Neville Chamberlain - Radio Broadcast - 3 Sept 1939

Comments

[Fr Dougal]

Sober stuff: but Chamberlain gave a proper sense of the moral imperative for the conflict, which contrasts with the feel of our current woeful presence in Afghanistan.

I was very friendly with an old priest who was a curate in London in September 1939. The 3rd was a Sunday and the service was scheduled to start at 11am. The Vicar installed a wireless in the pulpit (oh for an i-Pod!)and the congregation listened in silence. Then the air raid sirens went off and the faithful scooted to Gloucester Road tube station and safety. The clergy and servers stayed put and High Mass continued in defiance of Herr Hitler and for the greater glory of God! The all clear sounded just before the Agnus Dei and the people reappeared!

We'll not see those days again!

[Jimmy McPhee]

3rd September 2009

Litter Act

When you unwrap a sweetie
don't drop the paper on the ground
keep it until you find a bin
or it could cost you 50 pound

Should you smoke a cigarette
don't drop the tip in the gutter
you are not a Politician
and it is not a "Daisy-cutter"

Litter wardens stalk our steps
in the name of a tidy community
and all the while our leaders
bomb families with impunity

And sometimes they economize
in a kind of "smart price" Armaggedon
instead of dropping 20 bombs
drop 1 bomb on a wedding

Our elite professional 18 year olds
with a basic training of learning to shave
blown to pieces in Helmand province
brought home to an untimely grave

10 Soldiers killed for 150 votes
in the midst of a popular insurrection
ballot papers scattered like confetti
in another dubious bloody election

And all we can do
is polish our boots
is polish our boots
and polish our buttons
And all we can do
is polish our buttons
is polish our buttons
and display our kit
And all we can do
is display our kit
and display our kit
and display our kit
And all we can do
is display our kit

[GadgetVicar]

I'd never heard the full broadcast, only the line about being at war. The knowledge that he had done everything he could to avoid war and the realisation of how painful it must have been for him to have reached that point are most sobering.

Thanks "Dougal" and "Jimmy" for your contributions on this.