Did Saxons Destroy King Arthur's Kingdom When he Died?

I believe the legend of King Arthur comes from fact - he once existed, but I'm not sure if it was during the Dark Ages because Roman culture Britons would have been literate after four hundred years of speaking Latin. It does not seem feasible that Angle, Saxon, and Jutish kings were known of from the supposedly pagan English times, yet the learned Celtic Britons have no substantial record of the real King Arthur, the Arthur knights, the Arthur sword, Merlin the wizard, and of course the round table. I   am no long sure of King Arthur of Cornwall and his queen, Guinevere living during the Dark Ages. After all, these were the ones who could put pen to paper at this time.

I have recently become sceptical of this mass migration of Anglo-Saxon tribes suddenly arriving in Britain when the Romans abandoned the Isle. I have seen documentaries where Saxon sites have been dug up and DNA samples of bones suggest Britons predominantly living in Saxon sites. This throws so many things into confusion and even the evolving of English language, from Frisian or what Dutch people speak.

Some historians of language think it was adopted with heavy British (ancient Welsh) influence. How this was explained was a little beyond me, but there seems to be a general agreement that pagan English tribes were already in the south east of Britain or speaking such a dialect when Rome still ruled. Were these people Christian because by this time Romans and Britons were? Names of Teutonic Gods would suggest that there was a pagan belief, but not the old British Druid system of religion. Therefore this Teutonic religion must have been imported. There are so many unanswered questions especially skeletons of Saxon settlements being mainly Briton in DNA testing.

However, as said previously, much of the DNA is still Celtic British. I wonder if Arthur and his legend were old even during these times - a folk tale back then and perhaps Saxons, Angles and Jutes replaced Romans as the enemy of Arthur's kingdom. I honestly think this mythical king of Celtic Britons was around before, English language or pagan English tribes were in Britain.

Perhaps Angles, Saxons, and Jutes speaking a strange tongue and believing in an un-Christian religion would have found themselves ostracised by Romanised Britons who were literate in Latin. Why write off these people yet not Arthur? I think he would be much more chronicled if he lived in the Dark Ages.

This is the reason I did not mention such a British Celtic King by name in the novel Saxon Quest. I think two cultures clashed in Dark Age Britain, but I can't commit to there being a King Arthur of this time. I believe he goes much further back.

Pastiche Novel of War of the Worlds' H.M.S. Thunder Child vs The Martian Tripods

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CEIOBGU

In H.G. Wells famous novel; The War of the Worlds, we see Victorian Britain, during the height of Empire, reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland. An alien invasion from the planet Mars brings alien fighting machines in the form of gigantic tripods striding about the land spewing black poison gas and devastating heat rays against any force that might challenge them. Within these monstrous vehicles are Martian creatures controlling the horrific fighting machines.

As refugees try to flee the onslaught, there is a brief description in the novel of a Royal Navy Ironclad that charges three martian tripods in the River Blackwater off of Maldon in Essex, UK. Also in Jeff Waynes' musical adaptation of War of the Worlds, we have a song about the valiant H.M.S. Thunder Child performing her brave deed in the arena of the river with refugees as the compelled audience watching the brave deed as though they had bought tickets for the show. 

In the pastiche story above, we go aboard H.M.S. Thunder Child (The ironclad of War of the Worlds) The extrapolation tale goes back several days before the encounter and we see the build up through the eyes of the crew of Thunder Child.

If you enjoy retro sci/fi from bygone days; you may like to read:

The Last Days of Thunder Child by C.A. Powell

On sale in USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

British Challenger 2 Tank tested in Action

British Challenger 2 Tank

British Army tanks have evolved since British WWII tanks. Modern British tanks are of course much more complex with dynamic instrumentation to make them more effective. To drive a tank in this day and age is probably more agreeable then during WWII.

Challenger 2 saw its first combat in March 2003 during the invasion of Iraq. One hundred and twenty Challenger 2 tanks went into action around Basra and saw action during the siege of Basra where the covered with fire support for British forces.

During part of this conflict within an urban area a Challenger 2 came under attack from irregular forces. Machine guns and rocket propelled grenades were used were used upon this one particular Challenger 2. The driver's sight was damaged and while attempting to back away, the other sights were damaged and the tank threw its tracks entering a ditch. It was immobilised by the group of resisters who surrounded the stricken vehicle.

The Iragi irregulars fired the weaponray at the Challenger 2 from various directions. It was hit directly by fourteen rocket propelled grenades at close range, plus a MILAN anti-tank missile.

Inside the Challenger 2, the British crew survived until the tank was recovered for repairs by relieving British forces who drove the Iraqi irregulars off. The worst damage was to the tank's sighting system. 

The same Challenger 2 was back in operation, six hours later after repairs. 

Another Challenger 2 operating near Basra was hit by 70 RPGs during a different incident and survived with crew intact. The Challenger 2 was proving good in tight situations. 

In August 2006 at a place called al-Amarah in Iraq, a Challenger 2 was penetrated by an old Soviet RPG-29. The frontal hull of of the tank was ruptured through ERA in the area of the driver's cabin.

The driver lost part of his foot and two more of the crew were injured. However, the driver was able to reverse 1.5 miles to an aid post. 

I can't help thinking that if two technologically advanced nations came head to head. How long could such nations keep up fighting with such expensive tanks? How often could they be replaced There are many fine examples of good tanks but how would they fare against more resourceful opposition?

By this, I imply that any force with the durability to endeavour and keep fighting and with ability to destroy such vehicles; how long before a nation begins to run out of financial resources to replace or repair such technically advanced vehicles. Imagine better RPGs that can cause such damage - easier to produce on the mass market then such tanks that must cost so much.

I think some of the tanks of today are truly awesome machines, but I can't help thinking that smaller intricate and less expensive technology might cause such warfare to be too costly for tank providers in a more prolonged war and against a more determined enemy.

UK Can't Stay in Politically Integrated EU

The more I listen to this the more I think the UK is in a position to distance themselves from this mess. I feel sorry for the Greeks, but to expect Germany or other EU nations to bail them out is very wrong. If the Germans want to; fair enough, but the UK must distance themselves from this club. It's not working. A Common Market policy was good, but this closer political union is something we can walk away from. We in the UK would be better to do so.

Economic Voice News About Failing EU

The EU is not important enough for these people

The spread below is written by a reporter for the Economic Voice. It is reported and authored by Jeff Taylor. As I read this, I could not help thinking that Jeff Taylor had a very striking point indeed about the voices that scream for the benefits of the EU - these educated people that try to tell us we would be in a very bad way if we left the EU. Try telling the people who live in these run down areas with no hope at all. What is the pro-EU voice for these people? "More no hope or things might be bad for the fat cats who will never employ you anyway?" 

If the rulers don't care, why do they expect these people to care about the country being in the EU. They (pro EU) are calling from a platform that has no meaning to this electorate and all they can see are people who don't concern themselves with estates forced to live on benefit. Not all of these voters are wasters, but a great many have had their dreams taken from them long ago and someone else's dream of an EU means nothing to them.

These people have votes and UKIP will take them from Labour supporters too, because Labour are no different from the Tories. The Economic Voice report is as follows:

Why study rich people's desire for EU. Staying in makes no difference.

Big multinational businesses have signed an open letter on the need to ‘promote the cause of EU membership’ claiming that we wouldn’t have it so good outside the Union.

But while they push for a continuation of more of the same they should spare a thought for the millions of people who live in this country’s forgotten welfare ghettos and have no hope of sharing in the economic plunder that the heads of big business enjoy. Those people (and whole families) have been consigned to the scrapheap while the powers that be pretend that the EU benefits us all. Well it has not benefitted these people has it? And what’s more I see nothing in the pipeline that will improve their plight.

A report out today from the Centre for Social Justice (Signed Off, Written Off) should be read by every politician and give them all nightmares tonight.

Whilst the rich and powerful politicians and business people have been strutting the world stage over the last couple of decades busying themselves making a world fit only for them, they have ignored and failed so many ordinary people at every level on a breathtaking scale.

And, as the report points out, this is not something that has happened overnight. This has been evolving over decades to the extent where families of three generations in some areas have never worked. How can it have come to pass that so many people have given up aspiring for something better? They cannot all be wasters.

All those politicians that profess to have gone into their chosen Westminster career to make the UK a better place should look at this report and ask themselves bluntly “what have I really done to try and prevent this?” Then they should say loudly that they are going to do something about it.

Just like so many people across the EU in countries like Spain, Greece and Cyprus who have been failed by their domestic politicians and sacrificed at the altar of an ever more intrusive EU, so have our own people been let down.

Instead of worrying about what the EU thinks or says, or what the needs of other countries are, our own politicians should be concentrating on the needs of the people that live within the UK.

The report itself does not link the benefit ghettoes with the failings of the EU, that is just my interpretation of events. All I see is that instead of spreading wealth the EU has concentrated it amongst a few to the detriment of so many and will continue to do so.

Here is the CSJ press release:

Benefit ghettos of Britain exposed by CSJ in major new inquiry into welfare state

Total spending on social security in the five years of this Parliament will top £1 trillion

CSJ says these areas represent the tragedy of wasted human potential

Some British towns and cities contain welfare ghettos where more than half the working age residents depend on out-of-work benefits, according to a major new investigation into the anatomy of the welfare state.

Parts of Denbighshire in Wales, Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Wirral, Tendring and North East Lincolnshire are the worst affected, the report reveals.

In Liverpool, there are nearly 70 neighbourhoods where the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits is 30 per cent or higher. This is followed by Birmingham (49 neighbourhoods), Hull (45 neighbourhoods), Manchester (40 neighbourhoods), Leeds (37 Neighbourhoods) and Knowsley (31 neighbourhoods).

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) report features a “league table” of the 20 neighbourhoods (Lower Layer Super Output areas, which have an average population of 1,614) in the UK where out-of-work dependency is highest.

The report, Signed On, Written Off, will be published in the week beginning Monday May 20, 2013.

Ranked on the percentage of people claiming out-of-work benefits, the top six neighbourhoods in England and Wales are:

Click to Enlarge

But if the rankings are calculated on average welfare spending per head, the top six local authorities are:

1. Sefton £6,278.75

2. Barking & Dagenham £5,916.98

3. Blackburn & Darwen £5,400.57

4. Luton £5,292.80

5. Newham £5,256.88

6. Bradford £5,252.89

Across the country, 6.8 million people are living in a home where no one has a job. Nearly one fifth of UK children (1.8 million) are growing up in a workless household (the second highest rate in the European Union), and the vast majority of charities helping the unemployed surveyed in the report say that they know of families where two or three generations have no one in work.

One of the charities, Chance UK, said that some children do not understand what work is. Asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, the children said “I want to be famous” or that they wanted to be the “boss” of a gang.

Knowsley in Merseyside and Glasgow both had over 25 per cent of working age people dependent on out of work benefits during the economic boom in 2003 (25.3 per cent and 26.1 per cent respectively), compared with a national average at the time of 12.4 per cent. In Boston, Lincolnshire, dependency on benefits actually rose during the boom years.

The new CSJ report follows two previous studies, published in 2007 and 2009, that shaped the “make work pay” reforms introduced by the Coalition Government under Iain Duncan Smith’s leadership as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. A further report, due next year, will draw up detailed recommendations for a second phase in the welfare revolution.

This report exposes the soaring cost of welfare. It has risen 18-fold since the inception of the welfare state in 1948, up from £11 billion to more than £200 billion today and accounts for 13 per cent of GDP, compared with 4 per cent in 1948. Despite the Government’s welfare reforms, the bill is projected to go on rising to £218 billion by 2015/16.

Over the five years of this Parliament, the Government will spend over £1 trillion on social security, not far short of the total value of all goods and services produced in the UK in a year.

In a foreword to the report, CSJ Managing Director Christian Guy warns that a much sought-after resumption of economic growth is not guaranteed to curb the seemingly unstoppable rise in worklessness and welfare bills.

He points out that during the recent economic boom, welfare spending on people of working age rose by around 40 per cent in real terms, mainly because of the Tax Credits paid to people with a job. The Tax Credit bill surged from under £3.3 billion in 1997/98 to more than £20 billion in 2010/11.

By 2009, nine out of ten families with children were entitled to some kind of state support.

But Mr Guy says it is the waste of human potential rather than money that should keep politicians awake at night.

He said: “The welfare ghettos trapping as many as 6.8 million people are a national disgrace.

“They represent years of tragic failure and indifference from the political class. People in these neighbourhoods have been consistently written off as incapable and their poverty plight inevitable.

“Their lives have been limited by a fatalistic assumption that they have little prospect of anything better.

“While some campaigners accuse this Government of being callous for its benefit cap, the truth is there has been a much more damaging welfare cap in these communities for years – an unjust cap on personal potential.”

The report also reveals just how deeply entrenched worklessness has become. Despite 63 successive quarters of growth from the early 90s onwards, the numbers claiming out of work benefits stayed above 4 million.

Liverpool has 50 jobseekers claiming for 10 years or more; Tower Hamlets in London 40 such jobseekers; and Middleborough has ten.

The report backs the Government’s efforts to make work pay and to move people off long-term dependency on state benefits into a job.

But it says that the present package of changes is only a start.

“Reform is now essential and can wait no longer. Some cite the spiralling costs of the welfare state as the key reason to act. These arguments are important as the Government now spends more than one in every three pounds on welfare.

“Yet the most powerful arguments for reforming welfare are not financial, but social. By focusing on income transfers rather than employment, our welfare system has made people dependent on benefits, trapping them in poverty and preventing them from achieving economic independence.”

Read more: http://www.economicvoice.com/big-business-calls-for-eu-case-to-be-made-while-benefit-ghettos-are-ignored/50037069#ixzz2TuFfQFKJ

Oh Dear Me! (Beam me up Scottie)

Blokes worst nightmare, snatching defeat from the gaping jaws of victory.
How? 
No!
Never... 
Erm, I'm afraid so. He does not want to be here, he wants to be somewhere else. 
This man is gaaaaaaaawn...

EU - UK Withdrawal Method not Self-Indulgent when Political Classes try to keep a sheaf on it.

Tories press on with EU poll plans

There has to be a referendum for the UK on the EU. Mr Cable is reported by a local newspaper below in support of the EU. He says that the UK's desire for EU withdrawal is wrong. He uses words like reckless and self-indulgent. The political classes of this nation have been reckless and self-indulgent by forcing political and un-democratic accountability upon people by un-elected bodies passing rules upon our nation. Withdrawal is not self-indulgent when the political classes have been keeping a sheaf over it for decades.

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable will today brand advocates of EU withdrawal "self-indulgent and reckless", as he warns that a British pull-out would mean an "exodus" of international firms from the UK and the loss of thousands of jobs.

No "serious friend of British business" would call for a break-up of Britain's relations with the EU, Mr Cable will tell a business conference in Birmingham in a scathing response to growing clamour for withdrawal.

Amid Conservative calls for legislation on an in/out referendum on UK membership, Mr Cable will warn the Liberal Democrats' coalition partners not to over-react to the successes of the UK Independence Party in this month's council elections.

"The Liberal Democrat manifesto in 2010 promised we would put Britain at the heart of Europe in pursuit of national opportunity, security and prosperity - and we will continue to push for this in Government," he will tell the British-American Business Council. "It is simply self-indulgent and reckless for parties or individuals to risk so much in order to address one concern raised in a council election by just 7% of the electorate."

Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told MPs on Wednesday that it was a matter of "when not if" the UK holds a referendum on EU membership, and Mr Cable will himself on Thursday acknowledge that developments in the eurozone will "necessitate in due course a referendum on any substantial change in constitutional arrangements".

But he will urge proponents of withdrawal, such as Conservative former chancellor Lord Lawson, not to exaggerate the costs to the UK of EU membership or underplay the potential damage departure could inflict on British business.

The UK is currently the "favourite destination" for non-EU firms setting up European HQs, hosting more than Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands combined, Mr Cable will say. If Britain quit the EU, he will warn, "we could reasonably expect an exodus of the non-EU firms headquartered in this country, precisely because they regard the UK as the gateway to Europe... These companies in Japan, China, the USA and elsewhere whom we are currently trying to attract to the UK will - quite reasonably - think again if they believe we are planning to leave the EU."

Many of the thousands of foreign-owned financial sector companies in the City "would question the value of a UK location were it to cut itself adrift", he will add. Despite the growth of emerging economies like China, India and Brazil, the EU is likely to remain Britain's most important market "for another couple of decades", offering many growth opportunities even during the current problems in the eurozone, Mr Cable will say.

Eurosceptics who argue that Britain should be focusing on trade with the BRIC nations rather than Europe need a "reality check", as expanding exports to these markets is "in no way inhibited by membership of the EU". And while half of British exports go to the EU, supporting one in 10 UK jobs, China accounts for less than 2.5% of exports, India and Russia below 2% each and Brazil under 1%.

It is "far from obvious" that on its own, the UK could strike the kind of free-trade agreements currently under discussion between the EU and the US, Canada, India, Japan, Singapore and countries in South-East Asia and South America, he will warn.

Pyramids from Space

Ancient ruins seen from space

These are some of the world's most famous ancient ruins - as seen from space. Machu Picchu, the Pyramids of Giza and the UK's Stonehenge all appear in the high-flying collection. They were captured by the Ikonos observation satellite, which launched in 1999. Here, the pyramids at Giza in Egypt are pictured.

Echos of Roman Britain

In pictures: one of the wildest corners of Britain

Once upon a merry and very true time, during 43 AD when the Roman Legions came to Britain. This earthwork in the above picture was a gigantic hill fort. It had been so for many hundreds of years - over a thousand. It changed as the palisade wall would have often been replaced through bronze and iron age. It was a thriving market town of trade and commerce among the Ancient Britons and the particular tribe that ruled from this great hill fort was called the Durotriges.

Mai Dun would have had a huge palisade wall surrounding the scarps overlooking the ditch works. They must have thought the Roman 2nd Legion unworthy of attempting to lay siege to the proud colossal wooden works - a place that had stood for such a long time.

However, being made of wood did not seem daunting to the strange and mysterious empire troops before them. Romans built huge and great cities from stone.

Imagine the view back in 43 AD from the above photo - Durotriges Briton filled with conviction of vanity. This was Mai Dune and had been so for over a thousand years. They had rocks a plenty and could fling them across the ditch works into the Roman ranks.

Archaeologist uncovered two Durotriges defenders that they believe were killed by ballista arrows while the siege was in progress.

The palisade would be destroyed in days and Mai Dun would be no more as the Roman 2nd Legion led by Vespasian stormed through the fort and exacted revenge upon the occupiers that tried to defy Rome.

One of Britain's haunting areas that echo from ancient times.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/dppnAXvNTEKiaL78DZnjGA

http://www.roman-britain.org/celtic/maiden_castle.htm

http://celts.etrusia.co.uk/forts_m.php

Cutting the Grass

Hawkwell Cemetery in Essex, England, UK was great today. We mowed and strimmed grass under a nice hot day. It seems such a long time since we could take our coats and fleeces off. The winter seems to have dragged on and the grey skies have been very dismal, but now everything seems to be coming alive with the promise of spring.

Tomorrow we start the summer grass cutting of verges in earnest. The job is great and therapeutic as we walk from town to town and along country lanes cutting the grass verges. We get to the last town and start the round's cut all over again. I love the spring and summer months.

P.G. Wodehouse Makes You Grab your Stomach and Laugh Till it Almost Hurts.

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If ever you get the chance and want to brighten up your day and blow away all those cobwebs; please read any of these little gems by P.G. Wodehouse. Eggs, Beans and Crumpets or Young Men in Spats. They are all short stories of high society young fellows in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s. The characters are wonderful and each little story is a joy of male stupidity portrayed in the most humorous of ways. You'll hold your sides to stop them splitting with laughter. They are absolutely marvellous.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer

Biographical account of a young man named Guy Sajer from Strasbourg, France - drafted into the German Army during the war. His experience in the Soviet Union is very compelling and terrible. A good read for anyone who is interested in this theatre of war. Great historical insight to one man's endurance on the dreaded Eastern front. 

Check out this book on Goodreads: The Forgotten Soldier http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102305.The_Forgotten_Soldier

UFO Discovered Under the Sea

UFO Lying On The Bottom Of The Baltic Sea?

June 19, 2012

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Image Credit: Vaghauk/deviantart

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com
A Swedish expedition team has found an unidentified object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, leaving some to believe it’s the remnants of an extra-terrestrial ship.

Scientists went off on a deep-water dive to debunk some theories about the underwater object, but were left with more questions than they had answers.

The divers found that the object was raised about 10 to 13 feet above the seabed, and curved in at the sides.

“First we thought this was only stone, but this is something else,” Ocean X team diver Peter Lindberg said in a press release.
The object had an egg shaped hole leading into it from the top, working like an opening. On top of the object, they found strange stone circle formations, which resembled small fireplaces. The stones were covered in something that resembled “soot.”

“During my 20-year diving career, including 6000 dives, I have never seen anything like this. Normally stones don’t burn. I can’t explain what we saw, and I went down there to answer questions, but I came up with even more questions “, Stefan Hogeborn, one of the divers at Ocean X Team, said in the press release.

Farther back from the object, the Ocean X team said that they could see a “runway” or a downhill path that is flattened at the seabed with the object at the end of it.

“As laymen we can only speculate how this is made by nature, but this is the strangest thing I have ever experienced as a professional diver“, continues Peter Lindberg, one of the founder Ocean X Team.

Scientists are currently examining samples from the circle-shaped object, and experts in sonar imaging are processing data from the “ship” to help shed more light on what exactly this underwater object is.

The outline of the ship on pictures resembles the famous Star Wars ship the “Millennium Falcon.”

Lindberg said the odd thing about the discovery is that there is no silt on the rock, which is an ordinary thing to find when lying at the bottom of the sea.

He also told Fox News that the object is “disc-shaped” and “appears to have construction lines and boxes drawn on it.”

Lindberg told the news agency that the Americans and Japanese “are much more excited” about the discovery than the local Swedish people.

Lookie Here - War of the Worlds Audio Book - Free

The audio book of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds - listen to the exciting account of Martians invading Earth during the time of Queen Victoria's British Empire. Science Fiction/Alternate Reality - a story as entertaining now as it was in 1899 when it was first written and published. My favourite part is the H.M.S. Thunder Child section when the heroic ironclad attacks three Martian tripods.