My deepest take on Boris - apart from the fact he is what he has always been, for good or ill - is that every guy who went to a private school knew someone like Boris, who, no matter what he did, always survived by dint of persona & he almost enjoyed a series of near expulsions.
I will not be adding further to this obviously deep and reflective analysis.
Boris was not in the Chapel or Cadet unit at school & was probably the hooker in the Rugby team who lost the ball when taking a tap restart ... what probably makes Boris a very good politician, though, is his anti-David Cameron aspects, albeit David Cameron is the much better guy
Good morning all & OTD in 1944, Operation OVERLORD commences with a massive naval and air bombardment of German positions, concurrent with Allied paratrooper and glider landings in occupied France, as well as Allied landings on the beaches and cliffs of Normandy. #DDay
Captain "Mad Jack" Churchill wades ashore on #DDay with his 'Claymore' sword in hand, ready to face the Hun!
The Canadians played an invaluable role on #DDay which is, in a very Canadian way, modestly never mentioned - but the Canadians survived Dieppe & without the lessons learned there, likely D-Day has terrible casualties and/or fails.
Good morning all & OTD in 1916, the Battle of Jutland commenced in the North Sea between the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet & the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. It would end indecisively albeit the German fleet would not challenge the Royal Navy's command of the sea again.
The hero of Jutland was Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, RN (1859-1935), later the 1st Earl Jellicoe, the hero of Jutland & a methodical, quiet but determined - and very popular with his sailors - leader by his good example
Commend this excerpt from Andrew Gordon's "Rules of the Game" on Jellicoe as an unpretentious fighting admiral versus the showboating David Beatty who would succeed Jellicoe. Jellicoe was also 'by the book' and safe, unlike Beatty who madly risked the lives of his men for speed.
Have been reading Heinrich Albert Rommen's "The State in Catholic Thought" - Rommen was a German lawyer who practised in the Weimar Republic, fled the Nazis in 1938, and then originally published this book as World War II was ending.
Rommen's chapter on the State and the Common Good is very interesting and deals with many issues now in the news in terms of what the State should be doing, why, and to what end.
"The ideal of youth is not the statesman, the pater patriae, but the successful money-maker or the corrupt politician, without social responsibility, as also the business executive without responsibility but to the impersonal capital interests"
Good morning all & by this time in 1945, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery had taken the surrender of all of the German higher command in Northern Germany, Denmark, and Holland at Lüneberg Heath & much of WWII in the West had ended.
Film of Monty taking the German surrender - first he gives a short talk on the War & notes the British Empire stood alone until the Americans (eventually) came in. Monty dresses for comfort before shifting into battledress to take the formal surrender.
By the end of WW2, Monty was basically DIYing his uniform each day - which you can do when you are a Field Marshal and winning WWII. Monty met Churchill at his HQ dressed for a lazy weekend...with an umbrella. Churchill himself ready to be an extra in “The Cruel Sea”
"Nuclear power supplied around 21% of the U.K.’s energy needs during 2020, up from 9.4% in 2000.
The government has outlined a plan to expand the country’s nuclear power generation to 24 gigawatts by 2050, or about 25% of electricity demand."
"U.K. is planning a huge push into renewable energy, particularly offshore wind .... That will need stable backup generation for days when it’s not windy and the government wants low-carbon nuclear to take that role."
Australia's black coal (very clean coal btw) trading at near recent record highs. Australia is an energy & resources superpower. We disown so great a resources inheritance as ours at the great peril of ourselves and our Allies who we help power in these dangerous times.