A Hundred Years Of Communism
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Tag Archives: history
Kipling May Regret
In the restaurant its just the waiter and I,
While outside the window Vehicles speed by.
“There are a lot of beautiful women outside today”,
He remarks by way
Of conversation.
I drink
My wine and think
About this nation
On who’s empire the sun would never set.
Kipling may regret,
Yet
The sun continues to shine
And there is curry and wine,
While in the street
Multiracial feet
Hurry
Along,
Beating out a more or less harmonious song.
Goebbel’s Secretary Dies Age 106
The Guardian of 30 January, carries an article regarding the life of Joseph Goebbel’s Secretary, who has died at the age of 106, following a rapid decline in her health hastened by a fall. During her time at the Nazi’s Propaganda Ministry she falsified statistics by exaggerating the number of rapes committed by Soviet soldiers and underestermating the number of German troops killed. Interestingly a Jewish friend died in a concentration camp, while her Jewish lover didn’t survive the war.
A filme (with a book to accompany it) has been made about this fascinating lady.
For the article please visit, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/30/joseph-goebbels-secretary-dies-brunhilde-pomsel.
Your content is being archived
Did you know that your site (well a snapshot of it’s contents) may well be preserved for posterity?
This remains the case even if you decide to delete your blog and/or website.
Anyone interested in exploring what information is held about their site can visit https://archive.org/ and search for archived material pertaining to their blog.
https://archive.org/ is not a substitute for backing up your website (it only collects snapshots of a website’s contents).
It does, however offer a fascinating glimpse into sites, many of which are no longer operative.
WHAT YOU WILL SEE:
SELECT and CLICK the WEB icon
Type in YOUR FULL URL
See the period covered
SELECT and CLICK ANY YEAR
SELECT and CLICK ANY BLUE CIRCLED DATE
SEE the post imaged
The Titanic may have sunk due to a fire in the ship’s boiler room a new documentary claims
A documentary to be aired later today (Sunday 1 January), on channel 4, claims that the real reason for the sinking of the Titanic stemmed from a fire in the ship’s boiler room, which had been raging since it set sail from Southampton.
Had it not been for the fire the documentary claims, what could have been a relatively minor encounter with an iceberg, turned into a major disaster.
While the fire was mentioned at the enquiry into the sinking of the Titanic, according to the documentary not enough attention has been paid to it.
According to the film the ship’s owners where criminally negligent as they set sail in full knowledge of the existence of the fire in order to avoid further delays to the Titanic’s maiden voyage.
There is a fascinating exhibition featuring the Titanic at Liverpool’s Maritime museum which is, incidentally the city of my birth and a place for which I retain great affection.
For information on the documentary please see HERE.
For information on Liverpool’s connection with the Titanic please visit HERE.
Twenty-Seventeen
The weather is drear
And none save my dog is near.
The new year
Beccons
As seconds
Are here then gone.
The clock’s hands move on
Towards twenty-seventeen.
I have no magic screen
To gaze into the future, but stupidity
And that age-old vice cupidity
Will, I venture to maintain
Continue to reign.
The human race
Has a face
Half devil and part divine.
There is a fine
Line
Between the two.
Looking through
History one finds dreams of utopia turning to hell,
Yet one can not tell
The idealist that he is wrong,
For he will answer you with the same old song,
“If everyone did such and such then all would be well”!
But we are saints with feet of clay
And the utopian’s way
Leads many to stray
Down the path to the ever lasting bonfire
Where the desire
To do good ends in the Gulag and the stamp
Of the fanatic’s boot in the concentration camp.
Small acts of kindness matter
And oft times achieve more than the chatter
Of those
Who would dragoon
Humanity into neat little rows.
And believe there is a man in the moon.
Flame
Thought
Caught
In the flames of this fire,
Fanning my desire
For a past when the publican laid logs
In fireplaces
And drinker’s faces
Gathered around the blaze as their dogs
Lazed beside the eternal flame.
It is not the same
Since the pub changed hands. The beer
Remains unchanged, yet I fear
The flame does not burn as bright
Of a winter’s night
And the grate is too often cold.
Rhodes
—
Rhodes is in his grave
Long since.
Oxford students wince
And call
For his statue to fall,
Yet continue to take the cash
Of one they would consign to history’s trash.
We all have feet of clay.
How easy it is to judge
And bear a grudge
Towards those who have passed away,
For the dead can nothing say
To mitigate
The hate
Of callow youth,
So convinced are they of their own rectitude and truth.
It is easy to look back through an opaque
Glass and take
The high moral ground.
‘Tis a truth throughout history found
That yesterday’s hero
Will into the garbage go
For they were not “progressive” (although they thought themselves so).
Do those sitting in student bar
Congratulating themselves on how far
We have come, ever pause,
look beyond the self-applause
And ponder
On yonder
Setting sun.
—
I agree with the historian Mary Beard that the attempt to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford is a dangerous attempt to erase the past, (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/mary-beard-says-drive-to-remove-cecil-rhodes-statue-from-oxford-university-is-a-dangerous-attempt-to-a6783306.html).
The Myths of Ancient Egypt
Foth is the Egyptian god of wisdom. I recently came across this wonderful retelling of the Egyptian myth, “The Book of Foth”, in which 2 royal personages go in search of Foth’s book. The book contains all the wisdom of the world and as one might expect the consequences for those who find and read Foth’s work are dire, (http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythbookthoth.htm).
The site contains many other marvellous retellings of the myths of ancient Egypt, including “The Girl with the Rose-Red Slippers” which is, perhaps the earliest example of the “Cinderella” story, (http://www.egyptianmyths.net/mythslippers.htm).
For anyone interested in ancient Egypt or in mythology I recommend checking out this excellent site, (http://www.egyptianmyths.net/index.html).
Evening Walk
Strolling through Bushy park.
In the Autumn dark.
Hark,
The sound of a deer
Very near
Warning my dog to steer clear.
Other animals peacefully feed.
My dog, on the lead
Can not read
The disquiet of the first one
And trots excitedly on
With my friend and I,
Perhaps wondering why
He can not play
With this unfamiliar prey.
Reaching Hampton Court, we wander about this historic place.
Commerce’s face
Does not despoil the grace
Of the palace by night.
I think of Henry the eighth
When no man was safe
And heads fell down
When the King did frown.
Tomorrow the visitors will return.
I wonder will they discern
What I perceive,
A place full of vanished pomp and state
Where Ann Boleyn does grieve
And she, and other ghosts wait.
But it is getting late
And my friend and I repair to the pub
For English ale, and good old-fashioned grub.
—
On Saturday 12 November I took a walk through Bushy Park with my friend Brian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushy_Park). Our stroll took us as far as Hampton Court (http://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/#gs.YOB2cdI). It being after 5 pm when we reached this historic place, the palace itself was closed although we where able to wander about the grounds in the growing gloom.
K Morris - Poet 