Thaxted Circular Walk (and return to the Church of the "Red Vicar")

 

Gill and I returned today to Thaxted in Essex to follow this 6.5 mile  circular walk from our old version of the local Pathfinder Guide. We did this walk previously in 2014. 

Today was a lovely tramp through largely quiet countryside but had no great challenges.  There was however noise from planes passing over to land at Stanstead airport. 

The weather was lovely, with blue skies and sunshine but a cold wind. We hardly saw anyone during the walk. There were a number of my favourite ancient enclosed green lanes. Some paths were a little muddy but if it had been wet, you would need to wear wellies or gaiters. 

We saw wild deer, red kites birds of prey, squirrels, numerous other birds, lots of snow drops, daffodils and beautiful early tree blossom. Spring is definitely on its way. 

In 2014 I posted here on this walk that a past priest of the amazing Thaxted church, was known as the "Red Vicar", who use to fly the Red Flag banner of the Soviet Union and Shin Fenn, inside the church and then had to be protected by dismissed Police strikers from outraged locals. 

On the way back we stopped off at the 15th century timber framed Guild Hall and noticed a remembrance plaque to local men, who had died in the first and second world wars. Apart from noting that 55 killed during the first world war, compared with "only"10 in the second. You can see that liberty and freedom can some times come at a terrible price. 

Gill noticed that the names of a "John Gray" and a "Walter Gray" were recorded on the plaque as being killed in action during the first world war. It would appear from my internet searches that both of them were local young men who were killed in 1917 and may have been related but were not siblings. 

After a pleasant drink in the local "Swan Pub" we drove back to London, listening to the dreadful news updates on the vile and fascistic invasion of brave Ukraine by Russia and its foul dictator, Putin.  

Check out more photos https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10158647568778434&id=732243433

Solidarity to the People of Ukraine by Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, against Putin's gross lies and murderous aggression

Putin is killing innocent Ukraine civilians and soldiers from both sides to satisfy his ego and protect his fascistic regime.  He has shamed the reputation of Russia.

"Keir Starmer MP, Leader of the Labour Party, today gave a televised address in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said:

In this dark hour, our thoughts, our solidarity, and our resolve are with the Ukrainian people.

They have been cast into a war, not through fault of their own. But because Putin knows that no people will choose to live under his bandit rule unless forced to at the barrel of a gun.

The consequences of Putin’s war will be horrendous and tragic for the Ukrainian people but also for the Russian people, who have been plunged into chaos by a violent elite who have stolen their wealth, stolen their chance of democracy, and stolen their future.

And we must prepare ourselves for difficulties here. We will see economic pain, as we free Europe from dependence on Russian gas, and clean our institutions from money stolen from the Russian people.

But the British public have always been willing to make sacrifice to defend democracy on our continent. And we will again.

Russia’s democratic neighbours and every other democracy that lives in the shadow of autocratic power are watching their worst nightmare unfold.

All those who believe in democracy over dictatorship, the rule of law over the reign of terror, in freedom over the jackboot of tyranny, must unite and take a stand and ensure Putin fails.

We must make a clean break with the failed approach to handling Putin, which after Georgia, Crimea and Donbas fed his belief that the benefits of aggression outweigh the cost. We must finally show him he is wrong.

That means doing all we can to help Ukraine defend herself -urgently reinforcing and reassuring our NATO allies in Eastern Europe, and the hardest possible sanctions must be taken against the Putin regime. It must be isolated. Its finances frozen. It’s ability to function crippled.

And there are changes we must make here in the UK. For too long our country has been a safe-haven for the money that Putin and his fellow bandits stole from the Russian people. It must end now.

And this must be a turning point in our history, we must look back and say what this terrible day was actually when Putin doomed himself to defeat.

He seeks division, so we must stay united. He hopes for inaction, so we must take a stand. He believes that we are too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong.

I believe we can. But only if we stand together.

Is Putin going to launch his own false flag “Operation Himmler”?

In 1939 we had a murderous dictatorship massing troops near the boarder of a independent sovereign country, Poland, which it wanted to take over and rule. In order to try and justify an invasion, Nazi Germany, carried out a secret raid on one of its own radio mast facilities in order to justify war. This operation was led by Hitler's’ right hand man, Himmler. 

It is pretty clear that Putin is thinking of using the same tactics against Ukraine. We cannot let this happen. We know what happens if we appease murderous dictators. 

UPDATE - Check out this BBC report on "false flags"
 

Ukraine Holodomor - killing by starvation.

If anyone wonders why so many Ukrainians cherish their freedom and are willing to fight against Russian military aggression, then check out this BBC report on the deliberate murder of 4 million people in the 1930s by Vladimir Putin's role model. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60353677

Picture The Road of Sorrow by Marchenko Nina

Happy 96th Birthday: the Bolshevik Revolution

Today is the 96th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution which took place in Russia on 7 November 1917 (Julian calendar). Hope you enjoy this Youtube clip "Soviet Anthem with Propaganda Posters". It is also the birthday of some other folk. I am sharpening my ice pick in his memory :)

The Fatherland drowned out by the Marseillaise President Putin?

Just a thought. I suppose that at the end of the day Russia is just currently going through what we did in our long history.

Red Star Over Russia at the Tate Modern

The other Saturday, after the morning SERTUC council meeting (which I will hopefully post upon some other time) I decided to pay another visit to the Tate Modern and view its wares. 

I go there every 5 years or so, whether I want to or not, to see if I can "get" modern art.  Sad to say, once again, I didn't. I have nothing against a field of Porcelain Sunflower Seeds and absolute respect for those who are indeed moved by such sights.

I would however recommend to everyone that they should visit and make their own minds up.  It is a fantastic venue and experience - but modern art does not do much (in fact practically nothing) for me I am afraid. 

However, there was a brilliant display (double click collage) of original Russian Revolution and Soviet Street posters (Level 5 Room 11) which I enjoyed hugely and made the whole visit worth while.  This is what I call "Art". 

Fourth Anniversary of Sputnik Association in East London

The organisers of this group performed Russian dances at the Stratford and West Ham festival last month.

They hold a Russian cultural event each October to celebrate the lunch of the first ever spaceship "Sputnik".  This is an important day still in Russia.

This year it is being held in Shoreditch, East London. 

The Russian Community in London is far more settled and organised than I thought.  In Newham there are at least two Russian language and culture classes each Saturday.

Everyone is welcome to this free community event.  Check out their website for further details.

Dave Osler on “Russian Interests”

Jogging around Wanstead flats this morning listening to the “Today” radio programme on my headphones, I was pleasantly surprised to hear my fellow blogger, member of the “Gang of 3” and East London Labour Party stalwart Dave Osler.

Dave whose grown up job is that of a journalist on Lloyds List was being interviewed over the bizarre news story about the missing Russian cargo ship. Dave reckoned that it is probably a dispute between "Russian interests" and in fact similar things happen worldwide every couple of weeks. It is only that it is “August” and the silly season that this is being widely reported. This left presenter Evan Davis speechless for once! Well done Dave!

Check out his interview here.

The Russians are Coming (2)?

I wasn’t too sure what to make of the fighting between Russia and Georgia at first. I thought though, like many people, that something quite important is happening. Better to see what pans out before wading in? (there is a first time for everything).

The TV pictures of massed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles pouring into Georgia have rightly unsettled many people’s perceptions of modern day global politics.

It also brought back to me, almost forgotten memories of my youth, when for several years I was a member of the “Territorial Army” (the “Terries” or TA) whose chief role in those days was to support the regular “British Army of the Rhine”. In the event of a war their job was to smash and turn back the armoured divisions of the Red Army from sweeping across the German plains into the West.

I seem to remember that most of us, including our instructors and senior officers, were pretty pessimistic about our chances of actually stopping them. This may just have been traditional British self-mockery. On exercises in Germany, I was often “dug in” a muddy farmer’s field in the pouring rain with my trusty 7.62 SLR (rifle) and “training only” 66 anti-tank rocket launcher. To kill (unlikely) or disable (somewhat possible in theory) a main battle tank with a 66, the idea was that you had to get really, really close, preferably from behind and while it was stationary. When you managed to fire at the damn thing there was a very bright projection flash to the rear of the 66, which brightly illuminated you to everyone on the battle field. So if I was in a middle of any mass tank attack I didn’t really fancy my chances.

Seeing the TV pictures and photos of heavy artillery barrages, mass rocket attacks (grand-daughters of Stalin’s Organs) and air bombing in Georgia reinforces this view. Generally, our idea was to slow the Soviet advance down long enough to give peace talks a chance before NATO started to go nuclear.

I think that most Brit’s sympathys will naturally be with the Georgians. So far the Russians have not produced any evidence of any massacres or systematic ethnic cleansing by Georgian troops in their abortive attack in South Ossetia. I think in any case that Russia is flexing its muscles as a world power after a long period of internal turmoil and weakness. It is bullying its smaller neighbours in a traditional Russian way.

But things are very different from the “Cold War” era. Firstly, the Russian tanks are now thousands of miles further east than they were. Secondly, there is no longer an ideological black hole between the West and the Soviet Union (which to me it was always “Russia” to all intents and purposes). There are of course huge differences inbetween Parliamentary and one Party authoritarian “democracies” – but nothing compared to the past.

Personally, even in the bad old days I didn’t really believe that the Red Army would ever invade the West even if they did have theoretically superiority in numbers of tanks, artillery, troops, attack aircraft etc. Barring a mad, bad dictator taking charge, I was pretty sure that the prospect of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) would have stopped any real attack. After all the Russians did "really love their children too".

But, I don’t think my youth was entirely mis-spent. If there had not been a creditable conventional military defense by NATO during the “cold war” I think that the Soviets (Russians) would have engaged in dangerous military adventures short of all out war. The sort of stuff that they appear to be carrying out in Georgia, since they would have correctly calculated that NATO would not have risked MAD over such issues.

The BBC report today that a Russian commander in Georgia, General Nogovitsyn, said “Russia was not the Soviet Union or the Evil Empire”.

Yes General, I agree, but Russia will do whatever it thinks is good for Russia. The famous quotation from Churchill (in full not just the memorable first bit) in 1939 is as valid to day as ever before.

"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."