#Looking at who won in England Scotland and Wales shows that the Union is more divided than ever
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Secret States Chapter 8
Ironically, New England Dislikes England The Most
Also I’m using Canadian French instead of New England French because I couldn’t find a New England French translator.
England POV
"What was that about?" New Zealand asked as America raced out of the room. I wish I could tell my family about America's civil war, but that was too personal of a subject for me to tell them about. Besides, I wasn't even that involved, just in the Trent Affair. I didn't know any details and I didn't want to hurt my already fragile relationship with America.
"Well, what exactly happened, or what did you bring up? We can't give a reason if we don't know what happened." Delaware said.
"We mentioned the 1860s" Australia began, but Delaware flinched back, along with New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. Those must of been the states that were involved in America's civil war.
"Please don't mention that time." Louisiana said. The other states nodded, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"Why? What happened?" France asked. The states exchanged looks.
"Out! Everyone who was a part of the Union in 1860, out! We're too biased and we're going to blurt out something we'll regret!" Delaware commanded. Florida, Texas, California, Louisiana, and New York began to leave the room.
"We'll figure out what to do. You find Padre." Puerto Rico said. Hawaii sighed.
"That wasn't the best move." She muttered.
"What happened?" Britain asked again. The remaining states annoyed him and continued there conversation like he hadn't interrupted.
"Who told them about the 1860s?" Alaska asked.
"Palau! But I told the countries that it's not something they bring up." Liberia explained. Hawaii sighed again.
"I think its best we just end this here. That question spoiled the mood. NATO are you coming back with us?"
"Back with you." He responded. Hawaii nodded before writing down something on a piece of paper.
"This is our address. Stop by tomorrow." She said before walking out the door followed by the other states and NATO.
"Yeah. I'm going to follow them. I'd rather have D yell at me now rather than later." Palau said, before she left, dragging Micronesia and Marshall Islands behind her. Liberia laughed at them before following them out of the room.
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"I wish Ame would listen to us! That sleep schedule isn't healthy. And what about what happened in the 1860s. What are he and his children so afraid of?" I heard Australia rant. We had all left the meeting room and gone back to the house I shared with my brothers. UN ended the meeting after America's children had left, as the whole point of the meeting was to meet them.
I knew why America would want to avoid the topic of the 1860s. Civil wars were bad enough for regular countries, but for a union, well they were literally being ripped apart. I saw Britain after Ireland left. When union lost a country or a state, they lost the part of their personality that was affected by that country/state.
America wasn't just split in two during his civil war. He also lost a part of his personality. The part of his personality that would become the Confederate States of America. It made a civil war more traumatic for him than for a regular country.
"I don't know, but something horrible or traumatizing must of happened. Are you sure you don't know anything about it Canada?" Britain said. Canada shook his head.
"Ame and I were getting along better during the 1860s, but he stopped contact with me at the end of 1860, after he told me who won his election. We picked up contact again after 1866. I tried to visit him during the years he was silent, but he was never at his house. No one was. I think he was either with someone else, or in his country." Canada explained.
'The second one is right.' I wanted to say, but I couldn't explain how I knew. I promised America I'd keep it secret, so that's what I would do. I couldn't add another crack to our relationship. I'd already cracked it enough.
"So whatever happened, America must of been in his country, and was either too busy or too...I don't know, hurt or something to talk to anyone." Scotland said. He was hurt. I didn't want to be a part of this conversation, but I couldn't just leave.
"I don't think America will tell us about what happened. You saw what happened when Uncle North asked about it. He looked like he was going to have a panic attack." New Zealand said.
"Well if we can't figure out what happened, why don't we just google it?" Wales suggested. Ireland shook his head and protested the idea quickly.
"We can't just do that. It's a breach of America's privacy. Plus if we did that, we could hurt our relationship with America or his kids. Let him tell us when he's ready."
"If we can't help him with the 1860s, we should at least help him get a normal sleep schedule." France said. That was something I didn't know about, and something that concerned me. Sleep deprivation, especially over a long period of time, was never good.
I couldn't help fix the pain caused by the American Civil War. But I could help fix America's sleep schedule. But America is stubborn and prideful, so he probably wouldn't accept our help. I groaned. Why did this have to be so complicated.
"Are you okay Uncle England?" Australia asked.
"I'm fine. Just thinking about how hard it will be to get Ame to accept help from us. Especially Britain and I." I told them. Britain nodded.
"I know, but we have to do something. I'm not going to let mon fils refuse to take care of himself. I'm going to help him, whether he wants it or not." France said. I hope this went well. While making sure America took care of himself was a good goal, we had to be careful that we didn't push him away by doing so.
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1 Day Later
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We arrived at the address Hawaii gave us yesterday. It was a nice four story house, with a lot of land around it. There was a field of some sort of crop to the right of the house, with another building in front of it. That building looked more like a stable. There was also a concerning amount of yelling coming from the house, along with a noise that sounded like gunshots.
"This is a big house." New Zealand said. Australia smacked the back of his head.
"Ame has sixty-two kids idiot. The house needs to be big." He told him. New Zealand rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, I deserved that." He muttered. We walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. We heard footsteps, before the door was answered. The states looked at us, scowling when he saw Britain and I.
"Fuck off limey bastards." He said before slamming the door shut. I stared at the door in shock. I knew some states may not like my brothers and I because of the Revolution, but I didn't expect that reaction.
"Well that was a nice introduction." Ireland muttered. The door opened again, this time revealing a new state.
"Sorry about Massachusetts. He still hasn't gotten over the Revolution." The state said. Britain sighed.
"Don't worry about it. I was expecting someone to hold a grudge against me." He told the state. The state smiled.
"I don't hold a grudge, even though I'm the one state most of the Original Thirteen expect too, as I fought in the Revolution. I'm the State of Vermont, the Green Mountain State. I was the Vermont Republic before joining the Union." The state-Vermont explained.
"Vermont?" I heard Canada ask, his voice trembling. Vermont smiled.
"What's up Bec? It's been a while." He said before, frowning slightly, "I can still call you Bec, right? I know your name is Canada now, and not Quebec."
"It's fine. It's good to see you again. I really missed you." Canada said. Vermont smiled and nodded, before stepping aside to let us into the house. We walked though a hallway, with some marks on the wall. Vermont turned into another room, where the state that originally answered the door, Massachusetts, was.
There were four other states in the room. Two of them were glaring at Britain and I, while the other two looked interested in seeing Canada and Scotland. One of the states that was staring at me had a flag that showed a white baroque shield with three grapevines, each bearing three bunches of purple grapes on a field of royal blue. There was a banner below the shield that read "Qui Transtulit Sustinet."
The other state that was staring at me had a flag that was white and had a gold anchor in the center surrounded by thirteen gold stars. A blue ribbon below the anchor had gold words reading 'Hope.' This state was also very short, a whole head shorter than Massachusetts.
"Nutmeg, Rhode, Mass. You three are not allowed to attack England or Britain." Vermont told the glaring states.
"Oh come on Mont. Those bastard did horrible things to my people." Massachusetts protested. I noticed that Massachusetts had a very noticeable accent, one that sounded nothing like America's. It's something I noticed with several other states. None of them had the same accent.
"In the 1770's!" Vermont protested, before sighing, "Can you guys introduce yourselves."
"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Bay State." Was all Massachusetts said before he went back to glaring at Britain.
"Wait, commonwealth?" New Zealand asked. Massachusetts sighed.
"I'm not actually a true commonwealth. It's just the name I got stuck with. The only two actual commonwealths in the Union are Mariana and Rico." Massachusetts explained.
The state with the anchor stepped forwards. "I'm Rhode Island, the Ocean State. And despite what my name may tell you, I'm not an island. Or anything close to one."
"Yep. You're just short." The other state, Nutmeg, I guess, based off what Vermont called him.
"Oh fuck off Net." Rhode Island told him. (I swear to god if autocorrect changes Rhode to Rhodesia one more time, I'm going to lose it.) Net smiled.
"I'm Connecticut, the Constitution State. I'm also called the Nutmeg State, which is why these idiots, call me that." Connecticut said, gesturing to the other states.
"Are you all some of the original thirteen states?" Britain asked. One of the state which had been looking at Canada and Scotland raided her hand. Her flag was blue, with a seal that was surrounded by nine stars and leaves. There was a ship in the center of it.
"I am. He's not." She said, gesturing to the last state next to her. "I'm New Hampshire, the Granite State."
"And I'm Maine, the Pine Tree State." The last state said. His flag was blue with a shield on it. In the center of the shield, there was a moose under a pine tree. There was also a farmer and seaman on either side of the shield. "I became a state in 1820. I hang out with these guys 'cause we're New England."
What? I didn't know there was a place in America called New England. And what did Maine mean by they were New England? Weren't they all separate states?
"Wait, what do you mean New England?" North asked. Rhode Island rolled his eyes.
"The states are grouped together in several groups. The South, the Mid-West, the West, the Mid-Atlantics, and whatever you consider Hawaii, Alaska, and the Territories to be. Anyway, we're the states that make up New England." He explained.
There was a place in America named after me. And it sounds like they had been using that name for a while. Maybe even after everything that had happened between us, we could still remove the tension between us.
We could fix everything. Of course, there's always the possibility they never felt like changing the name, and my relationship with America would always be filled with tension.
"I vote we changed that name. I'd rather not be a part of a place that shares a name with him." Massachusetts said, gesturing towards me.
"Don't be a masshole just because you're still mad about stuff that happened during the American Revolution." Vermont said. Massachusetts turned toward him.
"Don't fucking call me that!" He told Vermont. Vermont raised an eyebrow.
"Well if you don't want to be called that, then stop being such an ass." New Hampshire said. Massachusetts scowled, gave the rest of New England the middle finger before storming out of the room.
"Sorry about Mass. He has anger issues and can hold a grudge like nobody else." Connecticut said.
"It's alright. I have a question though. Why were New Hampshire and Maine staring at me?" Canada asked.
"New England French." The two states responded in sync, before high-fiving. What was New England French? I'm guessing it must be a language, although I never expected there to be a type of French that is proceeded by 'England.'
"New England French? Is that a language?" Wales asked. The New England states nodded.
"It's an offshoot of Canadian French that is spoken in the New England states, hence the name. Mass and Hamp aren't the best at speaking it because their official language is English. The rest of us don't have an official language, so we can speak it well." Connecticut explained.
"We just find meeting you interesting. We have the two highest amounts of New England French speakers." Maine explained.
"Also Mont never shuts up about you." New Hampshire said. Vermont started blushing heavily.
"Tais-toi Hamp." (Shut up Hamp) Vermont
"Pourquoi? Mont est-il gêné?" (Why? Is Mont embarrassed?) Maine said. Vermont's blush increased and he grabbed a pillow off the couch and shoved it in his face. I didn't understand exactly what they were saying, but I got the gist of their conversation.
"I don't mind that you tell the other states about me Vermont." Canada said. Vermont raised his still blushing face.
"Je ne savais pas comment tu réagirais en apprenant que ton vieil ami parle de toi derrière ton dos. Je me sens juste anxieux et embarrassé." (I didn’t know how you’d react to finding out your old friend talks about you behind your back. I just feel anxious and embarrassed.) Vermont muttered.
"You talk about us behind our backs all the time and you don't react this way." Rhode Island said. Vermont rolled his eyes as his blush faded.
"That's because you guys are annoying as fuck, and I like talking shit about you." Vermont responded.
"Well that's just rude." Connecticut said.
"Like you're not?" New Hampshire shot back.
"Shut up everybody. We all get called snobby states, so let's not argue about who's the worst. Even though we all know it's Massachusetts." Maine said. Vermont snorted.
"You're not wrong about that." He remarked.
"FUCK YOU GUYS!" I heard Massachusetts yell from another part of the house.
"Ignore Taxachusetts." New Hampshire said, snickering at Massachusetts' reaction.
"Mass is hotheaded. It's probably good he left. He'd blab what happened in the 1860s in a second." Rhode Island said. Connecticut rolled his eyes.
"He has the 'Cradle of Liberty' for a reason. He's always been a source of agitation in this country." Connecticut said,
"Until South stole that title in 1860." Maine added. South? That must of been a state, or just the region that started the Civil War.
"Let's stop being up 1860 please." Vermont said.
"What happened it 1860? Every time I learn something about it, I get more nervous that something truly bad happened." Australia said.
"Something truly bad did happen." New Hampshire said. Vermont shot her a glare.
"We don't talk about it. We might not of had any fighting, but it was horrible for everyone who did. Let's stop bringing it up and move onto another topic." Vermont said.
"And of you really want to know something, ask England. He was in charge of handing your shit during that incident. I still hate your for threatening to declare war on us." Rhode Island said. Everyone, aside from the state turned to look at me.
This isn't something I wanted them to find out. I was in charge of dealing with foreign relations involving the Confederate States of America because Britain's government knew he still cared deeply for America, regardless of what happened between them. They knew he would try and get the British Empire on America's side.
They knew I would support that side that we would benefit from the most. I swore myself to secrecy about the whole thing to avoid America's anger, and so I wouldn't bring up the pain that had been caused to America.
I didn't want any of my family to find out about this secret, not just because they would feel betrayed that I kept it from them, but because if they find out about the pain caused to America, they'll wonder why I didn't help him.
And why I almost made the pain worse.
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The growth of the English variant
How Anglo-centric British nationalism is now being imposed on the governance of England
First published by the Constitution Unit, 22nd July 2021
In the early months of 2020, there seemed to be a sharp contrast between Conservative policy towards the governance of England and its approach to the devolved nations. Its 2019 manifesto had promised ‘full devolution across England so that every part of our country has the power to shape its own destiny’. Across the Union the government was already setting out its intention to intervene more directly in the affairs of the devolved nations. This so-called ‘assertive unionism’ – an attempt to refashion some form of more unitary UK state – had been foreshadowed when Boris Johnson had declared his intention to be Minister for the Union and in an influential report by Policy Exchange.
The commitment to publish a Devolution and Recovery White Paper for England was set out in July 2020 (in a speech by then local government minister Simon Clarke which has now been removed from government websites). But by the turn of 2021, in the wake of a bruising confrontation with Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham, it was clear that ministers were losing interest in English devolution. The Devolution White Paper has been dropped, to be replaced by a ‘Levelling-Up’ White Paper. There is little detail on the new approach, but all the signs are that it will bring an intensification of centralisation that will extend the powers of Whitehall rather than localities. The funds intended to drive ‘levelling up’ have either been centralised at an England level, as with the English Towns Fund, or as part of UK wide funding programmes for ‘Shared Prosperity’ and ‘Community Renewal’ funds.
The early sharp contrast between Conservative plans for England and for the rest of the Union are now being replaced by something that looks much more consistent. Instead of a fundamentally different approach to English governance, England is becoming more, rather than less, centralised and, in many cases, integrated into Union-wide investment programmes. This extension of the powers of the Union state over England might well be described as the ‘English variant’. It has features that are unique to England, but at its core is the same idea of the centralised Union state.
The drivers of this change include the outlook and temperament of the Prime Minister himself. Successful leadership in a devolved polity depends on forming good working relationships with leaders who enjoy their own legitimacy and a degree of autonomy. Boris Johnson has found that difficult with Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh, and is no less happy to be challenged by English mayors. His predilection for an Anglocentric British nationalism that regards the interests of the Union and of England as very much the same sits easily with his desire for unfettered leadership.
This outlook was apparent in discussions of both the Internal Market Act and the Northern Ireland Protocol. On these debates, the interests of England in Brexit (and of English influence within the Union) were given priority over the interests of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in their membership of the United Kingdom. This view reflects the growing influence of ‘hyper-unionism’ over the older forms of Conservative unionism that gave more space to the different perspectives that the now devolved nations had of the Union. Of course, a politics that asserts the primacy of the Union over its nations has little space for any form of political identity for England.
More naked political considerations have also played a role. The commitment to funds for the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and the devolved combined mayoral authorities have, arguably, brought the Conservatives few political returns (Labour found the same with its funding for Regional Development Agencies). Centralised funding allows much more modest investment to buy a higher political reward. A small cheque requested by the local MP and channelled to the council to buy hanging baskets at the station may not level up very much but, to the voter who feels their town has been ignored for too long, it may appear that politics is doing something. The allocation of funds by the government has been widely criticised for reflecting political priorities over objective needs.
The mayoral model, whether as a powerful coordinator of policy across a city region, or the Heseltine model of the powerful individual with whom Whitehall deals, is losing its attraction in the eyes of ministers. The narrative may not change. Mayor Ben Houchen will still get credit for the Teeside freeport, but the Solent area will also get a freeport that will cover the same local councils whose combined mayoral authority was rejected a couple of years ago. Some further devolution may take place to counties but it is clear that the process will be tightly controlled from the centre. Having devolved structures and mayors is no longer key to unlocking central support.
These political changes are welcomed in Whitehall where the dominant culture still largely believes that government is done best in London by people who know what they are talking about. Despite widespread criticism of the pandemic response for marginalising local government leaders and public health professionals, there are no signs of a political or civil service rethink of statecraft to give more value to local expertise and legitimacy. Policies in the pipeline, including giving NHS ministers more sway over social care – the key responsibility of top tier local government – and reducing the planning powers of local government all increase the powers of the centre. With further austerity planned for English local government, the future will see a weaker English local government less able to show leadership in place shaping and more wide-ranging powers for the Union state.
At the same time, the Treasury is reasserting control over key areas of domestic policy. Industrial strategy has been brought back in house and it already appears that this will lend support to trade deals that cut import costs over the enhanced domestic production that was at the focus of the local (and decentralised) industrial strategies that were promoted until recently.
All these changes mean that there is currently no clear narrative about how England is to be governed. The language used until recently of empowered local mayors leading great city regions to work with a more interventionist industrial policy, business and higher education, all supported by and working with central government, seems to be very muted today. The extent to which that vision was a reality can be debated but it did gain support from a wide range of actors, including Labour-led local authorities, who were at least willing to try to bring it about.
There are specifically England issues here of course, but the government’s approach to England looks increasingly like an English variant of the Anglocentric British nationalism with a strong central state that we are seeing across the Union. The unionism promoted by the current government has little space for the identities of the devolved nations. It certainly has none for England which, as England, has no place in government constitutional thinking. The Dunlop review of intra-governmental relationships did not mention England, and indeed was not asked to. The abolition of English Votes for English Laws (as discussed recently on this blog) suggests no further desire to give the people of England ‘a voice’ as David Cameron once promised and reflects the belief that it is the Union, not its nations, that should be the focus of political action. – a point reinforced by the Leader of the Commons when he said ‘We have now restored authority in this Parliament to address the problems of voters in every part of the United Kingdom’. The recent (and much mocked) attempt by the English Department of Education to promote a One Britain One Nation Day (on a day when Scottish schools were on holiday) suggests a conscious decision to promote the English departments of the UK government as Union departments.
The paradox behind the English variant is that the Conservatives are only the largest party in England. Their Anglocentric British nationalism has appealed particularly to the ‘more English than British’ voters in recent years and these voters look to national government more than decentralisation to deliver. But the same voters also have a strong sense of English democracy and English interests that might become more salient if ‘levelling-up’ fails to materialise (and there is nothing in the recent past that suggests that centralised union state initiatives can tackle regional inequalities effectively). In other parts of England, including Chesham and Amersham where the Liberal Democrats recently won a dramatic by-election, it appears that voters are less keen on imposed changes in planning and transport, and it may be that these largely Remain voters are less swayed by Anglocentric British nationalism.
The English variant may still be on the rise, encouraged by the personality and politics of the Prime Minister, but it faces significant policy and political challenges.
This post is one of a series of posts by speakers at the Unit’s conference on the government’s constitutional reform agenda. John Denham appeared as part of the panel, Devolution and the future of the Union. The panel is available free of charge on YouTube and on our podcast.
About the author
Professor John Denham is Professorial Fellow on English Identity and Politics at the University of Southampton and a former Cabinet minister..
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Six Nations: Team-by-team guide, key players, title odds
New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/six-nations-team-by-team-guide-key-players-title-odds/
Six Nations: Team-by-team guide, key players, title odds
Owen Farrell, Johnny Sexton, Alun Wyn Jones and Stuart Hogg, captains of England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland respectively, are all multiple British and Irish Lions tourists
Guinness Six Nations 2020 Dates:1 February-14 March Coverage:Watch live coverage on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, Connected TVs and online; listen to match commentaries, shows and podcasts on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and BBC Sounds; follow text coverage on the BBC Sport website and mobile app; further coverage available in Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Full coverage details.
Four new head coaches, a raft of uncapped up-and-comers and a rivalry that stretches back more than 135 years.
The history, drama, thrills and spills of the Six Nations return this weekend to start the latest chapter in the world’s oldest international rugby tournament.
In the wake of the Rugby World Cup, there are plenty of new characters, on the pitch and on the touchlines, to spice up the storylines.
Here is what you need to know about the 2020 tournament.
Wales
Pivac won the Pro12 title with Scarlets in 2017
Thanks to the call of the British and Irish Lions, there have been a couple of caretakers, but it is 13 years since someone other than Warren Gatland was Wales head coach as they went into a Six Nations campaign,
Wayne Pivac has the intimidating task of following a man who delivered three Grand Slams, the latest lifted 12 months ago.
The New Zealander could have done without an injury that rules out centre Jonathan Davies, the ‘captain’ of the claustrophobically tight defence that characterised Gatland’s reign.
North to start at centre against Italy
Wayne Pivac by the players and coaches who know him
Hadleigh Parkes column: Fatherhood, Pivac and Six Nations hopes
Shaun Edwards, who masterminded that part of the game from the touchline, is also absent, having taken his inside knowledge to Six Nations rivals France.
But there are some welcome faces back on the scene. Scrum-half Rhys Webb is available after bringing a hasty end to his Toulon stint, while Taulupe Faletau, arguably the tournament’s best number eight on top form, is hoping he is at the end of a two-year run of injuries.
Neither were part of a World Cup campaign that promised much but couldn’t break new ground. Wales were squeezed out in the semi-finals by eventual champions South Africa, matching their best run at the tournament back in 2011.
Rees-Zammit (right) was one of five uncapped players in Pivac’s 38-man squad
One to watch: Louis Rees-Zammit:The 19-year-old wing has been one of this season’s sensations, scoring 10 tries in 14 games for Gloucester. As the saying goes: If they are good enough…
Curveball:Coach Pivac is looking to box clever by convincing more Welsh-qualified, but English-based, players to commit to the cause. The recruitment of Saracens former England Under-20 centre Nick Tompkins and Wasps lock Will Rowlands shows he is having some success.
Title odds:11-2
England
Jonny May has 27 tries in 52 Test appearances for England
In the wake of the Rugby World Cup final defeat by South Africa in November, Eddie Jones entered, in his words, a “grieving process”.He has since found a new challenge to reignite his passion.
“We want to be remembered as the greatest team that ever played rugby,” he said in typically bold style.
England have some serious questions to answer before they can make any claim to that title.
Watson ruled out of Six Nations opener
Lose in Paris and the World Cup is forgotten – Johnson
Jones warns of World Cup finalists curse
Learn to speak rugby for the Six Nations
Jones’ 34-man squad features eight uncapped players but not a single specialist number eight to fill in for the injured Billy Vunipola.
At nine, Ben Youngs and Willi Heinz, 30 and 33 respectively, have limited shelf life and no clear successors.
And time is ticking on Jones himself, with his contract set to expire in August 2021.
But with Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Jonny May and Anthony Watson all emerging from the World Cup well in credit, there is a confidence that might paper over those cracks.
Thorley was the youngest player to represent Gloucester in the professional era when he made his debut as a 17-year-old
One to watch: Ollie Thorley:Last season’s Premiership young player of the year will have to fight for a spot, but is one of only three specialist wings in the squad and has the talent to take his chance.
Curveball:The Saracens saga.There may not be any ill-feeling from their team-mates, but the Sarries contingent come into the tournament with their club futures uncertain.
Title odds:5-6 Fav
Ireland
Andy Farrell is Ireland’s new coach, Johnny Sexton his new captain
Off the back of a Six Nations Grand Slam and a historic home win over New Zealand, Ireland finished 2018 as the northern hemisphere’s pre-eminent team and the likeliest candidates to succeed the All Blacks as world champions the following year.
Instead that turned out to the high point of coach Joe Schmidt’s reign.
A mediocre Six Nations campaign in 2019 was followed by a meek World Cup quarter-final exit in Japan.
Great Britain rugby league legend Andy Farrell served as an assistant to Schmidt and now succeeds him. He has gone for a similar strategy of evolution, rather than revolution, with his team.
Quiz: Do you know new Ireland head coach Andy Farrell?
Why Sexton’s importance to Ireland is greater than ever
Doris to make Ireland debut in opener against Scotland
Fly-half Johnny Sexton, once the firebrand young gun, now a 34-year-old senior statesman, is captain, with regular half-back side-kick Conor Murray keeping his place under severe pressure from Ulster’s John Cooney.
However 95-cap mainstay Rob Kearney has been left out the squad altogether with the electric Jordan Larmour now undisputed first-choice full-back, while Leinster’s rangy, roaming number eight Caelan Doris will make his debut against Scotland.
Can Farrell’s tweaks restore the team to their 2018 levels?
Such was Ryan’s promise that he made his full Ireland debut before he had been picked for provincial side Leinster
One to watch: James Ryan:Leinster’s flawless second row, still just 23, has long been earmarked as a future Ireland captain. With Rory Best no longer in the pack, he will be called up to take on some of the leadership burden.
Curveball:The tactics. Ireland under Schmidt were ruthless, accurate and drilled to parade-ground standard, rarely deviating from the head coach’s kick-chase script. With former England maverick Mike Catt brought in as an attack coach, might things turn a little more free-form?
Title odds:4-1
Scotland
Russell played in French side Racing 92’s win over Castres at the weekend after walking out of Scotland’s training camp
The build-up to Scotland’s campaign has turned into something akin to an episode of Love Island, dominated by rancour and rumour over the departure of a flamboyant main player.
Finn Russell, Scotland’s mercurial fly-half, is believed to have hit the bar at the team hotel, ignored team-mates’ advice to stop drinking, ignored his alarm clock for training the following morning and then declined to stick about when told he would be dropped for the team’s opener against Ireland on Saturday.
You can’t have different rules for different people – Barclay
‘The team is what counts’ – Townsend on Russell absence
‘Mediator needed for Townsend – Russell rift’
Graham to miss Six Nations opener
Head coach Gregor Townsend insists that their relationship is still sound. Russell’s social media ‘likes’suggest that there might still be some issues to iron out.
Coupled with a knee injury to hot-stepping wing Darcy Graham and the disappointment of a Rugby World Cup campaign that failed to progress beyond the pools, expectations are not high.
However, the return of centre Huw Jones after a loss of form and flanker Hamish Watson after fitness issues are a boost.
And full-back Stuart Hogg, so long the heartbeat of the side and now the captain, sounds determined to drag more from his team-mates.
Ritchie was one of the few bright spots in a dispiriting World Cup campaign for Scotland
One to watch:Jamie Ritchie:The 23-year-old flanker was an age-grade star and is finally getting his run at senior level.
Curveball:The news that Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Mark Dodson was paid £933,000 in the last tax year will not have improved relations between blazers and tracksuits.
Title odds:25-1
Romain Ntamack is one of a clutch of young stars hoping to establish France as genuine World Cup contenders over the next four years
France
France’s squad won’t be measured by where they stand in March. Instead, coach Fabian Galthie has trained his sights very clearly on the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which his nation is hosting.
A 42-man initial squad featured 19 uncapped players and an average age of just 24.
It is not just blind faith in youth though. France’s Under-20s have won back-to-back age-grade world titles. Romain Ntamack, son of former France wing Emile, made the step up to the senior Rugby World Cup side in the wake of winning the first.
Galthie names two uncapped players in France team to face England
Dupont (centre) made his France debut as a 20-year-old in the 2017 Six Nations
One to watch: Antoine Dupont:A relative veteran with 20 caps and 23 years on the clock, the scrum-half is already one of France’s brightest stars.
Curveball:Defence coach Shaun Edwards is a rare foreign appointment to the French coaching staff. Can he whip an erratic, inconsistent France into shape as he battles to get his tongue around the local lingo?
Title odds:11-2
Italy
Franco Smith knows the Italian scene after a six-year spell coaching Treviso
Yet another new head coach is in place. Franco Smith is keeping the seat warm until July, stepping in after Conor O’Shea quit to take up an administrative role with the Rugby Football Union.
The South African is the latest to try to close the gap on the other five nations. Italy have suffered whitewashes in four successive tournaments since they beat Scotland in February 2015, their last Six Nations success.
They will try to improve that record, for the most part, without Sergio Parisse.
The totemic number eight was denied the farewell he expected when Typhoon Hagibis caused the Azzurri’s final Rugby World Cup pool match to be called off. The 36-year-old plans to be involved in at least one of Italy’s home games during the tournament to put the seal on a career that has collected 142 caps.
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Wales v Italy: Azzurri flanker Jake Polledri relishes facing land of his grandfather
One to watch: Jake Polledri:Born and brought up in the West Country, the 24-year-old Gloucester flanker qualifies for Italy though his grandmother and will be one of their go-to men in Parisse’s absence.
Curveball:The Italian clubs have promised to give Smith more access and control over his international players. Could that produce a more coherence and consistency?
Title odds:1,000-1
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Carwyn Jones speech to Labour Party Conference
Carwyn Jones AM, Leader of Welsh Labour, First Minister of Wales, speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton today, said:
***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***
I want to begin by extending my thanks to Christina Rees, our Shadow Secretary of State for Wales. Sadly she can’t be with us this week as she’s nursing a broken foot.
I don’t think there’s any truth in the rumour that she broke it kicking Alun Cairns around Parliament in the first week back, but we’ll ask her when we see her.
We all wish you a speedy recovery, Chris.
Secondly, let me say thank you to Jeremy for his continuing friendship and leadership.
Thank you, Jeremy for the dignity you showed in a tough general election campaign.
The Tories came after you in a personal and offensive manner, and you stood up to that onslaught and led the party with great determination and defied the odds.
This time last year, the Tories thought they were marching to a 100-seat majority. Right now, they’re scared of their own shadows, let alone another general election. What a turn around that is.
Conference, when I heard Theresa May was giving a speech in Florence, I thought how apt. Not so much in relation to the Renaissance, but more with a thought to the works of that great medieval poet, Dante. It has been clear to me for some time that the Department for Exiting the European Union regard the “Divine Comedy” as some sort of instruction manual. That masterpiece imagines in glorious detail the dark and terrifying journey through the nine circles of hell.
Well, we’ve been going on our own journey for 15 months and still remain in the first circle of hell – limbo – a remarkable achievement. But, then Dante did have Virgil as his spiritual guide.
David Davis has got Nigel Farage. The book really is worth a read as Brexit re-interpreted. At one point, at the close of chapter XXI, Dante witnesses a demon mobilising his troops by using “an ass as a trumpet.” Which goes to show that every century has its own Boris.
Conference, this week in Wales we marked the 20th anniversary of the vote to establish devolution in our country. It was a turning point for Wales, and a turning point for our Party. The list of achievements is one of which we can be proud – and it belongs not just to Welsh Labour, but to the whole Party and movement who made devolution possible.
· Unemployment in Wales - routinely lower than the UK average. More jobs, better jobs – Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
· Wales, the first country to move to a deemed consent model for organ donation in the UK. People owe their lives to that change in the law. Better laws, saving lives, Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
· Free school breakfasts in primary schools. Giving children the best start to the day, giving parents a helping hand, giving teachers the attention they deserve in the classroom. Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
· The attainment gap between better off and poorer pupils in England and Scotland continues to grow – in Wales it continues to shrink. A fair start to everyone in Wales, no matter where you’re born – that is Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
· Our university students in Wales getting the best deal anywhere in the UK.
· And who gets the best deal of all? Those students who can least afford university – that is Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
But, it isn’t just about policy. It’s also about having a voice and someone to fight your corner. This week I gave a cautious welcome to the news that Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp entered the first stage of a merger deal. A deal that should safeguard sites and thousands of jobs in Wales.
Does anyone honestly think that without devolution, without a Welsh Labour Government determined to take measures to save that industry, putting money on the table when others looked away, that those steel jobs would still be in Wales today?
Would the Tories have knocked down walls for the people of Port Talbot, Shotton, Newport or Llanelli? We all know the answer to that.
With our colleagues in the trades unions, our MPs, our AMs and local councillors, Welsh Labour stood up for the steel industry – and we did what those banners and badges asked us to do – we saved our steel.
Conference, we are proud to work with our trades union colleagues in Government.
Together we have built a genuine social partnership and together we are making Wales a Fair Work Nation.
And Conference, earlier this month our Trades Union Act received Royal Assent.
That means that the pernicious attempts of the Tory Government to attack workers’ rights in Wales have been dis-applied, and, once again, workers in Wales have the protections we fought so hard to achieve. Protections everyone deserves.
That’s Welsh Labour delivering in Government.
Devolution has given Wales a voice. And with Welsh Labour that voice speaks the language of social justice, fairness, good work, decent pay and thriving communities.
Devolution has given us something else. A new-found confidence. It is something I see every day in young people in work, and in our schools and colleges. So where has that confidence come from? If you could personalise it, you’d have to give credit to my predecessor, Rhodri Morgan. As you know, Rhodri passed away earlier this year, leaving behind a fantastic roller coaster of a political career, a wonderful family and an ocean of anecdotes. In May the Welsh Parliament held the closest thing Wales will ever have to a state funeral, and we gave Rhodri the perfect send off.
It started late. It finished even later. In between there was a fantastic mix of poetry, politics, sport, laughter and tears. And at the end, no-one really thought about Rhodri the politician, but Rhodri as a big-hearted, intelligent and inquisitive man who loved his family above all else. A fine role model, who we all miss.
Rhodri always said that Labour did best when it managed to mix together the mushy peas of old Labour with the guacamole of New Labour. Now, I’ve been in Rhodri’s kitchen and I can tell you that when it came to culinary combinations, Rhodri was not always the person you would go to – but on the politics, he, as so often, was absolutely right. He was absolutely right about the need for our Party to reflect all sections of our membership, and all parts of this country.
That was the key to our success in Wales in the last three elections.
When the Party at UK level was under serious pressure, our unique and united Welsh Labour identity meant we remained relevant and competitive in the Assembly and local elections, when sadly others struggled. It was the unity that gave us success against the odds. And when in the last days of the general election the whole party surged, it meant we, in Wales, were starting from a higher base-line and, as a result, achieved 50% of the vote for the first time in 16 years.
Our identity as a Party is robust, authentic and complementary to the UK Party as a whole. And, just as a country we will not countenance a roll-back of our devolution settlement; there can be no question of Welsh Labour’s long fought for, and hard won voice being diluted as we look to the future of our Party. I know that both Jeremy and Tom understand this, and I welcome their unwavering support for Wales. Thank you, both.
Because Conference, we know Labour works best when we work together. Together, we fought a hugely successful general election campaign – not just holding on to what we had, but winning back seats for Labour.
Vale of Clwyd – according to the bookmakers, Tories were 1/5 on to win. Result? Labour Gain. Gower – according to the bookies, Tories were 1/9 on to win. Result? Labour Gain. Cardiff North – Tories were 1/9 on. Result? Labour Gain.
Working together we have exposed the Tories on broken promise after broken promise. On rail electrification in the north and the south – and we know what’s coming next – they’ll axe Swansea’s Tidal Lagoon.
But, because Welsh Labour is in Government – there are things we can do. We are already delivering on our manifesto promises.
· 100,000 new good quality, all-age apprenticeships.
· The most generous childcare offer for working parents anywhere in the UK.
· And 20,000 more affordable homes.
We can also deliver on priorities for the future of our NHS.
There is no privatisation of the NHS in Wales – and whilst we have a Welsh Labour Government there will be no privatisation of the NHS in Wales. Only in Wales are ambulance crews hitting their targets – because we’ve worked with the service and designed a better way of working. And next week, the Welsh Government will publish new guidance for our pioneering legislation on safe nurse staffing levels in Wales.
Conference, Wales is the first country in Europe to legislate on nurse staffing levels. I am proud that Wales has taken the lead in this area, empowering nurses and ensuring the resources are there to care sensitively for patients. Legislation that the Party promised in the UK manifesto in May, already being delivered by a Labour Government in Wales.
And working together we are making our communities better, fairer places to live.
When Carolyn Harris MP began her brave and dignified campaign to end child burial charges in the UK, we in Wales did not wait for the Tory Government to act. We said, yes, that is the right thing to do, and, as a result, the Welsh Labour Government has announced the abolition of all child burial charges in our country. That is what we can do when we work together.
And the country needs us to work together more than ever before, as we fight the fundamentalists pursuing a hard Brexit. We are fighting tooth and nail against the Tory power grab, dressed up as the EU Withdrawal Bill. It shows up their Government as simply incapable of listening to other people’s views, or respecting their legitimate interests – in other words, as lacking the basic skills needed to negotiate successfully.
And looking at the way in which they are failing the country in their negotiations with the EU, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
I’m delighted at the support we are receiving from Labour colleagues in Parliament at fighting this real threat to devolution as we have known it for the past 20 years.
I’m also incredibly proud of the work we have done together already – our team in Cardiff Bay has worked hand in glove with Keir Starmer and the front bench in developing our Brexit policies. As a result of that work, in Labour we now have a sensible, evidence-based, economically sound set of principles and ideas that can see this country through Brexit in an orderly manner.
Contrast that with the spectacle of the Tory approach. Sorry, correction – the various Tory approaches. Does anyone really know who speaks for them on Brexit anymore?
Where has the Prime Minister of this country gone? If, before the general election, the country felt as though it had a robot for Prime Minister, we’d now be forgiven for thinking we have a hologram.
She went to the country and asked for the support of our communities for a hard Brexit, the country said no. The country said no to some other things as well – our older people said no to being taken for granted. Wales said no to being short-changed. Scotland said no to independence. And crucially, our young people said no to being ignored. They said, through their votes, what we all feel - Britain deserves better than this. This country deserves a Labour Government in Westminster.
A Government that actually cares about the future.
I know that the people of Wales need that more than ever. Under the Tories, we have had to take £1billion out of our public services in Wales. That’s the annual budget of the entire North Wales health board. Our communities are resilient, but they’re being unfairly punished. And with Theresa May and the Tories they will be asked to give yet more. To give up. To give up their livelihoods, their libraries, their leisure centres, and their right to a fair deal. To give up hope. Enough is enough. It is time for hope.
It is time for Labour, in Wales and in Westminster. Standing up for Wales. Working for fairness. Working, together. Winning, together. That’s a future the country hopes for and that’s the country we can deliver. Together for Wales. Together for Britain.
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State of the nation’s ahead of RWC19
The dust has established on the November internationals and the time for reflection from coaches has initiated 10 months out from next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. Followers of rugby can book Rugby World Cup Final Tickets online.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand’s 10-try demolition of Italy in the final game of their end-of-season tour will have done nothing to ease concerns about the two previous matches, where they squeaked past England and lost to Ireland.
All Blacks endure the standard in test rugby and, despite losses to South Africa and Ireland this year, the odds on them winning a third straight RWC are unlikely to stray much above the 2-1 mark over.
IRELAND
Six Nations Grand Slam, first test series conquest in Australia for almost 40 years and November’s fully merited falling of the All Blacks made 2018 the year Ireland became frank RWC contenders.
They may have needed world player of the year, Johnny Sexton’s stoppage-time drop goal in Paris to kick start a run of 11 wins in 12, but what followed included commanding victories in London, Melbourne and Sydney.
ENGLAND
Eddie Jones declined to get carried away when England was racking up 24 wins from his first 25 games in care and did not dread when they lost five in a row this year.
Through France and Argentina struggling for form, England’s the pool is starting to look a bit less stimulating and, on the back of six successive wins over Australia, two against South Africa and a TMO-inspired loss New Zealand that could so easily have been a victory, they should travel to Japan fearing nobody.
WALES
Wales completed a clean sweep of their November tests for the first time and end the year with nine test wins in a row and Coach Warren Gatland’s World Cup plans firmly on track.
The first win in 14 efforts over ailing Australia was the acme but Wales will also be pleased with the way they managed the home wins over Scotland and South Africa.
Their only sufferers in 2018 came away to Ireland and England, who they are due to see after the 2019 Six Nations in the build-up to the RWC for what will be huge tests of their willingness for Japan.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Springboks may have finished 2018 with a 50 percent win ratio but there is considerably more optimism around the team than a year ago and the real belief they can be World Cup contenders.
The team has repaid to traditional Bok rugby, powerful forwards who convey the ball with ferocity and a strong set-piece stand from which to unleash their backs.
AUSTRALIA
The poorest test season in 60 years has capped a depressing spell for Australian rugby on and off the pitch since the Wallabies lost to New Zealand in the last World Cup final.
In November, the first defeat in 14 tests against Wales, a three-try win over a limited Italy side and a sixth successive loss to England have left the twice world champs sixth in the rankings, a place which if anything flatters them.
The Australians have enough quality through the likes of Israel Folau, David Pocock and Will Genia to always pose a threat, but a consistent 80-minute performance against quality opposition has looked increasingly beyond them.
SCOTLAND
Scotland has proved to be a match for anybody at Murrayfield but a worrying inability to win consistently away from home will be giving coach Gregor Townsend sleepless nights ahead of the World Cup
Home victories over England, France, and Argentina showed their best qualities, but heavy defeats in Wales (twice) and Ireland exposed how much work there still is to do.
The coach trusts he has a team to compete with anybody in the Six Nations, and therefore the RWC too, but results don’t fully reproduce that yet as Scotland still lack consistency.
FRANCE
France will be happy to see the back of 2018 in which they won three of their 11 tests and suffered a first-ever loss to Fiji, a home defeat described as “shameful” by center Mathieu Bastareaud.
The side must rebuild confidence ahead of the World Cup, though there are other obvious areas of concern.
The French conceded an average of 26 points per game this year, though three tests were away at world champions New Zealand.
ARGENTINA
Argentina healthier from a poor start to the year to best their best Rugby Championship recital before losing three matches in a row against European opposition.
The big query for Coach Mario Ledesma and Argentina Rugby Union is whether to persevere with the rule of choosing mostly home-based players for the international side.
JAPAN
Japan has sustained to develop a free-spirited style under coach Jamie Joseph which means they should at least entertain home provision next year. Joseph has constantly stressed the need to iron out the inconsistencies that have plagued Japan in recent internationals.
However, the Brave Blossoms’ attacking system, combined with basic tackling errors leaves them vulnerable in defense and this will be the focus for Joseph as Japan look to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
ITALY
Italy bore another hot year which highlighted their diminishing status in RWC and revive questions about whether they add value to the Six Nations.
That points to a limited attack and porous defense, with little time to fix things before the World Cup.
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Tech: Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday — here's the best photo from every year of his royal career
Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday, more than a year after retiring from public life. These are the best photos from every year of his royal career.
Prince Philip turns 97 on Sunday — and it's been over a year since he announced his official retirement from public service.
According to The Telegraph, the Duke of Edinburgh has carried out 22,219 solo engagements and 637 solo visits overseas since he left active military service in 1952.
In retirement, the Duke is reportedly enjoying more leisure time at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk — he is an avid carriage driver and enjoys oil painting.
His Royal Highness' career will be remembered equally for his sharp wit as he will be for his gaffes, which have often left the nation laughing or reeling.
The Prince's prolonged service has won him support from both sides of Parliament — Jeremy Corbyn applauded his "clear sense of public duty" and Theresa May praised his "steadfast support" to the Queen.
Philip's lengthy career, marked by hundreds of visits to far-flung corners of the British Empire, has unsurprisingly produced some remarkable royal photography.
As he turns 97, here are the best images from each of his years as Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh:
1947: Prince Philip began his journey as a British Royal when he married into the country's royal family after a five-month engagement to his distant cousin, Elizabeth. He was 26.
1948: The couple had their first child, Prince Charles, in 1948. In this picture, he sleeps in the arms of his mother, then Princess Elizabeth, after his Christening at Buckingham Palace.
1949: Philip spent many of his younger years in the Royal Navy meaning family time was precious. He spent much of 1949 stationed in Malta as the first lieutenant of the destroyer HMS Checkers, the lead ship of the 1st Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet.
1950: Two years after the birth of Prince Charles, Elizabeth and Philip gave birth to their second child, Princess Anne.
1951: The family's first home was Clarence House, located just a stone's throw away from Buckingham Palace in central London. The family can be seen playing in its gardens in this photo.
1952: Despite his active naval career ending in 1951, he was promoted to commander of the Royal Navy in 1952.
Source: The British Monarchy
1953: During the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Philip bowed to his while while more than 27 million people in Britain watched on television.
Source: Royal.uk
1954: This photo shows the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh during an official visit to HAMS Australia, flagship of the Australian Navy. The Royal couple went aboard during their visit to Cairns, Queensland.
1955: Throughout his career, he has been involved with more than 780 organisations and been a loyal supporter of his wife, attending events around the world with her for more than 60 years.
1956: In 1956, the royal founded the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme. The scheme is still running 61 years later and aims to instill within young people a "sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities," by encouraging them to take part in charity work and outdoor activities.
1957: It wasn't until 1957 that Philip was formerly made a British prince. That same year, he completed a round the world tour aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Here he is feeding penguins during a visit to the Antarctic.
1958: Here, Prince Philip is handing a pen back to Levi Milley after signing an autograph. Milley was one of 12 men who survived nearly a week trapped in a mine in SpringHill, Nova Scotia in 1958.
1959: Philip and Elizabeth's children grew up meeting some of the world's most powerful leaders. President Eisenhower visited Balmoral Castle in 1959, where he was photographed patting Princess Anne on the shoulder as her father looked on proudly.
1960: Prince Andrew, the couple's third child, was born in 1960. In this photo, he laughs as he holds hands with his father, Prince Philip, and his sister, Princess Anne, during their summer holiday at Balmoral Castle.
1961: The royal couple made their first visit to the Taj Mahal in India in January 1961. He also became UK President of the World Wildlife Fund the same year.
1962: The Royals have been a regular fixture at Ascot, one of the biggest events in Britain's horse racing calendar.
1963: In 1963, the couple went on a three-month tour of Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand.
1964: People often don't realize that the royal is also a qualified pilot, having racked up nearly 6,000 flying hours over the past five decades. He's also the patron of the Guild of Air Pilots.
1965: Philip attended the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, along with fellow British royals and dignitaries from overseas.
1966: The Queen and her husband visited St. Lucia in 1966. This was also the year he famously proclaimed "British women can't cook."
Source: The Telegraph
1967: The following year, he made an equally dubious gaffe. When asked whether he would like to visit the Soviet Union, he replied: "I would like to go to Russia very much, although the bastards murdered half my family." This is a reference to his German heritage.
1968: Britain celebrated the 50th anniversary of the formation of the RA Fin style. Here, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip ride past a number of Bloodhound missiles on display during their visit to the Royal Air Force Base at Abington, England.
1969: Prince Philip joined a patient's group therapy session when he visited the National Addiction and Research Institute in Chelsea, London. The prince spent 20 minutes with the patients discussing their problems.
1970: Queen Elizabeth II read her speech in the House of Lords alongside her husband for the State Opening of Parliament in 1970.
1971: The late Sir Roger Moore met the Duke of Edinburgh at an auction dinner in aid of the Variety Club of Great Britain, at the Savoy Hotel in 1971.
1972: In 1972, Philip and Elizabeth travelled to France and took part in remembrance services.
1973: Prince Philip talked to his wife before the new Sydney Opera House complex. Left is Frank Barnes., General Manager of the Opera House and right is Sir Roden Cutler, Governor of New South Wales.
1974: He received a traditional Maori welcome when he arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, to open the 10th Commonwealth Games. In this ancient Maori challenge, the feather is thrown at the feet of the Duke, with the chant, "do you come as friend or foe," by picking up the feather the Duke was accepted and welcomed.
1975: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are greeted by Emperor Hirohito of Japan at the entrance of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on May 7, 1975.
1976: The royal couple laughed as the young girl stood next to them was reluctant to hand over a bouquet of flowers during their royal visit to Luxembourg.
1977: This photo captures Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth waving at a low-flying Concorde as it passed the Royal Yacht Britannia near Barbados. The iconic passenger jet could fly faster than the speed of sound but made its last flight in 2003 due to soaring costs.
1978: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were followed by their sons Prince Andrew, left, and Prince Edward, as they entered the stadium before the start of the 11th Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada.
1979: This family photo was taken in the ground of Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Elizabeth and Philip were joined by their sons (l-r) Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, and Prince Edward.
1980: The Royals made a historic visit to meet Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in October 1980. It was the first state visit to the Vatican by a British monarch.
1981: Philip's first son, Prince Charles, married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. An estimated 750 million people watched the ceremony worldwide. Below is the official wedding portrait. Philip can be seen standing next to Diana.
1982: The Queen looked surprised after her husband, Prince Philip, pointed that they should be going another way as they drove through the crowd of athletes and officials during the Closing Ceremony of the 12th Commonwealth Games. The crowd forced them to make another lap around the stadium.
1983: The couple has met every sitting US president — bar Lyndon B. Johnson — since Elizabeth ascended to the throne. Here they're pictured with former President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan in San Francisco.
1984: The Royal family, along with Lord Spencer, attended Prince Harry's Christening in December 1984.
1985: The Queen, Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal, Princes William and Harry, and the Earl of Wessex at the Trooping the Colour.
1986: The couple paid a state visit to China, making the Queen the first British monarch to ever do so.
1987: Philip held a news conference in Washington D.C. in May 1987, to announce a World Wildlife Fund Campaign to end illegal wildlife trade. The global organisation has also named an award after him — The Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award — which recognizes "highly meritorious contributions to the conservation of wildlife and natural resources."
1988: Prince Philip was greeted by children of the British School in Holland. He was visiting the Netherlands for the celebration of the 300th Anniversary of the Glorious Revolution, when Prince William III of Holland ousted King James II from the English family.
1989: Philip was greeted by a worshipper at St. Mary's Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur after he stepped in for the queen who was unable to attend the service because of a chill. In the background is a plaque in honour of the royal couple.
1990: The prince had the honour of delivering the Rafael M. Salas Lecture at the United Nations' headquarters in New York. Named in honour of Mrs. Salas' — pictured below— late husband, Rafael was the first head of the United Nations Population Fund.
1991: President George H. Bush escorted Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on the field at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, before the Orioles played the Oakland A's. This was the first baseball game the monarch had ever watched.
1992: Here, Prince Philip emerges from the channel tunnel near Calais, France, after becoming the first member of the royal family to use the rail line connecting England and France — one year before it welcomed its first fare-paying passenger.
1993: The Duke of Edinburgh chats with Diana, Princess of Wales, at a banquet he is hosting in honour of the Queen, at the Dorchester Hotel, London.
1994: This was the first ever visit to Israel by a member of the royal family. Philip flew to the country to participate in a ceremony honouring his mother for saving Greek Jews during WWII. In this photo, Prince Philip jokes with British veterans.
1995: Queen Elizabeth II looks up toward the sky as Prince Philip, left, and Prince Charles look on during memorial services to mark the 50th anniversary of VJ Day in London on August 19.
1996: Prince Philip caused outrage across the country on December 18, particularly in Dublin, the scene of that year's primary school massacre, when he suggested that cricket bats were potentially just as dangerous as guns.
1997: Philip and his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, walk through a sea of flowers left by the public outside Buckingham Palace in memory of Princess Diana, who was killed in a car crash in Paris in August that year.
1998: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip greet Tony Blair and his wife Cherie at Buckingham Palace in London on the second day of the Asia-Europe meeting. The three days of meetings were dominated by discussions on how the Asian economic crisis was being handled.
1999: The Queen and her husband were welcomed to Ghana by the sound of drums and reggae music, where they met the 13 regional chiefs and eight Queen Mothers of Ghana.
2000: Prince Philip bids farewell to Former President Nelson Mandela. Prince Philip and Prince Edward went to see young offenders enrolled in rehabilitation programs in South Africa.
2001: Jordan's Queen Rania smiled with Prince Philip during arrival ceremonies in Windsor. The King and Queen of Jordan were on an official State Visit to England at the time.
2002: A year of glorious highs and sad lows — The Queen celebrated her Golden Jubilee, it was also the year the Queen Mother passed away.
2003: Then-US President George W. Bush visited Britain with his wife Barbara in 2003. The couple can be seen walking with the royals along the west terrace of Buckingham Palace.
2004: A memorial fountain dedicated to the late Princess Diana was unveiled in Hyde Park, London. The House of Windsor buried the hatchet with the aristocratic family of Diana earlier that week, almost seven years after her brother savaged the royals in his funeral eulogy.
2005: A National Service of Remembrance was held for the Victims of the London Bombings at St. Paul's Cathedral in central London. The service, where candles were lit to represent the four sites in London bombed on July 7, was also attended by Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair.
2006: Prince Philip visited the Queen's Royal Hussars in Basra. He told the troops that most people in Britain had "a great deal of sympathy for those of you at the sharp end who are trying to do your best to make life civilized and tolerable for the locals."
2007: Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their diamond (60th) wedding anniversary. They marked the occasion with a special thanksgiving service held at Westminster Abbey.
2008: Prince Philip and France's then-first lady Carla Bruni laughed as they stood with Queen Elizabeth and French President Nicolas Sarkozy during a review of the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle in Windsor.
2009: Prince Philip speaks to well-wishers during his visit with Queen Elizabeth to Newcastle, northern England.
2010: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip attended the ninth inauguration of the General Synod at Westminster Abbey, with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
2011: Prince Philip has spent his life supporting veterans and the armed forces. Here, he talks with soldiers and their relatives of the 2 Close Support Battalion RE ME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) after the Operation Herrick Medal Parade at the Saint Barbara's Barracks in undefined, Lower Saxony. Some 150 soldiers were awarded for their deployment in Afghanistan.
2012: This brilliant photo captures Philip, Elizabeth, and Charles laughing as they watch the Braemer Gathering in Scotland as competitors participated in a sack race.
2013: Prince Philip was presented with New Zealand's highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, by his wife, Elizabeth, at Buckingham Palace in London. He also celebrated his 92nd birthday that year.
2014: The couple laughed after bidding farewell to the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina at Windsor Castle. The Irish President and his wife Sabina left Windsor at the end of a four day State Visit to Britain, during which they stayed at the castle as guests of her majesty.
2015: Philip played a vital role in saving Britain's engineering sector in the 1970s by creating a national engineering academy. He told the BBC in 2015 that after WWII, Britain was "completely skint — it seemed to me that the only way we were going to recover was through engineering."
Source: BBC
2016: The Duke of Edinburgh Award celebrated its 60 anniversary in 2016 — arguably the most successful venture of any current royal. The Queen also celebrated her 90th birthday in style with the Patron's Lunch street party, pictured below.
Source: The Telegraph
2017: After 65 years of public service, the prince retired from public life. Public appearances had become increasingly rare — but here he attends the annual garden party at the Palace of Hilarity's in Edinburgh.
2018: Though officially retired, Prince Philip has made appearances at a number of events in the past year. His grandson Prince Harry's wedding, for instance, was not something he was likely to miss.
Charles Clark contributed to an earlier version of this story.
source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/06/tech-prince-philip-turns-97-on-sunday_8.html
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Concussion in rugby: Brain expert calls for limit to contact training
Concussion in rugby: Brain expert calls for limit to contact training
Concussion in rugby: Brain expert calls for limit to contact training
The concussion rate in elite English rugby has risen for six straight years
Rugby should limit – or ban entirely – contact training sessions during the season to reduce the risk of brain injury, a leading concussion expert has said.
Consultant neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart believes the rates of concussion in the professional game are “unacceptably high” and the sport must change to keep its players safe.
English rugby’s latest annual injury audit showed concussion was the most reported injury for the sixth successive season in 2016-17, while more than one-third of all injuries were sustained during training.
The rate of concussion rose for the seventh year running, reaching a level of 20.9 concussions per 1,000 hours of match play.
Although there are inconsistencies in data collection between sports, that figure is higher than similar reported rates in boxing and means that, for every elite English rugby match, one player is expected to suffer a brain injury.
A March report found 20.9 concussions were sustained per 1,000 hours of match play in English professional rugby – roughly one per game
The report also found World Rugby’s heightened tackle sanctions for contact to the head had no effect on the frequency of concussion.
English rugby chiefs will now work with the global governing body to implement an eight-point plan designed to make the game safer.
Meanwhile, the concussion rate continues to rise, year on year, and nothing rugby’s powerbrokers have done to date has proved an effective method of slowing it down.
“I know some former professional players who looked forward to the weekend match because it gave them a rest,” Stewart told BBC Scotland. “During the week they were just getting destroyed.
“We’re talking about diagnosable, recognisable brain injuries – there’s more and more evidence coming that it’s not just the ones that produce symptoms that are the problem, it’s the cumulative effect of all the smaller ones as well, the ones that don’t necessarily produce symptoms.
Fraser Brown saw a specialist this year after sustaining multiple brain injuries
“If, during the week, instead of having several days of contact training with more and more impacts on top of each other, you do away with that, you’re going to phenomenally reduce the number of impacts over the season and that can’t be a bad thing.
“There’s a whole lot of unnecessary exposure. Professional rugby players don’t forget by Monday or Tuesday how to play rugby, how to tackle, how to go into a ruck.”
‘The injury risk is far too high’
Fatigue was widely blamed for England’s poor Six Nations campaign, with 12 of the squad that finished fifth having toured with the British and Irish Lions last summer, in addition to their club demands.
Players in Scotland and Ireland are centrally-contracted, with restrictions placed on the workload of internationalists.
“What was suggested for England’s performances during the Six Nations? They’d played too much rugby,” Stewart said.
Maro Itoje was one of 16 English players to tour with the 2017 British and Irish Lions
“Why were Ireland, Scotland successful? Perhaps better player management. The internationalists were protected.
“You get the best from the players over the season, but their careers should last longer as well. You can see players like Stuart Hogg lasting the course rather than having to pack it in early because they’re struggling.
“If you want to see the best players playing the best game for as long as possible then it’s sensible game management and sensible training management.
“That’s easy and, if World Rugby were serious about it, they would say, ‘This is a mandate from on-high, under World Rugby’s code, professional players must not do contact training during the season any more than one day a week, for example, or not at all’.
Stuart Hogg helped Scotland to three wins from five Six Nations matches this year
“World Rugby is responsible for the game. If leagues choose to ignore that, they are then culpable for what happens 10-20 years down the line. World Rugby can say it did what it could.
“The injury risk is far too high and we know players who are tired and who have got niggly injuries are at risk of further injury.
“So it may be that, by cutting back on contact time during the week, you actually reduce injuries in matches as well.”
‘Referees have an impossibly hard task’
In response to the English data, World Rugby appeared to lay the blame at the door of referees, suggesting RFU match officials had not policed their directive as stringently as demanded.
Former Scotland prop and qualified physician Dr Geoff Cross says today’s referees face a mountainous task in overseeing matches.
“There is a problem we want to be hard on – brain injury,” said Cross, who won 40 caps from 2009 to 2015. “Looking for someone to lay the failure of a policy or a plan on is not being hard on the problem – it’s being hard on the people.
On his Scotland debut in 2009, Cross knocked himself out in a collision with airborne Wales full-back Lee Byrne
“We need the people onside to be hard on the problem. That’s referees, players, officials in the governing bodies, managers.
“We can talk about conditioning, neck strength, tackle technique, law changes and how they are enforced by referees, who have an impossibly hard job, because there’s more to watch and catch than you can possibly have the attention and time to do.
“The important thing is to find a way to structure the laws so that the behaviour is as safe as it can be – safe behaviour is rewarded and dangerous behaviour doesn’t get a reward, so you stop doing it.”
World Rugby statement in response to Dr Stewart’s comments: “World Rugby and its unions are committed to an evidence-based approach to injury reduction at all levels of our sport, including the priority area of head injuries. We have implemented a number of education, management and prevention initiatives that are proven to be successful in further protecting players. These include the HIA, Graduated Return to Play and Tournament Player Welfare Standards at the elite level as well as lowering the acceptable height of the tackle, global education and the Activate warm-up programme across all levels of the game. Research highlights the importance of individual player load management in reducing injury risk in training and playing environments and we have previously outlined our view that everyone in the game should pay close consideration to this area.”
‘If in doubt, sit them out’
Scotland is the first nation to adopt uniform, cross-sport guidelines on managing brain injuries, which advise rest, then step-by-step rehabilitation.
Cross is a strong advocate of cultural change, urging players to take responsibility for their own wellbeing.
“The recent grassroots key message – if in doubt, sit them out – and an attempt to change the culture from ‘if you’re tough, you keep going when injured and play through’, to: ‘if you’re not able to play to the best of your ability and there are fit, capable, motivated people behind you, who you are preventing from getting on and contributing by not leaving the field, it’s entirely possible you are in fact harming the performance of the team’,” he said.
“That’s a very important point for professional rugby players to consider. The reason it’s particularly important with brain injury is because you’re not yourself once you’ve had a concussion and things you would normally do, how you would take further collisions, how you respond to things around you, aren’t the same.
“My suspicion is that’s truer for brain injury than it is for musculoskeletal injuries, which rugby players are a lot more comfortable with.”
‘It’s a very big and humble thing to ask’
How realistic, though, is expecting a player in the savage throes of a professional contest to willingly walk off – particularly while reeling from a potentially rationale-wrecking, sense-scrambling collision?
“I’ve certainly had that feeling: I’ll just give it ’til the next play, the next 10 minutes, ’til half-time, then I’ll decide,” Cross admits.
“I was fortunate in spite of that decision-making.
Cross (with beard) scored the second of his two Scotland tries against Tonga in 2014
“What can we do to encourage people? If someone is looking to play rugby for as long as possible, if you can demonstrate to them that there’s behaviour that shortens their career and leaves them with problems afterwards, they would listen to that.
“If you’re interested in the team’s performance, and there are people able to do a better job than you because they aren’t in an injured and vulnerable position, the decision is clear.
“That’s a very big and humble thing to ask. It’s possible and the game would be better if we could achieve that.”
‘I’d take the benefits and the memories’
There is an ever-lengthening list of players whose careers have been stalled or halted altogether by the effects of multiple brain injuries.
There are retired rugby men of Cross’s vintage who still grapple with the lingering toll of those blows, but many more who emerge from the game neurologically unscathed.
“If I was going into professional rugby now from school, on the balance of risk, I’d still want to do that,” Cross said.
Numerous international players have had their careers curtailed by injuries to the head and brain
“I’d take the cardiovascular benefits and the memories.
“The difficult question to ask me is what would it have to look like for me to say, ‘Actually, no thanks, it isn’t worth it anymore’?
“Right now, I don’t have an honest answer. That might be confessing some biases I have.
“The closest I could get to that was if I saw a regression in culture back to: ‘just be tough, don’t worry about tomorrow because you’re living for today’.
“You have one brain for your whole life and most people are intending life to last a long time. It’s worth having precautions and being careful with it.”
‘Rugby needs to change’
Stewart’s “gut feeling” is that the benefits Cross describes still outweigh the risks of brain injury, but insists the sport must do more to tackle the problem.
“There comes a point where you have to say this is not an acceptable level and rugby reached that point several years ago,” he said. “Rugby needs to change and cannot continue exposing people to a brain injury every match.
Dr Willie Stewart (left) was heavily involved in creating Scotland’s cross-sport concussion guidelines
“If we think of boxing being a sport people shy away from because of the risks of brain injury then we’re putting rugby in that league – that’s why it has to change.
“They’re getting better at spotting the injury but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the injuries are happening.
“The bottom line is, we think brain injury is a problem and may pose a long-term problem for people who participate in these sports. Wouldn’t it be better if we had the benefits and reduced the risks?”
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The UK General Election of 1964
Warning: This post contains a racial slur, quotes from racist letters to a local newspaper, and a description of racist rhetoric.
NB: This post draws heavily on the consummate scholarship of D E Butler and Anthony King's The General Election of 1964. If my dependence on their work feels like a limitation, then I have no defence. Their account of this event is masterful, and I highly recommend the book.
Update: This post was edited on 2017-10-18 to add more documentary evidence for my claims, and a brief assessment of the Conservative campaign, and on 2017-10-21, to embellish the section on Smethwick.
Front page of the Daily Mirror, Thursday 15 October, 1964. Above is a fascimile of a black-and-white tabloid frontpage. The headline is ‘LET’S ALL VOTE TODAY’ in huge letters. A subheading reads, ‘AND VOTE FOR OUR FUTURE!’ On the left, there is a close-up photograph of Harold Wilson looking serious and confident. On the right, there is a cartoon of Conservative MP Quintin Hogg grimacing inanely with a halo above his head. Beneath him, the text reads, ‘Let us show ‘HALO’ HOGG just how many of us are ‘Stark, staring bonkers!’ This comment refers to some choice words of Hogg’s about Labour voters during the campaign.
A bit of background for the uninitiated: the United Kingdom (UK) is a state, and arguably a nation, comprised of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. UK general elections select candidates for membership of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament from local geographic divisions called constituencies. Each constituency returns only one member: the one who receives the most votes. Candidates generally belong to a political party, and a party with a majority of 'seats' (that is, more than half of the members) in the Commons forms the Government. In this post, I will give a summary of the results of the 1964 UK General Election, discuss the main events of the campaign, and focus on the election in the constituency of Smethwick, where extensive use of racist rhetoric around immigration produced a notable result.
The election took place on Thursday, October 15th. That evening, Harold Wilson's political secretary, Marcia Williams, bet that the incumbent Conservative Government would survive with a small majority.1 In the event, the competition was close, and the final outcome only became clear very late, on the afternoon of Friday the 16th. For much of the night, the results suggested a considerable swing to Labour, but this diminished over time, and the party suffered significant disappointments on the second day. The party only received confirmation of its majority with the result from Brecon and Radnor, a huge rural constituency in central Wales, at 2.47pm on Friday.2 It was not until 3.50pm that Wilson was politely invited to Buckingham Palace. At 4pm, he went to see the Queen and gain permission to form a Government.3
Image by Mirrorme22. Retrieved from Wikipedia on 2017-09-18. Above is a cartographic representation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, divided up into House of Commons electoral consituencies as used in the General Election of 1964. Each constituency is coloured with the official colour of the party which won there. Labour is red, the Conservatives are blue, and the Liberals are yellow. The map is mostly blue, as the Conservatives tended to win in the larger, rural constituencies, but the winner is Labour, which has won the urban areas of London, central Scotland, Tyneside, most of Wales, and a vast crescent of constituencies stretching from Birmingham, through Coventry, Derby, and Leicester, to the Northern industrial conurbations. Northern Ireland is entirely Conservative. The Liberals have won only nine seats, mostly in the far reaches of Scotland.
Parliament returned 630 MPs. By convention, the Speaker does not vote, meaning that only 629 seats were politicised. At the final count, Labour had 317 seats. This gave them an working majority of only five MPs, although the prospects of Liberal-Conservative cooperation were low, making defeat a less immediate threat. Labour had had traumatic previous experience of a small majority in the 1950-51 Parliament, when that administration had been tired and divided. Now the party had momentum, but it was clear to the leadership that another election would be required soon to cement the new Government's position.4
For Labour, the picture was mixed. Their 317 seats were garnered from only 12,205,814 votes, their lowest count since 1945. Turnout had decreased slightly to 77.1%, from 78.7% in 1959, but this was actually up from 1945's 73.3%, and the total number of votes cast was not much lower than at previous elections. Labour only managed 44.1% of the vote, which was up from 43.8% in 1959, but significantly less than its victory in 1945, and its losing results in 1951 (when it reached an all-time high of 48.8%) and 1955.5 Wilson had won, but only by a slim margin against a discredited regime with elderly and aristocratic leadership. Notably, Labour’s new MP for Buckingham was a Czechoslovakian-born businessman named Robert Maxwell.
The Conservatives also had their worst outcome since 1945. They won 12,000,396 votes, 43.4% of those cast. Thus the most startling result nationally was the diminution of the party duopoly which had been unassailable since the War. This was most visible in the performance of the Liberal Party, whose vote swole to 3,092,878, some 11.2%.6 This was their best result by vote share since 1929, although they had had more seats until 1950. They came second in 54 seats, which was up from 27 in 1959.7
The General Election gains and losses are updated on the scoreboard at the Labour Party HQ in Transport House, Westminster, back in 1964. Unsourced. Retrieved from BT Pictures on 2017-10-16. Above is a black-and-white landscape photograph of a large, old-fashioned election scoreboard, on which results are displayed manually, by moving paper cards around. A young woman on the right, in a smart chequed suit jacket, smiles as she adjusts Labour's net gain total. The photograph was taken very late on election night. So far, 124 results have been declared. Labour has 74 seats, the Conservatives have 49, and the Liberals have only one. So far, Labour has made twelve net gains. This trend was to continue into the morning.
As a consequence of uncertainty about the timing of the election, the campaign had been long. The popularity of the Conservative Government began eroding in 1961, when the Chancellor, Selwyn Lloyd, had introduced controversial measures designed to counter high inflation and a balance of payments deficit, including a 'pay pause' for wages.8 With inflation above 3%, the pause was in real terms a cut. The unions refused to cooperate, and drew public favour. After thirteen years of Tory rule, voters now rushed to support a more progressive vision of politics, from a party which had long been out of vogue. But their movement was not, at least initially, to Labour. Instead, it was the Liberal Party who performed handsomely at several by-elections, and rose from 8% to 20% in the polls.9 In March 1962, the Liberals stole the safe seat of Orpington from the Conservatives, and gained a 7,000 vote majority.10 Support for the Conservatives collapsed from 46.5% in early 1961, to below 35% halfway through 1962. It was in this context that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had sacked seven Cabinet ministers in one day in July, in the so-called 'Night of the Long Knives'. His new Chancellor, Reginald Maudling, drastically reversed Lloyd's policy by offering an expansionary budget in 1963 in order to stimulate growth. Production increased and unemployment fell, but it was a temporary fix; the budget required that £58 million be drawn from official reserves, and an unsustainable gap in the balance of payments now began to grow.11 12
In January 1963, French President Charles de Gaulle indicated that he would veto Macmillan's application for Britain to join the EEC, and Labour's leader, Hugh Gaitskell, died suddenly. In February, unemployment, which had been consistently low since 1947, reached 3.9%. Labour, now led by Wilson, was beating the Conservatives by some 15% in Gallup polling. It had averaged 43% support in 1962, but achieved 49.5% over the following year, as the Vassall, Profumo, and Philby revelations followed.13 His reputation in tatters, Macmillan resigned soon after, though officially on grounds of ill health, and was replaced by Alec Douglas-Home in the traditional Conservative way, under advisement from his predecessor, and without democratic input.14
Alec Douglas-Home on a day of shooting in 1964. Photograph unsourced. Retrieved from the Daily Mail on 2017-10-16. Above is a black-and-white portrait photograph of a slender, white, middle-aged man on a country estate, in plus-fours and shooting jacket, with a huge shotgun slung over his arm. It is Conservative Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home.
Labour's campaign was focussed around the personality of Wilson. Soon after his election as leader, he flew off to see world leaders, and appeased his party's flanks by criticising the Polaris programme as wasteful without committing to unilateral nuclear disarmament.15 During the campaign proper, he gave daily press conferences with himself as the star. He was noted for his wit in the House of Commons and in media appearances. He attempted to draw parallels between himself and the charisma and rising cultural liberalism of US President Kennedy, who he had met in spring, 1963,16 but according to Butler & King, his campaigning style was much closer to Theodore White's famous analysis of Richard Nixon's methods: solitary, demagogic, and consciously phased according to an intuitive rhythm only the leader understood.17 As in the 1959 election, when Labour had been dominated by Gaitskellite (i.e., Labour right-wing) revisionists, they made little mention of socialism, except insofar as it was being re-fashioned into technocracy, and no explicit attack on capital.18 Instead, Wilson stuck to his themes of efficiency and modernisation, and ridiculed the Tories for being out of date. Home, who had given up his title as the 14th Earl of Home to become an MP, was lambasted as 'an elegant anachronism', and 'the 14th Earl'. After photographs were published of Home grouse-hunting in woollen plus fours, Wilson relentlessly mocked his 'grouse moor conception' of statecraft. The Prime Minister didn't take this meekly. For him, Wilson was 'the 14th Mr Wilson' and a 'slick salesman of synthetic science'.19 Labour's manifesto, with its promises of greater social security spending, became 'a menu without prices'.20
British Labour politician Harold Wilson with his wife Mary, campaigning in South London, during the General Election, September 19, 1964. © Getty Images. Retrieved from Huffington Post on 2017-10-18. Above is a colour portrait photograph of a gathering outdoors. The camera points towards the sky. In the bottom of the frame, many people, including Mary Wilson, look towards Harold Wilson, speaking atop a plinth in the centre of the frame. He has a red rose in his buttonhole. He speaks into a microphone. The plinth is covered with a Labour poster of Wilson’s face.
The Conservative riposte, titled, in almost Wilsonian language, Prosperity with a Purpose, was launched on September 18th, 1964, but it announced few new ideas, and received lukewarm media attention. The Government hoped to be judged on the strength of its record in office.
Home's natural strength was foreign policy, and he made his main theme the nuclear deterrent, on which a Gallup poll found that public opinion sided with the Conservatives by 37% to Labour's 21%. But in the same poll, only 7% of those surveyed felt that defence was the most important issue of the election.21 Labour largely avoided the issue, although Clement Attlee was wheeled out for a television broadcast in which he claimed that his Foreign Secretary, Bevin, had never felt he needed the nuclear deterrent as backing in foreign negotiations, continuing, 'then of course Ernest Bevin was a great personality'. The clear implication was that Home was not.22
The Prime Minister's biggest problem was Wilson, who was coming to dominate the media. For this reason, he resisted invitations from Wilson and the BBC for a televised debate.23 His second biggest problem, the Secretary of State or Education and Science, Quintin Hogg (formerly a member of the House of Lords known as Hailsham), was less shy of media attention. At a meeting in Birmingham days after the Conservative manifesto launch, Hogg rather overstepped by comparing Wilson's economic planning strategy to a 'military operation', and insisted, 'demand for a military operation is the theme song of the dictator from time immemorial'.24 Just before the election, Hogg was to make another mistake, again at a public gathering. Answering a heckler who shouted, 'what about Profumo?', Hogg fumed, 'If you can tell me there are no adulterers on the front bench of the Labour Party you can talk to me about Profumo.' In Labour circles, this was taken, very hotly and with some embarrassment, as innuendo in reference to rumours of an affair between Marcia Williams and Harold Wilson. The rumours existed largely in elite press and political circles, and had never been published, except in oblique reference to a comment by Barbara Cartland in the Sunday Telegraph. Senior Labour figures believed that public accusations could blow up the whole campaign. Wilson defused the situation deftly, by implying to the press the next day that he had no need to respond, saying only, ‘one can naturally assume that the leader of Mr Hogg’s party will of course be making a statement.’25 The final word on Hogg went to Attlee: ‘it is time he grew up. He should know that when he has met with a rude interjection he does not lose his temper. […] Mr Hogg acted like a schoolboy. […] This man is a cabinet minister.’26
Cartoon by Cummings for the Daily Express on 1964-09-18. Retrieved from the British Cartoon Archive on 2017-10-02. Above is a black ink cartoon of senior Conservatives running to stop a colossal rocket-powered bomb from launching. The bomb has come loose from its moorings, and is ready to fire. It has been made to look like Conservative MP Quintin Hogg, and has Hog Bomb, with a large H, emblazoned on the front. Great puffs of hot air spurt from Hogg's mouth. Alec Douglas-Home and Rab Butler are grimacing and pointing to the rocket. Beside them, Reginald Maudling is throwing a lassoed lifesaver in vain. Together they shout, 'Good Heavens! Our Doomsday Weapon has broken loose!' Hogg was an effective anti-Labour mobiliser, but made himself a spectacle during the campaign, on account of his temper and unpredictability.
Even the reprisals of a well-loved elder statesman were not enough to stop Hogg. The following video was filmed at a press conference on the final Monday before the election, just after Hogg had dismissed the Liberals as an insignificance. In it, you can hear him celebrating the much-reviled recommendations of cuts to the railways made by Dr Beeching, pronouncing 'loss' apparently with an r in it, as only a reactionary, anachronistic aristocrat can, and calling Labour voters 'stark, staring bonkers':
youtube
Labour's front bench could err too. It emerged in the Sunday Express that the the Deputy Leader, George Brown, may have suggested that interest rates on mortgages be dropped flatly to 3% under a Labour Goverment. The Tories seized the opportunity, asking how much this new policy would cost. Labour was forced to issue climbdown statements, simply saying that they wanted to lower the cost of housing. The incident ended up being understated, but it followed feverish expectation of damaging outbursts from Brown in the press and the Conservative Party.27
Cartoon by Illingworth for the Daily Mail on 1964-09-21. Retrieved from the British Cartoon Archive on 2017-10-02. Above is a black ink cartoon of Alec Douglas-Home and Reginald Maudling smugly grinning from inside a building. They watch from the window as a blank and unknowing George Brown walks by with his coat and briefcase. Home is holding a newspaper. The headline is 'QUINTIN HOGG IS LABOUR'S SECRET WEAPON'. He looks over his reading glasses and says, 'AND IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, THERE GOES OURS'. If Hogg was embarrassing the Conservatives as a fulsome reactionary, Brown, a known alcoholic prone to emotional displays, was also a liability for Labour.
Wilson himself made only one significant gaffe in the whole campaign. With a fortnight left before the election, the motor component manufacturer Hardy Spicer was hit by industrial action. Uncalled stoppages at the plant endangered the production chain elsewhere in the automotive industry, suggesting that the Leader could not competently manage the unions. Labour was down slightly in the polls. Wilson suggested that the action may have been politically motivated, prompting mockery from the Government. Maudling memorably joked, 'I must say that's a rum one: Tory shop stewards sabotaging Mr Wilson's election! Really!'28 More broadly, criticisms were made of Wilson’s presidential style, and tendency to eclipse his senior colleagues on the Opposition front bench. He was characterised as a ‘one man band’ by his enemies in the press, but his supporters had grievances, too. Anthony Wedgwood Benn, at this time secret speechwriter and confidant to Wilson, grumbled in his diary just ten days before the election that 'he is certain that he is the one that is winning the campaign for us single-handed and I don't think he quite believes that he can be doing anything wrong.'29
Cartoon by Illingworth for the Daily Mail on 1964-09-29. Retrieved from the British Cartoon Archive on 2017-10-01. Above is a black ink cartoon of Harold Wilson clandestinely handing news of the Hardy Spicer strike to a dissheveled, quizzical George Brown. Wilson whispers, 'They're all in this Tory plot George - Hardy Spicers, Goldwater, Mao Tse-tung AND the Meteorological Office.' Wilson's suggestion that the Hardy Spicer action was conspiratorial drew much derision in the election campaign. Trade union officials are not known for their loyalty to the Conservative Party. Mao Tse-tung, the Communist Chinese premier, was frequently linked to conspiracy theories at the time. Barry Goldwater was the right-libertarian 1964 Republican candidate for the US Presidency, known for his virulent anti-union stance.
The Tories were in for more missteps. In an extended interview broadcast on the BBC, while discussing his proposal for a supplementary payment to older pensioners, Home called the payment a ‘donation’. Critics of the Government saw this slip as symptomatic of a wealthy, condescending elite which resented the less privileged.30 But perhaps the most decisive reason for the Conservatives’ loss was the most critical issue of the election: competence in the management of the economy. On the 30th of September, figures were released showing that the balance of payments deficit had ballooned to £73 million. The painful repercussions of Maudling’s gamble were now plain to see. Attempting to needle Labour on economic management, their traditional perceived weakness, Maudling’s predecessor Selwyn Lloyd insisted they promise not to devalue sterling to balance the deficit, as they had done in 1949. Lloyd claimed that in that year, Labour had been ‘faced by a similar crisis’.31 So a senior Tory, and a former Chancellor, conceded implicitly that Britain’s economy was now in crisis. It was a coup for Labour.
Despite the mistakes and the national narrative of loss, there were victories for the Tories in the election. In several constituencies, they diminished Labour’s majority, or defeated them completely. In Eton and Slough a 0.1% majority for Labour became a 0.1% majority for the Conservatives. In Birmingham Perry Bar, Labour lost their 0.5% majority to a 0.8% Tory one. The Labour vote also diminished from a 5.4% to a 4.7% majority in Southall. But the most spectacular coup of all was the Tories’ unseating of a member of the Opposition front bench in Smethwick. Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker lost his majority of 9.4%, and the Tories won by 5.0%, or 1,774 votes. The reason for these apparently unexpected outcomes is simple to relate. Slough and Southall are on the suburban outskirts of West London, and Perry Bar and Smethwick are part of Birmingham. Greater London and the urbanised West Midlands were very densely populated areas, and they had the largest immigrant populations in Britain in 1964. In these constituencies, in the context of rising house prices and growing housing shortages, local Conservative candidates ran coded campaigns, often insinuating offensive slurs or alluding to stereotypes, and designed to appeal to racist white voters anxious about housing and poverty. It worked.32
Smethwick, which at the time was technically in Staffordshire, was a suburban town which employed workers in the metal-working and car part industries. By 1964 it had a major housing shortage, and many local residents had faced redundancies, contract terminations, or real-terms pay cuts, due to foundry closures.33; 34; 35 Smethwick had been represented in Parliament by Labour MP Oswald Mosley from 1926 to 1931, before his conversion to fascism. Smethwick contained an estimated 4,000 to 7,000 immigrants, who were mostly from India or the West Indies, and moved to Smethwick to work in the foundries.36 (In 2017, Birmingham is still home to a large Indian-descended Sikh population.) In the 1960s, growing racism had led to the institution of ‘colour bars’ (bans segregating the use of services by race) in pubs, societies, and shops in some areas. In Smethwick, the tendency was particularly strong, and local authorities had taken to charging double the normal deposit for renters of colour. Even a local Labour Club was operating a colour bar.37 In July 1961, 610 council tenants on Prince Street, Smethwick, had refused to pay their rents in protest at the routine housing of a Pakistani family in a new maisonette, after their previous house was demolished in slum clearances.38 39
The Conservative candidate for Smethwick was Peter Griffiths, a headmaster at a local primary school since 1962, who had been heavily involved in local politics before the election. He had become a councillor in 1956, and had run for the seat unsuccessfully in the 1959 General Election.40 His signature demands were a total ban on the immigration of unskilled workers, repatriation of people of colour who had been unemployed for six months, and segregation of schooling for immigrant children until they had reached an arbitrarily designed, ‘reasonable command of English’. Local feeling was deeply divided. According to the Times, the Smethwick Telephone, a local newspaper, gave over 1,650 column inches to the topic of immigration in 1963. The same report in the Times quoted two typical letters printed in the Telephone in that year:
With the advent of the pseudo-socialists' 'coloured friends' the incidence of T.B. in the area has risen to become one of the highest in the country. Can it be denied that the foul practice of spitting in public is a contributory factor?
And:
Why waste the ratepayers' money printing notices in five different languages ? People who behave worse than animals will not in the least be deterred by them.41
To those who had been paying attention, Griffiths' victory in the seat was no surprise: his campaigning, fed by this rhetoric, had recently brought the local council under the control of the Conservatives.42
Peter Griffths campaigning in Smethwick, 1964. © Express & Star, retrieved from The Telegraph on 2017-10-16. Above is a black-and-white landscape photograph of four white people laughing in front of a terrace of brick houses. On the left is a young, boyish man in a suit, wearing a suit and a rosette. The other three are much older women. The man is Peter Griffiths, Conservative candidate for Smethwick in 1964, a headmaster with a sideline in barely-masked racial hatred.
Griffiths’ style at political gatherings was notable. After claiming that he had actually intended to speak at the event on other issues, but was being forced to clarify his position by those attempting to discredit him, Griffiths would speak at length about 'immigration', a dogwhistle codeword used to disguise the speaker's racism, and advocate repatriation.43 He would earnestly protest that he was opposed only to squalor and violence against (white) women, leaving his audience to make the unspoken link between these iniquities and the presence of people of colour in the neighbourhood. Racist politics, in 1964 as now, are a matter of the greatest cowardice and cynicism. They are often communicated implicitly, or by allowing others to speak for you. Griffiths refused to condemn the slogan which became associated with his campaign: 'if you want a nigger for a neighbour - vote Labour.'44 In an interview with the Times in March 1964, he defended its use, saying, ‘I should think that is a manifestation of the popular feeling. I would not condemn anyone who said that. I would say that is how people see the situation in Smethwick. I fully understand the feelings of the people who say it. I would say it is exasperation, not fascism.’45
Patrick Gordon Walker, the Labour incumbent in the constituency, was an academic, and an advocate of closer relationships with other Commonwealth member states. He lived in the leafy and spacious Hampstead Garden Suburb, and had neglected his constituency in recent years. His image was very much that of the liberal elitist, and the local Labour party was complacent and disorganised. Rumours circulated in the constituency that he had married a black woman, or that he had married off his daughters to black men. His seat was ripe for the taking.46
In the end, Labour’s victory was slight, but it was still a victory. After being named Prime Minister, Wilson wasted no time. The first of his Cabinet appointments were announced that evening:
George Brown would be Minister for Economic Affairs, and First Secretary of State, to demonstrate his position as deputy to the Prime Minister;
James Callaghan was Chancellor of the Exchequer;
Patrick Gordon Walker became Foreign Secretary, even though he had lost his seat and was no longer an MP;
Denis Healey was now Defence Secretary;
and Herbert Bowden would be Leader of the House of Commons.47
Wilson had surrounded himself with rivals from the party's right wing. In this he had had little choice; the senior Cabinet positions were elected by the party. Privately, though, he was thinking of the future. In July, he had promised Wedgwood Benn a position as Postmaster General. But this was not a Cabinet role. He stressed that 'this was only for eighteen months.'48 This new Prime Minister, who had swept into Number 10 after not even two years as Leader of the Opposition, and defeated the most electorally successful Government in a century, was already planning his next date with the polls.
Harold Wilson toasts members of a working men's club in his constituency, in 1964. © Getty Images. Retrieved from BBC News on 2017-10-01. Above is a black-and-white landscape photograph. A group of people is applauding and cheering in a working mens' club. In the foreground, turned away from us, Harold Wilson raises a pint of bitter in celebration.
Defeat didn’t spell the end for Home. He would go on to serve again as Foreign Secretary throughout the four-year Heath administration. For the most part, he had found it impossible to compete with Wilson’s rambunctious campaigning, and he had been vulnerable to Labour’s caricature of the Tories as outdated gentleman amateurs. But there are those who defend his legacy. Douglas Hurd offers a flattering perspective in his short biography of Home. As he sees it, during the brief year of Home’s leadership, the Conservatives had climbed from oblivion in the polls, to fighting a very close race. They had moved on from several very damaging scandals. With his calm manner, Home, the honourable man, had gained ground on the scheming and cynical Wilson.49
Ben Pimlott, Harold Wilson (London: William Collins, 2016), p. 317. ↩︎
D E Butler and Anthony King, The British General Election of 1964 (London: Macmillian, 1965), p. 289. ↩︎
Pimlott, p. 318. ↩︎
ibid, p. 319. ↩︎
Butler and King, p. 303. ↩︎
ibid. ↩︎
ibid, pp. 293-4. ↩︎
Kenneth O'Morgan, Callaghan: A Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 192. ↩︎
Clive Ponting, Breach of Promise: Labour in Power 1964-1970 (London: Penguin, 1990), p. 13. ↩︎
Butler and King, pp. 13-6. ↩︎
O'Morgan, pp. 172-3. ↩︎
J. Foreman-Peck, 'Trade and the Balance of Payments, in The British Economy Since 1945, ed. N. F. R. Crafts and Nicholas Woodward (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 168. ↩︎
Butler and King, pp. 14-20. ↩︎
Ponting, p. 14. ↩︎
ibid, p. 11. ↩︎
Pimlott, pp. 282-5. ↩︎
Butler and King, p. 75. ↩︎
David Coates, The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975), p. 97. ↩︎
Butler and King, p. 23. ↩︎
ibid, p. 110. ↩︎
ibid, p. 129. ↩︎
ibid, p. 131. ↩︎
ibid, p. 95. ↩︎
ibid, p. 111. ↩︎
Pimlott, pp. 314-6. ↩︎
Butler and King, p. 120. ↩︎
ibid, pp. 113-4. ↩︎
ibid, p. 115. ↩︎
Tony Benn, Out of the Wilderness: Diaries 1963-67 (London: Arrow Books, 1987), p. 150. ↩︎
Butler and King, pp. 112-3. ↩︎
ibid, pp. 116-7. ↩︎
A. W. Singham, ‘Appendix III: Immigration and the Election’, in Butler and King, pp. 360-1. ↩︎
The Times, Friday March 23 1962, p. 10, News in Brief: Workers Return (London: Times Newspapers, 1962) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1962-03-23/10/13.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. ↩︎
The Times, Friday March 24 1962, p. 5, Cyle Works Closing (London: Times Newspapers, 1962) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1962-03-24/5/4.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. ↩︎
The Times, Friday July 13 1962, p. 21, Improved Current Trends (London: Times Newspapers, 1962) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1962-03-24/5/4.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. ↩︎
Singham, p. 364. ↩︎
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Griffiths, Peter Harry Steve (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-16) http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/108299 [accessed 2017-10-21]. ↩︎
The Times, Thursday July 27 1961, p. 6, Smethwick Rent Strike Fails (London: Times Newspapers, 1961) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1961-07-27/6/11.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. This content is, unfortunately, behind a paywall, and can only be accessed by Times subscribers. ↩︎
The Telegraph, Peter Griffiths - obituary (London: Telegraph Media Group, 2013), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10479104/Peter-Griffiths-obituary.html [accessed 2017-10-19]. ↩︎
The Times, Monday March 9 1964, p. 6, Issue at Smethwick: Labour Accusation of Exploitation (London: Times Newspapers, 1964) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/page/1964-03-09/6.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. This content is, unfortunately, behind a paywall, and can only be accessed by Times subscribers. ↩︎
The Times, Monday July 24 1961, p. 10, Council “Will Stick to Guns” (London: Times Newspapers, 1961) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/page/1964-03-09/6.html [accessed 2017-10-21]. This content is, unfortunately, behind a paywall, and can only be accessed by Times subscribers. ↩︎
Singham, pp. 364-5. ↩︎
David Olusoga, Black and British (London: Macmillan, 2016), p. 512. ↩︎
BBC News, Powell's 'rivers of blood' legacy (BBC: London, 2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7343256.stm [accessed 2017-10-19]. ↩︎
The Times, Monday March 9 1964, p. 6. ↩︎
Butler and King, pp. 364-5. ↩︎
Ponting, pp. 15-6. ↩︎
Benn, p. 131. ↩︎
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Home, Alexander Frederick [Alec] Douglas- (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-16) http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/60455?docPos=1 [accessed 2017-10-21]. ↩︎
#harold wilson#uk general election 1964#alec douglas-home#quintin hogg#smethwick#1964#labour#conservatives#liberals#george brown#marcia williams
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Damian Green: A modernising Conservatism is the best way to give hope to every generation
Rt Hon Damian Green, First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office, speaking today at Conservative Party Conference in Manchester said:
(Check against delivery)
It’s good to be reminded that this is a Government with a purpose and a mission. To bring to all British people the Conservative principles of fairness, opportunity, pride in our country and openness to the world.
My role in this crusade is to make sure it happens. To show people in all parts of the UK, whatever their background, that we will help them succeed.
We can’t do it for them, because no Government can do that, but we will continue to build a country that allows them to make the most of themselves. That’s the Conservative way. That’s the Conservative dream.
At the Cabinet Office I am kept on the right road by a fabulous team. My ever diligent ministers Chris Skidmore and Caroline Nokes, our hard-working Parliamentary Private Secretaries James Morris and Will Quince, our all-seeing Whip Stuart Andrew, and in the Lords the most decent man in British politics, George Young.
The mission laid out by Theresa on her first day in office continues to be our defining purpose.
And we have so much to show for our hard work in Government since 2010
Under this Conservative Government, there are more people in work than ever before, and the lowest unemployment for forty years. Be proud.
Under this Conservative Government, 1.8 million more children are in good or outstanding schools. Be proud.
Under this Conservative Government, we are meeting the NATO target for defence spending, ensuring our Armed Forces have what they need to keep us safe. Be proud.
And, under this Conservative Government, 67 million children around the world have been immunized against preventable disease. Be proud.
So let’s be clear that when the Labour Party tries to paint us as unfeeling and hard-hearted, they are Britain’s biggest purveyor of fake news. We are helping more people into work than ever, allowing more mental health trained professionals to treat patients than ever, seeing more children from disadvantaged backgrounds go to university than ever.
That’s modern compassionate Conservatism in action, and Labour’s Twitter trolls can go and stick that in their timeline.
That’s why, even though the general election did not go as we hoped, the Conservatives did win the most votes and the most seats.
We remain in government, so we now have the chance to show once more that Conservative values and policies can work for those parts of the country, and parts of the population, who turned away from us in June.
Because our values are at the heart of this party and this government.
Values of fairness, of opportunity for all. Values that say to everyone in this brilliant country that if you work hard you will be rewarded. Values that say we must leave no one behind.
Unlike the Left we don’t define people as a member of a class, a race, or a group.
Instead we see everyone as a human-being with limitless potential, and believe it is the job of Government to help them realise that potential.
These values set out our mission as Conservatives. It means giving support from birth – by investing in our NHS and maternity services, and making sure every child has access to the best possible education.
It means giving support to young people to get the training and skills necessary to get a good job and helping those young people onto the housing ladder.
It means supporting people as they get older by sorting out the problems in social care.
We’ve seen how Labour can talk a good game at election time, but how in power, they always let their ideology take them too far.
Labour always promises to spend more, with money that miraculously never comes from your taxes. On the economy, they will promise more for health, education, the police, welfare, aid, roads, rail, housing, Christmas presents, birthday presents, free cakes at tea-time, and unicorns on demand. The British people were nearly conned last June. But we won’t get fooled again.
Conservatives take a balanced approach so we deal with our debts while keeping our economy strong.
At the same time we need to handle the most pressing policy challenge for decades – securing a good Brexit deal.
As the Prime Minister said in Florence, while we are leaving the EU, we are not leaving Europe. The UK has always – and will always – stand with its friends and allies in defence of our shared values, our security, stability and our prosperity.
We don’t need to become Norway or Canada, great countries though they are. We are the UK, so we want a unique and ambitious economic partnership based on our commitment to free trade and high standards.
We are optimistic and we will succeed. But the best way for both us and the European Union to thrive is to fulfil the potential of the partnership the PM set out last week. This way we can deliver prosperity and opportunity for people in Europe and here at home.
And by here at home I mean the whole United Kingdom. All four nations. As someone born in South Wales and representing a seat in Kent, I find it completely natural to be proud to be Welsh and proud to be British.
So in Scotland the great Ruth Davidson continues her work of fighting back against the tide of separatism. In Northern Ireland James Brokenshire is working tirelessly to restore devolved Government. And this party – the Conservative and Unionist Party – will always be committed to upholding the union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Every part of the United Kingdom is made better because it is part of the United Kingdom.
I have spent time in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast listening to people, not just politicians but businesses, universities, and charities, about the challenge of Brexit.
And can I say how impressed I have been by the job our Secretaries of State are doing in their respective nations.
Not just James but David Mundell in Scotland and Alun Cairns in Wales. They are all great champions for the UK.
Because Conservatives in all nations of the UK are also democrats. We respect the result of elections and referendums.
I respect the result of the Referendum that kept our voting system, unlike Vince Cable.
I respect the result of the Referendum that rejected Scottish separation—unlike Nicola Sturgeon.
I respect, though I campaigned the other way, the result of the Referendum on Brexit—unlike Keir Starmer.
I would have said unlike Jeremy Corbyn, but to be fair to Jeremy Corbyn, he is only in favour of staying in the EU on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or when there is an R in the month.
Of course, Brexit is a huge challenge facing us in the next two years, but it must not and will not take all of our attention.
We must also make a positive difference in people’s daily lives.
As the election showed, we need to show how we can give young people a stake in our society. Free market economies and democratic societies are by a mile the best way to spread prosperity, power, and hope for young people.
We won that argument once, but it was thirty years ago. We need to win it again, today, tomorrow and for the next thirty years.
We need to start at home. We are now looking at too many young people who no longer expect to own a house in their lifetime.
This is bad for them, bad for the stability of our society, and profoundly unconservative. So we will get to work building more houses and opening up the housing market.
We will meet our 2015 commitment to deliver a million homes by the end of 2020 and will deliver half-a-million more by the end of 2022.
For those renting we will ban unfair tenant fees, encourage landlords to offer longer tenancies, and crack down on unfair practices in leasehold, such as escalating ground rents.
We remain the only party committed to home ownership for the many, and we will demonstrate that in the coming years.
We also need a distinctive Conservative message is in our cities.
We have already achieved a huge amount with the creation of genuine local power centres through the directly-elected Mayors. When I fought Ken Livingstone in Brent East 25 years ago one of my most active activists was a keen young man called Andy Street, so I am thrilled for him and all the other Tory Mayors around the country, in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and Tees Valley.
Then we have our City Deals. I was in Edinburgh during the summer signing the latest of these. This will provide funding for new jobs, housing and infrastructure, and it will see the first new music venue for over 100 years, in one of Scotland’s, one of Britain’s, great cultural centres.
Initiatives like City Mayors and City Deals combine two essential Conservative principles.
First, that decisions should be taken as locally as is practical.
Secondly, that it is only through individual flair and ideas and freedoms that the dynamism of a great city comes about.
All the central planning in the world does not create a London or Manchester or Edinburgh – creative places where millions of disparate individuals find their own niche, and create new communities.
Building on this to create a new City Conservatism is one of the challenges of this party and this government.
Another is to develop an Industrial Strategy that gives hope to young workers that jobs will be available to them in tomorrow’s labour market.
Our record on job creation remains one of the most impressive and enduring achievements of successive Conservative governments.
Unemployment is at its lowest level for more than forty years, there are more women at work than ever before, and young people are significantly less likely to be unemployed than in most European countries.
Never forget that every Labour Government in history has left unemployment higher when it left office than it was when it came in. From Ramsey Macdonald to Gordon Brown, there is an unbroken, unsullied record of failure to create jobs. The country, especially young workers, has always needed the Conservatives to sort out Labour’s mess and it still does.
Because when we say that we want to sort out problems with excessive boardroom pay or energy prices, we do that because we are pro-business, and pro-competition. Conservatives want to stop abuses in business. Labour just wants to abuse business and business people. We want to reform business not because we are anti-business but because we are pro-business.
But we can only make our arguments persuasively if we tackle the real problems we face as well.
The terrible events at Grenfell are a stark demonstration that there are communities in the UK who have been so let down over the years by state institutions they feel they have no voice and are not being heard.
We need to tackle injustice and discrimination in our country.
This is why the Prime Minister has ordered an audit of race disparity in our public services. Why she has committed to end the stigma surrounding mental illness. And why we aim to get a million more disabled people into work in the next ten years.
These are practical social policies that will demonstrate that Conservatives care, and Conservatives act.
This is why we are in Government today, and why we need to remain in Government.
Not just for the good but negative reason that the alternative is a front operation for the hard left. A Labour party with MPs that abuse Prince Harry for his service in Afghanistan, and that tolerates an under-current of anti-semitism. There was a time when we needed to be warned about sounding nasty. I tell you there is still a nasty party in Britain in 2017 and it’s called the Labour Party.
But the country really needs a continuing Conservative Government for the better and more positive reason that a reforming, modernising Conservatism is the best way to give hope to every generation.
Let’s be bold, let’s be united, and show that only a Conservative Government can tackle the injustices in our society with practical action
Only a Conservative Government can create a dynamic economy with a global outlook.
Only a Conservative Government can build a country that works for everyone.
That is our goal, that is our mission, and with your help, we will achieve success.
ENDS
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British and Irish Lions tour 2017: All you need to know
(CNN)Four nations, one rugby team. One goal — to win a Test series against the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand.
The 2017 British and Irish Lions tour is approaching, one of the most anticipated events in world rugby.
It happens every four years, and the privileged players to be selected for this summer’s party are set to be announced Wednesday.
Find out all you need to know about the legendary Lions.
What are the British and Irish Lions?
The Lions is a composite squad formed every four years from the cream of players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
They rotate tours around the southern hemisphere’s big three rugby union nations — Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Lions concept grew out of combined British and Irish touring rugby sides from 1888.
For hordes of traveling fans dressed in the team’s replica red shirts, a Lions tour is a huge multinational jamboree.
Where are the Lions going in 2017?
New Zealand, land of the Long White Cloud. Land of the All Blacks.
The famous Kiwi side is the no.1 ranked team in the world and in 2015 became the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.
What soccer is to Brazil, rugby is to New Zealand.
Given the Lions is a scratch side coming together every four years, victory is hard to come by.
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In 11 Lions tours to New Zealand stretching back to 1904 (the first six tours were to both New Zealand and Australia), the visitors have triumphed once, a 2-1 victory in 1971.
On their last visit in 2005 the Lions suffered a 3-0 “blackwash.”
In all there have been 38 Tests between New Zealand and the Lions, with the Kiwis winning 29.
Four years ago in Australia, the Lions won the three-Test series 2-1, the first victory since 1997.
This time there will be seven warm-up games against provincial opposition and three Tests against the All Blacks, between June 3 and July 9.
See below for full fixture list.
READ: Hong Kong Sevens — rugby’s biggest party?
Squad
The squad of about 37 players will be named on April 19 in London. The identity of the captain will also be revealed by head coach Warren Gatland — the New Zealander is the Wales coach on a sabbatical for his second stint with the Lions.
Picking the make-up of the squad is the main challenge for the coach and his backroom team. How many players in each position do you take? How do you balance accusations of bias against different nationalities?
In 2005, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was in charge and picked 25 Englishmen in a giant 45-man squad. Gatland’s smaller squad for Australia in 2013 featured nine Englishmen, 15 Welshman, 10 from Ireland and three from Scotland.
Occasionally, some big-name players miss out.
Being selected for a Lions tour is one of the highest honors in the game. The ultimate is making the Test team.
“Well as far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest honor a British or Irish rugby player can get,” former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings told CNN.
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Hastings, widely considered one of Scotland’s best ever players, was part of two Lions tours: one victorious, one a narrow defeat.
“They were great experiences and you can look back at them with a lot of positive memories and for me that’s what it’s all about.
“I think it’s a recognition that you are one of the best players amongst your peers and the four home countries.
“You’ve got an ability and an opportunity to go down with the Lions and play one of the very best sides in the Southern hemisphere and try and win a test series. The challenge is massive.”
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson echoes Hastings’ comments, describing the Lions tour as a “mystical” event.
“It’s a very special thing — it doesn’t exist in most sports to have an amalgamated team of Great Britain and the whole of Ireland to go on a tour,” he told CNN.
“It’s very special, having the best of the best in any given period. Some guys make their name and they’re more famous as Lions than anything else so it is a great thing to do.
“They are part of the history of the game — real part of the history of the game, so it is very special.”
READ: Should slave-era song be used as sports chant?
Lions lore
How to turn four nations into one and forge a spirit of unity in a week before setting off on tour is the crux of the Lions. In the old days, a good old-fashioned knees-up did the job.
Before the successful 1997 tour to South Africa, which the Lions won 2-1, the squad frequented a local pub near their training base in Hampshire, England.
“That is what won us the series, that week before we got on the plane,” ex-England scrum-half and three-time Lion Matt Dawson told BBC Sport.
“It involved a couple of nights of just sitting in a room with a keg of beer, telling stories, and just getting to know players. That relationship just blossomed as the tour went on.”
Four years later, a more corporate approach to team building was in vogue. After a fitness boot camp, the Lions took part in dragon boat racing, high-wire assault courses, trust-building problem-solving exercises, and playing a variety of musical instruments in a pop-up band.
There were even deep discussion sessions where players were asked to bare their soul. Martyn Williams told of the death of his brother. Dawson discussed a recent relationship break-up.
In 2005, Woodward had his players paint pictures for a giant collage, and perform sketch shows in front of teammates.
Sharing rooms with players from other nations, players’ committees, drawing up codes of conduct known as “Lions laws,” and secondary roles such as entertainments officers also help break the ice.
Motivational speeches before big games and inspirational oratories from coaches help instill Lions lore.
Forwards coach Jim Telfer made a stirring speech in 1997 that is still remembered with reverence.
Among his gems were:
“Many are considered, few are chosen.”
“This is your Everest, boys.”
Head coach Ian McGeechan delivered an equally moving message before the second Test in Durban in 1997.
“You will meet each other in the street in 30 years’ time and there will just be a look and you’ll know just how special some days in your life are.”
Controversy
All part of the fun of a Lions tour is the tittle-tattle that accompanies the circus. It starts with the composition of the squad and is always bubbling in the background.
In theory, the Test team is selected based on form in the warm-up games, but look out for murmurs of discontent from some of the “dirttrackers,” the name given to the players destined only to feature against provincial opposition.
Being a “good tourist” is one of the character traits looked for when initial selection is on a knife-edge. Midweek captain Donal Lenihan’s “Doughnuts” in 1989 were an example of a midweek side who knuckled down, won their matches and admirably supported the Test team.
The 1993 dirt-trackers were reportedly less disciplined and “went off tour,” arguably to the detriment of the Test squad.
Modern attrition rates, however, mean injuries are more prevalent. Often the eventual Test team bears little resemblance to most people’ s picks before the tour.
In 2001, Dawson got into trouble for a newspaper column he wrote criticizing the regime which was published in the Daily Telegraph on the morning of the first Test. He was nearly sent home, although captain Martin Johnson said if Dawson went, he would go too.
Later in the tour, Austin Healey found himself in hot water with a ghost-written column laying into Australia and lock Justin Harrison, calling him a “plod” and a “plank.”
On the ill-fated New Zealand tour in 2005, one of the charges against Woodward was the decision to appoint former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell as communications manager.
Then there is the on-field controversy. Over the years there have been many incidents of home sides attempting to take out key Lions.
Notable examples include Australian Duncan McRae pummeling Ronan O’Gara, who needed 11 stitches in his face, in 2001 and the double spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll by All Blacks Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu in 2005.
The most notorious tales come from the 1974 tour to South Africa and the infamous “99” call, devised by Lions captain Willie John McBride.
The idea was that if one Lions player was on the receiving end of illegal brutality, the shout would be a signal for everyone else to join the fray.
According to McBride, it was only used once, in a bad-tempered midweek game against Eastern Province. The mayhem lasted seconds, but the Lions had made their point.
When word got out the myth grew. The message was that these guys were not to be messed with.
Even so, the third Test in Port Elizabeth was dubbed the “Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium” after a series of all-in brawls.
Lions in numbers
70,000 ($88,000) — The reported wage for playing on the 2017 Lions tour. Win bonuses for Test matches could take a player’s earnings for the six-week tour to close to 100,000 ($125,000).
17 — Most caps won by a British and Irish Lion, held by Ireland’s Willie John McBride on five tours between 1962-1974.
10 — Number of matches on the 2017 tour, including three Tests.
7 — The Lions will play in seven different cities against eight different opponents.
50,000 — Capacity of Auckland’s Eden Park, the host stadium for the first and third Tests and the midweek game against Auckland Blues.
37 — The All Blacks are on an unbeaten streak of 37 matches against any opposition at Eden Park stretching back to 1994.
4,600,000 — The population of New Zealand.
103,500 — the area, in square miles, of New Zealand spread across the north and south islands.
Fixtures in full
June 3 — Provincial Union XV v Lions — Toll Stadium, Whangarei
June 7 — Blues v Lions — Eden Park, Auckland
June 10 — Crusaders v Lions — AMI Stadium, Christchurch
June 13 — Highlanders v Lions — Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
June 17 — New Zealand Maori v Lions — International Stadium, Rotorua
June 20 — Chiefs v Lions — Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
June 24 — New Zealand v Lions — First Test, Eden Park, Auckland
June 27 — Hurricanes v Lions — Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 1 — New Zealand v Lions — Second Test, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 8 — New Zealand v Lions — Third Test, Eden Park, Auckland
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/06/28/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all-you-need-to-know/
from All of Beer http://allofbeer.blogspot.com/2017/06/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all.html
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France 35-22 Italy: Les Bleus remain unbeaten after bonus-point win against Italy
New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/france-35-22-italy-les-bleus-remain-unbeaten-after-bonus-point-win-against-italy/
France 35-22 Italy: Les Bleus remain unbeaten after bonus-point win against Italy
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Highlights: France score five tries to beat Italy
2020 Six Nations France: (23) 35 Tries:Thomas, Ollivon, Alldritt, Ntamack, SerinCons:Ntamack, JalibertPens:Ntamack 2 Italy: (10) 22 Tries:Minozzi, Zani, BelliniCons:Allan 2Pens:Allan
France are top of the Six Nations table after a bonus-point win despite a lacklustre second half against Italy.
The hosts started strongly with tries from Teddy Thomas and Charles Ollivon before Italy’s Matteo Minozzi scored.
A Tommaso Allan penalty cut France’s lead to three, but Gregory Alldritt went over just before the break.
Romain Ntamack’s try sealed the bonus point, before Italy’s Federico Zani scored and France’s Baptiste Serin finished off an individual effort.
Mattia Bellini added a consolation score for Italy, but France held on for a victory which sees them move to the top of the table on points difference from Ireland.
Fast start for France
France have not won the Six Nations since 2010, but their resurgence under new coach Fabien Galthie began with victory against England last weekend.
It looked as if it would be a more dominant win against Italy at the Stade de France as the hosts won a penalty in the third minute because of a high tackle and Ntamack claimed three points.
Shortly after, wing Thomas chased after Ntamack’s grubber kick and managed to get there before any Italian defenders, tapping the ball down for Les Bleus’ first try.
But French fly-half Ntamack missed the conversion and a subsequent penalty as Storm Ciara made her presence known with a swirling wind in Paris.
Scrum-half Antoine Dupont, so pivotal in the win against England, continued to stake an early claim on the Player of the Championship award as the 23-year-old broke through the Italian defence and captain Ollivon went over from close range.
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Ntamack scores bonus-point try for France
The tide briefly turned as Thomas came too far out of the French defensive line, leaving plenty of space for Italy wing Minozzi to score in the left corner.
Allan landed the conversion from the touchline, then added a penalty to cut France’s lead to three.
But Italy prop Giosue Zilocchi was caught off his feet, gifting Les Bleus a penalty in front of the posts, and Ntamack took the chance to extend his side’s advantage.
After more Italian indiscipline, France opted to kick to the corner and it proved to be the correct decision, with Dupont sending a long pass left to Alldritt, who had plenty of room to score.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Six Nations 2020: All the best bits from the second week
Inconsistencies begin to show after the break
After a slower start to the second half, it was Italy who had the first chance to get off the mark but Allan’s penalty kick went wide.
Then Ntamack breathed new life into the game, taking Thomas’ pass and scything through defenders to score the bonus-point try for France.
With victory seemingly sealed, the hosts appeared to lose concentration and Italy took advantage of their lack of focus as Zani went over from close range.
Replacement scrum-half Serin showed another glimpse of what France are capable of as he took a quick penalty, side-stepped a tackle and gathered his own kick to score.
Les Bleus’ defence looked to have improved under new coach Shaun Edwards last weekend, but inconsistencies began to show against Italy, giving the Azzurri one last chance to score through Bellini before full-time.
France, who are equal with Ireland on points but top the table on points difference, play Wales in Cardiff on 22 February, while Italy host Scotland earlier the same day.
Media playback is not supported on this device
‘Fantastic’ Dupont pass sets up France’s third try
‘It was frustrating’ – what they said
France lock Paul Willemse on BBC One:“It was frustrating at the end. We got the bonus point so are happy with that but there were a lot of errors, especially discipline which we need to fix as quickly as possible.
“The atmosphere is great in the team. We have a lot of young guys and have a plan we want to follow. It’s about building our own history and we’re starting to do that now.”
Italy captain Luca Bigi, also on BBC One:“We brought a performance and we showed how strong our attack can be. We scored a try with a driving maul and one in the last minute and we never give up.
“That is a positive we can bring to the next game and I’m so proud to be apart of this team. We conceded too many turnovers last week but we were better today. The effort we showed on the pitch was amazing.”
LINE-UPS
France:Bouthier; Thomas, Vincent, Fickou, Rattez; Ntamack, Dupont; Baille, Marchand, Haouas, Le Roux, Willemse, Cros, Ollivon (c), Alldritt.
Replacements:Mauvaka, Poirot, Bamba, Taofifenua, Palu, Woki, Serin, Jalibert.
Italy:Hayward; Bellini, Morisi, Canna, Minozzi; Allan, Braley; Lovotti, Bigi (c), Zilocchi, Zanni, Cannone, Polledri, Negri, Steyn.
Replacements:Zani, Fischetti, Riccioni, Budd, Ruzza, Licata, Palazzani, Bisegni.
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British and Irish Lions tour 2017: All you need to know
(CNN)Four nations, one rugby team. One goal — to win a Test series against the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand.
The 2017 British and Irish Lions tour is approaching, one of the most anticipated events in world rugby.
It happens every four years, and the privileged players to be selected for this summer’s party are set to be announced Wednesday.
Find out all you need to know about the legendary Lions.
What are the British and Irish Lions?
The Lions is a composite squad formed every four years from the cream of players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
They rotate tours around the southern hemisphere’s big three rugby union nations — Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Lions concept grew out of combined British and Irish touring rugby sides from 1888.
For hordes of traveling fans dressed in the team’s replica red shirts, a Lions tour is a huge multinational jamboree.
Where are the Lions going in 2017?
New Zealand, land of the Long White Cloud. Land of the All Blacks.
The famous Kiwi side is the no.1 ranked team in the world and in 2015 became the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.
What soccer is to Brazil, rugby is to New Zealand.
Given the Lions is a scratch side coming together every four years, victory is hard to come by.
Canada seals historic Singapore Sevens title
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
In 11 Lions tours to New Zealand stretching back to 1904 (the first six tours were to both New Zealand and Australia), the visitors have triumphed once, a 2-1 victory in 1971.
On their last visit in 2005 the Lions suffered a 3-0 “blackwash.”
In all there have been 38 Tests between New Zealand and the Lions, with the Kiwis winning 29.
Four years ago in Australia, the Lions won the three-Test series 2-1, the first victory since 1997.
This time there will be seven warm-up games against provincial opposition and three Tests against the All Blacks, between June 3 and July 9.
See below for full fixture list.
READ: Hong Kong Sevens — rugby’s biggest party?
Squad
The squad of about 37 players will be named on April 19 in London. The identity of the captain will also be revealed by head coach Warren Gatland — the New Zealander is the Wales coach on a sabbatical for his second stint with the Lions.
Picking the make-up of the squad is the main challenge for the coach and his backroom team. How many players in each position do you take? How do you balance accusations of bias against different nationalities?
In 2005, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was in charge and picked 25 Englishmen in a giant 45-man squad. Gatland’s smaller squad for Australia in 2013 featured nine Englishmen, 15 Welshman, 10 from Ireland and three from Scotland.
Occasionally, some big-name players miss out.
Being selected for a Lions tour is one of the highest honors in the game. The ultimate is making the Test team.
“Well as far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest honor a British or Irish rugby player can get,” former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings told CNN.
Waking the sleeping dragon of rugby in China
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
Hastings, widely considered one of Scotland’s best ever players, was part of two Lions tours: one victorious, one a narrow defeat.
“They were great experiences and you can look back at them with a lot of positive memories and for me that’s what it’s all about.
“I think it’s a recognition that you are one of the best players amongst your peers and the four home countries.
“You’ve got an ability and an opportunity to go down with the Lions and play one of the very best sides in the Southern hemisphere and try and win a test series. The challenge is massive.”
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson echoes Hastings’ comments, describing the Lions tour as a “mystical” event.
“It’s a very special thing — it doesn’t exist in most sports to have an amalgamated team of Great Britain and the whole of Ireland to go on a tour,” he told CNN.
“It’s very special, having the best of the best in any given period. Some guys make their name and they’re more famous as Lions than anything else so it is a great thing to do.
“They are part of the history of the game — real part of the history of the game, so it is very special.”
READ: Should slave-era song be used as sports chant?
Lions lore
How to turn four nations into one and forge a spirit of unity in a week before setting off on tour is the crux of the Lions. In the old days, a good old-fashioned knees-up did the job.
Before the successful 1997 tour to South Africa, which the Lions won 2-1, the squad frequented a local pub near their training base in Hampshire, England.
“That is what won us the series, that week before we got on the plane,” ex-England scrum-half and three-time Lion Matt Dawson told BBC Sport.
“It involved a couple of nights of just sitting in a room with a keg of beer, telling stories, and just getting to know players. That relationship just blossomed as the tour went on.”
Four years later, a more corporate approach to team building was in vogue. After a fitness boot camp, the Lions took part in dragon boat racing, high-wire assault courses, trust-building problem-solving exercises, and playing a variety of musical instruments in a pop-up band.
There were even deep discussion sessions where players were asked to bare their soul. Martyn Williams told of the death of his brother. Dawson discussed a recent relationship break-up.
In 2005, Woodward had his players paint pictures for a giant collage, and perform sketch shows in front of teammates.
Sharing rooms with players from other nations, players’ committees, drawing up codes of conduct known as “Lions laws,” and secondary roles such as entertainments officers also help break the ice.
Motivational speeches before big games and inspirational oratories from coaches help instill Lions lore.
Forwards coach Jim Telfer made a stirring speech in 1997 that is still remembered with reverence.
Among his gems were:
“Many are considered, few are chosen.”
“This is your Everest, boys.”
Head coach Ian McGeechan delivered an equally moving message before the second Test in Durban in 1997.
“You will meet each other in the street in 30 years’ time and there will just be a look and you’ll know just how special some days in your life are.”
Controversy
All part of the fun of a Lions tour is the tittle-tattle that accompanies the circus. It starts with the composition of the squad and is always bubbling in the background.
In theory, the Test team is selected based on form in the warm-up games, but look out for murmurs of discontent from some of the “dirttrackers,” the name given to the players destined only to feature against provincial opposition.
Being a “good tourist” is one of the character traits looked for when initial selection is on a knife-edge. Midweek captain Donal Lenihan’s “Doughnuts” in 1989 were an example of a midweek side who knuckled down, won their matches and admirably supported the Test team.
The 1993 dirt-trackers were reportedly less disciplined and “went off tour,” arguably to the detriment of the Test squad.
Modern attrition rates, however, mean injuries are more prevalent. Often the eventual Test team bears little resemblance to most people’ s picks before the tour.
In 2001, Dawson got into trouble for a newspaper column he wrote criticizing the regime which was published in the Daily Telegraph on the morning of the first Test. He was nearly sent home, although captain Martin Johnson said if Dawson went, he would go too.
Later in the tour, Austin Healey found himself in hot water with a ghost-written column laying into Australia and lock Justin Harrison, calling him a “plod” and a “plank.”
On the ill-fated New Zealand tour in 2005, one of the charges against Woodward was the decision to appoint former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell as communications manager.
Then there is the on-field controversy. Over the years there have been many incidents of home sides attempting to take out key Lions.
Notable examples include Australian Duncan McRae pummeling Ronan O’Gara, who needed 11 stitches in his face, in 2001 and the double spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll by All Blacks Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu in 2005.
The most notorious tales come from the 1974 tour to South Africa and the infamous “99” call, devised by Lions captain Willie John McBride.
The idea was that if one Lions player was on the receiving end of illegal brutality, the shout would be a signal for everyone else to join the fray.
According to McBride, it was only used once, in a bad-tempered midweek game against Eastern Province. The mayhem lasted seconds, but the Lions had made their point.
When word got out the myth grew. The message was that these guys were not to be messed with.
Even so, the third Test in Port Elizabeth was dubbed the “Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium” after a series of all-in brawls.
Lions in numbers
70,000 ($88,000) — The reported wage for playing on the 2017 Lions tour. Win bonuses for Test matches could take a player’s earnings for the six-week tour to close to 100,000 ($125,000).
17 — Most caps won by a British and Irish Lion, held by Ireland’s Willie John McBride on five tours between 1962-1974.
10 — Number of matches on the 2017 tour, including three Tests.
7 — The Lions will play in seven different cities against eight different opponents.
50,000 — Capacity of Auckland’s Eden Park, the host stadium for the first and third Tests and the midweek game against Auckland Blues.
37 — The All Blacks are on an unbeaten streak of 37 matches against any opposition at Eden Park stretching back to 1994.
4,600,000 — The population of New Zealand.
103,500 — the area, in square miles, of New Zealand spread across the north and south islands.
Fixtures in full
June 3 — Provincial Union XV v Lions — Toll Stadium, Whangarei
June 7 — Blues v Lions — Eden Park, Auckland
June 10 — Crusaders v Lions — AMI Stadium, Christchurch
June 13 — Highlanders v Lions — Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
June 17 — New Zealand Maori v Lions — International Stadium, Rotorua
June 20 — Chiefs v Lions — Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
June 24 — New Zealand v Lions — First Test, Eden Park, Auckland
June 27 — Hurricanes v Lions — Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 1 — New Zealand v Lions — Second Test, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 8 — New Zealand v Lions — Third Test, Eden Park, Auckland
from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/06/28/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all-you-need-to-know/
from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/162372928742
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Text
British and Irish Lions tour 2017: All you need to know
(CNN)Four nations, one rugby team. One goal — to win a Test series against the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand.
The 2017 British and Irish Lions tour is approaching, one of the most anticipated events in world rugby.
It happens every four years, and the privileged players to be selected for this summer’s party are set to be announced Wednesday.
Find out all you need to know about the legendary Lions.
What are the British and Irish Lions?
The Lions is a composite squad formed every four years from the cream of players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
They rotate tours around the southern hemisphere’s big three rugby union nations — Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Lions concept grew out of combined British and Irish touring rugby sides from 1888.
For hordes of traveling fans dressed in the team’s replica red shirts, a Lions tour is a huge multinational jamboree.
Where are the Lions going in 2017?
New Zealand, land of the Long White Cloud. Land of the All Blacks.
The famous Kiwi side is the no.1 ranked team in the world and in 2015 became the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.
What soccer is to Brazil, rugby is to New Zealand.
Given the Lions is a scratch side coming together every four years, victory is hard to come by.
Canada seals historic Singapore Sevens title
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
In 11 Lions tours to New Zealand stretching back to 1904 (the first six tours were to both New Zealand and Australia), the visitors have triumphed once, a 2-1 victory in 1971.
On their last visit in 2005 the Lions suffered a 3-0 “blackwash.”
In all there have been 38 Tests between New Zealand and the Lions, with the Kiwis winning 29.
Four years ago in Australia, the Lions won the three-Test series 2-1, the first victory since 1997.
This time there will be seven warm-up games against provincial opposition and three Tests against the All Blacks, between June 3 and July 9.
See below for full fixture list.
READ: Hong Kong Sevens — rugby’s biggest party?
Squad
The squad of about 37 players will be named on April 19 in London. The identity of the captain will also be revealed by head coach Warren Gatland — the New Zealander is the Wales coach on a sabbatical for his second stint with the Lions.
Picking the make-up of the squad is the main challenge for the coach and his backroom team. How many players in each position do you take? How do you balance accusations of bias against different nationalities?
In 2005, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was in charge and picked 25 Englishmen in a giant 45-man squad. Gatland’s smaller squad for Australia in 2013 featured nine Englishmen, 15 Welshman, 10 from Ireland and three from Scotland.
Occasionally, some big-name players miss out.
Being selected for a Lions tour is one of the highest honors in the game. The ultimate is making the Test team.
“Well as far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest honor a British or Irish rugby player can get,” former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings told CNN.
Waking the sleeping dragon of rugby in China
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
Hastings, widely considered one of Scotland’s best ever players, was part of two Lions tours: one victorious, one a narrow defeat.
“They were great experiences and you can look back at them with a lot of positive memories and for me that’s what it’s all about.
“I think it’s a recognition that you are one of the best players amongst your peers and the four home countries.
“You’ve got an ability and an opportunity to go down with the Lions and play one of the very best sides in the Southern hemisphere and try and win a test series. The challenge is massive.”
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson echoes Hastings’ comments, describing the Lions tour as a “mystical” event.
“It’s a very special thing — it doesn’t exist in most sports to have an amalgamated team of Great Britain and the whole of Ireland to go on a tour,” he told CNN.
“It’s very special, having the best of the best in any given period. Some guys make their name and they’re more famous as Lions than anything else so it is a great thing to do.
“They are part of the history of the game — real part of the history of the game, so it is very special.”
READ: Should slave-era song be used as sports chant?
Lions lore
How to turn four nations into one and forge a spirit of unity in a week before setting off on tour is the crux of the Lions. In the old days, a good old-fashioned knees-up did the job.
Before the successful 1997 tour to South Africa, which the Lions won 2-1, the squad frequented a local pub near their training base in Hampshire, England.
“That is what won us the series, that week before we got on the plane,” ex-England scrum-half and three-time Lion Matt Dawson told BBC Sport.
“It involved a couple of nights of just sitting in a room with a keg of beer, telling stories, and just getting to know players. That relationship just blossomed as the tour went on.”
Four years later, a more corporate approach to team building was in vogue. After a fitness boot camp, the Lions took part in dragon boat racing, high-wire assault courses, trust-building problem-solving exercises, and playing a variety of musical instruments in a pop-up band.
There were even deep discussion sessions where players were asked to bare their soul. Martyn Williams told of the death of his brother. Dawson discussed a recent relationship break-up.
In 2005, Woodward had his players paint pictures for a giant collage, and perform sketch shows in front of teammates.
Sharing rooms with players from other nations, players’ committees, drawing up codes of conduct known as “Lions laws,” and secondary roles such as entertainments officers also help break the ice.
Motivational speeches before big games and inspirational oratories from coaches help instill Lions lore.
Forwards coach Jim Telfer made a stirring speech in 1997 that is still remembered with reverence.
Among his gems were:
“Many are considered, few are chosen.”
“This is your Everest, boys.”
Head coach Ian McGeechan delivered an equally moving message before the second Test in Durban in 1997.
“You will meet each other in the street in 30 years’ time and there will just be a look and you’ll know just how special some days in your life are.”
Controversy
All part of the fun of a Lions tour is the tittle-tattle that accompanies the circus. It starts with the composition of the squad and is always bubbling in the background.
In theory, the Test team is selected based on form in the warm-up games, but look out for murmurs of discontent from some of the “dirttrackers,” the name given to the players destined only to feature against provincial opposition.
Being a “good tourist” is one of the character traits looked for when initial selection is on a knife-edge. Midweek captain Donal Lenihan’s “Doughnuts” in 1989 were an example of a midweek side who knuckled down, won their matches and admirably supported the Test team.
The 1993 dirt-trackers were reportedly less disciplined and “went off tour,” arguably to the detriment of the Test squad.
Modern attrition rates, however, mean injuries are more prevalent. Often the eventual Test team bears little resemblance to most people’ s picks before the tour.
In 2001, Dawson got into trouble for a newspaper column he wrote criticizing the regime which was published in the Daily Telegraph on the morning of the first Test. He was nearly sent home, although captain Martin Johnson said if Dawson went, he would go too.
Later in the tour, Austin Healey found himself in hot water with a ghost-written column laying into Australia and lock Justin Harrison, calling him a “plod” and a “plank.”
On the ill-fated New Zealand tour in 2005, one of the charges against Woodward was the decision to appoint former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell as communications manager.
Then there is the on-field controversy. Over the years there have been many incidents of home sides attempting to take out key Lions.
Notable examples include Australian Duncan McRae pummeling Ronan O’Gara, who needed 11 stitches in his face, in 2001 and the double spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll by All Blacks Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu in 2005.
The most notorious tales come from the 1974 tour to South Africa and the infamous “99” call, devised by Lions captain Willie John McBride.
The idea was that if one Lions player was on the receiving end of illegal brutality, the shout would be a signal for everyone else to join the fray.
According to McBride, it was only used once, in a bad-tempered midweek game against Eastern Province. The mayhem lasted seconds, but the Lions had made their point.
When word got out the myth grew. The message was that these guys were not to be messed with.
Even so, the third Test in Port Elizabeth was dubbed the “Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium” after a series of all-in brawls.
Lions in numbers
70,000 ($88,000) — The reported wage for playing on the 2017 Lions tour. Win bonuses for Test matches could take a player’s earnings for the six-week tour to close to 100,000 ($125,000).
17 — Most caps won by a British and Irish Lion, held by Ireland’s Willie John McBride on five tours between 1962-1974.
10 — Number of matches on the 2017 tour, including three Tests.
7 — The Lions will play in seven different cities against eight different opponents.
50,000 — Capacity of Auckland’s Eden Park, the host stadium for the first and third Tests and the midweek game against Auckland Blues.
37 — The All Blacks are on an unbeaten streak of 37 matches against any opposition at Eden Park stretching back to 1994.
4,600,000 — The population of New Zealand.
103,500 — the area, in square miles, of New Zealand spread across the north and south islands.
Fixtures in full
June 3 — Provincial Union XV v Lions — Toll Stadium, Whangarei
June 7 — Blues v Lions — Eden Park, Auckland
June 10 — Crusaders v Lions — AMI Stadium, Christchurch
June 13 — Highlanders v Lions — Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
June 17 — New Zealand Maori v Lions — International Stadium, Rotorua
June 20 — Chiefs v Lions — Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
June 24 — New Zealand v Lions — First Test, Eden Park, Auckland
June 27 — Hurricanes v Lions — Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 1 — New Zealand v Lions — Second Test, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 8 — New Zealand v Lions — Third Test, Eden Park, Auckland
Source: http://allofbeer.com/2017/06/28/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all-you-need-to-know/
from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all-you-need-to-know/
0 notes
Text
British and Irish Lions tour 2017: All you need to know
(CNN)Four nations, one rugby team. One goal — to win a Test series against the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand.
The 2017 British and Irish Lions tour is approaching, one of the most anticipated events in world rugby.
It happens every four years, and the privileged players to be selected for this summer’s party are set to be announced Wednesday.
Find out all you need to know about the legendary Lions.
What are the British and Irish Lions?
The Lions is a composite squad formed every four years from the cream of players from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
They rotate tours around the southern hemisphere’s big three rugby union nations — Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
The Lions concept grew out of combined British and Irish touring rugby sides from 1888.
For hordes of traveling fans dressed in the team’s replica red shirts, a Lions tour is a huge multinational jamboree.
Where are the Lions going in 2017?
New Zealand, land of the Long White Cloud. Land of the All Blacks.
The famous Kiwi side is the no.1 ranked team in the world and in 2015 became the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.
What soccer is to Brazil, rugby is to New Zealand.
Given the Lions is a scratch side coming together every four years, victory is hard to come by.
Canada seals historic Singapore Sevens title
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
In 11 Lions tours to New Zealand stretching back to 1904 (the first six tours were to both New Zealand and Australia), the visitors have triumphed once, a 2-1 victory in 1971.
On their last visit in 2005 the Lions suffered a 3-0 “blackwash.”
In all there have been 38 Tests between New Zealand and the Lions, with the Kiwis winning 29.
Four years ago in Australia, the Lions won the three-Test series 2-1, the first victory since 1997.
This time there will be seven warm-up games against provincial opposition and three Tests against the All Blacks, between June 3 and July 9.
See below for full fixture list.
READ: Hong Kong Sevens — rugby’s biggest party?
Squad
The squad of about 37 players will be named on April 19 in London. The identity of the captain will also be revealed by head coach Warren Gatland — the New Zealander is the Wales coach on a sabbatical for his second stint with the Lions.
Picking the make-up of the squad is the main challenge for the coach and his backroom team. How many players in each position do you take? How do you balance accusations of bias against different nationalities?
In 2005, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward was in charge and picked 25 Englishmen in a giant 45-man squad. Gatland’s smaller squad for Australia in 2013 featured nine Englishmen, 15 Welshman, 10 from Ireland and three from Scotland.
Occasionally, some big-name players miss out.
Being selected for a Lions tour is one of the highest honors in the game. The ultimate is making the Test team.
“Well as far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest honor a British or Irish rugby player can get,” former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings told CNN.
Waking the sleeping dragon of rugby in China
Replay
More Videos …
MUST WATCH
Hastings, widely considered one of Scotland’s best ever players, was part of two Lions tours: one victorious, one a narrow defeat.
“They were great experiences and you can look back at them with a lot of positive memories and for me that’s what it’s all about.
“I think it’s a recognition that you are one of the best players amongst your peers and the four home countries.
“You’ve got an ability and an opportunity to go down with the Lions and play one of the very best sides in the Southern hemisphere and try and win a test series. The challenge is massive.”
England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson echoes Hastings’ comments, describing the Lions tour as a “mystical” event.
“It’s a very special thing — it doesn’t exist in most sports to have an amalgamated team of Great Britain and the whole of Ireland to go on a tour,” he told CNN.
“It’s very special, having the best of the best in any given period. Some guys make their name and they’re more famous as Lions than anything else so it is a great thing to do.
“They are part of the history of the game — real part of the history of the game, so it is very special.”
READ: Should slave-era song be used as sports chant?
Lions lore
How to turn four nations into one and forge a spirit of unity in a week before setting off on tour is the crux of the Lions. In the old days, a good old-fashioned knees-up did the job.
Before the successful 1997 tour to South Africa, which the Lions won 2-1, the squad frequented a local pub near their training base in Hampshire, England.
“That is what won us the series, that week before we got on the plane,” ex-England scrum-half and three-time Lion Matt Dawson told BBC Sport.
“It involved a couple of nights of just sitting in a room with a keg of beer, telling stories, and just getting to know players. That relationship just blossomed as the tour went on.”
Four years later, a more corporate approach to team building was in vogue. After a fitness boot camp, the Lions took part in dragon boat racing, high-wire assault courses, trust-building problem-solving exercises, and playing a variety of musical instruments in a pop-up band.
There were even deep discussion sessions where players were asked to bare their soul. Martyn Williams told of the death of his brother. Dawson discussed a recent relationship break-up.
In 2005, Woodward had his players paint pictures for a giant collage, and perform sketch shows in front of teammates.
Sharing rooms with players from other nations, players’ committees, drawing up codes of conduct known as “Lions laws,” and secondary roles such as entertainments officers also help break the ice.
Motivational speeches before big games and inspirational oratories from coaches help instill Lions lore.
Forwards coach Jim Telfer made a stirring speech in 1997 that is still remembered with reverence.
Among his gems were:
“Many are considered, few are chosen.”
“This is your Everest, boys.”
Head coach Ian McGeechan delivered an equally moving message before the second Test in Durban in 1997.
“You will meet each other in the street in 30 years’ time and there will just be a look and you’ll know just how special some days in your life are.”
Controversy
All part of the fun of a Lions tour is the tittle-tattle that accompanies the circus. It starts with the composition of the squad and is always bubbling in the background.
In theory, the Test team is selected based on form in the warm-up games, but look out for murmurs of discontent from some of the “dirttrackers,” the name given to the players destined only to feature against provincial opposition.
Being a “good tourist” is one of the character traits looked for when initial selection is on a knife-edge. Midweek captain Donal Lenihan’s “Doughnuts” in 1989 were an example of a midweek side who knuckled down, won their matches and admirably supported the Test team.
The 1993 dirt-trackers were reportedly less disciplined and “went off tour,” arguably to the detriment of the Test squad.
Modern attrition rates, however, mean injuries are more prevalent. Often the eventual Test team bears little resemblance to most people’ s picks before the tour.
In 2001, Dawson got into trouble for a newspaper column he wrote criticizing the regime which was published in the Daily Telegraph on the morning of the first Test. He was nearly sent home, although captain Martin Johnson said if Dawson went, he would go too.
Later in the tour, Austin Healey found himself in hot water with a ghost-written column laying into Australia and lock Justin Harrison, calling him a “plod” and a “plank.”
On the ill-fated New Zealand tour in 2005, one of the charges against Woodward was the decision to appoint former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell as communications manager.
Then there is the on-field controversy. Over the years there have been many incidents of home sides attempting to take out key Lions.
Notable examples include Australian Duncan McRae pummeling Ronan O’Gara, who needed 11 stitches in his face, in 2001 and the double spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll by All Blacks Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu in 2005.
The most notorious tales come from the 1974 tour to South Africa and the infamous “99” call, devised by Lions captain Willie John McBride.
The idea was that if one Lions player was on the receiving end of illegal brutality, the shout would be a signal for everyone else to join the fray.
According to McBride, it was only used once, in a bad-tempered midweek game against Eastern Province. The mayhem lasted seconds, but the Lions had made their point.
When word got out the myth grew. The message was that these guys were not to be messed with.
Even so, the third Test in Port Elizabeth was dubbed the “Battle of Boet Erasmus Stadium” after a series of all-in brawls.
Lions in numbers
70,000 ($88,000) — The reported wage for playing on the 2017 Lions tour. Win bonuses for Test matches could take a player’s earnings for the six-week tour to close to 100,000 ($125,000).
17 — Most caps won by a British and Irish Lion, held by Ireland’s Willie John McBride on five tours between 1962-1974.
10 — Number of matches on the 2017 tour, including three Tests.
7 — The Lions will play in seven different cities against eight different opponents.
50,000 — Capacity of Auckland’s Eden Park, the host stadium for the first and third Tests and the midweek game against Auckland Blues.
37 — The All Blacks are on an unbeaten streak of 37 matches against any opposition at Eden Park stretching back to 1994.
4,600,000 — The population of New Zealand.
103,500 — the area, in square miles, of New Zealand spread across the north and south islands.
Fixtures in full
June 3 — Provincial Union XV v Lions — Toll Stadium, Whangarei
June 7 — Blues v Lions — Eden Park, Auckland
June 10 — Crusaders v Lions — AMI Stadium, Christchurch
June 13 — Highlanders v Lions — Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
June 17 — New Zealand Maori v Lions — International Stadium, Rotorua
June 20 — Chiefs v Lions — Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
June 24 — New Zealand v Lions — First Test, Eden Park, Auckland
June 27 — Hurricanes v Lions — Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 1 — New Zealand v Lions — Second Test, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
July 8 — New Zealand v Lions — Third Test, Eden Park, Auckland
from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/2017/06/28/british-and-irish-lions-tour-2017-all-you-need-to-know/
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