Straw man on the Last Stalk ?

Can we eradicate 'straw men' arguements, so often the plague of Hansard, by the simple expedient of banning straws? We may wish. Of course, the use of such arguements is currently restricted to lady interviewers on the UK's Channel Four and to left wing politicians, notably the Green Left. They will no doubt fight back providing Canadian Professors with ludicrous-argument entertainment.  And I hope many others will oppose and laugh out their extreme claims, even if just to enable ladies in the Tavern to drink their Grace-full concoctions in a ladylike fashion. 

You think banning straws is a last straw?  Do you want to keep straws? 

By crikey, so you are saying that you want to destroy the planet !

Two items were drawn into conversation today. One from Western Australia, where Mr Kim Beasley, failed Labour leader of yesteryear has recently scored a $450,000 a year gig as Governor.  He wants a Republic but meanwhile will take the money, it seems. And another from a visiting pub landlord. Yes, we do have other publicans dropping in to see how we are doing, just as I maintain cordial (and Ale-ial) relations with a wide and wide-spread range of other pubs. 

So first to WA where straws and ballons are to be banned. Our own Pin and Balloon Bar will remain a 'safe space' however. Daniel Emerson spoke to it.

Greens anti-pollution Bill would ban balloons and drinking straws.

Balloons, plastic bags and drinking straws are among the prohibited items under the new bill.

The Greens, often labelled the fun police, want to formalise the tag by banning balloons throughout WA.

 https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/green-loons-out-to-pop-party-balloons-ng-b88513729z

Balloons, drinking straws and micro-beads used in cosmetics and cleaning products are among a range of offending materials the Greens want banned alongside a Statewide crackdown on plastic bags to reduce pollution.

Mining and Pastoral Region MLC Robin Chapple put a private member’s Bill on the Legislative Council notice paper yesterday which would fine retailers $5000 for selling or supplying prohibited bags, balloons, beads, plastic straws and polystyrene or polyethylene packaging.

Mr Chapple said he accepted elements of the community could baulk at a balloon ban but denied the Greens were trying to outlaw fun.

“You can’t have much fun in the ocean if there’s no fish left,” he said.

A Statewide plastic bag ban, with the extra items tacked on, is looming as a major test of the Labor Government’s treatment of the Greens, whose four votes are needed along with crossbench support to pass its legislation in the Upper House.

Mr Chapple said WA, NSW and Victoria were the only States that did not have some restriction on plastic bags.

But the Greens could not nominate any jurisdiction in the world which had banned balloons.

The Bill’s penalties for sale or supply of prohibited items would target retailers and not individuals.

It contains exemptions for balloons used for medical or health-related purposes, such as condoms, and those used for “meteorological purposes” or for “carrying passengers”.

Biodegradable straws would be permitted.

“If our current rates of plastic production and disposal continue it is estimated that the volume of plastic in the ocean will outweigh the volume of sea life by 2050,” Mr Chapple said.

Altogether now.... hahahahahahahahaha

The Greens’ hope to debate the Bill in September but would need Government support to put it to a vote.

Environment Minister Stephen Dawson, who indicated his support for a Statewide plastic bag ban last month, said the Government was investigating the best way to implement it.

“The McGowan Labor Government has no current plans to legislate a Statewide ban on the release of balloons, however, it supports efforts to raise public awareness of the unintended consequences of releasing balloons during celebrations,” he said.

Here we are in enormous national debt and the WA gummunt wants to save the fish. 

Has anyone actually examined the seas off the west coast of Oz?  

Over in the disUnited Kingdom of what was, not long ago, Great Britain, a similar daft pressure is forcing beer from the pumps in pubs. The Pub Curmudgeon himself was sampling our fine ales while on holiday and he felt he had to speak up too.

The last straw?

In recent months, there has been a steady procession of pub operators announcing that they were phasing out the use of plastic straws, the latest being the Deltic Group. The reason given is that, heeding the message of programmes like “Blue Planet”, it will reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the oceans and harming aquatic wildlife. 

However, it has to be questioned how much effect it’s going to have. 

I’d guess the overwhelming majority of plastic straws used in pubs in the UK end up in landfill, not in the sea. Plus 90% of all the plastic waste in the oceans originates from just ten rivers in Asia and Africa. It’s not to say it isn’t worth doing, but realistically it will be literally a drop in the ocean.

 http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com.au/2018/03/the-last-straw.html

Now, he makes a good point: one that was raised here in the Tavern just a month or two back. 

Take a look....

http://parzivalshorse.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/those-placed-trump-calls-stoes.html

....and while you are there, follow the link shown, where you will see just what rivers are providingthe pollution. It ain't the Severn, that's for sure.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4970214/95-plastic-oceans-comes-just-TEN-rivers.html

There is an obvious alternative in the form of paper straws. 

However, presumably there’s a disadvantage that they become soggy after a while. Are they really any more likely to end up in the recycling, particularly if they’re treated with chemicals to make them more durable? 

And one pub found out that, what they gained on the swings, they lost on the roundabouts:

Someone from the Star Inn in Bath chimed in....

So, we've decided to start using paper straws.

The plastic ones we had came in a cardboard box.

Guess what the paper ones come in...#fail

It’s also hard to avoid the conclusion that there’s an element of snobbery in the campaign against straws. Straws are used by the scummy plebs when eating at McDonald’s or slurping giant cartons of Coke in the cinema; they’re not for sophisticated people like us.

Is putting waste into landfill all that bad anyway? 

In his book The Skeptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg shows how the entire production of waste in the USA in the 21st century could be accommodated in a landfill that covered just 26% of a single county in Oklahoma, or one twelve-thousandth of the total area of the country.

Hmmmm. Mathematically, very likely correct, but I have friends in Oklahoma who might take umbrage. Why not some desert somewhere? 

It’s far more manageable than is often claimed. Of course waste should be recycled if it’s practical to do so, but single-use plastics have brought us major advances in convenience and hygiene that shouldn’t be breezily dismissed. 

Wanting to make everything recyclable is very much a First World indulgence.

Especially as most of the ocean pollution - and I mean most - comes from er.... Asia and Africa. 

The entire 'environmental' greenie-driven agenda is a distraction and a wearing-down. A red herring. 

Behind your back the Red-Greens have a gun.

The conclusion must be that dropping plastic straws is really  

just a piece of easy environmental virtue-signalling 

rather than something that is really going to make a significant difference. 

If pub operators want to take a serious look at their environmental impact across the board, shouldn’t they be considering stopping shipping water (which is pretty much what beer is) all the way across the Atlantic and abandoning single-use containers for draught beer?

How many 65 y/o WA fishermen do you think will have to continue struggling their way through balloon and straw filled waves to get enough fish to feed their families and pay the tax to keep Mr Beasley in comfort?

How much longer will Parliaments in Oz, and the UK have to put up with ludicrous  Green demanded 'business' that interferes with people going about their lawful occasions on the pretext that they will 'save the Planet'?

YOU are their Wicker Man.

The ale in the Tavern comes with no carbon footprint at all. Just the soft swish of an Angel gliding through the Tavern-door Agape with a flask on his shoulder. 

We shall provide straws.

And balloons.

And fish in the restaurant on Fridays.

Drink up me hearties.

Pax

Playing the Man, not the Ball

Oz is a nation that loves its sport and sporting heroes, and it has been reeling over the past week due to some appalling lack of sportsmanship.  You can tell that Oz loves sport from all the sport that is shown on TV and all the TV shows that focus on endlessly dissecting games. Usually 'footy'.  Talking, blokey heads galore fill the TV channels levening the boring minutae with wiscracks and occasional offensive slurs which in turn make the newspapers and more TV shows. There is always much talk and the 'play' itself is at the highest level.

Which possibly explains why not all that many actually play. Australians like to win and there's little chance of that against really good players. And who wants to be seen playing with or against weenies? So we have couch-sporties.

But our best and fairest rise to the National Teams, in this sport or that.  Cricket being at the Top of the Tree of fame. They play against the best that furriners, like Britain, can muster. In South Africa, the famed and adored Oz Cricket team - cricket being the epitome of the 'Gentleman's Game' - were caught out. Cheating.They were 'ball tampering'.

Shock. Horror.

A chap was observed with a bit of sandpaper in his hand, with which he had or intended to 'rub' a bit of the surface off the ball. !! 

He furtively shoved it down his underpants when the ref spotted him. One hopes he didn't rub the surface off anything sensitive down there.

To make matters worse, they cried ! 

On TV. 

The nation reeled in disgust. 

Now, playing the ball is what sport should be about. Not abusing the ball. Abuse is reserved for one's opponents. And there is precious little opportunity for that in the quiet of a cricket pitch where even most of the players are far apart and silent.  It is a gentleman's game. Not that such impediments stop Oz players. They 'sledge' at world standard.

Cricket is one of a very few sports where one's focus must be on the ball, not the man. Ad hominum is discouraged in logical discourse and cricket, but is the main objective of more manly sports. 

Anyone seen the ball? What ball?

Anyone who watches American Football, for instance, sees pretty quickly that most of the players are ballophobic. 

The teams attack one another and few have any idea where the ball is or who just might have it. 

Footophobics too, as kicking the ball is so rare as to stop the game altogether and calls out the dancing girls. 

I say 'manly' but that particular national sport requires armoured teams - who also wear long-johns - so barely qualifies. I would put them on horses, m'self. Like the old days.

No. Truewe Manly is Rugger. 

No armour there. Only the man with the ball is to be attacked. But with gusto.

There, 'cheating', if one can call it that and retain one's teeth, is par for the course, and we had one chap in the bar today- one Mr Ruddy Darter -  to take us through a small example of 'game in progress'.

Another infamous game in South Africa   ....

South Africa vs Ireland battle in Pretoria 1998

In June 1998, after tensions simmered during the 1st Test in Bloemfontein where Keith Wood had struck the Springbok captain Gary Teichmann in the jaw. The 2nd Test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria erupted into an ill tempered violent match with plenty of fighting and incident. 

The sides refused to speak to each other in post match events. 

Now, it has to be said, that no matter what happens on the field, chaps should always remain polite and sociable over beers afterward. Damned unsporting not to talk with a chap, eh, what?  Furriners might be watching.

You can follow the script. It is a short series of encounters.

0:00 - Joost van der Westhuizen kicks Malcolm O'Kelly on the ground. 

0:20 - Victor Costello jumps and headlocks James Dalton, then Costello trips over Dalton, and then Dalton throws punches at Costello.

 0:41 - van der Westhuizen knocks back Keith Wood with an elbow then Gary Teichmann pushes back Wood by his throat.

 0:50 - Mark McCall and Pieter Muller argue off the ball then Muller chucks McCall on the floor. 

0:54 - Kevin Maggs pulls on Teichmann's jersey from behind as he tries to get the ball and then Teichmann reacts angrily. 

1:25 - After Wood runs into Dalton, Trevor Brennan throws a punch at Mark Andrews, then Paddy Johns gets his arms round Rassie Erasmus, and then Krynauw Otto helps Erasmus out and starts a fight with Johns with Erasmus and Justin Fitzpatrick getting some shots in as well. Brennan restarts his battle with Andrews whilst this goes on. 

2:23 - Andrews falls on top of Wood leading with his elbow hurting Wood in the process. 

2:29 - Johns throws over Andrews during a maul, then leans his forearm into Andrews' face and Andrews reacts by putting his hand in Johns' face. 

2:43 - Adrian Garvey and Peter Clohessy get in an argument after a reset scrum. 

2:53 - Teichmann reacts to Johns shouldering into his back at a ruck and they argue again, Clohessy also grapples with André Venter as well. 

3:21 - Andrews flings Justin Bishop out of a pile up well after the whistle has gone. 

3:30 - Clohessy punches Robbie Kempson during a maul. 

3:52 - Commentator Andy Capostagno singles out a late tackle by Rob Henderson on McNeil Hendricks as another piece of foul play off the ball. Note: There was far more incidents in this game not shown on camera.

A quite satisfying stouch m'thinks.

Memorable at least.

And..... No Ball was Damaged in Playing that Game. 

One might say, clean and ethical.

Have an ale and shake hands chaps.

Pax

Its the Law

Today we were reminded of the Law.

A lawyer dropped by for a pint. 

I charged him double the usual fee for an Ale. 

Plus pumpage.

He left some 'advice' for which I will no doubt get a large bill.

https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/rule-law/charts-graphs/legal-nomenclature

Disregard.

Have a pint instead.

Pax

Post-Easter in Post-Christian Oz

Easter has passed once more and the peaceful and devout celebrations in the Tavern confirm the devotion of many, but beyond the hedge all is noisy and fractious. We could hear the baying of the crowd which lacked only the name of 'Barabbas' ringing out to give it any authenticity as they smash their way through tombstones. And it was not just in Oz that the forces determined to overthrow decency showed their ugly faces. 

The bullies were paraded as heroes in the USA at the same time as fresh-faced young teachers in Oz, mainly female of course, were being taught how to spot a bully and put him in a skirt, change his gender and crush any sign of Christian ethic. 

The Australian Family Coalition remains at the ramparts, encouraging the good to repel the storm tides, and we heard from them today pointing to some baying they have noted and the responses that many may not have. One of their fine number stood and told us:

Margaret Court calls for greater religious freedom

Former tennis great turned pastor Margaret Court has warned that Australia is “forsaking foundational truths and the blessings that have made [it] great”.

Margaret, some might recall, was a feted Tennis Champion many moons back. Oz loved her. The moment she ascribed her success to God she was dropped like a hot brick by the ignorantti in the media.  Her Top spin was deemed outside the chalk lines.

In her submission to the religious freedom inquiry, she calls for the panel, led by former attorney general Phillip Ruddock, to ensure “that Christianity will not be silenced or stifled in Australia”.

Margaret Court: Australian tennis legend turned pastor

And she's not alone. A huge number of the 16,800 submissions reflect these views – with more and more Australians waking up to the fact that redefining marriage, family and gender leads directly to the loss of freedoms.

However, The 'Guardian'’s online news service didn’t quite see it that way. Reporting on the comments by Margaret Court, Guardian journalist Paul Carp was more interested in the fact that the panel had published a group of “substantially similar submissions”, and claimed these were the consequence of “a high degree of coordination by anti-marriage equality forces”.

Well of course they would be similar. They are all on the same small range of subjects. Most would have been along the lines of 'Stop it or Oz will go morally blind'. But heck, what does one expect from carping critics on the Guardian payroll. 

Considering two of these so-called “group submissions”, Group 4 and Group 6 were only authored by four and eight people respectively, this can hardly be considered highly coordinated.

Carping Paul does not mention any similarity from the queers, bi's, gays, trannies, lesbians, transgenders, headbangers, nutters, et all. They, too, would have a similar line something like "I shall poke your eyes out with a sharp stick".  And being as the motley buggers constitute just 2% or so of Oz society, one or two must have been very busy burning the midnight oil.

One can wish !!

Christianity under attack, warns Catholic Archbishop

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop says submissions made to the Ruddock Inquiry into Protection of Religious Freedom reveal the extent of the marginalisation of Christians, reported The Australian.

“We may not always be as free as we are now to evangelise and baptise as Jesus mandated at the first Easter,” Archbishop Anthony Fisher told thousands in a packed St Marys Cathedral on Sunday.

“Powerful interests now seek to marginalise religious believers and beliefs, especially Christian ones, and exclude them from public life. They would end funding to faith-based schools, hospitals and welfare agencies, strip us of charitable status and protections, cast us as ‘Public Enemy No. 1’.”

Hmmmm. The forces ranged against us have little interest in Faiths other than Christian. They wish to eradicate Christianity and especially Catholicism. There are no calls for suppressing the 'Religion of Peace', and while a witch-hunt trial continues for Cardinal Pell, accused without any proof of sexual abuse,  there is no call to put to Trial any Muslim preacher that quite blatenly call for the rape and sadistic sexual mutilation of little girls. 

The media and Government are afraid to even criticise Islam: Christianity is the scapegoat.

Archbishop Fisher said submissions made to the Ruddock Inquiry reveal the extent of the marginalisation of Christians. He called on believers to stand strong in the face of persecution.

But it is the kiddies that are bearing the brunt. Those that make it unto the world past the abortionists - and currently 100,000 or so a year do not escape the knives, scissors and suction pumps - are faced with teachers in our cess-pit schools. 

Teaching students taught the dangerous myths of gender theory

Gender is “socially constructed, fluid and dynamic … a construct of language and discourse”, and biological sex “exists on a spectrum, with genitalia, chromosomes, gonads and hormones” merely “playing a role”.

This is some of the material from a compulsory course for first year students studying primary and secondary school teaching at the University of Technology, Sydney.

 Yes customers of the Tavern, that twisted bit of 'archtecture' to the left is a University building which reflects virtually exactly the twisted nature of the buggers who work therein.

As reported by Miranda Devine last week, in a lecture titled “Exploring Gender,” students were provided with Powerpoint notes which are “mind-boggling, unscientific propaganda straight from the academic fringes of Marxist gender theory”.

The trainee teachers were also encouraged to teach children about gender using “a wide range of resources that reflect diversity — e.g. The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch, William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow; units about families reflecting diversity of possibilities — two mums, single dads, etc.”

In her article, Miranda Devine cuts to the truth about the Marxist post-modernism behind gender theory.

“This radical ideology which turns science, logic and reason on its head is not about being compassionate to a tiny minority of transgender people. Quite the opposite.

“It uses them as tools to coerce the rest of us to go along with the lie that biological sex does not exist.

And it uses impressionable, coercable young women who aspire to nurture and educate children not all that younger than they themselves.

“Schoolchildren are at the frontline of this war on truth, 

as we saw with the Safe Schools program which posed as an anti-bullying program but was really about brainwashing children in gender theory.”

It’s no wonder that children are coming home from school confused about whether they are girls or boys.

Christian Principles are being replaced in our schools by the fetid excretions of cultural marxism. And the media just sucks it up and spews it out over our families. 

In Americain the past few weeks we have seen the logical progression played out before us. 

The cry against 'bullying' in schools was answered by charlatans creating 'anti-bullying' programs such a 'Safe Schools'. These were simply vehicles for attacking normal social behaviours, especially gender, and brainwashing our small kids.  After all we do not want victims of bullying to seek revenge, now do we. But now, in America, it has been captured by the anti-second-amendment mob.

Hogging the limelight is a particularly nasty pair of little liars who have been hailed by the media as heroic, following a rampage by a severely bullied boy. Hogg and Gonzalez. 

Hogg declared himself a 'survivor, 'hiding in a cupoard' while the shooter did his ghastly business. Oh, poor boy. Oh brave lad.  The interviewers were all trying to verbally hug him. But hiding in a cupboard is not a great look.

But then in another interview he became Action Man ! He'd not been at school hiding in a cupboard but heard of it while at home, so he took his camera and rode his bike three miles to see the action and catch the eye of reporters.

Has this put the media off?

Not a bit.

What a creative little chap. Even his language is not deemed 'foul' but colourful.

His little friend who does not need a hair brush for the next year or so, revels in the attention and opportunity to declare her love for Cuban political solutions, while armed guards surround her to keep her safe.

Safe schools eh.

Now it transpires that little miss butter-wouldn't-stick-to-her-hair was one of the main bullies who taunted and then ostracised the strange lad that later did the shooting.

Has she been arrested?

Good Golly Miss Molly ! Arrest a super-star? Not a chance.

Archbishop Fisher asks us to stand strong in the face of persecution. First we have to stop laughing.

The Australian Family Coalition finished up with their thanks:

Thank you for your continued support. As always, please invite your friends and family to register for our free weekly emails by sharing the following link with them:

 http://www.austfamily.com.au/sign-up

There. Now sit and drink up.

Pax

Determination

There are qualities that gravitate together, and Courage is always found with Determination. Without it, you may have foolhardiness. That one rarely finds a home in Heroes. But no quality comes to us full-formed and we need to find them, grow them, nurture and test them: generally, that last element comes with adversity.

The Lady of the Tavern, the Southern Gal brought these thoughts to mind today, having found time during her busy Eastertime to consider the making of Heroes.  She brought in a guest: an American gentleman, a soldier, with a typically tonguetwister American name: Joe Kapacziewski. She quoted a Greek chap too.

“You don't develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. 

You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” 

Epicurus. Philosopher of the 4th century BC.

OK, He said it in Greek and it probably translates poorly, but we get the drift.  And that is not Epicurus above. That is Joe. You will meet him in a moment.

We can never go through life without challenges or without pain.  As believers, often-times we look to the skies and ask the Almighty “Abba, come rescue me.”  We do not embrace the challenges as a test or as a way of growing for the human experience our Creator put us here for. We fail to see the forging within ourselves through the fire.  

Now, I have to remind you that TSG does not speak from a stand-off, academic perspective. She has been there and done that. 

It is often said that you really see who someone is when they go through adversity in their lives.  Most choose to sit, wallow and whine.  

Some go through their lives and blame others for everything that has gone wrong in their lives.  

Others still, choose to rise above it, and overcome.  Not all embrace life’s challenges equally.  

The tides of war have changed with the times, and few are left to bleed their lives out on the battlefield. Helicopter crews and Medical teams can get a chap to proper medical care quickly enough to save lives. But all too often those lives are changed irrevocably. Few can go back.

SFC Joe Kapacziewski is the first amputee in the Army Rangers history to return to combat, serving 9 tours in the Middle East.  He has written a book, Back in the Fight, which details his inspiring story.

Let us look at an Heroic man.  Gary Sinese, the actor who has made his off-screen mission to boost such heroes, tells us.

In October 2005, while on deployment in northern Iraq, a grenade fell through the gunner's hatch and exploded, shattering Kapacziewski's right leg below the knee, damaging his right hip, and severing a nerve and artery in his right arm.

He endured more than forty surgeries hoping to save his right leg.  But in March 2007, Kapacziewski chose to have it amputated with one goal in mind: to return to the line and serve back alongside his fellow Rangers as a platoon leader. 

One year after his surgery, Kapacziewski accomplished his goal, 

he was put back on the line, as a squad leader of his Army Ranger Regiment.

His exemplary career was yet to run its full heroic course. 

On April 19, 2010, during his ninth combat deployment (and fifth after losing his leg), Kapacziewski's patrol ran into an ambush outside a village in eastern Afghanistan.

After a fellow Ranger fell to withering enemy fire, shot through the belly, Sergeant Kapacziewski and another soldier dragged him seventy-five yards to safety and administered first aid that saved his life, all while heavy machine guns tried to kill them. 

His actions earned him an Army Commendation Medal with "V" for Valor. He had previously been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor—and a total of three Purple Hearts for combat wounds.

When I think of someone like Sergeant Kapacziewski, he embodies what personal sacrifice for a greater cause is.  

His journey was not easy; 

I am sure he spent many long days rebuilding his body.  But his human spirit was undeterred.  He is an overcomer, not a complainer.  He could have spent hours on the couch watching T.V., feeling sorry for himself, but he didn’t.  He continued to set goals and reach them.  

They say the love of comfort can cripple a nation.  Looking around at the current generation I cannot say I disagree.  Everyone wants rewards without sacrifice.  

The harsh truth is, what comes easily is usually cheap and taken for granted.  We don’t reach our true potential by living in comfort and ease.  

To achieve the fullness life has to offer requires sacrifice and work and the ability to get back up again and keep moving forward through adversity.

Honest hard work- this is something God seeks from all of us. God's words tell us that working hard, with faith in mind, can lead to the great things He has planned for us.

“Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”

-Proverbs 12:11

Sgt Joe is not alone, apart from returning to combat. In that he is unusual.  Douglas Bader flew Spitfires while having prostheses. There are others who have lost limbs in battle. Men - yes and women - who have embraced their extra-share of adversity and found the courage and determination to persist in their growth: Heroes and Heroines who nurture their qualities with all the love that is deserved for the bearers of God's gifts. 

So, fill your tankards. Raise them up. Drink to them all.

Pax

100 years: the First and still the Best

The first dedicated Air Force established in the world, celebrates its 100th year Anniversary today, April 1st, 2018.

Congratulations to the Royal Air Force.

 And a hearty thank you to all past and present men and women who have contributed to this honourable and effective way of 
serving God, the Nation, Freedom and the Anglophile way of civilisation.

The Tavern will shout free Ale, the very best to all who wish to raise a glass, a tankard a horn or scottish dish for a wee dram. (pilots love their fine scotch).

Born out of the First World War and the use of flimsy aircraft by the British Army, the new, dedicated force was established this day 100 years ago. It is not just time that flies.

In a moment we shall pick up the bizzo of training pilots where we left off last time: putting the balls in young scrotes; but first let us look at what Britain has in store for the year. The Ministry of De Fence tells us......

COMMEMORATE, CELEBRATE, INSPIRE

On 1 April 2018, the Royal Air Force will be celebrating its 100th birthday. To mark this occasion, we want to reflect on our history and our achievements. We also want to celebrate the work the RAF is currently doing and look forward to the next 100 years.

 https://www.raf.mod.uk/raf100/about/

The centenary itself will be marked by special events, activities and other initiatives at local, regional and national levels running from April to the end of November 2018. 

The centrepiece of RAF100 will take place on 10 July, with a centenary service in Westminster Abbey, followed by a parade in The Mall and spectacular flypast over Buckingham Palace.

Key events include a Gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 March, information on buying tickets can be found here.

One of the many events will be the Centenary Baton Relay which will see a specially designed baton visit 100 sites associated with the RAF in 100 days. The relay will begin its journey at the Royal Courts of Justice on 1 April 2018 and will end 100 days later on 10 July on Horseguards Parade.

The RAF100 Aircraft Tour will be coming to a city near you this year. You will be able to get up close to a selection of aircraft in Cardiff, Horse Guards Parade in London, Newcastle in Northern Ireland, Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester.

You can also enjoy the spectacle of airshows at RAF Cosford, Portrush in Northern Ireland and the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.

The RAF Museum will be unveiling its multi-million-pound transformation of the museum’s Hendon site which will welcome visitors to discover a new green heart of the community in Colindale, reflecting the historic RAF Hendon airfield. 

And there will be an RAF theme at this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in August. 

With a full calendar of events across the country, and the globe, this will be an exciting year for the RAF. We hope you will be able to come along and celebrate with us.

And the Tavern Keeper (who once held Airship rank for ten whole minutes and a bit) disputes the scurrilous calumny that the RAF Motto means 

'Through Adversity to the Stairs',

 for whenever the hotel lift is out of action. 

Nor as he ever heard 'Defend the Imprest: Dispute the hotel bar-bill'. 

Well, rarely. 

Although many do like ice in their scotch.

The RAF has always had an affection for Hotels, since the Bigwig Airships first set up shop, back in 1918, in the Hotel Cecil.

What is good enough for the Airships, is good enough for the lads.

It has caught on. A US Marine Corps chap, John Wear, tells a tale of the USAF appreciation too.

""A man was conducting an All Service member briefing one day, and he posed the question: “What would you do if you found a scorpion in your tent?”

A Sailor said, “I’d step on it.”

A Soldier said, “I’d hit it with my boot.”

A Marine said, “I’d catch it, break the stinger off, and eat it.”

An Airman said, “I’d call room service and find out why there’s a damn tent in my room.”

While the British were not the first to make use of heavier-than-air military aircraft, the RAF is the world's oldest independent air force: that is, the first air force to become independent of army or navy control. 

The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918 by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service and was controlled by the British Government Air Ministry which had been established three months earlier. 

The Royal Flying Corps had been born out of the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers and was under the control of the British Army. The Royal Naval Air Service was its naval equivalent and was controlled by the Admiralty. The decision to merge the two services and create an independent air force was a response to the events of World War I, the first war in which air power made a significant impact. 

The creation of the new force was based on the Smuts Report prepared by Field Marshal Jan Smuts for the Imperial War Cabinet on which he served.

To emphasize the merger of both military and naval aviation in the new service, many of the titles of officers were deliberately chosen to be of a naval character, such as flight lieutenant, wing commander, group captain, and air commodore.

The newly created RAF was the most powerful air force in the world on its creation, with over 20,000 aircraft and over 300,000 personnel (including the Women's Royal Air Force). 

The squadrons of the RFC kept their numerals while those of the RNAS were renumbered from 201 onwards. At the time of the merger, the Navy's air service had 55,066 officers and men, 2,949 aircraft, 103 airships and 126 coastal stations. The remaining personnel and aircraft came from the RFC. 

A memorial to the RAF was commissioned after the war in central London. The RAF's last known surviving founder member was the World War I veteran Henry Allingham who died in 2009 aged 113.

Following the end of World War I and the accompanying British defence cuts, the newly independent (and still temporary) RAF waited nine months to see if it would be retained by the Cabinet. 6,500 officers, all holding temporary commissions or seconded from the Army and Navy, applied for permanent commissions. The Cabinet sanctioned a maximum of 1,500 and the Air Ministry offered 1,065 to the applicants, publishing the first list on 1 August 1919, 75% of them short-term (two to five years). The service as a whole had been reduced in strength to 35,500.

From such beginnings, the RAF has become the most well known and admired branch of the British Armed Forces, especially after the magnificent effort of the Battle of Britain which will always count amongst the most decisive of battles in history.

In that, and the prior and subsequent battles, the youthfulness of the front-line fighting men has been marked. The fighter and bomber pilots.

We did look at the training of young pilots last month, so today we shall look at what pilots are expected to do with their steed-riding skills.

They fight.

And to do that they have to step higher and faster, loaded with ordnance, knowing what they are doing, which means doing an OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) before being posted to the line. 

Many are called but few are chosen.

That front line is far more powerful than any before it. But with far fewer aircraft.

And the pilots and crew are far more highly trained and practiced than ever before.

So we can now look at what young men go through when they aspire to command one of those weapons of war: The 'Tonka': the Tornado Multi-Role Combat Aircraft.

Not easy. But the rewards are sky-high.

Being a Knight these days takes far more than just courage.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic from the RAF Boys in Blue, the lads and lasses of the USAF, which some might argue is more powerful than the RAF (but not in my bars !!) are starting out on their careers.

Some may be fortunate enough to do an exchange posting one day.

So drink to these lads with balls and be thankful they are defending our way of life (despite what the politicians are doing to it).

Pax.




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