NAILED it....!

Happy Birthday: James Keir Hardie (15 August 1856 – 26 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and was its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.

Hardie was born in Legbrannock, Newhouse, Lanarkshire. He started working at the age of seven, and from the age of ten worked in the Lanarkshire coal mines. With a background in preaching, he became known as a talented public speaker and was chosen as a spokesman for his fellow miners. In 1879, Hardie was elected leader of a miners' union in Hamilton and organised a National Conference of Miners in Dunfermline. He subsequently led miners' strikes in Lanarkshire (1880) and Ayrshire (1881). He turned to journalism to make ends meet, and from 1886; was a full-time union organiser as secretary of the Ayrshire Miners' Union.

Hardie initially supported William Gladstone's Liberal Party, but later concluded that the working-class needed its own party. He first stood for Parliament in 1888 as an independent, and later that year helped form the Scottish Labour Party. Hardie won the English seat of West Ham South as an independent candidate at the 1892 general election, and helped to form the Independent Labour Party (ILP) the following year. He lost his seat in 1895, but was re-elected to Parliament in 1900 for Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. During the same year, he helped to form the union-based Labour Representation Committee, which was later renamed the Labour Party.

After the 1906 general election, Hardie was chosen as the Labour Party's first parliamentary leader. He resigned in 1908 in favour of Arthur Henderson, and spent his remaining years campaigning for causes such as women's suffrage, self-rule for India, and opposition to World War I. He died in 1915 while attempting to organise a pacifist general strike. Hardie is seen as a key figure in the history of the Labour Party and has been the subject of multiple biographies. Kenneth O. Morgan has called him "Labour's greatest pioneer and its greatest hero".

The Results are IN....!

Well Done to the Count! Getting almost HALF of Reforms vote..... Not bad... Better luck NEXT time!

Just Finished Reading: The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle (FP: 1968) [292pp] 

It was an overheard conversation at it changed everything. Whilst hiding in her wood she listened in to two hunters passing through. One warned that hunting here was useless because the local wildlife had learnt to hide too well in emulation of the resident unicorn. His companion laughed heartily and explained the unicorns were a myth and even if they had existed (which he doubted) they had long vanished from the world of men. Both amused and irritated by the debate she couldn't help but wonder: was she the last unicorn? If so, what happened to the others? Did they leave to go elsewhere or did they, rather illogically, die – being immortal kind of squashed this idea. There was, she thought, only one way to find out. She would have to leave her sacred wood and venture out into the world and seek out others of her kind or at least find out what happened to them and what might, ultimately, happen to her. Her quest was about to begin... 

Despite this being a classic (although apparently 'lost' for some time) and despite being listed as one of the 100 greatest fantasy novels of all time, I had honestly never heard of it or the author. I think a big part of that is that Fantasy isn't exactly my favourite gene. I've dipped my toes in before (and even wiggled them a bit) but have never really 'dived in' - to extend the metaphor a little further. This book/author might be the start of turning that around because I totally LOVED it! 

I think part of that reaction was sheer surprise. For one thing the novel was really well written - simply beautifully. But it was much more than that. As usual I'll bang on about characterisation. The unicorn herself, as she progressed from understandable naivety to depressing knowledge, is very well drawn. Her companions on the quest likewise are a delight. The immortal (but only until his magic actually starts working properly) wizard Schmendrick was a particular favourite of mine throughout. He's fully accepting of how inept he is but at the same time knows with iron certainty that he CAN do great things given the right opportunity. 

The world building is superb. If you have had any experience of either Fantasy tales or Fairy tales, you'll fit right in. Layered on top of this is the VERY knowing humour that had me literally howling with laughter. We meet a bandit chief who composes songs about himself so that he'll become a part of the local folklore and, eventually he hopes, a myth (yet he doesn't believe that Robin Hood was ever a 'real' person). There is a local villager who, when asked to explain his actions – or actually inactions - responds with (I'm paraphrasing slightly here) the fact that he knows what a hero narrative looks like when he sees one. One other conversation almost floored me the way it fell. One of the other main characters asked why the prince in the spooky castle was 'so important'. The magician looked at her and said, "You've never been in a fairy tale before, have you?" MUCH laughing ensued as the magician clearly knew he was a character in a story and was happy to go along with it! 

This is the kind of book that you could read to your children at bedtime (I suggest for the over 7's as some of the ideas might simply fly over their heads otherwise and there are a few scary bits for the very young). Older children would, I think, not only get a LOT out of this but also get a lot out of re-reading it every 3-5 years. Each read, I think, would reveal more as they matured. But that doesn't mean that this is simply a well-written and enjoyable children's book. Nothing of the sort. This is one of those rare books that just about anyone can read and enjoy. All readers of all ages will get different things from it, but everyone will come away entertained, bedazzled and oddly comforted too. It is a tale of heroism, friendship, love, conviction, exploration and much, much more. Definitely a highlight of the year and DEFINITELY recommended even if you're not normally a Fantasy fan. More to come from this author. 

The VERY Best of Luck to Count Binface in today's By-Election in Clacton! Make You Vote COUNT! 

Just Finished Reading: The Last Gentleman of War – The Raider Exploits of the Cruiser Emden by R K Lochner (FP: 1979) [303pp] 

In 1914 the war drums, ever louder, could be heard all the way in China. It would only be a matter of time before Germany's Far East fleet was trapped in her home port and either starved into submission or destroyed by the Allies superior numbers. There was only one thing to do – leave port and strike at the superior enemy forces wherever they could be found. In order to do that the commander, Admiral Graf von Spee, wanted to keep his entire force together. One captain, Karl von Muller, asked is his ship Emden could be detached to operate independently. After some musing the Admiral agreed and the historic exploits of that ship began. In the coming months Commander Muller not only managed to evade the sweeps of British, French, Russian and Japanese warships but he also managed to sink thousands of tons of Allied cargo vessels, destroy an oil facility in Madras, raid Penang (an Allied port) sinking both a Russian and a French warship running the Allies a very merry chase for over 3 months without any access to port facilities or the possibility of resupply. What's more, all of the encounters with civilian vessels – both enemy and neutral resulted in not a single death or injury (except maybe to their pride) which was universally praised by all sides. 

But such a run of luck (and skill) cannot last forever. Deciding to attack and destroy an isolated British radio station and cut the international cables which met there, Commander Muller made a fatal mistake. Believing that the nearest Allied warship was at least 250 miles away he sent ashore a party of men to undertake the task at hand. Aware that a message had been sent out of a 'strange ship' in the harbour the German crew knew that they had to work fast. What they didn't realise was just HOW fast they needed to move. Unfortunately for the Emden a heavily escorted Allied troop convoy was only 50 miles away and a fast cruiser – the Australian HMAS Sydney – was dispatched to investigate. Sydney was a more modern, faster and more heavily armed vessel than Emden which quickly found that it was outgunned and could neither stand and fight nor successfully run from her bigger opponent. Within a few hours of the opening salvo Emden lay wrecked, beached on a carol reef surrounded by the dead and dying. It was over – or not... 

The landing party has seen part of the fight and had a decision to make. They could either hide on the island (unlikely) or stand and fight (suicide against a cruiser and any troops sent to follow up any offshore bombardment). Neither option found favour. There was only one alternative – escape and return to Germany, which would mean sailing from North Keeling island (located 1750 miles west of Australia in the Indian ocean) across the Indian ocean, to the Red Sea coastal area, across Arabia to Constantinople and from there, by train, finally to Germany itself. This is exactly what they accomplished with minimal casualties all round. Unsurprisingly they were treated like heroes on their return over a year later. 

I knew the early part of this story having read about Graf von Spee's fleet actions at Coronel and the Falklands (where his command was destroyed much to the relief of the Royal Navy). But I didn't know much detail (or just how heroic) the actions of Emden were. It's an amazing story, well told with lots of detail gleaned from the dairies and reports of those involved on all sides. I was particularly impressed by the logistical nightmare of keeping a ship in action that needed HUNDREDS of tons of coal on a regular basis just to keep going - never mind food and other items. I can definitely see why they shifted to oil ASAP! If you're interested in WW1 away from the mud, shells and gas of the Western Front this is definitely a recommended read for you and worth the effort of tracking down a copy. 

Translated from the German by Thea and Harry Lindauer.