United Notions

The picture above is the Central Hall, Westminster, the base for the Methodist Church which because of its location close to Parliament has been where many conferences and major meetings have been held. Speakers there are a roll call of the good and the great and according to opinion the not so good and great.

In 1946 it hosted the first meetings of the General Assembly of the United Nations, before the American's outbid and outfoxed the British to move it over the Atlantic. In January 1952, I pitched up at a conference there.

This was the Council For Education In World Citizenship, which was out to convert the young people of Britain and anywhere else it could get into, to the idea of World Government. This body was not welcome everywhere, notably France and there were places then it avoided, notably the Soviet Union under Stalin, Germany and Japan.

It seemed a bright idea at the time. But Army service later as well as other things meant that the noble ideas and the institutions were one thing, reality was another. As time went on the United Nations grew and grew.

When we complain today of the EU and all its works, we forget that very often these are just a hand me down from the UN or one of its many bodies.

It has become very complicated. Not only have national governments lost track, and other associations, but it is arguable that the UN has lost track of itself as it expands.

One of those sayings is that to get rich then get in on the ground floor of an expanding racket. I suspect I may have missed out on something.