Just Finished Reading: Enough Said – What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics by Mark Thompson (FP: 2016)

I think it’s hard to argue against the fact that something is very wrong with the language of politics and politics itself today. With the ever present rise in Populism across the West as well as the ever plummeting trust in political leaders it is easy to become both cynical and despondent about the whole process. More often than not (and I largely agree with the author here) that is because of the language used – the political rhetoric – of politicians themselves as well as the journalists who report them. But this has not always been so nor need it continue (or if possible get worse).

Despite its poor reputation the skill of rhetoric has long been taught to and prized by those interested in political office. Part of the decline in the language of politics can be traced to the long decline in education in this skill – not just in the ‘political classes’ and journalists but also in the public itself. To be fully engaged in the political process of a nation a politically educated citizenry, an electorate, should be able to analyse a political utterance to understand what is being said and, more importantly, what is being left unsaid. Rhetoric is designed to sell a point of view and it is up to an educated voter to be able to discern if they are being sold something they actually wish to buy. But it is easy to portray all politicians as liars. Their political opponents certainly do – either directly or indirectly. When no argument is debated on its merits and where all facts are held up as nothing of the sort it should be expected that the voters either turn away in disgust or become hopelessly confused.

It is not surprising – all across the West – that Civility is becoming a faded memory. It is not enough that an opponent’s arguments are disputed they must, in full public view, be destroyed and the proponent themselves ridiculed and called out for being a fool or worse. Today, on both Right and Left, there is little room and even less appetite for compromise (and increasingly ‘dirty’ word) on any issue big or small. All beliefs strongly held are fundamental beliefs and any discussion, or even the possibility of debate, is viewed as practically heretical. If things can be admitted to be up for debate than one side or the other can be proven to be wrong (or at least weak) giving room for the other side to win. This is, it seems, literally unthinkable – never mind publically admissible.

That, the author rightly points out, is the fundamental problem today. We have lost our civility and, partially because of that fact, we are becoming increasingly uncivilized. With a widespread bunker mentality and a winner takes all philosophy we can only find ourselves in a war of political attrition where no side can ever claim ultimate victory without creating a desert and calling it some kind of peace. We all, politicians, journalists and members of the public need to understand political language, use it appropriately and call out those who abuse rhetoric to hide the facts, misdirect attention and try to still up populist sentiment to gain power. This book is a valuable contribution to that turn away from the political wilderness we seem to be heading towards. Knowing how our politicians and news outlets seek to manipulate us with the spoken and written word is a good start and this book is a good launch point if you want to be well armed or well defended in the political fights to follow. Recommended. 

Cartoon Time.

All @ Sea and Up in the Air

I’ve been playing with the labels again. Stephen started it by posting recently on a history of the Royal Navy. I made a comment about having some navy related (or at least seafaring related) books in various piles which got me thinking about how many such books I’d already read – a lot I discovered. In fact I was rather surprised by how many such books I had read – from expected topics like naval warfare in both world wars to the Titanic sinking and beyond. I had long been interested in the great voyages of discovery and had, since my teens and my growing fascination in all things SF, looked on sea stories as a sort of substitute for space stories. The carrier based War in the Pacific in particular felt like a good facsimile for interplanetary conflict (or maybe that’s just me).

Of course I naturally moved on from all things water based to all things of the air. Again I surprised myself in how few books I had read on aviation – most of which centred around WW2. The other thing that surprised me is that I seem (as I’m still adding) to have many more pictures of aircraft here that ships. I’ve already mentioned my interest in flying boats – most especially those of Imperial Airways which flew around the world/Empire between the world wars. Yet despite this interest (and the posting of multiple pictures and travel posters) I have yet to read anything about them in book form. Odd….. I do have an abiding interest in aerial combat and have read extensively on the subject (mostly pre-Blog) and will continue doing so. As will naval combat standing in for space combat operations I have long seen aerial combat likewise standing in for space combat from my teens onwards. Whenever I see space combat in movies or TV shows I always look at their ‘realism’ compared to what I know of both real historic naval and air combat scenarios. As you can imagine some are far more realistic than others. How actual space combat would really be? That might be something different entirely.

Despite the strong tug of war I’m going to try very hard to spread both my reading and pictures beyond the realm of conflict. I love, for example, tales of pioneers and there are plenty of those on the water and in the air. Likewise there are the explorers and adventurers with sails and wings. No doubt stories of the search for the North West Passage and the attempts to break the Sound Barrier will both appear here. No doubt I shall also be reading about heroic tales of navigation from the likes of Shackleton and others. I’m a sucker for heroics and I can’t help feeling that the cultural life of the world is diminished when heroes of old are forgotten or, worse, dismissed or denigrated. I’ll see what I can do about that (in my own very small way).

Looking through various book piles over the last week or so there was, as I expected, a much heavier preponderance of sea stories over air stories (even taking into account my collection of books about the Battle of Britain). Even looking at my Amazon Wish List I found a similar lean towards the sea. I’m sure that I can’t ‘blame’ my Viking heritage [lol] but I could try. Maybe it’s because I’ve been on far more boats/ships from rowing boats to aircraft carriers than I have been in aircraft: a few helicopters and commercial airlines. I do love a good air show though and attend them whenever I can. So, you should probably expect to be seeing more boats than planes to come at least in the near term. But we’ll see, won’t we? 

I wonder if that's to scale....?

Cartoon Time.

Minister considers 'all options' to boost vaccine uptake

From The BBC

4th May 2019

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said he is willing to look at "all options" to boost England's vaccination levels, including compulsory immunisation. Mr Hancock told the BBC he did not want to "reach the point" of imposing jabs, but would "rule nothing out". More than half a million children in the UK were unvaccinated against measles from 2010 to 2017, Unicef says. In March, the head of NHS England warned "vaccination deniers" were gaining traction on social media.

The health secretary was speaking after a report in The Times claimed almost 40,000 British parents had joined an online group calling for children to be left unimmunised against potentially fatal diseases such as tetanus. And in England, the proportion of children receiving both doses of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) jab by their fifth birthday has fallen over the last four years to 87.2%. This is below the 95% said by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be the level necessary to protect a population from a disease. The UK was declared free of the highly contagious measles disease for the first time by the WHO in 2017. But in 2018, it experienced small outbreaks, and in March this year there was a sharp increase of cases across Greater Manchester.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Hancock said: "Failure to vaccinate when there isn't a good reason is wrong. These people who campaign against vaccinations are campaigning against science - the science is settled. I don't want to have to reach the point of compulsory vaccination, and I don't think we are near there, but I will rule nothing out." He said the failure to vaccinate children put at risk those who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons. "Vaccination is good for you, good for your child, good for your neighbour and your community," he added.

[I do find it staggering that people are actively refusing to vaccinate their children. I can only guess, apart from an unfounded belief that it has a risk of harming the child (based on a repeatedly discredited report by a single doctor), that people have simply forgotten how easily these diseases spread and just how dangerous they are. Without any experience of rampant epidemics – ironically because of the positive effect of vaccination programmes! – some people can no longer see the danger, indeed the criminal irresponsibility – of not vaccinating their children. I have no issue at all with legally enforced vaccination for this sort of thing. People should simply not be allowed to put their children or the larger community at risk because of ignorance or their crazy beliefs.]

Happy Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be With You... A Week of Star Wars related postings to come.

Just Finished Reading: Four Sisters – The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses by Helen Rappaport (FP: 2014)

It was all for love. Princess Alix of Hesse, grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, was besotted with her third cousin, Nicholas Alexandrovich heir to the Russian throne. Luckily for Alix the young future emperor had already fallen for the ethereal beauty and would let nothing stand in his way – the fact that she was German, the fact that she was Lutheran rather than Orthodox and the fear that she carried the taint associated with Victoria’s children. Against all of the odds they finally married and, despite many misgivings, determined the rule the vast Russian Empire and bring it within the modernised European fold. But first the young bride must perform her most sacred duty – she must produce an heir to the Romanov throne. Soon the announcement was made – the Empress was with child. Hopes were raised and then dashed when a girl was born – Olga. After a troubled birth and a short recovery a second pregnancy was announced. Hopes raised again and were again dashed with the birth of a second girl – Tatiana. Rumours began to fly. The family were cursed. Russia had been abandoned by God. The Empress was deliberately producing girls to undermine the Empire at the behest of Germany. With pressure for a male heir grew Alix became pregnant again and produced a third girl – Maria. The country was convulsed in an existential panic. Without a male heir the line of succession was blurred and subsidiary houses began jostling for position. As the political climate darkened and rumours intensified a fourth pregnancy was announced. The tension built until the birth of a fourth child – yet another girl: Anastasia. With the Empresses health declining and everything riding on her ability to produce an heir her fifth pregnancy had the fate of the Empire riding on it. Could the birth of a fifth girl be the end of her reign if not her husbands? To everyone’s relief the fifth child was the long awaited male heir – Alexey. The country rejoiced. At long last the Romanov dynasty was saved. But what few knew was that when the umbilical cord has been cut it bled, and bled, and bled. It was an outcome scarcely imagined and a word that was only spoken in whispers behind closed doors – haemophilia. As the political situation in Russia slowly spiralled out of control and the war against Germany going badly the Romanov’s drew in on themselves and became exiles in their own country. Increasingly isolated and out of touch with the prevailed mood of the people and their aristocratic ruling elite their championing of the radical monk Rasputin, apparently the only one who could stop Alexey’s bleeding did nothing to reassure them that the country was in good hands. With revolution in the air the Empress decided to stay in place, wait for her husband’s return and look after her sick children struck down with measles. Too late she learnt the error of her choice as the palace was surrounded and later occupied by rough Bolshevik forces. Now the fate of the Romanovs and that of the Revolution were entwined for good or ill.

Although I knew the rough details of the end of the Romanov imperial family I had no real idea of the detail of their slow demise and sudden end in a dank cellar in Ekaterinburg. I certainly know a LOT more now – maybe too much. The author’s attention was on the family and their life away from the public eye. What I would’ve liked is more about what was going on in the wider Russian world and how that impacted on the Romanov’s existence. There was some of that but, I thought, not enough to ground things fully in the historical and political context. The only real point of view presented was from the Romanov family and their immediate retainers with the occasional insight from visitors who left records of their impressions. I can certainly see why it won an award. As a family history it’s very good. I guess that I was expecting much more from the revolutionary side of things. Interesting for anyone looking for a more rounded view of the Russian revolution.