question stringlengths 14 1.69M | answer stringlengths 1 40.5k | meat_tokens int64 1 8.18k |
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Callcredit invest<|fim_middle|> to be firmly associated with it."
Read more on Master data management (MDM) and integration
Whistleblowers: James Glenn's battle with Cisco opens new front on cyber security
Cisco security flaw leads to $8.6M payout in whistleblower case
By: Jonathan Dame
AI developer toolset series: Aricent's 'big 4' Deep Learning challenges
Aricent on re-architecting towards 'application elasticity'
Behavioural analytics - BA, humbug? – ComputerWeekly.com
Identity theft linked to 60% of UK fraud in 2013 – ComputerWeekly.com
Callcredit speeds credit checks with SQL upgrade – ComputerWeekly.com | s in machine learning analytics to improve fraud detection
Callcredit, the second largest credit reference bureau in the UK, has invested in machine learning analytics to improve its fraud detection offering.
Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist
Published: 02 Sep 2013 11:00
The UK owned agency has paired with Featurespace which provides advanced learning behaviour analytics to analyse its large amounts of data. The company estimates that it has information about nearly everyone in the UK.
"We have lots and lots of data, which is great, but having analytics to spot the value of the data is just as important," says John Cannon, Callcredit's head of fraud & ID.
Callcredit will be using Featurespace's Adaptive Behavioural Analytics (ARIC) engine to spot trends and patterns happening within Callcredit's vast amount of data, to indicate when fraud could be happening.
"Equally important is spotting behavioural changes that might look unusual and may be fraud, but are just changes around the individual that is actually not fraud," says Cannon.
So as well as being able to detect fraud, the analytics technology uses machine learning to detect variations in behaviour and confirm that fraud it not happening. "Let's say a credit or debit card gets declined by the bank for unusual behaviour - for instance when you've gone abroad - it's an inconvenience for the customers and not a great experience," he says. "That behaviour is different, but there's a reason, so the system can allow genuine customers to get through."
Cannon says that in the future the ARIC system could see that a transaction has taken place in or near an airport and deduce that the customer is abroad: "The possibilities are endless."
"What's cool from our perspective it has the ability the engine has to learn as it goes along," he says.
Callcredit will also use the technology to detect trends in their data to determine why someone is likely to become a victim of fraud. "What's the behaviour they have that makes them become a victim?" says Cannon.
"The analytics capability will help us to drive a whole raft of potential products within the service," he says.
Cannon says that Featurespace's offers advanced learning behaviour that the company could not generate itself and has failed to find in other companies.
The ARIC technology coexists on Callcredit's IT infrastructure including its existing in-house analytics capabilities.
Featurespace provides both a synchronous and asynchronous event based API, which enables Callcredit to notify Featurespace of events within their platform. These events are used by the software to predict the likelihood of fraudulent activity. The software is available as an on-premise or cloud-based solution and is tailored for individual requirements of the customer.
Canon says that Callcredit seeks out innovative techniques from other businesses to keep on top of technology trends. "We recognise other companies that are innovative and we look to partner where we can with the best technologies. Featurespace have a really unique capability in what they do. They are the analytics of the future that will be more widely adopted and we're getting in at an early stage | 620 |
The Lady from the Sea
Authors: Thomas Zanon-Larcher, Jules Wright
A unique multidisciplinary approach to Ibsen's seminal work by renowned fashion photographer Thomas Zanon-Larcher and theatre director Jules Wright.
Inspired by Henrik Ibsen's The<|fim_middle|> act to deepen our understanding of a unique and compelling approach to a theatrical masterwork. | Lady from the Sea, the photographer Thomas Zanon-Larcher and theatre director Jules Wright continue their series of narratives realised in performance, film and photography, with actors placed in environments external to the conventional set or stage. Taking as their lead the notion that both the play's protagonist Ellida and her lover originate from the far north, Zanon-Larcher and Wright set out beyond the Arctic Circle, to Isfjord Radio, the last departure point for the great solitary polar explorers. With such an approach, the director, photographer and actors establish the authenticity of solitude emphasised within the essence of Ibsen's characters and the kind of driven isolation that perpetuates the classical Norwegian constitution.
The book details Zanon-Larcher's photographic methodology and Wright's creative approach, as well as the sheer presence of the landscape itself. Beautifully shot on 6:12 colour and 5:4 black-and-white film, the panoramic images grapple with the beauty and fragility of the Arctic, telling more than simply the story of Ellida. These, together with in-depth discussions with Wright and reproductions of Zanon-Larcher's sketchbooks, | 237 |
A numbered company is a corporation given a generic name based on its sequentially assigned registration number. For instance, an entity incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and assigned the corporation number 12345<|fim_middle|> various purposes.
In some cases, a legitimately-active enterprise may be structured as a numbered company with a doing business as registration to provide the numbered entity with a name. A common reason for this is a franchise, where the franchisee is a numbered company, doing business under the franchised identity. This may also be done for the convenience of lawyers, who create a shelf corporation or advent corporation and then assign the recognisable identity later.
References
External links
Certification and Engineering Bureau - Company Name Search
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Types of business entity | 67 would be entitled to register "1234567 Canada Inc." as its legal name. Similarly, in Australia, a company assigned the Australian Company Number 123 456 789 upon registration can have its legal name as "123 456 789 Pty Ltd".
Numbered companies may include, but are by no means limited to, new companies that have not yet determined a permanent brand identity, or shell companies used by much larger enterprises for | 105 |
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Analyst (CEP)
As an Analyst, you will work closely with CEP's energetic and diverse staff to provide philanthropic foundation executives, boards, and staff with data-driven insights to enhance<|fim_middle|>, and mutual respect.
Compensation is competitive and includes generous benefits. CEP is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a second office in San Francisco, California. This position is available in either CEP's Cambridge or San Francisco office.
Please fill out our application for employment and attach a resume and thoughtful cover letter, outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position. If you have any questions, please contact Alyse d'Amico, Director of Human Capital and Special Assistant to the President or Leaha Wynn, Senior Coordinator, Human Capital at jobs [at] effectivephilanthropy [dot] org. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
CEP is an equal opportunity employer.
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© Copyright - EPIP. All Rights Reserved. | Chapter Leader Login | the effectiveness of their work. The core function of the role is to create reports and compelling written recommendations based on the results of standardized surveys of grantees, staff, and donors that CEP conducts on behalf of philanthropic foundations. Analysts also work with individual foundations or groups of foundations on customized engagements focused on issues of strategy, performance assessment, and organizational effectiveness. If you want to help grant-making organizations to understand how they're doing in creating social impact, this is the role for you.
You understand that CEP's work depends on the high quality of our analysis and, likewise, have high standards for quality control, task management, and attention to detail
You are confident in your work, but are humble in the knowledge that you are always learning and improving
You are detail-oriented, organized, and adaptable, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
You are excited to build trust with key stakeholders and senior leaders, and you exhibit good judgment when engaging with others in professional settings
You enjoy a mix of working independently as well as on teams, and you bring a hard-working, empathetic, and reliable approach to both situations
You take initiative, when appropriate, and you are tolerant of ambiguity
You are curious and ask questions; you thrive in an environment that encourages diversity of opinion
You have the highest level of personal integrity and commitment to excellence
Analyzing quantitative and qualitative datasets, often using basic inferential statistics and qualitative coding techniques
Creating clear and compelling written memos that identify and highlight synthesized findings and recommendations drawn from analysis
Co-managing survey processes, question design, and innovation in CEP's assessment tools
Creating and presenting the results of assessment and advisory engagements to foundation executives and staff alongside client managers
Actively participating in team discussions, collaborating on cross-team projects, and helping develop CEP's internal knowledge base and operations
College degree (B.S., B.A.) and some work experience required
Demonstrated ability to conduct high quality quantitative analysis and synthesize findings into persuasive recommendations. Comfort with basic statistical analyses such as T-Tests, ANOVA, and Chi Squares is required
Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Excel is required and experience with SPSS (or similar statistical analysis) software is desirable
Effective written and verbal communication skills
Interest and aptitude with computer programming languages, such as SQL and Python, are a plus but not required: these languages form the basis of CEP's Online Reporting System and all Research Analysts will receive some training on these systems
We believe diversity and inclusion are key drivers of creativity and innovation, and we actively seek out candidates with diversity of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and perspectives for this exciting role.
About CEP:
For fifteen years, CEP has led the movement to improve philanthropy through a powerful combination of dispassionate analysis and a passionate commitment to improving lives. Today, over 300 foundations have used CEP's assessment tools to gather honest feedback from their stakeholders in an effort to learn how to be even more effective. CEOs and trustees have come to rely on our research for insights into foundation effectiveness on a wide range of topics, from assessing performance to developing strategy to managing stakeholder relationships. Our highly regarded programming—including our biennial conference—gives foundation leaders an exclusive and unprecedented opportunity to connect with their peers. CEP is based in Cambridge Massachusetts, with a second office in San Francisco, California. Strengths of CEP's work culture are entrepreneurialism, accountability, teamwork, collegiality, diversity | 709 |
KATIE Brennan may have set<|fim_middle|> being a part of it all in the first year.
"But at the same time it taught me so much. I know that I'm a different person because of it and definitely a different footballer because of it. | the world on fire with her three-goal comeback AFLW match.
But it was another emerging star who set tongues wagging with her movement, marking and game sense.
In her first competitive match since rupturing her ACL in 2016, Isabel Huntington returned with a bang, acting in tandem with Brennan as the deep and leading forward.
Blink and you would have thought you were seeing double.
The pair are only separated by 1cm, with the 18-year-old Huntington the taller of the two. Both can run all day and are natural born leaders.
Together, they shape as the most dynamic duo in the competition.
A one-two punch, if you like.
"Issy Huntington is an absolute superstar and is going to continue to grow," Brennan told foxfooty.com.au.
"She brings so much — not only to our forward line, we can throw her anywhere — but she plays tall, plays small and can certainly find the goals.
While Huntington didn't impact the scoreboard, Brennan suggested it would only be a matter of time before the young pup took a match by the scruff of its neck.
As a junior Huntington kicked four goals in one quarter for Vic Metro.
"I was lucky to get on the end of a couple this week and I know that she will be able to hit the scoreboard as well," Brennan said.
Brennan, who recently took part in NAB's 'History in the Making' campaign, played the opening two matches of the 2017 season before injury struck and ruled her out for the last six matches.
The club's skipper watched on as her team lost five consecutive games, their season over at the midway mark of the fixture.
But a VFLW best and fairest confirmed Brennan would return to the second season of the AFLW better than ever.
Saturday's performance, where she earned eight coaches' votes, was a testament to that.
"For me it was massive," Brennan said.
"I guess you wait for 12 months for the opportunity to come around again and it was a pretty tough time last year, physically and emotionally, not | 427 |
The "NBA 2K" video game series is an institution in sports video games. It's been that way for the past decade ever since it over<|fim_middle|> basketball sim, at the end of the day.
You aren't buying "2K16" for compelling drama in the storyline of its created player mode.
The complete package of "2K16" is more than enough for this to be a must own for any basketball fan. | took "NBA Live" as the most popular basketball video game on the market.
The series' attention to detail, to every aspect of the NBA landscape, is something that I, being the biggest basketball nerd I know, absolutely love.
There isn't a video game series that competes with "NBA 2K," which could easily lead the basketball sim's creators to become complacent, but with "2K," that will just never be an issue.
"2K16" makes huge strides on the already spectacular gameplay, for starters.
Defenses are much improved, and it takes some actual basketball knowledge and know-how to be an accomplished "2K16" player, which is great. I find myself calling out plays like a young Phil Jackson.
Everything feels so smooth and seamless too. It's a great experience.
The game also improves on its presentation. Now we see James Harden, with messy strands of hair sticking out of his famous beard, doing his cooking dance on the sidelines.
"2K16" also brings a ton of improvements to the many game modes being offered.
Controlling your favorite team in "myLeague" or "myGM" is more hands-on and in-depth than ever before.
The biggest changes to "2K16" are the changes to its most popular game mode, myPLAYER.
"2K" enlists world-renowned film director Spike Lee to craft the story of your created player.
Your player progresses from high school star, to being recruited and playing in college, to the pros.
It's really fun to watch your player progress through his basketball life.
However, Lee's contribution also is a drawback.
The script of the story feels like a straight-to-DVD movie that sits in the bargain bin at a Walmart that nobody ever watches. You know those movies.
I found myself laughing aloud at how stupid some of the characters' lines were. This is a small gripe though. It's a | 398 |
To offer all youth in the Western Treasure Valley the opportunity to recognize their potential and pursue their dreams.
Since 2009, the Boys & Girls Club of Western Treasure Valley has been in the forefront of youth development in our community, working with young people from disadvantaged economic<|fim_middle|>. | , social and family circumstances. We are dedicated to ensuring that our community's young people, who are most in need of our help, have greater access to quality programs and services that help them succeed academically, live healthy lifestyles and become leaders in our community.
We provide children with a positive place to go, results-oriented programming and a professional staff to guide them. The Club has served over 1,500 children since opening their doors in Ontario, Oregon in 2009. Our mission is to save and change the lives of children and teens, especially those who need us most, by providing a safe, positive, and engaging environment and programs that prepare and inspire them to achieve great futures.
We ask families to pay annual membership dues of $10 per child. As a non-profit organization, Boys & Girls Club of Western Treasure Valley improves young lives as well as the communities that surround and support us. The organization relies upon private, corporate, and individual funding to fill the gap between membership dues and operational expenses | 208 |
Supplying wholesale fresh and seasonal produce to some top notch London restaurants is a competitive market. Fortunately Classic know their apples from their Buddha's Hand. That said, they<|fim_middle|> with your customers? | also knew that their brand could do with an overhaul to better represent their perceived image in the industry.
So I worked with Claire Hartley to clarify their brand position and develop a new visual identity befitting of their industry reputation and attention to detail. A visual language that would get even the most particular chefs to sit up and take notice.
Their New Covent Garden Market warehouse is an abundance of unusual shapes and exotic colours. And the Classic team know all their is to know about each and every item — searching high and low to source the fresh, tasty and interesting produce for their clients.
Creatively we wanted the new brand to inspire others whilst representing the teams honest and hardworking values. So we developed a simple and confident visual brand but invited Jen Rich to make all those amazing fruits and veggies the real stars of the show!
If you like food, let's go for a nice brunch and talk about how you could freshen up your brand to better connect | 191 |
New Years Gala Dinner
flamenco Singer
José Valencia
José Valencia took his first steps singing<|fim_middle|> our use of these cookies. | with his uncle, Luis de Lebrija. Being just a child he sang "soleá", in addition to his "aceitunitas partías" (broken olives) song that he loved singing by "bulerías".
José Valencia took his first steps singing with his uncle, Luis de Lebrija. Being just a child he sang "soleá", in addition to his "aceitunitas partías" (broken olives) song that he loved singing by "bulerías". José was just 5 years old when he first acted of a stage, and he does alongside figures like Camarón, Fernanda, Bernarda, Manuel de Paula, José Meneses or Lebrijano, among others. Few artists have had such an important debut at such a young age. The most important dance companies have claimed his singing: Antonio Canales, Eva Yerbabuena, Belén Maya, Joaquín Grilo, Manuela Carrasco, Farruquito and Andrés Marín, among others. No less than three "Giraldillos" endorse him: "Breakthrough Artist", "Singing for dancing" and "Singing". No other flamenco artist has obtained three Giraldillos, which are the most important awards that are awarded today in the world of flamenco. His two albums: "Solo flamenco" and "Directo" have received great public and critical success.
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Gastronomic Tour
Passionate from 1970
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to | 352 |
WesBanco Inc Conference call will be held on Apr 17, 2019. During the earnings conference call's session WesBanco Inc will provide updated information and financial status.
Wesbanco, Inc. ("WesBanco"), a bank holding company<|fim_middle|>41 offices, one loan production office and 129 ATM machines located in West Virginia, Ohio, and western Pennsylvania. Total assets of WesBanco Bank as of December 31, 2015 approximated $8.5 billion. | incorporated in 1968 and headquartered in Wheeling, West Virginia, offers a full range of financial services including retail banking, corporate banking, personal and corporate trust services, brokerage services, mortgage banking and insurance. WesBanco offers these services through two reportable segments, community banking and trust and investment services. For additional information regarding WesBanco's business segments please refer to Note 22, "Business Segments" in the Consolidated Financial Statements. At December 31, 2015, WesBanco operated one commercial bank, Wesbanco Bank, Inc. ("WesBanco Bank" or the "Bank"), through 1 | 136 |
A Conference, a Tai Chi class and an electronic music session,: these are the separate parts of the piece. The actions take place in a near future in the city where is presented. The participants in these events dance, talk, and listen. And the written text, loaded with the most intimate thoughts of those who have diluted the unchanging mass of people by their presence, is compared to and superimposed upon the rhythmic, constant image they project.
GUERRILLA describes the subtle, organised, and directed war that exists within the heads of each individual in a crowd, and that when reading between the lines makes an apparently unified situation point to multiple universes. Like waves in the ocean, these people are part of the same group; but their spontaneous thoughts, their ideas, their pasts and their aspirations delineate a landscape that is multi-circumstantial, contradictory, and expansive – in contrast to the simple, unchanging image of leisure and relaxation seen on stage. The projected text<|fim_middle|>. | above their heads is the connecting thread, which, by means of narrative, relates these people's thoughts, desires, and memories. The text traces the tangled and complex chart of a landscape that appears serene; there is no conflict evident on stage, as the battle is taking place inside their heads. And within the depths of these interior confines, where freedom has at last been enclosed, there's a war of ideas that awakens each day and goes to sleep each night and is never resolved.
GUERRILLA observes the tensions experienced in Europe: incendiary thoughts from inside a comfort zone; love that is too easily distracted; excessive seizing of the day; the constant presence of history; individual solutions to collective problems; material polytheism; the eternal dilemma between passion and reason. If everything is progressing in an apparent state of peace in which we feel safe, why is it that inside our heads we involuntarily declare war?
The piece combines fictional and documentary text. The latter is based on a series of interviews previously conducted with a small group of people who inhabit the same moment in time and the same location, in this case, the city of Brussels. This is a work of documentary drama based on a collaboration between the company and the participants | 249 |
Archive for the 'Narrative' Category
Contemporary Journals & Histories of The Great Plague of 1665-66. 1 comment
Calamity hits the Kingdom:
In the Spring of 1665, Samuel Pepys made the following entry in his diary:
30 April. Lord's Day … Great fears of the sickness here in the City, it being said that two or three houses are already shut up. God preserve us all.
The sickness he referred to was the bubonic plague, which Pepys had never known before, the last outbreak in London having occurred in 1625. The disease was not a new one but, like the more modern occurrence of influenza, it came at intervals, though not so often, and it was much more deadly, especially in the crowded parts of the cities. This was the worst attack in modern times, though not so widespread and catastrophic as the Black Death of 1348-49. In London, it lasted until the summer of 1666 and carried off some hundred thousand victims. In early 1666, it spread to other towns, mostly in southern England, but by the end of the year, it was over. We now know that the bacillus of the disease, which was endemic in the Near East and parts of North Africa was carried by fleas on the rats which infested the ships trading with those areas. No cure was known and the disease was almost always fatal. Pepys regularly reports the fatality statistics which were given in the weekly 'bills of mortality' published by the Parish Clerk's Company of London. The Puritan minister, Richard Baxter, also kept a 'Journal' in which he reflected on the horror of that year:
It is scarce possible for people that live in a time of health and security to understand the dreadfulness of that "pestilence". How fearful people were, thirty or forty, if not a hundred miles from London, of any goods that were brought to them from there, or of any person that came to their houses. How they would shut their door against their friends and if a man passed another in the field how one would avoid the other as we did in time of war; and how every man was a terror to another. Oh, how unthankful we are for our quiet societies, homes and health!
When calamity hit the kingdom, as it did in a series of hammer-blows between 1665 and 1667, the instinctive response of both kings and subjects was not to invoke the illumination of science and rational argument but to call for divine intervention through penance, fasting and prayer. Daniel Defoe's heart-rending account of the harvest of bodies in 1665, A Journey of the Plague Year, was written more than half a century after the event but was based on reliable memories of contemporaries, including one of Samuel Pepys' amanuenses, Paul Lorrain.
What Defoe described was a culture divided into the mad and the methodical. The puritan 'prophets' seemed vindicated in their prophecies that God's hand would be laid across the back of the 'sin-steeped' kingdom. Unhinged prophets walked naked in the streets roaring for repentance before the race was consumed altogether. In his 'historical writings', Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon, described how the Plague followed the first 'hammer-blow' inflicted by the Dutch Navy in 1665:
There begun now to appear another enemy, much more formidable than the Dutch, and more difficult to be struggled with;
… which was the plague, that brake out in winter, and made such an early progress in the spring, that though the weekly numbers did not rise high, and it appeared to be only in the outskirts of the town (i.e. London), and in the most obscure alleys, amongst the poorest people; yet the ancient men, who well remembered in what manner the last great plague (which had been near forty years before) first brake out, and the progress it afterwards made, foretold a terrible summer. And many of them removed their families out of the city to country habitations; when their neighbours laughed at their providence, and thought they might have stayed without danger: but they found shortly that they had done wisely.
Fleeing the Plague & 'Fighting' it:
But while the King, the Court, the professions (including physicians) and the Gentry all fled London as fast as they could, they left behind the common citizens to be locked up by the watch in their own houses, prisoners of the contagion, left to succumb, starve or survive. Doctors could not help much because they did not know how to cure the plague. Understanding of the generation and transmission of the disease was scarcely more advanced than when it first struck in 1348. Richard Baxter saw that one good thing came out of the plague, that the most useful people in these circumstances were the brave, unselfish men and women who stayed with the dying to give them courage and to help their families. Of course, it was the duty of the clergymen to do this, but many of them had also fled into the country so that for a time the silenced non-conforming ministers were needed too badly for anyone to try to stop them from helping the ill and the dying. They said that, …
… no obedience to any laws could justify them from neglecting men's souls and bodies in such want and that it would be a poor excuse to say to God, 'how I was forbidden by law'.
In March, Clarendon wrote, the plague had spread so much that parliament was willingly dissolved, a necessary measure considering that so many of its members were the House of Commons were assigned to many offices relating to the Anglo-Dutch War which required their attendance at Westminster and in Whitehall. Meanwhile, platoons of watchmen patrolled the streets enforcing the requirement that households become hermetically sealed at the first sign of infection. The regulations may have been designed to seal off the country from the plague, but inevitably the infection always outran the ability to contain it, and in the meantime, they condemned Londoners to be deprived of any hope of work or sustenance except what came their way by charity. The desperate who attempted to escape the net risked arrest and prosecution. From Alderman Hooker, Pepys heard of …
… a saddler who had buried all the rest of his children of the plague: and himself and wife now being shut up, and in despair of escaping, did desire only to save the life of this (their surviving) little child; and so prevailed to have it received stark-naked into the arms of a friend, who brought it (having put it into new fresh clothes) to Greenwich.
For once, Pepys and his colleagues were moved enough to allow the child to stay there in safety. Because it was thought that cats and dogs spread the plague, the Lord Mayor of London ordered a general slaughter of them; by Pepys' reckoning, forty thousand dogs and as many as two hundred thousand cats were duly massacred. That they were so swiftly rounded up and dispatched testified to the fact that what had modernised since the medieval epidemics was the policing of mortality. By the summer, the plague carts were carrying thousands to the burial pits every week. On a hot, sweaty day in early June, Pepys wrote:
This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and 'Lord have mercy upon us' writ there – which was a sad sight to me, being the first of that kind that to my remembrance I ever saw. It put me into an ill-conception of myself and my smell, so that I was forced to buy someroll-tobacco to smell and to chaw – which took away the apprehension.
Above: "Bring out your Dead" was the mournful cry heard at night as carts coursed their way through the city's streets collecting corpses. As coffins could not be built fast enough, bodies were tossed into grisly pits on the outskirts.
Staying put & 'socialising':
Following that, Pepys 'posted' regular records and comments about the spread of the plague in his diary:
10 June: Lay long in bed; and then up and at the office all the morning. … In the evening home to supper, and there to my great trouble hear that the plague is come into the City (though it hath these three or four weeks since its beginning been wholly out of the City); but where should it begin but in my good friend and neighbour's, Dr Burnett in Fanchurch Street – which in both points troubles me mightily. To the office to finish my letters, and then home to bed – being troubled at the sickness, … and particularly how to put my things and estate in order, in case it should please God to call me away – which God dispose of to his own glory.
11 June. Lord's Day: I out of doors a little to show forsooth my new suit, and back again; and in going, saw poor Dr Burnet's door shut. But he hath, I hear, gained great goodwill among his neighbours; for he discovered itself first, and caused himself to be shut up of his own accord – which was very handsome. In the evening comes Mr Andrews and his wife and Mr Hill, and stayed and played and sung and supped -most excellent pretty company; … They gone, we to bed – my mind in great present ease.
In this comment, it's interesting to note the willingness of some to 'self-isolate', despite the low survival rate which must have been apparent by this stage. Also noteworthy, from our current perspective, is how much (wealthy) people continued to socialise during the plague and the benefit it brought to their mental states. But less than a week later, Pepys was severely affected by what happened during his hackney-coach journey from the Lord Treasurer of the Navy's house in Holborn. The coach gradually slowed down and the coachman climbed down, hardly able to stand, telling Pepys that he had been suddenly taken sick and was almost blind. Pepys alighted and went to another coach, saddened for the poor man but also troubled for himself since he had been picked up at the end of town where the plague was most concentrated. However, by the end of June, it seemed to some that the peak of infection had passed:
… I informed myself that there died four or five at Westminster of the plague, in one alley in several houses upon Sunday last – Bell Alley, over against the Palace Gate. Yet people do think that the number will be fewer in the town than it was last week.
A weekly 'bill of mortality' for the week of 15-22 August 1665.
It is obvious from his entries that, by this time Pepys was becoming increasingly anxious for his own health, trying to limit his visits to his workplace and to 'isolate' himself as much as possible. The plague was beginning to affect him more personally, as friends, as well as neighbours, were succumbing to it:
3 July: Late at the office about letters; and so home, resolving from this night forward to close all my letters if possible and end all my business at the office by daylight, and I shall go near to do it and put all my affairs in the world in good order, the season growing so sickly that it is much to be feared how a man can (e)scape having a share with others in it – for which the good Lord God bless me or to be fitted to receive it. So after supper to bed, and mightily troubled in my sleep all night with dreams of Jacke Cole my old schoolfellow, lately dead, who was born at the same time with me, and we reckoned our fortunes pretty equal. God fit me for his condition.
Above: West side of the City
Below: East side of the City
Yet he was still able to go out and about, ordering wine on 7 July, of which he was pleased to have an ample supply in his cellar. He sent some of this to his wife, who two days earlier had moved out of plague-stricken London to lodge with William Sheldon, Clerk of the Cheque at Woolwich yard. Pepys was also helping to arrange a 'marriage alliance' between the families of the Earl of Sandwich and Sir George Carteret. Pepys took Philip Carteret, due to marry Sandwich's daughter, Jemima, to 'Dagnams', the Essex home of Lady Wright, the Earl's sister-in-law, where the young people were due to meet for the first time. Both were said to be 'excessively shy'. On their way from Greenwich to Dagenham on 15 July, which included two ferry crossings with their coach and horses, Carteret and Pepys had a silly discourse … as to … love matters, he being the most awkward man I ever met withal in my life as to that business. His awkwardness continued well into their evening visit to 'Dagnams' and during his 'courtship' of Lady 'Jem', which included an afternoon visit to church. She later agreed to 'readily obey what her father and mother had done' but the wedding 'breakfast' two weeks later, according to Pepys (who missed the service with the bridegroom's parents due to the tide at Deptford), was very merry … but yet in such a sober way as never almost any wedding was in so great families. Pepys did not mention the plague in his entries for these four days, which suggests that he could still be 'distracted' by such amusing 'episodes' of a more 'normal life'.
Fears, favours & funerals:
As August began, however, Pepys found the Exchequer being moved out of the City to Nonsuch Palace near Cheam in Surrey by royal proclamation. He then returned home to his 'papers' and began putting his books into storage, 'settling' his 'house … and all things in the best and speediest order' he could, lest it should please God to take me away or force me to leave my house. That the number of deaths was still growing can be surmised from his entry for 12 August, in which he reported the imposition of a 'curfew' by the Lord Mayor:
The people die so, that now it seems they are fain to carry the dead to be buried by daylight, the nights not sufficing to do it in. And my Lord Mayor commands people to be within at 9 at night, all (as they say) that the sick may have liberty to go abroad for ayre.
Having just visited his wife at Woolwich yard, on 15 August he got up at 4 a.m. and walked to Greenwich, where he called on Captain Cockes, who was still in bed. While there,
… something put my last night's dream into my head, which I think is the best I ever was dreamed – which was, that I had my Lady Castlemayne in my armes and was admitted to use all the dalliance I desired with her, and then dreamed that this could not be awake but that it was only a dream. But that since it was a dream and that I took so much real pleasure in it, what a happy thing it would be, if when we are in our graves (as Shakespeare resembles it), we could dream, and dream but such dreams as this – that then we should not need to be fearful of death as we are in this plague-time.
Lady Castlemaine, studio of Lely: 'But strange it is, how for her beauty I … pity her … though I know well enough she is a whore.' (16 July 1662).
On 21 August, the Navy Office was moved to Greenwich Palace. For the rest of the year, Pepys moved into lodgings nearby, paying occasional visits to his wife at Woolwich and to his office building in London. The Principal Officers attended a Sunday service at St Alphege's, the parish church on 3 September. Pepys felt inhibited from wearing his fine new periwig for fear that it was maid of hair cut from infected bodies:
Up, and put on my coloured silk suit, very fie, and my new periwig, bought a good while since, but darst not wear it, because the plague was in Westminster when I bought it. And it is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plague is done as to periwigs, for nobody will buy any haire for fear of the infection – that it had been cut off the heads of people dead of the plague. Church being done, my Lord Brouncker, Sir J. Mennes and I up to the vestry at the desire of the the Justices of the Peace, Sir Th. Bidolph and Sir W. Boreman and Alderman Hooker – in order to the doing something for the keeping of the plague from growing; but Lord, consider the madness of people of the town, who will (because they are forebid) come in crowds along with the dead corps to see them buried. But we agreed on some orders for the prevention thereof.
There was not much that science could do about the death rate, other than count London's dead with 'modern' devotion to the seriousness of statistics and the mapping of the epidemic. In the first week of September, there were 8,252 deaths in the capital, of which 6,978 were from the plague. One in six Londoners died in the plague of the summer of 1665, and despite the onset of cooler weather as September went on, the trepidation hung around. On Sunday 24 September, Pepys caught up with his diary for the last seven days, he was contented that:
… it having pleased God that in this sad time of the plague everything else hath conspired to my happiness and pleasure, more for these last three months then in all my life before in so little time. God long preserve it, and make me thankful for it.
But on 16 October, he returned to London, if only for a day. The scenes and sounds that greeted him immediately threw him back into a low mood:
But Lord, how empty the streets are, and melancholy, so many poor sick people in the streets, full of sores, and so many sad stories overheard as I walk, everybody talking of this dead, and that man sick, and so many in this place, and so many in that. And they tell me that in Westminster there is never a physician, and but one apothecary left, all being dead – but that there are great hopes of a great decrease this week: God send it.
'Home by water … the river beginning to be very fell of ice, so I was a little frightened.' (18 December 1665).
The Frozen Thames, by A. Hondius, 1667, detail. Before the river was embanked in the nineteenth century, it was liable to freeze in the most severe winters, especially to the near London Bridge (as shown). In 1676-77 and 1684 ice fairs were held on the Thames.
On 22 November, Pepys recorded that the plague had, that week, 'come very low', six hundred or so, the news bringing 'great hopes' of a further decrease. These were at least partly predicated on there being 'a very exceeding hard frost', continuing the next day, conditions which were apparently 'a perfect cure of the plague'. It's interesting to note how then, as now, people believed that the onset of colder or warmer weather could provide at least a partial 'cure', though there has never been any significant evidence for this. In fact, the persistence of the plague through the winter months throughout the winter of 1665-56 and its spread to other cities, towns and villages the next year is suggestive of nothing but the sense of desperation that Londoners must have felt as the year neared its close. However, by 24 November, when Pepys visited the City again, it remaining or returning citizens had begun to observe or enquire of each other as to who that they knew before the plague was still alive. There were other signs of life returning, and Pepys was 'mightily glad to see the Change so full'. He had bought two barrels of oysters from his old shop in 'Gracious Street', so pleased was he to find 'my fine woman of the shop' still alive, but was then concerned to discover that they had come from Colchester 'where the plague hath been so much'. On Christmas Day he attended church in the morning and then saw a wedding which he had not seen in many a day, presumably since the one he had helped to arrange in July. This time, the young people were 'so merry with one another'.
Premature Predictions:
Early in the New Year of 1666, on 5 January, Pepys went by coach with Lord Brouncker to 'my Lord's house in Covent Garden'. There was great interest in the arrival of a nobleman's coach in town once again, and everywhere porters were bowing to them, and beggars were begging. Pepys went on to describe a much more lively scene than on his previous visits to the City:
… a delightful thing it is to see the town full of people again, as now it is, and shops begin to open, though in many places, seven or eight together, and more, all shut; but yet the town is full compared with what it used to be – I mean the City end, for Covent Guarden and Westminster are yet very empty of people, no Court nor gentry being there.
However, Pepys' optimism proved premature for, in the week after Christmas, as Clarendon later wrote, although …
… the rage and fury of the pestilence began in some degree to be mitigated, but so little, that nobody who had left the town had yet the courage to return thither: nor had they reason; for though it was a considerable abatement from the height it had been at, yet there died still between three and four thousand in the week, and of those, some men of better condition than had fallen before.
Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor, by Sir Peter Lely, c. 1662.
The Return of the King:
General Abermale, who was responsible for the conduct the Dutch War from London in the King's absence, wrote to him in Oxford…
… that there still arose new difficulties in providing for the setting out of the fleet, and some of such a nature, that he could not easily remove them without communication with his majesty, and receiving his more positive directions; and how to bring that to pass he knew not, for as he could by no means advise his majesty to leave Oxford, so he found many objections against his own being absent from London.
Charles II, as a patron of the Royal Society (of Sciences).
Windsor was thought to be a place where the King could reside safely since there had not yet been any infection there, but as the Court began to move there, taking up all the available accommodation, he became apprehensive about the outbreak of plague in one house in the town. In the end, towards the end of February, the king decided that the Queen, the Duchess of Richmond and all their families should remain in Oxford, while he and his brother, together with his cousin Prince Rupert, would meet the general at Hampton Court, staying there for two or three days a week, with the general returning to London down the Thames each night, …
… for no man did believe it counsellable that his majesty should reside longer there than the despatch of the most important business required.
Meanwhile, on 7 January, the Pepyses had returned to their home in Seething Lane, and on the 9th the Navy Board resumed its sittings there. But when he visited the 'Change' again on the 10th, they heard there, to their grief, how the plague had increased in the previous week from seventy to eighty-nine. Nevertheless, even some of the doctors and scientists began to return to the City as January went on and the number of deaths began to fall again. On 22 January, Pepys recorded details of his visit to the Crowne Tavern behind the Exchange, where the Gresham College met for the first time since the Plague:
Dr Goddard did fill us with talk in defence of his and his fellow physicians' going out of town in the plague-time; saying that their particular patients were most gone out of town, and they left at liberty – and a great deal more, &c. But what, among other fine discourse, pleased me most, was Sir G. Ent about respiration; that is not to this day known or concluded on among physicians, nor to be done either, how that action is managed by nature or for what use it is.
The following day, the 'good news, beyond all expectation' was that the number of cases had dropped to seventy-nine. On the first Sunday of February, the Pepyses went to church together for the first time since the outbreak of the Plague. They only returned on this occasion …
… because of Mr Mills coming home to preach his first sermon, expecting a great excuse for his leaving the parish before anybody went, and now staying until all are come home; but he made a very poor excuse and a bad sermon. It was a frost, and had snowed last night, which covered the graves in the churchyard, so I was the less afeared for going through.
Three days later, 7 February, was a fast day for the Plague victims and Pepys spent it returning his chamber to the way it had been before the outbreak, taking all his books out of storage. This was the last direct, contemporary reference to the plague in London in Pepys's 'Journal', so we might assume that by this date there were no more deaths in the capital. However, for at least a week at the end of February, Charles continued to keep his families in Oxford and to use Hampton Court for War meetings. The next week, Clarendon tells us, the number of those who had died from the plague in the City decreased by a thousand;
… and there was a strange universal joy there for the king's being so near. The weather was as it could be wished, deep snow and terrible frost, which very probably stopped the spreading of the infection, though it might put an end to those who were already infected, as it did, for in a week or two the number of the dead was very little diminished. The general came and went as was intended: but the business every day increased; and his majesty's remove to a further distance was thought inconvenient, since there appeared no danger in remaining where he was.
In the third week, he decided to return to Whitehall and was preparing to do so when the news came through that there had been a further fifteen hundred deaths in that one week. As the King's train rode into the City, the Courtiers found the streets otherwise empty of coaches;
… so much all men were terrified from returning to a place of so much mortality. Yet it can hardfly be imagined what nuimbers flocked hither and thither from all parts on the fame of the king's being at Whitehall, all men being ashamed of their fears for their own safety, when the king ventured his person. The judges at Windsor adjourned the last return of the term to Westminster Hall, and the town every day filled marvellously; and which was more wonderful, the plague every day decreased. Upon which the king the king changed his purpose, and, instead of returning to Oxford, sent for the queen and all the family to come to Whitehall: so that before the end of March the streets were as full, the exchange as much crowded and the people in all places as numerous as they had ever been seen, few persons missing any of their acquaintance, though by the weekly bills there appeared to have died above one hundred and three score thousand persons: and many, who could compute very well, concluded that there were in truth double that number who died: and that in one week, when the bill mentioned only six thousand, there had in truth fourteen thousand died.
Above: A Plague Broadsheet, 1665.
Counting the Cost:
The frequent deaths of parish clerks and sections of parishes hindered the exact week-by-week counting of the dead, but what made it most difficult was the vast number of those who were buried in fields without any account being kept. Clarendon also claimed that many of 'the anabaptists and sectaries who abounded in the city', very few left their homes, 'multitudes' of them dying without the knowledge of the churchwardens or other parochial officers. They held their own burials in small gardens or neighbouring fields. The greatest number of deaths were of women and children, and also of 'the lowest and poorest sort of people', whereas few (rich) men missed their male acquaintances when they returned, 'not many of wealth or quality or of much conversation being dead'. Due to the plague at Westminster, Parliament met at Oxford in 1666. It was prorogued to a day in April: but, as Clarendon recorded,
… the king had reason to believe that they would not so soon be in good humour enough to give more money, which was the principal end of calling them together. And the dregs of the plague still remaining and venting its malignity in many burials every week, his majesty thought fit to dispense with their attendance at that time by a proclamation: and he caused it at that day to be prorogued to the twentieth of September following. In the meantime, the court abounded in all its excesses.
Financially, the plague and the war had so 'routed' the revenues and receipts of the Exchequer, that those who collected these had not received enough to discharge the constant burden of their offices. Consequently, very little income was making its way into the national treasury, and neither was any interest being made on the 'principal sums'. Moreover, as the great financial offices were located in the City of London, their destruction in the Great Fire in September meant that the very stocks which were consumed which would lead to a revival of trade.
The Spread of the Plague in the Country & the Clergy:
Richard Baxter and his family all escaped the plague, probably because they were not living in London, having already been driven away by the Act of Uniformity which restored the old Anglican Church lock, stock and barrel, leading to the ejection of one in five of the clergy by 1662. Perhaps because of their popularity through their courage and devotion to duty during the plague, another law, the Five Mile Act, prevented them from coming within five miles of any important town or of any place at all where they had once been ministers. Some of these ministers went to small, out-of-the-way villages, while some went into hiding near their old homes and visited their wives and children secretly, on dark nights. They had to live in Acton, then six miles from the City; the Plague followed them there for seven months, but none of them caught it, although, at the end of their time there, the churchyard was like a ploughed field with graves.
But it was not only the Puritans and their non-conforming clergy who were brave and charitable during the Plague, as the story of a young clergyman called William Mompesson (pictured above), who lived near Chatsworth in Derbyshire's Peak District, reveals. After a period of service as chaplain to Sir George Saville, later Lord Halifax, he came as Rector to Eyam in 1664, with his wife Catherine accompanying him.
In 1665, the plague had reached his village through some cloth which had been sent north from London to the village tailor. The consignment of cloth bound brought with it the infectious fleas which spread the disease. After an initial flurry of deaths in the autumn of that year, it died down during the winter only to come back even more virulently in the spring of 1666. As its rector, Mompesson was determined not to let the plague spread, so that in conjunction with another clergyman, the ejected Puritan, Thomas Stanley, he took the courageous decision to isolate the village. He sent a letter to the (3rd) Earl of Devonshire at Chatsworth Hall to ask him to arrange for food and medicine to be placed at regular times on a great stone outside the village. This was done for seven weeks, during which time the Rector asked that no-one should leave the village and no-one did, though all were frightened that they might catch the plague by staying. The Rector made them see that it was their duty to other people not to risk spreading it around the country. All through the seven weeks of self-imposed quarantine until the plague died out, the Rector and his wife went about among the plague-stricken people, nursing them day and night. Mompesson did many other things to help the village during the plague including preventing the spread of it by filling a well full of vinegar for trading. This helped stop the spread of the plague by sterilising any coins that came in or out of Eyam.
In spite of these measures and the continuous care of the Mompessons, 259 of the parishioners died, including the Rector's wife, but the infection did not spread to any other village in Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties. The plague claimed its last Eyam victim in December 1666. Mompesson became so associated with the plague that he was not universally welcomed at his next parish, Eakring, Nottinghamshire, where his memorial can be found. In 1670 he remarried, his second wife being a widow, Elizabeth Newby. She was a relative of his patron, Sir George Saville, and through his patronage, Mompesson eventually became Prebendary of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, although he declined the opportunity to be Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. He died in 1709.
This historic episode, commemorated each year in the village, has been the subject of many books and plays, notably The Roses of Eyam by Don Taylor (1970). Recently academics have begun to examine the factual basis of the story's key ingredients: in particular, the extent to which wealthier residents were able to circumvent the ban. For example, despite insisting all villagers should remain in Eyam, Mompesson had his own children sent away to Sheffield in June 1666, just before the quarantine was agreed. At this time he also determined to send his wife Catherine with them but she refused to leave him, later succumbing to the plague.
The Comet, the Coronation & the Condition of the English People after the Fire:
The appearance of a comet in the summer of 1664 had been greeted with the same dismay that this phenomenon had always inspired as a presage of disaster. As Simon Schama has commented eloquently:
Following astrology, as the almanacs reminded their preternaturally anxious readers, was numerology; the tail of the comet heralded the sign of the Beast, his number being, as everyone knew: 666. Sure enough, in the first week of September 1666, up from the bituminous regions of hell, came the diabolical fire. Prophets had long been warning that the new Sodom, steeped in lechery and luxury, would be consumed by the fiery wrath of an indignant Jehovah.
The longer-term significance of the events of the Great Plague and the Fire of London, forever linked in the psychology of the English people as coupled catastrophes, was that they revealed the 1660s as years of complacency and drift in which the early euphoria of the Restoration gave way to mild political depression. The ravages of the plague, the humiliating Dutch incursions up the Medway during the Second Dutch War (1665-7) and the Great Fire sapped the confidence of 1660-61 that God would bless a land that had come to its senses after the Civil Wars of the previous decades.
Robert Latham (ed.) (1978), The Illustrated Pepys: Extracts from the Diary. London: Bell & Hyman (Book Club Associates).
G. Huehns (ed.) (1953), Clarendon: Selections from 'The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars' & 'The Life by Himself'. London: Oxford University Press.
Simon Schama (2001), A History of Britain: The British Wars, 1603-1776. London: BBC Worldwide.
Katharine Moore (1961), Richard Baxter: Toleration and Tyranny (1615-1691). London: Longmans.
Posted April 2, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in Affluence, Agriculture, Anabaptism, Anglicanism, Apocalypse, Asia Minor, BBC, Bible, Britain, British history, Charity, Child Welfare, Christian Faith, Christianity, Church, Civil Rights, Civilization, clannishness, cleanliness, Co-operativism, Commemoration, Demography, Disease & Epidemics, Domesticity, Early Modern English, English Civil War(s), English Language, eschatology, Family, gentry, Henry VIII, History, Humanism, Humanitarianism, hygeine, Journalism, Literature, Marriage, Midlands, Millenarianism, Narrative, Navy, Nonconformist Chapels, Oxford, Parliament, Population, Poverty, Refugees, Samuel Pepys, Seasons, Shakespeare, The Law, toleration, tyranny, Uncategorized, Unemployment, United Kingdom
Tagged with 'Dagnams', Act, Anglo-Dutch War, Barbara Villiers, bills of mortality, bubonic plague, calamity, Captain Cockes, catastrophe, Catherine Mompesson, Charles II, Chatsworth, Cheam, Christianity, Court, Covent Garden, current-events, Dagenham, Daniel Defoe, Deptford, Derbyshire, Dr Burnet, Drury Lane, Duchess of Richmond, Duke of York, Dutch, Eakring, Earl of Clarendon, Earl of Devonshire, Earl of Sandwich, Edward Hyde, Elizabeth Newby, Exchequer, Eyam, Faith, ferries, Five Mile Act, Great Fire, Greenwich, Gresham College, Hampton Court, health, History, Holborn, influenza, Lady Castlemaine, London, Lord Brouncker, Lord Mayor of London, Medway, Nonsuch Palace, Paul Lorrain, Philip Carteret, politics, Prayer, Prince Rupert, prophets, psychology, Puritan, quarantine, religion, Richard Baxter, Second Dutch War, self-isolation, Simon Schama, Sir George Saville, socialising, society, St Alphege's Church, The Great Plague, Thomas Stanley, Westminster, Whitehall, William Mompesson, Woolwich
The 'Free Spirit' in Revolutionary Britain: Part II – Ranters, Quakers & Dissenters, 1658-88. Leave a comment
Rival Visionaries – James Nayler and George Fox:
In 1659, the Quaker James Nayler, cruelly punished by parliament for leading a procession into Bristol which sought to emulate Christ's entry into Jerusalem two years earlier, was released from prison and went to see George Fox, seen by many at the time and since as the 'founding father' of Quakerism. Fox was lying ill at Reading, in the grip of a mysterious illness caused by mental suffering. Though he took little or no interest in politics, he had shared the hopes of every Nonconformist in the coming of a Puritan government. The deposition of the Church of England and the abolition of the monarchy seemed to promise an era of religious liberty and equality of worship. But Cromwell's Government had proved itself little by little to be as intolerant as its predecessor, and the internecine strife which had raged among the sects had only intensified since the common enemies, the Episcopalians and Presbyterians had been removed from the field.
At the time of Cromwell's death towards the end of 1658, 115 Quakers were in prison for expressing their beliefs in public, and nine had died in gaol. Added to this disappointment was a sense of impending disaster in store for the government and people of England and Wales which Fox and his followers had never ceased to warn them over the preceding months by letters, signs and messengers. But such was Fox's condition that when Nayler, soon after his release from Bridewell, rode out to Reading to see him, he found the door to his room closed against him. It was clear that Fox had never forgiven Nayler both for his personal disloyalty in denouncing him and for the perceived injury which his followers had worked in Quaker ranks. Nayler now disclaimed the 'Divine Leading' which he had earlier justified himself by: I reasoned against God's tender reproof … and he gave me up, and his Light he withdrew and his Judgement took away. This undermined any opposition which might be using his name within the Quaker movement, reaffirming the unity of the Spirit by which Quakers claimed to be guided. It also helped to answer the propaganda of their enemies, such as:
J.N. and G.F. at daggers drawn discover their cheat of both being led by an infallible Spirit.
Fox (pictured in the 1650s above) was suffering from mental illness at the time of Nayler's release, so Nayler was told that he could not see him, as he described in the letter he sent to Magaret Fell in the Summer of 1659. Yet whatever excuses might be made for his own disordered spirit, it is hard to fathom the unrelenting harshness Fox showed to Nayler in this crisis in his fortunes. Three years had passed since their last meeting, during which Nayler had suffered insult out of all proportion with his offences; whilst in his confession to Parliament and his penitent letters to Friends he had done all in his power to atone for his fault. Now that he was free to take up his broken life and move once more among his fellows, it was necessary above all things to be assured of Fox's forgiveness. The continued refusal of Fox's hand of fellowship placed him in the anomalous position of a 'disowned' Friend and discounted the welcome home given him by his brother ministers. Yet this rebuff only served to bring him back out most clearly the best in his nature in what he wrote to Margaret Fell:
But my spirit was quieted, in that simplicity in which I went, in that to return; and he gave me his peace therein as though I had had my desire … Still, his presence is with me in what he moves me to, which is my comfort and refreshment – and so his will is my peace.
As Nayler had supposed, Margaret Fell had already heard of his abortive visit, from her daughter. In the same letter, she learnt that he had attended a meeting of Friends in London on the following day, a Sunday, but did not speak. This silence, however, was soon broken, even in the face of Fox's discouragement. By the end of October, a month after his release from Bridewell, Nayler was addressing great meetings in London, and strangers who flocked to hear him went away convinced of the truth of his message. While still under the cloud of Fox's censure, he seems to have recovered his position of the Friends' spokesman, and through the autumn and winter, his pen was busy on public matters. Of the letters which he then wrote, perhaps the most important was an answer to two manifestos sent from New England in defence of the governers' defence of the persecution of the Quakers. The following year, 1660, William Dewsbury succeeded in bringing the two men together, only a few months before Nayler's death. Beside's Dewsbury's celebration of their reconciliation, it is notable how the vigour and power of Fox's Journal revive after the date of his meeting with his old 'comrade', though it is disappointing that he gave no account of the reconciliation. It appears to have taken place at a public meeting at which Dewsbury recalled:
Mighty was the Lord's Majesty amongst his people in the day he healed up the breach which had been for so long to the sadness of many. The Lord clothed my dear brethren G.F., E.B., F.H., with a precious wisdom. A healing spirit did abound within them with the rest of the Lord's people there that day … and dear J.N., the Lord was with him.
'J.N.' wrote his own 'song of joy', a poetic piece which swept before it all the archaisms of his theology and the mannerisms of his usually more deliberate style:
It is in my heart to praise thee O God; let me never forget thee, what thou has been to me in the night … Then didst thou lift me out of the Pit, and set me forth in the Sight of mine enemies, thou proclaimd'st Liberty to the Captive, and called'st mine Acquaintance near me, they to whom I had been a Wonder, looked upon me, and in thy love I obtained favour in those who had forsook me, then did gladness swallow up sorrow and I forsook all my troubles; and I said, How good is it that Man be proved in the Night, that he may know his Folly, that every Mouth may become silent in thy Hand, until thou makest Man known to himself …
It was, no doubt, his general anxiety for the fragile community of Friends which led to Fox's mental breakdown and precipitated his negative response to Nayler's request to meet him, as well as his later rejection of John Perrot. Quaker scholars have concluded that in his anxiety for his 'flock', Fox did not trust enough in the power of the Spirit to preserve it, so that he unwittingly revealed a rejecting, authoritarian side to his personality. But some of the early editors of the letters and works of both Fox and Nayler sometimes felt obliged to suppress their accounts of miracles, denunciations, controversies, dreams and nightmares, thus contributing, from well-meaning motives to the provision of incomplete accounts of their experiences. This was an injustice to both men, who in their differing ways endured terrifying struggles with the evil in themselves and in the world; it also deprives historians and others of reaching a holistic view of their conflict and its resolution. From a practical point of view, Fox deserved the support which the great majority of Friends had offered him. But in condemning his friend for 'running out into imaginations'. Fox may have allowed the authoritarian and practical side of his own natural instincts to suppress the more libertarian and visionary aspects which were so strong in Nayler.
But the whole episode deserves to be treated as representing an important transition from a serious breach in the movement to a way of resolving internal conflict. It also reveals that the movement was not as vulnerable as its enemies had hoped. Soon afterwards Nayler, who had already written a penitent letter to the Magistrates who had tried him, travelled to Bristol, where he made a public confession on the spot where his offence had first been committed. Those who had retained the clearest memory of his errors were melted into forgiveness. It is small wonder that Nayler's popularity returned, but now no success could woo him from his attitude of willing submission to Fox's leadership. He preached once more at the Meeting in the Strand in London. Then he set out on foot from London to see his wife and children in Wakefield in the summer of 1660. There was a prevalent 'low fever' in the city and the country, and it found easy prey in Nayler whose body had already been tried beyond endurance, and it succumbed very swiftly. He reached Huntingdonshire, where he was apparently attacked by robbers and left bound in a field, from where he was taken to a Friend's house at Holm, near King's Rippon, where he soon died. He was buried on 21 October, in the village of King's Repton in the little graveyard of Thomas Parnell, his last friend and physician. His last words, which have come down to us preserved by friends who stood around his deathbed, seem to sum up the central message of the Inner Light at the end of the first 'stage' of Quakerism:
There is a Spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hope to enjoy its own in the end: Its Hope is to outlive all Wrath and Contention, and to weary out all Exaltation and Cruelty or whatever is of a Nature contrary to itself. It sees to the End of all Temptations: As it bears no Evil in itself so it conceives none in Thoughts to any other: If it be betrayed it bears it; for its Ground and Spring is the Mercies and Forgiveness of God. Its Crown is Meekness, its Life is Everlasting Life unfeigned, and takes its Kingdom with Intreaty and not with Contention, and keeps it by Lowliness of Mind. … nor doth it murmur at Grief and Oppression. It never rejoyceth, except through Sufferings … I found it alone being forsaken; I have Fellowship therein, with them … who through Death obtained this Resurrection and Eternal Holy Life.
Fox and The Second Generation of Quaker 'Leaders':
It is from Thomas Ellwood, Milton's Quaker friend and amanuensis, that we get the clearest picture of Nayler in his closing days. In December 1659 he was a lad of twenty, living at home with his father at Crowell in Oxfordshire, attracted to Quakerism through his admiration of Guli Springett, who later married William Penn. Her stepfather and mother, the Penningtons, were old friends of the Ellwood family, and it was in their company that he attended the Quaker meeting at Chalfont together with his family, held at a farmhouse called The Grove, close to the quiet haven of Jordans, which became a centre for Quaker pilgrims. James Nayler attended the meeting with his old friend and co-worker, Edward Burrough, who was the only Friend to speak at the meeting. We have no record of what he said, but we do have the following statement which he made in his Preface to The Cause of Stumbling Removed by Richard Hubberthorne in 1657 on the 'contention surrounding James Nayler':
And as concerning this thing, which was looked upon as a breech among us by many, yet it's over, and Truth stands a-top of it, and the beauty of Truth appears through it all, and Truth is more lovely when it is proved and purged.
We might assume that Burrough gave a similar message at the meeting he attended the following year at 'Jordans'. Ellwood's autobiography also contains the following sketch of their witness:
As for Edward Burrough, he was a brisk young man of a ready tongue (and might have been, for aught I then knew, a Scholar), which made me the less to admire his Way of Reasoning. But what drop'd from James Nayler had the greater Force upon me, because he look'd but like a plain, simple Country-man, having the appearance of a Husbandman or Shepherd.
But though he died in early middle-life, those contemporary friends who were best able to secure his legacy survived him only by a few years. Hubberthorne, Nayler's faithful friend, was one of the first to die, aged just thirty-four. Edward Burrough died in 1662, after eight months' imprisonment in the Old Bailey, leaving behind him widespread consternation among Friends, together with a sense of irreparable bereavement. Francis Howgill died six years later in Appleby gaol, where he had shared Nayler's first imprisonment. Farnsworth, who had been 'convinced' at the same time as Nayler, and had followed his fortunes with paternal interest ever since died in a London gaol in 1666. Only Dewsbury, who had brought about the reconciliation of Fox and Nayler, lived to any great age, dying in London in 1688, having spent nearly half a lifetime in gaol. Other close associates of Nayler went into self-imposed 'exile', like Robert Rich, the London merchant, who went to Barbados in 1659. He frequented Quaker meetings there and supported those in prison back in Britain. But his relations with the Society were anything but cordial, and he never forgave Fox for what he regarded as his persecution of an innocent man. The London Friends responded to his repeated attacks by disowning Rich, refusing even to accept his donation for the relief of the poor after the Great Fire. He returned to London in 1679 and became once more a familiar figure in Friends' meetings before his death later that year.
Death of Cromwell & Commonwealth:
But this was twenty years after Nayler's death, by which time his name had gone down in a sea of infamy with most Friends. His offence and punishment had been of so spectacular a nature that they threatened to survive in the collective memory of the Society long after the recollection had vanished of his repentance and recovery. Moreover, the whole episode of his breach with Fox had brought an atmosphere into it which was not easy to disperse. A church founded on democratic principles, which acknowledged no superiors in its ministry was hard to reconcile with Fox's stiff and autocratic attitude. Many of Nayler's followers never returned to their allegiance but remained a source of disorder in numerous districts of England and Wales.
The Death-Mask of Oliver Cromwell, 1658.
In the year between Oliver Cromwell's death and the restoration of Charles II, Quakers refused the positions they were offered by the Committee of Safety to help in ensuring public order, partly for political reasons, but also because violence might be involved. Friends' attitude to the secular authority was that they should respect the law in so far as it did not conflict with their direct apprehension of the law of Christ, and if they had to break it, they willingly accepted the consequences, refusing to pay a fine or accept a pardon, in witness to the fact that they were doing what they knew to be right. They fearlessly sought out those in authority and spoke to them frankly, as equals. George Fox had met Cromwell several times before the Protector's death and harangued him about the responsibilities of government as well as the sufferings of persecuted Friends. It is a tribute to Fox's personality that both Cromwell and Charles II showed respect for him as well as curiosity. And when the opportunity arose in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to set up governments based on Quaker principles, the challenge was taken up and boldly carried through by William Penn and others.
The Embleme of England's Distractions, As also of her attained, and further expected Freedom & Happiness, 1658.
The Rump of the Long Parliament was in charge after Richard Cromwell had been deposed by the Army in April 1659 and was responsible for Nayler's release. Although it was sent packing by the army officers under Major-General Lambert (right) in October, as Lambert's support melted away, it reassembled on Boxing Day. A Paper signed by 164 Friends offering to replace their fellows in gaol was sent to Parliament petitioning about the renewed persecution of their brethren that …
… lie in prisons and houses of correction and dungeons, and many in fetters and irons, and have been cruelly beat by the cruel gaolers, and many have been persecuted to death, and have died in prison, and many lie sick and weak in prison and on straw, so we, in love to our brethren, do offer up our bodies and selves to you, for to put us as lambs into the same dungeons … and nasty holes and prisons … that they may not die in prison … For we are willing to lay down our lives for our brethren, and to take their sufferings upon us that you would inflict upon them. … Christ saith it is he that suffereth and was not visited …
In his General Epistle to them who are of the Royal Priesthood (1659), Fox also attacked those who wished to restore the Mass for the Papists, Common Prayer for the Episcopal men and the Directory for Presbyterians. He even attacked the Church-made and framed faith for the Independents and Mixed Baptists. He contrasted all these 'Church-made faiths' with the Quaker faith, the unity and fellowship of which would stand when all the others were ended. He also drew attention to the hypocrisy of churches which had once called for toleration of their practices, but were now persecuting others, including the Quakers, foreshadowing what was to come:
'Forgive us, as we forgive them', cry Papists, cry Episopals. These cry the Lord's Prayer, and then like a company of senseless men fall a-fighting with one another about their trespasses and debts, and never mind what they prayed, as though they never looked for forgiveness, and to receive the things they prayed for, that fall a-persecuting and imprisoning one another, and taking their brethren and fellow-servants by the throat about religion, (who) in their prayers said 'Father, forgive us, as we forgive them', and will not forgive.
Return of the King – Restoring 'Order'?:
As the year neared it end, Admiral Lawson, in command of the fleet anchored in the Thames, declared for Parliament, and General Monck (depicted in the contemporary porcelain figure, right) at the head of an army in Scotland, who had made it known for some months that he was in support of the civil authority, was about to march on London. He crossed the border on New Year's Day, to be greeted with proclamations from all parts of the country in favour of a 'free parliament'. Lambert offered no resistance and in early February, and backed by the civic authorities in London, Monck insisted that the Rump should admit the moderate members excluded in 1648 so that it could arrange for free elections. Everyone knew that this would mean the return of the King.
In his diary, Samuel Pepys (pictured below) describes how, on 6 February 1660, Monck entered the capital with his army to be warmly welcomed by Parliament, though the Common Council and the city apprentices hesitated to rally to his banner.
George Fox came up from Reading in time to see the destruction of the city gates and portcullises by the troops, recommended by Parliament to Monck as the quickest means of bringing the City Council to heel. Fox saw this act of vandalism as a prophecy of the ruin which he had foretold would come upon the city. The following day, the Quakers were already suffering a foretaste of their treatment under a Royalist Government, and Pepys witnessed their rough handling by Monck's soldiers at Whitehall.
Above: Whitehall from St. James' Park, by Peter Tillemans (detail). The Coldstream Guards drill in front of the Horse Guards building, while Charles II strolls through the park with members of his court.
The accession of Charles II, in defiance of Fox's prophecies, gave the signal for an orgy of persecution which lasted with a few short intermissions for the rest of his reign. The Quakers showed themselves the most uncompromising of all the sects, and upon them, the storm broke with peculiar violence. The authorities simply did not know what to do with them, they showed so little fear and so much firmness. They crammed them into prisons but they still held their meetings there. They told their gaolers that …
… they might as well think to stop the sun from shining, or the tide from flowing whilst but two of them were left together.
Heterodoxy and schism became commonplace among Quakers during the rest of Fox's lifetime and into the next century. The next serious breach was made by John Perrot, a returned missionary, whose sufferings at the hands of the Inquisition in Rome had turned a brain already weakened by hysterical mysticism. Perrot had attempted to preach in Rome and had suffered three years' imprisonment in a madhouse by order of the Inquisition. On his return to Britain, he raised the question of whether 'customary, traditional ways of worship' were already creeping in among Friends. The practices complained of were slight: most prominent in the controversy was that of taking off one's hat while praying in a Quaker meeting. At the time of Nayler's release from Bridewell, Perrot was convulsing the Society with his campaign against 'hat-honour', which he argued should be refused to the Deity, no less than to earthly dignitaries. It was a mad effort for the glorification of the Divine in man, surely the most perverse offshoot of the doctrine of the Inner Light.
To Fox, this was a matter of turning Friends from unity in the power of God into vain and useless disputes. Yet backed by the sympathy and respect aroused by Perrot's sufferings for the Truth, the 'heresy' made great headway, the more that Fox, imprisoned in Scarborough Castle, was unable to oppose it in person with the weight of his influence and common sense. He wrote a letter of disownment and condemnation which was read to Perrot on board the ship which was about to set sail for Barbados. In this way, Fox exercised the authority which many friends expected of him; but feelings were running strongly enough on both sides for this to risk the danger of splitting the movement in two. It was not Fox, but Dewsbury who sent a letter to Perrot which he also published, of the need for reconciliation, and of God's power to preserve his own truth:
And as to my particular self, it is not my nature to be found striving with thee or any upon the earth; but, having declared the Truth to thee, I will return to my rest in the Lord, and let every birth live the length of its day; and let the time manifest what is born of God, for that spirit that stands up in self-striving will weary and die, and end in the earth.
During this potential schism, from 1664 to 1666, Fox was enduring harrowing imprisonment at Lancaster and Scarborough. His body was numbed with cold and his fingers swelled so that one was grown as big as two. During this time, the question of authority was still an urgent one; and in his absence, a specially convened meeting issued a letter committing a power of decision and judgement to such good ancient Friends as have been and are sound in the Faith, and agreeable to the witness of God in his people. The reaction to the dangers of individual guidance was creating the beginnings of a hierarchy, of which Fox could have expected to be at the pinnacle.
When he was released, he had a new vision, of a structure for Friends without human leadership, where balance could be achieved between the insight of the individual and the corporate wisdom of his own group of Friends. The step which Fox took to enforce discipline by the revival of 'Monthly Meetings', which had existed in some places during the Commonwealth but had often disappeared during the more recent persecutions. Ill as he was, he rode around the country establishing a complete system of these meetings.
Any or all of the members of ordinary local meetings which comprised it could attend these county-wide meetings. In its business affairs, as in all other matters, the decider was 'the Spirit of God', made known in the hearts of those present. No decision would be made until each and every one of them was convinced of this. Matters of concern were referred to Monthly Meeting from the constituent meetings, and each Monthly Meeting could refer them to the Yearly Meeting which could take action on behalf of the whole Society of Friends throughout Britain. Fox's further travels were in support of this autonomous system which he felt justified in calling 'gospel order'. His presence and his 'epistles' must have carried great weight, yet we sometimes read of him leaving most of the speaking to his companions in meetings and playing a minimal active part. He wrote that the least member in the Church hath an office and is serviceable, and every member hath need one of another. The extent to which he surrendered his leading position was one of the most remarkable things in his life. Though he was seldom explicit about the struggles with his own conscience, this may be seen as the outcome of a long process of self-examination and readjustment, in the light of the schisms, persecutions and spiritual promptings of the years between 1656 and 1666.
Yet while this was devised to heal one schism, it gave rise to another yet more dangerous and more widespread one, the 'Wilkinson-Story Separation'. In the eyes of these two influential Quakers, this new departure in Church government was a betrayal of the Inner Light. Fox, they thought, had 'delegated' the task of 'spiritual direction', which was the prerogative of each member, to the 'Meeting'. Henceforth, every individual member would have to bow to a corporate ruling rather than follow the leading of their own conscience. This controversy lasted over many years, with both parties being unwilling to give way to reach a compromise. Its consequences were lamentable not just within the Society but also outside since it revealed Quakerism as being a 'unity rent by disunion'. The validity of its cardinal doctrine was called into question; for while the two opposing sides laid claim to the guidance of the Spirit, it was obvious to all that one side must be decided and therefore deceiving others. Fox's natural authority, both by temperament and as founder, was liable to take the course already charted in the case of Perrot. This was probably reinforced by the anxieties and loyalties of a great many Quakers, and by the deaths, at about this time, of quite many 'the first publishers of Truth', Fox's original co-workers. Even when the storm had subsided, it left its traces in a new diffidence in trusting to untested inspiration or striking out into fresh paths, and on the part of outsiders in a sceptical atmosphere which made doubly difficult their evangelistic work.
Although Fox did not regard the Bible as the fountain of Truth, he believed that its writings flowed from this fountain, as did the inspired actions and words of Friends, so it was natural that they should draw from it. Charles II asked one of them, How did you come to believe the Scripture were true? The answer was:
I have believed the Scriptures from a child to be a declaration of truth, when I had but a literal knowledge, education and tradition; but now I know the Scriptures to be true by the manifestations and operation of God fulfilling them in me.
It was not only the grown-ups but the children who showed great courage in the face of persecution. At Bristol, Reading and Cambridge, when all the men and women were in prison, the children continued to meet. A letter to George Fox from Reading dated 15 November 1664 says:
Our little children kept the meeting up when we were all in prison, notwithstanding the wicked justice, when he came and found them there, beat them with a staff he had with a spear in it.
In Bristol, too, the children met and were savagely beaten for doing so but they bore it patiently and cheerfully. Boys and girls of ten and twelve years were threatened with prison and beaten unless they promised not to meet together for the worship of God any more but the children in that respect were unmoveable. By contrast, the Ranters were never 'natural' martyrs. Like Lollards and Familists before them, they usually recanted when called upon to do so. Since most of them did not believe in immortality, the satisfactions of martyrdom were less obvious: resistance to death would require a deeper and more worked out faith than that possessed by most of them but this was that the sort of faith that the Quakers had come to own. In 1672, Fox wrote, in his 'Second Epistle', of their 'passive resistance' in the following eloquent terms:
Friends never feared their Acts, nor prisons, nor gaols, nor houses of correction, nor banishments, nor spoilings of goods; nay, nor life itself. And there was never any persecution that came, but we saw it was for good; and we looked upon it to be good, as from God; and there never were any prisons that I was in, or sufferings, but still it was for the bringing multitudes more out of prison. For they that imprisoned the Truth and quenched the Sprit in themselves, would prison it and quench it without them. So that there was a time when there were so many in prison that it became a by-word, "Truth was scarcely to be found but in gaols."
Friends, unlike Ranters, often suffered at the hands of these same 'magistrates', and a number of them died in prison. These experiences brought them close to prisoners and outcasts, and also tested their Christian love and forbearance towards their judges, guards and gaolers. On many occasions, these people were won over from enmity and ridicule to respect and trust. For a belief of 'that of God in everyone' asserted that acting towards oppressors in the Spirit of Christ, believers would reach and awaken the same spirit within their 'enemies'. Despite his doctrinal differences, Baxter admired the stoutness of the Quakers under persecution, one of the most important reasons for their survival into the eighteenth century and beyond:
… they were so resolute and gloried in their constancy and suffering, that they met openly and were dragged away to the common jail, and yet resisted not and the rest came the next day, so that the jail at Newgate was filled with them. Many of them died in prison, and yet they continued to meet.
Promptings of 'the Spirit', Prophesying & Persecution:
When James II succeeded his brother, there were 1,383 Friends in prison, of whom about two hundred were women. Though the records are imperfect, it has been estimated that at least four hundred and fifty Quakers had died in gaol since the Restoration, so terrible were the conditions of imprisonment. Bishop Barnet, who wrote a history of his own times, gave a description of the persecution of the Quakers:
When they were seized, none of them would get out of the way. They went all together to prison; they stayed there till they were dismissed, for they were dismissed, for they would not petition to be set at liberty, nor would they pay their fines … and as soon as they were let out, they went to their meeting-houses again; and when they found these were shut up by order, they held their meetings, in the streets, before the doors of those houses. They said they would not be ashamed of their meeting … but would do it the more publicly, because they were forbidden to do it.
Not just during persecutions, but at all times Quakers had to witness to the Spirit of God within them, knowing that their words and actions might be God's means of awakening this Spirit in a fellow man or woman. If they kept shops, they knew they must shoe equal honesty to all; customers discovered that they could even send a child to buy from it without being cheated through the unfair adjustment of prices, weights and measures. If a craftsman, the Quaker's work must be sound but simple, not encouraging worldly vanity. If he was a labourer, he must give his employer full and honest service, yet show him the respect due to an equal, not a superior. In some local registers of craftsmen, the term 'Quaker' was applied as if it were a 'trade'.
Like the 'prophets of old', the Quakers might be called to apparently irrational actions. They lived in an era when the traditional structures and beliefs in religion and politics (largely undifferentiated at the time) were being challenged by Levellers and Diggers, Familists and Ranters. Some of these groups developed an extreme emotional fervour and moral individualism which acknowledged no formal commandments. Many also anticipated the ending of the world throughout the period. Friends had to discover where they stood concerning these beliefs, all the more because they attracted adherents from these groups. In the 1670s, Fox responded to this influx and the criticism it led to by tightening the church government in the Society of Friends, and this, in turn, led to further splits in the movement. The 'dissidents' opposed subordination of the individual light within the 'sense of the meeting' and objected to the imposition of a more hierarchical structure in the form of a 'national church' with monthly, quarterly and annual meetings, as well as separate women's meetings. They compared these structures with those of other churches, rejecting on principle the condemnation of individual Quakers by any church meeting. For them, the re-organisation was 'an infringement upon individual liberty', denying the continuing presence of Christ within all believers. Penn, on the other hand, argued that these were 'libertine spirits' who tread down your hedge under their specious pretence of being left to the light within.
Two significant nonconformist figures among critics of the movement, John Bunyan and Richard Baxter both conflated and confused Quaker beliefs and practices with those of the Ranters, though Bunyan emphasised that only the Ranters had made the doctrines threadbare at the alehouse, and the Quakers have set a new gloss on them by … outward legal holiness. But Bunyan also lumped Ranters and Quakers together in condemnation because both permitted women ministers. The Ranter leader Lawrence Clarkson, looking back from 1660, had no doubt that the early Quakers shared his beliefs about God, the devil and the resurrection, only they had a righteousness of the law which I had not. The same sense of God which had earlier led George Fox to walk barefoot through Lichfield crying 'Woe to the bloody city!' or to climb Pendle Hill to 'sound the day of the Lord' was present in more considered actions, such as Penn's inner 'calling' to found the State of Pennsylvania and set up its constitution on principles which included no army or militia, no death penalty, and respect for the rights of Amerindians as equals.
The spread of Quakerism, emptying the 'steeple-houses' of Anabaptists and Dissenters, witnessed both to the defeat of the political Levellers and to the continued existence and even the extension of radical ideas. The multitude was still 'much inclined' to a 'popular parity, a levelling anarchy' in 1650. Even after the Restoration, Samuel Fisher was defending Quakerism against accusations of 'this rude and levelling humour'. As late as 1678, Thomas Comber was suggesting that the Quakers derived from Gerrard Winstanley, the 'True Leveller'.
Heterodoxy & Nonconformity:
The enormous problem of disciplining this amorphous and heterodox movement fell principally to George Fox. For all independent protestant churches, the appeal to conscience, to the inner voice, conflicted with the necessity of organisation and discipline, if the church was to survive. If, as it seems, the early Quakers drew their support mainly from Ranter and Seeker groupings, then their serious challenge was to impose such a common order on the most individualist of all nonconformists. It cost Fox much heart-searching and enmity before he convinced the movement, as his pastoral letters reveal. But gradually, the need to draw lines between themselves and the Ranters, and to eliminate Ranters within their own ill-defined ranks, led Quakers to place more emphasis on human sinfulness, even among Friends. In 1659, Lawrence Clarkson, the Ranter 'leader' turned Quaker rebuked 'ranting devils' who continued to say that God was the author of evil and that 'for them, sin was no sin'. The absolute individualism of the appeal to Christ within everyone had to be curbed. It seems to have been the approach of the restoration that decided Fox in favour of pacifism and non-participation in politics. He accepted as the reality that the Kingdom of God was not coming soon. So long as that had appeared to be on the agenda, political attitudes had necessarily to remain fluid. After its disappearance, the problem was one of the relationship of the Society of Friends as a sect to the world in which it had to continue to exist.
Speech, as well as action, had to be open to the Sprit's inspiration. It was of paramount importance to say what one knew to be true. Friends refused to speak on oath because this would have implied that their everyday utterances were untrustworthy. Incidentally, this gave magistrates an almost certain way of committing them to prison, for if a Friend was asked to take 'the Oath of Allegiance', which could be administered to anyone to prove he was a true subject of the realm, the answer was 'No'. As with so many of their insights, there were two paths to this conclusion: by following in action the logic of their principles; and by taking seriously the New Testament ('Swear not at all', and 'Let your Yea be Yea and your Nay, Nay'). In one of his Journal entries for 1664, George Fox recorded one Courtroom exchange:
Judge: Sirrah, will you take the oath?
G.F.: I am none of thy sirrahs, I am no sirrah, I am a Christian. Art thou a judge, and sits here and gives ill names to prisoners? It does not become either thy grey hairs or thy office. Thou ought not to give names to prisoners.
Judge: I am a Christian too.
G.F.: Then do Christian works.
Judge: Sirrah, thou thinkest to frighten me with thy words …
G.F.: I speak in love to thee.
Judge: George Fox, I speak in love to thee too.
G.F.: Love gives no names.
Judge: Wilt thou swear? Wilt thou take the oath. Yeah or nay?
G.F.: As I said before, whether must I obey God or man, judge thee. Christ commands not to swear; and if thee, or you, or any minister or priest here will prove that Christ or the apostles, after they had forbidden swearing, commanded that (we) should swear, then I will swear. (And several priests being there, never one appeared or offered to speak.)
Judge: George Fox, will you swear or not?
G.F.: It's in obedience to Christ's command I do not swear, and for his sake we suffer. And you are sensible enough of swearers how they first swear one way and then another. And if I could take any oath at all upon any occasion, I should take that; but it is not denying oaths upon occasions, but all oaths according to Christ's doctrine.
Judge: Then you will not swear. Take him away, gaoler.
G.F.: It is for Christ's sake I cannot swear, and in obedience to his commands I suffer, and so the Lord forgive you all.
Anthony Pearson, a young judge whose conversion on the Bench was one of the most dramatic incidents in Nayler's early ministry, had since the Restoration ceased to be numbered amongst the Quakers. For many years he had done fine service for Friends, pleading for them with the government and making his home a place of refuge and hospitality. His continued interest in politics, however, acted as a widening wedge between him and Friends, and his appearance at Nayler's hearing before the Committee of Parliament seems to have been his last act of comradeship. In 1660, he made his peace with the Royalist authorities by abjuring the chimerical notions of those giddy times. He became Under Sheriff of Durham and died in 'ecclesiastical sanctity' in about 1665.
The leading Friends of the first generation were great pamphleteers, and when they died it was customary to publish a 'Collected Works'. In James Nayler's case, this did not appear until nearly fifty years after his death. In its pages, he qualified the Quaker doctrine of human perfectability in the Light by his sharp awareness of the ebb and flow of spiritual strength, the possibility of self-deception and the believers' need to understand the 'darker' side of their personalities. He wrote of how he experienced judgement and mercy as one, how he was able to lay aside all resentments and find peace, love and strength in the utter loss of himself. It was not long before the sober, respectable Quaker image began to replace that of the wandering enthusiast with his revelations from God and revolutionary zeal. Men such as William Penn, son of an admiral and friend of James II, Isaac Penington, son of the Lord Mayor of London, and Robert Barclay, son of a Scottish laird and trained in theology, joined or came to prominence. Barclay wrote, in particular, about the importance of silent ministry in worship, as a form of 'unspoken love':
Such is the evident certainly of that divine strength that it is communicated by thus meeting together, and waiting in silence upon God, that sometimes when one hath come in, … this Power being in good measure raised in the whole meeting will suddenly lay hold upon his spirit, and wonderfully help to raise up the good in him and beget him into the sense of the same Power, to the melting and warming of his heart; even as the warmth would take hold upon a man that is cold coming to a stove, or as a flame will lay hold upon some little combustible matter being near unto it.
Above: 'The valley thick with corn' (1825) by Samuel Palmer, from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. John Lampen writes: 'the picture (while not a likeness of George Fox) expresses many things I feel about Fox: his early experiences in the countryside, his naive and visionary qualities, his insistence that the Garden of Eden can be recovered, and his imagery so often drawn from rural life.
'True Light' – Psychology & Theology in Early Quakerism:
For the early Friends, what John Lampen has defined, in psychological terms, as the 'decisive impulse of the unconscious' confirmed the ethical guidance of what they understood by Christ, the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. This quotation from John's gospel has sometimes been called the 'Quaker's text' because they asserted more strongly than most other Christians that this illumination was a general and identifiable experience. By 'general', Lampen means that they believed it came to Muslims and Amerindians as well as to Christians, humanists and agnostics. By 'identifiable', he means that they gave definite criteria to distinguish it from 'the disguised gratification of our unconscious will'. Quakers saw Christ in four aspects, he argues. He is the eternal Word of John's gospel, preceding all history. Secondly, he gives substance and meaning to all the prophecies, symbols and leadings towards the 'One God' of the Jewish religion and other later religious traditions, such as Christianity and Islam. Thirdly, he is the historical Jesus who, Fox said, wholly embodied these 'foreshadowings'. Fourthly, as James Nayler had set out, there was 'the Christ I witness in me now'. This is the aspect of Christ which other early leaders witnessed to, Christ as the Light, Spirit or Seed within. Fox identified this Sprit in man with Jesus Christ, rather than just 'God' because of his initial revelation and Jesus' own promise to be with his followers even to the end of the world. He had read in the Bible that Christ would be known to his people as king and lawgiver, prophet and teacher, shepherd and healer, priest and saviour – the 'offices' or functions of the Light which he too had personally experienced.
But this is not to claim that every believer has a total private illumination. Jesus set up a community and told them to love one another as they had loved him. Fox used the concept of the indwelling Christ not to make unique claims for himself or anyone else, but to emphasise that anyone in the worshipping group might be prompted to say the word which that group (or individual Friends within it) needed to hear. This was what he called the 'prophetic' word of Christ, a word which was an objective reality rather than a psychological one. George Fox's sanity and humanity are as apparent as his mysticism and sense of mission, in his life and writings. There is no doubt of his religious experience; not a sudden flash, but gradually evolving from his first insight as a troubled young man. He possessed from the beginning a keen sensitivity to the evil in the world, both in private lives and political circumstances; his spiritual participation in what early Friends suffered for their witness brought him at times to a state of collapse. John Lampen believes this awareness of external malice was coupled to a sense of danger from within, from the bad part of his nature which had led him to contemplate suicide and with which he had to come to terms. Fox's position was logical, once he had accepted the concepts of the 'world' and 'sin'. By the 'World', Fox and his contemporaries meant, as Cecil W Sharman has summarised:
… outward interests and activities of this life alone; people who give their attention only to these, and who look down on any who give priority to religious or ethical considerations.
The early Quaker attitude towards sin and perfection had its dangers. Was the vision of the individual paramount? Was there to be no external authority? In that case, as its enemies pointed out, there was no fundamental difference between them and the Ranters, who were not an organised group but a loose movement for radical thinkers. As far as the concept of 'original sin' was concerned, Fox believed that the responsibility for this was to be laid at man's door, not God's. In his 1659 book, The Great Mistery, he wrote:
As for the soul, that is immortal, for God breathed into man the breath of life and made man a living soul, and sin came by disobedience – and that separates between man and God who is pure and hath all souls in his hand; but as for you are in a cave of darkness, the mystery of the soul is from you hidden, but you confess it is by your means that sin is conveyed to your children. Yea, take it to yourselves, it is your work and the Lord hath no hand in it, not in sin nor in making sinners.
In the same volume, Fox quarrelled with Richard Baxter's saying that Christ's kingdom is a hospital, and has no subjects but diseased ones. To this, he replied:
We read of no such thing in scripture … But they who follow the Lamb, in their mouth is no guile, nor spot, nor fault before the throne of God …; and they are the faithful, and called, and chosen that overcome the world, and his kingdom stands in power and in righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost, and is not a 'hospital', nor his subjects diseased ones, for he heals them, and coverts them, and washes them. The diseased, or such as come to Christ to be healed, them who come to him he heals them of what infirmity soever it be, and cures them, and clothes them in the right mind.
Since part of the strength of the Inner Light, of conscience, is its ability to change with a changing intellectual climate, it is not surprising that in the England of Charles II the Quaker consensus came down on the side of discipline, organisation and common sense. They had spread their ideas by becoming wandering speakers, and the torrent of pamphlets on religious matters which poured from the presses during the Commonwealth had owed much to them. Some of them were deeply exercised about the paradoxes of good and evil, God and nature; others simply enjoyed the advantages of a philosophy which devalued all ethical codes. Christopher Hill suggested in his 1972 work on the sects in the Civil War that …
The Quaker movement up to 1659, was far closer to the Ranters in spirit than its leaders later liked to recall after they had spent many weary hours differentiating themselves from Ranters and ex-Ranters.
But, after the Restoration, the Inner Light had to adapt itself to the standards of the commercial world where 'yea' and 'nay' helped one to prosper. It was as pointless to condemn this as a sell-out as to praise its realism; it was simply the consequence of the organised survival of a group which had turned the world upside down only to see it turned the 'right' way up again. By the 1680s, Fox's inner voice was telling him something quite different from what it had been telling both him and James Nayler thirty years earlier. Nayler had already become a dark shadow lying across the communal memory of the Society.
From 'Anarchy' to 'Progress' – Penn, Baxter & Bunyan:
In his Preface to Fox's Journal, looking back from 1692, the year following George Fox's death, William Penn identified many Quakers in the earlier days of the Ranter wing, who:
… would have every man independent, that as he had the principle in himself, he should only stand and fall to that, and nobody else; and though the measure of Light and Grace might differ, yet the nature of it was the same, and being so, they struck at the spiritual unity which a people guided by the same Principal are naturally led into …
Some weakly mistook good order in the government of church affairs for discipline in worship, and that it was so pressed or recommended by him and other brethren.
The potential tension between this independent principle and spiritual unity convulsed the Quaker movement three times during Fox's lifetime. In the first of these, the controversy surrounding James Nayler, the doctrine of the Inward Light had been severely tested. It may have been the case that the church could only survive by establishing itself as an institution, albeit quite different from other churches, even nonconformist ones, in its doctrines and practices. But some Friends, even today, feel that their Society never recaptured the qualities which were symbolically 'cast out' with James Nayler. Although still persecuted until 1689, the long-term development of the Society, through a period of withdrawal from the world, commercial success, enlightened social witness, the evangelical movement, to the humanism of today, Quakerism may seem to have more to do with the rationalism of John Locke than the mysticism and prophetic fire of the younger George Fox and James Nayler.
In 1673, Penn also wrote that it was a Ranter error to suppose that Christ's fulfilling of the law discharged believers from all obligation and duty required by the law as well as to suppose that all things a man did were good simply because he had convinced himself they were. The later seventeenth-century Quaker conundrum was how to win agreement on objective standards of good and bad, lawful and sinful. This, Penn argued, necessitated church 'authority' of some kind. Otherwise, Friends would have to wish…
… farewell to all Christian church order and discipline (which would then provide) an inlet to Ranterism and so to atheism.
That stated the clear dilemma of a highly individualistic church which had grown up from being a millenarian sect and was at first organisationally influenced mainly by a desire to remove hindrances to spiritual freedom. In the post-Commonwealth era, it had to face the problem of continuing to exist in, what for Friends was undoubtedly an uncongenial world that was being re-established. That necessitated discipline and organisation and a more regular form of teaching ministry. No longer, in Penn's words, could men afford…
… to wait for a motion of the spirit for everything.
Penn had won fame as a soldier and had been a great favourite at the Court of Charles II, but he no longer wore a sword as the Quakers, whom he had joined, thought that all fighting was wrong. Instead of the 'French garbe' (right), armour and sword that he had worn when Samuel Pepys met him in 1664, he dressed in the same dark cloth jackets and breeches that were worn by other Quakers, with short-crowned felt hats. Of course, he later went to America to be able to worship and serve God freely, founding the colony of Pennsylvania.
Following the restoration of the monarchy, Charles II was persuaded by his restored bishops to agree to 'The Act of Uniformity' which required ministers to promise to use the Prayer Book and to obey the bishops. If they did not do this by St. Bartholemew's Day in August 1662 they were turned out of their churches and livings. Richard Baxter believed that it was wrong to force people to do anything against their consciences and so he would not agree to the Act. Baxter said:
And now hundreds of good ministers with their wives and children had neither home nor bread.
Many congregations followed their popular ministers out of the churches, travelling about to go on listening to their teaching and preaching in private houses. The government responded by passing The Conventicle Act, forbidding such meetings and sending everyone who attended them to prison. As a result, the prisons were soon full of those who defied the Act, especially the Quakers. The justices were so busy with the Quakers and the prisons so full of them that they had less time and room for other Nonconformists. A further Act was passed against them called the 'Five Mile Act' which said that they must not come within five miles of any important town or of any place at all where they had once been ministers. This prevented them from receiving charitable funds from their home parishes, thus cutting off their incomes completely. Left to himself, the 'merry monarch' would have probably allowed both Catholics and Nonconformists to worship in freedom. Parliament would not allow this, however, but the magistrates knew that they could allow nonconformist preaching to continue in private houses. In 1672 the King issued a Declaration of Indulgence, doing away with some of the fierce laws against Nonconformists and granting licenses for certain preachers. Richard Baxter was one of the ministers to get a licence and he returned to London, settling in Bloomsbury.
Baxter reveals how many ministers thought t it was better for them to go on teaching and preaching openly even if they were sent to prison than to starve or, worse still, see their children starve. Baxter went on preaching in his own house to his family and friends, first in London and then in Acton. As more and more people from neighbouring parishes were coming to hear him preach, he was careful not to preach during the time of 'divine worship' at the parish churches. As his house was close to the church, he used to preach before the service and then take all the people over to the church with him afterwards to hear the vicar. But the vicar betrayed him to the magistrates and he was sent to Clerkenwell jail since Newgate was already too full of Quakers. He was allowed a room of his own and his wife to stay with him, so they kept house as comfortably and contentedly as at home, though in a narrower space.
While staying with friends at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, Baxter met William Penn, and the two of them held a meeting in which they discussed and debated before an audience. It lasted from ten in the morning until five without even a break for refreshments. William Penn was a man with a large private income, the son of an admiral who had been a close personal friend of James, Duke of York, who had been in charge of the Navy during Charles II's reign. We have no record of his disputation with Baxter, but it may well have had a significant effect in the shift in Quaker doctrine which has been characterised as 'the Quakers' return to sin'. The man who above all made this 'adjustment' was Robert Barclay, son of an old Scottish landed family related to the Stuarts, who was also to be seen at James II's court. In addition to his famous Apology (1678), Barclay had also published an attack on The Anarchy of the Ranters and other Libertines as late as 1676.
Baxter continued to teach thousands of people in London who, after the Great Fire and the Acts against the Nonconformists, were without churches and ministers. In February 1685, Charles II died and his brother James, Duke of York, became King. Although, as a Roman Catholic, he could have continued his brother's tacit toleration in the interests of making common cause with the Dissenters, James hated them because so many of them had opposed him acceding to the throne. Almost as soon as he did so, he authorised the active persecution of them to resume. Baxter was their most famous preacher and writer and, though worn out by age and illness, James thought that the Nonconformists could best be punished by making an example of him through a public trial. His 'judge' was the Lord Chief Justice of England, Judge Jeffreys, a man who would do anything the King required. He was the last in a long line of Welsh recruits to the world of Tudor and Stuart political careerists, a clever but cruel man, who is notorious for having hanged more people than any judge before, including the poor West country farmers who rose up in support of the Monmouth rebellion later the same year.
Baxter was duly brought to trial before him at the Guildhall on 30 May 1685, apparently on a charge of sedition, based on twisted interpretations of his Bible commentaries. According to a letter in the collection of a contemporary minister, Rev. Daniel Williams (1643-1716), written by an eye-witness to an 'honoured old friend', Baxter told the 'mad' Judge who was 'ablaze with anger and brandy':
"One day, all these things will surely be understood and it will be seen what a sad and foolish thing it is that one set of Protestant Christians are made to persecute another set. … I am not concerned to answer such stuff (as I am accused of) but am ready to produce my writings, and my life and conversation is known to many in this nation."
That was all Baxter was allowed to say in his own defence, since Jeffreys pointed out to him that he had "written books enough to load a cart, everyone full of sedition, I might say treason, as an egg is full of meat." Baxter was imprisoned at Southwark since he was unwilling to pay the fine of five hundred marks. He remained in prison for eighteen months. The correspondent commented sarcastically:
We have fine judges and juries in England you see! This viper, I am told, proposed a whipping through the city, but I hear some of his brethren abhorred the notion and stamped on it. So amongst them out of their great clemency, they have set the above fine. …
John Bunyan was also one of those 'mechanic preachers' who lived out much of his life in prison, spending seven years in Bedford gaol where he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, which became, next to the Bible, the most popular and sometimes the only other book in homes all over England. When Bunyan was brought before a judge in 1670, he was told that if he did not stop preaching he must be hanged. Bunyan replied, "If I were out of prison today, I would preach the Gospel again tomorrow, by the help of God." He remained in prison for twelve years, during which time he wrote many books, including his famous allegory.
Justice Hotham's famous remark to Fox in 1652, that Quakers had prevented the nation being overrun by Ranters, looks rather different in the context of 1685 and Fox's Journal, written in that decade than it did when it was first uttered. Without the Quakers, he had gone on:
… all the justices in the nation could not have stopped it with all their laws, because (said he) they would have said as we said and done as we commanded, and yet have kept their own principle still. But this principle of truth, said he, overthrows their principle, and the root and ground thereof.
Assuming it was correctly reported by Fox himself, perhaps a rather large assumption, this is not a simple statement like 'Methodism saved England from a French Revolution'. JPs could never have destroyed Ranterism because Ranters would compromise, recant, and yet remain of the same opinion; but the Quakers' principle led them to bear witness in public, and so to be far less dangerous. If they were to survive, their public witness forced on them the organisation which destroyed the Ranter element in their faith. One of the Ranter characteristics, by contrast, was their readiness to flee from persecution.
George Fox witnessed to the lifelong character of his spiritual struggle in his words as he came out of his last Quaker meeting, a few days before his death in 1691: "I am glad I was here, … now I am fully clear." The nature of this struggle can be seen during the periods of mental stress which he went through in the years up to 1649, in the summer of 1658 and the winter of 1670-71. His descriptions speak of insecurity and uncertainty, a sense of actual danger, threatening visions and an almost telepathic identification with the sufferings of others. These spells brought physical prostration, sometimes alternating with short bursts of hyperactivity. In each case, the period ended with one or more visions which spoke to him of wholeness and integration, and which left him ready to face new problems and demands with deeper spiritual resources. For instance, his almost fatal illness in the winter of 1670-71 was immediately followed by his strenuous visit to America. The people of Baycliff said of Fox that "He is such a man as never was, he knows people's thoughts." He interpreted dreams and was credited with healing powers. It is not surprising that legends grew up around him, such as that he could be in different parts of the country at the same time. But there is no doubt, from both his own Journal and contemporary accounts that he understood the needs of his fellows, their strengths and weaknesses, and that the practical and mystical went hand in hand with him.
Fox did not use his gift of discernment primarily to judge others but to try to arouse in them the 'witness of God' which would convert or 'convince' them from the heart; it was not his own words, but that which answered them within the hearer which was meaningful. A priest with whom he had been disputing said, "Neighbours, this is the business: George Fox is come to the light of the sun, and now he thinks to put out my starlight." Fox told him he would not quench the least measure of God in any, much less put out his starlight if it was true starlight – light from the Morning Star. But sometimes Fox felt the need to match his kindliness with sternness. When one man came and told Fox that he had had a vision of him: … I was sitting in a great chair … he was to come and put off his hat and bow down to the ground before me, Fox told him, "Repent, thou beast." When an individual experienced the teaching, healing and judging power of the Light in him, he could find confirmation of the fact that this was no delusion or personal fantasy by turning to accounts of the historical Jesus and finding them consistent with their own personal experiences. For this presence which believers encountered in the depths of their being, Fox used an abundance of metaphors: Light, Rock, Ensign, Seed, Anchor, Voice, Hammer, Word, Truth, Life, Lamb, Heavenly Man, Captain, Foundation, and many more. All these were used almost interchangeably with 'Christ Jesus' and 'the Spirit of God'. Fox was never in doubt that what Friends would find in those 'depths' was Christ, teaching and ministering to them in a way which was consonant with what they could read of him in the Gospels.
Paradise Regained? True Simplicity & Uniform 'Grey':
In his interpretation of the historical Jesus, George Fox went back to the traditions of Jesus' teaching and ministry preserved in the synoptic gospels. His theme was eschatological, that the Kingdom of Heaven had now come. However it presented itself, it must be grasped and held fast; everything else would be added to it. This teaching characterised the early Quaker experience and emphasised the seeking of the Kingdom over the doctrine of the atonement found especially in John's Gospel and the epistles. Fox suggested that the events of Jesus' earthly life were in some real sense re-enacted within Friends.
In this way, he supported the claim of Milton (pictured right), that Paradise could be regained, restoring the right relationship between God and man and the whole of creation. We owe the theme of Paradise Regained to another Quaker, Thomas Ellwood, to whom Milton lent the manuscript of Paradise Lost. Apparently, he returned it with the comment, Thou hast said much of paradise lost, but what of paradise found? Fox himself demanded that believers must come out of the state that Adam is in, in the Fall, to know the state that he was in before he fell.
He took seriously the claims of the New Testament that salvation has already come, that our bodies are temples of God, and that if we abide in the Light there is no occasion of stumbling in us. For most of his life, Fox seems to have had a rare 'full assurance' of God's grace, but he was not alone in this among early Quakers.
Neither was the Quaker 'cause' limited to a small number of enthusiasts. By the time of George Fox's death in 1691, one Englishman in every hundred was a Quaker, worshipping in a way which had almost no point of contact with the other churches' tradition. traditions. They were the largest of the dissenting sects. Their movement was equally remarkable for its courage, its toleration, its discipline and its democracy. In 'steeple-houses, law courts, shops and streets, in and out of prison, in prosperity and under threat of death, among the humble and before the powerful, they witnessed to a direct experience of God which changed the way they lived their lives. Experience of this Divine Light bore out the truth of Scripture, and they expected to find that the insight given to one could not contradict that given to another; nor could it disagree with the teaching of Jesus. As Fox wrote, All they that are in the Light are in unity; for the Light is but one. Any disagreement, whether over a course of action or a matter of belief, could only indicate that one or more parties to the discussion had not yet clearly perceived the truth. The desire to harmonise the individual vision with the corporate wisdom of the meeting was not easy. Painful experience played a part in drawing a line. One early Quaker writer described their experience of the meetings s/he attended:
When I came into the silent assemblies of God's people, I felt a secret power among them, which touched my heart; and as I gave way unto it I found the evil weakening in me and the good raised up; and so I became thus knit and united to them, hungering more and more after the increase of this power and life whereby I might feel myself perfectly redeemed; and indeed this is the surest way to become a Christian. …
In the days of the Commonwealth, Friends were not conspicuous for asceticism, though they tried (and most were obliged) to live simply. Within the much more permissive Restoration culture, they were led to a strong witness for moderation and simplicity in dress, eating, drinking, and every use of the gifts of creation. Since every word one spoke should be as sacred as an oath, every meal a sacrament, every day a holy-day, it was natural that they should condemn licentious painting, music and theatre of the 1660s, the elaborate and artificial manners of the gentry, the love of rich dishes, jewels and expensive clothes, the luxuries of madmen who destroy the creation.
This was not, at first, a set of rules, but gradually, after Fox died in 1691, Quakers began to conform to the stereotypical image of uniform grey clothes, 'plain speech' and an aversion to art, music and 'sociable living', which Fox would have castigated, as Margaret Fell did at the end of her life, as 'running into forms'. But George Fox was not a 'modern' born out of his time, as some have suggested. He was very much a seventeenth-century man, nor did he set himself up to give answers, though he was sure where they could be found. His deeper insights are capable of interpretation, development and rediscovery, perhaps infinitely, for they touch the centre of all men's religious experience.
To every quotation, modern, Quaker or biblical, his rejoinder would be the personal challenge he first issued to Margaret Fell in 1652 on his first visit to her home at Swarthmore Hall: Christ saith this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say?
Christopher Hill (1972), The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Christopher Hill (1973), Winstanley: The Law of Freedom and Other Writings. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Austin Woolrych (2002), Britain in Revolution, 1625-1660. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mabel R Brailsford (1927), A Quaker From Cromwell's Army: James Nayler. London: The Swarthmore Press.
Cecil W Sharman (ed.) ( 1980), No More but my Love: Letters of George Fox, 1624-91. London: Quaker Home Service.
John Lampen (ed.) (1981), Wait in the Light: The Spirituality of George Fox. London: Quaker Home Service.
Katharine Moore (1961), Richard Baxter – Toleration and Tyranny, 1615-1691). London: Longmans.
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The 'Free Spirit' in Revolutionary Britain: Part I – Seekers, Ranters & Quakers in the Civil Wars & Interregnum, 1647-1657. Leave a comment
Prophesying the Millennium:
Until 1957, historians had maintained that we could know very little of the real beliefs of the 'Brethren of the Free Spirit' or 'Spiritual Libertines', since the information we did have came from their enemies. They were accused as regarding themselves as divine beings and of holding that they could, therefore, commit murder, robbery and fornication without sin. But, as Norman Cohn pointed out in the appendix to his iconic book, The Pursuit of the Millennium, published that year, the 'scandalous tales told of them' were 'merely conscious or unconscious slanders'. These were accusations which were made against mystical groups of the later middle ages, but they could not be checked in any detail against their own writings. To do that, Cohn looked into the brief but hectic revival of the 'Free Spirit' which took place in England during and after the Civil War.
Like the writings of their predecessors, those of the 'Ranters' of the later period were ordered to be burnt. But it was much harder to destroy a whole production of a work than a few manuscripts, and stray copies of Ranter tracts survived. Viewed as historical documents, these tracts have established that the 'Free Spirit' really was exactly what it was said to be: a system of self-exaltation amounting to self-deification; a pursuit to of total emancipation which in practice could result in an anarchic eroticism; often also a revolutionary social doctrine which denounced the institution of private property and aimed at its abolition. But the interest of the Ranter literature is not only historical. If the stylistic idiosyncrasies of Abiezer Coppe were sufficiently vigorous and colourful to earn him an honourable place in the gallery of literary eccentrics, Joseph Salmon deserves recognition as a writer of real poetic power.
Thanks to the work which has been done on the radical religious ideas of Cromwell's England, not least by Christopher Hill, in his 1972 book, The World Turned Upside Down, there is now no lack of information concerning the social milieu in which the Ranters flourished. Indeed, this author was counselled by his tutors not to pursue research for his PhD on this period on the basis that he would probably have to limit himself to the study of an obscure sect. It was only some years later that I returned it to investigate the Independent puritan enthusiasm which ran high among the officers and soldiers of the New Model Army and among civilians, and that neither the Episcopalian establishment nor the Presbyterian puritans were able to channel the flood of lay religiosity. Many felt that the time had come when God had when God was pouring out his Spirit on all flesh. Ecstasies were everyday occurrences, prophecies were uttered in many quarters, and millennial hopes were rife throughout the population. Cromwell himself, especially before he came to power as Lord General and then Lord Protector, was also moved by such hopes. Thousands of artisans in London and elsewhere lived in daily expectation that through the violence of the civil war the Kingdom of the Saints would be established on English soil and that Christ would return to rule over it.
In the late 1640s, the Quakers were often referred to as 'Roundhead rogues', and in May 1648 the 'Digger' pamphleteer Gerrard Winstanley made it clear that the word 'Roundhead' was used especially as a slur on the political radicals in the New Model. Edward Burrough was mocked as a Roundhead even in his pre-Quaker days. But it appears to have been used mainly in reference to political radicalism, and it was only during the intense period of political instability and uncertainty which followed the execution of the King and ended with the establishment of the Protectorate in 1653. In 1649-50, Winstanley was moved by supernatural illumination to found the 'Digger' community near Cobham in Surrey. Convinced that the old world was 'running up like parchment in the fire, and wearing away', Winstanley attempted to restore mankind to its 'Virgin-state', a primitivist utopian commune in which private property, class distinction and human authority would have no place. At the same time, groups of religious enthusiasts multiplied rapidly. As one pamphleteer remarked in 1651,
… it is no new work of Satan to sow Heresies, and breed Heretickes, but they never came up so thick as in these latter times: They were wont to peep up one and one, but now they sprout out by huddles and clusters (like locusts out of the bottomlesse pit). They now come thronging upon us in swarmes, as the Caterpillars of Aegypt.
'High Professors' & Heretics:
The heresy which this writer had particularly in mind was that of the Ranters. These people, who were also known as 'high attainers' and 'high professors', became very numerous about 1650. Some were to be found in the Army, where there were cases of officers being cashiered and publicly whipped, and of a soldier being whipped through the City of London 'for ranting'. There were also groups of Ranters scattered throughout the country. Above all, they abounded in London, where they numbered many thousands. The first Quakers – George Fox (above), James Nayler and their followers – often came into contact with the Ranters. Hostile observers such as Episcopalians or Presbyterians, often deliberately conflated Quakerism with the Ranters; for both alike discarded the outward forms of religion and saw true religion only in the 'indwelling spirit' in the individual soul. The Quakers themselves, however, regarded the Ranters as erring souls to be converted. George Fox has a curious passage about his first meeting with Ranters, in prison in Coventry in 1649. He later wrote:
When I came into the jail, where these prisoners were, a great power of darkness struck at me, and I sat still, having my spirit gathered into the love of God. At last these prisoners began to rant, and vapour, and blaspheme, at which my soul was greatly grieved. They said they were God; but that we could not bear such things. … Then seeing they said they were God, I asked them, if they knew whether it would rain tomorrow? They said they could not tell. I told them, God could tell. … After I had reproved them for their blasphemous expressions, I went away; for I perceived they were Ranters.
Amongst the Ranters whom George Fox found in the prison at Coventry was Joseph Salmon who had recently left the Army. Not long after his encounter with Fox, Salmon put forth a paper or book of recantation; upon which they were set at liberty. From 1650, Salmon was for some years a minister in Kent, preaching frequently in Rochester Cathedral. One of his works was a Ranter tract, Divinity Anatomised, which has been lost, but others, including the Recantation, survive to reveal a very considerable poetic talent. The first time we know of George Fox coming to the notice of authority was earlier in the same year of his Ranter encounter when he was imprisoned at Nottingham. This was, of course, a crucial year in the history of the English Civil Wars, the year in which King Charles was tried by Parliament and executed, and the beginning of the Presbyterian attempt to impose its rigid Calvinist discipline and morality by legislation on the English people, as it had succeeded in Scotland.
There were radical political movements among the ordinary people, such as the Levellers, led by John Lilburne (pictured below), who later joined the Quaker movement, and the True Levellers, or 'Diggers', for whom GerrFenny Drayton
ard Winstanley was chief pamphleteer. The scientific revolution of ideas had not yet spread, but the revolution in religious thought which had produced the Continental Protestant Reformation had led to the establishment of a Commonwealth in Britain which was a place and time of extreme and independent views, bitter controversy, and uncertainty about the nature of religious authority. Many groups of people had been expelled from, or abandoned by, the established Anglican churches, or had withdrawn themselves from them; they were generally known as 'Seekers' because they waited for a new revelation of God's truth. The religious persecutions of the previous century, in particular, the Marian burnings were still strong in the memories of such people, and if they need to be reminded of those sufferings, they had Foxe's Book of Martyrs to remind them, with its graphic illustrations of the martyrdoms.
George Fox stood out as a striking and unexpected figure. He was twenty-five, long-haired (unlike the 'Roundheads'), peasant-featured and astute. He hailed from the village of Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire, in the corner of the East Midlands and East Anglia which formed the stronghold of radical religious independents. There he had been working as an apprentice to a dealer in fleeces and hides and worked as a shepherd. He was semi-literate, most of his later letters being dictated to others. Leaving home at the age of nineteen to become an itinerate seeker, he found no teacher who could assure him of the truth until, in 1647, as he wrote in his Journal, he heard a voice saying to him, There is One, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition. At this time, William Dell and many other 'Familists' believed that academic education was no help in understanding the Scriptures. From 1646 onwards books by Henry Niclaes and man other Familist and Antinomian writers were being published. There were also tendencies even among orthodox Puritans which pointed in the same direction. William Erbery, the Welsh Baptist was one of those who wrote of the 'free grace' which came through the preaching of Preston and Sibbes. John Preston taught that the 'elect' knew by their own experience that the Bible was true and that God was:
… as he is described in the Scripture such have they found him to be to themselves. …
Richard Sibbes declared that If God be a father, then we are brethren, it is a levelling word. Tobias Crisp held that sin is finished and that:
If you be freemen in Christ, you may esteem all the curses of the law as no more concerning you than the laws of of England concern Spain. … To be called a libertine is the most glorious title under heaven.
Allegorical writing of this sort was harmless enough in time of social peace, though the ecclesiastical authorities were never happy about it. It became dangerous in the revolutionary atmosphere of the 1640s Kiddermindstewhen some of the lower classes began to take it literally. The doctrines were also harmless in the period following the Restoration when taught by Thomas Traherne. But in between times, the Revolution seemed to stir up infinite possibilities and inflamed the passions of the poor. If the majority in a congregation should excommunicate their pastor, no synod could do anything about it. From this time onwards we get plentiful evidence of the emergence of a whole number of opinions which later became associated with the Ranters. Thomas Edwards reported many sectaries who said Christ died for all and a bricklayer from Hackney who said that Christ was not God, or at least that he was as much God as Christ was. A Rochester man who associated with Baptists said that Jesus Christ was a bastard; so did Jane Stratton of Southwark. Some sectaries held that God his children as well sinning as praying; others held that they cannot sin, but if they sin, Christ sins in them. Other 'errors' recorded by Edwards were that God is in our flesh as much as in Christ's flesh and that all shall be saved at last. A pamphlet of 1648 argued that if a man were strongly moved to sin, after praying repeatedly, he should do it.
Anthony Pearson reported that many apprentices and young people joined the Ranters in the late 1640s, and Richard Baxter, the Kidderminster pastor claimed that Quakers emptied the churches of Anabaptists and separatists of 'the young, unsettled'. We think of refusal of 'hat honour' and the use of 'thou' by Quakers as gestures of social protest, but they also marked a growing refusal of deference from the young to the old, from sons to fathers. Fierce battles were fought in the home, between generations. The preachers of free grace, including William Erbery and William Dell, aimed to liberate men and women simpler and less theologically sophisticated, especially in this time of revolutionary crisis, their teachings were easily pushed over into Antinomianism, a sense of liberation from all bonds and restraints of law and morality. When Thomas Collier told the Army at the end of September 1647 that God as truly manifests Himself in the flesh of all his saints as he did in Christ, he must have known that many of the rank and file listening to him would believe themselves to be saints.
Again and again, in spiritual autobiographies of the time, we read of men who passed through Presbyterianism, Independency and Anabaptism before ending as Seekers, Ranters or Quakers. Controversies over church government or over baptism split congregations, producing conscientious scruples and endless bickerings. Since they believed that the end of the world was probably near anyway, a resigned withdrawal from sectarian controversies was one solution, a rejection of all sects, and of all organised worship. Such men were called Seekers and included William Walwyn, John Saltmarsh, John Milton (right) and possibly Oliver Cromwell himself.
Radical Independents – The 'Seekers':
Many of these men had connections with the radicals and were bitterly disappointed with the failure of the Army to bring about a democratic society in and after 1647. Whatever their disillusionment, the generation of the 1640s was carried along by millenarian enthusiasm. But by the 1650s, Richard Baxter felt that:
When people saw diversity of sects in any place … it greatly hindered their conversion. (Many) would be of no religion at all.
William Erbery was described in 1646 as the champion of the Seekers. He had been ejected from his living in Cardiff in 1638 for refusing to implement Laudian liturgy. He was a convinced supporter of Parliament during the civil war, becoming a chaplain in the New Model Army. As such, Erbery led other ranks in criticism of Presbyterian ministers, tithes and persecution. He preached universal redemption and, according to Edwards, denied the divinity of Christ, as well as declaring that any layman may preach. Erbery modestly saw himself …
… bewildered as a wayfaring man, seeing no way of man on earth, nor beaten path to lead him. Let him look upward and within at once, and a highway, the way is found in Christ in us, God in our flesh. … God comes reigning and riding on an ass, that is revealing himself in the basest of men.
The Presbyterian ministers sent to investigate the Army said that Erbery was a 'Socinian', preaching damnable doctrine and blasphemous errors. He stirred up 'the multitude of soldiers', they claimed, against the Presbyterian ministers. In January 1648, Erbery called upon the Army to destroy the power of the King and rectify popular grievances. He objected to the officers' version of the Agreement of the People because it established a state church and did not extend toleration to the Jews, though he approved of most of it. King and Parliament, he thought, …
… were the two powers who kept the people of the Lord and the people of the land from their expected and promised freedoms. (The Army) had the call of the kingdom, petitioning by several counties and the common cry of all the oppressed in the land (acting) in the immediate power of God … for all saints, yea for all men also. God in the saints shall appear as the saviour of all men. No oppressor shall pass through them any more. The day of God has begun, though the saints have been and are still in confusion. For a few days we cannot bear with the want of kings and rulers, …
The saints drew back when they should have gone forward since the Army was at its best when it acted. Erbery still wanted to see God in the army of saints, wasting all oppressing powers in the land. In July 1652, Erbery wrote urging Oliver Cromwell to relieve the poor, as well as attacking tithes and lawyers' fees. He advocated steeper taxation of rich citizens, racking landlords … and mighty moneyed men … to form a treasury for the poor. He wrote that the burden of tithes on them in England at that time was greater than under popery or in popish countries. There were no longer any 'true ministers' and God, in the last days, would not appear in ministers at all, but in magistrates, both civil and martial. The apostasy of the churches had prevailed for centuries. When kingdoms had first become Christian, he claimed, they had become churches, and national churches began. But then also Antichrist came to be great and Popery, prelacy, presbytery were 'the three beasts'. The state Church of the Commonwealth in England was no better than the Episcopal Church. It was the last 'Beast' or church-state. In the depth of his disillusion, Erbery declared that:
The mystery of Anti-Christ … is manifested in every saint, in every particular church … The greatest work that God hath to do with you this day, is to make you see you are dead. God is going out and departing from all the preaching of men, that men may give themselves wholly to public acts of love to one another, and to all mankind; therefore all religious forms shall fall, that the power of righteousness may rise and appear in all.
But once in power, the 'seeming saints' would inevitably be corrupted. In civil government, they were far superior to their predecessors,
But as for spiritual graces, how soon have they withered in the wisest? Good men in Parliament, when come to power how weak were they? … The people of God turn wicked men, that wicked men may turn to be the people of God. The lords and nobles of old could do better with it (power), because gentlemen born; but when so much money comes into the hands of poor saints, oh how they hold it and hug it and hunger after it, as dogs do after dry bones!
But Erbery managed to avoid the trap of self-righteousness. He gave up the stipend he got from tithes. He wrote that:
The life of the people of God, and mine also, is so unlike Christ that I have often wished … to go away from myself and from my people. … they are mine and I am theirs.
By 1654 he had decided, unlike the Fifth Monarchists, that the people of God should not meddle at all in matters of state since Christ's kingdom was not of this world. This attitude of resignation after the failure of the Barebones Parliament in December 1653 made John Webster feel he had to defend Erbery against the charge of 'falling off' and 'compliance'. But to shake off the yoke before the season came was to rebel against the Lord. Erbery seems, in fact, to have been prepared to accept Cromwell as a king and was, according to Webster, rather a presser forward than an apostate, but he seems to have abandoned hope of a political solution in his lifetime:
It may be other generations may see the glory talked to be in the last time, … our children may possess it, but for our parts we have no hopes to enjoy it, or in this life to be raised out of our graves. … all the scattered saints this day do dwell, and I also with them waiting for deliverance.
Erbery was often accused of being 'a loose person or a Ranter', of having a ranting spirit; he was also alleged, like the Ranters, to be devious, covering himself by double meanings. Erbery denied the accusation of Ranterism, but not always wholeheartedly. He spoke of the holiness and righteousness in truth flowing from the power of God in us, which by the world hath been nicknamed with Puritanism, and in some now Ranting, though he refused to justify those profane people called Ranters, who blasphemed, cursed, whored, openly rejoicing in their wickedness. He admitted that he was commonly judged by good men as one of those owning this principle and practising their ways, but denied saying that the Ranters were the best saints: his point had been that the self-styled saints were worse than the Ranters, lusting after the wisdom, power, glory and honour of this present world. At least Ranters were honest about it:
These, it may be, lie with a woman once a month, but those men, having their eyes full of adultery, … do lie with twenty women between Paul's and Westminster.
John Webster, noting that 'by some weaker spirits' Erbery's doctrine concerning the restitution of all things, the liberty of the creation, … the saints' oneness in Christ with God was misunderstood or led to practices which Erbery regretted. Even in print, Erbery was often very rude and coarsely jocular about what others might regard as sacred subjects. He thought that holy communion should be a full meal, with lots of drink, and was clearly not averse to a pipe of tobacco after prayers. In these practises, of course, he was far from alone, but the fact that he referred to them in print naturally drew comments from his critics. It is clear that he was very much at home in the world of taverns and tobacco in which many of the sects used to meet. William Erbery died in 1654, and his epitaph was not unfittingly written by one of his friends:
Some are dead that seem alive,
But Erbery's worth shall still survive.
'Bridges' across turbulent waters:
As early as 1641, 'divines' were complaining that religion had become the common discourse and table-talk in every tavern and ale-house. One preacher told the House of Commons in July 1646 that ale-houses generally are … the meeting places of malignants and sectaries. In London, the Ranters met at a victualling house kept by one of their number in the Minories, and at the David and Harp in Moor Lane, in the parish of St Giles, Cripplegate, kept by the husband of Mary Middleton, one of Lawrence Clarkson's mistresses. According to George Fox, the Ranters had:
… some kind of meetings … but they took tobacco and drank ale in their meetings, and were grown light and loose. … (They) sung and whistled and danced.
John Bunyan (right) thought the Ranters talked too much, one contemporary meaning of the verb 'to rant'. This may be one reason why the Quakers began their meetings in silence. Yet Fox understood their point. When 'a forward, bold lad' offered him a pipe, saying 'Come, all is ours,' Fox, who was no smoker, took his pipe and put it to my mouth, and gave it to him again to stop him, lest his rude tongue should say I had not unity with the creation. The last phrase of Fox's tells us that we should never fail to look for symbolism in what appear the extravagant gestures of seventeenth-century radicals. Ranter advocacy of blasphemy, it has been suggested, was a symbolic expression of freedom from moral restraints. Abiezer Coppe was alleged to have sworn, uninterrupted, for a full hour in the pulpit: a pox of God take all your prayers.
An obsessive desire to swear had possessed Coppe in early life, but he resisted it for twenty-seven years, before making up for his abstinence. He would rather, he declared, hear a mighty angel (in man) swearing a full-mouthed oath than hear an orthodox minister preach. He made a distinction between swearing ignorantly, i'th dark, and… swearing i'th light, gloriously. Even those on the more mystical and quietist wing of the Ranters were also in the habit of using 'many desperate oaths'. Bunyan reveals the tensions which lay behind Coppe's 1646 'indulgence' in his Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Swearing was an act of defiance, both of God but also of 'middle-class society', and of the puritan ethics endemic in it. As Bunyan remarked, 'Many think to swear is gentleman-like' and certainly, many courtiers and members of the aristocracy and gentry classes could get away with it: royalists in the civil wars were known as 'Dammees'. For the lower orders, however, swearing could prove expensive: one 'debauched seaman, after being fined at the rate of 6d. for an oath, placed 2s. 6d. on the table in order to have his money's worth. Lower-order use of oaths was a proclamation of their equality with the greatest, just as Puritan opposition to vain swearing was a criticism of aristocratic and plebian irreligion. But it also expressed a revolt against the imposition of middle-class Puritan mores, interfering with the simple pleasures of the poor for ideological reasons. Bibliolatry led to a phobia about swearing; rejection of the Bible as the sole authority in Christian life made it possible again and with it a release of the repressions which gave the Puritan middle class their moral energy.
Abiezer Coppe (1619-72) was the most celebrated of the Ranters. He had grown up in Warwick. In his adolescence, he was obsessed by a conviction of his sinfulness. A prey to neurotic anxiety, he kept a daily register of his sins, fasting and imposing vigils and humiliations on himself. In 1636 he went up to Oxford as a 'poor scholar', at first a Servitor at All Saints and then as a Postmaster at Merton. By this time his morals were less strict and he would often 'entertain a wanton Housewife in his Chamber' overnight. The outbreak of the Civil War interrupted his career at Oxford and he left the University without taking a degree. He was a Presbyterian for some time, like Lawrence Clarkson, and later became an Anabaptist minister. In this capacity, he was very active in Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, 'dipping' some seven thousand persons, and officiating as a preacher to a garrison. For these activities, he was imprisoned in Coventry in 1646. Other misfortunes were brought upon Coppe by the growing eccentricities in his religious life. He says that his father and mother forsook him and his wife turned from him in loathing, that his reputation was ruined and his house was set on fire. These events, in turn, prepared the way for his conversion to Ranterism, which took place in 1649. Besides adopting the usual pantheism of the Free Spirit, he seems to have adopted Adamitic ways. According to Wood in Athenae Oxonienses:
'Twas usual with him to preach stark naked many blasphemies and unheard Villanies in the Daytime, and in the Night to drink and lye with a Wenche, that had been also his hearer, stark naked.
It was no doubt for such behaviour that he was imprisoned for fourteen weeks at Warwick. Clarkson recorded that he later belonged to the group of Ranters who called themselves 'My One Flesh'. Coppe was commonly listed together with Clarkson as a leader of the orgiastic Ranters. Coppe was among the drinking, smoking Ranters who appeared in George Fox's prison at Charing Cross. He seems to have been an alcoholic, but above all, he indulged his long-suppressed craving to curse and swear. Richard Baxter asked with horror how it came to pass that, as followers of this man, …
… men and women professing the zealous fear of God, should … be brought to place their Religion in revelling, roaring, drinking, whoring, open full-mouthed swearing ordinarily by the Wounds and Blood of God, and the fearfullest cursing that hath been heard.
Besides his swearing from the pulpit, mentioned above, Coppe swore at the hostess of a tavern so fearsomely that she trembled and quaked for some hours after. Some of his 'disciples' were put in the stocks at Stratford-upon-Avon for their swearing. It was as a Ranter in 1649 that Coppe produced his only noteworthy writings, including his two Fiery Flying Rolls which resulted in his arrest in January 1650. He was imprisoned at Coventry for a second time, and then at Newgate. Parliament issued an order that the Rolls, as containing many horrid blasphemies, and damnable and detestable Opinions, be seized by mayors, sheriff and justices of the peace throughout the Commonwealth and burnt by the public hangman. Copies were to be publicly burnt at Westminster and Southwark. The Act of August 1650 was largely directed against Coppe's works. Finally, the committee of Parliament which examined Clarkson in September 1650 also examined Coppe shortly afterwards. During the interrogation, the prisoner feigned madness, throwing nut-shells and other things about the room. In Newgate, Coppe received many visitors, and by 'smooth arguments' converted not a few to Ranterism. In the end, however, the strain of imprisonment began to tell. At the beginning of 1651, he issued from prison a Remonstrance of the sincere and zealous Protestation of Abiezer Croppe against the Blasphemous and Execrable Opinions recited in the Act of Aug. 1650. This was followed five months later by a full recantation, Copps Return to the wayes of Truth… In this Coppe attributed his imprisonment to some strange actions and carriages … some difficult, dark, hard, strange, harsh and almost unheard-of words, and expressions. Of his Ranting, he said:
The terrible, notable day of the Lord stole upon me unawares, like a thiefe in the night. … And the cup of the Lords right hand, was put into mine hand. And it was filled brim full of intoxicating wine, and I drank it off, even the dregs thereof. Whereupon being mad drunk, I so strangely spake, and acted I knew not what. To the amazement of some. To the sore perplexity of others. And to the great grief of others. And till that cup passed from me, I knew not what I spake or did.
Now that his understanding had returned to him, he begged that the Fiery Flying Rolls be thrown into the fire. As a result of this Petition to Parliament and Council of State Coppe was released, after a year and a half in prison. Baxter, who had spoken with Coppe, was certain that he was no madman; and in September he preached a recantation sermon at Burford, and thereafter his life was unadventurous. After the restoration, he practised as a 'physic' at Barnes under the name of Dr Higham, through to his death. Coppe's writings give the impression of eccentricity rather than of any kind of psychotic state. For understanding the religion of the Free Spirit they are of great value. They also throw a good deal of light on the 'social doctrine' of the Free Spirit. Coppe affirmed that all things belong, or ought to belong, to the Lord alone, and utterly condemned the institution of private property. The urge to apostolic poverty and public self-abasement, normally regarded as characteristically medieval, can be seen here in the seventeenth-century England. We can also observe in these writings how easily such a rejection of private property can merge with a hatred of the rich, as happened on the Continent in earlier centuries, giving rise to an intransigent and potentially violent form of revolutionary millenarianism.
A. L. Morton, the historian of the Ranters, suggested that migratory craftsmen, freed by the breakdown in the economic system during the Revolution, men who were unattached and prepared to break with tradition, provided much of the support for the movement. We should bear in mind that the mobile itinerant population, evicted cottagers, whether peasants or craftsmen, slowly gravitating to the big towns and there finding themselves outsiders, sometimes forming themselves into religious groups which rapidly became more and more radical. It is very difficult to define what the Ranters believed, as opposed to individuals who were called Ranters. The same is true to a lesser extent of the Levellers or early Quakers, but the Levellers did issue programmatic statements, and the pamphlets of Fox and Nayler can be accepted as authoritative for the Quakers. There was no recognised leader or theoretician of the Ranters, and it is extremely doubtful as to whether there was ever a Ranter organisation. As so often in the history of radical movements, the name came into existence as a term of abuse.
The Regicide & the Rump:
Following the execution of Charles I at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, the Rump Parliament followed up the regicide with acts abolishing the office of the monarch and the House of Lords. It called them acts, not ordinances, because they required no other ascent now but that of the Commons. But behind the Rump stood the army, to whose force it owed its power, and the army might not sustain it for long since its first intention had been to dissolve the parliament rather than purge it. The Rumpers themselves promised, in their act of 17 March that abolished the monarchy, that they would dissolve the 'Long Parliament' themselves so soon as may possibly stand with the safety of the people that hath betrusted them. The army had seemingly committed itself to support a programme of radical reform, embodied in the revised Agreement of the People that it had presented to the Rump, a programme that would have transformed the constitution and regulated the frequency and duration of parliamentary sittings, brought significant alterations to the law of the land and changed the whole relationship between church and state. The army and its supporters hoped and expected that the 'caretaker' régime, as they saw it, would soon make way for a reformed and reforming parliament, elected on a far broader franchise than ever in the past.
Through the share they had taken in drafting the new 'Agreement', the Levellers had reached the peak of their influence. From the early months of 1649 onwards, there was a burgeoning of various groups even more radical than the Levellers: the Fifth Monarchists, who felt a divine call to set up the exclusive rule of their fellow 'saints' in preparation for Christ's prophesied kingdom on earth; the 'Diggers', who called themselves 'True Levellers', and preached and practised the community of property; and the 'Ranters' who believed that those who had discovered the godhead within them were liberated from all conventional morality. Of these groups, only the Fifth Monarchists had any considerable following in the army, but there was an understandable fear in conservative hearts that with dissolution threatening the ancient constitution, the established church, and the known laws of the land, a dark and revolutionary future lay ahead. No-one could have foreseen that the Rump would go on wielding sovereign authority over England and Wales for four and a quarter years after Charles I's execution, longer than the whole duration of the first Civil War, and almost as long as Cromwell's whole rule as Lord Protector.
The Rump's temper became more conservative over that period, as the mood became more revolutionary outside parliament. The majority of the remaining MPs were deeply unsympathetic, if not intolerant towards the aspirations of Levellers, Diggers, Fifth Monarchists, Quakers, Ranters and extremist sects of all kinds. Its concessions to religious liberty were to be limited and grudging, its record in social reform miserably meagre, and the professional interests of its influential lawyer-members made it deeply suspicious of any changes in the substance and operation of the law, where reform was overdue. The period from 1649-53 was one in which the Commons, not Cromwell, was in charge of government policy. He was immensely influential, but as Lord General of the Army, he was away from Westminster and on campaign in Scotland and Ireland for much of the period, and when these commitments did allow him to be in the Commons, he by no means got his own way. Even after 1653, when he became Lord Protector, the case of James Nayler, the Quaker leader, three years later, demonstrates the limited power Cromwell had to protect religious liberty.
The Rump was as hesitant in grasping the nettle of religious settlement as it was in placing the Commonwealth on firm constitutional foundations. By the early 1650s, the old dividing line between Presbyterians and Independents was no longer so sharply drawn, since by then many doctrinally orthodox Calvinists persuasions were prepared to put their differences aside in order to resist the rising tide of radical sectarianism and popular heresy, of which the writings of the so-called Ranters were an extreme example. There was a small party of sectarian enthusiasts within the Rump, including the army Colonels Harrison, Rich, Fleetwood and John Jones, who managed to secure the establishment of a Commission for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales, with a similar one being established for England's northern counties. But the majority of MPs were suspicious of religious enthusiasm and did not want to incur greater unpopularity by seeming to encourage it. They were aware of the strong preference in the country at large for retaining a national church with a publicly maintained parochial ministry, and many of them shared it. An established church was already in being when the Rump came to power, with its faith, worship and government defined by the Westminster Assembly and given statutory authority by the unpurged parliament. But parliament was divided on whether to continue implementing the Presbyterian system, and the motion to confirm it was lost on the vote of the Speaker. In practice, a wide variety of worship and church organisation prevailed in the provinces and parishes.
While the Rump shied aware from the contentious business of providing for the propagation of the gospel on a national scale in England, it continued to demonstrate those things that it was against, like sin and blasphemy. Between April and June 1650 it passed acts against non-observance of the sabbath and against swearing and cursing, as well as the notorious one which punished adultery, incest, and fornication with death, even on a first offence. Mercifully, it was very little enforced. A Blasphemy Act followed in August, less savage than the Long Parliament's Blasphemy Ordinance of 1648 and aimed mainly at the Ranters, though both George Fox and John Bunyan fell foul of its provisions. It was specifically targeted at the Ranters' denial of the necessity of the civil and moral righteousness among men (which) tended to the dissolution of all human society. It denounced anyone who maintained himself or herself as God, or equal with God; or that acts of adultery, drunkenness, swearing, theft, etc. were not in themselves sinful, or that there is no such thing as sin but as a man or woman judgeth thereof. The penalty for the first offence was six months in jail, banishment for the second and death if the offender refused to depart or returned. However, judges interpreting the Act refused to allow JPs, clergy and juries to extend its provisions to the sincere if unorthodox religious opinions of a 'Ranter' like Richard Coppin, or a Quaker like Wiliam Dewsbury.
Above: Cromwell's Dissolution of the Rump of the Long Parliament, 1653.
The House took longer to confront the issue of toleration, but in September 1650 it finally repealed the recusancy laws to the extent of repealing the penalties for non-attendance of parish Sunday services, provided that those who absented themselves attended some other form of public worship. Outside the broad national church, the separatist congregations which chose and supported their own pastors enjoyed considerable liberty under Cromwell's Protectorate, between 1653 and 1658, though it was not unlimited. It did not extend to those whose teachings or actions were considered blasphemous, such as the Unitarian John Biddle or the Quaker James Nayler. Cromwell was reluctant, however, to see these men punished as severely as his parliament desired, and he was more indulgent towards Quakers than most gentry magistrates. But he gave no countenance to those who tried to break up the services conducted by the parish churches in what they called 'steeple-houses', and he was even more firmly against so-called Ranters who preached and practised the belief that the spirit had liberated them from the moral code enjoined by Holy Scripture. He was not in favour of 'toleration' in the late-modern sense who regards an individual's religious convictions as an entirely private matter, so long as they do not impinge on the rights or liberties of others. Neither was his ideal a kind of religious pluralism involving a variety of sects, tolerated out of indifference, but a community of all who had 'the root of the matter' in them, in a manner transcending differences over outward forms and rites.
Cromwell's Commonwealth & its Critics:
On 3 September 1654, Cromwell opened the first real Parliament of his Protectorate. He made a speech on the duty of 'healing and settling' in which he contrasted the state of the nation just before the Protectorate was established with what it was at that date. Then, the strife within it had grown so high as to threaten not only ordered government but the very fabric of society, the ranks and orders of men, whereby England hath been known for hundreds of years: a nobleman, a gentleman, a yeoman. This, of course, was an exaggeration, as even more was his allegation that 'men of Levelling principles' had been undermining property itself and bidding to make the tenant as liberal a fortune as the landlord. Turning to religion, he said it had been in an even worse condition than the civil state, what with the unchecked preaching of 'prodigious blasphemies' and the invocation of so-called faith to justify the breaking of 'all rules of law and nature'. He referred to the Ranters, although he did not name them as such. Such horrors, he said, had brought to mind the iniquities prophesied for 'the last times', for Christ returned to earth in judgement. The power to check them had been undermined by a 'second sort of men', who while not justifying such evils denied the civil magistrate any authority to intervene, on the ground that matters of conscience and belief lay outside his sphere.
Cromwell, pictured on the right on the 'Dunbar medal', given to those like the Quaker James Nayler who had fought in the Third Civil War, reaffirmed his own commitment to liberty of conscience but defended the claim of the civil power to a role in promoting true religion and punishing manifest wickedness. He upheld the right of godly and gifted laymen to preach, but he repudiated the sectarian extremists who denounced the whole concept of an ordained ministry as antichristian. He adopted a gentler tone when he went on to condemn 'the mistaken notion of the Fifth Monarchy', acknowledging that many honest, God-fearing men adhered to it.
It was one thing, however, to expect that Jesus Christ will have a time to set up his reign in our hearts, but quite another for men upon their own conviction of God's presence with them to claim a sole right to rule kingdoms, govern nations, and give laws to people. But he drew a strict line between belief and practice in this regard:
If these were but notions, they were to be let alone. Notions will hurt none but them that have them. But when they come to practices, as to tell us that liberty and property are not the badges of the kingdom of Christ, and to tell us that instead of regulating laws, laws are to be abrogated, indeed subverted, and perhaps would bring in the Judicial law instead of our known laws settled amongst us, – this is worthy of every magistrate's consideration, especially where every stone is turned to bring confusion.
Such people, he said, not only threatened anarchy at home but obstructed the work of settlement in Scotland and Ireland and hindered the negotiation of peace with Holland, Portugal and France. The next year, however, Cromwell reaffirmed his message of the need for broad liberty of conscience, and for a charitable attitude within the nation, in a declaration issued on 20 March 1654, at a time of a long drought:
Is brotherly love, and a healing spirit of that force and value amongst us that it ought? … Do we first search for the kingdom of Christ within us, before we seek one without us?
… Do we not more contend for saints having rule in the world, than over their own hearts? … Do not some of us affirm ourselves to be the only true ministry, and true churches of Christ, and only to have the ordinances in purity, excluding our brethren, though of equal gifts? … Do we remember old puritan, or rather primitive simplicity, self-denial, mercy to the poor, uprightness and justice?
Of course, this ecumenical concept of religious liberty did not extend to Roman Catholics, although they were no longer persecuted for practising their faith. Most Episcopalians and many Presbyterians, like Richard Baxter (right), still blamed Cromwell for the King's execution, believing also that the King could have saved his own life if he had agreed to give up the Prayer Book and the Bishops in the Church of England.
Baxter thought, simply enough, that many of the things that Christians quarrelled over could be resolved if they were prepared to give way a little. Although Baxter had become Chaplain to Cromwell's cavalry after the Battle of Naseby, the two men did not get on well with each other, though they respected one another. Both may have been fonder of talking than of listening. Cromwell sent to Baxter to come to listen to him, speaking for an hour about the great things God had done for England through him. Baxter got tired of listening to him without a turn. When it finally came, he told the Lord Protector that he thought the proper way of governing was by King and Parliament. Although not the only preacher to tell him this (Rhys 'Arise' Evans had also told him that he should restore the monarchy under Charles Stuart), Cromwell lost his temper with Baxter and they went on arguing for a further four hours, at the end of which, Baxter reported:
" … I saw that what he learned must be from himself, being more disposed to speak many hours than to hear one and little heeding what another said when he had spoken himself".
Baxter had liked Cromwell best when he was still his Lord General. He had believed him to be honest and truly religious, but he thought that power had corrupted him as Lord Protector. He himself pointed out, however, that it was very difficult to know what to believe about Cromwell the man, for … "no man was better and worse spoken than he, … as men's interests led their judgements". On his side, Cromwell thought highly enough of Baxter to wish to talk to him in a bid to gain his approval and blessing, though in this he failed.
Quakers v Ranters:
Quakerism had been the 'legitimate' offshoot of the 'Seekers', a religious movement which, as we have seen, was powerful long before the time of Fox. The Ranters were like its illegitimate and wayward offspring whose unpleasant label only faintly foreshadowed their practises, as reported by admittedly antagonistic scribes. The Quaker doctrine of the 'Inner Light', which formed the core of Fox's message and had first attracted Nayler to Quakerism, became with the Ranters a belief in their absolute oneness with God. This belief carried with it by implication the assertion of personal infallibility, together with an all-embracing licence. Fox's judgement of, as many saw them, this pernicious 'sect' did not err on the side of charity, and when one of its 'members' sought to ingratiate himself with the Quaker leader he repelled him with the exhortation: "Repent thou swine and beast!" He followed this up with a reference to "the old Ranters in Sodom". Nayler himself, in the early months of his ministry, records their presence at his meetings in no uncertain tones:
Their filthy hearts was plainly manifest to the view of all the people, and the terrour of the lord was upon them all the while they was amongst us, not being long, so that they fled away.
Ranterism, though closely akin to Quakerism in its doctrines, was sharply distinguished by its disregard of authority and lack of moral restraint. Yet since their doctrines were so closely aligned, there was constant merger and migration between one and the other, something which Episcopalian and Presbyterian propagandists were not slow to play up in their literature. Contemporary commentators long tended to lump together the early Quakers with the Ranters. There was an unreasoning hostility of conservative critics, who believed that both Ranter and Quaker ideas must lead to licentiousness and therefore assumed that they did; there was also the likelihood that many early rank-and-file Quakers had in fact not entirely shaken themselves free from Ranter ideas and practices. We hear of Ranters, as of Fifth Monarchists, after the execution of Charles I and the defeat of the Leveller Uprising at Burford. The latter event no doubt relates to the origins of the two groups, as it does to the emergence of the 'True Levellers' or 'Diggers'. As one pamphleteer wrote in 1651, All the world now is in the Ranting humour. A Southwark physician in 1652 defended the Ranters against 'time-serving saints' because of their charitable attitude towards the poor. But John Reeve ascribed to them a pretended universal love to the whole creation. At first, he was attracted by their
… imagination of the eternal salvation of all mankind, though they lived and died under the power of all manner of unrighteousness.
In the early fifties, Bunyan found some Ranter books held highly in esteem by several old professors and one of his close companions turned a most devilish Ranter and gave himself up to all manner of filthiness. He denied the existence of God or angels and laughed at exhortations to sobriety. Other persons, formerly strict in religion, were swept away by Ranters: they would condemn Bunyan as legal and dark, pretending that they only had attained to perfection that could do what they would and not sin, a doctrine which Bunyan himself found very seductive, I being but a young man. He was especially tempted to believe that there was no judgement or resurrection, and therefore that sin was no such grievous thing, turning the grace of God into wantonness. Bunyan's answer to Ranters became the orthodox one: they lacked a conviction of sin. Samuel Fisher, the Baptist, said that they despised the ordinances of Christ and …
… run beyond the bounds of modesty and all good manners. The rabble of the ruder sort of Ranters. … are willingly ignorant, because of the tediousness of that thought to them, that there is any more coming of Christ at all. Some deny the existence of Christ: others claim to be Christ or God.
In 1649, when George Fox first met the Ranters in Coventry jail, they had shocked him by claiming to be God, some of them stating that there is no creator God but that everything comes by nature. Richard Baxter declared that Ranters set up the light of nature under the name of Christ in man. With the spiritual pride of ungrounded novices in religion, they believed that God regards not the actions of the outward man, but of the heart: that to the pure all things were pure, which they took as licensing blasphemy and continuous whoredom. Fortunately, he went on, the 'horrid villainies' of this sect speedily extinguished it, but reflected discredit on all other sects. John Holand, a hostile but not unfair witness, said that Ranters called God 'Reason', as Gerrard Winstanley had also done. For Ranters, 'Christ in us' was far more important than the historical figure who died in Jerusalem, …
… and all the commandments of God, both in the Old and New Testaments, are the fruits of the curse. Since all men are now freed of the curse, they are also free from the commandments; our will is God's will.
The existence of evil was a subject to which Ranters paid a good deal of attention: simple believers found their arguments difficult to answer, such as the age-old one: If God is omnipotent, why does he permit evil? Others denied that there was any such thing as sin; if there was, it must be part of God's plan. The day of judgement is either an invented thing … a bugbear to keep men in awe. Lawrence Clarkson believed that, in any case, there was no life after death:
… even as a stream from the ocean was distinct in itself while it was a stream, but when returned to the ocean was therein swallowed and became one with the ocean: so the spirit of man whilst in the body was distinct from God, but when death came it returned to God, and so became one with God, yea God itself.
Clarkson added that he would know nothing after this my being was dissolved. An extreme form of this doctrine attributed to Ranters was that those are most perfect … which do commit the greatest sins with the least remorse. Clarkson came very near to espousing this himself in his writing:
… till I acted that so-called sin I could not predominate over sin. (But now) whatsoever I act is … in relation to … that Eternity in me … So long as the act was in God … it was as holy as God.
This included, he insisted, those acts by thee called swearing, drunkenness, adultery and theft, etc. Clarkson (1615-67) was a native of Preston. Brought up in the Church of England, in youth he showed Puritan leanings; he regarded dancing on the Sabbath with particular horror. He became a Presbyterian and then an Independent, an Antinomian in theology. He became a 'parish priest' in Norfolk, but then led a wandering life. In 1644, he became an Anabaptist and the following year was imprisoned for 'dipping'. Up to the end of 1648, he followed another of the major religious tendencies of the time, that of the Seekers. During this period he was an itinerant preacher in Kent before becoming a minister in two more parishes, in Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire. He also began to write religious tracts, but not being a University man, he was very often turned out of employment and was therefore constantly in financial straits. Taking a commission as a chaplain in an Army regiment, he tried to find a parish in London on leaving it in 1649, having been cashiered for blasphemy. He held a living at Pulham for a short time until he was turned out for preaching universal salvation. He then became Baptist and, under Erbery's influence, a Seeker, preaching for monies in each faith.
Clarkson developed Familist ideas of Luther's reformation in his preaching but carried them considerably further. He also began to practice what he preached, escaping from one 'maid of pretty knowledge, who with my doctrine was affected' giving his body to other women whilst being 'careful for moneys for my wife', travelling the country with Mrs Star, and resisting the opportunity when 'Dr Paget's maid stripped herself naked and skipped' at a Ranters' meeting. Early in 1650, Clarkson became a Ranter and was soon the notorious leader of the particularly licentious group, 'My One Flesh' to which Abiezer Coppe also belonged. He was arrested and examined. As on a previous occasion, he stood on his rights as a 'freeborn subject' and refused to answer incriminating questions. On 27 September 1650, the House sentenced him to a month's imprisonment for his 'blasphemous' book, A Single Eye, to be followed by banishment. This latter sentence was never carried out, however, and on his release, he resumed his wandering life before joining the 'Muggletonians' in 1658, a sect of extreme ascetics, writing several tracts on their behalf.
Quakers first entered the 'arena' of the Commonwealth as a wing of the government party in the years 1651-53, enjoying the protection of the military authorities., and of local gentlemen of radical inclinations. They also had sometimes the more enthusiastic support of the Army rank-and-file. Those who administered the North of England or Wales could not afford to alienate Quaker missionaries, many of whom were ex-New Model Army soldiers. George Fox had been in prison for nearly a year at Derby in 1650, but in the North, as we can see from his own Journal, he enjoyed a good deal of protection in 1651-52. Even hostile JPs, of whom there were many, had to proceed cautiously against him. Persecution began again, spasmodically, from the end of 1652, when the dissolution of the Rump appeared imminent, and again after 1653 when the gentry felt they had been given a free hand. Fox was imprisoned at Carlisle, but then the relatively radical Barebones Parliament met: a letter from it got Fox released and his jailor put in his place in the dungeon. In Wales, JPs also protected Quakers as a lesser evil than 'papists' or 'pagans'. It was the Quakers themselves who alienated the clergy through indiscriminate attacks on the sanctity of ecclesiastical buildings made it for any priest to support them and continue to hold his living.
In 1654, Fox was arrested on suspicion of plotting against the government, but he was well received by Oliver Cromwell. Those who wished ill towards the Quakers were those who resented Army rule; their views were strongly represented in the Parliament of 1656, as was demonstrated from the debates over James Nayler. Dark hints were dropped that the spread of the Quakers had been due to official encouragement, indeed that Quakers were to be found in the government itself. Major General Philip Skippon, Nayler's main Army opponent, had been regarded as 'Parliament's man in the Army' in 1647. The rapid expansion of Quakerism both in the Army by 1649 and more broadly in the South and East of England in the early 1650s had made the 'men of property' apprehensive of 'some Levelling design' underlying the well-organised movement. The fact that Quakers were said to have reclaimed 'such as neither magistrate nor minister ever speak to' might seem reassuring after Quaker pacifism was firmly established and known to be accepted by all members of the sect. But that was to come later in the decade, and after the Restoration. In the mid-fifties, it was still far from being the case.
Baptists & Quakers – Bunyan v Fox:
Ranterism was better at destruction than it was at construction. In 1650, it was by listening to the 'errors' of Diggers, Levellers and Ranters that Baptist churches in Cromwell's Huntingdonshire and elsewhere were 'shaken' and 'broken up'. In Cleveland, in 1651 it was meetings that had been 'shattered' under Ranter influence that turned to Quakerism. At that time, both Quakers and their critics mainly defined their beliefs by negatives, in terms of what they were against. Unlike many of the Ranters, however, they did not deny the existence of God or a historical Christ, or of heaven and hell. Neither did they believe that all could attain perfection in their earthly life. Most importantly, in terms of social and political attitudes, they did not challenge the authority of parents or magistrates. In the early 1650s, John Bunyan listed Quaker beliefs, which can be summarised as follows:
(1) The Bible is not the Word of God;
(2) Every man in the world has the Spirit of Christ;
(3) The Jesus Christ who was crucified 1600 years ago did not satisfy divine justice for the sins of the people;
(4) Christ's flesh and blood is within the saints;
(5) There will be no resurrection of the body;
(6) The resurrection has already taken place within good men;
(7) The crucified Jesus did not ascend above the starry heavens and shall not come again on the last day as a man to judge all nations.
In 1654, Fox himself witnessed that Ranters had a pure convincement, but that they had fled the cross and turned the grace of God into wantonness. He emphasised especially drunkenness, swearing, and 'sporting yourselves in the day-time'. He had a short way with them, because, in his opinion, they bowed and scraped too much and were too complimentary. In his Journal, Fox records many Ranter groups which ultimately became Quaker, in Cleveland, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Sussex and Reading, for example. In the same year, Anthony Pearson said that "some that are joined to the Ranters are pretty people," but that they "contained so many rude savage apprentices and young people … that nothing but the power of the Lord can chain them." But in 1655, the Quaker James Parnell admitted that the Quakers were accused of 'being one' with the Ranters:
Some of them have tasted the love of God and grace of God, and have had appearances of God, but they have turned the grace of God into wantonness, and have deceived so many with their alluring speeches. Their lascivious ways bring discredit on the truth of God.
In the same year, a diarist in Cheshire wrote that Quakers also denied the Trinity; … denied the Scriptures to be the Word of God; they said that they had no sin. From this doctrinal perspective, therefore, it is also possible to see how they might have attracted former Ranters, suggesting that contemporary judges and magistrates were correct in their famous assertions that had not the Quakers come, the Ranters had over-run the nation. In part, no doubt, enemies of the Quakers were anxious to discredit them, claiming that Quakerism had become 'the common sink of them all', including Anabaptists, Antinomians, Socinians, Familists, Libertines and Ranters. But there does seem to have been genuine doctrinal confusion as well as ideological fluidity between the memberships of the movements and sects. In Dorset and Wiltshire, former Levellers were alleged to have become Ranters. The Quakers seemed to absorb many ex-Levellers, including John Lilburne. His acceptance of Quakerism in 1655 was a very different act for the former revolutionary than if he had been convinced after 1660. As late as August 1655, the Grand Jury of Gloucestershire petitioned against Ranters, Levellers and atheists, under the name of Quakers. Christopher Atkinson was accepted as a Quaker until in 1655 he fell …
… into too much familiarity and conversation with some women kind, especially such as (it seemed) were somewhat inclined to a spirit of Ranterism. He grew loose and … committed lewdness with a servant-maid.
Mary Todd, a London lady who at a meeting pulled up all her clothes above her middle, exposing her nakedness to all in the room was disowned by the Quakers, who claimed she was a Ranter: but the act of disavowal suggests that they felt some measure of responsibility for her. In the 1650s there were 'Proud Quakers', who showed clear ranting tendencies. They used profane language, were lax in conduct; some of them were football players and wrestlers. Their leader, Rice Jones of Nottingham, set up an ale-house. After the restoration, John Perrot claimed a direct command from God that hats should be worn during prayer, a significant Ranter practice which James Nayler had also followed during his time in the West Country. But Perrot went on to deny all human arrangements for worship, even meeting at stated times and places. Fox said that Perrot preached the rotten principles of the Old Ranters, and associated him with Nayler, many of whose former partisans supported Perrot. Long after the restoration, Fox was insisting that some people claiming to be Quakers were really Ranters. Richard Baxter, who had no reason to love the 'Friends', paid them a deserved compliment when he wrote:
The Quakers were but the Ranters turned from horrid profaneness and blasphemy to a life of extreme austerity.
But the Quakers could hardly have prevented the Ranters from over-running the country unless their doctrines had been, at least initially, near enough to Ranterism to absorb many Ranters. Edward Burrough had straddled this doctrinal gap between Ranters and Quakers. He may originally have had Ranter sympathies; at one time he worked closely with Perrot and retained confidence in him longer than any other Quaker leader. In addition, as John Lampden has commented, by his preaching in London, Nayler had attracted, amongst other more reputable followers, a clique of married women all more or less tainted with Ranterism. They sought to exalt him by depreciating the work of his predecessors and pursued him with that undiscerning worship which was the chief trial and temptation of the popular preacher. Nevertheless, without naming the Ranters, Nayler himself had spoken disapprovingly that:
The greatest profession now set up by many is to make the redemption of Christ a cover for all liscentious and fleshly liberty, and say they are to that end redeemed.
Nayler's Mission in the West; Trial & Torture by Parliament:
That was in 1656, a year after Nayler took up his work in London and prior to his ministry in the West. From the first, the doctrine of the indwelling of God in the heart of man had been the central focus of Nayler's preaching. This point – exaggerated and distorted by his followers – was to become the rock on which his life was wrecked. It was this doctrine which had first attracted the London merchant Robert Rich to Quakerism, who had become his most faithful friend and advocate, becoming caught up into the current of Nayler's tragedy. He seems to have responded to the call to missionary service which was heard by every primitive Friend, and in 1655 he was in prison in Banbury, together with Nayler's Yorkshire 'patron' with whom he had worked in the North, and two women preachers. There is no record of Nayler's first meeting with Rich but it is clear that, in the early months of Nayler's ministry in the capital, he had won the merchant's heart. This was due in part, no doubt, to his extraordinary charm of manner, but chiefly to the stress that Nayler laid on the doctrine of the Inner Light.
In October 1656, Nayler staged a triumphal entry into Bristol, shown above, which was blatantly modelled on Christ's acted parable at Jerusalem. He rode an ass, accompanied by two of his many women disciples, while others spread their garments in his path or walked behind him singing "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Israel. With his long hair, unusual for puritan preachers, he bore a natural resemblance to popular images of Jesus, and he emphasised it by the way he cut and combed his hair and beard. Parliament was outraged; it appointed a committee of no fewer than fifty-five members to examine him and his followers, and they took five weeks before they reported to the House on 5 December. Called to the bar the next day, Nayler protested that as a mere creature he claimed no special glory, but shared the common Quaker conviction that Christ dwells in all believers. He was convinced that he had a revelation from God, commanding him to do what he did as a sign of Christ's coming. There is no evidence that Robert Rich took any part in their extravagances in the West, and he indignantly repelled the charge of Ranterism which was later brought against him. At the crisis of Nayler's trial for blasphemy, he determined that whatever might be the errors of the preacher's followers he himself had offended in nothing save, as he said, …
" … in confessing to Christ in the saints, and my love to that testimony made me willing to stand by him in his sufferings and to bear his cross."
Rich took up the unpopular role of Nayler's champion and flung himself into his defence with the generosity which was the most striking trait of his character. Day by day through that dreary November of 1656, while Parliament debated the guilt of Nayler and the punishment meet for it, Rich, 'the mad merchant' as he began to be called, haunted the door of the House with petitions and letters, or lay in wait to make a personal appeal to any member whom he judged to have some tinge of pity in him. He even offered to prove to the Parliament out of Scripture that the prisoner had uttered no blasphemy, nor done anything worthy of death or 'of bonds'. The House spent nine days in hot debate as to what to do with Nayler since under the 1650 Blasphemy Act he could be given no more than six months' imprisonment for a first offence, and for the bloodthirsty majority in the Commons that was not enough. He escaped the death penalty by only ninety-six votes to eighty-two, due largely to the support of Cromwell's supporters on the council of state, like Sir Gilbert Pickering. But the Commons sentenced him to a series of corporal punishments, to be carried out in London and Bristol, to be followed by indefinite solitary confinement and hard labour.
Flogged all the way from Westminster to the City on 18 December, 310 stripes left Nayler so weakened that the next stage of his 'torture' had to be postponed. Before it was executed, many petitioners, by no means all Quakers, pleaded for the remission of the rest of the sentence, first (in vain) with parliament and then with Cromwell. He immediately wrote to the Speaker, expressing abhorrence of the 'crimes' imputed to Nayler, but asking the House to let him know the grounds and reasons whereupon they have proceeded. This challenge to the constitutionality of its actions, which Whitelocke and others had also expressed, caused both further consternation on all sides in addition to further appeals for mercy, but the Commons voted by two to one to carry out the rest of the sentence, so that Nayler was duly branded on the forehead with the letter 'B' and bored through the tongue with a red hot iron. Parliament never replied to Cromwell's letter, but the episode helped to convince its wiser heads that the constitution needed further amendment. In particular, when anything deserving the label 'torture' was inflicted during the Commonwealth and Protectorate, it was by order of parliament, not the executive or the judiciary, as was the case, for example, in the reign of James I. The abolition of both the monarchy and the House of Lords had destroyed the essential separation of powers inherent in the British Constitution.
A New Constitution & continuing confusion:
The Humble Petition and Advice, as the draft of a new constitution came to be called in 1657, began by asking Cromwell to assume the title of king, though not on a hereditary basis. The most striking proposed change, however, was that parliament was to consist of two houses, with the new one approximating more to a senate than to the hereditary House of Lords, but one which could also operate as a 'High Court'. Regarding religion, the new constitution was slightly more restrictive than the Instrument of Government which had established the Protectorate, but in practice, this change made little difference. There was to be a confession of faith, agreed between the Protector and parliament, to which clergy who received public maintenance had to conform, but no such document was ever promulgated. For those who dissented from it, toleration was limited to those who accepted the basic doctrine of the trinity and acknowledged both the New and Old Testaments to be the revealed word of God; it was explicitly denied to 'papists', prelatists and all 'blasphemers' and licentious practitioners, including those who disturbed the public peace. These last exceptions were aimed mainly at Ranters and Quakers, but the authors of the 'Petition and Advice' had to steer a course between displeasing intolerant magistrates and offending Cromwell's breadth of sympathy since their whole enterprise was dependent on his acceptance of their proposals.
Clearly, critics of both sects, even sympathetic ones, continued to conflate both movements on doctrinal grounds, if not on the basis of their demeanour, conduct and practices. Thomas Collier in 1657 asserted that any that know the principles of the Ranters would easily recognise that Quaker doctrines were identical. Both would have…
… no Christ but within; no Scripture to be a rule; no ordinances, no law but their lusts, no heaven nor glory but here, no sin but what men fancied to be so, no condemnation for sin but in the consciences of ignorant ones.
Collier wrote that only Quakers smooth it over with an outward austere carriage before men, but within are full of filthiness, and he gave Nayler as an example of this.
Posted March 16, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in Anabaptism, Anglican Reformation, Anglicanism, Apocalypse, Austerity, baptism, Baptists, Bible, Charity, Christian Faith, Christianity, Church, Civil Rights, Commons, Commonwealth, Coventry, democracy, East Anglia, Egalitarianism, English Civil War(s), eschatology, Gospel of John, History, Home Counties, Jesus Christ, Millenarianism, morality, Mysticism, Narrative, Nationality, New Testament, Nonconformist Chapels, Oxford, Parliament, Quakers (Religious Society of Friends), Reformation, Respectability, Resurrection, Revolution, Scotland, south Wales, The Law, theology, tyranny, Utopianism, Wales, Warfare, West Midlands, Women's History
Tagged with 'Brethren of the Free Spirit', 'Dammees', 'Free grace', 'inner light', 'Roundhead', Abiezer Coppe, Adamism, Agreement of the People, alcoholism, Anthony Pearson, Antichrist, Antinomianism, Barebones Parliament, Biblioratry, blasphemy, Bristol, Calvinist, Cardiff, Carlisle, Charing Cross, Christianity, Christopher Hill, Cleveland, Cobham, communion, Diggers, Dorset, Edward Burrough, Episcopalians, Familism, Fifth Monarchists, George Fox, Gerrard Winstanley, Gilbert Pickering, heresy, History, Huntingdonshire, Independents, Interregnum, James Nayler, James Parnell, Jews, John Lilburne, John Milton, John Perrot, John Saltmarsh, John Webster, Joseph Salmon, Kent, Kiddermister, Kingston, Lawrence Clarkson, Leicestershire, Levellers, Luther, Mary Todd, Muggletonians, New Model Army, Newgate, Norfolk, Norman Cohn, Nottingham, Oliver Cromwell, Oxford, Pacifism, persecution, Philip Skippon, popery, Prayer, Presbxyterians, Preston, Protectorate, puritanism, Ranterism, Ranters, Reading, religion, Rice Jones, Richard Baxter, Richard Coppin, Robert Rich, Rochester, saints, Samuel Fisher, Scotland, Seekers, Socinian, Southwark, Spiritual Libertines, Surrey, Sussex, The Rump, Thomas Collier, Thomas Edwards, Thomas Traherne, tithes, Tobias Crisp, toleration, Unitarian, Warwick, Westminster Assembly, Whitelocke, William Dell, William Dewsbury, William Erbery, William Walwyn, Witshire
'God's Own People' – Welsh Puritans, The New Model Army & The Commonwealth. Leave a comment
'Williams alias Cromwell' – God's Welshman?:
Writing recently on the 375th anniversary of the founding of the New Model Army, I was reminded of the fact that its cavalry commander, Oliver Cromwell, given the epithet 'God's Englishman' as the title of his biography, by Christopher Hill (right), was of 'good Welsh stock'. Indeed, his ancestors' story is very much synonymous with the union of England and Wales under the Tudors. Oliver himself was born in 1599, one of ten children, in Huntingdon, towards the end of the reign of the last Welsh-speaking monarch of Britain, Elizabeth I.
Oliver Cromwell's father, Robert Cromwell (alias Williams), was the younger son of Sir Henry Cromwell (alias Williams), the 'Golden Knight of Hinchingbrooke'. Henry's father was born Richard Williams, grandson of a Welshman said to have accompanied Henry Tudor when he seized the throne of England from the Plantagenets at the Battle of Bosworth and became Henry VII in 1485. So the family's estate derived from Oliver's great-great-grandfather Morgan ap William, the son of William ap Ieuan of Wales. William was a great archer and a kinsman of Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke. Morgan was a brewer from Glamorgan who settled at Putney near London and married Katherine Cromwell (born 1482), the daughter of the local blacksmith, Walter Cromwell. She was also the sister of Thomas Cromwell, the famous chief minister to Henry VIII. The Cromwell family acquired great wealth as occasional beneficiaries of Thomas's administration of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Of course, he was known as the 'hammer of the monks' and was the architect of the English Reformation. The story of his fall and execution in 1540 has just been re-chronicled by historical novelist Hilary Mantel in the final part of her hugely popular 'Wolf Hall' trilogy, something else that prompted me to write about Oliver Cromwell's Welsh connections.
Henry VIII believed that the Welsh should adopt surnames in the English style rather than taking their fathers' names (patronyms) as Morgan ap William and his male ancestors had done. Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, one of the king's most favoured knights, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he might adopt the surname of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. For several generations, the Williamses added the surname of Cromwell to their own, styling themselves "Williams alias Cromwell" in legal documents (Noble 1784, pp. 11–13). Richard Williams took the name of his famous uncle and acted as his agent in the suppression of the monasteries. He had his reward: three abbeys, two priories and the nunnery of Hinchinbrooke, worth perhaps two-and-a-half thousand pounds a year, came into his possession; and he married the daughter of a Lord Mayor of London. His son, Sir Henry, built the magnificent mansion out of the ruins of Hinchinbrooke, fit to entertain royalty, on the site of Ramsey Abbey. In the year of the Armada, 1588, he ordered all his copyhold tenants in the manor of Ramsey to be ready to attend him at an hour's notice. He too married the daughter of a Lord Mayor of London, represented his county in the House of Commons and was for times sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. He was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire.
An integrated Britain becomes visible first in the major migration of the Welsh to the centre of power in the sixteenth century. Dafydd Seisyllt from the Welsh-speaking 'enclave' of Ergyng in Herefordshire went up to London as a sergeant of Henry VII's guard. He bought land and installed his son as a court page. His grandson was William Cecil, Elizabeth's potent statesman and spy-master. William's son, Robert Cecil, became chief minister of James I, and in 1605 'uncovered' the Gunpowder Plot. As we have seen above, the family of Morgan ap-William, the brewer who married Thomas Cromwell's sister, changed its name and its base from Glamorganshire to Huntingdonshire during this time, producing Oliver Cromwell three generations later. A horde of less well-known Welsh people colonised some of the London professional classes, the armed forces and some branches of commerce which in a few sectors became historically significant. The law and education are major examples of this. They also helped to establish Bristol as Britain's major Atlantic port as trade routes switched from the eastern English coasts to the west. The Welsh moved resolutely into every conceivable avenue of advancement, from the Court, the Great Sessions, the Council of Wales, JP patronage and the academic world, through minerals, commerce and politics, to smuggling and piracy.
Under Elizabeth I, Welsh intellectuals concentrated in force behind the first thrust for naval growth, American colonisation and empire. For the first time in centuries, the Welsh Church ceased to serve as the provider of sinecures for English clerics; thirteen of the sixteen bishops appointed to Wales were crusading Protestant Welshmen. Elizabeth's coronation oath referred back through Geoffrey of Monmouth's Histories of the Kings of Britain to claim her right to call herself Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church independently of the 'Bishop of Rome', tracing the origins of the churches in Britain to the Celtic missionaries. When these claims came under attack from the 'Italian School', most Tudor Renaissance humanists came to the defence of what had become official 'doctrine'.
Among the new scholars were Sir John Price of Brecon and Humphrey Llwyd of Denbigh. In 1571, Jesus College, Oxford was created specifically as a Welsh college. Central to this burst of British imperial energy was the seminal figure of the European Renaissance, Dr John Dee, the London-Welshman, originally from Radnorshire, who is credited with the coinage of the term 'British Empire'. He was a brilliant mathematician and foundation fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. In the 1580s, from the twin Calvinist bases of Bohemia and the Palatinate, he launched a scientific and mystical movement which cultivated a new world view. In 1614, Elizabeth Stuart, James I's daughter, married Frederick, Elector Palatine, and in 1618 they became the 'Winter' King and Queen of Bohemia, an event which led to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in Europe.
Court & Country in Stuart Times:
Henry's son, Sir Oliver, also a knight of the shire and high sheriff, was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell. Despite prudent marriages, Sir Oliver, living to almost a hundred, managed to dissipate the family fortunes. He entertained James I at Hinchinbrooke (above) in the most lavish way when the King was on progress from Scotland in 1603 and on many later occasions. Like other country gentlemen who entertained the impecunious monarch, Sir Oliver got little in return. Like Sir John Harington of Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire, tutor and guardian of James' daughter Elizabeth, Sir Oliver is a classical example of a man ruined by 'courtesy'. He had to sell his great house to the Montague family, who were to play a major part in the civil wars.
This may have been the root cause of the family feud which was the background to Oliver's own quarrel with Sir Edward Montague, the Earl of Manchester, pictured right, which led to the 'Self-Denying Ordinance' removing Manchester and his fellow peers from command of the Parliamentary Army, and the establishment of the 'New Model' Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell. The immediate result of the sale was that Robert, as the younger son, inherited little of the patrimony; but he did retain some of his own former church property. Cromwell's father Robert was of modest means but still, a member of the landed gentry.
As a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes. Oliver's mother was Elizabeth Steward, the anglicised surname of 'Stewart' or 'Stuart'. On both sides, the fortunes of the family had been founded by the 'spoliation' of the Roman Catholic Church. At the Reformation Elizabeth Steward's great-uncle, Robert had been the last Prior of Ely and its first protestant Dean. Her father William and after him her only brother Sir Thomas farmed the lands of Ely Cathedral. The connection between the two families went back two generations: for the man who persuaded Prior Robert Steward to throw in his lot with Thomas Cromwell was Sir Richard Cromwell, previously known as Richard Williams.
Above. Ely Cathedral from Cromwell's House.
Oliver was born in a house which had been part of the hospital of St John in Huntingdon since his father had acquired property which had formerly belonged to the Austin friars: from his maternal uncle Sir Thomas Steward, Oliver was later to inherit extensive leases from the Dean and Chapter of Ely. But he must have grown up conscious of the fact that he was a poor relation. He visited the splendours of Hinchinbrooke from time to time, but his father's three hundred pounds a year was less than Sir Oliver would have spent on a fleeting visit from King James. Young Oliver had many rich and important relations, but his own upbringing was modest. Cromwell himself in 1654 said,
"I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity".
Above: Cromwell's House and parish church, Ely
Along with his brother Henry, Oliver had kept a smallholding of chickens and sheep, selling eggs and wool to support himself, his lifestyle resembling that of a yeoman farmer. In 1636 Cromwell inherited control of various properties in Ely from his uncle on his mother's side, and his uncle's job as tithe collector for Ely Cathedral. As a result, his income is likely to have risen to around £300–400 per year.
Cromwell's House in Ely is a museum today, as shown above, and below.
By the end of the 1630s, Cromwell had returned to the ranks of acknowledged gentry. He had become a committed Puritan and had established important family links to leading families in London and Essex. In his seminal book The World Turned Upside Down (below), Christopher Hill argued that the familiar civil war division between the 'Royalist' North and West and the 'Parliamentarian' South and East, was also a division between the 'relatively backward' North and West, and the 'economically advanced South and East'. Yet, with hindsight, these contemporary stereotypes were already changing as the first civil war got underway and by the second the growth in Atlantic trade was already beginning to transform the fortunes of war in the West. Yet, the North and West were regarded by Parliamentarians as the 'dark corners of the land', in which preaching was totally inadequate, despite the early attempts made by many Puritans to propagate the Gospel. In 1641, Lord Brooke (Earl of Warwick) observed that there was…
… scarce any minister in some whole shires, as in Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland and especially in Wales.
Eighteen years later, the evangelical minister and Parliamentary chaplain, Richard Baxter, argued that…
… multitudes in England, and more in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, the Highlands, are scarce able to talk reason about common things. Are these … fit to have the sovereign power, to rule the Commonwealth?
But the radicals puritans' vision already included a reformed educational system, which would realise something of Comenius' ideal: universal education in the vernacular for boys and girls up to the age of eighteen, followed by six years at university for the best pupils. On a visit to England in 1641, he wrote that…
… they are eagerly debating on the reformation in the whole kingdom … that all young people should be instructed, none neglected.
Wales in the Civil Wars – Royalists to Roundheads:
In the first civil war, Wales was seen as solidly in support of the King, but by 1645 the royalist coalition in Wales, bludgeoned by repeated levies of men and money, murky deals with the Irish and an inflow of royalist refugees, began to break up. In Glamorgan, 'peaceable armies' demonstrated for compromise and throughout Wales, there was wholesale defection. By 1646 the 'Pembroke party' was also working for a compromise peace with the Presbyterians in the face of a radical army. From that army came Independent chaplains such as Vavasour Powell, who became itinerant preachers among the Welsh. In response, moderate royalists, Presbyterians and disgruntled parliamentarians shuffled into an alliance in support of the imprisoned king. This led to a rising focused on south Pembrokeshire in the summer of 1648 when there were also revolts in south-east England, followed by an invasion of Northern England by the Scots. The rising in South Wales was led by former Parliamentarian officers, renegades against whom Cromwell was particularly bitter. After their defeat, one of their leaders was shot. In this second civil war, the New Model Army won a victory against the rebels at St Fagans near Cardiff and Cromwell himself brought about the final reduction of Pembroke Castle, the boyhood home of Henry Tudor. Early in 1649, Charles was executed and Wales was exposed to the full force of 'the British Republic'.
But the 'transformation' of Wales from a Royalist 'fiefdom' into a Roundhead republic by no means simply an orgy of expulsions and confiscations. Many of the men who gained control in Wales were 'crusaders' for the puritan cause. John Jones, a freeholder from of Maes-y-Garnedd in Merioneth and a convert of Morgan Llwyd's preaching, married Cromwell's sister, served the Protector in Ireland and died heroically on the scaffold as an unrepentant regicide. Colonel Philip Jones of Llangyfelach, a distinguished soldier, was close to the visionary Hugh Peter, and it was this circle that the notion evolved of evangelising Wales around a 'commission' to propagate the gospel. To them, Wales was a dark corner, ripe for a radical experiment in godly government. It was this abused régime with its army men and preaching cobblers which proved to be the only English administration to date to treat Wales as a separate nation. The Rump Parliament at Westminster had disappointed even moderate reformers by its failure to ensure that the word was preached in every parish, for there were still too many lazy, ignorant and absentee parsons who left their flocks hungry in what was a sermon-hungry age. It did set up two local Commissions for the Propagation of the Gospel early in 1650, one for Wales and the other for the northern counties, but it made no progress at all with a bill intended to do the same for England as a whole.
The Act for the Better Propagation of the Gospel in Wales of 1650 gave the country a peculiar form of autonomy under Colonel Thomas Harrison and seventy commissioners. There were a few members of the gentry of Independent temper like Sir Erasmus Philipps of Picton in Pembrokeshire, though most, of necessity, were English military missionaries. Philip Jones and John Jones were prominent, but the core around Harrison were men like Powell, Cradock, Llwyd, John Miles (who had created the first Calvinistic Baptist church in Gower), men whom later generations would see as founding fathers of modern Wales. They threw out nearly three hundred clergymen, but the propagating venture got a bad name when the Welsh commission was powerfully infiltrated by Fifth Monarchist firebrands, most notably Vavasour Powell and Morgan Llwyd, who had strong links with Colonel Harrison and his faction in the Army. They were not only seen as perverting the organisation in order to preach socially subversive ideas about the irrelevance of worldly rank and the imminent rule of the saints, but they were unjustly accused of misappropriating the tithes and other revenues of the church in Wales to their own sectarian ends. This was only one symptom of growing polarization between moderate and extreme puritans. The year 1652 saw a spate of radical pamphlets and petitions, tending to the removal of religion from the state's authority, as well as the rapid expansion of Quakers and other heterodox sects. But it also saw the emergence of a group of moderate Independents led by John Owen who put a set of proposals before the Rump prefiguring the ecclesiastical régime of the Protectorate. They sought to preserve a broad established church, with generous freedom of worship and association outside it.
As a political and religious 'Independent', Lord General Cromwell favoured the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in both England and Wales, though he maintained the need for a national Church, supported through tithes, possibly because he himself was a tithe-collector for Ely. Yet Parliament did nothing to achieve this. It was not until February 1653 that the Rump took up the relatively conservative but nonetheless reforming scheme of Owen and his group. But Parliament and the Army remained suspicious of each other, and the Rump showed particular animosity towards Harrison, whom the hostile MPs blamed for the radical actions taken under the auspices of the Commission for the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales. He had lost his place on the Council of State in November 1651, and there was even a move to expel him from parliament. This was not only unjust but also foolish, for though Cromwell did not share Harrison's fifth monarchist beliefs, there were still strong ties of friendship and mutual trust between the two seasoned soldiers. According to contemporary sources, Cromwell played up to Army radicalism by saying that the Rump intended to support 'the corrupt interests of the clergy and the lawyers'. So far from reforming the Anglican Church, Parliament aroused resentment by refusing to renew the Commission for Wales, the Army's favourite instrument for evangelising what had proved to be a politically unreliable country.
Cromwell and the generals also advocated the disappearance of Parliament and the handing of power to a provisional government, in which they themselves would naturally predominate, to supervise and control elections. How otherwise, he asked, could one know …
… whether the next Parliament were not like to consist of all Presbyterians. … Thus, as we apprehended, would have been thrown away the liberties of the nation into the hands of those who had never fought for it.
When a meeting between officers and MPs on 19 April 1653 ended in deadlock, the 'gentlemen's agreement' between them to engage in further discussions was breached the next day by backbench MPs who started to rush through a bill for dissolution without meeting the officers' demand for an interim authority under their control, revealing that parliament intended to control the election of its successors itself. Cromwell felt that his hand had been forced, and intervened with the army just in time to stop the new bill from becoming law. He flew into a rage, by all accounts, declaring to the Commons:
You are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament …
So ended the Long Parliament, which had sat for twelve and a half years. Despite the repeated attempts by many to 'paint' this as an act of tyranny in the form orchestrated 'coup d'état', it is quite clear that what Cromwell was seeking to do was to end the dictatorship of an undemocratic 'élite' which was clinging to power and trying to ensure the continued predominance of presbyterian rule both in Westminster and the country at large. His 'righteous indignation' stemmed from the manner in which they sought to dissolve themselves in order to ensure that they could rig the subsequent election to this effect. Their betrayal of the compromise reached with the Army took him by surprise.
The 'Coral Growth' of the Welsh Independents:
Above: The British Republic, 1649-60.
During the civil wars, new universities were proposed for Bristol, Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Aberystwyth. There were also proposals for an increase in the number of schools and in Wales a great number of new schools were actually started. Despite the negative stereotypes quoted above, according to Laurence Stone, there was a substantial increase in lower-class literacy throughout the revolutionary decades. One of the paradoxes of the period was that of the most radical sectarian groups, the Quakers started almost exclusively in the North of England and the Baptists were at their strongest in Wales. William Erbery claimed that the new English Independency had already been overthrown by the Welsh and that…
… baptised churches have the greatest fall (harvest) from the northern saints in both in England and Wales … John's spirit is in the North of England and the spirit of Jesus rising in North Wales is for the fall of all the churches in the South. The whirlwind comes from the North.
From the early 1650s, there was a rapid expansion of Particular Baptists in Wales and of Quakers all over the North of England. In 1654, one of their enemies, Ephraim Pagitt, said of them in 1654 that they were made up out of the dregs of common people … thickest set in the North Parts. Earlier, in 1649, Hugh Peter and others had noticed that the Welsh border counties, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, were 'ripe for the gospel' and emissaries were sent from Glamorgan to London asking for preachers. When the Quakers turned south in 1654 they made great progress among 'that dark people' of Cornwall, as well as in Wales, and among weavers generally, notably in Gloucestershire. The paradox was further intensified by the fact that such Puritan ministers as there were in the North had mostly been cleared out in the Laudian persecutions of the 1630s, under Richard Neile, Archbishop of York. Those remaining were further reduced in the North and Wales when they fled from their parishes the civil war to escape the Royalist occupation in those territories. As early as 1646 Thomas Edwards had noted that…
… emissaries out of the sectaries' churches are sent to infect and poison … Yorkshire and those northern parts, … Bristol and Wales. … Sects begin to grow fast … for want of a settlement in discipline.
Traditional southern middle-class Puritanism of the Presbyterian variety had a hold only in isolated areas of the North, and hardly at all in Wales, except for the area of Harley influence along the borders with Worcestershire and Herefordshire. There, Sir Thomas' planting of godly ministers … backing them with his authority made religion famous in his little corner of the world. Clarendon testifies to the existence of support for the Parliamentary cause among the common people and popular religious movements in North Wales and in the Forest of Dean at the end of the first civil war. This helps to explain why the New Model Army, …
… having marched up and down the kingdom, to do the work of God and the state … met with many Christians who have much gospel-light … in such places where there hath been no gospel-ministry.
Presbyterian Puritanism took little hold of any depth in Wales. The defeat of the Royalist armies and the bankruptcy of the traditional clergy created an even greater spiritual void than in the more traditional Puritan areas of the South and East. Yet the period was one of much greater prosperity in the pasture farming areas of Wales and the borders. This combined with a growth in 'cottage' industries as confirmed by a shift in population to the west midland counties of England and the re-building of peasant houses in stone. Contemporaries explained the 'whoredoms of the Welsh' by the mountain air: the modern historian more wisely sees them as the natural product of a society which refused to accept English protestant marriage laws.
In these areas, it was the Particular Baptists who initially filled the spiritual gap, though in some parts they were superseded by Quakers, as in the North of England. The more politically radical Fifth Monarchists had only a superficial influence in Wales, being a mainly urban movement, and they had little connection with the Forest of Dean before the 1670s. It seems to have been mainly in response to this radical challenge that the outlying clergy joined in the movement led by Kidderminster's Richard Baxter to build up voluntary county associations of ministers, a sort of 'Presbyterianism from below'. The radical Independents of the Cromwellian period in Wales and along the Welsh border included Vavasour Powell, Morgan Lloyd, Walter Cradock and William Erbery, to which might be added Thomas Harrison and Henry Danvers, the Fifth Monarchists from Staffordshire, and the Leveller William Walwyn of Worcestershire.
There was also a broader cultural impact of Wales and the borders upon the 'more advanced' south and east. John Donne, the greatest of the metaphysical poets, is separated by just one generation from the Welsh forbear who sent his younger son to London to be apprenticed, and George Herbert and Henry Vaughan were both Welsh. Thomas Traherne came from the Welsh 'marches' and in the second rank of border 'bards', we might include Lord Herbert of Cherbury and John Davies of Hereford. Inigo Jones, the great architect who re-built St Paul's before the Great Fire destroyed it completely, was of Welsh descent. Turning to the field of mathematics and science, Robert Recorde, John Dee, Robert Fludd, Matthew Gwynne, Edmund Gunter, Thomas Vaughan and Edward Somerset, Marquis of Worcester, were all Welsh or, like Cromwell himself, of Welsh descent. The cultural consequences of the union of Great Britain, begun by the Tudors, and extended by James I, were further developed through the creation of the New Model Army and its role in the political and religious matters of the mid-seventeenth century.
The Cromwell Coat of Arms (on Oliver's ascent to Lord Protector in 1653)
The Bible & Radical Puritanism in the Protectorate:
Late twentieth-century historians re-examined the nature of Cromwell's faith and of his authoritarian regime. In his extensive 2002 book (see below), Austin Woolrych explored the issue of "dictatorship" in depth, arguing that Cromwell was subject to two conflicting forces: his obligation to the army and his desire to achieve a lasting settlement by winning back the confidence of the nation as a whole. He argued that the dictatorial elements of Cromwell's rule stemmed less from its military origin or the participation of army officers in civil government than from his constant commitment to the interest of the people of God and his conviction that suppressing vice and encouraging virtue constituted the chief end of government. Historians such as John Morrill, Blair Worden, and J. C. Davis have developed this theme, revealing the extent to which Cromwell's writing and speeches are suffused with biblical references, and arguing that his radical actions were driven by his zeal for godly reformation.
It is difficult to overemphasise the role of the Bible in the radical Puritanism of the first half of the seventeenth century. By mid-century, eschatological prophecy had become a major part of protestant controversial literature, aided especially by the invention of printing. Scholars, including Newton, approached the Bible authorised by King James in 1612 in a scientific spirit and reached a consensus which indicated the advent of remarkable events in the mid-1650s: the fall of Antichrist, the second coming and the millennium. This underlay the confident energy and utopian enthusiasm of the Puritan preachers of the 1640s and '50s. In this spirit of optimism, they called upon their fellow commoners to fight the Lord's battles against the Antichrist. Cromwell was chief among these men to take up that calling.
Ordinary Bible-readers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries wanted to democratise the mysteries that lay behind the sacred texts of the Scriptures, previously known only to scholars, for themselves. They believed, on good protestant authority, that anyone could understand God's word if he studied it carefully enough and if the grace of God was in him. Then the Bible could be made to reveal the significance of the events of his own time. Bibles were no longer expensive as book prices then went, 3s 2d in 1649 and later just two shillings. Soldiers in the New Model Army were issued with The Soldier's Bible, containing key passages which justified their war with the 'Antichrist'. The Geneva Bible, on which the Authorised Version was based, was published in pocket-size editions so that men could take it to church or the ale-house, as Henry VIII had observed with alarm, to knock down an argument with a text. Those coming to the Bible with no broad historical sense but with high expectations found in it a message of direct contemporary relevance. A young Welshman delighting in the name of 'Arise' Evans (a forename probably derived from 'Rhys', 'ap-Rhys' or, in its anglicised form, 'Rice') who arrived in London in 1629, witnessed as to how his attitude to the Bible changed in the decade before the Revolution:
Afore I looked upon the Scripture as a history of things that passed in other countrie, pertaining to other persons; but now I looked upon it as a mystery to be opened at this time, belonging also to us.
This attitude was, no doubt, shared by many of the victims of economic and political crisis who turned to the Bible for guidance in that perplexing period. The 1640s and '50s were indeed the great age of 'mechanic preachers', laymen like the Quakers George Fox and James Nayler, who led a procession into Bristol in 1656 symbolically riding on an ass, and the ex-soldier and Baptist John Bunyan, interpreting the Bible according to their own untutored 'inner lights' with all the excitement and assurance of a new discovery. Many Quaker leaders were also ex-soldiers, like James Nayler, and some had been dismissed from the Army in the 1650s for disciplinary reasons, but others seem not to have found military service compatible with their values. Quakers also continued to serve in the Navy. George Fox was offered a commission in 1651. In his Journal he recorded that he refused it on pacifist grounds, but in 1657 he urged 'the inferior offices and soldiers' of the Army on to conquer Rome. After 1658 he was more cautious, but as late as 1660 a leading south Welsh Quaker asked Fox whether Quakers were free to serve in the Army. The first official declaration of absolute pacifism was made by the Society of Friends in January 1661, after a number of Quakers had been arrested in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Fifth Monarchist Revolt. It was intended to protect them against charges of sedition, but also marks the beginning of refusal among them to accept civil or military offices. However, it is more likely that, in the previous decade, the early refusals of Fox and others sprang from political objections to the government of the Commonwealth rather than from pacifist principles. In fact, in 1659, when the political situation was more to their liking, many Quakers re-enlisted in the Army. As late as 1685, Quakers are said to have turned out with their 'pitchforks' in the west country to join Monmouth's rebellion.
The Growth of Quakerism in Wales & the West of England – The Strange Case of Dorcas Erbery:
The coral growth of Quakerism, especially in Wales and the Western Counties of England, from Cumberland to Cornwall, was largely the product of the nurturing of lay-preaching in the radical regiments of the New Model Army. These soldier-preachers, like Nayler, took it for granted that fellow Quakers had supported and, in most cases, fought for Parliament in the civil wars. George Fox made similar assumptions, though by the mid-1650s he was resisting James Nayler's 'simple teaching' and writing to Nayler that his style of mechanic preaching had made him a shelter for the unclean spirits, the beasts of the field; they made thee their refuge. The controversy led to disunity, as elsewhere, while Nayler himself remained silent. Nayler was born in the Yorkshire village of West Ardsley, near Wakefield in 1618, where he followed his father's occupation of a 'husbandman' before moving into the nearby town. In 1643 he had joined the Parliamentary Army and served seven years in a foot regiment before becoming quartermaster in Lambert's Regiment of Horse, taking part in the third civil war, including the battles of Dunbar and Worcester.
In the summer of 1656, along with a number of other Quakers, Nayler was imprisoned in Exeter Jail. Amongst these were a number of women, including Dorcas Erbery, the daughter of an "honest minister" in Wales, probably William Erbery. One of the women died, and when Dorcas, some days later, fell into a prolonged faint, the excited women about her declared that she was also dead. Nayler was called to see the lifeless body and laid his hands upon it, and at his touch, the girl revived and stood up. That was sufficient to prove to his followers that he was Christ, though he himself never claimed this, contrary to the charges made against him later that year. When the Bristol magistrates quoted from the letters found in his pockets, one of which referred to him, from John's Gospel, as the Lamb of God, in whom the hope of Israel stands, and asked him whether he was himself that Lamb, he responded:
If I were not his Lamb, I should not be thus sought for to be devoured. The hope of Israel stands in the righteousness of the Father in whomsoever it is.
Such a reply scarcely seemed to merit imprisonment, and it may be that if Nayler's followers had not shown such an uncompromising spirit in their hero-worship he would have been allowed to go free. Martha Simmonds and Dorcas Erbery both stoutly maintained that he was indeed Jesus. No cross-examination could shake Dorcas from her belief that Nayler had raised her to life after she had been dead two days. Under these circumstances, a seventeenth-century Bench had no alternative but to send them back to jail. The two male Quakers who had played a modest part in the demonstration in the courthouse, which had included continual shouting of 'hosanna', were sent home without charge and attended the Friends' meeting later that day. Nayler and his companions were not completely disowned by the Bristol Quakers, and a local Quaker apothecary brought them supplies and "comforts" before Nayler was sent to Westminster to answer the charge of 'blasphemy' before Parliament. But a note from Thomas Simmonds, the printer, to his wife Martha, one of the women involved, concludes with an affectionate but somewhat bantering strain:
Dear heart, my love is to thee and to J.N. and to J.S. and H.S. But this I could not but write to warn you that you stand single to the Lord and not believe every sprit. Your work is soon to come to an end: part of the army that fell at Burford was your figure.
The reference to Burford is to Cromwell's suppression of the Leveller mutiny in the Army of 1649 when the mutineers were locked in Burford Church and a number of them were shot. This 'turning point' in the Revolution was clearly still fresh in many minds, and the reference to it may also point to the quarrel between Nayler and Fox, whose 'authority' over the movement he continued to dispute. When one of Fox's letters to him was used in evidence against Nayler in court, the latter had called his erstwhile leader a liar and firebrand of hell, which must have alarmed the local Quakers who were present and given them a measure of his alienation from Fox's leadership. Nayler's 'excitable women followers' were also bitterly critical of Fox, but Nayler had refused to restrain them at Fox's request, made in a letter of September 1656, possibly the letter produced in court. Nayler later justified his refusal by saying that he did not wish to quench whatever was 'of God' in what they said and did. The modern-day Quaker writer, John Lampen, has stated (1981) that:
It has been generally assumed that at the time he did not have the emotional strength to withstand their influence, and this is borne out by contemporary descriptions of his passive, exhausted demeanor. However he was still justifying his behaviour by appealing to divine guidance, and so implicitly challenging Fox's spiritual insight.
Other friends expected Fox to settle the issue by his personal authority. In the unity so often felt at the start of a great venture, they had not yet needed to discover ways of reconciling different perceptions of the Truth, and Nayler was considered by many contemporaries to be their most notable preacher, even if Fox was the chief pastor of their flock. The over-enthusiastic atmosphere which developed around Nayler was created by men as well as women. When one man wrote to him, Thy name shall be no more James Nayler, but Jesus, he put it straight in his pocket, overcome by fear, intending no-one to see it, as he could not own its contents, but he did not, as far as we know, reprove the sender. Fox was not without fault in their quarrel. When the two men eventually met, Nayler went to kiss Fox on the head, but Fox recoiled, instead offering him his foot to kiss. However, Fox refused to publish a statement condemning Nayler, but he did repudiate some of his 'followers' including Martha Simmonds, for their lies and slanders. Beneath the inter-personal conflict lay a fundamental issue as to whether the 'Guidance within' which was claimed by individual Quakers could be viewed as an infallible spirit. Fox could see in Nayler the possibility of unchecked individualism diverging from the divine illumination in which he believed. Following Nayler's release from prison, the two were finally reconciled in 1659 shortly before his death. Early Friends believed that one of the 'offices' of Christ was judgment and Fox could assert that he did not judge Nayler himself but 'set the Power of God over him', while Nayler could claim that he felt this 'inward judgment' while in prison and it saved him.
In this context, it is quite clear that whatever interpretation Nayler's followers might have placed upon their actions, he regarded himself simply as a symbol of the Christ whom they all worshipped, and that the 'triumphal' entry into the city on 24 October 1656 was simply a sign of his second coming. Viewed in this light, the episode falls into line with the frequent going naked for a sign and the other revivals of symbolism from the Bible practised by primitive Quakers, Baptists and other sects. The rift between the supporters of George Fox and those of James Nayler that had extended throughout the movement, and far into Wales, was eventually healed, and it showed that it was not as vulnerable as its enemies had hoped. But treachery lurked in the 'inner light'. In a time of defeat, when the wave of revolution was ebbing, the inner voice became quietest and pacifist. This voice only was recognised by others as God's. God was no longer served by the extravagant gesture, whether Nayler's entry into Bristol or the blasphemy of the Ranters. Once the group decided this way, all the pressures were in the direction of accepting modes of expression not too shocking to the society in which men had to live and earn their living. In 1656, John Lewis urged the religious radicals in Wales not to go too fast or too far in inveighing against old customs and against the superstitious Welsh regard for church buildings.
When Nayler was pilloried for his 'blasphemy' in London at Christmas (pictured above), the three women prisoners, including Dorcas Erbery, were also present, and in what was (no doubt) intended as another 'acted parable', took their seat at the foot of the pillory in imitation of the women at the crucifixion of Christ. Dorcas and the others who had been imprisoned with Nayler in Exeter and Bristol remained in prison until the following May. In February, they attended a service at Westminster Abbey, which was presumably part of their punishment. The following is from a contemporary account in Mercurius Politicus:
This day being the Lord's day, the persons called Quakers who were brought from Bristol with James Nayler, remaining yet undischarged under the custody of the Sergeant at Arms, but now somewhat altered in their carriage, went to the Abbey morning and afternoon, where they gave ear civilly and attentively to the sermons of Mr. John Rowe, an eminent preacher; whose spritual doctrine so far wrought upon them that they intend to hear him again – which gives hopes that they may be rectified in their judgment.
However, it does not appear that Dorcas Erbery's judgment was so completely rectified as was supposed, for in two years from this date she was again in prison in Bristol, …
… with many others … for preaching and declaring the truth to the people in the public places of resort and Concourse, a Duty which they esteemed themselves under an indispensable necessity of performing.
The Welsh Prophet, 'Arise' Evans:
'Arise' (Rhys) Evans spoke of his own humble origins with reference to the apostles:
I am as the Paul of this time. … he was a mechanic, a tent maker. Acts 18:3. I am a tailor.
Evans was born about 1607 in Llangelynnin parish (near Barmouth) and was apprenticed to a tailor at Wrexham. While living in Wales he had seen visions and prophetic dreams which were accentuated when he went to London in 1629. In London, he made vain efforts to warn Charles I of perceived dangers but succeeded in telling the Earl of Essex to his face of his future promotions. Evans also seems to have suffered from mental illness. He hung around Charles I's court for days on end, in order to deliver his message from God to the King announcing that he and his kingdom were to be destroyed. Meanwhile, bishops ran away at the sight of him, and the royal Secretary of State asked for the prayers of 'God's secretary'. In the 1640s, Evans got a brief spell in the Bridewell for telling the City's Deputy Recorder that he, Arise Evans, was the Lord his God. Later, he called upon Oliver Cromwell and stayed to midnight: he pestered the Council of State to restore the son of the King whom they had executed, and republican officers defended him in long arguments at Whitehall.
But the Commonwealth did not even imprison him as Charles and the Deputy Recorder had done. As long as the 'imbecile' had no disciples, he or she was allowed a great deal of latitude. Prophets were often tolerated because they could be used to further the political purposes of powerful men, as Arise Evans may have been. In 1653, indeed, he gave a forecast of the course of events in England following Cromwell's death that came remarkably near the truth. His Narrations, Voices from Heaven, and Echoes of those Voices contain weird and impossible extravagances, but there are passing references of great interest, notably to John Jones (1597 – 1660) the regicide's acquaintance with the lake of Tal-y-Llyn, to Christopher Love speaking to him in Welsh, to the Welsh connections of Oliver Cromwell. In the freer circumstances of the 1640s and '50s, most so-called 'mad' people appear to have been political radicals. A mental breakdown could be seen as a form of social protest or at least a reaction to intolerable social conditions: those who break down, like Arise Evans, may, in reality, be truly sane. This is certainly an explanation to bear in mind when considering those radicals often dismissed as 'the lunatic fringe'.
As William Dell of 'the Apostles' claimed, Poor, illiterate, mechanic men, turned the world upside down. The effort to grasp new truths, truths which would turn the world upside down, may have been too much for men like Arise Evans. The Bible was the accepted source of all true knowledge. Men as different as the philosopher Thomas Hobbes and Gerard Winstanley, the 'Digger' from Wigan, both illustrated from the Bible conclusions at which they had arrived by rational means. Simpler men like Arise Evans believed the Bible to be divinely inspired and applied its texts directly to problems of their own world and time, with no idea of the difficulties of translation, nor of the historical understanding required to do so. So Evans thought that Revelation 8 and 11 gave an account of the civil war, that chapters 8 and 9 of Amos set down all that came to pass since the beginning of the Long Parliament, and that in Amos 9:1, the lintel of the door, which is to be smitten that the posts may shake, must refer to Speaker Lenthall. As Christopher Hill pointed out, unlike the Puritan divines who had cited the Bible against bishops and tithes, …
The Evanses studied it very carefully, if less skilfully, in order to understand and so be able to control what was going to happen.
Evans became interested in the multifarious sects that flourished under the relatively liberty of the late 1640s, opposing most of them, especially the tenets of the Fifth Monarchists. In 1649, he had a vision in which he went through France to Rome, where a voice came to me saying, "So far as thou art come, so far shall Cromwell come". But Evans made a distinction between the 'history' and the 'mystery' of the Bible, as did William Erbery, who in his Testimony recalled that a chief one of the Army would … usually say that the flesh of Christ and the letter of scripture were the two great idols of Antichrist.
Propagating the Gospel & Protecting the State – Vavasour Powell & Oliver Cromwell:
According to Welsh historian, A. H. Dodd (1957), the Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel became 'the real government of Wales'. Those who administered Wales could not afford to alienate Baptist or Quaker missionaries, many of whom were ex-New Model Army soldiers and chaplains, who still, in the years 1651-53, continued to support the Parliamentary cause. J.P.s protected the preachers as a lesser evil than papists or pagans. The Committee's 'Approvers', dominated by republican intransigents, created the first state schools, fifty-nine of them, open to both sexes and offering Latin and Greek, but trying to preach regeneration to the Welsh in English, although most sermons had been delivered in Welsh since the publication of Bishop Morgan's Welsh Bible in 1588, which may help to explain why many Independent English preachers failed to 'connect' with their Welsh congregations. They had even more trouble finding replacements for the ministers. In came the itinerants and in came men from the hitherto invisible classes, to battle forward, often in the gales of hostility. Vavasour Powell, travelled a hundred miles a week, preaching in two or three places a day. He was probably the outstanding Welshman of his time, a brilliant and fearless man not afraid to address A Word for God … against Wickedness in High Places to Cromwell himself. Converts sprouted wherever he spoke, especially in the uplands of the south and the border. In north Wales, Morgan Llwyd, a writer of powerful Welsh classics and a man of mystical temper, sent John ap John of Ruabon to contact George Fox to gain his help in starting an often anarchic movement of Welsh Quakers, which may be from where Dorcas Erbery, Nayler's 'prophetess' sprang. George Fox, on his own mission, found God raising up a people around Cader Idris in mid-Wales in 1657. Cromwell himself said that 'God had kindled a seed' in Wales. As Presbyterians penetrated Flintshire, Baptists, Congregationalists and Quakers multiplied along the eastern border and also began to plant in the west.
As Protector, Cromwell sought to act as the guarantor of an accepted constitution while elected assemblies came and went, to check the evident tendency of an all-powerful single-chamber parliament to veer towards elective dictatorship and to secure for the executive a degree of independence and separation from the legislature. As Protector, he became a strong believer in the separation of powers. But he didn't find it easy to pursue a moderating course. It brought him into conflict with the influential millenarian preachers in London, including Christopher Feake, Walter Cradock, Vavasour Powell and John Goodwin, who all had a considerable following in the Army. The open hostility of many Rumpers towards army officers did not help the situation. Skippon, clearly a moderate, was dropped from the Council of State at the same time as Harrison, leaving the army almost insultingly under-represented.
The Power & the Glory:
In the Interregnum, the Councils of in the North and in Wales, created by the Tudors, were abolished, the local power of the feudal aristocracy curtailed, and the authority of Whitehall and 'London' extended over the whole of the two countries. It seemed obvious to historians like Christopher Hill that the Revolution established a much greater unity among the regions of England, and indeed of the three kingdoms and the principality. But contemporaries worried about centrifugal tendencies. They were no doubt influenced by the examples of the Netherlands, where the republic's unity derived mainly from the dominance of Holland, while the other provinces clung onto their independence, often with paralysing effects on policy. They were also disturbed by the case of Switzerland, where protestant and Catholic cantons were at war, which Cromwell himself insisted was brought on by external papist intervention. In the early 1650s, England had nearly intervened in the French wars of religion, an intervention which might have created a breakaway republic in the south-west. There were also revolts from Spanish sovereignty of Portugal, Catalonia and Naples, and Cossack risings in Russia and Poland.
John Lilburne (pictured above) became a Quaker after retiring from the Army in the 1650s. The radical 'Levellers' proposed a great deal of decentralisation for England, including local courts at York, and greater county autonomy. William Walwyn, one of their leaders, said that the Swiss cantons were nearest to his ideal. In 1647, Cromwell had argued against such constitutional projects:
Would it not make England like Switzerland, one canton of the Swiss against another, and one county against another? And what would that produce but an absolute desolation in the nation?
By the time the Propagation of the Gospel in Wales Act lapsed in 1653, the enterprise had spilt out to produce a myriad of sects and creeds, many like the ranters or Anabaptists, often called 'Quakers'. Such men, rivalling even the most radical Baptists, offered a serious threat to tithes and all established order. They were appearing in many places, from Dolgellau to the Vale of Glamorgan. As Cromwell made himself Lord Protector, the Welsh Republicans moved into opposition. Vavasour Powell tried to organise insurrection in Wales and Ireland. The Blackfriars' fulminators were also blasting the parliament, the council, the army, and everyone in power in scurrilous terms, and by late November 1653, they too were concentrating their shafts upon Cromwell himself, calling him the man of sin, the old dragon, and many other scripture ill names. Harrison was reportedly railing against him every day and the Anglo-Dutch peace negotiations, and there were allegations that he and his party were planning to take over the command of the army. He was certainly capable of seriously dividing it, and his favourite preachers were, according to Woolrych<|fim_middle|> 4,800 tanks and 1,500 combat aircraft in the east, to fight Stalin's fourteen thousand tanks and fifteen thousand aircraft. Soon after the conference, Zhukov reached the Oder river on 31 January and Konyev reached the Oder-Neisse Line a fortnight later, on the lower reaches of the River Oder, a mere forty-four miles from the suburbs of Berlin. It had been an epic advance but had temporarily exhausted the USSR, halting its offensive due to the long lines of supply and communications. On 26 February, the Soviets also broke through from Bromberg to the Baltic. As a consequence, East Prussia was cut off from the Reich. Then they didn't move from their positions until mid-April.
Below: The Liberation of Europe, East & West, January 1944 – March 1945
About twenty million of the war dead were Russians by this stage, together with another seven million from the rest of the USSR, rather more of them civilians than Red Army soldiers. The vast majority of them had died far from any battlefield. Starvation, slave-labour conditions, terror and counter-terror had all played their part, with Stalin probably responsible for nearly as many of the deaths of his own people as Hitler was. However, the Nazis were guilty of the maltreatment of prisoners-of-war, with only one million of the six million Russian soldiers captured surviving the war, as well as millions of Russian Jews. Yet despite their exhaustion, the proximity of Stalin's troops to the German capital gave their Marshal and leader a greatly increased voice at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea, called to discuss the 'endgame' in Europe, and to try to persuade the Soviets to undertake a major involvement in the war against Japan.
The 'Big Three' at the Yalta Conference, 4-11 February:
Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin met only twice, at the Tehran Conference in November 1943 and the Yalta Conference in February 1945, although they maintained a very regular correspondence. Roosevelt's last letter to the Soviet leader was sent on 11 April, the day before he died. By the time of Yalta, it was Roosevelt who was making all the running, attempting to keep the alliance together. With the Red Army firmly in occupation of Poland, and Soviet troops threatening Berlin itself when the conference opened, there was effectively nothing that either FDR or Churchill could have done to safeguard political freedom in eastern Europe, and both knew it. Roosevelt tried everything, including straightforward flattery, to try to bring Stalin round to a reasonable stance on any number of important post-war issues, such as the creation of a meaningful United Nations, but he overestimated what his undoubted aristocratic charm could achieve with the genocidal son of a drunken Georgian cobbler. A far more realistic approach to dealing with Stalin had been adopted by Churchill in Moscow in October 1944, when he took along what he called a naughty document which listed the proportional interest in five central and south-east European countries. Crucially, both Hungary and Yugoslavia would be under '50-50′ division of influence between the Soviets and the British. Stalin signed the document with a big blue tick, telling Churchill to keep it, and generally stuck to the agreements, the exception being Hungary.
In preparation for the conference, Stalin tried to drum up as much support as he could for his puppet government in Poland. It was a subject, for example, that had dominated the visit of General de Gaulle to Moscow in December 1944. It was against the diplomatic background of this meeting with De Gaulle and in the knowledge that the war was progressing towards its end, that Stalin boarded a train from Moscow for the Crimea in February 1945. He had just learnt that Marshal Zhukov's Belorussian Front had crossed into Germany and were now encamped on the eastern bank of the Oder. In the West, he knew that the Allies had successfully repulsed Hitler's counter-attack in the Ardennes, and in the Far East that General Douglas MacArthur was poised to recapture Manila in the Philippines, the British had forced the Japanese back in Burma, and the US bombers were pounding the home islands of Japan. Victory now seemed certain, though it was still uncertain as to how soon and at what cost that victory would come.
The conference at Yalta has come to symbolise the sense that somehow 'dirty deals' were done as the war came to an end, dirty deals that brought dishonour on the otherwise noble enterprise of fighting the Nazis. But it wasn't quite the case. In the first place, of course, it was the Tehran Conference in November 1943 that the fundamental issues about the course of the rest of the war and the challenges of the post-war world and the challenges of the post-war world were initially discussed and resolved in principle. Little of new substance was raised at Yalta. Nonetheless, Yalta is important, not least because it marks the final high point of Churchill and Roosevelt's optimistic dealings with Stalin. On 3 February, the planes of the two western leaders flew in tandem from Malta to Saki, on the flat plains of the Crimea, north of the mountain range that protects the coastal resort of Yalta. They, and their huge group of advisers and assistants, around seven hundred people in all, then made the torturous drive down through the high mountain passes to the sea.
The main venue for the conference was the tsarist Livadia Palace, where FDR stayed and where the plenary sessions took place. The British delegation stayed at the Vorontsov Villa Palace overlooking the Black Sea at Alupka, twelve miles from the Livadia Palace. The Chiefs of Staff meetings were held at Stalin's headquarters, the Yusupov Villa at Koreiz, six miles from the Livadia Palace. Churchill, who had cherished the hope that the United Kingdom would be chosen as the site of the conference, was not enthusiastic about the Crimea. He later described the place as 'the Riviera of Hades' and said that…
… if we had spent ten years on research, we could not have found a worse place in the world.
But, as in so much else, the will of Stalin had prevailed, and none of the Western Allies seemed aware of of the bleak irony that his chosen setting was the very location where eight months previously Stalin his own peculiar way of dealing with dissent, real or imagined, in deporting the entire Tatar nation. Yet it was here in the Crimea that the leaders were about to discuss the futures of many nationalities and millions of people. One of these leaders, President Roosevelt, had, according to Churchill's doctor, Lord Moran, gone to bits physically. He doubted whether the President was fit for the job he had to do at Yalta. Hugh Lunghi, who went to the military mission in Moscow, remembers seeing the two leaders arrive by plane, and he too was surprised by the President's appearance:
Churchill got out of his aircraft and came over to Roosevelt's. And Roosevelt was being decanted, as it were – it's the only word I can use – because of course he was disabled. And Churchill looked at him very solicitously. They'd met in Malta of course, so Churchill, I suppose, had no surprise, as I had – and anyone else had who hadn't seen Roosevelt previously – to see this gaunt, very thin figure with his black cape over his shoulder, and tied at his neck with a knot, and his trilby hat turned up at the front. His face was waxen to a sort of yellow … and very drawn, very thin, and a lot of the time he was sort of … sitting there with his mouth open sort of staring ahead. So that was quite a shock.
Roosevelt was a dying man at Yalta, but whether his undoubted weakness affected his judgement is less easy to establish, with contemporary testimony supporting both sides of the argument. What is certain, though, is that Roosevelt's eventual accomplishments at Yalta were coherent and consistent with his previous policies as expressed at Tehran and elsewhere. His principal aims remained those of ensuring that the Soviet Union came into the war against Japan, promptly, once the war in Europe was over and gaining Soviet agreement about the United Nations. The intricacies of the borders of eastern Europe mattered much less to him. Addressing Congress in March 1945, Roosevelt reported that Yalta represented:
… the end of the system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balance of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for centuries, and have always failed.
This was an idealistic, perhaps naive, way to have interpreted the Yalta conference, but it is quite possible that Roosevelt believed what he was saying when he said it, regardless of disability and illness. Whilst Roosevelt's physical decline was obvious for all present to see, just as obvious was Stalin's robust strength and power. As the translator at the Conference, Hugh Lunghi saw him:
Stalin was full of beans … He was smiling, he was genial to everyone, and I mean everybody, even to junior ranks like myself. He joked at the banquets more than he he had before.
In his military uniform, Stalin cut an imposing figure, and, in the head of the British Foreign Office, Sir Alexander Cadogan's words, he was quiet and restrained, with a very good sense of humour and a rather quick temper. But, more than that, the Allied leaders felt that Stalin at Yalta was someone they could relate to on a personal level and could trust more than they had been able to do previously. Certainly, Churchill and Roosevelt remained anxious to believe in Stalin the man. They clung to the hope that Stalin's previous statements of friendship meant that he was planning on long-term co-operation with the West. By the time of Yalta, Churchill could point to the fact that the Soviets had agreed to allow the British a free hand in Greece. In any case, the future peace of the world still depended on sustaining a productive relationship with Stalin. The two Western leaders remained predisposed to gather what evidence they could in support of their jointly agreed 'thesis' that Stalin was a man they could 'handle'. At the first meeting of all three leaders, in the Livadia Palace, the former holiday home of the imperial family, Roosevelt remarked:
… we understand each other much better now than we had in the past and that month by month that understanding was growing.
It was Poland which was to be the test case for this assertion, and no subject was discussed more at Yalta. Despite the protests of the Polish government in exile, both Roosevelt and Churchill had already agreed that Stalin could keep eastern Poland. What mattered to both leaders was that the new Poland, within its new borders, should be 'independent and free'. They knew only too well, of course, that only days after Hitler's 'brutal attack' from the West, the Soviet Union had made their own 'brutal attack' from the East. It was the results of this 'land grab' that Churchill now agreed, formally, to accept. But he also explained that Britain had gone to war over Poland so that it could be "free and sovereign" and that this was a matter of "honour" for Britain. Stalin pointed out that twice in the last thirty years, the USSR had been attacked through the "Polish corridor", and he remarked:
The Prime Minister has said that for Great Britain the question of Poland is a question of honour. For Russia it is not only a question of honour but also of security … it is necessary that Poland be free, independent and powerful. … there are agents of the London government connected with the so-called underground. They are called resistance forces. We have heard nothing good from them but much evil.
Stalin, therefore, kept to his position that the 'Lublin Poles', who were now in the Polish capital as 'the Polish government' had as great a democratic base in Poland as de Gaulle has in France and that elements of the 'Home Army' were 'bandits' and that the ex-Lublin Poles should be recognised as the legitimate, if temporary, government of Poland. Unlike at Tehran, where he had remained silent in the face of Stalin's accusations about the Polish resistance, Churchill now made a gentle protest:
I must put on record that the British and Soviet governments have different sources of information in Poland and get different facts. Perhaps we are mistaken but I do not feel that the Lublin government represents even one third of the Polish people. This is my honest opininion and I may be wrong. Still, I have felt that the underground might have collisions with the Lublin government. I have feared bloodshed, arrests, deportation and I fear the effect on the whole Polish question. Anyone who attacks the Red Army should be punished but I cannot feel the Lublin government has any right to represent the Polish nation.
As Churchill and Roosevelt saw it, the challenge was to do what they could to ensure that the government of the newly reconstituted country was as representative as possible. So Roosevelt sent Stalin a letter after the session that he was concerned that people at home look with a critical eye on what they consider a disagreement between us at this vital stage of the war. He also stated categorically that we cannot register the Lublin government as now composed. Roosevelt also proposed that representatives of the 'Lublin Poles' and the 'London Poles' be immediately called to Yalta s that 'the Big Three' could assist them in jointly agreeing on a provisional government in Poland. At the end of the letter, Roosevelt wrote that:
… any interim government which could be formed as a result of our conference with the Poles here would be pledged to the holding of free elections in Poland at the earliest possible date. I know this is completely consistent with your desire to see a new free and democratic Poland emerge from the welter of this war.
This put Stalin in something of an awkward spot because it was not in his interests to have the composition of any interim government of Poland worked out jointly with the other Allied leaders. He would have to compromise his role, as he saw it, as the sole driver of events if matters were left until after the meeting disbanded. So he first practised the classic politicians' ploy of delay. The day after receiving Roosevelt's letter, 7 February, he claimed that he had only received the communication 'an hour and a half ago'. He then said that he had been unable to reach the Lublin Poles because they were away in Kraków. However, he said, Molotov had worked out some ideas based on Roosevelt's proposals, but these ideas had not yet been typed out. He also suggested that, in the meantime, they turn their attention to the voting procedure for the new United Nations organisation. This was a subject dear to Roosevelt's heart, but one which had proved highly problematic at previous meetings. The Soviets had been proposing that each of the sixteen republics should have their own vote in the General Assembly, while the USA would have only one. They had argued that since the British Commonwealth effectively controlled a large number of votes, the Soviet Union deserved the same treatment. In a clear concession, Molotov said that they would be satisfied with the admission of … at least two of the Soviet Republics as original members. Roosevelt declared himself 'very happy' to hear these proposals and felt that this was a great step forward which would be welcomed by all the peoples of the World. Churchill also welcomed the proposal.
Then Molotov presented the Soviet response on Poland, which agreed that it would be desirable to add to the Provisional Polish Government some democratic leaders from the Polish émigré circles. He added, however, that they had been unable to reach the Lublin Poles, so that time would not permit their summoning to Yalta. This was obviously a crude ruse not to have a deal brokered between the two Polish 'governments' at Yalta in the presence of the Western leaders. Yet Churchill responded to Molotov's proposal only with a comment on the exact borders of the new Poland, since the Soviet Foreign Minister had finally revealed the details of the boundaries of the new Poland, as envisaged by the Soviets, with the western border along the rivers Oder and Neisse south of Stettin. This would take a huge portion of Germany into the new Poland, and Churchill remarked that it would be a pity to stuff the Polish goose so full of German food that it got indigestion. This showed that the British were concerned that so much territory would be taken from the Germans that in the post-war world they would be permanently hostile to the new Poland, thus repeating the mistakes made at Versailles in 1919 and forcing the Poles closer to the Soviets.
At this conference, Churchill couched this concern as anxiety about the reaction of a considerable body of British public opinion to the Soviet plan to move large numbers of Germans. Stalin responded by suggesting that most Germans in these regions had already run away from the Red Army. By these means, Stalin successfully dodged Roosevelt's request to get a deal agreed between the Lublin and London Poles. After dealing with the issue of Soviet participation in the Pacific War, the leaders returned once more to the question of Poland. Churchill saw this as the crucial point in this great conference and, in a lengthy speech, laid out the immensity of the problem faced by the Western Allies:
We have an army of 150,000 Poles who are fighting bravely. That army would not be reconciled to Lublin. It would regard our action in transferring recognition as a betrayal.
Above: Stalin & Churchill at Yalta
Churchill acknowledged that, if elections were held with a fully secret ballot and free candidacies, this would remove British doubts. But until that happened, and with the current composition of the Lublin government, the British couldn't transfer its allegiance from the London-based Polish government-in-exile. Stalin, in what was a speech laced with irony, retorted:
The Poles for many years have not liked Russia because Russia took part in three partitions of Poland. But the advance of the Soviet Army and the liberation of Poland from Hitler has completely changed that. The old resentment has completely disappeared … my impression is that the Polish people consider this a great historic holiday.
The idea that the members of the Home Army, for example, were currently being treated to a 'historic holiday' can only have been meant as 'black' humour. But Churchill made no attempt to correct Stalin's calumny. In the end, the Western Allies largely gave in to Stalin's insistence and agreed that the Soviet-Polish border and, in compensation to Poland, that the Polish-German border should also shift westward. Stalin did, however, say that he agreed with the view that the Polish government must be democratically elected, adding that it is much better to have a government based on free elections. But the final compromise the three leaders came to on Poland was so biased in favour of the Soviets that it made this outcome extremely unlikely. Although Stalin formally agreed to free and fair elections in Poland, the only check the Western Allies secured on this was that 'the ambassadors of the three powers in Warsaw' would be charged with the oversight of the carrying out of the pledge in regard to free and unfettered elections. On the composition of the interim government, the Soviets also got their own way. The Western Allies only 'requested' that the Lublin government be reorganised to include 'democratic' leaders from abroad and within Poland. But the Soviets would be the conveners of meetings in Moscow to coordinate this. It's difficult to believe that Roosevelt and Churchill could have believed that this 'compromise' would work in producing a free and democratic Poland, their stated aim. Hugh Lunghi later reflected on the generally shared astonishment:
Those of us who worked and lived in Moscow were astounded that a stronger declaration shouldn't have been made, because we knew that there was not a chance in hell that Stalin would allow free elections in those countries when he didn't allow them in the Soviet Union.
This judgement was shared at the time by Lord Moran, who believed that the Americans at Yalta were 'profoundly ignorant' of 'the Polish problem' and couldn't fathom why Roosevelt thought he could 'live at peace' with the Soviets. Moran felt that it had been all too obvious in Moscow the previous October that Stalin meant to make Poland 'a Cossack outpost of Russia'. He saw no evidence at Yalta that Stalin had 'altered his intention' since then. But on his first observation, he was wrong in respect to Roosevelt, at least. The President no longer cared as much about Poland as he had done when needing the votes of Polish Americans to secure his third term. He now gave greater priority to other key issues, while paying lip-service to the view that the elections in Poland had to be free and open. He told Stalin, …
… I want this election to be the first one beyond question … It should be like Caesar's wife. I didn't know her but they say she was pure.
Privately, the President acknowledged that the deal reached on Poland was far from perfect. When Admiral Leahy told him that it was so elastic that the Russians can stretch it all the way from Yalta to Washington without ever technically breaking it, Roosevelt replied: I know, Bill, but it is the best I can do for Poland at this time. The 'deal' was the best he could do because of the low priority he gave to the issue at that particular time. What was most important for Roosevelt overall was that a workable accommodation was reached with Stalin on the key issues which would form the basis for the general post-war future of the world. He did not share the growing consensus among the Americans living in Russia that Stalin was as bad as Hitler. Just before Yalta, he had remarked to a senior British diplomat that there were many varieties of Communism, and not all of them were necessarily harmful. As Moran put it, I don't think he has ever grasped that Russia is a Police State. For the equally hard-headed Leahy, the consequences of Yalta were clear the day the conference ended, 11 February. The decisions taken there would result in Russia becoming …
… the dominant power in Europe, which in itself carries a certainty of future international disagreements and the prospects of another war.
But by the end of the conference, the leaders of the Western Allies and many of their key advisers were clearly putting their faith ever more firmly in the individual character of Stalin. Cadogan wrote in his journal on 11th that he had …
… never known the Russians so easy and accommodating … In particular, Joe has been extremely good. He is a great man, and shows up very impressively against the background of the other two ageing statesmen.
Churchill remarked that what had impressed him most was that Stalin listened carefully to counter-arguments and was then prepared to change his mind. And there was other evidence of a practical nature that could be used to demonstrate Stalin's desire to reach an accommodation with the West – his obvious intention not to interfere in British action in Greece, for example. But above all, it was the impact of his personality and behaviour during the conference that was crucial in the optimism that prevailed straight after Yalta. This was evident in the signing of the 'somewhat fuzzy' Declaration on Liberated Europe, which pledged support for reconstruction and affirmed the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live. There was, at least in public, a sense that the ideological gap between the West and the Soviet Union was closing, with renewed mutual respect. Drained by long argument, the West, for now at least, took Stalin at his word. At the last banquet of the conference, Stalin toasted Churchill as the bravest governmental figure in the world. He went on:
Due in large measure to to Mr Churchill's courage and staunchness, England, when she stood alone, had divided the might of Hitlerite Germany at a time when the rest of Europe was falling flat on its face before Hitler. … he knew of few examples in history where the courage of one man had been so important to the future history of the world. He drank a toast to Mr Churchill, his fighting friend and a brave man.
Verdicts on Yalta & Reactions in Britain and the USA:
In his 'ground-breaking' TV series on 'the Cold War', Jeremy Isaacs considered that:
The Yalta Conference represented the high-water mark of Allied wartime collaboration … But Yalta was also the beginning of the post-war world; the divisions between East and West became apparent. …
Stalin was apprehensive that the new United Nations might be controlled by the United States and Britain, and that the Soviet Union would be outnumbered there. It was agreed that two or three Soviet republics would be admitted as members and that each of the great powers should have a veto over resolutions of the Security Council.
However, the Western powers might have bargained differently and more effectively at Yalta. The Americans never used their considerable economic power to try to pressurise the Soviets to be more accommodating. The Soviets wanted a $6 billion line of credit to buy American equipment after the war, as well as an agreement on the amount of reparation they could take from Germany to pay for the conflict. They saw this partly as compensation for the vast destruction caused by the Nazis, partly as a means of punishing the German people for following them and partly as a symbol of victor's rights. Britain and the United States were opposed to reparations; they had caused havoc after the First World War and could now hinder Germany from recovering following the Second. Eventually, after Yalta, they did agree to them, and Roosevelt compromised on a figure of $20 billion, to be paid in goods and equipment over a reasonable period of time. Neither of these issues was properly discussed at Yalta, however, not least because most people involved thought that there would be a formal peace conference at the end of the war to resolve all the key issues once and for all. But such a conference would never take place. According to Jeremy Isaacs, …
Yalta revealed cracks in the Grand Alliance. Only the common objective of defeating Hitler had kept it together; that and the personal trust, such as it was, among the three leaders.
After Yalta, the relationship between Roosevelt and Stalin would be the key to co-operation. With victory in sight, on 12 April, having defused another dispute with Stalin, the president drafted a cable to Churchill: I would minimise the general Soviet problem. Later the same day, and a little over two months after Yalta, Roosevelt collapsed, and a few hours later he was dead.
For the most part, the three statesmen were pleased with what had been accomplished at the Yalta Conference. As well as the agreements on Poland, albeit without the consent of the Polish people themselves or the Polish government-in-exile, the demarcation zones for occupied Germany had been fixed, with the French being granted an area of occupation alongside the British, Americans and Soviets. Yet, notwithstanding the discussions of the subject at the conferences held at both Tehran and Yalta, there was no unified conception of the occupying forces regarding the future treatment of Germany before its surrender. What was 'tidied up' on the conference fringe were the military plans for the final onslaught on Nazi Germany. It was also agreed that German industry was to be shorn of its military potential, and a reparations committee was set up. Also, major war criminals were to be tried, but there was no discussion of the programme of 'denazification' which was to follow. Neither did Stalin disguise his intention to extend Poland's frontier with Germany up to the Oder-Neisse line, despite the warnings given by Churchill at the conference about the effects this would have on public opinion in the West.
However, the initial reactions in Britain were concerned with Poland's eastern borders. Immediately after the conference, twenty-two Conservative MPs put down an amendment in the House of Commons remembering that Britain had taken up arms in defence of Poland and regretting the transfer of the territory of an ally, Poland, to 'another power', the Soviet Union; noting also the failure of the to ensure that these countries liberated by the Soviet Union from German oppression would have the full rights to choose their own form of government free from pressure by another power, namely the Soviet Union. Harold Nicolson, National Labour MP and former Foreign Office expert, voted against the amendment: I who had felt that Poland was a lost cause, feel gratified that we had at least saved something. Praising the settlement as the most important political agreement we have gained in this war, he considered the alternatives. To stand aside, to do nothing, would be 'unworthy of a great country'. Yet to oppose the Russians by force would be insane. The only viable alternative was 'to save something by negotiation'. The Curzon Line, delineated after 'a solid, scientific examination of the question' at the Paris Peace Conference was, he claimed, 'entirely in favour of the Poles'. Should Poland advance beyond that line, 'she would be doing something very foolish indeed'. Churchill and Eden came in for the highest praise:
When I read the Yalta communiqué, I thought "How could they have brought that off? This is really splendid!"
Turning the dissident Conservatives' amendment on its head, Harold Nicolson revealed Yalta's most lasting achievement. Russia, dazzled by its military successes, revengeful and rapacious, might well have aimed to restore its 'old Tsarist frontiers'. It had not done so and instead had agreed to modify them permanently. Harold Nicolson spoke with conviction in the Commons, but then to salute Stalin's perceived altruism in the Polish matter rendered his reasoning contrived and decidedly off-key. The truth, as Churchill would tell him on his return from Yalta, was much more prosaic. Stalin had dealt himself an unbeatable hand, or, as two Soviet historians in exile put it: The presence of 6.5 million Soviet soldiers buttressed Soviet claims. But then, Churchill's own rhetoric was not all it seemed to be. Although in public he could talk about the moral imperative behind the war, in private he revealed that he was a good deal less pure in his motives. On 13 February, on his way home from Yalta, he argued with Field Marshal Alexander, who was 'pleading' with him that the British should provide more help with post-war reconstruction in Italy. Alexander said that this was more or less what we are fighting this war for – to secure liberty and a decent existence for the peoples of Europe. Churchill replied, Not a bit of it! We are fighting to secure the proper respect for the British people!
Nicolson's warm support of the Yalta agreement rested on the rather woolly 'Declaration on Liberated Europe' promising national self-determination, of which he said:
No written words could better express the obligation to see that the independence, freedom and integrity of Poland of the future are preserved.
He also thought that Stalin could be trusted to carry out his obligations since he had demonstrated that he is about the most reliable man in Europe. These sentiments, to a generation born into the Cold War, and especially those brought up in the 'satellite' states of eastern-central Europe, must sound alarmingly naive, but at that time he was in good company. On returning from Yalta, Churchill reported to his Cabinet. He felt convinced that Stalin 'meant well in the world and to Poland' and he had confidence in the Soviet leader to keep his word. Hugh Dalton, who attended the Cabinet meeting, reported Churchill as saying:
Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don't think I'm wrong about Stalin.
Opposition to Yalta was muted, confined mainly to discredited 'Munichites' who now sprang to the defence of Poland. In the Commons on 27 February Churchill continued to put the best gloss he could on the conference, and said he believed that:
Marshal Stalin and the Soviet leaders wish to live in honourable friendship and equality with the Western democracies. I feel also that their word is their bond.
When the Commons voted 396 to 25 in favour of Churchill's policy, the PM was 'overjoyed', praising Nicolson's speech as having swung many votes. Churchill's faith in Stalin, shared by Nicolson, proved right in one important respect. The 'percentages agreement' he had made with Stalin in Moscow by presenting him with his 'naughty document', which had been signed off at Yalta, was, at first, 'strictly and faithfully' adhered to by Stalin, particularly in respect of Greece.
Roosevelt's administration went further. In Washington, the President was preceded home by James Byrnes, then head of the war mobilization board and later Truman's Secretary of State, who announced not only that agreement had been reached with at Yalta about the United Nations, but that as a result of the conference, 'spheres of influence' had been eliminated in Europe, and the three great powers are going to preserve order (in Poland) until the provisional government is established and elections held. This second announcement was, of course, very far from the truth which was that degrees or percentages of influence had been confirmed at Yalta. Roosevelt had wanted the American public to focus on what he believed was the big achievement of Yalta – the agreement over the foundation and organisation of the United Nations. The President, well aware that he was a sick man, wanted the UN to be central to his legacy. He would show the world that he had taken the democratic, internationalist ideals of Woodrow Wilson which had failed in the League of Nations of the inter-war years, and made them work in the shape of the UN.
The 'gloss' applied to the Yalta agreement by both Roosevelt and Byrnes was bound to antagonise Stalin. The Soviet leader was the least 'Wilsonian' figure imaginable. He was not an 'ideas' man but believed in hard, practical reality. What mattered to him was where the Soviet Union's borders were and the extent to which neighbouring countries were amenable to Soviet influence. The response of Pravda to Byrnes' spin was an article on 17 February that emphasised that the word 'democracy' meant different things to different people and that each country should now exercise 'choice' over which version it preferred. This, of course, was a long way from Roosevelt's vision, let alone that of Wilson. In fact, the Soviets were speaking the language of 'spheres of influence', the very concept which Byrnes had just said was now defunct. Stalin had consistently favoured this concept for the major powers in Europe and this was why he was so receptive towards Churchill's percentages game in October 1944.
But it would be a mistake to assume that Stalin, all along, intended that all the eastern European states occupied by the Red Army in 1944-45 should automatically transition into Soviet republics. What he wanted all along were 'friendly' countries along the USSR's border with Europe within an agreed Soviet 'sphere of influence'. Of course, he defined 'friendly' in a way that precluded what the Western Allies would have called 'democracy'. He wanted those states to guarantee that they would be close allies of the USSR so that they would not be 'free' in the way Churchill and Roosevelt envisaged. But they need not, in the immediate post-war years, become Communist states. However, it was Churchill, rather than the other two of the 'Big Three' statesmen, who had the most difficulty in 'selling' Yalta. That problem took physical form in the shape of General Anders, who confronted Churchill face to face on 20 February. The Polish commander had been outraged by the Yalta agreement, which he saw as making a 'mockery of the Atlantic Charter'. Churchill said that he assumed that Anders was not satisfied with the Yalta agreement. This must have been heard as a deliberate understatement, as Anders replied that it was not enough to say that he was dissatisfied. He said: I consider a great calamity has occurred. He then went on to make it clear to Churchill that his distress at the Yalta agreement was not merely idealistic, but had a deeply practical dimension as well. He protested:
Our soldiers fought for Poland. Fought for the freedom of their country. What can we, their commanders, tell them now? Soviet Russia, until 1941 in close alliance with Germany, now takes half our territory, and in the rest of it she wants to establish her power.
Churchill became annoyed at this, blaming Anders for the situation because the Poles could have settled the eastern border question earlier. He then added a remarkably hurtful remark, given the sacrifice made by the Poles in the British armed forces:
We have enough troops today. We do not need your help. You can take your divisions. We shall do without them.
It is possible to see in this brief exchange not only Churchill's continuing frustration with the Poles but also the extent to which he felt politically vulnerable because of Yalta. His reputation now rested partly on the way Stalin chose to operate in Poland and the other eastern European countries. To preserve intact his own wartime record, he had to hope Stalin would keep to his 'promises'. Unfortunately for the British Prime Minister, this hope would shortly be destroyed by Soviet action in the territory they now occupied. Anders (pictured on the right after the Battle of Monte Casino) talked to Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff. In his diary entry for 22 February, the latter recorded what Anders told him, explaining why the Polish leader takes this matter so terribly hard:
After having been a prisoner, and seeing how Russians could treat Poles, he considered that he was in a better position to judge what Russians were like than the President or PM. … When in a Russian prison he was in the depth of gloom but he did then always have hope. Now he could see no hope anywhere. Personally his wife and children were in Poland and he could never see them again, that was bad enough. But what was infinitely worse was the fact that all the men under his orders relied on him to find a solution to this insoluble problem! … and he, Anders, saw no solution and this kept him awake at night.
It soon became clear that Anders' judgement of Soviet intentions was an accurate one, as Stalin's concept of 'free and fair elections' was made apparent within a month. But even before that, in February, while the 'Big Three' were determining their future of without them and Churchill was traducing their role of in the war, the arrests of Poles by the Soviets continued, with trainloads of those considered 'recalcitrants' sent east, including more than 240 truckloads of people from Bialystok alone.
The Combined Bombing Offensive & the Case of Dresden:
Meanwhile, from the beginning of February, German west-to-east troop movements were being disrupted at the Russians' urgent request for the Western Allies to bomb the nodal points of Germany's transportations system, including Berlin, Chemnitz, Leipzig and Dresden. But it was to be the raid on Dresden in the middle of the month that was to cause the most furious controversy of the whole Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO), a controversy which has continued to today. During the Yalta Conference of 4 to 11 February, Alan Brooke chaired the Chiefs of Staff meetings at the Yusupov Villa the day after the opening session when the Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Alexei Antonov and the Soviet air marshal Sergei Khudyakov pressed the subject of bombing German lines of communication and entrainment, specifically via Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. In the view of one of those present, Hugh Lunghi, who translated for the British Chiefs of Staff during these meetings with the Soviets, it was this urgent request to stop Hitler transferring divisions from the west to reinforce his troops in Silesia, blocking the Russian advance on Berlin that led directly to the bombing of Dresden only two days after the conference ended.
The massive attack on Dresden took place just after ten o'clock on the night of Tuesday, 13 February 1945 by 259 Lancaster bombers from RAF Swinderby in Lincolnshire, as well as from other nearby airfields, flying most of the way in total cloud, and then by 529 more Lancasters a few hours later in combination with 529 Liberators and Flying Fortresses of the USAAF the next morning. It has long been assumed that a disproportionately large number of people died in a vengeance attack for the November 1940 'blanket bombing' of Coventry and that the attack had little to do with any strategic or military purpose. Yet though the attack on the beautiful, largely medieval city centre, 'the Florence of the Elbe', was undeniably devastating, there were, just as in Coventry, many industries centred in this architectural jewel of southern Germany.
The 2,680 tons of bombs dropped laid waste to over thirteen square miles of the city, and many of those killed were women, children, the elderly and some of the several hundred thousand refugees fleeing from the Red Army, which was only sixty miles to the east. The military historian Allan Mallinson has written of how those killed were suffocated, burnt, baked or boiled. Piles of corpses had to be pulled out of a giant fire-service water-tank into which people had jumped to escape the flames but were instead boiled alive. David Irving's 1964 book The Destruction of Dresden claimed that 130,000 people died in the bombing, but this has long been disproven. The true figure was around twenty thousand, as a special commission of thirteen prominent German historians concluded, although some more recent historians have continued to put the total at upwards of fifty thousand. Propaganda claims by the Nazis at the time, repeated by neo-Nazis more recently, that human bodies were completely 'vaporised' in the high temperatures were also shown to be false by the commission.
Certainly, by February 1945, the Allies had discovered the means to create firestorms, even in cold weather very different from that of Hamburg in July and August of 1943. Huge 'air mines' known as 'blockbusters' were dropped, designed to blow out windows and doors so that the oxygen would flow through easily to feed the flames caused by the incendiary bombs. High-explosive bombs both destroyed buildings and just as importantly kept the fire-fighters down in their shelters. One writer records:
People died not necessarily because they were burnt to death, but also because the firestorm sucked all the oxygen out of the atmosphere.
In Dresden, because the sirens were not in proper working order, many of the fire-fighters who had come out after the first wave of bombers were caught out in the open by the second. Besides this, the Nazi authorities in Dresden, and in particular its Gauleiter Martin Mutschmann, had failed to provide proper air-raid protection. There were inadequate shelters, sirens failed to work and next to no aircraft guns were stationed there. When Mutschmann fell into Allied hands at the end of the war he quickly confessed that a shelter-building programme for the entire city was not carried out because he hoped that nothing would happen to Dresden. Nonetheless, he had two deep reinforced built for himself, his family and senior officials, just in case he had been mistaken. Even though the previous October 270 people had been killed there by thirty USAAF bombers, the Germans thought Dresden was too far east to be reached, since the Russians left the bombing of Germany almost entirely to the British and Americans. Quite why Mutschmann thought that almost alone of the big cities, Dresden should have been immune to Allied bombing is a mystery, for the Germans had themselves designated it as a 'military defensive area'.
So the available evidence does not support the contemporary view of Labour's Richard Stokes MP and Bishop George Bell as a 'war crime', as many have since assumed that it was. As the foremost historian of the operation, Frederick Taylor has pointed out, Dresden was by the standards of the time a legitimate military target. As a nodal point for communications, with its railway marshalling yards and conglomeration of war industries, including an extensive network of armaments workshops, the city was always going to be in danger once long-range penetration by bombers with good fighter escort was possible. One historian has asked: Why is it legitimate to kill someone using a weapon, and a crime to kill those who make the weapons? However, Churchill could see that the 'CBO' would provide a future line of attack against his prosecution of the war, and at the end of March, he wrote to the Chiefs of Staff to put it on record that:
… the question of bombing German cities simply for the the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed. Otherwise we shall come into control of an utterly ruined land. We shall not, for instance, be able to get housing materials out of Germany for our own needs because some temporary provisions would have to be made for the Germans themselves. The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing … I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives … rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.
This 'minute' has been described as sending a thunderbolt down the corridors of Whitehall. 'Bomber' Harris, who himself had considerable misgivings about the operation because of the long distances involved, was nonetheless characteristically blunt in defending the destruction of a city that once produced Meissen porcelain:
The feeling, such as there is, over Dresden could be easily explained by a psychiatrist. It is connected with German bands and Dresden shepherdesses. Actually Dresden was a mass of munition works, an intact government centre and a key transportation centre. It is now none of those things.
One argument made since the war, that the raid was unnecessary because peace was only ten weeks off, is especially ahistorical. With talk of secret weaponry, a Bavarian Redoubt, fanatical Hitler Youth 'werewolf' squads and German propaganda about fighting for every inch of the Fatherland, there was no possible way of the Allies knowing how fanatical German resistance would be, and thus predict when the war might end. The direct and indirect effects of the bombing campaign on war production throughout Germany reduced the potential output of weapons for the battlefields by fifty per cent. The social consequences of bombing also reduced economic performance. Workers in cities spent long hours huddled in air-raid shelters; they arrived for work tired and nervous. The effects of bombing in the cities also reduced the prospects of increasing female labour as women worked to salvage wrecked homes, or took charge of evacuated children, or simply left for the countryside where conditions were safer. In the villages, the flood of refugees from bombing strained the rationing system, while hospitals had to cope with three-quarters of a million casualties. Under these circumstances, demoralisation was widespread, though the 'terror state' and the sheer struggle to survive prevented any prospect of serious domestic unrest.
The Reich fragmented into several self-contained economic areas as the bombing destroyed rail and water transport. Factories lived off accumulated stocks. By the end of February, the economy was on the verge of collapse, as the appended statistics reveal. Meanwhile, German forces retreated to positions around Berlin, preparing to make a last-ditch stand in defence of the German capital.
Statistical Appendix: The Social & Economic Consequences of the Bombing Campaign in Germany:
Published in 2008, by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Books, London.
Andrew Roberts (2009), The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War. London: Penguin Books.
Norman Rose (2005), Harold Nicolson. London: Pimlico.
Herman Kinder & Werner Hilgemann (1978), The Penguin Atlas of World History, volume two. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Richard Overy (1996), The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Jeremy Isaacs & Taylor Downing (1998), Cold War: For Forty-five Years the World Held Its Breath. London: Transworld Publishers.
Posted February 3, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in American History & Politics, anti-Communist, Asia, asylum seekers, Austria, Axis Powers, Balkan Crises, Baltic States, BBC, Berlin, Britain, British history, Churchill, Coalfields, Cold War, Communism, Compromise, Conquest, Conservative Party, Coventry, democracy, Deportation, Economics, Empire, Europe, Factories, Family, France, Genocide, Germany, History, Humanitarianism, Hungary, Italy, Japan, manufacturing, Migration, morality, Mythology, Narrative, nationalism, Navy, Poland, Refugees, Russia, Second World War, Security, Stalin, Technology, terror, United Kingdom, United Nations, USA, USSR, Versailles, War Crimes, Warfare, Women at War, Women's History, World War Two, Yugoslavia
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The Holocaust and Soviet War Crimes in Hungary, Jan-Feb 1945; The Twin Terrors of the Arrow-Cross & the Red Army. Leave a comment
Trapped between the Black Eagle & the Red Star:
At the beginning of 1945, even with the Pest side of the capital under siege, Szalási's idiotic Arrow-Cross terror turned its attention to those who were helping the Jews of Budapest to survive until the Red Army could complete the 'liberation' of the whole city. Yet, even as they did so, the Red Army was also unleashing its own form of 'revenge' and terror on Hungarian citizens on the eastern suburbs and peripheral villages. Though the siege had begun at the end of 1944, the German army was ordered to hold the city to defend the Vienna Basin and the only oil field still at its disposal, the one in Zala County. But the war in the country did not end even after the siege of the Hungarian capital and its capitulation. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to have regular Hungarian troops take part in the final crushing of the Nazi Third Reich. A group of soldiers who wound up as prisoners of the Soviet armies initiated the establishment of a Hungarian legion, but they were not allowed to implement their plan.
The Provisional Government formed in Debrecen recruited a new democratic Hungarian army recruited in the 'liberated' part of the country, but it did not become battle-ready in time. Only the military cooperation of a single spontaneously rallied outfit, the Buda Voluntary Regiment, could be observed in the battle for Budapest. When the German Army's attempt to break through the Allied lines in the Ardennes failed by early January, the few still combat-worthy élite guards, with the Sixth SS Panzer Army, were hastily transferred to Transdanubia, where, deployed around Lake Balaton, they were able to hold on to the Zala oil fields.
Above: Soviet soldiers in battle in Budapest on 14 January 1945. This photograph was taken four days before the liberation of Pest was completed. The complete defeat of German forces in the capital, including the equal numbers of Hungarian soldiers still supporting them, took until 13 February.
New Year in Pest – A Frightful Fortnight:
On New Year's Eve, units of the Red Army overran Hungarian army positions around Pest. House-to-house fighting extended into the working quarters of the city, and Soviet soldiers penetrated the culverts of the inner district. Often the two sides were separated by only one street or house. Aircraft squadrons continued to drop bombs, and fighter planes strafed streets that were deemed to be in enemy hands, though sometimes they were shooting at their own men. In the city centre, as the siege progressed slowly in their direction, the co-workers of Raoul Wallenberg, the Langfelder-Simon family, which had been placed under Swedish protection, moved from Üllői út to Révai utca, near to the Opera House.
Almost eighty people had moved into the apartment building which was rented by the Swedish Embassy. In the afternoon of 1 January, Arrow-Cross armed men shot the lock off the outside door. They smashed the door to the cellar, where the Swedish Embassy employees were living. To the accompaniment of shouting, swearing and threats, they pillaged all the families' money and food. Meanwhile, someone managed to inform Wallenberg by telephone, and he sent a detective to intervene, thus avoiding more serious harassment or massacre on the spot. Wallenberg and Langfelder arrived later with an armed gendarme to guard the house. At that time, Wallenberg was forced to spend most of his time in hiding, and was constantly preoccupied with survival, his plans for Hungary and making the earliest possible contact with the Soviet forces. A few days later, a further five gendarmes were added and had served there for scarcely a fortnight when a further order sent them into the firing-line. No more was heard of them. With Wallenberg's permission, Langfelder brought his two-year-old niece, Éva Simon there. Until then the child had found shelter and a home with a friendly Christian family in central Pest, an action which was strictly forbidden by decree. The house had been bombed, and so she had to be moved and from then on had remained with her parents.
On 5 January, following direct orders from the Szalási government, police and Arrow-Cross irregulars began emptying out the remaining 'international houses', those under the protection of the various neutral countries' governments, most notably the Swedish and the Swiss. When the news reached Raoul Wallenberg, he offered a bribe of food and medications for them to leave his charges where they were.
On the night of 7 January, armed raids took place on the occupants of Jókai utca 1 in Terézváros where the Swedish Embassy had rented the second floor the previous autumn. Ten groups of activists operated in the rooms under the direction of Dr Béla Forgács and Dr Antal Léderer, caring for the Swedish protégés. The ever-more savage Arrow-Cross could not tolerate the Swedish presence any longer and meant to mop it up, paying no attention to the protected status of the various rented properties. In the raid, the first part of the nightmare was total plundering. Then, some two hundred people were turned out into the street, some of them being marched away, the women and children escorted to the ghetto, where ninety of them were crammed into the flats within a house in Akácfa utca.
Some of the men were tortured and shot on the way in the streets and squares or on the Danube embankment. Wallenberg searched for the kidnapped people but without success. Imre Nidosi, commander of the Arrow-Cross guard on the Pest side simply denied all knowledge of Swedish-protected persons being in his custody.
The Arrow-Cross marauders' atrocities also struck at the Swedish embassy offices in Üllői út. On the evening of the 8th, they intimidated and robbed a hundred and fifty persons – for the most part, embassy employees – and then marched them off to the Mária Terézia barracks. Hans Weyermann, the active agent of the International Red Cross on the Pest side, made an interesting special report of that day. According to this, an agent of the Soviet State Security Police had dropped by parachute and appeared at his office. Asking to see Weyermann in private, he told him that he was expected to speak to the commander of the German defenders about avoiding needless bloodshed. The Germans were to spare hostages, political prisoners and occupants of the ghettoes, and in return, the Red Army would not trouble the civilian population and any calling to account would be done exclusively through the law and the courts. According to Lévai's Wallenberg, Langfelder's sister and brother-in-law, Dr Gyula Simon, last spoke to him on 10 January. He dashed in to see them for a few minutes in the Swedish Embassy building at Révai utca 16. His brother-in-law had been second-in-command of the building on 1 January at the time of the Arrow-Cross attack. Lévai tells us that on the evening of 10 January Károly Szabó reported that…
… the front was on Thököly út by the the Millenáris Sports Ground. There he had had a word with a captain, a friend of his, who was quite prepared to let him and his wife through, so he would gladly take Wallenberg and … Langfelder, as that was what Wallenberg wanted. Szabó said that that he too would go through with them and come back next day.
On the same night, Wallenberg took further steps and made preparations to travel. With the help of György Szöllősi and Langfelder, he secretly made the touring car ready for a long journey in the garage, hiding a large sum in gold and jewels in a petrol can. According to Szöllősi, their idea was first to go to Debrecen, and from there to Sweden, for Wallenberg to make his report. These details are confirmed in the memoirs of the gendarme, Lajos Bajusz, who also recalled that both men were very nervous before the journey. Sándor Erdey, a war reporter, later recalled that he had been asked by the restauranter of the 'Paprika csárda' (where he was a regular customer) to help a Jewish family to get to Pannónia utca. Erdey promised to do so, but immediately declined the "generous return favour" that was offered. Next morning, during an air-raid, he managed to transport the family, with the help of his brother. He went back to the restaurant for lunch, where he was spoken to by a 'stranger' according to his memoirs, which continued:
The well-dressed young man introduced himself, and it was Raoul Wallenberg, embassy counsellor. He too wanted to reward me, and was offended when I declined. As he put it, that would mean that he couldn't ask me to do something else. With great difficulty he made his request known, and it was the same as the day before. I gave my consent, but asked that we should start within hours. Again, I asked for my brother's help. I took the man entrusted to me and his fiancée from the address given to the Pannonia Hotel …
It's not clear how Erdey recognised the 'stranger' as Wallenberg, especially as he does not record the language of the conversation. Since both men spoke good German, they would have had little difficulty in communicating. Neither is there any mention of Langfelder, Wallenberg's ever-present driver. But the incident shows that the rescue of several people by car from Jókai utca by car was successful, and the Pannonia Hotel was indeed where several Jewish families found shelter, along with many other persecuted people. The manager, Sándor Kaufmann, succeeded, by much ingenuity and even more risk (later honoured at Yad Vashem), in protecting to the end those hiding from the persistent 'Jew-hunt' of the Arrow-Cross. On 11 January, Wallenberg and Langfelder said goodbye to their closest colleagues at the Hazai Bank. The secretary could now see that he no longer had the ways and means to continue his work. That night, they slept once more at László Ocskay's roomy flat in Benczúr utca, which was in a building under Red Cross protection. Next day they set off by car, but turned back, presumably due to the Soviet advance. On the 13th, the front line reached the mid-point of Andrássy út and the parallel Benczúr utca. It was at this point, in both space and time, that Wallenberg tried to make contact with Marshal Malinovski. He reported personally to the Russians in Benczúr utca, using a note which apparently read, in Russian, 'I come over'. He was then taken behind the Russian lines with a major and military escort, accompanied by Langfelder.
At about this time in Berlin, Wallenberg was under consideration in Berlin by the 'Jewish expert', a leading figure in the campaign for the destruction of the Jews of Europe. He had followed attentively the activity of Eichmann and knew a great deal about the diplomatic rescue attempts in Budapest. In a telegraphic summary, he informed Eichmann, then in Berlin, that ambassador Danielsson had gone into hiding and that Wallenberg had been placed under German protection. Although the precise details are still unclear, it seems that the Soviets intercepted this message, leading to Wallenberg's arrest as a 'suspected spy' and his imprisonment by the Soviets. By this time, Eichmann had become an embarrassment and encumbrance to the upper echelons of the SS. The next day, the 14th, the main military hospital in Budapest received a direct hit. Dying soldiers were left in destroyed buildings and the wounded piled up in makeshift hospitals, without medicine or nurses, lying in the cold cellars of the burned-out Parliament building and the Museum of Military History. A retreating German army unit blew up the Petöfi Bridge, then known as the Horthy Bridge. An Arrow-Cross group advanced into the ghetto and murdered several people they encountered before bein routed by Miksa Domonkos, a Jewish Council member with good contacts in the gendarmerie, together with a couple of policemen. In the streets, the advancing Soviet soldiers used captured civilians to shield them from enemy fire. In short order, the German military also adopted this tactic, but the strategy was ineffectual for both armies.
The Collapse of the Reich & Liberation of Auschwitz:
The collapse of the Reich was accelerating and every initiative of the German military leadership was a failure. The inner circle of the Nazi chiefs of staff clung on in blind faith that Hitler's wonder-weapons would yet save them and their families from ignominious invasion and defeat. They wove fantasies, as the Hungarian political élite had done the previous year, about making a separate peace, based on the mistaken belief that in no way would the West allow Stalin to penetrate deep into central Europe. Several saw the series of nightmare acts as the consequence of the fanatical genocidal activity of Eichmann. He was aware, as were the other Nazi leaders, that he occupied a prominent place on the Allies' list of war criminals. The other SS leaders kept their distance from Eichmann as catastrophe loomed. They sat apart from him in the dining room of Hitler's underground bunker in Berlin and did not invite the Obersturmbannführer to join them. The mass murderer pondered: Am I supposed to be the blackest sheep in the flock?
The deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz had begun in March 1944, almost as soon as the SS arrived in Budapest (I have written elsewhere on this site about these) Eichmann led the special task force that gathered them in concentration camps and then loaded them in cattle trucks, deporting 437,000 of them there in just eight weeks. He later boasted to a crony that he would jump laughing into his grave for his part in the deaths of four million Jews. In a 1961 diary entry after his conviction in Israel of genocide, Eichmann wrote:
I saw the eeriness of the death machinery; wheel turning on wheel, like the mechanisms of a watch. And I saw those who maintained the machinery, who kept it going. I saw them, as they re-wound the mechanism; and I watched the second hand, as it rushed through the seconds; rushing like lives towards death. The greatest and most monumental dance of death of all time; this I saw.
The numbers of SS camp guards, Lagerschützen, at Auschwitz varied: very roughly in 1944 there were only 3,500 guarding the 110,000 inmates. There were also usually around eight hundred Sonderkommando prisoners at any one time. Out of the estimated seven thousand men and two hundred women guards who 'served' at Auschwitz during the war, only eight hundred were ever prosecuted. The rest merely disappeared into private life, and very many must have been able to escape with valuables stolen from the inmates. As the Russians advanced in the winter of 1944-45, Auschwitz was evacuated westwards in a terrible 'death march' of more than fifty miles in sub-zero temperatures. Those who could not keep up were shot and in all, around fifteen thousand died. Nor was the horror over even when the camps were liberated. Despicably, Polish villagers even killed some Jews after the end of the war in Europe when they returned to claim their property, as happened at the village of Jedwabne. We have no evidence of this happening in Hungary, but we know that very few of the Auschwitz survivors returned, and even fewer did so to resettle. This was certainly the case in the village of Apostag, where out of some six hundred Jews deported, fewer than six returned before emigrating (I have written about this elsewhere on this site).
Rationality might have dictated that, once the war looked as if it might be lost, the rail, military and human resources put into the Holocaust ought to have been immediately redirected to the military effort instead, and the Jews who could have been forced into contributing to the war effort ought to have been put to work rather than exterminated. This, after all, had been what had happened before March 1944 in Hungary. Yet a quite separate, entirely Nazi rationale argued that the worsening situation on the Eastern Front required if anything an intensification of the Holocaust, rather than a winding down. As Saul Friedlander has written:
Whipping up anti-Jewish frenzy was, in Hitler's imagination, one of the best ways to hasten the falling apart of the enemy alliance … the Jews were the hidden link that kept Capitalism and Bolshevism together.
Furthermore, he asserted, if 'Fortress Europe' was about to be invaded, the domestic danger posed by the Jews in his diseased imagination needed to be eradicated as soon as possible. Finally, with the liberation of Auschwitz on 27 January, his Final Solution to the Jewish 'problem' was brought to an end.
The Final Fight for Survival:
Yet, in Budapest at least, many of the Jews had survived, thanks largely to the letters of protection provided them by the Swedish and Swiss diplomats and their brave Hungarian colleagues and volunteers. The last few weeks of the siege were some of the most difficult to survive, however. None of the 'safe' houses protected by the Swedish and Swiss Red Cross was truly safe from the Arrow-Cross any more. The thundering sound of cannons was heard all the time and huge bombers flew low in the sky.
Nearly all of the people of Pest were starving, but especially the Jews, who were either in the ghettoes or in hiding, trying to get food without ration cards and only able to buy it after 5 p.m. By this time, Daisy Birnbaum (see her 'letter of protection' below) was back with her parents, unafraid even of the bombs, although they were walled in her uncle's cellar. There were five of them, and their daily ration was a small slice of bread with margarine, so they were hungry all the time. They lived in what Daisy describes as a 'nook' behind a makeshift toilet wall for close to seven weeks with the help of neighbours and friends of her father. No other Jews remained in the house because they had all been taken to the ghetto. However, the few gentile families that remained soon moved down permanently to the cellar, due to the constant bombing of the nearby 'Nyugati' (Western) Railway Station.
Eventually, the Russian soldiers found them when they were searching for German soldiers by pressing stethoscopes to the walls. Hearing the hollow sound, they did not wait for a response but kicked the 'communal' toilet apart. They greeted them with machine guns at the ready as they crawled out from behind the destroyed wall, giving them part of their square-shaped black bread and bacon to eat. To begin with, the Russian soldiers behaved like liberators and were greeted as such, especially by the Jewish survivors, but that soon changed. Nevertheless, when the siege was finally ended in February 1945, it must have felt that, as it does so often in that part of central Europe, spring had come early, in both a physical and spiritual sense. Daisy Birnbaum recalled mixed feelings as most, though not all of her family were reunited:
During the spring of 1945, like the rest of the survivors, we tried to live as if those terrible months could have been erased from our memories. And we had not yet given up the hope that the deportees would return. The renewal of the Sunday lunches of the past also belonged to this noble effort. For about three years, Aunt Juliska appeared at our Sunday table. The poor thing wept every Sunday; from the soup until the end of the meal, her tears were flowing copiously. And she kept repeating to my mother: "You see, my dear, every stinking kike is back, only my darling Lajoska was killed". Later she moved to her sister who lived in the countryside.
Three other brief stories of survival remain to be retold here from Daisy's little book about 1944, which many of her friends and their relatives sadly did not survive. The first is of her first 'boyfriend', György. His mother was one of those deported to Bergen-Belsen towards the end of the war who did not return and after the later liberation of that camp, Gyuri went to live with his aunt Ilus while his older brother, Pista, who had spent 1944 in Eger with false documents, moved in with another 'survivor' sister and her family. By the time Gyuri turned ten, his father, inforced labour in the army, was reported 'missing' before the German occupation. From then on, they lived in wretched misery with many others in a 'Jewish house', waiting to be deported. Probably with the help of their 'Uncle Béla', the family received the Swedish protective papers, Schutzpasse, and with about twenty strangers they were moved into the abandoned apartment of Aunt Ilus. There Gyuri survived the siege and the continuous Arrow-Cross raids. Almost daily, the thugs looked for any reason to take people out from the houses and shoot them into the Danube. In 1945, already free, but fully orphaned, Gyuri found himself in the same apartment in Pozsonyi út which he shared with Aunt Ilus and Ági, waiting for the return of Uncle Béla who was 'spending time' in the Soviet Union.
Above: Pista and Gyuri c. 1937.
Dr László, the father of Mihály or Misi (pictured above at Balassagyarmat in 1938), held the rank of lieutenant and worked as a physician in the First World War and also served in the Second. His maternal grandparents lived in Balassagyarmat, the family's home since the eighteenth century. His grandfather was a member of the 'Jewish gentry', a well-to-do, respected landowner. Although he lived in Budapest with his family for most of the year, "Gyarmat" was his paradise where he, his mother and his sisters spent their summers. When his grandfather died in 1943, aged 62, the family 'council' decided that Misi's mother should move back 'home' to manage the estate, as both uncles were in serving in forced labour camps. So Misi and his sister also stayed in Gyarmat and went to the Jewish school there. With the German occupation, the estate was confiscated and the family was required to return to Budapest. Those of the family who remained in Gyarmat, their friends and the rest of the Jews were crammed into cattle cars and sent to Auschwitz. Misi lost his maternal grandmother there, together with all his schoolmates from Gyarmat.
Hoping to avoid a similar fate, during the summer of 1944, Misi and his family converted to Catholicism. Whereas none of the churches had openly stood up for the persecuted, both children were saved by members of Catholic orders. Misi found refuge with the Collegium Josephinum whose Prioress was later awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem for the nunnery's role in saving sixty Jewish children and twenty adults from the Gestapo in 1944. Misi's sister was saved by the Carmelite nuns of Kőbánya. Béla and Pali, his paternal uncles both wound up as forced labour soldiers on the Russian front, the former 'disappearing' and the latter surviving the siege of Stalingrad. Pali's wife was deported to Auschwitz but, miraculously, both of them survived, as did Misi's paternal grandmother who had remained in their Budapest apartment. She did not wear a yellow star and neither did she move into the ghetto, but somehow got through the war alive. It took thirty-five years for Misi to gather enough strength to visit Balassagyarmat, a similar story to many others who were forced to leave their beloved Hungarian villages. Many others never went back, and those still alive probably never will.
The final 'survivor's story' recorded by Daisy Birnbaum is that of Ágnes, who was born in Endrőd, a small town in eastern Hungary, although her happiest summer memories were of her grandmother's home at Zalaegerszeg in western Hungary. Ági's much-adored father left their flat in Budapest for the forced labour camp 'one evening in November' and she never saw him again. She wrote the following piece of prose (an extract from which is given here) recalling the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, including her return to Endrőd:
New Year's Eve, someone tells fortunes from the residue of some black liquid. Everybody prognosticates. The key turns to the right in the prayer-book: We will survive. Wedding band in the bottom of a glass of water. What do you see? A cross. Your father will not return. Tell us, dear spirit, when will the ghetto be liberated? Slowly, the name of a month appears on the paper: January.
In January, a Russian soldier enters the building and points toward the exit. Marching columns. We break into a yarn depot and on the way back we exchange thread for bread. I drop the ten rolls of machine twist I am supposed to carry. The snow is knee-high on the road; the soles of my shoes are of cardboard. I walk the distance of Monor to Szolnok, practically unconscious. From Szolnok on, there is a train, a beautiful, uncovered cattle-car, one can sit down in, and we reach the village in a day.
Returning to Endrőd was anything but simple for Ági. She couldn't walk as her toes were frost-bitten. She was given two wooden planks by a local peasant. Fastening them to her feet, she practised walking. Her mother is suffering from scurvy due to vitamin deficiency; She worked on a hand-driven carding-machine, torturing her body to provide milk, bread and soap for them. There was no husband or father left in their lives. A small kitchen was to be their home; there they lived, unaware even of what was happening in the village. There were no newspapers, no radio. She wrote that: It might be three months before we learn what had happened beyond the borders of the country.
Their apartment in Budapest had been ransacked, therefore they tried to resume life at Endrőd, but after a while it became unbearable. They first moved to Szeged, and finally returned to Budapest. Of her relatives in the countryside, Ágnes' uncle died of starvation at Kőszeg and her paternal grandparents were deported together with her father's sister. They were put to work on a farm in Austria, where Ági's grandfather drove a tractor. They survived, despite the 'disappearance' of their son, Ági's father. Being Jewish was never a simple issue in her life because she would always remember the gigantic capital Zs in her father's military record book, and that she had to grow up fatherless. However, she always felt that she was Hungarian, even if she had only by chance. She never left Hungary, because she chose to be a Hungarian … Like nearly all Budapest children of that time, and especially those of the Jewish elementary school on Hollán utca, Ágnes was just a generation away from country life, having relatives in the countryside. The deportations of 1944 fractured that connection forever for Hungary's Jews. Outside the capital, all Jews were deported, and Jewish children survived the Holocaust just by chance, whereas after the war, Budapest was full of Jewish orphans and half-orphans, because from there the adults were taken to various forced labour camps and sent on death marches.
From February 1945, the children remained largely silent about the recent past, and only by coincidence did they learn that a classmate lived with her aunt or just with her mother. Daisy has written that they didn't want to remember, just as the adult survivors hesitated to face the memories of the previous terrible years:
We who survived have survived, but there are events in life that one cannot really survive. We try not to think of them all the time, but they are there and rule our lives, and our basic reactions to most things. …
I am writing of middle-class families who were not particularly broad-minded, polished people, but who worked hard, reared their children and were happy when their small savings increased. Many remained in towns and villages in the countryside where they had always lived; from there they were carried off to various extermination camps. These were simple people: even their dreams were grey. But they died incredible deaths, prepared for them by diseased minds. Millions shared their fate but each suffered death individually, death that would have been unimaginable if they ever contemplated the end of their lives: Killed by gas, shot in the head, death by starvation.
Alluding to Fateless, the English translation (2004) of the novel Sortalanság (1975) by Imre Kertész, Daisy comments that their perishing completed their 'Fatelessness' because they were robbed of their adulthood or old age, and of death with dignity. Some of her friends never even turned eleven, a fact that she has never been able to assimilate and a crime she cannot forgive.
The 'Disappeared' – The Mysterious Fate of Wallenberg & Langfelder:
On 14 January in Budapest, Wallenberg appeared in a Russian car. He said that he had transferred his effects and a briefcase containing 222,000 pengős to his flat in Erzsebét királyné utca in Zugló. This was at the 'city limits' and may have functioned as the first Soviet detention and interrogation centre at the rear of the advancing Red Army, but it's perhaps more likely that he was in the Soviet headquarters which had been established at the Széchenyi baths building where he could have made contact with officers of high rank and position. On 15 January, there was one final attempt to blow up the Budapest ghetto. Kasztner claimed that the destruction was prevented by General Winkelmann, acting under the orders of Kurt Becher, the SS officer with whom Kasztner had been negotiating on behalf 'the Joint', the international Zionist organisation. Although Kasztner was in Vienna during the siege of Budapest, making the 'trade' of twenty million francs with Becher, he claimed that the high-ranking officer called Winkelmann, who forbade the Arrow-Cross government's action. The Germans told the Arrow-Cross minister that emptying the ghetto would not be in the best interests of Germany. Of course, many claimed, at Nuremberg, that they had acted 'heroically' in terms of humanity in the dying days of the Reich.
On the morning of the 16th or 17th, Wallenberg caused a stir when he appeared at the International ghetto, at the Swedish Embassy office at Tátra utca 6, together with a Soviet lieutenant colonel and Langfelder. At this point, the eye-witness accounts differ, but they agree that he left in a car headed east of the city centre, towards Gödölő and Debrecen. But it seems that the Soviet motorcycle escort took them on a roundabout route through the city, either due to the military operations or to scout out the diplomat's personal connections and learn of his future plans. It also appears that the promise that he was free to leave was pure bluff. But in 1947, the Soviet authorities issued a statement denying that Wallenberg and his Hungarian driver had been taken away by their forces. They pointed out that:
It must not be forgotten that in an area where the Soviet forces then were, in that period when very heavy fighting was taking place in Hungary, all sorts of possibilties could have arisen. Wallenberg travelled at his own risk in areas controlled by Soviet forces.
On the 16th, before Wallenberg's putative departure for Debrecen, the quarter containing the 'protected houses' was liberated, and the morning of the 18th brought the other tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest release from the Arrow-Cross terror, from mining and from air-raids. Advancing from house-to-house (often from cellar to cellar), the Soviet forces reached the Károly körút end of the central ghetto. They demolished the wooden gates of the ghetto, and in several places the palisades too. Hansi Brand remembered that it had been snowing the night before and, when she looked outside, the smell of fresh snow seemed stronger than the stench of corpses and smoke. She also recalled the few moments of quiet after Pest fell. In front of 'the Glass House', the young halutzim ran out to hug and kiss the first Soviet soldiers they saw. Their enthusiasm was so great that some of the soldiers grabbed their guns to free themselves. The houses and gateways in the ghetto, the streets too, presented a lamentable sight, and the sight and stench of death dominated everywhere. Outside the arcade of the Dohány utca synagogue, heaps of corpses lay in the street, frozen hard. Burials began at once in the garden, and the victims lie there to this day. A total of 2,281 bodies were buried in twenty-four common graves, forty-five had been shot – twenty-four women and twenty-one men. The great majority had been dead for weeks and very many were totally naked so that a very large number were unidentifiable. A large proportion of the dead was elderly. Lack of vehicles made the work of burial more difficult, as did the frozen ground and the revulsion felt by the people.
After the Fall – The Battle for Buda:
Along the Danube, the hotels and restaurants were on fire. German and Hungarian troops withdrew from Pest into Buda and the Germans then blew up the five bridges across the Danube that linked the two halves of the city. Remnants of the German and Hungarian armies crossed over the badly damaged Chain Bridge into the ruins of the old Castle District just before the bridge was destroyed. There were thousands of casualties. The narrow streets and burning buildings made it difficult to reach the bridgehead, and the bridge itself was continually bombarded. Within Buda, particularly around the central fortress which was defended by SS troops, the fighting was intense. Buda also came under heavy attacks both from the air and by advancing Soviet troops from the west. Still, the German Command deemed that the hills were defendable. Of the thirty thousand German soldiers who eventually tried to break out of Budapest, only 624 reached the German lines. On the same day that Pest fell to the Soviets, Domokos Szent-Iványi returned from his ill-fated diplomatic mission in Moscow, arriving in Debrecen, where a provisional Hungarian government had been formed, with the support of the Soviets. He recalled feeling 'helpless' as …
… power was already in the hands of the Russian secret service and the power and influence of Gerő, Rákosi … and of the Hungarian Secret Police was steadily growing.
The provisional government, headed by Miklós Béla Dálnoki, a general who had gone over to the Soviets, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in Moscow on 20 January. Under the terms of the agreement, Hungary was to declare war on Germany; evacuate all territory occupied since 31 December 1937, and pay $300 million in reparations to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. An Allied Control Commission was established to oversee compliance, and Soviet troops remained to occupy the country. Major-General William S Key headed the US delegation to the Commission, and arrived in Hungary in February, overseeing a force of thirty-six enlisted men and sixteen officers on the Commission's staff.
Eventually, worn out by the sheer force of the Red Army attack, the Germans attempted to break out of their stronghold in Buda, and all but a few thousand were killed or captured. Meanwhile, with Wallenberg's departure for Debrecen, the Swedish humanitarian action was considered finished in the Tátra utca office. The head of the office, Hugö Wohl, prepared a report and inventory. He put the number of the persons provided with protective passes (SP) and other official Swedish documents at four thousand, the number of Hungarian colleagues named as officials at two hundred, and the total number of their family numbers at four hundred. He estimated the number supplied with Red Cross letters of protection at 2,500. On 27 January, the same day as the Red Army's liberation of Auschwitz, a temporary executive committee made an announcement on behalf of the Royal Swedish Embassy. It addressed all the holders of the SP:
Seeing that persons of Jewish origin are now citizens enjoying equal rights, activity has come to a natural end.
More than two-thirds of the pre-war of Hungarian Jewish population perished in the Holocaust, and it might have been as high as three-quarters had it not been for the work of Wallenberg and the Swiss Vice-Consul, Carl Lutz, who rescued tens of thousands of European Jews, many of whom had found a haven in Budapest as Jewish refugees from all over central-eastern Europe. Lutz, a career diplomat who had been educated in the United States, was a religious man who was a convinced anti-Nazi. Seventy-two buildings in Budapest were declared annexes of the Swiss Legation, with diplomatic immunity. Working from the US Legation, because the Swiss represented US interests during the war, he is credited with saving over sixty thousand Jews.
On 9 February, the Budapest Police HQ announced that after 18 January the Soviet authorities had removed the police from their headquarters and barracks. Policemen had to make their way to work every day, and scarcely half of them reached their stations. They were picked up on such a scale that there were as many as three thousand of them in a prison camp in Gödöllő. Vilmos Bondor summed up the nature of the close of the fifty-one-day Battle of Budapest and the first months of 1945:
In the capital, chaos reigned. Russian deserters formed gangs of bandits and plundered. The pockets of SS did the same. The newly appointed Hungarian authorities looked on helplessly. They lacked manpower and experience. Police appointments were made from among the comrades, and those with any expertise were soon in prison. But what made their work more risible was that they were not to touch Russian soldiers, who did as they pleased.
Buda eventually fell on 13 February. The City finally surrendered. The entire siege of the capital had lasted one hundred days. The combined Soviet and Romanian losses in Budapest totalled more than seventy thousand men; the Hungarian army lost 16,500; the German army, thirty thousand. More than forty thousand civilians had been killed, including some seven thousand Jews.
About forty thousand Hungarian troops were taken prisoner by the Soviets. To round out the numbers, they took fifty thousand civilians as well. Everyone in uniform, even firefighters and postmen, was taken prisoner, as were men lining up for bread or going in search for water. Around one-third of the soldiers and civilians were returned to Hungary after a few years of forced labour in the Soviet Union. Of the fifty thousand Jews 'lent' to the Reich to build fortifications around Vienna, only about twenty thousand were still alive in April 1945. Fewer than one in ten of the men in the Jewish labour brigades survived the war. During the fifty-one day battle, a quarter of the buildings were destroyed and three-quarters of them were damaged. Not a single bridge remained over the Danube. The ruins and rubble of the Chainbrige can be seen on the right. In the background, the effect of the fierce fighting around Buda Castle is apparent. As at Stalingrad, Hitler did not permit any negotiation by his already completely conquered armies leading to some deal.
The German military command in Budapest asked for reinforcements, but Hitler had none to spare. Ignoring advice from his generals, he had thrown eight divisions into a last desperate counter-attack on the Allied troops in the Saar region in an attempt to retake the Ardennes borderlands in the 'Battle of the Bulge'. The last attempt by the German forces in the capital in the Buda hills and the Pilis forests occurred through contravention of the Führer's orders; by then it was futile to do so, however. Hitler's determination to retain the possession of the Vienna Basin and the oil fields in Zala County by holding out in the Budapest area and thus buying time was also doomed to failure. When Hitler finally decided to send a Panzer division to Hungary, it was too late to relieve the besieged forces in Buda and was used instead to hold up the Red Army's advance into western Hungary, with its important oil-fields. After Budapest was lost, Hitler's Sixth Panzer Division still tried to hold out west of Lake Balaton against the combined Ukrainian and Russian assault.
'Potato-peeling' – The Mass Rapine of the Red Army:
Above: Two Red Army soldiers during the Battle of Budapest in the early weeks of 1945. The behaviour of some of the Soviet troops in the aftermath of the battle became infamous.
For their part, the soldiers of the Red Army, who had been told by Stalin to capture the Hungarian capital in 'a few days' had taken more than a hundred days to force a surrender. In the immediate aftermath of their victory, some of the Soviets took their frustrations on the women of Budapest. Ivan Polcz was one of the first to witness what happened. He was thirteen on 11 February, just two days before the surrender, and was the only child of a respectable middle-class Hungarian family. During the siege, he and his parents had hidden in the cellar of a relative's house in the suburbs. They had all heard rumours of how the Soviets 'did not respect women at all' but many people did not believe that the Red Army soldiers would commit rape. Two nights before Ivan's birthday, everyone in the cellar had heard heavy bombing. And then, he said, all of a sudden two Russian soldiers wearing white stormed into the cellar holding machine guns. The Red Army soldiers shouted that they were looking for Germans. Finding none, they ran back into the street. Horrified, Ivan watched as half an hour later German soldiers came into the cellar. But, not finding their enemy, they rushed away again. Then, on the night of his birthday, …
… an incredible number of Russian soldiers stormed into the cellar with guns. If it hadn't been so frightening we would have been laughing our heads off because they were dressed with other people's clothes. Men were even wearing women's boots … They asked us if we had jewellery, but apart from taking our watches and some of the clothes which they liked they didn't do anything. … And so we were quite OK with them. And we thought to ourselves that the idea they were aggressive with women, this is probably an invention of the Nazis to threaten us.
But a few days later, the atmosphere changed. At about ten o'clock at night, two Red Army soldiers came into the cellar where, by now, about twenty-five people were sheltering, a mixture of elderly couples, younger couples and children. The expressions on the soldiers' faces were menacing. One of the young Hungarian husbands acted as interpreter and asked the soldiers what they wanted. When they told him, Ivan remembered, 'he started to tremble'. They had said that they needed a woman:
Of course, the interpreter got frightened because he was a young man with a wife who was ther on one of those beds … so he said that there were only mothers and elderly people, and they should leave us alone. I was terribly afraid because my mother was … for her age, forty-eight … a good-looking woman. Next to her was her younger sister, and next to them was a counsellor from the embassy with his wife and his sixteen-year-old daughter.
When the soldiers reached the far end of the cellar they found a young blonde woman of seventeen, the maid of the couple who owned the villa. This was the woman they chose. They grabbed her and she started crying and pleading, shouting to the rest of the people in the cellar, Please help me! Help me! Ivan went on:
Everybody was frozen – a stone. … This was a terrible moment. I will never forget about it. Everybody knew by then that the women were in real danger. … And then something happened which was at first sight quite strange. The owner of the house, a retired military officer, started to talk to the maid. He said, "Please make this sacrifice for the sake of the country. And with this you will be able to save the other women here who will never forget this." At the time, I thought this was a very mean statement, that he told her to "make this sacrifice on the altar of the Hungarian nation", but in a way she did save my mother and all the other young women there. … Then there was quite a lot of crying and the Russian grabbed her and took her upstairs … and after fifteen minutes this girl staggered back down the stairs. She was absolutely collapsing, and she said that she had been the victim of a very fierce atrocity and rape, and this animal even beat her up because she had been crying. And of course everyone else was crying … when the saw this poor girl they didn't even dare to look at her. … It was a terrible case. … Even today I can still remember it quite vividly and I get gossebumps, even though I am seventy-five years of age.
The German and Arrow-Cross terror had been ended, but the survivors were already experiencing the first signs of a form of despotism and dictatorship which was just as inhuman in its consequences. In the aftermath of the Red Army's advance across Budapest, rape became almost ubiquitous. The pointless struggle had brought upon the country a series of 'last-ditch' sufferings, dreadful ruin and destruction. The worst suffering of the Hungarian population is due to the rape of women, a contemporary report from the Swiss embassy in Budapest asserted. The supporting evidence for this statement was clear:
Rapes – affecting all age groups from ten to seventy – are so common that very few women in Hungary have been spared. … The misery is made worse by the sad fact that many Russian soldiers are diseased and there are absolutely no medicines in Hungary.
Having hidden successfully from the Arrow-Cross for months, Jewish women and children were now just as much under threat from the Red Army as their gentile neighbours. One of Daisy Birnbaum's friends, eleven-year-old Kati, had been hiding for weeks with her mother in the coal cellar of an apartment house where, from time to time, they received food from unknown benefactors who were not permitted to see them. Daisy commented that her mother saved her from sensing the deadly danger that surrounded them. Their area was liberated on 15 January, but at that point, Kati was not permitted out because her mother feared the Russians. The Soviet soldiers had a euphemism for their actions, which reveals how 'routine' and systematic it became. It was called 'peeling potatoes', based on the requirement of the subjugated women to help out in the military kitchens. However, they were taken from their homes and raped. Ági, a (then) twelve-year-old Jewish schoolfriend of Daisy's, who went to live in a villa in Buda after her mother was taken into forced labour, recalled how, after finding her 'Aunt Joli', her mother's friend there, they first came into contact with Russian soldiers:
There was very little to eat; they were all hungry, all the time. However, the sound of cannons was getting closer and, suddenly, Russian soldiers appeared in the street. Fortunately, Aunt Joli spoke Slovak and was able to communicate with them. Nonetheless, the Russians reappeared each night and behaved in a horrendous fashion, trying to carry off Aunt Joli 'to peel potatoes'. She saved herself by pointing out that she had to take care of the children. The situation became unbearable, and they escaped on foot, until a horse-drawn carriage, heading for Budaörs, gave them a lift. There, they moved into an empty house, sharing it with a large number of refugees. However, just a few hours later, there too Russian soldiers arrived, drunk, threatening them with their machine guns, and wanting to take Aunt Joli with them. The children had to get up from their sleeping places to show how many of them were in Aunt Joli's charge. The soldiers sobered up by the morning and apologised.
Ági B in 1939.
Hansi Brand, the wife of the Zionist activist Joel Brand, who worked closely with Rezső Kasztner to get the surviving Hungarian Jews from Budapest to Palestine, was also threatened by Soviet soldiers in the cellars, where she hid with her two children. One of her boys, although still quite small, told his mother to hide behind him in the corner. When the Russians told the women to come and help "peel potatoes", Hansi remained in the corner, hidden by her two little boys while the other women went. She wondered how Dani knew what to do but later realised bitterly that "he had seen so much already, his childhood was lost." She and her boys survived the siege underground.
Not all the women were able to escape the Russian soldiers, however. The victims of rape included children like fifteen-year-old Ágnes Karlik, whose harrowing testimony has been recorded on the BBC Behind Closed Doors series which accompanies Laurence Rees' (2008) book (see the list of sources below). Ágnes had been hiding in a cellar with her family during the siege and she found the first Red Army soldiers she met not unpleasant, … just making sure there were no enemies in the building. They didn't stay long. They tried, actually, to be friendly. But then 'these rough type of soldiers' entered the building and they started to pull women out… to come and help peel potatoes. She and her sister were dragged outside, where there was snow on the ground, and into a tent nearby. She was raped twice, once in the tent in front of her grandmother, and the second time the following night by two Soviet soldiers in a secluded section of the cellar. Her sister, aged fourteen, was also raped. They were sexually naive, having no idea what was happening to them, and the effect on Ágnes of these rapes was profound and lifelong:
For a long time I felt really resentful against men, being able to do such a thing without any sort of good reason. … It makes you feel really resentful against mankind, more or less.
In the hospital, immediately after the second attack, Ágnes was given an internal examination to check that she was not seriously injured. This was not an uncommon occurrence as a result of the severity and violence of the attacks that many women endured. Neither were these cases confined to Budapest, although – according to this author's oral anecdotal sources – they seem to have been more common there. Medical student Barna Andrásofszky witnessed a case in a village outside the capital in the spring of 1945. He was called to a house by an elderly woman and was told that there was a sick young girl inside. When he went into the living room, he saw that it was in 'disarray' and a young woman of about twenty-five was lying on a bed, covered with a blanket:
I went up to her and took the blanket – it was covered with blood. And she was crying and she kept saying that she was going to die, and that she didn't want to live any more.
Barna was told that the young woman had been raped by between ten and fifteen men. She was bleeding intensely from internal injuries sustained in the attack. He could not stem the flow of blood, and the woman was taken away to a hospital. He commented on this experience:
It was very difficult to see as a reality what the Nazi propaganda was spreading. But here we could see that in reality. And also we heard about many other terrible situations like this.
There have been many Red Army veterans who have tried to contextualise these crimes as a common, if regrettable, historical occurrence in times of war. But in the context of the Second World War in Europe, this excuse is not sustainable. As far as the crime of rapine was concerned, the Soviets were 'in a league of their own' according to Laurence Rees and other historians. The Western Allies committed no comparable crimes of this enormity, and mass rape was not tolerated either as a 'weapon' of war or as one of the 'spoils' of war. In Hungary, both were used to excuse it, as it began before the surrender and continued long after. There are no accurate numbers for the overall number of women raped by Soviet men in Hungary, but the crime was clearly conducted on a massive scale. One estimate is that around fifty thousand were raped in Budapest alone, and, even today, the silence from the countryside can be interpreted as the result of the understandable reluctance of young women and their families to report the crime unless it resulted in a medical emergency, as in the case 'coincidentally' reported to Barna Andrásofszky. From the capital itself, some cases were reported to the Soviet military authorities in 1945. The report came from the Hungarian Communists in Köbánya, a suburb on the eastern approaches to the city. They claimed that when the Red Army arrived, they committed a series of sexual crimes in an outbreak of …
… mindless, savage hatred run riot. Mothers were raped by drunken soldiers in front of their children and husbands. Girls as young as twelve were dragged from their fathers and raped in succession by ten to fifteen soldiers and often infected with venereal disease. … We know that intelligent members of the Red Army are communists, but if we turn to them for help they have fits of rage and threaten to shoot us, saying: "And what did you do in the Soviet Union? You not only raped our wives before our eyes, but for good measure you killed them together with their children, set fire to our villages and razed our cities to the ground."
As a result, nothing official was said about the crimes. Pravda, the Soviet newspaper, never referred to them. Although there were occasional attempts to enforce the official line that rape committed by Soviet soldiers was a crime, so few cases were prosecuted that it is impossible not to conclude that the offence was often tolerated by the Soviet authorities. One of the few Red Army soldiers prepared to acknowledge that rapes occurred at all in occupied eastern Europe, Fiodor Khropatiy, remarked that:
… no-one paid attention to these things. On the contrary, soldiers gossiped about it, and they were proud, they felt like heroes, that he slept with such and such a woman, one or two or three. This is what soldiers shared with each other … it was normal behaviour. Even if somebody was killed, such a thing wouldn't be reported, to say nothing of the fact of a soldier sleeping with a girl. … I feel hurt, because our army earned itself such a reputation, and I feel angry about the people who were acting that way. I am negative about such things, very negative. … To some extent, I can understand the soldiers. If you are at war for four years, and in the most horrible conditions, this … violent behaviour can be justified. I can justify the sodiers' desire to rape a woman, but not … the actual performance. Of course, it's natural to understand the desire to have a woman, because officers and soldiers, for four years, were deprived of any sex.
Fiodor Khropatiy estimated that a sizeable minority, perhaps as great as thirty per cent, committed rape. Stalin himself justified this crime on more than one occasion when it was brought to his attention, in public, including in the winter of 1944-45, claiming, angrily, that his eastern European allies ought to understand if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometres through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle. On another occasion, when he was told that Red Army soldiers were sexually mistreating German refugees, he is reported to have said: We lecture our soldiers too much; let them have some initiative. The frustrations of the Red Army besiegers were first taken out on the women of Budapest in acts of mass rapine, but they were then repeated all across eastern Europe as 1945 progressed, especially in Germany.
The 'Changing of the Guard':
Aside from the physical and psychological toll on Hungary taken by the last year of the war in Eastern Europe, forty per cent of the national wealth, accumulated by the work of generations, had also been lost. Meanwhile, society had fallen apart, and it quickly turned out that it was incapable of resisting the new tyranny, the Stalinist dictatorship. On his return from Moscow to Debrecen on 18 January, Domokos Szent-Iványi had written in his manuscript journal of the desperate, almost hopeless situation in which Hungary found herself in 1945. He felt that the country had once again been 'sacrificed by the West' and that the dismemberment of Central and in particular East-Central Europe made possible the extension of Nazi and later of Soviet domination in Europe. In February, Colonel-General Gábor Faragho, one of the three original members of the Hungarian Delegation to the Kremlin, where he had signed the provisional armistice terms on 11 October, and who had now been made Minister for Food and Supplies, drove from Debrecen to Budapest, escorted by the Soviet military. Szent-Iványi asked Faragho to contact members of the "intelligentsia" to establish a liberal democratic Party, thus completing the political basis for a pluralist national assembly and interim government, since four parties had already been formed. Out of these conversations, 'a rather non-viable political Party' was formed.
But, in these early months of 1945, a coalition of parties, the National Independence Front had brought together the leading parties including the Smallholders, Communists and Social Democrats. Despite their conflicting outlooks and endeavours, consensus still prevailed as to the most immediate tasks. Its goals were to establish independence and break with Hitler; reconstruct the war-torn economy through land reform and some nationalisation of industry; encourage the efforts of private enterprise; maintain close co-operation with the neighbouring countries, with the United States and the Soviet Union. The first task in achieving these was to sign an armistice with the allies which took place on 20 January, requiring Hungary to liquidate all pro-German and Fascist organisations and to accept the supervision of the Allied Control Commission as to the execution of these stipulations. As the latter body was under the direction of Marshal Voroshilov, this last clause in effect legalised Soviet influence, especially as it was in the authority of the Commission to ban political parties, to arrest people and to exercise censorship.
The 'changing of the guard' also started at the differing levels of administration, and special committees were charged with ascertaining whether the post-1939 conduct of officials violated Hungarian interests. The gendarmerie was dissolved and its tasks transferred to a reorganised and enlarged police force. As both of these operations took place under the auspices of the Communist-dominated Ministry of the Interior, the results were quite predictable. Simultaneously with the banning of twenty-five parties and associations qualified as 'extreme rightist', the ÁVO (State Security Police) started to make arrests, and 'people's courts', each consisting of lay members and a trained judge, began to prosecute those charged with war crimes. Similarly to 1919-20, among the sixty thousand who were charged and the ten thousand who were sentenced by summary procedures, there were many victims of a political showdown, and those who could not be brought to court but were considered as personae non-gratae were interned by the police without further ado. Nevertheless, the majority of those who received sentences were indeed guilty of crimes against humanity.
Of the wartime political leaders, Horthy was in exile in Portugal, where he eventually died, and Kallay and Lakatos were spared because of their anti-German stance, though it had been somewhat equivocal. But Bárdossy, Imrédy, Sztójay, Szálasi and the Arrow-Cross ministers were among the 189 executed. The Provisional Government also undertook land reform. All of the coalition parties agreed that the system of latifundia would be liquidated and that Hungary would be transformed from a country of three million landless labourers or peasants with seven acres or less into one whose agrarian sector was dominated by prosperous peasant farms or 'small-holdings', but also including collective large holdings.
The land reform had far-reaching social, economic and political consequences, not least because the Communist Party was able to use the glory of satisfying the hunger for land to win support in rural Hungary. Their Minister for Agriculture in the coalition government, Imre Nagy, became especially popular, remembered from then on as 'the land distributor'. Meanwhile, the Communists began to fill the political vacuum in Budapest, creating a mass party of half a million members as a result of an unscrupulous recruiting campaign. Among other social groups, some among the decimated Jewry joined out of gratitude to the liberators and a search for a new sense of community, while their previous tormentors, the Arrow-Cross men, were rewarded with impunity if they exchanged their green party membership card for a red one.
Village people recalled how at least one of their number, who had helped terrorise and deport the Jewish community in Apostag (whose synagogue, now the Village Hall, is pictured on the right) before its deportation, was not only able to escape justice for his crimes but also became a local policeman. Obviously, by the spring of 1945, the wheel of fate had come full circle. When the Soviet forces eventually 'liberated' the last Hungarian town in early April 1945, barely a month was left of World War II in Europe. Even before it had ended, the Hungarian people had been forced to exchange one form of dictatorship for another.
Szabolcs Szita (2012), The Power of Humanity: Raoul Wallenberg and his Aides in Budapest. Budapest: Corvina.
Marianna D. Birnbaum (2016), 1944: A Year Without Goodbyes. Budapest: Corvina.
Laurence Rees (2008), World War Two Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West. London: BBC Books.
Anna Porter (2007), Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust. London: Constable.
Gyula Kodolányi & Nóra Szekér (eds.) (2013), Domokos Szent-Iványi: The Hungarian Independence Movement, 1939-46. Budapest: Hungarian Review Books.
Posted January 31, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in Agriculture, American History & Politics, anti-Communist, anti-Semitism, Armistice Day, Assimilation, asylum seekers, Austria, Austria-Hungary, BBC, Charity, Child Welfare, Christian Faith, Christianity, Church, Civil Rights, Civilization, Commemoration, Communism, Conquest, Deportation, Domesticity, Economics, Elementary School, emigration, Ethnic cleansing, Europe, Family, Genocide, Gentiles, Germany, History, Holocaust, Humanism, Humanitarianism, Hungarian History, Hungary, hygeine, Immigration, Integration, Israel, Jews, Journalism, liberal democracy, Memorial, Monuments, multilingualism, Mythology, Narrative, nationalisation, nationalism, Palestine, Patriotism, Population, Reconciliation, Refugees, Remembrance, Russia, Seasons, Second World War, Security, Serbia, Siege/ Battle of Budapest, Statehood, Switzerland, terror, The Law, tyranny, USA, USSR, War Crimes, Warfare, Women at War, Women's History, World War Two
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Seventy-five Years Ago: The Holocaust in Hungary, January 1945; Child Victims & Survivors. Leave a comment
Daisy, as named on her letter of protection
Extracts & photos from Marianna 'Daisy' Birnbaum's (2016) book, 1944: A Year Without Goodbyes:
D. TAMÁS:
Tomi was born in Budapest, in 1931. His father owned a large factory that produced light fixtures; his mother was a concert pianist. The entirely assimilated family, living on the first floor of a Rózsadomb villa, decided to take the final step and converted to Catholicism, mainly to avoid the increasing restrictions affecting Jews.
Nonetheless, in June 1944 … they had to leave their home. Tomi, his mother and his older sister Edit were moved to a 'Jewish House'. By then, Tomi's father was forced in a forced labour camp. After October 15, all three had to report to the brick factory of Óbuda, from where they were supposed to be deported. Tomi's father was able to provide them with Swiss protection documents and, therefore, three days later, they were moved to the overcrowded ghetto. In the ghetto, Tomi shared a room with six children but he succeeded in smuggling them all out because he had two copies of the document proving that he was a Roman Catholic. According to his plan, two boys left the ghetto (one at each exit) with the Christian documents. Outside they met, and one returned with both copies, and the 'game' went on until all seven of them were outside the ghetto walls.
Escaping thus from the ghetto, the thirteen-year-old Tomi first returned to the Rózsadomb villa to call on their neighbour … the Rector of Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetem (Hungary's oldest university). With his help, Tomi was enrolled in school in the Seventh District where the Rector … accepted him as a 'refugee from Győr'. Thereafter, Tomi regularly went to their old place of business, where, by arrangement, a 'Strobmann', … (the property) manager gave him money for his support. …
On 10th December, when Tomi again went to get money, he learned that his father was in the … hospital of the ghetto, having avoided the fate of seventy-five other Jewish men whom the Arrow Cross soldiers shot into the Danube at the Lánchíd (Chain bridge). He was one of the three, who during the last seconds before the shots were fired, jumped into the water. At the Hotel Hungária, several hundred feet from the place of execution, on the order of a Hungarian officer, Tomi's father was pulled out from the Danube and sent to the ghetto. 'He was so fortunate that he didn't even catch a cold,' remembers Tomi. …
On 15th December, on his way to class, Tomi was stopped by another 'refugee' who told him that the Arrow Cross was conducting a police raid in the school. He had no choice but to linger all day in the city park. There, at about ten o'clock in the evening, he was stopped by the security guard of the Opera House. Figuring out that the boy was Jewish, the man offered him shelter in his own home, fully aware of the danger to himself and his family that such as gesture implied. Thereafter, Tomi visited the hospital from his new hiding place until, on the advice of his father, he moved to his uncle in the 'protected house' … where he survived the siege of Budapest on the sixth floor, living on two slices of bread and three glasses of water a day for several weeks.
Tomi was liberated on January 15, 1945. Ten days later he learned that both his parents and his sister had survived. … the Arrow Cross soldiers (seventeen of them) were tried and hanged for the murder of the seventy-three Jews, while Tomi's father richly rewarded the man who had hidden and saved his son.
ÉVIKE:
She was my second cousin, but I thought of her as my closest relative because we were inseparable in Komárom, because we were both only children and of the same age, and because I, who was three weeks older, only seldom boasted with that advantage. My mother and Aunt Manci, Évike's mother, were first cousins and close friends; they were even sent together to a boarding school in Wiesbaden. … Aunt Manci's family was deported and Évike too was taken to Auschwitz. I often wonder: Who held her hand on the ramp as they stood in front of Mengele?
Our friend Ági C. also lived in Komárom. … We were mean little girls: Ági very much wanted to play with us, and she often had to pay a high price for that. We soiled her dress, and when we spilt nail polish over her hair had to be cut short. Aunt Ilus forbade her to come over to play with us, and Uncle Jenő complained to my grandparents. I was seriously scolded, and my grandfather wrote to my parents … I have her picture in front of me: I am deeply ashamed and feel very sad.
Ági was deported to Auschwitz with her mother where they were immediately gassed. Uncle Jenő, who was for years in a labour camp, survived those terrible times by some miracle and returned to Komárom in 1945. He found no one alive from his family and lived alone for months in their old house until he met Rózsi, an early acquaintance. She too had been sent to Auschwitz with her mother and her own daughter, also named Ági. The child clung to her grandmother. Therefore those two were sent to the gas chamber and Rózsi found herself on the other side with those who had survived the first selection. She was transferred from Auschwitz and worked in an ammunition factory. Broken, the lone survivor from her family, Rózsi too returned to Komárom. After a relatively short time, Rózsi and Uncle Jenő decided to marry.
Soon after, four or five young women, survivors who had been taken to Sweden after the liberation of the camps in order to help their recovery, returned to Komárom. They recognised Rózsi as the dreaded 'capo' (a prisoner assigned by the Nazis to supervise the rest of the prisoners in the camp) who beat and tortured them in Auschwitz and later in the ammunition factory where they too had been transferred. … They visited Uncle Jenő and – obviously – told him of what Rózsi had been known for in the camps.
Allegedly, Uncle Jenő pounced on Rózsi, who barely protected herself, and almost strangled her. With a great effort, the neighbours succeeded in pulling her off Rózsi; they placed the gasping woman on the grass and tried to revive her. Uncle Jenő went into the house, returned with a bag and disappeared from Komárom. It was later rumoured that he had gone to Palestine … two days later, Rózsi too left town.
Posted January 27, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in anti-Semitism, Assimilation, Elementary School, Europe, Genocide, Holocaust, Humanitarianism, Hungarian History, Hungary, Jews, Narrative, Palestine, Refugees, Switzerland, terror, Uncategorized, War Crimes
Tagged with Arrow Cross, Auschwitz, Óbuda, Budapest, Business, Christianity, History, Komárom, religion, Roman Catholic
The Labour Party & The Left, 1934-39: Case Study II – Immigration & Working-Class Politics in the 'new industry' centres of Oxford & Coventry. Leave a comment
For 'Migration' read 'Transference'? Processes of Resistance & Retention:
The terms 'Migration' and 'Transference' were continually conflated in contemporary usage. Certainly, 'migration' was (and still is) used as an inclusive term covering voluntary and assisted forms of population movement. In simple geographical terms, it refers to that part of the 'population equation' which cannot be accounted for by natural increases or decreases brought about by an excess of births over deaths and vice versa. However, in previous chapters on the ups and downs of the Labour Party, the trade union movement and the Left, I have already established that there were important differences in the causes and catalysts involved in the processes of migration, retention and resettlement. The term is not, however, synonymous with importation or deportation, as a form of enforced movement of population. It was in the interests of many contemporary politicians of diverse ideological persuasions to blur these definitions and distinctions to suit their own purposes. In addition, the National Government and its officials in the Ministries of Labour and Health were naturally concerned to demonstrate that the large volume of unassisted migration, which they estimated as being over seventy per cent of the men known to have migrated in 1936-37, was closely related to their efforts to promote transference as the main policy of dealing with mass unemployment. Social Service agencies and social 'surveyors' were concerned to demonstrate the need for their intervention in the migration processes and therefore tended to exaggerate and generalise from the worst consequences of 'emigration' rather making only passing references to the role of autonomous organisation.
Welsh 'nationalists', both of the old 'Cymric-liberal' and the 'new' narrowly partisan variety, were concerned, by 1936, to represent it as expatriation rather than repatriation, as an imposed deportation or 'diaspora' rather than as an exodus. These fringe 'extremists' developed their viewpoint into a complete inversion of the truth, claiming that:
… sporadic investigations into and reviews of the living conditions of the transferees … are strictly materialist in scope and ignore for the most part the evil consequences of transference – the loss of corporate life, … of religious life, in many cases the enforced change of language, in fact all that goes to putting off one culture and putting on another … the majority of those who leave Wales for work in England do so under compulsion.
The Welsh Nationalist, October 1937.
Propagandists on the 'Marxist' Left also tended, quite deliberately, to conflate state-sponsored and voluntary migration, principally because they saw the 'free movement' of workers as a capitalist device aimed at the creation of a 'standing army', the dilution of labour and the undermining of trade union organisation in the 'new industry' centres. Their propagation of a negative image of the immigrant did not allow for an analysis of differences in the organisation of migration. The negative image was again produced by a narrow focus on the worst experiences of the younger transferees. Thus, the interests of both nationalist and communist propagandists combined to ensure that much of the contemporary literature related to migration was 'pessimistic' in nature, dominated by the view that it was something which was done to the unemployed against their will. It is therefore understandable that more recent studies, particularly those done in the 1980s, have tended to maintain that narrow focus. These tended to characterise migration from the Coalfield as an act of defeatism, demoralisation and desperation. But although transference was the only significant aspect of Government policy in respect of unemployment in the period to 1936, the actual level of state involvement was quite limited. Even when the scheme was revived and revised, and despite the publicity given to it by a growing body of opposition, the majority of workers who left the 'Special' areas chose to ignore its provisions.
The Strange Case of the Cowley 'Garwites':
The researchers for Barnett House in Oxford which published its local Survey in 1936 found a distinct 'lumpiness' in the migration streams to the city over the previous decade, providing clear evidence of familial and fraternal networking. This, they noted, militated against the Ministry of Labour's plans for a more rational and even distribution of manpower in accordance with with the shifts in the demand for labour and the assimilation of the new elements by the old. Of the 1,195 Welsh workers in Oxford at this time, 215 had employment books which originated in the Maesteg District (covering the Llynfi, Ogmore and Garw valleys). By comparison, the numbers from all the Rhondda and Pontypridd districts combined amounted to 224 and those from Merthyr and Dowlais to fifty-five. An even more striking statistic was that a hundred and fifty, or one in six of all the Welsh 'foreigners' in the city were from the Pontycymmer Exchange area (i.e. the Garw Valley).
This prompted the Barnett House enquirers to consult their fellow 'surveyors' in South Wales, who advised them that the flow from the Garw to Oxford started in 1926 when a few men made the journey, found employment for themselves and subsequently for friends and relatives. From that point onwards, Oxford attracted a large percentage of those leaving the valley. In the period 1930-36, out of the 1,841 people whose unemployment books were transferred from the Pontycymmer Exchange, 270 (15%) went to Oxford and 'local observers' stated that the percentage in the late 1920s was probably in the region of a quarter. The Oxford University sociologist, Goronwy Daniel, lent further support to the view that considerable networking had taken place, as forty-six of the sixty immigrants interviewed by him said that they had chosen Oxford because they had relatives living there.
From the summer of 1934, the Welsh migrants who found themselves in Cowley, Oxford, began to make major contributions to the Labour and trade union movement in the city. Part of the impetus for the early and extensive migration from the Garw to Oxford was the deliberate act of collective victimisation on the part of one of the colliery companies in the wake of the lock-out. Some of the earliest migrants, like Tom Richards of Pantygog, did not wait until the end of the six-month lock-out in 1926 to leave, setting out on foot for London. Having walked to Oxford along the A40, they had found jobs at the giant US-owned Pressed Steel Works, newly-opened, which supplied Morris Motors and other car manufacturers with ready-pressed bodies for their products. A major strike at the factory for better conditions and union recognition was successful, partly as a result of its being led from ex-miners from South Wales. By that time, a number of older men from the Garw and other valleys, with considerable experience of trade union organisation in the SWMF, had arrived at the works. Whilst the Communist Party in Cowley played a significant supporting role in shaping the course and outcome of the strike, the agitation for it from within the works came from the 'DA' (depressed areas) men, among the largely immigrant workforce.
There is a significant body of both documentary and oral evidence to support the assertion that the retention of the trade union 'complex' by these workers was a critical factor in the formation and development of the TGWU 5/60 Branch from 1934 to 1939, which contrasted sharply with the failure of the movement to make headway at the Morris Works. That failure can only in part be explained by Willam Morris' determined anti-union stance since the management at the US-owned Pressed Steel factory was equally hard-line in its attitude to trade union organisation, both before and after the 1934 strike, and organisers continued to be victimised for related activities throughout the latter part of the decade. Also, wages at the Morris Works remained lower by comparison throughout these years. Most observers from the time shared the perception that this was due to the difference in the cultural background among the two workforces.
Haydn Evans, originally from Merthyr Tydfil who took an active part in the strike and who later became a shop steward and foreman at the Pressed Steel, felt that the Oxfordians and Oxonians, mainly farm workers at Morris', didn't know what a union was about, weren't interested and didn't want a trade union, their fathers having been used to living off the crumbs from the rich men's tables in the colleges. On the other hand, the Welsh workers had been brought up in the trade union movement, … had lived on 'strike, strike, strike' and had been taught "fight back, fight back!" In fighting back, they were just as much at risk from victimisation as the Morris workers but were more willing to run this risk. Haydn Evans again explained:
We had to win … We'd come from a distressed area. We were battling for our livelihood. It was a matter of life and death. If we had lost, many of us would have been blacklisted by other car firms.
A 'neutral' observer from the Barnett House Survey, writing in 1937, also remarked that the distinction between the two forces was widely acknowledged by contemporaries:
It is said … that workers in the Cowley plant are mostly natives of Oxford and lack therefore any trade union tradition; in Pressed Steel on the contrary the men are largely from other parts of the country …
Thus, there is a strong case to be made for the primacy of social and cultural factors in the growth of trade unionism in Oxford; the sense of heritage and solidarity, or 'clannishness' among immigrant workers providing a powerful motivation to getting organised by infusing a quiescent trade union movement with militancy.
This is not to say that the Welsh were 'nearly all Reds', as they were popularly labelled by Oxonians. The number who joined the Communist Party was probably as small as those who wittingly undercut wages on building sites. But those who were thrust into the leadership of the trade union movement in the city soon also found themselves in leading positions in left-wing politics either as members of the Labour Party or the Communist Party and sometimes, from 1935 in the period of the 'United Front' as members of both parties.
One of them, Tom Harris, was a crane operator in the crane shop. He was born in Monmouthshire in the early 1890s, and emigrated to Scranton, Pennsylvania, in his early twenties. There he worked as a miner and helped John L Lewis in building up the United Mineworkers (UMWA). He then returned to South Wales in the mid-1920s, possibly to Maesteg, becoming active in the SWMF. It was with this transatlantic experience of migration and union organisation that he arrived in Cowley shortly before the 1934 Strike. Dai Huish, probably from the Garw, was also an experienced member of the 'Fed' before arriving in Oxford. Huish was one of those elected to serve on the deputation which, once outside the factory gates, met to discuss the strike situation. Although Huish had been planning the strike action over the previous weekend, it was the idea of his wife, who joined the lengthy meeting, that the deputation should send representatives to the Local of the Communist Party. She suggested this because the Communist Party had provided invaluable help and assistance in organising the miners' struggles in Wales. In this way, they soon became involved in the city's trade union and political life more broadly, thus reflecting a growing sense of permanence and a growing mood of regenerated confidence among the immigrants to Cowley.
Images of the Immigrants – Coventry, Slough & London.
In Coventry, it was not until 1934 that the engineering employers faced difficulty in recruiting semi-skilled workers, who were previously available locally through the City's traditional apprenticeship schemes. It was then that they were forced to look to the Government training centres and transference schemes for a fresh supply of labour. Even then, however, the employers were insistent on such youths, aged between eighteen and twenty-five, having 'factory sense' and felt it necessary to 'earmark' funds in order that the men could be given a period of training in the works, in the hope that they might be absorbed. Not all engineering employers were as progressive as this, and many trainees faced the ignominy of failing to make the grade and being forced to return home disillusioned and discouraged from making any further attempt at resettlement. Even in those cases where the 'improver' from the depressed areas was capable of acquiring enough skill to survive, he was not always made particularly welcome by workmates who generally regarded him as a pawn in a ploy by the employers and the government to reduce wage rates.
Even Wal Hannington, although severely critical of the training centres, was also concerned by the attitude of the conservative-minded craft unionist who refused to allow the recruitment of trainees on the grounds that to do so would represent an acceptance of dilution. Hannington argued that to admit them to membership would enable the unions to control their wages and conditions. His admission that this argument was 'unorthodox' is a measure of the extent to which the engineering unions deliberately ostracised men who themselves were firmly rooted in trade unionism. A perusal of the minutes of the Coventry District of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) for this period provides strong supportive evidence that little or nothing was done to integrate trainees and that this inaction stemmed from a policy of principled opposition to the importation of labour in this manner, a policy that was consistently applied throughout the period. Craft-unionists in the engineering industries scapegoated the immigrants for the revolutionary structural changes that were taken place in them, rather than re-organising their unions on an industrial basis, a form of organisation which the immigrants themselves were familiar with and did much to recreate in their new work environments. They were, however, too often seen as perpetrators of dilution rather than as participants in the process. Accusations of under-cutting became generalised to the point where Labour leaders, like Aneurin Bevan, in opposing transference, reinforced the negative stereotype themselves:
… resistance should be made, for considerable resentment and hostility was shown in the South East of England, and Welshmen had acquired a bad reputation for offering their services at wages below the standard Trade Union rates. …
In making this remark, Bevan was probably echoing comments made to A. J. 'Archie' Lush in Slough (Lush was a close friend of Aneurin Bevan and acted as his political agent for most of his parliamentary life – see below). It is therefore of paramount importance that, in studying the contemporary sources, historians should distinguish between prejudicial statements and accurate observations based on the actual reality of the impact of immigration upon the new industrial centres. A detailed study of newspaper and oral sources reveals that the Welsh working-class immigrants to these centres were able to counter the negative propaganda and prejudice which confronted them by making a significant contribution to the growth of trade unionism, municipal socialism and working-class culture in these cities. The problem of distinguishing between image and reality was highlighted in contemporary debates concerning the role of Welsh immigrants in trade unionism in the new industries. In 1937, A. D. K. Owen wrote an article for the Sociological Review in which he assessed the Social Consequences of Industrial Transference. Despite his generally negative attitude towards immigration, he concluded that it did have some redeeming features:
It appears that some transferees from South Wales are already enlivening the fellowship of some London political associations and that the tradition of Trade Unionism respected by transferees from Wales and the North is now being appealed to with some prospect effective results as a starting point for organising the workers in many of the new industries in which Trade Unionism has so far obtained no footing.
The following year, Michael Daly published a reply to Owen's article in which he claimed that, after several months of research into the difficulty of organising the workers in the South East and the Midlands, he was convinced that… the most difficult people to organise are the Welsh transferees. He asserted that the fact that the Welsh came from an area with a low standard of living made them more willing to accept low wage rates and that they were universally hated because of their alleged tendency both to undercut wages and to 'rat' on their fellow workers. From this flawed analysis, based largely on the experiences of Welsh transferees in Slough, Daly went on to produce a caricature which undermines his validity as a dependable source. He concluded that the staunch trade unionists among the Welsh had remained in Wales:
For the most part, they are the older type of craftsmen whose belief in trade unionism is emotional rather than reasoned, and who tend to appreciate unduly the beer-drinking aspect of branch activities … even if they had transferred to the newer areas, it is doubtful if they would be given a hearing.
Unsurprisingly, Daly's remarks met with stinging criticism in Owen's rejoinder:
I have personal knowledge of far too many Welshmen who are pulling all their weight in trade union branches in the London area to accept Mr Daly's broad generalisations on this subject. Moreover, his remarks about the social characteristics of the 'staunch trade unionists among the Welsh' are … completely wide of the mark … The 'older type of craftsmen' are far from being characteristic of the active membership of the South Wales Miners' Federation. A 'reasoned attitude' to trade unionism is probably commoner in South Wales than in most other parts of the country with a long tradition of working-class organisation. …
'Archie' Lush, who was conducting his researches in Slough and elsewhere in the South East, also found considerable anti-Welsh feeling which was usually attributed to a tendency of Welsh workers to work for less than Trade Union rates. Both he and Owen accepted that this allegation was true only in a small number of cases, and in particular where a long period of unemployment had preceded transference, but what is most significant in Lush's report is the remark that he found no evidence of trade union activity anywhere on the estate. There is a good deal of evidence to suggest that Slough was less typical of the experience of Welsh exiles than was made out by Daly, and it is also important not to confuse the role played by individual Welshmen, either positive or negative, with a collective assertion of trade union values among the Welsh in London. Unfortunately, some contemporary politicians, like Nye Bevan, some in the social service movement and some historians, writing in the 1980s, adopted and restated Daly's unfounded assertions, and those of Lush, uncritically, the latter in the context of assessing the role of the Welsh in trade unionism elsewhere in the South and Midlands of England. Eli Ginzberg recorded that:
… it was repeatedly said of the Welsh that they would work for wages that no Englishman would dream of accepting.
Owen also heard many of these criticisms of the transferees who were often subjected to very hostile criticism of their fellow-workers who resented their presence on the grounds that they depress wages. Although much of this criticism was completely unfounded, he found that it sometimes had a basis in fact. The NCSS's 1939 report on Migration to London from South Wales was equally equivocal in dealing with the issue:
… there have been, and still are, criticisms made of Welshmen that they are ready to work for low wages, accepting as little as 8d or 10d an hour. Such stories, some mythical and some authentic, are at the root of a certain prejudice against Welshmen on the part of Londoners. … It is, however, not difficult to understand the temptation to a man who has managed to scrape up enough money for a trip to London to take work at any wage rather than go home defeated, or to face unemployment in a strange and impersonal city with no friends behind him.
The Immigrants in Industry – Propaganda & Prejudice:
Of course, this image of the immigrant as one brow-beaten into submission by long-term unemployment which had broken his courage was one which suited the purposes of the 'social surveyors'. But the reality was that the vast majority of those who migrated had been unemployed for comparatively short periods, if at all. That reality was often conveniently ignored by those who needed to paint the destitution and demoralisation of the 'depressed area' men as bleakly as possible. Although more frequently heard in Slough and London, the accusation also carried some potency in Oxford, where it seems to have derived from the immigrants who secured jobs in the building trade and in particular in relation to the Merthyr-based firm of Moss and Sons. This firm was said to have brought many workers with it from South Wales and to have employed them at rates which were below the standards which existed in the Midlands. It did not take long for this to lead to a widespread prejudice against Welsh immigrants in general, wherever they worked. One of Goronwy Daniel's interviewees remarked about how she had been offended by hearing a woman commenting on a bus that the Welsh were stealing jobs by working for low wages. Marxist propagandists also asserted that the 'DA' immigrants depressed wages in order to show that they were in need of the leadership which only the Communist Party could provide. Abe Lazarus, the Party's leader in Oxford, regurgitated this myth in his article for the Communist Review in 1934:
They came from Wales, from the North-East Coast, glad enough many of them to accept low standards after years of unemployment.
But Lazarus also acknowledged that the major factors involved in wage depression were automation, rationalisation and the dilution, or de-skilling of engineering jobs which the new processes of production entailed. He also accepted that it was the Oxonian agricultural workers who were far more likely, given their non-industrial background, to accept low rates of pay in the car industry, rather than the Welsh miners. In fact, the evidence shows that although at first, the American managers at Pressed Steel tried to use DA men to depress wages, they were unsuccessful in doing so and that, by the time of the 1934 strike, this was not an issue among a largely immigrant semi-skilled workforce whose wage rates were better than those paid to skilled engineers at Morris Motors, where there were far fewer DA men employed. Nevertheless, popular prejudices prevailed. One of Daniel's interviewees who had migrated to Oxford in 1933 recalled how he had found:
… a strong dislike of Welsh people on the part of Oxford men, who thought the Welsh were taking their work and were all 'reds'.
The juxtaposition of these two remarks provides a graphic illustration of the irrational nature of much of the invective which was directed against the Welsh immigrants; they could be branded as 'diluters' and militants literally in the same breath. There were others among Daniel's witnesses who found these labels freely applied to them and their fellow countrymen. One man who moved to Oxford in the late twenties said that the native Oxfordians regarded the Welsh as rowdy and nearly all communists. In turn, the same man's attitude towards the natives had not changed in the decade he had been in the city. He saw them as insular and prejudiced and politically dead … A much younger man, with little direct trade union experience before leaving Wales also found Oxford natives to be:
… very reserved and independent, and found it hard to understand their Conservative politics and apathetic attitude towards trade unions.
As late as the 1950s, industrial trade unionism was still seen by many Oxfordians as being alien to the City's traditions and as a means for the immigrants to exploit a high-wage economy. Unions such as the TGWU were seen as primarily the province of 'the Scotch and the Welsh' and whilst it was acknowledged that trade unions are necessary in some jobs like mining, in Oxford they caused nothing but trouble with the chief trouble-makers being the Welsh who were out for all they can get.
The minute books of the Coventry District AEU demonstrate a continual concern about the impact of immigrant labour upon wages and, in particular, about the tendency of some DA men to go to the factory gates and offer themselves 'at any price'. However, the frequency with which complaints like this appear in the minutes is perhaps more indicative of a Union which was struggling to overcome its own conservatism and to come to terms with the transformation of work patterns in the engineering industry, than of a tendency among immigrants to accept lower wages. If some of the younger transferees and migrants were involved in undercutting, propagandists such as Wal Hannington had no doubt where the responsibility for this should be laid. However, rather than taking up the challenge of developing new solutions to the problem of dilution, the craft unions simply gave justification to their members' prejudices. This sometimes gave rise to abusive behaviour on the part of, and even to disciplinary action against some AEU members. When a Welsh shop steward gave evidence to a sub-committee of the District AEU set up to investigate complaints against Bro. Underhill, a particularly uncooperative and belligerent member at the Humber works, Underhill stated that:
… they were not likely to have harmony in the shop when the other members were Welshmen but were only paying into the trade union for their own advantage.
Well into the 1930s, the possibility that Welsh migrant workers might transfer their trade union traditions to their new environments was a major concern of the industrialists participating in the Industrial Transference Scheme. Their image of the Welsh miner, ever since the 1926 lock-out, had remained one of a potential disease-carrier: the disease was 'Militancy'. The same applied in the new industries more generally; personnel departments were ordered not to hire Welshmen; employment exchanges were asked not to send Welshmen for interviews; the immigrants were blamed for strikes regardless of the origin of the dispute. As Eli Ginzberg, this evidence suggests that the Welsh were no favourites with English foremen and managers. He also suggested that, while in general terms the Welsh were not the major instigators of the drive for organisation, they frequently lent their support to that drive and were seldom as uninterested as they appeared to be in Slough. At the same time, he thought it not unreasonable to expect that out of half a million immigrants there would be some who cut wages and many who would obtain work locally before the local unemployed had been absorbed. When she conducted a survey among the young immigrants in London in 1939, Hilda Jennings was difficult to understand why previously loyal SWMF members were so slow to join trade unions in the capital. One of the reasons given was that membership of the Federation was seen as a tradition to which they had subscribed without exercising much thought:
It was felt generally that Welshmen are not unduly backward at joining the Trade Union movement compared with Londoners and workers from other parts of the country. Indeed, several key positions are held by men who have recently come from the mining valleys. But, considering the traditions of the South Wales Miners' Federation, it was urged by the Trade Unionists who had contributed to the enquiry that there were too many Welshmen in London outside the movement, and too much tendency to apathy among them.
From this evidence, it is clear that it would be wrong to assume that strong, collective trade union traditions could simply and easily be transferred from the coalfield context of homogeneous, close-knit communities to the diasporic and atomised existence which many migrants found themselves living in a large and heterogeneous metropolis. Conditions within the recipient areas needed to be favourable in order for retention to take place successfully. By contrast, although some of the trade unions in Coventry were concerned about dilution to the point of being slow to organise among the unskilled and semi-skilled immigrants, there is little doubt that by the end of the decade these immigrants had settled well into the pattern of militant trade unionism which had already been well established in the city's factories before they arrived. Also, from about 1934, trade union membership began to grow again in Coventry, as elsewhere, though it wasn't until 1937 that this became more rapid. Richard Crossman, the Labour parliamentary candidate at this time and subsequently MP, wrote of the DA men in 1970 that:
Once they had uprooted themselves they looked back with horror on the distressed areas they had left, and accepted both the management's insistence on ever increased intensity of labour in return for the swelling wage packet, and the collective solidarity and discipline on which the shop-stewards from the first insisted, as the price of admission to the mass production line.
The St. John Ambulance Brigade leads a parade along Cross Cheaping in Coventry in 1933 (photo by Sidney Stringer).
The 'Influx' to the Cities & its Impact on Local Politics:
Organisationally, the local Labour Party in Coventry was successful in drawing together a team of spokesmen and women who could handle municipal politics. More time and effort was required to prepare for municipal power, and Labour slowly came to attract candidates who were not active in their union or working in factories. Of the thirty-one Labour councillors and aldermen whose occupations can be identified in 1936-38, only seven were, or had close links with engineering workers. There were a number of middle-class activists, including clergymen, a number of women recorded as housewives, and about one-third were Co-op employees. A number of Labour activists got jobs with Coventry Co-op because jobs in engineering would not give them enough time off to attend Council meetings and carry out Council business. The Co-op was the only source of patronage, and thus a useful refuge for Labour activists. However, it's clear that Labour in the 1930s was also able to attract some non-working-class support, while its leadership was only able to remain in office because they had severed many of their links with the trade unions.
Over a period of fifteen years, Labour leaders had succeeded in taking the Party from a situation where it had ill-defined policies and no clear electoral strategy to one where it concentrated all its energies into the drive for municipal power. The result of its victory over ageing if not senile opposition meant that Labour, far from having stormed a citadel of capitalism, had to preside over the renewal of the city, making up for several decades of neglect. Though many of Labour's policies were aimed at improving the conditions among working people, such measures were bound to improve the services to employers as well.
By 1937, the car industry in Coventry was enjoying unbridled expansion and the editor of the Telegraph acknowledged that Coventry's problem was not one of a shortage of employment, but rather one of a shortage of the right type of labour. Such unemployment as existed, he suggested, was due to an increase in the number of people who had come to the city to try to find work for which they were unsuited. Thus, the continuation of unemployment at five per cent could largely be accounted for by these 'industrial misfits'. In an interview with the enigmatic Captain Black of the Standard Motor Company, the Telegraph discovered that over five hundred additional workers had been taken on by the Company in the previous twelve months. New factories were being built or planned and existing workshops reorganised to cope with the demand for increased supplies. The output of one large manufacturing works was fifty per cent up on 'the normal' for September. Thousands of cars were leaving the city every day. The following month it was reported that two firms of body-builders were setting up new factories on the outskirts of the city, giving employment to a further seven thousand workers. The expansion was so overwhelming that some elected representatives began to 'call halt' and to reflect the growing national concern about the concentration of industry. In October 1937, the Midland Daily Telegraph was reporting almost daily on the debate among councillors which was becoming non-partisan:
Councillor J. C. Lee-Gordon … questioned whether Coventry required these new factories, and raised the issue of the new schools and houses that would have to be provided to meet the needs of the labour which, he assumed, would have to be imported … Similar opinions have been heard in Labour circles … The viewpoint has been expressed that towns situated in the prosperous areas should not encourage the construction of new factories, but that industrialists in search of these sites should be quietly shepherded into the distressed areas. …
By this time the Labour Party in the distressed areas and nationally had begun calling unequivocally for the end of the Transference policy and its replacement with the planned relocation of new industries. Its report on the 'Distressed Areas' had been published earlier in the year, produced under the chairmanship of Hugh Dalton MP. Its recommendations included these two points. Brinley Thomas' 1938 article on The Influx of Labour into the Midlands examined the origin of 'foreign' employment books exchanged in the Midlands Division of the Ministry of Labour in July 1937. As in Oxford, the presence of these 'foreign' books in the Coventry Labour Exchange indicated that at some point between 1920 and the middle of 1937 the owners of the books had moved into the area. The Coventry and North Warwickshire area, including Rugby and Nuneaton, had 18,822 foreign books exchanged within it, of which 4,044 (21.5%) were originally issued in Wales, 2,364 in Scotland (12.6%), 2,010 (10.7%) from the North East and 3,271 (17.4%) from the North West.
In Oxford, the Communists had remained weak until the founding of the October Club at the University in December 1931. This doubled their membership and led to the reorganisation of the party branch in 1932. However, it was the Pressed Steel strike of 1934 which transformed the branch into an effective force in local politics with a significant working-class base. The 'twelve days that shook Oxford' provided the spring-board for the growth in tandem of trade unionism and working-class politics within the city. Soon after the strike, the party had about seventy members, though less than five per cent of these were openly members. The majority were public members of the Labour Party. Local leaders were already moving away from the 'Class Against Class' policy, doing their best to play down the ideological divisions between the two parties. For their part, local trade unionists and councillors had little time for the TUC circular which called for Communists to be debarred from office. The leaders of the Pressed Steel TGWU 5/60 Branch decided to appoint what delegates the branch so wished. The 'United Front' line won support in the Trades Council, which adopted the following resolution in April 1935:
(The Council's) strength and activity is due in no small measure to the presence on the Council of members of the Communist Party … In our daily experience CP members have … thrown themselves into the work of strengthening the Trade Union movement … In the past twelve months, the local Trade Union membership has increased by well over three thousand and we cannot understand why the TUC should want to disrupt this splendid work …
In July 1935, the Cowley and Iffley Labour Party and the local CP agreed to a 'United Front' slate for the forthcoming local elections. Their decision was endorsed by the City Labour Party with only one vote against. This 'United Front' was led by workers from the 'DAs' who were beginning to gain prominence in local politics. In September, four of them were endorsed as Labour Party candidates, though they were also secretly CP members, with one nominated as an openly CP candidate on the same 'slate'. One of the five, Tom Harris, told the Oxford Mail that he was a strong supporter of the municipalisation of all the public services… However, by the end of the local party was clearly under some pressure to adopt a more moderate slate and the CP candidate was persuaded to withdraw his nomination in order to relieve the situation and maintain the unity of the Party (presumably, the Labour Party).
At this point, a young man who had cut his political teeth helping to organise the housing campaign in south Oxford earlier in the year, Richard Crossman, was announced as a candidate for the Headington Ward. Later in life, after becoming a Labour MP in Coventry and a Cabinet minister in the Attlee Government, Crossman acknowledged the debt he owed to the working-class politicians he had worked alongside in Oxford. Another post-war national political figure, Patrick Gordon-Walker, was adopted as Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford for the General Election of November 1935, in which he was unsuccessful. Throughout 1936 and 1937, the Oxford Labour Party continued to defy the line taken by the national party, supporting affiliation by the CP. The Labour Party NEC's rejection of this was deplored by the local party. By the Spring of 1936, the strength of the party in both the colleges and 'the town' was such that Oswald Mosley was forced to leave the City 'by the back gate'.
Concern about the frequency of 'wildcat' strikes at the Pressed Steel, where the 5/60 Branch had come under increasing control by the CP, led to Ernest Bevin and the National Executive of the TGWU to appoint a full-time organiser for the area. Tom Harris was one of the candidates for the new post, but he was passed over in favour of Jack Thomas, who hailed from the Aberdare Valley. Thomas had become Chairman of the Lodge at Aberavon pit at the age of eighteen and then moved to Swansea to work as a labourer for the Corporation, becoming a rank and file delegate at the first TGWU Conference at Scarborough in 1925. As the Secretary of the Union's Corporation Branch in Swansea for twelve years, he also became Chairman of the Swansea Labour Association in 1935. He began work in Oxford in January 1937. The Communists at Pressed Steel had their suspicions about his appointment which were confirmed by a speech he made to the Trades Council soon after his arrival, and they issued a stern warning to him in their factory broadsheet, The Spark:
Let him remember that the Pressed Steel Branch of the TGWU was built up by the UNITED forces of the workers long before Mr Thomas had heard of Pressed Steel. The workers in Oxford active in the Trade Union and Labour Movement believe in Unity. Mr Bevin's anti-unity ideas don't cut any ice here. Mr Thomas' job is not to make anti-unity speeches … but to get our works organised.
As the Communists' strength grew, their argument in favour of the 'United Front' grew louder, and a resolution was carried which led to the establishment of the Oxford Unity Committee. The Labour Party almost doubled its membership between 1936 and 1938, to over six hundred, including many Communists. The real roots of this growth were laid, not in the October Club or the University Labour Club, but in the building up of a strong party organisation in Cowley and Iffley, dominated by car workers and especially by former South Wales miners. In January 1937, in addition to the Chairman, treasurer and her husband, Frank Pakenham, all the other six ward officials were Welsh. In 1938, Patrick Gordon-Walker was selected to stand again in the Oxford by-election. The Liberal Party had selected Ivor Davies, who offered to stand down from the by-election if Labour did the same and backed a Popular Front candidate against the Conservatives. Eventually, Gordon Walker reluctantly stood down and both parties supported Andrew Lindsay, the Master of Balliol, as an Independent Progressive. Quintin Hogg, the Conservative candidate, defeated Lindsay in the by-election, but the latter was in no doubt about how the political complexion of the City had been changed by what had happened in Cowley:
We have heard a lot about Oxford ceasing to be a sleepy University town in an agricultural county. There lies the fundamental reason for Labour's growth.
Red 'Influx' – Rule by the Sweepings of Great Britain:
The phenomenal growth of working-class politics in Oxford in the five years before the outbreak of war to a point where a left-wing victory, previously unimaginable, had become possible, was a key indicator of what might have happened in other 'new industry' centres had a general election taken place in 1940. However, the process of political recovery on the Left had to wait a further six years to come to fruition, though the seeds were widely sown before the war. Historians have argued about the role of the war itself in bringing about the Labour 'landslide' victory of 1945. What is clear is that immigrant workers from the Depressed Areas played a key role in this political recovery. Their success lay in the way they were able to reflect, articulate and organise a general mood of resistance and recovery among the new working class in Cowley and East Oxford, which was forged from old traditions of trade union organisation and militancy originating in the older industrial areas. The fact that Abe Lazarus, District Organiser for the CPGB, missed election as a Cowley Councillor by only twenty votes in 1937 gives a clear indication of the extent to which the newcomers had succeeded in shifting Oxford politics to the left. The assertion of a leading Welsh immigrant – we changed their outlook – reflects the reality of the immigrant contribution to the transformation of the political life of 'the City of Dreaming Spires' in the 1930s.
In 1935, the Communist Party developed a campaign about the housing conditions on the new Florence Park Estate which began with a deputation of the estates' tenants to the Sanitary Committee of the Town Council in May. It had been built on marshland which had regularly flooded and when the estate was finished there were a series of related problems, both major and minor, which resulted partly from the speed with which the houses were erected. These problems have been described by one of the first tenants on the estate, a Welsh immigrant, and are well documented in the civic archives. The Tenants' Committee published a pamphlet entitled The Oxford Rent and Housing Scandal – Who is Responsible? But from the other sources, and in particular, from the report of the independent surveyor, it is apparent that, although the problems provided a focus for a broad-based tenants' campaign, serious cases were isolated and that the majority of the housing on the estate provided attractive, if expensive homes, to immigrants who had generally experienced far worse housing conditions in South Wales. The Allport family from the Garw Valley described the contrast:
When we arrived we were impressed. … we were coming from Wales and the house had the old fires in the best rooms. This was a modern house with the small grates – it was heaven! I can remember how I ran around the rooms. There was a bathroom, which we had never had before – we had had baths in front of the fire. … just imagine the difference – we were delighted – like walking on air…
By the late 1930s, the militancy of the immigrants had spread to the housing estates in East Oxford. The Welsh workers interviewed by Goronwy Daniel were paying between twenty and twenty-five shillings for five-roomed houses. The average net weekly pay packet of the fifty-five men interviewed was fifty-eight shillings and their usual payment for board and lodging was twenty-five shillings, almost identical to the rent they had paid in Wales. The married Oxford Welshman, however, had rented colliery houses for his family for only 10s. 6d. in south Wales, but paid 17s. 9d. in Oxford. Moreover, the loss of the 'sub-economy' made available through allotments, coal 'patches' and slag-heaps affected the migrant family more than it did the individual migrant. Thus, the relatively high wages which could be earned in periods of full-time working in the car factories were offset to a considerable extent by high rents and other financial factors which closed the gap between income and expenditure.
The rent strike which took place on the Great Headley Estate in July 1939 demonstrated the apparent intractability of these problems. The majority of the husbands on the estate were employed at Morris' or Pressed Steel and were continually faced with the risk of being laid off, often for extended periods. The lowest rent on the estate was nineteen shillings and the highest twenty-four. The Gazette, the Labour Party's local periodical paper, claimed that the risk of the landlords in building the estate was negligible compared with that taken by many of the tenants who have been compelled to emigrate from the Distressed Areas. Faced with the impossibility of getting a cheap house, they had no alternative but to take houses at exorbitant rents. The paper went on to report the case of one man who had been out of work for five years before arriving in Oxford and securing a job at the Morris Radiator factory. He then sent for his wife and family, who had only been in Oxford for a fortnight when he was thrown out of work. He received thirty-three shillings unemployment benefit for himself, his wife and two children, out of which he was expected to pay nineteen shillings per week in rent. He was being threatened with eviction. With the migration streams to Oxford drying up in 1938-39, as workers were being attracted to Coventry and elsewhere, the local Labour Party campaigned for greater security for migrant workers and their families in terms of their housing needs as well as in employment.
By 1936 in Coventry, the pressure for accommodation and the increased cost of living in the new housing estates was such that sub-letting was a common practice, especially among immigrants. Despite the Corporation's belated attempts to catch up with the demand for cheap housing, there were regular complaints in the local press throughout the summer and autumn of 1937 that the costs were 'greater than in most places' and were 'ridiculous' with many immigrants finding themselves 'at the mercy of landlords'. In September 1938, a local report on Coventry by the NCSS found that many migrant families had no choice but to rent housing at high rents. Nevertheless, oral evidence shows that, by 1939, migrant families were able to rent houses at fourteen shillings per week. The Labour administrations after 1937 had, by this time, led to the Corporation's house-building programmes so that immigrants to Coventry were able to maintain a significant gap between earnings and rental payments. Neither did Coventry's builders have similar problems to those faced in Oxford. The Nuffield Survey's war-time report on Coventry and East Warwickshire found that in 1941, despite the effects of the November 1940 Blitz, the City's sixty thousand houses and shops were a goodly number for the population as it had stood at the outbreak of war and that, although larger family houses were few, the great majority of houses provided accommodation superior to the average for the whole country. Mary Jones described her reaction, similar to that of the Allports in Cowley, to the change in accommodation involved in her migration from the Rhondda to Coventry:
Comparing the house I was living in with the house I came from I thought I was in heaven! I thought of the old house and black-leading the grates. …
In Coventry in 1929, Philip Noel-Baker had captured nearly half of all the votes cast at the general election and whilst the fortunes of the Party in the 1931 election followed the national trend, in 1935 the role of former Welsh miners in municipal affairs in England attracted the attention of leading politicians. In November, Herbert Morrison, then Chairman of London County Council, spoke at a meeting in Coventry in support of Noel-Baker. In his speech, he contrasted the practical failures of Government ministers with the successes of a new breed of working-class politicians:
Mr Oliver Stanley, the Minister of Labour, with all his university education, had made a mess of his job. The Chairman of the London Public Assistance Committee was a common workman, formerly a South Wales miner, yet in the speaker's opinion was better than all the Oliver Stanleys in the Tory Party.
In the local elections in Coventry, the Labour Party made steady headway against the Lib-Con coalition until it finally won control of the City Council in 1937, becoming one of the first local parties in the country to take control of a municipal authority. The taking of municipal powers by the Party had no impact on class relations within the city, nor on industrial relations in the workplace, but it remained dedicated to advancing the cause of municipal socialism. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the gulf between workplace and municipal politics was such that the growing power of Labour in the Council was not challenged by the growing power of the Communist Party in the unions. It seems from this that 'activism' in the trade union movement, especially among engineering workers, did not generally lead to candidacy for the city council. There appears to have been a clear division between the two representative roles.
The tendency of Welsh migrants to Coventry towards left-wing politics reinforced a pre-existing tradition, in marked contrast to the situation in Oxford. This tradition was primarily 'syndicalist' in nature since it focused its attention upon industrial struggles within the factories. Immigrant trade unionists such as Jock Gibson were already spreading the influence of the Communist Party in the 1930s to the point where it had a 'significant presence' at forty factories throughout the city. However, its growing industrial strength was not reflected in the general party politics, since those engaged in 'the struggle' in the economic field did not show any great interest in the social field, unlike in Oxford, mirroring the position adopted by many of the leading employers who, despite many appeals, refused to involve themselves in local politics. Hence the dominant political élite in the life of the city remained a group of small businessmen and professionals who formed themselves into a Lib-Con coalition which by the Thirties had remodelled itself as 'the Progressive Party'. Their loss of supremacy, from 1937 onwards, was attributed by their supporters, not to an overspilling of militancy from the factories into the social sphere but, according to the Midland Daily Telegraph to:
… the rapid drift of population from the depressed areas … a steady stream of potential left-wing supporters.
The truth was that, with no common principles other than the opposition to socialism, no policies other than curbs on public spending, no electoral machinery and a declining social base, it was clear by the mid-thirties in Coventry that the Con-Lib Coalition had been clinging to power by default. It had been able to protect itself as the social leadership of the city and use its powers to look after its social base but had lacked the will and ability to develop policies that could have encouraged industry to support it, or to attract working-class voters to it. Its inability to plan to meet the needs of the city and develop a modern infrastructure meant that its removal ended an obstacle to progress, not just for working people, but to a wide range of commercial and industrial interests. It had outlived its usefulness, and Labour's victory in November 1937, besides making possible the application of genuinely progressive policies, also provided an opportunity to make the city more responsive to the needs of modern mass manufacturers. The 'influx' in itself provided a further factor in Labour's progress to power in Coventry, but it was not a primary one. Nevertheless, in the 1938 municipal by-election, the 'Progressive' (Lib-Con) candidate in St. Mary's Ward, near the city centre, had played upon the prejudices of electors who were predominantly 'old Coventrian' in winning his seat. This ploy was attacked in a Labour eve-of-poll leaflet, which in turn brought a strong retort from the Progressives' leader:
They had picked out from Mr Friswell's speech at his adoption a sentence referring to rule by the sweepings of Great Britain, and had divorced it from its context … What Mr Friswell had indicated was that the coming of so many of the Labour Party's supporters to Coventry had had a serious effect on Council elections. He was sure that the old Coventry people did not want Socialists in control of their affairs.
Midland Daily Telegraph, 20 July 1938.
The 'context' referred to was Friswell's claim that when he had spoken of 'the sweepings of Great Britain' he was quoting what a small shopkeeper had said to him about his district. However, in the full civic elections the Labour Party, surprisingly, did not advance on its 1937 position. This was due to the fact, as George Hodgkinson noted, that many of the newcomers had not yet been registered to vote despite the rapid growth of artisan dwellings reported by the Telegraph. Evidently, the immigrants to Coventry from the South Wales valleys were not as settled in the city by the late thirties as were their compatriots in Cowley, although larger in numbers. Thus, the argument advanced by Conservative agencies within the City that it was the large influx of labour from socialist areas over the year preceding November 1937 that was the major factor in the Labour victory reflected their belief in 'the myth of the old Coventrian' as much as it did the reality of the processes of migration and settlement.
The 1937 victory was greatly facilitated by the creation of a large individual party membership which enabled many managerial, professional and clerical workers to play an increasingly important role alongside shop stewards, conveners and trade union officials. It was an 'alliance' which was carefully nurtured by strong leaders like George Hodgkinson and Sidney Stringer who shaped the Party into an organisation which was capable of winning elections and running the City successfully. In addition, the radical liberalism of many chapel-goers in the City was transformed into support for Labour's progressive provision and planning of social services at the municipal level. In particular, the advocacy of Christian Socialism by Rev. Richard Lee, the Unitarian minister; George Binns, Methodist lay-preacher; John Fennel, Ivor Reece (Congregationalist) and Howard Ingli James (Baptist), led to growing support among their congregations fuelled by the influx of workers from areas of the country, like South Wales, where Nonconformity was still comparatively strong. All of these pastors spoke on Labour platforms within the city.
The Immigrant Road to 1947:
Many of the Welsh immigrant workers, like 'Jehu' Shepherd, were attracted to Queen's Road Baptist Church in the city centre, where Ingli James had his ministry in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Shepherd became the organist and choirmaster and for many years ran a Male Voice 'Glee Society' in the city for the young Welsh immigrants. Besides supporting the initiatives which the immigrants had taken to establish an image of respectability in their new environment, such as the Glee Singers, Ingli James also affirmed to a wide audience, the society and culture from which they had come. He continually referred to the miners in his sermons, and his unashamed championing of working-class causes and politics brought him into conflict with the established professional Coventrians among on the diaconate in the church and more broadly in the city. May Shepherd recalled one of his sermons:
Ingli James was a great preacher, very down to earth, and a pacifist. He was a strong Labour man and he upset quite a few people because he just said what he felt – he was true to himself, he would not say one thing and mean another, or say something to please people. Ingli was not bombastic and what he said was true. I always remember once when he talked about the miners, he said:
"I had a load of coal the other day, and paid for it. Did I say I paid for it? No, never, when I think what those men had to go through to get that coal for me to enjoy, and then I say I paid for it. No money would pay for what they did!"
I can see him now in that pulpit!
James' sermons also dealt constantly with unemployment. In 1942, he preached a sermon entitled How Green Was My Valley, coinciding with the distribution of the Holywood film in Britain. The politics of the young immigrant men and women in his congregation, like the Shepherds, had a major effect on the development and direction of James' ministry, as his 1936 article for the Midland Daily Telegraph reveals:
Coventry is today faced with the difficult task of welding a host of newcomers into a community, in fact of making a city, which is not the same thing as a mere collection of streets, or conglomeration of people… Almost every week strangers appear in our congregation, often in such numbers that one has difficulty in getting in touch with them. Many are young, and trying their wings for the first time. It is an important part of our work to meet their needs both spiritual and social, to provide them with a place where they may find friends and feel at home.
'Before the Blitz': Broadgate, Coventry City Centre in 1939.
Some of these newcomers were among the convinced and articulate group of Christian Socialists with strong pacifist convictions. James shared their impetus to social reform, which he articulated in his book, Communism and the Christian Faith, published in 1950, in which he acknowledged his indebtedness to the Queen's Road congregation for the way they had given him a new vision of what a Christian community in a busy industrial city might be and do. He then went on to describe how he came to his vision of Christian Socialism during his ministry in Swansea before arriving in Coventry:
The depression of 1929-33 left a profound mark on my mind. All around me I saw the bitter struggle of the unemployed … I also realised that the world contained an abundance of the necessities of life which the system denied to the people. However, these ideas were all vague, and I played no active part in the struggle of the unemployed. At the end of 1934, I read my first copy of 'the Daily Worker'. What I read filled the gaps in my political development…
Of course, many of those he ministered to in Coventry had experienced 'the struggle' first hand but came to their visions via a variety of routes. But in his writing, as in his sermons, he was also distilling the essence of the shared experience of a significant section of the British working class between the wars, the migrating millions from the Depressed Areas. Compared with Cowley, some of the most prominent Welsh figures in the local party in Coventry did not arrive in Coventry until the later 1930s and made their impact after the Second World War. These included Ernie Roberts, AEU District Chairman, William Parfitt from Tylorstown and Harry Richards from Tonypandy, both of whom became Lord Mayor, and Cllr. Elsie Jones, who, in 1958, made the following poetic contribution to a Party publication celebrating twenty-one years of Labour rule in the City:
Born and reared in a mining area I realised the need for reforms very early in life –
Because I loved loved light and sunshine I knew men and young boys who, during winter, seldom saw either –
Because I loved peace and a tranquil home, and I saw peaceful men become violent at the spectacle of their semi-starved families –
Because I loved music and culture, and the arts, and I knew boys and girls with wonderful natural gifts who would never get a chance to express them –
Because I loved freedom and independence, and I saw proud men grovelling for the 'privilege' of working for a week road-mending.
How green and beautiful was my valley. How black the despair in the heats of its people.
More broadly, it is apparent that together with Elsie Jones, the political attitudes of those living in Coventry's new housing estates were largely conditioned by their memories of the 'depression years' elsewhere in Britain. When the Labour Government's housing policy came under attack in 1947, Aneurin Bevan chose to defend it in Coventry and issued a challenge to Anthony Eden to debate the issue and, according to the Coventry Tribune (Labour's own local paper) was given a great reception from the people of Coventry, in particular from members of the Welsh Community, many of whom knew him in their native valleys. If we are to take this statement literally, there certainly was quite a large 'lump' of exiles from the Monmouthshire Valleys in Coventry at the end of the thirties, so it is quite possible that a number of them would have known him personally as their former MP. The growth of municipal socialism in Coventry, from 1937 onwards was, like Bevan's own role as Minister for Health and Housing, a practical expression of the principles of progress and planning which arose out of the determination of both leaders and led to attain to better living conditions than those which they had been forced to endure between the wars. Reflecting on his experience of the 'two Britains' he witnessed in the Thirties, Ingli James recognised that although Marxism was ultimately incompatible with his Christian Faith, it provided an empirical means for Christian Socialists to explain the injustices and inequalities of the capitalist system:
Probably the most powerful weapon ever put into the hands of the British Marxists was the prolonged period of widespread unemployment between the wars. Those who wonder why ten thousand electors voted Communist in the Rhondda Valley in 1945, should reflect on the plight of the valley during that period, when streets of empty shops testified to its bitter poverty, when every male member of many a church was unemployed, when thousands of eager youngsters were compelled to seek employment far from home. The memory of what happened to Merthyr, to Jarrow, to many a small town in Lancashire during these years is still the most powerful weapon the Marxist propagandist can use. Conversely, the most convincing argument against Marxism would be a demonstration that we can build a relatively just society in which every citizen is assured of useful employment and a decent livelihood, without infringing the rights of the individual and without resorting to violence. … we must show how it might be done.
Labour's coming to municipal power in 1937 proved to be a harbinger of their post-war supremacy in local and parliamentary politics; the election of Richard Crossman and Maurice Edelman as the City's two MPs in 1945 confirmed the Party's status as the leading political party in Coventry. By that time, the migrants from the Depressed Areas, and in particular those from the coalfield valleys of South Wales had shown, by their various contributions to the economic, political, social, cultural and religious life of the new industry towns, that they were not prepared to be treated as mere pawns in an economic and political system which had displaced them. Nor were they prepared to be acquiescent in the face of stereotyping, which was often grotesque and prejudices which were always difficult to overcome. In the retention and transposition of their traditional values and institutions, they made an 'ark of the covenant' for themselves and thereby found a powerful means of confronting and overpowering those stereotypes and prejudices, and of fostering a positive self-image in their new environment. In doing so, they enabled and enhanced the recovery of working-class politics and culture in the 1930s. When the Lord Mayor of Oxford visited the Garw Valley in 1960, he told those assembled that those who had left the valley thirty or so years before had…
… entered into the life of the community of Oxford to the fullest, … in churches, chapels, football matches and in the Council; in all walks of life … they were highly respected citizens of Oxford.
The memory of the depression years had become a powerful motive force throughout industrial Britain, old and new, long before 1945. Those who had lost everything had also lost their fear; they had everything to regain and were determined to be in control of their own remaking. The trade union movement and the Labour Party were the major and long-term beneficiaries of this resistance and recovery.
Sources (for both 'case studies'):
A. J. Chandler (1988), The Re-making of a Working Class: Migration from the South Wales Coalfield to the New Industry Areas of the Midlands, c. 1920-1940. Cardiff: Unpublished PhD thesis.
Dai Smith (1984), Wales! Wales? London: George Allen & Unwin (Publishers).
Tony Curtis (ed.) (1986), Wales: The Imagined Nation. Bridgend: Poetry Wales Press. (Especially Peter Stead's chapter on 'Wales in the Movies').
Bill Lancaster & Tony Mason (eds.) (n.d.), Life & Labour in a Twentieth-Century City: The Experience of Coventry. Coventry: Cryfield Press (University of Warwick).
Denys Blakeway (2010), The Last Dance: 1936 – The Year Our Lives Changed. London: John Murray (Publishers).
Posted January 26, 2020 by AngloMagyarMedia in Affluence, Assimilation, Birmingham, Britain, British history, Charity, Christian Faith, Christian Socialism, Christianity, Church, clannishness, Co-operativism, Coalfields, Commemoration, Communism, Coventry, democracy, Deportation, Economics, Education, Egalitarianism, emigration, Ethnicity, Factories, First World War, Genesis, George VI, History, Immigration, Integration, Journalism, Labour Party, liberalism, manufacturing, Marxism, Methodism, Midlands, Migration, Militancy, morality, multiculturalism, Mythology, Narrative, nationalism, Nationality, Oxford, Poverty, Proletariat, Remembrance, Respectability, Russia, Scotland, Second World War, Security, Social Service, Socialist, south Wales, Spanish Civil War, Technology, Trade Unionism, Transference, Unemployment, United Kingdom, Wales, Warfare, Welfare State, Women's History, World War One, World War Two, xenophobia
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The Labour Party and the Left, 1934-39: Case Study I – How Red Were the Valleys anyway?; The Politics of Unemployment, Militancy & Migration. 1 comment
'Red Walls', 'Heartlands' & 'Little Moscows':
We may well ask, in borrowing and adapting the title of Richard Llewellyn's famous 1939 novel, whether Britain's industrial valleys and towns were really quite so 'red' as some made them out to be at the time and over the decades since the Thirties. The myth of Maerdy in the Rhondda as a 'little Moscow' has remained a potent one, and has been used to justify the political hegemony of Labour in its 'heartlands' and, most recently, to explain the victory of the Conservatives beyond the 'Red Wall' of the 'Northern' constituencies in the 2019 General Election. In Wales, the metaphor of bridges seems more appropriate, since the Bridgend constituency, in the geographical heart of the region and on the edge of the Coalfield below the Llynfi, Garw and Ogmore valleys, was taken by the Tories (the town and the three valleys make up the County Borough of Bridgend). Maerdy became a myth because it was the base of Arthur Horner, Communist and future leader of the South Wales Miners' Federation. As such, the intransigence of its miners' lodge, which it shared with other pit villages, was deliberately channelled by the militants in the 'Fed' and the NUWM, giving it a longer life as a 'little Moscow'. Its styles were present wherever there were some everywhere in the valleys. In the face-to-face conflict with the Labour Party nationally enjoined by the Comintern's Class Against Class policy between 1929 and 1934, the CPGB took over the Rhondda Labour Party, stood Horner as a parliamentary candidate in 1933 and got within three thousand votes of getting him elected. Horner then renewed working with other left-wing organisations ahead of the 'Popular Front' policy adopted by the Communist International the following year.
In the Thirties, as the expansion of the Social Service movement sought to 'irrigate' the South Wales Coalfield, it was accused by the 'Left' in general and Communists in particular, of becoming a form of 'dope' for the unemployed, contributing to the process of 'demoralisation' in coalfield communities, rather than alleviating it. Allen Hutt took this view, making no differentiation between the efforts of the churches, the Quakers, the 'social service ladies and gentlemen and other charity mongers'. Wal Hannington, Communist leader of the NUWM, also argued that those who, by word or deed, divert the unemployed from the struggle against the Government were, whether they knew it or not, leading them into demoralisation rather than rescuing them from it, and in so doing, were acting as instruments of government policy. He pointed out that the word 'demoralisation' did not only refer to behaviour involving corrupt practices and indulging in mean and contemptible acts but could also be applied to a person being deprived of courage and self-reliance. Both the government and the movement itself remained extremely sensitive to this accusation which was echoed by Labour MPs and therefore could not be dismissed as the babbling of a militant minority. The 1934 Pilgrim Trust Report had suggested that the 'generous impulse' of the Nation had gone far to soften the bitterness of spirit that would brook no palliatives and Wyndham Portal stated that, whilst there was…
… no doubt that men were averse … to associating themselves with a club which was subsidised by Government monies, opposition was 'gradually dying down'.
However, while the hostility may have gone, the apathy had not, as his own report revealed that though there were a hundred and fifty unemployed clubs throughout the region, they involved only about twelve per cent of the total unemployed. Portal suggested that there should be a settlement with a warden and his wife carefully vetted to ensure that the 'right type' of people were appointed who would operate the occupational centres 'on appropriate lines'. Firstly, they were to encourage transference by fostering a wider sense of 'citizenship', breaking down loyalties to class and locality. Secondly, they were to seek out and develop the right sort of leadership for the communities in which they settled. However, those who knew the valleys better could see the contradictions involved in this strategy. Captain Geoffrey Crawshay, the Honorary Secretary of SWMCSS expressed this concern in the Second Annual Report of the Council:
… Leaders in Churches and Sunday Schools, Trade Union Lodges and Workmen's Institutes, Unemployed Men's Clubs and Boys' Clubs change with every month, while 'Transference' skims the cream from our community and leaves it with the same burdens of maintenance and ever-deepening problems of social leadership. … The flower of our young manhood, with all its potentialities for leadership is leaving us in a steady flow.
Several less 'official' surveys confirmed that many of the younger unemployed 'kept away' from the centres for a variety of reasons. Apart from the obvious association of them with activities preferred by older men such as boot-repairing and upholstery, it soon became apparent that these institutions were not, as they claimed, run in the best traditions of democratic organisation which were the norm in coalfield society. In his survey conducted for the Carnegie Trust in the Pontypridd area, A. J. Lush found that, out of the ten occupational clubs in the area, only two allowed members 'a fair measure of responsibility for control and management' and that many of the organisers were 'stalwart conservative zealots', chiefly concerned to provide 'strong moral leadership' and often 'terribly ignorant on the most vital subjects inherent in the work… .' Their lack of understanding of the needs of the unemployed would lead them to organise programmes of lectures which had little or no relevance to their audience. One unemployed miner remarked to James Hanley that 'these places' were run like 'a kind of honest British Working Men's Club'. Communists were often excluded because it was feared that they might spread dissent and division:
… the Social Centre is not very keen on having you if you're a Communist. They're very worried about us, … and they'll have to worry a lot more soon, for the whole valley is turning that way as time goes on…
Certainly, what one American sociologist, Eli Ginzberg described as 'mendacious propaganda' did contribute to the failure of settlement houses and clubs, which were constantly under attack from the 'Left'. Percy Watkins, of the NCSS, encountered considerable opposition when he visited Rhydyfelin to suggest the setting up of an occupational club in Taff Vale. Communists regularly referred to settlement houses as 'dope houses' where injections were administered to the unemployed so that they might more willingly bear their lot. Referring to the Brynmawr Settlement, Ginzberg noted widespread resentment at the statement that Mr Peter Scott, who had first arrived there with the support and under the direction of the Society of Friends' Coalfield Distress Committee, had taken this little town under his wing. This had led to a deep distrust, not just of the National Government, but also of the Society of Friends and the Council of Social Service, both of which were perceived as being under government control, so that when the populace learned that the Government was actually giving financial support to the Council, its distrust turned into hostility. Another American Sociologist visiting the coalfield, G. H. Armbruster, found a similar antagonism in the Eastern Valley of Monmouthshire:
Passionately class conscious, the population resents the charitable features of the institutions and their origin from the benevolence or deception of a class that tradition has taught them to hate. 'They are here to keep us quiet' is a common oobservation … Individuals who had long taken advantage of the facilities offered remarked that they initially had to face the derision of and open antagonism of their fellows. 'Aye, you'd a thought we were blacklegs' one man saidwho had largely been responsible for the start of construction of an unemployed men's clubin his community told me. … The trades unions and the Labour Party also initially fed this opposition.
This antagonism was amplified by the way that the new institutions were seen to be in open competition with the miners' institutes, despite the latter's acceptance of financial support from the NCSS. Many older unemployed miners would have nothing to do with new Centres because they saw them as weapons in an 'underground war' to destroy the institutes. Some Hanley's witnesses went into flights of rhetorical language on this issue:
Now a lot of miners don't like the look of things at present, the way these centres and camps are spreading about. And I ask you – why will they bring these damned centres right on top of our own institutes? Many men think they're out to break the Miners' Institutes.
Even those who attended the clubs shared this scepticism and explained their participation by suggesting that they had every right to whatever 'crumbs' they could snatch. Philip Massey, in his survey of Blaina and Nantyglo, concluded that the acceptance of these small benefits did not make people content with their conditions. Indeed, several of the activities started through social service grants were being run by men with firm left-wing views. They had decided that, by the mid-thirties, it was too late to start boycotting the centres and that, though the Social Service movement was 'a farce' and 'a sop', they should take advantage of the resources available and use them for their own ends. Others, however, continued to feel that the centres were a continual and humiliating reminder of their dependence on this damned charity and that damned charity and that they conditioned the unemployed to accept their worklessness:
… All the Centres have done so far as I can see is to create a lot of jobs for people who don't really need them. They travel about in cars and ask us how we're getting on, and we go on mending boots and making tables, and not a thought about work in the air at all.
It is evident from these responses that the majority of the unemployed, both young and old, saw the settlement movement as a further intervention by the State. It was not easy for communities already at the mercy of the means test and transference measures to interpret the actions of these alien social workers in any other way than those of a quasi-official group of officials who had been sent to bring further demoralising pressure to that which they already felt. Referring to the Tonypandy 'riots' of 1910, one miner suggested to Hanley that the intention of the government was the same as it had been back then – to break the miners' spirit. It was this belief that conditioned many of the responses of these communities, families and individuals to unemployment and impoverishment. That is why it is important that one of the major responses 'from below', that of voluntary migration, should not be confused with the dominant official response to unemployment, that of 'Transference'. The migration response has been too readily characterised as one of acquiescence and defeatism rather than one of resistance to, and escape from, the web of state intervention in the coalfield.
Equally, it has been too easily assumed that the extent of resistance to state intervention from within the coalfield itself can best be measured by reference to the number and nature of demonstrations and the level of political action within its institutions and organisations. However, it is important to see both migration and militancy as complex responses in the context of the wider political and cultural traditions of coalfield communities, rather than simply assuming that the processes of immiseration led automatically either to widespread and uniform demonstrative action or to abject surrender. Given the diverse conditions of unemployment which existed in different communities, it is understandable that the 'militant' response should have been more detectable in some communities compared with others. The older coalfield communities which endured higher levels of long-term unemployment throughout the decade from 1929 to 1939 were those with the greatest propensity to direct political action. Although these 'eruptions' were the products of latent frustrations and resentment, they were sporadic events which occurred in response to specific grievances in the local operation of government policy and, although dramatic both in their nature and effects, they were rarely part of a broader political strategy. Therefore, the crude causal analysis of contemporary propagandists such as Donovan Brown when they wrote about the 1935 demonstrations against the new UAB scales, need to be treated with considerable scepticism:
There has always been in South Wales a tradition of militant struggle and extreme radicalism. English bourgeois standards have never penetrated deeply into the villages of the Welsh mining valleys. Steadily worsening conditions have replaced the spontaneous native culture of of the days when miners taught their apprentices the perfection of the Welsh metre, with a vigorous political consciousness. The village forms a perfect unit for unit for militant organisation around the pit; there class consciousness has arisen quite naturally, while the coal owners live many miles away in beautiful manors – we are reminded of the Chartist days when the Welsh mining villages constituted enemy territory … poverty, and the traditional militancy of the Welsh workers, naturally produced a vigorous opposition … Ceaseless activity has also continued among the unemployed … Marches and demonstrations all over the area had previously been taking place … South Wales is ablaze with indignation.
Whilst the broad brushstrokes of this assessment provide a colourful backdrop to a portrait of coalfield society, historians must painstakingly pick out the details for themselves. Otherwise, they will leave us with stereotypical and distorted images of the communities that composed it. Whilst it is clear that the Communists had been active organisers among the unemployed for some years before the 1935 demonstrations, they did not seem to benefit from this in terms of membership and support for their 'Class Against Class' policy. Even when they discarded this policy in 1934, and despite Wal Hannington's well-known efforts with the NUWM, he still failed to attract any substantial support from the voters of Merthyr Tydfil in the by-election of that year.
However, this evidence of a lack of support for revolutionary socialism should not lead us to the conclusion that 'the unemployed' of Merthyr were acquiescent about their condition. In fact, they were far from apathetic, but whilst espousing socialist views, had practical priorities and commitments, like 'GSW' (the need to demonstrate to labour exchange officials that they were genuinely seeking work) which would simply not allow time for a marked degree of participation in demonstrations and other forms of political action. Though many had to wait at home for hours waiting for a call to work for three days at their collieries, they were also far from physically or mentally idle, dividing their time between the Miners' Institutes and their allotments, the latter providing a vital supplementary food supply for their families. J. J. Williams, the local correspondent of the Glamorgan Gazette, commented on the juggling of priorities in the Garw valley:
The new Pantygog Allotments have already become known as 'the little Moscow', perhaps as a direct challenge to the old Sunday Market. One member who in debates often talks of 'taking the gloves off to get down to concrete facts' never touches the spade unless his hands are gloved.
There were many short-lived 'little Moscows', wherever the demands of struggle became so intense that a counter-community became necessary. At the height of the battle against non-unionism, described below, Bedlinog, which Gwyn Williams famously characterised as one of those villages where you need magnets in your boots to stand upright, at one time elected a Communist Chamber of Commerce.
Green or Red? Re-painting the Valleys in the Thirties:
Graph showing the relationship between average annual unemployment and net out-migration (in black) in given years (July-June).
For Dai Smith pointed out in his book Wales! Wales? (1984), the thirties were 'laundered' in the post-war liberal mind to such an extent that their image of 'passivity and pity' has obscured the 'sustaining humour and collective struggle' that can be found, for example in the autobiographical stories of Gwyn Thomas or in the local newspaper columns of J. J. Williams. For many on the 'liberal-left', South Wales became a 'case-study'. The American sociologist Eli Ginzberg spent some years in the 1930s investigating the social deprivation and institutional response in South Wales for his book, Grass on the Slag Heaps, published in 1942, his title perhaps picking up on the 'green' theme from Llewellyn's novel, published three years earlier. Ginzberg concluded his book with the observation:
It is difficult to help people who will not help themselves, and many of the tragedies that befell the Welsh during the the postwar decades can be traced to their own shortcomings and the shortcomings of their allies, the trade union movement and the Labour party … As early as 1934 Lord Portal called attention to the fact that the leaders of South Wales were noticeably inept, a result of the fact that the most virile and able people had migrated. This kindly interpretation of the ineptitude of Welsh leaders cannot, however, explain … such stupid practices in sending trade union leaders to Parliament as a reward for faithful services to the Federation.
The preface to Ginzberg's book was written by Thomas Jones (1870-1955), the arch-druid of the 'Cymric' liberals, who in the 1930s, with increasing success, began to fill the gap left by the collapse of independent working-class education and the decline of the Miners' Institutes. The 'Marxist' Central Labour College and its offshoot of 'Plebs League' classes in the coalfield could no longer be sustained by the Miners' Federation, much reduced in wealth and self-confidence. As Secretary of the Pilgrim Trust, Jones acted as dispenser-in-chief of aid to the stricken South Wales valleys and Percy Watkins became head of the Welsh section of the NCSS. Between them, they controlled the intersection between social service, educational provision and public guidance. In his memoirs, Watkins wrote of his puzzlement and irritation at the reception given to their attempts to restore 'standards' and 'authority' in the valleys:
It is a strange thing that these honest efforts of ours to bring cultural opportunities within the reach of the unemployed in the days of their helplessness and hopelessness did not receive the encouragement and support that might have been especially expected from the political side of the Labour movement and from the trade unions. The former preferred to regard the motives of our movement as nothing more than an attempt to provide 'dope'.
Marching in Step Against the Means Test:
The 'dope' was not intended to smother working-class militancy, which was patchy in any case, or their institutions, despite the rumours to the contrary. Where these were challenged directly, it was by victimisation, company unions, mass unemployment and mass policing. All of these ultimately failed to control the coalfield communities. The reorganisation and recovery of the SWMF, the continued agitation of the NUWM, and the fact that more national political and public attention was focused on the contrast between the increasingly prosperous areas and the depressed areas within Britain, all meant that by 1934 protest could be better organised and could produce results. Massive demonstrations against the 1934 Unemployment Act took place when the previously abstract idea of 'popular front' politics became a living reality in South Wales in January and February of 1935, as hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated within their valleys. The protest marches were directed against new government regulations that would have reduced unemployment assistance in addition to operating the humiliation of the means test.
On Sunday, 3 February, knots of people gathered around banners: local committees of action, churches, chapels, co-operatives, women's groups, the Salvation Army and the British Legion, Sunday schools, shopkeepers, shop-assistants, teachers, printers, ministers, the miners, the unemployed, women and children, all brought out onto the streets in a collective cry of anger against the continuing injustice of the unemployment allowance rates and the means test. The defiance was that of a whole community. In and about them moved their organisers, Labour and Communist and ILP, the NUWM, political opponents who had denounced each other endlessly in the previous six years. Bands formed up. Lewis Jones, the Communist spokesman for the NUWM, captured the moment in his 'documentary' novel, We Live, based on 'Cwmardy', based on the Rhondda:
At the bottom of the hill, before turning into the square which led to the rubbish dump, where the other contingents of the Combine were waiting. Len looked back. His eyes glowed with what he saw. The street behind him looked like a flowing river of human beings on which floated innumerable scarlet banners and flags … Although directly in front of the band, he heard running beneath its thrumming wails the deep monotone of countless boots tramping rhythmically on the hard road … When the front of the demonstration was two miles advanced and on the summit of the hill to the east of Cwmardy, people were still pouring into the assembling field. Len lifted his head shaply into the air when he fancied he heard the distant strain of music in the direction left of the demonstration. He turned to Mary and the workman next to her. 'Can you hear anything?' he asked. They both looked simultaneously past Len and he, seeing their amazement, turned his head to look in the same direction. He drew his breath sharply and his perspiring face went a shade whiter. The mountain which separated Cwmardy from the other valleys looked like a gigantic ant-hill covered with a mass of black, waving bodies. 'Good God,' the man next to Mary whispered, 'the whole world is on the move …'
On that Sunday, the whole population of South Wales seemed to have turned out on to the streets. There were sixty to seventy thousand in the Rhondda marching to Tonypandy; Aneurin Bevan spoke to thousands at Blackwood; Pontypool saw the biggest meeting it had ever had, twenty thousand listening to Ernest Bevin. There were marches and meetings in Neath, Briton Ferry, Merthyr, even in Barry. Down the Aberdare Valley, fifty thousand people marched to Mountain Ash in a procession two and a half miles long through wind and rain. Men and women wore their Sunday best as if at a 'Gymanfa Ganu' (Community Song Festival) George Dugger MPor a Sunday School rally, a cry from humanity for humanity, as a local journalist reported, adding the government cannot refuse to listen. Something of the order of 300,000 people marched that day. One person out of seven of the entire population of Wales was out in those valleys. It was the greatest demonstration Wales has ever known, before or since.
The marches were at their strongest and sometimes most violent at the heads of the valleys, especially in Merthyr and the Ebbw Fach Valley, which by this time had learnt to live with long-term unemployment and had come to regard benefit and relief as due by right, rather than as charity. Nowhere was the latent resentment of the effects of state intervention more visibly expressed than in Merthyr, where the UAB offices were ransacked, despite the imprecations of the previously well-respected Quaker, John Dennithorne. They shouted at him, Come down, Old Bug Whiskers! They would listen only to Ceridwen Brown from Aberdare and a local hero everyone knew as Jack Williams, the Communist from Dowlais. The smashing of the UAB offices horrified even the fiery radical, S O Davies, the Labour MP for the borough. His opinions were such that the Communist Party stood little chance of unseating him. On this occasion, however, he denounced the demonstrators as a rabble and was shouted down by Communists and ILP-ers.
Over in Blaina, the demonstrations also blew up into violence. The children of Nantyglo refused to go to school and the shopkeepers shut up shop. Take all necessary measures, their Labour MP George Dugger told them. In the Ebbw Fach Valley, there were seventy in the Communist Social Club and fifty in the Communist Women's Club; the valley had Communist district and county councillors. The people unleashed a guerilla war against a tough police force and marched on Abertillery singing We'll make Queen Mary do the washing for the boys! and Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? at Superintendent Baker. A big demonstration was planned for the offices at Blaina when the after the authorities had refused to listen to the Communist councillor Phil Abrahams. The Brynmawr and Nantyglo contingents met up with the Blaina and Abertillery squads near the Blaina Inn. The police came out of it flailing batons, and there were guerilla battles all over the heads of the valleys. At the ensuing trial, six of the rioters got six months in jail, three Communists in the NUWM got nine months and Phil Abrahams was stripped of his civic rights for ten years. In South Wales as a whole, three hundred thousand were estimated to have come out for demonstrations on three successive weekends. In Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham and in the other old centres of Britain's industrial revolution, the same emotion filled the streets.
The National Government was forced to listen. In the Commons, Oliver Stanley announced a stand-still order on their regulations. They did not come into effect for eighteen months, and then in modified forms. It was in the heads-of-the-valleys communities that the unemployed stood to lose the most through the new regulations. This was the only known occasion in the thirties when popular protest, aligned with parliamentary opposition, led most memorably by Aneurin Bevan, actually stopped the National Government in its tracks. South Wales had been at the forefront, and from that moment, despite the continuing horrors, there was a sudden lift in morale in the coalfield communities. Bevan later commented: Silent pain evokes no response.
Staying Down, Striking Back & Reaching Out:
Aneurin Bevan had been elected as MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929, finding himself in a Parliament in which thirteen of the fifteen Welsh Labour MPs had had, like him, an official connection with the SWMF, the miners' 'Fed'. During 1933-34, Bevan proposed the formation of worker self-defence militias against the small, scattered pockets of fascists who took root in south Wales. An eccentric Communist in Merthyr had a strong following among the most isolated and depressed communities and became something of a local hero to them and there were regular clashes around the town. There was some drilling of the militias around Bevan's home town of Tredegar, and the Communists also organised their own vigilantes, but all such initiatives were smothered by the Labour Party.
Towards the end of 1935, a series of stay-down strikes erupted in pits where non-unionists and company-unionists were ensconced. These 'stay-downs' fired the imagination; they were a weapon of repossession. Hundreds of men remained underground in their pits across all the valleys of South Wales in an act of collective defiance that ultimately ensured the demise of company unionism. It was a desperate, tough fight to unhinge the 'non-political' union, regain members, and establish credibility among the unemployed in an industry being driven by utterly intransigent coal-owners. Gwyn Williams (1985) wrote of this:
It is a story of infinite patience, persistence, care, resolution, and where necessary ruthlessness in what had the makings of a civil war. It is a story of remarkable leadership … with the genius of Horner in the van. The ritual was endlessly repeated, the strikes and arguments, the brass bands, marching crowds, women in the lead everywhere, the police charges, the court cases, the pilgrimage of political prisoners, the banners … The process climaxed in those dramatic stay-downs which caught the imagination of a generation, the long, wretched hours underground, the drama at the pit-head, the upcoming to a triumph.
From 1934 onwards the Fed was reorganised with a rank and file executive, unemployed lodges and a more effective structure. It successfully harnessed the community to its purpose and, in its somewhat shrunken industry, it won. This was one essential core around which the popular mobilisation of 1935 formed. But that mobilisation also demonstrated the limits of the Communist initiative. The CP, with its new Daily Worker offering powerful support for a Popular Front, and a dedicated membership approaching three thousand, moved forward, in the words of Gwyn Williams, with its intelligent, learned, hardened, crusading yet earthily practical men and women with all its dependent organisations, only to run into a brick wall of Labour hostility. The reaction of the Labour party nationally put a brake on the shift towards the popular front in Wales. There was a major rally of the social democratic faithful with the chapels, in particular, setting themselves against the threat of atheistic Communism in the valleys. Following the early months of unity against the UAB and the National Government, throughout the rest of 1935, there was a marked hardening of the Labour position in south Wales. At the General Election of 1935, the Communist candidate in the Rhondda fell well back in the poll.
From the summer of 1936, the Communists in the valleys went on to develop their support for the popular front in the context of the outbreak of civil war in Spain between the populist left-wing Republican government and the Fascist supporters and militias of Franco. In all, 174 volunteers from Wales fought with the International Brigade; thirty-three of them died. The majority of them were South Wales miners, 122 of them, with a further thirty-four of them hailing from the coal ports. Nearly all of them were members or supporters of the CP, for whom serving in Spain was as much a badge of honour as having gone to jail for 'the cause'. Lodges in the 'Fed' raised money and goods for the Republicans and took Basque children into sanctuary. Lewis Jones, the writer of We Live, spent his energies on the cause, dropping dead from exhaustion after addressing over thirty street meetings in support of it in the week that Barcelona fell.
A Royal Command or an Indicative Promise?:
In October 1936, the nervousness created by the mass demonstrations and strikes prompted Captain Ellis at the NCSS to warn against the Royal Visit to South Wales, due to take place in November, at the same time as the revised code of regulations for men on transitional benefits was to take effect. Although the two-day visit to the Rhondda, Merthyr Tydfil and the Monmouthshire Valleys had been planned for some time, on 12 October, Ellis wrote anxiously to Godfrey Thomas at Buckingham Palace:
I feel bound to say first that I think the day is ill-chosen. The new UAB regulations come into force on October 16th. On the whole they tend to affect South Wales more than most places, and it is extremely likely that between the 16th and 19th, which is the first day, there will be a great deal of demonstration against them. It seems to me that if that time is chosen for a visit of the King, the agitators will say that his visit is intended to distract attention from the regulations, and to mark by royal approval what is being done by the Ministry of Labour and other bodies. His visit will then be given a political significance … When Tom Jones saw the announcement of the date in the paper, he asked me to tell you that he felt very strongly that the King should not be taken to South Wales during that week.
There was some basis in evidence for these apprehensions. In August, the Merthyr Unemployed Lodge of the SWMF had demanded that there should be a one-day strike, a march on London and a 'monster petition' of the whole of South Wales in the campaign against the new regulations. Later that month, the Dowlais Unemployed Lodge had decided to support the boycott of the Coronation, due to take place in the New Year. However, refusing to heed even the warnings of Tom Jones, Edward VIII chose to go ahead with the visit, albeit a month later than planned, on 18-19 November and, ironically, it was in Dowlais, during a tour of the derelict steelworks (that once employed nine thousand), that he made his (oft-misquoted) remark, terrible, terrible, something will be done about this. … to find them work. This may well have been an attempt to head off the kind of criticism which Ellis had suggested might accompany the King's visit, rather than an attempt to embarrass the Cabinet, as some interpreted it. Whatever the case, his visit did indeed acquire a political significance and certainly did not earn him any friends in a government which was already beginning to call for his abdication. Desperately hungry men and women grasped at the words of the monarch but, on the Welsh Labour 'left', as the MP for Ebbw Vale, Aneurin Bevan, was furious. It was an outrage, he said, …
… to organise an expedition to Wales as if it were an unknown, barbarous and distant land, much in the same way as you might go to the Congo.
He said that the King was being used to mask persecution and that Ernest Brown, the Minister of Labour who accompanied him, was the instrument of that persecution. Brown was an unpopular politician, especially in an area that had seen rioting against the Means Test the year before. To counterbalance him and the Minister of Health, Sir Kingsley Wood, the King commanded that Malcolm Stewart, the Commissioner for the Special Areas, dine with him on his train that evening. Stewart had just resigned in frustration at the government's failure to back him over the introduction of new industries into the special areas. Chamberlain, in particular, was opposed to these measures. Shortly before his resignation, Stewart had published a damning report on the feebleness of existing measures to tackle unemployment. Even before he stepped off the train, therefore, Edward was 'walking' into an area of acute political sensitivity. This was made more acute when, visiting a farming co-operative at Boverton in the Vale of Glamorgan, he remarked to an ex-miner working on the farm who said he would prefer to return to the valleys if there were work available, Yes, it is a great pity that something more can't be done about it. As the tour continued past disused collieries, through maternity and child welfare clinics, into local housing estates, Edward was asked by everyone he met: tell Whitehall to do something for the valleys. The significance of his visit lay in the feeling that someone of importance actually cared.
From Merthyr Tydfil, the King's party made its ill-fated detour to the Bessemer Steelworks in Dowlais, shut down six years earlier. Just as the closure of Palmer's shipyards at Jarrow had blighted that town, its plight just highlighted by its well-publicised 'Crusade' to London, so the ending of steelworking in Dowlais had ruined that community. Coal mines could be kept running on 'short' time work, with miners working three shifts a week, but once a steelworks closed it very quickly became derelict with all its workers permanently laid off. As a result, in 1936, three-quarters of the town's population was permanently unemployed. Two thousand came out and streamed along the pavements to greet the King on this unscheduled and highly improvised sojourn, and though many of them were radicals supporting the NUWM, they were intrigued to see him and raised their caps, even if they also raised clenched fists. He stood by the defunct blast furnace surveying the scene of desolation, his face drawn and grave, his bowler hat removed as a sign of respect. As he looked on, some of the men, quite spontaneously, started to sing the solemn but beautiful Welsh hymn, Crygybar. The King visibly moved, turned to those next to him and is reported to have said …
These steelworks brought the men hope. Something will be done to see that they stay here – working.
But it was the four words, 'something must be done' echoed around the country. Of course, in grammatical terms, there is an important difference between the use of 'will' and 'must' in his sentence, or phrase, regardless of the context, but perhaps the most important point is that it is expressed in the 'passive voice' so that no 'person' is specified as the agent of the promised action. Added to this, 'will' is expressed in an 'indicative mood' as a 'promise' and is not an imperative, or a command. It is not the same as 'shall' which, when used in the third person or in the passive is emphatic and fulfils the function of an 'auxiliary verb'. 'Must' is a 'modal' verb which expresses an 'imperative' mood to refer to an obligation, and an internalised one. However, it could only be expressed as a 'command' by using 'have', as in 'has to be done' or, even stronger, 'will have to be done'. In any case, 'something must be done' was a misinterpretation, deliberate or otherwise, of what the King actually said, resulting in an important, if subtle, change in the message he was trying to send out.
These four words, as they appeared in newspaper headlines, became a refrain taken up by those of all political parties who felt that the government had done too little to alleviate the suffering of the poor and unemployed. In fact, in his earlier visit to Boverton, Edward had been careful to avoid appearing to criticise the action already taken by the government and the social movement which, as the patron of the NCSS, he was already well aware of. The King's words, like the Jarrow March, just ended, gained a significance that transcended the immediacy of the plight to which they referred. His intervention simply reflected the growing consensus that something had to be done to create a more just and fair society by bringing jobs to the 'Special Areas'. As the King, he was expressing the national mood, and although he had told Baldwin the day before that he was prepared to abdicate rather than give up Mrs Simpson, he was now, buoyed up by the success of his visit, beginning to think that it was part of his destiny to put up a fight both for the people and the woman he loved.
Aneurin Bevan declined an intervention to meet the King at Rhymney the next day, saying that he could not associate himself with a visit which appeared to support the notion that private charity has made, or can ever make a contribution of any value to the solution of the problem of South Wales. But the whole event was turned into another mass demonstration by the coalfield communities visited. The visit to South Wales had demonstrated his immense popularity and ability to empathise with the sufferings of his people. When combined with the politics of long-term unemployment, it made for a heady brew. The King's opponents became concerned. These escapades should be limited, Ramsay MacDonald commented sternly in his diary, they are an invasion into the field of politics and should be watched constitutionally. Geoffrey Dawson, writing in The Times, called the reported four-word comment of the King, monstrous. He penned a letter in which he dismissed it as a constitutionally dangerous proceeding that would threaten, if continued, to entangle the Throne in politics. The Daily Mail, under the title 'The King Edward Touch', praised his visit:
Never has the magic of personal leadership been better shown than by the King's visit to south Wales. … As few Ministers have done, the Sovereign examined their plight and drew from (the unemployed) the tale of their trouble.
Edward later reflected that his words to the people of Dowlais were the minimum humanitarian response that he could have made to the suffering he had seen. The episode made him all too aware that the modern world had made it almost impossible for a monarch to continue to play the role of the Good King, free to move unhindered among his subjects and speak what is in his mind. His subjects in South Wales certainly did not object to the political tone of his comment. The Royal Archives at Windsor are the repository of thousands of letters addressed to the King during this crucial period, the vast majority of which are positive. The following sentiments were shared and expressed by many:
You could profess concern and interest and yet stay stay away … but that you do not do, and may God bless you for it.
We like you for the concern you have for the welfare of the poorest and most unfortunate of your subjects. No other King has gone among them as you have done, or shown signs of appreciating their distress in the way you do.
With hindsight, there can be little doubt that the publicity given to the King's visit and his spontaneous remarks had an important impact in quickening the process of industrial redevelopment. But it took a world war to bring work to South Wales and by then Edward VIII had become the Duke of Windsor and was leading the life of a useless aristocrat in France.
Today We Live: Re-making the Images of the Coalfield.
Rumours that the South Wales Miners were planning a march on London to restore Edward to the throne in 1937 turned out to be just that. These had been heard by David Alexander, who had first gone to South Wales as a Cambridge undergraduate to shoot a miners' strike, and returned that year to produce a film called Eastern Valley, dealing with the relief work organised by the Quakers at the top of the Monmouthshire Valleys. In this short film, one unemployed miner explains that he was working now not for a boss but for myself and my butties, whilst an 'old timer' admits that although mistakes had been made, a new interest in life had been generated by the Quakers.
The best known Welsh documentary was Today We Live, made in the same year for the NCSS. The Welsh scenes in this film were directed by Ralph Bond and they told a story in which the unemployed miners of Pentre in the Rhondda debate whether or not to co-operate with the voluntary relief agencies. It is obvious that these unemployed miners had been coached: they were told of the gist of what they had to say but put it into their own words. But although, therefore, a dramatised documentary, the difficulty of living on a shilling a day is movingly conveyed and it is not surprising that the film was so well received in the art-houses of London and New York. It was rare to hear the unemployed speak so authentically, but besides the dialogue, the film was also commended for its stunning images of life in the depressed valleys.
Donald Alexander was Bond's assistant on the film and his shot of the unemployed searching for waste coal on the slag heaps, no doubt prompted by his earlier experiences in the Coalfield, was destined to become the most famous image of the Depression years in Britain. The sequence was 'cannibalised' in many later documentaries. Alexander's slag-heap shots became an iconic image of proletarian hardship and played some part for British intellectuals as Dorothea Lange's monochrome still-photographs of the 'Oakie' migrants to California. As the Socialist cause strengthened towards the end of the decade, several groups attempted to challenge the commercial cinema by producing independent films and by arranging their release through independent outlets. In particular, the Communist Party attempted to make its own newsreels to accompany screenings of Soviet classic features. However, these were rarely shown in Welsh halls or even outside London and had little impact on the working classes. Also, they were mostly composed of badly-shot silent sequences of marches and demonstrations.
Pursuing a Millenarianism of the Oppressed:
At the same time as all this was going on, the 'Left unity' of the early months of 1935 was wearing thin by the middle of 1936. At the Merthyr Conference against the Means Test held in July, the claim for direct representation by the NUWM was defeated and in the Autumn the Trades Council reject the request from the Communist Party for affiliation. Relations between the Dowlais Unemployed Lodge and the CPGB were not good either, even where the issue of Spanish Aid was concerned. In the Garw Valley, however, the Communist Party seems to have garnered much of its support through the role the party played in rebuilding the SWMF in the second half of the decade. It is significant that the peak to that support came in the year in which those communities began to recover, fairly rapidly, from the Depression. Linked with this, it is apparent that whilst the Party had failed to attract any significant support for J R Campbell, a well-known figure who stood as a candidate for them in the 1931 parliamentary election, the Glamorgan Gazette reported how, in the 1937 Council election, the people of Pontycymmer were prepared to vote for a respected local Communist and miner:
The declaration of the poll in Ogmore and Garw Council elections took place amid scenes of enthusiasm on Monday night, culminating in the singing of the 'Red Flag' when Communist candidate for the Pontycymmer ward, Mr James Redmond, miner, was announced as having gained the large total of 899 votes, and topped the poll. Edward John Evans (Soc) Schoolmaster, gained the other seat with 830 votes. Mr Daniel Davies (Soc) who has served upon the Council for eighteen years loses his seat, the number of votes in his favour being 814. Mr Redmond is the first Communist to be elected in the Garw Valley … After the declaration the crowd became most excited, and the election proved to be the most enthusiastic and keenly followed for years.
Redmond's election came in the same week that a new wages agreement between the SWMF and the coalowners was signed, giving increases in wages of between 2s.2d. and 10s. per week, and at a time when it looked as if the decade-long struggle against company unionism and non-unionism in the valley had finally secured almost a hundred per cent membership of the Federation. It is probable that these 'victories' and Redmond's association with them, played a major part in his success. As in other parts of the coalfield, the growth in the electoral strength of the Party was not primarily a response to conditions of poverty and did not reflect widespread avowal of revolutionary socialism, but was a recognition of the organisational ability of its local leaders in helping the community to regain much of its self-confidence. However, in institutional terms, it was still excluded, as in Merthyr, from the official organisation of the unemployed. In November 1937, a series of protest meetings against the Means Test was organised by the Garw Valley Unemployed Lodge and the Pontycymmer Labour Party, with the CP excluded from these events.
Despite these activities, evidence of the existence of widespread apathy on political matters, particularly among the young unemployed, is found in the social surveys of other valley communities. For example, A. J. Lush's Carnegie Trust Survey was based on interviews with five hundred young unemployed men in Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd. Of these, only three per cent had any affiliation to a political party or organisation and in Pontypridd, apart from one Communist who was inexorably certain of the facts of the class war, there was evidence of vagueness about the election which was taking place at that time. Lush found no evidence of a swing either to the Right or the Left. The achievements of the Communists among the unemployed in South Wales have tended to be exaggerated by their own contemporary literature, the content of which exists in sharp contrast to that of the Social Service Trusts. Thus, although the NUWM existed in Pontypridd, a 'coalfield town', it showed no great success in organising the unemployed and was, in fact, quite reluctant to recruit the long-term unemployed to their 'ranks'. As other organisers had 'discovered', the physical and mental conditions of these men, old and young alike, would often prove a handicap to organisations based on active protest, including long-distance marches:
It has perhaps been assumed too readily by some that because people are unemployed, their natural discontent will express itself in some revolutionary attitude. It cannot be reiterated too often that unemployment is not an 'active' state; its keynote is boredom – a continuous sense of boredom. Consequently, unless a sense of subjective urgency can be expressed by objective political activity, politics can mean little … These young men, products of continuous uemployment, are not likely to believe that an active participation by themselves in affairs will permanently affect an order of things that has already, in the most impressionable years of their lives, shown itself to be so powerful and so devastating.
It is clear that, from Lush's interviews and other interviews with 'coalfield people', including those conducted by this researcher, that there was no sustained militant response to the conditions of unemployment and impoverishment which involved significant numbers of people in any of the valley communities during the Thirties. The popular image, transmitted by contemporary propaganda newsreels and photographs of coalfield society continually on the march, is a myth. Demonstrative action was sporadic, localised and uneven and, where it involved large numbers, was motivated by immediate concerns and basic frustrations and resentments. These feelings could just as easily, and regularly did, produce a somewhat cynical withdrawal from political action. The unemployed did not adopt a revolutionary or militant outlook as a means of confronting their condition. Nevertheless, the determination of the SWMF leadership in the battle against its rival, the South Wales Miners' Industrial Union and against non-unionism; of minority organisations such as the NUWM in its continual agitation, and of the general leadership of the institutional life of the coalfield communities, enabled a partial recovery of working-class life from the mid-thirties onwards. The 'United Front' which emerged from this, though precarious and transitory in many communities, enabled the people of the coalfield quite literally to find both their feet and their voices in a massive demonstration of their collective resistance to state intervention in their lives from the early months of 1935 onwards.
When Bevan and his colleagues in the 'Socialist League' were expelled from the Labour Party in 1938 for their advocacy of the 'United Front', the 'Fed' came to his defence. Bevan told a meeting in the Rhondda that the Welsh miners were the most class-conscious, the most advanced, the most democratic section of the working class. By then, the power and limits of the Communist Party had already passed its peak in the years of the Popular Front. Its base was the 'Fed' which by 1939 represented some 135,000 miners, sponsoring thirteen MPs and maintaining a presence in most local authorities. Its executive council was more powerful than that of the local Labour Party. Communists were entrenched within it; Arthur Horner became its President in 1936, proving highly effective. They had their own miners' journal. In a wider social context, they also had a presence through their classes, their subordinate organisations, like the NUWM and their activism. They charged the atmosphere around the Labour movement in south Wales with their internationalism and within their own society, they had become a distinctive subculture, hated by many, admired by many others, tolerated as a dynamic force by most. The great majority in the Coalfield remained loyal to the Labour Party, but despite the isolation of the Communists during the period of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939-41, the surge of pro-Soviet feeling during and after the siege of Stalingrad nearly carried Harry Pollitt to parliamentary victory in 1945. Bill Paynter, its post-war President, later explained the link between Union, politics and society:
The Miners' Federation Lodges were pillars of the communities because the Miners' Institutes and Welfare Halls provided places for the social and cultural activity, and their domination of the local Labour Parties decisively influenced local politics. It is not surprising, therefore, that this kind of background produces a loyalty to the Union so strong that the Union is regarded as a substitute for a political organisation. …
… It has often been said of me that I was a miner and trade unionist first and a Communist second. … I have to admit that it has a great deal of truth in it. … It was true, too, of Arthur Horner and most leaders who have lived and worked in the mining valleys of South Wales.
Even though many self-styled revolutionaries were directing this 'fight-back' and even though the Baldwin and Chamberlain governments were clearly fearful of the potential for serious and widespread disorder, the successes of this leadership were rewards for their dedication as members of mining communities rather than the products of a 'millenarianism of the oppressed'. In the longer-term, the acceptance of political reality was made palatable by the installation of 'Labourism' as an administrative necessity for an unreconstructed economy and society. The objection to the 'dope' perceived in the offerings of the 'charity-mongers' was partly a residual mistrust of those who elevated 'citizenship' above 'class'. The assumption of the 'Cymric' liberal élite was that they could translate the mutuality of these one-class communities into institutional forms 'better' served by administering politicians and public servants rather than visionary class warriors. Liberalism shaded into Labourism and the latter became bound by a social and cultural consensus that was addicted to the development of a meritocratic society through education. Neither revolutionary socialism and left-wing social democracy on the one hand nor reactionary nationalism on the other was able to contend politically because they did not see the Depression years as a fall from grace. Those who did were more in tune with popular conceptions and they demonstrated that despite the communal collapse, something could be done. As Dai Smith has put it:
The meaning of the rise and fall of the coalfield society as a collective society was thus undermined from within by a policy of piecemeal accommodation and overlaid by a mythology whose potency derived from its universality as a parable.
Regaining Consciousness… To migrate or remain?
Research into contemporary qualitative sources reveals that a complex of economic, social, industrial, political and cultural factors determined the extent, nature and direction of the migration 'streams'. Not least among these factors was the effect of state intervention. Besides political action, resistance to this intervention was expressed by a refusal to participate in government training and transference schemes and a wider rejection of the demoralisation involved in the invasion of the lives of individuals and families by a host of bureaucrats and social workers. Migration was an effective expression of resistance to this form of demoralisation. Thus, while similar factors influenced both transference and voluntary migration, and although contemporary propagandists frequently confused the two, the latter was far from being an acquiescent response to unemployment for many individuals and families. Their choice was partly determined by these factors and partly by the nature of voluntary migration contrasted with the provisions of the Transference Scheme. The sense of the retention of autonomy through migration was well expressed by one of the older unemployed of the Rhondda in a written statement to the Pilgrim Trust:
For an outsider, who views the situation from the angle of the people in the abyss, or the slum worker out of work, the idea he gets of the depressed areas or Special Areas may be totally wrong. … I want to suggest that our people are fully conscious of the economic principles which have brought change to the valleys. The question is, to migrate or remain? I have chosen to remain. …
Migration thus deserves to be treated as far more than a simple knee-jerk response to economic conditions; it was a class-conscious response for the hundreds of thousands who undertook it. The fact that tens of thousands of Welsh migrants were to be found in Coventry and Oxford in the late 1930s, by which time they formed a significant proportion of the populations of these cities, was not simply due to a series of 'push' factors operating upon or from within coalfield society. It is still accepted, of course, that the primary causes of migration between the wars were connected with social and economic conditions. Historians of Wales and British historians on the left have continued to follow what might be called the 'propagandist' view of migration, i.e. that people were driven out of the depressed areas by unemployment. For instance, John Stevenson argued that miners left the pit villages in Durham and South Wales for no other reason than that they were desperate to find work. However, the sources show that unemployment was not the sole cause of migration, even if we regard it as the major factor.
Certainly, it is unimaginable that migration would have taken place on the scale which it did, had it not been for the onset of mass unemployment in the coalfield. However, other factors were at work in the period which played a significant part in providing the motivation to relocate. These factors were the general increase in geographical and social mobility; the expansion of new forms transport and communications, including wireless radio; increasing expectations among working-class people in terms of wages, working and living standards, especially better housing; the break-up of the 'coal complex', i.e. the acceptance of coal mining as the major means of employment. In addition to these factors, there were many secondary social and cultural factors which played significant roles in the nature, extent and direction of migration, including the decline in health standards in the depressed areas, the role of government and voluntary agencies, the growth of a 'national' British culture and the dissolution of the 'Celtic complex' concerning Welsh language culture, and the impact of fashion. Thirdly, there were several catalysts, including the decisions of friends and relatives, the attainment of insurable age, victimisation and marital status.
Indeed, given the strength of the practical obstacles to migration which also existed in coalfield society, there needed to be strong compensatory factors at work from within the recipient areas. These obstacles included family loyalties, local patriotism – the sense of belonging to a particular community, region and/ or nationality, house ownership (especially in the older coalfield communities), the sense of loss of skill and trade union traditions as a collier, the loss of the sub-economy of the coalfield. Besides these, there were also obstacles in the recipient communities to overcome; the problems of seasonal unemployment in the 'new' industries, homesickness, the shortage and cost of suitable accommodation. Besides, psychological resistance to intervention by state and voluntary agencies and the consequent process of demoralisation was also an obstacle to the success of the official transference scheme. These obstacles were overcome by the careful, autonomous organisation of migration networks which were able to supply information and practical support at every stage of the process.
A National Tragedy?
The cultural gap between the 'old' coalfield communities and the 'new' industrial centres was not, in any case, as wide as was often portrayed, but it was also bridged by the collective retention of the distinctive traditions and institutions of the coalfield in the recipient areas. These institutional networks were themselves important factors in the genesis of migration as well as in the success of the exodus itself. Yet Welsh historians have tended to follow the 'nationalist' perspective in representing the mass migration as a national tragedy. For example, Kenneth O Morgan, writing in 1981 book Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980, wrote of:
A steady drift … of young people … leaving their native land every year, leaving their closely-knit village communities to work in more impersonal … English factories, and to live in anonymous suburban housing estates instead of back-to-back valley terraces with their neighbourliness. Almost as a acutely as for the migrant who crossed the Atlantic to the United States in the previous century, it was a violent uprooting and cultural shock. But it was invariably and necessarily a permanent one, since, as Thomas Jones observed in a famous lecture, "the exiled natives ('yr alltudion' of Welsh folklore) never returned".
Here the elements of alienation, culture shock and permanent displacement are overstated by Morgan, just as they were by many 'Cymric-liberals' at the time. He also overstated the importance of the transference policy in the migration to many English towns and cities, as we shall see in the second case study. In this, he is joined by several historians on the left, for whom it suits their purpose to treat 'Transference' and 'Migration' as synonymous.
Please see the second part for a full list. Additionally,
Gwyn A Williams (1985), When Was Wales? A History of the Welsh. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. | , …
… aspersing the loyal majority of its officers as janissaries and pensioners of Babylon, corrupted by wealth and power.
Vavasour Powell, in particular, told the generals that:
… that the Spirit of God had departed from them; that heretofore they had been precious and excellent men, but that their parks, and new houses, and gallant wives had choked them up.
At Sunday service on 18 December, he denounced the 'Lord Protector' from the pulpit, calling him a perjured villain, leading to his imprisonment, but the Fifth Monarchist's excesses were losing them such public sympathy as they still commanded, and they ceased to be a serious danger when they lost their seats of power, both at Westminster and in the Army. Harrison was quietly cashiered when he refused to give any assurance that he would support the Protectorate, but only two or three other officers followed him in resigning their commissions. Not so long ago it was customary to account for this by portraying the Protectorate over-simply as a conservative reaction, but this was at best a half-truth. At least in its earlier years, it showed a stronger impulse to reform than the Rump had done. Although Cromwell was at heart a constitutionalist, with a strong respect for parliament as an institution, he still believed that he had a higher duty to promote what he called the interest of the people of God than to bow to the wishes of an unregenerate majority. And while he was conservative to the extent of preserving a national church and respecting the rights of tithe-holders, he upheld broader religious liberty than any elected parliament did in his lifetime. During the early weeks of the Protectorate, the first concern was to secure it against those, mainly the Fifth Monarchists, who were publicly denying its legality, prophesying its early fall and inciting their flocks to disobey it. Feake and Powell were against it again immediately after their early release and were consequently rearrested, though Powell escaped to Wales.
Restoration, Revolution & Toleration:
As the system started to come apart, there was a revival of the old alliance of royalist moderates and Presbyterians to engineer the restoration of Charles II. Independents and Baptists, far more numerous in Wales than the Presbyterians, caught the first full blast of repression. Nearly a hundred and twenty ministers were thrown out of their livings and subjected to harsh controls. In December 1656, the Fifth Monarchists in south Wales seemed to have followed Morgan Llwyd and Vavasour Powell in renouncing militancy and from current plans for a rising. The Quakers were pursued like mad dogs and Vavasour Powell died in jail. Whole communities braved the horrible Atlantic crossings to create pioneer settlements in 'the New World'. In the 1670s, as Charles 'flirted' with the Dissenters in order to secure toleration for Catholics, moderates in Wales tended to drift back towards the old Parliamentarians and away from the radical puritans. The Welsh Trust, an educational enterprise of Puritan temper which allied moderate Dissenters and Anglicans in 1672 when Charles issued his Indulgence, came to serve as an opposition to the court. When the indulgence ended within a year, to be replaced by the Test Act excluding non-Anglicans from office. At the time of the 'Popish Plot' of 1678-79, there was a violent incident in southern Wales when the Catholic seminary Cwm was raided and sacked, priests were thrown into jail and there was heavy confiscation. Four Welsh priests, two of whom were Jesuits, were hanged in savage persecution.
In 1679, eleven of the twenty-seven Welsh MPs voted for the Exclusion of James II. In these circumstances, many of the old Roundheads came bubbling back to the surface and there was a return of the Quakers and Vavasour Powell's radicals. In consequence, there was a sharp reaction in the 1680s, a massive renewal of persecution of Dissenters, and major further emigrations to Holland and America. In 'matters of religion', therefore, the monopoly of the national church had been broken, and while the House of Commons remained hostile to the idea of religious toleration, nonconformity shook off its revolutionary political associations and, despite continuing persecution, proved that it had come to stay. Those who remained survived through the indulgences offered by Charles II and James II until at the Glorious Revolution of 1688, they won a limited but essential measure of toleration in the Toleration Act of 1689 recognised these facts. Presbyterianism and Congregationalism were not included in the Anglican church, but that church was subjected to Parliament and government. The Puritan Revolution within the state church may have been defeated by 1660, but the Great Britain of the succeeding two centuries was unique among the great powers of Europe for the strength of its evangelical tradition and its toleration of diverse traditions.
Not until 1685 was some degree of calm restored to Welsh politics with a restoration of Toryism among the gentry classes. It was only after 1688 that governments came to assume that 'trade must be the principal interest of England', and that warfare should be confined to supporting this objective through its Navy. Even Charles II in 1680 could not be persuaded of this. By then, Parliament controlled foreign policy, and used the newly mobilised financial resources of the country, through aggressive use of sea power, to protect and expand the trade of a unified empire. The anti-Dutch policy which had continued to be pursued by the pro-Hapsburg Stuart Kings was replaced by the policy of colonial expansion into the western hemisphere, first against Spain and then against the French. It enjoyed more support among the gentry and gradually won over a majority in the House of Commons as Dutch power declined and French power increased.
England itself had by then had been united under the dominance of the London market; separate courts no longer governed Wales and the North. Therefore, 'cantonisation' was no longer a danger. William III's political and economic subjugation of Ireland was thoroughly Cromwellian and complete: the Union with Scotland in 1707 was on the same lines as that of 1652-60. A union of crowns became a union of peoples, a significant punctuation point in the process which made the new and far more real Great Britain into the greatest merchant empire in the world. England, Wales and Scotland emerged from the seventeenth-century crisis geared to the new world of mercantilism and colonialism. Bristol, pictured above in the early eighteenth century, quickly grew as Britain's most important port, with its 'Welsh Backs' for traders from across the Severn estuary. The Atlantic trade was becoming more important than the trade of the East Anglian ports with the continent and Wales, though still controlled by squires, was becoming an important sector of an Atlantic empire and a British nation.
Austin Woolrich (2002), Britain in Revolution, 1625-1660. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gwyn A. Williams (1985), When Was Wales? A History of the Welsh. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Christopher Hill (1970), God's Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books.
Christopher Hill (1984), The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Harmondsworth: Peregrine Books.
John Lampen (1981), Wait in the Light: The Spirituality of George Fox. London: Quaker Home Service.
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Seventy-Five Years Ago – World War II in Europe, East & West; January – February 1945: The Berlin Bunker, Yalta Conference & Dresden Bombing. Leave a comment
Above: NAZI GERMANY & ITS ALLIED/ OCCUPIED TERRITORIES IN 1945
The Aftermath of the Ardennes Offensive:
The German army's losses in 1944 were immense, adding up to the equivalent of more than a hundred divisions. Nevertheless, during this period Hitler managed to scrape up a reserve of twenty-five divisions which he committed in December to a re-run of his 1940 triumph in France, an offensive in the Ardennes, the so-called Battle of the Bulge. For a few days, as the panzers raced towards the Meuse, the world wondered if Hitler had managed to bring it off. But the Allies had superior numbers and the tide of battle soon turned against the Germans, who were repulsed within three weeks, laying Germany open for the final assault from the West. For this, the Allies had eighty-five divisions, twenty-three of which were armoured, against a defending force of twenty-six divisions. Rundstedt declared after the war:
I strongly object to the fact that this stupid operation in the Ardennes is sometimes called the "Rundstedt Offensive". This is a complete misnomer. I had nothing to do with it. It came to me as an order complete to the last detail. Hitler had even written "Not to be Altered".
In the Allied camp, Montgomery told a press conference at his Zonhoven headquarters on 7 January that he saluted the brave fighting men of America:
… I never want to fight alongside better soldiers. … I have tried to feel I am almost an American soldier myself so that I might take no unsuitable action to offend them in any way.
However, his sin of omission in not referring to any of his fellow generals did offend them and further inflamed tensions among the Anglo-American High Command. Patton and Montgomery loathed each other anyway, the former calling the latter that cocky little limey fart, while 'Monty' thought the American general a foul-mouthed lover of war. As the US overhauled Britain in almost every aspect of the war effort, Montgomery found himself unable to face being eclipsed and became progressively more anti-American as the stars of the States continued to rise. So when censorship restrictions were lifted on 7 January, Montgomery gave his extensive press briefing to a select group of war correspondents. His ineptitude shocked even his own private staff, and some believed he was being deliberately offensive, especially when he boasted:
General Eisenhower placed me in command of the whole northern front. … I employed the whole available power of the British group of armies. You have this picture of British troops fighting on both sides of American forces who had suffered a hard blow. This is a fine Allied picture.
Although he spoke of the average GIs as being 'jolly brave' in what he called 'an interesting little battle', he claimed he had entered the engagement 'with a bang', and left the impression that he had effectively rescued the American generals from defeat. Bradley then described Montgomery to Eisenhower as being all out, right-down-to-the-toes-mad, telling 'Ike' that he could not serve with him, preferring to be sent home to the US. Patton immediately made the same declaration. Then Bradley started holding court to the press himself and, together with Patton, leaked damaging information about Montgomery to American journalists. Montgomery certainly ought to have paid full tribute to Patton's achievement in staving off the southern flank of the Ardennes offensive, but the US general was not an attractive man to have as a colleague. He was a white supremacist and an anti-Semite, and his belief in the Bolshevik-Zionist conspiracy remained unaffected by the liberation of the concentration camps which was soon to follow. Whatever the reasons for Montgomery's dislike of Patton, as Andrew Roberts has pointed out:
The British and American generals in the west from 1943 to 1945 did indeed have a special relationship: it was especially dreadful.
Despite their quarrelling, by 16 January, the Allies had resumed their advance as the British, Americans and French gradually forced their way towards the Rhine. The German order to retreat was finally given on 22nd, and by 28th there was no longer a bulge in the Allied line, but instead, a large one developing in that of the Germans.
The Oder-Vistula Offensive & Hitler's 'Bunker' Mentality:
Meanwhile, the Red Army had burst across the Vistula and then began clearing Pomerania and Silesia. The 12th January had seen the beginning of a major Soviet offensive along the entire front from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Carpathian mountains in the south, against what was left of the new German Central front, made up of the seventy divisions of Army Group Centre and Army Group A. The Red Army first attacked from the Baranov bridgehead, demolishing the German Front of the Centre sector. Planned by Stalin and the 'Stavka', but expertly implemented by Zhukov, this giant offensive primarily comprised, from the south to the north, as shown on the map above: Konyev's 1st Ukrainian, Zhukov's 1st Belorussian, Rokossovsky's 2nd Belorussian, Chernyakovsky's 3rd Belorussian, Bagryan's 1st Baltic and Yeremenko's 2nd Baltic Fronts, so no fewer than two hundred divisions in all.
Faced with this onslaught, wildly outnumbered and outgunned, the Germans conducted an impressive fighting retreat of almost three hundred miles, losing Warsaw on 17 January and leaving isolated garrisons at Thorn, Poznan and Breslau that had no real hope of relief. The Polish territories which remained under occupation were lost, as was Upper Silesia with its undamaged industrial area and Lower Silesia east of the Oder. Almost one million German citizens were sheltering in or around the city of Breslau in Lower Silesia, which was not a fortress in the conventional sense despite attempts following August 1944 to build a defensive ring at a ten-mile radius from the city centre. On 20 and 21 January, Women and children were told through loudspeakers to leave the city on foot and proceed in the direction of Opperau and Kanth. This effectively expelled them into three-foot snowdrifts and temperatures of -20 Celsius. The babies were usually the first to die, the historian of Breslau's subsequent seventy-seven-day siege recorded. Ammunition and supplies were parachuted in by the Luftwaffe, but these often fell into the Oder or behind the Russian lines. The city did not surrender until 6 May and its siege cost the lives of 28,600 of its 130,000 soldiers and civilians.
During the first two months of 1945, Hitler was living in a world of self-delusion, while continuing to direct operations from his bomb-proof bunker deep beneath the Chancellory in Berlin. His orders were always the same: stand fast, hold on, shoot any waverers and sell your own lives as dearly as possible. It's impossible to tell, even from the verbatim reports of Hitler's briefings of the Reich's most senior figures, when exactly he realised that he was bound to lose the war, and with it his own life. It possibly came at the end of the 'Battle of the Bulge' at the close of 1944, or in the first week of 1945, for on 10 January he had the following conversation with Göring over the problems with the production of secret weaponry:
HITLER: It is said that if Hannibal, instead of the seven or thirteen elephants he had left as he crossed the Alps … had had fifty or 250, it would have been more than enough to conquer Italy.
GÖRING: But we did finally bring out the jets; we brought them out. And they most come in masses, so we keep the advantage.
HITLER: The V-1 can't decide the war, unfortunately.
GÖRING: … Just as an initially unpromising project can finally succeed, the bomber will come too, if it is also –
HITLER: But that's still just a fantasy!
GÖRING: No!
HITLER: Göring, the gun is there, the other is still a fantasy!
Although there were often up to twenty-five people in the room during these Führer-conferences, Hitler usually had only two or three interlocutors. It was after one such conference in February that Albert Speer tried to explain to Admiral Dönitz how the war was certainly lost, with the maps there showing a catastrophic picture of innumerable breakthroughs and encirclements, but Dönitz merely replied with an unwonted curtness that he was only there to represent the Navy and that the rest was none of his business. The Führer must know what he is doing, he added. Speer believed that if Dönitz, Göring, Keitel, Jodl, Guderian and himself had presented the Führer with an ultimatum, and demanded to know his plans for ending the war, then Hitler would have had to have declared himself. Yet that was never going to happen, because they suspected, not without justification as it turned out, that by then there was soon only to be a rope at the end of it. When Speer approached Göring at Karinhall soon after he had spoken to Dönitz, the Reichsmarschall readily admitted that the Reich was doomed, but said that he had:
… much closer ties with Hitler; many years of common experiences and struggles had bound them together – and he could no longer break loose.
By the end of January, the military situation both in the west and the east was already quite beyond Hitler's control: the Rhine front collapsed as soon as the Allies challenged it, and leaving the last German army in west locked up in the Ruhr, the British and Americans swept forward to the Elbe. Hitler's dispositions continued to make Germany's strategic situation worse. Guderian recalled after the war that the Führer had refused his advice to bring the bulk of the 'Wehrmacht' stationed in Poland back from the front line to more defensible positions twelve miles further back, out of range of Russian artillery. Disastrously, Hitler's orders meant that the new defensive line, only two miles behind the front, were badly hit by the Soviet guns, wrecking any hopes for a classic German counter-attack. A historian of the campaign has remarked that this was an absolute contradiction of German military doctrine. Hitler's insistence on personally authorising everything done by his Staff was explained to Guderian with hubristic words:
There's no need for you to try and teach me. I've been commanding the Wehrmacht in the field for five years and during that time I've had more practical experience than any gentlemen of the General Staff could ever hope to have. I've studied Clausewitz and Moltke and read all the Schlieffen papers. I'm more in the picture than you are!
A few days into the great Soviet offensive in the east, Guderian challenged Hitler aggressively over his refusal to evacuate the German army in Kurland, which had been completely cut off against the Baltic. When Hitler refused the evacuation across the Baltic, as he always did when asked to authorise a retreat, according to Speer, Guderian lost his temper and addressed his Führer with an openness unprecedented in this circle. He stood facing Hitler across the table in the Führer's massive office in the Reich Chancellery, with flashing eyes and the hairs of his moustache literally standing on end saying, in a challenging voice: "It's simply our duty to save these people, and we still have time to remove them!"Hitler stood up to answer back: "You are going to fight on there. We cannot give up those areas!" Guderian continued, "But it's useless to sacrifice men in this senseless way. It's high time! We must evacuate these soldiers at once!" According to Speer, although he got his way, …
… Hitler appeared visibly intimidated by this assault … The novelty was almost palpable. New worlds had opened out.
As the momentum of the Red Army's Oder-Vistula offensive led to the fall of Warsaw later that month, three senior members of Guderian's planning staff were arrested by the Gestapo and questioned about their apparent questioning of orders from the OKW. Only after Guderian spent hours intervening on their behalf were two of them released, though the third was sent to a concentration camp. The basis of the problem not only lay in the vengeful Führer but in the system of unquestioning obedience to orders which had been created around him, which was in fundamental conflict with the General Staff's system of mutual trust and exchange of ideas. Of course, the failed putsch had greatly contributed to Hitler's genuine distrust of the General Staff, as well as to his long-felt 'class hatred' of the army's aristocratic command. On 27 January, during a two-and-a-half-hour Führer conference, starting at 4.20 p.m., Hitler explained his thinking concerning the Balkans, and in particular, the oilfields of the Lake Balaton region in Hungary. With Göring, Keitel, Jodl, Guderian and five other generals in attendance, together with fourteen other officials, he ranged over every front of the war, with the major parts of the agenda including the weather conditions, Army Group South in Hungary, Army Group Centre in Silesia, Army Group Centre in Silesia, Army Group Vistula in Pomerania, Army Group Kurland, the Eastern Front in general, the west and the war at sea. Guderian told Hitler that our main problem is the fuel issue at the moment, to which Hitler replied, who replied: That's why I'm concerned, Guderian. Pointing to the Balaton region, he added:
… if something happens down there, it's over. That's the most dangerous point. We can improvise everywhere else, but not there. I can't improvise with the fuel.
The Sixth Panzer Army, reconstituted after its exertions in the Ardennes offensive was ordered to Hungary, from where it could not be extracted. 'Defending' Hungary, or rather its oilfields, accounted for seven out of the eighteen Oder-Neisseanzer divisions still available to Hitler on the Eastern Front, a massive but necessary commitment. In January, Hitler had only | 5,711 |
TWU's first choral concert of the year, "In Every Season," is a night of uplifting, sacred music featuring the elite SAMC Chamber Singers. On November 4 and 4, under the direction of<|fim_middle|> faculty members Suzanne Klukas and David Rushton.
This concert is a rich, spiritual experience of God's presence in all seasons of life. | Joel Tranquilla, the choir will perform music ranging from rich, contemplative pieces, to lively American gospel.
The repertoire varies in complexity and highlights the talent of the choir. Bach's canata, Der Herr Denket an uns, features a soprano aria and a Baroque instrumental ensemble. The text in the piece is from Psalm 115, which expresses the assurance of God's blessing. A contemporary setting of Psalm 23, by Canadian composer Robert Ingari, illuminates the journey of the psalm, concluding with a triumph. Other highlights include contemporary poetry and evocative biblical texts such as "Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One." Student soloists Sarah Quinn, Katrina Reynolds, and Anna-Marie Ryan are featured, along with | 156 |
Recognising the contribution of women and girls in building a sustainable future in Asia-Pacific
by Alinea International | March 2022
Feature post by By Queentries Regar and Katarina Atalifo with our Alinea team based in Asia-Pacific.
To celebrate International Women's Day 2022 with its theme of Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, Alinea Asia Pacific staff members Queentries Regar and Katarina Atal<|fim_middle|> learned from the active engagement of women in the response to COVID and the frequent natural disasters, that there is an even greater need to invest in this sector. The best way to engage women in rebuilding and reviving their community post-disaster is straightforward – include them in the planning and design of disaster response, rehabilitation plans. Build their capacity to monitor and take on leadership roles in the response phase. In Fiji, post-cyclone Winston, Fiji's unheralded frontline disaster responders were women. | ifo exchange their experiences and reflections on the advancement of gender equality in local climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Queentries (based in Indonesia) and Katarina (based in Fiji) discuss the importance of recognising and celebrating the significant contribution made by women in conserving natural resources and creating a healthier, more sustainable planet. In parallel, continuous endeavours to include women in the decision-making table is also critical.
Queentries: We know that women and girls face greater vulnerability and exposure to disaster and conflicts, yet they remain largely ignored in developing solutions. Based on your 25+ years of experience working in Fiji and the Pacific, what are some concrete steps for better including women in solution building?
Katarina: Women and girls in rural Fiji and the Pacific continue to demonstrate resilience on a daily basis. In a region battered by frequent disasters, compounded now by the social and economic impacts of COVID-19, women and girls have had their resilience fully tested.
There is a very active programme in Fiji called the Women's Weather Watch program run by a local women's media organisation. This has been immensely powerful. The program sends weather reports and preparedness advice by text message to the mobile phones of their 350+ strong network of rural women across the country. The women, in turn, spread the news throughout their often-remote communities, and feed back local conditions and needs to a regular radio show broadcast from Suva. These women help their communities prepare for storms and drought, protect their families when disasters strike, and alert authorities in the capital about the situation in the villages and other important updates like flood-submerged villages or diminished food stocks etc.
Before Cyclone Winston struck Fiji in 2016, women in villages around Fiji made sure their homes were tied down; food was packed away into plastic bags and containers, and crops were quickly harvested and buried underground so the storm didn't get to them first. Women also left their kitchens and homes to warn their neighbours of the impending disaster, and spread the news to other members of their community via texts.
Homegrown networks like this reflect the true engagement of women in preparing and managing disasters. The best way a woman can contribute to solution building is simple – include her in the planning and designing of climate and resilience programs.
Katarina: Research shows that women and children are more likely than men to die or be injured from a natural disaster . Women living in remote areas, far away from major cities, are even more prone to the effects of climate change disasters. Based on your decade of experience working in Indonesia, what are the possible solutions to ensure sustainability efforts are inclusive and gender-responsive?
Queentries: First of all, we need to acknowledge the great contributions made by women, particularly those who live in remote areas who make up a quarter of the world's population, in mitigating and adapting to climate change. In my experience working with communities in the eastern part of Indonesia, I have met numerous amazing women's groups who play vital roles in natural resources management. They have transformed fire-cleared land into community plantations with food crops and herbs, and have even taken the initiative to map evacuation routes in the event of a disaster.
Acknowledging women's contributions allows us to develop locally driven approaches to sustainability.. As development practitioners, we can be more impactful in policymaking and program implementation by first listening to the communities – including women in remote areas – and appreciating their agency and local wisdom. Let's avoid projecting our agenda and insisting our 'knowledge' upon local women. . Regular involvement of women in the participatory consultation and decision-making process is crucial since any climate change and disaster-related decisions taken without consulting them will put them in a more vulnerable position (remember, more than 70% of people who died in the 2004 Asian tsunami were women). If we are doing climate research, we should apply participatory methods such as Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to ensure communities and women are involved in setting the agenda, data collection, etc – and not just a passive object of the research.
Katarina: What is your proudest moment in contributing to gender-responsive climate change adaptation efforts?
Queentries: My proudest personal experience was when my colleagues and I developed locally-driven impact enterprise to provide the lowest-cost renewable energy access to rural communities especially women in Nusa Tenggara Timur, one of Indonesia's southernmost provinces and lowest electrification ratio regions. The solar-powered lights we installed enable women to weave traditional fabrics in the evening and watch TV while children were able to read and study under the bright lamps.
Queentries: Women have continued to play a critical role in rebuilding their communities after a natural disaster. What can be done to better engage women in the important process of rebuilding and reviving community livelihoods post-disaster?
Katarina: Engaging women, girls and marginalized groups throughout the disaster management cycle is imperative for the success of resilience-building efforts in any society. When investing in Climate and disaster resilience programmes, a perfect opportunity arises – that, to promote positive change toward gender equality and appreciate the practicalities of gender-based vulnerability.
At the national level, fortunately, many Pacific governments have | 1,053 |
Mustique, St. Vincent & Grenadines
Rates per night from$872.73
If you haven't entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (USD872.73), via openexchangerates.org, using today's exchange rate.
Coral stone colonial
The champagne set's private island
More hotels in Mustique More hotels in St. Vincent & Grenadines
A bubble of inviolable luxury in an azure ocean, the Grenadine island of Mustique is home to the Cotton House, a coral-hued boutique hotel that combines French West Indies architecture with Caribbean trimmings. It's the social hub of the island, too – every Tuesday, the super-rich neighbourhood villa owners flock to the Great Room bar for champagne and canapés.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
BlackSmith members receive a bottle of wine in their room. SilverSmiths and GoldSmiths will get a picnic lunch
17, including 9 suites.
Noon; check-in 3pm. Both are flexible, depending on availability.
Double rooms from £737.58 ($960), including tax at 10 per cent.
Rates include airport welcome and transfers in St Lucia, Barbados and Mustique<|fim_middle|>. Read what other Smith members had to say in Cotton House's Guestbook below.
We loved
The location, serenity and ambience.
Don't expect
Lively nights.
By Tad, BlackSmith
Stayed on 19 Apr 2019
Practically everything – the food was delicious, the beach bar has the best view for lunch in the Caribbean, staff were friendly and the whole stay was wonderful. The sunset suite has the best view over the ocean
By Chris, SilverSmith
Stayed on 7 Jan 2019
You'll also find Cotton House in:
Honeymoon hotels and romantic stays
Beach and coastal holidays
Winter-sun holidays | , and unpacking and pressing service once you arrive at the hotel.
The waters around Mustique are one giant tropical aquarium – take advantage of the Cotton House's dive centre and free-to-use snorkelling gear.
Hotel closed
The hotel will be closed from 1 September 2018 to 1 November 2018.
Pool, beach, spa, gym, tennis courts, fitness trail, library, DVD/CD selection, boutique, WiFi throughout. In-rooms: flatscreen TV, DVD/CD player, iPod dock, minibar, Nespresso coffee maker, pillow menu, Contemporel toiletries.
Our favourite rooms
Deluxe Seaview Rooms in Coutinot house grabbed our attention with 180-degree views from the corner overlooking the ocean. Booking the two-bed The Residence on the hilltop bags you a private pool, views of the Atlantic and the Caribbean, personal butler and use of the swankiest mule on the island (sports tyres and an extra gear).
Surrounded by smooth white flagstones and teak loungers built for lazing, the boot-shaped pool looks out across the manicured hotel gardens to the Caribbean sea. The bar – the island's original sugar mill – provides poolside pick-me-ups.
Taking a cue from the island's abundant flora – Baobab trees, sweet jasmine and fragrant frangipani – the organic spa sources many ingredients from the surrounding grounds and gardens. The four rooms in the Cottage House Spa have ocean views to go with your kneading and nourishing treatments.
Leave your beach gear at home – you'll find a stylish tote in your room all packed up with flip-flops, snorkelling gear and a towel.
There are no roads as such on Mustique – it's navigated by 'mule', essentially a souped-up golf cart.
Under-threes stay free; four- to 12-year-olds are $120 a night. Babysitting can be arranged for $11 an hour (plus 15 per cent VAT). Because Mustique's entirely private, it's one of the safest places to bring your kids in the world.
Eco‐friendly
Yes. The chef sources as much food locally as possible from the on-site garden, island fisherman or nearby farmers. For the ultimate in recycling, excess kitchen oil is used as fuel on the organic farm. Green-friendly practices such as composting, solar panel-heated water, use of green cleaning products and recycling programs are all in place.
Ask for a sea-view spot at the Veranda; or dine privately in your room.
On-trend Armani or Temperley for dinner; Manolo Blahnik sandals and Missoni bikinis for lunch.
Three. Designed by theatrical visonary Oliver Messel, the Great Room is a neocolonial gathering point for afternoon tea or a classc rum cocktail. The Veranda is modern and fresh with a leaning toward Italian/Caribbean fine dining and a raw bar with just-caught specialties. In the shade of waving palm trees and overlooking Endeavor Bay, the Beach Cafe is an easygoing spot for fresh fish, light snacks and just-churned ice cream. Also, there are also special themed events hosted at the Beach Cafe on Tuesday and Saturday nights.
It doesn't get more glam than Tuesday nights in the Great Room. Perch on a stool at the art deco oval bar, sipping on a dirty martini, while, all around, the island's well-heeled and well-oiled villa owners gather for their weekly champagne mingle.
Last orders
Veranda serves breakfast 7am–10:30am, lunch noon–4pm and dinner 7pm–9:30pm. Pop by the Beach Cafe for a bite from noon–3pm. The bar keeps serving until the last guest leaves.
7am–11pm.
You need a transfer to reach this hotel. For approximate costs, see location information
Spread out over 13 tropical ocean-facing acres, Cotton House is set on the private island of Mustique, a small atoll that makes up St Vincent and the Grenadines.
There are no direct flights to Mustique, so you'll need to wing your way to either Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) on Barbados or Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) on St Lucia. Both airports are serviced by several airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic rom the UK and American Airlines, Delta and Air Canada from North America. Scheduled flights from St Lucia to Mustique run daily throughout the year; scheduled flights from Barbados only run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from November – April, and in July, August and October. Connecting chartered flights from both airports are serviced by Grenadine Airways and must be arranged in advance by contacting the hotel's reservations department ([email protected]; + 1 784 456 4777). A Cotton House member will greet you in either Barbados or St Lucia and direct you to your 50-minute puddle-jumper flight to the island. Arriving by private plane? You must confirm your flight schedule in advance with the hotel's reservations department to confirm your reservation and land on-island.
There are no cars on Mustique, but those with an international driving license can obtain a local driving permit and rent a jazzed-up golf cart for US$75-$95 to cruise around the island.
Worth getting out of bed for
You come here for the gentle surf, views of the sapphire sea and crowd-free swaths of sand – all of which are in abundance on this out-of-the-way isle. The hotel has a Watersports Centre on Endeavor Bay that's well-stocked with boogie boards, snorkel gear, windsurfers, paddle boards and glass bottom kayaks for exploring the protected coral reefs that ring the shoreline. You can also arrange for a scuba-diving excursion or a swim with hawksbill turtles. Play pirate and sail a private charter to desolate islands made famous by Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean or cast a line for deep-sea tuna or mahi-mahi on a fishing tour. Of course, you could just nab one of the teak sunloungers and disappear beneath an umbrella with a good read at the beach or pool. Back on land, there's plenty to keep all occupied. Sign up for a lesson with the resident tennis pro or join a daily drop-in tennis game on one of the four courts. Trek into the hills or gallop over deserted beaches on horseback, and golfers will want to set up a tee-time on the nearby island of Canouan to play the pro-worthy course there. After all that physical exertion, you should really schedule in some spa time for a soothing after-sun wrap or an energizing mud wrap, naturally.
Given the exclusivity of this private island, there is not much in the way of nightlife or a restaurant scene beyond the hotel's glorious grounds. However, arrange for the hotel set you up with a gourmet lunch at one of the secluded picnic spots nestled along the shoreline for a romantic afternoon away from the hotel.
Anonymous review
By Mr & Mrs Smith
Please don't go to the Cotton House on Mustique. Really. I'm serious. Even writing this review is a torture because reading it means you know about the place. Maybe just sail past this Caribbean island or fly over it. A cursory check on Google Earth would be a great option. Honestly, there's no need to visit – no need at all.
I first went there in 1991 – with the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen – and, on the way back, decided to pretend I'd been to Barbados instead. The last thing you want is other people going and spoiling what's unique about this boutique Caribbean hotel. I've been a dozen times now, and can say with authority that you wouldn't like it. So please don't go.
The Cotton House has just 19 guestrooms and sits in 20 acres of open gardens, which reach down to a thin strip of white sand before melting into the clearest turquoise Caribbean waters, which teem with fish right up to the shore. Its 17th century cotton-plantation house is home to the beautiful Great Room, in which you can read or play backgammon, indulge in a spot of afternoon tea, simply people-watch, or sit and stare dreamily at the ocean. There's also a beach bar where movies are shown outdoors each week on a big screen in the evening, and a free weekly cocktail party. Very swish indeed.
Some basic facts to put you off a little more: this boutique hotel is actually the only one on Mustique besides the Firefly guesthouse, which incidentally has a fantastic restaurant (try the ceviche). Mustique covers just 1,400 pristine acres, and is part of St Vincent and the Grenadines, 100 miles west of Barbados. The Queen is head of state while the currency is pegged to the US Dollar – a good thing right now if you're coming from Europe.
If you're feeling energetic, you can play tennis, football and cricket. Or, for the romantically inclined, you could horse ride through the gently lapping surf. Hire a boat to try a spot of macho Hemingway-style deep-sea fishing or discover some of the world's finest scuba diving in the Tobago Cays Marine Park. Alternatively, take a picnic to the beach – or rather have one set up for you there by the people at Cotton House. You could hike miles of trails or drive a quirky little Mini Moke to one of the island's nine beaches. If there's someone else there, don't worry, there's certain to be a completely empty one just round the corner.
The island has about 90 private houses and their owners form the Mustique Company, which runs the place like a mediaeval kingdom; they make their own laws, run their own customs checks, raise their own taxes and are responsible for all of Mustique's water, electricity and champagne supplies. The owners themselves are more famous than the island – Mick Jagger, Felix Dennis, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain and Tommy Hilfiger are currently in situ, while Princess Margaret, Lord Lichfield and David Bowie are among the glittering array of former residents.
Don't go to this Caribbean island at all at Christmas because Hugh Grant, Pierce Brosnan, Raquel Welch, Stella McCartney and Naomi Campbell will all try to get to the Cotton House buffet before you do.
Enough of why you shouldn't go – here's why you, ahem, should. Mustique is the French word for 'mosquito'. Apparently, the island is roughly shaped like a mosquito, but I don't think that's the only reason for the name; the place has thousands of the blood-sucking swines. And sand flies, too. And don't forget the deadly 'no-see-ums', whose name needs no explanation. Granted, a spot of repellent spray in the day and a mosquito net over the bed at night deals with 99 per cent of them, but you will get bitten a few times, guaranteed.
Also, the airport has no landing lights – homeowners don't go in for pollution of any kind, baulking at intrusive lights and noisy little planes interrupting their aperitifs – so no aircraft land after dusk, which is about 5.30pm. This means you have to time your arrival and connection in Barbados or Antigua carefully to accommodate this. More than once I've had an unwanted night on a nearby island because my flight landed too late to make the connection.
So, what is so unique about Mustique that I don't want you to spoil? Despite its reputation for glamour and celebrities, this is a real 'no shoes, no news' kind of place. Forget your BlackBerry, there's no business centre at Cotton House and you won't want to work anyway. If paradise doesn't suit you then you're not going to like it here. Other than that, Mustique is whatever you want it to be – sociable or private, relaxing or busy, suitable for honeymooners or families alike. And that's the point. True luxury is having a place that is what you want it to be, when and how you want it to be. And that's unique.
The Guestbook
Whenever you book a stay at a Smith hotel or villa, we'll invite you to review it when you get back | 2,594 |
<|fim_middle|> information system can appear overwhelming. To assist in this task, suggestions are provided to help develop an effective initial framework for decision making. | ASQ: The Computer System in Quality: Beauty or Beast?
The Computer System in Quality: Beauty or Beast?
Many companies have now implemented computer-based quality information systems at some level. Systems range from simple stand-alone personal computers to complex distributed systems linking multiple plants through local and wide area networks. The information system may have been well planned in advance, or may have developed haphazardly over time.
No matter what stage of development the system is at, however, it is having an impact on the work 1ives of quality, manufacturing, engineering and other personnel, as well as on the performance of the work group and the company as a whole.
This paper will discuss the impact of quality information systems on the organization as a whole with the goal of demonstrating the importance of paying attention to and taking advantage of computer-based systems in this field. A variety of actual results will be shared, both to demonstrate the possible benefits as well as to illustrate potential pitfalls in planning and execution (the beautiful as well as the beastly sides of the issue).
Depending on the size and style of the organization involved, the task of implementing an effective quality | 228 |
My first experience with virtual reality was First Contact: an interactive orientation to Oculus Touch. I put on the headset and my new surroundings snapped into focus. I found myself in a cluttered workshop surrounded by nostalgia-inspiring objects like old computers and game consoles. I spent the next 10 minutes interacting with a friendly robot guide who handed me an assortment of floppy disks. While I had never experienced anything like this before, I knew what to do. I inserted the disks into glowing drives and familiar objects materialized in front of me. I held out my hand for a pixelated butterfly to land on, twirled a noisemaker and launched a toy rocket across the room.
My mind was buzzing after I took off the headset. As a content strategist at Facebook, I use language to create clear, consistent and compassionate experiences for the people who use our products.<|fim_middle|> to everyone. We eventually decided it was simpler to not to name this part of the experience at all.
Maintain flexibility: Because we intended to continue to build more functionality into this new app over time, we needed to choose names that afforded us the flexibility to change functionality as needed. "Projector" was the working name for the feature that you'd use to show photos or videos to other people in your space. The name "projector" drew a comparison between this feature and a specific piece of analog technology. It suggested that this affordance had one specific function: to project images on the walls of the space. This felt problematic because there was a chance that it would eventually do other things, too. We decided against this restrictive metaphor and, instead, focused on explaining how it worked ("Place a video here to display it" or "Show photos and videos to other people in your space").
This was a great way to stress test our decisions. It helped us see how a name (or the absence of one) would fit into the conversations people might have in the app.
Content strategists are often called upon to name and label new features, but we can do a lot more than just assign names to features once a product's design is complete. A content strategist is uniquely positioned to contribute to the formation of concepts in a new product.
Prioritize natural, descriptive language that works in spoken conversation. The stakes are high when you're naming new concepts and features, especially in an interface that supports actual conversation — you're giving people the words they'll use to discuss their experience with each other.
While names are necessary sometimes, avoid labeling every design decision or novelty in an experience. In other words, not everything needs a new name. This gets tricky when placeholder names have been attached to features during the product development process. It's important to discuss which features deserve a name and why, and testing those decisions with examples.
Don't rely too heavily on metaphors as feature names. They're an easy way to tie a feature to a familiar object or concept from "the real world," but they can be restrictive or confusing. Choose names that are inclusive and will age well. Make sure you're thinking holistically about how all of the terms you choose will work together as a cohesive system.
Identify the guiding principles that help you make your terminology decisions. This will help others understand the philosophical underpinnings of your decisions and show that they're not arbitrary. Principles will also help inform future naming decisions and ensure that they're consistent with your approach.
Read more about the Facebook content strategy team's work in VR in my colleague Andrea's piece on Medium, "Designing for Virtual Reality: 3 Tips for Content Strategists" and check out Facebook.design.
Thanks to Sara Getz and Jasmine Probst for their feedback and support. | Content strategists often communicate through words displayed on a screen in the form of dialogs, notifications, calls to action and other interface components.
What I'd just experienced felt more immersive than any interface I'd encountered before. And, while the experience was a completely new one, it had felt strangely intuitive. It became immediately clear to me that virtual reality represents a new and exciting challenge for content strategists. How do we bring clarity and simplicity to an experience when we move beyond the screen and the interface is all around us?
Several months later, I had the opportunity to investigate this question for myself. I worked with the Facebook Spaces team on Facebook's first social VR app. It's a virtual environment where people can spend time with their Facebook friends. They can watch videos, capture photos, play games, work on art projects and experience 360 media together. There was a lot to explain and no screen on which to do so. I was going to have to approach this from a different angle.
Social VR represents a new kind of conversation with the people who use our products. We didn't want to introduce a lot of text into an immersive experience. We knew we'd have to make the most of the limited opportunities to explain all the features and functionality, like creative tools to make 3D art and media players to experience 360 photos and videos. I felt that the best way to do this was to help people form a clear mental model of the virtual space we'd created by anchoring the experience in simple and familiar concepts. To do this successfully, we needed to make careful decisions about how to label the concepts in this experience.
Avoid names where interactions are intuitive. We decided not to name something if its function or purpose was immediately obvious. For example, when a person was in a virtual space in the app, we didn't need to explain to them that the surface they were standing on was like a floor — it was intuitive and familiar enough a concept that it needed no explanation.
Don't label design decisions. One important feature of the Spaces app was the ability to show media, like photos, to others in the space. Facebook Spaces supports both regular (2D) photos and 360 photos, and the team had created different designs for each of these. In Spaces, 2D photos look like a flat tile you can grab with your fingers, while 360 photos look like a sphere you can hold in your hand. We'd taken to calling these "photo tiles" and "photospheres" during the product development process, but it felt unnecessarily complicated to have multiple names for what was essentially the same concept. To simplify the experience, we chose to focus on the concept and choose one name ("photo") rather than name each form.
Question the use of metaphors. Metaphors can be useful as feature names when they clarify the purpose of an object or the intention of a part of the interface. Prior to the launch of Spaces, we were using a lot of these kinds of names for features to tie features to objects in the physical world. But taken together, placeholder names like polaroid, tool shelf, dressing room, picture frames, props and selfie stick painted a jumbled and confusing picture of the environment we'd created. We needed to make sure that any metaphors we did use were clear and supported people's understanding of the product. And I felt we shouldn't close ourselves off to future functionality or localizability by getting too specific with the comparisons we were drawing between real life and this virtual environment. As we started to assign more names to features in Spaces, it felt necessary to clarify additional guidelines around when and how to use metaphorical labels for virtual objects.
Keep them consistent: The metaphors in a product need to make sense together. For example, it's confusing to mix live theater metaphors with home theater metaphors, or futuristic metaphors with retro analog ones.
Make sure they're relevant: We needed to make sure that metaphors we included could make sense to anyone. This meant avoiding any metaphors that had specific cultural meaning and might not be relatable for people from different locations or backgrounds. In a pre-launch version of Facebook Spaces, people would change the appearance of their avatar in what looked like a room with heavy velvet curtains. Two names that were top contenders for this place were "backstage" and "the dressing room." These theater-themed metaphors felt problematic for a number of reasons. First, they implied that your space was a place of performance rather than a place where you could spend time with your friends. Second, it was a metaphor that might not make sense | 940 |
On a curve of land in Central America is a tiny hidden gem. Home to one of the most famous man-made structures in the world, Panama is a country of dramatic connections — east and west seas, north and south continents, age-old<|fim_middle|>.
Students also took excursions into the surrounding rainforest, one of Panama's most important natural resources.
Students hike through the rainforest.
The opportunity to have such a broad range of experiences is what makes the difference between a good trip and a great trip. Whether it was through hiking or dancing, swimming or eating, the country of Panama and all of its wonders made an impression on all of the Honors students.
"It's one thing to read about Panama, but being able to dance and fully immerse ourselves in the culture gifted me with an open mind, and a better appreciation for how beautiful it is that our world is made up of so many different cultures," Young said.
"One of the most memorable things I learned on this trip was that the rest of the world has an amazing story to tell," Keene said.
Learn more about Honors Travel opportunities, including the program's upcoming trip to Cuba.
The Honors City as Text participants and Honors Program Director Dr. Rocío Rivadeneyra visit Embera Village. | traditions and modern living. Through the unique City as Text course, Honors students saw these connections first-hand as they made their way through this diverse and resourceful country.
The Honors Travel experience is a unique opportunity for Honors students to immerse themselves in a foreign country. Through pre-trip classes, students were able to gain a solid academic foundation for the trip they were going to take, giving them the opportunity to learn important background information prior to departure. Students were then able to take this foundational knowledge and apply it as they traveled around the country, a model the Honors Program utilizes called "deep learning". "It was insightful to learn from the environment around us and make connections to the academic material we referenced in class," said sophomore Marisa Marseille.
Panama is a country where ancient and modern exist side-by-side in harmony. Modern skyscrapers in Panama City tower alongside buildings from two centuries ago. The juxtaposition does not feel out of place and is embraced by the citizens.
Honors students Beth Meiers and Dakota Behrends pose in front of the Panama City skyline.
This blending of the old and new can appear in unexpected places. The students visited the San Blas Islands, a popular ecotourism spot and a picturesque place to relax and enjoy the tropical sunshine while learning about the sustainability of the region. Scattered among the beaches and huts with thatched roofs was a surprising sight: solar panels.
A solar panel is visible on an island home.
Panamanian culture is a rich blend of Spanish, African, and indigenous influences. Students learned about the traditions of the Panamanian people through guided tours that offered hands-on experiences, and the chance to actually touch and see history.
A couple dances a traditional dance.
Interacting with such a diverse population of people was a pleasant surprise for freshman Alex Plumadore. The students spent time visiting local villages and visited with school children for an afternoon. "We saw so many different ethnic groups, from the indigenous tribes we met to the guides and locals we interacted with, and in such a small area. It was nice to see how well the different ethnic groups coexisted," said Plumadore | 439 |
In the second game, Pelicans shortstop Daniel Lockhart's home run in the second inning was the last run of the contest as Myrtle Beach held off Winston-Salem to split the double<|fim_middle|>, 4th Southern). | header.
Pelicans outfielder Rashad Crawford, who was 5-for-7 with three doubles and scored two runs in the two games.
G1: W–Thaddius Lowry (2-3, 4.19 ERA); L–Zach Hedges (3-4, 2.95); SV–Connor Walsh (2).
G2: W–Trevor Clifton (2-3, 2.62 ERA); L–Andre Wheeler (2-1, 3.04); SV–Jose Rosario (4).
The first game didn't go the way we wanted it to. It was a learning game for Hedges; that was by far the toughest outing he's had. When he came out, I told him, 'These kind of games today, where nothing seems to go your way are the ones you go back and analyze and learn the most from.' Balaguert with the grand slam gave us a chance to get back in the game and we didn't do much.The story of the second game was Clifton; he's had back-to-back really solid outings. He only had one walk, struck out a bunch of guys and gave us a chance. Lockhart with one swing gave us a two-run lead, and in those kind of games a two-run lead is huge over a one-run lead. Then, Rosario did a good job. We didn't have to use many pitchers and ended up splitting a doubleheader and you don't ever want to lose but if you lose the first one, you go home happy because you won the nightcap.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans (21-17, 2nd Southern), Winston-Salem (15-12 | 358 |
We're raising funds for our teacher assistants!
Creekside PTCO is excited to have two big fundraisers planned for the year—the Creekside Fun Run on September 13th and a Gala in the spring of 2019. Hosting a Fun Run means there is no selling or delivering of products. Family and friends anywhere in the world can support our school by giving pledges toward the number of laps your student will run on the day of the Fun Run on Thursday, September 13th, 2018.
SIGN UP HERE TO HELP AT OUR WATER STATION DURING THE FUN RUN!
Our Fun Run program will last about 2 weeks—from September 4th-13th. Students will experience an exciting Pep Rally, families will have time to get pledges, and on the last day, students will run in the Creekside Fun Run! Thanks to our sponsors,<|fim_middle|> to sponsors—friends and family who could donate to help our school.
4. Come cheer on your student at the Creekside Fun Run, September 13th. Parents are invited!
A huge thank you to Creekside's Fun Run sponsors, Advanced Orthodontics and Pollock & Co. Because of their generous support, EVERY Creekside student will receive an awesome Creekside Fun Run Spirit shirt. Please visit these sponsors and thank them for their support. | every student, no matter their financial participation, will received a Creekside Spirit shirt and are invited to run in the Creekside Fun Run.
Our Creekside Fun Run also comes with a world-class character theme. This year's theme is Mind Spark Mystery Lab that will inspire our students with STEAM powered character lessons so they can also make an impact in our community. Please download the pdf file below for FAQs.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT CREEKSIDE?
1. Register your child on funrun.com.
2. Reach out | 108 |
Jobs at risk under publisher's plans to axe subbing hub
by Helen Lambourne Published 17 Sep 2013
Jobs are at risk after a regional publisher announced plans to close a subbing hub and transfer the work to another base 70 miles away.
The introduction of a new editorial system means Newsquest is proposing to close its production hub in Worcester, which produces titles for the Midlands South division, and transfer the work to a new copy editing unit in Newport, South Wales, putting up to 15 jobs at risk.
The move has been announced to sub-editors at the Worcester base, who have been told that there will be around seven subbing roles available in Newport, where the South Wales Argus is based, if they chose to move.
Titles produced in Worcester include the Worcester News, Ledbury Reporter, Malvern Gazette, Stourbridge News and Halesowen News and some of the sub-editors have already been previously centralised there from Stourbridge.
In an announcement to the sub-editors, Newsquest Worcester group editor Peter John said that the introduction of a new<|fim_middle|> why such distances will make a difference – Sub Up North is probably as close to them as Newport will be and has just as much local knowledge as the template-filling-robots (not really sub editors) there will have!
Arthur, with the new system in place, there will be no subs – they're called 'copy editors', fitting stories onto templated pages. HTFP has paraphrased it as a 'subbing role' but that's not the official title. So I don't think there's a legal problem with sacking loads of people and employing others in a different job, unfortunately.
J Dale, Nottingham
Think I'm going to quit this business and team up with some geeky digital types to devise a fully automated content management system. Ideally something that can produce an entire newspaper from scratch with no human interference whatsoever, thereby dispensing with the need for journalists altogether. Reckon I could make a fortune.
Ex-Worcester News reporter, UK
Newport is at least 1hr 20min from Worcester so it won't be likely that many subs will want to make the 2hr 40min round trip.
If you want to see what this will mean for Worcestershire then look no further than the Evesham Journal website which is currently showing a story about Cleobury Mortimer, 36 miles from Evesham; a second about a Worcester girl thrown off a bus, in Worcester 17 miles away and a third about two people found dead in a farmhouse in Glenarm, Co Antrim,across the sea in Northern Ireland.
The content of the website has deteriorated significantly since production of the Evesham Journal moved to Worcester. Goodness knows how much worse it will get with staff based even further away. Whoever is updating this website clearly has no idea what the circulation area of the Evesham Journal is these days. It seems that any old content will do.
The only question now is how soon the Worcester News will go weekly. The circulation is pitifully small, less than 14,000.
LookingForAWayOut
They can talk about efficiency savings all they like but it's quite clear that what they really discuss in these management meetings is how to achieve the biggest possible reduction in newspaper sales during the next financial period. Credit where credit's due, they're very good at it!
WellOutOfIt, West Midlands
It's a funny old world (as the Iron Lady once said). Non-journalist managers starve editorial departments of staff and investment. The circulation then goes down so they have to make journalists redundant. The circulation goes down again so more cuts have to be made. The sales go down again until circulation is so low that it isn't worth advertising in because no one is reading it anyway.
As soon as advertising starts to slide it's too late. Goodbye news, goodbye advertising then it's time for the managers move on having wrecked people's careers, lives and families.
Bluestringer
More damaging decisions by a company that appears to becoming increasingly delinquent.
hacksthewaytodoit
Well said ex Worcester news reporter. Words fail me to the extent that I am unable to add anything else.
T. Mirror, Canary Wharf
J Dale, of Nottingham, we're way ahead of you….
Worcestershire Journalist, Worcestershire
Ex-Worcester News reporter commented "The only question now is how soon the Worcester News will go weekly. The circulation is pitifully small, less than 14,000."
Sadly the latest ABC shows that in June 2013 it dropped to 11,380 – down from 12,503 just five months earlier.
You Rs, Maidenhead
'Improves our news gathering facilities'…really! How?
Sorry Rupert Bear – spot-on. Said I didn't know that neck of the woods!
Garth Lawson
Surely the past tense of "forecast" is "forecast"; and not "forecasted"?
To advertise here call 01332 895994 | editorial system in the Wales and Gloucestershire areas meant efficiency savings could be made.
He said the company would try to avoid making redundancies and a consultation with affected staff members would take place until at least the end of this month.
The statement said: "Given the current and forecasted economic climate in the UK, all areas of the business are continually being explored to ensure we are as efficient as possible.
"The company has invested in a new editorial system in Wales and Gloucestershire region. This gives us greater flexibility, improves our news gathering facilities, and provides staff with upgraded equipment to better meet the ever-changing needs of our business.
"The system provides a more streamlined workflow for the production of pages, along with direct interfaces with our digital platforms. This has created efficiencies in a number of areas which will be outlined in detail in due course."
The transfer of sub-editing work is set to begin on 28 October, starting with the Hereford Times and Ludlow Advertiser and with a phased roll-out across the Midlands South titles.
It is thought around seven jobs will be created at the unit in Newport, although the exact number will not be known until later in the consultation process.
The statement added: "I would like to point out that this has no reflection on anyone's performance and is totally due to efficiency savings through the introduction of new technology and processes."
Sub-editors working for the Midlands titles had previously been centralised in Worcester in 2010 in a move which nearly led to strike action by the "Stourbridge Ten".
The company decided to use its existing subbing hub in Worcester for titles which were produced in Stourbridge, 27 miles away, which affected three sub-editors.
Redundant sub bounces back with launch of news website
North East titles to be subbed in South Wales says union
Subbing job losses confirmed but new role created
Union hits out over Newsquest job cuts
'Stourbridge Ten' call off strike action
Stourbridge Ten in '100pc vote' for strike action
Hereford Times
Ledbury Reporter
Ludlow & Tenbury Wells Advertiser
Malvern Gazette
Newsquest
Peter John
South Wales Argus
Stourbridge News
The Halesowen News
Worcester News
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Sub up North
I don't know that neck of the woods, but know South Wales is a long way, culturally and geographically, from the East Midlands. What they really mean is, we don't want subs.
And what the hell does "streamlined workflow" and "direct interface" mean? This is the sort of guff subs normally cut out. No wonder the newspaper industry is in trouble.
Now, just watch out for the first libel case as nobody is checking the copy.
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The Newport 'hub' has only just gone through a redundancy round, getting rid of subs, and now they're saying around 7 sub jobs will be made available in Newport because of this? How can that be legal?
Sub Mariner
How I have grown to loathe the euphemistic phrase 'efficiency savings'. Please stop trotting out this ridiculous term and say it like it is – who knows, you may claw back some respect for your refreshing honesty.
The Red Postman
'Streamlined workflow' means 'we've invested millions in a posh new editorial system which will allow us to sack all the subs and impose a greater workload on the reduced number of page planners and reporters which this will allow us to employ.'
Been there, seen it, done it, got the redundancy cheque from TM.
The seven jobs in Newport will be non-jobs, created to give the impression that they care but which can be made redundant when the next stage of the new production system is introduced in, say, nine months' time.
Ex Newsquest sub
Usual load of meaningless management-speak from Newsquest. No surprise there then. I agree with Sub Up North – the connection between Worcester and South Wales, in real newspaper terms is non-existent. Mistakes will be made that make the paper, and its hapless staff, look stupid, at the very least , libellous at worst. And guess what, the readers will lose interest and investment in what is no longer their local paper.
Rupert Bear
Bit of subbing needed for the first post.
Worcester in the EAST Midlands?
Enough Is Enough, Coventry
I thought these idiotic phrases were the preserve of our management and David Brent.
Hadn't realised that streamlined interfaces and the like had infected other publishers too.
All Subbed Out
Not sure, Sub Up North, what the "East Midlands" has got to do with it, as all the titles affected are in the Black Country, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and South Shropshire. But I guess that's a perfect example of | 1,053 |
janeaustenrunsmylife
Tag Archives: Disney Film
October 6, 2021 by L.
The Cutest Alien You'll Ever See: The Cat From Outer Space (1978)
The Cat From Outer Space is one of my favorite movies. I used to watch it over and over again until the tape we had wore out as it was no longer playable.
I loved this Disney film (yep completed that yearly tradition), as besides it being amazing I liked that the cat was the hero instead of the villain. There are very few movies that do that as usually the dog is the good guy.
This film is hilarious and even though it was made in the '70s the special effects still look really good. I watched this with my 10 year old niece and she not only loved and was invested in the story, but she also really liked the special effects as she thought they were cool.
And the cat is beyond adorable! It was played by two Abyssinians that are siblings and they are both amazing actors. I know it sounds silly to say that, but those trainers did such a great job as they really look like they are engaged in the conversation and a part of the scene. It's amazing!
Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 AKA Jake
So the film starts off with a ship from outer space landing, and the cutest alien in the world that can invade my life anytime he wants, Abyssinian cat Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7. His ship has had some issues so he had to make an emergency landing on our planet Earth. He looks like your average cat but can talk and has the power of telekinesis through the special collar he wears.
The military shows up and confiscates the ship, but they totally miss the cat. Unbeknownst to them, Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 follows them back to the base.
The next day the military calls together the top scientists from Energy Research Laboratory. They try to have a closed room conference, but it turns out that Mr. Stallwood (Roddy McDowell) is trying to infiltrate it. Yep, he's a spy although not a very good one.
But one who is good at what they do is Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 who slips in unnoticed and listens to the deliberations.
The General shows the scientists a floating object the soldiers took from the ship. The scientists discuss it, but can't come up with any reason to how it can levitate. One scientists, Dr. Liz Bartlett (Sandra Duncan), suggests bringing in new scientist Frank, (Ken Berry). Frank has a lot of theoretical ideas and some out there thoughts.
They call him in, but unfortunately he makes too many jokes and the General and the rest don't take him seriously.
[Dr. Frank Wilson has been brought in to view the artifact removed from the flying saucer]
Frank: It's beautiful.
General Stilton: Don't you have any other observations?
Frank: Only that it looks like an artichoke, sir.
General Stilton: We know it looks like an artichoke, Wilson. What makes it tick?
Frank: Mayonnaise?
General Stilton: Negative.
Frank: No, no, I was only joking, sir.
Frank then tries to explain his real theory but the General is done and kicks him out of the room. However, Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 is very interested in what he has to say as it actually was tracking near the truth of how his ship works.
Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7 follows Frank to his office. Frank notices the cat and decides to call him Jake, but then is interrupted by Dr. Bartlett who comes to give Frank a piece of her mind, but after the two talk articles they have published, Frank manages to get Dr. Liz Bartlett to agree to go on a date with him. Frank is overjoyed over this, but his celebration is interrupted by Jake who decides to tell Frank the truth in order to get his help. Frank is shocked:
Frank: [realizing the voice is coming from the cat] It… it's you?
Jake: It's not the mouse. Now sit down.
Frank: But your lips aren't moving. You're not speaking.
Jake: Through transference. Nothing exceptional where I come from. Now, sit.[Using telekinesis generated through his collar, Jake pulls a chair behind Frank forward and he collapses into it]
Jake: My name is Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7.
Frank: [struggling] Zunar…
Jake : Why don't we stay with Jake, okay? Frank, last night, at 03 hours plus 13, I made an emergency landing in a spaceship from another galaxy. That so-called "artichoke", it's from my craft.
Frank: But… you're a cat.
But being a scientist, Frank get over this shock pretty quick, especially as Jake promises to share some interplanetary secrets with him.
The two decide to break into the base so that Jake can find out what needs to be done to fix his ship but they are interrupted by Frank's neighbor and fellow scientist, Dr. Link. Dr. Link is a sports enthusiast and a gambler and wants to watch the game on Frank's TV as he and his wife got into an argument. Frank and Jake are in a hurry so Jake uses his collar to help Dr. Link's team win. But just as they fix that problem, Dr. Liz stops by to go out with Frank.
The two lie that Jake is sick and head down to the base. Stallwood, the spy, also has the same idea of sneaking into the base and tries to get in as well, following the pair. When Frank and Jake get caught, Jake uses his collar to freeze the soldier and then they sneak into the ship.
Frank is amazed and wants to know everything, but Jake needs to take care of business. He gives Frank his spare collar and has him bring a device to the outside of the ship so he can run diagnostics. Frank is eager to try it out, and has a lot of fun levitating/flying, so much fun that Jake has to snap him back to the plan at hand.
When they run the diagnostics it turns out that something was destroyed and needs to be replaced. To do that he needs Org 12 which on our planet is gold, a lot of gold. $120,000 worth of gold. In today's time that would be almost $500,000.
The solider Jake froze earlier is seen by another soldier who sounds the alarm and the whole base comes alive with people<|fim_middle|> to give anyone ultimate power-daughter's hand in marriage and be future King if one can destroy them. Stephen sees it as his chance, finds Maleficent and the two reconcile.
Not really as he just did it to get her drunk and kill her.
But he doesn't kill her, there is a shred of humanity in him, and he instead cuts off her wings.
Nooo
Fastfoward King Stephen and the Queen have a daughter-Aurora. Maleficent does the curse-not nearly as epic as the cartoon and everything progresses as in the film. Except the fairies suck at everything as only focus on themselves-and Maleficent watches over her-becoming a mother to her.
King Stephen has gone crazy and when his daughter and Maleficent come and the curse is played out there is this big fight, blah, blah, blah.
I found it so boooooooring.
I actually fell asleep as I just could not stand this character of the film. They acted like it was "new" "never done before" "told in a brand new light". But it wasn't. You knew what was going to happen, you knew the ending.
Rather not watch
The only part that was funny was my friend and I were kind of bashing on the betrayal of men, and how Aurora and Maleficent are happy-until a man comes along, Prince Phillip.
Then I saw him, and said "he's a cute man-but still stay away"-my friend just looked at me and we both started laughing.
I couldn't help it-he reminds me of a guy I had a crush on ten years ago when I was a teenager.
Very cute
But even without that, I love Prince Phillip-he was always my favorite prince.
Prince Philip
So yeah, I did not care for it-espechially Angelina Jolie. I don't like her at all as an actress, I don't think she is good and especially dull in this. Maleficent was powerful, evil, terrifying, the stuff of nightmares. And in this, she was none of that, nowhere near that. Eleanor Audley is the true queen of darkness.
To start Horrorfest VII from the beginning, go to It's the End of the World: The Birds (1963)
For the previous post, go to Will We Survive the Night?: Rawhide (1951)
For more Sleeping Beauty, go toI Would Go Through Anything for You: Sleeping Beauty (1959)
For more Disney, go toI Can Show You the World: Aladdin (1992)
Posted in Disney, Fairy Tales, Horrorfest VII
Tagged Angelina Jolie, Betrayed, Chernabog, Classic Disney Film, Disney Film, Disney Villain, Dragon, Eleanor Audley, Evil, King Stephen, Maleficent, Moors, Nostalgia Critic, Prince Phillip, Sleeping Beauty, Wings, World Domination
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Frank is fuh-reaking out about where to get that much money, rightly so, and Jake is nonplussed. As they try to figure out how to get the money, the answer to their problems walks in as Dr. Link wants to watch more games and gamble. Jake decides to let Dr. Link know what is really going on. At first Dr. Link doesn't believe them, but Jake uses his collar to convince him.
This scene is funny as they make the beer he is drinking go back in the can, shoot him in the face, have towels wrap around him, and Jake makes him float (and yes I do think it is weird how this film promotes drinking and gambling.) But the thing that distracts me watching it now is the poster that Frank has on his wall. It looks just like Jane from Tarzan (1999).
But unbeknownst to them, Stallwood who witnessed all the shenanigans at the base the night before had followed them and is filming them to show his employer.
So our cool cat crew puts some bets out there, but are interrupted when Dr. Bartlett shows up with her cat for their rescheduled date. Yes, it seems like Frank has a bit of The Absentminded Professor (Flubber) in him. He didn't listen to her and totally didn't realize they rescheduled their plans.
Frank tries to get rid of Dr. Bartlett by saying Jake is sick, but as Dr. Bartlett is a responsible pet owner, she gets the veterinarian in the complex to stop by and help make Jake better.
The only problem is that this Vet is more into the football game instead of helping the cat and proceeds to knock Jake out. Jake managed to help then win this football game, but they are out of luck for the next game and will lose all their money.
That's not good.
The only way to get their money back to send Jake home is to go down to the pool hall and try to get the bookie to let them make another bet. They hurry down, with sleeping Jake, and on the way explain everything to Dr. Bartlett who actually believes it really quickly.
Meanwhile the military, NASA, ERL, etc have been analyzing the ship and have discovered Frank's fingerprints all over it, along with paw prints and cat hair. They have the computer analyze the ship and it declares that the cat is the pilot, but the General refuses to listen to that. They decide to head to Frank's and wait outside to see who he is working with.
When the cat crew get to the pool hall they can't get another game to bet on, but Frank decides to try for a pool game. To make back their money they have Dr. Bartlett face off against Sarasota Slim, pool hustler. Dr. Link and Dr. Bartlett are worried as Dr. Bartlett doesn't know how to play, but decide to trust that Frank can use the collar.
I love that the crew brought Jake with them and no one is mad that there is a cat in the pool hall. Frank has Dr. Link hold Jake, and luckily there is a guy who likes onion and sauerkraut on his sandwich and has no boundaries as he stands right next to Dr. Link and Jake, his sandwich waking Jake up.
However, it isn't fast enough and Frank hasn't had enough practice that when he tries to help Dr. Bartlett out he makes the cue ball bounce around the room instead of knocking the balls around. They lose the game and their money.
But thanks to stinky sandwich guy, Jake wakes up and they are back on track. Frank tries to up the odds by betting on Dr. Bartlett to win blindfolded, with Sarasota Slim breaking and getting half the balls. The odds are 200 to 1, just what they need, and with Jake on their side they win.
They head back to the apartment where they are being watched by the military and Stallwood's secret employer. The cat crew give Jake the gold who converts the giant brick into a tiny lego sized object.
Before they get a chance to leave the General marches in and is about to arrest them, when Jake freezes him. They are trying to decide what to do next when they get the idea to steal his clothes and have Frank pretend to be the General. The shirt they give the General is so not him, a touristy Hollywood shirt.
Frank and Jake head to the base, while Stallwood's employer kidnaps Dr. Bartlett.
On base, Frank gets in and helps Jake repair his ship and move it. As they are about to say goodbye Dr. Link shows up and shares that Dr. Bartlett and her car Lucybelle were kidnapped and they want the collar in exchange. Jake likes Lucybelle the cat a lot and wants to help, but if he does he will never be able to return home again. Frank tells Jake to go home and he he and Dr. Link sadly watch Jake leave. Frank only had him for a little while but will greatly miss him.
As the ship disappears from the sky, Jake hops in the Jeep ready to help and stay on Earth. They head to the airport to try and save their lady loves.
Meanwhile, the General and his team have woken up and they head to the base, not too far behind Frank and Jake.
When Frank gets to the airport there are no planes available so Jake uses his collar to bring an old dilapidated plane that looks like it can barely run it or air.
On the plane, Stallwood realized that they have kidnapped Dr. Bartlett and that his employer plans on killing her. He doesn't like it, and tries to stop him, but unfortunately he grabs the flare gun and shot the controller making it impossible to fly. Everyone bails out except Dr. Bartlett and Lucybelle as there are no more parachutes.
Jake and Frank try to save them in an incredible display, but when Frank puts Lucybelle on the plane with Jake, Jake gets distracted and Frank has to get him to focus.
In the end they catch the spy, the president decides that Jake will not be harmed but seen as an ambassador, and Jake goes to court to become a citizen of the USA, and plans to spent the rest of his days with Frank, Dr. Bartlett, Lucybelle, and Dr. Link.
It's a very cute film that I highly recommend for all cat lovers!
For more on The Cat From Outer Space, go to The Cat's Meow
For more Disney films, go to A Carefree Holiday Suddenly Plunged Into Danger: The Moon-Spinners (1964)
For more aliens, go to Nothing Will Stop It! Nothing Can Stop the Blob!: The Blob (1958)
For more on cats, go to A Man Dressed as a Giant Bat, Psychotic Deformed Man Wrecking Havoc, and a Zombie Cat Woman…A Batman Christmas: Batman Returns (1992)
Posted in Horrorfest X
Tagged Abyssinian Cat, Alien, Alien Ship, Aliens, Cat, Cats, Disney, Disney Film, Dr. Frank Wilson, Dr. Link, Dr. Liz Bartlett, Flubber, Gold, Jake, Ken Berry, Mr. Stallwood, Roddy McDowell, Sandra Duncan, Sarasota Slim, The Absentminded Professor, The Cat From Outer Space, Zunar-J-5/9 Doric-4-7
October 28, 2020 by L.
A Carefree Holiday Suddenly Plunged Into Danger: The Moon-Spinners (1964)
It's time for our Disney film!
My mom has always been a huge Hayley Mills fan and I grew up watching all her films. I love all of them, but my second favorite has always been The Moon-Spinners (That Darn Cat is first).
So my mother recorded it off TV years ago and I watched the film with her. Years passed and I wanted to watch it again but our tape had worn out and the end was missing. I tried hunting for it as I just had to know, what happened in the end.
Tell ME!!!!!
The copy I borrowed from the library was also no good as right when it came to the part I wanted to see, the white lines of boredom.
{Picture from Ringu)
Eventually I decided that I needed to just buy a copy, but had real trouble finding one-this was back when ebay was entering the everyday vernacular and amazon was just barely making name for itself). Then we also had Disney putting things in "the vault" so super hard to get the older movies. Years passed but whenever I would look for the film it was either sold out, "soon to be added", too expensive, VHS, or USED. I finally found a copy this year and bought it for my mom for Mother's Day this year.
Looking at this film now as an adult, I can clearly see why I was into it. This film is very similar to the style of Alfred Hitchcock. The thriller starts with an average ordinary person who gets caught up in this web of intrigue accidentally.
There are quite a few scenes and story points that are also reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock, all being things I love. I later looked up some trivia and read that that Walt Disney purposely wanted this to be like a Hitchcock movie and had the writers borrow some motifs, but still give it a Disney ending.
So without further ado…
Nikky Ferris (Hayley Mills) and her Aunt Frances are traveling through Greece collecting folk songs as she is a musicologist for the BBC. They rented a room at The Moon-Spinners Inn, but unfortunately for them the owner, Sophia's (Irene Papas) brother is causing some issues. Stratos (Eli Wallach) has returned after 15 years living in England and has been in such a bad mood since his return. He doesn't want anyone in the hotel (and unknown to his sister has been throwing away reservations). He causes a scene with her, but Sophia ends up renting the rooms to the two ladies after they arrive hot, bedraggled, and tired from their trip on the bus.
From The Iron Giant
There is only one other guest at the hotel, Mark Camford (Peter McEnery). When Nikky and Frances arrive, Nikky has not been having the best holiday. But as soon as she sees dashing Mark, she perks up.
The three eat together that night and enjoy Mark's company, but while he is charming and cheerful, something seems off. He keeps looking and watching-something is between him and Stratos.
So Nikki is really into Mark and tries to flirt with him and he is nice, but he's totally drunk and kind of all over the place. I never noticed that as a kid, I always thought he was just having fun.
Huhhhhhhh
Nikky had spoken to Sophia's son Alexis (Michael Davis) and heard about different beautiful places to swim. She talks about it and she and Mark make plans to go out in the morning together to swim and have a picnic. Nikky is excited.
After the ladies go to bed, Stratos goes out to the Bay of Dolphins with Mark following him. Ah ha! He either got sober real quick or he was just pretending to be-trying to throw Stravos off the scent. Mark is seen and a fight ensues with Mark being shot. He falls in the water.
Stratos returns the hotel and cleans out Mark's room, him having "checked out".
The next day Nikki is happy and excited for her date and when she gets to the Bay, there is no Mark.
From The Wolf Man (1941)
She waits around for a bit and checks back at the hotel with Stratos telling her that Mark checked out. Nikki doesn't feel like that's right, I mean she only met and spoke to him last night but they seemed to have a connection. Or at least he seemed nice enough to tell her instead of standing her up. She starts looking/wandering and finds what looks like his shoe, but just one.
She goes to an old historic church and notices some blood and finds Mark wounded in the church. Wanting to help him, she leaves her sweater over him and takes off back to the hotel. She searches Mark's room, but can't find a single thing that belongs to him. Instead she steals her Aunt's first aid kit and blanket, smuggling some brandy out of the hotel-just barely avoiding being spotted by her Aunt.
That scene is stressful as you know Mark is heavily in need of assistance and if he doesn't get it he'll die!
She manages to make it and goes to Mark giving him all the supplies. Mark won't tell her why he was shot, who shot him, what this is all about etc. Instead he sends her home, trying as hard as he can to not involve her .
She leaves after much protest and returns to the Inn. There Frances complains about her missing items, Stratos hears them and immediately knows that his problem hasn't been destroyed.
Nicky tries to get sway as soon as she can so as to warn him, but ends up being captured by Stratos. Startoes sees the blood trail and follows it but doesn't find mark. He takes Nikky with him.
Aunt Frances begins to grow worried when Nikky doesn't return. Stratos leaves and goes "looking" for her. The next day Frances leaves for the police, located in the next village. Sophia begins to think that her brother did something, but when she questions her brother he threatens her son, Alexis. After that, Sophia stays quiet.
What a horrible man, I do like that we don't see anything horrible happen (it is still a Disney film). But what is inferred is truly, truly horrible. I mean this is his nephew! And he is threatening to kill, maim, hurt, destroy his own nephew!
Alexis is out with his donkeys and finds Nikky in the windmill trapped.
He goes for help and finds Mark who tries his best to help with a wounded arm. This is like the best scene in the whole movie. I tried to find a clip, but unfortunately I couldn't. So they climb on the windmill and use the sails to get in to help Nikky, and then to get out. This scene was so scary as if you fell when the sail was at the very top, ouch dead or injured.
This is always where my copy ended, after the windmill scene. I have to say this really is the most thrilling part of the film, so no wonder it hooked me good.
After that they try to go to the next town to reach the police, but Stratos friend comes after them. They have to stop as Mark needs rest, his injury is really giving him trouble. They wait in some temple ruins filled with cats, that's how you know it is safe
And Mark finally tells her his story. So Mark was a London bank messenger and supposed to be taking these famous jewels to the Countess Fleet. He was distracted, as there was a girl involved, and after the robbery he wasn't prosecuted as there wasn't enough proof, but he did lose his job and has a dark cloud over him. He remembers Stratos and followed him Greece to try and get proof of his innocence. I love how when he tells the story Nikky clicks on to one thing.
Mark Camford: You believe me don't you?
Nikky Ferris: About the girl?
Mark Camford: No, about ME.
The next day they are awaken by John Gamble, of the British counsel. He offers them to come to his place for food, baths, medical attention. As Mark is in serious need and he's from their country-Nikky convinces Mark to go with him, and they leave the shot gun behind. They go to his extremely nice house and get all they were promised. The weird thing is that his wife Cynthia really likes Nikky and finds her a sweet girl but always is sad around her. Nikky wanders about the house and uses a telescope on the balcony to look at a yacht in the water, it is a famous one owned by the infamous Madame Habib and her world famous jewel collection.
Now I have seen almost every Alfred Hitchcock movie and episode of his TV show-so I know this man is evil. This is just like in The 39 Steps or Saboteur when they go to the rich influential man in power, only to see that he is in fact working for the other side and going to betray them.
Nikky goes to see Mark and he shares that the jewels are too famous to be sold on the open market so Stratos must have a certain buyer in mind. Nikky mentions Madam Habib and Mark is convinced it must be her, wanting to add another famed piece. Nikky thinks they should get help from the Gambles, but Mark doesn't trust the Gambles. He They are…something is very, very off about them. Later Mark tries to leave and can't even stand-drugged. Aunt Frances comes and Gamble arranged for them to go to the airport while Mark will be dropped off at the hospital, yeah right they are probably going to kill him.
Mark ends up escaping, as he needs to get those jewels and the proof, and it turns out Gramble and Stratos are working together.
There is a giant Carnival/festival happening, making stop and go traffic as they have to wait for people and such to past. After Mark takes off, Nikky follows but loses him. She instead steals a boat and heads out to the yacht. Jeez, this boy has really been a bad influence on her.
He's a bad boy
All comes to a head on Madame Habib's yacht as Nikky tells her the story, Stratos arrives to sell the jewels and fights with Nikky, Mark arrives to get his proof, Aunt Frances comes with the police, etc. Mark is cleared, Frances told the story, Stratos jailed, Nikky and Frances can enjoy the rest of their holiday and poor Madam Habib gets nothing.
Madame Habib: Well, since this seems to have turned into a family reunion, we might as well make the best of it. I will have dinner served on the rear deck. I'm so upset… I shall have mine in bed.
So this was a cute but thrilling movie and a lot of fun to watch. It also will be enjoyable for any Alfred Hitchcock fan out there.
For more Disney films, go to Basil of Baker Street: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
For more Hayley Mills, go to That Darn Cat
Posted in Disney, Horrorfest IX
Tagged Albert Schweitzer, Alexis, Alfred Hitchcock, Amazon, Bay of Dolphins, BBC, Cats, Disney, Disney Film, ebay, Eli Wallach, England, Folk Song, Frances Ferris, Greece, Hayley Mills, Holiday, Hotel, Irene Papas, Mark Camford, Michael Davis, Missing Jewels, Musicologist, Nikky Ferris, Peter McEnery, Picnic, Ruins, Sophia, Stolen Jewels, Stratos, Swim, Temple, That Darn Cat (1965), The Moon-Spinners, The Moon-Spinners Inn, The Parent Trap (1961), Thriller, VHS Copy, Walt Disney
In the Spa House of the Spirits: Spirited Away (2001)
It is Time for Our Annual Disney and Animated Film
So this film isn't considered a "Halloween" movie by some, but I always think of it as one because when they rerelease the Studio Ghibli films in theaters every month, they always do this one in October. Not to mention it has spirits in it.
I think I have seen it maybe three times in theaters? I forget. Anyways, I love this movie.
I first heard of Studio Gibli because my friend was really into the films. We watched Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro. Then when I was in college my best friend and roommate had a bunch of his films and we watched Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, and Princess Mononoke.
I absolutely loved Howl's Moving Castle and bought it- making my nieces watch it, (they love it now too), and Spirited Away. And as I still needed a Disney film and an animated film (yearly Horrorfest tradition) I thought it was perfect!
So the film is Japanese, and then voice dubbed in English for the states. There are a few differences in phrases and terms, mostly because there are things you won't understand if you don't know Japanese culture.
So the film starts out with little Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) and her parents are driving to their new home. Chihiro is very upset to have to leave her friends and family.
Her father decides to go down a shortcut, which leads him through an old abandoned amusement park and the world of Kami (spirits) of Japanese Shinto folklore.
Her parents see the food left out for the spirits and eat it. Oh no-you aren't supposed to do that. Being of Mexican descent, I know you never, ever eat the food for the dead/spirits. Remember that Lizzie McGuire episode?
So of course her parents have something bad happen to them, they turn into pigs and run off!
Poor 10-year old Chihiro, what is she going to do now?
Luckily, she is saved by a young boy, Haku (Jason Marsden [he played Goofy's son Max], who takes her to the bathhouse. He gives her some food to eat so she can remain in the spirit world.
Haku: Don't be afraid, I just wanna help you.
Chihiro: No… no… no… no… no…
Haku: Open your mouth and eat this. If you don't eat food from this world, you'll disappear.
He tells her to see the boiler man Kamaji, and ask for a job. He will have to give her one if she asks and then she can stay in the world, and look for her parents. He refuses, but does claim her as his granddaughter.
Kamaji sends her to the owner of the spahouse, the witch Yubaba. Yubaba tries to scare her off, but as Chihiro prevails, she gets hired on and signs a contract. Yubaba takes her name and changes it to Sen. Haku finds her later and gives her the card from her friend with her real name. He warns her, don't forget you name or else you can never leave.
I liked that, as in fairy tales that is a common theme with witches and warlocks, Rumplestilskin-your name is powerful.
No one likes Sen as she is still human. She gets paired with Lin (Susan Egan, who you'll recognize the voice as the same actress who was Meg in Hercules). Lin is unhappy as no one wants to help her as well, now that she is paired with Sen. Yubaba makes things difficult by giving them the hardest tasks as she wants to break little Sen.
One night, Sen notices something outside when she goes to close the doors. She spots No-Face, which is not supposed to come into the spa (but she doesn't know that). She leaves the door open as she gets called away by Lin to take care of the stink spirit. After she leaves, No-Face comes in.
They need serious help to clean up this one, but the guy who gives the special spa bath salts won't give her anything. However, No Face grabs her a bunch of them. As they clean the stink spirit, Sen realizes that he needs more than just a bath.
Lin: Sen! Sen, where are you?
Chihiro: [from beside the Stink Spirit] Over here!
Lin: Don't worry… stay right where you are, I'm coming to get you! You're gonna be fine, I won't let him hurt you.
Chihiro: I think he needs help! It feels like there's a thorn in his side!
She frees him and the creature is horrifying looking to me, creeps me out, but he's the nice spirit of a polluted river and gives Sen a magic emetic dumpling and gold to everyone else.
All are happy, but Sen feels a little distressed. She misses her family and can't find Haku anywhere.
Lin warns her to stay away frpm Haku, that he is evil and works for the witch Yubaba-don't trust him. But Sen is convinced that Haku is good.
Meanwhile No-Face has made fake gold and has been treated like a king in the spa. He demands food and tips well, eatign workers when they keep him from reaching Sen.
Meanwhile, Haku has returned from his mission (in the shape of a dragon), and is attacked by paper Shikigami. Haku and Sen try to fight them off, but one morphs into Yubaba's twin sister, Zeniba, and reveals he stole a seal from her.
Yubaba's giant crazy baby Boh captures Sen and doesn't want her to leave. He wants her to stay and play with her, threatening to break her arm and force her to stay-this baby always scared me.
On second thought-with this baby in it, it is a horror movie.
Zeniba's image does not like how the baby speaks to her and turns him into a mouse and makes a hologram baby. Haku then attacks her shikigami and that destroys the Zeniba hologram. He's badly injured and falls down to the boiler room with Sen and Boh.
Kamaji diagnoses him as having eaten some pretty powerful magic. Sen gets the great idea to give him some of the dumpling she got earlier. He coughs up the seal and a worm, which Sen destroys. Boh and Kamaji's soot creatures reenact it.
She has to travel to Zeniba and take the seal. Kamaji gives her his roll of tickets to take the spirit train and she is about to head out-but is stopped by the antics of No-Face. No-Face has been going crazy trying to find Sen and eating everything!
Okay I was an adult when I saw this but he is so crazy and creepy looking, he has ALWAYS terrified me. He's like the creepy blob thing in Phantoms.
She gives him the rest of the dumpling and he spits everything up. Sen leaves and No Face goes with them. Sen, No Face, Boh, and Yubaba's crow all travel on the train to see Zeniba.
When they reach Zeniba they are surprised to discover that she is so kind and nice. She puts them to work, No Face weaves and the others help out.
They then have a tea party,
And Zeniba reveals she can't do anything to help her, her parents, or Haku. Chihiro must do it.
Zeniba: I'd like to help you, dear, but there's nothing I can do. It's one of our rules here. You've got to take care of your parents and that dragon boyfriend of yours, on your own.
Chihiro: But, um, can't you even give me a hint? I feel like Haku and I met, a long time ago.
Zeniba: In that case, it's easy. Nothing that happens is ever forgotten, even if you can't remember it.
Haku wakes up and goes after them. No-Face stays behind while Chihiro, Boh, and the little crow decide to return to the spa house. Sen frees him when she gives him his name back.
Chihiro: Haku, listen. I just remembered something from a long time ago, I think it may help you. Once, when I was little, I dropped my shoe into a river. When I tried to get it back I fell in. I thought I'd drown but the water carried me to shore. It finally came back to me. The river's name was the Kohaku river. I think that was you, and your real name is Kohaku River.
Haku: You did it, Chihiro! I remember! I was the spirit of the Kohaku River.
Chihiro: A river spirit?
Haku: My name is the Kohaku River.
Chihiro: They filled in that river, it's all apartments now.
Haku: That must be why I can't find my way home, Chihiro, I remember you falling into the river, and I remember your little pink shoe.
Chihiro: So, you're the one who carried me back to shallow water, you saved me… I knew you were good!
But not all is taken care of. Chihiro must now past the test to pick her parents from the pigs or be stuck there forever.
She and her parents are free and leave. Her parents are groggy as if they have just woken from a dream, and they find their car covered in vines and such as if it has been sitting out there for a long time. I wonder how long they were in the spirt world? Does her father still have a job?
They head to their home and Chihiro's father asks is she is nervous about going to a new school. After all Chihiro has been through school will not be a problem.
This is an absolutely adorable film, although it does have some creepy moments in it. No-Face,
To start Horrorfest VIII from the beginning, go to Count Dracula the Propagator of This Unspeakable Evil Has Disappeared. He Must Be Found and Destroyed!: Horror of Dracula (1958)
For more animated films, go to Basil of Baker Street: The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
For more Disney films, go to One Who Was Both Hero and Villain: Maleficent (2014)
For more ghosts, go to To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)
Posted in Horrorfest VIII
Tagged Abandoned Amusement Park, Amusement Park, Animated Film, Boh, Castle in the Sky, Chihiro, Daveigh Chase, Disney, Disney Animated Film, Disney Film, emetic dumpling, Ghosts, Gold, Haku, Hayao Miyazaki, Howl's Moving Castle, Japan, Japanese, Japanese Film, Jason Marsden, Kamaji, Kami, Kiki's Delivery Service, Kohaku, Lin, Lizzie McGuire, Magic, My Neighbor Totoro, No-Face, Phantoms (1998), Princess Mononoke, Sen, Shikigami, Shinto Folklore, Spirit World, Spirited Away, Spirits, Stink Spirit, Studio Ghibli, Susan Egan, Witch, Yubaba, Zeniba
July 29, 2019 by L.
Clean Cup! Clean Cup! Move Down, Move Down, Move DOOOWWWNN!!!!!
So most people watch Disney films and they find a character they connect to. Disney princess:
Maybe an animal:
Now that Star Wars is in the Disney family it opens more choices:
But sadly no. Since living on my own, I have discovered that the Disney character I am most like is the Mad Hatter.
So first of all I'm not mad from Mercury poisoning.
*whew* I know you are all relieved to hear that. And no it isn't how he dresses, although I love wearing hats.
It's not even his love of tea-which I do share
It's his mess of tea cups everywhere.
I'm a mess
The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it: 'No room! No room!' they cried out when they saw Alice coming. 'There's plenty of room!' said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table…
'And ever since that,' the Hatter went on in a mournful tone, 'he won't do a thing I ask! It's always six o'clock now.'
A bright idea came into Alice's head. 'Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?' she asked.
'Yes, that's it,' said the Hatter with a sigh: 'it's always tea-time, and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.'
'Then you keep moving round, I suppose?' said Alice.
'Exactly so,' said the Hatter: 'as the things get used up.'
That's my apartment. Now, I'm not saying that I'm a total slob, it's just I've noticed that since living on my own 70% of my dishes are tea cups/mugs.
So as you can see-when it comes to dirty dishes 70% of them are tea cups/mugs. I also live in a very small apartment with a tiny sink, so as to not damage my cups/mugs they tend to line the counter next to the sink.
The real problem comes if I miss a day washing the dishes. Then oh no-it really looks like the Mad Hatter's tea party.
How 'bout you all? Do you have this problem?
For more tea posts, go to Literary Tea Parties
For more Alice in Wonderland, go to It's Always Tea Time
For more Lewis Carroll, go to Past is Past
Posted in Tea Time
Tagged Alice in Wonderland, C.S. Lewis, Disney, Disney Animal, Disney Film, Disney Princess, Lewis Carroll, Mad Hatter, Marvel, Mercury Poisoning, Star Wars, Tea, Tea Party, Tea Time, Teaddict
One Who Was Both Hero and Villain: Maleficent (2014)
So every year I do a Disney film. So here we go!
…One who was both hero and villain. And her name was Maleficent.
So I never was ever interested in seeing this film. I am the biggest Sleeping Beauty fan and I just felt that this story did not need to be made. After all this film is amazing:
And one of the best parts was the terrifying Maleficent:
And then when she turns into a dragon!!!
AMAZING!!!!!
When I saw the remake, you know me:
I mean why did they have to give her a whole betrayed back story. Why couldn't she just have been pissed and wanted revenge-fairies aren't like humans they feel one emotion exponentially.
Or why couldn't she have just been evil? Wanted to have world domination? Wanted to take down people? If men can be, why not a woman? Like Chernabog.
Anyways, my friend loved the movie. She felt it was the perfect post-betrayed in love film you could watch.
So the film is that Maleficent is this wonderful fairy who protects the forest and one day befriends a human boy, Stephen. They fall in love but are torn apart as he wants money and power and Maleficent wants her home.
The King tries to destroy the creatures on the moors, but are stopped as they are much more powerful. He promises | 7,288 |
Review: 'The Lion King' delights audiences at the Benedum Center
Kaycee Orwig | Senior Staff Photographer
Headdresses for use in the Benedum Center's production of Disney's "The Lion King."
By Delilah Bourque, Culture Editor
When the curtain dropped, a hush fell over the crowd at the Benedum Center Friday night, as a powerful voice cried out from the darkness, "Nants ingonyama bagithi baba!"
From the back of the theater, scores of actors in elaborate costumes strolled down the aisles. Everywhere you looked, there were animals making their way on stage — from elephants to giraffes to massive birds. As the animal kingdom came together, curtains rose and fell, revealing the full spectacle of Disney's "The Lion King."
"The Lion King," which runs Sept. 4 through Sept. 29 at the Benedum Center, is a fantastic production. While the most memorable parts of the original Disney movie are maintained, the stage production keeps it fresh — balancing fantastic performances and amazing technical marvels from the puppetry, costuming and set pieces.
The most breathtaking part of "The Lion King" is the attention to detail seen throughout every aspect of the show. All the costuming, makeup, set pieces and puppetry are well-coordinated and elaborate. For example, the actors portraying giraffes in the ensemble sequences are given stilts for both their legs and arms, with elegant giraffe heads extending from their backs as they move through the crowds of animals.
Even when mistakes are made, they are fixed elegantly. During one number, the headdress slipped off an actress portraying a lioness, who fixed it while continuing to dance without missing a beat.
Fans of the 1994 film will be delighted to know that the musical keeps the best bits of the original movie, while adding in new songs to the already iconic music. Classics, such as "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," kept fans of the original happy, while new additions like "They Live In You" elevate the original content to be more similar to traditional Broadway musicals.
The music<|fim_middle|> Pumbaa dress as humans and do the hula to distract the hyenas, stands up on the stage.
Performances aside, the puppetry was one of the most standout features of the show. Even the most minor of characters moved gracefully across the stage, with intricate and beautiful puppets bringing the beast out of man.
One member of the ensemble was a gorgeous leopard, depicted by an actress who controlled the front paws of the puppet using her hands, while wires attached to her head allowed the puppet to move with her.
At another point in the show, while Nala and Simba were reconnecting in the jungle, a dancer swept across the stage en pointe, waving small lights attached to wires in her hands, which acted as fireflies.
The performances were equally unmatched, both in terms of acting and vocal prowess. Buyi Zama, who plays Rafiki, has a powerful voice which leads the singing of "Circle of Life" at the beginning and end of the musical. Scar, portrayed by Spencer Plachy, was fantastically evil, and strutted around the stage with malicious bravado. On the flip side, Gerald Ramsey as Mufasa displayed range — switching from warm and energetic to fierce and protective over Simba.
Young Simba, played by Richard A. Phillips Jr. and on alternating nights by Walter Russel III, was equally bouncy. The dynamic between Phillips and Ramsey was adorable, which made it all the more heartbreaking when Mufasa died in a stampede of wildebeests. The excellency is continued into the second act by Jared Dixon, who played the adult Simba, and shined while bringing Simba from a carefree, reckless youth to the king of Pride Rock.
From the humor to the acting to the amazing puppetry, the show is breathtaking. "The Lion King" is a must-see for anyone who loves the original movie, Broadway musicals or beautiful, well-done art.
benedum center
Delilah Bourque, Culture Editor
Delilah Bourque is a senior English Writing major with a concentration in fiction and a certificate in public and professional writing. She started as...
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Student sustainability initiative 'Relearn Our Land' connects culture, nature | , written by Elton John, features a full orchestra, as well as two percussionists with an array of drums and other instruments hidden away in balconies on either side of the stage.
Of the few spaces where the new material falls short, the additional plotlines are a sore spot. The biggest example is a scene where Scar, bored with his role as king of Pride Rock, decides he needs a queen by his side. In an oddly tense and uncomfortable scene, Scar tries to convince Nala — who we saw earlier in the production as a child — to be his queen.
The scene works to motivate Nala to leave Pride Rock in fear, leading to her eventual discovery that Simba is alive. In the movie, Nala just happens across Simba in the search for more places to hunt for the starving lions of Pride Rock, so the additional scene seems unnecessary and downright creepy.
The production also brings in new content with jokes that reference contemporary society. At one point Zazu, played by Greg Jackson, comforts Mufasa about Scar being a thorn in his side. "There's one in every family, sire. Mine is my cousin, he's always tweeting," he said, prompting huge laughs from the audience.
Still, many of the funny moments from the original are still in the musical version. One of the most ridiculous parts of the movie, where Timon and | 279 |
PARTLY CLOUDY 32° F
/stories/pipe-organ-player-bud-williams-enjoys-performing-for-neighbors-at-anns-choice-erickson-senior,13552
Pipe organ player Bud Williams enjoys performing for neighbors at Ann's Choice, Erickson Senior Living
Ann's Choice resident Bud Williams plays the organ for friends and neighbors at Ann's Choice.
Posted Thursday, November 18, 2021 10:20 am
Petra Shaw
Bud Williams is too modest to consider himself a keyboard virtuoso. However, his friends and neighbors at Ann's Choice, the Erickson Senior Living community in Bucks County, say the organ music he orchestrates is heavenly.
Williams and his wife, Cheryl, moved to Ann's Choice four years ago, after he'd worked for several years as the community's senior facilities manager.
"I had a long career in industrial maintenance management, and I just wanted to repair things. I took the job<|fim_middle|> Federal Savings sends $222,222 to eight local community organizations
Family of late Jason Kutt donates car meet proceeds to NOVA
Thompson Memorial Presbyterian slates MLK Day of Service events | at Ann's Choice, and before I knew it, I was in charge of the entire operation," he says with a chuckle.
Having observed Ann's Choice inside and out, Williams grew to appreciate the community's value, with its amenity-rich, active lifestyle. "I told Cheryl that this place is a good deal for the dollar, and we decided to move in," he says. "It was a wonderful decision."
Williams has enjoyed making music for most of his life. When he was 5, his mother told him, "You're going to learn to play the piano, whether you like it or not." Luckily for Williams, he did like it, and consequently, studied music for two decades.
During those formative years, he sang in his church choir, marveling at the imposing pipe organ. He would play the keyboard after services, even when his legs were too short to reach the pedals.
Williams' high school also had an organ, and interested students were invited to take lessons. He signed up and began studying with one of the organists who played at Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia. Williams filled in for his church's organist for a year, gaining valuable experience by putting his lesson time to use. Soon after, he joined Penns Park Methodist Church and served as its choir director and organist for 17 years.
While Williams worked at Ann's Choice, he would often slip into the chapel at 6:30 a.m. to play the electric organ for fun, he recalls. Residents often stopped by to listen. "If I skipped a day, I'd get calls asking, 'Where were you this morning?'" he laughs.
"That organ is a gorgeous instrument," Williams says. "I love to play it for everyone's enjoyment. It does so much, and with such good quality sound."
Once Williams began entertaining his nearby neighbors, he thought of the residents in the assisted living and advanced care neighborhoods. "I wanted to give them a little music too," he says.
He collaborated with resident John Hodges, a fellow member of the Ann's Choice Protestant Council. Hodges career background in information technology made him the ideal partner. "I'm reasonably good with PowerPoint, Word and Excel," says Hodges. "I was happy to put the graphics and photos together to accompany Bud's playing."
The two took their idea to Chelsea Rounds, coordinator of the in-house TV studio. She was delighted to record and air the programs. The first, "Favorite Hymns of Faith," aired early last year to great acclaim. They followed up in May with "Hope," a title Rounds suggested. "It went over like gangbusters," says Williams. "People really liked the music, and the words and pictures John put together had such a positive impact."
Hodges says, "Viewers could relate to many of the places we included. We'd hear, 'Oh, I've been there,' which brought back lots of wonderful memories. It was so popular that we did a program for the Fourth of July, and another called 'Lessons and Carols' for Advent."
The trio created a special holiday program, "Musical Reflections," featuring 12 staff members and residents in total, who introduced their favorite religious music. "It was open to all faiths, so it took a lot of time to learn unfamiliar liturgical pieces," says Williams. "The feedback was incredible. Everyone loved it."
Williams and Hodges continue to share their gifts through new programs. "Bringing hope and optimism to our friends and neighbors is a pleasure," says Hodges. "And Chelsea is wonderful to work with. She's so supportive and respectful of what we're trying to accomplish."
Williams agrees. "If these programs inspire people to have faith in the future, we've done our job — with Chelsea's incredible help. We couldn't have done this without her."
A&T Subaru of Sellersville gives blankets to the needy
Hatboro | 808 |
New York-style pizza available by the slice or in full pie. This low-key spot offers tons of options, including plenty of vegetarian pizzas, like the Stinky Garden—spinach, mushrooms, gorgonzola and mozzarella cheeses on a garlic and olive oil base. Gluten-free slices, as well as salads and calzones the size of your head, are also available.
This funky top spot has been around (and popular) since 1989 and these days has two Corvallis locations, three cocktail bars and a sister brewery (Sky High Brewing). The Corvegas has pesto, pepperoni, roasted red peppers and artichokes topped with fresh mozzarella, or go full veg with the Bill Walton—mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, red onions, fresh tomatoes and zucchini. Bonus: spiked slushies at the on-site cocktail bars.
Portlanders know this is the<|fim_middle|> signature dough and limits diners to three toppings. Trust us, the rules are worth it.
Looking for food on the other side of the hill? Take a peak at a few of Central Oregon's best restaurants. | spot for the best slice in the city—it's on pretty much every publication's "best of" list. Apizza Scholls may be one of the best pizzas in the Pacific Northwest, with Neapolitan-style pies and perfect thin crust cooked hot and fast. Apizza Scholls often runs out of its | 62 |
The twenty-eight pieces in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007 span a wide range of topics, from the farthest reaches of space to the everyday world around us to the secrets hiddin in our own bodies. Michael Lemonick travels to an extinct volcano in Hawaii, where telescopes at the summit are providing researchers with a glimpse of the most distant galaxy ever seen -- and profound new insights into the creation of the universe. Neil deGrasse Tyson takes a sharp, witty look at Americans' delirium over space travel. And<|fim_middle|> advocate of the lemur. And Patricia Gadsby takes us into the kitchens of Europe's finest chefs to explain how the new field of molecular gastronomy is revolutionizing fine cuisine. | with surgical precision Michael Perry describes how a medical autopsy is performed. Dead men can tell tales.
Here we also see examinations of the sometimes harmful impact of science on the natural world. Susan Casey gives an alarming portrait of plastic waste pollution in the world's oceans, including a dead zone in the mid-Pacific that's twice the size of Texas. Michael Shnayerson heads to West Virginia, where the Appalachians are being blasted at the rate of several ridgetops a week, all in the pursuit of ever-elusive coal. And Paul Bennett goes deep beneath Rome's streets, where cutting-edge excavation techniques are revealing newfound treasures in one of the world's oldest cities.
A profile of a late, distinguished British ornithologist by John Seabrook reveals that the man's personal collection of bird skins, now in the British Natural History Museum, was largely stolen or bought and intentionally mislabeled. Richard Conniff visits a former Brooklyn social worker turned primatologist who has become a fierce | 199 |
A team of scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working in Boulder, Colorado tweaked an experimental method to cool a piece of aluminum below<|fim_middle|> some measurements of light at the expense of others. The squeezed light takes advantage of this property, allowing the scientists to remove one kind of fluctuation in the light' s amplitude. They published their results in the journal Nature on Wednesday. | the so-called "quantum backaction" limit — a temperature slightly above absolute zero that quantum mechanics has prevented us from crossing before, equal to one-fifth the magnitude of quantum motion, as reported by the Washington Post. That's 10,000 times colder than the vacuum of space. Such cold temperatures could be useful for creating hyper-sensitive sensors, in addition to helping scientists explore quantum mechanic's effects in larger materials.
Quick physics recap: remperature is the average kinetic energy of a collection of jiggling particles. When scientists say they're making things colder, they just mean that they're trying to slow all of the particles down. At absolute zero, -273.15 degrees Celsius or –459.67 degrees Fahrenheit, the particles stop completely.
Usually, to get an object very cold, physicists shine light at it, causing its atoms to lose momentum. But the unpredictability presented by quantum mechanics leaves a little excess heat that scientists normally can't get rid of — the quantum backaction limit, explained study author John Teufel, a physicist at the NIST.
The experiment that has now circumvented this issue consisted of a tiny 20 micrometre by 100 nanometre drum, linked up to a circuit designed to cool things in the usual way. Microwaves bounce around inside the circuit, causing it to resonate and vibrate and generate its own photons. The photons depart and take a phonon, a quantum unit of vibration, with them, cooling the drum a tiny bit with each exiting photon. For this experiment, the scientists also shined a special kind of light — squeezed light — onto the drum's head, sending the temperature below the quantum backaction limit. Quantum mechanics says that you can resolve | 361 |
<|fim_middle|> for our artistic programme in a year when all arts organisations are facing further cuts. | On Thursday 21 February Paragon Management UK Ltd hosted a fundraising event in aid of Graeae at fashionable East London venue Cargo. Over the last few months, Graeae and Paragon have been working together developing an evening of top entertainment, which would introduce a whole new audience to Graeae's work and ethos.
Over 300 people descended on Cargo for a night of comedy and live music featuring Francesca Martinez, Steve Day, double act Gareth Berliner and Kiruna Stamell and Jen Brister. Two incredible sets of live music came from the Reasons to be Cheerful band and Ta Mère who rounded the evening off with a boot-stomping performance.
We were also thrilled to be joined by Graeae Patrons Richard Wilson and Jenny Agutter as well as Jemima Dury. As always it was fantastic to have their encouragement and support. One of the highlights of the night was Jenny Agutter po-going with the best of them to the Reasons to be Cheerful band!
At the moment we are still waiting for the final count, but we hope to have raised around £20,000: this could make all the difference to our ambitions | 242 |
Why Online Memes Are Driving Offline Conformity
The internet's scale and reach is socializing humanity to seek approval through conformity. That some of the largest social media platforms are seriously contemplating the de-emphasis of 'likes' suggests even those who financially benefit most from this behavior are beginning to recognize the dangers.
Given the demonstrated power of speed, convenience and belonging to drive participation, the question is to what degree societies can - or will - act to change the potentially self destructive<|fim_middle|> ultimately end up filming ourselves dropping a water balloon condom on our head.
When we post something online that either directly or indirectly invites others to participate, we're amplifying the pressure and tendency for viewers to participate themselves. When a viewer eventually gives in, their post intensifies that magnetism for others to engage as well. That we call memes today "challenges" implies a forceful invitation.
When posed with the choice to follow or resist the trend, as beings evolutionarily trained to join the pack to survive, we ultimately end up filming ourselves dropping a water ballon condom on our head.
The dark side of conformity
But while dropping a water balloon condom on someone's head may tiptoe close to the line of absurdism, snorting one certainly struts over it. Arguably, sure, not everyone is partaking. We're strengthening bonds with co-participants, forming a sense of self, and entertaining one another, but what we're exchanging for views is something much more sobering: autonomy.
By no means should we stop the fun, but we should at least begin to question it. Why are the gains of filming oneself biting an inedible hot pepper outweighing the pride of not doing so? And while participation may be exaggerated, a YouTube search reveals more uploads than should exist per absurd challenge.
In 1951, Yale psychologist Solomon Asch famously demonstrated the power of conformity when his research participants knowingly answered questions incorrectly just to comply with the group. While engaging in silly behavior and posting the antics online doesn't always call into question one's deeply held values, it's worth noting how unbelievably quick many people are to join that group. No matter how irrational the ask becomes, there are still those who willingly participate.
Peer pressure is dangerous when it exists within a small, closed group, but when it involves larger networks of billions of people and a global stage, it can potentially be deadly.
The spawn of deadly memes
Memes like the Choking Game, Cinnamon Swallowing, Swatting (the act of calling in a bomb threat to a livestreamer), or Neck and Nominate (a game that encouraged young men to one-up each other's drinking videos) have led to actual deaths. Those deaths haven't made these dangerous challenges disappear. Instead, they've intensified over the years, especially recently.
Over the past couple years, Tide Pod Eating, Rooftopping, Condom Snorting, the Kiki Challenge (dancing outside a moving vehicle), the Bird Box Challenge (driving blindfolded), Eye Bleaching, Fan Grabbing (sticking a hand in a moving ceiling fan), and the Vacuum Challenge (sealing oneself in a trash bag) attracted participants, publications, and police. These challenges not only encouraged potentially fatal documented behavior but also made it clear that these senseless internet challenges are now a part of mainstream culture. Such memes are now so commonplace and violent that YouTube made an announcement banning dangerous pranks and challenges from its site.
In early 2019, the Momo Challenge, a hoax meme that supposedly instructed teenagers to kill themselves, took the headlines by storm. The idea that an internet challenge was directing teens to commit suicide sparked global hysteria. That the meme itself was fake didn't seem to matter, because it was so conceivable.
Smash that pause button
While some of these viral sensations can be chalked up to media-driven moral panic, rather than the number of participants, the ideas and implied invitations still exist online. And so do impressionable teens.
If we are what we share, then we must actively determine what we're becoming.
As participatory memes remain hypervisible, we must cautiously evaluate which ones we'd like to mindfully engage in, which we'd like to cautiously avoid, and which we should denounce in order to save lives. We're witnessing peer pressure on the largest scale in human history, and our thirst for participation is eclipsing rationale and reason. If we are what we share, then we must actively determine what we're becoming.
Will participating in these memes lead us down a rabbit hole toward dystopian groupthink? Probably not. But when we press the record button, we mindlessly surrender ourselves to the spell of online social conformity. Considering current susceptibility, we must also brace for what tomorrow's challenge may be. When we knowingly embarrass ourselves or engage in behavior that would otherwise be irrational in isolation, we should question what it means that we're more willing to engage if it's on display for all to see.
Participatory memes have been productive — encouraging voter turnout, activism, or protest. But the black hole of meme submission also exists in extreme, violent, and even maniacal cases.
How far are we willing to go to conform? How absurd or radical can internet memes become? And do we have the wherewithal to resist the urge to be sucked into the next challenge for the sake of being a part of something?
I sure hope so.
This was a very interesting read. I really like how you brought in the Asch conformity experiment also. I think it's very insightful, and you make clear points. I remember the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, and how many people around me were trying it. I also remember the snorting condom one, which unfortunately haunts me to this day. Thank you, for posting this. | dynamic and more effectively optimize digital engagement. JL
Matt Klein reports in OneZero:
The most renowned online phenomena of this decade are less often static images, videos, or animations and more frequently participatory exercises. The ask or demand of memes has intensified, hypnotizing many to join. We've got the tech and networks to ignite memes faster than ever before, allowing for socialization on a mass scale. We're witnessing peer pressure on the largest scale in human history, and our thirst for participation is eclipsing reason. We're exchanging autonomy for views. If we are what we share, then we must actively determine what we're becoming.
Online and offline culture have permeated one another. Whatever happens within our online networks now spills into our physical spaces, more frequently than ever. One of the most evident examples of this convergence has been our memes.
Never before have we witnessed online trends manifesting themselves physically and gain traction at such ludicrous speeds. But while they can be shrugged off as fads, memes have always illustrated a culture and its collective values, and today's are revealing a concerning degree of conformity worth unpacking.
Memeing fast and slow
There have always been ridiculous memes. While we used to just watch, enjoy, and forward memes like the iconic Dancing Baby, now we participate in them, like the recent Bottle Cap Challenge, which featured uploaders around the world spin-kicking a cap off a bottle. Today's internet phenomena are increasingly behaving more like black holes — energetic, dense, and unpredictable forces of nature forcibly sucking in anything and everything around it.
Original internet memes like Bert Is Evil, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, Badgers, Charlie the Unicorn, Numa Numa, and Star Wars Kid, which preceded today's social media platforms, acted as novelties on the outskirts of culture and now serve as monuments to early viral content. These benign sensations gently stitched together the web and its users. Traveling slowly via email or message boards, their existence was frail and childlike.
If Dancing Baby and Peanut Butter Jelly Time were the infancy of the popular social web, then we're clearly now experiencing extended adolescence. Over the past decade, our memes have matured. We're now living them out loud, playing games with the physical world and the people around us. The most renowned online phenomena of this decade are less often static images, videos, or animations and more frequently participatory exercises. Consider Kony 2012, the Ice Bucket Challenge, Diet Coke and Mentos, and Water Bottle Flipping. The ask or demand of these memes has intensified, seducing bystanders and hypnotizing many others to join.
The evolution explained
With the infrastructure of platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Vine (RIP), and now TikTok set in place, the act of viewing, producing, and sharing has never been as routine. New sacred spaces like feeds have made exposure to memes nearly unavoidable. The proliferation or democratization of devices that allow everyone to record and upload instantaneously has also expanded the reach and speed of meme transmission. In other words, we've got the tech and networks to ignite memes faster than ever before.
With this progression, modern memes are therefore inviting personalized participation, allowing for socialization on a mass scale. Planking, Dabbing, Harlem Shaking, Nae Naeing, Running Manning, Ball Pit Jumping, Gallon Smashing, Pokémon Go Catching, Hot Pepper Eating, Kylie Jenner Lip Suctioning, and Mannequinning are all opportunities to document and upload oneself, bonding us over a shared experience while validating one's own existence within a very large, seemingly infinite school lunch table.
We | 742 |
Hopkins began his TikTok journey earlier this week, uploading his first video just a few days ago, a clip that sees the actor shuffling around to Drake's "Toosie Slide" and doing impersonations of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger's classic characters from Rocky and Terminator.
"Hey, Mr. Stallone, keep writing! Good part for me in it? Gimme a part, major — huh?" Hopkins says in the clip. Continuing to jump around the room, he adds, "I couldn't even skip when I was a kid."
At the time of reporting, the 82-year-old actor already has over 1<|fim_middle|>021 and, well, we're still inside. Fortunately, Netflix has promised to release at least one original movie every week...
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More Film News | 43,000 hearts on his first upload, as well as over 100,000 followers.
One user commented on the video, "I didn't think I was going to care about TikTok, but now it's my reason for living," while another added, "The best actor alive is on TikTok."
Like them, we're also happy to see more amazing new content from the actor. If we're lucky, maybe we'll get to see more content featuring Hopkins's adorable cat, Niblo — who is apparently less than enthusiastic about the actor's creative outlets.
Hopkins is far from the first senior citizen to stake a claim on some TikTok fame. When it comes to the mostly Gen Z populated app, age is truly only a number.
Watch the clip below.
@anthonyhopkins
##Drake I'm late to the party... but better late than never. @oficialstallone @arnoldschnitzel ##toosieslidechallenge
♬ original sound - officialanthonyhopkins
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View agendas and minutes for the City Council meetings, Planning and<|fim_middle|> note from Mayor Jerry Sanchez including his goals as mayor and information on how to contact the Mayor's Office.
City of San Luis Observed Holidays
1090 E Union Street, San Luis, AZ 85349
Monday through Thursday: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Phone: 928-341-8520 TTY: 1800-367-8939
Email Public Relations
City Hall Hours
Friday through Sunday: Closed
View Observed Holidays | Zoning Commission meetings, and more.
Learn more about the boards and commissions serving the City of San Luis including the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Industrial Development Authority, and more.
View the San Luis City Code online at the American Legal Publishing website.
The City Council governs the City of San Luis and works to ensure the long-term financial stability of the city while overseeing efforts toward better public safety and quality of life.
Learn more about San Luis departments such as Public Works, the Office of the City Administrator, Parks and Recreation, and more.
Read a welcome | 113 |
Home Science And Technology Scientists discover<|fim_middle|> exercises in South China Sea
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Scientists discover dozens of new species in Galapagos depths
Deep-sea experts discover fragile corals and sponges, as well as new species of crustacean.
An international team of marine scientists has discovered 30 new species of invertebrates in deep water surrounding the Galapagos, the Ecuadoran archipelago's national park authorities announced on Monday.
The deep-sea experts discovered fragile coral and sponges including 10 bamboo corals, four octocorals, one brittle star and 11 sponges – as well as four new species of crustacean known as squat-lobsters – the Galapagos National Park (GNP) said in a statement.
"These discoveries include the first giant solitary soft coral known for the Tropical Eastern Pacific, a new genus of glass sponge that can grow in colonies of over one meter in width and, colorful sea fans that host a myriad of associated species," the archipelago's Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) said in a separate statement.
Scientists from the CDF, in collaboration with the National Park Directorate and the Ocean Exploration Trust, probed deep-sea ecosystems at depths of up to 3,400 metres (11,154ft) using state-of-the-art Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs).
The two ROVs, Argus and Hercules, were operated from the 64-metre (209ft) exploration vessel Nautilus, which carried out the deep-sea probe in 2015.
"The deep sea remains as Earth's last frontier, and this study provides a sneak-peek into the least known communities of the Galapagos Islands," said CDF marine scientist Pelayo Salinas de Leon, who led the study and announced its findings.
Deep-sea exploration
The expedition explored, for the first time, three steep-sided underwater mountains, or seamounts, located near the islands of Darwin and Wolf in the archipelago's north. The area is home to the world's largest shark population.
"These pristine seamounts are within the Galapagos Marine Reserve and are protected from destructive human practices, such as fishing with bottom trawls or deep-sea mining, that are known to have catastrophic impacts upon fragile communities. Now, it is our responsibility to make sure they remain pristine for the generations to come," Salinas de Leon said.
"The many discoveries made on this expedition showcase the importance of deep-sea exploration to developing an understanding of our oceans," said Nicole Raineault, chief scientist of the Ocean Exploration Trust.
"Since we never know what we're going to find, we utilise land-based scientists who watch the ROV dives from home and communicate directly with the shipboard team in real-time, to help determine what is truly new and worthy of further investigation or sampling.
"Scientists studying the resulting video, data, and specimens make an astonishing number of discoveries, reminding us how little we know about the deep sea," said Raineault.
The Galapagos archipelago, located 1,000km (620 miles) west of Ecuador, is a fragile ecosystem that harbours the largest number of different animal species on the planet.
The news came after Ecuador raised concerns about the presence of a massive Chinese fishing fleeting near the protected waters surrounding the islands.
In recent weeks, Ecuador's navy conducted a patrol mission that included a flyover of the region where the vessels are fishing, as well as reconnaissance by military patrol ships.
A total of 340 ships were reportedly spotted in the area, the navy said, compared with some 260 reported last month.
Ecuador's navy commander, Rear Admiral Darwin Jarrin, said the navy had approached Colombia and Peru to share information and seek a regional response to the vessels, most of which can hold up to 1,000 tonnes of catch.
Ecuador and China have begun negotiations about the fishing fleet, according to reports.
Yolanda Kakabadse, Ecuador's former minister of the environment, told Public Radio International that the Galapagos should be "the last place on Earth to be affected by irresponsible actions of any sort".
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US Navy carrier conducts | 1,015 |
A true story of tragedy, hope, and resilience comes to the screen in this sports drama. Huntington, WV, is home to Marshall University, a school where college football is a way of life. Huntington is also a town that learned to deal with tragedy in the fall of 1970 when the Marshall University Football Team, the "Thundering Herd" boarded an airliner to return home after a football game in North Carolina.
The jet crashed into a hill due to bad weather, and 75 members of Marshall's football squad and athletic staff died that night. The Marshall University plane crash / accident dealt a crippling blow to the city of Huntington, as well as Marshall's faculty and student body, and university president Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) considered abandoning the school's football<|fim_middle|> team on the field, but help a college and a community heal their wounds from the tragic accident. Together Lengyel and Dawson turned a handful of rookies and second-string players into a competitive team who in 1971 showed the world what they could do in a legendary game against Marshall's rivals, Xavier University. Produced with the cooperation of Marshall University and filmed in part on their campus, We Are Marshall also stars Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, and January Jones.
Besides books, you will also find the We Are Marshall Soundtrack and a We Are Marshall Coaster Set.
The We Are Marshall Movie was released on DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on September 18, 2007.
Decorate your home or office with NCAA area rugs by FANMATS. Made in U.S.A. 100% nylon carpet and non-skid Duragon® latex backing. Officially licensed and chromojet painted in true Marshall Thundering Herd colors. | program. But instead Coach Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey) was recruited from Ohio's College of Wooster to rebuild Marshall's football program. Lengyel was not naïve about the task ahead of him, and working beside Red Dawson (Matthew Fox), an assistant coach who narrowly missed the doomed flight and was one of the program's only survivors, he came to understand his job was not just to put a | 88 |
Burns Night: 11 Scottish gins to toast with if you don't like whisky
It's almost time to charge your glasses for the Scottish holiday of Burns Night (25 January). Honouring world-famous poet Robert Burns, it is an occasion to celebrate Scotch heritage and traditions, which generally means tartan, bagpipes, haggis and, of course, a dram of Scotch whisky. However, if you don't like whisky, or just fancy something different this year, Scotland's plethora of craft gins is well worth exploring. We've compiled a list to toast with this Burns Night – some of the distillers also make whisky, in case you want to try both!
If you just like gin…
Eight Lands
Despite being based in the heart of Scotch whisky country, the Glenrinnes Distillery in Speyside is focused on the production of fully organic white spirits. Its Eight Lands Gin and Vodka are made with locally grown grain and sustainably sourced botanicals, and are brought to bottling strength with Scottish spring water. The distillery, constructed in 2018, is based on a 6,000-acre family-run estate at the foot of Ben Rinnes.
Kinrara
Based on the edge of the Kinrara Estate in the Cairngorms, this gin maker is inspired by the natural beauty of its home. Kinrara's 10-strong gin range includes Highland Dry, Lime and Lemongrass, Rose and Cardamom, and Oaked Spice. There are also three Artist Editions, featuring illustrations of local fauna on the bottles, and Cairngorm Whiteout, proceeds from which are donated to the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team.
Kintyre
Beinn An Tuirc Distillers, based near the Victorian whisky hub of Campbeltown, began producing Kintyre Gin in 2017. The flagship gin uses two botanicals which the distillery claims are unique: Icelandic moss and sheep sorrel. There's also Kintyre Pink Gin and Tarbert Legbiter Navy Strength Gin. Beinn An Tuirc aims to be as sustainable as possible; it generates its own hydroelectric power and has a tree plantation to offset its carbon emissions.
Inshriach
This Speyside distillery first came to fame not for its spirits, but for being a winner in Channel 4's Shed of the Year competition. Located in the grounds of Inshriach House, the distillery makes two gins: the Original 43% and Navy Strength 57%. All of its ingredients are picked within a few miles of the estate – an area with rich botanic biodiversity.
Lin Gin and Linlithgow Palace
Linlithgow
Linlithgow Distillery opened in 2018 and currently produces two gin ranges: Lin Gin and Four Marys. A group of local tasters helped to hone the recipes, which include some locally grown botanicals. It has not yet started distilling its own whisky, but already has connections to the world of Scotch: its LinGin Cask Aged was aged in ex-whisky casks donated by Glen Moray.
If you like gin AND whisky…
Based on the Isle of Mull, Tobermory is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland (it has been making whisky since 1798) but<|fim_middle|> TV.
Established in 2014, the Isle of Raasay Distillery is the first legal distillery ever opened on the island. Its gin and whisky use a base spirit made with Raasay barley and water from the distillery's own well. The gin features botanicals including Raasay juniper, rhubarb root, sweet orange peel and cubeb pepper.
The Botanist 2011 Single Cask Islay Aged Gin
The Botanist is one of the oldest gin brands in Scotland, having been on the scene since 2011. It is produced at the Bruichladdich Distillery on Islay, which is best known for Bruichladdich whisky. In celebration of its 10th anniversary in 2021, The Botanist released a limited-edition aged gin that was put into cask the year the brand was launched.
Caorunn's base recipe uses five handpicked Celtic botanicals alongside five traditional gin botanicals. The range comprises its original gin, raspberry and navy-strength expressions, and its Master's Cut. It is produced at the Balmenach Distillery in Speyside, which also makes whisky (most of this is sold through independent bottlers such as Douglas Laing or Gordon & MacPhail).
Scottish Gins & Cocktails to celebrate Burns Night with
TagsBeinn an Tuirc • Bruichladdich • Burns Night • Caorunn Gin • Eight Lands • Featured • Glenrinnes Distillery • Inshriach • Isle of Raasay • Kinrara • Kintyre • Lin Gin • Linlithgow • Scotland • Scottish gin • The Botanist • Tobermory • Whisky
0 comments on "Burns Night: 11 Scottish gins to toast with if you don't like whisky" | only began producing gin in 2019. The distillery now has three core gins – Hebridean, Coast and Mountain – which are inspired by the dramatic landscape of its island home. If you want to know more, check out our interview with Tobermory for Gin Live | 61 |
The 1975 CFL season is considered to be the 22nd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 18th Canadian Football League season.
CFL News in 1975
Calgary became the first city in the Canadian Prairie Provinces to host the Grey Cup championship game. The CFL changed the rules on blocking by allowing contact to be above waist level on punt returns. The two-point convert was introduced to the league, as was the option after a field goal attempt by one team (regardless of whether it was made or not) to let the opposing team either kick off or scrimmage from their own 35-yard line<|fim_middle|>
OG – Willie Martin, Edmonton Eskimos
OT – Charlie Turner, Edmonton Eskimos
OT – Dan Yochum, Montreal Alouettes
Defence
DT – John Helton, Calgary Stampeders
DT – Glen Weir, Montreal Alouettes
DE – Jim Corrigall, Toronto Argonauts
DE – Bill Baker, BC Lions
LB – Jerry Campbell, Ottawa Rough Riders
LB – Larry Cameron, BC Lions
LB – Mike Widger, Montreal Alouettes
DB – Rod Woodward, Ottawa Rough Riders
DB – Dick Adams, Ottawa Rough Riders
DB – Lorne Richardson, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DB – Vernon Roberson, Calgary Stampeders
DB – Dickie Harris, Montreal Alouettes
1975 Eastern All-Stars
Offence
QB – Tom Clements, Ottawa Rough Riders
RB – Doyle Orange, Toronto Argonauts
RB – Art Green, Ottawa Rough Riders
RB – Johnny Rodgers, Montreal Alouettes
TE – Peter Dalla Riva, Montreal Alouettes
TE – Tony Gabriel, Ottawa Rough Riders
WR – Terry Evanshen, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
C – Wayne Conrad, Montreal Alouettes
OG – Dave Braggins, Montreal Alouettes
OG – Tom Schuette, Ottawa Rough Riders
OT – Jeff Turcotte, Ottawa Rough Riders
OT – Dan Yochum, Montreal Alouettes
Defence
DT – Granville Liggins, Toronto Argonauts
DT – Glen Weir, Montreal Alouettes
DE – Jim Corrigall, Toronto Argonauts
DE – Junior Ah You, Montreal Alouettes
LB – Jerry Campbell, Ottawa Rough Riders
LB – Mark Kosmos, Ottawa Rough Riders
LB – Mike Widger, Montreal Alouettes
DB – Rod Woodward, Ottawa Rough Riders
DB – Dick Adams, Ottawa Rough Riders
DB – Wayne Tosh, Ottawa Rough Riders
DB – Larry Uteck, Toronto Argonauts
DB – Dickie Harris, Montreal Alouettes
1975 Western All-Stars
Offence
QB – Ron Lancaster, Saskatchewan Roughriders
RB – Willie Burden, Calgary Stampeders
RB – George Reed, Saskatchewan Roughriders
RB – Lou Harris, BC Lions
TE – Tyrone Walls, Edmonton Eskimos
WR – Rhett Dawson, Saskatchewan Roughriders
WR – George McGowan, Edmonton Eskimos
C – Al Wilson, BC Lions
OG – Ralph Galloway, Saskatchewan Roughriders
OG – Willie Martin, Edmonton Eskimos
OT – Charlie Turner, Edmonton Eskimos
OT – Layne McDowell, BC Lions
Defence
DT – John Helton, Calgary Stampeders
DT – Tim Roth, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DE – George Wells, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DE – Bill Baker, BC Lions
LB – Harry Walters, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
LB – Larry Cameron, BC Lions
LB – Joe Forzani, Calgary Stampeders
DB – Ted Dushinski, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DB – Brian Herosian, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
DB – Lorne Richardson, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DB – Vernon Roberson, Calgary Stampeders
DB – Jim Marshall, Saskatchewan Roughriders
DB – Larry Highbaugh, Edmonton Eskimos
1975 CFL Awards
CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Willie Burden (RB), Calgary Stampeders
CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Jim Foley (WR), Ottawa Rough Riders
CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Jim Corrigall (DE), Toronto Argonauts
CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award – Charlie Turner (OT), Edmonton Eskimos
CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award – Tom Clements (QB), Ottawa Rough Riders
CFL's Coach of the Year – George Brancato, Ottawa Rough Riders
References
CFL
Canadian Football League seasons | (the latter option was eliminated in 2009, but was reinstated the next year).
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\section{Introduction}
Silhouetted against the Galactic background, Infrared Dark Clouds
(IRDCs) are opaque at wavelengths $\sim$ 10 $\mu$m (P\'erault et
al. 1996; Egan et al. 1998), cold ($T < 20$~K; Carey et al. 1998;
Pillai et al. 2006), and dense ($\rm n_H \geq 10^{3} - 10^{5} cm^{3}$;
Teyssier et al. 2002; Rathborne et al. 2006; Butler \& Tan 2009,
hereafter BT09; Peretto \& Fuller 2010). They are likely to be the
precursors of massive stars and star clusters as they have similar
physical conditions, such as mass surface densities, as regions with
such star formation activity (Rathborne et al. 2006; Tan 2007; Zhang
et al. 2009; Ragan et al. 2009). CO emission
from these clouds may be useful for understanding their dynamics
(e.g. Hernandez \& Tan 2011, hereafter HT11), but could be affected by
depleted gas phase abundances due to freeze-out onto dust grains,
especially in the coldest, highest density regions.
Gas phase depletion of CO, averaged along the line of sight, has been
observed in the cold ($T\lesssim 10$~K) centers of relatively low-mass
and nearby starless cores, (e.g. Willacy et al. 1998; Caselli et
al. 1999; Kramer et al. 1999; Bergin et al. 2002; Whittet et al. 2010;
Ford \& Shirley 2011). Typically, depletion is characterized by
measuring the depletion factor, $f_D$, defined as the ratio of CO
column density {\it expected} assuming standard gas phase abundances
given the column of material observed from either the mm dust
continuum emission or near infrared (NIR) dust extinction to the {\it
observed} CO column density (typically from $\rm C^{17}O$ or $\rm
C^{18}O$). Caselli et al. (1999) estimated the expected CO column
based on mm dust continuum emission, which has the advantage of being
able to probe to high column densities, but is sensitive to the
adopted dust temperature and emissivity. They concluded depletion
affected a region at the core center containing about $2\:M_\odot$ of
gas, where $n_{\rm H}\gtrsim 10^5\:{\rm cm^{-3}}$, with depletion
factors of up to $\sim$10 where the mass surface density is
$\Sigma\simeq 0.6\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$. Kramer et al. (1999) estimated
the expected CO column based on NIR extinction, which does not require
knowing the dust temperature, but does require there to be a
sufficient areal density of background stars detectable in the NIR.
They found depletion factors of up to $\sim 2.5$ for regions with
$A_V\sim 20-30$~mag, corresponding to $\Sigma\sim 0.1-0.15\:{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}}$.
Massive protostellar cores and clumps are typically more distant and
difficult to study, but CO depletion has been reported by Fontani et
al. (2006) from a study of 10 sources with median $f_D\simeq 3.2$ (but
a dispersion of about a factor of 10), Thomas \& Fuller (2008) from a
study of 10 sources with a mean $f_D\simeq 1.3$ and Lo et al. (2011)
from a study of 1 source with $f_D\sim 10$. These results rely on
estimates of the expected CO column density based on mm dust continuum
emission, are derived only for single pointings to the sources, and
can depend on radiative transfer modeling of the unresolved source
density and temperature structure (Thomas \& Fuller 2008; Lo et
al. 2011). Source to source comparisons are hampered by possible
isotopic abundance variations affecting these rare CO isotopologues.
The above sources already contain massive protostars, but it is not
clear if the depletion signal arises from the immediate surrounding
envelope or from nearby unresolved starless cores. Some of the massive
protostars studied produce ultra-compact \ion{H}{2} regions and
photodissociation of molecules could be occurring in localized
regions, which would mimic depletion.
We expect CO depletion to be widespread in the dense regions of IRDCs,
potentially affecting: the physical properties one derives from CO
emission; the mid and far infrared opacities of dust grains as CO ice
mantles build up; and thus the initial conditions of star and planet
formation in these regions. Individual resolved IRDCs, assumed to have
uniform isotopic abundances, may also be useful laboratories in which to
study the depletion process as a function of local gas conditions.
In this paper, we present IRAM 30m observations of $\ceto$ $J=1
\rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ emission from the filamentary
IRDC G035.30-00.33 (Cloud H in BT09; near kinematic distance of
$d=2.9$~kpc). To look for evidence of depletion, the $\ceto$-derived
mass surface density, $\Sigma_{\rm C18O}$, is compared with the small
median filter (SMF) mid-infrared (MIR) extinction mapping derived mass
surface density, $\Sigsmf$ (BT09; Butler \& Tan 2011, hereafter
BT11). This work is motivated by the study of HT11, who used $\thco$
molecular line emission from the Galactic Ring Survey (GRS) to
estimate the mass surface densities of two highly filamentary IRDCs,
including Filament H. Assuming a constant value of $\tex=15$~K, HT11
found tentative evidence for CO depletion, but could not exclude the
possibility that other effects, such as systematic changes in the
excitation temperature or the contribution of high opacity cores, were
the cause of the observed decrease of $\Sigma_{\rm 13CO}/\Sigsmf$ with
increasing $\Sigma$. With our new higher-resolution, multi-transition
$\ceto$ data, we are able to exclude or mitigate these effects, as
well as resolving higher mass surface density structures to probe a
larger range of conditions where depletion may be occurring.
\section{Mass Surface Density from MIR Extinction Mapping}\label{S:SMF}
The 8~$\rm \mu m$ SMF mass surface density, $\Sigsmf$, map was derived
at 2$\arcsec$ resolution from the {\it Spitzer} IRAC band 4 (Galactic
Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire [GLIMPSE]; Benjamin et
al. 2003) image by comparing the observed intensity at each position
with the expected background intensity, estimated by interpolating the
intensities of surrounding nearby regions where median filter
smoothing is used to define the background model (see Figure 1a and
1b). Following BT09, a dust opacity of $\kappa_{\rm 8 \mu m}=7.5\:{\rm
cm^{2}\:g^{-1}}$ was adopted, similar to the filter response and
background spectrum weighted mean IRAC band 4 opacity expected from
the Ossenkopf \& Henning (1994) thin ice mantle moderately coagulated
grain model with a gas-to-dust mass ratio of 156. This value is
somewhat higher than values adopted by other dust models (e.g. 125 is
used for the Weingartner \& Draine 2001), although a recent estimate
from depletion studies finds a gas-to-dust ratio of 141 (Draine 2011,
p265). In any case, as described below, our study of CO depletion
compares relative abundances as a function of $\Sigma$ in the IRDC and
so is independent of this choice of overall normalization.
A correction for foreground emission also needs to be estimated. BT09
made this correction by estimating the amount of foreground emission
from a physical model of the Milky Way and given a measured kinematic
distance (assumed to be near) of the cloud. Battersby et al. (2010)
have pointed out an additional source of foreground from scattering in
the IRAC array. BT11 have developed a more accurate empirical method
for estimating the foreground emission, based on the presence of
independent saturated (high optical depth) cores, and here we use this
new method. For the region we analyze in this particular IRDC, the
values of $\Sigsmf$ are increased by about 10\% from those presented
by BT09.
$\Sigsmf$ in the filament is derived from comparison with adjacent
regions, which are assumed to have negligible MIR extinction. In
reality, we know from molecular line observations (e.g. $\thco$ from
the GRS analyzed by HT11), that these regions do have some material
present associated with the IRDC. We refer to this as the IRDC
``envelope''. The presence of the envelope and other systematic
uncertainties associated with estimation of the MIR background
intensity mean that $\Sigsmf$ becomes unreliable when $\lesssim
0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$. For our comparison with the mass surface
density derived from $\ceto$ emission, the $\Sigma_{\rm SMF}$ map is
regridded to the much lower resolution of the CO data (see below) and
all pixels with $\Sigsmf<0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ are excluded from the
analysis. Methods of accounting for the envelope material are
discussed further in \S\ref{S:comparison}.
As noted by BT09, we must also account for locations of bright MIR
emission. Wherever the observed MIR intensity is greater than the
adopted background model an unphysical negative value of $\Sigma$ will
be estimated. Negative values of $\Sigma$ are allowed up to levels
comparable with the observed noise, but more extreme values, which are
mostly due to discrete MIR bright sources, have $\Sigsmf$ set to zero.
This causes an underestimation of the mass surface density in these
regions. We identify and exclude from further analysis remaining
(i.e. $\geq 0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$) pixels in $\Sigsmf$ map (smoothed
to the CO resolution) that have more than 20\% of their area occupied
by zero or negative values. In Figure~1b, these excluded pixels are
indicated with ``X'' and ``O'' symbols for the CO(1-0) and CO(2-1)
resolutions, respectively. Their exclusion is due either to the
presence of a MIR bright source or in regions where the background
modeling is inaccurate, which can sometimes occur near the edge of the
filament. Only a relatively small number of pixels are affected by
this exclusion.
In fact, our final results would not have varied significantly if this
exclusion had not been implemented.
\begin{sidewaysfigure}
\begin{center}$
\begin{array}{lcrr}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1a.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1c.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1e.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1g.eps}
\\
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1b.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1d.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1f.eps}
\includegraphics[height=2.in,trim=0 0 0 0, angle=0]{f1h.eps}
\end{array}$
\end{center}
\caption{
\small
Morphology and depletion maps of the IRDC. {\it ($\rm a$) Top left:}
{\it Spitzer} GLIMPSE IRAC 8~$\mu$m image, with linear intensity scale
in MJy~$\rm Sr^{-1}$. The image has 1.2\arcsec\ pixels and the PSF has
a FWHM of 2\arcsec. {\it (b) Bottom left:} Mass surface density,
$\Sigma_{\rm SMF}$, with linear intensity scale in $\rm g\:cm^{-2}$,
derived from the image in panel (a) using the small median filter
(SMF) MIR extinction mapping method of Butler \& Tan (2009;
2011). Regions with $\Sigma_{\rm SMF}>0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ but
which are $>20\%$ affected by artifacts in the extinction map
(e.g. due to MIR bright sources) are excluded from analysis and shown
by ``X'''s and ``O'''s for CO(1-0) and (2-1) resolution grids,
respectively.
{\it (c) Top middle left:} Integrated intensity map of $\ceto$
($J=2\rightarrow 1$) emission over the velocity range of $40-50 \kms$,
i.e. the gas associated with the IRDC (HT11), in linear units of $\rm
K\:km\:s^{-1}$ and a pixel scale of 5\arcsec. {\it (d) Bottom middle
left:} The mean excitation temperature map weighted by the column
density in K, with pixel size of 11\arcsec. {\it (e) Top middle
right:} Relative depletion factor ($f_D^\prime$) map for Case 1 (no
CO envelope subtraction). {\it (f) Bottom middle
right:} Relative depletion factor ($f_D^\prime$) map for Case 1 HiRes (no
CO envelope subtraction, $\Sigma$ derived at the CO(2-1) resolution).
{\it (g) Top right:} Relative depletion factor
map for Case 2 (CO envelope contribution estimated via interpolation
across strips 2, 3 and 4 then subtracted; note we consider this process
unreliable for strip 1). {\it (h) Bottom right:} Relative depletion factor
map for Case 2 HiRes.
}
\label{6paneldata}
\end{sidewaysfigure}
\section{Mass Surface Density from $\ceto$ Emission}
\subsection{Observations}
The $\ceto$ $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ lines were
mapped using the IRAM (Instituto de Radioastronomia Milimetrica) 30m
antenna in Pico Veleta, Spain in August and December 2008. An area
of $2'\times4'$ was mapped using the On-The-Fly (OTF) method towards
G035.39-00.33 with a central position of $\alpha(J2000)=18^h57^m08^s$,
$\delta(J2000)=02^{\circ}10'30"$ ($l=35.517^{\circ}$,
$b=-0.274^{\circ}$). While the $\ceto$ $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ transition
was observed with the ABCD receivers with typical single side band
(SSB) rejections $>10$~dB, the $\ceto$ $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ lines
emission was mapped by using the HERA multi-beam receiver.
Off-positions for both transition lines were set to ($1830\arcsec$,$658\arcsec$).
The beam size at $\sim 110$ GHz for the $J=1 \rightarrow 0$
transitions is 22$\arcsec$, while at $\sim 220$ GHz the $J=2
\rightarrow 1$ beam size is 11$\arcsec$ . The VESPA spectrometer
provided spectral resolutions of 20kHz and 80kHz for the $J=1
\rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ lines respectively, which
correspond to velocity resolutions of $\sim0.05 \kms$ and $\sim0.1
\kms$. For this study, all spectra were resampled to the same velocity
resolution of $0.2 \kms$. The typical system temperatures were 150-220 K.
Intensities were calibrated in units of antenna temperature (T$_{\rm A}^*$),
and converted into a main beam brightness temperature, $\rm T_{B,\nu}$,
via $T_A\equiv \eta f_{\rm clump}T_{B,\nu}$, where $\eta$ is a main beam
efficiency and $f_{\rm clump}$ is the beam dilution factor. We use $\eta=0.64$
for the $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ transition, and $\eta=0.52$ for the $J=2 \rightarrow 1$
transition. The typical 1$\sigma$ RMS noise of the data is $0.2 K \kms$ over the
velocity range of $40-50 \kms$. Since the $\ceto$ emission is extended over the filament,
we assume $f_{\rm clump}=1$. Figure \ref{6paneldata}c presents the
morphology of Filament H as seen in $\ceto$ $J=2 \rightarrow 1$
emission.
\subsection{Mass Surface Density and $\tex$ Estimates}
We estimate the column density of $\ceto$ molecules, ${\rm d} N_{\rm
C18O}$, in the velocity interval ${\rm d}v$, from their emission
through the general equation:
\beq
\frac{{\rm d}N_{\rm C18O}(v)}{{\rm d}v} = \frac{8\pi}{A \lambda_0^3} \frac{g_l}{g_u} \frac{\tau_\nu}{1-{\rm exp}\left(-h\nu/kT_{\rm ex}\right)} \frac{Q_{\rm rot}}{g_l {\rm exp}(-E_l/kT_{\rm ex})}.
\label{eq:dN}
\eeq
Here $Q_{\rm rot}$ is the partition function for linear molecules
given by $Q_{\rm rot}= \sum_{J=0}^{\infty} (2J+1) {\rm
exp}(-E_J/kT_{\rm ex})$ with $E_J = J(J+1)h B$, where $\rm J$ is the
rotational quantum number and B is the $\ceto$ rotational constant
equal to $5.4891\times 10^{10}\:{\rm s}^{-1}$. $h\nu /k=5.269, 10.54$~K for
$J=1 \rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ transitions, respectively. At $\rm 7.5$~K,
$Q_{\rm rot}=3.205$.
$A$ is the Einstein coefficient, $6.266, 60.11 \times10^{-8}{\rm s^{-1}}$ for
$J=1 \rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$, respectively. $\lambda_0$ is the
wavelength of the transition,
$0.273, 0.137$ cm for $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ and $J=2 \rightarrow 1$, respectively. $g_l$
and $g_u$ are the statistical weights of the lower and upper levels,
and $\tau_\nu$ is the optical depth of the line at frequency $\nu$,
i.e. at velocity $v$. The excitation temperature, $T_{\rm ex}$, is
assumed to be the same for all rotational levels. Details on the
estimation of $\tex$ are given below.
The optical depth, $\tau_\nu$, is derived through the detection equation:
\beq
T_{B,\nu} = \frac{h\nu}{k} [f(T_{\rm ex}) - f(T_{\rm bg})] \left[1 - e^{-\tau_\nu}\right]
\label{eq:detection}
\eeq
where $T_{B,\nu}$ is the main beam brightness temperature at frequency $\nu$,
$f(T)\equiv [{\rm exp}(h\nu/[kT])-1]^{-1}$, and $T_{\rm bg}$ is the
background temperature of $2.725$~K. For the observable, $T_{B,\nu}$, and for an
assumed $T_{\rm ex}$, $\tau_\nu$ can be solved for directly through
equation (\ref{eq:detection}). Therefore, we can solve for the column
density per unit velocity, ${\rm d}N_{\rm 18CO}/{\rm d}v$, at each
$l,b,v$ position.
While care is taken to account for the optical depth in our column
density estimates, for reference we also state the case of the
optically thin limit of the $\ceto$ ($J=1\rightarrow 0$) column
density. If $\tau_\nu$ is small, then equation (\ref{eq:detection})
reduces to $T_{B,\nu}=(h\nu/k)[f(T_{\rm ex}) - f(T_{\rm
bg})]\tau_\nu$. Inserting into equation (\ref{eq:dN}) gives:
\begin{eqnarray}
\frac{{\rm d}N_{\rm C18O}(v)}{{\rm d}v} & = & 6.571\times 10^{14} \frac{Q_{\rm rot}}{f(T_{\rm ex}) - f(T_{\rm bg})} [1-{\rm exp}(-h\nu/ k T_{\rm ex})]^{-1}\frac{T_A/K}{\eta f_{\rm clump}} \:{\rm cm^{-2} km^{-1}s}\\
& \rightarrow & 9.758\times 10^{14}\frac{T_A^*/K}{\eta f_{\rm clump}} \:{\rm cm^{-2} km^{-1}s}\:\:(T_{\rm ex}=7.5~{\rm K}).
\label{eq:thin}
\end{eqnarray}
As in HT11, an inspection of the $\ceto$ emission in $l,b,v$ space
indicates that the gas associated with the filament is in the range of
$40-50 \kms$. The total column density per pixel is then calculated
over the entire velocity range of the filament, $N_{\rm C18O} = \int
dN_{\rm C18O}$.
The column densities for both transitions, $N_{\rm C18O}$, are
converted to a total mass surface density $\Sigma_{\rm C18O}$, by
assuming the abundance ratios of $\rm n_{16O}/n_{18O}=327$ from Wilson
\& Rood (1994) and $\rm n_{12CO}/n_{H2}=2 \times 10^{-4}$ from Lacy et
al. (1994). Thus, our assumed abundance ratio of $\ceto$ to $\rm H_2$
is $\rm 6.12 \times 10^{-7}$ and $\Sigma$ for each pixel is then
given by:
\begin{equation} \Sigma_{\rm C18O}=7.652 \times 10^{-2} \frac{N_{\rm C18O}}{10^{16}{\rm cm^{-2}}}\: {\rm g\: cm^{-2}},
\label{eq:Sigtot}
\end{equation}
assuming a mass per H nucleus of $\mu_{\rm H}=2.34 \times 10^{-24} {\rm g}$, i.e. $\Sigma= 1\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ is equivalent to $N_{\rm H} = 4.27\times 10^{23}\:{\rm cm^{-<|fim_middle|>each 0.56\arcmin \ wide in R.A. and 4.47\arcmin \ long in Dec. Note, that
because of the limited area mapped by our observations, these envelope
regions are narrower than those considered by HT11.
For our Case 2, we assume that the $\ceto$ material present in the
envelope regions is also present at the similar levels towards the
filament region, and so attempt to subtract this emission from the
$\ceto$ spectrum of the filament, before then comparing to
$\Sigsmf$. To carry out this subtraction we divide the filament and
envelope into four E-W strips (1 to 4 from N to S) (see Figure 1). In
each strip, the mean column density per unit velocity is evaluated for
the filament (based on 66 $\ceto$(1-0) pixels) and the two adjacent
envelope regions (based on 18 $\ceto$(1-0) pixels each) (see Figure
\ref{envspectra18}), using the $\tex$ estimates described
previously. The envelope spectra are averaged and then subtracted from
the filament. The total column of this envelope-subtracted spectrum is
evaluated and used to derive $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,FIL}$. This is of
course an approximate method for accounting for the envelope material:
one can see from Figure \ref{envspectra18} that the envelope spectra
on either side of the filament can be quite different, especially for
strips 1 and 2. The uncertainty in the envelope-subtracted spectrum
becomes large when the envelope spectra are of similar strength as
that of the filament, as is the case for strip 1. Thus we do not
regard the results of envelope subtraction for strip 1 as being
reliable, and we exclude these pixels from the Case 2 analysis. As
with Case 1, we also perform a Case 2 HiRes analysis, using
$\Sigma_{\rm C18O,FIL}$ estimated at the higher resolution of the
CO(2-1) data, adopting values of $\tex$ evaluated at the CO(1-0)
resolution.
With these Case 1 and 2 methods, we now compare the pixel by pixel
values of $\Sigceto$ with $\Sigsmf$ derived from MIR extinction
mapping. As noted in HT11, these measurements of $\Sigma$ are
essentially independent of cloud distance uncertainties. Figure
\ref{Sigcomp18}a presents $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,TOT}$ versus $\Sigsmf$,
i.e. Case 1 of no envelope subtraction. The best fit power law
relation to the CO(1-0) resolution data of $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,TOT}/{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}} = A (\Sigma_{\rm SMF}/{\rm g\:cm^{-2}})^\alpha$ has
$\alpha=0.452\pm0.054$ and $A=0.146\pm0.023$. For Case 1 HiRes (i.e. at
the CO(2-1) resolution, adopting CO(1-0) resolution $\tex$ estimates) we find
$\alpha = 0.463\pm 0.025$ and $A = 0.151\pm0.010$. These results are
summarized in Table~\ref{tab:depletion}.
These uncertainties are derived assuming that the errors of each
individual measurement are as follows:
for $\Sigceto$, a fixed value of $0.0024\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ (derived from
the 1$\sigma$ RMS noise of $\rm 0.2 K \kms$ over the velocity range of
$40-50 \kms$) and a 20\% error to account for uncertainties in $\tex$
assumed to be 1~K at the typical temperature of 7~K; for $\Sigsmf$,
a 15\% error plus a systematic
error of $\rm 0.01 g\:cm^{-2}$ (BT09). At the resolution of the CO
pixels (11\arcsec for CO(1-0) and 5\arcsec for CO(2-1)), the $\Sigsmf$
measurements are independent, but the $\Sigceto$ results are not since
the telescope beam is about twice the pixel scale. Thus the above
quoted uncertainties of the power law fits assume, conservatively,
only 25\% of the pixels are used (although the derived values of the
parameters are based on fits to all of the pixels).
We argue below that $\Sigsmf$ is a more accurate measure of the true
mass surface density in IRDCs than $\Sigceto$, since one does not
expect large changes in MIR dust opacities in these environments,
based on the Ossenkopf \& Henning (1994) dust models. If this is true,
then if $\ceto$ were also an accurate tracer of mass surface density,
then we should see a one-to-one relation between $\Sigceto$ and
$\Sigsmf$, i.e. $\alpha\simeq 1$, even if $A$ (the value of
$\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$ when $\Sigsmf=1\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$) is not exactly
unity because of systematic uncertainties in the absolute values of
$\ceto$ abundance or MIR dust opacities. We measure
$\alpha=0.452\pm0.054$ for Case 1 and $\alpha=0.463\pm0.025$ for Case 1
HiRes, which are significantly ($10\sigma$ and $21\sigma$) different
from one, and we interpret these results as being evidence for CO
depletion from the gas phase.
To illustrate that these results do not depend on the choice of dust
opacity per unit gas mass, we have repeated the analysis but with a
gas-to-dust mass ratio of 100 (rather than our fiducial value of
156). We find $\alpha=0.509\pm0.073$ (about $7\sigma$ different from
$\alpha=1$) for Case 1 and $\alpha=0.552\pm0.035$ (about $13\sigma$ different
from $\alpha=1$) for Case 1 HiRes. Note that we do not expect to derive
exactly the same values of $\alpha$ as before since we have a fixed
threshold of $\Sigma\geq 0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ to include points in
the analysis and so reducing the gas-to-dust mass ratio causes us to
lose some data points near this limit.
Figure \ref{Sigcomp18}b shows the ratio $\Sigma_{\rm
C18O,TOT}/\Sigsmf$ versus $\Sigsmf$ for our fiducial Case 1 and Case
1 HiRes analyses, with the derived power law relations overlaid. For
$0.01<\Sigsmf/{\rm g\:cm^{-2}} <0.03$ the mean values of $\Sigma_{\rm
C18O,TOT}/\Sigsmf$ are 1.316 and 1.471 for Case 1 and Case 1 HiRes,
respectively. By the time $\Sigsmf\gtrsim 0.1\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$,
$\Sigma_{\rm C18O,TOT}/\Sigsmf$ has declined to values of $\lesssim
0.4$.
In Case 2 we attempt to account for the IRDC envelope: we consider
that we can do this reliably only for strips 2, 3 and 4, where the
envelope is relatively weak compared to the filament. Figure
\ref{Sigcomp18}c presents $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,FIL}$ versus $\Sigsmf$ for
Case 2. The best fit power law relation to the CO(1-0) resolution data
of $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,FIL}/{\rm g\:cm^{-2}} = A (\Sigma_{\rm SMF}/{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}})^\alpha$ has $\alpha=0.239\pm0.080$ and
$A=0.074\pm0.017$. For Case 2 HiRes (i.e. at the CO(2-1) resolution,
adopting CO(1-0) $\tex$ estimates) we find $\alpha = 0.317 \pm 0.038$
and $A = 0.090\pm 0.010$. These uncertainties assume the same
measurement uncertainties as Case 1, except an additional systematic
error of $\rm 0.01 g\:cm^{-2}$ has been applied to $\Sigma_{\rm
C18O,FIL}$ due to uncertainties associated with envelope
subtraction. Again these results indicate a significant ($10\sigma$
and $18\sigma$ for Case 2 and Case 2 HiRes, respectively) departure
from a one-to-one ($\alpha=1$) relation, which we again interpret as
evidence for CO depletion. The results with a gas-to-dust mass ratio
of 100 are $\alpha=0.303\pm0.11$ (about $6\sigma$ different from
$\alpha=1$) for Case 2 and $\alpha=0.372\pm0.048$ (about $13\sigma$
different from $\alpha=1$) for Case 2 HiRes.
Figure \ref{Sigcomp18}d shows the ratio $\Sigma_{\rm
C18O,FIL}/\Sigsmf$ versus $\Sigsmf$ for Case 2 and Case 2 HiRes,
with the above power law relations overlaid. For $0.01<\Sigsmf/{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}} <0.03$ the mean values of $\Sigma_{\rm
C18O,FIL}/\Sigsmf$ are 1.099 and 1.238 for Case 2 and Case 2 HiRes,
respectively. These values are smaller than their equivalents for Case
1, as is to be expected now that we are allowing for the molecular
envelope. The values are also very close to unity, suggesting that our
adopted $\ceto$ abundances and dust opacity per unit gas mass are
reasonable. Again, by the time $\Sigsmf\gtrsim 0.1\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$,
$\Sigma_{\rm C18O,TOT}/\Sigsmf$ has declined to values of $\lesssim
0.4$.
\subsection{Alternatives to CO Depletion}
There are several physical processes that could be responsible for the
observed trend of decreasing $\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$ with increasing
$\Sigsmf$. One possibility could be that our corrections for the
optical depth of the $\ceto$ emission are systematically
underestimated near the center of the filament where the column
density is large. However, the largest optical depth corrections in
the highest column density locations increase the column by only 30\%
(the highest optical depths are $\sim 1$, but lower when averaged over
the whole column), so this effect is unlikely to be driving the
observed trend.
HT11 suggested their observed trend of decreasing $\Sigma_{\rm 13CO}/\Sigsmf$
with increasing $\Sigsmf$ could potentially result if at the same time
there is a systematic decrease in the excitation temperature of about
5~K. However, from our $\tex$ estimates, we find no strong negative
temperature gradient within the IRDC towards the mass surface density
peaks. In fact, $\tex$ increases slightly towards to the center of the
filament, probably as the densities become greater than the effective
critical densities and the lower CO levels can thermalize. Thus, we
exclude trends in $\tex$ as causing the observed variation of
$\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$.
Fractionation of $\ceto$ could in principle change the local abundance
of this molecule, but the most important way in which this can be
achieved is via isotope selective photodissociation at cloud edges,
which would not be able to explain the trends of decreasing $\ceto$
abundance that we see running from $\Sigma\simeq 0.02\:{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}}$ ($A_V\simeq 4$~mag) to $\simeq 0.2\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$
($A_V\simeq 40$~mag).
Another possibility to be considered is systematic changes in $\rm
8\:\mu m$ dust opacities for gas at higher densities. If the opacity
was to increase (e.g. due to grain coagulation and/or ice mantle
formation and growth), then this could explain our observed trend of
decreasing $\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$ with increasing $\Sigma$. The Ossenkopf
\& Henning (1994) dust models do show an increase of $\kappa_{\rm 8\mu
m}$ of 19\% going from the uncoagulated thin ice mantle model to the
uncoagulated thick ice mantle (all volatiles depleted) model. Maximal
coagulation (corresponding to that expected after $10^5$~yr at
densities of $10^8\:{\rm cm^{-3}}$or after $\sim 10^8$~yr at densities
of $\sim 10^5\:{\rm cm^{-3}}$ , which is probably more that can be
expected to have occurred since the observed densities of IRDC cores
are $\lesssim 10^{5}\:{\rm cm^{-3}}$; BT09) raises $\kappa_{\rm 8\mu
m}$ by an additional 17\%. Thus, ice mantle growth and grain
coagulation appears to be able to account for only a small fraction of
the observed variation of $\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$.
We conclude the most likely cause of the trend of decreasing
$\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$ with increasing $\Sigsmf$ is CO depletion due to
freeze out onto dust grains. This would cause a systematic reduction
in the amount of CO gas observed in higher mass surface density
regions, which are likely to also be of higher volume
density.
\subsection{CO Depletion and Implications}
Following the definitions of \S1 and the notation of Fontani
et al. (2006), the depletion factor is
\begin{equation}
f_D\equiv\frac{X^E_{\rm CO}}{X^O_{\rm CO}}=\frac{\Sigma_{\rm SMF}}{\Sigma_{\rm C18O}},
\label{eq:depfact}
\end{equation}
where $X^E_{\rm CO}$ is the expected abundance of CO relative to $\rm
H_2$ given standard gas phase abundances, $X^O_{\rm CO}$ is the
observed abundance and the last equality assumes that $\Sigma_{\rm
SMF}$ estimated from MIR extinction mapping is an accurate measure
of the true mass surface density (this assumption is discussed further
below). Given the uncertainties in the absolute values of the $\ceto$
abundance and the MIR dust opacity per unit gas mass, we renormalize
$f_D$ to be unity for the regions of the IRDC with $0.01<\Sigsmf/{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}} <0.03$ and refer to this renormalized value as the
relative depletion factor $f_D^\prime = B f_D$, where the scaling
factor, $B=1.316, 1.471, 1.099, 1.238$ for Case 1, Case 1 HiRes, Case
2, Case 2 HiRes, respectively. We show maps of $f_D^\prime$ for these
four cases in Figure \ref{6paneldata}e-h. We note that the values of
$f_D^\prime$ presented here, peaking at values $\simeq 5$, are mass
surface density weighted averages and thus lower limits to the maximum
values of the depletion factor that apply in the densest regions of
the cloud.
We conclude that with high ($\sim 10 \sigma$) significance, widespread
CO depletion is occurring in this IRDC, with depletion factors of up
to $\sim 5$ (see Table~\ref{tab:depletion}). These values are larger
than those seen towards more evolved cores and clumps already
containing massive protostars (Fontani et al. 2006; Thomas \& Fuller
2008). Our measurement of CO depletion suffers from fewer systematic
uncertainties, especially since we do not require knowledge of the
dust temperature.
Each pixel in the lower resolution depletion maps (11\arcsec, half the
$\ceto$(1-0) angular resolution) corresponds to a length of 0.155~pc
at the cloud distance of 2.9~kpc, and so contains a mass of
$11.4(\Sigma/0.1{\rm g\:cm^{-2}})\:M_\odot$. Thus, hundreds of solar
masses appear to be affected by depletion along the filament (the
total SMF-derived mass in the 4 strips is $580\pm 230\:M_\odot$,
HT11), including a particularly prominent massive core or clump in
strip 2 and a larger clump partially in strip 4 and extending to the
south.
Thus, IRDC G035.30-00.33 is one of the most massive clouds in which CO
depletion has been detected by direct CO-based and non-CO-based
measurements of mass surface density. Our results also suggest that CO
depletion will be a common occurrence in IRDCs, since the values of
$\Sigma\sim 0.1\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ in this cloud are quite typical
(e.g. BT09). CO is therefore an imperfect tracer of a significant
fraction of the mass of IRDCs (not just the coldest, densest
cores). Accurate accounting for depletion and/or use of species
suffering minimal depletion, such as $\rm NH_3$ and $\rm N_2H^+$, are
required for more accurate dynamical studies of these clouds.
An estimate of the CO depletion timescale due to freeze-out onto dust
grains is $t_D\simeq 8000/(n_{\rm H_2,5}S)\:{\rm yr}$, where $n_{\rm
H_2,5}$ is the number density of $\rm H_2$ molecules in units of
$10^5\:{\rm cm^{-3}}$ and $S$ is the sticking probability (of order
unity; e.g. Tielens \& Allamandola 1987) for CO on grains. We can
apply this to the thinnest region of the IRDC: the $\sim 5\arcsec$
(0.070~pc) wide filament near the center of strip 3, which appears to
have significant CO depletion with $f_D^\prime\sim 3-4$. Assuming the
depth of the filament, which has $\Sigsmf\simeq 0.2\:{\rm
g\:cm^{-2}}$, is similar to its width, then $n_{\rm H_2,5}=2.0$ and
$t_D\simeq 4000$~yr. This provides a lower limit to the age of this
part of the IRDC. The free-fall time, $t_{\rm
ff}=(3\pi/[32G\rho])^{1/2}$, for this density is $6.9\times
10^4\:{\rm yr}$, i.e. much longer. However, if the filament has been
created by larger scale supersonic flows, then one might expect the
high density gas to have been present for about the flow crossing time
across the width of the filament. Velocities of $\sim 10\:{\rm
km\:s^{-1}}$ may be relevant in models of GMC-GMC collisions (Tan
2000) or if the large-scale SiO emission seen towards this filament
(Jim\'enez-Serra et al. 2010) has been created by such flows. The flow
crossing time at this speed for this part of the IRDC is only
$6800$~yr. Thus the fact that we see CO depletion in these very thin
filaments of the IRDC can help to constrain models for the cloud's
formation. For models in which the cloud lifetime is less than the
flow crossing time across the filament, a constraint is placed on the
flow speed. For the thinnest region of this IRDC, this corresponds to
flow speeds $\lesssim 17\:{\rm km\:s^{-1}}$.
\begin{figure*}[!tb]
\begin{center}$
\begin{array}{cc}
\includegraphics[width=3in,angle=0]{f2a.eps} &
\includegraphics[width=3in,angle=0]{f2b.eps}
\end{array}$
\end{center}
\caption{
\small
Velocity structure of the $\ceto$ molecules associated with the IRDC
and its envelope. The column density distribution, ${\rm d}N_{\rm
C^{18}O}/{\rm d}v$, has been derived from the $\ceto$(1-0) and (2-1)
spectra, local estimates of $\tex$ and including optical depth
corrections. {\it ($\rm a$) Left:} the 4 sets of profiles (offset to
display from top to bottom and labeled 1 to 4) correspond to the 4
strips shown in Figure~\ref{6paneldata}. The dotted, red line is the
summed contribution from gas from the central region of each strip,
corresponding to the IRDC ``filament'' (see Figure~\ref{6paneldata}
and text). The dot-dashed and long-dashed blue lines show summed
contribution from the gas from the eastern and western envelope
regions, respectively. {\it (b) Right:} Illustration of envelope
subtraction (Case 2, see text). For the same strips as in (a), we
subtract the average of the eastern and western envelopes
(short-dashed blue lines) from the filament (dotted red lines), to
leave an estimate of the material in the filament (solid black
lines). We consider this process unreliable for strip 1, where the
envelope contains a similar amount of material as the filament. }
\label{envspectra18}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}[!tb]
\begin{center}$
\begin{array}{cc}
\includegraphics[width=3in]{f3a.eps} &
\includegraphics[width=3in]{f3c.eps}\\
\includegraphics[width=3in]{f3b.eps} &
\includegraphics[width=3in]{f3d.eps}
\end{array}$
\end{center}
\caption{
\small
Evidence for CO depletion. {\it (a) Top Left:} Comparison of
$\Sigma_{\rm C^{18}O,TOT}$ (i.e. Case 1) and $\Sigsmf$ for all
$\ceto$(1-0) (crosses) and $\ceto$(2-1) (dots) pixels for which both
$\Sigceto$ and $\Sigsmf>0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ and the pixel is
$<20\%$ affected by $\Sigsmf$ artifacts, e.g. due to MIR bright
sources. The dotted line shows the condition $\Sigma_{\rm
C^{18}O,TOT}=\Sigsmf$. The solid, dashed lines show the best-fit
power law relations to the $\ceto$(1-0), $\ceto$(2-1) resolution data,
respectively. {\it (b) Bottom Left:} Ratio $\Sigma_{\rm
C^{18}O,TOT}/\Sigsmf$ (i.e. Case 1) versus $\Sigsmf$, with the same
symbol and line notation as in (a). The horizontal solid, dashed lines
from $0.01<\Sigsmf/{\rm g\:cm^{-2}} <0.03$ indicate the mean values of
the data in this range for the $\ceto$(1-0), $\ceto$(2-1) resolution
data, respectively. The cross in the upper-right corner indicates
typical estimated uncertainties. {\it (c) Top Right:} Same as (a), but
now estimating $\Sigma_{\rm C^{18}O,FIL}$ from molecular gas
associated with the filament after envelope subtraction (Case 2) in
strips 2, 3 and 4. {\it (d) Bottom Right:} Same as (b), but for Case
2. Both (b) and (d) show that $\Sigceto/\Sigsmf$ decreases by up to a
factor of $\sim 5$ as $\Sigsmf$ increases from $\sim 0.02\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$
up to $\sim 0.2\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$.}
\label{Sigcomp18}
\end{figure*}
\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{Parameters of Depletion Factor Analysis}
\label{tab:depletion}
\begin{tabular}{lcccc}
\hline
\hline
Case & $\alpha$ & $A$ & $B$ & $f_D^\prime$(max) \\
\hline
Case 1 & $0.452\pm0.054$ & $0.146\pm0.023$ & 1.316 & 3.5 (at $\Sigsmf=0.16\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$) \\
Case 1 HiRes & $0.463\pm 0.025$ & $0.151\pm0.010$ & 1.471 & 4.6 (at $\Sigsmf=0.20\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$) \\
Case 2 & $0.239\pm0.080$ & $0.074\pm0.017$ & 1.099 & 3.8 (at $\Sigsmf=0.16\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$)\\
Case 2 HiRes & $0.317 \pm 0.038$ & $0.090\pm 0.010$ & 1.238 & 4.9 (at $\Sigsmf=0.20\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$)\\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\acknowledgments We thank E. van Dishoeck and R. Visser for helpful
discussions and the comments of an anonymous referee, which helped
improve the paper. AKH acknowledges support from a SEAGEP Dissertation
Fellowship. JCT acknowledges support from NSF CAREER grant
AST-0645412; NASA Astrophysics Theory and Fundamental Physics grant
ATP09-0094; NASA Astrophysics Data Analysis Program ADAP10-0110 and a
Faculty Enhancement Opportunity grant from the University of Florida.
| 2}}$.
In order to accurately derive the mass surface density of the
filament, an estimate of the excitation temperature, $\tex$, is
needed. To perform this estimate throughout the filament, we varied
the assumed temperature at each $l,b,v$ position until the ratio between
the column densities derived from both transitions were in
agreement. To do this, we first defined $R_{2,1}$ as the ratio
between the $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ and $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ column
densities:
\begin{equation} R_{2,1}\equiv \frac{{\rm d}N_{\rm C18O,21}}{{\rm d}N_{\rm C18O,10}}.
\label{eq:Tratio}
\end{equation}
This method is similar to the one used in Kramer et al. (1999), except
they averaged over the velocity profile of their cloud. The higher
resolution $J=2 \rightarrow 1$ data was convolved with a beam of
22$\arcsec$ and regridded to match the resolution and pixel scale of
the $J=1 \rightarrow 0$ data. For all $l,b,v$ positions above a noise
limit of $3\sigma$ in both transitions, $R_{2,1}$ was calculated first
assuming a $\tex=30$~K. Then, $\tex$ was iteratively decreased until
$R_{2,1}$ converged to unity. This step provided a three dimensional
grid containing estimates of $\tex$ for all positions above the noise
limit. Next, for all positions below the noise threshold, their
$\tex$ was estimated by taking the mean excitation temperature at the
corresponding $l,b$ position. Finally, for any remaining $l,b,v$
positions without an estimated excitation temperature, the mean $\tex$
of 7.2 K resulting from the previous steps was used. Positions left
for this final step are mainly in the outer regions of the filament
where the emission is weak and/or the noise is high. The column
density weighted $\tex$ map is shown in Figure \ref{6paneldata}d.
\section{Comparison of $\Sigceto$ and $\Sigsmf$:\\ Evidence for CO Depletion}\label{S:comparison}
In Figure \ref{6paneldata}, we present the morphology of the
filamentary IRDC H. The goal of this section is to compare $\Sigceto$
and $\Sigsmf$. The simplest way of doing this, which we refer to as
Case 1, involves a straightforward pixel by pixel comparison of these
values, smoothing the $\Sigsmf$ data to the resolution of the
$\ceto$(1-0) observations, for which we have derived accurate
excitation temperature information. Note, that only pixels with
$\Sigsmf$ and $\Sigceto\geq 0.01\:{\rm g\:cm^{-2}}$ are
considered. Also, pixels for which $\Sigsmf$ is affected by bright MIR
emission are excluded (see \S\ref{S:SMF}). We also perform a
comparison at the higher angular resolution of the $\ceto$(2-1)
observations, which we refer to as Case 1 HiRes, assuming $T_{\rm ex}$
at this higher angular resolution can be estimated from the values
derived at the (1-0) resolution. For both these versions of Case 1, we
refer to $\Sigceto$ as $\Sigma_{\rm C18O,TOT}$, since it is derived
from all the $\ceto$ emission associated with the IRDC and its
surrounding GMC.
However, as is apparent from Figure \ref{6paneldata}, the $\ceto$
emission is more extended than the $\rm 8\mu m$ extinction map from
Butler \& Tan (2009; 2011). This is because, as discussed above, the
extinction map is derived from an ``on-off'' comparison with adjacent
regions, which help define the background MIR intensity that is
expected to be behind the filament. Thus the MIR extinction mapping
method becomes insensitive to material present in these adjacent,
lower column density (``envelope'') regions. A fair comparison between
$\Sigsmf$ and $\Sigceto$ would allow for this envelope material. We
thus define ``filament'' and ``envelope'' regions based on the 8~$\rm
\mu m$ image of the IRDC. Following HT11, the filament is defined to
be a rectangular strip centered at $\alpha(J2000)=18^h57^m08.02^s$,
$\delta(J2000)=02^{\circ}10'35.7\arcsec$, 2.05\arcmin \ wide in R.A. and
4.47\arcmin \ long in Dec. The outline of this filament region is shown
by a red box in the panels of Figure 1. The envelope region is defined
to be made up of two adjacent rectangular regions on either side of
the filament. These are shown as blue rectangles in Figure 1 and are
| 1,158 |
Robert Aske (1500 – ) est un avocat anglais, chef de la rébellion catholique du nord de l'Angleterre, en 1536, dont le noyau fut la ville d'York.
Bi<|fim_middle|>écuté par pendaison en 1537 à York pour trahison.
Robert Aske dans la fiction
Au cinéma
À la télévision
2009-2010 : Les Tudors, série TV de Michael Hirst : Gerard McSorley (saison 3)
Lien interne
Pèlerinage de Grâce
Liens externes
Naissance en 1500
Décès en juillet 1537
Personnalité de l'époque Tudor
Condamné à mort exécuté en Angleterre
Condamné à mort exécuté par pendaison | ographie
Robert Aske a l'idée et prend la tête du pèlerinage de Grâce qui a lieu courant 1536, parti de la même ville. Son objectif et celui de ses compagnons est d'arrêter la progression des réformes religieuses et politiques initiées par Henri VIII d'Angleterre sous l'influence de sa seconde épouse, Anne Boleyn, et de son secrétaire particulier, sir Thomas Cromwell, comte d'Essex et Lord du sceau privé. Ces réformes donneront plus tard l'Église anglicane, totalement indépendante de Rome, avec à sa tête le souverain anglais. Les délégués de la rébellion réclament également la restauration du catholicisme comme religion d'État, le rattachement de l'Église d'Angleterre au Saint-Siège et l'arrêt des destructions des abbayes qui ont une véritable fonction socio-économique en plus de leur fonction religieuse.
Aske fait confiance à Henri VIII qui lui promet d'accéder à toutes les requêtes de la rébellion et l'invite par trois fois à Londres. Sir Charles Brandon, le duc de Suffolk, alors chargé dans un premier temps de parlementer avec les rebelles, le rassure sur les bonnes intentions du roi et le pousse à venir à Londres. Mais, dès son arrivée, Aske est mis aux arrêts à la tour de Londres puis ex | 336 |
Two innovative schemes to discourage young people from starting smoking are being rolled out to all schools in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
The imaginative Smoke-Free Class Competition and Smokefree Me initiatives, organised by NHS GGC's Smoke Free Youth Services, have already been operating successfully<|fim_middle|> in Greater Glasgow were significantly more likely to be regular smokers than boys (10% of girls and 7% of boys were regular smokers).
•On average, pupils were 12 years old when they first smoked a cigarette (more than a puff).
•50% of all pupils felt that it was 'ok' to 'try smoking to see what it's like' (35% of 13 year olds vs. 64% of 15 year olds). | in Glasgow schools.
They target young people with the aim of discouraging them from starting smoking and establishing a smokefree culture in their communities.
"These campaigns have been launched to delay or prevent the onset of youth smoking.
"We also want to de-normalise and de-glamorise smoking by raising young people's awareness of tobacco issues.
The Smoke-Free Class Competition is open to S1 pupils who are asked to sign a declaration every month pledging to be smoke free, which teachers return to NHS GGC's Smokefree Youth Services.
To enter, 90 per cent of the class must opt into the competition, with 80 per cent maintaining their promise not to smoke.
Everyone taking part receives a monthly newsletter packed with puzzles, quizzes, facts and news stories.
Positive smoke-free choices by the pupils are rewarded in the first two months with pens and pencils etc, an interactive competition with prizes of shopping vouchers, and ultimately, a grand prize draw with one entire class winning a holiday.
Last year's winners were S1 pupils at Lourdes Secondary in Glasgow, who were whisked off to a four-day trip to Alton Towers, plus tours of Old Trafford and Cadburys World, activities at X-scape, a cinema trip and 10 pin bowling.
Smoke-Free Me is a tobacco education programme for primary 5, 6 and 7 pupils, and is designed to link into the national curriculum guidelines.
There are four lesson plans delivered by teachers in school followed by an interactive theatre production.
These plans look at smoking and ethics; cigarette contents and the effects on the body; second hand smoke; and peer pressure and influences.
The packs will arrive in schools before Christmas to allow teachers time to incorporate their delivery into class time.
A theatre company then visits each school to perform an interactive show covering the pack material and reinforcing the content.
Secondary schools interested in the SmokeFree Class competition can still sign up by contacting Ashley Gillies on 0141 201 4627 or email [email protected] to find out more.
•9246 secondary school pupils (S1-S4) across 27 Glasgow city schools completed a health and wellbeing survey questionnaire.
•One in 10 pupils in Glasgow was smoking on at least some days with little variation across CHCPs for this indicator.
•Proportion of all school pupils who smoked on at least some days ranged from 5% at Bellahouston to 20% at Govan.
•In Greater Glasgow, 3% of 13 year olds were regular smokers compared with 14% of 15 year olds.
•70% of 13 year olds in Greater Glasgow reported that they had never smoked, compared with 48% of 15 year olds.
•Girls | 570 |
The New subURBAN Lifestyle
Downtown Kansas City is experiencing tremendous growth. New construction projects dot practically every street, and traffic to the new, hot neighborhoods is increasing regularly. What used to be empty lots or rundown buildings are now high-rise apartments or mixed-use buildings. Once a neglected and rundown area, people are now flocking to the city's hottest part of town. While it seems somewhat sudden, the construction industry has witnessed this shift coming and initial investors are reaping the rewards of getting in early. Fortunately, there<|fim_middle|> Kansas City," said Hoffey. "And we're very proud that we've played a part in the advancement of our city." | continue to be new "it" areas developing, which is good news to the people investing, designing, and constructing.
A Shift in Mindset
"Today's younger generation is less enamored with the concept of owning their own home," said Kevin Collison, co-founder and editor of CityScene KC, an online publication dedicated to reporting on the changes in downtown Kansas City. "The same can be said of the older population who might be looking to downsize and who are ready to move away from the responsibility of home maintenance. These days, more people are looking to live an urban lifestyle."
The walkability and easy access to entertainment and great food appeals to many people. This is the case for many metropolis areas, Kansas City included. Not only can downtown and the neighboring areas offer a more vibrant living experience, it also makes people feel more connected with the history of the city. In Kansas City, new and renovated buildings are cropping up in the historic West Bottoms, also known as the Stockyards, offering excellent living, working, and dining options. As one of the oldest parts of Kansas City and what put the city on the map, the West Bottoms area is steeped with history. It also suffered from years of neglect after a series of unfortunate events which turned the once thriving district into an abandoned part of town.
The Yards Apartments, a new luxury apartment building, broke ground in the West Bottoms neighborhood in March of 2018. The 262,000-SF building will feature 231 luxury apartments, more than 5,000 SF of retail, and a 325-space parking garage.
"The Stockyards appealed to us because we believe this is the next booming area of Kansas City," said Ryan Cronk, vice president of development at Flaherty & Collins.
"It's great to see these old areas being revived," said Marty Hoffey, business development manager at MW Builders. "As a Kansas City-metro resident, I love that we get to work with our partners to improve these forgotten parts of town. It's fulfilling being part of the growth of our city."
Urban Amenities
One of the draws to suburban life is the easy access to everything. In order to attract residents, downtown neighborhoods offer accessible goods and services, in addition to the urban environment that the audience was looking for.
Downtown is the ultimate mixed-use environment. Many apartment buildings offer first-floor retail to support the area's foot traffic and maximize living space in the city center. In addition, new construction and building renovations must be creative in how they support the area's population. Grocery stores, gyms, dining, entertainment, office space, and retail — the businesses that support both those who work and live downtown — can capitalize on limited space while encouraging economic growth.
The amenities offered by apartment buildings must appeal to those looking for a home in the city. City dwellers may not want a yard to take care of, but they still want green space to enjoy. In the Riverfront neighborhood of downtown Kansas City, the Union | Berkley Riverfront apartments set the bar for modern apartment amenities like pickleball courts, a salt water pool, and a doggie relief area on the rooftop. They also boast an on-site barista and bike bar with several beers on tap.
"We saw potential in the riverfront area because of its quick access to highways, as well as its connection to nature with views of the river and lots of green space," said Cronk. "We designed the space with the residents in mind and made sure to include the amenities that they were seeking."
Staying On Trend
Public transportation can have a big impact on the viability of growth in urban neighborhoods. While in many big cities, this infrastructure is already in place, in Kansas City, the KC Streetcar has been a big part of improving the focus and development of the downtown area. An extension is already approved by area voters; however, additional federal funding is needed to supply the rest of the money for the development. Despite its uncertain future, the Main Street corridor has seen an uptick in attention in preparation for the new route. Many businesses and investors already recognize the opportunity along the track and are planning either renovations or new construction to capitalize on the foot traffic the streetcar is expected to bring.
"It's an exciting time for | 881 |
Hoover's Missy Smith named MaxPreps National Softball Coach of the Year
Alumni led West Virginia school to unbeaten year, No. 5 national finish, back-to-back state 2A titles all after town was nearly destroyed by 2016 flood.
Monday, July 9, 2018 3:00pm
By: tom mauldin | MaxPreps.com
Top 10 Plays of the Year // 2017-18 57,452 views 3:40
Video: Top 10 Plays of the Year
See the best of the best from the 2017-18 school year.
"My team, our dream, all in, we can."
That's a phrase Missy Smith coined two years ago as a bonding tool for her Hoover (Clendenin, W. Va.) softball team.
It's a phrase that likely could be the theme for the tiny Clendenin community, which was nearly wiped away by a 1,000-year flood on June 23, 2016. The Elk River flood, caused by 10 inches of rain in less than 12 hours, resulted in 23 deaths and was among the deadliest in state history. Mayor Gary Bledsoe was unsure if Clendenin would survive the devastation, as more than 1,200 homes, including 400 in Clendenin's Kanawaha County, were damaged or destroyed.
Despite seeing their high school, elementary school, softball field and indoor practice field completely destroyed, Smith's Huskies are the pride of the community with a pair of back-to-back state 2A championships. The town celebrated its inaugural Clendenin Homecoming Festival, a fete for persevering through tough times.
The Huskies completed the 2018 season unbeaten and ranked No. 5 in the final MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national softball rankings.
For leading her team to a perfect season, guiding them through unimaginable difficult times and playing a major role in "uplifting" the Clendenin community, Smith has been named MaxPreps National Softball Coach of the Year.
Hoover's Missy Smith was named MaxPreps National Softball Coach of the Year.
"We cope by doing what we do when and where we can to help out," said Smith. "We have a special community and people from all over pitched in."
Following the flood, the Huskies softball field was under more than five feet of water, the concession stand and equipment room both were lost.
"Our uniforms were saved," said Smith of the threads Hoover wore during its 2017 state title run. "Other than that, we lost everything."
Like the Clendenin community, the players persevered. Hoover's 2016-2017 school year split half days with Elkview Middle School students. The 2017-2018 school year took place in a portable raised eight feet off the ground. Hoover students will continue with classes at that location until 2021, when a permanent replacement can be built in a flood-free location.
"That says a lot about how resilient our players were … and are," said Smith. "Their lives changed dramatically, but this is a close-knit group. The seniors have been together since they were 6. We had great senior leadership. This team was important for one another and the community."
Smith said she knows how hard it is to go unbeaten, but the Huskies always schedule one of the toughest slates in the state.
"An unbeaten season can only be appreciated when the season is over," she said.
The Huskies got MaxPreps attention when they knocked off then-highly ranked and unbeaten Hurricane, 4-0. Hurricane won the state 3A title with its only loss to Hoover.
"I knew we would be good, returning all but three players from our 2017 state title team," said Smith.
The 2018 Huskies were indeed good. They hit .407 as a team, scored 273 runs and allowed 25. The team ERA was 0.58 and pitchers combined to strike out 338 batters.
"Our girls worked all winter," said Smith. "We have great behind-the-scenes support. We can't throw the players enough balls, hit them enough balls. They are very dedicated."
The Huskies had big hitters, and excellent pitching in sophomores Presley McGee and Delani Buckner, the state's Gatorade Player of the Year winner.
"The success of the team was "truly a complete team success. Delani (Buckner) was outstanding, but every one of our players contributed all the time."
Three Huskies were named All-State — pitchers Buckner<|fim_middle|> rankings
2018 MaxPreps National High School Softball Player of the Year: Montana Fouts
2017-18 high school softball state champions
MaxPreps 2018 High School Softball All-American Teams
2018 MaxPreps national high school underclass softball All-Americans
2018 MaxPreps Small Schools Softball All-American Teams | and McGee, and big hitter Kirsten Belcher.
The Huskies dominated the Cardinal Conference All-Star team. Buckner, Rebekah Woody, Belcher, McGee and Mallori Chapman all were named first team and Megan Seafler, Cortney Fizer and Taylor Carpenter were second-team selections. Add honorable mention picks Ava Young and Jess Canterbury and you have 10 all-stars from the same team.
Chapman, McGee, Belcher, Carpenter, Woody and Buckner were named to the nine-player state 2A all-tournament team.
Missy Smith and the Hoover Huskies finished No. 5 nationally and won the West Virginia 2A title.
"This team is really special, they've been playing together since they were 6, 7, 8 years old all together as a unit," Missy Smith said. "Our girls played for each other and built relationships for their entire lives."
Smith recalled following the 2016 flood, she went to visit flooded out player Kelsey Naylor and her mother, Cindy, to see if they were okay.
"Cindy told me 'It'll be okay. I got the important things out of the house –— wedding photos, state championship plaque, home run balls and the championship ring.' "
After rain delays and a 10:30 p.m. state semifinal start, many Clendenin residents drove two-plus hours the next day to see the state-title victory.
"Winning helped bring some uplift to the community," said Smith. "We have great community support."
So much so that the team invited the fans, nearly half the town of Clendenin, to be in their championship photo alongside them.
As they did a year ago, the community celebrated with a parade to honor the softball team.
Local photographer and Herbert Hoover alum Beth Strawn said "it takes a river to raise a Husky."
"The Huskies sure have their supporters," said Strawn. "This community never ceases to amaze me. Any time I have put out a call for help with any sport, the community is always there to help with whatever the kids need. That was never more apparent than after the flood. The community is the only reason we were able to save the facilities at Hoover.
"I would like to think these girls brought a little joy to the town of Clendenin when they so needed it," praised Strawn.
And how did the softball team celebrate?
"We celebrated with a campout on our field," said Smith.
The Huskies slept in tents, played corn hole, streamed super regional games, played card games and celebrated into the evening on their field ... a field that a little over two years ago was under five feet or water.
Smith was a three-sport athlete at Herbert Hoover where she played volleyball, basketball and softball. She followed that with a two-sport (volleyball and softball) career at Concord University in nearby Athens.
Softball and volleyball remain her passions as she splits her coaching time between Hoover softball and at volleyball at Charleston's George Washington High.
To say this has been a "special" school year for Smith would be an understatement. Not only did the Huskies softball team go 33-0 and win their second-straight state title, George Washington's volleyball team won 58 matches, losing only two. In the last three years, Smith's volleyball teams have gone 178-6. They were runner-up in 2016 and champions in 2015.
Despite the many life-changing obstacles, Hoover softball and the Clendenin community continues to move forward, just as it began doing when the high school opened in fall of 1963.
Mark Burdette, editor of The Clendenin Leader, said "I believe the success of the Huskies has been a continuous source of good news that has kept our community spirit alive since their school and town was devastated by the flood two years ago."
Smith, who is assisted by Jamanda Rollyson, is only the second softball coach in school history. And there has only been one losing season.
"Softball is special here on the river," said Smith. After all, it takes a 'river to raise a Husky.' "
Photo courtesy of Beth Strawn
The Hoover softball team invited fans to take a championship picture with them after their school destroyed and town significantly damaged by a 2016 flood.
Final 2018 MaxPreps national high school Top 50 softball | 931 |
Formal power series methods<|fim_middle|> set of all locally convergent power series and the set of all well-defined Fliess operators.
A software package was produced in Maple based on the ACE package developed by the ACE group in Université de Marne-la Vallée led by Sébastien Veigneau. The ACE package provided the binary operations of addition, concatenation and shuffle product on the free monoid of formal polynomials. In this dissertation, the operations of composition, modified composition, chronological products and the evaluation of Fliess operators are implemented in software. The package was used to demonstrate various aspects of the new interconnection theory. | provide effective tools for nonlinear system analysis. For a broad range of analytic nonlinear systems, their input-output mapping can be described by a Fliess operator associated with a formal power series. In this dissertation, the inter connection of two Fliess operators is characterized by the generating series of the composite system. In addition, the formal Laplace-Borel transform of a Fliess operator is defined and its fundamental properties are presented. The formal Laplace-Borel transform produces an elegant description of system interconnections in a purely algebraic context.
Specifically, four basic interconnections of Fliess operators are addressed: the parallel, product, cascade and feedback connections. For each interconnection, the generating series of the overall system is given, and a growth condition is developed, which guarantees the convergence property of the output of the corresponding Fliess operator.
Motivated by the relationship between operations on formal power series and system interconnections, and following the idea of the classical integral Laplace-Borel transform, a new formal Laplace-Borel transform of a Fliess operator is proposed. The properties of this Laplace-Borel transform are provided, and in particular, a fundamental semigroup isomorphism is identified between the | 250 |
This is the first installment of "My Close Encounters with Steve Jobs," a fantastic series of stories about the early days of the Mac written by the founder of Macworld magazine, David Bunnell.
Bunnell meets Jobs for the first time. He's nervous because Jobs is in "an extremely foul mood" says the receptionist, maybe because he had an unsuccessful date with Joan Baez the night before.
Also, Bill Gates tells Bunnell he's going to buy a Mac for his mother. Gates and his cohorts are so excited about the Mac, they're all buying up Apple stock (possibly in violation of SEC insider-trading rules).
Young Steve Jobs had movie star good looks.
At age 28, Steven P. Jobs, Chairman of Apple Computer, was on top of his game—rich, famous, spoiled, and seemingly unrestrained by the usual social mores. He had the chiseled face, jutting jaw and thick black hair of a typical matinee idol.
Yet, he was hardly conventional. The sleeves of the understated gray cashmere sweater he wore that October morning in 1983, on top a simple white, v-neck t-shirt, were pushed up just enough to reveal the coolest watch I had ever seen, strapped high on his left<|fim_middle|> mission to remake the company he co-founded with the "other" Steve and not just coincidentally change the world at large. He was going to do this by building a truly revolutionary new computer called the Macintosh.
"His date with Joan Baez last night must not have gone so well," she said.
At this moment, however, Steve's unblinking laser eyes were locked on mine as I strained not to look away. I was experiencing the famous Steve Jobs' stare-down. I had been warned if I even blinked I risked being written off forever as a phony or a weakling not worth bothering with.
Steve and his chief underling, Mike Murray, were interviewing my colleague Andrew Fluegelman and myself in a small room just off the lobby. The reason, they said, was to determine if they could trust us enough to let us come inside the Macintosh development area.
Andrew had been the Editor of my computer magazine, PC World, and if things went well, he would soon move on to become the editor of a new, much hipper magazine we were planning to call Macworld.
Andrew and I too were on a mission. PC World had been a huge hit–we were routinely printing issues over 500 pages and our little company was immensely profitable, but the IBM Personal Computer was corporate and boring. We found ourselves endlessly reviewing database, spreadsheet and accounting applications.
Apple computers could do business things too but at their soul they were designed for more creative uses like composing music and printing out clever postcards and banners which Andrew and I found inspiring and fun. We desperately wanted to cover the "right brain" side of computing and we suspected the Macintosh would allow us to do this.
Next: Seeing the Macintosh for the Very First Time.
Note: The above is the first installment of a series, "Close Encounters with Steve Jobs," that I will be publishing in this blog over the course of the next three weeks. It covers the very early days of the Macintosh computer and the publication of Macworld magazine, which I created in 1983 with a lot of help from my friend Andrew Fluegalman and others. I'm publishing it here for the first time because, what the hell, I want to! Enjoy.
Copyright 2010 by David Bunnell. All Rights Reserved. | forearm. I wanted very much to get a closer look at it, but I didn't dare.
In those early, pre-email, pre-Internet days of the personal computer industry, Steve was on a | 41 |
Springtail (Anurida<|fim_middle|> as well. Despite its name the springtail is incapable of springing or jumping in the way a sand hopper can. | maritime) are a common marine invertebrate found throughout most of the British Isles and the rest of Europe. They are a small insect-like creature which has a black, brown or dark blue segmented body with six legs and short antenna. The maximum length is usually 5 to 6mm. They are an unusual sea creature as they are air-breathing. Their body is covered in hairs which trap air bubbles and allow them to float on the surface of water. There are many other insects and creatures commonly referred to as springtails throughout the world which sometimes leads to confusion.
They will crawl around rocks but are most commonly seen in groups crawling on the surface water of rockpools. These groups can consist of hundreds of individual springtails, but usually consist of far fewer than this. However, they are capable of surviving underwater as their can breathe the bubbles of air which are trapped in their hairs. Springtail feed on dead animal matter, especially shellfish and crustaceans, although they will also eat seaweed | 203 |
Centre of the Cell to get an embryo Neuron Pod 'sibling' at Whitechapel's Blizard Centre
Published: 7:00 AM December 20, 2016 Updated: 8:46 AM October 14, 2020
Planning go-ahead for second science pod - Credit: Archant
Planning permission has been given for a second £1.8m science education 'pod' at the famous Centre of the Cell complex in London's East End.
The 30ft 'Neuron Pod' is to be connected by a bridge to Queen Mary University's Blizard Institute behind the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.
Construction begins by March and the university is aiming to have it open by this time next year.
The now-famous Centre of the Cell opened in 2009 currently has an embryo-shaped science centre suspended above Queen Mary's biomedical research lab which is<|fim_middle|>00 people for science activities since opening four years ago as a revolutionary inter-active education centre aimed at galvanising the next generation of scientists and biomedical researchers.
Now the new 70ft-long Neuron Pod—designed by leading architect Will Alsop who created the existing Pod and surrounding Blizard Building with a nerve cell in mind—follows on from four pods inside the building inspired by images of cells or molecules.
It has been planned to cater for a huge public demand, with additional space for live science shows, workshops, experiments, debates, films and exhibitions aimed at showing the latest advances in medical research.
The space will also be used for Key Stage 4 activities for 14 to 16-year-olds and sixth form school visits and to develop more programmes for youngsters with learning difficulties, as well as being used for adult projects in the evenings and weekends. | used for education programmes to inspire pupils to pursue careers in the sciences and involve the public with latest biomedical research.
It has attracted 135,0 | 31 |
The G.C. Foster College Museum of Sports and Recreation is now officially open to the public.
The museum, which celebrates the life and contribution of Jamaica's<|fim_middle|> Russell informed. | athletes, was set up to preserve, research, promote and celebrate an awareness of Jamaica's excellent sports legacy.
St. Catherine on February 20, welcomed the establishment of the facility.
Chairperson of the Museum Events Committee, Jollette Russell, told JIS News that as the country's premier sports college, "it is very fitting for us to have a sports museum," which should complement the National Sports Museum when it is established.
"We think that part of our educational role as a physical education and teacher training college, is to make sure that (we) pass on that educational knowledge to our students," she said.
The museum features several track and field memorabilia includingthe medal won by the late Gerald Claude Eugene Foster, for whom the college is named, at the 1930 Central American Games in Cuba; and the spikes worn by Danny McFarlane, who won silver in the 400-meter hurdles event at the 2004 Olympics in Greece.
The museum also features a 32-piece collection from former cricket umpire, Steve Bucknor, which was officially handed over by his daughter, Shari Bucknor, during the opening.
"Among those pieces are cricket balls, bails, bats, shirts and that famous white coat that he always wears at most of his games. He donated it to us and of course, all the pieces are signed by Steve Bucknor," Ms. | 288 |
Nic Peterkin isn't afraid to do things differently, and this Portugese-inspired blend is a truly unique (and truly delicious) Margaret River red wine.
The Pirate Blend. Now this is a wine with a lot of personality. This is different than your average Margaret River blend.
It is comprised of three Portuguese native varieties and a dash of Cabernet, inspired<|fim_middle|> one's who broke the rules , the fighters, the one's who lust after life with gusto. They drank with a passion that was truly magnificant. For pirates liquor was the saviour; it soothed the heat of the sun and made the dark nights brighter. This blend is an ode to those salty sea dogs we left behind and those still sailing. Those willing to break the rules and live a life according to nothing but passion and the pursuit of personal desire.
The Pirate Blend contains three Portuguese varieties: Touriga Nacional for structure and depth. Tinta Cao for aroma and finesse. Sousao is the darkest berry I know, and you know what they say, the darker the berry, the sweeter the fruit. All the fruit was hand picked from 40 year old dry grown vines in Yallingup. The wine was both bunch and berry sorted prior to softening for 18 months in French oak. | by Nic's time making wines in Portugal: Touriga Nacional, Tinta Cao and Sousao, all three of these characters offer something a little different to the party.
The bottle looks like it has just been brought up from below deck and the wine itself feels raw and untamed, but underneath it all is some serious winemaking and a clear vision which has been realised brilliantly by Peterkin.
Want to see what is on the cutting edge of Margaret River? The Pirate Blend is it!
Nic Peterkin's blood runs red with Margaret River wine.
The son of Pierro founder, Dr Mike Peterkin and Shelly Cullen, of you guessed it, Cullen wines fame, the force is strong with this one. His wines are out there, challenging the status quo of one of the country's most respected wine producing regions. This is the "New Guard" of Margaret River, and the wines are coming out all guns blazing.
Nic is playing with some varieties off the beaten path of classic Margaret River. Nebbiolo, Touriga Nacional and Sousao, all finding a home amongst his eye-catching range.
There's some serious substance to his project, being named as the 2016 Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the Year for his eclectic and tantalising releases.
Pirates were the outlaws, the | 270 |
Home»NFL»Steelers Trading Antonio Brown To Raiders
Steelers Trading Antonio Brown To Raiders
The Shadow League March 10, 2019
Agreed upon, yet unofficial, it appears the AB saga is over in Pittsburgh.
Late last night, the NFL community received word that the biggest player-team drama this season had been settled when the Steelers' Antonio Brown took to social media.
AB let everyone know he was on the move to Oakland to join David Carr and the Raiders. While the deal can't be made official until the league begins its new season on Wednesday, the parties involved have come to an agreement, leaving everyone either happy, relieved or scratching their heads.
The deal essentially breaks down as this:
The Steelers trade AB to the Raiders in return for 3rd and 5th round picks in this year's draft, which would give them selections 66 and 142.
The Raiders get Brown and then they immediately rework his contract to make him the highest paid player in the league.
According to Pro Football Talk, AB's guaranteed money for the next three years jumps to$3<|fim_middle|> rounder in 2020 and one fifth rounder in 2020.
While this ends the AB trade drama for Pittsburgh and brings immediate attention to the Raiders, some are definitely scratching their heads and have questions. With the big money deal for Brown, why didn't the team just give Mack his money and keep the dominant linebacker? If AB is the best receiver in the league, why didn't Pittsburgh at least get one of the first round picks from the Raiders?
On top of that, Brown leaves a hit to the tune of $21 million on the Steelers' cap this season.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1104629807151828992
Once the dust settles later this week, it looks like the Raiders will have big things happening this season, especially as their plans to move to Las Vegas continue. In Pittsburgh, they now have lost their top two players in Brown and Le'Veon Bell, and while James Connor and JuJu Smith-Schuster played really well last season in their absence, only time will tell if they can perform at the level of those two All Pros.
But for now, it looks like business will be boomin' in Oakland.
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Jadaveon Clowney Wants The Long-Term Bag Not Franchise Tag | 0.125 million; his deal with the Steelers had no money guaranteed. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Brown can make up to $54.125 million over the next three years after incentives are included.
The Raiders now get, arguably, the best receiver in the game. Since 2010, when Brown first walked onto an NFL field with Pittsburgh, he's dominated. Over the last nine years, he leads the league in receiving yards (11,207), receptions (837) and TD receptions (74). His skill and presence on the field is undeniable, giving David Carr a definitive number one option on both the team and in the league.
In addition, the Raiders are loaded with picks. After the move for Brown, and trading Kahlil Mack and Amari Cooper, the team now has a slew of top notch draft picks over the next two seasons including two first rounders in 2019, one first rounder in 2020, one second | 213 |
The cross-cutting approach to culture that Diversum promotes opens up a whole new field of responsibilities and opportunities.
A field of responsibilities because it positions culture as a richly diverse ecosystem. This acknowledgement adds to the concept of sustainable development, underscoring the fact that mankind's environment is not limited to nature: it is simultaneously natural, cultural and social.
Of course, the cross-cutting approach to culture is also a field of opportunities. It promotes value chains that create richness and that were insufficiently identified in the past.
First<|fim_middle|> culturally promoting goods and services means drawing from materials that are essentially symbolic.
It is the combination of these two paths - adaptation to diversity and promotion of goods and services through culture - that Diversum designated in 2011 as the "purple economy". | ly, this pertains to all the economic processes that adapt goods and services to the unique features of each culture, so long as those features are aligned with a universal base. The first path of the driver of cultural diversity is horizontal (geographic).
The second path of the economic driver that is diversity is built on the immense potential for the cultural enrichment of products, regardless of business sector (vertical path). This track appears all the more promising in that it is compatible with a more limited use of natural resources. In practice, | 105 |
Colts observations: Spencer Ware's best traits will show up in training camp
The Colts signed the veteran running back in free agency to compete for the No. 3 role.
Colts observations: Spencer Ware's best traits will show up in training camp The Colts signed the veteran running back in free agency to compete for the No. 3 role. Check out this story on IndyStar.com: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nfl/colts/2019/06/13/spencer-ware-rigoberto-sanchez-indianapolis-colts-frank-reich-tom-house-jack-doyle/1362693001/
Joel A. Erickson, Indianapolis Star Published 1:26 p.m. ET June 13, 2019
Spencer Ware talks about becoming an Indianapolis Colt Matt Kryger, IndyStar
INDIANAPOLIS — Spencer Ware is going to have to wait until training camp to put his full skills on display.
The Colts signed the veteran running back in free agency to compete for the backup job behind lead back Marlon Mack, and in summer workouts Ware has proven he has good hands.
But a running back's ability to stand out is limited in pad<|fim_middle|> get even into this building," Sanchez said. "Before, in Hawaii, there were some things in the way. Had to beat out other kickers and punters, scholarship guys. It's never been easy, but I feel like it all prepared me to get here."
By locking up Sanchez and Rhodes together, the Colts now have two-thirds of their key specialists signed through the 2023 season. The lone holdout is kicker Adam Vinatieri, who is year to year at this point given that he's 46.
"It's just awesome to continue to progress in the right direction," Sanchez said. "To have the chemistry and the snaps and all of that down, it's a big thing for us."
Extra set of eyes
Tom House, the throwing coach for Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and a long list of the NFL's other top quarterbacks, made an appearance in Indianapolis for the final day of mandatory minicamp, a short session that lasted roughly a half an hour.
After the workout was over, House stayed a little bit longer to work with Jacoby Brissett and Chad Kelly on their throwing motions.
Luck will work with House again during the summer, part of the quarterback's plan to be ready for training camp.
"Andrew and I are meeting this weekend to go over his plan," Colts coach Frank Reich said. "Kind of an exit interview, just so I can hear his plan, give any feedback I have on it. He's so good at this. He's so good at mapping it out."
Nicks and cuts
Colts tight end Jack Doyle has been optimistic all offseason long about his return from hip surgery, targeting his return for the start of training camp.
Doyle offered a glimpse of how far he's come at the end of practice on Thursday, running routes full speed on the practice field after the session had ended.
Beyond Doyle, the Colts also got on-field work from Darius Leonard, Denico Autry and Chris Milton during Thursday's practice.
Cornerback Quincy Wilson, who was wearing what looked like a cast on his left arm this week, is dealing with a thumb injury, according to Reich.
More: Colts send a message in extending CB Kenny Moore
More: Doyel: Hit hard and carry a big chip — Colts LB Darius Leonard will never be satisfied
Become an IndyStar subscriber today to support stories like this one. Get unlimited digital access here!
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Doyel: Pritchard just made the Pacers better | less practices, and the physicality Ware brings to the table is the skill that excites Frank Reich the most.
"This is a tough dude," Reich said. "Tough yards, not afraid to block. He is the kind of guy — not that we do this much — but if you ever wanted to get into an I-formation, you can put him there. He is the kind of guy you can count on to get tough yardage."
Indianapolis Colts running back Spencer Ware (40) during the Colts mandatory minicamp at the Colts Complex on Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Photo: Matt Kryger/IndyStar)
Ware, who turned in a 921-yard season for the Chiefs in 2016, had interest from a few other teams, but the more he looked at the Colts, the more it felt like Indianapolis would feel like home, only a couple of hours away from his actual hometown of Cincinnati.
He knew Ed Dodds from his time in Seattle, knew Chris Ballard from his time in Kansas City.
"I know how they work, I know what type of atmosphere, I know what type of team they're trying to build," Ware said. "And I want to be a part of it."
Ware landed in Kansas City right before the Chiefs turned around a 1-5 start, made the playoffs and set in motion a run of success that has kept them in the playoff mix on an annual basis. After what the Colts did last season, Ware thinks he sees the same potential to be a perennial playoff team in Indianapolis.
He just has to earn his role. Reich has already made it clear; the vision is for Mack to carry the load, Nyheim Hines to handle third-down duties and Ware to battle it out with Jordan Wilkins and Jonathan Williams for the backup job.
That's no problem for Ware, who spent most of his time in Kansas City spotting a player with a higher profile.
"I'm a team player," Ware said. "I just try to bring as much value as possible."
Work rewarded
When Rigoberto Sanchez signed a four-year, $11.6 million extension last week, he ended up being the first in a string of extensions for young, talented Colts, joined quickly by long snapper Luke Rhodes and cornerback Kenny Moore this week.
Like Moore, Sanchez wasn't expecting an extension this season. The Colts came to him, committing to a punter who has developed into one of the league's best in his two seasons in Indianapolis.
"It's just a big blessing, to come in here as an undrafted guy, work your tail off and then get rewarded," Sanchez said.
Sanchez was a long shot when he first arrived in Indianapolis.
Undrafted out of Hawaii, Sanchez was brought in as competition for veteran Jeff Locke, the punter the Colts signed in the aftermath of Pat McAfee's unexpected decision to retire. Sanchez beat out Locke, grabbed hold of the job and hasn't let go.
To hear Sanchez tell it, his whole climb to this point has been uphill.
"I feel like I went through a lot of obstacles to | 641 |
Located a short distance to all the shops and restaurants in downtown Palm Springs, this well-maintained and updated triplex for sale that has excellent income potential. The large front house has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, an ample living room that flows into an eat-in kitchen, a laundry room, and a private patio off the master bedroom. The identical rear units are both 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartments, each with it's own walled/gated yard and private laundry. Rent all three out or live in the front house and rent out the rear units for<|fim_middle|>. Call today to schedule your private showing. | passive income. This property has lots of possibilities. These units are beautiful and will satisfy the most discerning buyers. Buyers are highly encouraged to to exercise due diligence investigating all aspects of this property via professional inspection and verification with governmental agencies. Income stated is not guaranteed | 52 |
Design Pataki > Events > Art Dubai
Art Dubai
Art Dubai is<|fim_middle|> Global South", including South East Asia, the African continent, Latin America and Australasia.
Art Dubai is part of a vibrant and dynamic local art ecology and operates in close collaboration with institutions that are the heartbeat of artistic production in UAE.
Date Feb 25, 2020 - Feb 28, 2020
Location Madinat Jumeirah Conference & Events Centre | the Middle East's leading international art fair, taking place every March in Dubai. Over the past 13 years, Art Dubai has cemented its role in being a major catalyst in the local, regional and international conversations on art from the Middle East and surrounding regions – putting art from these territories onto the global map.
Art Dubai has further expanded its commitment to cultivating a culture of discovery, offering exciting new global perspectives and broadening conversations about art beyond traditional Western-led geographical scopes and narratives. In its role as a talent incubator, Art Dubai has been the launch pad and development platform of the successful careers of artists, curators and art professionals. Featuring four gallery sections (Contemporary, Modern, Bawwaba and Residents), the fair drives meaningful engagement with the rich cultural heritage and contemporary art practices of the region and extending to territories across what is known as "The | 175 |
Include Step Drill Bit for Installation?
Already Own a Piranha Tooth Bar?
Anything Special About Your Bucket?
The Piranha Straight Bar can take some<|fim_middle|> is THICK and STRONG. BXPANDED offers a step bit for your drill for a few bucks and I did both holes and had it mounted in about 5 minutes using a cordless drill. Adds a TON of stregth to thin factory bucket.
Used on my Massey Ferguson 1020 with a 4' bucket. Hooked on in no time and worked great for digging out the side of a hill to install a second culvert on our property. Built tough, have hit some big rocks at our property and didn't make a dent in the bar. Also makes it easier for moving dirt/gravel piles around. I leave it attached except in the winter when I use the tractor to plow. Once the holes are drilled it takes about 5 minutes to install or take off. Well worth the money.
Bought one last winter works great as ice scraper for 1200' driveway. Couldn't even see any wear on it. Money well spent. Have Piranha Bar for summer and Straight Bar for winter.
Bought one for my L3901 and love it! Get one!! | serious abuse! It's 1/2" thick steel with an angled leading edge and finished in tough hammered finish silver; built to protect your expensive bucket and extend wear life. Typically used for snow removal, grading, and other tasks where a smooth bucket edge is desired. It comes with complete easy to follow installation instructions and all necessary hardware. The Straight Bar mounts with a single bolt on each side so it can be removed or interchanged with the Piranha Tooth Bar in a matter of minutes.
If you have the Piranha Tooth Bar already, let us know above so we can look up your order to ensure we build it with the same size mounts.
I have a BX23s and this blade fit perfectly out of the box. It does not add enough weight to effect lifting performance, but | 163 |
A full moon casts light over Lucy Creek off Ladys Island. Also called Lucy Point Creek, the tributary connects the Coosaw River with the Morgan River and provides boaters with access to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Those familiar with the film Forrest Gump have seen Lucy Creek in several scenes with Forrest's shrimp boat, Jenny. Lucy Creek is home to the popular Sams Point Boat Landing, where this photo was captured. The tidal creek is subject to fluctuating depths. The crab shack, seen below, was also once located at the boat landing. It was used to hand-process<|fim_middle|> you would like to share? If so, please send it to the South Carolina Picture Project. Thank you!
Lucy Creek was once home to the thriving phosphate industry. | blue crabs and went through several remodels until it was unfortunately torn down around 2014.
We would like to make this page better. Do you have information about Lucy Creek that | 39 |
There are numerous websites informing on and promoting vehicle transport services. We have compiled a summary of the types of web services available and some key websites offering these resources. We have also added comments to the listings on how effective and valuable their services are.
Government websites will always end with .gov and not .com or .net. If some websites seem to look like or imply to be official government sites, but are not, be alert as they are already creating a wrong impression.
For general information on transport go to http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/.
Your vehicle is probably the second most expensive property you own, other than your home. It is imperative that you do your homework by searching through our directory, rather than utilizing multiple quote providers.
As a consumer, you risk your personal information and email being harvested and resold to any company willing to pay for the leads.
There is also no guarantee that leads are not resold multiple times, resulting in an avalanche of companies fighting to gain you as a customer.
It will not be in our interest or yours<|fim_middle|> vehicle carrier company may add it anyway.
The carrier may be better at confirming a pickup and delivery date, but there is no guarantee.
All auto Transport Carriers must be licensed and insured, but a shipper needs to do their homework to confirm this, no matter how honest a carrier may sound.
If a Vehicle Carrier experiences difficulties such as a breakdown or delay, the customer may have to start the car shipping process all over again.
If a vehicle is damaged, shippers will have to manage through the complicated claim process themselves often with limited cooperation from carriers.
Going direct with an auto transport carrier may seem attractive and save a shipper some money initially, but the risk in shipping your vehicle is high. It can quickly become a very costly experience.
Most auto transport directories are exclusive and limited to the number of companies they list.
Other than Carmoversdirectory.com, there are no fully reliable ways to determine the credibility of a company.
Visitors will receive a number and link to company websites for personal contact.
Visitors need to do their own research on how reliable and customer friendly the auto transport companies are.
Car Shipping Companies listed on these sites often pay a premium to be listed. Sometimes smaller but better companies cannot afford to be listed. | to list examples of these sites. However, these companies are easily identified by their false promises of up to 50% discounts and filling out a single form for any number of quotes.
We strongly recommend not using these sites.
Feedback from customers is critical when keeping quality of service at a reasonable cost. There are several very good independent websites available that provide feedback from customers to those interested in shipping their vehicles. Keep in mind that the biggest companies may not always offer the best service.
We use three main websites as reference sites for our visitors. You can read more about these websites in our reference section.
Brokers are by far the most listed companies under car shipping searches.
Vehicle Brokers charge a fee for their services, but they may save you money by bargaining for a good discount rate on your behalf with a carrier. They are also indispensable in helping shippers when they experience difficulties with auto transport carriers.
Vehicle Transport Brokers can never give you an unconditional guarantee on rates and dates. These are estimates and always must be confirmed with the auto carriers. Low rates offer less predictability than higher rates. These are the parameters all car shipping brokers work with.
Brokers ensure that the auto carriers they use are up to date with their authorization and insurance requirements. This can change daily and shippers have no resource to confirm this by themselves.
Most car shipping brokers use an internal rating system to ensure they use only the best carriers for shipping customers' cars.
Should a truck fail to pick up your vehicle or complete a delivery, a broker can source any other truck to replace it without any extra cost and little delay.
Brokers depend on customer satisfaction ratings, as well as happy auto transport carriers. They tend to offer better service than carriers who specialize mainly in shipping cars.
Carrier companies tend to be less worried about their web presence, as they often make use of contractors or brokers for their loads.
Using a car shipping carrier may save you a broker fee, but the | 393 |
Angry Carrot<|fim_middle|> heap of trouble in this fun creation by Tyler Clites. The carrot is nicely shaped, and immediately recognisable with its burst of green leaves. Ball and socket Mixel joints give the mutant vegetable's limbs some good poseability, but it's the facial expressions which steal the show here. The half-strangled rabbit looks more than a little distressed with its protruding tongue and bulging eyes, and the carrot's features are perfect — the curve of that eyebrow is the perfect addition to the asymmetrical eyes, creating a tonne of character with just a handful of pieces.
Don't let this guy dangle a carrot in front of you!
Blogging the best LEGO creations is all about trying to explain the idea behind an awesome build. But sometimes we're helpless, especially when even the author can't construe their work. Chris McVeigh, who is a genius when it comes to aesthetics of creations, shares a carrot mech that is so bizarre, even Chris can't explain its purpose. Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do, but to admire its bright and ludicrous design.
Even though there are some spooky carrots in this year's harvest, most of them fight on the light side of the force. Dvd introduces us to the terrible confrontation between the Vegetarian Republic (cute fluffy bunnies) and Carnivore Empire (even cuter puppies). Honestly, I don't see any reason for the conflict – I can imagine both sides happily coexisting in any Friends set.
The meat TIE fighter is neat, but the carrot X-wing deserves special attention. The amount of vitamin A in its adorable carrot guns should be just right to feed any imperial trooper, while its sprawling stems are a brilliant engineering solution for better maneuvering ability. Don't forget to check out the builder's photo stream for more awesome creations and hopefully more stories about the vegetables far, far away. | is out for vengeance. It looks like Bunny is in a whole | 13 |
In The Past 24 Hours Or So
Joseph Bondy, an attorney representing Rudy Giuliani's indicted associate, Lev Parnas, asked that documents and recordings seized by feds seized during his client's arrest be released to the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
<|fim_middle|>'s endnotes as coming from AT&T, show a web of communications between Solomon, Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, Ukrainian American businessman Lev Parnas, Nunes and the White House's budget office.
Trump's obstruction of Congress included 12 witnesses prevented from testifying (10 defied subpoenas) and Executive branch agencies ignored subpoenas for documents.
Author pmaPosted on December 3, 2019 Tags barr, Giuliani, impeachment, nunes, parnas, trump, white house
Previous Previous post: In The Past 24 Hours Or So
Next Next post: In The Past 24 Hours Or So | In another ruling against Trump, Judge Brown Jackson denies Trump request for stay in McGahn case and orders McGahn to abide by Congressional subpoena and appear for testimony. Judge Brown called the DOJ arguments "disingenuous" and an "unacceptable mischaracterization."
The Trump Administration has proposed tariffs "up to 100%" on certain French goods (about $2.4 billion worth) in retaliation for France's digital services tax. Items include: Sparkling wine, Swiss, Gruyere, Pecorino and other cheeses, Handbags, and Various makeup products.
France and the EU said they were ready to retaliate if President Trump acted on a threat to impose duties of up to 100% on imports of Champagne, handbags and other French products worth $2.4 billion.
The Trump administration has released more than $100 million in assistance to Lebanon that had been on hold in recent months. A congressional aide also said the administration "has not provided any explanation of why it was held" in the first place
President Trump on Monday questioned whether he and his allies could go to the Supreme Court to halt the House impeachment inquiry. Trump tweeted shortly after arriving in the United Kingdom for two days of NATO meetings that he had read House Republicans' draft defense in which his allies insist there was no evidence of wrongdoing in Trump's interactions with Ukraine. "Great job! Radical Left has NO CASE," Trump tweeted. "Read the Transcripts. Shouldn't even be allowed. Can we go to Supreme Court to stop?"
NOTE: Legal experts doubt the chances of the Supreme Court taking up such a case. They noted that the Constitution grants impeachment powers to the House and that Chief Justice John Roberts would be expected to preside over a Senate trial.
With a 70-15 vote, the Senate confirmed Dan Brouillette to be President Trump's second Energy Secretary replacing Rick Perry. He served as Deputy Energy Secretary since August 2017.
Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department's inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign.
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Deutsche Bank and Capital One can hand over years of President Trump's financial records in compliance with House subpoenas. The ruling in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals deals another loss in the courts for Trump, who has fought attempts to obtain his financial records, including his tax returns.The case is likely destined for the Supreme Court, where the president has already appealed two other lower court rulings requiring him to share his hidden financial documents.
House Democrats on Tuesday released a 300-page impeachment report asserting that President Trump abused his power by trying to enlist Ukraine to help him in the 2020 presidential election. The report said that Mr. Trump "placed his own personal and political interests above the national interests of the United States," seeking to undermine American democracy and endangering national security.
Brian Barnard, who was a senior adviser to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has left the administration to join Uber's Washington office. He'll be a senior manager of federal affairs at Uber and plans to register to lobby.
President Trump on Tuesday claimed to not know Prince Andrew despite multiple pictures of the two men together taken over the years.
President Trump's long-standing pledge to revive American manufacturing through a muscular trade policy took another hit with new data showing that the sector continued to slow for a fourth straight month.
Prosecutors say more charges are possible against Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The pair have been indicted on charges related to alleged campaign finance violations.
A damning part of the new House report is the newly disclosed phone calls between Giuliani and everyone else involved – Nunes staff, Parnas and Fruman, OMB, Bolton, and others. On the day Marie Yovanovitch was told to "be on the next plane home" Giuliani took part in 13 phone calls with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget.
Lev Parnas' attorney, Joseph Bondy, tells PBS correspondent, Yamiche Alcindor : "Everything that Mr. Parnas has been attempting to convey to Congress and the American public would appear to be validated by the existence of phone records for Devin Nunes, Rudy Giuliani, President Trump."
Lewis Lukens, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in London, claims that he was prematurely fired from his post in 2018 because he cited former President Obama in a speech, GQ magazine reports. According to GQ, Lukens asserts the reason he was fired was because he had told an anecdote about Obama in a speech he gave to a pair of British universities right before Halloween.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he is "1,000% confident" that Russia, not Ukraine, meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, breaking from President Trump and others in his party who have pushed the discredited conspiracy theory.
Armed with never-before-seen phone records, Democrats on Tuesday accused President Trump's allies of coordinating with a conservative journalist to peddle "false narratives" about Trump's opponents as part of his multi-pronged pressure campaign on Ukraine. The House Intelligence Committee's impeachment report says the committee's top Repubican, Rep. Devin Nunes, was linked to that effort. The records were subpoenaed from third-parties. "Mr. Solomon was not working alone," the report said of conservative journalist John Solomon's articles throughout 2019 that spread Trump-backed conspiracies about Ukraine.The phone records, which are labeled in the report | 1,180 |
A Saint Lawrence University student has frozen eyelashes and is bundled up for winter.
A sunrise comes up over a snow-covered hill.
A Saint Lawrence University stands at the top of a ski slope wearing skis.
As a Canadian, I have grown up accustomed to the cold temperatures and in my life have learned many tips on how to stay as warm as possible during the depths of the winter. In Canton, we embrace winter and make the most of it instead of hiding away inside for months. I am sharing some of my top tips for braving the chill in the wintertime.
Lots of layers (LOL). Get yourself a cozy sweater, mittens a hat, and a thick jacket and you will be laughing when you are unphased by the dropping temperatures.
Drink coffee and tea!<|fim_middle|> if it's sunny, it feels like spring again (almost)! The sun does wonders so I always try and get outside when it is shining. Also, throwing a snowball at your friends to get out any cold-induced frustration always helps, too. | Hot drinks are accessible just about anywhere you need to cut through on your way to class - from Caribou Coffee at the Bookstore to a nice cup of tea from the NorthStar Café.
Cozy up next to a fireplace. Whether you're in the bookstore or in the Student Center, our fireplaces are basically on all winter long.
Embrace the outdoors! One thing SLU knows how to do is find incredible adventures for every climate, especially in the winter. You can rent a pair of cross-country skis or snowshoes from the Outdoor Program to traverse on the golf course, take a short drive to the Adirondacks and go on a winter hike, or head to Lake Placid and ski at Whiteface Mountain. Finally you can drive up north to Ottawa and skate on the Rideau Canal (the world's largest naturally frozen skating rink)!
Take the little wins. Yes, there may be days where the temperatures feel like they rival the North Pole, but | 199 |
<|fim_middle|>, I can be painfully impatient. Forgive me, Lord.
Help me to trust that your ways are always the best, that your timing is always the best. Help me to see more clearly how you are at work in my life and through me in the lives of others. May I learn to be in synch with you and your ways, patient in my trust, expectant in my hope. Amen. | Patience is not one of my strengths. Impatience is. Or, I suppose, I might more accurately say impatience is one of my weaknesses. For example, as I write this devotion, my wife, Linda, and I are in the process of moving from Texas to California. If all goes well, we will soon sell our house in Texas so we can buy a house in California. Though, in actuality, things are moving along at a fairly good clip, I can allow my heart to be filled with anxiety. I want our house sold, a house in California bought, and our possessions neatly arrayed in our new home. And I want it today. Yesterday would be even better.
But life rarely happens instantly. In fact, instant things are often less heavenly than things that take a while. Which would you prefer, fast food or a well-cooked, well-served meal? What is better, instant coffee or a slow pour?
The best things in life take time. In fact, this truth is built into creation. I suppose that God could have created the whole universe in one nanosecond. One moment, nothing. The next moment, a completely mature cosmos. But that's not how God chose to work. Genesis 1 reveals what is confirmed by careful observation of the physical world. God takes time. God chooses process rather than immediate results. God works in a step-by-step manner.
I need this reminder today. Maybe you do too. I need to remember that God usually works incrementally, intentionally, and always wisely. What can feel to me like an undue delay is God's gracious superintendence of my life and work. So, when you're feeling impatient or anxious, may God give you the ability to pause, to remember that God is at work, and to trust him with a peaceful heart.
Are you a patient person? If not, why not? If so, what has helped you to be patient? Can you think of times in your life when you wished things had moved more quickly but in retrospect you can see God's perfect timing? Is there anything you would like to trust God with today?
Gracious God, when I think of how you created all things in a step-by-step manner, I am reminded of my own impatience. There are so many times, Lord, when I want you to move at my pace, not yours. I confess that this is not only sinful but also silly. Do I really think my timing is better than yours? No, not when I step back and reflect. But in the rush of the moment | 529 |
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Essay movie stand deliver
Cuanto cuesta en farmacia http: So in mode that we contrive discernment of eating less should interpret importunity in your albatross shrinkage journey. So in these times that we recall eating less should shoplift importance in your cross in extremis journey.
If books can be had much cheaper from Ireland which I believe, for I bought Blackstone there for 24s. In transactions of trade, it is not to be suppos'd that like gaming, what one party gains the other must necessarily lose.
The gain to each may be equal. If A had more corn than he can consume, but wants cattle, and B has more cattle but wants corn, an exchange is a gain to each; hereby the common stock of comforts in life is increas'd. Benjamin Franklin, reference is to William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England,now from the University of Chicago Press, 4 volumes, ; Franklin has here described the form of a positive sum game You die.
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Stand and Deliver - Sample Essays | the prototype in the basement of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, although it was later torn out, despite its historical value, because the Institute doesn't believe in machinery.
One of the most conspicuous and durable contributions of Game Theory is the distinction between positive, negative, and zero "sum" games. A "zero sum game" means the values found at the end of the game or transaction are equal to the values at the beginning, so that the difference the "sum" of a substraction is zero.
Another way to look at it is that if one player ends up in possession of greater value at the end of the game than he did at the beginning, his gain must have come from the loss of the other player.
Popular games, from chess to baseball, where one player wins and the other loses, are zero sum games because, where the only value is winning, one player wins and the other loses. People with Cargo Cult conceptions of economics, where wealth simply exists in fixed quantities, and everyone deserves their slice of the "pie," will think of economics as a zero sum game, so that the successful have acquired their wealth at the expense of others.
A good example of that is in the original Wall Street movie [], where "corporate raider" Gordon Gekko Michael Douglas flatly asserts that business is a "zero sum game," where money simply moves from losers to winners. This reflects the Leftist, Cargo Cult ideology of director Oliver Stone and co-star Martin Sheen, who have consistently disgraced themselves with fawning adulation for communist dictator Fidel Castro.
However, free economic transactions are generally positive sum games. This was already understood with great clarity by Benjamin Franklin: The quantity of corn and cattle may be the same at the beginning and end of the exchange, but the surpluses of corn and cattle are useless in themselves to their producers.
In the end, each has more of what he can use and the value of the whole has increased. In free economic exchanges, neither party may get exactly what they want, since a vendor would always like to sell for more, and a buyer would always like to buy for less, but the voluntary nature of the exchange means that each must compromise with the other.
On the other hand, robbery is a negative sum game. The exchange is involuntary. One party is left with nothing, while the other party, the robber, has acquired goods that are worth less to him than they had been to the original owner.
Usually, the best that the robber can do is recover a fraction of the value of his loot by selling it to a fence.Character Analysis The characters in "Stand and Deliver" went through a great deal in this movie and all brought something else to the movie.
The star of the movie is . A Critical Analysis of Three Major Themes in the Film Stand and Deliver PAGES 9. WORDS 3, View Full Essay. More essays like this: stand and deliver.
Sign up to view the complete essay. Show me the full essay. Show me the full essay. View Full Essay. This is the end of the preview. Rent-Seeking, Public Choice, and The Prisoner's Dilemma.
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Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. Essay Character Analysis Stand and Deliver [pic] Character Analysis The characters in "Stand and Deliver" went through a great deal in this movie and all brought something else to the movie.
The star of the movie is Jaime Escalante played by Edward James Olmos. Review Board.
To better understand the process we use when choosing speakers, let's first start with the Review Board. Our Review Board consists of individuals who have years of experience in research, industry, presenting, and DEF CON culture.
Movie: Stand and Deliver - Mr. Escalante Should Be an Inspiration to E. Movie: Stand and Deliver - Mr. Escalante Should Be An Inspiration to Everyone In the movie Stand and Deliver, double entendre ran rampant.
During an Algebra lesson one day at the beginning of the school year, Mr. Escalante told Angel, a gang member, to "fill the hole".
Esl 21a
| 864 |
Midven Investment Manager Giovanni Finocchio has extensive sales and marketing experience within the SME environment, having held business development and marketing roles<|fim_middle|> industry.
You need to make a list of what you need to know in order to create your go to market plan and then go out and find it – the sooner the better before you waste more time and money! | in five early stage businesses that were VC and business angel funded and will be sharing his views on a range of sales and marketing related issues faced by early stage and fast growing SMEs.
Question: Now that I've raised investment, I want to start marketing – where do I begin?
Answer: It's not as straightforward a question as you think!
You might expect that the business will have convinced its investors that it thoroughly understands its market and knows how to exploit the opportunity; but markets are constantly evolving and changing and businesses raise money at different stages of their evolution, for example very often early stage technology businesses haven't fully considered or engaged in commercial activity.
So the starting point is to make sure you've done your research. You really need to understand the market, particularly in terms of your potential customers.
What is my product or service trying to replace?
Is my product a brand new concept without a direct competitor?
If there's an existing product in use, what works well for the customer/what doesn't?
What do the customers like about their current supplier?
How important is the price?
These are many of questions that the sales and marketing function must answer before you can put together a comprehensive go-to-market strategy.
As a marketer you really do need to do your research and in detail; all too often the research carried out is too high level. The good news is that there is plenty of information out there from a variety of sources – the internet, in trade journals, at trade shows, on social media and by talking to people and companies in the | 312 |
The queen of the plains has a gooey tongue that feels coarse and muscular when she grabs a biscuit from your fingers.
She has spindly legs beneath her 500-pound bulk that belie her ability to run<|fim_middle|>," Kelly, the zoo director, said last week.
It was Hornaday who came to the aid of the buffalo. He had become horrified by their near extermination.
He became dedicated to their preservation and in 1889 published a manifesto, "The Extermination of the American Bison." He also lobbied for a national zoo as place to preserve them.
"One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is the time in and around the bison herd observing behavior," he said. | faster than a horse. She also can swim and use her head as a snowplow. And she has an efficient, four-part stomach for thorough digestion.
The female American bison, newly arrived at the Smithsonian National Zoo, also has the dark face, beard and short horns that have made her a symbol of the vastness, and at one time the folly, of the country.
A giant panda with a popsicle she is not.
On Saturday, as part of its year-long 125th anniversary celebration, the zoo plans to debut its two new female bison — the first the zoo has had on exhibit in more than a decade and the animal on which the zoo was founded in the 1880s.
The bison were donated in July by the American Prairie Reserve, a 305,000-acre tract near the Missouri River Breaks area of eastern Montana. The reserve maintains a herd of about 350 bison and 90 calves, said Damien Austin, the reserve supervisor.
In Washington, the zoo has constructed a small but lush pasture where the animals can graze — and be seen.
Technically, the new animals are bison, the largest land animal in North America. Male bison can stand over 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh 2,200 pounds. "Buffalo" live only in Africa, the zoo said, but both terms are acceptable.
The seeds of what would become the National Zoo were sown with bison in the late 1880s when taxidermist-turned-naturalist William Temple Hornaday gathered some for exhibit outside the Smithsonian "castle" on the Mall.
"They are considered the first animals in what would become the zoo's collection," said zoo spokeswoman Annalisa Meyer.
The new bison, among the roughly 500,000 that survive today, weigh a little over 500 pounds each and are about a year old, curator Sarro said.
The zoo has two others, which once were on exhibit but were moved to the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va., about 11 or 12 years ago, Sarro said.
The new bison were acquired from Montana, in part, because of their genetic purity, he said. "Some of the bison that are around do have some domestic cattle blood in them," he said.
"They also use that head for grazing in the winter," he said. "They use it as a snowplow" to reach grasses buried under snowfall.
Zoo officials will announce the names of the bison on Wednesday.
Howard and Gallaudet universities, which both have the bison as a mascot, were asked to come up with names. Howard's student body president, Leighton Watson, and Gallaudet's student body president, Andrew Morrill, are set to unveil their selections in a ceremony at the zoo.
During the 1800s, the once mighty bison population of 30 million to 60 million that extended from the Appalachians to Alaska was slaughtered until just a few hundred animals were left, the zoo said.
The impact was devastating to the buffalo and the environment, the zoo said, but it was a calamity for Native Americans, who depended on the buffalo for food, clothing, shelter and spiritual sustenance.
For generations, native people on the Great Plains had followed the buffalo on the animals' migrations, said Emil Her Many Horses, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Indians used dried buffalo dung to make fires, he said. They used buffalo ribs to make children's sleds. They used buffalo hooves to make glue.
A Lakota Indian creation story describes humans emerging from the earth naked and cold and spirits teaching the people to use the buffalo for shelter and warmth, Her Many Horses, a Lakota, said.
"It's really embedded in our origin story," he said.
The eradication of the buffalo was, in part, aimed at repression of the Indian, the zoo said.
"I would not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western plains, in its effect upon the Indians," Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano wrote in 1873, according to the zoo.
"The eradication of the bison was a military and social policy directed at the Native Americans, and we're still living with those consequences today | 904 |
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Shanghai city guide
Shanghai city guideAccommodationEducationHealthMoneyNetworkingShoppingTransportVisas & PermitsYoung People
Shanghai<|fim_middle|> the former two are on the decline, although still common in rural areas. One could almost call Shanghai a cross between the greater freedoms of Hong Kong (for example, more colorful clothing) and the restrictions of the mainland. | , the world's most populated city, lounges in the sprawling Yangtse Delta. Having shaken off the vestiges of its opium-tinged 1930s heyday, Shanghai has moved at lightning speed to establish itself as China's commerce, fashion, finance, media, technology and transport hub. Today, it is the busiest container port in the world.
The city's famous Pudong district (a product of intensive construction during the 1990s) is the pounding heart of this economic powerhouse. It houses no fewer than 787 financial institutions, including the Shanghai Stock and Futures Exchanges. With over 30 universities and colleges, and with the country's highest ranking for academic performance, Shanghai is also a major center for education.
Shanghai hasn't slotted into China's economic pole position by sheer serendipity; the city has a serious work ethic and long office hours are considered the norm. The high-paced office environment is matched by a "play hard" downtime; the city boasts a fantastic after-hours scene of chic bars and clubs to help you unwind from the office.
Shanghai is by far China's most cosmopolitan city. It offers a banquet of distinct international flavors that can be found throughout the city's unique districts. However, despite its massive growth and the fact that it is home to more than 400,000 foreigners, very few Shanghainese speak English. To further complicate matters, as with many other regions in China, the local dialect is unique to the area. If you learned Mandarin elsewhere, it will be of limited use to you here. It's worth taking a crash course in the dialect or, at the very least, keeping a local phrasebook at hand.
For what it lacks in language skills, the city makes up for in many other ways. Finding international creature comforts, for example, is considerably easy. The city boasts a growing number of stores, such as City Super, Freshmart and Feidan that stock anything from your daily bread to international premium products. Shanghai's fast-growing expat community and its plethora of international recreation clubs and international schools will ensure that your integration into Shanghai is remarkably smooth.
What is special or unique about your city?
Shanghai has been called the Paris of the East and the Pearl of the Orient. Rich with history, Shanghai first opened its door to foreigners for trade in the 1840s. The resulting international community contributed to Shanghai's unique character, architecture, fashion and food. The Japanese invasion of 1937 forced most of the foreigners to flee the city and it would be 50 years before international influences would return to this alluring metropolis.
What are a newcomer's first impressions of your city?
Initially, most newcomers are struck by the city's vastness, the pace of development, the population density and the chaos and energy of the city. There is a feeling that Shanghai is a city on the move, developing at a fast pace.
It is more modern than some may imagine. Skyscrapers stand in stark contrast next to old communist dwellings, giving the city a sense of time and change.
Are these impressions likely to change?
The look and feel of the city can be deceptive. Many things do not get done as quickly or work as reliably as in a western country. The "bright lights, big city" image of Shanghai tends to give a much better surface impression than the reality of daily life. However, Shanghai is constantly changing and improving its modern facilities to better suit Western interests.
What is the local language?
Natives to the city speak Shanghainese, the local dialect. Everyone understands and nearly all speak standard Mandarin, as required by the government for state employees (police, healthcare workers, taxi drivers, etc.).
How easily could I live in this city without knowing this language?
In Shanghai, English competency is probably the best in mainland China. Staff in most hotels, for example, speak English very well. Most other non-English speakers such as taxi drivers are getting used to visitors, but are still only able to understand "yes", "no", "hello" and "good-bye."
Learning a few key Mandarin phrases definitely helps.
What are good things to remember in order to avoid offending the other residents of this city?
It is advised to refrain from talking about certain political issues involving China.
When handing over a name card, use both hands at the same time. This is considered a sign of respect.
If you find yourself in a conflict situation, it is recommended that you persist calmly without raising your voice. Local residents tend to react to another's anger equally or more strongly. Loud voices are used quite frequently and often what sounds like an argument is just a lively discussion; for example, when bargaining for goods at a local market.
How might the local weather affect my daily life?
There is a wide range of weather in Shanghai, so you need to prepare for cold damp winters as well as hot, sweaty summers.
Is there anything else I should know about the overall character of your city or its people?
Relative to other parts of mainland China, Shanghai is known for having liberal and forward-thinking residents. They welcome foreigners living in their city and are eager to learn more about international cultures. Shanghainese are also renowned for their business acumen and their negotiating skills. They can be western in their fashion, pursuit of material items and monumental drive for success. Some of the less pleasant aspects one comes across include: spitting in public places, nose blowing without tissues and pushing on public transport and on the pavement (sidewalk). Pushing remains quite widespread, but | 1,154 |
Watch: Work Drugs Drop Music Video For New Song "From Malibu"
Philadelphia chillwave/smooth-fi/dream pop band Work Drugs have dropped a video for their summery track "From Malibu".
(facebook.com/workdrugs)
Tags: Work Drugs
Etiquetas: chill wave, From Malibu, new single, new video, Smooth-fi, Work Drugs
Underworld & The Necks Reveal "Appleshine Continuum" (#Drift, Ep 2, Pt. 6)
Electronic icons Underworld and Australian experimental trio The Necks have revealed a 47-minute film for "Appleshine Continuum", Part 6 of Episode 2, of their #DRIFT series.
Drift is an ongoing experiment that will regularly publish new Underworld material – music, film, stories, etc – via the band's official website.
This Thursday's DRIFT release, Episode 2 concludes with Appleshine Continuum – one of a series of collaborations between Underworld and The Necks. Recorded in a single take during two days of improvising at AIR Studios, Appleshine Continuum takes Underworld's original version of Appleshine (Ep.2 Pt.1) as its starting point and quickly takes flight, only returning to Earth's atmosphere after 47 mesmerising minutes….
"Sometimes they terrify me on stage... I get this thrill like<|fim_middle|> and is taken from their fifth studio album 'Love Is All You Love', set to arrive on 12th April through SO Recordings. Pre-order your copy here.
"An anti-war cry for our turbulent times," said the duo about the track. "All the energy we spend fighting amongst ourselves can be used to do something positive, something real. So don't forget to go out, to fall in love and to feel alive."
(facebook.com/bandofskulls)
Tags: Band Of Skulls
Etiquetas: Band Of Skulls, Cool Your Battles, Love Is All You Love, new album, new single, Rock | they're destroying their instruments right in front of me. Their personalities off-stage couldn't be more different. They're remarkably open and welcoming and generous, and they still seem to be full of wonder when you talk to them. They all have an ease and.. an ability to just enter into what's going on, and not be judgmental." – Karl
Film by Simon Taylor below.
(facebook.com/Underworld)
Tags: Underworld
Etiquetas: Appleshine Continuum, Drift series, Electronic, new single, new video, The Necks, Underworld
New Entry: Crows Drop New Single "Wednesday's Child'
London post-punk/psych band Crows have dropped their new single "Wednesday's Child'.
The song is taken from their upcoming debut full-length album 'Silver Tongues', out on March 22 via Balley Records. Pre-order the record here.
(facebook.com/crowsband)
Tags: Crows
Etiquetas: Crows, new single, new video, Post Punk, Psych, Silver Tongues, Wednesday's Child
New Entry: Jaws Unleash New Single "Fear"
Birmingham indie pop/alt rock band Jaws have unleashed their new single "Fear".
The song is taken from their forthcoming new album 'The Ceiling', set to be released on April 5th. Pre-order it here
Jaws explain: "we wanted to try something different, and really step out of our comfort zone at times with this record and this is something we are all really proud of. I think it might be my favourite song that we've ever put together, not only musically but for how it opened the door to write the rest of the record. The song is about fight or flight, trying to live via love rather than fear."
Stream it below
(facebook.com/JAWSJAWSJAWSJAWS)
Tags: Jaws
Etiquetas: Electro-pop, Fear, indie pop, Jaws, new single, The Ceiling
Pixx Announces New LP 'Small Mercies', Streams "Disgrace"
UK indie pop artist Pixx (aka 23 year-old Hannah Rodgers) has announced the release of her new album 'Small Mercies'.
The follow up to 2017's debut album The Age Of Anxiety, will be out on 7th June via 4AD. It was co-produced by Simon Byrt (who worked on both her EP and debut album) and Dan Carey, and sees Pixx assuming different personas to examine the damage done by religion, gender-based power hierarchies and stereotypes, the tipping point of Earth's destruction and love. Pre-order you copy here.
"I felt more of a drive to write about certain subjects with this album," Pixx says. "Man negotiating with God, God negotiating with man and man negotiating with the planet. I find it hard to have an understanding of relationships in general – I think everyone does – and the addictive tendency that we have to look for something that's eternal is something that intrigues me. So, if you love God maybe what draws you to that is the idea of something that's never going to end and that really intense love often takes place in human relationships, too."
Pixx has also shared the record;s lead single "Disgrace". "This song is about growing up in an ultra-conservative Catholic school which was restrictive and oppressive," Rodgers explains. "I think this is a lack of humanity in the way the system works, rather than teaching empathy and kindness it forces people into a dangerous self-loathing cycle. This is an ode to anyone trapped in a place they feel they don't belong."
UPDATE 04/03/2019: "Disgrace" is our new Single of the Week!
Check out the album's tracklist and listen to "Disgrace" below.
Small Mercies Tracklist:
01. Andean Condor
02. Bitch
03. Disgrace
04. Small Mercies
05. Peanuts Grow Underground
06. Funsize
07. Dirt interlude pt. 1
08. Mary Magdalene
09. Hysterical
10. Eruption 24
11. Dirt interlude pt 2
12. Duck Out
13. Blowfish
(facebook.com/PixxMusic)
Tags: Pixx
Etiquetas: Disgrace, Hannah Rodgers, indie pop, new album, new single, Pixx, Small Mercies
Watch: Band of Skulls Premiere "Cool Your Battles" Music Video
Southampton, UK rock band Band Of Skulls have premiered the video for their latest single "Cool Your Battles"
The song is part of our current playlist | 983 |
Houses are interesting, aren't they? I have seen quite a few over the years, but during my childhood, I didn't have many varieties to look at. The ones I did see, however, were all different. For the most part, my family always lived in the four-roomer, but there were other styles.
In case you've not seen this house, I'll try to describe it. It has a front room, usually two bedrooms in the center, and the kitchen in the back; a linear house, in other words. This is a "shotgun" house that is built with all the rooms in a straight row. I assume it got its name because you could shoot a gun while standing in the front door, and the bullet would go straight out the back door.
The lady who had the beautiful flower garden lived in this house, and for some reason, I loved going to her house, because nothing was hidden – everything was in plain sight, and as I walked through her little, long castle, I certainly got an eyeful<|fim_middle|> if you can call it a color. At any rate, there's no need to worry about the wood fading or water washing the paint off. There isn't any. | .
There are only two doors – the front and the back. The rooms in between these doors have no doors. In this style of house, you could walk right through the front door, through the living room (or front room, as we called it), into the bedrooms, and then into the kitchen. Usually, this house only has four rooms built one right behind the other in a semi-open floor plan.
Back then, I didn't know why a house is built like this, but now, I imagine it's built with economy in mind. The walls are pretty much missing between what would be the rooms, and with less wood used, more money is saved in its construction. I believe, too, that this simple house is built for the poorest of the poor, like my family, for instance, and no doubt it is also built for a young couple just getting started in life. With little money to spend building their habitat, and not needing anything fancy, a shotgun house proves the perfect design for a newlywed couple.
Not only is this structure easy to build, it is perfect for living. It's comfortable. It's simple. It's ideal to clean, and it probably is an interesting place to live. The style is OK, but there certainly can't be many secrets going on. It was neat, because whenever we went to the neighbor's front door and knocked, if she was in the house, all she had to do was lean to the right or to the left a few feet and she could look straight through her house all the way to her front door. If she had good eyes, she could see who was standing on the outside of her screen door.
The house, like most during the 1950s, had not a speck of paint. Its color was dull gray, | 368 |
The Blackboard Induction is<|fim_middle|>. Once you understand the principle you will be able to do inductions based on any kind of visual changes, leaves dropping off trees, lights going out, anything that changes.
This is the basis of the old advice of counting sheep jumping over a fence to get to sleep. Do the same thing over and over your mind goes into trance.
memory I wonder if you have ever written letters on a blackboard at school... or maybe on a whiteboard... or maybe you remember writing letters on the sand and letting the sea wash them away.... or seen clouds in the sky that look like one thing and then change into something else.... V Always offer a choice of possible ways to form the letters. | an example of how to use visualisation as the basis of hypnotic induction. This hypnotic induction uses the common idea of writing letters on a blackboard and then wiping them off again.
It works in two ways. Part of the induction is self hypnosis, suggesting that as each letter is wiped off the listener feels more relaxed. Part of the induction works by direct suggestion, suggesting that as more letters are written it gets harder to remember the next letter.
The advantage of this type of induction is that it allows the listener to relax at their own pace, and has many more stages than the 'one to ten' countdown induction | 126 |
Innovation is commonly defined as "the act of introducing something new." From the introduction of the modern continuous thread cap in 1922, to the creation of the pulp and glassine liner system in the 1930's that is still used on instant coffee today, to the development of the AccuSeal sealing system in 2001, Phoenix Closures has a long history of introducing innovative products into the market.
Phoenix innovation is a process, not an event. Our development staff works closely with our customers to determine their packaging goals. Custom designs and standard applications are evaluated to ascertain their cost effectiveness. Closure solutions are formulated to get the customer's product to market quickly, creatively<|fim_middle|> welcome the opportunity to help you develop the closure that will contribute to your product's success. | and within budget. This comprehensive design approach has led to the issuance of over 15 patents in the last three years.
AccuSeal: The AccuSeal sealing system provides an all plastic alternative for products that have traditionally been packaged in composite cans, cartons and bags.
Non-Dairy Creamer: Our dispensing closures have revolutionized the way America begins its day.
Custom Milk Closures: Phoenix Closures leads the field in creating unique custom closures for the single-serve milk market.
We | 103 |
"Really good. Got me much better results"
Ok, first I gotta<|fim_middle|> it's a great purchase. | say? What's with the Mystery fan boy on the other user review?
This book was way better than the other course I bought before it - which was Internet Dating Insider.
This book was well researched, balanced, all the advice was solid and I've been putting it into practice - and well it has got me much better results. So for me, this is an excellent course. I'm really not sure how you could improve on it - it's pretty comprehensive, and you come away feeling that you get the whole 'online dating' thing.
I loved how Cajun brings the psychology background into it which I'd never thought of - that kind of opened my eyes to looking at it in a completely different way. That was just as valuable as the practical tips on what to do with photos, what to write in your profile and which messages to send and so on.
Excellent book. If you're trying the online dating thing and not getting results, | 191 |
TANGKULA Sofa Table Z Style Portable Home Laptop Writing Wokstation TV Snack End Side Table Laptop Desk Coffee End Table Bed Side Snack Table (bamboo natural) – Works as designed and well built.
This TANGKULA that is ranked 86253 in the list of the top-selling products from Amazon.<|fim_middle|> and will meet most needs. The table is portable and lightweight. It will be great helper for your daily life. Welcome to buy one!
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All the latest best glass end tables reviews consumer reports are written by real customers on websites. You should read more consumer reviews and answered questions about TANGKULA Sofa Table Z Style Portable Home Laptop Writing Wokstation TV Snack End Side Table Laptop Desk Coffee End Table Bed Side Snack Table (bamboo natural) below. | The TANGKULA Sofa Table Z Style Portable Home Laptop Writing Wokstation TV Snack End Side Table Laptop Desk Coffee End Table Bed Side Snack Table (bamboo natural) are warranted according to the return policies was applied to all items sold on Amazon. Product here are very good, at reasonable prices and are rapidly transported: Usually ships in 1-2 business days.
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✿High Quality and Compact Style: The computer desk comes in simplistic color brown, the color will be suit for any decor. The appearance is compact and simple. The computer desk is practical and also perfect furniture to decorate your home study room or workplace.
✿Humanity Design and Comfortable: The desk features 0.6 inch thick wood tabletop and legs, which is quite reliable for its sturdy construction and friendly environment. "Z" structure makes table more sturdy and be more close to you especial using it beside sofa and bed.
✿Practical and Multifunction: The sofa side table is great helper for the daily life. The table can be used as a laptop computer table, study desk, reading, writing, coloring, painting, eating desk for patience or anything else you can possibly think of.
✿Easy to installation and Portable: With clear manual the assemble is not hard for all adults. Single man can finish it. Weight of side table is only 34.83 lbs and doesn't take much space. You can take it to anywhere you want. Enjoy the desk.
What is the TANGKULA Sofa Table Z Style Portable Home Laptop Writing Wokstation TV Snack End Side Table Laptop Desk Coffee End Table Bed Side Snack Table (bamboo natural) good for?
The bamboo "Z" shape sofa table is made of high quality material with large weight capacity(50 lbs). The color and style is simple and will be suitable for any room decor. The table is multi-functional, it can be used in living room, bedroom, hospital, office as laptop desk, eating table, side table. The tabletop is wide | 529 |
Simp; S;uti;; ;; Specia; Oc;asi;s. For Easter meals, Australian lamb is<|fim_middle|>er is inserted in the thickest part of the meat. When the lamb has been roasting for 40 or 50 minutes, place the potatoes in the oven and bake until well browned and tender.
Transfer the lamb to a warm platter and let rest for 15 minutes (it will continue to cook as it rests). Carve and serve with the potatoes and grilled or roasted asparagus. | a long-held tradition—not just because it's delicious and nutritious, but also because Kirkland Signature Australian lamb is quick to prepare, leaving you more time to spend with your family.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut off the tips of the garlic heads and brush the cut section with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Set garlic cut side down in a pan and roast until it is soft to the touch, about 30 minutes. Let garlic cool for 5 minutes, then squeeze the roasted cloves out of their skins and into a bowl. Mash with a fork and spread over the top of the lamb.
Meanwhile, place the lamb in a large roasting pan and season with salt, pepper and half of the rosemary. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour. Place the potatoes in an ovenproof dish and toss with the remaining oil and rosemary. Set aside.
Roast lamb for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, until it registers an internal temperature of 130°F to 135°F on a meat thermometer for a medium-rare roast, or until the juices run clear when a sharp knife or skew | 243 |
Central England Co-operative Funeralcare will be serving up coffee and cake across Lincolnshire to raise money as part of Macmillan Cancer Support's World's Biggest Coffee Morning.
Colleagues from two Funeral Homes will be opening their doors to the public on or around Friday, 28 September to play their part in supporting the annual flagship fundraiser.
Every year people from across the<|fim_middle|> to be the biggest fundraising event of its kind, raising over £165 million for people affected by cancer. | country gather together to have a catch up, a cuppa and a slice of cake while helping to support the event, which collected £27.6 million in 2017.
A total of 35 events and activities are being held across the Central England Co-operative trading region to raise funds for Macmillan.
Kevin Crute, Head of Funeral at Central England Co-operative, said: "Everyone at Central England Co-operative Funeralcare is proud to once again support Macmillan Cancer Support's World's Biggest Coffee Morning.
"Holding these events offers a great opportunity for us to meet members of the local community and at the same time raise funds for a very deserving cause.
The first official World's Biggest Coffee Morning took place in 1991 and has gone on | 159 |
Boston Scientific and Medtronic are among the orthopedic device makers gaining value in Tuesday's session.
NATICK, Mass. ( TheStreet) -- Boston Scientific ( BSX - Get Report), Medtronic ( MDT - Get Report) and Stryker ( SYK<|fim_middle|> unexpected retirement of CEO Ray Elliott.
Investors wondered why Elliot, who was brought in two years ago as a turnaround expert and cost-cutter, would retire "right in the middle innings of the turnaround," Novarro explained.
Elliot has said that the turnaround is ahead of schedule, making it appropriate for his exit at the end of the year.
"Many don't believe him," Novarro said. "I do but I'm in the minority," while others wonder if the turnaround could fail or if other problems lurk. "There are no concrete answers."
-- Written by Miriam Marcus Reimer in New York.
>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Miriam Reimer.
>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/miriamsmarket.
>>See our new stock quote page. | - Get Report) were among the orthopedic device makers whose shares were rising in Tuesday's trading.
"Boston Scientific's doing well with the overall market today," RBC Capital Markets analyst Glenn Novarro told TheStreet, commenting that it was a good day for the sector so far.
While the overall market wavered on U.S. deficit-reduction negotiations and eurozone efforts to limit debt contagion, medical device makers were mostly in positive territory.
Shares of Baxter International ( BAX - Get Report), Covidien ( COV, Stryker ( SYK - Get Report), Medtronic ( MDT - Get Report) and Zimmer Holdings ( ZMH were all higher in morning trading. Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ - Get Report) were lower much of the morning but pushing into positive territory ahead of midday.
Novarro said the group's upward trend Tuesday could simply be the result of portfolio managers rotating into safety and starting new positions as the third quarter gets under way, and healthcare stocks are generally perceived to be safer.
For Boston Scientific, despite Tuesday's gain the stock remains around 5% lower than in early May when it announced the | 234 |
The Black Academy Of Arts And Letters' MLK Concert Returns For 39th Year
By Robbie Owens January <|fim_middle|>For King, the movement pushed him towards the arts. For 39 years, King and TBAAL have produced the concert, using music to reflect on the history and struggle for civil rights.
"Like, 'If you miss me at the back of the bus', or 'Is my living in vain?' We think about the work we've done, and we are saying to ourselves, 'is the work in vain?' No, it's not!"
Kim Burrell is this year's featured artist and there are other surprises in store for guests as well. King is asking anyone attending to remain masked and socially distanced in the Morton H. Meyerson symphony hall.
The concert is Sunday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are still available.
And even after 39 years, King will likely be the most enthusiastic person in the hall.
"So, when I'm sitting and when I'm watching that, I am so moved to know that as a little kid growing up in the state of Mississippi that I'm able to make a contribution," shares King. "So, I'm so moved by it, and that's what I want to share with other young people."
Robbie Owens
More from Robbie Owens | 14, 2022 at 6:21 pm
Filed Under:Curtis King, DFW News, MLK Celebration, MLK Day, TBAAL
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – On Sunday, January 16, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters will once again bring a majestic choir to the stage to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, just as they've done for nearly four decades.
TBAAL Founder & President Curtis King says they're adapting to these challenging times, and they're not allowing even a pandemic to silence the music or the mission.
"We used to have a 200-voice choir. Now we have 30 voices, but I will tell you, those 30 voices sound like 250 voices," said an enthusiastic King.
The concert is a mainstay of North Texas MLK celebrations, attracting the biggest African American artists from around the country. The music, a vehicle for maintaining King's message.
"As a child growing up in Mississippi, in the south and listening to the music when King marched down 51 highway, and on one end you will hear the people singing 'Oh, I know I am a child of God', and when they got close to you, you participated in that," recalls King. "People came from the cotton fields and stood on the highway because they want to be a part of that movement."
| 296 |
KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface
Kenneth B. McAlpine (Other)
Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products
KIDI represents the interactive display of the Benton Fletcher Collection, a historic collection of harpsichord instruments from the late 16th to the 19th Centuries. Part of a permanent exhibition at Fenton House, the home of the collection, KIDI uses a bespoke combination of software and hardware to provide open access to the collection.
Fenton House, The National Trust
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Keyboard Arts & Humanities
Harpsichord Arts & Humanities
Open Access Arts & Humanities
Hardware Arts & Humanities
Software Arts & Humanities
Historic Arts & Humanities
McAlpine, K. B. (Other). (2009). KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface. Digital or Visual Products, .
McAlpine, Kenneth B. (Other). / KIDI : Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface. [Digital or Visual Products].
@misc{509d2<|fim_middle|> National Trust: . 2009. | 78c617e45c4b7597a5abeec6465,
title = "KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface",
abstract = "KIDI represents the interactive display of the Benton Fletcher Collection, a historic collection of harpsichord instruments from the late 16th to the 19th Centuries. Part of a permanent exhibition at Fenton House, the home of the collection, KIDI uses a bespoke combination of software and hardware to provide open access to the collection.",
author = "McAlpine, {Kenneth B.}",
note = "McAlpine, K. 2013. KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface. [Part of the Benton Fletcher Music Collection: National Trust Exhibition]. London, Fenton House. May 2009 – Present.",
McAlpine, KB, KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface, 2009, Digital or Visual Products, Fenton House, The National Trust.
KIDI : Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface. McAlpine, Kenneth B. (Other). 2009. Fenton House, The National Trust.
T1 - KIDI
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A2 - McAlpine, Kenneth B.
N1 - McAlpine, K. 2013. KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface. [Part of the Benton Fletcher Music Collection: National Trust Exhibition]. London, Fenton House. May 2009 – Present.
N2 - KIDI represents the interactive display of the Benton Fletcher Collection, a historic collection of harpsichord instruments from the late 16th to the 19th Centuries. Part of a permanent exhibition at Fenton House, the home of the collection, KIDI uses a bespoke combination of software and hardware to provide open access to the collection.
AB - KIDI represents the interactive display of the Benton Fletcher Collection, a historic collection of harpsichord instruments from the late 16th to the 19th Centuries. Part of a permanent exhibition at Fenton House, the home of the collection, KIDI uses a bespoke combination of software and hardware to provide open access to the collection.
CY - Fenton House, The National Trust
McAlpine KB (Other). KIDI: Keyboard Instrument Digital Interface Fenton House, The | 490 |
Axl's Catch Groove
Curating the noise since 2011. Music, two channel audio, beer, spirits and<|fim_middle|>://t.co/COY1rZXklh 2 days ago
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Enter your email address to follow Axl's Catch Groove and receive notifications of new posts by email. | culture.
About Axl's Catch Groove
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Nashville 2016
Dexter Gordon, Rosewood, Woody Shaw
Catchgroove's Hall of Fame: Woody Shaw – Rosewood
Rosewood is one of my first jazz crushes. Woody was on Dexter Gordon's 1976 Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard and 1977 Sophisticated Giant. Sophisticated Giant and Homecoming would make my top-10 jazz albums. On both albums Woody's horn playing really stood out. Each album had a Shaw composition too. When Rosewood came out the next year I was ready to check out Dexter's gifted sideman. It was Shaw's major label debut (Columbia) and it featured three of his compositions.
The late 70s was a good time for straight jazz. A major label, like Columbia, was so rich it could afford prestige artists like Dexter Gordon and Woody Shaw. The fusion era had created major successes like Weather Report. Jazz artists like George Benson where commercializing their sound and making hits. Artist like Gordon and Shaw where moderately successful – major successes by jazz standards – creating an environment where a major label like Columbia was comfortable making a major investment in straight ahead jazz. I am convinced this created a vibe where Columbia was brave enough to invest in the Young Lion movement led by Wynton Marsalis.
An album like Rosewood was actually promoted by Columbia. In hindsight this is pretty amazing because Rosewood is straight ahead neo-bop. This is not diluted cross over jazz. It is real jazz, yet accessible. This kind of jazz had kind of fallen off the face of the earth – but not really – it was alive and well in Europe. Gordon's 1976 New York "homecoming" created a buzz and interest in bop that he and others had kept alive in Europe while they had fallen off the radar in the United States. Rosewood was part of this neo-bop buzz. I had the good fortune of busting my jazz cherry on albums like Homecoming: Live at the Village Vanguard, Sophisticated Giant and Rosewood.
Woody Shaw toured on Rosewood and I got to see the Shaw quintet live at the University of Minnesota's Whole Coffeehouse in 1978 (a perfect venue for acoustic music). That tour was documented on Stepping Stones – Live at the Village Vanguard.
What I love about this album is:
Woody – his trumpet has great tone and his soloing is muscular and sophisticated. It is technical, yet musical.
Compositions – there are great jazz songs. Memorable melodies and great foundations for the soloists.
Arrangements – the album presents both Woody's working quintet and his concert ensemble. The concert ensemble arrangements are gorgeous and the quintet is dexterous.
Listenable – I have listened to this album hundreds of times and I have never tired of it and I never stop discovering additional nuances on each listen.
The titular piece "Rosewood" opens the album. The Shaw composed piece was written for Shaw's parents. The song exploits the concert ensemble. It sounds like a jazz orchestra. The song has a hummable melody. The arrangement is stunning and complex, yet it allows ample space for the soloists.
"Every Time I See You" is another ensemble piece. The song was composed by the band's pianist Onaje Allan Gumbs. It reveals all the musical glory of the ensemble and it allows Woody to tear off a bad ass solo. Woody is quoted on the linar notes regarding this song: "It's hard to play simply and still make it work."
"The Legend of Cheops" is yet another composition by one Of Woody's sideman, this time drummer Victor Lewis. Again this is a tune that highlights the ensemble strengths: elaborate musical arrangements and brilliant soloing.
"Rahsaan's Run" starts side two. This song features the quintet. This Shaw composed number is a tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, who at the time of this recording had recently passed. Shaw had worked extensively with Kirk. The song is not a dirge, but a joyful expression of the man.
"Sunshowers" uses the ensemble and is a tune by Woody's bassist Clint Houston. The song offers a great opportunity for the horns and piano to solo unbridled. It is beautiful noise.
"Theme For Maxine" is for Woody's wife and manager Maxine Gregg. This is, as you might guess, a beautiful ballad. The song featuring the quintet, replaces regular sax man Carter Jefferson with Joe Henderson (who has a history with Woody as they played together with Horace Silver in the mid 60s). Woody and Joe each solo brilliantly, but the real thrill is when they play together in tandem. Their two horns together is like hearing a whole orchestra or choir. It is truly a 1+1>2 equation.
The CD reissue includes three additional tracks: "Isabel, the Liberator,""Joshua C." and "Why?"
This album is one of a handful that lured me into a life long love of jazz. No matter how complex jazz gets, it ultimately must have a deep groove to capture my heart. This album grooves deeply.
A final note: this album is finely recorded and is one of my reference recordings.
From → Catchgroove's Hall of Fame, Music Reviews
Adam Maiorano permalink
Great selection! Rosewood is his best studio album in my opinion, and his live album Stepping Stones is another essential Woody Shaw release. A jazz great from the start, his work on Larry Young's 'Unity' and Horace Silver's 'Cape Verdean Blues' both from '65 show what a major talent he was at a young age.
cincinnatibabyhead permalink
You are giving me some new listening.
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Translated into Swahili and localized in the Kenyan context by Joshua Ogutu (@ogutumuraya), a boisterous interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' was presented at the 2012 Globe to Globe festival before embarking on an India tour in November 2012. This co-production by Better Pill and The Theatre Company is back in Kenya, much to the delight of local theatre buffs who had been impatiently waiting for a chance to see the show.
The plot revolves around a small community – located in Kiambu in the Swahili version – where intrigues are born of ambition, lust, greed and pure complacency. Falstaff, a corrupt politician who deludes himself into believing that he's irresistible, tries to woo two married ladies with the exact same 'love' letter. When Bi. Ford and Bi. Page uncover the trick, they decide to take him for a ride, a plan that ends up creating a cascade of comical situations. A jealous husband, a shrewd, down-to-earth maid, a young couple whose love is threatened by the girl's parents' misplaced ambition and a host of grumpy undisciplined servants, complete the hilarious gallery of characters.
In an interview recorded by Globe International, actors Joshua Ogutu and Sharon Nanjos talked about their experience of rehearsing 'Wanawake wa heri wa Winsa' and performing the play at the Globe Theatre. They worked with director Daniel Goldman who brought on board a different perspective on theatre performance and managed to whip up a localized interpretation although he did not understand Swahili.
One of the most notable influences of this collaboration was the breakdown of the 'fourth wall', with audience members becoming participants in the unfolding of the story.
While some critics felt that the adaptation betrayed the spirit of Shakespearan comedy, most reviewers were enthusiastic about the performance given in April in London and Statford-upon-Avon.
The audience's unceasing mirth was proof of the way in which the actors captured a panoply of characters' essences through their mannerisms, facial expressions and intonation in a way that transcended language and appealed to a global community.
While information about the bare bones of the plot were projected on a side-screen in English during the play, the quality of the performance was such that the audience did not need to be Kiswahili speakers to understand what was going on and laugh in all the right places.
Some of the finer details and nuances might have been lost in the process, but the excellent acting definitely made the show worthwhile even for non-Swahili speakers.
Being Swahili-speakers and familiar with the setting of the play, Nairobians had access to the full experience, including the social cues and linguistic nuances. The translation uses modern, conversational Swahili to reflect the contemporary context, which facilitated understanding but missed the opportunity to include a certain poetic turn of phrase one would expect of a Shakespeare play. I think the Swahili language would lend itself graciously to such an endeavour.
In 'Wanawake wa Heri wa Winsa', langage is widely used as a social marker highlighting Kenyan stereotypes: the scheming, greedy maid spoke in a Kikuyu accent, the aggressive kanzu-wearing doctor was supposed to be a Somali and only expressed himself in broken Swahili, and the shady characters serving as Falstaff's valets were Sheng' speakers. This added a comic twist to the plot, with each appearance of Bi. Quickly (the maid) causing new fits of hilarity.
Also worthy of note is the successful transposition in Ken<|fim_middle|> a Kenyan with reference to today's Kenya.
In line with the expectations set by earlier reviews, the acting did not disappoint. The cast of 8 deployed immense energy to manage 18 parts, bringing to life the Windsor community in front of our eyes and constantly engaging the audience to take part in the action. It is however regrettable that several of the initial cast members were replaced, thus compromising the harmony of the group.
For all its merits, the performance had some major technical shortcomings. The lighting had clearly not been thought through, to disastrous consequences. A lone white projector lit only part of the stage … and a house in the background which was not part of the set. The technician tried to rectify this during the show, unfortunately to no avail. As a result, the actors could not make full use of the space and had to wriggle around, upsetting stage balance.
Finally, I understand the sponsors' demands for publicity but having a sponsors' banner as a backstage wall is really taking it too far!
Overall, we were treated to a quality performance. I especially want to salute the translation effort and the creative work that went into adapting 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' into a lively, truculent Kenyan play.
Did you attend the play in England, in India or in Kenya? Share your experience with us in the comments section below or on Twitter (@hardcorekancil) !
i greatly enjoyed reading your review about the show and i particularly liked the objective manner in which you approached it.However, my observation about the new cast would be that , they served to enriched the performance further and gave it life with their own energy and artistic interpretation,rather than compromise the harmony of the team,such comparisons come about naturally especially when,the first team puts on such great and spirited performance.
In my view the new team has kept true to the tradition and have fulled the flame of the performance by giving it their own flavor and strengthened the show,such was the case as great audience appreciation was seen in India, where the actors were given standing ovation at each venue they performed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment on this review and sharing your views on Wanawake wa Heri wa Winsa.
Did you attend the performance in India? I looked for reviews to get a feel for how it was received but either I didn't look well enough or there was not much to hold on to.
As you can probably tell from this post, I greatly enjoyed the show, despite the few glitches I reported. A couple of friends of mine attended the last dress rehearsal before the play was shown in England and they properly raved about it for months on end. This created a sense of expectation…as well as some inevitable comparisons.
In any case, I wish the whole team a beautiful success for their January performances at Alliance. | yan society of issues originally set in Elizabethan England. Women's empowerment within a conservative society and the lurking power of greed were themes that ran through the play, evoking current social tensions in Kenya. Had I not known that it was a translation, I would easily have believed that the play was written by | 61 |
Most people float. In addition, wetsuits and dry suits are also substantially buoyant. Properly adjusted, your scuba weight system adds just enough weight to offset the tendency to float so you can descend. That is, it allows you to go down – it doesn't make you sink.
Also known as : weights, weighting, lead, integrated weight, weight belt, scuba weights, scuba weight belt.
There are primarily two basic styles of weight system.
The oldest form of weight system is the weight belt. The most typical is a nylon belt with lead weights threaded onto it, though<|fim_middle|> weight system and a weight belt. This redistributes your weight more evenly for maximum control and comfort. The PADI Dry Suit Diver course helps you learn more about the proper weighting and techniques of diving with a dry suit.
Learning to weight yourself properly is an important skill you learn as a new diver. Take the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy course to refine this skill.
You have a quick release for a reason. If you're in a situation where you want to be sure you float, don't think twice about dropping your weight. Just do it. Nine times out of ten you can recover it later. In those cases when you can't, think of it as a relatively cheap investment in your safety. | you can get fabric belts with pockets for more comfort. These are many times available at a dive resort or dive boat operation.
Integrated weights are systems built into your BCD. This eliminates a need to carry a separate belt, and most people find them much more comfortable than weight belts while diving. The only downside is that it makes your scuba unit a bit heavier to move around before and after the dive.
Quick release. Regardless of type or model, for safety your weight system must have quick release that allows you to use one hand in one motion to drop enough weight to float reliably.
Reliable buckles. While you need a quick release, you also need to be sure you don't accidentally drop weights unexpectedly.
Multiple releases – Especially when dry suit diving, if you need to ditch some weight, it's typically better to ditch some of it, but not all of it, so you're not too buoyant. Integrated weight systems typically allow you to do this.
Pocketed weight belt – If you opt for a weight belt, the pocketed versions are versatile, hold most types of weight and are more comfortable.
Your choice of weight system will depend upon your BCD choice and your exposure suit choice.
If you won't use much weight at all, such as when warm water diving in a body suit or shortie wetsuit, a weight belt may be fine.
For most temperate water diving, an integrated weight system is usually more comfortable.
Dry suits use the most weight, so you may choose an integrated | 306 |
Josie Long brings her new show, Cara Josephine, to the Y Theatre in Leicester on February 17.
A spokesman said: "Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and cult optimist is back with a brand new show about love and being as outdoorsy as a bear. After a well-deserved year off last year, Josie Long returns to the Festival with her seventh hour of inimitable stand up.
"This is by far her most personal show to date: with a new niece in the picture, Josie reflects on her own childhood and the resilience of an older sister. Oh, there are also some mentions about the Quakers and Walt Whitman too.
"Star of Radio 4's Josie Long's All Of The Planet's Wonders (In Detail) and Radio 4's Short Cuts. As seen on BBC1's Have I Got News For You, BBC2's Never Mind The Buzzco<|fim_middle|>erymca.co.uk/y-theatre-whats-on-details.php?listing=1445 for tickets at £12. | cks, C4's 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Comedy Central's Alternative Comedy Experience and more. Edinburgh Comedy Best Newcomer Award winner, two-time Chortle Award winner, BBC New Comedy Award winner, Radio Academy Award nominee, Bafta Scotland Award nominee and Barry Award nominee."
Visit http://www.leicest | 69 |
All too often, being grown up is the pits.
It can leave you drowning in responsibility, suffocating from anxiety, and sinking with doubts about your ability to be all that you should.
Frazzled, you fall into bed to fortify yourself for tomorrow's craziness. Then you lie awake fretting over your lack of action you regret, scary debt, and all the targets you haven't met.
Life's supposed journey has left you dreading where you're heading.
Somewhere<|fim_middle|> important to your joyful well-being.
Get messy, big, and bright! Focus on fully enjoying any activity you choose so that you can encourage carefree thinking and let go of needing to control the result.
38. Be queen (or king) of your kingdom.
Leave dull, unimportant tasks till later, and make time for the things that truly matter to you.
Forever stressing through all the pressures of adulthood is exhausting.
The relentless demands on your time and physical and emotional wellbeing leave you feeling totally wrung out.
Your natural energy and enthusiasm have totally lost their sparkle.
But small, simple actions toward rediscovering your sunshine can help you burst with the joy of being a kid again.
Consciously choosing a child-like approach brings incredibly carefree times that you can build on.
Rekindle your natural inner child. Giggle, guff, snort, and chortle until pure joy runs out your nose. Live, love, and laugh like you never lost the magic.
And wake up feeling as if every day is the first day or your childhood. | between making daisy chains and making money, life's magic became a disappointing sideshow. Somehow, your everyday blue sky turned a disconcerting gray.
Children are sunshine, sunshine on little legs.
Because sunshine is all they see.
They have no concept of worrying about the future and living up to responsibilities or overwhelming to-do lists. They feel no embarrassment in falling over, getting it wrong, or showing anyone exactly how they feel.
Every day brings discoveries, wonder, and excitement. Every day is new.
They're always way too caught up in the fun to even think about the consequences. They laugh with every inch of their bodies until they hurt, and they still keep laughing.
There's a word that sums up all of these characteristics …carefree.
Ah! That's an incredible state to be in.
Imagine brimming with blissful expectation rather than a million worries. Being pleased with everything you've said and done instead of regretting forever. And swapping fear of what the day might bring to being too excited to wait and see.
Oh boy, we can learn a huge lesson from our mini experts on life. I certainly have.
Luckily, years ago my career path took a convoluted turn, and I ended up being surrounded by happy innocence while immersed in the whirlwind of teaching children.
Right from the start, my wagon load of worries felt an extra heavy burden amid their light, lively atmosphere. All my long-standing hang-ups stood out as making life unbelievably difficult among their unrestricted actions. And my critical inner voice sounded super mean around their enthusiasm over the slightest achievement.
But I desperately wanted to be one of their gang, so I resolved to emulate my young friends.
I decided to rediscover my silly, consequence-free side, to unlock my optimism, to question everything and see responsibility as nothing more than fun tasks I'd chosen to accept.
I worked with my little sunshines on legs nine to five every day, but it no longer felt like work.
They made every task bright, fun, and interesting . . . and chaotic. Their infectious excitement and belief in good things pervaded my every working day. Their unconscious behavior and easy emotions filled my every weekday thought.
I owe those little smiley faces a heck of a lot! Being surrounded by children for years made me feel years younger.
You don't need to be childish to be childlike. You can find happiness in everyday routine.
I'd love for you to have carefree times too. To breathe. To dance. To laugh so hard that you physically shake.
How can you take the first step toward feeling that free? With one small, child-like action at a time. Run with the ideas below that jump out at you. Skip into some more when you're ready.
1. Belly laugh at your own jokes.
Give your happiness a double boost by delighting in your own unique sense of humor.
2. Hop, skip, and run.
Instantly halt worry with the enjoyable distraction of moving your body in fun ways.
3. Believe you have super powers.
Build heart-warming, life-long relationships and a treasure of great memories with fun, giggle-making get-togethers.
Whiz along on a shopping cart or anything with wheels for a gleeful ride that will blow any earnest thoughts from your mind.
Trust good things will happen, and put your hand up for every opportunity that comes your way.
7. Jump into the circle.
Join in with any fabulous fun around you without waiting to be asked. You're bound to form some great new relationships with like-minded good-timers.
Argue back against any limiting thoughts regarding your chances of happily succeeding with any ideas or plans you have for the life you dream of.
Let your presence spread happiness to others by the infectious nature of your joy.
Brighten up your day by acting out any daft idea that strikes you—the sillier the better.
Follow your gut instead of overthinking. It's a great way to find what truly motivates and inspires you.
12. Jump up and down.
Encourage feelings of excitement to bubble up more often by giving them glorious, physical free rein. Others will fall in love with this hugely appealing quality.
Question every wretched rule that hampers your precious happiness. Realize consequences are mostly imagined.
Give yourself the gorgeous gift of looking forward to birthdays (even the "big" ones!) by focusing on sharing, receiving, and celebrating all you've contributed in the past twelve months.
Pander to your creative flair for a brilliant mood-boost by wearing exactly what you fancy, unrestricted by any concerns for color matching or trends.
Delve into your dressing up box to turn unavoidable chores into fun, let-me-at-'em tasks by completing them while regaled in fantastically outrageous items that instantly lift your spirits.
19. Eat jam from the jar.
Bypass the rules every now and then if you see a happiness-boosting opportunity, and it won't hurt anyone else.
20. Splish splash through puddles.
Take a break from meaningful activities to relax by being deliciously frivolous.
Play late into the night if you're having fun; you'll sleep better for it and wake up feeling super positive.
Lavish love and affection on the people who make your world a great place to live.
Sing lustily when a tune pops into your head to bring on feelings of pure joy.
Have upbeat conversations with yourself out loud to silence your inner critic. Kid's don't have an inner monolog and get things out in the open – much more healthy.
Don't be self-conscious about asking for help from strangers. Discussing your problems in a positive way with someone else not only finds a solution faster but also can find a new friend as well.
26. Splash in the bath.
Get super playful with mundane events to make these supremely enjoyable.
Build an overnight den in the yard or even in the lounge for an exciting change of routine that will keep your thinking patterns fresh.
Be strong over matters that are important to you. No one has the right to steal your, or a child's, happiness.
Love at face value. Don't be shy about telling those you cherish just how much they mean to you.
Be the first to quickly repair any relationship breakdowns for a lifetime of loving support and a million happy memories.
31. Play with your food.
Make meal times fun again by dining in playful settings and choosing menu options you associate with celebrations, holidays, and picnics.
Rekindle unconscious, natural behaviors by talking to people you've never met. You'll be amazed by how much you light up their day and what you learn along the way.
Be proud of every little success each day, and give yourself a gorgeous reward that encourages you to keep going.
34. Refuse to tidy your room.
Leave tasks unfinished when you've had enough in favor of an activity that will give your happiness a super boost.
35. Ask for the world.
Be cheeky, and ask for something seemingly outrageous if it's | 1,426 |
Live From Nor-Shipping 2017
Raytheon Anschutz introduces new electronic chart display and information system
TAGS: Ship Operations Live From Technology Ship Operations Navigation Software Nor Shipping Raytheon
Navigation firm Raytheon Anschutz has launched its new ECDIS NX software, a modern state-of-the-art design with 'smart' functionality to simplify processes and routines onboard ships.
Lee Hong Liang | May 31, 2017
The new electronic chart display and information system was introduced by Raytheon Anschutz at Nor-Shipping 2017 held in Oslo this week.
Bjorn Schroder, product manager for ECDIS explained: "We decided that navigators, the day-to-day user experts, should directly influence software design. So our objective was not only to explicitly consider the human element in all stages of software design, but to create a new portfolio of bridge navigation applications<|fim_middle|>. Other feature enhancements include a self-explaining route manager and comprehensive voyage planning tools.
Raytheon Anschutz pointed out that additional functions, traditionally associated with Integrated Navigation Systems (INS), are now available for standalone systems. These functions evaluate the various data within the navigation system and provide the operator with validated information while preventing any distraction from unnecessary alarms.
Raytheon Anschutz received type approval for the ECDIS NX in accordance with the latest ECDIS standards in May 2017. ECDIS NX is available standalone in the third quarter of 2017, and with full INS integration from end of the year. | for seafarers with input from seafarers."
ECDIS NX also includes smart functionality to simplify routines aboard including a route monitoring and track control with maximum chart display incorporating a one-click-access to frequently used functions such as chart settings, EBL/VRM, ZOOM and more.
Similarly smart-enabled, route planning is now a wizard-guided process and further utilizes intuitive principles such as drag-and-drop for waypoints | 86 |
An Electric Power Cables are factory assembly of two or more conductors having an overall covering. Several types of cables are manufactured for specific applications. A cable has one or more insulated conductors usually covered with a protective jacket. Cable types used in commercial and industrial wiring applications include armored, metal-clad, nonmetallic-sheathed, mineral-insulated, tray cable, service-entrance, underground feeder and branch-circuit, low-voltage, and medium-voltage.
A tray cable (TC) is a cable that consists of two or more insulated conductors enclosed in a flame-retardant, nonmetallic jacket and is used for installation in cable trays or raceways. See Figure 1.
Figure 1. Tray cables have two or more insulated conductors enclosed in a flame-retardant, nonmetallic jacket and are used for installation in cable trays or raceways.
Figure 2. Underground feeder and branch- circuit cable is constructed with TH<|fim_middle|>, is typically grounded at each end, and grounded at splices to reduce shock hazards.
Medium-voltage cables are used in industrial and commercial applications such as feeder and branch circuits for electric utility service, in wet, damp, or dry locations, in raceways, in underground ducts, direct buried, and in messenger systems in industrial and commercial utilities.
Because of their unique construction and voltage ratings, medium-voltage cables must only be terminated by following the manufacturer's specific instructions. This typically involves the use of specialized electrical tapes and other components. Procedural requirements may include grounding the copper shield, chamfering the insulation to reduce voltage stress, and taping the conductors to prevent air pockets where ionizing air can deteriorate the insulation. Special training is generally required to make medium voltage cable splices and terminations. | WN conductor insulation and bound in a PVC jacket.
Type UF cable is typically used with outdoor loads such as pumps and lighting. Type UF cable can also be used for the same applications as NM cable. Type UF cable is resistant to moisture, fungus, and corrosive materials, and can replace NMC cable in damp locations.
A service-entrance (SE, USE) cable is a multi-conductor cable with or without an overall covering. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. Service- entrance cables are used to supply power from the utility service to the meter and from the meter to the panelboard in residential and light commercial applications.
A low-voltage cable is a cable that can be single-conductor or multi-conductor and is rated from 0 V to 600 V. Low-voltage cables are used in industrial and commercial applications for power, lighting, control, signal, and communication circuits. Low-voltage cables can be installed indoors, outdoors, in cable trays, in raceways, direct buried, or as part of a messenger system (in outdoor locations).
Low-voltage cables are composed of bare stranded copper conductors, conductor insulation, and a moisture-resistant PVC jacket. Low-voltage cable can be types TC, MC, SE, or USE. See Figure 4.
Figure 4. A low-voltage cable is a cable that can be single- conductor or multi-conductor and is rated from 0 V to 600 V.
A medium-voltage (MV) cable is a cable that can be single-conductor or multi- conductor and is rated from 2001 V to 35,000 V. Because of higher operating voltages, MV cables are typically constructed differently than low-voltage cables. See Figure 5.
Figure 5. A medium-voltage cable is a cable that can be single- conductor or multi-conductor and has insulation ratings from 2001 V to 35,000 V.
Type MV cables have a solid dielectric insulation and a conductor shield surrounding the conductor. A conductor shield is a non- magnetic material used to even out dielectric stresses around the conductor. An insulation shield is a nonmagnetic metallic material applied over insulated conductor(s) to confine the electric field to the insulation. A bare cop- per shield surrounds the insulation shield | 480 |
City block named after Library Board of Trustees President
The City of Atlantic City officially designated the corner of Atlantic and Maryland avenues "William K. Cheatham's Block" – named in honor of the Atlantic City Free Public Library's current Board of Trustees president – at a special ceremony held Nov. 13. The City unveiled a street sign with the block's new name.
Cheatham spent much of his adult life as a resident of that block, living there for 51 years.
"(This honor) means a lot," he said. "They used to call me the Mayor of Maryland Avenue way back, because I'd get out here and ask questions about whatever went on in the block.
"It's a good thing. I appreciate it a<|fim_middle|> meeting. He's at the majority of the City Council meetings, and I get about two calls a week from Mr. Cheatham. He definitely deserves this honor." | lot."
Cheatham served on many organizations in the past, among them the Big Brothers Association, Atlantic City Council of Boy Scouts of America, United Way of Atlantic County and Atlantic County Board of Public Transportation.
In addition to his work as the Library's Board of Trustees president, Cheatham still serves on the Municipal Utilities Authority Board and is the Atlantic City Shade Tree Committee chairman.
Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and members of City Council spoke at the ceremony.
"This is a great day in the City of Atlantic City, as Mr. Cheatham is someone who blazed the trail for so many," Small said. "He has fought hard for the little people, and no one can question his love for the City of Atlantic City.
"I just wish young people would look at Mr. Cheatham and get as active as he is. He's at every CRDA | 173 |
When I was first sent a sample of Mama Mio's Lucky Legs, I wasn't quite<|fim_middle|>. I haven't seen this product in stores, but they Mama Mio offers free delivery online. It is also available on Amazon.com. This soothing lotion is worth a try if you ever want a little pampering for sore legs. | sure what to make of it. The front claims "rapid relief for heavy legs and feet," so my first thought was of tireless nurses, retail clerks, and others who are on their feet all day. My daily schedule is hardly demanding, but I recently found a wonderful opportunity to test this when I started to really wear out my legs with some new dance classes.
It turns out Lucky Legs is quite useful for someone like me. Although I have a sedentary desk job, I tend to push myself hard when I work out. Between tap, ballet, and my rebounding, my legs can get quite tired. Lucky Legs is cooling and feels soothing when you're sore from the knees and below, whether from exercise, standing on your feet, or even being a tourist in new city. The effect lasts about an hour or two, which is comforting, but I would be careful not to treat it like a substitute for taking proper care of sore muscles. The bottle is fairly large (3.4 oz in a pump bottle), and I didn't need too much for one application.
I was glad to see that Mama Mio products don't use animal ingredients and have a "No Nasties" policy. When I put the ingredients in the EWG Skin Deep database, this came to a low 3. I was glad the shimmer effect was subtle, as I'm not much for shimmer in products | 285 |
Very helpful and friendly gentleman and very clean appliances !!
I<|fim_middle|> Always goes that extra mile. | can not thank you enough, jimmy was very efficient, clean and tidy. I would definitely recommend this company. My oven looks brand new.
Our oven is clean and sparkling! Very pleased with it. Thank you .Will be getting it cleaned again.
Excellent service. First class job.
Brilliant. The gentleman who came today was on time, quick, and very efficient. My oven looks like new, the filter has been cleaned, and I can now see into the oven thanks to a new bulb. I am so impressed by the results.
Great to see Jimmy again. Another fantastic job. Thank you.
A great job done . Very helpful and friendly . I am so pleased.
Amazing! Year after year my oven is returned to show room conditions. Thank you.
Friendly chap, did a great job oven is sparkling and left everywhere clean and tidy.
Fantastic service as usual. | 178 |
Stirling, also known as Stirling Plantation, is a historic plantation house located near Mass<|fim_middle|>ouses in Spotsylvania County, Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Spotsylvania County, Virginia
Slave cabins and quarters in the United States | aponax, Spotsylvania County, Virginia. It was built between 1858 and 1860, and is a -story, five-bay, brick Greek Revival and Federal dwelling. It measures 56 feet by 36 feet, and has a hipped roof and four interior end chimneys. It sits on a raised basement and features entrance porches added about 1912. Also on the property are the contributing kitchen dependency, smokehouse, family cemetery, and the undisturbed archaeological sites of a weaving house and three slave cabins.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
References
Plantation houses in Virginia
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
Greek Revival houses in Virginia
Federal architecture in Virginia
Houses completed in 1860
H | 194 |
Ontwerp voor stationsplein in Leeuwarden, ook Vierkant in vierkant genoemd, is een prijsvraagontwerp gemaakt in 1917-1918 door architect Jan Wils en beeldend kunstenaar Theo van Doesburg voor de herinrichting en verfraaiing van het stationsplein in de Nederlandse stad Leeuwarden.
Prijsvraag
In november 1917 schreef de Vereniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer in Leeuwarden een prijsvraag uit 'tot verfraaiing van het Stationsplein te Leeuwarden'. De prijsvraag werd aangekondigd in het Bouwkundig Weekbl<|fim_middle|>swinnaars waren Meischke en Schmidt en J.W.V. Sluiter met motto 'Regulatie' (1e prijs) en Charles Estourgie en Egidius Ludovicus Everaerts met motto 'Het fiere geslacht' (3e prijs).
In 1921 gaf de Leeuwarder VVV opnieuw een prijvraag voor een monument uit, maar nu op een andere locatie: de oostzijde van het Wilhelminaplein. Hier kwam de Mercuriusfontein van de Duitse beeldhouwer Gustav Adolf Bredow uit voort, die in 1923 werd geplaatst.
Maquette
In 1919 liet Van Doesburg door Herman Zaalberg een aardewerken maquette maken van zijn aandeel in het ontwerp. Deze maquette werd een aantal keer tentoongesteld, onder andere in 1925 in Hannover. Daarna ontbreekt ieder spoor. Van de maquette bestaat alleen nog een foto, die zich tegenwoordig in het Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven bevindt. Ter gelegenheid van de overzichtstentoonstelling van Van Doesburg in het Van Abbemuseum en het Gemeentemuseum Den Haag liet de directeur van het Van Abbemuseum, Jean Leering, in 1968 een reconstructie in hout maken. In 1998 maakte Ron Mittelmeijer een tweede reconstructie. Deze is ook in hout uitgevoerd en meet 53 × 23 × 23 cm.
Stichting Vierkant in Vierkant
Op 29 december 1997 werd de Stichting Vierkant in Vierkant opgericht. Deze stichting zet zich in om het monument van Van Doesburg alsnog uit te voeren tegenover het Centraal Station in Leiden. Hier is zij tot nu toe niet in geslaagd. Wel heeft tegenover het station een 12 meter hoge proefopstelling van hout gestaan ter gelegenheid van de tentoonstelling Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde. Deze proefopstelling werd op 29 oktober 2009 onthuld en is in 2010 weer verwijderd.
Externe links
Website Stichting Vierkant in Vierkant
Theo van Doesburg
Werk van Jan Wils | ad van 10 november 1917.
Verder stond in de aankondiging dat het budget ruimte bood aan een fontein. De ontwerpen moesten voor 1 februari 1918 ingeleverd zijn. Jan Wils ontwierp de herinrichting van het plein en Theo van Doesburg de 'pleinafsluiting'. Het motto van hun inzending was 'klein in groot vierkant'. Alle oorspronkelijke ontwerptekeningen zijn verloren gegaan. Over het ontwerp van Wils en Van Doesburg schreef de jury:
De jury, bestaande uit Jacob Adriaan Nicolaas Patijn, Henri Evers, Hendrik Petrus Berlage, Dirk Frederik Tersteeg en Lambertus Nicolaas Holsboer, was van mening dat geen van de inzendingen goed genoeg waren om zonder wijzigingen te worden uitgevoerd. Een eerste prijs werd daarom niet toegekend. In plaats daarvan werd het beschikbare prijzengeld verdeeld onder de drie beste inzendingen. Wils en Van Doesburg ontvingen de 'tweede prijs'. De overige prij | 275 |
Looking for an Italian Specialty store, Well here it is. Serving Hot & Cold Lunch and dinner specials, fresh prime meats, Boars head products & so much more. 2 entrances which are both located on main roads. Due to family health issues current owners are forcced to sell. Well known to this community & the surrounding areas sits this unbelievable opportunity ready to be taken to the next level for an experienced & eager owner / operator. Making great money as is, you can bring this location to the next level by building up deliveries, catering , social media & adding some online ordering like Grub Hub, Uber Eats & Door Dash. Recently renovated, with all equipment well maintained, a full website and a well trained staff, this turn key operation is an easy transition for<|fim_middle|>.S system. | the right buyer. Also included in this sale is a well running 2008 Nissan Pathfinder which is used for deliveries and produce shopping. Hours of operation are Monday - Saturday 9am to 7pm & Sunday 9am to 4pm. All sales verifiable through P.O | 60 |
High Thread Count Egyptian Cotton Bedding with No Chemical Retention for Ultimate Comfort.
Just weeks before he died in 2016, Prince struck a deal to write a book about his life. He never got to finish what he started but a version of it is coming out this fall. The memoir, titled "The Beautiful Ones," will be released on October 29. The announcement comes just after the third anniversary of the pop star's death. The 288-page project will combine the pop star's unfinished manuscript with never-before-seen photos, original scrapbooks and lyric sheets, according to the description from Penguin Random House. "'The Beautiful Ones' is the story of how Prince became Prince a first-person account of a kid absorbing the world around him and then creating a persona, an artistic vision, and a life, before the hits and fame that would come to define him," the description reads. The book is made up of four parts. The first is a first-person account of Prince's childhood in "his own lyrical prose."<|fim_middle|> photos. The third uses candid photos to show his evolution, and the fourth part contains his original handwritten treatment for "Purple Rain." The book will also include an introduction by writer and editor Dan Piepenbring, who had been working with Prince on the memoir before he died. Will you be checking it out?
Happy happy birthday adunola_x long life and prosperity skiibii celebritylifestyle comfychairs furniture tenientertainer ceec_official alex_unusual theunusuals BBNaijadoublewahala2018 bbnaija2018 worldwide wizkidayo naijaweddings lagosfashion beautyblogger burnaboy yorubademons brodashaggi 30bg interiordesign davido FlyboyTour2018 fashionista Makanaki entertainmentpersonalityoftheyear entertainment asoebi adekunlegold ajah . | The second tells of Prince's early years as a musician through a scrapbook of his writing and | 19 |
List of Cell Phone Providers
by WilliamHanz<|fim_middle|> (without Nextel) to exclusively describe their landline service. Sprint has a wide selection of phones available from companies such as BlackBerry, LG, Motorola and Palm. A distinguishing feature is their availability of walkie-talkie phones (also known as "push-to-talk" phones).
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There are several companies to take note of when choosing a cell phone provider. Different companies offer features that vary slightly, with different calling plans and different types of phones available. Many cell phone providers specialize in certain areas, such as area of coverage, call quality and low pricing plans. It is important to consider your needs when selecting a cell phone provider, making sure that you select a company that fits your individual specifications.
The most popular wireless provider in the United States is AT&T Wireless. The company has surpassed 71 million subscribers throughout their network. AT&T is the exclusive provider of the popular Apple iPhone and has several other popular phones in its lineup including a variety of BlackBerry phones. The company markets its main feature as being the wireless network with the fewest dropped calls. AT&T also boasts rollover minutes, which allow customers on limited minute plans to roll over unused minutes for use in the future. There have been claims that the AT&T service areas are highly limited, making it difficult to ensure that calls are able to be placed and received in a sufficient number of locations.
Verizon Wireless is the second largest cell phone provider in the United States, totaling more than 67 million active subscribers. Verizon Wireless was formed in 2000 and has consistently reported growth in popularity since. Phones provided by Verizon Wireless include the LG Chocolate, the Motorola Razr and the HTC Droid Eris. The HTC Droid Eris smartphone is powered by the Google Android operating system and makes Verizon the only cell phone provider other than T-Mobile who carries Google Android phones. Verizon claims that it has the largest range of coverage in the United States, assuring consumers that they will have phone service virtually anywhere in the nation.
The third largest wireless cell phone provider in the United States is Sprint Nextel. Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005 and used the Sprint Nextel name in reference to their wireless services. The company continued to use the Sprint name | 405 |
Apple TV is a shiny, black box that hooks up to your television and brings you all kinds of entertainment: music, movies, photos, games, and a huge collection of apps.
Apple calls it "the future of television". It gets online content over Ethernet or Wi-Fi, and streams this to your television using an HDMI cable. It's like a DVD player for the 21st century, except that you can control it using apps, other devices, and even your voice.
It's also an<|fim_middle|>Play mirroring. This lets you beam content from your iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod touch to your television screen and is a great way to share family movies or items held on someone else's device.
The company continues to improve the tvOS software that drives the device in order that developers can build even more engaging experiences, and the company's focus on advanced graphics technologies suggests that while Apple TV isn't quite the gaming console competitor to make Sony or Microsoft sleep less at night just yet, things may still change.
Meanwhile, of course, Apple must also ensure its solution looks attractive beside competing products such as Chromecast, Roku and Amazon Fire. In future it is expected to launch a 4K model of Apple TV, perhaps with an HD video rental service. | intelligent solution because it supports Siri and can integrate with the voice assistant's rapidly developing online machine intelligence to help you do more from your television -- you can even remotely control smart home devices with an Apple TV.
As well as stocks, weather and more. All of this is controlled by the sophisticated Apple TV remote control and your voice.
Apple first introduced Apple TV in 2007 when then-CEO, Steve Jobs said it was "like a DVD player for the 21st century," before later calling it a kind of "hobby". Originally announced as "iTV" before later dubbed Apple TV due to copyright problems with a UK TV channel called ITV, the original solution was limited to providing access to iTunes and a limited number of additional features. Two iterations of the device followed and by January 2015, the company had sold 25 million of the things.
We've learned since then that Jobs' initial hopes to make a difference to the television industry were frustrated by the complexity of the space which created many go to market problems.
"The only way this is going to change is if you start from scratch, tear up the box, redesign and get it to the consumer in a way that they want to buy it," he said in 2010.
"I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use ... It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud ... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."
It took years, but changing viewing habits meant traditional broadcast television had to change. Apple was able to exploit a reality in which increasingly digital-savvy viewers wanted to take control of their TV viewing experiences. This meant on-demand channels like Netflix or on-demand services like iTunes were separating audiences from broadcasters, and Apple offered some kind of opportunity.
Following the announcement in September, Apple TV 4 shipped in October 2015. This version lets you navigate your device using the incredibly useful Apple Siri Remote control, which enables you to use voice, gesture, and touch to do what you want to do. Voice, "the simplest user interface you could imagine," is the articulation of the dream Jobs talked about years before.
The box has all the intelligence and upgradeability of iOS along with a healthy and rapidly growing stable of apps for all kinds of things, not just games, movies and TV.
Content providers are engaged with the device, which offers a huge range of channel apps you can install. These include Netflix, YouTube, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, MLB.tv, ESPN and many more.
Apple also has an app for this: TV. The TV app brings all the content from all your services together in one place. It acts as a television guide you can use to make sure you get to see the best of what is available. The company has also introduced Single Sign-On, a system which lets you access all the content your cable or satellite provider offers with your broadband connection.
Another thing you can do with Apple TV is to display content on your television from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac using another technology called AirPlay. This means Apple TV users can share their movie collections, and also lets them use their HD television as reserve displays when they need to get things done. Apps are critical within all of this.
The Apple website calls apps the future of television and observes that most of us already use apps to access TV.
You can choose from thousands of apps from third-party developers that the company makes available through the solution's built-in App Store.
Another useful Apple TV talent is Air | 727 |
I'm thrilled to be back on a film set
Tahir said: I'm thrilled to be back on a film set. There's no better feeling than hearing those magical words 'roll sound, camera, and action'. The months of preparation and readings that we've done over WhatsApp
Mumbai: Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin is thrilled to start shooting for his next film, Looop Lapeta. He says there is no better feeling than hearing those magical words — roll sound, camera, and action.
Tahir said: "I'm<|fim_middle|> Taapsee brings to the set," he added.
"The producers, Tanuj Garg and Atul Kasbekar, are hands-on and make everyone feel at home which is so endearing to experience. Our debutant director Aakaash Bhatia is a fireball of energy and it is great to be led by his rapid ideas that we have all jammed on as a team for all these months."
He says as an actor he is more appreciative of shooting for a part and a film that he is extremely passionate about.
"One of the first things I spoke to Taapsee about was the lockdown months versus the feeling of being on sets and how one doesn't take this momentum and energy for granted. Beyond this, our chats mostly revolve around the scene of the day and what part of ourselves we want to bring to it. The new normal also means we all work with certain restrictions of masks and social distancing but overall the entire crew is doing their bit to safeguard themselves and the project," he says.
About his pairing with Taapsee, he said: "It's awesome to be collaborating with a co-star like Taapsee. The power-packed impact of this fresh lead pair will be exponential not only because of us as actors pairing up together but also for the edgy way these parts have been written and stylised. Working towards creating that chemistry that the audience will love is exactly what we are doing at the moment, and this is the most challenging part of the creation."
Murder, Conspiracy, Politics, Mystery | Durgamati The Myth | Bhumi Pednekar, Arshad Warsi
As actors, our roots are rather shallow | thrilled to be back on a film set. There's no better feeling than hearing those magical words 'roll sound, camera, and action'. The months of preparation and readings that we've done over WhatsApp and zoom are paying off but there is no comparison to meeting your crew and co-star in the flesh and creating a scene in real life."
The actor shared that every cast and crew member was bursting with excitement on day one of shooting for the film, co-starring Taapsee Pannu.
"On day one of Looop Lapeta, there was palpable nervousness and excitement. We were all just so kicked to be doing this. The atmosphere on Looop's set is nothing short of electric. The vibe starts with the energy that | 151 |
Ashlande LaBranche, sophomore, is a gun control advocate and one of the March For Our Lives NYC organizers.
Newtown, Connecticut. San Bernardino, California. Orlando, Florida.
When sophomore Ashlande LaBranche was still a high school student in her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, she saw how mass shootings — one after the other — seemed to not only dominate newscasts, but American life itself.
She went from signing petitions and sharing information on gun violence through social media to volunteering at Violence Intervention Prevention (VIP), a Boston Public Health Commission program that aims to reduce street violence in city neighborhoods.
Now LaBranche, 20, is a student gun control advocate and one of the organizers of the NYC March For Our Lives that took place on March 24.
"We need more regulation," LaBranche said, citing cases of American children accidentally killing themselves and others because of easy access to guns.
Each year, about 1,300 children die and 5,790 are treated for gunshot wounds in the U.S.,according to a study published by the Journal of Pediatrics last October.
LaBranche says that while she understands some citizens' strong beliefs in the Second Amendment, she wants policy reforms to make it harder for guns to be obtained.
"We understand that we can't take your gun away — it's the Second Amendment and we can't take that away. The message is primarily that we just get it regulated." LaBranche said.
In a recent video the National Rifle Association (NRA) posted to its Facebook page on March 24, the organization alleges that March For Our Lives is not a student-led movement, but rather a billionaire-backed plan to take away the Second Amendment.
"People only say that they don't support gun control until they become the victims or survivors," she added.
In the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 high school students and faculty this past Valentine's Day, student survivors' organization Never Again MSD and Everytown for Gun Safety collaborated on organizing the March For Our Lives, a national event calling for stricter gun laws.
March For Our Lives NYC drew about 175,000 protestors on March 24.
The main march took place in Washington D.C. on March 24, along with hundreds of "sister marches" throughout the country.
While she has been advocating for tougher gun laws since she was a high school student at Fontbonne Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, even centering her senior project around the issue, she says her journey with March For Our Lives began soon after the movement was formed.
"Once I heard about March For Our Lives, I immediately started researching it, and then I signed up on their website," LaBranche said. Soon after, LaBranche says March For Our Lives NYC organizers contacted her to be an<|fim_middle|> gun control but don't know how to begin advocating for it should learn as much about the issues as they can before jumping in. | outreach coordinator at St. John's and act as a marshal on the day of the march.
March For Our Lives NYC drew crowds of tens of thousands; Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that the "final NYC tally" of march participants was 175,000.
"And this is a movement that has JUST BEGUN. These students WILL change America!" De Blasio's tweet continued.
LaBranche says the diversity of the crowd, coming together for one common goal, was particularly striking.
"That was the only march I've seen with such a huge range of people, it was almost like we were all family," she said. "Everyone was taking pictures together and having long conversations as if we all knew each other for years and had suddenly been reunited.
LaBranche says that students who care about | 165 |
Nice Min<|fim_middle|> more efficient in congested traffic. So efficient that the Germans, who of course practice it almost flawlessly, have a name for it: Reißverschlusssystem, or "zipper system."
But Minnesota isn't full of famously efficient Germans. It's full of famously courteous Minnesotans, who don't want to make anyone mad. The backups got so bad that the state's Department of Transportation is teaching 3.3 million people how to merge.
By using every foot of the space available, the zipper merge cuts congestion by 40 percent, Minnesota officials say. It reduces the likelihood of crashes because everyone's moving at the same speed, which is better than seeing a lane of slowpokes alongside a lane of leadfoots zipping past. But it hasn't fully caught on in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, providing a lesson to Kansas and other states now trying to make merging moments more efficient.
Part of the problem is awareness. Not many states vocally encourage the zipper merge, so every newcomer has to learn the rules. But the other half is guilt and fear. "I don't know if it's a Minnesota thing, or an education thing, but people just do NOT zipper merge," one sad driver wrote on a recent DOT survey. "And they get irate at the people who do. Seems that the choice is to either sit in line like a lemming, or do the zipper merge and endure the wrath of those who have been sitting in the line." Another wrote, "Maybe it just feels wrong? I feel guilty about passing all those people and merging at the end."
That's a problem, because the zipper only works when everyone buys in. A single indignant driver blocking "late" mergers slows everyone down. DOT engineer Ken Johnson says the state has seen problems with "self-appointed traffic cops" who straddle lanes to ensure there's no cutting.
The state had quietly promoted the zipper merge for nearly a decade before it decided to stage a full-out media blitz. In 2011, to convince nice drivers to do the efficient thing, Minnesota started peppering highways with billboards and instructive signs. It ran PSAs on the local news. It made YouTube videos. It claimed dothezippermerge.org and filled it with how-to's.
It also cheated a bit, moving the "left lane closed ahead" signs closer to the closure. It made signs that say "begin merge, take turns," right where it's supposed to happen. That at least gets rid of any remaining confusion, liberating drivers who know to hold off merging from the guilt that comes with passing those who've already changed lanes. "People would prefer to merge late as long as they are given permission to do so by good signage," says Leon James, a traffic psychologist with the University of Hawaii.
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The effort worked, sorta. The Minnesota DOT's latest survey, from 2012, found that 73 percent of drivers believe the zipper merge is a good idea, though it has no numbers on how that translates to actual driving. Another small survey found that after years of outreach, 49 percent of Minnesotans were at least "somewhat uncomfortable" zipper merging. In 2013, the Star Tribune noted the zipper is "still [a] tough sell for Minnesota drivers."
"Unless something changes soon, the zipper merge is going to be this century's conversion to the metric system in the 70s," Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Collins has written. "Great idea, made perfect sense, and was dead on arrival."
Don't give up hope just yet. Washington and Missouri have officially endorsed the zipper merge, and Kansas is gearing up to implement the move later this month. Yeah, the state is worried that Kansans will go all Minnesotan, says Kristi Ericksen, a DOT engineer. But the agency has already started its own social media campaign, complete with two wisecracking traffic cones. ("Zipper merge? I don't have a zipper!")
And there's another promising figure, this one from Minnesota: That small 2013 survey found that 45 percent of drivers 25 to 34 are comfortable with the zipper merge, compared to just eight percent of seniors. The late merge has been incorporated into the state driver's manual taught to beginning drivers, so even more excellent mergers are on the way. The future of driving, in Minnesota and Kansas and everywhere else, just might zip along.
#driving
#traffic
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Sony's Concept Car Puts Entertainment in the Driver's Seat | nesotans Don't Get the Cruelly Efficient Zipper Merge
One study after another proves the "zipper merge" is the best way to move cars from two lanes into one. Except in Minnesota, where people might be a bit too polite.
The idea behind the move is simple: If the right lane ends ahead, don't move left as soon as you see an open spot. Hold off and make the shift at the last minute. It might seem rude, but it's far | 99 |
Critical thinking is also known as reflective thinking. This type of thinking referrers to rational thinking that is independent. Critical thinking relates to the evaluation of issues, or concepts from a broader perspective to a narrow perspective. This way, critical thinking strives to find a logical argument to presented questions in the quest to arrive at a rational conclusion. Further, critical thinking is a mental process that calls for rigorous analysis of issues in order to determine if the concepts presented are true or false before arrive at an irrefutable judgment (Moore, 2<|fim_middle|>2007).
In conclusion, critical thinking is a necessary tool especially for individuals who are at the management level. This is because they are tasked with making rational decisions on behalf of a larger group. Further, to arrive at a logical conclusion, it is important to employ critical thinking as it allows for evaluation of facts, concepts and ideas. | 010).
Critical thinking requires intellectual reasoning that allows individuals to make inferences to the issues at hand. An individual who employs critical thinking is able to understand how different ideas are interconnected. Through critical thinking, one is also able to approach emerging issues from a different perspective thus, enabling them to evaluate facts from a neutral point of view before making any conclusions. When using critical thinking, ideas are justified and evaluated before they are adapted. Therefore, one is able to sample and prioritize all viable options before settling on the most efficient tactic (Moore, 2010).
Sometime back, I was involved in a committee that was tasked with recommending a viable staff training program. Among the requirements for this task involved, choosing between in-house training and outsource training. In-house training involved capitalizing on our human resource department for training. On the other hand, outsource training capitalized on paying another organization to train our staff. The two options were viable and practical. However, we had to employ critical thinking in order to arrive at an option that would be more effective for our staff. This involved a lengthy discussion, where members of the committee engaged in critical thinking. In this case, critical thinking encompassed, analyzing the pros and cons of the two options before settling on the most efficient option.
Critical thinking is a decision making tool. This is because, critical thinking involves the use of analytical skills that ensure rigorous analysis of emerging issues. When issues are analyzed rigorously, one is able to make a rational decision that stands to benefit their organization or plans. Critical thinking is also important towards ensuring growth in the work place. It also leads too efficiency and high quality services and products. Decision making is a long process that requires adequate planning and time. Therefore, by employing critical thinking, ideas are dealt with in a systematic manner thus, ensuring the success of the decision making process (Romano, 2007).
Critical thinking in the decision making process is vital when dealing with new innovations. It is through critical thinking that we are able to evaluate the applicability of new concepts in the work place. Through critical thinking, it is possible to make rational changes to new concepts in order to customize them to fit within the goals of a specific organization. Critical thinking skills such as persistence, assertiveness, creativity, flexibility and empathy are prerequisite tools in the decision making process. This is because; they provide a favorable environment for making well-versed decisions that are results oriented (Romano, | 500 |
Home » Online » News » LibreOffice 5.4...
Comes with improved support for Microsoft Office file formats.
Swap<|fim_middle|>, and the layout adapts responsively to mobile devices. Additionally, a read-only mode has been added.
LibreOffice 5.4 is available immediately for download.
The new version comes with an experimental ribbon interface.
Canonical Joins Document Foundation Advisory Board
The upcoming release of LibreOffice will be available as a snap package
LibreOffice Goes Online with 5.3 Release
The source code is available online.
LibreOffice Based CODE 3.0 Released
You can now run the latest version of LibreOffice Online in your own cloud.
LibreOffice 3.3 is Ready for Public Consumption
Issue 231/2020
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Buy this issue as a PDF
Digital Issue: Price $12.99 | nil Bhartiya
The Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 5.4, a major release of the 5.x family that comes with significant new features, and especially with a number of incremental improvements to Microsoft Office file compatibility.
"Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication', LibreOffice developers have focused on file simplicity as the ultimate document interoperability sophistication. This makes ODF and OOXML files written by the free office suite more robust and easier to exchange with other users than the same documents generated by other office suites," said The Document Foundation in a blog post.
Out of all the new features in this release, the most notable include a new standard color palette based on the RYB color model. File format compatibility has been improved, with better support for EMF vector images, and importing PDF files offers a much better rendering quality.
If you are a LibreOffice Writer user, you will be happy to learn that the full structure of a document is preserved when exporting or pasting numbered and bulleted lists as plain text.
You can already use LibreOffice Online with Kolab Now. With the 5.4 release, LibreOffice Online has been improved as well. Performance is better | 249 |
This is also the last week before Mothers' Day and I am in the mad dash trying to get my cards done and in the mail in time to arrive BEFORE the holiday and not after. So I started off with one using supplies from my new kit.
To make this card, I started off using Hero Arts White Unicorn pigment ink with my Inkadinkado Flourishes stamp set on white card stock. I was going for an embossed resist technique but I changed my mind after I heat set my images. I used my blending tool and inked my paper with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I heat set that to make sure the ink was dry before I used my Spellbinders die to cut out three rectangles.
As I was<|fim_middle|> was done.
This kit is for the month of May so go ahead to Owlsome Crafts and get one for yourself. The kit included other goodies like a scripty 'hello' die from Lawn Fawn and two Santoro cling stamps.
As always, my hope is that you are excited about crafting and maybe something here inspired you to start your next project. If you are interested in any of the supplies I used in this post, a list with links is provided below. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram and scroll back up and watch the unboxing video. Have fun!
This card is entry seven on the Pink and Main "Anything Goes" Challenge. | crafting on my table, a supply avalanche happened and all my brand new supplies from Owlsome Crafts fell in my work area. Near the top of the pile was the paper cut out that you see. As soon as I read the sentiment I knew it was perfect for my card. I arranged the panels as shown, glued the pink panels and pooped up the sentiment with some dimensional foam. I was almost done but I thought the card was too pink and I added the yellow flowers from my stash. Now the card | 104 |
Home / Parts / ACCESSORIES, PILLOWS, WATER CARE / Cover Lifters / Hardware Bag #1, Cover Cradle
Hardware Bag #1, Cover Cradle
This Cover Cradle & Cover Cradle II hardware bag #1 includes the following:
Four Hole Side Hinge (Qty 2)
Four Hole Rear Hinge (Qty 2)
#10 x 1″ Flat Head Screws (Qty 8)
#10 x 1-1/2″ Flat Head Screws (Qty 8)
Note: The items in this hardware bag are not sold separately from the manufacturer.
This part can be found on many Hot Spring, Limelight, Hot Spring pre 89, Hot Spot, Tiger River models from 1994 to 2023
Hardware Bag #1, Cover Cradle quantity
SKU: 72574 Categories: ACCESSORIES, PILLOWS, WATER CARE, Cover Lifter Parts, Cover Lifters, EXTERIOR & SURFACE REPAIR, Hardware, HARDWARE & TOOLS Tags: Cover Cradle I, Cover Cradle II, Hardware
# 3 Cover Cradle II (Hot Spring 2007 - 2018) View Diagram
# 1 Cover Cradle F (Hot Spring 2007 - 2018) View Diagram
Hot Spring Grandee (G) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Hot Spring Grandee (GG) 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Hot Spring Prodigy (H) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017<|fim_middle|>Cradle® is our smoothest operator As the spa cover is folded back the "cradle" design is assisted by dual pneumatic gas shocks lowering it to a gentle rest It only needs twenty-four inches (24") of rear clearance
CoverCradle I Cover Lifter (24in Clearance) quantity
CoverCradle II Cover Lifter (24in Clearance)
The CoverCradle® II has all the features of its big brother in a single pneumatic gas shock design Our customers who choose either of the CoverCradle® models don't have clearance issues and favor the lower resting point of the cover for increased ...read more
CoverCradle II Cover Lifter (24in Clearance) quantity
Slat Flat T, Coastal Gray, Sovereign Limited Edition
This Synthetic Coastal Gray Slat is used on the 2002 to 2003 Limited Edition Highlife model spa from Hot Springs This is a T-Slat and is used as a finishing slat Serial number Range ILE1D1001 - ILE4E9999
Slat Flat T, Coastal Gray, Sovereign Limited Edition quantity | , 2018
Hot Spring Sovereign (I) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
Hot Spring Jetsetter (JJ) 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Hot Spring Vista (SS) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Hot Spring Vanguard (VV) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Hot Spring Grandee (GQ) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spring Prodigy (HQ) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spring Sovereign (IQ) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spring Jetsetter (JQ) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spring Landmark (S) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Hot Spring Landmark (SQ) 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spot La Palma (LAP) 2008
Hot Spot Hotspot 2 (Y) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
Hot Spring Classic (F) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
Hot Spring Classic (FQ) 1998, 1999, 2000
Hot Spring Landmark (S) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Hot Spring Landmark (SQ) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
CoverCradle I Cover Lifter (24in Clearance)
The Cover | 781 |
As we begin 2018, we challenge ourselves going into the New Year and set one or more resolutions. We always want to get into the gym, become healthy, and get organized, but do we ever include financial fitness in our resolution?
Getting your finances in shape is important and there's no better time to build smart habits than now. As with the gym, once you get in the habit of saving and have a good plan in place, you are on your way towards a financially strong future.
It's easy to get started with your plan. Simply get a pen and paper, and make notes as to what is most important to you. By jot<|fim_middle|>, and government programs like Medicare and Social Security, it is critical to personally take control of your finances and set aside money for your future. A financial professional can help you establish and review your retirement plans including any pension plans, 401K plans, and individual retirement accounts.
You have worked hard, built up a nest egg, and want to leave a legacy to your spouse, children, grandchildren, church, or charity. There are ways to leave your legacy tax-free while growing funds safely and securely backed by an insurance company.
Do you have a business that you plan to leave to your family? Talk with a financial professional about business succession planning ideas. A Key Man Insurance may be a good solution for you to ensure the business keeps running after you are gone.
If you have already established goals and have a plan, you are well on your way to building a strong future. Please be sure to review your financial plan as you go through life and experience its many joys and challenges that may be due to marriage, new baby, death, or possibly a divorce. Look at your life insurance, retirement, college planning, and investment accounts to ensure they continue to meet your goals and are working as smart as they can for you and your family.
Make a New Year's resolution to get financially fit! Much like working with a trainer at the gym, you may want to partner with a personal financial coach. He or she may be able to provide that extra push and strategy to help guide you on what you could be doing differently in order for you to meet goals like saving for retirement, getting the right life insurance policy or finally being able to afford your first home.
* BTN Wealth Services is a marketing name for Cetera Investment Services. Securities and insurance products are offered through Cetera Investment Services LLC (doing insurance business in CA as CFGIS Insurance Agency), member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services are offered through Cetera Investment Advisers LLC. Neither firm is affiliated with the financial institution where investment services are offered. Investments are: • Not FDIC/NCUSIF insured • May lose value • Not financial institution guaranteed • Not a deposit • Not insured by any federal government agency. BTN Wealth Services is located at 1125 West Poplar Ave, Collierville, TN 38017 (901) 854-0854. You are under no obligation to do business with BTN Wealth Services. For a comprehensive review of your personal situation, always consult with a tax or legal advisor. Neither Cetera Investment Services, nor any of its representatives may give legal or tax advice. | ting down your goals, you will stand a better chance of staying on course. Having a plan can have a large impact on your financial success.
In 2018, you may want to buy a house, take that dream vacation, or pay off student debt. It's good to include short-term goals in your plan to see how they fit with your finances.
For the long term, your plan might include college planning for your child or grandchildren or getting life insurance to ensure you and your loved ones are protected. You may also want to consider long-term care planning as well as saving money for retirement.
To help ensure the best future for your child, start saving in his or her life as early as possible. It can potentially save you and your child a huge debt in later years. A college plan can require a combination of strategies and working with a professional financial planner can help you identify the right options for you. You can start planning today with as little as $250 and adding about $50 a month.
When considering your legacy, a life insurance policy can ensure your loved ones are protected and maintain the same lifestyle they have today. It can help pay off debt and burial expenses as well as ensure your goals and dreams continue in the future. You may want to consider a policy in addition to the one you may have through your employer. Think of life insurance as a gift that keeps giving.
Long-term care expenses are uncertain and could derail an otherwise well-built retirement plan. This problem is growing as people are living longer, since it becomes more likely that care will be needed for longer as well. Planning for how to manage these potential expenses is an important part of a financial plan. Lack of planning can create strains as long-term care depletes household assets, bankrupt a surviving spouse, or add burdens for other family members who may have to make large sacrifices to provide care.
It's never too early to save for retirement. You can start small. The key to a successful retirement plan is to evaluate your needs, set a goal, start early, and stick to the plan. With the uncertain future of pension plans, tax rates | 433 |
We appologise that this site is undergoing reconstruction work.
Ace Designs is a small Graphic Design practice in Dover, Kent. With over 25 years of experience we can offer a range of traditional and digital solutions<|fim_middle|> full corporate image creation, Ace Designs is pleased to build a relaxed and open relationship with our clients. We are pleased to arrange printing at competitive prices, using local companies wherever possible.
Please call to discuss your design and illustration requirements. Normal web-service should be resumed very soon. | to your design needs, from illustrations in watercolour (and many other media) to digital photography. Our Apple Macintosh equipped studio has in house scanning and proofing facilities, allowing us to take your work from concept to completion. Copywriting and research, photo retouching, print buying and advertsing are all handled by our studio.
Historic and environmental interpretation are a speciality, and travel industry and hospitality clients are important to our business. From DL leaflets to 48 page brochures, and from business cards to | 108 |
The JM World Orchestra is a historical program of Jeunesses Musicales International that has now been discontinued. Nevertheless, it still represents a significant part of the history of the organisation, as well as the first international youth orchestra of its kind. It<|fim_middle|>ano, Yakov Kreizberg, MIcheal Tilkin, Kurt Masur, Franz-Paul Decker, Josep Vincent. | provided young musicians with professional musical opportunities at the highest artistic level, touring twice annually as ambassadors for world peace and intercultural understanding.
Launched in 1949 by Igor Markievitch, it was institutionalised by Gilles Lefebvre as Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in 1969. The orchestra quickly gained a reputation of high artistic quality and became a symbol of cultural understanding and peaceful cooperation among nations. It has been described as an harmonious community of musicians without borders, or the United Nations of Music. It was also honoured with the title of UNESCO Artist for Peace in 1996 in recognition of its humanitarian message.
Since its foundation it has brought together over 10,000 musicians from some 45 countries, played all over the world and inspired the creation of many other similar orchestras. It has been conducted by such maestros as Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein, MIcheal Tilson-Thomas, Serge Baudo, Lawrence Foster, Walter Weller, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Eduardo Mata, Jeffrey Tate, Vernon Handley, Charles Dutoit, Michel Tabachnik, Antonio Pappano, En Shao, Bobby McFerrin. Daniel Harding, Yuri Temirkanov, Kent Nag | 265 |
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