LEARNING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

Friday 15th July 2022 3:34 pm

I’m a big fan of Terry Deary’s “Horrible Histories” books. They’re a brilliant gateway for kids (like me) to get into history.

In “The Measly Middle Ages” he finishes in his epilogue by recounting how Richard III was killed at Bosworth Field in 1485 and his body stripped and paraded in public for two days. (Probably not in the car park).

This set me pondering how we manage democratic succession these days, that it is a “shot to nothing” for everyone taking part and how it is all too easy for the vanquished to simply walk away from any carnage they leave behind. Take Jeremy Corbyn, for example.

How much more would it focus the minds of the candidates for the Tory Party leadership, not to say how much more entertaining it would be for us, if they knew they would end up naked, dismembered and their bits publicly paraded in the market place if they lost.

But thinking about it…..

…..maybe not.

Comments

Stephen Gospage

Thu 21st Jul 2022 13:42

I suppose being picked up by the Sunaks could be an even worse fate, John.

John Coopey

Fri 15th Jul 2022 19:28

“Trussed up”, Stephen? I think there’s a rather niche website that caters for that sort of stuff.
And thanks for the Likes, Frederick, Stephen A and Holden.

Stephen Gospage

Fri 15th Jul 2022 17:02

All political careers end in failure, John. I know mine did. (Voted down in a bid to become my local party's ward treasurer about a thousand years ago). But to think of being ' trussed' up like that....no, you're quite right.

M.C. Newberry

Fri 15th Jul 2022 16:39

I think the "red tabs" (general staff well behind the lines) were
the real objects of that derision, not the officers in the field who
kept up their men's morale and led them "over the top". to what
they themselves must have known was certain (or as near as dammit!) death.

John Coopey

Fri 15th Jul 2022 16:33

Good point, MC. Even in the First World War, I believe deaths and casualties among officers was higher than the ranks, confounding the seductive myth of “lions led by donkeys”.

M.C. Newberry

Fri 15th Jul 2022 16:24

Better put that thought alongside the one that remembers
how those who sought overwhelming power over others were
not averse to leading their troops into battle themselves - willing
to risk all, including their own lives, for the prize they sought.
Warwick the Kingmaker was one such example.

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LEARNING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

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