Three links to saving a nation

TWO IS NOT DEMOCRACY

 

YOU KNOW IT'S WRONG

THE PIPE DREAM THAT STOLE
66 MILLION FUTURES

 

Iridescence

 Natural pearl and diamond pendant, 18th century;
set with an oval diamond supporting a diamond bow motif
and a baroque drop-shaped natural pearl measuring approximately 16 × 18 × 26mm.

A natural pearl and diamond jewel of delicately wrought beauty once belonged to history's most glamorous scapegoats for the abuses and injustices of autocracy, the victim of nationalism and misogyny, reviled by women and men, the hated l'autrichienne, the Austrian bitch, Marie Antoinette, queen of France.

Political assassination is arguably justified, character assassination is not. Of all the offensive insults thrust at her, the most hurtful, far worse than all the salacious sexual slurs, the one that cut deepest, more humiliating than being deprived of shoes and false teeth in prison, more painful than beheading, was the Tribunal's allegation of incest with her son.

"If I have not replied it is because Nature itself refuses to answer such a charge laid against a mother. I appeal to all mothers here present – is it true?”

Marie Antoinette on her way to the guillotine, drawn by David, 16 October 1793. Image: Wikipedia.
She was 37 years old. Usually, press reports about celebrity women degrade them by mentioning their age, but in this case the vulgar habit of prejudging is justified by the shock of this woman's premature ageing due to suffering.

She, who was brought up to be a dynastic pawn, a bride and mother of kings, became the Eternal Feminine demonized. The modern perception of Marie Antoinette has shifted away from the inverted fairy story heroine, the romanticized narrative of an over-privileged but misunderstood star of the diamond-studded, blood-stained Versailles reality show, to the universal figure in women's history of wronged mother and foreigner.

 Marie-Antoinette and her children by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1787

While she was imprisoned, she was separated from her children. As she prepared for death, her chief anxiety was about their fate. An 18th century princess endured the kind of degradation and psychological torture that tyranny in the modern world still inflicts on female immigrants and their families.

And there's the jewel itself, the progeny of animals and human skill, that natural pearl of iridescence beyond price, a man-made thing lovely enough to be the symbol of our atonement for our sins against nature and each other, sold for silly money, £25 million that should be spent on environmental conservation and humanitarian missions to reunite migrant families and release political prisoners.

The moment modern Britain got back its dignity

Dominic Grieve's magisterial speech at The People's Vote rally on 13 November was an historic moment to remember, whatever the outcome of the movement to save our disunited kingdom will be. All the speakers found new reserves of passion and determination, and, in some cases, humility, showing the time has come to put our country above all personal interests. This was patriotism, not nationalism.

October Afternoon

Trafalgar Square, afternoon, 20 October, 2018

  

700,000 patriots marched to save the future of our country from the consequences of Brexit

 

over 300,000 people have signed the  

petition for a People's Vote

 
over 1 million people have signed
The Independent's petition for

a Final Say

Whether you voted Leave or Remain, the time has come to demand a #finalsay

EVERYTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL WE MAKE IT HAPPEN
video narrated by Brian Cox

Last Hope to Save Britain?

JOIN THE MARCH TO DEMAND

A FINAL SAY

ON THE BREXIT DEAL.


The politicians cannot deliver a workable deal. Our democracy is discredited if it does
not benefit the people.
This is the biggest fight of our lives to save our country and a decent quality of life for everyone,
the poor as well as the rich,
the sick as much as the healthy.
This march isn't just for Europhiles:
it is for all of us.

It is for our children;
it is for our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who fought to give us
social and political rights we take for granted.

It is for people who care about education, environment and culture, for equality and justice, for music and science, for nursing and medicine, for affordable nutritious food
and humane farming standards, for their jobs.

It is for the freedom to follow your vocation in the modern world, unfettered by prejudice and ideology.

It's the last reality check before self-destruction.

A bad Brexit will cause more civil unrest in the long run than no Brexit.

Democracy was given to free the people,
not trap them.
 
March for a vote on the deal.
March for an option to Remain in the EU and reform it from within. 

Get details of the march here

over 300,000 people have signed the  
petition for a People's Vote
over 1 million people have signed
The Independent's petition for
a Final Say

#finalsay

Remain for a brighter future

A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE UK
proposed by Gina Miller in a new campaign to save UK from political chaos, social injustice and economic decline

"The vote for Brexit shone a light on problems that successive

Governments have consistently failed to address – communities left

behind, inequality, the immigration system, economic stagnation,

stretched public services, crisis in housing and social care.

"Britain is one of the most unequal societies in Europe, where success increasingly depends on where you live, which school or university you went to, who your parents are, and who they know.

"With 42% of UK wealth owned by 10% of households, it is no wonder there is a breakdown of trust in our institutions and politicians.

"But is Brexit the solution?"
 Gina Miller, Remain Plus for a Brighter Future

 Ghirlandaio Four Sibyls Vaulting of the Sassetti Chapel, Santa Trinita, Florence.
Fresco c 1485.Image: WGA

"What we have ended up with is division, anxiety and unhappiness.  The options facing us are so poorly defined that clarity is desperately and urgently needed. There must be a better way.

"Time is running out, but it is not too late. It is only right, morally and democratically, that the people of the UK are given a vote on a future we will have to face together.

"We believe this is the only way to clear away the confusion, draw a line under Brexit and get back to dealing with the issues facing our country.  The only way to end the chaos."
Extract from Gina Miller's mission statement on the new website End the Chaos

The full text of Gina Miller's clear and constructive programme for reform following A People's Vote on Brexit is available to read here: Remain Plus for a Brighter Future

END THE CHAOS
REMAIN IN THE EU

"Darling! The set was wonderful"

It’s one of those site-specific shows in which the lead actress, in the title role of “Sweet Melancholy”, is upstaged by a live, cooing, flying prop; the play is in blank verse, and the director, after blaming everyone else at the Tech Rehearsal, has lost the plot; but the set design is wonderful....

 Joseph-Marie Vien Sweet Melancholy 1756.
Cleveland Museum of Art. Image: Wikipedia

Melancholy, as you know it, was never this sweet. This looks more like Wistful Posing, though maybe you have missed the point about contemporary self-consciousness. Mid-drama, she, Melancholy, looking as pretty as possible, rearranges her drapery and takes a selfie.

You would be at a loss for words when you congratulate your friend afterwards, if it wasn't for Vien's sophisticated colour scheme, daring to put Melancholy's acid yellow dress against a dark grey background, and his dedication to historical detail in the props and furniture, pioneering a fashion in neoclassical home interiors.

The smoke from the antique brazier is scented, sending the front rows, especially the critics, into drowsy raptures. That might explain the liminal moment when you thought you heard the dove speak.

You travelled far to get here, to a disused temple in an inaccessible part of the old City, where no buses dare to stop. You took three wrong turns on your way from the station. You are dismayed by the thought of missing connections on the long journey home, and arriving tired and dispirited in the lonely night.

You imagine yourself slumped unprettily on a chair, holding your head in your hands, mourning your losses, knowing that bad as the day has been, there is always hope tomorrow will be worse.

You promise yourself that if you can ever afford it - ach, if only you'd got that film job the other day - you will buy a neoclassical upholstered chair and incense-burner, and recline elegantly in a full-length, yellow silk gown, to sweeten your own melancholy.

You are not lying when you reassure Sweet Melancholy that, "You looked like a goddess on that set, and deserve awards just for acting with that pigeon."

The Fifth Horseman

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL POST

LINKS TO PETITIONS:
The People's Vote
Final Say

National identity

and the sport of politics
England would not have reached the World Cup without Freedom of Movement.

Repair Broken Promises and Broken Rights

PETITION THE GOVERNMENT TO KEEP THE RIGHTS OF EU CITIZENS ALREADY LIVING IN THE UK
UNCHANGED
AS PROMISED BY VOTE LEAVE BEFORE THE 2016 REFERENDUM

This promise has not been kept by the government.

Please sign and share the petition.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS AT

UK GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT

ALL IN THE GOLDEN AFTERNOON

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL POST

Thomas Gainsborough Wooded Landscape....

INFORMED CONSENT

"The public...need guarantees on NHS staffing, access to medicines and the safety of the NHS from any US-UK trade deal, before they can be satisfied that... Brexit will do no harm to our NHS and social care."

Source: More United

"At its 70th birthday, the NHS faces – in Brexit – perhaps the greatest threat to its survival in its history.

"The consent given by the public for Brexit was not informed consent. In medicine – and surely to any reasonable person – consent which is not informed is considered invalid, and this mandates a vote on the Brexit deal."

Source: Charles Gallaher The Independent

Save the nation from self-harming by signing
the petition for a People's Vote

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL POST

Fortitude in high heels

Fortitude Sculpture by Serpotta in white stucco and gilding, height 200 cm, 1710-17.
Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, Palermo. Image: WGA

Elegantly dressed for the life she wants,
in her favourite high-heeled shoes, breastplate bodice
and plumed headdress,
Fortitude leans her elbow on the pillar of patience,
never keeping her eyes off the longest battle.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL POST

She doesn't like what she sees, but she will never give in, she will never be part of it, even when other people make snarky remarks about her posing in her Rococo niche.

She exemplifies the moral courage of sticking to her post "because it is noble to do so, or because it is disgraceful not to do so."

Our Future is in Their Paws

Click here for the whole SCRATCH POST

Option 4

The Government's own Department for Exiting the EU has concluded that the best option for the United Kingdom's economy and people's jobs is to remain. 


Our elected representatives have shown themselves incompetent to act in our interests. Members of Parliament have undermined Parliamentary democracy by handing more power to the executive.

Now that everyone has more information about the consequences of leaving the EU, we, the People, should be allowed a say on the final deal.

A new People's Vote would not be a second EU Referendum.

It would be the third EU Referendum since 1975, when the majority voted in favour of remaining.

Brexit is still legally reversible. 

We can still save our country and all our futures.

There should be an Option to Remain.

Over 300,000 people have signed
the Petition for A People's Vote

PLEASE MAKE IT EVEN BIGGER BY SIGNING AND SHARING IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY

WE DEMAND

A PEOPLE'S VOTE

 PLEASE SHARE THIS LINK TO SAVING OUR COUNTRY
BY DEMANDING A SAY ON THE FINAL BREXIT DEAL

READ FULL DETAILS HERE
 
OVER 300,000 PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED THE PETITION
PLEASE SHARE AND
HELP WIN THE FIGHT
TO SAVE OUR COUNTRY

The Misgovernment of Britain

“THE UNCERTAINTY, MUDDLE AND DRIFT [OF BREXIT SHOWS]THAT VICTORIAN THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT SIMPLY DON’T DESCRIBE ANY LONGER THE REALITY OF HOW THE UK IS MISGOVERNED”
Tim O’Connor, Attorney at Law

Click here to read Full Post 

Click here to go Home

Rose tiara

Rose Tiara, Me Too Era © PJR

This ghostly exuberance, this rose-pink nostalgia, pink, the colour of ironic femininity and about-to-be-lost illusions, knowing and sweet; this decaying crown of experience in the benighted, bee-endangered, Brexit semi-coma, is the last shout of beauty on the edge of dying.

On the edge of good taste, too, some would say. Such overt flirtation and florid excess, such abandonment to the moment, such tender voluptuousness, too fragile to touch; their éclat is not for all seasons.

Performance at this level is exhausting. Tomorrow, or the day after, their lovely faces will shrivel, shrink from their reflections, and shed fragrant tears, little pink silk sheets littering the floor, until they are bald.  I owe them the courtesy of hiding them before anyone else sees them like that.

On my last English mantelpiece, the flush of full-blown roses looks dimmed, as if an interfering prig has veiled a group of over-dressed, over-scented, over-the-top fifty-something women at a party long ago, their magnificent defiance muted into memory - 

nah, old pink roses will be back screaming and shouting at you from somewhere next year.