Nathan’s Musings

No comment needed, just read this story and make up your mind about the NRA. I’m sure that family feels safer now…

The line in the title is from Shakespeare’s play King Richard II. What made me think of it? Last Saturday I was in London, a city I really love, not least because it has so much to offer that even after visiting it frequently during the past 15 years, I “discover” something new every time I go.

And so it was this time. I had passed the National Portrait Gallery off Trafalgar Square many times, but never actually gone inside. This time I did. What a fantastic place! What makes it so remarkable is not just the wealth of portraits (and in modern times photographs) of important historical figures, but also the explanations next to each portrait, which do a wonderful job of placing the person depicted in a historical context, so that the visitor learns not only that s/he was important but also why. In effect, I enjoyed a 3-hour tour of British history.

In doing so, I was reminded of the enormous contribution made by Britain to Western civilisation (which despite all the politically correct bullshit about multi-culti is the same as world civilisation). During my 3-hour visit I looked at the faces of the man who basically founded modern mathematics (Isaac Newton), the man who invented the steam engine (James Watt), Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the greatest builders and engineers of all time, James Watson (discoverer of the double helix), Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin) and countless other great  scientists.  In the world of arts and letters: Shakespeare, Byron, Austen, Dickens…I could go on. In my own field of economics, the founding fathers of the discipline: Adam Smith and David Ricardo…And of course the statesmen, where the highlight must be Winston Churchill, who saved the West and hence the world during the dark days of 1940.

The contribution to our civilisation, knowledge and culture made by inhabitants of this modestly-sized island off the coast of Europe is simply immense and far surpasses that of any other country on Earth.

While the ex-Hitler Jugend Pope is visiting  the Middle East, here in Catholic Spain the Zapatero government (which has otherwise been rather useless) is introducing some new laws which, to my delight, have the Church and the right wing in a frenzy. Firstly, a woman’s right to an abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy will be codified as a basic right (and not something that has to be agreed by doctor or judge, as has been the case until now); 16-year old girls will no longer need parents’ consent either. Second, the morning-after pill will be made available here without a prescription.

The bishops must truly be pleased