DUFF & NONSENSE!

I'm sinking in a sea of books!

I remain as addicted to books as I have been for some seventy years but, alas and alack, my actual reading of them has fallen away - bit like my sex life, really!  Consequently the pile of 'waiting to be read' books is actually blocking out the light round my armchair!  This old-age lark really is quite insidious as the energy cells empty themselves and defy replenishment.  Even as I tap this piece of non-news out on my computer-thingie, sitting on the desk before my eyes is a book by Kenneth Macksey entitled: Why the Germans Lost the War: The Myth of German Military Superiority.

The title really intrigued me because I have long believed that when it comes to the art and craft of warfare the Germans far exceed any others.  Actually, thinking about it, I suspect that it is the art of tactics at which they excel, strategy is beyond them - thank God!   For example, apart from loonies like Hitler, did anyone in the German High Command really believe they could conquer the entirety of Europe?  True, they did come close but when it comes to war, close is never close enough!

Anyway, I must give myself a kick and get reading again!

 

 

Alas for the mostly admirable Aussie army

The Australian army is a magnificent fighting force admired and respected world-wide.  It is, therefor, an even more bitter blow that their reputation has been besmirched by the activities of some out-of-control idiots - and criminals! - in a sub-section of their Special Forces.  Obviously, the main victims were those who were shot in cold blood but the subsidiary victims of those crimes are the honourable soldiers who took no part in the illegal killings but who have now been sullied by the incident.

We in Britain have suffered similar humiliations.  The reputation of my own Regiment, of which I am inordinately proud, has been similarly besmirched from time to time by the rash actions of some individuals in various scenarios.  Even so, those of us who were not there should hesitate before delivering judgments.  Members of both our Parachute Regiment and the Australian SAS are hand-picked for their natural (some might say 'un-natural'!) belligerence which in a war can be exceedingly useful.  Alas, so many of the operations required of them these days take place in civil situations falling short of outright war which leaves them subject to all and sundry to voice their opinions of the right and wrongs of their actions.

I hope and trust that the Australian authorities will act with care!

 

 

 

Australian shame

Sorry, mates, but there are no other words for it!  I refer, of course, to the just released report into atrocities perpetrated by some 'Aussie' soldiers over nine years in Afghanistan.  Needless to say, but I will anyway, the British army from time to time has 'executed' similar operations around the world.  Nor am I even slightly surprised that an earlier 'investigation' by the Australian military 'found' that the shooting was in, er, "self-defence"!  What can one say except, 'Yeeeeeeeees, quite'!

I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of 'Aussies' will be sickened and ashamed by this report which, at least, will add pressure to the useless senior ranks of the Australian Army to do what they evidently failed to do 'back in the day' which was to exert discipline!  Having said all that, were I in some crazy world to find myself up the 'sharp end' of some conflict, there is no set of troops I would rather have alongside me than Aussies.

 

 

 

'To deal or not to deal, that is the question!'

As regular readers know, I have always taken a hard line on our departure from the EU.  I have loathed and detested it since first we entered the wretched conglomeration and I remain steadfast, er, sort of, in making our escape.  Even so, today at The Spectator, Mr. James Forsyth gives me pause for thought particularly if the end result is 'no deal'.

No deal would be acrimonious. The EU would probably take a hard-line approach to border checks to try to force Britain back to the table. Boris Johnson would, as the Internal Market Bill proposes, override parts of the withdrawal agreement that he himself signed. The EU would take legal action.

It is impossible to believe that these tensions wouldn’t bleed across into other issues such as foreign policy and defence cooperation. The arguments that would follow a no-deal Brexit could poison UK-EU relations for years – undermining the Western alliance.

All probably true but just how much faith do we really have in the so-called 'Western Alliance'?  Would France and Germany stand by us should we be threatened directly by Russia?  'Maybe, baby'!  Today, can we depend on 'good ol' Joe Biden if Russian push comes to shove?  Well, yes, probably ...  possibly.  Far and away the most critical thing for HMG to do is hang on to our A-bombs and the means to deliver them.  They concentrate minds like nothing else!

 

 

A Sunday Rumble: 20.9.20

Sorry, Donald, but Daniel Hannan has it about right:  I will not attempt to paraphrase his impeccable English, so instead I will take the lazy way out and just paste and quote from his piece in today's Telegraph:

If I were an American, I’m not sure I could bring myself to vote for Donald Trump. It’s not that he lacks achievements. His tax cuts and deregulation worked: the US economy was booming pre-Covid, and unemployment was at a record low. His judges have the humility to recognise that the Constitution is bigger than they are. His success in reconciling Israel with a number of Arab states would have had the global commentariat demanding a Nobel Peace Prize had it come from any other president.

But I keep coming back to his character flaws: the childish lies; the inability to distinguish between public office and private interests; the mafia-like expectation that his supporters should follow him on his own account, changing their views whenever he does.

Yeeeeees, I think that about sums it up!  Even so, Mr. Hannan reminds us:

I don’t think I could vote for Joe Biden, either. I remember watching him at a conference two years ago, and it already seemed painfully clear that, to deal plainly, he was no longer in his perfect mind. With the world in its worst-ever recession, can Americans afford to have him at the helm?

From a British point of view, though, things are far clearer. Trump is unquestionably the more Anglophile candidate. He identifies strongly with his Scottish mother, and sometimes describes himself as half-British. 

'Nuff said!  I think we'll keep him on!

 

The real test for Boris:   Will he have the balls to flog off the BBC to the highest bidder?  It is now a self-inflated balloon filled with rancid anti-British, pro-socialist opinions and a provider of programmes, sport excepted, that hardly anyone watches or listens to!  It's your final test, Boris, just 'man-up' and do it!

 

This day 80-years ago:   Was the height of the most crucial battle fought by Britain since the Armada.  As has been well-expressed in most of the media, it was fought with the essential assistance of sundry Poles and Czechs and others who took to the skies and helped us defeat the Luftwaffe.  At the same time, we must NEVER forget the likes of the late Sir Robert Watson-Watt who was the force behind the construction of the radar defence system which was to prove critical.  Let us salute all of them, pilots and 'swots' alike!

 

Or could Boris 'do a runner'?   Patrick O'Flynn at The Coffee House seems to think it is quite likely:

Few would suggest that Boris Johnson, for all his gifts, ever had a Wilsonian concentration span or a Stakhanovite work ethic. So it requires no great leap of imagination to suppose that the not easy, not spacious, not socially-orientated days he is enduring right now are not what he had in mind for his premiership.

Throw in divorce, fatherhood again at 56, an impending further marriage and a touch-and-go spell in intensive care that may have left its mark on his own capacity and it's easy to see why the gossip has been building that Johnson may do a Wilson early in 2021, once the main loose ends of Brexit have been tied up.

Apparently, Michael Gove is reckoned as a favourite to take over and that would be interesting not least because I have always detected some considerable intelligence behind those owl-like specs of his.

 

 

No more rumbles

 

 

Greeks vs. Turks

It looks as though they are seriously squaring up to each other in the Eastern Mediterranean.  To be honest, I haven't a clue who is running Greece these days.  I do remember years back when the Regiment was posted to Greece for an exercise, being picked - dammit! - to form an honour guard for some Greek General who was about 5'-3" tall with an enormous cap covered in 'scrambled egg' and who could barely carry the weight of medals he wore!  Mind you, the Greeks were great hosts and I 'lurve' them!

But, alas, there is no getting away from the monster mobster who is (for the moment!) Lord of all he surveys in Turkey.  I am reluctant to criticise Turkey because I still have memories, albeit somewhat dim, of the admiration their soldiers evoked for their courage in battle in the Korean war.  Alas, their current pompous leader is an embarrassment to Turks everywhere.

I do very sincerely hope that both sides can cope with this self inflicted 'brou-ha-ha' without recourse to arms.

 

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 5.7.20

Sometimes 'the cousins' can be a tad forgetful:  For example, some of them are huffin' 'n' puffin' because Prince Andrew refuses to go 'over there' and testify against Ghislaine Maxwell.  They appear to have forgotten that we are still waiting for that American woman who left a US Air Force base driving on the wrong side of the road and killed a young lad on a bicycle.  She, of course, instantly fled back to the States, never to be seen again.

I bid farewell to F1 racing:  Actually, I have been gradually going off it for some time but now that Lewis Hamilton, who is, I think, one of the greatest racers ever, has joined the unholy chorus of 'Black Lives Matter', then that's it, as far as I am concerned.  He can continue to go round in circles until he disappears up his own exhaust pipe!

Additional:  Perhaps I wrote too soon because I gather that several drivers refused to bend their knees.

Well done, Boris:  I gather from news reports that Boris is on the brink of cutting ALL connections with Huawei.  Obviously, my instructions to that effect have been received and acted upon!

You lucky American 'Peeps':  Have you heard the great news?  Apparently, Mr/Mrs/Ms Kanye West - don't ask me, I've never heard of him/her - is planning to run for the Presidency. Well, I assume it must Mr. Kanye West because his wife, Ms. Kim Kardashian is supporting him.    Should be a shoo-in, don'cha think?

A damned fine run thing that Battle of Britain:  As Leo McKinstry reminds us in The Spectator this week.  As so often in WWII we must thank German stupidity for helping us to win, not least 'Fat Hermann's error in ordering his bombers to switch from attacking Fighter Command's airfields to bombing London.  Hitherto, the German's had been aided in their near victory by the top brass in the RAF, especially Sir Hugh Dowding, whose operational tactics were hopeless.  Eventually, the likes of Douglas Bader who understood the necessity of attacking German formations with large formations, not penny packets, had his way. "A fine run thing" indeed!

 

 

No more Rumbles

 

 

If you're a Brit and feeling cheerful do NOT read this book!

Alas, I refer to Simon Heffer's superb history of Britain, or  to be precise, the British government, during WWI.  Pay no attention to my misleading title above, the book, "Staring at God", is essential to anyone interested in the governance of Britain - then and now!  Even so, I must warn you that you will not be the same person at the end of it.  I have still not finished it because I can only take small amounts at a time.  Of course, "as any fule do no", WWI was an unmitigated disaster for virtually all the national participants but a great deal of the blame for British suffering attaches to the two nincompoops, Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George, who led the nation through 1914-18.  

It is difficult - although Simon Heffer manages it superbly - to grasp the incredible stupidity and dereliction of duty by these two utterly incompetent men.  Dammit, Asquith spent time during cabinet meetings writing love letters to his lady friend, whilst in 'Flander's fields' British soldiers were being slaughtered wholesale under the military leadership of total incompetents!

Alas, the long lesson to be learned from this book is that nothing has changed!  Even a quick glance at the occupant of No. 10 is enough to confirm your worst suspicions.

 

 

 

In which I have been nudged - firmly!

Yes, indeed, and from a fairly hefty 'fella', too!  I have just received an e-mail from Lord knows where sent by 'JK' who is on a mission - or a piss-up - or something somewhere!  In it, he reminds me that today is the 6th June and therefor an anniversary of the D-Day landings.  Normally, I do not take kindly to 'punters' telling me what I should write but as it's 'JK', possibly my longest serving reader who is also, I fear, very much larger than me, then I must take the hint.

Even so, what can one add to the mountain of words that already exist on the subject of perhaps the greatest military operation ever undertaken?  Even now, having read countless books on the subject I remain 'gobsmacked' at the sheer, unbelievable complexity of that operation.  The fact that it was run by two separate and proud nations with all that that entails, adds to my incredulity that not only did it occur but that it was a magnificent success!

Even I, a non-stop 'scribbler', cannot find the words to express my admiration and gratitude to the men - and women - who contributed to it.

 

 

 

Bad news concerning the Battle of Midway

I rank the battle of Midway which was fought on the 4th - 7th June 1942 as one of the most crucial battles of WWII.  I have written about it here, many a time and oft'.  As a result of it, Japanese sea-borne air power was crippled and America now, in effect, 'ruled the Pacific waves' which allowed them to choose their eventual approach to Japan.  

I was distressed, therefore, reading an article at The American Thinker which describes one particular 'cock-up' by the USN which resulted in the loss of virtually an entire squadron of aircraft:

Perhaps the most consequential of the failures is alleged, by many who have studied the battle, to have been brought about by Commander Stanhope Ring, leader of the USS Hornet’s Air Group. Here are some of those allegations.

Ring rejected the advice of Lieutenant Commander John Waldron, the leader of Hornet’s torpedo-bomber Squadron 8. Waldron accurately predicted the location of the enemy fleet, and disobeying the orders of Ring, turned off course, and led his flight to it. The pilots who instead followed Ring, flew to the wrong location, found empty ocean, and therefore played no further role in the actions of that day. Two of them died when they ran out of fuel and ditched in the water. Waldron’s entire squadron, attacking alone, without support from Ring, was annihilated, but for one survivor. [My emphasis]

What can one say except possibly "O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!"?  Once again, all too human failings and weaknesses inflicted a disaster - thus is it ever in warfare.  Even so, the strategic result was an immense victory for America and the world and I for one salute the memory of those men.

 

 

 

What a man!

When I saw the headline to the effect that a British WWI officer's war medals had recently sold at auction, I was struck by the sub-heading that he had jumped from the observation balloon in which he was stationed when it broke free and threatened to drift over German lines.  Well, I thought, I've jumped from quite a few balloons in my time but, to be fair, only in the most peaceful circumstances!

Here he is, Lt. Arthur Burberry, late of the London Regiment and the RFC, who was observing enemy movements from his balloon when his 'anchor' cable was broken and he began drifting towards the German lines.  He quickly deflated his balloon to stop it falling into German hands and then baled out.  He continued to soldier on in the RFC but was eventually taken prisoner.  He was released at war's end and after a spell at university during which he learned several languages he joined the Foreign Office.  He also 'learned' a great deal about women and became a renowned 'swordsman'!  A friend described him thus:

His Cambridge friend Lance Sieveking said of him: 'As a youth, and up to the age of 23, when in 1919 he at last came up to King's (College), he had a traditionally idealistic attitude towards sex and women.
'This changed, and in a short space of time he ceased to imitate Sir Galahad, and adopted the attitude of Don Juan.  'A Don Juan with a mission - to bring love and physical satisfaction into the lives of as many women as possible who might otherwise be deprived.'

Following his death in Germany in 1959, his funeral was held and Sieveking quipped: 'The church was full of women of all ages, dating back to his youth and coming right up to the newest loves of his last year.

'I was the only man.'

Obviously a 'love rat' of the first order but even so, what a man!

 

 

 

WWII - the best and worst of times

Or, to put it more elegantly allow me to quote a truly poetic writer, albeit writing of a different epoch:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Looking back at WWII I think Charles Dickens' words, written for an entirely different series of events, are entirely applicable and accurate.  The abject stupidity of so many men in positions of power, many of whom were  placed on their pathetic pinnacles by equally stupid but ordinary men and women, is almost beyond belief.  To balance the scales, of course, there were the men of intelligence and courage, albeit, possessing their own fair share of faults and weaknesses, who opposed them and eventually won the day - thank God - and them!

More and more over the post-WWII years I have grown to 'lurve' the A-bomb.  Here is a weapon system of such incredible, destructive power that it is enough to concentrate what passes for the mind of your average, spittle-flecked madman.  There is no escape - for anyone!  And even if you dig the deepest, strongest bunker in the world, when you eventually crawl out what will there be over which you can rule? 

Nothing!

Nada!

Zero! 

You will be left to wander Lear-like across a scorched and useless earth of nothing but dead things.  A dream of a nightmare!

 

 

My late - again! - Sunday Rumble: 03.05.20

Sorry, sorry, sorry!   But the fact is that I felt a tad 'under the weather' this morning - no, no, I haven't got the dreaded 'lurgi', just a slight increase in my usual fatigue syndrome!  Or, to put it another way, I couldn't be arsed to climb the stairs to the top of the house!

 

Medical stats are bad for your health:   So, best not read this from 'The Speccie' on the subject of incubator use, or non-use, if you catch the dreaded 'lurgi':

Data from the UK is hard to come by. However, on 27 March, 78 per cent of Covid patients who had gone to NHS ICUs were intubated and ventilated within 24 hours of arriving. By April 24, that number had gone down to 67 per cent. The cumulative mortality rate for NHS ICU Covid patients decreased from 52.1 per cent to 50.7 per cent over that same period. 

What do I make of that?  Nothing and my advice remains the same if you end up in hospital, just say, "Yes, Nursie!" and do as you're told!

 

Will Covid-19 lose Donald the presidency?   Certain reports indicate that it will but mostly they emanate from the US 'meeja' which is about as reliable as 'The Beijing Times'!  I can't see that Donald has been any more useless than most national leaders everywhere and anyway, what else could he have done?  'Still 'n' all', as they are wont to say 'over there', the 'dreaded Peeps' are an unforgiving lot!

 

A soldier's tale:   As we approach the 75th VE Day anniversary I thought it right to mark the occasion and can do it no better than direct your attention to the late Guardsman Edward Colquhoun CHARLTON VC.  He was killed on 21st April 1945 after defending his platoon single-handed against a German attack.  His courage was so exemplary that even his German opponents praised him after the fight,

We shall, and should, remember them!  You can read the details in The Sunday Mail.

 

No more Rumbles 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 26.4.20

Mr. President - just 'shaddup'!    I gather that I may be a tad too late with my advice to Mr. President because I read that he has now given up his ad hoc press briefings.  It is, and has been for years, obvious that Donald Trump is not good at 'off the cuff' speechifying.  Alas, in the battle between his ego and his ability to express coherent thoughts, his ego has won - until now.  From now on, I gather - I hope! - he will confine his speechifying to words written for him by his advisors.  Were he to continue in his old vein he would need to wear a red nose and allow his pants to fall down regularly!

 

Think twice before moaning!   As an ex-soldier I can claim to be a fully-trained 'moaner 'n' groaner'!  Of course, given this bloody-bloody lockdown situation there is plenty about which to 'moan 'n' groan'.  However, this morning I happened upon one of those episodes from the superb series "The World at War".  This one featured the siege of Leningrad and suffice to say I will never 'moan 'n' groan' again - ever!

 

In which Oliver Kamm lives up to my high estimation of him:   I will not attempt to paraphrase his excellent essay over at the CAPX site lest I inadvertently make an error and his 'razor-laser-mind' catches it and he admonishes me - well, it used to happen 'back in the day'! Just do yourselves a favour and give him a read!

 

Tragic but interesting stats!   From the 'Hefferlump's' superb history, "Staring at God". By mid-1915 -

"It was estimated one officer in ten in the land forces thus far killed was an Old Etonian.  At an opposite extreme, 19,648 boys who had been through reformatories had served by late June 1915, almost 600 of whom had died: but three had won the Victoria Cross, twenty-five the Distinguished Conduct Medal and twenty were Mentioned in Dispatches.  Perhaps most remarkably, eight of those former miscreants had been commissioned."

 

No more Rumbles

 

 

Flight Lieutenant Bob Barckley, born November 18 1920, died March 28 2020

Sorry if some of you were refused entry to his obit in the Telegraph so here it is - he deserves no less:

Flight Lieutenant Bob Barckley, who has died aged 99, was shot down over France but managed to evade capture and escape to Spain. On his return he rejoined his squadron and destroyed 12 V-1 flying bombs, making him one of the leading “aces” against the terror weapon.
On the morning of June 2 1943 Barckley and a colleague took off from West Malling in Kent on an intruder mission in their Typhoons of No 3 Squadron, each loaded with two 500lb bombs. Near the French/Belgian border he attacked a stationary train with his cannons, when the locomotive blew up. He then attacked three trucks as he headed towards Dunkirk where he hoped to find a “worthwhile target” for his bombs.
Approaching Bergues, he saw a long goods train and decided to attack. As he started his dive, he encountered intense anti-aircraft fire from a flak wagon on the train. He dropped his bombs, but as he pulled away his aircraft was hit, part of the starboard wing was shot away and the control column ceased to function.

He managed to flatten out as he bounced off some trees, missed some cottages and slammed into the ground at high speed; he was rendered unconscious. After recovering, he cleared the aircraft and escaped as German soldiers appeared.
He walked for 20 miles towards St Omer, and in a nearby village sought help at a church. A doctor attended to his wounds, and he was given food and clothing before being taken to a farm. After proving his identity to the local Resistance chief, he was taken to a “safe house” in Paris. Unknown to him, he was now in the hands of the Belgian-run “Comet” escape line.
After he had spent a few weeks in hiding, a young woman took him by train to a town near Biarritz before he cycled to a remote farmhouse near the Spanish border. He joined a party of other evaders and at nightfall the Basque guide “Florentino” led them across the Pyrenees to San Sebastian in Spain, where he was collected by car and taken to the British Embassy in Madrid.

He was moved to Gibraltar, and on August 16 he was flown to RAF Northolt in a Dakota. After debriefing in London he returned to his squadron and four days later resumed operational flying. Robert Edward Barckley was born on November 18 1920 in Brentford, Middlesex. In the summer of 1938 he joined a territorial battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and served as a despatch rider with the British Expeditionary Force. He was evacuated from Dunkirk on June 2 1940.
In December of that year he volunteered to transfer to the RAF and train as a pilot. After gaining his “wings” he joined No 3 Squadron operating as both night- and day-fighters with their all-black Hurricane IIs. Their main task was dawn and dusk patrols over the North Sea convoys.
The first time Barckley fired his guns in anger was in August 1942 during Operation Jubilee, the ill-fated combined operation against Dieppe. The squadron’s task was to strafe the German gun positions overlooking the beach.
The following day he attacked German fast patrol boats (E-boats) harassing Allied shipping. Later he again attacked the guns, and his fourth and final sortie was to cover the withdrawal. He would subsequently describe the Dieppe raid as “a shambles”.
After a few weeks flying night intruder missions, the squadron was withdrawn from the front line to re-equip with the Typhoon. On May 18 1943 the squadron lost five pilots, including the CO, during an attack against the Luftwaffe airfield at Poix.
Barckley did not fly on that mission but later he recalled: “The atmosphere was very sombre and contemplative. I had lost my closest friend on the squadron. But I remember also the 50-60 comrades lost before Poix and the two years that followed.” Two weeks later, Barckley was shot down near Dunkirk.
When he returned from Spain he found that his squadron had moved to Manston in Kent. On arrival he telephoned the CO, who refused to believe that it was him making the call. “No,” he responded, “it cannot be Bob Barckley, he was shot down, he is dead.”
Barckley managed to convince him that he was alive and waiting in the officer’s mess. There were celebrations to mark the squadron’s only pilot to be shot down and make it back to England.
Barckley was soon back flying sweeps over France until March 1944, when the squadron became the first to re-equip with the faster Tempest fighter-bomber. On May 8 he was flying an intruder mission over France when he spotted a bright light in the sky. He followed it and shot it down. He wrote in his log book: “chased airborne light from Evreux to Le Havre. Fired three bursts, went down in sea. Jet ship?” He later added: “Rather precognitive of me!”

The squadron moved to Newchurch on Romney Marsh in preparation for D-Day. After flying beachhead patrols, he later wrote: “The landing was an amazing sight – a tremendous armada. The fact I had been with the Resistance made me feel it very deeply.”
Shortly after D-Day the Germans began their V-1 offensive against England. With their powerful Tempests, No 3 Squadron and two others provided the main fighter defence. Over the next three months No 3 shot down 305 of them, the most by any squadron.
Barckley opened his account on June 18, and a day later shot down two more over Kent. By the middle of July he had destroyed nine.
On July 14 he had used up all his ammunition shooting one down when he saw a second. He was able to accelerate and catch the V-1 when he placed his wing tip under the stubby wing of the flying bomb and immediately flipped his control column and banked. The weapon tipped over and crashed into a wood near Sevenoaks.
By the end of August Barckley had destroyed 12 V-Is and shared another. He was twice Mentioned in Despatches, and in November 1944 was awarded the DFC for “his high degree of courage.”
In September he left for Normandy to join No 122 Wing, which moved eastwards as the Allied armies advanced. In January, flying from Volkel in the Netherlands, Barckley was wounded attacking a German airfield and returned to England to recover. When he was fit he was seconded to the Fleet Air Arm for test pilot and fighter instructor duties in Northern Ireland, before being released from the RAF. He was awarded the Territorial Efficiency Medal.

After the war Barckley worked in Northern Ireland and later became managing director of Coca-Cola Bottling. He retired to North Wales, where he enjoyed walking in the hills.
He was a long-standing and devoted member of the Aircrew Association, the RAF Escaping Society and its successor, the Escape Lines Memorial Society. He was a regular at annual conventions and he never forgot his gallant “helpers” of the Comet Line. He attended their reunions in Brussels and in 2014 made his last visit to meet the survivors.
Bob Barckley married Violet Craig in 1944. The marriage was dissolved. His second wife Eva predeceased him. A daughter from his first marriage survives him. A second daughter predeceased him.

Flight Lieutenant Bob Barckley, born November 18 1920, died March 28 2020

In which I indulge in some unrestrained hero worship

I suppose that growing up through and after WWII has developed an innate tendency in me to hero worship.  Of course, at that time there were a host of heroes to choose from our fighting services.  Today, I offer you Flight Lieutenant Bob Barckley, RAF, who has just died at the well-deserved age of 99.  I say "well deserved", which it was, but perhaps, given the risks he ran, 'incredible' might be more accurate!

 

Please read his 'obit' via my link.  Of course, he and his ilk were entirely responsible for me filling my school exercise books with drawings of Spitfires and Hurricanes instead of what I had been taught so, really, it was his sort who were responsible for my appalling scholastic record!!

 

 

 

Your Easter Rumble: 2020

That God-bloke's 'avin' a larf!   Well, really, we've had three months of non-stop drizzle, rain, drizzle, rain until we (alright then, me!) nearly went mad and then the most gloriously warm and sunny Easter arrives just as that bloody virus goes mad and keeps us all locked up indoors!

Meanwhile, 'over there' the Dems have gone mad!   It is difficult for an Englishman to discuss President Trump.  To us, he appears to be from Mars!  Not, mind you, that he appears to have done anything 'yuuuuuugely' wrong, indeed, just the opposite, no wars have been declared and, prior to this 'virus-thingie', the American economy seemed to be doing rather well.  Also, we Brits need to remind our insular selves that Trump's eccentricities are considered not in the least eccentric 'over there'.  In fact, just the opposite, they are much admired by zillions of his "fellow Americans" which means that the Democrats have an exceedingly tough job in trying to remove him from office next Autumn.  What do they do?  They pick a very decent, old 'codger' to whom you would offer your seat in a crowded train.  A 'good ol' boy' who shuffles along but has difficulty remembering what happened an hour ago - oh boy, do I know that feeling!  He has zero appeal to the zillions of young 'Lefties' to whom he should appeal if he is to stand any chance.  All he can rely on is Trump putting his (in)famous words into practice and 'grabbing some lady by the pussy'.  I think - I hope! - he knows not to do that!

The 'Hefferlump' on Hitler's biography:   Of course, I am referring to Simon Heffer who has a review of "Hitler Vol II: Downfall 1939-45" by Volker Ullrich about which I wrote with some enthusiasm a week or two back.  It is, of course, a total irony that I have paused in my reading of Herr Ullrich's book in order to read the 'Hefferlump's' superb history of the opening of WWI.  Even so, Herr Ullrich should not despair because despite my nausea in reading anything about that dolt and madman, I will return to it eventually. 

Pity the poor politician - oh go on, try!   One of them, either Boris or Raab, will have to take the decision as to when the 'lockdown' is to be lifted. The economic shambles that will follow this gross interruption to normal life will be 'yuuuuuuge' and the government will be blamed.  Equally, if the lifted lockdown results in a second outbreak of 'lurgi' then - guess what! - the government will be blamed!  Do I feel sorry for them?  Not in the slightest - they fought tooth and nail for the job so let them take the consequences!

For my e-pal, 'Whiters', a tale from Tom Stoppard:   'Whiters', as I am sure my regular readers will know, is a keen fanatical angler so I thought Stoppard's essay in The Spectator might amuse him:

The trout season opened on 1 April. I was given my first fly rod 70 years ago. Since moving to Dorset, my fishing has been on a chalk stream so small and so tricky that the only way to fish it is to walk up the middle in chest-waders with a seven-foot rod. The last time I was on the water I slipped and went under, since when I haven’t been sure whether I’m still fishing. Lockdown shelves the question for the time being. I wait for further instructions from the government.

 

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Your Easter Sunday Rumble

 

Americans really are nuts!   Or, to translate that into English English, 'Americans really are eccentric'!  This morning, idly flicking through the TV stations to avoid any mention of the dreaded 'c'-word, I came across a programme devoted to American cowboys indulging in bare-back riding on bulls!  And, I should add, these bulls had enormous, terrifying and exceedingly sharp horns!  The 'rides' only lasted on average approximately 5-secs but it surely must have been the longest and most uncomfortable 'ride' for any of the nutters brave young men who undertook it.  Apart from the dangers of a maddened, 20-ton bull leaping around like a Dervish, consider for a moment that there are no saddles!  Yeeeeees, quite!  As I said, they're all nuts - or perhaps, thinking about it, they lack any 'nuts' at all!

Sorry, JK, I can only give you "E for Effort":  I read somewhere this morning, although I'm blessed if I can remember where, that Arkansas only finished 4th in the gun ownership tables amongst the States of America!  Whatever, you do, JK, don't move to another State because your absence, along with your armoury, would drop Arkansas to 18th!

The 'chequered flag' falls on Sir Stirling Moss:  Truly one of the greats of motor racing. Alas, I never saw him race but his reputation will live on and on  . . .

 

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Your Easter Monday Rumble

 

What happens next?   I am tempted to reply "Who knows and his brother 'Fuck'!" but that, of course, would be crude and rude and unsuitable for a distinguished blog such as this - and I heard that!  Even so, attempting to work out how the world will be after this cataclysm is exceedingly tricky.  Obviously, there are going to be 'yuuuuuuuge' financial ramifications both on a national and personal level and the largest of them will be debt.  Happily, we can rely, to a certain extent, on 'greedy' capitalism re-asserting itself to the benefit of most of us in the long-term.  However, national and international debt, as always, will act as a dampener and when you throw in the priority of perceived national political interest as a priority over all else, then the difficulties of reaching recovery increase enormously.  What will be required from the international political leadership is wisdom and patience - 'yeeeeeeeeeeeeees', quite!

 

Non, Monsieur, do not pull that handle!    Amidst the 'doom 'n' gloom' this will provide a chuckle.  According to The Telegraph, a 64-year old, French pensioner was given a surprise flight in a French fighter plane.  It was arranged, secretly, by his, er, 'bon amis' and he felt impelled to accept it.  The Air Force pilot put the aircraft through some tight manouvres and the old man in the back reached for something to hang on to.  Alas, it was the trigger for the ejector seat which promptly blasted him out of the aircraft.  Quelle surprise!

 

Spare a thought for the 'luvvies':  Oh, go on, try!  I refer, of course, to all those actors and actresses who are now out of work and with absolutely minimal chances of employment in the near future.  Mind you, it's all happened before.  Poor old Will was forced to forsake London and retreat to Stratford during the plague.  Mind you, it gave him some respite and time to dream up some more inventions - so not all bad, then!

 

More Rumbles over the Easter period . . .

 

 

The A-bomb attacks on Japan: There was no choice!

There are still people who maintain that the American A-bomb attacks on Japan were a war crime.  I suspect that this book, if any of the dimwits ever read it, will change what passes for their minds!  The book is "Crucible of Hell: Okinawa, the Last Great Battle of the Second World War" written by Saul David which is reviewed in this week's 'Speccie'.  Apparently, Mr. David spells out in excruciating detail the sheer horror of the fight for control of Okinawa which the Japanese, soldiers and civilians, defended with implacable ferocity and fanaticism.  To be honest, I doubt I have the guts to read it:

The loss of life was horrendous. One US commander calculated that, once replacements had been taken into account, the casualty rate in his unit had been 185 per cent. [My emphasis]  A near unreadable passage describes an effort to recover the corpses of US Marines killed in the assault of Sugar Loaf Hill. One soldier recalls finding ‘bodies so decomposed they had started to turn green and were falling apart’. Another man ‘threw up after he tried to pull the body of a Marine and its arm came off at the shoulder. Eventually they put a head, torso, two arms, two legs in each poncho and left it to the Graves Registration to sort out the pieces later.’

At the same time, the US fleet around Okinawa was under constant and deadly attack by kamikaze pilots.  In one day they sank or badly damaged 26 US Navy ships.

President Roosevelt died before the battle was over but it is no wonder that his successor, President Truman, baulked at the idea of a land invasion of Japan.  Instead, he chose the 'nuclear option' - and quite right, too!

 

 

 

Starting a war is so easy but finishing it is rather more tricky

I am somewhat - no, totally! - engrossed in "Staring at God" by Simon Heffer.  It is rather like watching a recoding of a major, multiple car crash on a motorway.  You can see the first errors which, of course, multiply into even more errors and then the devil is out of the bottle and total, mad mayhem ensues!  It is difficult with historical "events, dear boy, events" to point the finger at exactly the event that kicked it off but I suppose in the case of WWI it is reasonable to accuse the Serbian nutter who decided to assassinate a particularly useless Austro-Hungarian Prince.

Cue: a chance for Austro-Hungary to give those damned 'uppity' Serbs a slap!  The threat of that, of course, provided the 'Rooskies', whose useless leader was wobbling on his throne, a chance to stand up for those, er, 'plucky little Serbs' - and, of course, fellow Slavs.  At which point, the Austrians can appeal to their German 'Big Brother' for support.  The French, au naturellement,  instantly offered their services to their Russian partners with whom they had a treaty designed, of course, to keep Germany in check!  Meanwhile, the Brits steered well clear on their island fortress because, dammit, they had an Empire to look after!

But then, like the well-oiled parts of a machine-gun, the move of one part automatically moved another which then click-started yet another and, hey-ho, we were all off to the races!  Of course, for the people concerned at the time, only a tiny few had any inkling of what was to ensue but soon enough they learned - the hardest of hard ways.

"The pity of it lago; oh, Iago, the pity of it".

 

 

 

Perhaps John Maynard Keynes should have been promoted to General!

I may have mentioned before that a kindly neighbour passes me his old copies of The Times Saturday Review in exchange for my old copy of The Spectator - and yes, he is definitely getting the better of the deal!  Even so, I am always keen to peruse the book reviews and there was a particularly interesting one in my latest copy.  It deals with the latest book by Victor Davis Hanson entitled: The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict was Fought and Won.

According to Mr. Hanson, 'it woz the fact'ries wot won it!'  According to the review:

Victor Davis Hanson is a brutally pragmatic historian who cuts through myth and hype. Stripped of emotion, his war is reduced to simple equation: "Victory … was a morality tale of production besting killing: those who made more stuff beat those who killed more people".  Stated simply, 60 million people died "to confirm that the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain were far stronger … than Germany, Japan and Italy … a fact that should have been self evident".

Well, I am sure that Mr. Davis Hanson will be relieved to know that I agree with him entirely!  As I remarked a few days ago when I began reading Hitler's biography, it is extra-ordinary that none of the German 'intelligentsia', military or civilian, raised the economic weakness of Germany versus Great Britain (and its empire), America and Russia.  

What a bunch of 'Dummkopfs'!

And what is the Japanese for a 'Dummkopf'? 

 

 

 

Everything is all shook up - or it will be!

Well, you all know my hopeless incompetency when it comes to forecasting so I will not attempt to guess in detail how the world will look when God throws the pieces back on the table after this major shake up.  In some ways it could be very troublesome because we have all become accustomed to a fairly stable world where the 'Great Powers' face off in mutual suspicion but with equal wariness.  Mostly, of course, that has been due to mutual fear of the non-win characteristic of nuclear warfare.  After all, not only does the probability of the total destruction of your own country tend to dampen warrior spirits but the equal probability that your enemy's country will be uninhabitable for several centuries is not exactly an encouragement to 'have a go'!

Even so, such will be the damage inflicted on nation-states following this pandemic that some of the less intelligent world leaders - oh alright then, all of them! - might be tempted to take advantage of perceived weaknesses.  Not for a major operation but perhaps for some tactical manoeuvres that might provide some long-term advantages.  Needless to say, such temptations should be resisted because - 'as every fule do no' - "great oaks from little acorns grow" - and then a bloody big gale comes along and blows it down on top of you!  So I do hope that our Lords and Masters muster as much common-sense as they possess and resist any temptations offered by their former rivals!

Well, a man may hope, may he not?

 

 

In the middle of a disaster, try reading about an even greater one!

I told  you yesterday that I was beginning to read a new book "Staring at God" by Simon Heffer which chronicles the diplomatic, strategic and political manouvres that preceded WWI.  It is, as you can imagine, unbelievably depressing, so much so that I care even less about this virus-thingie that has everyone in a panic!

Step by step by step all the 'great' leaders of Europe followed the lead of the maniacal mini-leaders of Europe as these jumped-up poltroons flounced their hour upon the stage.  Everyone in what might be called the European 'intelligentsia' knew with certainty that each step along the path would lead inevitably to a massive and disastrous war the like of which the world had never experienced before.

And yet ... and yet ... they did nothing!  The so-called 'Great Powers' were led by their silly noses over a cliff by ultra-stupid, short-sighted men who were not fit to run a town council!  At least in WWII we had a genuine lunatic we can blame for the near apocalypse but prior to WWI the blame can be shared everywhere and by everyone.

Where was God when we needed Him?  

 

 

This book is an absolute and essential 'MUST READ'!

I refer to "Staring at God" by Simon Heffer.  This morning I was lucky enough to catch an interview with the 'Hefferlump', as I fondly call him, and there is no doubt that if you want to read the 'accident report' on the national 'car crash' that shattered Britain then this is a 'must read'!  I have long admired the 'Hefferlump' and in the TV interview he demonstrated, yet again, his acute intelligence and learning.  Should you doubt me - you wouldn't dare! - then read the review by another superb historian, Andrew Roberts in The Telegraph.  

"This war has caught us at our worst,” wrote Margot Asquith, the prime minister’s wife, in her diary on October 26 1914, “and now that shrapnel is killing an entire generation, we are left staring at God.” Simon Heffer, for this comprehensive history of Britain during the First World War, has chosen his title wisely. In the exactly five years between the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Versailles Treaty, the British people were tested as never before, and what they saw of the Almighty – or the absence of Him – changed the country fundamentally and forever.

Staring at God is the first serious and really wide-ranging history of the Home Front during the Great War for decades. Scholarly, objective and extremely well-written, it describes how, in Heffer’s words, “the government and people of a great naval and mercantile power, shaped by the tenets of laissez-faire, broke with traditions of their culture, liberties, doctrines and customs, and adapted to total war”.

As far as I can tell, the 'Hefferlump' takes no prisoners which is entirely right, fitting and proper given the utter uselessness of most of our political and military (non)leadership.  Roberts again:

David Lloyd George, popularly known at the time as “The Man Who Won the War”, is here presented as “the man who very nearly lost it”. Heffer accuses him of “breathtaking dishonesty” and quotes with approbation Clementine Churchill’s description of him to her husband Winston as “the direct descendant of Judas Iscariot”. Lloyd George’s inability to control the generals, and principally Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig’s insistence on costly frontal assaults such as the Somme and Passchendaele offensives, is heavily criticised.

I still haven't finished Hitler's biography and anyway I am sick of it, so I'm off downstairs to find my Kindle and order up Simon Heffer's book.

ADDITIONAL:   Oh dear, the first casualty of war history, to be precise the one just published by the 'Hefferlump', is, alas, Lord Grey, the British Foreign Secretary who hitherto has been the subject of some (mild) hero worship from me!  Dammit, I know war is hell but reading about it can be pretty damned hellish, too!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble 29.1.20

Life's an itch!   And no, that is not a mis-spelling!  I haven't, as yet, caught that impertinent bug so I have nothing serious to complain about but even so, being a grouchy, old 'geezer', complaining is my default mode!  It is the increasing list of minor irritations that are getting under my skin.  For example, today 'they' buggered about with the clocks which has thrown me into total confusion!  Not, mind you, that my life is exactly run to a tight time schedule!

 

Frankly, I'm delighted not to be in charge:   For a start, it leaves me free to 'grump 'n' grouch' which, as you may have n0ticed, is my default mode.  Secondly, I am uneasily aware that I would not be able to take decisions with a constant influx of changing advice based on changing information.  So good luck with all that, Don and Boris, just do your best!

 

In case you're worried about me:   And I heard that!  Down 'ere, in 'zunny Zummerzet' I am assured by 'Her Majesty's Daily Telegraph' that I live in one of the lowest infection rates in the country, only 31 confirmed cases in a population of 5.5 million.  That, of course, is only right, fitting and proper!

 

But is it all 'blx', anyway?   According to Peter Hitchens it is!  Read his article and judge for yourselves!

 

Even by British standards the weather is bonkers!   For the first two months of the year it did nothing but rain, rain, rain and then rain some more!  In recent days we have 'enjoyed' some brilliant sunshine but our smiles froze on our faces as we had to put up with non-stop freezing winds straight off the arctic circle.  Dammit, enough is enough!

 

This sums up the European, er, 'Union:   From the Daily Telegraph:

When Italy invoked the EU’s formal disaster procedure with desperate calls for protective gear and ventilators, no country responded. Germany and France instead imposed export bans. The EU’s single market did not exist when push came to shove.

 

Vomit-inducing, why do I read it?   I refer to the biography of the late and utterly useless Adolph Hitler which I purchased a few weeks ago.  I take occasional dips into it and each time it leaves me grinding my teeth in fury and disgust.  Not, mind you, entirely at his maniacal stupidity but also that of his Generals and political advisors who, without doubt, were the biggest collection of 'toadies', cowards and dimwits the world has ever seen.  Pass the sick-bag!

 

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

Zee view from Berlin: circa 1940

I have mentioned before that I am reading Volker Ullrich's biography of Adolph Hitler and it is fascinating, not least for the chance to view WWII from a totally opposite direction.  Through my increasingly long life I have read an enormous number of books on WWII but, in confirmation of the  truism that it is the victor who gets to write the history, they have all been from our side.  Of course, the best of them seek to explain what was going on 'over there' as 'we' fought our war but when the central character of the history is actually Adolph Hitler then the view changes.

It also makes me ponder on the choices Hitler and his Generals had before them at different times - not that the Generals had much say in the decisions!  Yes, Hitler was 'bonkers' but it is amazing how many of the German leadership, military as well as civilian, went along with his lunacy.  Needless to say, the more incredibly successful he was in the early stages, the more any criticism was silenced.  Also, it is fascinating to view Europe as seen from Berlin!  There was a sort of logic to Hitler's plans and the fact that he was just intelligent enough to take one bite at a time hid the fact that his over-all ambition to swallow the whole of Europe was quite mad.  That idea alone demonstrated his lunacy but as 'success' built on 'success', first with Czechoslovakia, then Poland, then France, then Scandinavia, virtually none of the so-called German 'intelligentsia, let alone the people, ever had the courage to shout "HALT!"

I will add one last thought which is the way this Germanic view of history emphasises how absolutely and totally critical it was to the entire continent, or even the world, for us Brits to stand firm and defiant.  Of course, all of us have long admired the courage of those Battle of Britain fighter pilots, and the numerous 'brainiacs' who invented and built the radar network but this book makes it startling clear how absolutely crucial they were.

 

 

 

In which my 'flabber' is well and truly 'gasted'!

I have mentioned before that I am slowly but steadily ploughing through a biography of Adolph Hitler - yeeeeeeees, quite!  Of course, it is now quite clear to everyone that Hitler, himself, was a shouty-shrieky lunatic who should have been locked up and the key tossed in the Rhine!  However, it is the people around him that arouse my fascination.  The squalid gangsters who rose on his coat-tails via the Nazi party are not worth a second thought but it is, so to speak, the 'outsiders' who surrounded him in the armed forces and in the bureaucracy who are worth some study.

I have just read the reports of his pre- or early - war, high-level meetings with the men in his High Command and the sundry civil servants who actually kept the Nazi machine running.  At several of the meetings Hitler made it absolutely clear, in the simplest of terms, that his intentions when he conquered various European nations was to decimate their populations, ridding himself of the sick, the elderly and the infants - and, of course, the Jews.  The only people who were to be saved were the young and fit and they would be despatched to Germany as slave labour.

Now, his audiences, for the most part were educated people from the middle and upper classes all of whom were of the Christian faith which they would have been versed in from their childhood.  Virtually none of them offered either overt, or even covert, opposition.  In particular, the senior officers of the Armed Services, when they realised that this madman was intent on taking their country into war against virtually the entire world, failed to take any action.  They must have known that there would only be one outcome - utter defeat and destruction for their beloved country!  Of course, to attempt any sort of opposition would have placed them, and their families, in certain danger of death but these were the men who, in their professional lives, never ceased to prate on about the nobility of courage and sacrifice.

What's the German for 'pass the sick-bag'?

 

It's that creepy coincidence-thingie - again!  No sooner had I published the post above on the subject of Volker Ullrich's biography of Hitler which I am part way through, when Andrew Stuttaford publishes a review in the National Review of another Hitler biography which has just appeared.  I am glad that in passing he refers kindly to Volker Ullrich's earlier biography which I am reading now.

 

 

 

Oh no, war just broke out!

It's possible, depending on the skill of Herr Volker Ullrich - no, me neither until this morning! - that I might go on the 'missing list' over the next few days … weeks? … months? … because I have just purchased his latest book "Hitler: Downfall 1939-1945".  Apparently, Herr Volker has already published Part I of his biography but I think I'll give it a miss because I really do not wish to know about the early days of that maniacal twerp and all the various 'scrotes' he gathered around him.  However, I have lost count of the number of books on WWII that I have read over the last 60+ years but I have never read one from, so to speak, Hitler's point of view.

It was a spur of the moment decision having just read a review of it in today's Telegraph.  Of course, ignorant ex-Corporals like me, and, er, Corporal Hitler, are always eager to pan our own Generals and political leaders for the dimwits many of them were but somehow we forget that the biggest dumkopf of them all was Adolf Hitler.  I will let you know how it goes!

 

 

 

A trip down memory lane, er, for me, not you, sorry!

By accident I stumbled upon my old copy of Henry IV Part 2 in which I once had the supreme pleasure of playing the 'greatest' character invented by William Shakespeare.  I refer, of course, to that ghastly villain of villains, Sir Jack Falstaff.  This is an extract from the (in)famous recruiting scene in which Falstaff, the, er, 'Officer in Command' accepts a quiet 'bung' to let go two of his 'recruits' despite the fact that they are the strongest and most able.  It is amusing, even funny, until you dwell on the implications, particularly for Masters Feeble and Shadow, the original examples of 'cannon-fodder':

FALSTAFF
Come, sir, which men shall I have?

SHALLOW
Four of which you please.

BARDOLPH
Sir, a word with you: I have three pound to free
Mouldy and Bullcalf.  [My emphasis]

FALSTAFF
Go to; well.

SHALLOW
Come, Sir John, which four will you have?

FALSTAFF
Do you choose for me.

SHALLOW
Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble and Shadow.

FALSTAFF
Mouldy and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy, stay at home
till you are past service: and for your part,
Bullcalf, grow till you come unto it: I will none of you.

SHALLOW
Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they are
your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best.

FALSTAFF
Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a
man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature,
bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the
spirit, Master Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a
ragged appearance it is; a' shall charge you and
discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's
hammer, come off and on swifter than he that gibbets
on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-faced
fellow, Shadow; give me this man: he presents no
mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim
level at the edge of a penknife. And for a retreat;
how swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run
off! O, give me the spare men, and spare me the
great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

BARDOLPH
Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.

FALSTAFF
Come, manage me your caliver. So: very well: go
to: very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a
little, lean, old, chapt, bald shot. Well said, i'
faith, Wart; thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a
tester for thee.

SHALLOW
He is not his craft's master; he doth not do it
right. I remember at Mile-end Green, when I lay at
Clement's Inn--I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's
show,--there was a little quiver fellow, and a'
would manage you his piece thus; and a' would about
and about, and come you in and come you in: 'rah,
tah, tah,' would a' say; 'bounce' would a' say; and
away again would a' go, and again would a' come: I
shall ne'er see such a fellow.

FALSTAFF
These fellows will do well, Master Shallow. God
keep you, Master Silence: I will not use many words
with you. Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank
you: I must a dozen mile to-night. Bardolph, give
the soldiers coats.

SHALLOW
Sir John, the Lord bless you! God prosper your
affairs! God send us peace! At your return visit
our house; let our old acquaintance be renewed;
peradventure I will with ye to the court.

FALSTAFF
'Fore God, I would you would, Master Shallow.

SHALLOW
Go to; I have spoke at a word. God keep you.

FALSTAFF
Fare you well, gentle gentlemen.

(Exeunt Justices)

On, Bardolph; lead the men away.

(Exeunt BARDOLPH, Recruits)

As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I do
see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord, Lord, how
subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This
same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to
me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he
hath done about Turnbull Street: and every third
word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's
tribute. I do remember him at Clement's Inn like a
man made after supper of a cheese-paring: when a'
was naked, he was, for all the world, like a forked
radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it
with a knife: a' was so forlorn, that his
dimensions to any thick sight were invincible: a'
was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a
monkey, and the whores called him mandrake: a' came
ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those
tunes to the overscutched huswives that he heard the
carmen whistle, and swear they were his fancies or
his good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger
become a squire, and talks as familiarly of John a
Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and
I'll be sworn a' ne'er saw him but once in the
Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head for crowding
among the marshal's men. I saw it, and told John a
Gaunt he beat his own name; for you might have
thrust him and all his apparel into an eel-skin; the
case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a
court: and now has he land and beefs. Well, I'll
be acquainted with him, if I return; and it shall
go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two
stones to me: if the young dace be a bait for the
old pike, I see no reason in the law of nature but I
may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end.
Exit

And yes, darlings, of course I was wonderful in the role!

 

 

 

This is one book I haven't the courage to read

I'm not talking about physical courage but moral courage!  One word is enough to disclose the cause of my unease - Dresden!  I have just read a review of the book "Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness" by Sinclair MacKay.  It is reviewed, carefully, by Christopher Priest in this week's Spectator.  It is, I suppose, 'the bombing raid that dare not speak its name'!  I have known about it for around 60-odd years but steered clear of digging into it too deeply.  I understand, and to a certain extent I sympathise with the perpetrators, even the ghastly Air Marshall 'Bomber' Harris, but it should not have happened.

 

Dresden after the Allied bombing raids of 13 to 15 February 1945: an estimated 25,000 civilians were killed

 

It was, in effect, a war crime.  There was nothing of military or strategic value in the city which was, in fact, crammed with refugees from the many other bombed cities of Germany plus countless others fleeing from the Russian advance from the East.  It was a war crime executed with military precision in that low-flying Mosquitoes were used to plant flares to mark out the City centre for the fleets of heavy bombers which followed.  The next day, the American Air Force took over and completed the utter destruction of the ancient city and of several more thousands of civilians and refugees.

 

Nothing I have written is intended to blight the reputations of the unbelievably courageous air crews involved who were, to quote a phrase, simply obeying orders.  And, as anyone with a modicum of common-sense will know, "war is hell!" and should be avoided as much as is possible.  There is no way that WWII could be avoided but I do believe that the raid on Dresden should have been.

 

 

 

 

 

Pearl Harbour - 'hoonoo?' Kilsoo Haan and Pres. Roosevelt did!

That's the problem for spies, no-one quite believes them!  Thus it was for the late Kilsoo Kenneth Haan (1900-1976).  I must confess I had never heard of him before I read a review in The Spectator of his biography, "Action Likely in Pacific: Secret Agent Kilsoo Haan, Pearl Harbor and the Creation of North Korea" by John Koster.  Kilsoo Haan was an American of mixed Japanese and Korean stock who possessed a network of informants throughout South East Asia during the '30s which allowed him to build up a clear and concise forecast of Japanese actions up to an including the attack on Pearl Harbour.  He passed this on to the highest echelons of the American government including Pres. Roosevelt himself.  The President chose to ignore it!  

I apologise to my American friends but I really do think a complete review of Roosevelt's presidency is long overdue!

 

 

 

Don't mess with 'The Donald'!

My only surprise at the news that President Trump had, in effect, just assassinated the Deputy 'President' of Iran was how long it took him to act!  For the last three years we have been under an endless stream of 'meeja agit-prop' to the effect that Trump was a trigger-happy looney who would start WWIII.  During those three years America has been the target for endless direct or indirect attacks of various kinds from Iran and its Islamic fanatical leadership.  The assault on the American embassy in Iraq was the final straw.

One immediate effect will be to concentrate what passes for the minds of those Iranian 'loonies' who 'strut their hour upon the stage' seemingly in the belief that they are invulnerable.  Not, of course, that that will change their ambitions but in future they will be wise to pick their targets more carefully - US embassies are best avoided!  Of course, what they are likely to do is switch their venom from America to friends of America.  Israel, of course, is well able to look after itself and the Iranians have never had any doubts as to the sort of response they can expect from that direction.  I just hope Boris and his acolytes are able to grip what passes these days for the British military(!) and ensure a suitably swift and murderous response to any future Iranian excesses.

In the meantime, I will congratulate 'The Donald' on an immaculate action which would have reduced his predecessor to tears and trembles had he - God forfend! - been in command!  Yes, there will be troubles ahead - so no change there then!

 

 

Right, Left and Centre, in war they all lie and lie and lie again!

By "they", in my title above, I don't just mean the politicians, I also include the 'Top Brass' who are supposed to have the care and welfare of their warriors in their hearts.  Yes, in mitigation they can plead that they are honour bound to execute the orders of their political masters but surely there comes a time in all long-running campaigns which are evidently failing in their purposes and resulting in the needless slaughter of their troops, for them to stand tall and tell truth to power.

I raise this subject because of the release yesterday of US government documents showing that the US army command hierarchy lied through their teeth during the Afghanistan campaign at the behest of their political masters.  No doubt they were well rewarded with promotions and medals for their deceit and their abandonment of the soldiers for whom they were responsible.  No surprise, really, given they had done exactly the same during the Vietnam campaign.

My only question is how do they manage to shave every morning given the necessity of looking at their faces in a mirror?

 

 

Never trust those damned, smoothie Brits!

A fascinating article via Zero Hedge which originated at The American Conservative.com.  It details the, er, 'dastardly deeds' of William Stephenson (a Canadian actually) who in 1940 - a rather sweaty time for Britain! - was despatched to the USA by Churchill in order to set up - dare I say it? - a 'fake news factory' to help persuade the American 'Peeps' to give up their really rather sensible insistence on neutrality as the rest of the world went to hell in a handcart!

Stephenson knew his way around the 'meeja' which barely differed in its crookedness then, to what it is today!  Also, given Roosevelt's quiet determination to get America into the war, he was content to allow Stephenson to pump his fake news into the American system.  Of course, it was not simply love for Britain and dislike of Hitler that moved Roosevelt but his absolute determination to use the disaster of yet another world war to provide an opportunity to create a new, American world order.

So, let's hear it for 'Fake News'! 

 

 

A 'yuuuuuuuuuge' 'THANK YOU' to JK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd8_vO5zrjo

My American political/military/history correspondent and, I almost forgot, also my Chief Archivist, 'JK', sent me the above link because of my utter fascination with the Battle of Midway.  Whilst I recognise that not all of you share my fascination with matters military, this battle was utterly crucial in the war in the Pacific against Japan.  Given its, er, 'fluid' nature - well, dammit, it was a naval/air battle! - and therefor the myriad 'ifs, buts and maybes' - this computer generated illustration is superb! 

Even so, for anyone coming fresh to it, I would advise reading a couple of books on the subject first!  I would recommend "MIDWAY: The Battle that doomed Japan" by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya which, just like the YouTube presentation above, gives a Japanese perspective to the battle.  For an American view, try "Miracle at Midway" by Gordon Prange.  In its way, this single battle sums up the nature of warfare in which tiny incidents and factors can tip a battle this way or that.

Sorry to bore on but  . . .

 

 

 

'Midway' - refought for the third time!

I have written before, many a time and oft', on the incredible battle of Midway.  In my heading I indicate that the battle has been fought three times but what I mean, of course, is that it was, in reality, fought once, and then refought twice by Hollywood!  The latest Hollywood version has just been released 'over there' and the appropriately named, Steve Sailor, offers a crit of it at Taki's Mag.  ( He approves, in the main.)

I am totally fascinated with this battle which, in effect, and in retrospect, won the Pacific war for America!  Not the least of its fascination lies in the element of chance which played a crucial role in the eventual outcome.  Another crucial element was what I used to call, in my Army days, 'SigInt' which the Americans had mastered to a high degree of expertise.  Thus, the Japanese steamed on in blissful ignorance and boundless conceit following their devastating attack on Pearl Harbour whilst the canny Americans listened in to their wireless transmissions and planned accordingly.

Even so, as in all battles everywhere, that fickle 'Lady Luck' played her part so that the first American warplanes to spot the Jap fleet were torpedo bomber who naturally attacked at sea-level, thus dragging down the Jap fighters from on high to deal with them.  This allowed the American dive-bombers, released from a Fleet of which the Japs were unaware, to arrive overhead and then dive down unopposed - with devastating results for the Japs.

The result - Japanese disaster and the first indication that they would lose their stupid, il-conceived war!

 

 

 

Right, get fell in, you 'orrible lot!

Thus spake sergeants through the ages and almost certainly still do so today.  So, 'you 'orrible lot' can 'get fell in' at the Daily Telegraph which has a fascinating briefing on the current and future developments of that awsome 'queen of the battlefield', the tank!  The possibilities are immense and with the advent of ultra-sophisticated electronics the horizon is enlarging at speed.  

Alas, as an ex-infantryman, I have nothing to add to the debate except enormous gratitude that I never had to face up to enemy tanks.  In fact, I wasn't too keen on friendly tanks, either.  I once looked inside one and my incipient claustrophobia instantly took over!  Even so, this is a fascinating article and I do hope that our military 'brain-boxes' are thinking things through with imagination and technical expertise.  If and when the 'brown stuff' hits the fan, it will be too late for any more original thinking!

 

 

Tarawa - HOONOO?

That will compete with numerous other titles to my blog posts as being one of the most incomprehensible - sorry!  I will try to explain.  I have recently stumbled across the Smithsonian Channel on my TV which seems to be totally concentrated on American battles in WWII.  Thus, given the almost total crap everywhere else it has become a favourite of mine.  This afternoon I chanced upon a documentary covering the battle for the island of Tarawa which the American Marines invaded in 1943 as the beginning of their thrust northwards to Japan.

Ferocious and bloody hardly suffices to describe this action in which the Japanese had prepared well and the Americans were, for the most part, beginners.  Even so, at huge cost and with unbelievable courage the Marines eventually succeeded.  Undoubtedly, lessons were learned which will have assisted in the numerous repetitions required in this Island-hopping strategy.  Unfortunately, at this beginning it was clear that the tactical thinking and planning of the Marine Corps staff was pathetic, if not downright useless.  According to Wiki:

Writing after the war, General Holland Smith, who in his biography was highly critical of the Navy, commented:

Was Tarawa worth it? My answer is unqualified: No. From the very beginning the decision of the Joint Chiefs to seize Tarawa was a mistake and from their initial mistake grew the terrible drama of errors, errors of omission rather than commission, resulting in these needless casualties.

Thus it is with most armies and as always 'lessons are learned' but at what a huge cost!  I salute the memory of those Marines lost at Tarawa.

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 17.11.19

Those damned Dambusters!   I am somewhat over-hyped because whilst slurping my morning 'drain-clear' (aka: my fresh orange juice) this morning, I read that part of Max Hasting's superb history of the 'Dambuster' raid in which the actual attacks went in.  I found myself gripping the arm of my chair!

Can you imagine flying that behemoth, straight and true at night, just 60' above the water, with German AA fire streaming in at you?  The courage and the skill required defies belief!  Mind you, it is worth pausing to also remark on the courage and sense of duty of the likes of Cpl. Schulze, the son of a local farmer, who remained at his AA post on top of the dam desperately trying to defend against this seemingly endless line of incoming bombers all of whom were firing back at him!  All that courage, all that skill, all that scientific expertise - and all for the purposes of mutual destruction!  One can only echo Othello: "But yet the pity of it, Iago! O Iago, the pity of it! "  And it's worth remembering that it was very much and Anglo-Saxon enterprise.  The crews were an ad hoc mix of British and British  Empire men from around the globe and also included an American (Joe McCarthy - no, not that one!) who had volunteered for the RAF before his country was involved.  It's a terrific book - treat yourself - or others - at Christmas!

 

Poor old Oliver Kamm, up the creek without a paddle!   As regular readers know, I have not just a soft spot for Oliver Kamm but admiration.  I remember way back in the day, long before he rose to the dizzy heights as a leader writer for The Times, when he was just another blogger, er, like me, really! (Well, not quite like me because he has brains, intelligence and learning and all that sort of thing!)  Anyway, I have, sort of, followed his progress since then and occasionally picked up his 'scribblings'.  Like today, for example, over at CAPX where the poor chap finds himself all at sea now that he accepts the cold truth that his lifetime of love and support for the Labour party needs must end.  He appears to be dismissive of the 'il-Lib-non-Dems' and somehow I cannot see him ever voting for Boris, so the question remains, who will he vote for next month?

 

We can't see ya' but we can hear ya and smell ya'!   According to the Sheriff's Office in Clay County, Missouri, a runaway dope-dealer suspect hid himself away so well they could not find him.  Alas and alack, he could not control his wind and let forth an almighty loud and long fart which gave him away.  The story does not say how long the sheriff had to wait up-wind before carrying out the arrest.  Possibly the suspect had over-indulged in a slug of Barney Magroo's finest!

 

Movin' along from Missouri to Louisiana:   Bad news for 'The Donald' in a State Governorship election in Louisiana.  The incumbent Democrat who took the 'Repubs' by surprise by winning the previous election, now he's done it again to win a second term.  This, despite three visits from 'The Donald' and a 'yuuuuge' campaign by the GOP who were anxious to regain what they considered to be a safe Republican state.  Not the best pre-Christmas gift Mr. President was hoping for!

 

Does anyone really know the real Boris?   I ask because I haven't a clue!  But next month I will probably help vote him in as Prime Minister.  What will he actually do?  The only 'hints', broadcast across the 'meeja' at full volume, is that he will spend money like a drunken sailor.  I must ask my e-pal, 'JK', how that works in practice but I fear the worst.  Part of the problem is that I have considerable difficulty in understanding what he is saying via that gurgling, stuttering,stammering burble that sounds terribly posh but is mostly indecipherable!  Mind you, I have no problem understanding 'Jezza's' agit-prop and I tremble!  Alas, when it comes to Boris, all we can do is hope for the best but expect the worst and comfort ourselves with the thought that his 'worst' is infinitely preferable to Jezza's best!

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 10.11.19

Remembrance Day:   An article in today's Mail took me by surprise.  They conducted a survey of some of those very 'foreign fields' on which British soldiers perished.  What was extraordinary was the fact that local people still tend these graves lovingly, some of them despite the fact that their history of inter-action with the British army was not always, shall we say, amicable!

In the heart of the African bush, Kokou Esso, an impoverished villager, carefully sweeps the grave of a British upper-class Army officer. It is well-tended, pristine and, most of all, remembered

Even in Russia the graves of various British servicemen who died there are still cared for - including the ones who perished in the abortive attempt to oppose the Bolshevik revolution!  For what it is worth, my grateful thanks to all of them.

 

Incoming 'SoD':   Posting might be a tad erratic today because I have it on high authority that 'SoD' might be visiting.  NOTE TO SELF: Don't mention the 'Br' word!

 

That Peter Hitchens is tossing grenades again!   This time his target is Winston Churchill as war leader who is, of course, a 'yuuuuuge' target and therefor fairly easy to hit!  Even so, Hitchens is in receipt of some fairly heavy counter-battery fire from some distinguished historians.  I will not attempt to summarise the arguments but I will provide you with the links so that you WWII buffs can study them at your leisure.  This is his opening salvo in today's Mail:

700 people came to see this talk about my book 'The Phoney Victory' in Edinburgh . Now you can share the experience

At last! The recording of my appearance last August at the Edinburgh Book Festival to discuss my widely-ignored book ‘The Phoney Victory’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb8A4AGKGkg&feature=youtu.be

The interviewer is Ruth Wishart, to whom I offer my thanks . Likewise to the Edinburgh Book Festival, the only major book festival which showed any interest in this book .

I think the unfairness and idiocy of the boycott of silence to which the book has been subjected by festivals and reviewers was well-illustrated by the fact that 700 people attended this event, and I missed my train home because so many people wanted me to sign books afterwards.

I have addressed two other private events about this book and on both occasions received an enormous amount of interest. It is not because this book is a commercial flop that it is being ignored, but perhaps because it might be a success if it were given normal levels of publicity.

These are two responses.  The first is from Daniel Johnson at Standpoint.   The second from Richard Evans, a history swot from Cambridge.  I am unqualified to adjudicate so I will leave it to you WWII students to take your own decisions.

 

I never thought I would write these words!   However, I really think I will miss Phil Hammond, the previous Chancellor of the Exchequer.  Yes, he looked like a gormless twit and over Brexit he demonstrated it!  However, he kept a canny eye on the nation's finances which are looking remarkably healthy despite the squealings of the 'Remainers'.  Alas, both Boris and 'Jezza' are throwing money - er, our money, I would remind you! - in all directions in their desperation to win the election.  There will be tears - or even blood!

 

More war - sorry!   But this is just a Hollywood film of a particular battle and I am sorry to say that it is based on one of the most crucial, subtle and sophisticated battles of WWII.  I refer to the Battle of Midway which involved not just the courageous sailors and airmen involved but also the highly secret skills of the American code-breakers.  Somehow, don't ask me how, I just cannot believe Hollywood will do it justice.  Read a bbook on the subject and be amazed!

 

Another tricky question for my American friends:   I keep coming across hints and whispers and the occasional nudge here and there in the 'meeja', to the effect that California is headed towards a financial collapse of Argentinian proportions!  Tell me it ain't so!

 

Too, too delicious!   I am referring to the plight of Michael E. Mann, the, er, 'inventor' of the 'Hockey Stick' graph which purports to show an up-tick in global temperatures.  He sued one of his critics, a Dr. Tim Ball, in the Canadian courts - and lost - BIGTIME!  Ordered to pay costs to Dr. Bell, he has so far refused.  The similar case against Mark Stein which Mann started some seven years ago has still not been judged in court because Mann keeps dodging.  How much faith do you have in global warming prophets?  That much, eh?   Sucker!

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

 

 

D-day and all that

I suppose with Remembrance Day approaching there have been numerous items on the news which feature the action at D-Day - and the consequent loss of life.  Watching some old newsreel footage the other day, I could not help ruminating on what a truly extraordinary operation it was.  The sheer volume of planning required for the overall strategy adopted which, and this was a 'minefield' all of its own, had to be agreed between three major, allied participants.  Then there was the planning for the logistics which were mammoth.  Yes it takes brave and skilled soldiers to fight battles but it also takes intelligent and detailed thinkers to ensure that they actually have the right 'bullets' in the right place at the right time in order for the soldiers to operate.

Of course, there were the usual silly spats between high-ranking officers each wishing to ensure that when the result, for good or ill, was clear, they and their country would come out of it with maximum credit and minimum crap!  In retrospect, it is worth remembering that they, in their different ways, represented democratic countries and democratic systems with all the inbuilt messiness that such liberal systems entail.   Unlike their opponents, they were not ruled over by a murderous mono-maniac who truly believed he was 'the ruler of the universe'.  It is clear now that, in fact, Hitler was the Allies best weapon!

Even so, in the end everything, absolutely everything, depended on the tens of thousands of individual soldiers who had to gulp their breath and step out from a landing craft into a ferocious hail of red-hot metal, and then keep on advancing even as their comrades fell beside them.  That, truly, was courage - and we all salute them.

 

 

 

Ne mentionnez pas Agincourt!

Or Waterloo, for that matter!  I mention this, usually unwritten, law because according to the Telegraph there have been wails and shrieks of outrage in La France over the release of a Netflix film based on the (in)famous battle.  The curator of the newly refurbished museum close to the original battlefield has, so to speak, 'gone off on one', of which phrase I am unsure of the correct French translation!

"I'm outraged. The image of the French is really sullied. The film has Francophobe tendencies,” he said, taking offence at Pattinson’s hammed-up take of the French Dauphin Louis de Guyenne, Henry’s nemesis.  “The British far-Right are going to lap this up, it will flatter nationalist egos over there,” he predicted.

English “raping and pillaging” was totally overlooked and the king’s cold-blooded execution of his French prisoners glossed over, despite them having “their throats slit and heads crushed with sledgehammers” or “faces slashed with daggers”.

Doesn't the silly man know that “raping and pillaging” is what we Brits are famous for - how else do you think we aquired an empire?  Needles to say, M. Christophe Gilliot, gives Will Shakespeare a well-deserved slap for historical inaccuracy in his play on the subject, seemingly unaware that Will was in it for the money, not scholorship!

Still 'n' all, as our American cousins say, the fact is that a shambolic, starving, British army floundering around northern France were eventually cornered by a larger French army but still managed to beat the pants off them!  'Zut alors!'

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 3.11.19

Feeling cheerful this Sunday morning, are you?   Well, I'll soon put a stop to that!  Or to be precise, Mr. Peter Hitchens, will!  He has a terrific article in The Mail today in which he looks back over his political travails during the numerous general elections  from the early '70s until today in which he was either a participant or just another voter.  All the old names resurface, Michael Foot, Harold MacMillan, Ted Heath, Jeremy Thorpe and so on and on, ad nauseum, although, oddly, he never mentions "that woman"!  It has obviously been a long and painful journey for poor Peter because he looks back on it, and into the future, with undoubted anguish.  But of course, his real problem is that he is now and has been since his early teen-age years, an idealist which is why he began his political journey with the Labour party.  Alas, idealists of all persuasions are doomed to disappointment because this messy world just doesn't behave like that!  Even so, it is a superb and in some ways moving essay and well worth reading.

 

Do get a grip, Mr. President!   Alas, after reading Mr. John R. Bradley's piece in this week's 'Speccie', I fear that the 'Ginger Ninjah' has adopted an odd anthem to lead his Middle East policy - "In-out, in-out, wave it all about!"  A few days ago we - er, well, me, at any rate - were breathing a sigh of relief following 'The Donald's' decision to withdraw American ground troops from the Middle East.  Since then, the American Generals have ordered their Military Police to give him a whacking with their 'yuuuuuuuge' truncheons and in this they have been aided and abetted by the Evangelical vote which will be crucial at the next election.  Then there are the neo-cons led by the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham whose support will be critical if this fatuous impeachment goes much further.  The result is that now 'the GIs ain't goin' nowhere no how'.  Please, pretty please, Mr. President do try and engage the brain before opening your mouth - and in the meantime have your twitter finger amputated!

 

Dammit, that Max Hastings is good!   Yes, I have finally begun his book "Chastise", his history of the famous dam-busters raid in 1944.  I was somewhat surprised to learn that it took place on the night of the 16th of May and the early morning of the 17th which, of course, as y'all do know, do you not?, was my 4th birthday!  I am only into it in a small way but already Sir Max has dropped some 500lb bombs on that bumptious fool, Air Marshal 'Bomber' Harris, which is excellent.  Even based on the opening chapters I can thoroughly recommend it.

 

Good News and Dribbling Idiocy:   Thanks to today's Mail I learn two things.  First, the police are to be given the power to arrest (so-called) gypsies if they set up their squalid camps illegally on private or public land.  Second, audiences at theatres will no longer hear the phrase "Ladies and Gentlemen" which has been banned for the usual eye-ball rolling idiocy perpetrated by the 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz' pressure group. (Note: I have put all the letters into their title to ensure that I don't leave one out!

 

When it comes to the horror of black slavery, check out Arab-Islam!   A fascinating, 'MUST READ' article at The American Thinker site in which the little known, or at least, the little mentioned, facts of Arabic slavery in Africa, which far exceeds anything we wicked, Western Whites ever did, is exposed.  Nowadays, of course, much of black Africa has converted to Islam so we are unlikely to see any recriminations from there!

 

No more rumbles  . . .

 

 

Calm down, Mr. President, there's plenty more where Baghdadi came from!

No-one who isn't a member of ISIS would begrudge 'The Donald' his moment of triumph even if it was earned on the backs of some exceedingly brave and skilful soldiers.  However, too much triumphalism, too early, could bite back because there are probably a score of 'Nasty Hairies' already plotting their way to replace the late Mr. Baghdadi and a chance to 'earn' their own reputations - and their revenge!  Even so, this is the very best way to fight this particular campaign.  No need for Divisions of troops spread across a hostile land and providing endless targets for the 'Hairies' to aim at.  Instead, use the very best intelligence-gathering devices and specialist troops to seek out the individual targets - and then make it deadly and personal!

Well done, Mr. President!  I'm not sure how much input you had in this tricky operation but if it had gone 'tits up' you would certainly have been in receipt of several tons of brown stuff!  So, enjoy your moment of triumph - but don't over-do it.  Your enemies in the Democrat party and the 'meeja' will be quietly sharpening their knives and waiting their chance- a bit like the 'Hairies', really!

 

 

"Per ardua ad astra"

The motto of the Royal Air Force seemed the only proper heading to this post which follows my attendance this evening at a talk given by Sir Max Hastings, author of "Chastise", the title of his just published history of the Dambusters' raid in 1943.  Needless to say it was a polished 'performance' from a man who had obviously studied the subject in detail.  Like most wartime operations it was a mix of 'rights' and 'wrongs', successes and failures, and the inevitable outcome was a huge loss of life - but, hell, that's war!

First and foremost was the sheer skill and courage of the airman concerned who, in effect, had to fly their massive bombers almost as though they were fighters.  Imagine, flying your aircraft, at night, straight and true and at a steady speed at a mere 60' above the ground against AA defences mounted round the targeted dams.  Then there was the inventive brilliance of Barnes Wallis, the engineer/scientist who invented the 'bouncing bomb' which was required to ensure the explosion, when it occurred, was hard up against the structure of the dam.

Most British people know the story, not least courtesy of the famous film "The Dam Busters".  As Sir Max made clear in his talk, the operation and the characters who took part in it were multi-layered.  Needless to say, one man's reputation was not exactly enhanced by the story - Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris who should, perhaps, have been used as a 'bouncing bomb' himself!  Sir Max made light of his problem in trying not to overly repeat the name of Guy Gibson's pet, black dog - "Nigger"!  It gives me no problems because at exactly that same time, the family I was evacuated to had a pet, black dog called "Nigger".  Also, on a personal note, I hadn't realised that the raid took place on my 4th birthday!

Anyway, I have bought a signed copy of the book which I will try and read without damaging it so that I can give it to 'SoD' at Christmas - or throw it at him if he irritates me!

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 20.10.19

Yes, you're right, I have been a tad lackadaisical on this, er, distinguished blog since I snuck off for a three-day break.  It's a funny thing, this writing lark, you really do have to be in the mood for it.  Anyway, after a good night's sleep, my first for a while, I am firing on all of my 2.5 cylinders!

Who is Ms. Tulsi Gabbard?   And why do I want her to have my babies?  Well, I'm not too sure about that but anyone who can describe 'HillBilly' as "the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long" certainly deserves consideration as a bearer of my precious hereditary 'jewels'!  Also, as a female member of the American army, the first Samoan to stand for high political office and as a practicing Hindu she is certainly worth watching.  Alas, she seems imbued with all the usual Left-wing twaddle but even so she may be worth watching.

 

This gives me a warm feeling:   I might even give myself a self-congratulatory hug!  According to the Charity Aid Foundation - no, me neither! - who have conducted a survey of every nation in the world in order to find out which is the most charitable in its giving, the UK came in second!  I point this out to remind y'all that contributions to DPCBF will be gratefuly received.  (Er, that's Duff's Poor Children's Beer Fund, of course!)

 

Dear Meghan, six weeks isn't long enough:   Apparently, poor little Meghan is in desperate need of a six week holiday after the stresses and strains of jetting hither an thither to various places ranging from American high society spots to South Africa.  I can only suggest, your Royal Highness, that you make it six months, nay, better still, take the next six years off and give us all a break.  At my age I will probably be dead by the time you return to constantly clutter up the front pages where you are rapidly becoming even more boring than Brexit!

 

Hey! You 'Noo Yawkers', get down to the Morgan Library!   According to the National Review, an exhibition of John Singer Sargent's later charcoal drawings has just opened.  Absolutely and definitely worth a look.  The man was a truly brilliant artist.  Who could ever forget, "Madame X":

 

That Max Hastings better be on his game!    Next Wednesday, as part of the internationally acclaimed Sherborne Literary Festival - waddya mean, ya never heard of it? - Mr. Hastings is giving a talk on his latest book covering the (in)famous Dam-busters raid in 1943.  Actually, he has nothing to fear from me because I have been an admirer of it since I first read about it as a nipper.  However, that did not stop mounting suspicions in my mind that perhaps it was not quite the triumph it was proclaimed to be.  Anyway, I am looking forward to it immensely and, of course, I will report in here for a debriefing!

 

'I'm black 'n' fat cos you is white 'n' ginger'!   Thus sayeth, sort of, Professor Britney Cooper who "sports a PhD from Emory University and who currently is an associate professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University".

In her own inimitable words which, I suppose, indicate the er, value of a PhD from Emory University, she says:

"I hate when people talk about black women being obese.  I hate it because it becomes a way to blame us for a set of conditions that we didn't create."

Do you get that, 'Whitey'?  Those grossly fat, black ladies are not that way because of the extra doughnuts they stuff down their throats at every coffee break but because of your racism in general and your 'gingerism' in the last three years!

 

Let's hear it for good old Albert!   There is an excellent review of A. N. Wilson's new biography of Prince Albert in this week's Spectator.  Poor, old Albert must qualify as one of the most under-rated men in recent British history.  Alas, poor fellow, he never won any great battles and all of his many great achievements were in the field of civic advancement, you know, 'boring-snoring'!  If I didn't have so many other books waiting for my attention I would snap it up immediately.

 

No more rumbles 

 

 

It ain't what you do, Mr. President, but the way that you do it!

Let me begin by setting out my credentials.  I have a First Class Honours Degree in Middle East Politics from that illustrious Hall of Learning, er, 'Blogdom University'!  Oh yes, when it comes to the differences between a Sunni and a 'Cloudy' or a Turk and a, well, you know, one of those turban-wearing scallywags, I have all the facts and figures at my fingertips.  By which I mean that given a couple of years of non-stop tapping on my keyboard I could find all the answers via Google - an impeccable source, I am assured!

All of which brings me to that splendid twit in the White House who, with a quick stab at his Twitter-machine, dumps his erstwhile allies deep in the 'doo-doo' by flouncing out of a military/strategic conflict which he has hitherto supported!  Of course, in the short-term he has saved a few 'zillion' dollars and perhaps some servicemen's lives but in the long-term he has reduced trust in America to zero.  Not, of course, that any sensible political leader would ever place too much trust in any other political leader but there are ways of 'ratting out' your erstwhile allies with some sophistication and guile.  Simply announcing out of the blue that "I'm outta here!" is not quite the way to do it especially if in doing so you leave other allies, who had hitherto supported you, holding a suitcase which is ticking ominously.

Trust in America just dropped close to zero.  No 'probs' today perhaps but, Mr. President, think about tomorrow!

 

Those mad, courageous Poles

Don't worry, your Monday Funnies will come a bit later but I have just read a review in The Telegraph of an 'absolute must read' book by Roger Moorhouse called "First to Fight: The Polish War, 1939".  I must confess that although I have read widely on many aspects of WWII, that opening campaign when first the Germans and then a fortnight later, the Russians, invaded 'plucky little Poland' is a mystery to me.

Polish Cavalrymen charging across a field, c1939 Credit: Getty/Popperfoto

And no, according to Mr. Moorhouse, the Poles did not mount cavalry charges against German tanks, they might have been mad (in the best sense) but they were not stupid!  What they did do was destroy some 1,000 German armoured vehicles and 600 German aircraft.  Even more important they managed to smuggle out three Polish mathematicians who were instrumental in breaking the 'Enigma' code, a truly enormous contribution to the eventual defeat of the Germans.

Now, I must go and 'ablute my person' and then I will sort out your, er, 'side-splitters'!

 

 

An interesting book - well, to me!

I am referring to "Our Boys: The story of a paratrooper" by Helen Parr.  She is now a distinguished academic but earlier in her life as a young girl she was distressed to learn that her uncle, Dave Parr, had been killed in the Falkland Islands whilst serving with the Paras.  Now, later in life, she has returned to this sensitive subject and has used it as a base from which to examine the nature of the Parachute Regiment before, during and after the Falklands war.

She has the essence of the regiment exactly right with its emphasis on  stamina and aggression - both of which could not have been more severely tested than in that freezing, bleak landscape in which virtually everything a soldier needed had to be carried - by the soldier!  She has not flinched from investigating and telling in some detail the nature of very close combat, so close that frequently the bayonet was required.  Nor does she flinch from pointing to some brutal details of the behaviour of some of the 'Toms' when hand-to-hand combat ceased.

Moving back from the 'cut and thrust', so to speak, of the combat, she sets the entire war into the background of UK society then, at the beginning of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, and now, when it seems impossible to imagine British troops going halfway round the world to fight a war - which, of course, was exactly how things were back in 1982!  Not the least of her concerns was, and still is, the nature of the relationship now between British civilian society and its armed forces.

Even so, above and beyond everything is her judicious admiration for 'the Paras', their history and their ethos.  Not a book for everyone but I, an ex-Para who (thank God!) never fired a shot in anger, enjoyed it immensely.

 

 

 

A far better radio operator than I would ever have been!

As you regulars know, I always keep half an eye on the 'obits' in The Telegraph because they are a constant source of delight and wonderment and humour and, very often, total admiration.  Today, there is an 'obit' on the late, and exceedingly courageous, Sgt. John Sharp who has died recently aged 96.

John Sharp in France sending Morse Code messages from his suitcase wireless

If ever the well known phrase 'He had a good war' applied to anyone it was to this man.  I salute his memory.

 

 

 

The Sunday Rumble: 29.09.19

I woke up feeling cheerful, then I read the papers:   Don't worry, I'm not going to summarise them for you, instead, I will let you read them for yourselves but please have an exceedingly stiff whisky to hand!  In no particular 0rder of precedence:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516523/ANDREW-ROBERTS-Boris-beat-Parliament-going-strike.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516237/DAN-HODGES-moment-killed-British-democracy.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7516449/Liberals-soon-regret-power-wielded-Supreme-Court-judges-writes-PETER-HITCHENS.html

And I haven't even started on The Daily Telegraph!  Oh God, I may have to start reading stories about Meghan Markle and Harry and, of course, Archie - 'oh, the horror, the horror'!

 

And now I have another problem!   Who the hell am I going to vote for at the next election?  Alas, it will probably not be the Conservative party which is a shame because I think our local MP, David Warburton, is excellent but, alas and alack, the behaviour of the Tory party - or large parts of it! - make it unelectable.  I remain (if you will excuse that vile word!) reluctant to vote for 'our Nige', not because of him but the people who surround him.  This morning, following an article at The Coffee Shop, I am tempted to vote for the Social Democratic party.  (Sorry, did you just blow coffee all over your keyboard?)  Their very title fills me with dread but there are two big points in their favour, first, it is led by Rod Liddle, a political philosopher of , er, great distinction (sorry, did you say something?) and second, there are its stated aims:

We will be the focus on campuses for anti-woke students, the party of freedom of speech and we will continue to be the only party which wishes to reduce immigration, disavows all this gender fluidity nonsense and fights against identity politics and in support of faith, flag and family.

Who could ask for anything more?

 

Now, about this FDR fella . . .   He is rapidly becoming one of those 'enigma/riddle thingies'!  I have long been puzzled by him, especially by the way that, finally, in the late '30s and early '40s, he galvanised the US armed services but - and it's an enormous BUT - he left the US Pacific fleet moored in nice straight rows in Pearl Harbour when he knew, absolutely knew, that the Japs were poised for war not least because he was, with great deliberation, strangling them economically and war was their only choice - and Roosevelt's only hope!  I am reminded of my suspicions by a piece quoted at Zero Hedge which is worth a read.

 

(Sir) Lewis wins- again!   I gather that all was not quite straightforward at the Russian Grand Prix but waddya expect in Russia?  Must read up on the details later.

 

'MDJ' sums it up thusly:   Of course, y'all know that 'MDJ' is 'My Darling Jane' Daley and today in The Telegraph she says this:

So no, I do not think there will be violence in the streets even when the people realise the full consequences of the contempt in which they are held by what they see, quite rightly, as a privileged, arrogant political class. They will not riot or attack the police who they will assume, again rightly, to be blameless. The outcome will be far worse than that because it will not blow itself out in civil disruption which is generally counterproductive (just as the noxious Remain protesters who drown out broadcast interviews are counterproductive). There will instead be despair, disillusionment and alienation between the social classes which will prevail for at least a generation.

If, as seems likely, Brexit is finally defeated by 'you know who', then the consequences will be profound and deeply damaging.  Not the least of them will be a slow but steady growth in detestation, amounting to hatred, in the EU and all its works.  Needless to say, the blind, cloth-eared apparatchiks in Brussels will press on with their mad schemes with ever more fervour.

 

 

No more Rumbles