Geography

A very bright daughter of a friend told me she was going to read Geography at University.  I couldn't resist asking her a simple 'prep school' geography question ; 'Where is the Gobi Desert?'   Now actually the Gobi Desert is not some tin pot little affair but covers some 500,000 square miles of Northern China as well as a fair chunk of Mongolia but she looked at me blankly and hadn't a clue what continent it was in let alone what countries . I tried another question; 'where is the Mekong river? ' another blank stare.

What on earth do they teach in schools nowadays?  When I did my common entrance aged 12 an important part of the paper was a map of the world on which you had to identify certain rivers, mountain ranges, countries and such like.  Virtually every twelve year old in my class would have been able to pinpoint both the Gobi Desert and the Mekong river on that map but this very intelligent eighteen year old couldn't do either.

And that perhaps is what's wrong with so much modern teaching - there are no foundations. No one makes children learn the names of countries, capital cities, oceans, and deserts in Geography any more, just as no one makes children learn the kings and queens of England and important dates any more. No one either - apparently - makes children learn poetry any more either but then the poetry which is taught in school is banal boring modern blank verse so it is hardly surprising everyone switches off in class.  Teach the children proper poetry - The Charge of Light Brigade by Tennyson, the Pied Piper by Browning or Lepanto by Chesterton to give but three examples and they would be a very poor lot of children who wouldn't be gripped and inspired but that would never do would it -these poets wrote poems everyone could enjoy without having them explained to them by so called experts so clearly they are not good and -even worse- they are not - that awful word - relevant    .

Anniversary of the Hanoverian Succession

This coming Monday (Oct 20th ) is the 300 th anniversary of one of the most momentous events in British history yet no great parades through London are planned, no service of thanksgiving, not even a special issue of commemorative stamps.  Yet arguably what happened 400 years ago was one of most important occurrences not only in the history of Britain but in the history of the world. It was of course the accession of King George I, the Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland.

Yet it so nearly did not happen. The Tories and much of the country at large hankered for the return of the Stuarts in the person of The Old Pretender, the son of the deposed James II.The Jacobites though lost through a mixture of indolence, overconfidence, and bad luck but it was a close run thing.  If they had prevailed and the Old Pretender had been crowned James III then the 18th century might have been very different. Instead of Great Britain becoming embroiled in war after war against France we might, instead, have allied ourselves with France against the likes of Prussia and Hanover. Think on that.  If France had been an ally then no French help would have been given to the American colonists in their War of Independence. Canada would have remained French, France would not have bankrupted herself in wars with Britain and therefore the French Revolution would not have happened.    

But instead of glamorous Stuarts we opted four hundred years ago for stupid boring Germans and by God they were all that and more. George I arrived with his two ugly mistresses, one of whom he created duchess of Kendal and the other countess of Darlington.  the duchess was tall and thin and immediately nicknamed the Maypole while the countess was small and fat and thus was called the elephant.

But it was to the sheer stupidity of the four George's, and to the first two's idleness in delegating all the business of government to such a clever man as Sir Robert Walpole, that caused the rapid transfer of power during the 18th century from the Crown to an elected Parliament and the development of that unique British invention - the Constitutional Monarchy.  Food for thought I think you will agree and surely one of histories big 'What If's' - is it worthy though of a celebration?  I cannot warm to the Hanoverians I'm afraid, they had no 'style' - no glamour- they were dullards all. No I am a romantic and the Stuarts for all their faults had style, they had romance and they were one and all glamorous so I for one would not be celebrating in any case but I am surprised that no else is.

Mansion tax and Property prices

Markets are supposed to be efficient.  But, just at this moment, London  residential property prices, seem to demonstrate that they are anything but.  The Labour Party is totally committed to the economically illiterate 'mansion tax' which they plan to levy on all properties worth over £2.0 million at a rate of 2%.  The Labour Party is also, despite it's inept leadership, quite likely to form the next government either on its own or with the help of what's left (not much I suspect) of the Liberal Party.

So - all things being equal- within rather less than a year a £3.0 million London house could be subject to a annual tax of £60,000! Now -in that event what happens to it's capital value? - come on thicko - think back to you basic maths and basic economics. It is going to collapse in value isn't it? In fact it is going to fall at the very least by just over a £1.0 million- taking it below the £2.0 million threshold but possibly by even more - why so?  Because all houses above it in value will also see their values collapse.  In other words the £5.0 million house which would, if its value did not change, carry an annual tax burden of £100,000 will also fall by at least £3.0 million.  Why the collapse in its value?  Because £100,000 represents an annual yield of 2.5% on £4.0 million.  In short you cannot expect capital values of London property at any level to be unaffected by the imposition of this ridiculous tax. So why are investors not baling out as fast as they can? It is a mystery to me.

An even bigger mystery is why there are 25,000 luxury homes either in development or planned with, a today's completion value, of £60 billion i.e. with an average value of over £2.0 billion.  Now it maybe that developers and owners of prime London property know something you and I don't - that Ed Milliband hasn't a hope of becoming Prime Minister, let alone Nick Clegg. I just wish I could be so sure.  But to me it looks like a hell of a gamble. After all -frankly -the upside in London property has to be very limited while the threat of a 'mansion tax' makes the downside a black hole.  
 

The new History curriculum and The Nursery History of England

So the teaching of history is to be overhauled and all children in primary school are to be taught a chronological history of 'Our Island Story.'  Well three cheers for that.

But if this is to happen schools will need to buy new books and - as luck would have it - I have a copy at my elbow of the very history book which every single child should be given as a basic 'primer' of history.

The Nursery History of England is probably the finest history book ever written. And I don't mean the finest 'childrens' history either -I mean the 'Finest' full stop. What is so horrifying of course is that when it was published, shortly before the Great War, every child in the land was taught the basics of British History and knew the dates of the kings and queens as well as the dates of the key events in the history of our Island. Now - talking to my children's friends - or actually middle aged adults -I am horrified by their complete ignorance.

So what is so brilliant about the Nursery History of England?  In one word- it is pictures. Glorious technicolour pictures as well.  Open the book at random and on one page there will be two beautifully painted pictures of events in history while -on the page opposite- are two short explanatory paragraphs.  My sisters and I poured over this book in our childhood and -if I close my eyes -I can recall many of the pictures from my memory bank. King Alfred burning the cakes, King Cnut ordering back the waves, King John and the Magna Carta, the Empress Matilda fleeing across a snow covered landscape and so on. All the great stories are here.

All right -I will admit - perhaps some of the sentiments and views expressed may jar with some of our friends in the Urban Metropolitan elite.  Take the final entry which concerns King George V's visit to India.

One of the biggest countries which belongs to England is India.  It is very hot and poor English people do not go out there, but just a few English people who help to rule the country. There are a great many Indian princes. A short time ago king George and queen Mary went out to India, and the Indian princes went and bowed down before them to do them honour. Some of them brought presents, and it was a very fine sight. The king and queen wish India to be happy and all the other lands they rule as well.     

Great Stuff - and absolutely true.

Vote for Bob - or the hypocrites of the RSPB

At the bottom of the page on the Daily Mail on line there was an appealing photograph of a red squirrel with the strap line - Vote for Bob.

Now I love red squirrels so I clicked on the image and found myself transported to a web site that - weirdly-has nothing to do with red squirrels but is a campaign site for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).  On this website under the image of Bob the red squirrel was the following:

'I may be a small red squirrel but I have big ambitions. I want my young - and yours -to inherit a world where they can thrive .....'

Yes - well so do I Bob - unfortunately you are not getting any help from the RSPB - rather the opposite in fact. It would have been far more accurate if the RSPB -instead of showing the appealing picture of a happy Bob -had shown  Bob being torn to pieces by a ravenous goshawk.  The RSPB is - actually - a bird organisation and not a squirrel one and near the top of the list of birds the RSPB is most keen on is the goshawk which regards squirrels as a special treat.

So far so bad - but even worse is the sheer gall of the RSPB in using an image of a red squirrel when it has done absolutely nothing to help save this endangered species from extinction in the UK. The red squirrel is almost extinct in England and is on the retreat virtually everywhere with a few exceptions where - the energy and skill of a few dedicated people have caused the red squirrel to make a comeback -with -it goes without saying - no help from the RSPB.

The key to the survival of the red squirrel is the elimination of the introduced American grey squirrel. Yes - get rid of the grey squirrel and once again Bob could ' ..have big ambitions'  and '....want his young to inherit a world where they can thrive.' But that ain't going to happen unless we learn how to eliminate the grey squirrel.

So what exactly is the RSPB doing to achieve this aim? Is it funding much needed research into the habits etc. of the grey squirrel with a view to improving our knowledge of this rodent and thus making our control methods more efficient? No it isn't

Has it issued traps to all it's wardens in it's reserves with instructions to zealously pursue grey squirrels with the aim of wiping them out? No it hasn't

Has it actually done anything to help preserve the red squirrel as pat of the fauna of these islands -No it hasn't.

So how dare it use Bob's image. Well it is the RSPB and has a total contempt for the truth about nature and has long got away with a policy of being - at best - economical with the truth regarding the world of birds and beasts.    
   

ISIS and the influence of Focus groups on Policy

I can't quite get a grip on Cameron's Middle East policy - if -that is - he has one. A year ago he was mustard keen to bomb shit out of President Assad but now he hangs back and wrings his hands over genocidal activities of  ISIS and does nothing except go surfing at Polzeath.

Of course he may just be feeling a mite embarrassed about his track record as a 'war leader ' to date.  The bombing of Libya did indeed succeed in getting rid of Gadaffii but the result is a completely lawless 'failed state.'  Whilst if he had got his way and bombed President Assad into defeat the likely result would have been a total take over of Syria by the very fanatics who are now causing mayhem in Northern Iraq with massacres of minorities on a truly biblical scale.

Listening to our Foreign Secretary - the accountant Hammond - on the radio -I was truck by a phrase he used when asked about the possibility of British Military involvement. He categorically stated that this would not involve 'boots on the ground' because;  'he was not sure the British public would stand or it '

The scales fell from my eyes - now I know where our strategy is made - not in the Foreign Office - nor the MOD -or even in Downing Street - but in focus groups!  Strange how politicians hide behind 'the British people' supposed wishes when it suits them but but ignore them when it doesn't. So- to give two examples - immigration controls continue to be joke and the activities of lawyers feathering their nest from the Human Rights Act continues to be a scandal  but politicians do nothing about either.

Looking back to the 1930's most historians are of the opinion that if the Britain and France had reacted with force to the occupation of the Rhineland by German troops Hitler may well have fallen.  Movements such as ISIS need to be squashed early and not allowed to prosper. Sadly the only way to achieve this result is for 'boots on the ground' as - frankly - the Iraq army has shown itself to be a toy town joke and the Syrians are fully engaged already.

It is ironic that minority religious and racial groups who have lived and prospered for two thousand years or more are now threatened with total extermination.  So I suppose we must wait for some truly horrendous massacres to take place in the new 'Caliphate' before 'the focus groups' change their minds and give our politicians the go ahead to launch a proper military campaign. Beats me why we bother paying salaries to our supposed leaders - who do no leading but instead -react.

Julian Brazier

A friends son came back from his TA drill night the other day:

'You know what Dad' - he said - 'did you know that in the last six months more Brits have joined the Islamic ISIS than have been recruited by the TA.'

Well I think that is a really interesting statistic and one which -if true - is going to cause the new Minister for the Reserve Forces -Julian Brazier quite a headache.

The appointment of Julian to this important post is surprising as he does not wear a skirt and actually knows an enormous amount about the job he has been given. Here I must put my hand up and admit that many moons ago Julian and I played soldiers together n and his knowledge and enthusiasm for the Reserve army is enormous.

My first memory of Julian is of him getting out of his sleeping bag on some cold damp Welsh hillside and we all -in amazement- stared at him - as he was dressed in silk pyjamas. He soon learnt though.