Geeky thread warning. Or, if you’re like me, a cool bit of 20th Century urban archaeology. Check out this shop in Kingston. What’s unusual about it (aside from its no-doubt-excellent nails service)?
On its gable-end, the wall is double-thickness up to about 6 feet. Why?
On closer inspection, it’s a thick layer of concrete, either up against or cutting through the wall of the presumably brick building. This shop has been armoured...
Even better, this concrete has two wide-angled loopholes in it. The right hand one has been completely filled in, the other left partially open for a handy security box cubby-hole. Armoured and loopholed - this is a fortified shop. A shop with a bunker built-in!
A south-facing, concrete fortification, near a major Thames crossing... This fortified shop is part of London’s WW2 invasion defence network, specifically part of London Stop Line Central (Line B). It was built in 1940 or 1941 to slow German tanks should the worst happen.
It played its small part in history (and thank goodness it was never needed) but I love that it still survives, an otherwise unnoticed chunk of concrete lining an alleyway by a nail bar. You never know what’s around you until you look!
There are *loads* of remnants of Britain’s defences that we never notice - some are destroyed unwittingly every year. There’s a searchable database to find those near you here: archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/…
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One of the many ridiculous things about the argument that it's a "realist" position to suggest we get peace by allowing Russia to gain and keep Ukrainian territory is that this is literally what happened in 2014 and it led directly to this current war. This isn't hypothetical.
It also isn't a one-off, freak incident. It's also literally what happened in Georgia in 2008, which led directly to the invasion of Ukraine in 2014, which led directly to the invasion of Ukraine today. It isn't "realist" if you've tried it twice and it doesn't work.
This approach had plenty of other spillover effects too, of course. A civilian airliner blown out of the sky. Chemical weapons deployed to murder British civilians on the streets of Salisbury. Russian dominance in Syria. Refugees driven into Turkey, through Europe and to Britain.
To reiterate: we were told time and again what “serial bully” John Bercow was like. Some chose to disregard it for political advantage. Will this pretence and lionisation please now end for good?
Shockingly, immediately before this verdict about “serial bully” John Bercow was announced, his PR agency put out a press release attacking his victims and the investigators. You know, like a serial bully.
As well as upholding bullying claims, the Independent Expert Panel says that “[Mr Bercow] has been widely unreliable and repeatedly dishonest in his evidence. He has attempted to defeat these complaints by false accusations of collusion and by advancing lies.” Shocking stuff.
Russia’s latest act of war is the direct product of failure to stop and punish the last one, which was itself the product of failure to stop and punish the one before that. Apologism, excuses, complacency and resignation today sows the seeds of Putin’s next war in the same way.
Likewise, every element that sustains Russia the thug state aids Putin’s murderous regime. We should deny Russia access to our trade, banking, industry, research, financial services, courts, tech, housing market, schools and universities. Pariah status must have meaning.
Are there costs to that? No doubt. But try the cost of an unchecked tyranny waging land war in Europe while controlling your energy price, murdering British civilians on Britain’s streets, and proclaiming its right to dominate all former Soviet states.
I would pay actual British money to have seen either this conversation or footage of the sheer bafflement in the Oprah production office when the suggestion arrived.