Written by Ann Farmer
A man who ‘broke into Windsor Castle on Christmas Day armed with a crossbow is facing a treason charge’; the Crown Prosecution Service said 20-year-old Jaswant Singh Chail ‘was “near to the person of the Queen, wilfully producing a loaded crossbow with intent to injure the person of Her Majesty”.’ Chail, who ‘is thought to be the first to be charged under section two of the 1842 Treason Act for more than 40 years’, was ‘also accused of making threats to kill under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and possession of an offensive weapon under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953.’
He faces a lesser penalty than that for high treason under the 1351 Treason Act, after Prince Albert ‘asked Parliament to find an alternative to the death penalty for people intending to alarm or wound the monarch’, after ‘attacks on Queen Victoria early in her reign.’
Following the incident Chail, now in custody and set to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 17, ‘was sectioned under the Mental Health Act as a video emerged of a masked and hooded man aiming a black crossbow at the camera.’
Chail allegedly ‘threatened to kill the Queen to avenge the Amritsar massacre of 1919 when British troops opened fire on Indian protesters, killing several hundred and wounding many more’ (“‘Crossbow intruder” accused of treason bid to harm Queen’, Daily Express, August 3, 2022).
This is a shocking story, which would have been even more shocking had he succeeded; we can only be thankful that he did not.
It might be suggested that his motive was at least justifiable, but how killing the Queen – or anyone not personally responsible for the atrocity – could serve to ‘avenge’ anything or anyone, is anybody’s guess.
And as eminent historian Robert Tombs has pointed out in response to a recent Netflix drama entitled ‘RRR’ (‘Rise, Roar, Revolt’), the Amritsar Massacre, ‘when a squad mainly of Gurkhas commanded by a British officer opened fire on an illegal demonstration’, killing ‘several hundred people’, was in fact ‘regarded at the time as a unique and shocking atrocity. Churchill condemned it in parliament. The officer responsible was sacked. But priests of the Golden Temple in Amritsar (the holiest Sikh shrine) thought he had done the right thing, and made him an honorary Sikh.’
Prof. Tombs says: ‘RRR panders to the reactionary and violent Hindu nationalism that is coming to dominate Indian culture and politics, fanned by the Modi government. Those who suffer from this are not the British, but Indian minorities, above all Muslim but Christian too, and indeed any liberals who stand up against extremism, persecution and bigotry. In reality, RRR does not record the nastiness of 1920s British rule, but it does reflect the growing nastiness of today’s India.’(link).
It is surely time to ask whether the relentlessly anti-Western ‘woke’ narrative, which holds current generations responsible for historical atrocities and injustices like slavery – while ignoring Britain’s role in abolishing that evil, and the role of other powers in perpetuating it (link) – is serving any other purpose than to demoralise the West and provide the mentally and morally unbalanced with a grievance with which to justify the pursuit of violent vengeance.
And who can doubt that the rise in neo-Nazism in this country (see e.g. here) – the country that went to war against Nazism – has been influenced by academic attacks on Sir Winston Churchill’s reputation, smearing him as a racist, as well as ‘anti-racist’ attacks on his statue (see e.g. here, here and here).
Such attacks lack a firm basis in history, but such attacks can only grow in size and severity, in the absence of an accurate and balanced teaching of the subject, compounded by an ‘entertainment’ industry doing obeisance to a ‘woke’ view of history in which Great Britain was not so great and the British never did anything right, and every other country never did anything wrong. We would expect every country to teach its own history from its own perspective; but why should Britain be the only country that teaches its history from every other country’s perspective but its own?
The ‘woke’ cultural Marxists claim that the use of various outdated words leads to hate, while arraigning long-dead historical figures, who cannot defend themselves, on the charge of hatred, ‘weaponising’ history to attack their political and cultural enemies without offering any alternative, viable social system. They would have us believe they are merely highlighting a history of hatred, but in reality they are promoting their own one-sided anti-British view of history – not in order to make the world more peaceful, just and equal, but to create even more hate.
They should know that before too long their condemnation of all (our) history will itself be consigned to the history books – at which point it will become yet another item on their list of historical hatreds; although sadly it is unlikely that they will launch a protest against themselves.
Seems to me that we need a much wider application of the “1842 Treason Act”; several politicians and their minions come to mind.
I have just finished watching GB News. I was horrified by the level of ignorance and stupidity well meaningly pronounced by those who are strugglig themselves presumably to help those less gifted. SO make it simple. …. Theres a war on so some stuff is scarcer and its price will continue to rise until the shortages are over. No body can stop it. Except government by cutting taxes on those goods ( Petrol etc Wheat etc ) At this point, Taxes on petrol etc are beyond colossal. Far far far greater than Shells profits.So if you want to makeit easier for people cut taxes on fuel and bread.
Next cause of inflation… Sloppy treatment of Covid. Supposedly ameliorated by gifts of money . This has to be repaid POLITICIANS MUST TAKE THE BLAME FOR THEIR BAD CONDUCT , and tighten their belts and reduce taxes or at least maintain levels until its paid for. Do not try to mend it by throwing more money at it. It was obvious from day one of the pandemic , that it needed paying for, so stop giving away money.. But they didn’t. This is gov’t responsibility. So pay it out of EXCESS TAXES.( IN other words cut you own costs and promises)
Next cause of inflation.TAX. If you tax anything, you make it more expensive.. So instead of throwing more tax on the fire ( Like using a % of the cost all the time )Just maintain some restraint.
The only way out of inflation is reducing costs. but all firms run on a tiny amount of invested money. Only tax i the thing that can give. IF not firms will go bust faster than in covid and much more sreious. We’ll starve.
NEXT . I heard idiots still talking about ” cutting tax fuels inflation. ” Exactly the opposite. It’s a foul lie. If you want to know what does fuel inflation, My favourite and by far the biggest is TAX, then demand. Then there are American ploys like consumerism, market capture Iraq, S america, Ukraine, UK,,etc,regulation removal, etc etc. etc etc
Barmy. And to summarise
CUT TAXES ( but wisely )
TG Spokes…..’nobody can stop it’. Really? For starters our prime minister which is still useless Johnson, could start by curbing our involvement in the Ukraine war. He said from the very outset of this futile war which could have avoided by NATO not expanding eastwards as it did to Russia’s backyard, that we would have to endure a little pain in terms of an economic hit with other European countries to support the Ukraine. It has not been a little pain because inflation has gone through the roof and the price of everything from wheat to oil/petrol has rocketed, and we were promised that the sanctions imposed upon the Russian leadership would reduce its capacity to wage war against its neighbour. As it happens that has not not occurred, and the sanctions imposed by this country seem to have done more harm to us than the intended recipient. And for this situation I blame Boris Johnson, the most inept and incompetent prime minister we have had to put up with for a very long time. It seems to me at least no matter who succeeds this appallingly bad leader, this country will be treated with the same economic medicine as Johnson meted out. The general well being of the citizens of this country seems not to matter when compared with those of the Ukraine, and bankrupting this country seems to be a satisfactory result in the eyes of the imbeciles who run the Conservative Party as long as we are aiding the Ukraine financially and giving away all of our own weapons. So I do not agree with you at all. Of course someone can stop it, and if Johnson won’t act to stop it, then either Truss or Sunak should, otherwise their term in office will be very short indeed.
Everything you say is correct Colin . But doesn’t contradict anything I say, except one small fact that Our MOD can usually find advantage in selling or disposing of our obsolete weapons. They’re quite good at it.And they might as well. One thing they excede in is cunning.
TG Spokes……I do agree with one thing you said though, and that is the decreasing standard of news reporting and presenting on GB News. When it started it was a breath of fresh air, but some of the presenters are woeful to say the least, and what’s more it is boring. And as for the supposed breaks where presenters are advertising their programmes, they do my head in including the new Breakfast team who are sleep inducing…..
History: “lies about crimes”, as some wit, I forget who, once defined it. Certainly, there is plenty of material in the human story against which Amritsar is but a minor episode, a mere footnote, though not, apparently, for Mr Chail who felt he had inherited the need to punish an historical wrong. Inherited generational guilt has been a theme of history with, fortunately, an inherited obligation to punish much less prevalent – until recently.
It was not just in Asia that individualism, as a conception of self, was subordinated to membership of family and society, members of a larger whole the interests of which trumped the individual’s. Until Christianity, it was the primary conception in the West too (which began with ancient Greece). Ancestral sin was a norm that became original sin in the Bible. “The iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the sons and daughters — unto the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 25). That is, moral consequences spanned generations. It was the West’s achievement, thanks to Christianity, to end an ancient, collective view of morality. Even in our now secular societies, the Christian conception of an individual, and individually moral, self still persists – just. For we are importing at a rate, cultures that do not share our individualistic morality. Generational sin is making a come-back.
George Orwell remarked “Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past” and our delusional politicians have let marxists invade our instutitions to control our present. From disorienting childen with inapproriate sex and gender ‘education’ to selective re-writes of history, they intend to increase their grip on the present with each indoctrinated generation.
The fight back is episodic, fragmented, uncoordinated and with a ‘too little, too late’ flavour. But, hope springs eternal, even in my curmudgeonly heart, and I was cheered this morning by the election result in Arizona. Kari Lake won every county with above average in-person voting suggesting Americans are no longer trusting postal voting.
I have been playing catch up with ID for a few days but always read everything including links eventually. You know the saying “a friend in need is a pain in the as*” (only joking). A bit off topic today but this old article came across my radar yesterday https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/roll-of-shame-every-mp-who-voted-for-vaccine-passports . Truss is there but not Sunak! That’s not an endorsement of course.
As I remember it Lisa those vaccine passports voted for, were for people COMING INTO our country. Not for all of us that live here. Makes them not so bad doesn’t it.
Mind you, the let out was those who tested ‘not positive’ a number of times were allowed out of quarantine.
And the tests were all paid for by our taxpayers.
I’ve a feeling I read somewhere that the reason Sunak did not vote for them because he mistakenly missed the vote.
Thank you Pauline, I don’t remember the details. However, the problem, as I see it, is that once you have a system like this in place which, from what I remember, costs millions with some IT company (pretty certain there was some nepotism going on), you won’t get rid of it. I still can’t travel to visit family in Europe or Canada, so this is definitely a world-wide problem. As long as people go along with it, for whatever reason, the system will get worse. Evil is as evil does. How many diseases are being re-introduced to this country by illegals? More “vaccines” anyone!!!
I have much time for Modi. He serves the interests of India, its culture, its security present and future. He displays a healthy distrust of the UK and the USA elected governments whose elected representatives are in turn controlled by powerful corporate and unelected global bodies whose interests and agendas they serve. A recent example of his insight into the machinations of the USA/UK was to refuse to be bounced into supporting their Russian regime change adventures.
Personally, I couldn’t give fig for Britains past, the good and the bad, all I am concerned with is the here and now and it isn’t looking good.
I don’t know Jake. We have a world beating Civil Service, with the gold medal going to the Home Office who have heroically destroyed 80 continuous years of captured ministers. The silver going to MOD who have manged to reduce defence to almost nothing .. And Bronze to The Cabinet Office collectionof leaks. Although Special mention of the Cabinet offices removal of a Prime Minister.
We look forward to the lifetime political pinnacleof extraditing a prime ministe to USA on a charge of advising president on immigration.
Jake Bennett at 9.58am.
I agree with you.
Come on Pauline. ( 05/08/at 2:08 pm )You can say more than that..
Anti-wokism from an unexpected source here:
https://dailysceptic.org/2022/08/04/new-no-nonsense-ceo-of-warner-bros-discovery-cancels-90-million-superhero-movie-for-being-irredeemably-woke/
Let’s hope more follow suit.
We have amongst us a growing “entitlement culture” originally fueled by socialism. This first arose when socialist politicians realised votes could be bought. It seems like the Tories have now jumped on this bandwagon too. If, as seems likely, Truss gets into power the national debt will be run up higher still in order to try to maintain a now completely unsustainable standard of living. We have a large section of the population won’t work but thinks they should have the good things in life handed to them.
There’s a lot of dopey people about that don’t understand that the Ukraine war, the pandemic and decades of “quantitive easing” have to be paid for.
Don’t get me started on the debt culture and the parasites that live off the rest of us through it. Or even the “get rich by gambling” wonks.
Labour may have kickstarted the move toward big state socialism but the Tories took to it like a duck to water. Churchill’s post war government, Macmillan, Douglas-Home, Heath, Major, Cameron, May and yes, Pinnochio himself all sought election on a conservative ticket yet the state grew and grew under their leadership. Only Thatcher rolled back the state….and paid the price for doing so.
Quite right Jake B at 11.07am.
And Maggie was stabbed in the back by her own M.P.s!
Not that I have any sympathy for Boris. He has been listening to ‘Her Upstairs’ and/or wanting to rule the world.
He certainly never looked after us, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
H.A. As usual you are talking rubbish.
The National Debt has never been paid off for many centuries and does not need to be because we owe it to ourselves through our genuine national bank.
And NO, future generations will not have to pay it either.
I hope Truss does get in, because she has likely grasped the most important point. No large company will invest or operate in the U.K. if it is clobbered with high taxes.
Pauline….as Biscotte used to say don’t feed the troll. However, I was never sure whether this comment he made was directed at me or HarryAgain, or indeed both of us maybe. I think our ‘Arry’ enjoys being controversial to wind us all up. And his bible laughingly seems to be Wikipedia……..