Quotulatiousness

January 28, 2023

What made the Queen so good at her job?

Filed under: Britain, History — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published 24 Sept 2022

Queen Elizabeth II of England (I of Scotland) was very good at her job, but why was this? What are the ideal qualities of a modern constitutional monarch? I stand in a dark shirt and talk.

End photograph by Jazzy Lemon.

It has been pointed out to me that the officers who attempted a coup in Spain in 1981 were ‘Civil Guard’ and not ‘army’ as I said. This is a distinction which exists in Spain but not in Britain.
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QotD: Allied anti-semitism in WW2

Filed under: Britain, History, Politics, Quotations, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 01:00

The following leaflet (printed) was passed to an acquaintance of mine in a pub:

LONG LIVE THE IRISH!

The first American soldier to kill a Jap was Mike Murphy.
The first American pilot to sink a Jap battleship was Colin Kelly.
The first American family to lose five sons in one action and have a naval vessel named after them were the Sullivans.
The first American to shoot a Jap plane was Dutch O’Hara.
The first coastguardsman to spot a German spy was John Conlan.
The first American soldier to be decorated by the President was Pat Powers.
The first American admiral to be killed leading his ship into battle was Dan Callahan.
The first American son-of-a-bitch to get four new tyres from the Ration Board was Abie Goldstein.

The origin of this thing might just possibly be Irish, but it is much likelier to be American. There is nothing to indicate where it was printed, but it probably comes from the printing-shop of some American organization in this country. If any further manifestos of the same kind turn up, I shall be interested to hear of them.

George Orwell, “As I Please”, Tribune, 1944-12-08.

Orwell’s press card portrait, 1943

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