APPLE & GINGER’S ROADSHOW

Hi, I’m Apple…

…and I’m Ginger.

There’s a serial just finished call ‘SS-GB’ based on the novel written by Len Deighton in 1978. It belongs to that most interesting sub-genre of science-fiction, alternative history.

In ‘SS-GB’ Britain lost the Battle of Britain in 1940 and it’s now 1941 and Britain is run by the Nazis.

It reminds me of a serial shown on the BBC in 1978 called ‘An Englishman’s Castle’ which showed a present, in 1978, where, 30 years after losing the war, Britain has its’ own government, but every law has to be passed by Germania.

Do look out for both these titles on video.

Both ‘SS-GB’ and ‘An Englishman’s Castle’ involve a resistance group.

After chatting to Walter Gate about them he put forward a very interesting hypothesis, which was that, when you compare how Britain was treated under the European Union, ‘An Englishman’s Castle’ presents a Britain not all that different, in that all British laws can be overturned at will be Europe.

Then there’s the idea of the resistance.

There was always resistance to joining the Common Market.

In 1963 Britain was refused entry into the Common Market because De Gaulle, the one with the big hooter, said “Non!”

After freeing France from the Nazis, De Gaulle has de gaul to do that.  Let ’em get on with it next time!

Britain eventually got into the Common Market in 1973, but the very fact they had to ask was an insult on the part of the Europeans that insults the memory of every British soldier, sailor and airman who died liberating France, Germany and all the rest.

Straight away there was a resistance because Europe wanted to force metric measures on Britain.  Imagine a baseball stadium where all the boundary walls are measured in metres, instead of feet.  Imagine the NFL with each down measures in metres and centimetres, instead of yards and inches.  Chaos! Well, that’s what Europe caused in Britain.

The resistance went by many names.  To begin with they were known as the Metric Martyrs.  In the ’80s and 90s’ stallholders and small businessmen were literally locked up for refusing to go metric.

When you consider ‘SS-GB’ and ‘An Englishman’s Castle’ it’s not very different to see the police and the courts forced by Brussels to lock up their own citizens when they haven’t done anything wrong.

Eventually the resistance won and metric measures were no longer forced on Britain by Europe as from 2007, but the damage was done and such insane laws should never have been tolerated in the first place.

Then there were all the terrorists who are told to make complaints of brutality against the armed forces and intelligence agencies in order to break morale.  The British wouldn’t rise to this bait, so they appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, who forced Britain to free known terrorists and pay them compensation.

So, Europe forced Britain to lock up innocent shopkeepers and free known terrorists.  These people are dictators in sheep’s clothing.

The same was true with deporting known terrorist sympathisers, taking up to 10 years, but Britain didn’t give in to Europe and when you consider the large amount of terrorist attacks in France and Germany recently, you can see how wrong their policies are.

In the ’90s the resistance spread to prominent MPs and became known as the Euro-skeptics.  They demanded a simple in-or-out referendum.

Eventually, in 2012, they got one agreed, to take place by the end of 2017.

It took place in June 2016 and the resistance finally won and June 23rd was referred to as Britain’s Independence Day.

The parallels are clear.

Both 1776 and 2016 are about saying “no” to taxation without representation.

There are still some sore losers mouthing off, like modern-day Lord Haw Haws.  They deserve the same fate as Lord Haw Haw as well, if they continue to ignore and defy the will of the British people.

These Lord Haw Haws are, in fact, pissing in the wind anyway because nothing they say can prevent Britain enjoying its’ independence for the first time since New Year’s Eve 1972.

Much has been said of the Cold War between the United States and Russia, but there was always a second Cold War between Britain and the European Union and Britain last year struck a definitive blow to win that Cold War.

Anyway, it’s time for us to go now.

Yes, say goodnight to all the nice people around the world, including Europe.

OK, goodnight folks.  See you next Tuesday.

 

 

APPLE & GINGER’S ROADSHOW

Hi, I’m Apple…

…and I’m Ginger.

And we’ve just been chatting with Touchdown Timmy and Spitball Sally.

As you might have guessed, Timmy’s favourite time of year is September, at the start of the NFL season, to the playoffs throughout January, leading up to the Super Bowl. He never misses Sunday Night Football on NBC and Monday Night Football on ESPN and he’s glued to the current playoffs on CBS, NBC and Fox that will lead to Super Bowl XLIX on February 1st on NBC.

Whereas Sally can’t wait for April and the start of the MLB season. She never misses Sunday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball on ESPN and is glued to the All-Star break in July, with the Home Run Derby on ESPN and the All-star Game on Fox, all culminating in the post season series in October, leading to the World Series.

Now, we enjoy both the NFL and MLB seasons, but Touchdown Timmy and Spitball Sally are a bit obsessive.

Timmy gets frustrated by the slow pitching in Baseball. You could have a commercial break and they still wouldn’t have pitched the lousy ball.

Whereas Sally gets frustrated by all the time-outs in the NFL.

We just enjoy all of it.

Touchdown Timmy’s father was always obsessive about any ball game. He’d video the games and watch them again during the off-season.

He’s housebound now and a bit forgetful. He was watching a game the other day and got so involved he forgot it was on tape. They were visiting him at the time. During the 7th inning stretch he said to Spitball Sally “quick, give me the phone, I want to put another 20 bucks on the Yankees.”

Needless to say Touchdown Timmy doesn’t have many opportunities to score a touchdown from April to October and Spitball Sally doesn’t receive many home runs from September to February, but there’s always March.

Good job they don’t follow the NHL season. They’d never have any romance in their lives!

Of course, in the years we’ve lived in our lovely little village of Upton Went, we had to get used to some strange sports.

This is a country where people chase down a hill after a rolling cheese. Frightening!

It’s also a country where they can get excited over the spectacle of what look like kettles sliding across the ice. It’s called curling.

It’s toe-curling. You could have more excitement when you were unconscious!

Then there’s cricket. The first time we saw cricket we honestly thought it was the daftest game of baseball we’d ever seen.

We thought both teams must be really bad, they’ve been playing for hours and no-one’s ever got to 2nd base. They run to 1st base, then they run back to home plate, they then run back to 1st base again. Why the hell don’t they run to 2nd base?

And we thought the other team must be even dumber because none of them have thought how easy it is to get them all out.

When we found out the reality was that it wasn’t baseball, it was some game called cricket we couldn’t believe it. They play for 5 days. If it rains they all walk off and have a cuppa tea. And they play this game in a country where the chances of getting through 5 days in a row without it raining are astronomical.

When I was in school I scored 17 home runs in one baseball game.

Well, how come?

I hit the ball, it flew up into the air and a dog caught it in his mouth and he ran off with it. I scored a home run and everyone said I should go round again, so I ended up scoring 17 home runs.

We enjoy both the NFL and MLB seasons. We also enjoy Tennis and the summer and winter Olympics.

What we don’t like is aggressive behaviour and that belongs in the stone age and it leads to racism, sexism and violence and we’ve got no time for any of that and neither should anyone else.

After all, it’s only a game.

Oh, yes, apart from when it’s Game 7 of the World Series, or the Super Bowl or Wimbledon. Maybe it’s not just a game after all!

Anyway, we’re off to watch a couple of games on video with Touchdown Timmy, Spitball Sally and Timmy’s father.

Yes, Super Bowl XXXIV and the subway World Series, both from 2000.

Timmy’s father’s got money on the Tennessee Titans and the New York Mets. We couldn’t take his money even if we agreed with gambling.

So, we’ll see you next time. Have a good week.

O.K. goodnight folks. See you next Tuesday.