The invention of the Interweb has opened up whole new vistas for the casual researcher and the chance for us 'little people' to vent our spleens. One of the more positive aspects has been the increase in the availability of historical data, and not just the revisionist stuff either, through the scanning and digitialisation of documents.
I'm quite sure that all of us who had elderly relatives alive during WW2 had heard stories of things going on between 1939 and 1945 that weren't made public, even such obviously public events as the Bethnal Green disaster were kept from the public. Churchill and the War Cabinet feared two things, firstly that releasing any details would have an adverse affect on public moral and secondly that the news would inflame racist tensions in the East End. The Balham Underground bus disaster of 14th October 1940 was another event that the Government of the day tried to keep quiet but word of mouth meant that people soon became aware of the deaths of 68 people.
Stories of the not so 'spirit of the Blitz' have been written about before but nevertheless it was good to hear this week of some of the myths being gently debunked. The gangs that the grew in notoriety during the 1960's had their roots in the Second World War and this summary makes interesting reading in light of the past weeks events, particularly the staggering 4,584 cases of looting.
3 comments:
Very good. Incredible reading about those disasters and the pictures. What it brought home to me more than anything is what a bunch of pansies we all really are these days.
Ther looting thing is interesting because I had only read an article about it a month or two ago - have just tried to find the article but no luck - two men were caught one was caught with a chocolate bar (he picked it up on the street in front of a bombed sweet shop or soemthing, he was sentneced to God knowes how many months hard labour but a local outcry, MP involved and everything, got him released.
The 4584 (in 9 months) isn't that staggering when you think about it (IMHO), war on, rationing, "loot" all ove rthe palce I imagine; what was more interesting was the figure of 48% of all arrests was 'juvenile crime' and this to me is what makes your point (presumably!) that given the opportunity, most people but especially children and young adults will take advantage.
P.S. loved this:
"Then, as now, the newspapers demanded strong action from the government to curb the looting, though not even the most right-wing papers of 2011 went as far as the Daily Mirror did in November 1940.
"Fines and imprisonment have done nothing to stop the ghouls who rob even bodies lying in the ruins of little homes. Looting is in fact on the increase," thundered its editorial. "The country demands that this crime be stamped out... hang a looter and stop this filthy crime."
You are Robert Harris and I claim my five pounds! He said several years ago that we are too soft and need a war to sort us out.
I think your third paragraph hits it on the head and one of the arguments put forward since the court appearances started has been that many of the 'children' were copycats. Average age so far though (guess what I do for a living!) is 22, which makes them adults in my book.
I know, I love the line about hang a looter, a bit different from hug a hoodie.
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