Cocoon
What cocoon means?
‘A cocoon is a silky web spun around the
larvae of many insects. Caterpillars emerge from their cocoons as beautiful
butterflies. The word cocoon can also refer to a form a self-protection for
humans. For some people, their house is a cocoon, a cosy retreat from which
they can escape the world’!
Anne
Frank and The Diary of Anne Frank
As we ‘cocoon’ or self- isolate we might
remember a young Jewish girl, Anne Frank who spent two years with members of
her family ‘hidden’ from the occupying Germans in a disguised section of their
home in Amsterdam. This was in from July 1942 until August 1944 during World
War 2. Anne Frank kept a diary of her life during that period when they were
unable to go out into the street and fretful that they would be discovered by the
Gestapo at any time. Anne was actually born in Germany and then the family fled
to Holland and she is more associated with there. She was born in 1929. She and
her colleagues were discovered in August ’44 and sent first to Auschwitz and
then to Bergen-Belsen where she died in early ’45 with her sister. Her father
Otto Frank survived and returned to the house where a secretary had kept the
Diary. A number of films have been made of her life in hiding and ‘The Anne
Frank House’ illustrating her captivity was opened in 1960. Around one million
people visit the house each year. At the end of the last Millennium in 1999
Time Magazine named Anne Frank amongst the heroes of the 1900s’. Its caption
read;
‘With
a Diary kept in a secret attic she braved the Nazis and lent a searing voice to
the fight for human dignity’.
I read the book years ago and saw the film.
It would be an appropriate read for the environment of this time especially for
the young generations.
‘Return
to Belsen’
The documentary ‘Return to Belsen’ has been
aired a couple of times in recent nights the last being Wednesday. The narrator
was Jonathan Dimbleby whose father Richard was with the first British troops to
liberate the camps. Richard Dimbleby was a distinguished BBC war radio correspondent
at the time and his reports echoed throughout the world giving an early
first-hand account of the horrors of Belsen and the barbarity of the guards-men
and women to the thousands of captives especially Jews though there were
other factions also in those camps. Hardened by that time, British soldiers
were shocked to the core by the scenes presented to them when they
arrived at the camp complex. A number of those soldiers spoke of their lifetime
experience and of its toll on them. A number of survivors also spoke including
a man you may be familiar with, Tomi Reichental, an Irish resident who was a
boy of ten or so when the camps were liberated. It was only in recent years
that he began to talk of his experiences and has been on Irish television and
radio and visits schools recounting those horrific years. It was in Belsen also
that Anne Frank spent her final months.
The commanding officer of the British
troops made sure that the residents or Burgomasters of the local town were
paraded to see the remains of the camp to ensure that they witnessed the
horrific crimes perpetrated by their army. They, with the remaining German
guards, were made bury the many dead in huge graves. Afterwards the British
burned the camp to the ground to destroy the diseases rampant in them. The
guards including the Butcher of Belsen and his woman equivalent were put on
trial with a defence team in the British style court. Their defence was that they
were obeying orders while one woman-defendant said she did it for the Fuhrer.
The documentary did not state its final outcome.
A sad irony immediate to the liberation was
that a big number of inmates died because the British army personnel provided
too much food to the living skeletons which they could not cope with. The
mistake was seen and then they had to alter their approach.
A Scottish soldier related that if they had
any doubts what they were fighting for before this the scenes of Belsen
confirmed their righteousness. It was said of The Holocaust’ that it was, ‘an
expression of the power of HATRED’.
Forming
a Government (Election Saturday February 8th …62 days ago)
I can only call the efforts to form a
Government in this country as PATHETIC. There have been talks about talks,
preliminary talks, kind of meaningful talks, meaningful talks, documents being
drawn up, talk of a ‘government formation document’ but yet no real progress.
It is a disgrace especially for the parties who are not part of the ‘Intern
-Government’ as of now.
RTE
Report Today Friday
“Leo
Varadkar has said Fine Gael is ready to agree a joint government formation
document this week - but that he cannot speak for Fianna Fáil.
He
said if the document is agreed, they will then approach other parties to see if
they are willing to form a new government.
Mr
Varadkar said he does not envisage a second election and that he does not even
know how an election would be conducted in the current circumstances.
He
said Fine Gael had given other parties two months to form a government but he
said they could not do that.
Mr
Varadkar also said he would not expect a party to enter government unless their
core agenda was part of the government's mission.
He
said if an agreement is reached between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, they would
then reach out to the Greens, Labour and the Social Democrats but he said no
party would be bullied into going into government.
**Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
are meeting again for further discussions on government formation.
The
document will not be a programme for government, but will instead contain broad
outlines of key policy areas.
Dealing
with the Covid-19 emergency and stimulating economic recovery will be at its
centre.
It
will also cover housing, health and climate change.
Read
more
Could
a team of free-thinking Independents form part of next govt.? Alan Kelly (leader of
the Labour Party) says other parties should form a 'stable government'. The
intention is to share the agreed paper with the Green Party, Labour, the Social
Democrats and independents to get their input”.
I’m
back… what do you make of that then Joe Brolly?
I feel that the Green Party leadership has
done itself considerable damage in their decision to abstain. Labour under Alan Kelly still has a chance’ The Independents show what they are… ‘Independents’.
Fianna Fáil show that, while they have the most seats, they have not got the
talent to make much of a contribution and if a coalition of F.G and F.F. means
replacing Varadkar that would be a mistake. Micheál Martin seems to be a figure
from the past now. Too much has happened in the last month.
(Sinn Féin …well, their relevance is dissolving
just now!)
62
DAYS AND COUNTING, COUNTING, counting, co……
Joe
Biden for President?
‘I used to be indecisive but now I’m not so
sure.’ Joe looks like a decent man but it will take a huge shift in the United
States voter psyche to effect this result. Mister Biden reminds me a bit of Jimmy
Carter or ‘Jimmy Who’ as he was referred to for a time. He was President from
’77 to ’81. Jimmy was, for a long time, a distant second in the race but he won.
So that is some encouragement for Biden.
It would of course be a good thing for Ireland due to his connections
here. I have said this before but why is that such a great country in so many
ways cannot have a young, dynamic, bright and electable candidate regularly. As
Jack Nicholson’s character says to the Tom Cruise character in the film ‘A Few
Good Men’ ‘Please tell me you have more, (better) Lieutenant’
Associated commentary. In recent days or nights, I have, for self-education purposes, tuned into a couple of President Trump’s daily briefings on Fox News. It is
surreal whatever that means and really difficult to describe here. Even in the
midst of the greatest challenge the world has faced seriousness struggles to
surface. A White House news correspondent saw fit to ask a question
about something called ‘Tiger King’ whatever that was. It was like asking Dr.
Holahan during the nightly briefing about something that happened in Mrs.
Brown’s Boys.
Another oddity on my watch of Fox News was
the sudden appearance of Conor McGregor in an advertisement for something or
other! Now I’ll give surreal another run.
Boris
Johnson: A Life Less Honourable…by Harry Paterson
April 7,
“Boris Johnson; a man who has lived his
entire life recklessly, selfishly, irresponsibly; without any regard for the
consequences. Because he’s never needed to. His enormous privilege has
protected him from any repercussions.
He is a proven pathological liar,
swaggering through the years with no empathy or concern for anyone but himself.
Indeed, recently bragging about shaking hands with Coronavirus patients. As if
it was just another laugh; a jape; just another moment in a life less
honourable.
There is a grim irony to him finally, in
this manner, being confronted by the consequences of his behaviour. Even he
can’t lie and bluster his way out of this mess.
One can only hope that the Prime Minister,
as he languishes in intensive care, courtesy of the NHS that he and his party
have done so much to destroy, deeply regrets the cheering & jeering doled
out to nurses by him and his colleagues; when they voted down a pay-rise for
those heroes. If he’s lucky he’ll now be finding out exactly how valuable these
people are.
My brother, sadly, wasn’t lucky. On March
28th, Jas, 54, died of Covid-19 in Nottingham’s Queens Medical Centre. Unlike
the Prime Minister, Jas was denied a ventilator. ‘Operation: Last Gasp’, right,
Prime Minister?
I then stood on an empty street, shouting
to be heard over the wind, no privacy, no dignity, to tell an old man (our
father) on a doorstep his child had died. The most indescribably awful duty
I’ve ever had to carry out.”
The
Nobody Zone
This is a very interesting radio programme
of the moment and also a Radio One Podcast. It involves an Irish serial killer
in London between 1953 and 1983. Two episodes of the 6 episodes were aired yesterday, Friday, and 2 more are to get aired on Sat. at 2 pm. As is say ‘check it
out’. Just Google the title and you can get it from there.
Stay
safe. Play by the rules. Do not let your guard down.
and
‘May
your Gods go with you’
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