Month: September 2019

Politics

The Labour Party

The Labour Party is a socialist political party and, until recently, has been seen as the main rival to the Conservative Party […]

The Labour Party is a socialist political party and, until recently, has been seen as the main rival to the Conservative Party since the 1930s. It was founded in 1900 under the name ‘the Labour Representation Committee’ and its first leader was Lanarkshire-born Keir Hardie (1856-1915). He came from a poverty-stricken background in which he started work at age eight and never went to school.

Prior to the formation of Labour, the Liberal Party had attracted most of the votes from working-class men, but after WW1 and the granting of voting rights to women, Labour garnered increasing support for its social reform policies. The Party joined forces with the trade unions, which became its major funder.

Including WW2, Labour had three periods of coalition government before winning power by a majority on three subsequent occasions; in 1945-51, 1964-70 and 1997-2010. The first of these bore most of their society-changing introductions, such as the NHS, the Welfare State and the nationalisation of essential industries. Its membership includes left-wing and right-wing viewpoints and everything in between, which can be problematic for its policy-makers. The Labour Party has evolved from its working-class roots to a point where, since the late twentieth century, its leaders have all been millionaires.

(Image: Diego Sideburns at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

12/09/2019
3 min
5 years
212 words

Entertainment

Pub quiz nights

In the 1970s, pubs were seeing their businesses decline due to people staying in to watch television every night. The pub quiz […]

In the 1970s, pubs were seeing their businesses decline due to people staying in to watch television every night. The pub quiz night was one way in which enterprising pub landlords and pub chains sought to bring back customers. The informal general knowledge game was thus put on a more organised, commercial footing.

The partnership of Burns & Porter first distributed pub quizzes in 1976 and soon had thousands of people playing each week. They were so successful that even the television companies commissioned them to supply questions and contestants for their TV quiz shows! The competitive spirit being what it is, there also sprang up several leagues and annual championships.

Quiz nights take place on any night except Friday and Saturday. There is a small entry fee per person. Teams are made up with either a fixed or a maximum number and they give themselves an amusing name, e.g. ‘No Brians’. The prizes are usually cash or drinks and there is a break between each round to allow for buying drinks at the bar. Papers are passed to another team for marking. Nowadays, there has to be a fair-play rule banning the use of mobile phones, as this could easily spoil the fun.

(Image: Julia Hiltscher at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

11/09/2019
3 min
5 years
211 words

Law

Abolition of slavery

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an MP who tirelessly campaigned for the abolition of slavery on moral grounds. He finally achieved his aim […]

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an MP who tirelessly campaigned for the abolition of slavery on moral grounds. He finally achieved his aim just three days before he died, with the final stages of the Slavery Abolition Act successfully passing through Parliament. It came into force in 1834 and applied to almost all of the British Empire, with the remaining colonies following later.

The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed in 1787 and was one of the influential voices which led to this result. Others included the Quakers and more than five hundred public petitions. The initial step was the abolition of the horrific slave trade itself in a series of Slave Trade Acts starting in 1807. The next step was to free 800,000 people already held as slaves.

The main objection from opponents was that abolition would ruin the economy of the West Indies, the main destination of captives brought from Africa. Consequently, the Act included financial compensation for the plantation owners and provision for freed slaves to be apprenticed in a transitionary period which ended in 1838. Some members of the anti-slavery movement wanted to continue their lobbying in other countries and the current organisation is called Anti-Slavery International.

(Image: from Amelia Opie’s ‘The Black Man’s Lament’ / Public domain)

09/09/2019
3 min
5 years
211 words

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Quoting Neil Oliver...

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