Thursday, 13 February 2025

Tea?

 

Tea?

Looking for something in a kitchen cupboard the other day, I came across a tea caddy, beautifully decorated with a painting of an elephant.

                                                        Detail

I have no recollection of how I came by this, but discovered that it had held Earl Grey tea bags. It’s one of life’s little pleasures to use attractive things on a daily basis, so I may start using it for our tea leaves. It’s quite tall, so not the easiest container to work with, and it will require a long-handled spoon.

The Williamson Tea company has been growing and harvesting tea since 1869 on four individual farms in Kenya. The tea bushes are grown without herbicides or pesticides.

The Williamson Tea Foundation supports the local communities with education and healthcare and employment opportunities. It also supports smallholders, and has provided three and a half million tea bushes to them in the last decade.

It is committed to maintaining and protecting wildlife habitats and primaeval forest, and has created ‘monkey corridors’ to allow safe passage of wild animals.

The company has an online shop offering a variety of teas, a few biscuits, and a couple of iconic enamel cups. It is an interesting site, full of information. 

Wednesday, 12 February 2025

The ‘phone rang . . .

 

The ‘phone rang . . .

 . . . on Monday night. It was Callum calling to ask if we were available for a visit. ‘Of course,’ we said. ‘When?’ thinking it would be at the weekend.

‘I’m just round the corner,’ he said. Actually, he was about fifteen minutes away, but close enough to pass for ‘just around the corner.’ He was in the area for business and having to stay overnight in a hotel.

Roxy and Gilbert were overjoyed to see him.

He stayed for a couple of hours and he and Barry set the world to rights in their usual fashion. Then he left for a meeting.

‘I hope it goes well,’ I said.

‘We’re meeting over a pint,’ he said.

That was bound to be successful, I thought.

These unplanned visits are such a welcome surprise.

 

                                

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Sticks!

 

Sticks!

It is a fact universally acknowledged that dogs enjoy sticks or things that resemble sticks. They like to chase and retrieve them, or chew them, or guard them, or play tug of war with them, or simply lie on them and go to sleep.

Many dogs will seek out a stick as soon as their paws touch the forest floor, and the bigger it is, the better. Roxy Labrador picks up a stick the minute she gets out of the car.

Dogs will navigate gateways and narrow paths with sticks that are much longer than it would be thought possible to manoeuvre. Cariadd Dalmatian used to carry sticks that looked more like telegraph poles.

Some dogs are possessive about their sticks and will not relinquish them. Arthur Cocker Spaniel loves to play the ‘Is that my . . . ?’ game. He will not give up his stick or toy until he is ready. He makes lots of noise, but he is the sweetest little dog.

 Sam Jack Russell insisted on taking his sticks into the back of the car and would not release them until he reached home. He and his sister, Daisy, played sticks with their mother, Biddy. The three of them ran along, two going forwards, one backwards. Biddy was also an accomplished tree climber.

Sticks and water go together. Labradors are persistent retrievers and bob their heads under water, looking and smelling for sticks that have sunk. Atavistic behaviour deep in the retriever memory from their origins, perhaps, from hauling in fishing nets in the chilly Newfoundland waters.

We always make sure that sticks are thick and long enough not to stick in the dogs’ mouths and throats. Mostly, we encourage our dogs to play with Kongs and balls, but sometimes, only a stick will do! 

Monday, 10 February 2025

Forks

 

Forks



What does a fork mean to you? Is it something with which to break up the sods, or to muck out the stables? Perhaps you use a smaller version, while carving a roast, holding the meat steady while a sharp knife blade slices the joint.

I suppose most people use table forks to spear food, making it easier to convey it to the mouth. A small dessert fork can be useful in guiding fruit or pudding onto a spoon, and when eating cakes or pastries, a pastry fork might be used, to prevent cream or jam or sugar covering the fingers.

If salad forms part of a meal, salad servers resembling a large spoon and fork can help move the greenery from bowl to plate, and perhaps a pickle fork might be used to spike onions or beetroot.



When I was a child, crumpets oozing with butter were a great treat in winter. These, and toasted bread, were cooked over coals in an open fire, and for this a toasting fork was used. Even with its long shaft, hands became very hot, and so did the faces of the people watching to see that the food didn’t burn.

Before forks were adopted, people used knives, spoons and fingers. Indeed, there is a saying, ‘Fingers were made before forks’, usually used to excuse the use of same.

Forks have been in use for centuries, since at least 2400 B.C, originally as cooking implements. Personal forks were used in the Byzantine Empire by the 4th century and forks were commonly used throughout the Middle East six hundred years later.

Italy used forks at table from the 11th century and by the 14th century they were commonplace. Guests were expected to provide their own forks and spoons when invited to dine.

It took longer for the fork to be adopted in northern Europe, some writers in the Catholic church deploring their use as an affectation.  In England, Elizabeth I (1533-1603) owned forks but preferred to use her fingers. Personal table forks were not widely used until the 18th century.

America did not embrace the fork until just before the American Revolution (1765-1783)

 Before forks were considered acceptable, the custom was to hold food down with the left hand and hold the knife in the right hand to cut. Then the knife would be used to take food to the mouth.

When forks were introduced, the custom of using the right hand for eating was retained, the fork being moved from left to right hand after cutting. This habit was taken to America by the British and became the accepted etiquette. Meanwhile, Europe eventually opted for the speedier style of retaining the fork in the left hand.

 I suspect that the American method of eating probably slows down the consumption of food, which is better for the digestion.

Am I correct?

Sunday, 9 February 2025

Trump

 

Trump

                    Tarot trump card, Le Fou (the Fool) Besancon, 1820

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Before everyone groans and demands, ‘No more, we’ve had enough,’ I should point out that this post is nothing (or, at least, not a lot!) to do with the orange one, variously known as the felon, 47, Trump the Dump, and other delightful monikers, more of which can be found here.

A trump card in a game of bridge, or poker, or some other incomprehensible and highly addictive, fairly intellectual card game (to someone who only plays Snap, Cheat and various Patience games, the foregoing are all games played by the intelligentsia) is one which outranks all the cards of a non-trump suit. Thus, to trump someone is to beat them, and has come to mean having an advantage over others, perhaps in business.

Trump once referred to individuals who were considered admirable – it’s a dated term of approbation, as in, ‘My solicitor does wonderful work – he’s a trump.’ It was also a noun, meaning someone who played the trumpet.

Trump is  an archaic term for a trumpet. In the King James bible, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 52, it says, ‘ . . . in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.’  

A trump refers to a person or thing which ‘proclaims, celebrates, or summons loudly like a trumpet.’

At this point, I began to wonder if the orange one had changed his name to reflect all these meanings, though, in 1642, the ‘Trumpe or Snoute of an Elephant’ was the name applied to what we now call the trunk.

However, the thought that initiated this wander through words ancient and modern, was that ‘trump’ refers to the act of audibly breaking wind. I thought that quite fitting.

Saturday, 8 February 2025

Truisms



I'm sure we can all relate to this. 

Cats are honest. They don't pretend to be something they're not. They don't seek to diminish people, building them up in order to knock them down. They don't tell lies. They don't ruin people's lives. 

Most people are decent human beings, but it's the ones who are not who give mankind a bad name.

Friday, 7 February 2025

Whoops!

 

Whoops!


English battering ram, 1611

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Our middle daughter once owned a flat in Crouch End, which is one of the ‘yummy mummy’ areas of London. At the time she was not a mummy of any sort – that came later.

Her flat was at the top of the house, remote from the street.

One night, while she was away from home, the Metropolitan Police received information that something nefarious was occurring in the house. They arrived in force, and used an ‘Enforcer’ to ram the front door. The ‘Enforcer’ is sometimes referred to as a ‘Rammit’ or ‘Sam.’ It is essentially a heavy battering ram, which few doors can resist, even those which have been reinforced.

The occupant of the ground floor flat was startled to find his home being breached. I don’t know whether the opera singers in the second-floor flat were present at the time.

It soon became clear that nothing criminal was being enacted in the building. It transpired that the post code the police had been given was incorrect and the ‘place of interest’ was hundreds of miles away.

The police were most apologetic and replaced the front door with one that was superior in every way to the original, and a great deal more expensive.

I often think of that as I lie in bed at night, and wonder how I would react, should such an event happen here. The conversation would be interesting.

‘Can I help you?’ would not seem to be an appropriate response, but ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ might inflame the situation.

Thursday, 6 February 2025

 

Another birthday

It was Barry’s birthday on Monday and the day passed quietly. In the main, we have gone beyond the stage of buying gifts for each other. It is almost impossible to find something he hasn’t already got, and if he hasn’t got it, he has no interest in acquiring it.

Occasionally, I give him a bottle of fine brandy or port, but he rarely drinks, so the bottles last for a long time. I can find books to interest him, the one pictured here being an example. It is a book to dip into, I think, and we shall both enjoy it.

Otherwise, we each decide if there’s something we would like, we discuss it, it is agreed, and we buy it. It is not the most exciting way to bestow gifts, but it pleases us. Our joy in giving is mainly confined to seeking out presents for the youngest members of our family. There are currently seven under twelve years of age, with a new one expected in March.

Children and grandchildren called and sent messages to wish him a happy birthday. Charlie and Jack sang to him, which was sweet, and Gillian also serenaded him.

He had decided that a(nother) cordless electric screwdriver was something he would really like, and after much research - there’s always detailed research! – he selected one that satisfied his exacting requirements. Cordless electric secateurs were also on his wish list. They have arrived and have already been put to good use and declared excellent, relieving the hands of much hard work. An extension pole arrived today so that the many trees and bushes we have rapturously planted in the decades we have lived here can now be pruned and shaped and otherwise made good.

All these things are rechargeable!

I think the thing that pleased him most, though, was the appointment that was made, of which more anon.

                        Look at those lovely noses! I love dogs' noses.

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Knitting and other things

 

Knitting and other things

We had a busy day on Saturday, when our youngest daughter and her family came to see us. They were supposed to have come before Christmas, but other things got in the way, and we had to postpone their visit. It seemed strange to see the children eating chocolate Santas and reindeer in February, but why not?

Jack wanted to learn how to knit and picked it up quickly. Apparently, he was sitting up in bed knitting on Sunday morning!

I also wanted to introduce him to French knitting, but the wool/yarn I had was quite thin and difficult to loop over the pegs, and I couldn’t get it started, so I left that for another day.

 A French knitting spool is a simple loom with three or four pegs, and produces a thin tube of knitting, which can be used in a variety of ways, to make small mats, for example.

The one I had as a child was a cotton reel with four nails hammered into it!

Often, looms with more than four pegs are used to create socks, or hats, called tuques, or fingerless gloves. Some looms may have as many as a hundred pegs. Knitting produced from the larger looms is known as spool knitting. Bizarrely, to me, anyway, spool knitting was historically used to produce reins for horses.

This form of knitting originated over four hundred years ago. During the First World War, French or spool knitting was used as occupational therapy for wounded soldiers in hospital, to practise and maintain fine motor control.

As usual, I over-catered, so we had much food left over. Bethan always arrives bearing gifts, and had brought a challah loaf and rolls and some delicacies, so there was no chance of us starving. She also gave me a beautiful bouquet.

Herschel is quite a florist and always tries his paw at flower arranging, pulling out some stems and laying them on the worktop. He did that for a couple of days, then, satisfied with his work, followed other pursuits.

We had a lovely day. I did very little, not finding movement very easy at present, and felt rather guilty that Barry, Bethan and Robert were doing all the fetching and carrying. They were happy to help, or so they assured me!

The cats excelled themselves, loving the attention Charlie and Jack – and Robert! - gave them. They seem to appreciate company as much as the dogs do.

Jellicoe, as ever, was as interested in the food as the dogs were and swiped a Madeleine before we could stop him and galloped off with it, with Gilbert in hot pursuit. Gilbert got the lion’s or, rather, the cat’s share, his poorly paw not hampering him one iota.

Sunday was a very quiet day, all the animals, four and two-legged ‘relaxing.’

We are still eating our way through the supplies, and I haven’t had to think about meal preparation since Saturday. 

Tuesday, 4 February 2025

I don't know

I don't know . . .

 . . . where I saw this wonderful proverb. 

If I nicked it from your blog, I apologise. I thought it expressed so clearly what so many of us are thinking right now, in different countries across the world. 

Monday, 3 February 2025

Noises in the night

 

Noises in the night

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I was woken from a deep sleep in the wee, small hours. A fox was screaming her unearthly cry and uttering other inhuman, guttural sounds.

Foxes can call at any time of year, but in the December and January of winter in the UK, it is an indication that mating is being invited or enacted. Although dog foxes can call, it is usually the vixen that creates the eery cacophony, advertising that she is ready to mate, and seeking a partner.

Mating can take twenty minutes, and, like dogs, the foxes remain tied until Mother Nature decrees that they can decouple.

The following explains the copulatory tie better than I can:

A breeding tie occurs when the gland at the end of the male’s penis swells up and is gripped by the contracting muscles of the female’s vagina, preventing the two from being separated. A tie is often seen as a sign of a successful mating and is common among dogs, wolves, and foxes.

It essentially locks the male and female together after ejaculation, maximising the chances of successful fertilisation by keeping the semen inside the female for a longer period of time.

People used to throw buckets of water over copulating dogs in the street, which was a cruel and unnecessary reaction, borne of ignorance, or possibly embarrassment if children were likely to witness the sight. With fewer stray dogs, it is rarely seen now.

In addition to screaming, foxes can bark or mutter or sob, and their song can make the blood run cold.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Sunday, 2 February 2025

Guard dogs!

 

Guard dogs!

We had some workmen here a few days ago, draining and servicing the pool. It’s something that has to be done every five years.

Roxy had a field day ‘seeing them off,’ except that all her noise was ineffective! She stood at the patio door, tail wagging furiously, barking her head off, longing to go out and make their acquaintance. There should not be strangers in her garden, she knew, and yet she would have loved to get to know them. Gilbert’s a very quiet dog and stood behind her, less sure, and learning from her that sometimes it’s good to bark.

The men, of course, took absolutely no notice.

It was all done and dusted in a couple of hours. There followed several hours of refilling, so it was a late night for us as we waited . . . and waited.

It took three years of intermittent thinking and discussing before we decided to go ahead and install an endless pool. The idea was planted because Barry’s knees were in such a parlous state that he was told to stop his life-long cross-country running, and advised to take water-based exercise. That is not an easy thing to do in a public pool, even one attached to a spa. ‘Ladies Who Lunch’ and their ilk object to their watery environment being used by people trying to exercise, or even those attempting to swim.

Construction was commenced in 2009, the same year I started this blog. Anyone interested in the Endless Saga of the Endless Pool should type ‘endless pool’ in the ‘search this blog’ bar.

Eve, Elliot and Louis, now 24, 26 and 22

 It has been a delight to see the grandchildren enjoying the pool. Callum, now twenty-seven, often asks if he can use it when he visits.

Frankie, now 12

I am looking forward to getting out there again for some gentle swimming and shall be nagging Barry to get out there and get on with it. He’s easier to live with when he’s well exercised, (like a thoroughbred horse! Maybe not!) and he’s had a year of not doing very much – not his fault, of course.

I need him to keep fit, as I’ve no idea what to do with the pool, other than swim in it. I’m sure there are people I could call on . . .

Saturday, 1 February 2025

Gilbert the Good – enforced rest

 

Gilbert the Good – enforced rest

Roxy, Gilbert and Jellicoe

Barry and Janice went out this afternoon and left all us animals at home, but before they went, Janice noticed I was limping and holding my paw up. They had an appointment, so couldn’t look at me more closely then, but when they reached home again, they tricked me with words like ‘Treats’ and ‘Chicken’ and ‘Chews’ just to make me get up and trot towards them. I wanted to stay in my bed because my paw hurt, though I wasn’t whimpering or shivering. They thought I was a bit quiet, though, so Barry ‘phoned up and took me to see Selene-the-vet. She’s only five minutes away by car.

Everyone at the vets made a fuss of me, and I was pleased to see them all – they’re so friendly and always give me a couple of yummy biscuits.

Anyway, it turned out that my paw has a cut on the pad. I’ve just come home and I’m a bit fed up because I’ve been told I mustn’t go out for a walk for seven days! SEVEN days!! AND I’ve got to wear a boot on my foot every time I want to go out to do the necessary – that’s going to be a bundle of laughs, I can tell you.

Jellicoe, Gilbert and Herschel

I’ve got some medicine to have once a day with my food to take away the pain and make sure the cut doesn’t get infected. There’s also some stuff to mix with water to bathe my paw. Janice groaned when she heard that, remembering Dominie-who-went-before me and how when her paw was bathed, she shook the mixture off her paw and all over the place, principally over Janice. I’m sure I shall be a good boy, though. My paw has to be bathed twice a day for five minutes. I think Janice is looking forward to that, because she laughed when she read that out to me.

It's going to be hard seeing Roxy go out for a walk, knowing that I can’t go out for SEVEN WHOLE DAYS! Roxy says it will soon pass, but I will miss it, especially the ponds.

Yesterday, Barry threw a big stick into the pond for me to retrieve. (They have to be big sticks, so they don’t get caught in my throat.) The stick must have been quite old and damp because it sank, and I spent ages diving under the water to find it. I could smell it, but I just couldn’t locate it. Eventually, Barry called me out because he was getting worried about me getting too tired.

When we went back this morning for our walk, he wouldn’t let me go in the pond. I think he knew I would be hunting again for yesterday’s stick. He told Janice I’m the most persistent retriever they have ever had, and that’s quite something. I am a very good boy – well-bred, don’t you know!

Time for supper now and my first dose of medicine. Seven whole days! SEVEN whole DAYS . . .

TTFN


Gilbert

Jellicoe, Gilbert and Herschel 

 

Friday, 31 January 2025

Lunar New Year

 

Lunar New Year

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Lunar New Year is also known as Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival. It is the most important festival in China but is also celebrated in Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries with a significant Chinese population.

Lunar New Year falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice and therefore begins on a different date each year. This year, 2025, it began on 29th January. Celebrations will continue until the fifteenth day, when the Lantern Festival is held.

There are twelve animals associated with the zodiac, and 2025 ushered in the Year of the Wood Snake, the first such for sixty years. The four other zodiacal snakes are Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

The snake is revered for its intelligence and mystery. The Wood element signifies growth, passion, tolerance, and renewal.

Snakes are interesting creatures, found on every continent except Antarctica. They are absent from Greenland, Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand, and from many smaller Atlantic and Pacific islands.

Not all snakes live on land. There are sixty-nine species of sea snakes, most of which are venomous, and three freshwater snake species. By contrast, most land snakes are non-venomous, killing their prey by constriction or simply swallowing it live.

Snakes have no eyelids or external ears. They sense sound through vibrations on the ground or in the air, and use their tongues to ‘taste’ the environment.

Snakes evolved from lizards about 150 million years ago. Some species, boas, and pythons, for example, retain vestigial limbs in the form of small claws either side of the vent, near the end of the tail.

Time has adapted the snake’s anatomy to accommodate its slender body. In the case of paired organs, like kidneys, these are elongated and situated in tandem. Many snakes have just one lung. A snake’s shape allows it to slither along many different surfaces and its flexible skin is covered in scales, which grip as it moves along.

 Colourful processions for Chinese New Year will include a dragon or lion dance and red will feature in decorations, as red is considered lucky.

This, from Wikipedia:

       According to legend, Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains) during the annual Spring Festival. The Nian would eat villagers, especially children in the middle of the night. 

One year, all the villagers decided to hide from the beast. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. The old man put up red papers and set off firecrackers.

The day after, the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them. The villagers then understood that Yanhuang had discovered that the Nian was afraid of the colour red and loud noises. 

(Yanhuang or Yan Huang is the name of a mythical ethnic group of ancient China who were said to have inhabited the Yellow River basin area. They claimed their descent from the two tribes led by the Flame Emperor (Yandi) and Yellow Emperor (Huangdi).[1] Their main achievement was to join to strengthen the basis of the two tribes and their civilized community. The Yanhuang are considered to be the founders of the Chinese people and the initiators of Chinese culture.)

The tradition grew as New Year approached, and the villagers would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and red spring scrolls on windows and doors, and use firecrackers and drums to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk.                                                

Thursday, 30 January 2025

Is there an alternative?

 

Is there an alternative?

This is a long and rambling post – just thinking aloud.

Chris published a post on her blog, 'Always smiling,' about the sentencing of eighteen-year-old Axel Rudakubana. He was convicted of stabbing to death three young girls at a dance workshop and injuring eight more girls and two adults, and was sentenced to a minimum of fifty-two years in jail before he can be considered for release. By that time, he will be seventy years old. It seems unlikely that he will ever be released. He could not be given a life sentence because of his age at the time of the murders, and many are protesting that the sentence is too lenient. Fifty-two years is lenient?

I don’t advocate the death penalty, which was abolished in UK in 1998, although the last execution took place in 1964, thirty-four years earlier. Life incarceration is harsh. Execution is harsh. Is there an alternative? I cannot think of one.

 The grief felt by the families of the dead, and the shock caused to survivors and others who were involved will not easily be overcome. The young man’s family will also have to live with the shame and the aftermath of his actions.

The thing that concerns many people is the lack of meaningful action throughout this boy’s life. Born in 2006, he was known to be a troubled character, displaying violent tendencies, and concerning behaviour by the age of twelve. He could not be taken into ‘Prevent,’ an anti-extremism programme, although he had been referred to it three times in two years, because he was not considered a terrorist threat. It was known that he was obsessively interested in violent crimes and genocide.

He sought help when he was thirteen, contacting Childline to ask what he should do if he felt he wanted to kill someone. The police interviewed him. At the time, he had been excluded from school and was later expelled after he admitted taking a knife to school around ten times. In the ensuing years, and attending a *special education centre, he engaged in many incidents of aggression and the police were called multiple times.

In the five years preceding the attack at the dance class, the police, the youth justice system, social care authorities, and mental health services had all been involved in dealings with the boy.

Despite all this attention, he was able to plan and conduct his vicious, meaningless attack on innocent children.

Now that he has been locked away, the Government has announced that a public inquiry will be held. No doubt, ‘lessons will be learned,’ as they always are (not) so that answers will be found so that this ‘can never happen again.’ I have no doubt the people who make such pronouncements are well-meaning. There are good people in Parliament, in all parties.

Goodness knows how long the inquiry will take – probably several years, judging by the usual pattern of such events. The Office Horizon IT Inquiry took four and a half years, finishing in December 2024. The Infected Blood or Contaminated Blood Inquiry lasted for six years, completing in May 2024.

 However did the Nuremberg Trials manage to complete their findings in about four years? The major war criminals were prosecuted in under twelve months. Lower-level trials took two and a half years.

I am tired of the excuses made by successive governments for their several and repeated failings. It does not matter what colour the government is, the hollow words and hand-wringing continue, the mismanagement and blaming are repeated. Everyone is always deeply sorry and makes promises that such things will never happen again, but they do. If ‘ordinary’ people committed such ‘mistakes’ they would lose their jobs at the very least. Something happens to people who gain power. They make impossible promises and have to renege on them, all the while casting aspersions on their predecessors.

Meanwhile, troubled souls like Axel Rudakubana slip through the bureaucratic net, passed from pillar to post, with no-one able to take overall responsibility. He asked for help. He didn’t receive it.

Is there an alternative?

*My eldest daughter taught for a couple of years at a special education centre for troubled boys. She was supposed to have another adult with her at all times. She didn’t. She left because she became so dispirited, not by the boys, but by the way the establishment was run.

Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Snoopy


Snoopy

I love Snoopy. He always makes me smile. Charlie Brown could not have had a better, more loyal friend.

He's a dreamer, too, and we all need dreams!

Tuesday, 28 January 2025

Holocaust Memorial Day

 

Holocaust Memorial Day, Monday 27th January


Genocide is the deliberate political determination to destroy a racial, ethnic, religious, or national people.

January 27th annually marks Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). On that day in 1945, eighty years ago, Soviet soldiers liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the largest camp of its kind. More than 7,000 prisoners were released. During the five years of its operation, more than one million men, women and children were murdered, ninety per cent of them Jewish. Victims also included Poles, Romani, Soviet prisoners of war, political prisoners, gay people, and those who were physically or mentally disabled.

From the HMD website: Auschwitz-Birkenau has become a symbol of the horror of industrialised murder, and what can happen when hatred is left unchecked.

 Holocaust Memorial Day also commemorates the millions of people worldwide who have been killed in genocides.


Remember the victims of the genocides of more than two million in Cambodia, under Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, 1975-1979, and around one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in Rwanda, in 1994.

In July 1995, eight thousand Muslim men, and boys over the age of twelve, were murdered in Srebrenica by Bosnian Serbs. This was the largest mass murder in Europe since World War Two.

Darfur, Sudan, was the setting in 2003-2005 for the genocide of two hundred thousand black Africans. War continues in Sudan.

Discrimination and persecution, bigotry and hatred continue to this day, in every nation, in every walk of life. From casual generalisations and crude jokes to organised marches and demonstrations, we are only ever a short step away from the breakdown of a civilised, caring society.