"Here, at the heart of England, half-way between Royal Windsor and lordly London…”
“…looking down, Here, where the trees troop down to Runnymede, Meadow of Magna Carta, field of freedom…”
“…Never saw you so fitting a memorial, Proof that the principles established here Are still dear to the hearts of men." #QueenElizabethII#runnymede
Runnymede is a fitting place to acknowledge and pay tribute to our longest reigning monarch, and to remember that we are all custodians—guardians—of the rights accrued to us over a millennium, and which define us as a people.
With huge thank you to all the police and the amazing volunteers at @RunnymedeNT today. It was superbly organised, and all handled with great care and kindness.
The words above are quoted from Paul H Scott’s poem, engraved into the glass of the Airforces memorial that sits above Runnymede - the national memorial to all the airmen and women who died in conflict from 1939-45.
Per ardua ad astra.
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The role of the British Sovereign Bases on Cyprus (UK Overseas Territories) in enabling U.K. military activity in the Levant and Middle East will, I suspect, come under the spotlight in coming days.
The SBAs of Akrotiri and Dhekelia were retained by the U.K. when Cyprus gained independence in 1960. Altogether 99 sq. miles remained British - purposefully under the “100” mark so not to spark the ire of Cypriots - a strategy that’s been partially successful over the 64 years.
There have been calls for the U.K. to reunite the SBAs with the Republic of Cyprus, but these have never reached the same crescendo as, for example, the British Indian Ocean Territory/Diego Garcia issue - which both the UN and the ICJ have ruled should be returned to Mauritius.
This news (if anything like true) is going to be received with unmitigated horror throughout the UK’s Overseas Territories.
—This has the hallmark of Empire 2.0 rather than the modern, collaborative, “family” relationship the UK is eager to promote. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…
Three possibilities.
1. Tabloid-government fabricated “fake news”. 2. Home Office flying solo, in which case the FCDO will be raging tonight. 3. FCDO complicit in this scheme, in which case OT governments, from Stanley to Road Town, will be raging tonight.
Whether or not this happens, this is a BIG story with huge (unintended) consequences for the UK’s relations with its own OTs.
—This will do nothing to quell growing calls within the OTs for substantial reform of relationship with the U.K.
Spent the morning thinking about schools returning on Monday and looking at #Covid rates in Surrey Heath*.
*Tier 4, but primary schools are due to return on Monday 4th.
I can see that it’s possible to find, in the numbers, a justification for treating boroughs like Surrey Heath differently from London (where Primary Schools won’t reopen on Monday), especially when looking at Borough-wide aggregate figures (see above).
But digging deeper, there are some really concerning trends. Over the past seven days, every postcode area in Surrey Heath bar 1 (Camberley Parkside) has experienced rising #Covid numbers, with some particularly rapid:
Imagine voting for a #BrexitDeal that isn’t just worse than the one we already had, but which will be a near permanent drag anchor on the U.K. economy.