HMS Victory in peril

As the former flagship of Britain's greatest naval hero, she is an iconic vessel.

It was aboard her that Lord Nelson died after his most famous seafaring success, the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

HMS Victory embodies the pride, history and traditions of the Royal Navy. But now she faces another skirmish

'England Expects': The Victory sees 400,000 visitors a year, but the historic ship's future is in doubt because of the upkeep cost

The Government says she may be given to a private owner as a cost-cutting measure after fears among defence chiefs that she is becoming too expensive to maintain.

The Ministry of Defence argues that increasing budgetary pressures mean it must review Victory's future like any other ship.

But the idea that the world's oldest commissioned warship could fall into private hands or go to a charity has been criticised by naval experts, who say it would be a tragedy.

Victory has pride of place at Portsmouth dockyard, where she is visited by some 400,000 tourists annually.

She costs a minimum of £1.5million to maintain and run each year, but that figure can go up when major work is needed.

The MoD is considering whether to hand Victory to a private company, to a charitable trust similar to the one that looks after the Mary Rose, to another government department, or keep the status quo.

Lieutenant Commander Michael Cheshire, now retired, who was commanding officer of Victory from 1992 to 1998, said: 'If they sell her or give her away to charity it will be an absolute tragedy.

'This magnificent ship means so much to both naval people and the whole nation - selling it to a private firm would turn it into Disneyland and would be its ruin.

'To sell off this icon would indicate the decline of the Royal Navy.'

Former First Sea Lord Sir Julian Oswald said: 'The Victory is a national treasure. Talk of selling her

or anything of that sort is absolutely daft. It can't be that expensive to keep her - she is just wood and canvas.'

Portsmouth council leader Gerald Vernon- Jackson said: 'It's essential Victory remains available to the public and in tip-top condition - she must not be allowed to rot.

'My concern is a private firm could restrict access and just open her for corporate events or increase admission prices.'

The MoD said it was committed to keeping Victory in the best possible condition, adding that sticking with the current set-up was one of the options.

A spokesman said: 'Whatever happens, we are committed to keeping Victory as a commissioned warship.'

Source: Daily Mail

International Women's Day

You're fired!

Imagine you're one of the 13 men on this all-male board of a large company and are told five of you must go to be replaced by women. Unlikely? Not in Norway, where they're enforcing a law that 40% of directors must be female.

Rolf Dammann, the co-owner of a Norwegian bank, recently had his skiing holiday interrupted by some unwelcome news. The government had published a list of 12 companies accused of breaking the law by failing to appoint women to 40% of their non-executive board directorships. His company, Netfonds Holding ASA, was one of the dirty dozen - attracting international attention.

"I work in a man's world. I don't come across many women and that's the challenge," Dammann says. "The law says a non-executive director has to be experienced, and experience is difficult to find in women in my sector. People have had to sack board members they've worked with and trusted for 20 or 30 years, and replace them with someone unknown. That's hard."

This month, Norway set a new global record. It now has, at 40%, the highest proportion of female non-executive directors in the world, an achievement engineered by the introduction of a compulsory quota. Two years ago, after several years of voluntary compliance had failed to lead to a sufficient number of female board members, 463 "ASAs" - publicly listed companies over a certain size - were told to change the composition of their boards or risk dissolution.

"A woman comes in, a man goes out. That's how the quota works; that's the law," says Kjell Erik Øie, deputy minister of children and equality, in the centre-left "Red-Green" coalition government in Oslo. "Very seldom do men let go of power easily. But when you start using the half of the talent you have previously ignored, then everybody gains."

In 2002, only 7.1% of non-executive directors of ASAs were female. When they introduced the 40% quota, the government had expected a widespread rebellion, but by the final deadline for compliance - February 22 this year - only a handful of companies had failed to meet it. Most ASA boards have acquired between two and four new women in the past several months. It is not exactly an army on the march, but it is a step in the right direction and has allowed Norway to buck an international trend; in Britain, women fill only 14.5% of non-executive board positions and one in four of the FTSE 100 boards still has no women at all. The number of women holding executive directorships in FTSE 100 companies actually fell last year to the lowest level for nine years, according to research by Cranfield business school. And the picture is similar all over Europe. Only 2% of boardroom posts in Italy are held by women, and in Spain the figure is 4%.

According to the Norwegian government, the quota is not simply a strike for equality; it makes sound economic sense, too. Last year, Goldman Sachs, the global investment company, published a paper in which it outlined the economic reasons for reducing gender inequality and using female talent fully. Not only would this increase growth, the paper said, it would "play a key role in addressing the twin problems of population ageing and pension stability".

So what is stopping companies from appointing women to their boards? Catalyst, an influential New York thinktank, has published a list of the barriers to female advancement to board level. Top of the list is women's lack of management experience, closely followed by women's exclusion from informal networks; stereotypes about women's abilities; a lack of role models; a failure of male leadership; family responsibilities; and naivety when it comes to company politics.

Source: The Guardian

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Started as a political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries (primarily Russia and the countries of former Soviet bloc).In some celebrations, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love to the women around them in a way somewhat similar to Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day mixed together. In others, however, the political and human rights theme as designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner.

History

The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York, 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives. The idea of having an international women's day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. By urban legend,women from clothing and textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York City.The garment workers were protesting against very poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women established their first labor union in the same month two years later.

More protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights[citation needed]. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen (in the labour-movement building located at Jagtvej 69, which until recently housed Ungdomshuset) by the Second International and an 'International Women's Day' was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin, although no date was specified. The following year, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, soon thereafter, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s.

Demonstrations marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday in Russia, and it was established, but was a working day until 1965. On May 8, 1965 by the decree of the USSR Presidium of the Supreme Soviet International Women's Day was declared as a non working day in the USSR "in commemoration of outstanding merits of the Soviet women in communistic construction, in the defense of their Motherland during the Great Patriotic War, their heroism and selflessness at the front and in rear, and also marking the big contribution of women to strengthening friendship between peoples and struggle for the peace."

Source: Wikipedia

Spanish Coup

1981: Rebel army seizes control in Spain

Spain is in a state of political confusion after an attempted right-wing coup.

This evening about 200 soldiers and members of the paramilitary Civil Guard stormed the lower house of the Spanish Parliament, the Cortes, firing automatic weapons and shouting orders.

They took hostage about 350 MPs debating a new government.

The group - led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero Molina, an officer of the Civil Guard - told all those present to lie down.

Lt Col Tejero then called on the King to make an announcement.

All streets around the building have been sealed off.

The coup plot originated in Valencia, in eastern Spain, under the command of Lieutenant General Jaime Milan del Bosch.

A supporter of the late dictator General Franco, the former commander of the elite Brunete Armoured Division near Madrid was recently transferred because of his opposition to the new political order and was suspected of plotting against it.

The general has declared a state of emergency and ordered tanks onto the streets of Valencia.

In Madrid the rebel army took over the radio and TV stations for 90 minutes. They dispersed when riot police arrived on the scene.

Attempts to restore order

The King meanwhile has called on the civil service to take on the role of parliament based at Zarzuela Palace.

The joint chiefs-of-staff issued a communiqué saying all measures had been taken to put down the rebellion and restore order.

Despite these reassurances Spaniards are now wondering how long their five-year democracy can last.

Although Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been fairly smooth - until now - there have been rumblings of discontent among the right.

A few weeks ago Spain's first democratically elected prime minister Adolfo Suarez resigned

.
It is believed he was under pressure by the right wing of his Democratic Centre Union party and the armed forces about concessions made to separatists in Catalonia and the Basque regions.

Source: BBC News

Do you remember anything about the day of the attempted coup or do you know any interesting stories related to it?

Or are there any other days in Spanish history that are significant or memorable for some reason?

Queen celebrates diamond anniversary

Today is also the wedding anniversary Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. This is how the BBC recounts the celebration held yesterday:

The Queen and Prince Philip have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a service which featured a reading from Prince William.

Prayers were said and the Archbishop of Canterbury asked the couple, in a blessing, to "renew in your hearts promises you made to one another".

More than 30 family members were among 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey.

Other guests included five choristers from the 1947 service, as well as 10 couples who married on the same day.

The service was also watched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as his predecessors John Major and Baroness Thatcher.

The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a diamond wedding anniversary.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said in his sermon that every marriage was a public event but that "some couples have to live more than others in the full light of publicity".

"We are probably more aware than ever these days of the pressures this brings," he said.

"But it also means that we can give special thanks for the very public character of the witness and the sign offered to us by this marriage and what it has meant to nation and Commonwealth over the decades."

During prayers, the congregation was asked to pray "for Her Majesty and His Royal Highness - for their life together as husband and wife".

Prince William, in his reading of 1 John 4:7-16, told the congregation to "let us love one another, because love is from God".

Dame Judi Dench read the poem Diamond Wedding - written especially for the occasion by poet laureate Andrew Motion - which speaks of "a life remote from ours because it asked each day, each action to be kept in view".

Psalm setting

There was also a procession of representatives from different religions including the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh faiths.

As was the case in 1947, a setting by EC Bairstow of Psalm 67 - God Be Merciful Unto Us And Bless Us - was sung by the abbey choir.

Other elements that were at both ceremonies included the performance, at the start of the service, of We Wait For thy Loving Kindness O God, composed for the original ceremony by then-organist Dr William McKie.

Similarly, the hymn The Lord's My Shepherd, set to the Scottish tune Crimond and chosen by the then-princess for her wedding, was sung.

At the end of the service, Prince Philip and the Queen walked back up the aisle and met 10 couples who were also married on 20 November 1947.

One of the couples, Margaret and Horace Bunn, both aged 80, from Ashington, Northumberland, said meeting the royal couple had been the "icing on the cake".

Mr Bunn told BBC News: "We had a bit of an idea we might meet the Queen but we didn't know it was going to happen.

"But, apparently, it was all planned and kept from us."

His wife added: "We were really looking forward to meeting here and she was so nice."

Maltese Visit

After the service, the royal couple met members of the public who came to Parliament Square to join the celebrations.

On the square's Jubilee Walkway walking trail, the couple unveiled a panoramic panel - created to mark their anniversary - explaining landmarks on the London landscape.

The couple's actual 60th wedding anniversary is on Tuesday when they will travel to Malta where they lived as a young married couple from 1949 to 1951, while Prince Philip was stationed there as a serving Royal Naval officer.

On Sunday, members of the Royal family attended a celebration dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House.

The 1947 wedding, according to one of the couple's friends, was a moment of "blissful brightness and happiness" after World War II.

The couple received gifts from around the world 60 years ago.

These included a thoroughbred horse, 131 pairs of nylon stockings - a rare commodity at a time of rationing and austerity - and 500 tins of pineapple.

However, BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt says Mahatma Gandhi's present caught the disapproving eye of Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth's grandmother. She told a friend the piece of hand-spun lace was "indelicate", mistaking the tray cover for the Indian leader's loincloth.

Source: BBC News

Take a look at the BBC "On This Day" page where you can find interesting footage and articles related to events that happened on any particular day in the past. Choose a date that means something to you and look up what happened on that date. Then, in your words, recount the event and your thoughts or memories of it.

Anniversary - Death of Franco

1975: Spanish dictator Franco dies

General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain with an authoritarian hand for 39 years, has died at the age of 82.

He had been ill for five weeks and died early this morning at La Paz hospital, Madrid. Doctors said the cause of death was heart failure aggravated by peritonitis.

Flags all around the country are at half-mast and the general's body is now lying in state at the El Pardo Palace.

Franco, also know as the Generalissimo, will be buried next week at the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum.

Forgiveness

The Prime Minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, his voice trembling with emotion, announced the death at 1000 local time on radio.

He said that on his deathbed General Franco had asked his enemies to forgive him.

"I ask pardon of all my enemies, as I pardon with all my heart all those who declared themselves my enemy, although I did not consider them to be so," the general had said.

He also asked the Spanish people to remain loyal to Prince Juan Carlos, his designated successor who will be sworn in as king tomorrow.

In a veiled warning to resist separatist movements such as the Basque nationalist group ETA, he advised the nation to "keep the lands of Spain united".

General Franco successfully led the Nationalist armies against the Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, with support from Hitler's Germany and Italy under Mussolini.

Franco allowed Hitler to use Spain's naval bases during World War II, then declared Spain neutral in 1943 when it looked like the Allies would win.

Under Franco Spain has enjoyed stability and relative prosperity, especially after reforms introduced since 1959 that modernised administration and industry.

His regime has also been deeply reactionary, with political parties and non-government trade unions banned, and separatists and communists repressed.

World hopes for democracy

Leaders of European countries have been guarded in their reaction the dictator's death and expressed hope that the new king would introduce modern democracy to Spain.

The European Commission expressed "sympathy and friendship for the people of Spain" and condolences to General Franco's widow.

No western European nation will be sending a head of state to the funeral apart from Monaco.

But staunch supporters in South America, such as President Pinochet of Chile and Bolivia's President Banzer will attend.

In Britain, Labour backbenchers are furious that the government is sending a representative - Lord Shepherd, the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords - to the funeral. Stanley Newens, MP for Harlow, said the decision was "an affront to those who fought and died in the Civil War in Spain in the 1930s".

Read some memories of Franco's death.

Do you remember when Franco died? What are your memories? And/or what are the memories of relatives older than you?

Guy Fawkes Night

In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain's most notorious traitor.

After Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, English Catholics who had been persecuted under her rule had hoped that her successor, James I, would be more tolerant of their religion. James I had, after all, had a Catholic mother. Unfortunately, James did not turn out to be more tolerant than Elizabeth and a number of young men, 13 to be exact, decided that violent action was the answer.

A small group took shape, under the leadership of Robert Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted. Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament. In doing so, they would kill the King, maybe even the Prince of Wales, and the Members of Parliament who were making life difficult for the Catholics. Today these conspirators would be known as extremists, or terrorists.

To carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder - and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords.

But as the group worked on the plot, it became clear that innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics. Some of the plotters started having second thoughts. One of the group members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. Was the letter real?

The warning letter reached the King, and the King's forces made plans to stop the conspirators.
Guy Fawkes, who was in the cellar of the parliament with the 36 barrels of gunpowder when the authorities stormed it in the early hours of November 5th, was caught, tortured and executed.

It's unclear if the conspirators would ever have been able to pull off their plan to blow up the Parliament even if they had not been betrayed. Some have suggested that the gunpowder itself was so old as to be useless. Since Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators got caught before trying to ignite the powder, we'll never know for certain.

Even for the period which was notoriously unstable, the Gunpowder Plot struck a very profound chord for the people of England. In fact, even today, the reigning monarch only enters the Parliament once a year, on what is called "the State Opening of Parliament". Prior to the Opening, and according to custom, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster. Nowadays, the Queen and Parliament still observe this tradition.







On the very night that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires were set alight to celebrate the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as Bonfire Night. The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.









Some of the English have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes' execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government.

Guy and the Plot Today

Beyond Bonfire Night, Guy and the Gunpowder Plot have left a legacy.

Today, we use the word "guy" to mean "person" or "man", as in "that guy across the street". Although the Oxford English Dictionary won't vouch for this theory, many linguists and historians think that our use of the term in that way is from our friend Guy Fawkes. It's difficult to trace the exact path of the word over the centuries, but it probably started by referring to the effigy of Fawkes that was thrown on top of the bonfire every November 5th as "a guy". Still today, as they walk down the street trying to collect money for fireworks, kids will ask for "a penny for the guy." From there, it's not a huge leap to talk about "a guy" as a living person. The use of the word would have grown from there.

Source: bonfire.org

Did you notice how many Phrasal Verbs were above? Get using them!!

• blow up
• turn out
• carry out
• work on
• pull off