Topic: This is probably too gentle for the Watershed - & inappropriate here -

[tim]

- but who cares?  I'm SO flaming furious that I can hardly believe my sight.

This is comment on THE lottery following the announcement of the NEW one.

So WE ended up paying for it.

But, in the end, surely a VERY wonderful & worthwhile effort?

[sarah]

thats outragous. how can they say it is not part of our heritage? jeez, youare right to be so idnignant Tim. Without the likes of Tim and all the other who risked and gave their lives in the battle of Britain (soory i am useless with capitals) we would not have much of a heritage left. Pah.  >:(  I like the monument though, very much. sarah.

[Larkspur]

Beyond belief. Without all of you we would no longer have a British heritage. >:(

[ellkebe]

Tim, totally agree! 
Where's the monument sited by the way?

[tim]

On the Embankment - near the RAF Memorial. They took the old underground railway stone ventilation block as a base. http://www.bbm.org.uk/about.htm

1. Please may we leave the me bit out of this - & see it as a matter of principle?

2. Should anyone feel 'that way inclined', & have £10 to spare - it's ISBN  0 - 9551351 -  0 - 9  - a beautifully produced paperback that 'they' sent me recently.

PS This is NOT a 'whip-around' - we've bought it (the Monument!) & it's now there. Cheap at £1.25m!

[Curryandchips]

I share the disgust, frankly I find it despicable. I trust the Lottery decision makers will feel guilty come Armistice Day ?

[lorna]

I just think it is so sad. Who are these  unfeeling idiots who make these decisions? On Saturday I read that  some of the lottery money is being given to. A...Granada TV (£15,000) towards a gym that stars can use. B..Manchester United will get £30,000
for staff yoga and fitness sessions!!
If these stories are true it is disgusting and in my opinion the general public should have some say in these matters.
Tim. What a wonderful monument.

[Hyacinth]

It's a very powerful monument. In time I'll follow the links to find out the sculptor. To the funding (or lack of it by the Lottery Commission (or whatever they're called)..there's such a lack of public accountability for what is, after all,  public funds, it takes one's breath away. Does anyone else agree with my feeling that with this Lottery Lot there always seems to be a sense (factually true or otherwise) of sleaze, handouts, jobs-for-the-boys and the feathering of nests?  In this instance, I really do regret that Richard Branson wasn't given the chance to run it - I've always thought him to be an intrinsically decent sort of man and possibly the sort who wouldn't need to have explained to him the aptness of granting funding for this monument.

[pansy]

I totally agree Alishka. It's beyond belief that this has happened, yet I'd never heard about it. There should be a huge public outcry! How can they say it's not part of our heritage? Doen't bear thinking about. But prostitutes and one of the richest football clubs in the world are ok for a handout? Makes me sick.

[MrsKP]

and just to rub it in Manchester United got £30,000 of lottery money for getting their staff fit  (sorry sun was on the screen and i didn't see yit had already been mentioned ) :o

this is the modern way and it sux.   :'(

[tabbycat]

the monument is fantastic - my father was telling me about it today. he can remember standing & watching the spitfires take off & the dogfights. he was born in '34 & stayed in London throughout the war.

i think that the people who are in charge of lottery funding have been SPECIFICALLY chosen because they don't want to acknowledge our history or our culture. there seems to be a general consensus of thought amongst those in power that Britsh history is unimportant and the sacrifice of a whole generation of people, freely made for the love their country is something to be ashamed of.

i don't buy lottery tickets.

the poem below was written by John Gillespie Magee (1922 - 41), who died in WWII. I think that it's almost indescribably beautiful.

High Flight ( An Airman's Ecstasy)

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced  the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds - a done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of:wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sun-lit silence. Hovering there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air;
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark nor even eagle flew;
And while, with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

[tim]

My Wife is always loves that poem.

Lishka - http://www.pauldaysculpture.com/ - trained in Cheltenham!!

[MrsKP]

pure greed got the better of me when it was a disgusting amount on the euromillions but that was the first lottery ticket i've bought in oh i don't know 10 or more years.

i shall not be buying another and tim do you have a link for "them" and i would be interested in purchasing something.  This is very much part of my heritage no matter how much this present shower in power are trying to erase it from our history books.

multi-cultural society ???  how our about celebrating "our" culture ?

it makes me so angry that i have to  :-X

[Hyacinth]

Oh flip!  My day, which started off so beautifully with the sight of a young dog-fox in his prime in my garden, went on a downward spiral....and now the pome, and thanks tabbycat for giving everyone the opportunity to read it, was the one I chose for a long-forgotten School competition - with that as a subject, how could I not win the cup?......stunned silence, then applause, as I recall.....but it's ended my day with tears.....

Is there a darker Agenda here, I wonder? There were already rumblings about when the sacrifices of WWI veterans were to be edged out into 'history' this year......and now WWII as well?

Hmmmm.

Thanks for the link, btw, Tim. :)

[tim]

Mrs KP - when I said 'they', I was referring to www.battleofbritain.net/

[MrsKP]

thanks Tim, exactly what i was hoping for.

[ellkebe]

Thanks for the link Tim.

[petemac]

Fine sentiments and all...............
But there's other places to post this Tim.
And you know there is.

[Hyacinth]

Fine sentiments and all...............
But there's other places to post this Tim.
And you know there is.

 ???

With almost 150 viewings and only one dissenter.. ???..seems most appropriate for St. George's Day to me and I thank Tim for supplying the link to a piece of sculpture of which I wasn't aware.

[lorna]

Lish. Quite agree. Didn't know what poster was talking about so just raised an eyebrow and moved on. I suppose free speech and all that, there's always one Lish, unless of course we have misunderstood??