Vague_Boy Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 After all Mr. Scargill has done for mining in the U.K., this would be a fitting tribute to a brave, selfless, honourable man. Irony? Sarcasm? Usually I'd be 100% certain but you never know on this forum. "I am indeed very selfless" said Mr. Sargill, self-created lifetime president (no elections for 30 years, longer than Mubarak!) as he left his luxurious cottage (actually a mini-mansion), got into his Jaguar car and headed for his £1.5 million London flat, paid for by the NUM. "I ask for nothing except the honour of serving my members, all 2 dozen of them". "God bless Arthur" said former miner Colin Bairstow as he sat in his one bed council flat. "He did us proud in the 80s". "The way he walked into that obvious trap blatantly set by Mrs Thatcher was truly inspired". "Mind you I haven't worked since and the wife left me 20 years ago and I spend my days eating bread and dripping. But think how much worse off I'd have been without Arthur to defend me against Thatcher". Upon being told this story Arthur smiled and ordered another case of Krug Clos d’Ambonnay 1995 on expenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longcol Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Wouldn't Bonfire Night be somewhat devisive on religious grounds? Trafalgar Day would be suitable for all British people I've never known any catholic people objecting to bonfire night and as far as I can see most everyone takes part. Trafalgar Day has never been celebrated in over two hundred years - why start now - especially as it is most suitable for the more jingoistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10mainly Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 What is Jingoistic about celebrating the defeat of an invading foreign power? OR is WW2 something to quietly forget too? Trafalgar Day was commerated upto the end of WW1 when, naturally, the Armistice Day took overas a focus of Rememberance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Wouldn't Bonfire Night be somewhat devisive on religious grounds? Trafalgar Day would be suitable for all British people Religiously divisive? Guy Fawkes wasn't burned at the stake in November - he was hanged, drawn and quartered the following February. What have bonfires got to do with the 'Gunpowder Plot'? About - almost exactly -Nothing. There was a pagan celebration called Samhain at about that time. A celebration which did involve bonfires. The Brits seem to have been remarkably reluctant to abandon their pagan religion, but if the government (the Church of England) could substitute an alternative to Samhain (as had been done in the past, with Christmas for Yule and Easter for Beltaine) then it might drag a few more away from the 'old ways'. I don't see why making Samhain a public holiday would be divisive. Pagans are no longer prosecuted in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fareast Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Vague Boy [ post 11 ]-----your guess was correct. It was supposed to be ironic.......BUT, it 's getting more and more difficult to be ironic these days as real life often catches up and passes irony. A vast number of the ' great ' British public are beyond all irony----the weepers, the hand-wringers, the couch-potatoes, the endless ' victims ', the know-alls, the mental and physical bullies, the sheep, the jobsworths...........those who can barely put 3 words together .......those ' professionals ' who have to read the simplest statement from a sheet of paper [ drowned in cliches ].............the list is almost endless. So.......yes, I did agree wholeheartedly with your post. More power to your posts ! [ By the way, wouldn 't it be a good idea to recycle Churchill 's parliamentary statue and re-cast it as John Prescott ? About the same shape, anyway. " We will fight them in the five star hotels. We shall never surrender our gravy train ! " ]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10mainly Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Religiously divisive? Guy Fawkes wasn't burned at the stake in November - he was hanged, drawn and quartered the following February. What have bonfires got to do with the 'Gunpowder Plot'? About - almost exactly -Nothing. There was a pagan celebration called Samhain at about that time. A celebration which did involve bonfires. The Brits seem to have been remarkably reluctant to abandon their pagan religion, but if the government (the Church of England) could substitute an alternative to Samhain (as had been done in the past, with Christmas for Yule and Easter for Beltaine) then it might drag a few more away from the 'old ways'. I don't see why making Samhain a public holiday would be divisive. Pagans are no longer prosecuted in the UK. Im quite familiar with Pagan festivals I was just posting in the spirit of SF where everything is seen as "wrong" by some people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 ...I was just posting in the spirit of SF where everything is seen as "wrong" by some people Don't forget the bit about it being 'Maggie's fault!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris_Sleeps Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I like to pop this out. British history is a wonderful thing. Foreign fighters who did Britain proud [...] To 1,400 of the 18,000 men in Nelson’s fleet, however, this rallying cry meant little. For as The Untold Battle of Trafalgar, part of Channel 4’s new Bloody Foreigners series, reveals, almost 10 per cent of Nelson’s sailors were foreigners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S10mainly Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 That was quite a low number of Foreign-born sailors for the 18/19th Century Royal Navy, some ships would be up to 40% manned as such (Not counting Americans, who the RN regarded as British subjects if born pre-1776) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert_Baehr Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 I like to pop this out. British history is a wonderful thing. Foreign fighters who did Britain proud ... Telegraph journalism has its moments, too. From that article: "... the series picks its events well... impressive use of primary sources. In the case of the Battle of Trafalgar it is the diaries of Lieutenant Cumby of HMS Bellerophon, discovered by the production team in the private collection of one of his direct ancestors..." That on its own would make a pretty good story. I wonder whether my direct ancestors have my diary? (The one I haven't written.) It's difficult to know, really - given that they are all dead. Then again, I would've thought that Lt Cumby's direct ancestors were dead, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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