Whilst figures such as Lady Thatcher and Ronald Reagan have always attracted BBC opprobrium, Nelson Mandela has been one of their heroes, beyond criticism, a knight in shining armour. Did you catch this latest gushing tribute to the elderly Marxist? It’s not that I think it fair enough to discuss Mandela but the sort of starry-eyed hero worship continually served up by the BBC does not provide the full story. It might not suit the BBC but perhaps there are other aspects to his life that merit consideration so we get a balanced view of this man?
The BBC always confuses Nelson Mandela with Morgan Freeman.
It’s because they’ve got the same do. However, the distinction lies in Morgan Freeman being a veritable badass, and Nelson Mandela not.
Mr Mandela was a terrorist and shall so remain till the day he dies. Just like the members of the ira and all other terrorists.
But, but, he’s old and cuddly, and, and….
Off topic but a sidelight on South Africa we will not see covered by the BBC and MSM.
The Steam Railway museums in the country are facing the wholesale destruction of the exhibits by armed gangs looting them for scrap. The authorities have almost given up. The story is covered in the latest issue of “Steam Railway” published here in GB
This magazine has no political axe to grind and is just reporting the facts.
I hardly think the BBC would ever report such matters that reflect very badly on the country in which they have invested so much emotional capital.
A comparable situation in this country would be armed gangs descending on York or the Bluebell Railway
That IS bad news – South Africa was always the place to go to see giants of steam in action.
Hi xxxxx
I recieved a photo yesterday of xxxxxxxx 15CA on the xxxxxxx line. You guys at xxxxxxxxx really do take the Gold Medal for preserving steam in SA. When one thinks that you are situated in one of the worst places on this planet for theft and you still manage to keep the locos up and running it truly is simply amazing. You guys should be put in charge of running the xxxxx area and xxxxxx pass etc. I’m sure you would make a much better job than that lot down there.
Hopefully I can get some money together next year and give xxxxxxx a few pounds towards the repairs of the locos.
Give my regards to all the bunch and tell them what a great job they are doing.
I’m off to London this weekend for a SAR steam up. Think my 16E and 23 will steal the show.
Have attached two shots of 2056 taken from a magazine.
Cheers for now
Regards
xxxxx
(xxxx for obvious reasons)
Very on topic I would say.
Oh, and as always, I think Nelson Mandela is a truly great man.
Sadly it is happening over here. A friend of my father is a volunteer at one of the preserved railways in East Kent, and they’ve just had 300+ cradles stolen. Cradles are hefty and expensive things, so it’s hardly a casual ‘tea-leaf’ wandering by and stuffing a few in his pockets.
Basically, the huge Chinese demand for scrap metal has made this sort of thing the business of choice for criminal gangs here and on the continent. They’re not ‘armed’ in the South African sense, but they’re every bit as violent.
(Oh, and in this part of the world they’re mostly part of the colourful and vibrant traveller scene that, pace the BBC, none of us ignorant bumpkins understand properly. One of the local thugs (we’re at the top end of The Weald here) was seen to have a load of railway cradles in his pickup recently. Wonder where they came from ?)
Incidentally, said railway operates throough the hard work of volunteers and on a tiny budget, so there’s a strong possibilty that this could finish them off. I love this country.
Is the old steam line between George and Knysna on the Graden Route still able to run – along the coast and through the flooded marshes, a classic ride !
The heroes of the left are not my heroes and I suspect many feel the same but our voices remain unheard.
We are sold a pantheon of the lefts fabricated heroes, modern day icons but they aint mine and I suspect they aint yours either.
My heroes remain unseen and unheard they have been squeezed out and their names and reuputations blackened, they built an Empire and lived glorious lives with an honour the left will never understand. My heroes sailed the world in wooden ships and fought the enemies of our monarchs and built our industrial world and brought the light of civilisation to the farthest corners of Gods earth.
My heroes built the iron ships and the engines that powered them and forged the weapons that my heores fought in to free the world from the evils of black evil socialism and the mad ambitions of a kaiser.
My heroes are laughed at and sneered at and spat upon and forgotten but not by me and I suspect you feel the same. My heroes who died in freezing seas on hundreds of ships and in their tens of thousands, in the air and the mud of Flanders they died and die in their hundreds of thousands they did for love of Great Britain and I will never forget them.
Britannias wooden wall from the oak forrests of England to the iron giants that amazed the world with their power and majesty, I can almost hear and see and feel them singing and laughing and loving and dying for me and for you.
These are the heroes I love and will remember above all else.
Cassandra, absolutely, I wish I could have expressed the same belief as well as you did.
Thanks for the kind words Barbara 😀 .
I do the best I can with the limited brains at my disposal, I wish I could have written a better tribute but it came from the heart and I suppose thats as good a tribute as any to the people I love.
Why , O why did tragic Jimmy Mubenga trek all the way from Angola to England to seek reguge when the promised land of Saint Nelson was so much closer to hand?