Edward VIII Abdication – A very British coup

On December 10th 1936 the uncrowned King Edward Viii signed the Instrument of Abdicated. Some details of the events leading up to the announcement are still shrouded in mystery but following the recent discovery of correspondence between the main protagonists the broad sequence of events is now clear. Despite the complexity of the situation there were two main reasons why the abdication came about. I want to leave aside the well-known associations with Nazism and focus on a couple of aspects which are relevant today.

As Prince of Wales the future Edward VIII had made himself unpopular with politicians. He had publically called left-wing politicians ‘cranks’ and made speeches criticising the Government of the day (of all persuasions). On succeeding George V he continued on a confrontational path with politicians in what we would today call an Activist King role.

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UK immigration – an issue of wealth inequality

Without doubt wealth can buy you all sorts of things from a better home (or even a home in the first place) to educational and social advantages or a longer life. It may ultimately be neither possible nor desirable to achieve absolute equality in society, even if we could agree on what that means.  But gross levels of inequality is now a major problem. I want to reflect on one area, the issue of being able to move around and live where you want. It is literally a matter of life and death

Recall the shocking images of the little six year old boy lying dead on a Turkish beach which briefly kindled the compassion of Europeans. Although happening only last year, it seems an eternity as terrorist hit western Europe hardened attitudes against both refugees and immigrants. But there is a simple fact that we in Britain must understand. The little boy died because he was poor. If his family were wealthy it is entirely possible that he may be still alive and living in the UK. He died because of inequality, simply a victim of the reality that poverty traps people geographically but wealth give you mobility.

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Thomas Hobbes, advocate for autocracy

The political philosopher Thomas Hobbes died today (December 4th) in 1679. But as a civic republican I shall not be mourning him, for a number of reasons. Ironically for one of the founders of liberal and libertarian thinking (along with John Locke) a primary aim of Hobbes was a defence of sovereign power and autocratic government. Hobbes works include Leviathan, published in 1651 in which he developed his social contract theory. His work was partly aimed at opposing the radical politics which emerged during the English Civil War and the theories of the high Republicans during the Commonwealth of the early 1650s; the modern combination of which I find compelling!

So what lay behind Hobbes insistence on an absolute monarch (or ruling group)? It comes from Hobbes concept of society which viewed people atomistically, in perpetual motion trying to get economic power and influence over each other. From this a natural structure to society emerges with individuals all seeking their best interests. But if society is of this nature, what stops it falling apart in some kind of anarchic fight for ultimate power? Why, none other than a universally accepted absolute sovereign charged with passing laws to ensure the continued health of the competitive system. To keep the sovereign above the throng he or she would have the power to appoint their successor (what better than the eldest son!).

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Lady Astor MP in 1919; but who was Constance Markievicz?

On December 1st 1919 Lady Astor took her seat in the House of Commons having been elected three days earlier.  She is sometimes erroneously described as being the first woman to be elected to the Chamber.  But that accolade belongs to Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth), an Irish nationalist, socialist and suffragette who was elected almost a year earlier in December 1918. Markievicz, a Countess by marriage,  was in Holloway prison when elected but due to the Irish Republican tradition of abstention did not take her seat in Parliament on release.  The policy which remains to this day was a result of the entirely understandable principle of refusing to swear the oath of allegiance to the monarch.

The American-born Lady Astor herself was a colourful and controversial character. Ironically for an American she was a believer in British Imperialism and held religious prejudices – dissuading the employment of Jews and Catholics at The Observer newspaper which was owned by her husband Waldorf Astor. Flirting with groups with Nazi sympathies during the 1930s, Astor possessed a great gift of wit which she used effectively to put down male hecklers both on hustings and in the Commons.

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Shelley: The Continuing State of Things

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Imagine discovering a new set of string quartets by the composer Beethoven. Or perhaps a large canvas by artist JMW Turner that was previously thought to be lost. In either instance, the media would have been all over it. So it is remarkable that the release to public view on 10th November of a major work by their near contemporary, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley has been met with an air of disinterest, as though it really was not worth the bother. There were brief mentions in the mainstream media (The Guardian newspaper excepted) and some excerpts read out on Radio 4. No comments by Government ministers, including Culture, Media and Sport. But this was an early work by one of this country’s most famous poets!

The work in question is Shelley’s Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things written in 1811. The only surviving copy of the poem has remained  hidden from public view in private collections for 200 years. You can now read (and even download a copy) from the Bodleian Library site.  So how did we finally get to read the work?  Poet and ex-childrens Laureate Michael Rosen has been campaigning for the release of the work for some time. Rosen gives his thoughts about the reason for the poem’s suppression and why he campaigned to get it released in this blog post.

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Starting Again….

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Welcome to my newly reinstated blog – or if you visited me before, then welcome back!

About a year ago my previous blog was suddenly erased without me ever finding out the reason.  There are a number of possibilities. At one extreme, it was a vanity of mine to think that I had been the target of a group or agency, official or otherwise who were opposed to my views.  But in reality my humble blog almost certainly would not register as much of a risk.  More likely it would have been the target of a random hacker who just saw the possibility of a bit of fun at my expense. Just as likely was a technical problem, perhaps a system update which had undesirable consequences.

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