Today Is

[baggieal]

While I lived 10 years on the Isle of Wight I was engrossed by the tales of those heroes who kept national socialism from our door steps. My landlady was a child around Biggins hill and I spent hours into the wee hours listening to all her stories of her young adult life watching all this unfold. What marvellous memories I have af that time. The hotell i worked in served as a billet for the allied soldiers before D-Day and often we found items when ever we did renivation work in the hotel.
Not a day goes by when I don't think of these heroes. Not one f u c king day.
And now we face the same tyrants today and are sleep walking into it.

So true especially your last sentence! Many need to wake up and smell the coffee!

[mickd1961]

While I lived 10 years on the Isle of Wight I was engrossed by the tales of those heroes who kept national socialism from our door steps. My landlady was a child around Biggins hill and I spent hours into the wee hours listening to all her stories of her young adult life watching all this unfold. What marvellous memories I have af that time. The hotell i worked in served as a billet for the allied soldiers before D-Day and often we found items when ever we did renivation work in the hotel.
Not a day goes by when I don't think of these heroes. Not one f u c king day.
And now we face the same tyrants today and are sleep walking into it.

We moved 150 miles away from my grandparents when I was 5 Dubs.

Once I was able to spend holidays up in Harrogate on my own ( most of the summer holidays for example ) and after October 79 when I’d learned to drive I used to spend hours sat with grandparents talking about their childhood’s and the war.

I was in awe of them, particularly my grandad who couldn’t swim but had to find a way on the beaches of Normandy.

My mum’s dad was only 18 at the very end of WW1 and he lied about his age to go and fight at 16 and he was only a little guy of 5ft 4 inches.

They might as well not have bothered because most people of 35 and under don’t care and have no understanding other than to think we should’ve waved a white flag.

[Omegstrat6]

Our youngest, who is home schooled, is currently doing A level history and one of the modules is The American Dream 1945-80, another the British Empire. There are certainly lessons to be learnt from history! The concept of isolationism is one. The British-empire or no-belatedly realised that the strategy of "splendid isolationism" was no longer prudent and forged alliances prior to the outbreak of the Great War. Up until Pearl Harbour many Americans -despite both Churchill's and Roosevelt's best efforts-thought the war in Europe had nothing to do with them. On reflection, by 1945 many thought that had they been more engaged in foreign affairs, joined the League of Nations and stood up to Hitler's ambitions in support of Europe rather than taking the line of appeasement, then it is possible that Hitler would not have felt so empowered as to invade other countries and Japan may have thought it unwise to attack the US. In short, perhaps the second world war could have been avoided.

Truman by no means wanted to engage the Soviet Union directly but he was under no illusions about the threat Stalin posed hence his strong words to Soviet diplomats and the adaptation of the concept of "containment" where the US bolstered both ex allied (e.g. Great Britain) and enemy countries (Germany and Japan) to help limit the expansion of Communism.

That the US was key to instigating NATO, began its Marshall Aid Plan and provided food, loans and both military and humanitarian aid was, of course, not just altruistic. Much of America's power and wealth was down to its massive war time industrial machine. With the end of the war and a huge flood of returning service men to be absorbed into the labour market they were very concerned about the potential for yet another economic depression- and the pre-war problems were still clearly remembered. Continuing investment in its military and much increased investments in foreign markets were seen as key to the answer.

Truman made a speech upon his visit to recently taken Berlin in 1945 when he talked of the power of a "free people" to look after the interests of others in the world. He wasn't just referring to the victory of (Soviet Russia aside) democratic countries over Nazi Germany. On a tour of America shortly afterwards, Churchill made his "iron curtain" speech. Looking back, Truman's speech can be seen as the turning point where America's foreign policy changed dramatically which would then evolve into the kind of "world police" role some accused it of. In reality, it was more about simply protecting their own interests on a global scale but that is not to say that they also did not have to respond to very real threats during the Cold War.

Whilst criticism of the US for meddling in other countries for its own ends seems to me to be perfectly justifiable, isolationism in todays world is a doomed strategy and it seems naive at best not to be concerned over Putin's intentions or China's come to that.

Avoiding war where possible is always the best to aim for-but some things are worth fighting for. So a long-winded post to say that, yes, those who fought against Hitler were on the right side of history and their sacrifices should be remembered but also that Putin and other leaders still threaten both global stability and our own values and freedoms. Democracy is far from perfect, but it's a lot better than the alternative and, as Kennedy said (paraphrasing J.S. Mill) " the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

[Dubbag]

Right now we are at the Neville Chamberlin time line from the late 30's.
Thinking we can appease the tyrants with nice words. It didn't work then and it won't work now.
China is watching and evaluating our weakness in democracy. The WW2 was never one in the mind only on the battle field.
For tyrants, it is their Battle of the Bulge moment. This is a very serious situation.
National socialist party minded people are everywere today...even brazen enough to fly the swatika flag freely from flag poles as well as open hatred speech.
Need to wake up.

[baggieal]

Our youngest, who is home schooled, is currently doing A level history and one of the modules is The American Dream 1945-80, another the British Empire. There are certainly lessons to be learnt from history! The concept of isolationism is one. The British-empire or no-belatedly realised that the strategy of "splendid isolationism" was no longer prudent and forged alliances prior to the outbreak of the Great War. Up until Pearl Harbour many Americans -despite both Churchill's and Roosevelt's best efforts-thought the war in Europe had nothing to do with them. On reflection, by 1945 many thought that had they been more engaged in foreign affairs, joined the League of Nations and stood up to Hitler's ambitions in support of Europe rather than taking the line of appeasement, then it is possible that Hitler would not have felt so empowered as to invade other countries and Japan may have thought it unwise to attack the US. In short, perhaps the second world war could have been avoided.

Truman by no means wanted to engage the Soviet Union directly but he was under no illusions about the threat Stalin posed hence his strong words to Soviet diplomats and the adaptation of the concept of "containment" where the US bolstered both ex allied (e.g. Great Britain) and enemy countries (Germany and Japan) to help limit the expansion of Communism.

That the US was key to instigating NATO, began its Marshall Aid Plan and provided food, loans and both military and humanitarian aid was, of course, not just altruistic. Much of America's power and wealth was down to its massive war time industrial machine. With the end of the war and a huge flood of returning service men to be absorbed into the labour market they were very concerned about the potential for yet another economic depression- and the pre-war problems were still clearly remembered. Continuing investment in its military and much increased investments in foreign markets were seen as key to the answer.

Truman made a speech upon his visit to recently taken Berlin in 1945 when he talked of the power of a "free people" to look after the interests of others in the world. He wasn't just referring to the victory of (Soviet Russia aside) democratic countries over Nazi Germany. On a tour of America shortly afterwards, Churchill made his "iron curtain" speech. Looking back, Truman's speech can be seen as the turning point where America's foreign policy changed dramatically which would then evolve into the kind of "world police" role some accused it of. In reality, it was more about simply protecting their own interests on a global scale but that is not to say that they also did not have to respond to very real threats during the Cold War.

Whilst criticism of the US for meddling in other countries for its own ends seems to me to be perfectly justifiable, isolationism in todays world is a doomed strategy and it seems naive at best not to be concerned over Putin's intentions or China's come to that.

Avoiding war where possible is always the best to aim for-but some things are worth fighting for. So a long-winded post to say that, yes, those who fought against Hitler were on the right side of history and their sacrifices should be remembered but also that Putin and other leaders still threaten both global stability and our own values and freedoms. Democracy is far from perfect, but it's a lot better than the alternative and, as Kennedy said (paraphrasing J.S. Mill) " the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".

Good post Omeg. Avoiding war is always best but when there’s a nutter like Putin then just like any bully you can’t show any indication of weakness.

I really take my hat off to you for home schooling your daughter and best wishes in her A levels. Home schooled kids always tend to be very bright and lots of parents do this around our area. Usually it’s with parents who love to be with their kids and help them learn. A good result in her A Level History will set her up for some good opportunities!

[Omegstrat6]

Thanks Al-though it's our son not daughter even if the length of his hair might indicate otherwise😁

Tbh, can't also claim full credit for home schooling him either as we were virtually forced to take him out of school because they simply could not meet his needs (he has aspergers amongst other issues). Like many parents in this situation it wasn't ideal because we then struggled financially as my wife had to give up work to care for him so we lost an income. In addition, whilst he had an EHCP, we got no financial help whatsoever towards his education at all for many years before our persistence finally paid off and he was eventually awarded some funding for home tuition which saw him through some GCSEs and now he is doing his A levels. For years though it was ourselves who home educated him. He is a bright lad but his range of issues make it unclear still what he will be able to do in the future and in our quiet moments we worry about that.

[mickd1961]

Thanks Al-though it's our son not daughter even if the length of his hair might indicate otherwise😁

Tbh, can't also claim full credit for home schooling him either as we were virtually forced to take him out of school because they simply could not meet his needs (he has aspergers amongst other issues). Like many parents in this situation it wasn't ideal because we then struggled financially as my wife had to give up work to care for him so we lost an income. In addition, whilst he had an EHCP, we got no financial help whatsoever towards his education at all for many years before our persistence finally paid off and he was eventually awarded some funding for home tuition which saw him through some GCSEs and now he is doing his A levels. For years though it was ourselves who home educated him. He is a bright lad but his range of issues make it unclear still what he will be able to do in the future and in our quiet moments we worry about that.

My son’s partner has a lad of 6 with with quite severe autism and it’s painfully obvious mainstream school is not right for him.

He’s muddled through reception and year 1 but kids get crueler as each year goes by.

It boils my p I s s at how difficult it is to get him the specialist school he needs and all this SENCO ( hope I got that right? ) is a total lottery and a shambles from what I’m hearing.

He really needs to be at the Sunfield School in Clent or similar.

To me, it’s already obvious that he’ll have to live with his mum and my son for life, he’s got no chance of ever having a relationship and a “normal” life.

Our country is hopeless at giving the correct help to those less fortunate.

[baggieal]

My son’s partner has a lad of 6 with with quite severe autism and it’s painfully obvious mainstream school is not right for him.

He’s muddled through reception and year 1 but kids get crueler as each year goes by.

It boils my p I s s at how difficult it is to get him the specialist school he needs and all this SENCO ( hope I got that right? ) is a total lottery and a shambles from what I’m hearing.

He really needs to be at the Sunfield School in Clent or similar.

To me, it’s already obvious that he’ll have to live with his mum and my son for life, he’s got no chance of ever having a relationship and a “normal” life.

Our country is hopeless at giving the correct help to those less fortunate.

You are right Mick! Lots of help in the USA for autism but here - as much help as getting a GP referral for a specialist!!

[Omegstrat6]

My son’s partner has a lad of 6 with with quite severe autism and it’s painfully obvious mainstream school is not right for him.

He’s muddled through reception and year 1 but kids get crueler as each year goes by.

It boils my p I s s at how difficult it is to get him the specialist school he needs and all this SENCO ( hope I got that right? ) is a total lottery and a shambles from what I’m hearing.

He really needs to be at the Sunfield School in Clent or similar.

To me, it’s already obvious that he’ll have to live with his mum and my son for life, he’s got no chance of ever having a relationship and a “normal” life.

Our country is hopeless at giving the correct help to those less fortunate.

So true about SENCO in schools! Can be a right lottery. We had one brilliant one whose understanding was obviously down to her having a son on the spectrum herself but she left teaching, one who tried her best but clearly had little or no training or knowledge and then one who had had a smattering of training but was the very epitome of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" and (very wrongly) assumed she knew best.

So much of this is down to funding. About 10 years ago or so they used to run an excellent "early bird" course for parents, teachers and carers of children on the spectrum which included not only a better understanding of autism itself but also various practical tips and techniques which were very useful in identifying triggers for behaviours to help stop situations happening. Sadly -and rather inevitably -funding for these was short lived despite the government's continual use of its empty "every child matters" rhetoric.

Every year thousands of parents are forced to take their children out of state schools (saving the government money) simply because these schools cannot cope with their needs yet the majority are not severe enough cases that they are able -or need-to attend the very few specialist schools that are available.

[baggieal]

So true about SENCO in schools! Can be a right lottery. We had one brilliant one whose understanding was obviously down to her having a son on the spectrum herself but she left teaching, one who tried her best but clearly had little or no training or knowledge and then one who had had a smattering of training but was the very epitome of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" and (very wrongly) assumed she knew best.

So much of this is down to funding. About 10 years ago or so they used to run an excellent "early bird" course for parents, teachers and carers of children on the spectrum which included not only a better understanding of autism itself but also various practical tips and techniques which were very useful in identifying triggers for behaviours to help stop situations happening. Sadly -and rather inevitably -funding for these was short lived despite the government's continual use of its empty "every child matters" rhetoric.

Every year thousands of parents are forced to take their children out of state schools (saving the government money) simply because these schools cannot cope with their needs yet the majority are not severe enough cases that they are able -or need-to attend the very few specialist schools that are available.

Everything is about saving the government money - parents moving away from state schools - patients in pain going private for operations due to waiting lists etc etc. Pity the government don’t care though about wasting money on Covid contracts - fraud - and throwing away millions on illegal immigration!

Everything now by stealth! You wouldn’t get a decent family car now for less than 40 grand and the government know it which is why the road tax is now almost treble than if the car list price was under 40K catching many out when they come to pay their first road tax!

The country is in a huge mess!