#England is actually falling

[wonder-worker]

I've been thinking about the tragedy of Elizabeth Woodville living to see the death of her family name.

I don't mean her family with her husband, which lived on through her daughter and grandson. I mean her own.

Her sisters died, one by one, many of them after 1485. When Elizabeth died, only Katherine was left, and she would die before the turn of the century as well.

All her brothers died, too. Lewis died in childhood. John was executed. Anthony was murdered. Lionel died suddenly in the peak of Richard's reign, unable to see his niece become queen. Edward perished at war. Richard died in grieving peace. For all the violence and judgement the family endured, it was "an accident of biology" that ended their line: none of the brothers left heirs, and the Woodville name was extinguished. We know the family was aware of this. We know they mourned it, too:

“Buy a bell to be a tenor at Grafton to the bells now there, for a remembrance of the last of my blood.”

Elizabeth lived through the deposition and death of her young sons, and lived to see the end of her own family name. It must have been such a haunting loss, on both sides.

#(the quote is by Richard Woodville in his deathbed will; he was the last of the Woodville brothers to die) #elizabeth woodville #woodvilles #my post #to be clear I am not arguing that the death of an English gentry family name is some kind of giant tragedy (it absolutely the fuck is not) #I'm trying to put it into perspective with regards to what Elizabeth may have felt because we know her family DID feel this way #writing this kinda reminded me of how I am just not fond at all about the way Elizabeth's experiences in 1483-85 are written about #and the way lots so many of the unprecedentedly horrifying aspects are overlooked or treated so casually: #the seizure and murder of two MINOR sons and the illegal execution of another; #her sheer vulnerability in every way compared to all her queenly predecessors; how she was harassed by 'dire threats' for months; #how she had 5 very young daughters with her to look after at the time (Bridget and Katherine were literally 3 and 4 years old); #how unprecedented Richard's treatment of her was: EW was the first queen of england to be officially declared an adulteress; #and the first and ONLY queen to be officially accused of witchcraft #(Joan of Navarre was accused of her treason; she was never explicitly accused of witchcraft on an official level like EW was) #the first crowned queen of england to have her marriage annulled; and the first queen to have her children officially bastardized #what former queens endured through rumors* were turned into horrifying realities for her. #(I'm not trying to downplay the nightmare of that but this was fundamentally on a different level altogether) #nor did Elizabeth get a trial or appeal to the church. like I cannot emphasize this enough: this was not normal for queens #and not normal for depositions. ultimately what Richard did *was* unprecedented #and of course let's not forget that Elizabeth had literally just been unexpectedly widowed like 20 days before everything happened #I really don't feel like any of this is emphasized as much as it should be? #apart from the horrifying death of her sons - but most modern books never call it murder they just write that they 'disappeared' #and emphasize that ACTUALLY we don't know what happened to them (this includes Arlene Okerlund) #rather than allowing her to have that grief (at the very least) #more time is spent dealing with accusations that she was a heartless bitch or inconsistent intriguer for making a deal with Richard instead #it also feels like a waste because there's a lot that can be analyzed about queenship and R3's usurpation if this is ever explored properly #anyway - it's kinda sad that even after Henry won and her daughter became queen EW didn't really get a break #her family kept dying one by one and the Woodville name was extinguished. and she lived to see it #it's kinda heartbreaking - it was such a dramatic rise and such a slow haunting fall #makes for a great story tho

[jessicas-pi]

The Shuttle AU where Nigel Anstruthers is even more devious and DOESN'T separate Rosalie from her family, and he pretends to be nice and good and even invites Bettina to spend her school holidays at Stornham Court one year.

(That last one was not his best idea, tbh.)

Through chance, circumstance, or maybe the weaving hand of Fate, Bettina Vanderpoel and James Hubert John Fergus Saltyre meet, speak, and quickly discover their mutual distaste for Sir Nigel Anstruthers...

Anyway I call this one Jem and Bett Ruin Nigel's Life (Ten Years Ahead of Schedule)

#the shuttle #jessica's random thoughts #it's in my head as kind of this reluctant-allies dynamic #Betty thinks he's is a snob #he thinks she's a spoiled brat #but they both think Nigel needs to be taken down a peg or two #and so they team up to get in touch with her father without Nigel reading Betty's letters #and maybe Betty snoops around to find records of where the money Nigel is getting from the Vanderpoels is ACTUALLY going #or something #anyway the point is that Nigel gets taken down by a couple of kids #BUT they never actually get along with each other #and then rosy goes back to the vanderpoels in new york so there's no reason for Betty to be in england #so they don't see each other again #and then years later Nigel dies of being a jerk or something #and Betty goes with Rosy and Ughtred back to Stornham to help fix it up and make things better #and meets saltyre (now mount dunstan) and they still have the same falling-in-love-but-not-admitting-it thing as in the book #but there's also the comedic backstory of being reluctant allies against her evil brother in law #you've heard of childhood friends to lovers now get ready for childhood enemies to lovers #and when they meet on the boat during the accident Betty thinks he's vaguely familiar #and then when she sees him in the park she realizes OH HEY IT'S JEM! #and he's like *awkward pause* '....hi?' #and then everyone in the neighborhood is like ''Oh that's mount Dunstan. he's a bad lot.'' #and Betty is like ''lol no?? like yeah he's grumpy a lot but we worked against the forces of evil together as children #so I can guarantee that he's very much not a jerk like the rest of his family was.'' #and everyone's like ''okaaaay then?'' #idk I just think it would be funny

[who-parties-on-a-tuesday]

HK inherited his love of pranks from Yao. However as a child he wasn't very good at them. They would be poorly set up and obvious traps.

Like, he once tried to prank call Arthur and ask if his fridge was running. He was a giggling mess the whole phone call and Arthur could hear him making the call in the next room over.

Despite this, Yao and Arthur would 'fall for them' them every time because they loved how happy it made him.

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #hetalia world stars #hetalia hong kong #hetalia england #hetalia china #yao and arthur hate each other but they'll do anything for their kids #since then hk has gotten better at pranks and they actually fall for it #honestly just imagining yao teaching hk how to rig arthurs house with fireworks #they weren't the best parents but they tried

[fideidefenswhore]

@bunniesandbeheadings I might misunderstand the text you linked. How could Mary call Edward a bastard? KoA was dead by then, and of course widowers can remarry. Calling Jane a legitimate Queen in no way would take away KoA’s status as Queen?

all of hviii's marriages after catherine of aragon were not recognised by the catholic church/pope. when he needed dispensations for these marriages, like for affinity (his marriage to jane was one of them), they were granted by the anglican church, whose authority the pope and other catholic monarchies of christendom did not recognise (the last real 'papal' henrician appointment, irony of ironies, was thomas cranmer's). there was also the matter of all marriages taking place when the realm was in schism, thus "all other women of henry concubines and not wives". prince edward was (legitimate) heir as reified by parliament; both retroactively from the succession act of 1536 and in name by the one of 1543.

foreign dignitaries of course, when they visited, would honour whoever henry's wife was as queen to maintain good relations and as matter of diplomacy (this wasn't, of course, done by the imperial until the last weeks of AB's time as queen, but otherwise, she was, even if 'frostily' by the french as in 1534). but they were often under instruction to treat this status as transient, as lauren mackay has summarized in her biography of chapuys, for example, charles v was rather mercenary in his attitude towards jane seymour, continually referring to her as henry's 'mistress' well into their marriage in his own instructions to chapuys:

"It appears Charles [V] was at times rather ruthless in regards to Jane, despite the fact that her being in power benefitted Mary. Charles referred to her in several dispatches as Henry's mistress rather than queen [...]" Inside the Tudor Court, Lauren Mackay

#bunniesandbeheadings #replies #there's like the question of why mary did not attempt to overthrow edward while he was king if she didn't believe his reign was legitimate #which is an interesting one... #but 1) her biographers really discount how much of a dissembler she was #2) loades theorized that she actually did buy into the henrician supremacy and her own illegitimacy and simply had a turnaround once #edward died believing that was god's sign she was the rightful heir thus legitimate...which i find an oversimplistic explanation. to say #the least... #i think psychologically in the last years of the edwardian regime she had something of a redeux of the AB years? #this belief england was going to fall into perdition due to 'evil councilors' but she couldn't do anything to reverse it #which is why there's an escape attempt not just an escape plan as in the former but she also decides against this in the last hour #so yes. what was her plan? or hope? it might've been that edward vi would be excommunicated as he reached his majority #and that charles v took up the call to invade and england became one of his dominions #and she would be set up as regent as he set up his other female relatives as regent in his absence #idk if i'd say jane being in power benefitted mary. all the 'benefits' she received came from her swearing to oaths she'd been pressurized #to swear to for the past two years...? #anyway this was illuminating and instructive. to me. it best explains imo why she took such a defiant attitude towards edward. she wouldn't #have seen it as defiant if she didn't believe in his authority in the first place

[hetagrammy]

"Your brother treats me well, and I'm fond of him. What more could I want?"

Emma's brother wants her to marry Arthur so they can lay claim to some noble connections, while Arthur needs to have legitimate children to be heirs to the estate. The only trouble is Arthur is in love with someone else and Emma's not exactly head over heels for him either. Molly's a good confidante, but a little too romantic to understand.

#hetalia #historical hetalia #regency au #my art #hws belgium #hws england #hws ireland #nyo!ireland #engbel #engbelg #if arthur wasn't caught up with francis he'd probably actually fall for emma #and he does treat her well when he's actually at home don't get it twisted #but alas timing is timing #emma's pretty resigned to it bc she always figured she'd marry for pragmatic reasons #that of course doesn't mean she's particularly happy about it

[moreaugriffins]

Part of me so badly wants to write a War of the Worlds AU with Trent as the journalist (of course) searching for his wife and child, trying to survive, and bumping into Ted (who of course travelled to England for business and to give his wife space, but worried about the distance with his son) who had the terrible misfortune of being in England during the start of the invasion, trying to contact his wife and child-

But another part of me just doesn't want to write at all and wants to stubbornly wait for some other (unfortunate) soul to write it so i can just read and enjoy it

#rambles #trent crimm #ted lasso #this is what i get for watching the musical (and starting to reread the book again) #nobody is asking for this AU so i guess it's up to me #(I have in my mind that it is set in the late Victorian era hence why Trent isn't divorced (but it's fine because he and his wife have it #sorted)) #how come a Midwestern guy is in england? idk #actually i know nothing of American history.. #eh I'd be butchering English history too if i write it #but what better way to bond (fall in love) than to survive together and search for your loved ones together during a martian invasion?

[driftwooddestiel]

remember bella the catgirl? well… what if she became human again and she and lucy were siblings who hang out together and also she wasnt forgotten about

(i may have taken some liberties with her appearance making her hair copper red and eyes dark green but im not making all the kids of guinevere identical okay)

#lucy deserves a sibling close in age who she can be emo with i think #lucy pennykettle #bella tldc #bella the last dragon chronicles #the last dragon chronicles #tldc #my art #in the au of tldc that exists in my head and the fic im attempting to write the isenfier universe also continued existing along with the- #-one where david wrote about the events of tldc #and bella got turned human again and after getting back to her family she stays with the pennykettles for a bit every month or so #since they live relatively close by (by my standards not by england standards) (coupleof hours away) #and also the other children of guinevere get in touch maybe and they chat onlinw or smth #sorry for the rant i am just so insane about the daughters of guinevere its such a coolconcept!! #i will never forgive d’lacey for forgetting about them /lh #ALSO!! i think bella and lucy would introduce eachother to different bands and theyd bond over music a lot #lucy is like ‘HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF FALL OUT BOY’ and bella is like ‘CHECK OUT MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’ #lastly bella’s shirt is a bikini kill shirt because well i think she listens to them :D and definitely gets lucy into them #i think lucy would like the songs double dare ya and alien she especially #OKAY RANT ACTUALLY OVER NOW!! they are everything to me

[glitchpopcatboy]

🏰 arundel feels like a fantasy novel 🌞

#i didn’t actually go in the castle just the gardens #i will another time #photography #castle #england #uk #medieval #autumn #fall #cozy #gardens #peach #cathedral #architecture #dark acamedia #english countryside #hurt to tag that but i want the reach lol #cozy vibes #autumn vibes

[twinprime]

me emphatically debating with people about which team i think will win the world cup this year despite the fact that i know nothing about soccer or sports in general and have also never watched the world cup before today

#strq.txt #i’m not even rooting for any particular team. idk shit #but my personal and fully uneducated bet is that the final four will be brazil mexico germany and argentina. or maybe iran. i think maybe #iran will simply make a comeback after getting demolished by england #and argentina might fall behind after their loss against saudi today #again i know nothing abt soccer or these teams i’m just saying words and putting my predictions here #to see how far off i end up being ♥️ #actually scratch mexico i meant to say france but i’m not retyping that whole tag

[milo-is-rambling]

Chronic pain really got me going to bed before it’s even dark out (also my little pink unicorn lights Millie got me look so cool in the second pic)

#my back and shoulder are killing me and I’ve done nothing but smoke weed and stretch and I just hurt so bad #so I’m gonna go to bed and hopefully feel better tomorrow #I work at nine again tomorrow so if anything hopefully going to bed early helps that #I’m excited to sleep hopefully a lot and hopefully really well bc 1) weed. 2) took sleepy cough meds to try and mooch extra pain reliever #out of meds in my cabinet. 3) took a back and muscle pain Aleve (even tho I hate taking pills and it took me like three whole min to get it #down my fucking throat. 4) tired from actually using my brain and anxiety from work tired #5) period tired and chronic pain tired #like guys my brain and my body are both exhausted and the idea of getting up tomorrow and doing any of it again makes me miserable and I did #nothing but sit at a computer for three and a half hours that’s itttttt #like doing two week road-trip then non stop either emotional or physical shit every day until my first day at work #like I’m already setting myself up for this to be the summer of the grind #gonna make a bunch of money (and spend too much and blame it on the summer time and needing a little treat every time I venture out into the #heat or work a day or do anything at all) and then save a bunch all fall winter spring and once it gets colder and I feel like I can handle #my job more I want to focus on how to make moving out happen. like I need to figure out if maybe there’s somewhere I want to live that has #an Office Depot I could transfer to cause office depots are everywhere and maybe that’s an added way for me to figure out where I want to #move #hmmm okay I’m gonna lay in bed on google maps looking at Office Depot locations in New England and I’m just gonna daydream and try to fall #asleep and I’ll look at / add to my Pinterest board of house and apartment inspo #going to think about the future because I want to live !!!! #anyways yeah this is the summer of being miserable and spending all my money on bullshit and daydreaming and disappointing my mother #and also the summer of my weed tolerance doubling forever until I’m back to smoking constantly to the point where I’m making myself sick and #then I’ll get sick of smoking weed for a bit and that’ll lead me into saving money again #or force me into a tolerance break where I stop buying weed #either way I’m going to smoke all summer it’s gonna be weed and sweat and fresh fruit and laying in my room during all of my days off and it #it’s gonna suck and I’m gonna be thinking about my dad the whole time and it’ll be depressing and isolating and lonely and I’ll come out of #the summer recentered and motivated towards big goals again like I always am #and then I’ll crash and burn next spring as always. cycles continue forever thank u seasonal depression. #I want to grow up and mature in the ways I deal with myself my health and advocating for my mental health I feel like I need to grow up a #bit so I hope I do that and it feels good. I hope I make friends and I can daydream about the future every night and my room will smell like #weed and incense and sweat and love and tears and it will be incredible

[orlandospride]

hey siri how do i fall back in love with football

#genuinely don’t recall the last game I watched lmao #actually no I’m lying if was usa v england #and it was sick actually #but aside from that…..it’s hitting different (not at all) #yes I do go to all cardiff home games but I’m literally bored the whole time #(it’s because cardiff are shit and I’m falling out of love with the team. though I will always support) #but it’s also ——- something else. Soemthing I can’t figure out

[thelastspeecher]

eregyrn-falls replied to your post: "today whilst driving for far too long for work my..."

NO.

:(

#don't take the frowny face too seriously! #I actually laughed so hard I coughed when I saw your response #(I have a lingering post-viral cough from a nasty cold I got over the holidays) #you're a New Englander right? do you have Opinions about Boston accents? ajksndfkjajsnfds #(also my roommate just said that they feel like Greaser Angie has a Boston accent for some inexplicable reason #I felt the need to share this bc I find it v funny lmao) #response #eregyrn-falls

[ian-galagher]

WIPs I hope to finish one day 😭

Africa

When Ian lands himself an internship with famous wildlife photographer Mickey Milkovich he can't believe his luck. Spending one month traveling through South Africa with his big hero is a dream come true. The two are off on a wild adventure but there's something mysterious about Mickey who seems to be holding more to his chest than just the tricks of the trade Ian had hoped to learn from him.

Stolen Goods

From the outside Ian and Mickey seem like two ordinary guys. Ian works at an animal shelter while Mickey runs a garage. At least, that's what they tell anyone who asks. Ian's shelter doubles as a front for his side business, selling the priceless artifacts of the museums he robs blind to the highest bidder or the country they came from.

Meanwhile Mickey fixes up cars that have clearly been stolen, no questions asked. Below the counter he deals in green card marriages and weapons. Both men lead dangerous lives. To blow off steam they meet every Sunday night at Roxy's for a casual hook up, only to find that their lives are far more intertwined than they possibly could've imagined.

You Can't Let Your Guard Down

Ian broke up with Ned weeks ago but to his annoyance he keeps showing up at his doorstep, begging for Ian to give him another chance. Fed up, Ian finds himself a bodyguard in the shape of Mickey Milkovich, hired around the clock to protect him. Neither of them realizes how their lives are forever changed by that one decision.

The Devon Creature

It storms when Ian boards the ship that is supposed to sail him out and away from his hometown in Devon, England in 1852. As the ship sinks to the depths of the ocean, and the crew drowns around him, the Merfolk come out to scavenge for the goods they carried on board. It's then Ian looks into cold blue eyes and pleads for his life.

~

I might never finish these but boy do I love them! I started writing them a year ago, December 2021, and have rough drafts of all four but actually perfecting and finishing them?! Impossible! If I could just get a few years off from literally every other task ever, I'd be perfectly happy spending every waking hour working on them!

I'm hoping to start posting Africa in May though! 😁🤞 MY BETA SAID NOW SO IM GONNA POST IT SOON 😭

#im srsly so excited about all of these you have no idea #shameless #gallavich #fic #WIP #africa #me: please finish a WIP before starting a new one #also me: no #or maybe i just like making banners lol #i know the 3rd one might seem weird as fuck but nothing bad happens in it i promise #i just needed a reason for ian and mickey to be together around the clock #it's actually the funniest one of the four lol #imagine dragging your cranky security guard with you everywhere you go #including work and when you go dancing afterwards #your guard watching you like a hawk #slowly falling in love with you #the 2nd one is so dear to me and so damn heartbreaking #but africa is where i go to when i want to escape everything else #and the 4th is just an excuse to write about england in 1852 lol

[pussymasterdooku]

MILF (man i love fwinter)

#ie the part of december where it’s technically fall but it is also 20 degrees and snowing #other than the like seasonal depression or whatever winter in new england is. the best #don’t quote me on that when it’s sludge season in a couple months but we LOVE a brisk day #we went on a 5.5 mile weed walk with our coffee my hands went numb but it was INCREDIBLE #the BIRDS WE SAW!!!!!!!!!!!! reader i DID weep #life is SO special i can’t stand it it’s so gross how special it is #anyway…would have tweeted this but then was like actually i do hate using twitter now #and here i am getting to go on a TAG RANT god bless i forgot how much i love to talk to myself on tumblr #/in my tags #ok that’s all #a ten is blogging

[elodieunderglass]

The sidewalks in my neighborhood often feature little wandering moss balls. I have noticed them often and wondered about them. In this part of England, there is a lot of moss always, on everything, everywhere; but that’s sedentary moss, unchanging, holding still - practically characterised by its year-round chilling-out-ness. Moss in the pavement cracks, growing along the buildings and front of garden wall; moss in the gardens and the corners between sidewalk and street. but the tumblemosses are not connected to the continuous belts of stay-at-home moss. They are disconnected, tumbleweeds, pilgrim wanderers: appearing suddenly on the pavement and mooching mysteriously on their own journeys. Like aquarium moss balls but without the currents of the water to justify them. They appear in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of the town.

The children say they are Moss Children who have broken off from their Moss Family. They often pick them up and carry them around, shouting. Occasionally we have had to take them on train journeys (nobody else seems to have Tumblemoss; it seems to be around our neighborhood.) Sometimes the kids want to make terrariums or things, and so we specifically collect the Tumblemoss, since it’s clearly unrooted and not spoiling anything if we take it home(and I’d feel bad for the kids pulling up actual moss.) but the origins of Tumblemoss, or Moss Children, have always been a bit mysterious. They simply appear, like wild land Marimo, enigmatically. An empty sidewalk in the morning suddenly has a perfect round Moss Child in the afternoon.

Today I learned the secret origin of the Tumblemoss. Would you like to guess it?

[reasonsforhope]

Double dose of articles about how crime is actually plummeting

From the UK:

"Seventy-eight per cent of people in England and Wales think that crime has gone up in the last few years, according to the latest survey. But the data on actual crime shows the exact opposite.

As of 2024, violence, burglary and car crime have been declining for 30 years and by close to 90%, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – our best indicator of true crime levels. Unlike police data, the CSEW is not subject to variations in reporting and recording.

The drop in violence includes domestic violence and other violence against women. Anti-social behaviour has similarly declined. While increased fraud and computer misuse now make up half of crime, this mainly reflects how far the rates of other crimes have fallen.

All high-income countries have experienced similar trends, and there is scientific consensus that the decline in crime is a real phenomenon.

The perception gap

So why is there such a gulf between public perception and the reality of crime trends? A regular YouGov poll asks respondents for their top three concerns from a broad set of issues. Concern about crime went from a low in 2016 (when people were more concerned with Brexit), quadrupled by 2019 and plummeted during the pandemic when people had other worries. But in the last year, the public’s concern about crime has risen again.

There are many possible explanations for this, of which the first is poor information. A study published in 1998 found that “people who watch a lot of television or who read a lot of newspapers will be exposed to a steady diet of crime stories” that does not reflect official statistics.

The old news media adage “if it bleeds, it leads” reflects how violent news stories, including crime increases and serious crimes, capture public attention. Knife crime grabs headlines in the UK, but our shock at individual incidents is testament to their rarity and our relative success in controlling violence – many gun crimes do not make the news in the US.

Most recent terrorist attacks in the UK have featured knives (plus a thwarted Liverpool bomber), but there is little discussion of how this indicates that measures to restrict guns and bomb-making resources are effective."

-via The Conversation, May 13, 2024

And the United States:

"[The United States experienced a spike in crime rates in 2020, during the pandemic.] But in 2023, crime in America looked very different.

"At some point in 2022 — at the end of 2022 or through 2023 — there was just a tipping point where violence started to fall and it just continued to fall," said Jeff Asher, a crime analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics.

In cities big and small, from both coasts, violence has dropped.

"The national picture shows that murder is falling. We have data from over 200 cities showing a 12.2% decline ... in 2023 relative to 2022," Asher said, citing his own analysis of public data. He found instances of rape, robbery and aggravated assault were all down too.

Yet when you ask people about crime in the country, the perception is it's getting a lot worse.

A Gallup poll released in November found 77% of Americans believed there was more crime in the country than the year before. And 63% felt there was either a "very" or "extremely" serious crime problem — the highest in the poll's history going back to 2000.

So what's going on?

What the cities are seeing

What you see depends a lot on what you're looking at, according to Asher.

"There's never been a news story that said, 'There were no robberies yesterday, nobody really shoplifted at Walgreens,'" he said.

"Especially with murder, there's no doubt that it is falling at [a] really fast pace right now. And the only way that I find to discuss it with people is to talk about what the data says." ...

For cities like San Francisco, Baltimore and Minneapolis, there may be different factors at play [in crime declining]. And in some instances, it comes as the number of police officers declines too.

Baltimore police are chronically short of their recruitment goal, and as of last September had more than 750 vacant positions, according to a state audit report...

In Minneapolis, police staffing has plummeted. According to the Star Tribune, there are about 560 active officers — down from nearly 900 in 2019. Mannix said the 2020 police killing of George Floyd resulted in an unprecedented exodus from the department...

In Minneapolis, the city is putting more financial resources into nontraditional policing initiatives. The Department of Neighborhood Safety, which addresses violence through a public health lens, received $22 million in the 2024 budget."

-via NPR, February 12, 2024

#crime #violate crime #united kingdom #england #wales #united states #us politics #baltimore #san francisco #police #defund the police #good news #hope