United Kingdom Books

This extremely useful book examines Britain's relationship with the European Union. In particular, the author studies the Constitution for Europe, a key part of the EU drive towards a single EU state.

At the `Convention on the Future of Europe', Giscard d'Estaing, the Convention's President, and Sir John Kerr of the Foreign Office presented the supposed drafting body, `The Presidium', with the text of the Constitution. Giscard rejected all the amendments proposed by the other members of the Presidium and refused to take any votes. He then pronounced (wrongly) that the Presidium had unanimously endorsed the Constitution and warned the EU member governments not to upset their achievement.

The Constitution is designed, not to limit the EU's powers, but to allow further extension of these powers without limit and without even the pretence of consultation. Article I-18 says, "If action by the Union should prove necessary ... to attain one the objectives set by the Constitution, and the Constitution has not provided the necessary powers, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the European Commission, and after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, shall adopt the appropriate measures." So the EU's institutions can assume whatever powers they want, with no need for further treaties, for reference to national parliaments, for referendums or elections.

As French Prime Minister J-P Raffarin wrote of the Constitution, "This pact is the point of no-return. Europe becomes an irreversible project, irrevocable after the ratification of this treaty."

Article III-305-2 of the Constitution would put an end to Britain's role as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It says, "Member States which are members of the Security Council will, in the execution of their functions, defend the positions and the interests of the Union ... When the Union has defined a position on a subject which is on the United Nations Security Council agenda, those Member States which sit on the Security Council shall request that the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs be asked to present the Union's position."

Turning to the British economy, Morgan rightly says that industry should be a national responsibility and that Britain should also control its agriculture, food and fisheries. He urges the development of nuclear energy to compensate for the impending reduction in oil output and he points out the "massive scope for invention in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy resources."

Morgan points out that in 2002, Britain's total stock of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) was $568 billion (payments to inward investors $17 billion), and of outward FDI $921 billion (earning $52 billion). From 1994 to 2003, the cumulative inflows of FDI totalled $463 billion, and cumulative outflows totalled $878 billion - net outflow $415 billion. This all sounds very impressive, but what is the result? As he notes, the inward investment is not creating new productive capacity but is almost all spent on acquisitions and mergers, which create virtually no jobs. For example, all 2002-03's inward investment created just 34,000 jobs, 0.125% of British employment. Similarly, 90% of Britain's outward investment goes on acquisitions. So all the sloshing back and forth of these huge sums of capital does nothing to expand the real productive economy.

This stress on capital rather than on production has resulted in Britain's disastrous industrial decline. The technology component of the British economy is far too small. In 2000, the World Economic Forum ranked Britain only fifteenth in technological progress and we ranked only eighteenth in the number of patents granted by the US Patent Office per million people.

The EU's aim was always, in Giscard d'Estaing's words, "to create a new political structure based on far-reaching integration and led by institutions of a federal type ... it was to organise the United States of Europe." The author rightly concludes that the EU is `a federal state' and that it is `fundamentally illegitimate'. He also denounces the Blair government for saying that it would "have `them' see things `our way'." Yet he proposes the same policy as Blair: "the UK must change the rules of the game" and "bring the EU back on track."

Since the EU's basic design is federal and supranational, not intergovernmental, it cannot be reformed into being intergovernmental. Each country must retrieve its national sovereignty and democracy.

We should do what we need to do to save Britain, whether the other EU members see things our way or not. In particular, we should continue to demand a referendum on the Constitution, as the next step on Britain's road to withdrawal from the EU.

I've been researching beer & brewing and this book was a great look at the time when the business changed from a largely female run, household-based, business, to a guild-organized, male-dominated business. I had no idea how the Black Death contributed to this change. A fascinating book!

Barbara Windsor M.B.E.'s tell all autobiography leaves no stone unturned and is very revealing. While most people outside the UK doesn't know the name, she is one of Britain's best kept secret to themselves. She is blonde, petite, beautiful inside and out as well. She reveals her troubling relationship with her father, her abortions, her marriages and divorces. She talks about the love of her life now, Scott Mitchell, who is the son of her old classmates. She got an M.B.E. in 2000 while Dame Shirley Bassey received her damehood. Still Babs is one of England's prettiest women at 67 years old. If you like reading about celebrities', you will love her book and understand why she is rated one of England's best loved British film actresses with a list including Dame Margaret Rutherford, Dame Judi Dench, and Julie Walters O.B.E. Then you ask yourself, maybe it should be Dame Barbara Windsor. When she begins to doubt earning her M.B.E., you just want to reach in and tell her to shut up. She is very worthy of being honored by the Queen. She should have been made a Dame!

This is a delightful collection of eleven short stories, though the last isn't really a story as much as a tour of the Bandon Fair. Each is about five or six thousand words. One quickly recognizes the style of this duo and their astute observations of Ireland. In one story, a couple is spoken of who hail from England, a place where two and two always come out to be four, whereas in Ireland, it can be three or five or nothing. The humor arises from the situations and the frank, although loquacious, descriptions. There are a couple of moments that are quite tragic. As with most of their work, much horse dealing occurs and hounds and fishing, not to mention the constant added ingredient of recreational spirits. These two were apparently apt to sketch out the entire story line before writing. The momentum of a couple of the tales shows this to be a success. "An Irish Problem" is a great story and one can't help but think of the R.M. A couple of the stories are connected with the same characters, but mostly each stands alone. This is a great thrill for fans of their entertaining style. And the stories are "bite-sized" and can be read in a sitting.

This book was created almost a decade ago as part of an oral history project in Britain to interview the remaining survivors - soldiers and civilians alike - who lived through the First World War. Many of these people were well into their 90s and a few were older than 100. Their stories described a Britain which went through wrenching, profound changes in terms of its economy, attitudes, social mores, and daily life.

Through reading this book, it became painfully clear that not a city or village in Britain was left untouched by the war. People went hungry. Some died from malnutrition. Women (as well as children) contributed in a big way to the war effort by working in munition factories and in the countryside, planting and harvesting crops to help offset the effects of the U-Boat blockade, which nearly strangled Britain in 1917.

The following statement by Emily Galbraith, whose brother Peter was killed during the Somme battles in 1916, speaks volumes as to the war's lingering effects on people who lived through and after it:

`My father wrote every week to the War Office to know what had happened and all we heard was that he had been at a place called High Wood, but what happened we never knew.

`After the war, a memorial at Hornchurch was dedicated to local men who'd died, including Peter's name. And we discovered a young man used to go on every anniversary of my brother's death and lay flowers on the memorial. We never knew the reason. Anyway, in the 1930s, after my parents were dead, this boy's mother and sister asked me to their house at Manor Park in London. While I was there I decided to visit the memorial at Hornchurch, which was some twelve miles away. I had my dog with me and thought I would take him for a walk, and the man insisted that he walked with me all twelve miles --- he said he would go by bus on the way back but we never did.

`We walked twelve miles to put flowers on the memorial and then walked eleven and a half miles back before he said anything about my brother. My brother had been killed helping someone else --- him. A machine gun had started firing and Peter and three friends were in a bunch together. They all got into shell holes, and this man in the shell hole on Peter's right went into a panic. He screamed for my brother to come and my brother got out of his safe shell hole to help but as he did so a sniper shot my brother and he fell, dead.

`How could I react to this revelation? I just took it calmly, you couldn't alter anything.'

Peter Brears intersperses a thorough examination of Henry VIII's kitchens at Hampton Court with recipes drawn from period sources.

The palace kitchens at Hampton Court were a large-scale industrial enterprise that fed 600-1200 people every day - everyone from the lowliest servant to the King himself. The author does a grand job of describing how the system procured, stored, and prepared immense amounts of raw materials each day.

Interspersed with the description are recipes drawn from contemporary sources that are similiar to what might have been served at the palace. The author also covers Tudor table manners, etiquette, and the ceremony involved in feeding the monarch.

John S.D. Eisenhower is a very competent historian who has written half a dozen outstanding books about war. What he lacks in flash and dash he makes up for with clarity and an interesting sustained narrative.

"Allies" is about the making of joint British/American strategy to defeat Germany in World War II. It was not an easy relationship. The Brits and the Yanks often disagreed on fundamental issues of how to fight the war. The British regarded the American as rank unrealistic amateurs and the Americans were suspicious that they were being used to preserve the British empire. The opening quote from Winston Churchill describes the relationship: "There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them."

"Allies" is enlivened by many ancedotes illustrating both the foibles and the virtues of the high and mighty in the two commands. It was brought home to me the difficulty and dangers of traveling in those days -- even for prime ministers and commanding generals.

The principal characters of the book are Churchill, Roosevelt, and Marshall and their staffs -- but Dwight David Eisenhower comes into his own during the book. He seems to have been the one man on both sides who could forge a workable military partnership and the book ends with his laconic decision to invade Europe, "OK, we'll go." (The author apologizes for his emphasis on his father -- but such emphasis seems justifed.)

"Allies" was written more than 20 years ago, but is not out of date in any way that I can find. I recommend it highly for the strategic overview it provides to the conduct of the war in Europe by the United Kingdom and the United States.

Smallchief

How did the Victorian woman cope with the image of herself as a writer?
What were the constraints on female friendships in a world centered on the preeminence of the husband?
How significant for an ambitious woman were her politics about men?
At the heart of the book is a friendship between two women: Jane Carlyle, and the novelist Geraldine Jewsbury. But it was a difficult friendship; and in its difficulty lies much that is illuminating: about 19th century domestic ideology: about writing for a market, and female fame and about the complex ambivalences between women.
Examining aspects of their lives, writing, and relationships, alongside those two other writers...Felicia Hermans and Geraldine's sister, Maria Jane...Norma Clarke provides a subtle and illuminating discussion of the possibilities that were open to women in the Victorian age.

I was honored by having Bob Vitalis teach me a class while I was at the University of Pennsylvania, and was always struck by his engaging ideas and unconventional teaching style. Overcoming several obstacles to actually get the information to write this book in the first place, Vitalis has finally achieved what many would consider an impossible feat: An honest look at the history of the American-Saudi relationship. Here's to the hope that future students of his will be as inspired by his ideas as I was.

very enjoyable boo