I have noticed that the leader of the United Kingdom has been focusing on what is important in these troubling times.
His cheerleaders in the right-wing press are onside too.
According to some political analysts in Britain, this is all part of a Cummings Plan to divert attention away from the failures of the current government.
By any available metric, the UK has the highest COVID death toll in Europe.
Moreover, the cliff edge of a No Deal Brexit is only a few months away.
I’m told that Friday, October 2nd is the deadline for Brussels to have a legally agreed text from the Brits to take to the EU 27 for ratification.
One of the things that was a powerful emotional motivator for the Pro-Brexit vote was that Britain should reassert itself in the world as a significant player.
In the days after the referendum result in 2016 the term “Empire2.0” was freely used.
There was a time when Britannia definitely did rule the waves.
From the victory at Trafalgar in 1805 to the start of the Great War the Royal Navy was the dominant maritime force on the planet.
Now, the very idea that a century after the Battle of Jutland that Britain could “rule the waves” is risible.
For the avoidance of doubt, Turkey has a bigger surface fleet.
This site has previously examined the procurement shambles around the F35B and the two aircraft carriers.
The former probably doesn’t work in combat operations, and the two flattops do not have adequate escort protection.
As with all of these stories, it is necessary to follow the money.
You can read it here (paywall).
An aircraft carrier without enough aircraft?
HMS Sevco anyone?
This is the Royal Navy in a maritime remake of Blackadder.
The belief that Britain still strides the global stage is shared by many in the Ibrox klanbase.
Indeed, apart from anti-Irish racism, imperial nostalgia is a central theme in that worldview.
The reality is that since 1945 Britain’s influence in global matters has been on the wane.
Peter Hitchen’s excellent work, “The Phoney Victory”, lays it out in stark terms.
Britain was certainly on the winning side of WW2.
However, it was broken by the experience.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 was merely a gentle slap from Ike in the Oval Office to remind the Brits that they could not act unilaterally.
If their armed forces were going to be deployed in a vital region like the Middle East, then it could only be with the prior approval of Uncle Sam.
Consequently, the British participation in the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 can be viewed as the Brits wanting to be loyal to their American masters.
Prime Minister Blair’s note to President George W Bush that “I will be with you, whatever.”
That reads like something a clingy, desperate person would send to a significant other.
Embarrassing.
Once ensconced in Basra, the British eventually capitulated to the Mehdi Army a ragtag Shia militia acting as a proxy for Iran.
TheBrits left on September 3rd 2007 and gave up control of the city.
Muqtada al-Sadr’s fighters then had a reign of terror and scores of women were murdered for being insufficiently Islamic.
Meanwhile the British remained in Basra airfield as per the terms of their surrender.
The spin from the Brits that they were “providing overwatch”.
Colonel Peter Mansoor, who was executive officer to General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, stated that:
The US Marine Corps was then sent in to re-establish order in Basra, and it took them all of 24 hours.
After their that capitulation in Iraq, the British had a chance to redeem themselves in the eyes of the US military.
Unfortunately, in Helmand Province, they failed again and once more, the Yanks had to step in.
There is simply too much evidence in the Post-1945 period to ignore that Britain has declined in the military league table.
Consequently, some folk in Blighty are rather upset about that.
Probably the next time that Baldrick sees action, it will be on food riots in post-Brexit Britain.
Still, they do put on a good show at Ibrox every year.
Dear reader, the world trembles at their power.
Well, that’s what they think…
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Johnson, Trump, Farage are all cut from the same narcissistic cloth. However, my concern has never been with them, they are entitled in a democracy to sell their wears. The greatest concern of all has to be that there have clearly been millions of fools stupidly, convinced, and hoodwinked by them. Armageddon here we come………
Phil. You are becoming a bit of a master of diversion yourself. There is a mini armageddon going on at parkhead and you produce a piece like this! The majority of visitors to your site are like myself, focused more on the establishment in the east end of Glasgow that is closest to our hearts, rather than the establishment south of the border. I really don’t give a S@#T at this time what Boris and his great british buffoons are up to. I want the people at our club held to account for the shambles that is unfolding, and as a person in a position to say and do something with the influence you wield over the celtic support, it is your duty to drill down and get the answers to our questions.
This isn’t something that is just happening, this has been going on since Rogers’s time and the cracks have been papered over. People need to be held to account. Johnjames has put out an excellent post on his blog tonight that does more for celtic fans in one piece than you have ever done when it comes to holding the management and board to account. So let’s see it Phil. Let’s see you tackle this in the way you should be and help get rid of the pandemic that’s taken hold at the home of the hoops!
Hail! Hail!
I have already addressed Celtic’s self-inflicted European calamity in my previous piece.
More seriously though for you to deploy the term “pandemic” in the context of a lost football match is not acceptable.
Yellow card and I’m showing leniency.
At last count, 839118 people have lost their lives to Covid19 worldwide out of 25m cases.
Another crass comment like that and you will not be seen here again.
Reply with an unequivocal apology or this IS your last appearance here.
Either works for me.
Banning you is easy.
Whoever you really are.
Whoever he is Phil, he’s no Celtic fan. ‘Henrick’ indeed
Agree with Phil on use of the word pandemic but agree with you in every other aspect of your post henriksgoldenboot. Your previous article never tackled Neil Lennon’s poor selection and instead focussed elsewhere, i.e., Pedro and the players. Does Neil Lennon get a pass. He is no different to me or you that he bleeds Celtic.
I am at odds at times with some of Phils opinion, and thankfully have been allowed to express that.I have to disagree with your assertion that he does not use this site to take to task, issues at Celtic park. Check out the historical offerings, and you will see at times he certainly does not miss. When he raises concerns about the Celtic board and the CEO in particular, he is the most concise and least sycophantic writer out there. In fact he has been so frank at times that I am surprised that he has not been banned from CP. As I say I have at times disagreed with his views on for example Peter Lawell, not for him being too lenient towards Peter, but to my my for being too harsh. In the authors words, the site is searchable. Just search “heated driveways”
It shows a shocking lack of awareness that anyone could support the singing of these offensive songs.
To take just one of them, Land of Hope and Glory the lyrics implore:
“Wider still and wider, shall thy bounds be set. God, who made me mighty, make me mightier yet.”
The lyrics advocate the invasion and annexation of other people’s countries. All those who are religious would be horrified that they also implicate God in these crimes.
The lyrics also have the audacity to claim that the Imperial motherland is “Mother of the free.”
I do not think that the millions who were involuntarily cooped into the British Empire would agree with all of this.
You have previously recommended Peter Hitchens’ book and on that basis, and despite my inherent antipathy towards his writing in the Daily Mail, I borrowed it from the library. I think I got about twenty pages into it before I decided I had better things to do with my life. I am no historian but even I could see he was presenting a view of history that was bent to his right-wing, twisted view of modern Europe. I recommend this review from the New Statesman for an educated demolition job of the book.
https://www.newstatesman.com/Peter-Hitchens-Phoney-Victory-World-War-II-Delusion
I believe that it is always advisable to read a book in its entirety before you criticise it.
When “Downfall” was going into production many one-star reviews turned up in Amazon from dignified critics.
That’s quite a skill!
For the avoidance of doubt, I do not agree with that review by Richard J Evan’s
Then again, unlike you, I’ve read the entire book.
I defer to your greater tolerance for the writings of a crypto-fascist. My stomach just wasn’t strong enough to continue to the end.
Surprising though that you are so critical of his employers at the Daily Mail in this piece.
The simple truth is that I have read his book and therefore can express an opinion on it.
You have not.
If you only read authors you ideologically agree with then you are indeed a poorly read individual.
That is clear from your comments here.
For me, AJP Taylor’s take on WW2 is the crucial text.
With a pandemic, economic failure and social restrictions,
leaving The EU without a trade deal would be the cherry on top.
If the UK doesn’t self-combust first,
then the USA will happily extract all it wants from the UK – and on its own terms of course.
The U.S. healthcare companies rampaging over the NHS will just be the tip of the iceberg.
And Boris will just stand by, looking bewildered whilst ruffling his hair… 🙁