On 2 February 1899, the Australian colonial Premiers’ Conference agreed (a) that the nation’s new capital would be in NSW but at least 100 miles from the NSW capital Sydney; and (b) that the nation’s first parliament would meet in the colonial but soon to be state Victorian capital of Melbourne. The nation’s new capital,… Continue reading #OTD 2 February – The way we were
Category: The Calendar
#OTD 1 February – Cause and culpability
On 1 February 1992, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal declared Warren Anderson a fugitive from justice for failing to appear at the hearing of a culpable homicide case. Mr Anderson was chair and CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the Bhopal disaster in 1984 which had killed thousands. In 1982, auditors had… Continue reading #OTD 1 February – Cause and culpability
#OTD 31 January – A changing regime
In 1997, BBC 1 ended a tradition of playing God Save the Queen on close of transmission. In 2016, a pro-Brexit Tory MP sought to have the tradition reinstated. A BBC 2 program responded by closing with the Sex Pistols’ version. On 31 January 2020, the UK’s membership of the EU ended. John Lydon aka… Continue reading #OTD 31 January – A changing regime
#OTD 30 January – The peace of empire
Those who rule like their rule being associated with peace. The propaganda term “pax Romana” was and continues to be used for the time from empire’s beginning, 27 BC, to the death of the stoic Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD. The first known use is that of the other great stoic Seneca about a century… Continue reading #OTD 30 January – The peace of empire
#OTD 29 January – Women & Strangelove
On 29 January 1964, Dr Strangelove hit the cinemas. Kubrick’s works make us think about who we are, although a sizeable school holds that Kubrick’s “we” extended only to men. Strangelove has sexism explicit in the parody. When you call your presidential character “Merkin Muffley”, your chairman of the joint chiefs “Buck Turgidson”, and your… Continue reading #OTD 29 January – Women & Strangelove
#OTD 27 January – A royal flush
On 27 January 1910, Thomas Crapper died. He had run a successful sanitary engineering business and left two enduring myths. The first is that he invented the flushing toilet. He didn’t. Credit usually goes to Sir John Harington, whom Elizabeth I called “my witty godson”. He loved his epigrams, of which the most famous is:… Continue reading #OTD 27 January – A royal flush
#OTD 25 January – Virginity and marriage
In the battle of the sexes, male propaganda has ever branded female virginity worthy of the power of protection. Like any effective branding campaign, it has created its share of subterfuge, incrimination and personal tragedy. Soon after King Henry VIII had secretly married Anne Boleyn in November 1532, she fell pregnant and a second still-secret… Continue reading #OTD 25 January – Virginity and marriage
#OTD 24 January – Freedom, terror and the state
On 24 January 2003, the US Department of Homeland Security became the 15th executive department and its first secretary was sworn in by President Bush. The Act creating the department identified its primary mission. The first element of that mission was to “prevent terrorist attacks within the United States”. The Act includes a necessarily lengthy… Continue reading #OTD 24 January – Freedom, terror and the state
#OTD 23 January – Reformation, assassination and massacre
The meeting between the youthful, in the middle case ever youthful, Reformations of England, France and Scotland and the ageless art of dynastic squabbling prompted the arrivals into English of “assassination” and “massacre”. It also provides an excellent example of words getting footholds through early use by well-known playwrights. On 23 January 1570, James Stewart,… Continue reading #OTD 23 January – Reformation, assassination and massacre
#OTD 22 January – A complexity of bondage
The 14th amendment of the US Constitution holds that: … [no State shall] deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law… In the Supreme Court, this has led to a balancing test between an identification of the right and the justifiability of a state’s intrusion upon it, most famously on… Continue reading #OTD 22 January – A complexity of bondage