New Catallaxy

Men of Harlech

The Battle of Rorke’s Drift between a small British army contingent and a huge army of Zulus in January 1879 was memorably presented in the splendid 1964 film Zulu which depicts how 150 British soldiers successfully held off an army of 4,000 Zulu warriors.

The battle followed on after the Battle of Isandlwana fought a few days earlier where a British army of 1,800 men was utterly defeated and routed by the Zulus.

Rorke’s Drift also saw the awarding of 11 Victorian Crosses the greatest number ever awarded for one single engagement. Also the basic premises of the film is largely true and accurate, but it is not a historical re-enactment of the actual events.

The heavily outnumbered British successfully defended Rorke’s Drift more or less as portrayed in the film. Director and co-writer, Cy Endfield, even consulted a Zulu tribal historian for information from Zulu oral tradition about the attack. There are, however, a number of historical inaccuracies in the film but in the overall scheme of things are relatively minor.

The film was largely instigated by actor/producer Stanley Baker and is also the film that first introduced Michael Caine in a major role, ironically playing a foppish British officer rather than the cockney role for which he would become world famous for.

Despite the overwhelming odds, the discipline and training of the British army enabled them to repel the first Zulu attack.

Where at the film’s climax the two armies compete against each other with their chants and songs. History tells us there was no stirring rendition of Men of Harlech but who cares, in this film it is magnificently staged as a prelude to the final slaughter.

Zulu also boasts a terrific supporting performance by the criminally under-rated Nigel Green as Colour Sergeant Bourne, a seasoned officer who plays a key role in organising and leading the British defence

Nearly 60 years after it first released, Zulu has remained a constant favourite of many a film goer in its numerous re-releases and then as a perennial television fixture. It’s been a favourite of mine ever since I saw it on one of it’s many re-releases.

In 2018 Chief Mangosuthy Buthelezi defended the film’s cultural and historical merits, stating that there’s “a deep respect that develops between the warring armies, and the nobility of King Cetshwayo’s warriors as they salute the enemy, demanded a different way of thinking from the average viewer at the time of the film’s release. Indeed, it remains a film that demands a thoughtful response.”

And as a final note, the film boasts an outstanding score by one of my favourite film composers in John Barry.

Enjoy.

Joseph’s Dream, Rembrandt, 1645

Changes in my personal life meant that I was forced to downsize in 2014. My new (small) place is ultra-convenient. No need for a car so I didn’t buy one, until now. Didn’t fancy dying carless. Ordered a new yellow MG hatch in mid-May. I cancelled at the end of October, have been told yet another fairy tale by the car salesman. In order, and I’m not making it up: It’s arrived but in quarantine; it’s been sent back to China; a new one has arrived and is on the docks; it will be here very soon in a matter of days; it’s back on the docks.

Cars are no longer manufactured in Australia. General Motors, Ford, Toyota, and Mitsubishi are all gone. Driven out by union bloody-mindedness and the economic challenges of manufacturing for a small domestic market. The current wait time for a new car in Australia can be up to a year and more, I hear. This applies no less and perhaps more to electric cars. Me, I ended up buying a used car. Pre-owned, or pre-loved, I think the shysters who sell cars call it. Though I’m being mean. I bought online and the service seemed pretty good. It would have been more difficult if I were mad enough to go electric. Few to choose from. And imagine trying to find an electrician to fix a charging point in my 1970s apartment building. It would blow all the fuses. Anyway, my park is outside, so how would that work? It’s irrelevant. Electricians have to be booked many months ahead.

I mention all this to draw attention to the reality that we can’t always get what we want. Even Chris Bowen. The Labor government and their wayward modelling mates reckon that one third of households by 2030 will be driving electric cars and have charging points installed; that’s 3.8 million of them (cars and charging points)– from the low tens of thousands of EVs now trundling around posh suburbs. It’s crazy talk. Part of the climate-change-cum-green-energy madness infecting the political and corporate classes.

Add in AEMO’s requirement that we build nine times the wind and solar farms we have now. And, that’s quite apart from the blanketing tens of thousands of far-flung square kilometres with wind and solar to make green hydrogen and Australia into a “green hydrogen [exporting] superpower.” And that’s apart from building 28,000 kilometres of high voltage transmission lines. And, still, when the sun don’t shine and that wind ain’t blowing strongly somewhere, where’s the power coming from? All coal-power stations demolished. Natural gas development demonised and stymied. There’s batteries! It’s mindboggling. They can’t be serious. We’re being gaslighted, surely? It’s working. Death where is thy sting.

Short of leaving this mortal coil, what to do? Think of England….

Enshrine racism in the Constitution

Karl Popper defended equalitarian justice by which he meant equality before non-discriminatory laws and an equal distribution of the limitations on freedom that are required for a functional society.

Traditional or individualistic justice, as described by Popper in his critique of Plato, “calls for equal treatment of the citizens before the law, provided, of course, that the laws show neither favour nor disfavour towards individual citizens or groups or classes.”

There are three main demands or proposals to promote equality and freedom, namely (a) the proposal to eliminate ‘natural privileges’  (no special classes), (b) justice applies to individuals rather than groups and (c) a major function of the state is to protect the freedom of the citizens.

Listen to it. An audible summary of Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies.

Or read all about it on kindle.

Or read on paper in The Popper Guides.

Boulevard Montmartre – Spring Rain, Camille Pissarro, 1897