Pencil drawings of Perfection!

UK: “Bewick’s British Birds” – a Classic Masterpiece! (26.5.2026)

Bewick was the son of a farmer from Tyneside (New Castle-Upon-Tyne) yet he became one of Britain’s greatest and most popular engravers of his time – a true master. His farming parents were wealthy enough to have their son educated (instead of working from an early age) so he was fully literate. As he was not properly middle-class (perhaps a well-off peasant-farmer) he did not attend University, but instead became and Engraving Apprentice at Ralph Beilby’s engraving business at aged 14. This apprenticeship lasted seven-years – permitting him to master every aspect of this trade. Indeed, he became an expert in “woodcut printing” which can be dated back to the 1440 printing-press of Johannes Gutenberg. His masterpiece featured here was first published on October 14th, 1797 – although I think later editions were enlarged and improved. We were lucky in that the cover price is £12.99 – but this copy was on sale for just £4.99!

Flag of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles. (Image Courtesy of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30118)

CSA: How Jefferson Davis Offered “Freedom” to the Native Americans! (2.12.2025)

Indeed, the voluntary and determined presence of Indians in the Confederate Infantry defied all Northern attempts to paint the South as culturally backward. The North had never succeeded in convincing the Indians to be happy about their own genocide – but here was the Confederate South treating the Indians as fellow “human-beings” – and making way for their warriors to serve alongside White Men in the frontlines. On the official front, the Confederacy formed a specific Indian Regiment led by General Albert Pike. During the Civil War, he commanded the Confederacy’s Indian Territory, and raised troops in this area – and exercised Field Command in at least one battle (although Watson mentions his name – and Indian troops – a number of times). After the South lost the Civil War – the North simply carried-on its pre-war policy of genocide – depicting the Indians as “savages” and wiping their pro-Confederate struggle from the history books.

Tower Bridge is seen as the sun sets in London, Britain, Aug. 2, 2025. (Photo by Wang Muhan/Xinhua)

China: BBC “Editing Scandal” Deepens Credibility Crisis! (15.11.2025)

The controversy erupted after The Daily Telegraph revealed an internal BBC memo showing that an October 2024 Panorama episode, Trump: A Second Chance?, had stitched together two segments of Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021, delivered more than 50 minutes apart. The edit created the misleading impression that Trump was directly urging supporters toward the Capitol riot, sparking public outrage and prompting The New York Times to label it as the BBC’s “worst crisis in decades.”

Peter Wambugu grew up not knowing his father

UK: DNA-Tests Prove British Descendants in Kenya! (3.10.2025)

Somehow the post-1945 UK governments have ditched and demonised Socialism – and managed to breed a whole new generation of young people drawn toward fascism. Yes – the spread of the British Army involved mass-murder on the one-hand – and mass-rape on the other, with the occasional consenting relationship thrown into the mix. In Hong Kong, for instance, the British Authorities outlawed “race-mixing” on the grounds that (according to them) neither community (the “White” British or the “Chinese”) would accept the off-spring of such interactions. Furthermore, the guidebook continued, the children of such couplings will forever be “confused” as to which race they belong. So there you have it. Confusion and alienation. In fact, young British soldiers routinely fell in love with local Chinese women – and many mixed-race babies were the result. The soldiers would then leave – and never see their lovers or children again. These children were brought-up as Chinese by the Chinese – and that was that. I suspect this model of British command and control was repeated all over the empire – as we can see here in Kenya – although this ruling is only the tip of the iceberg. As to whether there is any relations in this case to how slaves were treated – I cannot say. If ALL the descendants of British colonisers were brought to the UK – the current migrant crisis would pail in significance!

A Tribute to Walter Rodney!

A Tribute To Walter Rodney – Why Are We Assassinating Our Greatest Thinkers? (13.9.2025)

Once that “something” is resolved – the label of “Whiteness” will disappear. As a label, we all inherit certain responsibilities regarding its symbolism. Blatant or shallow “reaction” is very common – but it is not helpful. Adolf Hitler is the arch-reactionary and his disorganised intellection is no answer to the historical crimes of the capitalist ideology. In this sense, we are ALL victims in the broad sense. In the narrow sense, victims and oppressors are identified. Where should the lens of visibility focus? Even within Whiteness there are internal victims and oppressors (every girl and woman reading this will understand what is written). The middle class oppresses the working class, the rich crush the poor, and so on. Then, the White monolith imposes its collective will beyond its own geographical boundaries – upon those who are not “White”.

Duddington Plaque Contains Our "Wyles" Ancestors!

Northants: Duddington [Area] War Memorials – Digitalised! (1.8.2025)

We have been travelling around Duddington and the surrounding area – research genealogical information for the local surname “Wyles”. Whilst carrying-out this vital historical investigation – we decided to gather data pertaining to the often forgotten War Memorials and Rolls of Honour. We include four such projects that we have completed this week (we are thinking of extending this to any area we find old Churches containing War Memorials).

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