Six Ways

Author: DB

  • When German Ships Shelled Britain

    World War One started in July 1914 when the Germans set out to make a rapid advance through neutral Belgium and take France quickly. It didn’t happen because the Beligians refused to move aside, and the delay resulted in four years of grinding trench warfare.

    In the confrontation at sea, the German High Seas fleet was outnumbered and outgunned by the British Fleet. But the ocean is big, and the Germans took advantage of gaps in the British patrols to break out on raids from their safe harbour in north Germany.

    In December 1914 the German fleet sailed to the North East coast of Britain and shelled the coast.

    The German ships fired 1,150 shells into the town of Hartlepool, hitting the steelworks, the gasworks, the railways, and killing 86 civilians and injuring 424 more. Seven soldiers died and 14 injured.

    If the raid had any lasting effect it was to harden the attitude of the British population against Germany, outraged that the Germans had targeted civilians.

    They also blamed the British fleet for letting the Germans slip past them.

    Four years later, at the end of the war, the German High Seas Fleet was interned at Scapa Flow. Then, through a misunderstanding over dates, the German fleet commander ordered the fleet to be scuttled.

    In the years after the war, some of the ships were raised and salvaged. But three heavy battleships and four light cruisers were too deep to be raised.

    The three battleships, SMS König, SMS Kronprinz, and SMS Markgraf, are still there on the sea bed at Scapa Flow.

  • Railways Self-Inflicted Mess

    There was a time when the Railways were owned by the nation. One political party, the Conservatives, prefers what is known as privatisation. That means selling the railways to private investors. But to make the investment attractive, the railways were sold off in bits – the tracks to one buyer, the rolling stocks (the trains and carriages) to another, and so on. Then private companies were invited to bid for a licence to run trains along a particular route.

    There is continuing competition between the investors who want a profit out of their investments, and the workers who keep the trains running. That is no way to structure a business, much less many interlocking businesses. The resulting mess accounts for why the strikes that have been happening and which will extend into January seem to involve different unions.

    National Rail has the following information, and to understand it, note that:

    ASLEF is Britain’s trade union for train drivers.
    RMT is The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, with members in mainline and
    underground railways, shipping and offshore, buses and road freight.
    Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union.

    Forthcoming strike action:

    We are aware that there may be other forms of industrial action taking place on a much more localised level, on different dates and only affecting one or two train companies. Please see below where any known will be listed or check with your train operator in such cases.

    Sunday 11 and Monday 12 December – action by RMT union. This will affect Avanti West Coast only. Further information here. This was called off
    Tuesday 13 December through to Sunday 8 January 2023 – action by RMT union. In addition to the national strikes shown above, Chiltern Railways will be significantly impacted by additional industrial action throughout this whole period. Further information here on Chiltern Railways website.
    Friday 23 and Saturday 24 December – action by Unite union. This will affect East Midlands Railway only. Further information here.
    Industrial action for January 2023

    National level

    We have been notified of forthcoming 48 hour strikes which will affect the network nationally on the following dates:

    Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 January 2023 – action by the RMT union.
    Thursday 5 January 2023 – action by the ASLEF union.
    Friday 6 and Saturday 7 January 2023 – action by the RMT union.

  • Hieroglyph and Hierarchy

    The word hieroglyph came into Engish in the 1580s to refer to those carvings that were of the nature of Egyptian monumental writing. The word comes from the Ancient Greek hieros meaning sacred, and glyphe meaning carving.

    The word hieros is also the basis of the word hierarchy, that came into English in the late 14th century, meaning a sacred order.

  • Charlotte Bronte

    Charlotte Bronte was 4’9″ or 4’10” (1.45m) with a very slight build. One of her dresses on display at the Bronte parsonage in Haworth looks tiny.

    And, here’s another fact: If her father had not changed his name when he came from Ireland to England to seek his fortune, she would have been Charlotte Brunty.

  • Dysphoria

    Dysphoria: A state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction with life: Typical of adolescents with depression, mania, and anxiety disorders.

    The opposite of euphoria.

    ORIGIN mid 19th century: from Greek dusphoria, from dusphoros ‘hard to bear’.

  • Anhedonia

    Anhedonia – the inability to feel pleasure.

    Another way to look at pain and pleasure is that few of our pleasures and pains derive out of thin air. The huge majority are formed from living in the experience of others – what our environment wants, we are attracted to, and what the environment finds abhorent, we find painful. We have no more command over how we are affected than is a bull with a ring through its nose, led this way and that. Our only freedom is in the environment we choose.