Month: July 2019

Sport

Bowls

The sport of bowls is centuries old, as evidenced by the well-known story of Sir Francis Drake insisting on finishing his game […]

The sport of bowls is centuries old, as evidenced by the well-known story of Sir Francis Drake insisting on finishing his game of bowls before attending to the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In fact, the oldest surviving bowls club actually dates from 1299 and is in Southampton. Bowls is seen as a gentle sport especially suitable for older people.

A ‘jack’ (small white or yellow ball) is rolled to the end of the lawn, which is either flat for ‘lawn bowls’ or uneven for ‘crown green bowls’. The player rolls a ‘wood’ (a large bun-shaped ball) towards the jack. Each player has two woods for crown green bowls or four for lawn bowls. Whichever wood finishes closest to the jack takes the point.

It is said that the woods acquired the weight bias that makes them curl round as they stop, when in 1522 the Duke of Suffolk split his wood and used the finial from a staircase post instead. Everyone was so enchanted with the curling action that it caught on. The sport was very popular but William Wallace Mitchell (1803-84) from Glasgow drew up the current rules in 1848 to eliminate the undesirable practices of kicking and tripping up!

(Image: Adam Gerard at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

07/07/2019
3 min
5 years
208 words

Basic principles

Keeping a stiff upper lip

The ability to keep a stiff upper lip is particularly attributed to the British. If one’s upper lip is not allowed to […]

The ability to keep a stiff upper lip is particularly attributed to the British. If one’s upper lip is not allowed to tremble, emotions of fear, anger, despair, grief or sadness can be kept inside and denied. It is a trait which has served the British well in its long history of rule by a hierarchy headed by monarchs. British kings and queens who appear to be completely self-controlled garner a great deal of respect and mystique, and they set a standard for their subjects to follow.

British public schools traditionally instilled this self-discipline and stoicism in their pupils. As boarding schools, this was firstly achieved by separating them from their families. Add to this the corporal punishment, cross-country runs in all weathers, cold showers, enslavement to senior pupils (‘fagging’), rugby and the study of classical warrior heroes, and any sign of emotional weakness would put a boy at a serious disadvantage.

Nevertheless, it is a characteristic that can be revelled in through comedy, as in Monty Python‘s ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ (1979). However, in recent times there has been a push to diminish it under the umbrella of ‘mental health issues’.

(Image: Ben Phillips at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

05/07/2019
3 min
5 years
205 words

Geography & Environment

The Severn Bridge and Crossing

The River Severn is Britain’s longest river and one of the most turbulent, with a tidal range of 40ft. and flow of […]

The River Severn is Britain’s longest river and one of the most turbulent, with a tidal range of 40ft. and flow of up to 8 knots. It forms a natural barrier between the southern parts of Wales and England but many bridges have been built over it, the two most successful being the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing (re-named The Prince of Wales Bridge in 2018).

The Severn Bridge was built in 1961-66 at a cost of £8,000,000, partly to tackle road congestion in the Gloucester area from traffic rounding the river. The Bridge cut sixty miles off the journey and was a vital part of the new M4 motorway. It had tolls on the English side, payable in both directions, initially set at 2/6d (12.5p). Occasionally the Bridge would be closed because of high winds, snow or ice.

*Image of suspension-type Severn Bridge: Martin Edwards at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0*

The Second Severn Crossing was built at a cost of £330,000,000 in 1992-96 with wind resistance and extra lanes, again to cope with increased traffic. The M4 was diverted onto it and the Severn Bridge became part of the M48. The tolls were in the England-to-Wales direction only and were eventually abolished on both bridges in December 2018.

(Top image of the cable-stayed Second Severn Crossing: Sarah Charlesworth at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

04/07/2019
3 min
5 years
224 words

Politics

Prime Minister’s Questions

Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) began as a concession to elderly Prime Ministers. In 1881, when PM Gladstone was seventy-one, it was decided […]

Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) began as a concession to elderly Prime Ministers. In 1881, when PM Gladstone was seventy-one, it was decided that he should only field questions at the end of each day’s Parliamentary schedule. Then in 1953, this was reduced to just Tuesdays and Thursdays for the seventy-eight-year-old PM Churchill.

In 1961, a 15-minute time limit was set for mid-afternoon, but in 1997 PM Blair scrapped that for the single 12.00-12.30pm time-slot on Wednesdays that we have today. As well as these changes, the event itself has gradually taken on the characteristics of a cross between a piece of theatre and a school gang confrontation. Although it can be a showcase of a PM’s and Opposition Leader’s debating skills and wit, it often subsides into snide point-scoring and general rowdiness.

Questions are submitted beforehand and picked at random. It is normal for an MP to submit a standard question on the PM’s list of engagements for that day, which can then be followed up by a supplementary question (the real question), for which the PM has had no notice. Since this is outwardly the most exciting part of the Parliamentary week, tickets to sit in the public gallery are in high demand.

(Top image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 3.0)

03/07/2019
3 min
5 years
212 words

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Quoting Neil Oliver...

I love Britain more than anywhere else in the world. With all my heart I declare that those of us born here, or who have made a home here by choice, are the luckiest, most blessed of all people. I am British. I will always be British.