Only in America...it's all different now of course...I think

[coppinpr]

I've been reading up on American homeland history for the period 1920 to 27 and was astounded at some of the little know (perhaps hushed up) facts.
A president who was almost certainly poisoned by his wife before he could be arrested for mass corruption (Harding), another who literately did nothing... all day every day... refused to go anywhere except on vacation, all this inactivity causing the first hints of the great depression... yet the public loved him (Coolridge).
This was also the period called at the time "the great red scare" one of the first times that America went on its periodical habit of seeing reds under every bed. This was at a time of anarchist bombings - lots of them, which didn't help matters. Things came to head when a crowd dragged an office worker at a socialist organization called the "Industrial Workers of the World" out into the street beat him half to death, and cut off his genitals. Pleading to be put out of his misery, they hung him from a river bridge and shot him... The coroner ruled the death suicide and no charges of any type were even considered. This a few days after a young coloured boy fell asleep floating on lake Michigan and washed up on an all white beach... he was immediately stoned to death by the people on the beach. Needless to say, no charges were brought. Still at least it couldn't happen there today... unless you live in "Shitkicker Texas" or "Swampbottom Alabama."

No offence John P, most of you are just fine.

[john t peterson]

No offense taken, Coppinpr. We have a checkered past in the US, particularly when it comes to race relations. For example, our current Supreme Court majority (conservatives) rule that there is no longer any actionable racism in the country. This allows the Republican dominated states to pass laws regarding voter identification that effectively discriminate against the inner city poor, mostly blacks as well as the elderly. Their justification is "voter fraud," a canard they cannot prove even to the slightest degree.

From the outside, our current political situation must look very strange; from the inside it looks like a fools circus. They do nothing yet we still pay them.

JP
American by birth; fool by practice

[badpenny]

I'd guess your parliamentary processes are cloned from ours .... bad luck!
We've successfully garnered our bunch of weak-chinned, out of touch, thieving perverts from the offspring of our wonderful blue blooded aristocracy having made sure they studied nothing of any import at a private school first.

The one sensible thing this has resulted in of course is that they promptly delegated all responsibility for making decisions and laws to our natural enemies in Europe. Hooray for The Common Market ... err I mean EEC ... no ... they call themselves EU now don't they?

Of course we are the only members of Europe that obey a single law passed by them.

I'm off now to stir my afternoon tea of crumpets with my stiff upper lip.

BP

[coppinpr]

Do you still wear your flat cap when eating crumpet... or is it muffin I'm thinking of?

[badpenny]

Do you still wear your flat cap when eating crumpet... or is it muffin I'm thinking of?

What have mules got to do with our capitulation?

[arrgee]

What have mules got to do with our capitulation?

Oh Mr BP did your history teacher of class 1964/65 not tell you about the spinning mule, the spinning Jenny, the Luddites , the Tolpuddle Martyrs and all that rebellious stuff of a past age.
It all adds up now................. it has lead to spinning politicians who act like mules.

[badpenny]

Ah .... well ..... until 1966 my primary schooling was in Scotland.
Their arithmetic was excellent as was their teaching of spelling, and all writing had to be level without ruled paper.

My first day at school in 1958 commenced at 09.00 am and finished at 4.00 pm (none of that softy half days in Scotland!) And I was given homework, they started as they meant to go on. By week three we were using ink.

All of their schooling in all subjects was intense compared to what I was to experience afterwards back in my home country.
With one exception ..... History!

For seven years the only delving into the past we looked at was in order to examine The Battle of Bannockburn 24th June 1314.

Annually School Plays were centered around The Battle of Bannockburn 24th June 1314. Guess who played the defeated English against 23 Robert the Bruces?

Every year we had a school trip where we all trudged into a coach to be carted off to gaze in wonderment at ..... Bannockburn where on 24th June 1314 there had once been a battle which ended in a tactical withdrawal by the English ... OOOPS Sorry! I meant to say the brrrrave Scotish Soldiers annihilated the cowardly English thugs who didn't stop running until they were in Berwick. Brainwashing does work you see.

One year they announced that we were to visit Stirling Castle, I was so relieved, imagining that for the first time I was not to end the day by having my head kicked in because I was a "sassanach git". To my horror the thing you can see clearly from Stirling Castle is a field called Bannockburn where on 24th June 1314 there had once been a battle. That year I was lucky not to have been thrown from the ramparts.

Imagine the inner peace when my family moved to Coventry. A few weeks into my new schooling the 24th June arrived and I was amazed to discover it wasn't a holiday as it was North of The Border. When I inquired about this the teacher looked puzzled and said "What the hell is a Bannockburn? After I got him up to speed on its importance he told me ....
You should have just reminded them of CULLODEN MOOR 16th of April 1746.
I smiled, paused then asked him "What the hell is a CULLODEN MOOR?"

Which I hope goes some way to explaining my deficiency regarding Muffin the Mule and crumpets.

Still it was on the promenade of Prestwick seafront that I first saw a Jennings Governor on thruppeny bits. The glorious image was burnt into my memory along with the experience that when an escalator sticks it goes onto free play and you walk home with five bob in your pocket!