A (not so new) Obsession.

It would appear that a long time interest of mine has turned into something of an obsession – even if (at the moment at least) a small one. For quite some time now I have had a decided interest in the period from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the attack on Pearl Habor in 1941 when Britain stood essentially alone against the might of the Axis Powers. Not only was it a time of great danger it was also a time of great heroism and is a central point of our national mythology. Being British it’s actually a difficult era to avoid with so many books, TV series, documentaries and movies about the period. Two of the recent crop of movies in particular stoked my interest enough to move it in the direction of obsession – Nolan’s masterful retelling of Dunkirk and Oldman’s outstanding portrayal of Churchill in Darkest Hour. This in particular lit the fire as it raised a whole host of questions I wanted answering.

Churchill, as Darkest Hour rightly points out, was an unusual and unpopular choice for Prime Minister in 1940. I know some of those reasons why but wanted to know much more. Then there’s the leader of the Opposition to Chamberlin’s Conservative government – Clement Attlee. I know almost nothing about him so wanted to know more. Then, pre-dating the events of 1940, who did Britain get into such a mess? I know something about the process of Appeasement and the ‘peace in our times’ diplomacy but not enough to understand what was behind it all. Then there’s Lord Halifax – the Holy Fox – who was the ‘bad guy’ in Darkest Hour. Was he as portrayed or is that historians looking for a villain of the piece? Would he have actually sold Britain down the river for peace at any price? Then there’s Churchill himself. Did he really save England by taking up the position of PM when reluctantly offered it (I believe he did that and more but what was the truth behind the myth?). What of his long suffering wife Clementine and his children so intriguingly played in that scene in Number 10 on his first day in office as PM. What of his friend Antony Eden and what of Churchill’s relationship with the King which completely entranced me in the movie?

Once in power I was surprised by the Calais incident where the Prime Minister directly ordered the garrison to fight to the last man to give the men on the beaches of Dunkirk time to escape. What happened to the survivors? Was the ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk really that or was it a case of luck and Hitler’s reluctance to destroy the BEF when negotiations for an armistice was still a possibility? What happened to those who didn’t make it off the beaches and what happened to those who never made it to Dunkirk in time? Following on from the ‘miracle’ there was, quite naturally, the threat of invasion across the channel. Why didn’t Operation Sealion happen and could we have survived it? What happened in France post-Dunkirk? Why were they overrun in only 6 weeks despite the almost equivalence in forces in play? What happened to the French forces who made it to England and North Africa to continue the fight?

Taking a deep breath and a slight sigh of relief after Dunkirk and with the Battle of France over it was time for the iconic Battle of Britain. Was it the close run thing we have been led to believe? Why did we win in the end – luck, raw courage, British bloody-mindedness, or steady organisation and planning? Why, in 1940, did we have the fighters (amongst the best in the world), the organisation and RADAR ‘just in time’ that all took years to get into production?

So many questions, so many points of view around the actions of three of the most pivotal years in our long island history. I will endeavour in the upcoming years to try to answer them and I’ll let you know what I find out.   

Cartoon Time.

NovaSAR: UK radar satellite to track illegal shipping activity

By Jonathan Amos, BBC Science Correspondent

16th September 2018

The first all-British radar satellite is set to go into orbit on an Indian rocket. Called NovaSAR, it has the ability to take pictures of the surface of the Earth in every kind of weather, day or night. The spacecraft will assume a number of roles but its designers specifically want to see if it can help monitor suspicious shipping activity. Lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota is at 17:38 BST. NovaSAR will be joined on its rocket by a high-resolution optical satellite - that is, an imager that sees in ordinary light. Known as S1-4, this spacecraft will discern objects on the ground as small as 87cm across. Both it and NovaSAR were manufactured by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited of Guildford.

UK engineers have long had expertise in space radar but their technology has previously always gone on broader missions, such as those for the European Space Agency. NovaSAR, which has the distinctive shape of a cheese-grater, is uniquely British, however. Its radar instrument was developed for SSTL by Airbus in Portsmouth. The mission incorporates low-cost, miniaturised components and will aim to demonstrate a more affordable approach to radar imaging. It will operate in a number of modes for applications that include the detection of oil spills, flood and forestry monitoring, disaster response, and crop assessment.

But perhaps its most interesting role will be in maritime observation. The satellite is equipped with a receiver that can pick up Automatic Identification System (AIS) radio signals. These are the positional transmissions that large ships are obliged to broadcast under international law. Vessels that tamper with or disable these messages very often are engaged in smuggling or illegal fishing activity. If such ships appear in NovaSAR's pictures, they will be reported to the authorities. "We are very interested in this maritime mode, which is a 400km-plus swath mode," said Luis Gomes, the chief technology officer at SSTL. "It is important to be able to monitor large areas of the ocean - something we don't do at the moment. We all saw with the Malaysian airline crash in the Indian Ocean the difficulty there was in monitoring that vast area. We can do that kind of thing with radar and NovaSAR is good for that," he told BBC News.

The NovaSAR project was initiated inside SSTL in 2008/9. Back then the idea of a radar satellite that measured 3m by 1m was regarded as something of a breakthrough because, up that point, such spacecraft had been big, power-hungry beasts that cost a lot of money. It is a little unfortunate therefore that the programme got delayed because in the meantime others have also managed to package radar systems into small volumes. The Finnish start-up Iceye has a platform flying now that is the size of a suitcase. And an American company called Capella is promising a radar satellite that is not much bigger than a shoebox. But radar expert Martin Cohen from Airbus is unperturbed by these developments. "NovaSAR is still a step change, certainly for Airbus in terms of what you can do for a particular amount of money. But while we've been waiting for a launch, we haven't stood still," he said. "We've done lots of work on the next generation. NovaSAR is just the first in a family of instruments that will offer different capabilities, such as finer resolutions and other parameters; and we will be putting those capabilities on smaller spacecraft than NovaSAR."

The satellite, as presently configured, will operate in the S-band (3.2 gigahertz), giving a best resolution of 6m with a swath width of 15-20km. Future variants will go to the higher-frequency X-band and sense features on the ground as small as a metre across, and less. The Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) aims to put NovaSAR and S1-4 into an orbit that is 580km above the Earth. SI-4 will be taking pictures of China for Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology (21AT). This company, based in Beijing, will use the data in the Asian nation to help with urban planning, working out crop yields, pollution monitoring and doing biodiversity assessments, among many other applications.

[Personally I’m predicting an increased demand for stealth technologies at all levels – from the personal, vehicle and now maritime markets…… If I had any spare cash that’s where I’d be putting my investment money…]

...and my 8,000th post!

Just Finished Reading: Just Warriors, Inc – The Ethics of Privatised Force by Deane-Peter Baker (FP: 2011)

They’ve probably been around for as long as humans have been engaging in organised warfare – those who fight for gold rather than land, or state or family. It’s where the name ‘Freelance’ comes from, where knights hired themselves out to princes fighting in faraway places for money and with the opportunity for glory or just the fun of the fight. Today they’re known as mercenaries or, in a less pejorative and more politically correct sense, private contractors or variations thereof. In more recent years still we know them as organisations such as Executive Outcomes and Blackwater as well as other less well-known company’s whose business is security, personal protection and, very occasionally, actual war fighting. This is a state of affairs the author argues (and I agree with) which is not only here to stay but one set to grow in the future. But is that a good thing? Surely privatised violence is inherently a bad thing that can only erode a state’s legitimacy and lead to all kinds of regrettable outcomes? After all mercenaries have no honour, no loyalty and no reason to be trusted with the lives of others. Right?

I did a unit of Military Ethics (called War & Peace Studies) as part of my first BA degree and really enjoyed it so this was, despite my philosophical muscles being a little rusty, right up my street. It took a while to get back up to speed on terms and Just War Theory but once there the book hummed along nicely. I quickly learnt exactly where the author was coming from because this was no even handed work of philosophy. Clearly he was pro-Combat Contractor, that was obvious from early on – but this did not distract from the good arguments put forward in their defence. Section by section the author logically demonstrated that there was little practical or philosophical difference between State soldiers and their private counterparts. Both exhibited courage, both had honour, and showed the understood military virtues – indeed generally private soldiers used to be state soldiers or police prior to them going private. The idea that what was once acceptable was no longer the case because of a change of direct employer was quickly dismissed. Indeed the only negative thing the author could point to was the fact that private soldiers could not be expected to lay down their lives if the mission or the circumstances demanded it. Potentially you could pay the expected grieving families an additional bounty for acts of sacrifice by private soldiers but you could not reasonably have such sacrifice written into their contracts. State soldiers however would understand that they might be called on to lay down their lives ‘for the greater good’ and then go on and do so and we would call them heroes because of their sacrificial actions. But apart from that? The author sees no significant downside and several (at least slight) upsides to employing mercenaries at least on some missions and in some situations.

Outsourcing war is coming I believe. I don’t think it will be completely privatised but I can see admin functions going to contract, logistics, satellite services (GPS, surveillance), guarding of base installations and even some ‘Special Forces’ units in their entirety. Commanders will be able to buy specialisms off the shelf as part of their deployment ‘in theatre’ with probably more flexibility than with state provided units at their disposal. There are financial, tactical and ethical advantages that can’t and won’t be ignored for long. Mercenaries have picked up a bad reputation over the centuries. This book goes part way towards addressing that. Interesting.

Cartoon Time (click to enlarge).

Kid! You're supposed to use a SHELL to hear the sea......

Is Democracy Dying?

There is much talk on the streets and in the newsrooms that Democracy itself is in trouble – and not just in Trump’s America. People talk of a 1930’s vibe when democracies across the world trembled, some fell, and it looked briefly like the great democratic experiment was coming to an end. Is that’s what is happening today? Was the 2008 banking crisis our 1929 Wall Street Crash? Are we heading for another Stalin, Mussolini or Hitler to arise if he hasn’t done so already? Are things anywhere near that bad?

It has been said, more than half jokingly, that although History doesn’t repeat itself sometimes it does rhyme. So it’s not hard to see a number of similarities between what was happening across the world in the run up to World War Two and today’s headlines. I think it’s beyond argument that it’s something we should all be concerned about. Few democracies die because of a political or military coup. When they fail, as German and Italian democracy failed, it was through a mixture of fear, opportunism and neglect. The apparent similarities, especially in the US, are striking. Could a popularist demagogue so undermine American democracy that he could become the country’s first Fascist dictator? Could it happen here (or actually there)? Yes, it could. I don’t believe that there’s anything unique about America to stop something like that ever happening? Is it happening now or could it happen soon? Well, I really don’t think so.

Democracies that fail are usually in such a weakened state, after war, revolution or economic collapse, that dictatorship is often seen as the solution to problems that cannot be addressed in any other way. Democratic systems throughout Europe, the US and across the world are nowhere near that state today and for many it is almost inconceivable that they will get there. Despite the present quiet compliance of the US Republican party other organs of the democratic spirit are working exactly as they should despite, or even because they are, being under almost daily attack. Democracy is most certainly being challenged in the US but I for one do not believe it is under threat. Indeed it is clear that the behaviour of the incumbent in the Whitehouse is galvanising a democratic (in both senses of the word) opposition that may very well tip the balance of power in November. The young in particular, on both sides of the pond, are waking up to the fact that their vote not only matters but that if they abrogate their responsibility to be politically active citizens then others who do not have their interests in mind will make decisions for them that they could regret for a very long time indeed – the Brexit vote for example. As Obama said in his speech just recently, if you think that your vote has no meaning or is a waste of your time then the last two years should have disabused you of that. That’s a message that was heard on both Atlantic coasts. After the doldrums of the 90’s when the voting numbers fell on almost every election we are now looking at increasing numbers of people – and especially people under 30 – who will vote in local elections never mind national one’s. The Scottish Independence referendum was a revelation to many with the numbers who turned out as well as the quality of the debate at the grass roots level.

The rise of Nationalist parties, Popular Fronts, Independence Movements and much else besides has increasingly politicised a generation of previously cynical non-voters. Rather than the 1930’s the present political situation looks more like the 1960’s and 1970’s (Nixon being much talked about presently!) with rising protests and increasing political activism. This is not to say that we should not worry. We have every right to be afraid for our democratic norms. But democracy is far from dead. It is, indeed, far from wounded. Maybe we all needed this situation we are going through in order to wake us up from our complacency. Democracy, just like a fabulous houseplant, needs to be nurtured and cared for. Neglected for too long, taken for granted, it will sicken. What we are seeing are the signs of neglect. Some leaves have turned yellow at the edges. The soil is dry and needs watering. Its death, although foretold, has been greatly exaggerated. Democracy is stronger than that. Just don’t forget to vote every time you can….       

Cartoon Time.

Dutchman wins bookshop in west Wales win raffle draw

From The BBC

8th September 2018

As far as raffle prizes go, they do not come much bigger, or as surreal, as the one offered by Paul Morris. The 57-year-old book store owner gave customers the chance to win his shop Bookends in west Wales along with its contents if they spent more than £20. Mr Morris, who is taking early retirement, said he wanted to give it to someone who may not usually have the chance to run their own business. The winning ticket was picked by sci-fi fan and Dutchman Ceisjan Van Heerden. He will be giving up his job in customer service to relocate to Cardigan in Ceredigion, on the west Wales coast. "I was so shocked when I heard I had won," said Mr Van Heerden. "It's surreal. I had a coffee and a sit down to take it all in."

Father-of-two Mr Morris set up Bookends in 2014 after decades working in the publishing industry. "I'd always thought Cardigan needed a book store and one night I was on eBay when I saw 18,000 books for sale - and it went from there." Two lorry trips later - and six days of shelf stacking - the shop was up and running and has hosted in-store appearances by poets and authors. However, with Mr Morris' osteoarthritis worsening over the years he reluctantly decided to call it a day - but wanted to sell it with a difference. For three months, people who spent more than £20 were entered into a raffle. "I didn't want to sell the shop and then see a chain take it over - I wanted it to stay a bookshop but give someone different a go," he said. "I figured a raffle would be good, because no-one loses. Even if they did not get the shop, they still have some great books to read."

On 1 September, number 33 was picked out of the hat to the tune of The Winner Takes It All by Abba in a packed bookshop. Its new owner Mr Van Heerden, known to friends as CJ, learned of his good fortune through a text message. He said he plans to run the shop with his friend Svaen Bjorn, from Iceland. The pair have been friends for the past nine years after meeting on the internet - but have never actually met face-to-face. "It might sound strange, but we can make it work and it is just an amazing opportunity," said Mr Van Heerden, ahead of the formal hand-over on 5 November.

[Oh, for the want of a raffle ticket!]

Cafe Society.......

"We sleep soundly in our beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

Winston Churchill (attributed).

Just Finished Reading: The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst (FP: 2012)

It is, of course, an impossible task – to write a history of Europe from Greco-Roman times to the end of WW2 in less than 200 pages. Wisely the author of this interesting little work doesn’t try. Instead he concentrates on highlights, themes and a broad brush approach to history. By and large the thrust is chronological but with a twist – or in this case a spiral as the narrative winds back on itself to fill in detail or expand a theme.

After given a very quick overview of the continents history the book circles back to some of the foundations of European culture and history looking at how invasions from Germany (that will be), the Vikings and the East shaped the political landscape and echoed down the ages. Politics is a big theme here, with the fall and shattering of the Roman Empire and the set-up of wannabe absolute monarchs none of whom managed to hold on to much territory or to exert much influence for too long or over too much to have a decided impact on the flow of things – a theme repeated at the end of the book where the power and innovation of a fractured Europe is compared to a generally side-lined China which, on the face of it, should have been the world conquering power that Europe turned out to be. It was the lack of power exhibited by Kings that led to the rise of Merchants and petty powers within kingdoms which eventually gave rise to capitalism, democracy, party politics, class conflict and much else besides.

Mixed in with all of this is a tale of languages – from Rome (again) as well as from Germany which gave rise to the Romance languages of continental Europe and the world language now known as English. Of course not only did England give its language to the world but was also the home of the Industrial Revolution which changed everything. Why in England and not in France or Germany – never mind China? It’s an interesting question to which the author gives an interesting answer (which was new to me at least). Lastly the author turns his attention to the world wars – essentially the same war with a 20 year pause in the middle – and gives a good account of the tragedy.

Adapted from a series of lectures designed for undergraduates who had little prior knowledge of Europe this was a breeze of a read with some interesting viewpoints and overview of the geographical area that most interests me. Short, obviously, but a good introduction especially for those with scant knowledge of the cradle of western culture, science and industrialisation. One other book has been produced in this series (which I already have) and I hope they produce more. 

Cartoon Time.

For those tricky to get shots........

To Sleep, perchance………………..

It was almost a running joke in my early household. Not only could I sleep just about anywhere in my early years but I could seemingly sleep for truly extraordinary periods – my record in my mid-teens was 16 hours. My mother often remarked than once asleep a nuclear bomb going off outside wouldn’t wake me – to which I always said: Good! I always thought sleep was good, it was my happy place, cosy, warm, almost floating. Loved it……

Throughout my 20’s, through University and my early working life I had no real sleep issues. The odd illness might have kept me up – especially a blocked nose during colds – but generally my sleep was good, very good. Then, as I got older, I began to get the odd short bout of insomnia. Usually the cause was work or personal issues. Sometimes my mind/brain simply wouldn’t shut down or shut up and thoughts circled endlessly squawking at me. But such things passed quickly as I dealt with problems or the dealt with themselves. Later still I lost sleep during my long-term (for me!) relationship though not in a good way. I’ve never really learnt to cope with sleeping with someone else in the bed. I move around too much and part of my brain keeps alert to the possibility of accidently kicking them or pushing them on to the floor. I think it took around 3 months for my brain to relax enough so I didn’t ‘wake up’ exhausted with only the lightest of sleep achieved.

In my 40’s and now in my late 50’s things can, from time to time, get pretty bad. My periodic insomnia occurs more often and without any apparent cause. My stress levels are generally very low (indeed I tend to be the calmest person in my team for years on end) and I’m pretty good at not bringing work worries home with me. But, from time to time, I can drag myself to bed literally exhausted and the second my head hits the pillow – bam, I’m fully awake! It’s bizarre. I’m physical drained and can barely function yet my brain is 100% ready to get on with the day – despite the fact that it’s 3:30AM. I can feel it coming a day or so ahead of time – almost like migraine sufferers can feel the precursor of the dreaded flux hit them (being a sufferer in the past – touch wood – I know that feeling well) so am generally prepared for on average 3 mostly sleepless nights. Rarely it lasts longer than that – then I crash and sleep 10 hours before getting back to my normal 6-7 hours on a ‘school night’ and 8 hours at the weekend. But where this bout used to happen maybe once or twice a year it’s now happening somewhere between four to six times. I think it’s seasonal too. I surprised myself this summer (the surprising thing is, of course, that we had a summer) by sleeping like a baby during the hottest nights since 1910 (jointly held with 4 other years so not completely exceptional) rather than suffering with the heat. Whilst other people seemed to flag through lack of sleep I actually felt positively refreshed. Odd. Equally odd is that in winter I have a very natural tendency to hibernate but, annoyingly, far too often find it difficult to get off to sleep.

I’ve said before that I’m not really a morning person and people think I exaggerate when I tell them how bad I am. I say that the zombies in the Walking Dead series are based on my behaviour for the first 45 minutes after I get out of bed. I most definitely do NOT wake quickly. My body is reasonably OK but my brain…. Well, to say it functions slowly doesn’t really give you any idea of how little functionality I get from it until I’ve been technically awake for at least an hour. Naturally I don’t always get the luxury of spending an hour getting things together. Years ago I was picked up at the crack of dawn and driven to a meeting point (McDonalds naturally) to go on a bowling trip. When I got out of the car, after only a 15 minute trip from my house, I almost threw up because my brain couldn’t work out why I wasn’t still in bed. Luckily with retirement just around the corner I should get plenty of opportunity to catch up on my sleep without the damned alarm clock waking me u at an ungodly hour. I’m looking forward to that very much indeed…. 

Cartoon Time.

Cat Darts..........

Emails while commuting 'should count as work'

By Sean Coughlan for BBC News

30 August 2018

Commuters are so regularly using travel time for work emails that their journeys should be counted as part of the working day, researchers say. Wider access to wi-fi on trains and the spread of mobile phones has extended the working day, a study from the University of the West of England says. The study examined 5,000 rail passengers on commuter routes into London as wi-fi became more available. "I am a busy mum and I rely on that time," one commuter told researchers. "It's really important to my sanity that I can get work done on the train," she said, on the Aylesbury to London route.

The study, to be presented at the Royal Geographical Society on Thursday, found that 54% of commuters using the train's wi-fi were sending work emails. Others were using their own mobile phone connections for work emails. Those on the way to work were catching up with emails sent ahead of the coming day - while those on the return journey were finishing off work not completed during regular working hours. "Its dead time in a way, so what it allows me to do is finish stuff and not work in the evenings," said a commuter on the London to Birmingham route. The study examined the impact of free wi-fi being upgraded on the London to Birmingham and London to Aylesbury routes. It showed that as internet access improved it had the effective consequence of extending working hours, using laptops and mobile phones.

For commuting parents, it was also seen as a "transition", where they switched roles from being part of a family to a working environment. There were other commuters who liked the "buffer" of being able to work when travelling. "The majority of the time it's an option for me to, you know, clear the decks for the day, relax and put work behind me more than anything else," said a passenger on the London to Birmingham route. But the findings raise questions about the work-life balance - and whether it is healthy to stretch out the working day with people routinely answering emails beyond office hours. If the journey has become part of work, should it also be recognised as part of working hours?

Researcher Dr Juliet Jain said smartphones and mobile internet access had caused a "blurring of boundaries" between work and home life - and this now applied to the journey to work. "How do we count that time? Do workplace cultures need to change?" she asked. Instead of technology giving people more flexibility over working, the study showed that people were working extra hours on top of their time in the office. "There's a real challenge in deciding what constitutes work," said Dr Jain, from the university's Centre for Transport and Society. Counting the journey as work could "ease commuter pressure on peak hours" travel, she said, allowing more staggered travel times. But Dr Jain said it would also mean that employers would want "more surveillance and accountability" for how commuters were spending that time before arriving at their desks. Business leaders recognised the difficulties of setting boundaries around such work emails and mobile technology - and warned it could damage productivity if work became too pervasive. "This increasing flexibility has the potential to radically shift the work-life balance for the better - but it also leaves open the door to stress and lower productivity," said Jamie Kerr, of the Institute of Directors. "With the concept of clocking on and clocking off no longer straightforward, defining where leisure begins and work ends will be vital for both employers and individuals, as well as a complex task for regulators." Matthew Percival, the CBI's head of employment, said: "A common-sense approach is needed, giving individuals the tools to manage their work-life balance."

[We’ve recently gone fully ‘agile’ at work and everyone now has a work laptop and a mobile phone. Naturally the bosses have nice mobiles but we all got the same laptops. Not long after all that started I noticed a trend – especially with our managers. They started sending e-mails at odd hours and at weekends to ‘get ahead of things’ and ‘set balls rolling for the next day’ in other words working for free. Even I felt the pull after working from home one day. I had the idea to check my e-mails over the weekend to get a ‘heads-up’ on what was waiting for me on Monday morning. I actually got within about a metre of my laptop before I stopped myself. Now, when I leave the office, my laptop and phone stay in the office safely locked away. I certainly don’t mind being expected to work if I’m being payed for it but conversely if I’m working I expect to get payed. Working for nothing in the (often vain) hope of being noticed or getting a bonus or whatever else is a sucker’s game. It’s just another method of not so subtle exploitation. If I was told in a job that I’d be expected to work un-payed overtime I’d be looking for another job pronto. When people say that their commute is ‘dead time’ it just shows how brain washed they are. It may be an ‘opportunity’ to work but it’s also an equal opportunity to think, to read, to sleep, to chat to your fellow passengers you probably see every day. You know, do human, non-work related stuff. Because I bet you that the two or more extra hours ‘at work’ each day won’t help your stress levels, your relationships or your bank balance.] 

Heavy reading............

Just Finished Reading: Amiens 1918 by Gregory Blaxland (FP: 1968)

Everyone knew it was coming. With the collapse of the Eastern Front due to the Russian Revolution whole armies of German soldiers where making their way across central Europe to reinforce the Western Front. But this was not simply a shoring up of German defences – the Americans were coming and the clock was ticking loudly. If German could not act soon it would be only a matter of time before the power of the emergent US military would crush them. They needed to attack – now. The Allied forces knew this and they had a pretty good idea where the hammer would fall. Aerial reconnaissance and the testimony of captured soldiers made that very clear. So the British, their colonial allies and the French reinforced their front lines, dug their defences deeper and started to prepare a mobile reserve force available quickly to respond to any potential breakthrough. Then, as preparations continued, all hell broke loose.

It was like nothing ever seen before. In a war used to massive bombardments this one surprised everyone with its ferocity. Also as soon as it had begun it was over and as dazed Allied soldiers began to wonder why the shelling had stopped the enemy were amongst them. Using new tactics and light weapons German Stormtroopers made their way through the weakest points in the defences, cut communication lines and isolated pockets of resistance before moving on, cutting deeper into the Allied lines. Mobile warfare, it seemed, has returned to France after years of stalemate. As much as the Allies prepared they had not prepared for this. In the first hours of the attack entire Allied units were annihilated where they stood and the rest fell back – only to be outflanked and forced to fall back again and again. Every heroic stand only slowed the enemy momentum but never stopped it. Counter attacks were repulsed, headquarters overrun, phone lines cut, and fuel depots destroyed minutes before the enemy arrived. It was chaos. The German plan was to drive the British to the coast to protect their precious ports and to force the French to protect their beloved Paris. If they managed to do so the Allies would be split and the tantalising possibility of victory rather than a negotiated peace could almost be seen – shimmering in the near distance.

Orders were issued – not another yard given to the enemy. It was tried and it failed or was ignored and the retreat continued. The Germans meanwhile were frustrated. Although unheard of progress had been made and thousands of Allied soldiers killed or captured the Allied lines had not broken. Wherever the German forces pushed Allied soldiers were ahead of them. In limited numbers in makeshift defences but they were there nevertheless and after weeks of relentless fighting both sides were exhausted. But this is what the Allies also knew – that they did not need to defeat the German onslaught, they just needed to survive it. If it failed then the war was won in this year – 1918 – not the following year as most of the Allies expected. Slowly at first and then with mounting realisation the German advance slowed and stopped. Attacks elsewhere were initially equally successful but quickly stopped too. Finally it was over.

But the new status quo could not be allowed to last for long. The British alongside their Australian, Canadian and South African allies counterattacked and push the weary German forces back and back again. Tanks in ever increasing numbers were thrown into the fight and greatly assisted in attack after attack despite increasing loses. Even the first tank vs tank battle took place – a clear sign of things to come. But once the German forces began falling back they never moved forward again. In a matter of weeks they were back at their starting lines and retreating further towards home and Fatherland. The end of the war was now only a matter of time.

Coincidentally, because I don’t actually plan my reading this well, it was the 100 anniversary of Amiens just recently. It was a pivotal stand which helped turn the war from defeat into victory. After Amiens the Germans only moved back – not forward. Told with real verve and passion this was an exciting blow by blow account of how the Allies survived a massive onslaught which could have possibly ended the war in Germany’s favour in 1918 producing a potentially very different world. More on this time and the consequences of WW1 to come. 

Cartoon Time.

Actually it's a really good (sensible) idea: micro-achievements. Not only are they actually achievable but it means you get a buzz from achieving stuff much more than other people who only go for the big stuff.

Curious creatures.......... 

The Rebel Library.

I suppose, in some ways at least, I read to find out who I am. It’s certainly true about a lot of my political reading. I know what I believe – politically – but I’m not 100% sure why I believe what I do. Thinking about it recently I can’t help but think that at least some of it was picked up in brief conversations with my Dad. I certainly can’t remember sitting down with him at any point and actually talking politics but there where comments here and there about the right thing to do that must have seeped into my psyche over the decades. He was most definitely on the Left. Whether he would’ve described himself as a Socialist I don’t know but he did mention a book on several occasions that stuck with me and which I picked up recently which strongly hints in that direction: The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell first published in 1914. I really need to read it as it clearly made an impression on him.

Those who know me as well as those who read this Blog are aware that I have a reputation of being a rebel – or just being plain awkward. Rebellion is something deep in my bones. Mostly I’m fairly happy-go-lucky and wouldn’t say ‘boo to a goose’. I am generally as inoffensive as them come – until that is something or someone pushes up against my rebellious side. When that happens and when I consider myself in the right nothing can move me. The barricades go up, the flags are hoisted and I’m ready to take on the world. Where, oh where, does THAT come from? It’s probably why I’ve had a lifelong interest in (and admiration for) rebels and rebellions. Naturally over the decades I’ve read quite a bit about both but it’s only fairly recently that I’ve been making more of an effort to dig deeper and understand rebels and therefore, hopefully, understand myself a bit more. As part of that I created the R4 category for books (Revolt, Rebellion, Resistance and Revolution) to try and put the many threads of the subject and my search to understand it all in one place. Presently it’s pretty much a shotgun approach to things as I tease out where the boundaries are and where the core is. I’m still working on that but I do think I’m moving in the right direction. I guess only time will tell. But so far here’s the present list of books in the Rebel Library. It won’t teach anyone how to rebel or to plan a successful rebellion but it should give food for though. I know it has with me.

 Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara
 Marx – A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer
Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man by Christopher Hitchens
 The Gunpowder Plot – Terror and Faith in 1605 by Antonia Fraser
The Spanish Civil War by Antony Beevor
 The Rebel by Albert Camus
1968 – The Year that Rocked the World by Mark Kurlansky
The Evils of Revolution by Edmund Burke
Politics of Fear – Beyond Left and Right by Frank Furedi
Crisis? What Crisis? – Britain in the 1970’s by Alwyn W Turner
The Motorcycle Diaries – Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz
Easter 1916 – The Irish Rebellion by Charles Townshend
Strange Days Indeed – The Golden Age of Paranoia by Francis Wheen
The Resistance – The French Fight against the Nazis by Matthew Cobb
The Spartacus War by Barry Strauss
Culture of Fear Revisited by Frank Furedi
Towards the Light – The Story of the struggles for Liberty and Rights that made the modern West by A C Grayling
Communism – A Very Short Introduction by Leslie Holmes
Terrorism – A Very Short Introduction by Charles Townshend
The Rebel Raiders – The Astonishing History of the Confederacy’s Secret Navy by James Tertius deKay
The Sea King – The Life of James Iredell Waddell by Gary McKay
Liberty in the Age of Terror - A Defence of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values by A C Grayling
Afgantsy – The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite
The Rebirth of History – Times of Riots and Uprisings by Alain Badiou
The Terrible Year – The Paris Commune, 1871 by Alistair Horne
Revolution 1989 – The Fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen
On The Spartacus Road – A Spectacular Journey Through Ancient Italy by Peter Stothard
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death by Albert Camus
Americans in Paris – Life and Death under Nazi Occupation 1940-1944 by Charles Glass
The Unfree French – Life under the Occupation by Richard Vinen
1848 – Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport
Eleven Days in August – The Liberation of Paris in 1944 by Matthew Cobb
Iron Curtain – The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56 by Anne Applebaum
Hope in the Dark – The Untold History of People Power by Rebecca Solnit
Butcher & Bolt – Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan by David Loyn
Churchill’s First War – Young Winston and the Fight against the Taliban by Con Couchlin
Return of a King – The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple
Making Sense of The Troubles – A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict by David McKittrick and David McVea
Fatal Path – British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922 by Ronan Fanning
The Republic – The Fight for Irish Independence 1918-1923 by Charles Townshend
The Rebel Sell – How the Counterculture became the Consumer Culture by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
Iron Kingdom – The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark
The Downfall of Money – Germany’s Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class by Frederick Taylor
The People – The Rise and Fall of the Working Class by Selina Todd
Them and Us – Fighting the Class War 1910-1939 by John Newsinger
Age of Extremes – The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991 by Eric Hobsbawm
The Autobiography of Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
1066 – A New History of the Norman Conquest by Peter Rex
Skis Against the Atom by Knut Haukelid
Travelling with Che Guevara – The Making of a Revolutionary by Alberto Granado
The Free State of Jones – A True Story of Defiance during the American Civil War by Victoria E Bynum
Seize the Time – The Story of The Black Panter Party and Huey P Newton by Bobby Searle
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton
To Hell and Back – Europe 1914-1949 by Ian Kershaw
Fusiliers – How the British Army lost America but learned how to Fight by Mark Urban
The War of the Flea – A Study of Guerrilla Warfare Theory & Practice by Robert Taber
Clydebuilt – The Blockade Runners, Cruisers and Armoured Rams of the American Civil War by Eric J Graham
The English Rebel – One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties by David Horspool
Revolutions – A Very Short Introduction by Jack A Goldstone
The General Strike by Margaret Morris
The Empire of Necessity – The Untold History of a Slave Rebellion in the Age of Liberty by Greg Grandin
Shooting in the Dark – Riot Police in Britain by Gerry Northam
Rebels Against the Future – The Luddites and their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age by Kirkpatrick Sale
Rebel Cities – From The Right to the City to the Urban Revolution by David Harvey
How to Stage a Military Coup – From Planning to Execution by David Hebditch and Ken Connor
Why it’s Still Kicking Off Everywhere - The New Global Revolutions by Paul Mason
Governing the World – The History of an Idea by Mark Mazower
Days of Rage – America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence by Bryan Burrough
The Myth of the Strong Leader – Political Leadership in the Modern Age by Archie Brown
The True Believer – Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
The Road Not Taken – How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution 1381-1926 by Frank McLynn

Cartoon Time.

Choose VERY carefully.....!

NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

From NASA

June 07, 2018

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found new evidence preserved in rocks on Mars that suggests the planet could have supported ancient life, as well as new evidence in the Martian atmosphere that relates to the search for current life on the Red Planet. While not necessarily evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring the planet’s surface and subsurface. The new findings – “tough” organic molecules in three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks near the surface, as well as seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the atmosphere – appear in the June 8 edition of the journal Science.

Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, and also may include oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. While commonly associated with life, organic molecules also can be created by non-biological processes and are not necessarily indicators of life.  “With these new findings, Mars is telling us to stay the course and keep searching for evidence of life,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, in Washington. “I’m confident that our ongoing and planned missions will unlock even more breathtaking discoveries on the Red Planet.”

“Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules,” said Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is lead author of one of the two new Science papers. “Whether it holds a record of ancient life, was food for life, or has existed in the absence of life, organic matter in Martian materials holds chemical clues to planetary conditions and processes.” Although the surface of Mars is inhospitable today, there is clear evidence that in the distant past, the Martian climate allowed liquid water – an essential ingredient for life as we know it – to pool at the surface. Data from Curiosity reveal that billions of years ago, a water lake inside Gale Crater held all the ingredients necessary for life, including chemical building blocks and energy sources.

“The Martian surface is exposed to radiation from space. Both radiation and harsh chemicals break down organic matter,” said Eigenbrode. “Finding ancient organic molecules in the top five centimeters of rock that was deposited when Mars may have been habitable, bodes well for us to learn the story of organic molecules on Mars with future missions that will drill deeper.” In the second paper, scientists describe the discovery of seasonal variations in methane in the Martian atmosphere over the course of nearly three Mars years, which is almost six Earth years. This variation was detected by Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite.

Water-rock chemistry might have generated the methane, but scientists cannot rule out the possibility of biological origins. Methane previously had been detected in Mars' atmosphere in large, unpredictable plumes. This new result shows that low levels of methane within Gale Crater repeatedly peak in warm, summer months and drop in the winter every year. "This is the first time we've seen something repeatable in the methane story, so it offers us a handle in understanding it," said Chris Webster of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, lead author of the second paper. "This is all possible because of Curiosity's longevity. The long duration has allowed us to see the patterns in this seasonal 'breathing.'"

To identify organic material in the Martian soil, Curiosity drilled into sedimentary rocks known as mudstone from four areas in Gale Crater. This mudstone gradually formed billions of years ago from silt that accumulated at the bottom of the ancient lake. The rock samples were analyzed by SAM, which uses an oven to heat the samples (in excess of 900 degrees Fahrenheit, or 500 degrees Celsius) to release organic molecules from the powdered rock. SAM measured small organic molecules that came off the mudstone sample – fragments of larger organic molecules that don’t vaporize easily. Some of these fragments contain sulfur, which could have helped preserve them in the same way sulfur is used to make car tires more durable, according to Eigenbrode.

The results also indicate organic carbon concentrations on the order of 10 parts per million or more. This is close to the amount observed in Martian meteorites and about 100 times greater than prior detections of organic carbon on Mars’ surface. Some of the molecules identified include thiophenes, benzene, toluene, and small carbon chains, such as propane or butene. In 2013, SAM detected some organic molecules containing chlorine in rocks at the deepest point in the crater. This new discovery builds on the inventory of molecules detected in the ancient lake sediments on Mars and helps explains why they were preserved.

Finding methane in the atmosphere and ancient carbon preserved on the surface gives scientists confidence that NASA's Mars 2020 rover and ESA’s (European Space Agency's) ExoMars rover will find even more organics, both on the surface and in the shallow subsurface. These results also inform scientists’ decisions as they work to find answers to questions concerning the possibility of life on Mars. “Are there signs of life on Mars?” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, at NASA Headquarters. “We don’t know, but these results tell us we are on the right track.”

[Despite all of the obvious issues (and those we’ve hardly considered) I still have high hopes that life will eventually be found on Mars. Likely to exist underground – maybe in caves where it’s much warmer, sheltered from dangerous surface conditions and, more importantly, possibly wet – it might even consist of primitive multi-cellular life forms. I doubt very much if we could hold a conversation with it but I expect it will be visible to the naked eye. At least I hope so!]

Ain't it just................ [snigger]