Tag: Britain

How Media Spins News to Support the State

Mainstream media’s strategy is to limit protests of national importance to local media. This gives the fake impression that state-subservient media is reporting as is their responsibility. Another strategy is to spin each story in a way that humiliates protestors and reduces the numbers attending to give a false impression that they are a fringe minority.

Allied Arctic Convoys Of World War II

During World War II, between 1941 and 1945, 78 Allied Arctic convoys brought more than 4 million tons of provisions and munitions to the U.S.S.R. These deliveries played a crucial role in the Soviet war effort. More than 1,400 merchant ships and naval vessels participated in the convoys to the ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk in Arctic Russia, which Winston Churchill once described as “the worst journey in the world.”

The Ottery Tar Barrels Burning Festival

Every year on November 5th, for reasons lost in antiquity, the villagers of Ottery St Mary, Devon in England’s West Country race through the streets carrying heavy barrels full of flaming tar in one of the quirkiest of British traditions. The West Country has a history of torchlight processions and a tradition of burning barrels and rolling them down the streets, but Ottery is the only village where barrels aren’t rolled but carried above the head. The tradition is believed to have started in the 17th century, possibly when someone decided that rolling barrels were tame and carrying barrels on the shoulders was far more appealing.