“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.”The quote is attributed to Buckminster Fuller. Another variation on the theme is that new ideas don’t triumph by changing opinions; they triumph because those holding the old ideas die out and those holdingContinueContinue reading “Our Three Europes”
Tag Archives: history
Homes Ancient & Modern
Nearly a millennium ago today, regional England was trampled beneath Norman hooves and, as Chesterton’s poem puts it, “gored on the Norman gonfalon, the Golden Dragon died”. Yet history has a habit of undoing itself. Dismembered Poland was put back together. Twice. The Albanians, Belarusians, Bosnians, Croats, Cypriots, Czechs, Estonians, Finns, Hungarians, Icelanders, Irish, Latvians,ContinueContinue reading “Homes Ancient & Modern”
False Flags & The Fallen
It takes a lot of planning to fit the First World War in between Sunday’s closing ceremony for the Stolenwealth Games and tonight’s televised independence debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling. The juxtaposition may give cause for thought. Scotland’s choice seems to lie between two visions of Europe. On the one hand, it canContinueContinue reading “False Flags & The Fallen”
Berlin Wall II
Aye or nae, Scotland’s debate over its future is laying bare the fundamental structure of the UK in ways that no academic study could have begun to contemplate. There’s nothing like demanding answers to questions that were always thought too fanciful to ask but have suddenly become part of an urgent reality. We know whatContinueContinue reading “Berlin Wall II”
Our Silent, Supine Cities
It’s been a good week’s viewing for fans of Wessex history. On Monday the BBC ran a repeat of Michael Wood’s portrait of Alfred the Great, warming up for Neil Oliver on Tuesday, who wove a documentary about the king’s bones and their present whereabouts. If it was supposed to be an exclusive, it didn’tContinueContinue reading “Our Silent, Supine Cities”
Distant Thunder
“We have just received a document which has been given to the world under the title of a ‘Statement of Certain Scottish Grievances’… The two most important heads of complaint are, that a revenue of £5,764,804, raised in Scotland, is transmitted to England and disbursed for Imperial purposes, and that the representation of Scotland isContinueContinue reading “Distant Thunder”
The Worker’s Hire
“They hang the man, and flog the woman,Who steals the goose from off the commonBut leave the greater felon looseWho steals the common from the goose. The law demands that we atoneWhen we take things we do not ownBut leaves the lords and ladies fineWho takes things that are yours and mine.The poor and wretched don’t escapeIfContinueContinue reading “The Worker’s Hire”
Contesting The Legacy
“There are certainly parts of the country that are more anti-her than others, but I think they tend to be the parts that have become relatively less important.”Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily TelegraphMoore spoke on the day that we saw the last of the Rt Hon the Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven. At leastContinueContinue reading “Contesting The Legacy”
Among The Ruins
Lector si monumentum requiris circumspice.(Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you.)The media had decades to prepare for the death of Margaret Thatcher, who checked out at The Ritz today. It still seemed this evening to have taken them by surprise. The BBC were the worst, like a bunch of prefects, busily orchestrating theContinueContinue reading “Among The Ruins”
Right Here, Right Now
According to London newspaper The Guardian, “the fringe candidates have been great value”. Colin “has spent many chilly hours on Market Street patiently explaining exactly where Wessex is and why the ancient kingdom should not be controlled by Westminster”.Ancient kingdom? Is that how Scotland, Wales or Cornwall would be described? Anyone would think we’re aContinueContinue reading “Right Here, Right Now”
Wessex Regionalists 