Oppenhiemer

James, there are 10 million living in London and about half a million tourists.
As to the figures, I do not look for such, they were given to me in a discussion with my brother in law.

London is rated as the 15th safetest city in the world, it is also rated as number 2 concerning crime in western europe. Surprisingly Amsterdam is number 1 for crime, London 2 , Paris 3 and Madrid 4. Barcelona is in the mix as well.
Depending on which site I got the stats for Glasgow has the highest murder rate per capita in the UK.
Mexico & the USA have the highest murder rates in the world South Africa is up there as well per capita.

The thing about London and it's population, is that all the statistics mean nothing, other than how many people are officially registered as living here. They reckon about 9.5 million, but that doesn't count illegals, or anyone not supposed to be living here. It does include many people that are dead, and long moved away to their countries of origin, but that's only for voting purposes of course. Tower Hamlets is a fine example, ask the Mayor, he may be able to explain.

#28, I don't mind 'cosying up to to the' Americans Des, would trust them over European politicians any day, even more so when sleepy Joe staggers off into the sunset, sorry Rodney:p

When the Japanese*attacked Pearl Harbour, a war to the end was declared by President Roosevelt.* The end was declared as "Unconditional Surrender by Japan."

The last two Islands before the Japanese*mainland were Okinawa and Iwo Jima.

The next to last Island was Okinawa.* It took 70,000 U.S Tenth Army and Marines to take Okinawa and 3 months.* The Japanese had built*a tunnel system throughout*caves and dugouts and were heavily entrenched. The U.S had 13,000 dead,*36,000 wounded.**The Japanese had an estimated 95,000 killed, as their rules*of engagement insisted on no surrender.* These rules were enacted by the Japanese government and endorsed by the emperor.

Okinawa was used as a model for the expected casualty's estimation from a proposed landing on Japanese shores to American*troops.**
Iwo Jima: 7.000 Marines came ashore and three days later captured a landing strip, within days 60,000 Marines landed. 7,000 Marines were killed and 16,000 wounded on*Iwo Jima.* All but 200 of the 21,000 Japanese were killed, many doing Bansi charges as orders of no surrender were in effect.

After Iwo Jima, conditional feelers on surrender were put out by Japan, but not approved officially by the government or endorsed by the emperor. The US position was from the beginning "unconditional*surrender", and never changed.

Not until the dropping of the second atomic bomb did the Japanese government and Emperor offer "Unconditional surrender".

An estimated 100,000 died in one night of fire bombing In Tokyo May 25th, 1945, and I assume the Japanese thought the first atom bomb was a normal air raid. The occupation by Americans of Okinawa would allow conventional*bombing, day and night. prior to a beach landing.
*
Had there not been an atomic bomb, the Armies fighting in Europe,*American, British, Canadian, Australian etc. both troops and materiel would have been shipped out to Iwo Jima and Okinawa to Join the allied troops and naval personnel already in place and would have participated in a mass army invasion of Japan.* With horrendous casualties to the no surrender policy of the then Japanese government.* Think about that, if you think that it wasn't "cricket". dropping the atomic bombs.

The new unofficial 'emperor' after the*surrender was General Douglas MacArthur. Though an egotist with unlimited power, he kept the emperor as a constitutional*monarch and installed a political system friendly to the West that became the economic*powerhouse Japan is today, and a stable democratic constitutional monarchist as*it is today.

One last point. The rules of warfare developed by England in its early*history, was the attacking force must be three times greater than the defending force and expect to sustain far greater casualties (until they won, then they could even the score I presume).

Cheers, Rodney**

Rodders, we were in Japan a couple of years back, what a country.
Hard to believe the condition after the war and to see it now.
Very friendly people who do all to assist tourists and some great places to visit.
One point of interest, they have a concept that every one has a worth, so the cleaner is as important as the boss.

I think the bombs were the only logical answer at the time, plus they've kept the peace in most other places since (to a degree anyway). The bombs have also prevented us from being ruled by Russia and China.
I don't doubt that at some time in the future, some ambitious maggot will start it all off, and the bombs will be used.

Johnno:

As you must now by now, my last job was as C.E.O of a multi-national remote-site catering company. Periodically I would visit camps,
usually, to arbitrate between our camp management and the client company. However, I would always inspect the kitchens, Dining room and accommodations. If I knew I was coming back, I would make a point of finding out the name of an employee in each department and later write a brief description and his name (in Alaska his or her name) in my notebook I always caried. Next time back, I would see them and make a point of calling them by name. I'm not dumb, I've "been there and done that". and knew the camp boss had made doubly sure "everything was ship shape in Bristol fashion" in the camp before my visit. After all, I started as a galley boy, and withstood many a captains inspection and never forgot that. And I knew they would be chuffed to bits to know I had remembered their names.

Cheers, Rodders

Saw the movie today, very powerful one at that.
The case against him by the panel that he was possibly a Russian spy was a bit of a suprize, congratulated by the president and many others then to be accused by others was very odd.
But that was USA then no shocks there.

One of the pranks that we got up to as kids in the 40s/50s was 'Devil Up The Drainpipe'. Newspaper stuffed up a cast iron drainpipe and then lit made one hell of a noise bringing the resident running to the front door to see what was happening. I have done quite a few bits of artwork associated with kids antics after the war years. My DUTD rendering is attached. Attachment 36355