Piddingworth Greg Benton |
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| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
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| Thank you very much for your support! |
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| Honour all men. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. (1Peter 2) |
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| May God give you the strength & courage to do your Duty... Rose West Leonard |
| GET THEM NOW... BEFORE THEY'RE BANNED! |
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| Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent To blow up King and Parliament. Three-score barrels of powder below To prove old England's overthrow; By God's providence he was catch'd With a dark lantern and burning match. Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! Traditional Rhyme |
| ' 'Playing With Fire' The Lewes Borough Bonfire Society, Sussex |
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| This year marks the 400th anniversary of the infamous 'Gunpowder Plot', 5th November 1605, where a remnant of English Catholics led by Yorkshireman, Guy Fawkes,attempted to blow up the Parliament buildings, as well as all those inhabiting same, i.e., the Commons, the Lords, and any Royal in attendance, Protestants all. Put in contemporary terms, the objective of Guy and Associates was not all that dissimilar to the tactics used by terrorists today and foiled by security; 9/11 being the mother of all 'gunpowder plots', the London tube bombing, train massacre in Spain, and bombing in Bali representing those others that have succeeded. Whilst the murderous strategy in the name of religion is the same, that is where the analogy mostly ends for, whilst Osama & Associates are bent on destroying western civilisation and imposing their will of a Islamaic Caliphate on the whole world, Guy's intent was to destroy the 'new world order' of the Protestant 'usurpers' of the realm and restore England to the Catholic country it was before Henry the 8th's tyranny and Elizabeth 1st's 'compromise'. A sympathetic view, if there can be one for Mr. Fawkes, is that with the Catholic faith and Church officially banned after 1400 years or so. many faithful adherents, Magna Carta notwithstanding, and including Catholic priests, were hunted down, tortured and 'executed, whilst others were put in prison and had their property 'expropriated'. All this, of course, followed on the heels of the bloody tyranny that was shed by Queens and their governments, both Catholic and Protestant. King James the 1st of England, in spite of the zealotry to rid the country of Catholic leftovers, kept some particularly powerful Catholics at HM service. I give you the times. The view of the Protestant establishment since has essentially been one of 'can't we all just get along' (Catholics excluded)? It wasn't until the 19th century that 'being Catholic' in England was no longer illegal, i.e., sort of tolerated; although, as is well-known, the law through the Act of Settlement, 1701, still prohibits anyone who claims the Catholic faith from ascending the throne. The reigning Queen’s grandson, Peter Phillips, son of the Princess Royal, could be forced to renounce his place in the line to the throne if he proceeds with plans to marry Miss Autumn Kelly, his Irish-Canadian Catholic fiancee; unless she agrees to renounce the Catholic faith. (which she has, apparently). That they also already live together one supposes is irrelevant; as it also would be if she were a Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Wiccan. There is still much indignant sniffing over former PM Anthony Blair and his apparent intent on converting from the C of E to the Catholic Church. It's worse than being non-U. Better to be a lukewarm, 'hatched, matched and dispatched', nominal Protestant than a devout and practicing Catholic, aka, a papist. Like most things in England's history, matters 'religious' are entwined with matters 'political' and 'economic'. The 'spin' of the Protestant is the claim that England shall not tolerate any foreign rule, spiritual or temporal, from Rome, i.e., the Pope. Given that the actual number of practicing, church-going Protestants in England has diminished to a rump of the population, this anti-Papal sentiment is near-mute and seems more limited to the echoes of Northern Ireland where, perhaps ironically, but wisely, the Gunpowder Plot is not commemorated. England is no longer a 'Christian' country in the way that religion dominated state and cultural affairs in the 16th and 17th centuries. Still, it is a heterodox Protestant 'culture' in much the same way as Italy is a heterodox Catholic culture. It has often been said that an English gentleman does not take religion too seriously but then the same could easily have been said of the English bishops in the 18th century where the 'Lord' of the Church often took a back seat to the Lord of the palace and the obligations of the 'hunt'. When a very young Prince William turned to Diana, his mother, during the public viewing of his 'filling in the forms' to enter Eton, and asked, 'What religion are we?', the state of the depth of religious identity was made all-too-clear. Of course, entering many an Anglican church might well cause the visitor to ask the same question. One wonders if most or any of those who will march on the 5th of November to set off bonfires and fireworks really care about the origin of the 'celebration' or even know what it's all about. Like a lot of things 'religious' in our culture, Bonfire Night is now merely all about the thrill of the fire, the cameraderie, the partying and not much more. The 'passion', i.e., hatred or loyalty, for some principle or cause is largely missing. Of course, it is not generally 'done' for English people to march about in such a manner that seems more the habit of peoples from less- confident cultures. I think that it was Orwell who commented that the sight of Nazis marching through the streets of London would have been seen as silly and the cause of enormous amusement There remains to this day, however, a time to march and a time to sit still. By all accounts, the time to march for Britons, may well have come... but will Britons stand? The destiny of England, and all of Britain, is approaching a crucible of a threat to British life and institutions, more than anything those much-maligned Popes were accused of being, and most of that was invented rubbish anyway. An earlier generation was raised to understand 'Great Britain' to be just that: Britain and Great. Be British. Buy British. When one spoke of Europe, that did not include Great Britain. Europe was the 'Continent'. So, while strictly speaking Britain was regarded as geographically a part of Europe...European it was not and still is not. There is very little that British culture, it's laws, institutions, and general way of life have in common with most of the states of the European Union whose existence as states are dwarfed by the enormous development through centuries that is Great Britain, it's Law and Freedom all passed on to it's former Empire and Commonwealth. New Labour's mission to transform Britain into something foreign can be seen in every place. The idiocy of surrendering British life, democratic sovereignty and the supremacy of Parliament and the Common Law, to Brussels and the goofy bureaucracy of the European Union would achieve that which even Guy Fawkes never intended. It is utterly incredible that Britain should even consider it let alone fall into it. More about this can be found here. Could Britons permit the erosion of the very foundation of their way of life to accomplish through politicians that which the Armada from Spain could not? Even Sir Francis Drake, although he reportedly insisted upon finishing his game of bowls in Plymouth, eventually stood up and resisted the threat; as did, in more recent times, the generation that, at first ignored Mr. Hitler, then, after waking up, gave all they had to save Britain, home and loved ones dear. One Catholic blogger has suggested that Catholic families in Britain observe the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot on 5th November in this way: '...get the baking enthusiasts in your family (i.e. the girls) to make a House of Parliament out of gingerbread... Find pictures of these exquisite gothic (sic) buildings on the Internet, and make the best copy you can, lovingly adding details with icing, perhaps even forming a tiny King James I out of marzipan. Unveil it at the outset of tonight's family dinner-or at a gathering of friends. As dinner unfolds, tell the story of Guy Fawkes and his friends—then for dessert take the gingerbread parliament outside, stuff it with M-80 fireworks, and blow it all to hell.' The time might be better put to use if all Britons, whatever their religious attachment, joined together to light a fire under the nation's politicians so that Britons never, never, never shall be slaves of anybody, but especially today of foreign rule through the European Union. . |
| THE PLOT THICKENS. |
| Written in 2007 |