Wednesday 26 December 2012

The effects of nuclear weapons

BFTF'd formative years were back in the 1980's, a decade marked by great music, the beginnings of the revival of the English national footy team, overstyled hair (on both sexes) and, more disturbingly, the ever present threat of nuclear war.

Those of a younger generation may not appreciate just how real this possibility was, but BFTF can vividly recall programmes such as Weekend World routinely discussing what would happen if the Soviets rolled into West Germany and there was a (so called "limited") nuclear war. For example, check out this interview with Margaret Thatcher (scroll down to Part 2) ,and a listing of another example here

There was the concept of the "4 minute warning" which was the time between Soviet missiles being detected - and the missiles delivering their nuclear payload to the UK.

Docu-dramas such as the US made "The Day After" and the UK film "Threads" brought home to people just how devastating a nuclear war would be - and how long lived would be its consequences.

And this is despite the fact that those films did not even begin to portray the full horror of the level of human death, misery and devastation that even a single nuclear weapon could cause.

Even today, a quarter of a century later, just thinking about Threads gives BFTF a bad feeling in the pit of the stomach.

And the threat of nuclear apolcalypse filtered through to popular culture, for example in music by Nena, Sting and The Jam - and also into films such as "War Games". See also this Wiki article.

Even if you escaped the direct effects of blast and radiation in a nuclear exchange, the following were sobering facts that you needed to face:

If you were a person who depended on medication to lead a healthy life then a nuclear war meant that your medication would disappear.

If you lived in a city then a nuclear war meant that food and water supplies would stop immediately.

Gas and electricity supplied would stop immediately - there would be no domestic heating.

Effects of Nuclear Weapons
A report by the organisation Medact describes how, for a relatively small 75kt (i.e. weapon with an explosive equivalent to 75,000 tonnes of TNT) the following would be the case:

50% of people within a 5.4kn radius would die or be injured from blast overpressure effects and that, at this distance:
"Walls of typical steel-frame buildings blown away [and] severe damage to dwelling houses...Full thickness skin burns are likely up to around 4km away from the blast. [These] only heal very slowly with scarring and, under normal conditions, are usually treated by skin grafting".

Radiation affect the body in three main ways.
i) Bone Marrow : Depressed production of white blood cells and platelets:
"Loss of white blood cells results in susceptibility to infections and the development of spontaneous haemorrhages. These effects may be fatal, usually at the end of the fourth week after exposure or the subject may gradually recover."

ii) Gasto-Intestinal : These effects occur at higher radiation levels, the report stating that:
"The main initial damage is to the cells lining the small intestine. This results in massive diarrhoea with loss of body fluids and the risk of septicaemia from bacteria that have gained access through the damaged lining. These symptoms occur earlier than in the bone-marrow form and, if the subject survives, are likely to be followed by the features of the bone-marrow form described above."

iii) Central Nervous System : This is affected at very high levels of radiation resulting in:
"convulsions, coma and death within a few hours. At somewhat lower doses, there is a gradual loss of mental and physical activity, followed by disorientation, coma and death in a few days."

A shocking testimony from Hiroshima
The report includes a description of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At Hiroshima, a priest, Father Kleinsorge, was asked to help some soldiers and it was later reported that:
'When he had penetrated the bushes, he saw there were about 20 men and they were all in exactly the same nightmarish state; their faces were wholly burned, their eye sockets were hollow, the fluid from their melted eyes had run down their cheeks.' This was the result of having their faces upturned when the bomb exploded"

"Square Leg"
The report mentions the 1980 'Square Leg' NATO exercise, in which an attack of 5 One Megaton weapons on London was simulated. Medact comments that:
"Based upon the 1971 census, when the population of Greater London was 7.2 million (private householders only), blast effects alone would have resulted in 1.1 million immediate deaths and 2.4 - 2.9 million injured. If only 1% of the population were directly exposed to the effects of heat in the open there would have been approximately 28,000 partial-thickness and 5,000 full-thickness burns among those who had not been killed or injured by the effects of blast. If 25% had been exposed, the corresponding figures would have been 700,000 partial-thickness and 125,000 full-thickness burns."

It almost happened
It is worth remembering that a major nuclear exchange - which would have devastated much of human civilisation - very nearly happened on at least two occasions; once in the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and - at a time of heightened tensions - in a 1983 false missile alarm in the Russian early warning system.
What Medact want to see.
Although their work is wide ranging, Medact was originally formed by a 1992 merger of Medical Association for the Prevention of War, and the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons. Given this history, it is not surprising that their view is that:

"As health professionals we are aware that the continued possession of nuclear weapons and the development of new nuclear weapons is not only dangerous but a huge waste of resources. At a time when our National Health Service is acutely short of funds, for Britain to embark on a programme to develop a new nuclear weapon system to replace Trident, with capital costs of up to £25 billion and running costs of perhaps £50 billion more, would divert massive resources and potentially create death and sickness on a massive scale, would be totally irresponsible.

It is essential to begin realistic negotiations between all the actual and potential nuclear weapon states to bring about nuclear disarmament, as they are under an obligation to achieve under Article 6 of the NPT. The objective should be a Nuclear Weapons Convention, which would ban the production, stockpiling or use of nuclear weapons and require the destruction of existing stockpiles as do the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions for the respective weapons. A draft NWC drawn up by Costa Rica already exists as a United Nations document."

Further Information
Wikipedia article on effects of nuclear weapons
Medact articles on Nuclear Weapons
CND page on nuclear weapon effects
Hiroshima Remembered


Hiroshima, after the nuclear attack



Image Source
Hiroshima Aftermath

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Amazon, I can't shop with you any more

Just sent the followng to Amazon.

Dear Amazon,

I love your products, your service and your prices.

But I love the the NHS, the Police Force, schoolteachers, roads and libraries more.

By paying only £1.8million on sales of £3,500million in the last year you are putting at risk these great institutions as well as some of the country's most vulnerable people.

I won't give my money to a company that is running the UK down by not paying it's fair share of tax. You have already lost hundreds of pounds of my spending and, if you continue on your current path, you will miss out on hundreds of pounds more over the next year.

You know what is the right thing to do.

Do it.


Update 02 Jan 13
Dear reader, you may wish to sign the petition at Change.org to pressure Amazon into paying corporation tax in the UK. The petition is by Frances and Keith Smith who say :

"We pay our taxes and so should Amazon!

We run the Kenilworth and Warwick bookshops, independent shops which have been a proud part of our local high streets for many years. As we run into the busy Christmas period, we are proud of the personal service we provide to all those who visit our store.

But times are tough and getting tougher.

We face unrelenting pressure from huge online retailers undercutting prices, in particular Amazon and it's pushing businesses like ours to the brink. But what’s even worse is that Amazon, despite making sales of £2.9 BILLION in the UK last year, does not pay any UK corporation tax on the profits from those sales. In my book, that is not a level playing field and leaves independent retailers like us struggling to compete just because we do the right thing.

All Amazon UK book and toy sales are routed through its Luxembourg subsidiary...Experts say if Amazon's total UK sales profits were not funnelled to Luxembourg, it could be paying as much as £100m a year in British corporation tax. As Independent booksellers, we are happy with competition in the market but it must be on level terms and by dodging corporation tax in this way, Amazon start with an unfair advantage....We pay our taxes and so should they -- please take a stand with us and tell Amazon to pay their fair share.

Until they do, please consider purchasing from local, independent shops instead.



Update 18Mar13 : Millions of Britons are using consumer power to boycott companies seen to be avoiding their fair share of UK tax, new reaserch reveals. A ComRes survey about public perceptions around tax avoidance, commissioned by Christian Aid, revealed some remarkable aspects of the UK publics views about multi-nationals and their tax payments :

34% say they are currently boycotting the products/sevices of a company because it doesn't pay its fair share of tax in the UK.
45% say they are considering a boycott.
72% of people agreed the Gov't should ensure UK-based companies pay the proper amount of tax in all countries every operate in.
89% said it is unfair that they have to pay their taxes when multinationals can avoid doing so,
85% say we need global leaders to stop multinationals from abusing the tax system, ‘People understand the importance of developing countries being able to collect tax that is owed to them by multinational corporations. Tax is a powerful weapon against poverty and three quarters of Britons agree that if developing countries could collect more tax then they would, in time, be less dependent on international aid, and therefore better able to provide for their own people,’ adds Joseph Stead. Christian Aid estimates that at present, multinationals’ tax dodging costs poor countries $160billon every year, far more than they receive in aid.

Christian Aid is part of the Enough Food For Everyone IF coalition, which is calling on governments to stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, so that millions of people can free themselves from hunger. The group of more than 100 charities and faith organisations wants the UK public to ask their MPs to lobby the Chancellor ahead of the Budget on 20 March. Enough Food For Everyone IF wants the Chancellor to use this Budget to require multinational companies to reveal the tax avoidance schemes they use in developing countries – and to commit the UK to sharing the resulting information with the countries concerned. This would help their tax authorities to decide how best to use their very limited resources.

Update:15th May2013
An article in the Guardian reveals that the HMRC has four criteria for deciding whether a company should pay corporation tax:

1) Is there trading activity by the non-resident company?
2) Does that trading take place in the UK?
3) Does the non-resident company have a fixed place of business in the UK?
4) Is the trade carried on through that fixed place of business? Or, if there is no fixed place of business, is the trade carried on through a dependent agent?

The Guardian comments that :

"The [Amazon]company indicates on its website it carries out a wide range of activities from his corporate offices in Slough in Berkshire. It says: "UK Corporate Offices – Slough, Berkshire, England. Since 1998, our teams have developed a genuinely British site with the same commitment to customers, cutting-edge technology and rich editorial content that has made Amazon.com such a success. Our Slough teams manage all corporate functions, including buying, marketing, software development, sales and legal."

And yet :

"Despite Amazon EU Sarl's extensive activities in the UK, it appears that HMRC inspectors – for reasons we cannot know – have accepted the retailer's insistence that this business is not captured by these four tests."


: BFTF has heard of a company called Hive.co.uk, who work with a network of local booksellers.

: Bought a book from Hive.co.uk, for a price that was similar to that of Amazon. Hive told BFTF (via Twitter) that "Hive is a UK registered company and as such are liable for, and pay, all relevant UK taxes. We’re UK through and through." and that, in relation to the commssion they paid local independent booksellers "Commission is dictated by value of the order. Typically it's between 2%-20%, but as stated, it varies depending on your order."

Hive.co.uk say they pay taxes and pay 2-20% commission to local bookstores

Related Links
38degrees Tax Dodger Guide
Amazon Warehouse in Spain (Source)

Monday 15 October 2012

German support for Hitler in the 1930s

Recently watched a fascinating, but rather frightening, episode from the "Nazis - A warning from History" series.

It was the second programme in the series and looked at the ways in which the general population reacted to the Nazis rule in the 1930s.

The programms began by describing how, once they gained power, the Nazis began imprisoning their opponents in concentration camps. There was no significant public outcry against this becasue, as Manfred Von Shroder (Nazi Party Member 1933-45) commented, people knew of the concentration camps and thought that "so what, the communists would have done the same, and this is a revolution...the English had invented them [concentration camps] in South Africa with the Boers"


Lizzie Van Zyl was a child inmate of a British concentration camp
in South Africa during the Second Boer War

The programme also looked at the way the government was run in Nazi Germany, with Prof Ian Kershaw commenting that the country was unusual in being one where there was "No collective governemt yet where the head of state does not spend all his time dictating"

The narrator comments that Hitler was surrounded to acolytes who knew that their future depended on being able to please him. So ambitious Nazis would listen to Hitlers vision and, on their own initiaive think of ways his vision could become reality, making up detailed policy and claiming they were acting "on the will of the Fuhrer"

As far as the general population was concerned, life improved under the Nazis, not least because they printed money to finance large infrastructure projects (such as the autobahns) and a re-armament programme.

The programme also described how Jews were systematically discriminated against and banned from any jobs in the public sphere.

Front Page of the Nuremburg Laws Legislation which
banned Jews from participating in public life.

Johannes Zahn (Economist and Banker since 1931) was asked what it was like to work in a system that was so discriminatory and responded, rather frighteningly, that "Well, the general opinion was that the Jews had gone too far in Germany, that out of 4,800 lawyers in Berlin, 3,600 were Jews" and that "there was hardly a theatre director who wasn't a Jew. And one day it became just too much. The general feeling that the Jews should be driven back was not opposed"

A Nazi anti-Semitic cartoon, circa 1938--showing Churchill as an octopus with a Star of David
over its head and its tentacles encompassing a globe

Nazi propaganda hugely exaggerated the number of Jews who were in professions like the Law or the Theatre and didn't mention that the Jews had been banned from other careers for hundreds of years.

Surprising information about the Gestapo has come to life in the town of Wurtzburg, where US soldiers prevented the destruction of Gestapo files. Recent research on these files has revealed that, far from their being a pervasive Gestapo network, there were only 28 secret police officials for a region of nearly a million people

As Professor Robert Gellately comments "I think the Gestapo could not have operated without the co-operation of the citizens of Germany...there were simply not enough Gestapo officials to go around", adding that around 80-90% of the crimes reported to the Geatapo came from ordinary citizens.He goes on to say that it was previously thought that the German population had been brainwashed from above but that now the view was that the system was manipulted from below by lots of people for all kinds of reasons.

As the narrator points out "the citizens of a town like Wurtzburg didn't have to fear the Gestapo as much as what their neighbours might tell the Gestapo

Jewish refugees from Czechoslovakia being marched away by police at
Croydon airport in March 1939 prior to being deported to Warsaw.(see also here)

Update : 16 Oct 12
Sent a webform to the BBC saying thank you for airing this programme.

Image Sources
Lilly Van Zyl
Jewish refugees at Croydon Airport
Octopus
Nurenburg Laws

Sunday 14 October 2012

Muslim Communities in Nottingham - Reports

BFTF recently became aware of two fascinating reports on the Muslim Communities in Nottingham.

Firstly there is as report on the "Muslim Diversity in the City of Nottingham", commissioned by Nottingham Council and published in 2009.

And secondly there is a report entitled "Understanding and Appreciating Muslim Diversity in the City of Nottingham", again commissioned by Nottingham City Council and published in 2009.

It is perhaps worth looking at these reports in a little more detail...

"Muslim Diversity in the City of Nottingham"
This report contains a SPECTACULARLY complicated schematic map of Muslim communities in Nottingham, broken down by ethnicity and school of thought.

"Understanding and Appreciating Muslim Diversity in the City of Nottingham"
This report is pretty much worth its weight in gold as it comprehensively describes the issues facing the Muslim communities in Nottingham, together with the dysfunctional way they operate and recommendations on what should be done to rectify the situation.

Some of the most interesting points are shown below:

Religious Leaders and Muslim Community Engagement...In general, Nottingham‟s Muslim religious leaders provide an effective channel of engagement into the communities they serve. However, we found particularly amongst local religious elders, a general reluctance and in some cases a refusal to engage with Muslims outside the confines of their respective Muslim Maslaq or practice...

Biraderi...These systems traditionally play an instrumental role in arranging marriages, conflict resolution, organising joint commercial activities, selecting community and Masaajid leadership, and vitally in consolidating support for sponsorship of Local Councillors and community leaders...However, when associated with other factors such as deprivation, alienation, and poor socio-economic expectations, these systems can be exploited in a negative context

Muslim CouncillorsOf the Muslim councillors we interviewed, most were keen to disassociate themselves from Nottingham‟s Masaajid, religious structures and groupings. Many were critical of faith-based schools and highlighted theologically based divisions to explain their preference for a secular based mainstream approach to tackling issues effecting Muslim communities...However, as we heard overwhelmingly in feedback gathered during focus groups and interviews, most Pakistani heritage Muslim councillors were perceived by their respective communities as being sponsored and elected through Birardari based support networks...Further, due to the perception that Muslim councillors‟ primary allegiances were determined by their personal Birardari affiliations, almost all were viewed as being self-serving and unrepresentative of wider Muslim opinion and needs.

Support for younger people...amongst religious, community and civic elders [there was] a reluctance to give up their positions to younger generations. The common response from both religious and civic elders was that the young were not “ready” to take up leadership positions. When asked to identify any prospective young leaders, most “couldn‟t or wouldn‟t”, despite some being involved in projects or programmes supporting the development of young Muslim leaders...

Community Centres...We heard suggestions that some centres were run as a “one man show” – precipitating rivalries, conflict and accusations of corruption and pilfering. Another commonly expressed concern was related to the appointment of family and fellow Birardari members onto management committees and other positions of influence

Exclusion of Women...As in other parts of the country, we heard from Muslim women in Nottingham who feel that their voices are not heard. They seemed to distance themselves from mainstream society, the Council in particular. And they are excluded from the majority of Masaajid in the city. They have no confidence in the traditional community leadership, nor that of the Council.

Council Consultation...[community] leaders were highly critical of the Council‟s current approach. There was a general distrust, suspicion and doubts about the Council‟s sincerity and commitment in relation to engagement with Nottingham‟s Muslim communities.

Some of the Recommendations: The Council needs to...
i)ensure it is aware of (and has up to date contact details for) all the key groups and individuals across Nottingham‟s Muslim communities. Of particular concern is the lack of information held by the Council at present and this needs to be remedied urgently;
ii) encourage individuals from groups not currently actively engaged in civic life to become more involved by setting up new channels of communication and engagement and other initiatives.
iii) work with the faith communities in the City to encourage Imams (and other faith leaders, where appropriate) to speak English and become more closely engaged with the wider life of the City.

Update 15 Feb 2013
Following a dialogue described here received the following response from Nottingham Council on how the reports recommendations had been implemented (response has been edited slightly for conciseness) :
Community Engagement:
Community Development Workers (Previously 3, now 1) worked with a huge range of groups from women’s groups providing sewing classes to mosques doing work with young men. Work with many of these groups, particularly ones with a focus on women’s issues continues.

The Muslim Communities Steering Group (MCSG), and sub groups on Youth and Women did a lot of work to look at the different parts of the Muslim community and to look at ways to engage with them.

We now have a central database (Digits) which includes both Mosques and Community Groups and can be searched by relevant ‘fields’ (e.g. Faith) to enable the Council to mail out to a targeted groups.

We are currently working to improve our relationship with groups providing services to young men in particular and to broaden our reach across all faith groups both directly and through Nottingham Interfaith Council.

Training and Development
Imam Training was part of the MCSG action plan. Diversity training for staff is part of the induction, and additional training is provided by the Equalities Team.

Schools and Community Cohesion
The Cohesion Team and Schools Support service have worked closely to provide a range of training to schools and teachers, on Cohesion, Hate Crime, Understanding Diversity, the 2010 Equalities Act and most recently ‘new arrivals’

Leadership
The MCSG funded some leadership training, for women and community leaders. The Cohesion Team continue to support new community groups and empower those involved to take on other roles in the city, including on advisory and consultative groups, interviews and mystery shopping.

Funding
Grants were reviewed and funding given in both small and large grants for cohesion in 2009 for 3 years. The Community Development Officers have supported a wide range of groups to ensure they understand how to fill in application forms for funding and to build their organisational frameworks and capacity to obtain funding.

Preventing Violent Extremism Funding from National Government was ring fenced,

Sunday 7 October 2012

How to Disagree

The rise of social media and "user generated content" on on-line newspapers has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of people who can argue, in real-time, online.

But as people are not generally trained in the skills of debate and argument, the quality of these online discussions can sometimes (perhaps often) end up as a simple slanging match.

Which isn't helpful - and just leaves people angry.

So BFTF was chuffed to find out about a "Hierarchy of Argument", devised by Paul Graham, which describes the ways in which people argue, and how some approaches can be fallacious. It's shown below, together with some comments taken from Graham's essay on the subject, and also a short list of some common fallacies.


Counterargument.
Unfortunately it's common for counterarguments to be aimed at something slightly different. More often than not, two people arguing passionately about something are actually arguing about two different things. There could be a legitimate reason for arguing against something slightly different from what the original author said: when you feel they missed the heart of the matter. But when you do that, you should say explicitly you're doing it.

Refutation.
To refute someone you probably have to quote them. You have to find a "smoking gun," a passage in whatever you disagree with that you feel is mistaken, and then explain why it's mistaken. If you can't find an actual quote to disagree with, you may be arguing with a straw man.

While refutation generally entails quoting, quoting doesn't necessarily imply refutation. Some writers quote parts of things they disagree with to give the appearance of legitimate refutation, then follow with a response as low as Contradiction or even Name-Calling.

Refuting the Central Point.
The force of a refutation depends on what you refute. The most powerful form of disagreement is to refute someone's central point.

Even as high as Refutation we still sometimes see deliberate dishonesty, as when someone picks out minor points of an argument and refutes those. Sometimes the spirit in which this is done makes it more of a sophisticated form of ad hominem than actual refutation. For example, correcting someone's grammar, or harping on minor mistakes in names or numbers. Unless the opposing argument actually depends on such things, the only purpose of correcting them is to discredit one's opponent.

Truly refuting something requires one to refute its central point, or at least one of them. And that means one has to commit explicitly to what the central point is. So a truly effective refutation would look like:

The author's main point seems to be x. As he says:

But this is wrong for the following reasons...
The quotation you point out as mistaken need not be the actual statement of the author's main point. It's enough to refute something it depends upon.

Other Common Fallacies

Ad Hominem (Argument To The Man):
Attacking the person instead of attacking his argument. For example, "Mr Smiths views that black people should be deported are worthless because he is a convicted benefit fraudster” (which may be true, but is not why his views are wrong)

A common form is an attack on sincerity. For example, "How can you argue that we should “Buy British” when you have a Japanese car?”

Another variation is attack by innuendo: "Why don't scientists tell us what they really know; are they trying to hide something?"

Straw Man (Fallacy Of Extension):
Attacking an exaggerated or caricatured version of your opponent's position. For example: "Mr Smith says that we should abandon Trident. I disagree and cannot understand why he wants to leave us defenceless”

Excluded Middle (or False Dichotomy):
For example, "We must deal with poverty before spending money on science ” - Why can't we do some of both ?

Appeal To Anonymous Authority:
An Appeal To Authority is made, but the authority is not named. For example, "Experts agree that ..", This makes it impossible to verify the information and it may well be that the arguer themselves does not know who the “experts” are.

Moving The Goalposts
If your opponent successfully addresses some point, then say he must also address some further point. If you can make these points more and more difficult (or diverse) then eventually your opponent must fail. Asking questions is easy: it's answering them that's hard.

It is also possible to lower the bar, reducing the burden on an argument. For example, some person might claim that eating sunflower seeds prevents colds. When they do get a cold, then they move the goalposts, by saying that the cold would have been much worse if not for the sunflower seeds they were eating.

Image Source :
Heirarchy of Argument

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Olympics of 2012 and 1976

Watching the Paralympics 2012 opening ceremony, wondered what the size of a countries Paralympics team, compared to it's able-bodied Olympic team, said about the values of that country.

Perhaps having a relatively large paralympic team demonstrates that a country cares about ALL its citizens?

Perhaps, in contrast, having a relatively small paralympic team demonstrates that a country has a very narrow view of who has worth in the country

Interestingly, comparing the two numbers (paralympians vs olympians) for a country cuts through a lot of the variables like wealth, sporting tradition, conflict etc.

So BFTF took the top twenty(ish) counties (based on number of olympians sent), together with a few wild card entries that seemed interesting and worked out the numbers. ..

Here is the resulting graph.



*********************************************

The African Boycott of the '76 Olympics
Interesting BBC4 programme about the 1976 Olympics called "The World Against Apartheid".

The programme looks at the battle against Apartheid that was fought on the sporting fields of the world and is an absolute revelation.

One, frankly gobsmacking, story that was told related to Peter Hain, who was a prominent UK anti-apartheid activist in the 1970s. He was accused of robbing a branch of Barclays in 1974 but was aquitted, with his family claiming that he could not have left his house in time. Hain believes that the South African Bureau of State Security was responsible and that they had used a double to carry out the robbery. Hain wrote a book about his experiences called "The Putney Plot". You can read about the incident here and here.

And another event that BFTF has been unaware of occurred in 1976 and was focussed on New Zealand. . .

The 1972-75 Labour government had adopted a policy of blocking contacts with the South African Springboks rugby team. For a country where rugby is the major sport, this caused some division in society and the next election, in 1975 was won by the National Party, led by Robert Muldoon, who had campaigned on a policy of restoring sporting ties with Apartheid South Africa. In 1976, the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team undertook a tour of South Africa. This caused such outrage in Africa that 28 African counties boycotted the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal in protest at the presence of the New Zealand team at the event (South Africa had been banned from the Olympics since 1964).



If you were black, how angry would this make you?

The programme contained interviews with New Zealand sports correspondents at the '76 Games. They explained how they had been shocked to find that many of the black athletes at the Games had simply not wanted to speak to them becaues of the All Blacks tour. The correspondents had trouble understanding why anyone could think that the All Black tour was anything other than a wonderful sporting event! More info about the Sprinkboks in the 60s and 70s can be found here.

On the other hand, a BBC article states that the New Zealand Olympic Committee felt it was unfair to single them out as there had been 26 countries playing sport in South Africa that year.

As an aside, Austalia did not win a single gold medal at the '76 Games and threw such a collective wobbly at this failure that they set up the Australian Institute of Sport - which is one of the reasons they win so many gold medals now !

In more recent times, the All Blacks training has used out-of-the-box techniques such as this Marcel Marceau tribute routine


Image Source : All Blacks, Sign

Wednesday 5 September 2012

WW1 from the Air

BFTF recent watched a fascinating programme on BBC called “WW1 from the Air”. It was was based around footage from an airship that travelled along much of the front line, just after hostilities had finished, filming the devastation below.

And “devastation” is the right word, with towns and villages having being reduced, in their entirety, to rubble by the remorseless artillery fire that was a characteristic of the conflict.

The presenter, Fergal Keane, did an excellent job of explaining how the introduction of aircraft into the war gave commanders - for the first time in history - an aerial view of the battlefield and allowed them to direct artillery fire and assess its effects.

Fergal also talked to experts about the conditions that the soldiers faced, painting a grim picture of life in the trenches.

If you read the BBC article about the programme you will notice that there is a picture at the top showing the effects of the artillery bombardment on the village of Passchendale, the image shows “before” and “after” shots of the same area, clearly showing that there was not a single square centimetre of ground that was not now part of a shell crater, and that there not so much as a garden shed had survived the assault intact. A similar image, this time from Wikipedia, is shown below. Note how both images are of the same area, oriented in the same way - so that the reader can quickly and easily compare features in the two images.

Passchendale - before and after shelling.
The white spots in the lower image are water filled shell holes
The reader can see how the the shell craters had become filled with water and it was this kind of mud and water-filled crater landscape that troops had to cross when attacking enemy lines.

Imagine it just for a second.

And then imagine being a soldier in those conditions for months at a time.

What’s with the pop video camerawork.
In contrast to the article, with it’s simple, clear image; the actual programme chose to show these key photographs held by a person, with a camera moving around, and reflections making it hard to see the detail, and only for a few seconds.

"Can you see the Church" - well, no I can't because your hand is in front of it.(Via iplayer)
In another section of the programme, the presenters wished to show how examination of aerial photography had allowed commanders to identify a hidden barracks and then target it with artillery. The presenters then showed the effects of the attack, not by placing the relevant image on screen but rather by displaying it on a wall, having someone stand in front of it and then zooming right up.

Lets inform the viewer by projecting an image onto a wall,
zooming right in and then having a bloke stand in front.
What could possibly be clearer? (Via iplayer)
It was hugely frustrating to see these important sections of the programme being directed as though they were a pop video.

Incredibly, during this section of the programme, the director chose to spend a lot more time showing the audience the presenters talking to each other than the actual images, as illustrated in the chart below:

Time (in seconds) spent looking at the images vs time spend looking at the presenters.

Image Source:
Wikipedia


Friday 31 August 2012

The World in 1933

BFTF has been fascinated by the contents of a multi-volume 1933 Odhams Press publication entitled "The British Encyclopedia".

The volumes provide a glimpse into the the way the world looked at that time and BFTF thought you, gentle reader, might be interested to read a few extracts from some of the somtimes surprising, sometimes shocking, sometimes sad entries.

Aerodrome
…In the London area the chief aerodromes are Croydon, Heston and Hendon..

Afghanistan
…On account of his [Afghan ruler Dost Mohammad’s] dealings with the Russians the British resolved to dethrone him and restore Shah Shuja, a former ruler. In April 1839, a British army under Sir John Heane entered Afghanistan , occupied Kabul, and placed Shah Shuja on the throne, a force of 8000 being left to support the new sovereign…

…The Afghans soon organised a widespread insurrection, which came to a head on 2nd Nov 1841 when Burnes [assistant envoy] and a number of British officers, besides women and children, were murdered… The other British leaders now made a treaty with the Afghans…agreeing to withdraw the forces from the country, while the Afghans were to furnish them with provisions and escort them from the country…

…On 6th Jan 1842 the British began left Kabul and began their most disastrous retreat. The cold was intense, they had almost no food - for the treacherous Afghans did not fulfil their promises - and day after day were assailed by bodies of the enemy. By the 13th, 26,000 persons, including camp-followers, women and children, were destroyed…only one man, Dr Brydon, reached Jalalabad which, along with Kanadahar, was still held by the British…

In a few months Gen Pollock, with a fresh army from India, retook Kabul and soon finished the war…Dost Mohammed again obtained the throne of Kabul and acquired extensive power in Afghanistan. He joined with the Sikhs against the British and afterwards made an offensive and defensive alliance with the latter. He died in 1863, having nominated his son Shere Ali his successor.

Shere Ali entered into friendly relations with the British, but in 1878, having repulsed a British envoy and refused to receive a British mission (a Russian mission being meantime at his court), was was declared against him and the British troops entered Afghanistan.[resulting in a treaty giving the British control of Afghanistan’s foreign policy]

In 1921 Britain recognised the independence of Afghanistan…

Africa
The great races of which the population of Africa mainly consists are the Eastern Hamites, the Semites, the Negroes and the Bantus…

…In religion a great proportion of the inhabitants are heathens of the lowest type; Mohammedanism numbers a large number of adherents in North Africa and is rapidly spreading in the Sudan; Christianity prevails only among the Copts, the Abyssinians and the natives of Madagascar…

…Great areas in Africa have been apportioned among the European Powers as protectorates of spheres of influence…

Aga Khan
...The hereditary chief of the Ismaillite sect of the Mohammedans. His real name was Hassna Ali Shan and he was born in 1800. [He] settled in India and supported the British in their wars against the Sikhs and the Afghans. He died in 1881. His grandson, Aga Khan III rendered great service to Britain during the Great War…

Alexandrian Library

..The largest and most famous of all the ancient collections of books, founded by Ptolemy Sotor (d.283BC), King of Egypt…at its most flourishing period it is said to have numbered 700,000 volumes, accommodated in two different buildings…

[one collection] was burned during Julius Caesar’s siege of the city..

[the other collection existed until the building housing it] was gutted (A.D 391) by a fanatical crowd of Christians and its literary treasures destroyed or scattered.

The library was again accumulated but was burned by the Arabs when they captured the city under Caliph Omar in 641. Amru, the captain of the Caliphs army, would have been willing to spare the library, but Omar is said to have disposed of the matter in the famous words “If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran they are useless; if they disagree they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed”. This story, however, which rests solely on the authority of Abulfaragius, a writer who lived six centuries later, is now generally discredited.

Algeria
…The Moors and the Jews, who had been driven out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella at the end of the 15th century, settled in large numbers in Algeria and revenged themselves on their persecutors by the practice of piracy…

Alien
[Entry relates solely to people who were newcomers to a country and did not have full citizenship rights - no mention of alien as meaning “from another plantet”]

Alkali
From the Arabic “al-qali”, the ashes of the plant from which soda was first obtained.

…the Alkalis may be regarded as water in which part of the Hydrogen is replaced by a metallic radical [possibly the best explanation of the term BFTF has ever read!]

Almeh
The name given in Egypt to a class of girls whose profession is to sing for the amusement of the upper classes, as distinguished from the “Gawasi” who perform before the lower classes. They perform at feasts and other entertainments…

Alpha particle
…their charge is twice that of an electron and their mass is four times that of a hydrogen atom…

America
…The American Indians [are] now forming a very small portion of the population , especially in N. America, where the white population has almost exterminated them.

These people [American Indians] are divided into branches, some of which have displayed a considerable aptitude for civilisation. When the Europeans became aquainted with the new World [which was] inhabited by populations that had made great advances in many things that pertain to civilised life, dwelling in large and well built cities under a settled form of government.

Anglo-Saxons
…The scir-gerefa (shire-reeve or sheriff) was an important functionary...

Anthropology
…of the existing races the aboriginal Australian is much the most primitive and represents the survival of the earliest type of homo-sapiens…

Anti-Semitism
…The movement assumed vast proportions about 1880 and manifested itself in various countries, especially Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany , Rumania and France...

…In western Russia there was a great outburst against the Jews in 1881 in which men, women and children were slaughtered The Government of the Tsar , by its anti-Jewish policy, may be said to have sanctioned this murderous outbreak…

…in 1933 an organised anti-semite campaign on a large scale was carried out in Germany under the leadership of Herr Adolf Hitler…

Arabia
…The Wahabis appeared towards the end of the eighteenth century and took an important part in the political affairs of Arabia, but their progress was interrupted by Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt and they suffered a complete defeat by Ibrahim Pasha…

[Arabia returned to Turkish control around 1840]

…On 9th June 1916, the Grand Shereef of Mecca declared himself independent of the Turkish government and an Arab revolt spread rapidly. The Grand Shereef Hussein then announced to the Muslim world that the Shereefate of Mecca was henceforth independent and on 4th Nov 1916 he had himself formally proclaimed King, or Sultan, of Arabia…

Arabs
…Their features are well cut, the nose straight, the forehead high. They are naturally active, intelligent and courteous; and their character is marked by temperance, bravery and hospitality…

Arnold
…An urban district and market town of England, Nottinghamshire, 4 miles north east of Nottingham, with lace and hosiery manufactures etc. It has a church built in the twelfth century, and a tower dating from the fifteenth century and restored. Pop (1931) 14,470

Asbestos
…A remarkable and highly useful mineral. . . in modern times it has been manufactured into incombustible cloth, gloves, felt , paper etc. [No mention of danger Asbestos poses to the lungs]

Asthma
…It seldom proves fatal except as inducing dropsy, consumption etc…

Atoms
…The view held at present is that the atom consists of a massive central nucleus of positive electricity, round which minute charges of negative electricity, called electrons, revolve at enormous speeds …

Babism
… The doctrines of a Mohammedan sect whose headquarters are in Persia, founded by Seyd Ali Mohammed in 1844...

...the morality of the sect is pure and cheerful, and it shows great advancement in the treatmetn of women...

...A schism divided the followers of Babism inot tow sects, Bahais and Ezelis. The former have carried on an active propaganda in America.

Baghdad Railway
A railway starting at Konia in Asia Minor...and intended to run to Baghdad and Koweit on the Persian Gulf... German capital was used throughout, and the line was part of the Berlin-Balkan-Baghdad scheme which was to provide Germany with a safe means of transport to India.

Baku
A Russian port on the western shore of the Caspian...the naptha of petroleum springs of Baku have long been known; and the field of fire, so called from emitting inflammable gases, has long been a place of pilgrimage with the Guebres or Fire-Worshippers.

Balkan War
The First Balkan War (Oct.1912 - May 1913) was the effort of thge Balkan League to dismember Turkey in Europe. Each member of the League [Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece[ was alloted a definite strategic objective, and each gained a considerable measure of success.

Barrow-in-Furness
...Its prosperity is due to the mines of red hematite iron-ore which abound in the district...It has numerous blast-furnesses and one of the largest Bessemer steel works in the world.

Bedouins
A Mohammedan people of Arab race inhabiting chiefly the deserts of Arabia, Syrai, Egypt and North Africa...

...They lead a nomadic existence...varying the monotomy of pastoral life by rading each other and plundering unprotected travellers...

...they are lax in morals and unreliable even in respect of the code of honour attributed to them...

Beige
A light woollen fabric made of wool of the natural colour.

Belper
A town...with large cotton mills, foundries etc, and in the neighbourhood numerous collieries.

Bethlehem
The birthplace of Christ; a small place in Palestine, 5 miles south from Jerusalem..

Birmingham
A great manufacturing city of England, situated on the small river Rhea…It is the principal seat of the hardware manufacture of Britain, producing metal articles of all kinds from pins to steam engines. It manufactures fire-arms in great quantites, swords, jewellery, buttons, tools ,stee-pens, locks, lamps, bedsteads, gas-fittings, sewing-machines, articles of papier-mache, railway carriages etc. The quantity of solid gold and silver plate manufactured is large and the consumption of these metals in electro-plating is very great. Japanning, glass manufacturing and glass-staining or painting form important branches of industry as also does the manufacture of chemicals. At Soho and Smethwick in the vicinity of the town were the famous works founded by Boulton and Watt, who there manufactured the very first steam-engines, where gas was first used, plating perfected and numerous novel applications tried and experiments made…

Birmingham
A town of the United States, near the centre of Alabama, a great seat of the iron trade, having iron-ore, coal and limestone in abundance at hand, so that its blast furnaces, foundries and other works are readily supplied. It has grown up since 1880. Pop. 259,678

Birth Control
…In recent years, the ideal of quality of population rather than quantity has become general; and birth control has been a keenly discussed subject…Dr Marie Stopes is its chief exponent. A medical committee has recommended that no married person should be hindered from obtaining knowledge of contraceptive methods ; while, on the other hand, the Roman Catholic Church denounced all such practices as definitely sinful.

Blasphemy
…although the English Law still embodies the tradition which treats blasphemy as a sin, in practice it treats it as an offence against the peace and good order of society. ..

Blast Furnace
[mentions the following improvements : use of hot gas (James B Nielson, 1828, Glasgow); drying of the air (Gayley, 1905, Pittsburg, output inc by 25%, fuel consumption reduced by 20%)

Bombardment
An attack on a locality by explosive missiles from land sea or air. A bombardment is one of the recognised and legitimate methods of making war but, by the Laws and Customs of War as laid down by the Hauge Convention of 1907, its use is confined to the case of defended localities. Fortifications are not necessary to constitute a defended locality, the mere presence of troops is sufficient . A bombardment of an undefended town or locality by any means whatsoever is forbidden. The only apparent exception to this is the case of a naval bombardment, which may be resorted to to coerce an undefended town if such town refuses to comply with requisitions for supplies legitimately made under the Laws and Customs of War...

Britain
[Manufactures section] …Takin these in order of importance, we begin with cotton. In this branch of industry Great Britain still remains a long way ahead of other countries… The total value of the cotton goods (including yarn) exported in 1932 was £62, 845,000.

[Wool] is next in importance to that of cotton and draws large for its supplies on other countries, particularly the Australian colonies. The total value of the woollen goods (including yarn) exported in 1932 was £24.004,000.

[Linen and artificial silk also mentioned as being important] …Amongst the most important [of other industries] are the trades connected with iron and steel and other metals, and the manufacture of all kinds of machinery (giving in 1934 a total export of £33,636,000)

[Paper manufacturer and Ship-building also mentioned as being important]

[Commerce section]..It has been generally recognised that the Empire can be self-supporting and for this reason such organisations as the Empire Marketing Board have spared no efforts to foster Imperial trade.

Buddha
…In his mildness, his readiness to overlook insults, his zeal, chastity and simplicity of life, he was not unlike St Francis of Assisi…

Buddhism
…Although now long banished from Hindustan by the persecutions of the Brahmin, Budddhism prevails in Ceylon, Burmah, Siam, Annam, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Java and Japan…

Butter
A fatty substance produced from milk, especially cow’s milk. When the milk is first drawn, this fatty matter is disseminated through it in minute clear globules enclosed in membranous sacs or bags which in a short time rise to the surface and form cream. The cream is then skimmed off to undergo the operation of churning, which by rupturing the sacs effects a separation of the cream into a solid called butter and a liquid called butter-milk, the latter consisting of whey and other caseous matter…the butter, being formed into lumps, is washed till all the butter-milk has been expelled.

Caen
…One of the finest churches is St Pierre [built in 1308]… there is a public library with over 100,000volumes.

Caf
In Mohemmedan mythology, a mountain, which surrounds the whole earth as a hedge encloses a field. Its foundation is the stone Sakharal, which is an emerald, whose reflection gives the sky its tints.

Caliph
…The most celebrated of the Abbaside caliphs of Baghdad was Haroun al Rashid (Aaron the Just), 786-808, under whom learning, science and art were in a flourishing state. Subsequently the Muslim kingdom lost province after province and the temporal authority of Baghdad was destroyed.

… the most brilliant period of the Western Caliphate was in the ninth and tenth centuries, when literature, science and art were in more flourishing condition than anywhere else in Europe…

Camouflage
[this entry deals only with camouflage against observation from the air, no mention of camouflage clothing etc]

Capital Punishment
Formerly in Great Britain, as in many other countries, it was the ordinary form of punishment for felonies of all kinds, but a more accurate knowledge of the nature and remedies of crime; a more discriminating sense of degrees in criminality, and an increased regard for human life have all combined to restrict, if not to abolish, the employment of the penalty of death.

…The work of practical reform initiated in 1770 by Sir William Meredith…but the modifications secured [by proposed bills] were few, owing to the opposition of the House of Lords, which continued down to 1832 to oppose all attempts at criminal law reform…

Casualty
[Reports an authoritative statement given to the House of Commons in May 1921 regarding WW1 casualties : Great Britain(743,702 dead, 1,693,262 wounded); India(61,398 dead, 70,859 wounded); Australia(59,330 dead, 152,171 wounded); Canada(56,625 dead, 149,732 wounded)]

Catholic Emancipation
…[ In 18th century Ireland, Roman Catholics] were deprived of the guardianship of their children…

Cetacea [Whales and dolphins]
…The blood vessels in these animals break up into extensive plexuses or networks, in which a large amount of oxygenated blood is delayed, and they are thus enabled to remain a considerable time under water. Injury to these dilated vessels leads to profuse hemorrhage, and hence the whale is killed by the comparatively trifling wound of the harpoon…

Chemistry
…these substances, by union of which all the different sorts of known matter are built up, are about 80 in number and are called chemical elements.

…the recent work of J.J. Thompson and others indicates [that] these atoms are themselves complex and are built up of positive and negative electrons. According to this conception the atoms of all elements are formed of the same material - these electrons - but in different quantities and it is thus not inconceivable that one element should be transformed into another…

…An electrical theory of the nature of atoms, based on the properties of electrons, has made great progress in recent years. According to the theory, the mass of an atom is derived from a nucleus which is made up of some whole number of elementary nuclei, all perfectly alike.

Chicago
In 1880 its population was 503,185; in 1930 it had increased to 3,376,438.

Child Labour Regulation
…It has been increasingly realised how bad are the after effects of employing young children in factories and workshops…

…The international protection of children in industry formed an important subject of consideration at the Conference held at Washington in Oct 1919 under the League of Nations, when recommendations were made to the several nations of the League for levelling up the legislation of the more backward nations to a common minimum standard…

…In 1920, in Great Britain, the Women, Young Persons and Children (Employment) Act was passed. It made it illegal to any child under the age of 14 to be employed in any industrial undertaking other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed…The Act does not apply to domestic service, agriculture of transport by hand…

Children’s Games
The study of children’s games is an important branch of folk-lore. These games are historically valuable on account of their derivation from the ancient ceremonies and religious rites inseparable from every great occasion in the lives of our ancestors.

…[Line Singing Games] are contestant in character and consist of two lines of players, representing rival tribes or villages which alternately advance and retreat before each other. “Nuts in May” is a popular example of the line game and preserves the ancient custom of marriage by capture, the boy, or prospective husband, advancing to carry off the girl for his wife.

…[Circle Singing Games] are the survivals of those occasions when the people of one community met to celebrate some special local event, such as a marriage, seed-time or harvest. “Oats and Beans and Barley” belong to this time and depicts the ceremonies of seed-time combined with marriage customs. “Kiss in the Ring” is also a circle game representing an early form of marriage by choice.

China
In bodily strength they [Chinese] are far inferior to Europeans, but superior to most Asiatics, and their great assuidity and patient endurance of fatigue make them valuable as labourers. They are considered to be deficient in courage. In their moral qualities there is much that is amiable. They are strongly attached to their homes, hold age in respect, toil hard for the support of their families…In the great mass these qualities are counterbalanced, or rather supplanted,, by numerous vices - treachery, lying and various others.

In the western parts Mohammedanism has many followers, estimated at 20,000,000.

[on trade:]…a second embassy in 1816, by Lord Amherst, was treated with insolence ; and subsequently the treatment of British merchants became such that a collision was inevitable. In 1840 the British, on being refused redress for injuries, proceeded to hostilities, and a treaty was concluded (1842) , by which the five ports…were opened to British merchants”

Christianity
[after a definition of Christianity:] This comprehensive statement defines…its universalism, which differentiates it from Judaism and Islam, both of which remain national forms of theism.

Cod
The average length of the common cod is about 2.5 or 3 feet and the weight between 30 and 50lb, though sometimes cod are caught weighing three times this.

Condom
A town in south-west France…pop 6640.

Copts
…Reduced by a long course of oppression and misrule to a state of degradation, the number and national character of the Copts have greatly declined. At present they number about 700,000.

… the women go out with veiled faces, like the Moslem women…

The Copts are quiet and industrious, have a good capacity for business, but are servile and crafty.

National Dept
...The Bank of England was, indeed, founded upon a perpetual loan of £1,200,000 to the State [in. This loan was the first national dept...

National Debt
1694 : £1.2 million (initial national dept on formation of Bank of England)
1697 : £21.5 million
1713 : £52.0 million
1748 : £79.3 million
1763 : £138.3 million
1783 : £250.0 million
1814 : £742.5 million
1914 : £711 million
1919 : £8079 million

National Health and Unemployment Insurance
...The idea of State responsibility fo rrthe distress arising to the individual out of illness...grew very gradually in the British public mind...

In 1911, however, was passed an Act of Parliament which imposed...a State system of insurance...[This entry covered a rather impressive 4 pages]

Navy
...Another innnovation of this period [~1880] was a structural alteration whereby a ram took the place of the old-fashioned bow...and proved a frightful source of danger to consorts by aggravating the effects of accidental collision...

12 pages [regarding the invention of the underwater mine and torpedo] ...in the great wars which followed vastly more loss was occasioned by underwater weapons than by the gun...

[worth noting that this entry was a very impressive 12 pages long!]

Nebula
...Some astronomers think that the spiral nebulae may be external galsaxies of stars, or island universes comparable with our own, and at enormous distances from it, but others consider that they are subordinate parts of our universe, being star clusters too closely packed for telescopic resolution.

Negroes
...A race of mankind probably indigenous to equatorial Africa. ..

...The typical negro is described as having a black skin, wooly or crisp hair...calves poorly developed and feet comparatively long...

Nejd
...A sultanate of Central Arabia, inhabited by Wahabis. . . Ibn Saud, Sultan of Nejd, annexed Jebel Shammar and made captive the representative of the Ibn Rashid dynasty in 1921; andin 1924 he made war on the Hejaz and captured Mecca, the Sherifian capital. In Dec 1925 he entered Jidda and, on the abdication of ing Ali in the same month, became King of the Hejaz. A treaty embodying Britain's recognition of his complete independance was signed at Jidda in 1927...

Neutron
[No entry, this particle was only discovered in 1932]...

Newspapers
...During the seventeenth century...the main barrier [to the printing of newspapers] was provided by the Licensing Laws, which forbade the setting up of manuscript in type without a license from the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London, and not until 1695 was the Licensing Act finally abolished...

...in the middle of the [18th] century the Stamp Act [a tax on newspapers] was made even more exacting... "taxes on knowledge" continued to be multiplied and by 1804 the Stamp Tax amounted to no less than 3 1/2 d per copy... [The Tax was abolished in 1855]

Northern Ireland
[Only ref to conflict there was: ] ...After the settlement of the Irish problems in 1922, boundary disputes between Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State continued. . .in 1925 Mr Baldwin intervened and a settlement was arrived at whereby no boundary alteration was made A commission to inNo entry, this particle was only discovered in 1932]...

Nottingham
...The chief mineral is coal. The soil is generally extemely fertile. . .The manufactures include lace, hosiery, machinery, silk and cotton spinning, bleaching, coal mining, iron adn brass founding, glove making etc...

Old Age Pensions
...it was not until 1909 that the first statute providing for old age pensions came into force. . .the claimant must have reached seventy years of age...

Opium
...The habitual use of opium is most common in China...

Large quantities of opium used to be consumed in China. . .the use of opium was put down between 1906 and 1916. In 1917 the importation of opium into China ceased [no emntion of the British involvement in forcing China to take Opium as payment for silk etc)

Palestine
A maritime country of the Mediterranean administered by Great Britain under mandate from the League of Nations, as a Jewish national home...

The predominant race is Musselman-Arabs, but the Jews are rapidly increasing, mainnly by immigration from Russia and Rumania...

The principal farm crops are wheat, barley, millet, tobacco, olives, melons and lentils. Sheep, goats and camels are raised...

Oranges (from the Jaffa district) are exceptionally thick skinned and are more suitable for transport than any other competitive oranges on the market. The best are sent to Liverpool, which receives 2/3 of the crop. Egypt and Turkey take the remainder. Each orange crop is worth £2,000,000.

The ostensible aim of the British Government, in accordance with the Balfour Declaration, is to make Palestine the Jewish national home without prejudicing the non-Jewish communities within the mandate area.

Population (census 1922), 757,182(590,890 of Mohammedan belief, 83,793 Jews, 73,024 Christians, 7028 Druses, and 163 Samaritans)

The Future of Palestine.-Much has been said about the development of Palestine, its future prospects and the probable effects of concentrating a small number of Jews in a territory that is overwhelmingly Muslim..

The Jew accepts Moses but rejects Christ and Mahomet; the Christian accepts both Moses and Christ but not Mohamet; and the Mahommedan accepts all three, Mahomet, Christ and Moses, as prophets, and in virtue of such a recognition he would appear to have a paramount right to th custody of the holy place of civilisation.

Pan-Islamism
An Ottoman political ideal having as its basis the reunion of of the scattered religious sects and political divisions of Islam under one head, for the resistance of further encroachment by European powers, and for the ousting of European rulers from Asia and Africa. This ideal finds expression in Arabic by a phrase Ittihad al-Islam, meaning "Islamic Union" or Pan-Islamism, and was first mentioned in English in the Times of 19th Jan. 1882.

The Ottoman interpretation of the movement was simply a confederation of Muslim peoples on German lines and under Turkish hegemony.

...by 1911 the Young Turk Committee...were canvassing all Muslim states under European control on behalf of the Pan-Islamic doctrine, urging all good Mohammedans to achnowledge the Sultan of Turkey as their legitimate, and emphasising the oriental fact "religion first, nationality second".

The Persian was urged to "remember he was a Muslim and to forget he was a Shiite"

Under a similar scheme the smaller sects of Islam (Ismailis, Zaidis, etc) which rendered any system of unification impracticable, were to be wiped out and their adherents incorporated with the break bulk of Muslims.

With the advent of the European War, events moved rapidly. Turkey subordinated her foeign policy to [Germany] and went to war claiming a jihad that nobody would either countenence or join. The keeper of the Holy Places, the Sherif of Mecca, entered on the British side in 1916 and in doing so he damned forever the Turkish cause in the eyes of the already disgusted and Turk-ridden Arabs. . .

At the end of the war...the general shrinking of Turkish power, extent and prestige gave Pan-Islamism a blow from which in all probability it will never recover.

Recipes

All of BFTF's recipes brought together in one tasty post!

Whilst the rest of this blog is, admittedly, a bit "do-gooder", the recipes section is here for a very different reason - BFTF appears to be utterly incapable of keeping track of the recipes that it has tried, especially the ones that seemed to work. So putting them here will hopefully ensure that BFTF can find them when required.

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250g biccies

250g butter (British)
250g brown sugar (Fairtrade, if possible)
250g plain flour
200g mixed peel (the sticky kind in tubs, ASDA own-brand seems to work best)
2 eggs, beaten (Free Range - there is no excuse for buying anything else)


Place butter and sugar in mixing bowl and mix together (10-20 seconds in the microwave may help if the butter is straight from the fridge and it is a cold day)
Add Flour and beaten eggs, mix until uniform.
Add Mixed Peel (Avoid the syruppy bits at the bottom of the tub, they can make the biccies over-sweet)

Pre-heat oven to 180C
Use fairy-cake baking trays (and paper fairy-cake cases), place about a heaped teaspoon worth of mix in each tray location. The amounts above should give about 48 biccies.
Place in oven and cook for about 19mins (until nicely browned on top).
Remove from oven, take cases out of tray and allow to cool for 5-15mins then remove cases and your biccies are ready.

Eat within a few days.

A plate of 250g biccies and mini-muffins


The dish rates as "MEDIUM" on the BFTF Washing Up Index

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Mini Muffins
500ml milk (semi skimmed of full fat)
250ml oil (vegetable or sunflower)
250g brown sugar (Fairtrade, if possible)
2 eggs, beaten (Free Range - there is no excuse for buying anything else)

500g self-raising flour
250g chopped fairtrade milk chocolate (or chopped glace cherries, or raisins)


Place milk, oil, sugar and eggs in a bowl and stir together for a couple of minutes.
Add Flour and mix until no free flour remaining. DO NOT OVERMIX, the mix should remain lumpy
Add Chopped chocolate and mix for about 30seconds.
Pre-heat oven to 200C
Use fairy-cake baking trays (and paper fairy-cake cases), fill cases about 80% full. The amounts above should give about 38 mini-muffins (which is annoyingly 2 more than the spaces in three standard trays)
Place in oven and cook for about 20mins (until nicely browned on top).
Remove from oven, take cases out of tray and allow to cool for 5-15mins then remove cases and your mini-muffins are ready.
Eat within a few days.
A plate of mini-muffins and 250g biccies


The dish rates as "MEDIUM" on the BFTF Washing Up Index

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Plum Compote

BFTF has always been interested in the idea of making jam, but has been less keen on the perceived need for paraphanelia such as muslin filters, airtight jars and gelling agents. All sounds a bit technical.A work colleague recommended a recipe for a Plum Compote (a compote is basically a runny jam) and this has proved very successful. . .

12 ripe(ish) plums
1/2 cup sugar (fairtrade is good)
1/2 cup water

Cut plums into quarters. Remove and discard stones (they contain a toxic chemical)
Bung everything into a saucepan and bring to a strong simmer
Keep simmering for 20 minutes, longer if you want a thicker result.
> Allow to cool, put in a plastic container and freeze. Scoop out spoonfulls from frozen whenever required.

This recipe rates as "EASY" on the BFTF Washing Up Index
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Potato Dauphinoise

BFTF is a fan of potatoes - not least because they are so spectacularly easy to cook that even BFTF can do it without making a mistake.

Having said that, BFTF was wondering about new ways to cook potatoes recently and became aware of this French recipe (don't ask how because BFTF has no idea, although it may have been featured on a Jamie Oliver programme). It's widely available on the Internet and seems to come in two flavours (as it were)
a) Pre-boil the potatoes (about 40mins cooking time)
b) Make everything in one shot (about 90mins cooking time)
It may come as no surprise that it is version (a) that is described here. . .


1-5-2.5kg potatoes (cut into 2-3mm slices)
500g double cream
500g full fat milk
250g grated cheese (mature cheddar is good)
1 chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic paste

Bung everything (except the cheese) in a large pan and bring to a gentle simmer.
Stir gently and frequently until potatoes almost cooked, about 15mins
Transfer to greased oven dish and add cheese (either in alternate layers with the potatoes or all on top)
Place in a pre-heated oven at 200C and cook for a further 15-25mins


Potato Dauphinoise


This dish is rated as "VERY HARD" on the BFTF Washing Up Index, so don't say you weren't warned. . . .

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Keema Salan
It's a taste sensation!

Ingredients
1 kg minced mutton
1 tin tomatoes
2 large onions
1.5 teaspoon Salt
1.0 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
0.5 teaspoon Turmeric
0.5 teaspoon Garam Masala
2.0 teaspoon Zeera (Cumin seeds)
Some cooking oil

Procedure
a) Bung everything except the oil into a pan, bring to the boil and it simmer for 20minutes, during this time, add a little water if required.
b) Increase the heat to evaporate most of the water then add some oil and gently fry for a further 20mins.
c) Serve.

The dish rates as "EASY" on the BFTF Washing Up Index

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Easy Risotto with Fish and Peas

Ingredients
300g Risotto Rice
1 litre hot vegetable stock
Tinned oily fish (anchovies/sardines etc)
Peas (optional) One onion
Salt, pepper, oil

Worth knowing that So, anyway, you just need to know that while Sardines are not an overfished species, many other species are and you should look for the MSC logo when buying Tuna, Cod, Mackeral etc.

Procedure
a) Fry the onions in a little oil until brown.
b) While onions are frying, boil the peas (in a separate pan, you muppet).
c) Add the fish to the oinons and fry for a couple more minutes
d) Add the stock and rice to the onions.
e) Simmer for 20-30mins, stirring occasionally.
f) Add the peas and stir in

This dish rates as "EASY" on the BFTF Washing Up Index, which has gotta be a good thing right?

Easy Risotto