Thursday, April 28, 2016
Daniel Hannan: Here's What Happens When Britain Votes to Leave
We are unused to referendums in this country, so we tend to think in terms of general elections. Behind much of the coverage of the EU debate is the assumption that voting to leave somehow means putting the Leave campaigners into office.
Hence the interest in what precise alternative we favour. Do we want Britain to be “like” Switzerland or “like” Norway or “like” Canada or “like” Jersey? (It’s worth noting, en passant, that the phrasing of the question demonstrates its silliness: the fact that no two non-EU states have identical deals with Brussels makes a nonsense of the idea that Britain would precisely mimic any of them. Plainly, we’d have our own deal, tailored to suit our own interests.)
Monday, April 25, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Vienna Boys' Choir - "Regina Coeli" - W. A. Mozart
The Vienna Boys' Choir was founded in 1498 and is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. Among many great musicians that the choir has worked with through the centuries are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri, Heinrich Isaac, Paul Hofhaimer, Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Johann Fux, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Anton Bruckner.
The Regina Coeli is sung in place of the Angelus during the Easter season, from Holy Saturday through Pentecost Sunday. The author is unknown, although legend has it that St Gregory the Great heard angels chanting the first three lines one Easter morning in Rome, while following in procession the icon of the Virgin painted by Saint Luke the Evangelist. The setting of Regina Coeli performed above by the Vienna Boys' Choir is one of three composed by Mozart.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Happy Saint George's Day to All of the Anglosphere!
On this, the Feast Day of Saint George, patron saint of England,
we wish all our English friends, visitors and all those throughout the
world whose roots are in that "sceptred isle," a proud, blessed and
happy Saint George's Day.
We
remember, too, that it is on this day that William Shakespeare, the
greatest writer in the English language, was born and died; so what
could be more appropriate to the day than these lines from his great
history play, King Richard II. Act ii. Sc. 1?
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England....
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England....
Friday, April 22, 2016
Pat Buchanan: Dishonoring General Jackson
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By Patrick J. Buchanan
In Samuel Eliot Morison’s “The Oxford History of the American People,” there is a single sentence about Harriet Tubman.
“An illiterate field hand, (Tubman) not only escaped herself but returned repeatedly and guided more than 300 slaves to freedom.”
Morison, however, devotes most of five chapters to the greatest soldier-statesman in American history, save Washington, that pivotal figure between the Founding Fathers and the Civil War — Andrew Jackson.
By Patrick J. Buchanan
In Samuel Eliot Morison’s “The Oxford History of the American People,” there is a single sentence about Harriet Tubman.
“An illiterate field hand, (Tubman) not only escaped herself but returned repeatedly and guided more than 300 slaves to freedom.”
Morison, however, devotes most of five chapters to the greatest soldier-statesman in American history, save Washington, that pivotal figure between the Founding Fathers and the Civil War — Andrew Jackson.
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