Thanks to Peter and Anne for reminding us that today is Europe Day
The first picture is from Europe Day 2009 outside Old Abbey House. The next 2 pictures are from 2006 when visitors from all the twin towns came to Abingdon. Peter Says …
Today is Europe Day ! Europe Day is a celebration of peace and unity in Europe and is celebrated on May 9th each year as this day remembers the historical Schuman Declaration of May 9th 1950 which was the start of European unity. ( Europe Day is sometimes called Schuman day.)
ADTTS, The Abingdon twin towns society, celebrates Europe Day each year on May 9th. We think that with Brexit being continually in the news it is even more important than ever to celebrate Europe Day so tonight we will be meeting in the upstairs room of the Kings Head & Bell Pub for a meal on a European theme. The menu will incorporate dishes from our twin towns in France, Germany , Belgium & Italy and we will be toasting our friends in our twin towns and friends in all the European countries.
It’s a tad ironic we should celebrate this day? Schuman day, which celebrates ( or in our case should commemorate ) the Schuman statement which laid down the foundation of a single steal and coal market between France & Germany, ironic in that because of France and Germanys illegal subsidies to both those industries they have all but decimated ours !
On the other hand I would feel more comfortable in having that day as a bank holiday rather than Corbyn & Co’s communist keep the red flag flying May the 1st.
A belated happy Europe day, everyone. We celebrated by watching the first semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
And that’s another “European” event skewed against G B .
The question was asked on radio 2 the other day..and i didn’t get to hear the answer, so I am sure someone here can enlighten me. What is the pointt of “Twinning”, and who actually benefits from it? Is it just the Dignitaries and Councillors from each town? Who actually decided which towns we should be conjoined with..and why?
Twinning was one of the post-war mechanisms used to promote greater contact between the populations of different countries to encourage mutual understanding and friendship.
As time has moved on this has morphed somewhat, and now activity tends to be focused around visits between the twin towns twinning societies and for school exchanges.
Whilst ‘dignitaires’ and ‘councillors’ may choose to participate in visits between the towns this is at their own expense. Virtually no public money is, these days, spent on twinning. The small exception that I am aware of is the councils sometimes provide small grants for school exchange trips to contribute towards all students wishing to participate being financially able to do so.
Certainly in this area there has been, for some years, no support, financial or otherwise, from the local councils for twinning activities. The Twinning Society is entirely run by volunteers in the community who would all agree that fostering friendships between peolpes of different countries helps to break down barriers of prejudice and steroetyping.
Twinning grew out of a devastated war-torn Europe looking for ways of avoiding future wars in Europe.
The signing of the French/ German steel and coal agreement can also be seen as symbolic of this deep desire for peace ie co-operation and trade between the 2 ex- enemy countries instead of using steel and coal to manufacture weapons of war.
I have made a note in my diary to be sure to wish captainkaos a happy international workers solidarity day every 1st May, just to cheer him up.
Ha ha D of L, I shall look forward to that.
I remember MG workers being offered jobs in Abingdon’s German twin town after the car plant closed, very generous and comradely. Oddly in these days of hard Brexit, the twinning movement seems to be a way of expressing and sharing diverse European cultures rather than the homogenous global monoculture promoted by the EU. I hope it survives.
This is very ironic as Backstreetter did not mention St Georges Day. In fact there was hardly any mention of it anywhere. There is great play made of St Patrick’s Day, St David’s Day and St Andrew’s Day. Even on television the presenter wear the shamrock or daffodil. The English have been made to not be patriotic or to be proud of their national identy. It is not PC to be proud of our heritage. How can we be proud of British Goods and Britain if we are so anti British.
Sorry Janet you have lost me there. As far as I know we have never had a patron saint of Britain – or a “Britain day”. Maybe Team Theresa will introduce one as part of the great Brexit deal? In England St George seems to have been hijacked by jingoistic or racist types which is not the case in Scotland, Wales and Ireland – nor indeed in those parts of Spain which also have San Jorge as their patron saint
This is the point Hester. We cannot express any pride in our English heritage as we would be accused of being racist or jingoistic. Other countries are very proud of their heritage. For instance the French or Italians. This is not seen as being racist. You have confirmed my point that we are not alllowed to show the English flag or St Goerge, which has been adopted by the English. (The fight of good against evil). As you say any expression of celebrating our Englishness is viewed as racist or being jingoistic. Very strange. They still have pride in Scotland, Wales and Ireland and are not ruled by the apologetic PC brigade.
We have made friends from our other twin towns, either by visiting them (at our own expense) and being hosted by local families, or hosting visitors from our twin towns when they visit Abingdon. This is a good way to get to know foreigners as individuals and to understand they have the same hopes, worries and challenges as we do. Long live Twinning!
Hester, wasn’t / hasn’t the Irish tricolour highjacked by the I R A? You know those lovely people Corbyn refuses to condem? It’s ok for them to murder and intimidate in the name of nationalism, but if someone over here wears or flies the George cross they get ridiculed by the love everyone else brigade
I think it is a real shame that there continues to be a blatant, and sometimes not so blatant narrative constantly reinforced that pro BREXIT means that you are anti-Europe, or not friendly.
i think the shame is how often this blog gets politicised. I really value this blog for keeping me in touch with the town, but i get tired of so many threads getting hijacked to talk about the same few issues. Honestly, I wish Backstreeter were not so hands-off with his moderation of the comments threads, because if there were a blog like this but without the negativity, i would switch.
Davidof_luton. How sterile and uninteresting that would be. Thanks to Backstreeter issues like traffic etc are aired and discussed. Do people really want an airbrushed rose tinted glasses view of things?
David, surely you’ve noticed how subtle Backstreeter drops a “hook” into this blog purely to encourage debate?
Not only that you of all people will know and appreciate the fact our local politicians (and officers) read it regularly and often use it if a source of opinion that they wouldn’t otherwise get?
No, CaptainKaos, i have not noticed any “hooks”. Perhaps you can point some out to me?
I know local politicians read the blog. But I suspect that by now they know where you, janet and many others are coming from.
As for hooks? You need to look closer, as for where I’m coming from ( I can’t speak for Janet) I struggle to accept that 30% of my council tax goes on officers and politicians pensions, given that fact it surely means the actual pay bill is at least the same? Which means over 60% of my council tax is spent on pensions and wages leaving just 40% max to be used for our schools, police, hospitals, doctors surgerys, waste disposal, highways etc etc,
Where I’m coming from David is that I’m totally fed up with my services being cut to the bone yet on the other hand I’m expected to fund this :-
Ox city council have just hired an interim c e o at £150k per year, no doubt occ pays there ce o the same? Ditto west, Cherwell and vale/sodc? That’s a staggering £1,75 million pound of tax payers money gone on just 5 jobs,! Then we get the chief fire officer retiring at 50 from his £135k a year post! This kind of top heavy gravy train cannot continue
Sorry £750k or £0.75 million !
My goodness DoL…what a boring blog that would be. Good luck finding it.
Dunno. to me hearing the same people drone on about the same issues over and over again is quite dull. Perhaps my boredom threshold is too low?
Some might say that people droning on about others posts is a tad wearing…..after all it’s like watching a tv show you don’t like…there is always the off switch? (or in this case just don’t read the comments???)
Ah D of L, obviously you and your family are not affected by the closure of the south Abingdon Children’s centre? Or the 28 day waiting list at the Malthouse surgery to see your doctor? Perhaps you’re lucky enough to drive so you’re not effected by the cuts in local bus services? No doubt too you’ve a ring fenced, index linked pension no doubt acquired from the public sector, so you’ll be oblivious to knowing the basic state pension is a mere £121 a week ( probably less than your weekly Waitrose xhop) you just carry on living in your privalaged bubble and carry on despising those less fortunate than you because they’ve been less fortunate than you!
Meanwhile in the real world I’ve just heard of two more of Abingdons independents throwing in the towel, but hey ho D of L that’s there fault, not yours !
Dear Captainkaos2
I appreciate your many contributions to the Blog debates, and your obviously sincerely held views.
However sometimes your pontifications can be both wide of the mark and very hurtful.
This last comment is unworthy of you and certainly not appropriate for this forum
… captain, who’s closing
David is more than capable of defending himself, but your description of him is well wide of the mark and unworthy CK2
Surely Janet, if you want to present an image of non racist and jingoistic Englishness that is open and inclusive and represented by St George’s cross, the ball is in your court?
Nothing is preventing you from organising a St George’s day celebratory event that will help, over time, to redress the appropriation of that image by racists and xenophobes simply by excluding the poisonous rhetoric currently associated with it?
Claiming that the PC brigade, whoever they might be, somehow rob you of the right to do that is rubbish.
thank you for your assessment of my life, CaptainKaos. I had no idea i touched so much of a nerve. You seem to be under some misconceptions concerning my life, however. Let me correct some of them.
CaptainKaos wrote: “Ah D of L, obviously you and your family are not affected by the closure of the south Abingdon Children’s centre?”
True… but Children’s centres have already gone in Luton where i now live. So the central government policies that led to this affect me as much as any other. I also still have school age children so yes, cuts in children;s services are of real concern to me. I hope, somehow, Abingdon finds a way to preserve those services. We largely failed to do that in Luton.
CaptainKaos wrote: “Or the 28 day waiting list at the Malthouse surgery to see your doctor?”
the waiting time at my surgery here in Luton is 14 days if you want to see your own GP. Not as bad, but still bad. I cannot predict that I will be ill in a fortnight!! I wish the NHS local services were better funded, and will bear that in mind when I vote at the general election.
CaptainKaos wrote: “Perhaps you’re lucky enough to drive so you’re not effected by the cuts in local bus services?”
I drive, but I am the only one in my family who does, so we all use the busses from time to time. And the cuts in public transport affect car drivers too, since bad public transport forces more people into private cars, leading to more traffic. So I would not say i was not effected (sic).
CaptainKaos wrote: “No doubt too you’ve a ring fenced, index linked pension no doubt acquired from the public sector, so you’ll be oblivious to knowing the basic state pension is a mere £121 a week ( probably less than your weekly Waitrose xhop)”
No, I don’t have a ring fenced, public sector pension. And there are no Waitrose stores at all in Luton. Folks here cannot afford it. My local supermarket is Lidl, with Aldi a but further away.
I am 54 and staring down the barrel towards a retirement I cannot afford. Looking at my pension pot I do not know how or whether I will be able to retire at 67. I suspect I will be working, somehow, into my 70s in order to survive. That is my reality. Index linked pension? I wish!!!
CaptainKaos wrote: “you just carry on living in your privalaged bubble and carry on despising those less fortunate than you because they’ve been less fortunate than you!”
Compared with most of the world I am privalaged (sic). I am far, however, from despising those less fortunate than me. But than you for sort of proving my point about the need for more hands on moderation of this blog. Ad Hominem attacks are seldom warranted, and come across as ugly. I am sure you are a better man than that.
CaptainKaos wrote: “Meanwhile in the real world I’ve just heard of two more of Abingdons independents throwing in the towel, but hey ho D of L that’s there fault, not yours !”
I do not know which independents you mean and the circumstances of the closure, so i cannot really comment on whose “fault” it is (if indeed there is any blame to be apportioned.) But the loss of anyone’s business is to be regretted. I hope things work out for the shop owners involved. I would say that here in Luton we have many many more empty shops than you do in Abingdon, which does not only affect the businesses but the whole community.
Capt K – you and I have had our differences on this blog and will continue to do so, but your attack on David is completely unacceptable. In his professional life, to which he dos not refer in his very dignified rspnse, he will have done far more than, I suspect, you ever have for needy people. Words are one thing – and can be useful – but direct help,to those who need it mustn’t ever be devalued or derided.
Outdoor Traders is one shop that has announced it is closing.
…never my sort of shop…but definitely a great loss to the town. What a shame.
Still, i guess it means the Turkish barbers can expand.
By the way, St George seems to have been a Middle-Eastern mercenary.