QUOTE OF THE DAY. TRIPPS ORIGINAL

[Tripps]

George Orwell '1984'. Book of the Century?

He wasn't far wrong was he - and he'd never heard of Facebook or Tik Tok (X).


“Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult…. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontentment led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances.”
― George Orwell, 1984

[Stanley]

Dead right David! He was spot on and I doubt if it would have given him any pleasure.

[Stanley]

Britain's army needs to become "10 times more lethal" to face a "new era of threats", John Healey told MPs on Monday.

Fine words butter no parsnips.....

[Tripps]

I had occasion to quote from this Kipling poem today -"the burnt fool's bandaged finger etc" which has once again gone 'wabbling'

There's quite a bit of repetition on the board, and this, in its entirety, will stand repeating.
Interesting that he assumes his readers will know the names of geological periods -whereas today you'd probably have to explain to Gen Zee what a copy book is.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four–
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

[Stanley]

And if they ask you why they died, tell them that their fathers lied.....

I went for a furtle in the Complete Works you gave me David and as I thought, 'The Gods of Copybook Headings' was a late poem written in 1919. This was of course after his son had been killed in the Great War and he was no longer the optimistic and even gung ho Kipling of the earlier years. That same event prompted the line I quoted. His son had terrible eyesight and had been rejected for service but Kipling pulled strings to get him enlisted with a commission and he was killed almost immediately. Kipling never forgave himself.....

[Stanley]

I heard a reporter say this this morning but can't find the source.
China says that the US is exposed as the main reason the Gaza conflict hasn't been ended by the United Nations.
I think that China is probably right......

[Stanley]

"Trump has 3.5 years left as president," Musk wrote on X, "but I will be around for 40-plus years."

This could run and run......

[Tizer]

I heard a reporter say this this morning but can't find the source.
China says that the US is exposed as the main reason the Gaza conflict hasn't been ended by the United Nations.
I think that China is probably right......

How ironic that the Israeli government and Israeli Defence Forces are themselves now responsible for a causing a holocaust.

[Stanley]

That thought struck me as well Peter.... There is so much I don't understand about the way Israel is acting illegally now and being supported by us!
When do ordinary Israelis pour out on to the streets in protest?

[Tizer]

When do ordinary Israelis pour out on to the streets in protest?

Not when they fear that far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his gang will call them traitors and come after them.

[Stanley]

Is that what holds them in check Peter? Repression? Have they forgotten what persecution is like?

[Tizer]

Jan Egeland, the veteran head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and former UN humanitarian chief, speaking to Jeremy Bowen about Gaza and Israel...
"I'm shaken to my core. I haven't seen a population like this being so trapped for such a long period of time in such a small, besieged area. Indiscriminate bombardment, denied journalism, denied healthcare. It is only comparable to the besieged areas of Syria during the Assad regime, which led to a uniform Western condemnation and massive sanctions. In this case, very little has happened."

And Egeland also referring to the split between the US and Europe on this topic...
"I hope now that Europe will grow a spine. There have been new tones, finally, coming from London, from Berlin, from Paris, from Brussels, after all these months of industrial-scale hypocrisy where they didn't see that there was a world record in killed aid workers, in killed nurses, in killed doctors, in killed teachers, in killed children, and all while journalists like yourself have been denied access, denied to be witnessing this. It's something that the West will learn to regret really — that they were so spineless."

From`Israel is accused of the gravest war crimes - how governments respond could haunt them for years to come' today on the BBC News web site: LINK

[Stanley]

I think I heard that interview with Jeremy Bowen.
Can you remember Starmer ranting on that to criticise the Netanyahu government was Anti-Semitic? That's worse than simply keeping quiet!

[Tizer]

California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the activity on the LA streets at the time Trump ordered in the National Guard was no more of a problem than when there's a big football match on and his police are always able to deal with that. It only really got out of hand when the National Guard troops arrived. A typical Trump ploy - stir up trouble somewhere then blame it on the locals.

[Stanley]

I saw a Youtube video that suggested this was a deliberate ploy by Trump and his little helpers to stir up trouble and then escalate the situation by putting in troops or national guard, the object of the exercise being to gag the public by using martial law as this bypasses the courts.
Sounds like another conspiracy theory to me or is it a valid viewpoint?

[Tizer]

The trouble and escalation part is right but the object is for Trump to show himself as being tough and to make Gavin Newsom (who may be the Democrats next choice for their leader) appear weak. He's wrongly applying Federal actions which are meant to be used only when the nation is in great danger.

[Tripps]

From Jeremy Clarkson's restaurant The Farmer's Dog.

"A service charge of 12.5 % will be added for parties of 1 or more".

I guess that means for everyone. . . .

[Stanley]

David, I often suspect that people have over complicated simple statements in the mistaken belief that more words means more importance.
This looks like a case in point. All that was needed was 'Service Charge 12.5%'