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caldrail

Entry posted by caldrail

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I hear the news that one of the local pubs has reopened for business. Not, as you might imagine, because of a swarm of drunkards making an appearance after midnight, but because it was reported in our local newspaper.

 

These days it isn't enough to simply paint a silly sign and open the doors to the general public. Commerce demands that the pub is able to attract customers. In this case the pub has decided to sell 'historic food'. Again this isn't what you might suspect. By 'historic' they mean reproductions of menus dating back to the 1600's, not what was left in the freezer from last year.

 

That is nonetheless a fascinating idea. How much has food changed since 1600? They certainly didn't eat cornflakes for breakfast back then. Not so long ago I stumbled across a menu from the 1700's that was served by a pub in Marlborough. That made interesting reading. Most of the stuff listed was more or less what you can buy today although cooked in a much more straightforward manner without foreign vegetables or spices. The prices betrayed a certain trend toward serving the gentry passing through the town. Servants meals were considerably cheaper.

 

I wonder what the difference was? Did the servants actually get lower quality food, or yesterdays left-overs, or was this simply a means of extracting cash from a gentleman's purse?

 

What Do We Do With Them?

Swindon's love affair with crumbling old buildings continues. Our local newsletter continues to moan about the continued existence of the abandoned Old College. Scandalous, they call it. Typical more like.

 

What about the Mechanics Institute? If anything qualifies as a historic building, surely that does? Half the roof is missing to foestall a collapse and nobody seems able to to do anything with the site.

 

Now the same situation is developing with the Locarno, a building dating back to 1852 which suffered a fire some years ago. Not quite the same eyesore as the other two buildings perhaps, but apparently there's been a number of planning requests made to the council, none of which result in anything being done.

 

What is going on in this town? As much as we'll probably hate the result of action being taken on these sites and despairing of the commercial motives to changing the buildings use, but why can't anything be agreed between developrs and council officials? Do they want Swindon to look ruined?

 

What Does Wootton Bassett Do Now?

In the news is the imminent royal visit to Wootton Bassett. Also turning up is David Cameron apparently. With the change in arrival point of repatriated dead from foreign wars away from Lyneham airbase, Wooton Bassett will no longer get all the media attention and today the impending celebration of the towns significance is local news.

 

I'm not blind and deadf to the sacrifice of those who served in the British Armed Forces, but there's a part of me that remains suspicious about the way the return of these dead men is being exploited. Soldiers have been killed in little wars or security operations for as long as I can remember, and I'm sure they suffered casualties before I was born. So in that respect, what has changed?

 

It seems to me that whilst the good people of Wootton Bassett turned out to pay respect to the fallen regularly, this idea that the town is somehow worthy is simply a matter of circumstance. The town just happened to be on the route between the airbase where the transport landed and where the bodies were being taken. I don't remember anywhere being used in this fashion before.

 

Using military virtue for political ends isn't a new idea at all. As much as I commend our lads for the work they do, I cannot help feel that so much of this circus in Wootton Bassett has been deliberately stage managed. Frankly I don't care which town the bodies travel through, or that royals and politicians will be there to celebrate the lines of mourners. I'm sure any town in England would respond similarly to the arrival of the fallen.. I do care that people are dying out there in some dusty hellhole. If the war is meant to achieve anything, surely we should be celebrating success where the operation is going on?

 

It does beg the question - What will the town of Wootton Bassett do now their part in the war is over? Apparently it's going to be a stage for media events. I'm sure those respectful citizens of a small wiltshire town will be thrilled to know they've made a politician look good.

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Melvadius

In previous wars/police actions, whatever you want to call them, the UK policy (unlike America) has always been to bury the fallen in a War Cemetery where they had fought without the option of repatriation.

 

The major change has been the decision to bring them back instead of buryign them locally which has allowed the overly-patriotically/ nationalistically minded to travel in their hordes to wave the flag. All in commemoration of people they probably wouldn't have known from Adam in real life.

 

As to Wootton Bassett the local coroner will no longer be sitting in judgement on the deaths of those killed in the conflict in 'true' Roman fashion 'were they citizens, killed lawfully etc, etc. This is the current situation as Wootton Bassett is the first place the bodies are returned to English soil so a Coroners Court has to be held on each.

 

I understand this move may well be a relief to the UK Government given his oft stated views on the conflicts.

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caldrail

Yeah? And I thought it was just a means of manipulating emotional responses from the public to accept casualties in a foreign war that does not visibly result in territorial gains, or any apparent objective at all. It is therefore a means of offsetting a public reaction against what could become an unpopular and ineffective and expensive campaign.

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caldrail

What? That London march? There's always a percentage of the population that don't like wars and think the world would be a better place if we all stayed at home. Personally I think war is a terrible thing. Unfortunately, that's how human beings do business and settle arguments.

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caldrail

Expensive certainly. Wars always are. The question of effectiveness is more difficult because security operations like this do not easily result in identifiable gains. Also the British don't seem to be too sharp on propaganda whereas the Taliban trumpet every single act they perform.

 

When was the last time we heard anything positive? Most of the time we get a scrolling message at the bottom of the tv screen during newscasts telling us another solder has been killed in Helmand. I can only think of one report ever, the successful installation of a dam under army escort, that rated any mention. other than that we're left with occaisional documentaries also aimed at developing a sense of sympathy with our lads over there.

 

I don't doubt for a moment that the work they do is dangerous or that it involves considerable hardship. What we lack, as civilian observers of the news, is any sense that anything is being achieved. That's the trouble with security operations - they don't necessarily generate identifiable results, although in this case the presence of NATO troops provides a focus for Taliban effort in their own back yard rather than ours, but as it happens I think preventing the spread of radical islamic power from that region does appear to be a worthwhile exercise.

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