Wednesday 14 January 2009

Dear Gordon. In the Name of God, Go...


"It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money; is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? is there one vice you do not possess? ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter’d your conscience for bribes? is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil’d this sacred place, and turn’d the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress’d, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do; I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place; go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go! "

Oliver Cromwell, April 20, 1653


Pip pip

3 comments:

watling said...

Sir,

Going off on a tangent slightly if I may: having visited both the Naseby and (alleged) Bosworth Field battle sites I noticed a marked contrast between the two.

The Bosworth Field site has buildings, a reconstruction of a 15th century settlement, an air-conditioned gift shop and walking tours. It even has a dedicated railway line close by, not to mention toilets!

The Naseby site has nothing except a plan of how the opposing armies are supposed to have squared up to one another. In fact, the Naseby site is quite hard to find and I don't recall there being much in the way of signs pointing the way.

Maybe Bosworth Field has somehow captured the imagination more, like the Battle of Hastings, whose site in Battle at Senlac Hill is very well organised, featuring a museum, large gift shop and guided walking routes. Also, the Battle of Hastings was arguably of much greater significance than Naseby, which was just one of many separate battles during the Civil War.

Mind you, I couldn't even find the site of the Battle of Stamford Bridge, probably because nobody knows where it is.

Curiously, I don't remember seeing any ethnics (apart from tourists) visting any of the battle sites I've been to.

Sue said...

“you have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, i say, and let us have done with you. In the name of god, go!.”

Addressing the rump parliament. April 1653 (Cromwell also)

He just doesn't get the message Colonel!

Anonymous said...

The extreme left-wing dhimmi Runnymede Trust has claimed that white disadvantage has nothing to do with race:

"'The white working classes are discriminated against on a range of different fronts, including their accent, their style, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the social spaces they frequent, the postcode of their homes, possibly even their names,' it said. 'But they are not discriminated against because they are white.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1126505/White-working-class-victims-discrimination-race-says-report.html

The Runnymede Trust's main claim to fame (or notoriety) is coining the word 'Islamophobia' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runnymede_Trust

Meanwhile, Manchester hosts an ethnics-only job fair: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1090540_first_black_and_ethnic_job_fair