Real Coppering by Real Coppers?

The Celtic Sage is not the only one dismayed at the forces of Law and Order having lost their direction and is seemingly not the only one railing against closed police stations, call centre prioritisation and policing driven by political correctness and central targets. The middle classes have lost confidence in the police, a stark report has warned. They fear they have been alienated by a service which routinely targets ordinary people rather than serious criminals, simply to fill Government crime quotas. The attitude of some officers has also led to spiralling complaints about neglect of duty and rudeness. The report from the Civitas think-tank says incidents which would once have been ignored are now treated as crimes - including a case of children chalking a pavement.

Its author, journalist Harriet Sergeant, says she was also told of a student being arrested, held for five hours and cautioned for keeping a London Underground lift door open with his foot. The report warns that a generation of young people - the police's favourite soft targets - are being criminalised, putting their future prospects at risk. Some offences being prosecuted are now so minor that senior officers have even begun talks with the U.S. authorities to prevent such a "criminal record" stopping decent citizens obtaining a visa to cross the Atlantic.

One member of the public gave a telling comment;

"I live in an area of central London which the police have effectively abandoned, and despite being a high crime area, we have no CCTV on any of our streets and no community police. When I was the victim of crime, the police told me to move house. As if life is that simple. When I have attempted to report crimes they have told me to phone the council or passed the buck in some other way. However, I have a criminal record due to some extremely petty law enforcement which they were very happy to jump on and resulted in a punishment that far exceeded the crime and has limited my whole life from a work and travel perspective."


Harriet Sergeant

Meanwhile responses to crimes such as burglary are slow and statements given by victims of serious crime are often left lying idle for months, the report warns. An apparent emphasis on motoring crimes is another negative factor. Miss Sergeant warns: “The loss of public confidence is a serious matter. The police cannot police without the backing of society. Without trust and consensus it is very difficult and costly to maintain law and order.”

Her report says: “Complaints against the police have risen, with much of the increase coming from law-abiding, middle-class, middle-aged and retired people who no longer feel the police are on their side.” In 2006-7, there were 29,637 complaints - the most since records began 17 years ago.

Miss Sergeant said this was due in part to the law-abiding middle-classes becoming upset by the “rudeness and behaviour” of officers. The report details how officers are expected to reach a certain number of “sanction detections” a month by charging, cautioning or fining an “offender”. Arresting or fining someone for a trifling offence - such as a child stealing a Mars bar - is a good way of hitting the target and pleasing the Home Office. Amazingly, the chocolate theft ranks as highly as catching a killer. They also have to get their quota of “politically correct” crimes such as harassment, racial and domestic violent often pressurising unwilling complainants. Amazingly the Police Service have to report to the Home Office each month on an arcane set of 86 KPI's (Key Performance Indicators). Somebody should tell the jawless wonders in the Home Office that the key part of KPI is "Key"!

Miss Sergeant says performance-related bonuses of between £10,000 and £15,000 a year for police commanders depend partly on reaching such targets. This leads them to put pressure on frontline officers to make arrests for the most minor misdemeanours. Officers said at the end of a month, when there was pressure to hit the target for that period, they would pursue young men as the most likely “offenders”. Offences could include scrawling a name on a bus stop in felt-tip or playing ball games in the street. One officer was so concerned he told his teenage son to be careful at the end of each month.


The pamphlet, parts of which were serialised by the Daily Mail earlier this year, says the police themselves are angry at the way they have to “make fools of themselves”. There were high levels of 'bitterness and frustration' and the targets were 'bitterly resented'. One officer told how he was pressed to charge children playing with a tree with “harassment”. The same offence was used against a drunken student dancing in flowerbeds, who aimed a kick at a flower.

At the cost of £550 per household and rising there are two factors irritating the mugged masses:

1. Coppers chasing targets and looking to fill quotas. This allied with trying to make an impact by running “high visibility” operations which are hugely wasteful of resource but are designed to grab attention and create the appearance of "activity". Result no coppers on the streets, no neighbourhood policing, closed police stations and relying on automated penalising with speed cameras and the like.

2. The Justice Gap. Even when brought to book the retards laugh at the system. They get “community orders” which are laughable and breaches are not followed up, the Probation Service is overworked and can’t follow up as several recent murders and serious crimes have demonstrated, the Prosecution Service (which prioritises on targeting Naomi Campbell!) has 30% of cases failing because of bad paperwork or missing deadlines, fines are not collected from the great unwashed and if they get to Prison they get automatic remission and let out early and the main educational benefit is learn the trade from old lags! Result; there is now very little relationship between Crime and Punishment.

Save the St. Reatham One!

The St. Reatham One - 29 May 2008

The Celtic Sage has long cast a cold eye on the abusive behaviour of British Airways (BA) and the so called British Airports Authority (BAA) to the cattle (their expression is “self loading cargo”) who have to use their quasi monopolies which have been protected from full competition by cartel behaviour of various sorts. BAA is actually a front for a Spanish brick company called Ferrovial who overpaid with nearly £1 Bn of borrowed money for what it thought was a Cash Cow to find out it neither had the management skills or resources to husband it properly and this Cow would leave messy cow pats everywhere, particularly at the inept opening of Terminal 5 where the feisty Streatham One was caught up in the opening chaos. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/up-up-and-away-with-baa.html )
BAA has a dominant monopoly on airport capacity in the south of England and British Airways has a dominant position on slots from Heathrow which allows it to charge 30% more for an equivalent Business Class flight to New York than is available from Paris or Amsterdam. Yup, neither BA nor BAA need lessons in how to abuse customers or screw excess profits out of their cartels.

So the Celtic Sage is totally unsurprised at the behaviour of the Plods as the day after BAA reported its first quarterly loss and on the day British Airways announced increased fuel surcharges and that the rest of its flights won’t move to Terminal Five until October (thereby blocking its competitors from moving into Terminal 4) Supermodel Naomi Campbell was today charged with five offences over an alleged air rage incident at Heathrow. The charges, which include three offences of assaulting police, follow an incident last month when she was removed from a flight for Los Angeles after an alleged row over lost luggage.
(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/up-up-and-away-with-baa-no-2.html )

In fact British Airways and BAA were so bad that they have succeeded in generating sympathy for Naomi “Anger Management” Campbell who was led off one of their planes by Police called by BA staff after she paid £6,000 for a First Class fare to Los Angeles and BA lost one of her bags which contained an outfit for a memorial service she was attending.

The alleged incident occurred on a BA flight which was due to leave for Los Angeles from Terminal 5 on 3 April. Ms Campbell will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on 20 June, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Her lawyer, Simon Nicholls said she was "bitterly disappointed" to learn she will be prosecuted. He told reporters: "She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously."

The British Airways "First Experience" 3 April 2008

The CPS said Ms Campbell has been charged with three counts of assaulting a constable, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to £5,000. She also faces one count of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, which is punishable by a fine of up to £2,500, and two counts of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour towards cabin crew, which comes with a maximum penalty of £1,000.

Moments later, the Crown Prosecution Service formally announced the charges in a statement, saying: "The CPS has authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Naomi Campbell with five offences in relation to incidents that occurred on a stationary aircraft and within Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, London, on 3 April 2008. "Ms Campbell has today been charged with three offences of assaulting a constable, one offence of disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress and one offence of using threatening, abusive words or behaviour to cabin crew. "These are summary offences which can only be tried at a magistrates' court."

The alleged incident occurred after the supermodel was told by staff in the first-class cabin that one her bags had been lost. They told her that she would have to leave the flight, causing Campbell to allegedly respond with an angry tirade which led to police being called. Reports claimed she had yelled "a***holes. You are all a***holes" at police and described BA staff as "bloody fools" as she allegedly lashed out verbally and physically. Female staff reportedly collapsed in tears as the incident escalated. After armed officers arrived, she was eventually taken off the plane in handcuffs. Although there has been no official confirmation, BA is understood to have imposed a lifetime ban on Campbell.

Well there are two issues hear where you may feel we should be supporting the Streatham One as an unlikely martyr figure for passenger rights and protection of passengers from an expensive publicly funded Constabulary (You know the one you don’t see on the streets, who don’t respond to burglaries, who replaced Police Stations with call centres, etc;) which has abandoned its statutory independence to become attack dogs for an abusive Transport Industry.

1. Why did the Police (armed officers no less) feel they had to become involved in a civil dispute between a customer who paid £6,000 for a service and an inept airline which failed abysmally to deliver the promised service to Naomi Campbell. Now Naomi is feisty and the Celtic Sage is aware of her reputation with Irish lads (take a bow Adam Clayton from U2!) but did she really put burly armed Constables in flak jackets waving handcuffs and pepper sprays in fear? And exactly who was being harassed having paid a premium rate to get to Los Angeles for a memorial service (Note; generally, people are only buried / cremated once) to be told by the airline that SHE would have to leave the plane because THEY had lost a bag (Indeed they lost thousands of bags) SHE had entrusted to THEM for safe keeping!

We wuz scared, Your Honour!

Why do the Police feel able to use draconian security legislation applying to airports to intimidate passengers who simply want to go from A to B?

2. Why are ALL airline customers at such a disadvantage when airlines use unfair contract terms to ignore the clear contract to get them and their luggage from A to B. Here is what BA’s website promises all who pay through the nose for their “First Experience.”

• Effortless travel
• A queue-less, personalised and stress free environment to check in your baggage
• Choice and control
• “Your secluded “demi-cabin” guarantees space and privacy
• Continue relaxing within our arrivals lounge
• Our specially trained First crew will provide you with a discreet yet attentive service, ensuring that all your personal needs are taken care of.

Well you couldn’t make it up could you; you don’t need to be a Naomi Campbell to feel harassed at the gap between the marketing guff and the reality. Perhaps the St. Reatham One should consider suing British Airways for what the law terms “unjust enrichment” by promising a service it clearly was in no position to deliver. Just as she won a legal precedent against the media over privacy maybe she can now establish another legal precedent;that merely by buying an airline ticket and entering an airport we do not agree to abandon our Civil Rights and our Consumer Rights. It is worth noting that since Naomi was harassed and abused on the 3rd April 2008 the MD of Heathrow Airport and the two British Airways Directors most closely involved in the T5 Fiasco have been sacked and BA have confirmed tha 19,000 bags have been lost permanently. Strangely, the only person arrested as a result of the fiasco has neen Naomi Campbell. Surely it can't be a case of the PLODs and the Crown Prosecution Service translating the "Public Interest" into desperately seeking publicity? This is much of what passes for Policing and the Justice System in the UK today; High Visibility; Zero Substance.

And as for the Court appearance I look forward to the evidence of a lardy armed copper in flak jacket “Well your honour, I looked at this tall, unarmed, Jamaican IC3 with a loud voice, funny accent, threatening big hair and larger than average lips and I immediately felt apprehensive for my safety. I have been off sick with diagnosed Post Naomi Stress Syndrome (PNSS) ever since and have taken to beating my wife more than normal and messing up my overtime claim.” Hopefully Lenny Henry will be in court gathering material for his next sketch! It's an opportunity too good to miss Lenny!

All together now, FREE THE ST. REATHAM ONE!!

Daring Bush Returns From Egypt With Crystal Skull

Daring Bush Returns From Egypt With Crystal Skull

Fair Coppers?

Jan Berry - Blindin' Diamond Geezer?


Jacqui Smith - Right Bad Egg?

Regular Blogistas will know I’m not the current Home Secretary’s biggest fan but even I was driven to sympathise with her on the churlish Section House behaviour she received from the Coppers Protection League otherwise known as the Police Federation. Here was the snide introduction by the outgoing Secretary of the Federation, Jan Berry, who represents those blameless souls, the Constables of the United Kingdom who stay awake at night thinking of nothing else other than our well being and safety:

“At my first conference, I introduced the opportunity to ask questions of the Home Secretary. Although some Home Secretaries have subsequently regretted it – the session has been an important and healthy exchange of views. Home Secretary - I admire your courage. You didn’t have to come here today and I know conference will treat your office with the respect it warrants. I am sure when your Private Secretary reminded you of today’s event you felt like reaching for the nearest stab proof vest - and perhaps slipping into old habits and lighting up to calm your nerves…”

Now this is from the lady who is leader of the Police Federation, the organisation that represents those blameless souls, the rank and file police officers. Perhaps Jan Berry could tell us why it is that, no matter what outrages are committed against members of the public be it dying in police custody whilst officers make monkey noises or some lesser outrage her members are rarely found guilty of anything or disciplined. I would genuinely like to know, I have made no pre judgements, but it certainly raises the possibility that there is one law for the constabulary, and one for everyone else.

It may well be so that the police are overwhelmed by paperwork, although a recent documentary featuring undercover filming of the Leicestershire police force showed junior officers (presumably members of Ms Berry's organisation) wasting their own time, and using paperwork as an excuse to stay in the station rather than going out dealing with incidents. This kind of thing certainly suggests that some police officers think they are a law unto themselves. What is more worrying is that they are confident that the culture of the organisation will protect them. None of this, I am afraid, inspires confidence in the public or politicians. Ms Berry may be too young to remember why the police are deluged by paperwork and general bureaucracy. It stems from the realisation which dawned some thirty to forty years ago that some police officers were routinely corrupt, abused their powers and made up statements and other evidence. Indeed many of these incidents which led to PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) happened to involve Irish Terrorist defendants. The bent coppering which led to PACE had two effects, the innocent were imprisoned whilst the guilty were not and the “intelligence” leads which the police had were useless, making life more dangerous for all of us.

Community Copper

Should Ms Jan Berry or anyone else suggest ways in which these tendencies can be monitored and controlled without resort to massive paperwork and bureaucracy, then they should share their ideas as widely as possible. But it is within living memory that a Lord Justice of Appeal, Lord Denning, openly said it was better to send (Irish) defendants to jail than “open up the appalling vista” that the Police routinely fabricated evidence. Well the appalling vista was well and truly opened up and judging by conviction rates the Police are not coping too well with having to tell the truth.

Consider the appalling background to Crime and Policing in the UK set out by the pressure group “Police Reform” which Jacqui Smith and any Home Secretary would have to deal with;

“Crime is high by international and historical standards. The Government’s claims to have reduced crime are not borne out by reality. Substantially increased spending on the police has not been matched by corresponding reductions in crime, indicating that productivity has fallen and the public have received poor value for money. The fight against crime is a challenge for the whole criminal justice system and for society as a whole. But effective Policing has a vital role to play.”


A Patch - historic photo

“Crime today is almost ten times its level per 100,000 of the population than in 1950. People in England and Wales are the most likely to be victims of crime of any developed country, except only for Australia. The UK is the most burgled country in the European Union, with the highest levels of assault crime. The Government claims that crime measured by the British Crime Survey has fallen, yet the British Crime Survey massively underestimates crime. It covers only half of recorded crime and ignores murder, rape, fraud, crimes against under-16s, commercial crime including shoplifting, and crime where there is no direct victim such as drugs dealing. Estimates suggest the true figure of crime in England and Wales is roughly three times the level indicated by the British Crime Survey. Since 1997-98 total recorded crime has increased from 4.5 million to over 5.5 million crimes a year, an increase of approximately 22 per cent. The Government claims that changes in the way crime is recorded have caused this, but steep increases in crimes such as robbery and violence against the person cannot be explained by changes in the counting rules. Britain now spends more on law and order as a proportion of GDP than any other OECD country, nearly two-thirds of which goes to the police, costing each household in England and Wales £550 a year.”

It is not just that we spend so much on policing but we get so little for it due to the restrictive “Spanish Practices” of the Police Federation, although the Spanish will complain that they have moved on.

Richard Barnbrook BNP London Leader supporting Fair Coppers - 23rd January 2008

As police stations have closed and foot patrol has given way to modern policing methods, the police have become increasingly alienated from the public. The way to rebuild public confidence and tackle crime is to have police officers on the streets. But the reintroduction of community policing has been inadequate. Record numbers of police have not been reflected in officers on the beat, and key Government programmes such as promised Police Community Support Officers and the national non-emergency number have been scaled back.

It's a stressful job, innit?

What Jan Berry’s members have represented is the maintenance of restrictive practices and an inability to embrace change; a change the public clearly demands. Here are some of the restrictive practices the Federation maintains.

1. Rostered rest days; Police have to be given the days they are not working 9 months in advance. If they are then required on any of those days they receive 2 days off in lieu PLUS overtime. Last year the 127,000 police officers in the UK earned half a billon pounds overtime, that’s an average of over £4,000 each. Compare this to the £250 a head they claim they have lost under the staged wage award which was the reason the barracked Jacqui Smith at their conference.

2. Operational Feeding; Judging by the beefy rows of well upholstered police officers facing the Home Secretary at the Conference this policy is conspicuously successful. If they are on an “Op” away from their station “Nick” for over 4 hours they have to be fed a “substantial hot meal”, over 7 hours two hot meals. Of course the time they spend getting to the trough to consume their swill and the time spent consuming their ethnically inclusive “full English” is “operational time” charged to overtime. So at moments of great danger to the Nation TV crews are treated to the inspiring site of the Metropolitan Commissioner walking between long tables of Police Federation members consuming their entitlement. No army rations for Britain’s finest!

A Shout - great for overtime

3. 30 year pension window. Like the armed forces the Police have a hugely generous, publicly funded (that is to say unfunded!), final salary pension. Unlike the armed forces the Police Pension is hard to justify. Of course many don’t hang around to collect it for particular laxity is shown to “medical retirement” where they can retire early on “medical grounds” get their entitlement plus a “gift” of an extra 10 years. I personally know of one 42 year old inspector who had done 20 years (20 + 10 = 30!), took medical retirement for whiplash (sitting in his stationary car in a car park) and is running a security company despite his “reduced” health.

4. Archaic Disciplinary Procedures: At any one time 1 in 15 Police Officers are subject to criminal or disciplinary investigation or proceedings. I’ll give you the number, that’s over 19,000 officers who can’t be deployed effectively because their use is restricted. The proceedings are long winded and arcane and would take a book to outline but suffice to say the police don’t make co-operative subjects and are advised by the Federation to say nothing, agree nothing and sign nothing and contact the Federation’s solicitors for this restrictive cartel will defend it’s members good or bad. Contrast their advice to their members with how they would want the public to co-operate with Police “enquiries.” Even then they can bring any disciplinary enquiry to a shuddering halt merely by resigning. This “right” has been exercised twice up to Chief constable level in the past months (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/search/label/andy%20Hayman )

A Nick - Only one in 8 of those left are 24/7

5. Spend, spend, spend! We can take it as a given that the police are not very good at protecting us for the £550 each household it costs all of us but they are not very good at using the money when they are given it. Police Committee’s are an exercise in non-accountability where they exist and most forces don’t have qualified accountants in charge of their finances, as different criteria must have been used for recruitment in the past. Take the delicious fraud of “Lord Williams” as he styled himself in the Scottish village and estate he bought. He had a Scottish connection alright for he was Assistant Finance Director of Scotland Yard and he purloined £12.6 m from a “secret account” which was maintained to develop (wait for it!) a remote surveillance drone for the police. Or then recently Scotland Yard cancelled 1,450 credit cards which were being abused; I’ll give you the number again that is one third of the total credit cards issued or to put it another way, 5.6% of Metropolitan Police Officers could not account properly for their expenses. Hello! Hello! Hello!

6. I could go on, but one final point. The Police Federation has by agreement, officers working for it full time on the payroll of every force in the country paid for out of police budgets, over 100 police officers at last count. These Police Officers (such as Jan Berry) are, of course, unavailable for policing.Once again I'll give you the number, that's a direct subsidy from Public Funds of over £5 m for the Police Federation.

So I hope Jan Berry enjoyed her swan song and her cheap shots at Jacqui Smith but this should not give her false confidence that the Public are happy to keep paying premium rates for this increasingly slapstick and dated Police Pantomime.

The Death of Brian Keenan

Brian Keenan

The death through illness on the 21st May 2008 of a former Provisional IRA commander who masterminded the organisation’s bombing campaign in England has raised questions about the future of its “Army Council”. Brian “The Dog” Keenan, the son of a Royal Air Force member who grew to become the Provos’ “chief of staff”, was once described as the single biggest threat to the British State.

With Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams paying tribute at the funeral of Provisional IRA leader Brian Keenan in Belfast there are a couple of interesting points to note. First up the Independent’s David McKittrick on Keenan’s “paradoxical duality in that he first helped build up the organisation and then, decades later, helped shut it down.”

It was the combination of Keenan’s Libyan and English exploits that led Jonathan Powell, formerly Tony Blair’s chief-of-staff, to describe him in his recent autobiography as “at one stage the biggest single threat to the British state”. Keenan’s importance was further reflected in one writer’s assessment that he was “regarded by his friends and enemies alike as possessing the best organisational brain in the IRA”.

This is how IRA / Sinn Féin’s newspaper An Phoblacht spins the life of this IRA Mr. Big;

“Brian Keenan tells us, in his own words, about how the IRA sustained a heroic guerrilla campaign against one of the most powerful nations in the world for decades until a viable alternative for political progress was presented. And this leading exponent of the most successful IRA campaign since the 1920s has a message for those who cling to armed struggle as a principle rather than a tactic.”

Aficionados of the genre will note the passive weasel words; “... until a viable alternative for political progress was presented.” Let’s kill people until we have viability!

The Patriot Game

By 1977 Keenan was the IRA’s director of operations, responsible for the conduct of its operations in Britain and Europe, having masterminded the detonation of a 200lb landmine under the car of Sir Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British Ambassador to Ireland, six months earlier. The ambassador and a civil servant, Judith Cook, were killed instantly.

English cities came under severe assault from the IRA in the 1970s when Keenan was in charge. A warrant issued for his arrest in 1975 emerged from a visit he made to an IRA unit in London, where police were later able to find his fingerprints and handwriting. Four years later Keenan was arrested outside Banbridge, Co Down, and flown to England to face trial relating to the Balcombe Street Gang’s campaign of terror in England in the mid-1970s. At the time he was joint Chief of Staff of the Provos with Martin McGuinness.

He stood trial at the Old Bailey in 1980, defended by barrister Michael Mansfield, accused of organising the IRA’s bombing campaign and being implicated in the deaths of eight people including Ross McWhirter. He was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. Two days after his arrest Sir Richard Sykes, the British Ambassador to the Netherlands, was shot dead by an IRA unit. The IRA did not claim responsibility until after Keenan’s conviction. Sykes had been in charge of an internal inquiry into the murder of Ewart-Biggs, suggesting ways to tighten security.

Euston Station 1991

Keenan served a dozen years, emerging in 1993. Those killed by his unit included ordinary civilians who died in up to 50 bombing and shooting attacks on London railway stations, hotels, restaurants, pubs and other places designated by the IRA as “establishment targets”.

One of Keenan’s last public appearances was a year ago when he sat in the public gallery of the Stormont Parliament, accompanied by other members of the IRA’s Army Council and just a few feet away from Tony Blair, to watch Gerry Adams, his mentor, going through the formalities of power-sharing with Ian Paisley, the Nemesis of the Provos. By then the Provisional IRA had declared its war over, had decommissioned and its political wing was administering British rule in a part of Ireland. To talk of a life’s work left in ruins is an understatement.

On the occasion of this IRA hardman’s death it is perhaps appropriate for the sake of balance to consider those who cannot express a view as they themselves were killed by his activities or had their lives destroyed. And for what? Brian Keenan and Gerry and the Peacemakers half baked brand of crypto fascism which says we can bomb the unwilling and uninterested into a United Ireland where by magic everything will get better because we have killed and maimed all these people in the name of human happiness.

Canary Wharf 1996

And consider the “establishment” targets destroyed by these comic book patriots. The bomb in a litter bin on the 18th February 1991 at Victoria Station which killed a 33 year old civil servant with shrapnel through the heart, on 12th October 1992 the bomb in the Sussex Arms pub in Covent Garden which killed a 31 year old male nurse out for a drink with his friends, or on the 10th February 1996 the truck bomb at Canary Wharf which killed 2 Indian newsagents and injured 40 others. Establishment targets indeed! And consider those who suffered from the euphemistically titled “fundraising” which enabled Brian and Gerry and the Peacemakers pay for their comic strip patriotism. There was Thomas Niedermayer, the German managing director of Grundig’s Belfast factory where Brian Keenan once worked who was kidnapped for ransom and whose body has never been found. Of course Brian Keenan was not there that wet dark night at Greystones pier in Co. Wicklow some years later when his widow, still consumed with grief, walked off the end of the pier. He was however, in West Belfast when Grundig closed down with a loss of 900 jobs, but he wasn’t at Balinamore Wood in Co. Longford when the Army and Gardai rescued the kidnapped managing director of an Irish Supermarket chain but not before the fleeing IRA gang killed two 19 year olds, a rookie cop and soldier, as they broke out of the cordon. Nor did he know the girlfriend of one of them who worked for me who had a breakdown as her life and future were so cruelly destroyed.


Jean McConville and three of her children

Or there was Jean McConville, a 37 year old Catholic mother of 10, who was abducted from her home, St. Judes Walk, Divis, Belfast, around Xmas 1972 when Gerry Adams was commander of the “West Belfast Brigade”. She was accused of giving water to an injured British soldier. Her remains were eventually recovered, on general instructions from the IRA, buried at Shelling Hill beach, near Carlingford, Co. Louth, on 27 August 2003. Or there was the brother of a friend who had acted as a lookout at an IRA “fundraiser”, a bank robbery in Tramore, Co. Waterford in the Republic where a 34 year old father of 2 was shot dead for getting in the way of the fund raising patriots. Many years later when the ring leader got out of jail my friends brother was “lifted”, tortured and shot as an informer and his body dumped on a border road where it could not be recovered for 3 days (due to the possibility of bobby traps). The fact that he was in a bitter separation from his wife who was also in the so called Republican movement and had made totally unfounded (and disproved) abuse accusations surely didn’t influence the patriots who acted as judge, jury and executioners. I remember well my friends’ expression when he returned from identifying his brother’s body in Craigavon mortuary. And then there was my friend Peter Nesbitt. Peter was the most caring of people and this instinct led him to want to give something back to the community. This he did in two ways, one by being a leader in a Scout Group in Ballysillan on the edge of the Ardoyne which was run, despite the polarisation of the area, by mixed Protestant and Catholic friends and secondly by being a reserve Constable in the RUC, the police force. Peter used to really enjoy visiting us in Dublin as he could leave the Walther PPK revolver he had to carry everywhere in the North behind. He used to joke how tall Dublin policemen were saying it was too dangerous to be a tall policeman in the North. Peter died by being nearly blown in two by a litter bin bomb answering a false robbery call in the Ardoyne near where he lived with and looked after his elderly parents. He didn’t quiet get the respectful funeral afforded to Brian Keenan as on the day of his burial the IRA planted a bomb in the gate lodge of Roselawn cemetery in Belfast and his funeral cortege had to be kept in a British Army base for six hours before he could be buried. Some “legitimate” targets.


So as Brian Keenan is buried with the rites of Mother Church and is eulogised by Gerry Adams let us remember those who could not make it to his respectful obsequies: They are remembered on the Cain Index of violent deaths caused by the IRA and others who feel it is right to kill for “Freedom”.

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/index.html

Unbearable Lightness of Being

This DVD is now available extremely well priced on the “Warner Greats” catalogue and HMV have it for £3.00 in the shops and £2.99 on the web; an interesting pricing strategy! It is based on the best selling novel by Milan Kundera. In 1960s Czechoslovakia, Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), an oversexed Prague surgeon, marries Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a beautiful, waiflike country girl. Even though he has taken a vow of fidelity, Tomas continues his wanton womanising, notably with his mistress Sabina (Lena Olin). Escaping the 1968 Russian invasion of Prague by heading for Geneva, Switzerland, Sabina takes up with another man. Meanwhile, Tomas, who previously had been interested only in sex, becomes politicised by the fall of Dubcek and the collapse of the Czech leader's unique brand of limited democracy within the communist system.

Tereza and Tomas, Tomas and Sabina, Sabina and Franz, Franz and Marie-Claude; four people, four relationships which Kundera describes as the Quartet. Milan Kundera's masterful novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), tells the interlocking stories of these four relationships, with a primary focus on Tomas, a man torn between his love for Tereza, his wife, and his incorrigible "erotic adventures," particularly his long-time affair with the internationally noted painter, Sabina.


Milan Kundera

The world of Kundera's novel is one in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and fortuitous events. It is a world in which, because everything occurs only once and then disappears into the past, existence seems to lose its substance and weight. Coping with both the consequences of their own actions and desires and the intruding demands of society and the state, Kundera's characters struggle to construct lives of individual value and lasting meaning.


A novel of ideas, a provocative look at the ways in which history impinges on individual lives, and a meditation on personal identity, The Unbearable Lightness of Being examines the imperfect possibilities of adult love and the ways in which free choice and necessity shape our lives. "What then shall we choose?" Kundera asks at the beginning of his novel. "Weight or lightness?" This international bestseller is his attempt to answer that question. And the answer is hinted at in the novel's final scene, in which Tomas and Tereza find themselves in a small country hotel after a rare evening of dancing. When Tomas turns on the light in their room, "a large nocturnal butterfly" rises from the bedside lamp and circles the room in which they are alone with their happiness and their sadness.



In 1988, Philip Kaufman's American-made film adaptation of the novel was released; however Kundera hated it and said the movie does not correspond well to the book. Since then he hasn't allowed any other adaptations of his works. However it is often wrong to look for the novel in the movie and visa versa for they are two different disciplines. Even though the film is overtly erotic in tone, there is very little explicit sex in the film. There’s plenty of bare skin, of course, but director Kaufman extracts maximum sensual mileage out of the power of suggestion. The key scene, in which Tereza, seeking to expand her portfolio, shoots nude photographs of Sabina, is an almost wordless ballet of role reversal and subtle seduction. Kaufman also does a superb job of contrasting Prague before the crackdown, colourful and vibrant, and afterwards, grey and rotting. Tomas faces one of his former fellow reformers across a desk as the other man almost apologetically acts as communist stooge, enticing him with working as a surgeon again if he just signs a propaganda document condemning the reform movement. Ultimately, Tomas and Tereza reclaim their freedom by forsaking the city (and any hope of their former lives) and going to live with the farmer on whom Tomas had operated at the beginning of the film. Kaufman and Kundera seem to make the point that real happiness and freedom are independent of politics and material success. For Tomas and Tereza, at least, it seems to be true.


The novel is set against the background of the “Prague Spring” of 1968 when Alexander Dubcek promised communism with a human face and the soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. When demanding voices became louder and could not longer be suppressed, political changes came to pass. The post of First Party Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was given to a man named Alexander Dubcek in the year of 1968. Alexander Dubcek followed the voice and the will of his people, and started to reform the political and administrative structure of the country. He became loved and renowned, threatening to spread this process of liberation to other socialist countries. If "national" communism was allowed in one satellite, there was a risk that there would be a chain-reaction throughout the rest of Eastern Europe.

After the military intervention on the night of August 20 when 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops invaded, a reversal of the reform policy was carried out It was called the "process of normalization". Foreign troops remained on Czechoslovak soil until the situation had stabilised. They were the "help" provided by the Soviet Union in the fight against counter-revolutionary forces. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was forced to suppress all moves made towards democracy. But it finally had to surrender on December 9, 1989, in a revolution later called - "The Velvet revolution".



The political end of the communist era came on November 17, 1989. Demonstrators, mostly students and intellectuals, were brutally attacked by police. This angered other social groups in society and the number of demonstrators grew from 20 000 to 200 000. The human rights organisation, Charter 77, founded 1977 with the help of Vaclav Havel, formed a large organisation, named Civic Forum. Jakes and his group agreed to hold talks with the leader of Civic Forum, Vaclav Havel. The communists in power resigned and were replaced by other communists, which made the demonstrations continue. Three days later, a man from the past, that had been mocked and suppressed, raised his voice for the first time in 21 years. His name was Alexander Dubcek and he was the symbol of freedom and sovereignty for the Czechoslovak people. He expressed solidarity with his people that were once again fighting for their rights.



A couple of days later a coalition government seized the power, with the communists in minority. Vaclav Havel, one of the leading characters of the human rights organisation and the protests 1989, was elected President. He was the first non-communist President in 40 years. After years of tyranny, terror and totalitarianism, the communist era had been ended without a single loss of life - so smooth that it was called "the Velvet Revolution".


The scenes in the movie are shot in Prague, a spa town outside Prague and in Geneva. Matička Praha - 'little mother Prague' - was largely undamaged by WWII, and the cityscape is stunning. Its compact medieval centre remains an evocative maze of cobbled lanes, ancient courtyards, dark passages and churches beyond number, all watched over by an 1100-year-old castle. Kidnapped by communism for 40 years, Prague has become one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations and is undoubtedly the most magical and alluring of all European capitals. The cinematography in the film captures the allure of Prague well and the contrast between the magnificence of this capital of Bohemia and the oppressed lives of the inhabitants under communism. When I went there in 1998 the people were clutching their new found freedoms with a vengeance, a talented proud people in this the capital of Mittel Europa and the only democracy in eastern Europe pre-war whose people found themselves cruelly betrayed in the aftermath of World War II.


Petrin Hill

On our last morning in Prague we had arranged with our driver to go to the Petrin Hill to take in the vista of this inspiring city; Hradčany, the castle district, on a hill above the west bank; Malá Strana, the 13th-century 'Little Quarter', between the river and castle; Staré Mêsto, the gothic 'Old Town' on the Vltava's east bank; adjacent Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto; and Nové Mêsto or 'New Town,' (new in the 14th century), to the south and east of Staré Mêsto and straddling through it all the Vltava River, the Czech Republic's longest river. It was here Tereza, in the novel, climbs the grassy Petrin Hill, Kundera wrote, “On her way up, she paused several times to look back: below her she saw the towers and bridges, the saints were shaking their fists and lifting their stone eyes to the clouds. It was the most beautiful city in the world.” But “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” first published in a French translation from Czech in 1984, is no love letter to the city; it is a message from a time of oppression, and one worth carrying for perspective on a trip through Prague. Milan Kundera submerges the reader in the undercurrents of political life, the rough passages of far-too-recent vintage and the personal repercussions of an invasive, claustrophobic time. Tereza is climbing Petrin in a dream — a dream in which she will be executed, but only if she convinces the executioners that she seeks death of her own free will. The novel returns again and again to Tereza’s harrowing dreams, simultaneously erotic and morbid.



The driver told us he was taking us on a diversion and we looked at each other nervously for stories and warnings about unscrupulous taxis are legion in Prague. By the Vltava he stopped and asked us to get out and cross the road to see a plinth where a statue used to stand. He explained to us that this is where the Czechs had blown up a statue of Stalin years previously and how proud he now was to be able to welcome us to a free city. Only those who have lost their freedom once can really appreciate what it means to be free.



Kaufman's intelligent, faithful version of Milan Kundera's novel instead wisely jettisons the woolly philosophising, focusing on characters, relationships, and the many facets of loyalty and betrayal. It's a rich, ambitious film, repetitive and voyeuristic in its eroticism, but exhilarating in its blend of documentary and fictional recreation to depict the Soviet invasion. The narrative, now linear (unlike the book), is leisurely, the camerawork evocative; the progress from cynical irony to something more heartfelt rarely falters. Binoche and Olin avoid being reduced to symbols of Tomas' polarised soul, and Day Lewis seems increasingly one of the most versatile actors of his generation. Whatever Milan Kundera's reservations this is an intelligent and charged adaptation and a fine cinematic outing.

Dustin is a Turkey!

The Celtic Sage has never claimed infallibility, though some have attributed it to him, but even he has had his feathers ruffled. His confident prediction of 8th April last that Dustin the Turkey with his mould breaking contribution “Irelande Douze Pointes!!” would be the 2008 Eurovision winner was last night exposed as a fowl piece of judgement

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/dustin-turkey-2008-eurovision-winner.html

as Dustin was culled early in the Eurovision semi finals.

Dustin may have been lost in translation, as he simply failed to make the cut on the Eurovision stage. The feathered performer set a new standard for the weird and wonderful world of Eurovision last night when he exploded on stage in a burst of green, white and gold. Propped up in a jazzed-up shopping trolley and surrounded by a flock of dancers, the feathered puppet outdid some of the most outlandish acts ever seen in the annual contest -- and that's saying something as the Eurovision sets the kitsch standards the rest of the world rightly fears. Hopes were high for Dustin who had an impressive back up team including Bob Geldof on hair and make up and Dana as spiritual adviser. As Dustin himself pointed out he wasn’t like Westlife, he had talent.

After he was cruelly cut he made a statesmanlike speech to his distraught fans; "I urge my fans across Europe to be dignified in defeat. I do not want street riots as I'm a peace-loving bird," he said. A place in the final would have been a victory for art, beauty, poetry but most of all, for his bank account, he declared.



But dignified as he was a terrible thought occurred to me when the news broke that General Franco’s Spanish Government had orchestrated a conspiracy which cheated Cliff Richard of the Eurovision prize in 1968 for “Congratulations”. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that this plucky Irish Turkey was stuffed by a Pan-European vegetarian conspiracy?

A Very Long Engagement

There is a rule in life that the more choice you seem to have, the less choice you get in reality. Take going to the movies in the UK. Multi Screen cinemas abound but there are two main chains, Odeon and VUE, which are bounced around amongst Vulture Capitalists or Private Equity as it has been relabelled these days. They give them a cosmetic makeover and then merrily engage in the game of margin widening so a tub of popcorn or a “giant “coke (2 parts ice to one part coke) are £3.70 each. More importantly they are in thrall to the big name distributors so there is not just popcorn out the front but also on the screens as 2/3 of the screens are blocked off for “popcorn” movies aimed at the kids so us grown ups never get to see the grown up movies.

So it came to pass instead of spending £17.00 at my local Odeon I spent £3.00 at my local HMV to buy the DVD of "A Very Long Engagement" (“Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles” in the original French) starring the wonderful Audrey Tautou, best known for her stunning performance in "Amélie". This movie also comes from the director of "Amélie" (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) and is a very different love story based on the acclaimed novel by Sebastien Japrisot. Already well-known in France for her work in Venus Beauty Institute, in 2001 Tautou rose to international fame for her entrancing performance as the eccentric Amélie in the romantic French comedy "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain". With this movie she confirms that she is a truly outstanding actress playing a wonderfully convincing role as Mathilde a young French woman whose greatest fight begins as World War I draws to an end. She has received word that her fiancé Manech is one of five wounded soldiers who have been court-martialed and pushed out into the no-man's land between the French and German armies... an almost certain death. As in Amélie her role is of an outsider whose mind and emotions work in a different way to those around her but whose conviction and refusal to accept the conventional wisdom is eventually vindicated.


This film touches on two areas which interest me, the incredible personal heroism shown by individual soldiers in the Great War, particularly the Battle of the Somme, and the equally incredible indifference of the Top Brass to the horrendous loss of life and suffering caused. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/towards-somme-personal-journey.html ) Five desperate French soldiers during The Battle of the Somme shoot themselves, either by accident or with purpose, in order to be invalided back home. Having been "caught" a court-martial convenes and determines punishment to be banishment to No Man's Land with the objective of having the Germans finish them off. In the process of telling this tale each man's life is briefly explored along with their next of kin as Mathilde tries to determine the circumstances of her lover's death. This task is not made any easier for her due to a bout with polio as a child. Along the way she discovers the heights and depths of the human soul.

Unwilling to accept that her beloved Manech is lost to her forever; Mathilde embarks on an extraordinary journey to discover the fate of her lover. At each turn, she receives a different heartbreaking variation on how Manech must have spent those last days, those last moments. Still, she never gets discouraged. If Manech were dead, Mathilde would know. With a steadfast faith, strengthened by hope and a stubbornly cheerful disposition, Mathilde follows her investigation to its conclusion, convincing those who might help her and ignoring those who will not. As she draws closer to the truth about the five unfortunate soldiers and their brutal punishment, she is drawn deeper into the horrors of war and the indelible marks it leaves on those whose lives it has touched.

From the commander who wantonly and secretly destroys the men's pardon, to the amazing lengths one condemned man's friend goes to in an effort to save at least some of them. This movie operates at many levels as a love story, a mystery, and a testament to brutality of "The War to End All Wars" and most particularly the men, women, and children affected by this dark and disturbing time in world history. Technically the cinematography (by Bruno Delbonnel) is amazing. Many scenes will have you asking how was that shot. The use of colour, the score, and the authenticity of the costume, the portrayal by the actors, the effects, and the story itself all combined to make a delightful feast of sound and vision. Look for a long cameo by Jodie Foster.

The film is set in France near the end of World War I in the deadly trenches of the Somme, in the gilded Parisian halls of power, and in the modest home of an indomitable provincial girl. It tells the story of this young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiancé, who has disappeared. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart.


It is a triumph, thought provoking and a paean to cinematic craftsmanship and the androgynous talented improbability which is the great actress Audrey Tautou who brings us deeply into the recesses of the human condition. Bravo Audrey and Director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who have given us a wonderful movie. Not since Stanley Kubrick's haunting "Paths of Glory" (1957) has the absurdity of war and the tremendous cost of each and every life lost been so compellingly portrayed. Appropriately, such an epic theme deserves epic treatment. What makes "A Very Long Engagement" so effective and so engaging is that Jeunet's stylish blend of visual mastery and emotional intimacy combine to not only deliver an extremely visceral anti–war film, but an intricate, unforgettable, heartfelt love story as well. Get it on DVD for; unfortunately, it probably won’t be coming to a cinema near you anytime soon!

"Un Long Dimanche De Fianςailles": C'est un film exceptionnel. Vous devez le voir.

Valletta and Grand Harbour, Malta

Valletta - A UNESCO World Heritage Site


Victory Gate Valletta

Valletta, Malta’s capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is nothing short of an open-air museum. It is a living experience of Baroque architecture, a monument donated by the Knights of St John nearly five centuries ago. Throughout the years, Valletta has welcomed emperors, heads of state, artists and poets and is now the permanent seat of the Maltese government. It is the most complete example of a planned fortified city and its setting between two natural harbours is impressive and its richness is contained in a street plan grid of twelve streets by nine. The capital of Malta is inextricably linked to the history of the military and charitable Order of St John of Jerusalem. It was ruled successively by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and the Order of the Knights of St John. Valletta’s 320 monuments, all within an area of 55 ha, make it one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.

Carmelite Rotunda

The Grand Harbour (in Maltese: Il-Port il-Kbir) is a natural harbour on the island of Malta. It has been used as a harbour since at least Roman times. The name Malta itself comes from the Phoenician “Maltae” meaning a sheltered anchorage and this is what it still is today. The natural harbour has been greatly improved with extensive docks and wharves, and has been massively fortified. Grand Harbour was the base for the Knights of St John for 268 years, and after their departure became a strategic base for the British for a further 170 years. It was the site in the late 16th century of a devastating tornado that killed 600 people and destroyed a shipping armada. The area was the scene of much of the fighting in the First Siege of Malta when the Turks attempted to eject the Knights of St John. The whole area was savagely bombed during the Second Siege of Malta during World War II, as the docks and military installations around the port were legitimate targets for Axis bombers. However collateral damage wrecked much of Valletta and The Three Cities, and caused large numbers of civilian casualties.

Grand Harbour Bastions



Valletta, The Fortress City, Citta' Umilissima, “a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen” is Malta's capital city: a living, working city, the administrative and commercial heart of the Islands. Valletta is named after its founder, the respected Grand Master of the Order of St John, Jean Parisot de la Valette. The magnificent fortress city grew on the arid rock of Mount Sceberras peninsula, which rises steeply from two deep harbours, Marsamxett and Grand Harbour. Started in 1566, Valletta was completed, with its impressive bastions, forts and cathedral, in the astonishingly short time of 15 years.


Fort St. Angelo

Valletta has many titles, all recalling its rich historical past. It is the “modern” city built by the Knights of St John; a masterpiece of the Baroque; a European Art City and a World Heritage City. Ruled successively by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and the Order of the Knights of St John, it is one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.

Streetscape

The city is busy by day, yet retains a timeless atmosphere. The grid of narrow streets boasts some of Europe's finest art works, churches and palaces. Valletta owes its existence to the Knights of St John, who planned the city as a refuge to care for injured soldiers and pilgrims during the Crusades in the 16th century. Until the arrival of the Knights, Mount Sceberras, on which Valletta stands, lying between two natural harbours, was an arid tongue of land. No building stood on its bare rocks except for a small watch tower, called St Elmo, to be found at its extreme end. Grand Master La Valette, the gallant hero of the Great Siege of 1565, soon realised that if the Order was to maintain its hold on Malta, it had to provide adequate defences. Therefore, he drew up a plan for a new fortified city on the Sceberras peninsula.

Pope Pius V and Philip II of Spain showed interest in the project. They both promised financial aid and the Pope lent the Knights the services of Francesco Laparelli, a military engineer, who drew up the necessary plans for the new city and its defences. Work started in earnest in March 1566 - first on the bastions and, soon after, on the more important buildings. The new city was to be called Valletta in honour of La Valette.

Valletta Street Corner

The Grand Master didn’t live to see its completion and he died in 1568. His successor, Pietro del Monte continued with the work at the same pace. By 1571, the Knights transferred their quarters from Vittoriosa (Birgu) to their new capital. Architect Laparelli left Malta in 1570. He was replaced by his assistant Gerolamo Cassar, who had spent some months in Rome, where he had observed the new style of buildings in the Italian city. Cassar designed and supervised most of the early buildings, including the Sacra Infermeria, St John's Church, the Magisterial Palace and the seven Auberges, or Inns of Residence of the Knights.

Valletta from Marsamxett Harbour

By the 16th century, Valletta had grown into a sizeable city. People from all parts of the island flocked to live within its safe fortifications especially as Mdina, until then Malta's capital, lost much of its lure. In the ensuing years, the austere mannerist style of Cassar's structures gave way to the more lavish palaces and churches with graceful facades and rich sculptural motifs.

The new city, with its strong bastions and deep moats, became a bulwark of great strategic importance. Valletta’s street plan is unique and planned with its defence in mind. Based on a more or less uniform grid, some of the streets fall steeply as you get closer to the tip of the peninsula. The stairs in some of the streets do not conform to normal dimensions since they were constructed in a way so as to allow knights in heavy armour to be able to climb the steps.

Auberge de Castille y Leon



Fast forward a few centuries and the city built by gentlemen for gentlemen came under another siege; this time in the shape of World War II which brought havoc to Malta. Valletta was badly battered by the bombing, but the city withstood the terrible blow and, within a few years, it rose again. The scars of the war are still visible till this day at the site previously occupied by the former Royal Opera House in the heart of the city, a wound that has left Malta’s MPs divided these past 60 years over what should replace it.

Dominating Palace Square, the Grand Master's Palace has always been the house of government in Malta, first by the knights, then the British and now hosts the President’s office. When parliament is not in session you can visit the palace for free, and there is an awful lot to see in here. In the interior of the palace is the famous Council Chamber, adorned with valuable Gobelin tapestries woven in France for Grand Master Ramón Perellos y Roccaf.

Grand Master's Palace

The other rooms and passages of the palace are splendidly furnished with art objects, old coat of arms and armour. Particularly notable are the former Hall of the Supreme Council of the Knights, which hosts fine frescoes and the Hall of the Ambassadors, where portraits of Grand Masters and European rulers hang. On the basement floor is the Armoury, one of the largest collections of its kind in the world, though reduced to a fraction of its former size by the depredations of the French. Among its principal treasures are a suit of armour made in Milan for the Grand Master, Adrien de Wignacourt (1690-97) and a full-length panoply made for Grand Master Martin Garzes by Sigismund Wold of Landshut.

Grand Master's Palace Armoury

The Co-Cathedral of St John is nothing short of a gem and was the spiritual centre of the Knights of St. John.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/knights-of-malta.html

Described as the first complete example of high Baroque anywhere, it epitomises the spiritual and military role of its patrons. The Cathedral is a showcase to Mattia Preti who intricately carved stone wall designs, as well as the painted vaulted ceiling and side altars with scenes from the life of St John. Among the treasures found in the Cathedral are the unique Caravaggio painting depicting the beheading of St John, the extraordinary paving of more than 300 marble tomb slabs (the burial place of several former European princes), and the splendid vaulted central nave with frescoes of Mattia Preti.

In Valletta the Order built the Church of St. John as the Conventual Church of the Order. Although each tongue had its own church, the Conventual church was the location of services that involved all the knights of Malta. Each grandmaster gave a gift to the Conventual Church upon his elevation; upon his death he was buried in the crypt underneath the church. Notable knights were buried under the floor of the church. Napoleon Bonaparte confiscated many of the precious items in the church in 1798 and melted them down for bullion. What remains today, including the empty reliquary of the arm of St. John the Baptist, is on display in the museum of the Conventual Church. Today, the church is operated by the diocese of Malta and has the status of co-cathedral with the Cathedral of Mdina. Visitors are still impressed by the more than 400 inlaid marble slabs that make up the floor of the church. These slabs mark the tombs of the knights.




Co-Cathedral of St John

Commissioned by the Grand Master, Caravaggio's Beheading of St John was made in 1608 for the chapel of the Co-Cathedral. It is the largest work the artist ever painted (12 feet x 17 feet) and the only one he ever signed. This painting is described as his all-time masterpiece. The painting depicts the moment in Biblical history where St John is beheaded by King Herod to satisfy the blood lust of the seductive dancer, Salome. The scene is the courtyard of a prison and the grisly murder is observed by two other prisoners looking through a grille, while a young woman and an old crone stand ready to take the severed head and put it on the waiting platter. The blood flowing from St John's neck drips towards the bottom of the frame and in its red stream, Caravaggio signed his name. It is the most compelling of paintings and nothing substitutes for seeing in person – the genius is that it does not depict the moment of execution but the aftermath and the indifference of those present to the cruelty done to the Prophet of Jordan. For the “St. John.” Of the Knights of St. John is John the Baptist and also in this cathedral they kept their most precious relic, the hand of John the Baptist, the hand which baptised Jesus of Nazareth.

Caravaggio's Beheading of St John - 1608 - Co-Cathedral of St John

On the oratory's right wall hangs Caravaggio’s smaller painting of St Jerome. Stolen in 1984 and rescued in a dramatic operation some months later, the painting depicts an elderly man sitting with a pen in his hand.

Hosting a vast cultural programme, walking around Valletta you’ll come across an intriguing historical site around every corner: votive statues, niches, fountains and coats of arms high up on parapets. Narrow side streets are full of tiny quaint shops and cafés, while Valletta’s main streets are lined with larger international branded shops for fashion, music, jewellery and much more.


At the end of Valletta is the fortress of St. Elmo, the patron saint of sailors. There are fine views from here across to Malta's Grand Harbour to the Three Cities of Senglea, Vittoriosa and Kalkara. The Grand Harbour is a natural harbour, which is situated on the Northeast coast of Malta. It is separated from Marsamxett harbour by Mount Sceberras, a rocky promontory on which Valletta, Malta's capital city is built. The harbour is the main port of entry for Malta and has container facilities and several dry docks The Grand Harbour has played a major part in Malta's history. It is deep, sheltered and bordered by high stone bastions. Although now quiet and peaceful, it has been the location for fierce battles over the years and was the site of ferocious bombings and huge destruction in World War II. Malta's majestic Grand Harbour is one of the most spectacular ports in the world. A wide stretch of water separating the capital city of Valletta from the historic towns of Three Cities, the harbour has been a hive of activity for over two thousand years. With its imposing fortifications and vast panorama, Grand Harbour is Malta's principal maritime gateway and a popular port-of-call for ships cruising the Med.

Seaplane taking off in Grand Harbour

Across Grand Harbour and facing Valletta are the Three Cities which offer an intriguing insight into Malta and its history. Left largely unvisited, these cities are a slice of authentic life as well as a glimpse into Malta’s maritime fortunes encompassing three distinct deep harbours of their own, French Creek, Dockyard Creek and Kalkara Creek. The Three Cities can rightly claim to be the cradle of Maltese history, as Senglea, Vittoriosa and Kalkara have provided a home and fortress to almost every people who settled on the Islands.

Vittoriosa and Fort St. Angelo

One of the most important towns in mediaeval Malta, in 1530 Vittoriosa became the first residence on the island of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospital's. It was strongly fortified and served as the Knight's defence bastion against the Turks in the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. Its name, formerly Birgu,(derived from the Italian Borgo for 'town') was changed to Vittoriosa to commemorate the victory against the Turks. Vittoriosa served as the Knight's capital until its replacement by the city of Valletta, which was founded by Grand Master Jean de La Valette in 1570. The town continued to develop in the 17th century with commercial facilities and shipyards. Although severely damaged in World War II some of its old fortifications remain, including Fort St Angelo which was built in 870 and renovated and extended in 1530. The Palace of the Inquisitor and most of the 16th century Auberges (lodges of the Knights) also survived. Along the Vittoriosa waterfront the buildings that survived and stand to this day are Caraffa Stores Building, the Palace of the Prud'homme of the Arsenal and the residence of the captain of the Galleys.

Entrance to Vittoriosa

Fort St Angelo is the jewel in the crown of Malta's rich military heritage. It stands majestically at the tip of the promontory of Vittoriosa, dominating the Three Cities on the South Eastern side of the Grand Harbour. Its origins are shrouded in the history of the Middle Ages, though some historians would even venture to state that its stands on the site of a fortified Roman settlement. The Order of Malta has recently returned to the island of Malta, after signing an agreement with the Maltese Government which granted the Order the exclusive use of Fort St. Angelo at overlooking the Grand Harbour for a term of 99 years. Located in the town of Birgu, the Fort belonged to the Knights from 1530 until the island was occupied by Napoleon in 1798. Today, after restoration, the Fort hosts historical and cultural activities related to the Order of Malta.

The Inquisitor’s Palace, sited in the heart of Vittoriosa, is one of the very few surviving examples of a style of palace that would have been found all over Europe and South America in the early modern period. Many such buildings succumbed to the ravages of time or became victims of the reactionary power unleashed by the French Revolution against the ancien regime and all it represented. The fact that Malta’s palace, throughout its five centuries of history, always hosted high-ranking officials representing the main ruling powers on the Island helped ensure its survival. The palace also survived the Second World War and the threat of modern development. Although its successive occupants changed much in the structure of the building, the Inquisitor’s Palace remains an architectural gem, representative of the chequered history and European heritage of the Islands.



The palace was not built purposely as a residence for the Inquisitor. It was erected in the 1530s as the civil law courts of the Order of St John soon after the Knights arrived in Malta. It continued to serve as law courts until 1571, when the Order transferred its headquarters to Valletta after the siege of 1565. The palace then remained empty, but not for long. Mgr Pietro Dusina arrived in Malta in 1574 as the first general inquisitor and apostolic delegate of the Maltese Islands. The Grand Master offered him the unused palace as an official residence. Almost all successive inquisitors sought to transform the palace into a decent mansion. They all shared the same cultural values of clerical baroque Roman society, and by the mid-18th century they had managed successfully to transform the building into a typical Roman palace.



The Maltese Inquisition, an extension of the Roman Inquisition, began in 1562. Its purpose was to suppress heresy in the Catholic Church in Malta. Protestantism was not widespread in Malta, but Malta's location at the center of the Mediterranean meant that travelers brought different religious ideas into the island. By the seventeenth century, the Maltese Inquisition investigated the use of Muslim magic, brought to Malta by its Muslim slaves. Foreign sailors who blasphemed or Maltese husbands who demanded meat on Friday also found themselves before the Inquisitor. But unlike the Spanish Inquisition, the Maltese Inquisition did not enforce political control. As a result, the Inquisition did not terrorize the lives of the Maltese like it did the Spanish.

Instead, it seems that the Maltese Inquisition existed to monitor the Knights of Malta and to adjudicate between the Grandmaster and the Bishop. The job of Inquisitor of Malta often led to higher positions in the Church. From this post, two Inquisitors became Pope (Alexander VII and Innocent XII) and twenty-two Inquisitors became Cardinals. The Inquisition on Malta lasted until 1798 when Napoleon Bonaparte abolished it.


Senglea Waterfront

The Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa charts Malta’s maritime history and lore within a Mediterranean context and also illustrates the global nature of seafaring and its impact on society. The Museum is housed in the former British Naval Bakery at Vittoriosa, one of the Three Cities overlooking Grand Harbour. The building, designed by British architect William Scamp, was erected between 1842 and 1845 on the site of the old covered slipway of the Knights of St John. The bakery was the hub of the Victualling Yard and supplied the Royal Navy with its daily requirements of bread and biscuit. After World War II, it was converted into offices and stores and as the headquarters of the Admiralty Constabulary. The building remained part of the naval establishment up to the closure of the British base in 1979.

For almost two hundred years, Malta was the home of the British Mediterranean fleet. The Royal Navy kept a vast establishment on the Islands. The museum presents an overview of Malta as a naval base, and depicts aspects of naval and civilian life, both leisure and work. There is also a wide collection of paintings, photographs, models, uniforms, weapons, instruments and other artefacts that illustrate the history of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean during the 19th and 20th centuries and attest to the Navy’s impact on the economy and social life on the Maltese islands.

Cottonera, or il-Kottonera, is the term used to describe the suburb which grew out of and behind Fort Saint Angelo and Fort Saint Michael, at the southern shores of Malta's Grand Harbour. This area, also referred to as 'The Three Cities', lies behind the (inland-facing) Cottonera lines; fortifications built during the reign of the stern Grand Master Fra’ Nicholas Cottoner.

Their harbour inlets have been in use since Phoenician times: the docks always providing a living for local people, but also leaving them vulnerable when Malta’s rulers were at war. As the first home to the Knights of St. John, the Cities’ palaces, churches, forts and bastions are far older than Valletta’s. The local communities here celebrate holy days and festas as nowhere else on the Islands. The most spectacular events are the Easter processions when statues of the “Risen Christ” are carried at a run throughout crowded streets.

Dockyard Creek

During the post-war years, Valletta lost many of its citizens who moved out to more modern houses in other localities and its population dwindled to 9,000 inhabitants. However, in the last few years many individuals with a flair for unique architecture are trickling back into the city and investing in old properties. Valletta, the smallest capital of the European Union, is now the island’s major commercial and financial centre and is visited daily by throngs of tourists eager to experience the city’s rich history.

With the war damage, the closure of the British Naval Dockyards in 1979 and the advent of containerisation many of the areas around the three cities were caught up in cycle of decline and dereliction. This is being reversed by the Valletta Waterfront Project which is regenerating the three subsidiary harbours off the Grand Harbour which frame the 3 cities. For example, the modern yacht marina is based just off the Birgu waterfront, which is made up of extraordinary buildings associated with the naval squadron of the Knights of St John. Fort St Angelo still stands proudly at the entrance to Dockyard Creek, witness to nearly one thousand years of history and numerous battles. The old naval bakery today hosts the Malta Maritime Museum where one can admire unique artifacts on display, each shedding light on the links between humans and the sea. The narrow and winding streets of the walled town are charming in themselves and one can stumble across architectural gems such as the Inquisitor’s Palace.

Birgu Waterfront

Following the departure of the Royal Navy, the recent construction of the ultra-modern yacht marina has given a new maritime function to this beautiful historic harbour. Yachts from all over the Mediterranean and beyond now call at this unique destination to make the most of its maritime pedigree and its strategic location in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea.

All these projects are putting the grandeur back into Grand Harbour and bringing much needed new life to a waterfront which provides such an amazing and awe inspiring setting for the baroque masterpiece of Valletta and the uniquely historic and atmospheric three cities.

travel

See also;

My favourite painting;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-favourite-painting_19.html

Mdina and Rabat, Malta

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/06/mdina-and-rabat-malta.html

Neolithic Malta

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/neolithic-malta.html

Gozo

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/gozo.html