraphs. Rather my aim is to give you an idea of the causes, economic, political and religious, which led to Revolution and Regicide, and try to explain, not excuse, the actions and motivations of the two main characters, each representative of his background and interests. Most of my readers will no doubt have some knowledge of the period, but for a very easy guide to timelines, battles and short biographies this site may prove useful.

Continue reading “Oliver Cromwell v Charles 1 : Setting the Scene”

The House of Lords….what’s the point?

We have recently touched on the Upper House in previous blogs, and we’re eagerly awaiting a Cromwell blog from Araminta. Boadicea has given us an excellent education in the important structure of how we came to be as we are legislature-wise, and I am always trying to learn a little more. The House of Lords has been an institution that I never quite understood, and so have kept quiet as I try to gather information, until now as I am a little confused. Continue reading “The House of Lords….what’s the point?”

Learning on the job

I had been told that there will be no more money for me to go on a particular course I wish to attend, at least until September. Not wishing to let that deter me I asked if I could visit the clinic where this particular aspect of care is carried out by a nurse-led specialist unit. Of course I could. In my own time. Continue reading “Learning on the job”

Bahrain: The great news blackout

I had another chat with my local friendly pom who works in Bahrain for a large multi-national corporation the other day.

I asked what the latest situation was as we seemed to have very little information here in the UK.

“That’ll be the news blackout that the US and UK security services have negotiated then” he replied confidently with the air of someone who knows what he’s talking about. Continue reading “Bahrain: The great news blackout”

Evil, yes; no tears from me, but…

No man is an island entire of itself; every man

is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe

is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as

well as a manor of thy friends or of thine

own were; any man’s death diminishes me,

because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom

the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne

Wind farms – crazy!

We briefly touched on this debate a while ago when I confessed to not knowing much about it apart from liking the idea in principle. Several enlightened charioteers guided me gently into the font of knowledge and as such I have been looking out for similar stuff in my occasional BBC dippings.

Found this yesterday…..BBC LINK…. what a mad world we live in! Can’t even blame the government for this one!

Meanwhile I saw an interesting episode of “Coast” last week where they went to a natural gas field processing plant in Norway where up to 30% of the Uk’s gas is supplied, but only for the next 40 years before it runs out. It seem the Norwegians don’t need any of it because they have so much hydro-electric power. Good on them I say, but why doesn’t the UK use it too?

Mrs C, who always has a slightly different view of the world as she hates all politics with small p and capital P said – can’t we just lower the amount of electricity we use and find more efficient ways of using it?

Well, probably, but not in the Highlands it seems!

I do tend to turn off things when not using them, but to save me cash not to save the planet! But I do frown heavily and disapprove of stupid things, and this story struck me as a classic example of stupidity!

Author’s note: I am neither pro or anti wind farms, have no agenda nor mean to cause any offence with this blog. I am not a AGW activist, I am not trying to provoke or influence!

Australian Republicanism – an educational monograph

Charioteers will appreciate that Republicanism may, when mentioned on The Chariot, refer to either of two distinctly different movements.

There is, I understand, a Republican, anti-Monarchy movement in the UK.   I know absolutely nothing about this movement since, regular visits notwithstanding, I have not lived there for over two decades.   I do have some broadbrush opinions on the UK Monarchy and the constitutional framework in which it exists, which are based on earlier experiences supplemented by contemporary attention to current affairs, but I cannot claim to be fully informed – nor would I expect to be, being a foreigner.   Boadicea has already mentioned the two main areas in which I feel that your UK Monarchy has failed (ceding sovereignty to the EU, neglecting the rôle of Defender of the Faith), but – and you may have noticed this – I have not attempted to join UK-centric discussion on the subject.   I do not know enough about what is going on there. Read on, but be warned, it’s as long as a short story

I am not afraid to express my views

I shall say firstly that I love the Chariot and all that ride in here. I know I am a minority within the group concerning the monarchy, and I respect that most of you will object and disagree. However, it is my belief that the 3 founding members of this site stated we can say what we want here without personal reprisals, so here I go.

The royal family. An unnecessary requirement of a modern UK. Now, before you all switch over and curse me, please just read for a while, I may just make you re-look at your cemented ideas. A little. For a millisecond.

Due to the little gathering at Westminster Abbey later this week the topic of the royals is very much in the news. Fine by me as it allows some proper debate which blinkered royalists don’t enjoy. In earlier blogs when I have mentioned my republican leaning, I have been laughed at and dismissed as a heretic – mainly with the comments along the lines of: Continue reading “I am not afraid to express my views”

Fukushima

The meeja are still at it, trying to parley the Fukushima crisis into a disaster and, in the process, handing the bedwetters and neo-luddites large wodges of convenient headlines with which to frighten the masses into the abandonment of the only clean, safe and reliable power generation source which will stop the lights going out as the current generation of power plants comes to the end of its working life. The latest scare tactic is the trumpeting of the fact that the Fukushima crisis has been up-graded to level 7, the highest level on the international scale used to measure these events. ‘It’s another Chernobyl,’ they whinny hysterically, running around in ever decreasing circles and waving their hands frantically in the air. Well, it’s not, nor can it be. It is a serious situation, and I’m not trying to downplay it, but it is contained and the omens, at the moment, are all good for it’s continuing containment. The hype and spin around Fukushima downplays the devastation caused by the actual disaster, a 1,000 year earthquake followed by a 1,000 year tsunami. The facts are…

BBC News – NHS accused of bias against private sector

BBC News – NHS accused of bias against private sector.

So why am I not surprised at this news?

God help the NHS if it was ever subjected to healthy competition from a Private Sector offering to carry out the same operations at NHS costs.  No wonder they are frightened it would impact on NHS hospitals, with their grossly inefficient management structures.