...seems to like to write between bouts of boozing, on and around his flatboat on London's Thames. His must-read offerings have the precise measure of controlled anger, nostalgia, satire and scathing wit that this jaded and nearly defeated reader/blogger needs. His name (and the nickname Butch, short for butcher) was also affectionately given to Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris by his crews, and Blogger Butch closely mirrors their cynical affection for their boss with his observations of his fellow men. (Although Blogger Butch takes his inspiration from Butch Cassidy, rather than the War Cabinet)...yesterday, Butch points out, was the 185th anniversary of the death of Lord Byron...If a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours.
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.
To do good for mankind is the chivalrous plan
And is always so nobly requited;
So battle for freedom wherever you can,
And if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.
Let him combat for that of his neighbours.
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.
To do good for mankind is the chivalrous plan
And is always so nobly requited;
So battle for freedom wherever you can,
And if not shot or hanged, you'll get knighted.
Butch and I battle on in our own way for freedom, on the blogosphere. There is still "freedom to fight for at home", although anti-freedom forces are hard at work, more so I think in the UK rather than NZ. However, the blogosphere has an international reach that Adlai Stevenson may have had in mind when he said: "The first principle of a free society is an untrammelled flow of words in an open forum. "
1 comment:
You're too kind, sir. If you don't mind, I'll nab that pic of Butch. Funny how we're precisely half a world away from each other, and yet we're thinking along the same lines. This is exactly what power hates; the free flow of ideas. What happens when all the little people's ideas start joining hands? Keep blogging Ayrdale. It's what you're good at.
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