Category Archives: History

Slavery, the Bible and the Word of God

Posted on July 25, 2019 by odeboyz

“[Our] belief is that the Bible is inerrant. It was without error in all of its claims about the nature of the world and the nature of God.”1 The Bible, for many Christians, is the Word of God. It’s God … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Heroic Drinking in Tanganyika

Posted on July 18, 2019 by odeboyz

One of Hosking’s jobs in Tanganyika was to buy the drinks for the dinner parties held by the mining community – the rations consisted of a crate of beer or a bottle of whisky per person. ‘It sounds more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, Health, History | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A start a middle and an end

Posted on July 17, 2019 by odeboyz

I’ll start this story in a tenants association hall in Myrtle Road, Harold Hill. I used the small bar for a pint or two in the 1980s when I heard that the chair had decided to resign. I put my … Continue reading →

Posted in Autobiography, Economics, History, housing, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The importance of the Act of Supremacy 1534

Posted on July 11, 2019 by odeboyz

Introduction The Act of Supremacy ended English Roman Catholicism. England became Protestant when Henry VIII declared himself, supreme head on Earth of the Church of England. Crucially he embedded religious orthodoxy in the person of the monarch. England moved to … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The bin Laden family and the Twin Towers

Posted on June 24, 2019 by odeboyz

“A perfect example of this new and often strange world comes with the sale of the largest stake in the firm that quarries the Carrara marble in Italy that was used for the Pantheon in Rome, the Duomo in Siena, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Jersey’s ultra flexible government, 1935-45

Posted on June 20, 2019 by odeboyz

The resilience of Jersey’s elite is not new (Jersey is perhaps the only place in Europe that had the same government before, during and after Nazi occupation)….. Oliver Bullough Moneyland: Why thieves & crooks now rule the world & how … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: C Northcote Parkinson ~ Parkinson’s Law or the pursuit of progress (1957)

Posted on May 26, 2019 by odeboyz

This book is one of the most influential books that has been written. Like Catch-22 it has entered the language and the psyche of even those who haven’t read it. Parkinson’s Law is brutally simple. “Work expands so as to … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, History, Humour, Literature, Review | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The limits of personal responsibility: Auschwitz and Hiroshima

Posted on May 23, 2019 by odeboyz

Although subordinates in the military are expected to obey orders, they remain beneath the law. Obeying orders is a personal responsibility, which entails deciding whether they’re lawful or not. Unlawful orders should be challenged or disobeyed. Many Nazis were executed … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Philosophy, War | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Abraham Lincoln’s attitude towards Black-Americans in 1858

Posted on May 18, 2019 by odeboyz

While I was at the hotel to-day an elderly gentleman called upon me to know whether I was really in favor of producing a perfect equality between the negroes and white people. [Great laughter.] While I had not proposed to … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Prison | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, 1556

Posted on April 25, 2019 by odeboyz

Thomas Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury and the guiding hand behind Henry VIII’s religious Reformation. The Reformation was a process which continued throughout the 1530s and 40s. Edward VI died six years after succeeding Henry. His half sister, Mary, became … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment