19 July 2015

Interesting week. Who'd have thought that a small, insignificant socialist called Hollande could - just maybe - have saved the whole of Europe from disaster by helping Greece.  75 years ago another small, insignificant socialist called Arthur Greenwood persuaded the British war cabinet to make the right decision:  not to appease Nazi Germany.  It was 1940 and the newly-elected Winston Churchill was chairing an urgent meeting.  At the table was Lord Halifax, a man supported by the King - who thought that he rather than Churchill should be PM - who said that the best plan for Britain, one that would save many lives, was to negotiate with Hitler.  However, up stepped insignificant socialist Greenwood who said No, never. Europe would be finished.  TG he swung the vote the right way.  In their way both Greenwood and now Hollande could well have saved Europe from absolute catastrophe:  not by fighting on the beaches but by saying the right word to the right person at the right time.  Something worth remembering.

26 April 2015

I've always been fascinated by history...  History reveals who we were:  we must learn from it if we are ever to improve.  On Monday a Frenchman called Robert Maloubier died aged 92.  Most have never heard of him, and yet he was awarded France's highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur.  He was one of the last surviving French agents from Winston Churchill's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during WWII. For the allies, he was a hero, carrying out special missions targetting German soldiers in occupied France. But in real life, things aren't always like James Bond movies. On one occasion, after being shot several times, he managed to escape a German guard by knocking him to the ground and throwing a motorbike at him!  Like Maloubier, rapid, intelligent and lateral thinking is sometimes required if we are to live our lives unscathed.  Unlike leaders of the past, e.g. Vichy leader Philippe Petain, those who are elected to the top position must be selected for their mental agility above all else, because you never know what's round the corner. Note from the world's biggest worrier: learn from history and be prepared...