Across the world we are seeing the effects of people power - regimes being challenged, heads of state being forced to step down, some with dignity, others less so, and still another forcing his country into a state of war.
In Syria we now have open suppression of the people and, according to the BBC World News and Reuters, at least 53 people killed in street protests.
Here is London, we have the demonstration of people power with the largest gathering since the anti war marches of 2003. I think we can probably go back even further, 25 years. These people are sending a clear message to the government. 'We understand the need for cutbacks; we understand the need to reduce the deficit. But you are doing it too drastically, too severely. You must ease up.'
It is a very, very powerful argument, especially when Whitehall realises that just a few streets away a protest march of something like a quarter of a million people from all sections of society, of all age groups, is underway.
The police have a very delicate operation. Between 4,000-5,000 police are on duty to prevent a recurrence of the violent scenes in Parliament Square last November with the student protest against the introduction of the £9,000 loan repayment scheme. The police themselves face cutbacks in all forces that I have never seen before. They will be sympathetic but they must also uphold the Queen's Peace and rule of law.
It is right and proper that we are holding this demonstration this day.
The organisers want a peaceful protest. They and the police recognise that there will be elements - troublemakers and anarchists - who will attempt to cause violence and confrontation. The police have explained how difficult it is to spot these people who infiltrate groups of law-abiding protesters, hence very careful monitoring by CCTV and then, once spotted, the need to pull these trouble makers out, and sometimes by means of 'kettling' the group generally, an unpopular crowd control measure.
I know from personal experience how difficult it is to police protests. But provided the organisers, the protesters and the police generally work together, then they will succeed in doing that for which we are famous, culminating in the gathering in Hyde Park to hear the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition address the nation.
This is how things should proceed in our democracy.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
26 March 2011
Saturday, 26 March 2011
Friday, 25 March 2011
OUR YOUNG PEOPLE – CARRYING HIGH THE TORCH OF FREEDOM
Lancaster Active Forum
To visitors to this sight of all ages, a visit to the Lancaster Active Forum is worth one's time for families and descendants of crews are conducting much research. This domain is owned by Larry Wright of Canada and who, like Peter Cunliffe, is undertaking invaluable work to keep the history of bomber command, its operations and its crews very much in the public conscience.
Apart from this website, what is so good and refreshing is to see the number of younger and young people throughout our many national museums and galleries, who are taking a very keen interest in Bomber Command, often because they want to find out for themselves exactly what their grandparents, uncles and aunts went through, but also because they want to know anyway.
In an age of apparent cynicism we tend to think that this history will just die out.
Not so.
It is an incredibly moving experience to discover that whilst one tends to think of one self as the nephew of an uncle who is a framed photograph but who died before one was born, that there are other nephews and nieces too in the same situation and, for example, in the case of my own uncle, Flight Sergeant Harry Marshall, to discover the name and rank of his skipper to whom he was the crew's flight engineer, but to learn that that his niece has provided so much valuable information on this Lancaster Active Forum and which has helped me so much too in putting the pieces of a jigsaw together and then to report the facts to my Mum, Harry's sister.
I extend my thanks to Mr Wright, and separately to Mr Cunliffe, for all of this work and also for making it possible for all of the families and enthusiasts to obtain so much information.
Now to the Future
We look to the future and to our young people to pick up the torch and carry it high and fully lit into the night sky, never letting history allow the grass to grow under one's feet.
Flying military operations to enforce a no fly zone is as dangerous as ever, despite the increased sophistication of our military assets and the inferiority of a discredited regime.
This morning we have 350 aircraft and 38 ships of the line enforcing that no fly zone and the thought of being on the receiving end of that firepower is discomfiting. But just as a lifetime ago, young people were going out to fly deadly operations over one of the worst tyrannies in history, so too, the bulk of the fighting today, both by the Coalition (shortly NATO Command) over Libya, and our armed forces in the war in Afghanistan at the sharpest end is our young people. Only this week two more British servicemen have been killed in action in Afghanistan, and this excludes the fatalities suffered by the other nations that make up the Allied Forces. It is a convention of war that in reporting casualties one only reports those relating to one’s own country.
So my point, as ever, is to put before the British People this thought (echoed earlier) that our young people are indeed picking up the torch and carrying it high and fully into the night sky. They, and we of the older generation, are not allowing history to let the grass grow under one’s feet.
To all our young people, and to those who take to the streets with passion, I say, thank you indeed. You are doing the greatest service.
Ian Bradley Marshall
Liverpool
25 March 2011
To visitors to this sight of all ages, a visit to the Lancaster Active Forum is worth one's time for families and descendants of crews are conducting much research. This domain is owned by Larry Wright of Canada and who, like Peter Cunliffe, is undertaking invaluable work to keep the history of bomber command, its operations and its crews very much in the public conscience.
Apart from this website, what is so good and refreshing is to see the number of younger and young people throughout our many national museums and galleries, who are taking a very keen interest in Bomber Command, often because they want to find out for themselves exactly what their grandparents, uncles and aunts went through, but also because they want to know anyway.
In an age of apparent cynicism we tend to think that this history will just die out.
Not so.
It is an incredibly moving experience to discover that whilst one tends to think of one self as the nephew of an uncle who is a framed photograph but who died before one was born, that there are other nephews and nieces too in the same situation and, for example, in the case of my own uncle, Flight Sergeant Harry Marshall, to discover the name and rank of his skipper to whom he was the crew's flight engineer, but to learn that that his niece has provided so much valuable information on this Lancaster Active Forum and which has helped me so much too in putting the pieces of a jigsaw together and then to report the facts to my Mum, Harry's sister.
I extend my thanks to Mr Wright, and separately to Mr Cunliffe, for all of this work and also for making it possible for all of the families and enthusiasts to obtain so much information.
Now to the Future
We look to the future and to our young people to pick up the torch and carry it high and fully lit into the night sky, never letting history allow the grass to grow under one's feet.
Flying military operations to enforce a no fly zone is as dangerous as ever, despite the increased sophistication of our military assets and the inferiority of a discredited regime.
This morning we have 350 aircraft and 38 ships of the line enforcing that no fly zone and the thought of being on the receiving end of that firepower is discomfiting. But just as a lifetime ago, young people were going out to fly deadly operations over one of the worst tyrannies in history, so too, the bulk of the fighting today, both by the Coalition (shortly NATO Command) over Libya, and our armed forces in the war in Afghanistan at the sharpest end is our young people. Only this week two more British servicemen have been killed in action in Afghanistan, and this excludes the fatalities suffered by the other nations that make up the Allied Forces. It is a convention of war that in reporting casualties one only reports those relating to one’s own country.
So my point, as ever, is to put before the British People this thought (echoed earlier) that our young people are indeed picking up the torch and carrying it high and fully into the night sky. They, and we of the older generation, are not allowing history to let the grass grow under one’s feet.
To all our young people, and to those who take to the streets with passion, I say, thank you indeed. You are doing the greatest service.
Ian Bradley Marshall
Liverpool
25 March 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
A WORLD WITHOUT MUSIC
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 4 2nd Movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN7oFdFqtB4
Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Imagine a world without music.
Imagine a society in which music is banned. There are some regimes that impose such bans. There are other regimes that decree only certain types of music, all else being outlawed.
A world without music is one thing. A world where the sound of music has been deliberately removed is far worse.
I was listening to this Symphony last evening on the radio – the 2nd Movement – and it moved me.
The ground beneath me seemed to move and my spirit groaned and then soared as this incredible composition moved, swirled, cascaded and rose up ever higher with each score.
A host of people all moving as one on that great stage, following the baton, the exquisite movement of the hand.
My heart pulled. It seemed as if I would be turned inside out. Where did this beauty, this creativity, this spontaneity and rhythm come from?
Just how is it that these sounds can be written on a score as seemingly meaningless strokes and dashes, notes, quavers, semi quavers and nocturnes only to be then, as a collection of people gathered together and as the baton raises, become one being, at one with the Universe?
Such incredible sounds the world over – as beautiful as each other - regardless of culture.
Music has power and spontaneity that men in high places when unsure of their security can desire only to ban for fear that it may otherwise unseat them, that the people over whom they rule, or worse still whom they subjugate, will themselves move as one, with that same spontaneity. (See footnote)
Take for instance Finlandia, the Voice of Freedom of the Fins and thus banned for a lifetime by a regime that has long since gladly gone.
The threat of imprisonment, beating or worse, if heard listening to it on some foreign western broadcast or, on pain of death, to dare to listen to the most feared station of all, the ubiquitous BBC, yes even today in this 21st Century.
If music be the food of love, so wrote Shakespeare.
I would go one further. Music is food for the soul. It gives us expression and purpose; sentiment; comfort and confidence; a link to friends and family, loved ones far and wide; periods of our lives long since passed and with which the music now is the last remaining tenuous link and which gives us our memory.
As an editor, I would always encourage my creative design team to reach inside themselves; to go right into the innermost depths of their being. In a way the Editor is literature’s equivalent to the Conductor of an Orchestra. Nothing but the best is acceptable. And I'm constantly inspired by just how creative the human spirit is.
The great Arias, choruses, symphonic sounds of the very host of Heaven on the one hand; on the other hand of equal beauty, sometimes more, the artists and performers of popular music – two pieces alone come to mind by Enrique Iglesias, Addicted and California; and three equally beautiful popular songs that never cease to inspire me, Break and Born by Stephen George Edwards of New Zealand and Ambitions by Joe McElderry of South Shields, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here is true freedom. Here is the freedom of young people to express themselves. Never stifle the young people, for they are a nation’s future, our future, our security, our freedom. And as they come to understand this freedom, they will not give it up lightly, but will guard it jealously to hand to their children with equal conviction.
All types of music bring tears of joy and the ability to make me re-examine myself, no less than when I listen again to a great Psalm or Choral work or Gregorian chant; so never allow music to be stifled.
And do not restrict oneself to local culture. Experience the rich variety of music of all cultures without exception.
And if, God forbid, society ever moves to imposing a total ban on some form of music then resist it with all your might. Let not the greatest sounds and groanings of the soul and spirit be silenced by the petty prejudices and bigotry of simple minded men and women who seek only to impose their own outdated irrelevant interpretation of religion.
Let us never fall prey to these petty dictates that would rob us of our freedom to listen to one of the most awesome acts of the creative spirit – our music.
La Fontana
Blackpool
29 March 2010
I wrote that sentence a year ago. Tonight, as I prepare this final proof for the publisher, we are witnessing popular uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and in particular in Libya. The people do indeed rise as one, and whenever they do, dictators tremble for they know it is only a matter of time, before they will be brought down. If they are fortunate they might be allowed to live quietly in exile; if they refuse to yield, then a People motivated by a quest for freedom and democracy, what we in the West so take for granted, will take the law into their own hands. That is never good, for terrible retribution will be meted out, and this should never happen. 21 March 2011 Ian Bradley Marshall Liverpool
www.ianbradleymarshall.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN7oFdFqtB4
Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Imagine a world without music.
Imagine a society in which music is banned. There are some regimes that impose such bans. There are other regimes that decree only certain types of music, all else being outlawed.
A world without music is one thing. A world where the sound of music has been deliberately removed is far worse.
I was listening to this Symphony last evening on the radio – the 2nd Movement – and it moved me.
The ground beneath me seemed to move and my spirit groaned and then soared as this incredible composition moved, swirled, cascaded and rose up ever higher with each score.
A host of people all moving as one on that great stage, following the baton, the exquisite movement of the hand.
My heart pulled. It seemed as if I would be turned inside out. Where did this beauty, this creativity, this spontaneity and rhythm come from?
Just how is it that these sounds can be written on a score as seemingly meaningless strokes and dashes, notes, quavers, semi quavers and nocturnes only to be then, as a collection of people gathered together and as the baton raises, become one being, at one with the Universe?
Such incredible sounds the world over – as beautiful as each other - regardless of culture.
Music has power and spontaneity that men in high places when unsure of their security can desire only to ban for fear that it may otherwise unseat them, that the people over whom they rule, or worse still whom they subjugate, will themselves move as one, with that same spontaneity. (See footnote)
Take for instance Finlandia, the Voice of Freedom of the Fins and thus banned for a lifetime by a regime that has long since gladly gone.
The threat of imprisonment, beating or worse, if heard listening to it on some foreign western broadcast or, on pain of death, to dare to listen to the most feared station of all, the ubiquitous BBC, yes even today in this 21st Century.
If music be the food of love, so wrote Shakespeare.
I would go one further. Music is food for the soul. It gives us expression and purpose; sentiment; comfort and confidence; a link to friends and family, loved ones far and wide; periods of our lives long since passed and with which the music now is the last remaining tenuous link and which gives us our memory.
As an editor, I would always encourage my creative design team to reach inside themselves; to go right into the innermost depths of their being. In a way the Editor is literature’s equivalent to the Conductor of an Orchestra. Nothing but the best is acceptable. And I'm constantly inspired by just how creative the human spirit is.
The great Arias, choruses, symphonic sounds of the very host of Heaven on the one hand; on the other hand of equal beauty, sometimes more, the artists and performers of popular music – two pieces alone come to mind by Enrique Iglesias, Addicted and California; and three equally beautiful popular songs that never cease to inspire me, Break and Born by Stephen George Edwards of New Zealand and Ambitions by Joe McElderry of South Shields, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here is true freedom. Here is the freedom of young people to express themselves. Never stifle the young people, for they are a nation’s future, our future, our security, our freedom. And as they come to understand this freedom, they will not give it up lightly, but will guard it jealously to hand to their children with equal conviction.
All types of music bring tears of joy and the ability to make me re-examine myself, no less than when I listen again to a great Psalm or Choral work or Gregorian chant; so never allow music to be stifled.
And do not restrict oneself to local culture. Experience the rich variety of music of all cultures without exception.
And if, God forbid, society ever moves to imposing a total ban on some form of music then resist it with all your might. Let not the greatest sounds and groanings of the soul and spirit be silenced by the petty prejudices and bigotry of simple minded men and women who seek only to impose their own outdated irrelevant interpretation of religion.
Let us never fall prey to these petty dictates that would rob us of our freedom to listen to one of the most awesome acts of the creative spirit – our music.
La Fontana
Blackpool
29 March 2010
I wrote that sentence a year ago. Tonight, as I prepare this final proof for the publisher, we are witnessing popular uprisings throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and in particular in Libya. The people do indeed rise as one, and whenever they do, dictators tremble for they know it is only a matter of time, before they will be brought down. If they are fortunate they might be allowed to live quietly in exile; if they refuse to yield, then a People motivated by a quest for freedom and democracy, what we in the West so take for granted, will take the law into their own hands. That is never good, for terrible retribution will be meted out, and this should never happen. 21 March 2011 Ian Bradley Marshall Liverpool
www.ianbradleymarshall.com
Saturday, 19 March 2011
GOD! WE COULD FIND OURSELVES IN A WORLD WAR!
A stark heading and one that I would not have written a week ago.
Events shift incredibly fast as nations move from diplomacy to military action. Intelligence reports will certainly be far more detailed than the good reporting that the international media is providing. So whilst the general public are caught off-guard by a dictator's flagrant disregard of the call for a ceasefire that he insists he is implementing, we find now, 24 hours on, that at the very moment of these pronouncements, he was doing the exact opposite. This of course will have been highlighted in the intelligence reports.
We are taking the right course of action. We are seeking to protect a civilian population from deliberate, planned and systematic slaughter, and so long as we do not allow ground troops to enter Libya, albeit to support the Libyan People, then we have a chance in helping the Libyan People secure democracy through self-determination.
But none of us should think that this is just "a little local skirmish". Enforcing a no fly zone in the Bosnian Serbian War did not prevent the Bosnian Serbs from slaughtering 8,000 Muslim men and boys!
We must remember the lessons of history. We must recall that the assassination of an Archduke in 1914 precipitated the Great War, and, 25 years later the invasion of Poland precipitated the Second World War. In each case, nations came to the aid of people being bullied and subjugated by a more powerful nation that, on the world stage, proclaimed peace, but behind the scenes, was doing what a dictator is doing today.
Oil is not at the centre of this current situation. The United States is rightly giving a supportive role. Britain and France are spearheading military action although obviously we have the superior technical expertise of our American Allies. And crucially, this international assistance is at the direct request and urging of Arabian States who, themselves, are prepared to participate in the military action.
But this is a potential powder keg. And when a national leader is no longer in full possession of his faculties, he becomes desperate and a menace to all. A desperate man resorts to desperate measures, and so it is absolutely right that the United Nations take very tough military action to help the Libyan People to remove this man from power.
As the former Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord West, pointed out earlier today - it would be very wise for those who seek to protect this man and help him to remain in power, to think very carefully about what just might befall them. To be on the receiving end of a massive military strike such as that which Britain and France are more than capable of delivering, is, to any right-minded person, a very sobering thought.
When I retired to bed last evening I did so thinking, naively, that we had averted disaster, that the very threat of such force had brought the man to his senses. This morning, my stomach hit my boots as I listened to the reports of just what this petty minded dictator has been doing to his people even these past 24 hours, and listening to his spokesman read out to the media his letters to President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy.
The UN must take swift, decisive action. Let us also remember that Russia and China are unsettled by these events.
Tnere is, however, reason for cautious optimism. Many Arab states, through the internet and twitter and facebook, have remarked upon the calmness and resolve of the British People. That whilst the world is used to seeing our House of Commons at times more like a boxing ring, but without the fighting, they now see something else. A United Kingdom, and a Government and Opposition standing united and in mutual support in dealing with this crisis.
Half a century ago, another lesson of history was referred to by the late Winston Churchill, which, loosely put, reminded the world that the British People are a curious people and that few can understand her mind; slow to take action and often at odds within, but put a great cause before the People, and they rise as one and will not back down until the task is finished.
We are no different today. We are an island people, and we understand only too well that our freedom from aggression, our democracy, our devolution, has come at a great price. But this opportunity for peoples elsewhere to face down dictatorships will resonate with the UK. And we have seen this quiet resolve, this determination to square up to dictators, and to help peoples in their self-determination, reflected in the British Prime Minister, Mr Cameron.
I stand with Her Majesty's Leader of the Opposition, Mr Ed Miliband, in his unequivocal support of the PM on the floor of the House yesterday.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
19 March 2011
Events shift incredibly fast as nations move from diplomacy to military action. Intelligence reports will certainly be far more detailed than the good reporting that the international media is providing. So whilst the general public are caught off-guard by a dictator's flagrant disregard of the call for a ceasefire that he insists he is implementing, we find now, 24 hours on, that at the very moment of these pronouncements, he was doing the exact opposite. This of course will have been highlighted in the intelligence reports.
We are taking the right course of action. We are seeking to protect a civilian population from deliberate, planned and systematic slaughter, and so long as we do not allow ground troops to enter Libya, albeit to support the Libyan People, then we have a chance in helping the Libyan People secure democracy through self-determination.
But none of us should think that this is just "a little local skirmish". Enforcing a no fly zone in the Bosnian Serbian War did not prevent the Bosnian Serbs from slaughtering 8,000 Muslim men and boys!
We must remember the lessons of history. We must recall that the assassination of an Archduke in 1914 precipitated the Great War, and, 25 years later the invasion of Poland precipitated the Second World War. In each case, nations came to the aid of people being bullied and subjugated by a more powerful nation that, on the world stage, proclaimed peace, but behind the scenes, was doing what a dictator is doing today.
Oil is not at the centre of this current situation. The United States is rightly giving a supportive role. Britain and France are spearheading military action although obviously we have the superior technical expertise of our American Allies. And crucially, this international assistance is at the direct request and urging of Arabian States who, themselves, are prepared to participate in the military action.
But this is a potential powder keg. And when a national leader is no longer in full possession of his faculties, he becomes desperate and a menace to all. A desperate man resorts to desperate measures, and so it is absolutely right that the United Nations take very tough military action to help the Libyan People to remove this man from power.
As the former Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord West, pointed out earlier today - it would be very wise for those who seek to protect this man and help him to remain in power, to think very carefully about what just might befall them. To be on the receiving end of a massive military strike such as that which Britain and France are more than capable of delivering, is, to any right-minded person, a very sobering thought.
When I retired to bed last evening I did so thinking, naively, that we had averted disaster, that the very threat of such force had brought the man to his senses. This morning, my stomach hit my boots as I listened to the reports of just what this petty minded dictator has been doing to his people even these past 24 hours, and listening to his spokesman read out to the media his letters to President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron and President Sarkozy.
The UN must take swift, decisive action. Let us also remember that Russia and China are unsettled by these events.
Tnere is, however, reason for cautious optimism. Many Arab states, through the internet and twitter and facebook, have remarked upon the calmness and resolve of the British People. That whilst the world is used to seeing our House of Commons at times more like a boxing ring, but without the fighting, they now see something else. A United Kingdom, and a Government and Opposition standing united and in mutual support in dealing with this crisis.
Half a century ago, another lesson of history was referred to by the late Winston Churchill, which, loosely put, reminded the world that the British People are a curious people and that few can understand her mind; slow to take action and often at odds within, but put a great cause before the People, and they rise as one and will not back down until the task is finished.
We are no different today. We are an island people, and we understand only too well that our freedom from aggression, our democracy, our devolution, has come at a great price. But this opportunity for peoples elsewhere to face down dictatorships will resonate with the UK. And we have seen this quiet resolve, this determination to square up to dictators, and to help peoples in their self-determination, reflected in the British Prime Minister, Mr Cameron.
I stand with Her Majesty's Leader of the Opposition, Mr Ed Miliband, in his unequivocal support of the PM on the floor of the House yesterday.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
19 March 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Is a No Fly Zone Closer Than We Think?
The RAF are flying very low - training sorties down the Mersey and out into the Estuary tonight and in fact most nights this week. I suspect it's to respond to a UN resolution or (and I hope not) a less effective resolution by the UK, France and the USA to take military action against Libya. It is notable that unlike before, France is taking this line. It is also interesting to note that international commentators are saying that the US President failed to show the same decisiveness that the PM did in urging the UN to consider a no fly zone.
The Libyan government has stated that it will meet any military threat. No doubt it will. But I would not fancy my chances against the Royal Air Force or NATO or USAAF. I would like to think that at this eleventh hour they just might realise that their country's security, peace, freedom and prosperity lies without Colonel Gaddafi.
Let us hope that reason prevails.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
17 March 2011
The Libyan government has stated that it will meet any military threat. No doubt it will. But I would not fancy my chances against the Royal Air Force or NATO or USAAF. I would like to think that at this eleventh hour they just might realise that their country's security, peace, freedom and prosperity lies without Colonel Gaddafi.
Let us hope that reason prevails.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
17 March 2011
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
A PROCLAMATION - ROYAL WOOTTON BASSETT
The Prime Minister, on the Floor of the House, announced today the decision of Her Majesty the Queen to confer upon the town and residents of Wootton Bassett the title 'Royal' and which will be conferred officially in September this year.
This is in tribute to the Townspeople who, representative of the Greater British People, have stood resolutely with our Armed Forces in their darkest moments when loved ones are repatriated, not to live, but to lay in rest.
It is the first time that this designation has been conferred upon a town in over one hundred years and entirely reflects the mood of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and demonstrates to all of our Armed Forces on active service in the front line and in all parts of the world that we continue to stand with them and support them and their families.
It demonstrates too to the wider world that we are very much a United Kingdom.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
16 March 2011
This is in tribute to the Townspeople who, representative of the Greater British People, have stood resolutely with our Armed Forces in their darkest moments when loved ones are repatriated, not to live, but to lay in rest.
It is the first time that this designation has been conferred upon a town in over one hundred years and entirely reflects the mood of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and demonstrates to all of our Armed Forces on active service in the front line and in all parts of the world that we continue to stand with them and support them and their families.
It demonstrates too to the wider world that we are very much a United Kingdom.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
16 March 2011
Friday, 11 March 2011
DISPATCHES FROM LIVERPOOL
During the past two years I have been privileged to write the popular column under the heading 'a very british revolution', a title that derives its origin from a quote on national news during the MPs Expenses Fiasco, and the manner in which the British People responded as one, in expressing their extreme displeasure and anger that their own elected representatives had so seriously let them down.
By no means did every member of parliament do this of course. But it is a simple fact: just a drop of acid into a glass of pure water, will thereby render a glass of acid.
But we are a democratic people and we do things by way of peaceful, and some times not quite so peaceful, demonstration, vigorous public debate and ultimately through the ballot box.
In this respect we unknowingly continue to set the standard by which democracy and freedom operate.
The Future
By popular request I have been asked to not only continue writing the column on the blogdspot.com site, but to actually post them to the website www.ianbradleymarshall.com.
This is indeed a privilege and an honour for me.
Liverpool is my home, my City and my people. Our history as a maritime people centres very much upon the Port of Liverpool just along the road from where I am now writing this.
For eight centuries the Port and City of Liverpool have been the gateway to the world, and so it seems right to entitle these letters dispatches.
Of course, there is something of the military in me as my friends and followers will know, and Dispatches from Liverpool is also thereby a direct link with all of our armed forces on operational duty throughout the world, whether on the front iine in war or on the equally important humanitarian front line.
The 21st Century is the most exciting time for all of us to be living in. It is also the most challenging and demanding, and the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the terrible earthquakes in New Zealand and now, earlier today, Japan and the horror of the resultant Tsunami makes international cooperation and assistance of the utmost importance.
Let us also not overlook the fact that when an event such as the Japan Earthquake occupies the world's attention, disreputable or petty tyrannical leaders will use it as convenient cover to exact revenge upon the people who have dared to challenge their authority to continue to rule them.
The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, NATO have all made it clear that the events in Libya may need international military intervention, and in the form of a no fly zone being imposed but only under the auspices of the United Nations.
None of us wishes to see unilateral action. It must be unanimous action through the United Nations Security Council.
Meanwhile, let us all do as much as we can to assist the Japanese People and the other nations that have been caught up in the Tsunami, and let us not overlook that New Zealand must continue to receive assistance.
This is the way forward for the international community; and it will inspire peoples labouring under dictatorship to look to that day when they too can have the freedoms we love and cherish and, not surprisingly, tend to take for granted.
Ian Bradley Marshall
LIVERPOOL
12 March 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
