On my day away from writing yesterday. Aside from spending the entire day with the love of my life, who has been in my corner for 46 years through good times and bad, we both got to admire the progress of a local historical restoration project we’re proud to support in a small way. Wentworth Woodhouse is a magnificent stately home that, because of its location in the North of England, never got much love from the London-centric authorities that choose what to preserve and what to let fall into ruin.
From the National Trust forward:
Wentworth Woodhouse is one of the largest Georgian houses in England, built for the 1st Marquess of Rockingham from circa 1725. Work was carried out on the house for over four decades before it was passed to the Fitzwilliam family. After years in private ownership, it was bought in 2017 by Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust.
As a friend and supporter of the Preservation Trust, it was inspiring to see the progress that is being made on its restoration. Some will have already seen its interiors from the Oscar-winning 2017 film ‘Darkest Hour’ starring Gary Oldman, where it was the filming location for the opulent yet faded interiors of Buckingham Palace where Winston Churchill meets King George VI.
It was also used to film the King’s Ball scene in the Downton Abbey movie and as a location for a number of period dramas.
I know many of my American friends are passionate about History and have a soft spot for English heritage, even if Trump tells the world we are facing civilisational erasure. Let me assure you, nothing could be further from the truth, and our architecture and rich history, despite all the cruelty of empire and monarchy, have left us with buildings like this. They remind us that great wealth is no match for a society that evolves to recognise that an out-of-control wealth gap never ends well.
Should we as a society erase the uncomfortable legacy that is part of our past? I think not. History should be about learning from the mistakes of the past and not repeating them in the future. Sadly, it would seem that obscene wealth is cyclical. We are slaves to habit, destined to keep repeating the same mistakes. We can’t run from the uncomfortable episodes of our past, but I’m a big believer that we can make them work for the benefit of the communities in which these testaments to the Industrial Revolution and wealth exist.
Class wars back then were no different to the current populist wars, and Wentworth Woodhouse was a stage for the 1946 Labour government to ‘stick it up’ to the landed gentry following the collapse of the wealth gap. The rise of Trade Unions and the Labour Party handed an anti-establishment government to the nation after Churchill was shown the door following World War II. Culture wars really are nothing new. In an act of pure spite, the Labour government sanctioned open-cast coal mining on the estate, which deliberately went almost to the front door of the main house. It was unquestionably an act of deliberate cultural vandalism and vengeance.
Class wars have plagued our history for centuries. While Trump believes the world began in 1776. Construction began on this stately home half a century before the Declaration of Independence and was completed 26 years before the birth of the American experiment.
This brings us nicely to the current rinse-and-repeat wars we face today on BOTH sides of the Atlantic. I was reminded yesterday of the abundant cruelty that comes with culture wars with Dr Fauci’s invitation to be politically hung, drawn, and quartered for the edification of those that presided over the unnecessary deaths of 250,000 Americans during their catastrophic handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was an attempt by so-called honourable legislators to execute a public lynching of a man who has served his country with distinction under SEVEN presidents from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden.
How strange it is that NOBODY had a problem with his work until Wun Dum Fuc came along with his sycophants and their collective incompetence. Fauci is a public servant who, at the hands of these incompetent fools, has already faced death threats only for them to be revived by their reprehensible behaviour yesterday. Once again, we were subjected to a fantasy narrative for the sole purpose of political gain from a ringleader who is attempting to polish his CV for a presidential run.
To quote The Rockefeller University:
Anthony Fauci has had an extraordinary career in biomedical research and national public health leadership. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, he has effectively led the institute’s fight to prevent, diagnose, and treat many of the greatest challenges to global public health, including infection with the HIV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses.
… Dr. Fauci has been a key figure in the fight against acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), first recognized in 1981, and subsequently found to be caused by HIV. He has made seminal contributions to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body’s defenses and has been instrumental in developing highly effective strategies for therapy, as well as in efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. He spearheaded the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has saved millions of lives in the developing world.
I wanted to quote this because it’s important to compare his qualifications against his accusers, especially those of his primary inquisitor, an uncertified eye doctor supporting a 1970s porn actor hairstyle loaned from Mark Zuckerberg.
Events yesterday were a sickening and performative attempt to trash the reputation of a man they are not fit to wipe the shoes of. Tony Fauci is a man who has spent his entire career not doing harm but rather helping millions of people AROUND THE WORLD. To hear lawmakers from his own country attempt to paint him as a criminal is not just reprehensible; it’s a crime in itself, for which THEY should be held accountable in due course.
The COVID pandemic was born of a novel virus that presented an existential threat to human life. That is not in question. The confirmed total of global deaths is estimated to be 7.1 million, but if you use the usual annual excess mortality numbers, which is regarded as a more accurate number, then in excess of 20 million people lost their lives around the world. Of the fatalities, the US government's incompetence made grave diggers great again and as Trump would say, ‘ More people died like never before’. The US led the way with an estimated 1.2 million. These are confirmed cases, by the way, rather than being based on excess mortality figures.
These monsters might want to paper over their incompetence, driven by greed, which led to the unnecessary exposure of workers to the disease, but the truth is inescapable. It’s easy to reflect with hindsight and say the NIH reaction, driven by Fauci as the world’s pre-eminent immunologist, was overcautious. However, in a moment where there is limited knowledge of the potential for millions to die, Fauci was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to advise the steps to be taken as he did. Asking an unaccredited eye doctor to check the work of a half-century veteran of public health protection is like asking Trump to avoid assassinating the English language. It’s a joke. As for the rest of the clowns piling on, perhaps I might suggest they invest their time and effort in stopping their Mafia boss from driving the US economy over a cliff.
The thing about character assassinations is they are often cheap, self-serving shots aimed at undermining the legacy of their target. I thought it might be an idea to compare the awards of both Rand Paul and Dr Anthony Fauci
Rand Paul:
US Senator
False claim of being an accredited ophthalmologist
That’s it; that’s the list.
Now I was going to list Dr Fauci’s credentials and awards, but we’d be here all day, so here’s a link to check them out for yourself. He was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to plead the 5th yesterday; far from an admission of guilt, it sucked at least some of the oxygen out of the air for his accusers. The audience was left with a one-sided partisan narrative that was ridiculed for what it was: a one-sided partisan narrative. It was unadulterated 21st Century McCarthyism on steroids designed to further fuel conspiracy theories and right-wing social media outrage. Just red meat for a base punching themselves in the face as they are hearded by the regime into economic slavery.
I cannot begin to imagine the worry and concern he and his family have been forced to endure simply for doing his job. Tragically, as a result of yesterday’s circus, his safety will remain under threat at a time when, out of spite, Trump removed the security detail provided to him by Joe Biden. I, for one, salute his achievements as I am sure will all those who would have died had it not been for the work and research he did on HIV/AIDS. I can only hope that when Democrats regain the power of subpoena, each and every one of these cowards and traitors is held to account.
Today’s piece was going to be about my proposed solutions to the tyranny we find ourselves being forced to endure. However, I felt so angry about the way Dr Fauci was treated yesterday that I had to get this off my chest. The solutions piece will be posted tomorrow, and it’s worth the wait, I promise.
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“an uncertified eye doctor supporting a 1970s porn actor hairstyle loaned from Mark Zuckerberg.” 🤣💙💙 Thank you for that !
Agree with you Martin. I’ve been just sick about the spectacle of those clowns in Congress going after Dr Fauci.