FEBRUARY 2002
When recently a noted British philosopher was asked if he would be prepared
to die for his beliefs, he replied, "Certainly not! Who knows, I could
be wrong."
If you don't understand weapons you don't understand fighting. If you don't
understand fighting you don't understand war. If you don't understand war you
don't understand history. And if you don't understand history you might as well
live with your head in a sack. - Jeff Cooper
Say what you like about New Labour, but at least when you bribe them, they
deliver. You pay cash, you get result.
Class War is alive and living in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament has banned
hunting with dogs and furthermore refused to pay any form of compensation to
the people standing to lose their livelihood in what was perfectly legal until
now. Scotland has actually shot itself in the foot in a big way because as the
law now stands it will affect not only foxhunting, but any use of dogs, and
as grouse shooting and deer stalking is a major income-producing part of the
countryside the effect might well be felt a lot wider than was intended.
Many years ago I happened to teach English at a company that was involved
in testing the effects of cosmetics on animals, and I remember being horrified
at the way these cats, dogs and rabbits were being treated. Members of BUAB
(the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) have effectively closed
down a lab in this region that worked for medical companies testing new medicines
for various illnesses. Talking to some of these people I have still not got
a firm commitment from them that they will refuse any medical treatment for
themselves or their children using medicines that have been tested on animals.
What does it take to get Her Majesty's Government to lobby on behalf of your
company? On recent evidence it seems that you must not be based in the UK or
pay taxes here, you must not be a British citizen, you must not employ UK citizens;
you must compete against British companies, you must be contributing at least
£100,000.- to the Labour Party.
Reading my hometown newspaper on the internet I see a delegation from the Shetland
Islands have been visiting Norway to lobby the Norwegian Government for a return
to the homeland. It is not a well-known fact that the Shetlands and the Orkneys
are Norwegian territories governed by Britain. They were put up as security
for a loan a long time ago by the Norwegian Crown, and Norway has never been
able to repay, leaving the Islanders stuck under foreign rule.
I hear from daughter Aki that she has trashed the transmission on yet another
car. The only vehicle robust enough for her style of driving seems to be her
Land-Rover series 11A, which she can fix with bailer-twine and chewing gum if
anything goes wrong.
Among the other signs of times we discover that coping is unfashionable. As
far as I can tell, today's young people are taught not to handle problems but
rather to call for help. This is very bad race conditioning. As a boy I led
a privileged life, but I nonetheless often got into jams beyond reach of assistance.
I never called for help, and my father would have sneered at me if I had done
so. At age seventeen while driving alone I blew a tire. I had never seen a wheel
changed but I figured the matter out by myself. This is not to boast but only
to point out that young men should be expected to cope - Jeff Cooper
I see that Education Minister Estelle Morris is claiming that "Britain
has almost a world class education." Quite. I suspect this is New Labour
speak meaning Britain is almost matching the education in third world countries.
I'm back from my all too brief stay in San Francisco. The weather was a pleasant
change from the UK. and the hospitality of Stav Master Ronayne Loderus and his
students was excellent. The Stav seminar went well (at least I thought so),
and walking among redwoods was a real experience. I do miss forests.
The railways haven't changed much while I've been away. I missed one service
because I got stuck in the subway and had to wait for six hours until the next
one was due. Five minutes before departure we were told that the service was
cancelled; no explanation why. After making a lot of ruckus we were reluctantly
transferred to a service going to Leeds as we could change at Doncaster to a
train going to Hull.
We arrived at Doncaster only to find the the Hull train had been cancelled,
the next one not due until next morning. In the end we were saved by a train
arriving two hours late that everyone seemed to think had already left. All
in all it took me longer to travel from London to Beverley than from San Francisco
to London.
As the British philosopher once put it, there is hardly any product in the
world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell for a little less, and
the man who makes price his only concern is the natural prey of this man. -
Jeff Cooper
Yesterday I went over to my friend Marcus who has been looking after my birds
when I was in America. As usual Bronwen had kept everyone in meat, and she had
also decided to eliminate the competition killing any other bird of prey that
she could get hold of. Marcus had also tried to fly Arthur at night, but found
out that he is afraid of the dark; he really is a most peculiar owl. Anyway
it is nice to have them both back.
The local media has started to take great interest in the upcoming Stav Fest.
I've had several interviews, and photographers have descended on us en masse,
but as usual it is Arthur that ends up on the front page.
Our brewer was wondering if 60 gallons of HEIMBrU would be enough for the
Fest, but the way things are going I have a feeling he might be underestimating
a wee bit.