The most astonishing political event in my life!

Mind you, I was only 6 years old at the time so it hardly impinged on my childhood.  Even so, as a keen, er, 'student' of WWII once I (sort of) grew up, this particular event still astonishes me.  After six long years of the most ferocious and dangerous war ever fought in which we, the British people, were led by a political Titan' of extraordinary courage and stamina, what did we do?  We tossed him out without so much as a "Ta very much!"  Instead, we voted in a nondescript 'Mr. Pooter', a decent chap, and all that sort of thing, but not exactly the sort to shake the pillars of the world!

Had I been an adult back then I think I would have emigrated at high speed!  (Gosh, Australia, that was a near escape!)  Even reading about it later, I still shake my head in disbelief but, again from a distance, my admiration for the 'Great British Peeps' grows apace.  Of course, now that the shock has worn off, it is understandable that, Churchill's war notwithstanding, the Tory party was held responsible for the miseries of the 1930s,  and the millions of servicemen returning from overseas, and their families, desperately wanted the socialist nirvana offered by the Labour party.  Of course, it didn't last and at the next election Labour was laid off and 'Winnie' and his Tories were back in.

I am provoked to these ruminations by a review in The Mail of a book by Leo McKinstry titled "Attlee and Churchill : Allies in War, Adversaries in Peace".  I am sorely tempted to buy it but I fear that if I attempt to stuff yet another book into my titchy, little, slim-line Kindle it will explode!

 

 

Comments

[Loz]

I'll get you that as a prezzie.

We need to talk about Attlee. I don't know as much as I should about him but what I do know says he was the root of all evil in Britain post-1945. All my stuff about Blighty: "Hero of WWII to bankrupt zero of Europe in 30 years 1945-75" and the ideology and practice that ruined Blighty in living memory, from British Leyland to the NHS and everyting in between, that still rumbles on today are down to him. (And the US for funding it all through the Marshall plan and thereby deceiving the Brit peeps that it actually worked).

SoD

[Loz]

Title for that picture, btw ...

"The original Dad's Army and the Bolsheviks"?

Or

"Isn't it time we moved on from authoritarianism, left and right?"

Blah, blah, etc. etc.

SoD

[David Duff]

Oh, God, I wondered where you had gone, SoD, now I wish I hadn't! If only life was as simple as your 'Red and Blue' colouring book! And thanks for the 'prezzie' offer but there are other books I'd rather have. I'll let you have a list later!!!

[AussieD]

Duffers there was a great influx of migrants from the UK post WW2 extending well into the sixties. I served with quite a few who had either come on their own or as children of Brits looking for a better life after the austerity of the war years and immediate post war era.

With some exceptions [as there always is] they made good Aussies once we taught them how to speak properly.

[Whitewall]

I thought David Lloyd George was the founder of the welfare state? But no matter. People 'over here' were perplexed at the dumping of Mr. Churchill for a Socialist. The free world had fought and won against one form of socialism and were gearing up to fight a far worse brand of socialism and then Britain elects a Socialist? I get the narcotic socialism offers but it is an evil ideology. It never goes away.

[Backofanenvelope]

The 1945 electorate looked at the inter-war years and decided a change would be a good idea.

[Loz]

Surprised that they had much time to learn to speak properly with all the "chores" you gave them to do, OzD? ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-45340295

And Gaffer, there but for the grace of God and the indomitable strength of Grandma went you.

The glorious British Socialist State: deporting vulnerable children to become lackeys in the outback.

Is it any wonder that the same state sent 1300 white girls into the arms of Muslim rape gangs for use as masturbation toys 70 years down the line?

No, it isn't any wonder.

SoD

[Loz]

Ha, BoJo is going to seek an extension of A50 if no deal emerges in the EU negotiations in two weeks time ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/pm-will-seek-brexit-extension-if-no-deal-agreed-by-19-october-11827149

Which, given the EU negotiators now know that, means he won't be getting a deal.

You're rubber-ducked, me old sunshine!

SoD

[Bob]

After the war the British people wanted most to put it behind them. That could have made Winston a constant reminder and less than sympathetic figure.

Something similar happened over here to George H. W. Bush. He was a good president for the Cold War end game, but only served one term.

[Loz]

Interesting read: The Socialism before Socialism ...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Poor_Laws

You'd have thought having been at it for a thousand years it'd be nailed by now. Then someone comes up with the NHS! As if to demonstrate once and for all how dumb and useless power is when compared to buying power and a market.

SoD

[Whitewall]

What did socialists use before candles? Electricity.

SoD, when those in power learn they can bribe people with their own money, NHS and our equivalents result.

[Loz]

Another "pillar" of the state receives yet another drubbing today, this time the police ...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/04/met-police-agreed-to-say-they-believed-vip-abuse-claims-operation-midland-report-finds

2.5 million quid for a non-investigation of a pack of lies the police believed without question plus victimisation of numerous innocents.

And once again, once again like the 1300 vulnerable white girls, NO-ONE IS TO BLAME OR SACKED.

And you want to take back control and hand a bigger, longer to-do list to these guys and the rest of their mates in Blighty's state and public sector?

SoD

[Loz]

I just re-read that link about the young Brit kids deported to Oz for a life as lackeys and sex-workers in the outback, and realized two more things: -

1. The connection between that link and the English Poor Laws link. The 130,000 kids sent to commonwealth countries since 1618, of whom the Oz bunch were the last lot, were all part of the state's long and brutal attempt at the "Welfare State", and whose most recent act of welfare was the "1300 vulnerable white girls deported to Muslim rape gangs" case. It's all about the same thing; it is the same thing.

2. The little boys and girls deported to the outback for a life of lackeydom and sex-work were the sons and daughters of the fallen of World War II. Is there a bigger betrayal in Blighty's history? "I gave my life so you, the British state, could abuse my orphaned children?"

What does Captain Mainwaring have to say about those two, I wonder?

SoD

[Loz]

Here's something a bit more cheerful, lighten the mood, you'll like this one Whiters, candles, electricity, socialism 'n' all that ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/rail-journeys/berlin-prague-rail-train/

Viva Europe!

SoD

[Loz]

Goddam it, how did I miss this event?! ...

https://www.roundhouse.org.uk/largest-gathering-of-people-dressed-as-gumbys/?fbclid=IwAR11MSIatNVtdQtzGT-6_TQ8DHYFg9GfC2xpOLTusMmoA_0JdkhAV5djEjc

My brain hurts! Friday night is bath night!

SoD

[Loz]

And next to Mr Gumby on the play list was this ...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hh9pe

Is that the sort of cartoon you grew up watching? Explains a lot.

SoD

[Whitewall]

SoD, you're right about more cheerful. I recall a trip like that about 50 years ago right through Prague, Bratislava, Buda-Pest, and Debrecen. A gloomy journey complete with listening devices and minders and border guards. Nice scenery though.

[Whitewall]

"Is that the sort of cartoon you grew up watching?"
It was all part of the "war effort". I saw this one and many like it after the fact by a few years.