When the bombs exploded at the end of the Boston Marathon I remarked to my wife that those responsible would have unpronounceable names and be radical Islamists.
Pauline, with her usual sense of fair play, replied "We'll have to wait and see"
We were not kept waiting for long.
Two brothers from Chechnya, both radicalized Muslims, one dead and the other presently chained to his hospital bed were the terrorists responsible for the barbarous deed.
Born at the outbreak of the second world war, by the time I was five years old I knew who the enemy were. They were Germans, Japanese and Italians. That kept the formula very simple in my juvenile mind. Just as clear to me was the fact that this enemy needed to be defeated.
The clarity that belonged to a five year old child seems to have evaded the politicians, media heads and other experts who talk in grand and vague terms about "The war on terror." "International Jihad", "fringe fanatics" and so on.
Let's not be fooled by airy, antiseptic, 'politically correct' vernacular.
The teenage terrorist currently in his hospital bed is an enemy of the state, and should not be read his Miranda rights
He also represents the real and implacable enemy of our Christian freedoms and culture; RADICAL ISLAM.
Failing to recognize this fact is nothing short of imbecility.
Ian
The Somme river flows through wooded vales, verdant pastures and gentle ridges. It is almost impossible to believe that this scene of rural beauty was turned into moon-like landscape, cratered and bereft of life a century ago.
Mark and I will follow in the footsteps of my Uncle Oliver who fought along Paschendale ridge in 1916.
He was a soldier in the Durham Light Infantry who survived the horror and carnage of the trenches and returned to his home in Durham never to tell about it.
It might have helped had he told his story, but post traumatic stress and it's consequences were unheard of in those days. So Uncle Oliver lived on in his quiet stoicism.
We will visit Vimy Memorial and pay our respects to a worthy ancestor and to thousands of others who, two generations ago, paid in blood the price of the freedom we enjoy today.
Lest we forget.
Ian
For twenty years England had been at war with France. This was a direct spillover from the French Revolution.
Danton, Robespierre and his gang had overthrown the monarchy, disestablished the church and instituted an atheistic republic. They now wished to propagate their special brand of "liberty" throughout Europe.
Their new leader was a godless, egotistical genius called Napoleon.
For over a decade he had regarded England as his principal foe and the matter of supremacy was to be decided outside the Belgian village of Waterloo in the year of 1815.
The protestant powers were led by General Arthur Wellington assisted by Prussian and Dutch forces numbering 80,000 men.
Napoleon was the head of a slightly smaller force.
In two weeks time, Mark and I will walk the battlefield and marvel at the victorious outcome that established England as the major military and moral power in Europe.
I think we need to realize that, had the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo been settled in favor of Napoleon, we would all be leading different lives today
By such events the destiny of nations is decided.
Jubilate.
Ian
