The plight of child labourers in Victorian Britain is not usually considered to have been a happy one. Writers such as Charles Dickens painted a grim picture of the hardships suffered by young people in the mills, factories and workhouses of the Industrial Revolution. But an official report into the treatment of working children in the 1840s, made available online yesterday for the first time, suggests the situation was not so bad after all.
The frank accounts emerged in interviews with dozens of youngsters conducted for the Children's Employment Commission. The commission was set up by Lord Ashley in 1840 to support his campaign for reducing the working hours of women and children.
Surprisingly, a number of the children interviewed did not complain about their lot -- even though they were questioned away from their workplace and the scrutinising eyes of their employers.
Sub-commissioner Frederick Roper noted in his 1841 investigation of pre-independence Dublin's pin-making establishments: "Notwithstanding their evident poverty ... there is in their countenances an appearance of good health and much cheerfulness."
A report on workers at a factory in Belfast found a 14-year-old boy who earned four shillings a week "would rather be doing something better ... but does not dislike his current employment". The report concluded: "I find all in this factory able to read, and nearly all to write. They are orderly, appear to be well-behaved, and to be very contented."
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ELSEWHERE
Cartoonist to al-Qaeda: Bite me: "I have not been following the latest controversy closely but Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks pissed off al-Qaeda by drawing Mohammed as a dog. Hey, change it to a cross, put it in a urinal and you can get a grant from the U.S. government. This week's No. 1 in al-Qaeda in Iraq placed a 50,000 pounds bounty on his head. The offer is 75,000 if his throat is cut. Vilks told the Times of London: "I suppose that this makes my art project a bit more serious. It is also good to know how much one is worth." Vilks also said: "We must not give in. I'm starting to grow old. I could die at any time - it's not a catastrophe." Where is the outrage from Amnesty International over the throat-cutting? The ACLU? The Democratic Party? Oh wait, the Democrats cannot even stand up to its suicidal wing at Move On. Pretty sad when a Swedish cartoonist shows more spine than half our Senate."
Iraqi Army stops suicide bomber: "Some good news from the Multi-National Force in Mosul: Iraqi soldiers stopped a suicide bomber. They shouted at the suspect, fired warning shots and watched as he blew himself up. Thanks for playing. Enjoy the 72 virgins. Also Iraqi Security Forces raided an IED factory and seized some black market oil tankers, fully loaded. It is pathetic that 4 years after the war, the Iraqis finally are securing their own land. I thought when we handed over the reins of the government to them on June 28, 2004, that they would step up. But what is more pathetic is that you are reading this as an Army press release on a blog. Shouldn't AP or AFP or Reuters be following this?"
Empty vessel gets antisemitic adviser: "Concerns have been raised among Israel supporters following the appointment of a controversial veteran political advisor by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Last week, Obama introduced Zbigniew Brzezinski as "one of our most outstanding thinkers" during a policy speech on the Iraq war. Brzezinski, selected by Obama to advise him on foreign policy affairs, has taken a highly critical stance towards Israel in the past, and has defended an academic attack on the American Jewish lobby which has been branded by some as being anti-Semitic. He has previously served as a national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter." [Brzezinski is a Pole and antisemitism seems to be endemic in Poland]
Saudi cleric denounces bin Laden: "In a major blow to the ideology of Osama Bin Laden and his followers in the Kingdom, Sheikh Salman ibn Fahad Al-Oudah, a popular Saudi religious scholar, has criticized the way in which Bin Laden has ruined Islam's global image. "We as scholars of Islam reject what Osama does," Al-Oudah wrote in an open letter posted on his website www.islamtoday.com. Al-Oudah also questioned the validity of Al-Qaeda using violence. "What have we gained from the destruction of a whole country such as Iraq and Afghanistan?" Al-Oudah said, adding that these wars have led to civil wars in the region. "Who benefits from turning countries like Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco into insecure places?" he asked. Many experts considered the letter as a major setback to Al-Qaeda's ideology, as it comes from an influential Saudi scholar, who is not part of the official religious establishment."
Masochistic lefties: "As the unidentified woman is pushed away by a riot-gear protected officer, there is a big smile in her face. She is delighted to be escorted away. Gives her the victim status. Some people on the left are so screwed up that the only way they validate themselves is by getting arrested. It is weird. But that was my take on the photo that accompanied today's story in the New York Times, "Antiwar Protest Ends With Dozens of Arrests." By "dozens," the Times means 189. The left gets all sorts of discounts from the Times. This "protest" is an extension of some anti-authoritarianism that holds that all crinminals are victims, that all cops are pigs and all laws are unconstitutional. Only an affluent society can afford to have such self-indulgent anarchists."
John Kerry has renamed his yacht: "If you thought Scaramouche was a pretentious name for Sen. John Forbes Kerry to give his 42-foot Nantucket gigolo boat, he's gone and topped himself. Liveshot has scuttled the name Scaramouche and rechristened it . . . Let It Be... The Scaramouche, a Hinckley power boat that gets less than one mile per gallon of fuel, was just another boytoy toy Mama T bought him in 2002 with money from her first husband's trust fund. Being John Kerry, he probably decided on the name Scaramouche without doing any research beyond hearing the Queen tune on an oldies radio station. Later on, everybody checked out the real definition of Scaramouche. Here's one from "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable": "A stock character in Italian farce. . . . A braggart and a fool, very valiant in words, but a poltroon." From "Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia": "A braggart soldier." Well, Liveshot, if the Docksider fits. . ."
Theory trumps reality for the Left: "The Left today mostly despise real individuals, especially successful ones. They prefer fancy dress faux rebels who attack easy targets that won't hit back. They seem to like individuality as long as it's approved by the group. Sadly for the saviours of the working class, real individuals surprizingly don't have to be pre-proscribed Central Casting clones and irritating twerps. Frankly, the Leftist idea of diversity mostly works out to be the opposite of diversity.... But aye, there's the rub, boyo. They're enchanted with a theory, not reality."
There is a big new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- on his usual vastly incorrect themes of race and IQ.
For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.
List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here
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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.
The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".
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