Happy Halloween everyone!!

Well it’s that time of year again, Halloween! An excuse to knock at strangers doors asking for sweets and getting away with it without getting in trouble… Well as long as it is someone under the age of 12. I don’t think next door took it too kindly when their 15 year old knocked at my door dressed as a dead schoolgirl and I refused to give up the goods. What do you expect me to do, give up my collection of Haribos to someone who insists on waking me up at 6 every morning?

Here is a brief history of the ancient festival.

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on 1^st November. This day marked the end of summer harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the New Year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

So there it is, one day a year we celebrate the rising of the dead by eating sweets or getting drunk at parties!

Author – Fiona Gray

 

The Music In Me

Whether it is mind, body or soul music can bring people together and can connect to the deep emotions, relieving stress, fear and anger. For me music is the one thing I can utterly rely on, it gives me a sense of freedom from the day to day stresses of this world and its people. Connecting with music is different for everybody, for example I prefer the carefully selected meaningful words of a story lived and told, written by the talented musicians of the punk rock world, where as someone else is keen on the relentless repetition of Rihanna’s “we found love in a hopeless place.”
I guess it all depends on the person, what they have been though and what connects them to it and draws their attention most.

Music can be traced right back to the stone age as archaeological digs are still discovering signs of musical instruments dating back to this age of half monkey and man, just beginning to become slightly civilized and adapt. Perhaps the songs they made from these instruments helped their development in some way, perhaps it brought to light feelings they have never felt and helped find themselves in some way, perhaps they danced around blazing fires, chanting like the cavemen they were, or maybe the magical tunes danced through their bodies connecting mind to soul and surrounding them with peace and belonging.

From the Stone Age to the Victorians. Music to the people then was vitally important, from the high society to the working class and across the nation. In a world that was just constructing the music box, hearing live music performed was a precious thing to be cherished forever. People didn’t just want to listen to the music they wanted to create it for themselves and others to hear as well. Whether it was the professionals or the armatures, choirs and duos where springing up all over the place bringing their local communities closer together through the power of their voices and instruments in musical harmony. Music didn’t just bring people together during the Victorian times it travels on up to early 1900’s when both wars broke out; the songs then provided the people with hope and spirit to get through the hard times. Just as the music produced then and the music being produced now brings people through their struggles in life, or if those people just want to escape to a peaceful place with the sound of beautiful voices inside their heads it gives them hope and a sense of belonging in world full of misfits.

Author – Sophie Johnson

 

The Next European War?

On Sunday (14^th), the Business Secretary, Vince Cable suggested that if the European single currency disintegrated, conflict in Europe would ensue. This statement to most, myself included, may appear over exaggerated however, if we look into the past (as historians are inclined to do), some similarities can be observed between our present situation and the Europe of the 1930’s.

The Great Depression of the 1930’s had horrific consequences for the global economy and I am not going to suggest that our current situation, by any stretch of the imagination, is as dire as that time. Nevertheless, the way in which the states of the Euro zone are reacting to the pressures placed upon them in these times of austerity bears some resemblance to the preamble towards the Second World War throughout the 1930’s.

The decade in question was fraught with economic hardship which was felt world-wide however; it appeared most significantly in countries such as Germany, Italy, Austria and Japan. The situation in Germany and Austria at the time was aggravated by the harsh demands imposed upon them by the allied powers at the end of the First World War outlined in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany would need to pay £6,600,000,000 to the victors which then forced the Weimar government to impose stringent austerity members on its people, public spending collapsed and the German people suffered. In Austria, the Krone (then its currency) saw massive inflation and in order to prevent total economic collapse, the League of Nations (the global peace keeping organisation founded by the Treaty of Versailles) granted Austria a substantial loan however; this resulted in the nation losing its economic autonomy.

We can, in the case of Austria and Germany see significant similarities with modern Spain, Ireland, Portugal and most importantly, Greece.  The economy of Greece, as we all know, is currently being supported through massive loans, we are led to believe, given purely out of the kindness of Angela Merkel’s heart. However, if you aren’t one for ingesting fairytale claptrap, the truth is that the Greek’s have lost their sovereignty; they are slaves to the mere whims of European government. Unfortunately, loath to learn from their not too distant past, the aforementioned powers have deemed it appropriate to impose unrealistic and categorically harsh austerity measures on the wary members of the Hellenic population.

If you have been following my logic thus far, can you also see the psychological strain placed upon these people, involuntarily watching the decline of their life, their community and their country? As is always the approach in capitalism, it is the working classes that are suffering the most in countries such as Greece and likewise, in the 1930’s, within Germany and her struggling neighbours, it was the labouring poor that bore the brunt of the mistakes made by egocentric establishment. The workers of Germany did not stand idly by whilst their future collapsed before them, they took action and Adolf Hitler became Führer of Germany as a result. The situation in Greece and her ilk has not reached such an advanced stage as yet. However, the Golden Dawn Party (a xenophobic neo-Nazi political party in Greece) continues to garner support and accrue votes in Greece which, in my opinion, is a worrying sign that people have not learned from the past.

However, the modern world is most definitely not the 1930’s and following the victory against the Axis alliance in 1945, many barriers have been put in place to prevent the dark cloud of war encroaching upon Europe once again. The supranational organisations such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and the European Union are a significant example of this. In response to the failures of the League of Nations to avoid war, its replacements have been furnished with new powers such as commanding economic sanctions and even dedicated armed forces (for example, the United Nations Peace Keepers) which would all be employed to thwart any possibility of further conflict.

In addition, some of the governments of the world (Europe in particular) have altered their constitutions to outlaw fascism and therefore, reduce the possibility of extreme nationalism which would eventually lead to war. The remaining voters of Europe not bound by law find fascist parties abhorrent and even those tarred with the fascist brush such as the BNP struggle to acquire any significant influence. Nonetheless, caution must still be recommended as even the most superbly constructed aqueduct will eventually leak.

To conclude, I believe the possibility of another war in Europe, over the past four years, has risen in precedence from the ridiculous rantings of rebellious radicals to the speeches of a Liberal democrat, a significant leap from impossible to unlikely (though some may struggle to find the difference between the two!). The great figureheads of the European regime therefore need to study the mistakes of those that have gone before in order to avoid Europe descending into chaos because, as Karl Marx so aptly stated, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”

Author – Sean O’Donnell

 

Arbeit Macht Frei

“Arbeit Macht Frei” to many, these infamous words, translated into ‘work makes one free’ can be viewed upon the gates at Auschwitz. These deceiving words were the slogan, set to mislead and almost invite the ‘undesirables’ into entering the camp, believing that they would one day, be freed after working to their full potential.

However, they were unaware, that all 6 million of them would be a part of one of the BIGGEST genocide events in history.

On a recent school History trip to Poland in February 2011, this gave me the opportunity to visit both Auschwitz and Birkenhau, and experience a first-hand account of the brutal conditions that the Jews had been subjected to.

Before visiting the camps, and as high school pupils, we were completely unaware of what to expect upon visiting these locations with such important historical significance. On our way to these camps, we were larking about as to be expected from a bunch of 15 year old school kids from Widnes! However upon arriving at the destinations, it was clear to see that the historical events which had taken place 70 years prior, had a harrowing and utterly heart-wrenching effect on all of us.

Even though the camps had been transformed into historical museums, the instant feeling arising upon entering the grounds was that of sudden realisation of a world filled with horror. The camps seemed foreign compared to the normality we are usually subjected to, and visiting these places of mass extermination, reinforced such a chilling factor, these places were essentially just a death factory.

The first major shock about the camps was how they were closely located to civilisation, we expected them to be hushed, and simply built out of the way. As an educational trip, we had the opportunity to take a tour around the camps, whilst the English speaking, polish tour guides outlined the brutal conditions of the Jews and the torture they were exposed to. There were many exhibitions showing the masses of shoes, glasses and human hair which recovered from victims’ corpses, and to see the shoes of infants just simply ‘piled-up’ and discarded along with hundreds of thousands of others, really put into perspective the way in which these people were dehumanised and almost ridiculed in the German population.

As well as this we were also led into the last remaining gas chamber in the Auschwitz-Birkenhau camp, and it was a simply indescribable feeling, the way in which you stand, knowing that thousands of innocent people’s lives ended in that very spot. Being in the Birkenhau camp, you felt almost like cattle in the farm, but the most peculiar was the way in which it was fenced off and there were visible guard towers, inevitably constructed to prevent the so-called ‘prisoners’ from escaping.

This feeling of being like cattle could be reinforced through the fact that the living conditions within this camp would not be suitable for animals, let alone people. This was present in the visits to the sleeping quarters, in which the only way to describe it, would be that the ‘prisoners’ slept like matchsticks, with cramped, damp conditions, various people to one bed, with no comfort whatsoever.

During both visits to the camps in one day, as history students, we were particularly interested in the photographs recovered from the time of this horrific event. It was these which did spark some emotion in a fair few of the students, as they really captured the essence and nature of the brutality carried out by the Nazi officials to these innocent people. It was predominantly the way in which very few details of the camp had changed since the photographs were taken which provoked a distressing feeling, as it proposed the idea that these events took place in fairly recent history (Which they so shockingly did!), therefore, how was this shocking mass extermination allowed to happen?

To finish the day, one of our younger history students, was asked to recite a famous poem by “Martin Niemoller”, in which included;

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

With the ability to hear a pin drop, it was easy to see that the students really grasped and understood the concepts proposed by the poem, and it captured the idea of the importance of the role of the bystander. To see the atrocities first hand, and experience the eeriness of such a place, this trip enlightened me with a variety of knowledge that could not be acquired by simply reading from a text book, or watching another documentary on the History Channel. I feel that it was a once in a life time experience, and to stand upon the very grounds that was once used by Nazi officials, and which was the ground of so many innocent deaths, to me, this was a surreal experience.

– Samantha Filkins

 

The Man with Many Identities

Perhaps you have never heard of ‘The Whitechapel Murderer’ or the ‘Leather Apron’, but one name that rocks the nightmares of little children in Whitechapel is Jack the Ripper. Even now, over a century later, the identity of this murderer is still unknown- nobody knows if he is dead or alive. Should they have been scared?

Well, that question cannot be answered in a simplistic way. The story tells us of a mysterious figure, who is held accountable for the murders of eleven women, the first five of these were collectively known as the ‘Canonical Five’. These women were all known prostitutes, and were generally found in the early hours of the mornings, either on, or near weekends, and then at the end of the month. Upon being found, the women were seen to have one or two large gashes in their throats and some had, had their abdominal areas ripped open and organs removed. The mutilations would become more and more severe as the attacks wore on; the first woman had no organs removed, whereas the last had nearly all of her abdominal organs missing, including her heart. Only one woman, Stride, escaped without the abdominal mutilation and it is believed that Ripper was disturbed. One woman, Kelly, had had her face hacked away when she was found.

 

The Cursed Five

The next round of Ripper’s victims are not necessarily associated with Jack the Ripper, as they appear a long time after the final of the Canonical five.  It was believed that the perpetrator of the original five murders had died, been imprisoned or emigrated. These women were found under similar circumstances but without major mutilations on their bodies. It is very uncertain that these were the works of Jack the Ripper and it is even suggested that the first woman committed suicide as opposed to being murdered as her injuries showed she was strangled, but there was no sign of a struggle.  The final of the four murders however, brought about the first speculation on the identity of the murderer: James Thomas Sadler. He had been seen with the final victim on the day of her death and was arrested but was never prosecuted due to lack of evidence.

Conspiracies

The other two murders are even more controversial as some people believe that they were not the work of Jack the Ripper and they were carried out before the canonical five. There were several other murders that Jack the Ripper has been linked with, but these are even more controversial and it is even believed in some cases that they were simply fabricated to try and keep the case of Jack the Ripper going. In addition to this, there were lots of attacks on prostitutes in the Whitechapel area of London in the late 19^th Century.

 

The Man, The Myth, The Identity

Despite the number of cases associated with him, the true identity of ‘Jack the Ripper’/ ‘The Whitechapel Murderer’/ ’The Leather Apron’ has never been discovered. This was not for lack of trying however, but simply, he was very good at what he did. There are however, many speculations on who he was and many conspiracy theories too. Some of these theories suggest that he was a contract killer; others believe that he was an educated doctor due to the fact that he was cutting out the organs of the victims. The biggest conspiracy theory however, is that he was part of the royal family: Prince Albert Victor. He is the main suspect in three main individual theories, and many questions were asked about his mental state. He was often described as ‘slow’ and his family struggled to say many positive things about him. The Prince was taken into a mental hospital in restraints during his lifetime and it is believed he contracted Syphilis which made him go crazy and commit the murders.

 

The Legacy and Commercialisation

To this day the legacy of this murderer still lives on. Jack the Ripper became the equivalent of the Bogey Man to little children and was presented through film as a normal man dressed in normal attire. By the late 1960s he had became “the symbol of a predatory aristocracy” portrayed in smart clothing with a top hat. To this day, people are still trying to solve the mystery of who he was, but there is not enough surviving evidence to work out who he was, or even if he was male. Even so, the story is still incredibly relevant today as it is the most written about crime in the works of non-fiction and is relevant in a shockingly high amount of work of fiction across a number of genres, such as literature and film. Even in these works of literature, they do not name the murdered as such, but simply touch upon the ideas, in a copy-cat style way, but in some cases, this ‘Jack the Ripper Industry’ can take away some of the atrociousness of the crimes. Unfortunately, there was the case of the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ who too targeted prostitutes in the 1970s in the similar style to Jack the Ripper who they believed acted as a copy-cat to this notorious unknown man just under a century earlier. The story is so popular, it is presented several times each in the London Dungeons where they explore exactly what happened, and the possible suspects. So to answer the original question of ‘should they have been scared?’ yes seeing as there is no way that the prostitutes around the time and several years later knew that they were 100% safe.

– Kathryn Faulkner

 

No sex please, we’re British – A brief look at what makes us quintessentially British.

Good day to you sir/madam,

If you were asked by someone today, “What is your nationality?” how would you respond? Would it be a simple and uninterested “Oh, I’m British” or would it be a proud, emphatic “I dear sir/madam, am British!” The chances are it wouldn’t be the latter.

It leads to the question, ‘why are we no longer proud of our heritage?’ Certainly, this year’s Jubilee celebrations and Olympic games have provided a much needed ego boost but we cannot refute the fact that we as a nation just do not care. That is why I have chosen to introduce you to a few things that our forefathers did, created or discovered that makes us who we are today.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a long winded history lecture; “The Empire did this….and we gave them that.” No, this is going to be a semi regular, brief look at our heritage.

So with no more ado, let us dive in with our deerstalkers and magnifying glasses and get going.

The union flag/jack.

I have decided that for our first subject, we shall look at something nice and simple yet completely encompassing of our journey, our British flag.

Before we begin, it is important to make a distinction between the Union flag and the Union Jack. Simply, there is none! One explanation is that as it is flown on the ‘jack staff’ (a pole at the rear of a ship), the term union jack is only used at sea. However, another explanation is the use of the term ‘Jack’ as a shorter version of the Latin for James. (James being the king who formed the first union flag.) This would make it perfectly reasonable for a land flown union flag to be called a union Jack. As of yet there is no official decision on the correct term.

Now, with the terminology out of the way, we can move onto the actual history.

As previously stated, the first iteration of the flag was introduced by King James I of united England and Scotland. At the death of Elizabeth I of England on the 24th of March 1603, James the VI of Scotland was proclaimed King of England. Thus, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were united. (It is important to note though, that each nation’s parliament did not recognise each other as senior. The union was only by monarchy.)

The first flag was created in 1606; it was an amalgamation of the red cross of Saint George (England) and the white cross of Saint Andrew (Scotland). The King was adamant that the flag should appear unified to emphasise his dual leadership. For this reason, the flag went through several changes before settling as the classic cross on cross pattern that we know today.

We must remember though, that the initial flag did not include the Irish cross of Saint Patrick as they were not yet part of the ‘United Kingdom’.

This changed in 1800 though with the two ‘Acts of Union’.

Since the time of King Henry VIII, Ireland had a close relationship with England and Scotland. (Amazingly, our government have not always despised each other.) Thanks to a rebellion and French invasion of Ireland in 1798, Britain sought to ‘restore order’ and push for union. This resulted in the aforementioned Acts.

This new union was represented with the cross of Saint Patrick being added to the Union Flag and low, the image we all know and love today was born.

By the by, if you are wondering why the flag of Wales is not represented, it is because it has long been considered to be part of England. By the time they became a devolved nation, they stopped caring about it.

So there we go a very brief history of a flag that has been carried all over the world and planted on many a conquered land.

Until next time,

Good day.

– Andrew Davies