For The Fallen

For the Fallen

Written in 1914
by Robert Lawrence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

How many police officers does it take to control a bus queue?

Precisely how many Police it takes to control a bus queue is uncertain, but it includes a PCSO who was originally supervising the queue and :-

Local safer neighbourhood teams, safer transport teams and police officers from Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich were all drafted in to deal with the mob.

The Met’s dog unit and territorial support group were also called to the scene.

It all started when students going home after a day's hard work at Orpington College were told they couldn't get on a bus because it was full. Some of them thought it would be a good idea to :-

... force their way onto the bus, kicking the front and back doors.

Unfortunately

The violence quickly escalated and a 25-year-old PCSO sustained a cut above his left eye.

and

Two other police officers were also struck during the incident.

and then,

The high street was shut for around an hour while officers fought running battles with the teenagers.

Mrs Rigby was interested to read the comments beneath the article in the Newshopper (thanks to Ambush Predator), including this from a bus driver,

I am a regular driver of route 51, it does not surprise me at all what happened in Orpington High St. on Tuesday. We are subjected to a barrage of verbal abuse from the time we start until we finish and we would get physically assaulted if we were not protected by an assault screen. This abuse is usually because of fare disputes, but often it is because the bus is full and we can't let any more people on. As a bus driver we are legally responsible for the safety of the bus and if it were involved in an accident and found to be overloaded we would definitely be sacked, could lose our PCV licence and could be fined or even jailed.

Arguments also occur frequently about baby buggies, we can only carry 2 unfolded in the disabled bay and 1 folded in the luggage rack, why don't young mums ever walk anywhere with their babies any more? They are amongst the most foul mouthed when we refuse them entry!

We get sworn at on a daily basis because we refuse people entry who are carrying pots of paint and inflammible liquids and people seem to think we are exempt from traffic jams and swear at us for being late, usually implying that we have been sitting in the canteen.

When the buses are turned because of late running despite the blinds clearly stating the destination and the in bus information announcing the destination, we are again verbally abused.

The 51 is actually no worse than any other route in London as I sometimes drive other routes. Fortunately I don't have many years to go before I can retire and get away from what is now a stressful and un-satisfying job.

From students, who clearly have plenty of spare time after college, there is this

wer d future so wen ur old well b der...

and this

excusee mee i dnt kno where all dis story is coming from nd i dnt kno y ppl r over exagerrating nd gettin scared chattin rubbish about orpington college students. i am a student dere nd dats not even how it happened IT WAS THE POLICE CAUSING A SCENE. nd to dat fed dat got hurt good 4 him he deserved it. all u old ppl dat live in orpington y u gettin shook 4 did n e wun touch you? NO so shut up. any way freeeeeeee da ppl dat got knickd it was'nt ur fault dese feds r gettin xcited coz dere in uniform. nd ppl if ur scared STAY IN UR HOUSE. nd stop tellin stories like u woz dere frm beggining FOOLSS

In response to concerns about the quality of teaching there is this,

Orpington college have grammar exams in place when you first apply and actually go out of their way to make sure that students who have problems with their English and grammar recieve special help. Whether or not they accept this help is another story.

But it would appear that some students have their own special reason for attending college,

i had good reason to further my edercation at orpington: free gym, ema, socialising and to learn..

Mrs Rigby is delighted to know that the main reason this young person wanted to go to the college was because it has a gym, because the government Rigby Family would pay them £30 a week Educational Maintenance Allowance so they can build some nice muscles, (especially irritating because Junior Rigby is still waiting for this year's student loan to appear) so that when they spend time with their friends they don't look too puny. Then, in their spare time, they might be able to relax study learn to spell.

Mrs Rigby thinks students like these will, presumably, be the ones that nice Lord Mandelson wants to give prior right to a University place, over and above any student who has had the misfortune to have been brought up to behave decently and to have attended a school that makes them work hard.

From the Mail

Middle-class pupils face being bumped off prestigious university courses under plans to give youngsters from poor homes an A-level 'head start', it emerged yesterday.

Unveiling a ten-year blueprint for universities, Lord Mandelson declared that published or predicted A-level grades would not be enough to win places at leading universities.

and this is what Lord Mandy says,

'What we are saying is that nobody should be disadvantaged or penalised on the basis of the families they come from, of school they attended ...

It sounds to Mrs Rigby that this scheme does disadvantage and penalise students, on the basis of the families they come from and the school they attend, which of course isn't what he intends to do - or does he?

It might be a good job that he might be out of a job in a few months.

72,324 sign a petition - with no positive outcome.

Kalvis Jansons' "Please-Go" petition is now closed, and the 72,234 signatories will have received their response.

The petition said:-

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to resign.”
Details of Petition:
“There are many reasons why we might want Brown to resign, but rather than having lots of narrow petitions on this topic (most of which have been rejected), I wanted one for all of us.”

The response says :-

The Prime Minister is completely focussed on restoring the economy, getting people back to work and improving standards in public services. As the Prime Minister has consistently said, he is determined to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain for all.

Luckily for Mrs Rigby she noticed her email from Number10 had been automatically consigned to her Junk Folder!

Power cuts and costs

Mrs Rigby was wandering through the Guardian today, and noticed a couple of interesting articles.

Apparently UK only has storage for a few hours worth of gas,

The UK could run out of gas within six hours this winter, the Observer has learned. The revelation has sparked a row between the Conservatives and Labour over who is doing more to keep the heating on. Last winter, the UK was left with only three days of reserves when foreign energy companies started exporting gas to supply their European customers after Russia cut supplies that used a pipeline through Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for Ed Miliband's energy and climate change department said that under a civil contingency act he had the power to halt exports from the UK if the Queen had signed the order.

So it's the Tories fault - but Mrs Rigby would be interested to know who has been responsible for demolishing all the gasometers. She'd heard they were got rid of because they were a health hazard and a possible target for terrorists.

She's a little bemused by mention of the Civil Contingency Act though, and wonders if not enough gas coming through the pipeline from Russia is really enough to declare a state of emergency.

The Guardian has uncovered 'secret' plans to make those of us who have fuel bills pay an additional tariff tax to fund construction of nuclear power plants. Not very secret now, is it?

The government believes that only by artificially increasing the cost of electricity generated by coal and gas stations through an additional carbon levy on household bills can nuclear become more competitive and encourage new reactors to be built.

One European utility executive told the Guardian: "New nuclear will not happen without sorting out the carbon price." The Guardian understands that the Office of Nuclear Development (OND), set up by Lord Mandelson's business department, has promised nuclear companies that the price of carbon under the EU emissions trading scheme – now about €13 per tonne – will not be allowed to fall below €30 per tonne, and ideally €40. According to the energy consultancy firm EIC, the new carbon levy would add £44 to the £500 annual electricity bill paid by an average household.

Mrs R notices the dreaded C-for-Carbon word again. This Carbon is obviously terribly expensive stuff. She wonders if she can buy some in a shop, or if it's only big governments who can buy and sell it whilst the rest of us pay the bills, with new taxes piled on top of old taxes until we haven't a clue what's going on.

Great?

According to 'Burning our Money' Britain has become great again, but not in a good way. We have the greatest government deficit of the developed world

Here's an extract :

we must just record an eye-popping chart recently published by the OECD. It shows their estimate of the fiscal deficit each of their members will clock up this year (as a percentage of GDP). And as we can see, we are at the very bottom of the league.

THE VERY WORST GOVERNMENT DEFICIT IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD.

You should remember this chart next time you hear Brown/Darling or one of their media apologists telling us we are helpless victims of an international problem. The reality is that we are worse placed than anyone else - including basket cases like Ireland and Iceland.

See the chart here and weep, for us, our children, our grandchildren and probably our great-grandchildren too.

Who would have thought that a mere twelve years of socialism could do this - thanks Gordon!

Spilling secret beans.

The Times reports conversations between the now Lord Irvine of Lairg and Tony Blair relating to the decision to abolish the position of Lord Chancellor :-

[Lord Irvine] first discovered that the office of Lord Chancellor was to be abolished and the job transferred to a Secretary of State in the Commons in early June 2003, just days before it happened. “I had no intimation of this but when The Times and the Telegraph carried the rumour I determined to see the Prime Minister.”

That was at No 10 on June 5. Mr Blair hesitated and then said that it was being considered but nothing had been decided. Lord Irvine asked “how a decision of this magnitude” could be made without consultation with himself, the permanent secretary within government, the judiciary, House of Lords authorities and the Palace.

“The Prime Minister appeared mystified and said that these machinery of government changes always had to be carried into effect in a way that precluded such discussion because of the risk of leaks.”

What makes Mrs Rigby more than a little bemused is what might have happened had these plans been "leaked" - presumably to the opposition and the media - and if these matters had been discussed, debated and voted on in Parliament, which is where we ordinary folk expect such wide reaching decisions to be made. With a massive majority it would have been surprising if things hadn't gone according to plan.

The end result is that Jack Straw, MP for Blackburn, is "Lord Chancellor" and "Secretary of State for Justice", in charge of the brand new Supreme Court which the "Justice Department" says :

... provides greater clarity in our constitutional arrangements by further separating the judiciary from the legislature.

This is the same Jack Straw that avoided answering a QT questioner, who asked, "Can the recent success of the British National party be explained by the misguided immigration policy of the government?", by coincidence only a day before other secret discussions were revealed (quoting from Minette Marin's article in today's Times) :-

Andrew Neather — a former adviser to Straw, Blair and David Blunkett — revealed that Labour ministers had a hidden agenda in allowing immigrants to flood into the country.

According to Neather, who was present at secret meetings during the summer of 2000, the government had “a driving political purpose” which was: “mass immigration was the way that the government was going to make the UK truly multicultural”.

What’s more, Neather said he came away “from some discussions with the clear sense that the policy was intended — even if this wasn’t its main purpose — to rub the right’s nose in diversity and render their arguments out of date”.

and

“There was a reluctance ... in government,” he wrote, “to discuss what increased immigration would mean, above all for Labour’s core white working-class vote.” The social outcomes that ministers cared about were those affecting the immigrants. This, Neather explains, shone out in a report published in 2001 after these confidential deliberations. One must question whether this is true. Needless to say, Straw has denied all this and Neather has since tried to back-pedal.

Mrs Rigby can't, from any of the reports she has read, work out what the truth is. She simply hasn't a clue. But, she does know that Britain has changed so much that it no longer even vaguely resembles the Britain of pre-1997 when Labour were first elected.

Since 1997 a whole generation of young people have grown up, they seem to accept that it's normal to be watched by CCTV cameras, that it's normal to be asked for identification by any number of either uniformed or non-uniformed individuals. It's normal for the Police to close roads without saying why, and it's normal for DNA to be taken at the slightest opportunity. It's become normal for summary justice to be served through the post, without the chance of time in a Court of Law to plead innocence.

Since 1997 it's become normal for people's personal and private opinions to result in dismissal from work, and words said in private conversations to be reported to the authorities. It's become normal for ordinary people to be criminalised for trivial 'new' offences, whilst thugs are let off with a warning, or taken to Alton Towers.

It's also become normal for our MPs to be subjects of scorn and derision - unworthy of the trust we, the public, place in them.

Mrs Rigby thinks it will be quite a tangle for the next government to unravel, if they have either the time or energy to do so whilst they are also dealing with the financial mess they will inherit.

Don't mess with a bus driver!

Mrs R spotted on this on Fail Blog the other day, and thought it said something about being careful where you park as well as something about bus drivers whose feet might land on the wrong pedal.

She hadn't any idea how to use it, and maybe link to something else. So it was a bit ironic that later the same day she noticed that a lot of other blogs had linked to a video showing how an, as yet unnamed, elderly man who got his arm trapped in a tube train was subjected to some quite horrid verbal abuse by a TFL worker. It's here, and is quite slow to load because there are over 600 comments.

Talking about being caught off guard by London traffic, and using a rather tenuous link, there is of course Boris almost getting squashed by a car after it had been hit by a lorry. It's here.

Mrs Rigby thinks that one particularly interesting thing about all these videos is the list of comments. Fail Blog generates slightly amusing ones; Boris and his lorry got comments about all sorts of stuff including speed bumps and personalities, but nobody seems to viciously condemn either him or the driver.

In contrast the comments beneath IanfromLondon's video are at times quite unpleasant and threatening - and many come from people who claim to work for TFL and who therefore are responsible for running our tube trains. They could of course be lying, trolls are an internet nuisance who cause trouble, but Mrs R thinks there are too many for them all to be spoof comments.

People who work for TFL are meant to be helping passengers (whose fares pay employees' wages) get from a->b as quickly and easily as possible. In short, they're supposed to be providing a service. If a passenger gets hurt surely the best thing to do would be to make sure they're okay rather than push them around, especially somebody who's over 50. There's no sign of the TFL employee checking that the man's arm isn't bruised or broken. No suggestion that he might need help to get onto the next train and be sure of a seat. No offer to take his name and address, or even make a record of his complaint. Instead there's a threat to call the Police, followed by a suggestion that he should be pushed under a train.

You know, sometimes Mrs R is quite pleased she doesn't visit London very often, but even so she's had plenty of bad experiences when using buses, trains and coaches. Too many to mention just now, but she does wish that TFL and other "public transport" employees would realise that they are the public face of the city. They should sometimes look across the Channel where they will see transport that's efficient, clean, punctual and very, very cheap that's run by staff who are helpful and polite and who will mostly speak English as well as their own language.

Ever had a feeling of déjà vu?

The title is, of course, taken from Monty Python.

Mrs Rigby was quite surprised to read that some Members of Parliament

have discussed using parliamentary questions to reveal the financial details of Sir Thomas Legg’s inquiry, including how much the former civil servant is being paid for his work.

Hence the feeling of déjà vu. The earlier results of the same sort of thing were less than good.

Today also sees the release of another list of BNP members, said to include all sorts of "establishment" figures who should probably be censured or dismissed for belonging to something Mr Hain says is an illegal political group - at least it will be when his new bill becomes law.

Mr Hain wants to stop a member of the BNP appearing on Question Time, but the BBC disagrees and so do their lawyers. Mrs R thinks it's quite an interesting idea really, to say a political party is illegal, especially when it's only a few months after a legally held European Election when enough people voted BNP for them to win seats as MEPs in Brussels.

That's the same Mr Hain who started off as a Liberal then switched to Labour, was found guilty of criminal conspiracy in 1972, used to be in the Foreign Office and more recently resigned because of financial irregularities, but he is back again - thanks to Mr Brown. He seems to be joined to Westminster by a piece of elastic.

And finally, a bit more déjà vu from the Home office. They've managed to lose maybe up to 40,000 illegal immigrants, but obviously they don't know how many. Mrs R reckons it's probably loads and loads more. Maybe they should've handed out some shiny ID cards at Calais perhaps, maybe it would have made them all stand still long enough to be counted!

Winners and losers

Mrs Rigby isn't the only person to have noted the slightly acidic expressions on the faces of runners up in an American University Beauty Competition. She thinks it's a pity that these girls haven't learnt how to be very good losers, and notes that some of the audience voted with their feet. Instead of applauding the winner ...

... as the pictures were being taken, several dozen spectators walked out of the university’s main auditorium.

It really isn't a very good example is it, especially at a university that claims to "promote diversity and education among minorities".

Mrs Rigby took a stroll round the internet and was quite surprised to learn that Hampton isn't by any means a new university. According to the Wiki page it was founded on 1st April 1868 by Mary Smith Peake. The university has the motto

"The Standard of Excellence, An Education for Life."

Mrs R can't confirm either date or motto from the University's own pages, although she can find some HU Facts. She's picked a few bits and pieces to quote, you can read them yourselves and form your own opinion.

Hampton University, a dynamic, progressive institution of higher education, is a privately-endowed, non-profit, non-sectarian, co-educational, historically black university. It is located in southeastern Virginia and boasts one of the loveliest campuses in the nation, with a picturesque waterfront and historic buildings and landmarks. Hampton University has grown into a comprehensive university providing a broad range of technical, liberal arts, pre-professional, professional, and graduate degree programs. We also offer cultural entertainment and athletic events keep you in touch with the other students and members of the Hampton University family.

and

Hampton University is a community of learners and educators. It is a place that will challenge your intellect and nurture your spirit; broaden your outlook and expand your opportunities. A place where you can meet people from a diversity of backgrounds and establish friendships that last a lifetime. HU's strong roots reach deep into the history of this nation and the African-American experience. But the University's sights, like yours, are set squarely on the horizons of the global community of the 21st century.

and

It is a place that believes in integrity, honesty, respect for oneself, respect for others, decency, dignity, responsibility and fairness.

Their Mission Statement includes this

A historically black institution, Hampton University is committed to multiculturalism. The University serves students from diverse national, cultural and economic backgrounds. From its beginnings to the present, the institution has enrolled students from five continents North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe and many countries including Gabon, Kenya, Ghana, Japan, China, Armenia, Great Britain and Russia, as well as the Hawaiian and Caribbean Islands and numerous American Indian nations.

Mrs Rigby really can't work out how a university with such a diverse background and apparently welcoming ethos can possibly encourage the sort of attitude shown by both the contestants and, presumably, their parents and/or friends when they realised that the winner of the competition wasn't who they expected it would be.

The following day Ms Churchill was heckled at a college football game and a previous Miss Hampton University said she was “very shocked” there was a white winner. “We’ve never had one before,” Patrece Parson said.

They were obviously disappointed, and didn't seem to care how much they might hurt the feelings of the winner who wrote to Mr Obama - and managed to annoy university authorities so much that ...

The president of the university’s student body summoned Ms Churchill to explain herself onstage at a special meeting in the student centre theatre. [Ms Churchill] took the opportunity to apologise and thank the majority of students for their support.

Making the complainant apologise for being upset does seem to be an unusual way of resolving a problem.

Let's scurry back to Britain and see if there's a British parallel to this sort of beauty competition. And there is, because Mrs R can remember that the lovely Rachel Christie recently won the Miss England title, which is probably a whole lot more important than any university's competition. She was lauded as being the "First Black Miss England". Mrs R can't find anything wrong with that, because it's true. There's a whole page of pictures of her and other competitors, and not a sour face in sight. Take a look at The Miss England site - it's a delight to see.

Mrs Rigby wonders if maybe, just maybe, some people in some parts of America can learn something from Britain after all. Wouldn't it have been better if Hampton University could have hit the headlines with, "First White Miss Hampton"? It would have been something of a coup, surely.

Maybe Hampton University, that ...

"... values scholarship, talents and achievement."

and says,

"It is also a place that values character. It is a place that believes in integrity, honesty, respect for oneself, respect for others, decency, dignity, responsibility and fairness. It believes in providing an "Education for Life" to the whole person"

... should also encourage its students to learn how to make a winner feel pleased with themselves and also how to be a good loser.

There is, after all, usually only ever one winner in any competition and many, many people who fail to get through the earliest parts of a selection process. Most of the time these people are generous loser, but every so often it's clear they can't hide their upset, so maybe they should try taking Dorothy Fields' advice in the musical Swing Time, they should learn to - "Pick Yourself up", dust yourself off, start all over again.

Fifty days to save the world ...

Mr Brown suggests that we probably won't, after all, need any lovely new power stations to make electricity to run Britain, because if we don't do something about climate change by 9th December 2009 we'll all either drown or burn.

Gordon Brown said negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the "impasse".

Maybe those eco-warriors are right after all, maybe the Police should have let them go ahead and shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station instead of setting their nasty dogs with big teeth onto them, because Mr Brown is bound to be right. Al Gore says so.

Aren't we lucky to have a prophet like Mr Brown leading our country, whose foresight will save the world from an environmental catastrophe, in the same way as his financial acumen saved the world (including Britain) from economic disaster.

So you see, Mrs Rigby really hopes that when Mr Brown was talking about his "50 days to save the world" he wasn't referring to the almost 50 days until he and other leaders will be getting together for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen - which runs from 7th to 18th December 2009.

Mrs R wonders which day Mr Brown is due to speak - it wouldn't be 9th December would it?