A Roman In The Gloaming

A document unearthed recently by archaeologists from a building site near Kings Cross, evidently a place of ritual, has been translated.  It is a public declaration by an official called “Custodian” relating to the year beginning and is dated to 410 AD in modern form.

Quote:

“ After due examination of the entrails of several beasts and offerings by the great and good of our officials to the ancient gods we can state that there is to be a new beginning to our future, quite unlike the beginnings of the past, which will lead to a recovery in our affairs.

The reductions in our defence budget and planned future deployment of more of our legionaries to the furthest corners of the Empire to secure our borders against the Persians, Goths, Vandals, Dacians and others will enable us to concentrate our efforts on our own internal security. 

This will be achieved by the empowerment of local officials in liaison with groups of the auxiliary forces in consultation with local interests.  We are sure that the high level of mutual interests will lead to the political stability of the Atlantic Isles for another four hundred years at least.

This will be enabled by the wise foresight of the control of the mints.  The progressive reduction of the silver content of the coinage will continue to help increase the amount of money to further trade and critically the great work being undertaken by the money changers and lenders. 

It is to them and their central role in the getting and spending of money and trade that we look to provide a continuing rise in our prosperity.  The reduction in the amount of gold we hold to assist the Empire in paying dues to the peacemakers on our eastern borders has been of great benefit and the continuing reduction will free us from concerns from this quarter.

Our policy of increasing the amount of protective fortification of the dwellings of our patrician class and local tribal leaders together with the concentration of trading in designated walled centres has helped our internal security and protected our vital interests. 

The continuing troubles among the plebeians and the other classes dependent on free grain doles will be addressed by firmer laws and wider powers being granted to lower officials and others to allow them to act without reference to the usual procedures.  We have no doubt that the best way of dealing with the problem is to extract promises from the disaffected elements and release them to adjust to their communities in accordance with their lifestyle.

Community spirit will be maintained and improved by the provision of extra games and pursuits.  Necessarily some of these will be violent amusements and others giving insights into the baser instincts and conduct of ordinary people.  This is part of our lifestyle and we must learn to tolerate and welcome this as a staple of social intercourse.

In administration the greater influence and authority of Aquisgranum the city serving the interests of the Belgae, the Germanians and the Gauls is to be welcomed giving the Atlantic Isles a more central pivot to refer to for policy and trade. 

Similarly the transplantation of local tribal peoples, the Scotti, from the territories of south eastern Britannia around Camulodunum and Venta Icenorum to the furthest north can only be of benefit to all concerned.  We are sure they will be welcomed by the Picts and the remnants of earlier peoples who went north in past times.

The Empire's greatest achievement is in creating a diversity of peoples and beliefs.  The steady flow of the skilled and able work forces from the lands around the Rhine and its northern and eastern neighbours we are sure will be augmented by more of these law abiding and peaceful tribes bringing with them their inclusive and benign gods. 

Moreover increased trade and contact with the horsed tribes far to the east has opened other wonderful opportunities.  The Empire has little to fear from them. 

There are other groups with other gods, including some who believe only in a single god.  While the great majority of these are meek, submissive and helpful in their beliefs there are small number of extremists who give concern and who are both reluctant and unwilling to respect other gods and practices. 

Some have taken down bridges to make their places of worship and only allow marriage and child bearing within the terms of their own laws.  More worrying is their lack of diversity in their relationships with others and secretive internal dealings.  Nevertheless they are important to the Empire as a valuable source of slaves for the galleys and mines.

There are other issues for the Empire to deal with in the coming decade.  The deforestation of much of the Isles is leading to difficulties in sourcing fuel and building materials.  Also the more fertile soils of the lowlands are no longer giving the yields that they once did which means that the Province is failing to meet its revenue and export targets. 

The lack of maintenance of water facilities has led to breakdowns in some urban communities that are difficult to rectify.  The calls on the legions have removed not only soldiers but the water engineers who have kept the systems running in the past.

Nevertheless the future is bright and the Empire has guaranteed that more coins will soon be had that although different will mean that the chariots and pack mules will soon be as busy as before.

Morituri te salutant!”

Unquote.

How different it all seems from our modern world.

Dog Days

Given the chaos of the present time and the difficulty of making sense, if any, of all that is going on perhaps it is time to take a look to see what science has to tell us.

Plos one, a site for academics has a long article to read on the subject of The Skin Microbiome in Healthy and Allergic Dogs.  It will certainly take your mind off other present excitements.

Quote:

"Conclusions:

A large number of previously uncultured or rarely isolated microbes were identified in the skin of dogs evaluated in this study, demonstrating that the skin of dogs is inhabited by much more rich and diverse microbial communities than was previously thought, using culture-based methods.

The study also shows that each skin site from each dog evaluated here was inhabited by a variable and unique microbiome, with significant individual variability between samples from different dogs and between different skin sites within the same dog.

Differences in species richness were also seen between healthy and allergic dogs, with allergic dogs having significantly lower species richness when compared to healthy dogs. Since the number of allergic dogs enrolled into this study was small, and significant variability was observed between individuals and between different skin sites, a larger cohort of healthy and allergic dogs would have to be evaluated before drawing any further conclusions on the most important microbes inhabiting the skin of dogs, and the roles that these microbes play in health or disease states.

A study of the skin microbiome of allergic dogs during acute flares and chronic skin lesions might also confirm a lowering of this bacterial diversity.  It is imperative for us to better understand the microbial populations inhabiting the skin of animals.

Being able to describe the skin microbiome in healthy animals, and identify the changes that occur in the skin microbiome in disease states, could reveal the role of the microbiome in the pathogenesis of skin diseases, and possibly identify better measures to treat skin conditions, ultimately reducing usage and resistance to systemic antimicrobial treatment."

Unquote.

I can conclude only that while dogs could be bad for humans it is likely that humans are very bad for dogs.

A Shiver Through The Mind

A retreat into a little bit of history here.  It is an article published on pages 193 to 195 with pictures in an American magazine.  The dating and content is interesting in this context.

Make of it what you will.  As the heading suggests it was not to my taste.

HOMES & GARDENS, November 1938

Page193 "Hitler's Mountain Home" - A visit to 'Haus Wachenfeld' in the Bavarian Alps, written and illustrated by Ignatius Phayre

It is over twelve years since Herr Hitler fixed on the site of his one and only home. It had to be close to the Austrian border, barely ten miles from Mozart's own medieval Salzburg. At first no more than a hunter's shack, "Haus Wachenfeld" has grown until it is to-day quite a handsome Bavarian chalet, 2,000 feet up on the Obersalzburg amid pinewoods and cherry orchards.

Here, in the early days, Hitler's widowed sister, Frau Angela Raufal, kept house for him on a "peasant" scale. Then, as his famous book Mein Kampf ("My Struggle") became a best-seller of astonishing power (4,500,000 copies of it have been sold), Hitler began to think of replacing that humble shack by a house and garden of suitable scope. In this matter he has throughout been his own architect.

There is nothing pretentious about the Führer's little estate. It is one that any merchant of Munich or Nuremberg might possess in these lovely hills.

The entrance hall is filled with a curious display of cactus plants in majolica pots. Herr Hitler's study is fitted as a modern office, and leading out of this is a telephone exchange.

From here it is possible for the Führer to invite friends or Ministers to fly over to Berchtesgaden, landing on his own aerodrome just below the chalet lawns.  The site commands the fairest view of all Europe. This is to say much, I know. But in these Bavarian Alps there is a softness of greenery, with snow-white cascades and forest-clad pinnacles, like the Schönfeldapitae and Tuefelshörmer.

Hitler's home looks out upon his native Austria.

Meals are often served on the terrace on little tables shaded by big canvas umbrellas. From this viewpoint a chain of drowsy lakes is seen far below, with ancient shrine-chapels hidden in ferny folds of towering rocks. And since the Reichsführer settled here as "Squire of Wachenfeld" the whole region has been starred with motor speedways, even as far as Oberammergau.

The colour scheme throughout this bright, airy chalet is light jade green. In outside rooms, like the sun-parlour, chairs and tables are of white, plaited cane. Here Hitler will read the home and foreign papers which his own air pilot, Hansel Baur, brings him every day from Berlin before lunch.

At this altitude, the Bavarian sun is at its most genial. Even at Christmastime when deep snows are out, Haus Wachenfeld basks in warmth like the Engadine's. The effect of light and air in the house is heightened by the rolling and trilling of many Hartz mountain canaries in gilded cages which hang or stand in most of the rooms.

The curtains are of printed linen or fine damask in the softer shades. The Führer is his own decorator, designer and furnisher, as well as architect. He is constantly enlarging the place, building on new guest annexes, and arranging in these his favorite antiques- chiefly German furniture of the eighteenth century, for which agents in Munich are on the lookout.

It is a mistake to guess that week-end guests are all, or even mainly, State officials. Hitler delights in the society of brilliant foreigners, especially painters, musicians and singers. As host, he is a droll raconteur; we all know how surprised were Mr. Lloyd George and his party when they accepted an invitation to Haus Wachenfeld.

The guest bedrooms are hung with old engravings. But more interesting than any of these to the visitor are the Führer's own water-colour sketches. Time was when a hungry Hitler was glad to raise a few marks by selling these little works; none measures more than about eight inches square, and each is signed "A. Hitler" - unmistakably, if also illegibly!

The gardens are laid out simply enough. Lawns at different levels are planted with flowering shrubs as well as roses and other blooms in due season. The Führer, I may add, has a passion about cut flowers in his home, as well as for music.

Every morning at nine he goes out for a talk with the gardeners about their day's work. These men, like the chauffeur and air-pilot, are not so much servants as loyal friends. A life-long vegetarian at table, Hitler's kitchen plots are both varied and heavy on produce. Even in his meatless diet, Hitler is something of a gourmet - as Sir John Simon and Mr. Anthony Eden were surprised to note when they dined with him at the Presidential Palace at Berlin.

His.Bavarian chef, Herr Kannenberg, contrives an imposing array of vegetarian dishes, savoury and rich, pleasing to the eye as well as to the palate, and all conforming to the dietic standards which Hitler exacts. But at Haus Wachenfeld he keeps a generous table for guests of normal tastes.

Here bon viveurs like Field-Marshals Göring and von Blumberg and Joachim von Ribbentrop will forgather at dinner. Elaborate dishes will then be served with fine wine and liquors of von Ribbentrop's expert choosing. Cigars and cigarettes are duly lighted at this terrace feast - though Hitler himself never smokes, nor does he take alcohol in any form.

All visitors are shown their host's model kennels, where he breeds magnificent Alsatians. Some of his pedigree pets are allowed the run of the house, especially on days when Herr Hitler gives a "Fun Fair" to the local children. On such a day, when State affairs are over, the Squire himself, attended by some of his guests, will stroll through the woods into hamlets above and below.

There rustics sit at cottage doors, carving trinkets and toys in wood, ivory and bone. It is then the little ones are invited to the house. Coffee, cakes, fruits and sweets are laid out for them on trestle tables in the grassy orchards. The Frauen Goebbels and Göring, in dainty Bavarian dress, arrange dances and folk-songs while the bolder spirits are given joy-rides in Herr Hitler's private aeroplane.

Nor must I forget to mention the archery-butts at the back of the chalet. It is strange to watch the burly Field-Marshal Göring, as chief of the most formidable air force in Europe, taking a turn with the bow and arrow at straw targets of twenty-five yards range. There is as much to-do about those scarlet bulls-eyes as though the fate of nations depended on a perfect score!

But I have said enough to convey the idea of a sunny sub-alpine home, hundreds of miles from Berlin's uproar, and set amid an unsophisticated peasantry of carvers and hunters. This is the only home in which Hitler can laugh and take his ease - or even "conduct tours" by means of the tripod telescope which he himself operates on the terrace for his visitors.

"This place is mine." He says, simply. "I built it with money that I earned." Then he takes you into his library where you note that quite half of the books are on history, painting, architecture and music. When it is fine enough to dine in the open air, one sees a piano made ready for the after-dinner concert.

Local talent will provide violin and cello for pieces by Mozart or Brahms. But at the piano itself, it is always that English-speaking giant (he is 6ft.4 ins.), Dr. Ernest "Putzi" Hanfatarangl who presides as composer of all-German reknown.

Back To The Hapsburgs

As there is flying about the media and the web debate about full political and financial  union of Europe, a raid on the archive was called for.  This is a tidied up repeat of an earlier post which deserves another outing.

Looking at all the options the Habsburgs may have been right in trying to maintain a patriarchal governance of Europe.  It is admitted by our present leaders in Europe, not all of them elected, that after about six hundred years, those wars of ideologies, wealth and empire seeking, dynastic disputes, and sundry fighting between other groups with particular agendas were a waste of time, men and money.

If only those misguided people our forebears, who we trusted with power in the past had let the Habsburgs, their Emperors, Princes, Dukes and the rest get on with running the show, religion, trade, and everything we could have lived happily ever after.

Perhaps Herman van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton do not much resemble King Philip II of Spain, and Queen Mary Tudor of England who married at Winchester in July 1554 (above), but they are the best Europe can do for the time being.  Cam and Sam would be a little too Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.  As for Ed and 'Er Indoors, no, really, no.

I will skip the complicated history of the Habsburgs, it is all there on the web and Wikipedia.  Nor do I suggest that the various descendants of Habsburg’s line scattered about the world should be elevated to high positions in Europe.  They seem to be a sociable lot, but their heritage has meant exclusion from politics.  They could almost claim to be an ethnic group who have suffered social and political isolation and apply for the relevant grants from Brussels.

The point is that the Habsburgs, Holy Roman Emperors and all that, not only ruled much of Europe and beyond, but in the parts they did not have direct rule, exercised a profound influence over what went on.  Moreover, many went in for micro management to an astonishing degree, complaining that they were slaves to their peoples. 

We can ignore their foibles, eccentricities, difficulties in personal relationships and the consequences of genetic inbreeding.  They are minor compared to those of many of the current European and UK leaders.  We can substitute “political” for “genetic”.  The effects of that are infinitely more serious and damaging to the business of ruling than the odd twitching of the DNA.

The Europe of the Habsburgs was a sprawling regime with its many parts rarely functioning in connection with the others.  It was a massive tax and wealth gathering entity which spent vast sums on prestige projects, personal palaces, and in enforcing the doctrines of which they and only they determined and defined.  

It was multi layered to a bewildering and complicated degree.  Most of the time of its functionaries was spend in working out who they were and what they were supposed to be doing.  If they found that out, then someone higher up would confound it, and it will all start again.

Public decrees would be made, laws and regulations issued, but how they came to be or why would be shrouded in deep secrecy, and only the powerful or the proximate would be party to any of it.  This meant that as you went down through the levels of administration, matters became slower and more uncertain.  Nobody quite knew what decisions might be made and when, unless, of course, they paid good money to find out and obtain the right result.

There was a proliferation of senior, high paying, posts to satisfy the many clients of the state, and as many of the highest gathered so many of them to themselves, then there was extensive delegation to much cheaper and junior officials whose only hope of survival was to extract as much income and as quickly as possible.   

The Empire had a monopoly of policing and military matters that were closely combined and under the instruction of the doctrinal and legal administrative classes and any reformers or opposition would be classed as rebellion or heresy and dealt with accordingly.

At the highest levels it was necessary to have connections and background that were absolutely correct.  Without the sixteen heraldic quarterings of the right families you could neither be admitted to nor held worthy of the elite.  Then it was ancestral because that was held to the test of rightness or wrongness. 

Today there are other tests of political correctness that amount to the same thing.  The are boxes that contain the right configurations of display, beliefs, and membership.

Nobody really knew where the money went, and accounting was simply an exercise in writing fiction.  Who was supposed to get the money was one thing.  Who really benefited was quite another, sometimes completely random in effect, and at others going to people who had abused every office they held. 

There were some political jurisdictions which held out against the Habsburg system, but in the 21^st Century by the more effective methods of modern communications and means of propaganda they have been suborned and defeated. 

For almost a century Europe was freed of the last of the Habsburg heritage.  But it has been too difficult to shake them off.  They may not be back in person, but their political tradition has triumphed.  Their system is back, bigger and better than ever and we are all now subject.

At least we will not have dynastic or other European wars.

Well, not for a year or two.

The Money Go Round

During the last part of the 20th Century and into the 21st, the UK has embarked on a gigantic social, financial and structural experiment.  It replaced an Empire and then a web of international trading where manufactures were the critical element with a financial system based on property in which manufactures became secondary and almost incidental.

This would take a large book to deal with and that would be a summary.  A brief post can be only a minimal and very rough sketch.  But trust me; I'm a blogger, have lived through and have been a part of it.  Also, it is an interest to scratch around the past in search of what has gone and been forgotten.

Our recent severe weather has provoked a media storm of coverage, anxieties and the usual political posturing.  In the UK almost all of it has centred on damage to property, how it should be protected at almost any cost and the relevant valuations.  At one time much the greater interest would have been what was going on at sea and in the ports, the damage to property would have been taken for granted as part of the risks of life.

Also, recently in the media has been the business of those in the private rental sector altering their approach in response to financial changes.  They no longer want to be a sub-set of social housing with tenants on benefits, their perceived need is tenants who either pay up or can be removed. 

Many of the owners of rental properties depend on extensive credits which has to be covered. The way this private sector seems to have worked is that those in the business have taken on highly leveraged borrowing to fund the expansion needed for continuing coverage of liabilities.  Accordingly, rentals have needed to rise more than ordinary inflation.

This has begun to impact more extensively on the freehold private housing market in that rental companies are now more active in that field, helping in the South East at least to add to the demand in such a way that is an element in the well above inflation price rises there.

But the strange way we regard inflation in the UK is that we seem to think that a high level of rising prices are economically a good thing, in that necessarily they are popular with existing owners, notably renters needing increased asset values.  That is just another potentially damaging kind of inflation is almost a heresy among our leaders and financiers.

Looking around a variety of locations known to me over the last fifty years, I am seeing price increases of between 60 to 80 times face value.  A property I could buy at near three times salary in 1962 would now need seven to eight times salary if in the same sort of job and its kind ten or more times in the hotter spots.

Another contrast is the annual rentals on some properties are now greater than the cash price of the then freehold property some thirty to forty years ago.  As for leasehold this is now another world and "social housing" is an even stranger world.  We are now at a point where to be in social housing now is regarded popularly as conferring the equivalent of ownership for life and then to be bequeathed to family.

It is assumed also that housing is something to be financially supported by the state and that all sorts of tax breaks and hidden benefits occur.  Many so called "holiday cottages" are rarely rented to holiday makers and many "second homes" are not much lived in.  They have become "investments" that offer ways and means of avoiding tax.  The recent scandals of Parliamentary expenses largely turn on property dealing.

A consequence is that a lot of housing is removed from housing needs and to add to this a great deal is under occupied by any sort of comparison with the longer past.  At present there is extensive and expensive development going on in London which may well remain largely unoccupied being seen as a hedge for foreign investors on asset values needing a home for flight capital.

When you add other elements into the equation it becomes more difficult.  Firstly is that recently we have had more housing space than almost any people in history although that might now be changing.  Then there is the notion that more people means more money. 

This may be true in total, but it may be untrue in terms of mean incomes and especially if housing costs continue to escalate at this rate driven by all sorts of funny money.  This will entail rather lower amounts of real disposable income and declining rapidly.  This will affect consumption another prop of our financial system at present.

It is possible that this great experiment will fail and the stresses are beginning to show.  It is possible that it must fail because it depends on impossible assumptions, almost dreams and that at some stage difficult decisions will be needed that will be avoided.

We hope that the money will not run out because our financiers will go on creating it in a way that will last forever.  But if this, along with government spending means that the incentive to save is removed so few can or will save the fewer and fewer will be able to afford either rentals or purchase.

And there might be no way out of the mess because the money flood has blocked all the routes.

Digging For Victory Again

As it is close to five years since this blog started, it is intriguing how some items do not lose their relevance while others do.  This one, a take on the old Variety star Rob Wilton's act is perhaps one that lasts. 

The Michael William's, who revived Wilton's act, now sadly deceased, was husband to Judi Dench who I remember as a youngster on stage in the 50's.

Digging For Victory

The day the bank bailouts broke out, the missus said to me, “So what are you going to do to save the economy?”  “It isn’t up to me!” I said, “What can I do about it in any case?”  “Well,” she said “you can make a start, and my hair needs cutting.”

So after we cut each other’s hair, normally free, gratis, and for nothing, this time we exchanged cheques for £1000 each.  “There,” she said, “that’s a nice boost for the GDP”  “But what do we do next?” I asked, and she had an answer for that, well she always does have an answer.

So we go down to at Thresher and Porbeagle Financial Services, Cookiecutter House and meet a gent’ called Fred Sands.  Nice chap, the sort of Scottish burr in the voice you like to hear on the customer services help lines telling you there is nothing they can do to help, who makes us an offer we could not refuse.  They had only just set up after he had left his old firm to improve his prospects.

Grabbing the cheques from our hands, he told us he could immediately lend us up to £100,000 to spend as we wanted, or to take part in a wonderful investment deal that had only turned up on his laptop that very morning, limited offer, closing in half an hour, so we had to make up our minds quick.

He wrote us a cheque on the spot for the £100,000, gave to us, and then snatched it back, saying it was now an asset and collateral for buying £5 million pounds worth of rented garages in Arizona, Beijing, and Moscow, and these would become the assets for investing in a lot of Hedge Funds, who would do a lot of other lending. 

Because all the loans were assets, and not what my father told me, income was guaranteed at fifteen per cent, and the whole value would grow at least thirty per cent a year, so we could soon have our villa, yachts and all the rest, and even get invited to a Paris fashion show.

I tried to tell the missus that I was happy with our caravan at Bognor, but she would not listen, all it would cost us she said was trivial money, small change, for all the administrative fees and bonuses, and I should be grateful for everything. 

Then she went into the back room with Fred and came out smiling in a way I hadn’t seen since she was a part time barmaid at “The Dragon’s Head”.

So we have now “kick started” the economy and Fred says with luck I could get a knighthood and the missus will then become a lady, at last.  “It will all be worth it,” she said, “and Fred even gave me a tenner, for the service economy he called it.” 

When I told my neighbour, Jim, he gave me a funny look, asked for his lawnmower back, and told me not to bother with Christmas Cards this year as he was a bit short.

Apologies to Rob Wilton and Michael Williams.

Note

The picture above is of Hyde Park around 70 years ago.

Dates For The Diary

The fashion for anniversaries and their celebration or otherwise is now well entrenched.  Already, despite the fact there are months to go a great deal of attention is being centred on World War One and the debates are under way about it.  The picture above is Autumn 1914, Kings Liverpool Regiment, 20th Service Battalion, 4th Pals.

What is sometimes interesting are those that are forgotten, pushed aside or that people actively prefer to forget.  In January 1944, for example the Anzio landings were made where US and UK forces took the war into Italy.  Anzio has long been overshadowed by the later Normandy landings.

Also, the Soviet Army broke the German lines at Leningrad.  Meanwhile General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Invasion Forces.  In the UK the Cabinet was about to publish Coalition White Papers about Health and Education Services post war and details emerged of a new type of jet propelled fighters.

Away from wars in the USA at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, Oswald T Avery and his colleagues claimed that genes were governed by a chemical called DNA although much work needed to be done to discover the structure of this.  It was regarded to be of limited academic interest.

The basic problem is the main media going into overdrive on some subjects and some people.  On the one hand this leads to fatigue or adverse reactions and on the other a loss of perspective in many cases. One reason is those areas where the material is easily and readily to hand as against those that demand more research.

It is possible to go around many years ending in a 4 to find one sort of anniversary or another.  Some more intriguing that the others.  January 1954 was a case in point, the Kremlin was warning the Ukraine against nationalist feeling, there was concern over Western Germany moving to self government, Marilyn Monroe married Joe Di Maggio, and Pope Pius XII declared that TV was a threat to family life.

He might have been right about that.