Belgrade bombed yesterday, and the first official announcement this morning that there is a British army in Greece – 150,000 men, so they say. So the mystery of where the British army in Libya had gone to it at last cleared up, though this had been obvious enough when the British retreated from Benghazi. Impossible to say yet whether the treaty of friendship between Jugo-Slavia and the U.S.S.R. means anything or nothing, but it is difficult to believe that it doesn’t point to a worsening of Russo-German relations. One will get another indication of the Russian attitude when and if the Emperor of Abyssinia is restored – i.e., whether the Russian government recognises him and sends an ambassador to his court.
…Shortage of labour more and more apparent and prices of such things as textiles and furniture rising to a frightening extent …The secondhand furniture trade, after years of depression, is booming … It is evident that calling-up is now being consciously used as a way of silencing undesirables. The reserved age for journalists has been raised to 41 – this won’t bring them in more than a few hundred men, but can be used against individuals whenever desired. It would be comic if after having been turned down for the army on health grounds ten months ago it were suddenly found that my health had improved to just the point at which I was fit to be a private in the Pioneers.
From the Orwell Diaries.
Why don’t we learn from history?
History is a compulsory subject in Malaysia.
Whether you like it or not, you have to remember all the important dates, dead people’s names, etc…
People seem to have a blank spot and not notice the recurring patterns.
Just my thought on that
Nothing much changes does it…….
Sadly no…
History repeated – over and over and over again. You’d think we’d learn?!?!?
It is surprising that we don’t learn the lessons of the past!
Ah yes, they were really something. Those are the things which take you right there, as if in a time machine.
It is always nice to hear a first hand account, even if it is a little disturbing.
Memory was given as a means to learn from mistakes….how quickly one forgets.
The trick is to try and remember. I hope I can.
Fascinating…. thanks for posting it.
The nice thing about diaries is that they tell you the things that most people were not willing to say publicly, or that people thought too unimportant to mention, like the bit about furniture prices.
It is interesting to hear the thoughts of someone who was there and how they felt about it.
The price of the furniture caught my eye too, especially as all our prices are getting higher too.