English and Proud.

[John Pruden]

a hundred years time it will be the black flag flying here{thank god I wont be around} jp

[John F Collier]

I can remember industrial history lessons at school and seeing pictures of children down the mines pushing the coal trucks along, and young boys being used to sweep chimneys. As a school kid the reality of it didn't really sink in but with age comes understanding,
and you can start to appreciate what their lives must have been like. The worst bit is most people had no choice and had to accept
it,really they were robbed of their lives. I can remember when only a couple of years ago a very well paid footballer said about the way
he was treated over his contract, "it's slavery" he said, (I kid you not). I've seen loads of censor forms and have been surprised at some of the things I've found but nothing as bad as EMMA's experience. My paternal grandmothers father was a caster in a foundry and his 12 years old son George worked with him, my great granddad died, and young George had to register his fathers death. The doctor spelled his name wrong and as George couldn't read or write he was unaware and signed it off with a X, It was a long road finding this but I was proud of myself for tracking it down in the end, when I look at that piece of paper I can imagine a little boy standing there making that X. George done well in the end he went on to to have his own Boot makers shop. Cheers, John F.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Jonf,
My Dad started work in the Cotton Mills at the age of 12, and died of Bisynosis, Lung cancer caused by Cotton Dust.
Mother had passed her scholarship to go to Grammar School, Grandma, who was newly widowed when Granddad died aged 36, said she had to start work to support her and the rest of her sisters. not one penny benefit in those days and was sent from Walney Island 90 miles on her own, aged 12, down to Bolton to start work in the same Cotton Mill as Dad, and send the wages back to Grandma on Walney Island.. She too died of Lung disease.
.
But on the bright side, Mother and Dad met each other in the mill, started courting got married and Here I am. I would not exist if that had not happened.
.
Again I still cannot understand why they are whinging today, they have a far better life than the previous generations.
Cheers
Brian

[John F Collier]

Hi Brian, It's great to know the family stories that come down the years, and some of them are terribly sad you never know what you will find next, we take the mick out of Elf & Safety but when you hear of how many people died due to their working conditions you do
have to thank for the years of struggle when the first unions started taking on the Employers. We owe them as we don't experience the hardships and health hazards that our forebears did, for example your description of the life on the SS Beechfield was not for the faint hearted, and there was probably worse than that but I'm glad to say I never saw them. I did discover that one of my great great grand fathers was the Master of a ship lost with all hands in 1868, I'll go through my stuff and put it on a thread. The ship was only 166 tons And I remembered about it when I read the story about the ZEBU at Liverpool do you know how much she weighed? I wondered if my forebears ship might compare in size. Cheers John F.

[Fouro]

Re #101.

Well John that confirms you wont be around to fly the "Union Black" and sing the National Anthem starting with the words "God Save our Gracious Allah".

FOURO.

[John F Collier]

Without being morbid Fouro, I'm glad I've had my life, and I knew how thing were rather than be around to see what is to come.
Two parachutist of different religions jumped from the plane, and when both of their parachutes failed to open one of them cried out
"ALLAH be praised" with that a big brown hand came out of the clouds and caught both men and gently lowered them to the ground.
As the second man climbed off, he said "Thank God for that" And a big brown foot came out of the clouds and squashed him.

[j.sabourn]

Looking back over these posts they are very interesting and show in most cases that with age comes common sense, also what a load of muppets we have had as leaders in what we call democracy. Even looking at them today, what some consider good well adjusted people with the proper moral obligations to their own countries, one must think practically they have not lived as long as some of us, and what younger people think of as wise men are still the muppets of yore. With age comes common sense, which once people get power they seem to lose control of. Really a lot one can forgive as due to inexperience of life in general, but when it comes to exposing their own countries to harm by laws that were made by them and have proved over and over again as unworkable, they should get off their high horse before they are thrown off and do something to correct. The very first hurdle to this is getting away from the power of Brussels. If they cant do this then get out and go back to their hobby farms or whatever they are used to and let someone who can take the reins. JS

[j.sabourn]

Parts taken from one of your well known columnists in the full page report in this weeks International Express. " Are we becoming a more timid and cowardly Nation? Certainly our new religion political correctness, is the creed of Cowardice".
" And yet shining through the jungle foliage of examples of knock kneed timidity in official and corporate behaviour we still hear deeds of courage and daring from soldiers sailors and airmen, firemen police and others". " But move up that order and you meet a bewildering and disheartening dichotomy. The higher the rank, the fatter the salarys, the perks and the pension pots".
" The more impenetrable become the walls of privilege and anonymity behind which the senior public "servants" and corporate executives hide themselves from the public". :" Right at top the timidity is total we can let in, into the country thousands of Syrian refugees, but cannot find room for a couple of hundred Afghans who speak English because they were interpreters for us", " now they are being hunted down by the Taliban execution squads. And Sir John Chilcot ( whoever he is) cowers in the shadows , not daring to present his report." Cheers JS

[happy daze john in oz]

John #107, an interesting article at the weekend. The world now is being governed by the media, it is the media who run the stories that will garner the most interest and assist with the sale of copy. It does not have to be strictly true just the bare bones of the story. Minority groups get the most coverage as they are different to main stream so easy to put forward. If you continue to push the ideas of the minority in time they become accepted by the majority

[j.sabourn]

#109... John have been saying that for years. If the neck tie party of the last PM is not obviously a plotted strategy involving the press media and a few back stabbing mp"s who I hope lose their seats at the next general election, I'll eat my hat, even though it is a straw one. As far as the ABC is concerned should be shut down period as is a hazard to health. JS