The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Northern Ireland.

Founded in 1961, in reaction to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's opposition to white majority rule in Southern Rhodesia, the club became embroiled in the decolonisation and immigration debate, inevitably highlighting the controversial issue of race, which has dominated its image ever since. The club was known for its fierce opposition to non-white immigration to Britain and its support for apartheid-era South Africa and Southern Rhodesia. By 1971, the club had 35 MPs, six of them ministers, and 35 peers, with membership (including branches) totalling about 10,000.

In 1982, the constitution was re-written, with more emphasis on support for the Conservative Party, but it remained autonomous from the party. In-fighting over the club's traditional Tory agenda led to many resignations in 1991. In 2001, the Conservative Party formally severed relations with the club, which has ceased to exercise significant influence, with full membership below 600.

History

Foundation and early years
The club was founded on 1 January 1961, by four young Conservative Party members, Paul Bristol (a 24-year-old shipbroker and the club's first chairman, who left the club in 1968), Ian Greig (Membership Secretary until 1969), Cedric Gunnery (Treasurer until 1992; died 16 Mar 2023), and Anthony Maclaren. The club was formed "to force local party associations to discuss and debate party policy". Its first general policy statement deplored the tendency of recent Conservative governments to adopt policies based upon expediency and demanded that instead Tory principles should be the guiding influence. It believed that the principles needing to be reasserted included the preservation of the constitution and existing institutions, the freedom of the individual, the private ownership of property, and the need for Britain to play a leading part in world affairs.

The club disliked what it regarded as the expediency, cynicism and materialism which motivated Harold Macmillan's government. In addition it was concerned that during this period "the left wing of the Party (had) gained a predominant influence over policy" and that as a result the Conservative Party had shifted to the left, so that "the floating voter could not detect, as he should, major differences between it and the Socialists" and, furthermore, "loyal Conservatives had become disillusioned and dispirited". The club's published aims stated that it "seeks to evolve a dynamic application of traditional Tory principles".

The group brought together supporters of Rhodesia and South Africa; the main impetus for the group's formation was the Conservatives' new decolonisation policies, in particular as a general reaction to Macmillan's 'Wind of Change' speech made in South Africa. The club stated that Macmillan had "turned the Party Left", and its first pamphlet opposed these policies as indicative of the Conservative Party's move towards liberalism. The club is notable for having promoted a policy of voluntary, or assisted, repatriation for Commonwealth immigrants, a policy subsequently adopted in the 1970 Conservative Party manifesto.

The 5th Marquess of Salisbury (1893–1972), who had resigned from Macmillan's Cabinet over the Prime Minister's liberal direction, became its first president in January 1962, when he stated "there was never a greater need for true conservatism than there is today". By the end of 1963 there were eleven Members of Parliament in the Club, which then had an overall membership of about 300. The club was courted by many Conservative politicians, including the Conservative Party leader Sir Alec Douglas-Home who was guest-of-honour at the club's annual dinners of 1964 and 1969, and Enoch Powell, who, in a speech in 1968, said that "it was due to the Monday Club that many are brought within the Conservative Party who might otherwise be estranged from it".

That year Alan Clark joined the club and was soon chairman of its Wiltshire branch. Under its chairman from 1964 to 1969, Paul Williams, who until 1964 had been MP for Sunderland South, the club enjoyed significant growth and influence. Some argued that the club had a disproportionate influence within Conservative circles, especially after six of its members who were MPs joined the Cabinet in 1970.

Harold Wilson, twice Labour Prime Minister, described the club as "the guardian of the Tory conscience". Oxford political scholar Roger Griffin referred to the club as practising an anti-socialist and elitist form of conservatism.

Membership
By 1970, eighteen Members of Parliament were club members:
 Geoffrey Rippon (Hexham)
 Julian Amery (Brighton Pavilion)
 Ronald Bell QC (South Buckinghamshire)
 Harold Gurden (Selly Oak)
 Teddy Taylor (Glasgow Cathcart)
 John Peyton (Yeovil)
 Paul Williams (Sunderland South)
 Duncan Sandys (Streatham)
 Joseph Hiley (Pudsey)
 John Biggs-Davison (Chigwell)
 Stephen Hastings (Mid Bedfordshire)
 Victor Goodhew (St Albans)
 Wilfred Baker (Banffshire)
 Jasper More (Ludlow)
 Jill Knight (Edgbaston)
 Patrick Wall (Haltemprice)
 Mark Woodnutt (Isle of Wight)
 Sir Jerry Wiggin (Weston-super-Mare)

In the 1970 Conservative Party election victory, six MPs who were club members were given Cabinet positions. In addition, the following club members were elected that year:
 Geoffrey Stewart-Smith (Belper)
 Patrick Cormack (Cannock)
 Anthony Fell (Great Yarmouth)
 Robert Boscawen (Wells)
 Harold Soref (Ormskirk)
 William Benyon (Buckingham)
 Roger White (Gravesend)
 Peter Rost (South East Derbyshire)
 Norman Tebbit (Epping)
 Piers Dixon (Truro)
 David James (North Dorset)
 John Heydon Stokes (Oldbury and Halesowen)

Among sitting MPs who joined the club after that and other elections, along with those who became MPs were:
 Alan Clark (Plymouth Sutton and Kensington & Chelsea)
 Harvey Proctor (Basildon)
 Sir Stephen McAdden (Southend East)
 Richard Body (Holland with Boston)
 Sir Ronald Russell (Wembley South)
 George Gardiner (Reigate)
 William Craig (Belfast East)
 Gerald Howarth (Aldershot)
 Evelyn King (South Dorset)
 John Carlisle (Luton North)
 Rhodes Boyson (Brent North)
 The Hon. Archibald Hamilton (Epsom and Ewell)
 Tim Janman (Thurrock)
 Peter Bottomley (Worthing West)
 Colin Campbell Mitchell (West Aberdeenshire)
 Bernard Braine (Castle Point)
 James Molyneaux (Lagan Valley)
 John Taylor (Strangford)
 Neil Hamilton (Tatton)
 Robert Taylor (Croydon North West)
Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield)
Ann Winterton (Congleton)

Peers of the House of Lords who were Monday Club members:
Iain Murray, 10th Duke of Atholl
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 6th Marquess of Salisbury
Dermot Chichester, 7th Marquess of Donegall
Patrick Maitland, 17th Earl of Lauderdale
Victor Montagu, 10th Earl of Sandwich
Charles Carnegie, 11th Earl of Southesk
John Wodehouse, 4th Earl of Kimberley
George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe
John Whyte-Melville-Skeffington, 13th Viscount Massereene
John Skeffington, 14th Viscount Massereene
Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton
Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley
Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne
Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby
Wavell Wakefield, 1st Baron Wakefield of Kendal

Other notable members:
General Sir Walter Walker
Sir Adrian FitzGerald, 24th Knight of Kerry
Sir Horace Cutler – Leader of Greater London Council from 1977 to 1981
Sir James Goldsmith
Sir Victor Raikes, former Conservative MP for Liverpool Garston (1931–1957)
Commander Anthony Courtney, former Conservative MP for Harrow East (1959–1966)
Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby

A number of other Monday Club members contested Labour-held seats, some of which had large majorities, and although the challenge was unsuccessful, their majorities were reduced. These included: Tim Keigwin, who almost unseated the Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe at North Devon, Councillor John Pritchard of Bromley London Borough Council, who contested Wrexham and Norwood, and David Clarke, whose personal campaign assistant was the chairman of the club's Young Members' Group, Christopher Horne, and who failed by only 76 votes at Watford.

By 1971, the club "undoubtedly had the largest membership of any conservative group and included 55 different groups in universities and colleges, 35 Members of Parliament with six in the government, and 35 Peers". At the club's Annual General Meeting on 26 April 1971, in Westminster Central Hall, the chairman, George Pole, announced that "our membership, including national, branches and universities is around 10,000."

MP John Biggs-Davison, in his foreword to Robert Copping's second book on the history of the club, stated that "by its principles [the club] has kept alive true Tory beliefs and held within its ranks many who contemplated defecting from the Conservative and Unionist Party".  The club's chairman in June 1981, David Storey, described it as "an anchor to a ship", referring to the Conservative Party.

The Thatcher years

The club's revised constitution (21 May 1984) stated that "the objects of the Club are to support the Conservative & Unionist Party in those policies designed:
 to maintain loyalty to the Crown and to uphold the sovereignty of Parliament, the security of the realm, and defence of the nation against external aggression and internal subversion;
 to safeguard the liberty of the subject and integrity of the family in accordance with the customs, traditions, and character of the British people;
 to maintain the British constitution in obedience and respect for the laws of the land, freedom of worship and our national heritage;
 to promote an economy consistent with national aspirations and Tory ideals;
 to encourage members of the club to play an active part, at all levels, in the affairs of the Conservative and Unionist Party."

During the period that Margaret Thatcher led the Conservative Party, the Monday Club were prolific publishers of booklets, pamphlets, policy papers, an occasional newspaper, Right Ahead, and a magazine Monday World edited for some years by Sir Adrian FitzGerald, Bart., Sam Swerling, and later, Eleanor Dodd. In the October 1982 edition, MP Harvey Proctor called for the scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality, Sir Patrick Wall commented on the Falklands War, James Molyneaux had an article "What Future for Ulster", and Dr. Harvey Ward had an article on "Zimbabwe Today". The September 1984 edition of Monday News carried the headline "Kinnock Talks to Terrorists", quoting former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock's declaration to the African National Congress's Oliver Tambo that the ANC in South Africa could expect financial and material assistance from a future Labour government. Other attacks were made upon then-Greater London Council leader Ken Livingstone inviting Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to visit London in 1982.

An early member, in his Diaries, Alan Clark describes speaking later to a county-branch of the Monday Club in 1982: "I really cannot bear the Monday Club. They are all mad, quite different from its heyday, when it was a right-wing pressure group at the time of Ted Heath's Government. Now they are a prickly residue in the body politic, a nasty sort of gallstone."

The playwright David Edgar described the Monday Club, in 1986, as "proselytis[ing] the ancient and venerable conservative traditions of paternalism, imperialism and racism."

Old Guard departs

In 1988–89, a group of longstanding members, led by Gregory Lauder-Frost, the club's Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, succeeded in getting elected to the key posts on the Executive Council, with Dr. Mark Mayall as deputy chairman, and Lauder-Frost as the Political Secretary.

At the beginning of January 1991, the Monday Club News announced the abolition of the only salaried position, that of Director (then held by the club's Treasurer, Cedric Gunnery, one of the club's founders). Although this was due to the club's precarious financial state, some felt more sinister moves afoot. Negative news stories began emerging and resignations followed. An internal investigation followed. The chairman, David Storey, lost an almost unanimous vote of no confidence on 17 January 1991, and his membership was terminated by the club's Executive Council on 11 February on the grounds that "he has engaged in behaviour prejudicial to the best interests, reputation, objects, and other members of the Monday Club; by abusing his position as Chairman in encouraging members to leave the Monday Club and to join a new political group". Dr. Mayall became Acting Chairman until the May AGM when he was confirmed in that post by election. By 1992, the new team had the national (as opposed to branches) membership over 1600 again.

Lauder-Frost's resignation on 31 May 1992 saw the club descend into faction fighting and to a period of instability, with more departures and a resulting loss of membership and the club's influence declined. Subsequent failed expulsion attempts resulted in huge legal bills, and when Dr. Mark Mayall's term as chairman expired in April 1993 he left the group. Control passed effectively into the hands of Denis Walker, a former Methodist missionary, and later Minister for Education in the Rhodesian government. He changed the role of the club from a pressure group to a Conservative Party support group, bringing in a rule that all members must firstly be members of the party, something that prior to 1992 had been opposed.

Organisation

Premises
The national club established its offices at 51–53 Victoria Street, a few minutes' walk from the Palace of Westminster. The club was, however, always a pressure group, remaining separate from the Conservative Party organisation. Around 1980, the Victoria Street building was cleared for demolition, and the club moved its offices to 122 Newgate Street, London, EC1, opposite the Old Bailey. High rents forced another move to 4 Orlando Road, Clapham Common. In 1991 the club's office was moved to an office belonging to W. Denis Walker, opposite Highams Park railway station in Waltham Forest, east London, with new telephone numbers, and a new Post Office Box number in central London. The newsletter stated that "it is our long-term aim to relocate back to the very heart of London". Since then the club office has moved to the premises of other companies associated with Walker, at 65 Chapel Hill, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3XR and Southmill Trading Centre, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3DY, which according to Companies House is the current address as of Jan 2023.

Branches
In addition to the national club, which operated through an elected Executive Council and numerous policy groups or committees, there were semi-autonomous county branches, a Young Members Monday Club, and numerous university Monday Clubs, the most prominent and active being at the University of Oxford.

Policy committees
The Monday Club had various study groups (later renamed policy committees) including:
 Immigration and Repatriation: notable chairmen being George Kennedy Young CB, MBE; Harvey Proctor MP; The Honourable Jonathan Guinness; John Bercow, later an MP and former Speaker of the House of Commons, was committee secretary 1981–82;
 Africa and Rhodesia: Harold Soref MP
 Home Affairs;
 Aviation;
 Economics: George Kennedy Young CB, MBE; Geoffrey Baber, Piers Dixon MP
 Taxation: David Rowell, LL.B.
 Universities Group; Graham Webster-Gardiner, Richard Turnbull, Michael Clack
 Young Members Group; Christopher Horne, the Conservative Party candidate in both 1974 General Elections in the Manchester Central and Meriden Constituencies, Dr. Anna Bramwell, David Rowell, Eleanor Dodd, John R. Pinniger, AVR Smith, Rod Morris.
 Defence: The Honourable Archibald Hamilton MP; Major Sir Patrick Wall MP KBE, MC, VRD; Commander Anthony Courtney MP OBE; Rear-Admiral Martin Wemyss CB
 Foreign Affairs: Geoffrey Stewart-Smith MP; The Earl of Kimberley, John Carlisle MP and Gregory Lauder-Frost.

Foreign affairs

Anti-communism

The club was anti-communist and had an active Defence Committee chaired for over 15 years by Sir Patrick Wall MP MC and produced much literature on the perceived threat posed by Soviets and communists everywhere.

When it appeared that communism was failing in the Eastern Bloc, the club's Foreign Affairs Committee in 1990 called upon Members of Parliament to be ready and to argue for the German borders to be restored to the position they stood at on 1 January 1938, saying there must be no gains for communism. By challenging the Oder-Neisse line, the club was arguing that Germany should take back all of the parts of Poland and the Soviet Union that been part of Germany in 1938, through what was to happen to the Poles living in such cites as Wrocław (formerly the German city of Breslau), Szczecin (formerly the German city of Stettin), and the Russians living in Kaliningrad (formerly the German city of Königsberg) was left unexplained.

Club officers, including Gregory Lauder-Frost, Denis Walker, and Lord Sudeley, attended a Western Goals Institute dinner in September 1989 in honour of Salvadorian president Alfredo Cristiani, whose military was at the time fighting the FMLN.

The club also took a hard line on the return of White Russians by the British Army to Joseph Stalin's Red Army in 1945–46, who executed nearly all of them. In this respect it gave its support to Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian and author of Victims of Yalta and The Minister and the Massacres, who was then being sued for libel, by holding a dinner for him at London's Charing Cross Hotel on 26 October 1988.

Africa

The club opposed what it described as the "premature" independence of Kenya, and the breakup of the Central African Federation, which was the subject of its first major public meeting in September 1961. It was fundamentally opposed to decolonisation, and defended white minority rule in South Africa and Rhodesia.

During the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) period in Rhodesia, the club strongly backed the White minority government of Ian Smith and the Rhodesian Front, being seen as its strongest supporters in Britain. In November 1963, the club had hosted a large reception for Smith at the Howard Hotel in London. That was followed the next year by receptions for Clifford Dupont and Moise Tshombe. The club continued its support for white minority rule in South Africa, with Lauder-Frost organising a large dinner in central London, on 5 June 1989, for its guest-of-honour Dr Andries Treurnicht, leader of the pro-apartheid Conservative Party of South Africa, and his delegation. Tim Janman MP and the Lord Sudeley were amongst those present from Parliament.

Croatia

The government of Franjo Tuđman in Croatia invited the Monday Club to send a delegation to observe its conflict with Serbia, in October 1991, when the war for Croatian independence from the tottering Yugoslavia was at its height, with the armies of both sides engaged in serious fighting. The club delegation arrived just days after the Yugoslav Air Force bombing of the historic upper city in Zagreb. It was the first British political delegation to go to Croatia during the conflict.

European Union
Debate within the club was intense on the European Union. In the early days of the European Economic Community (EEC) one of the club's MPs, Geoffrey Rippon, was so pro-EEC that he was known as "Mr. Europe". Because of the divisions within the club on this issue the decision was taken not to have a policy on it. However, by 1980 the mood had changed. A club discussion paper in October 1980 was entitled Do Tories Really want to Scrap 80% of Britain's Fishing Fleet, and the club adopted a firm anti-European Union (EU) position. Teddy Taylor, an anti-EEC MP, became chairman of the club's EEC Affairs Policy Committee and authored a club policy paper in December 1982 entitled Proposals to Rescue the British Fishing Industry. The club's Scottish branch's newspaper, The Challenger, carried a further article against the EEC by Taylor in September 1985 entitled "Swallowing the Nation".

Enoch Powell also spoke against the EEC at one of the Monday Club's fringe meetings at the Conservative Party Conference at Blackpool on 8 October 1991, with Lauder-Frost presiding, which was filmed and broadcast on BBC TV's Newsnight that night. In 1992, the chairman, Dr. Mark Mayall, authored another club booklet entitled: Maastricht: The High Tide of European Federalism, a fierce attack on the EEC.

Immigration
In September 1972, the club held a "Halt Immigration Now!" public meeting in Westminster Central Hall, opposite Parliament, at which the speakers Ronald Bell QC MP, John Biggs-Davison MP, Harold Soref MP, and John Heydon Stokes MP (all club members) called on the government to halt all immigration, repeal the Race Relations Act, (not the separate Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968), and start a full repatriation scheme. A resolution was drafted, approved by the meeting, and delivered to the Prime Minister, Edward Heath, who replied that "the government had no intention of repealing the Race Relations Act". When Reginald Maudling resigned from the Cabinet, the Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe, commented that "Mr. Heath has been left to wrestle with the Monday Club single-handed."

In October 1982, the Monday Club published a slightly revised, policy on immigration. It called for:
 Scrapping of the Commission for Racial Equality and Community Relations Councils.
 Repeal of the race relations laws.
 An end to the use of race or colour as criteria for the distribution of state benefits and loans.
 An end to positive discrimination.
 To bring an end to large-scale permanent immigration from the New Commonwealth.
 An improved repatriation scheme with generous resettlement grants for all those who wish to take advantage of them.

Although more explicit in detail, the general thrust of policy accorded with that found in the Conservative Party manifesto published ahead of the general election the following year.

The club's position on immigration was reiterated in a letter in The Times from Lauder-Frost on the club's behalf in October 1991, in which he stated that the annual levels of immigration "were unacceptable".

Northern Ireland
Following an Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombing at Aldershot, Hampshire, in February 1972, club member and MP Jill Knight called for legislation to outlaw the Official IRA and its political wing, Sinn Féin (Official). The club was opposed to the dismantling of the Stormont government in Northern Ireland and the imposition of direct rule.

Controversies and criticism

The Guardian  claimed back in 1968 that the organisation was "probably the nearest British equivalent to the American John Birch Society". It was claimed by opponents that the National Front had started an active programme of entryism into the organisation, mainly via the growing number of regional branches. Throughout the early part of the 1970s the leadership stepped up its efforts considerably to try to address this issue. A new standardised set of rules and procedures were instituted which sought to institute a far greater level of centralised control over the growth and activity of the regional branches. There were a number of expulsions, and some branches were forced to disband.

On 24 February 1991, The Observer ran a lengthy article entitled "Far Right takes over the Monday Club", stating that a number of senior members had tendered their resignations in protest at the club's "takeover" by "extreme right-wingers." The club's solicitors, Rubenstein, Callingham & Gale, sent a formal letter of protest to the editor of The Observer about the article, and demanded a right of reply for the club. The editor agreed and Lauder-Frost, writing on behalf of the club, subsequently challenged the article's accusations in a Letter to the Editor, which was published the following Sunday. He denied that a takeover had occurred, said that none of the club's policies had changed and that its direction was consistent with its aims and historical principles. Faction fighting within the club following Lauder-Frost's departure at the end of May 1992 led to a period of instability and a resulting loss of membership. The club's influence declined.

Suspension of links by the Conservative Party (2001)
After the defeats in the 1997 general election and 2001 general election, the Conservative Party began decisive moves towards becoming more centrist; the 2002–2003 party chairman and future Prime Minister, Theresa May, would later state that it had been perceived by voters as the "Nasty Party". The then party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, suspended the Monday Club's longstanding links with the party in October 2001, saying his party would have nothing to do with the organisation unless it stopped making "distasteful" remarks on race and immigration. Although the Monday Club was a completely autonomous pressure-group and not part of the Conservative Party organisation, Conservative Party chairman David Davis then informed the club's National Executive that links between it and the party were being severed until it stopped promoting several of its (long-held and established) policies such as the voluntary repatriation of ethnic minorities. Davis later told the media: "I have told them that until a number of things are concluded—particularly some concerns about the membership of the club, and a review of the club's constitution and a requirement that the club will not promulgate or discuss policies relating to race—the club is suspended from any association with the Conservative party". Three MPs, Andrew Hunter, Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkinson, were ordered to resign from the club.

The club today
Since 1993 new full members of the club must be members of the Conservative Party, though there is no such requirement for associate membership. Monday Club observers, such as Denis Walker, have attended Democratic Unionist Party conferences.

In 2002 the club was described as a "bastion on the Tory hard right" by BBC News Online. The club's agenda stresses support for what it calls "traditional Conservative values", including "resistance to 'political correctness.

On 10 May 2002, the BBC reported that the club sought to restore its links with the Conservative Party.

The Times reported on 2 June 2006 that, as the club "is now slowly nudging back into the mainstream, many members feel that it is time to return to the fold". Having returned to being a much smaller organisation, the Club continues to lobby Parliamentarians, to publish comment pieces and an annual journal. It also organises occasional meetings and hosts dinners in London. Recent speakers have included Sir Christopher Chope MP, Michael Nazir-Ali, Andrew Rosindell MP, Arlene Foster and Ian Paisley Jr MP.

The group's website lists its priorities as the maintaining the monarchy and the Union; protecting the "family unit"; restoring law and order; opposition to Britain's membership in the EU; promoting a "sound economy" and a "robust defence capability"; opposition to "political correctness" and maintaining traditional values.

Monday Club publications

Notes

References
 Copping, Robert, No Punches Pulled - Britain Today, Current Affairs Information Service (CAIS), Ilford, Essex, n/d but probably circa 1970 (P/B).
 Copping, Robert, The Story of The Monday Club - The First Decade, (i) (Foreword by George Pole), Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, April 1972 (P/B).
 Copping, Robert, The Monday Club - Crisis and After, (foreword by John Biggs-Davison MP), (ii) CAIS, Ilford, May 1975 (P/B).
 Rose, Professor Richard, Politics in England - Persistence and Change, London, 1st published 1965. 4th edition 1985, p. 301,
 Heffer, Simon, Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, London, 1998,  (many references to the Monday Club).
 Coxall, Bill, and Lynton Robins, Contemporary British Politics, Macmillan Press, Basingstoke, 1993 reprint, (P/B), Monday Club profile on p. 239.

External links
Parliament & Europe: 1967 Monday Club Pamphlet - UK Parliament Living Heritage

Conservative political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom
Foreign policy and strategy think tanks based in the United Kingdom
Anti-communist organizations
Anti-immigration politics in the United Kingdom
Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom
1961 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organisations associated with the Conservative Party (UK)

Monday Club


Meqabyan (Amharic: መቃብያን), also called called Ethiopic Maccabees or Ethiopian Maccabees, are three books in the Ethiopian Orthodox Old Testament Biblical canon. These books are very different in content from the books of Maccabees in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles. The Maccabees described in these books are not those of the Hasmonean dynasty, and the "Five Holy Maccabean Martyrs" here do not match "Woman with seven sons", who were also called "Maccabees" and are revered throughout Orthodoxy as the "Holy Maccabean Martyrs".

These books were only written in Ethiopian languages for a long time, but have recently been translated into English.

1st Book of Ethiopian Maccabees
According to this book, a certain man from the territory of Benjamin called Meqabis had three sons Abya (Amharic: አብያ- Abijah), Seela (Amharic: ሴላ- Shelah), and Pantos (Pantera), who opposed the tyrannical policies of the king and refused to worship his idols. Their account consumes only a short section of the book, spanning chapters 2 through chapter 5.  A second group of brothers are later introduced in Chapter 15. They are called: Yihuda (Amharic: ይሁዳ- Judah), Meqabis and Mebikyas, and they are said to have lead a successful revolt against the ruthless King Akrandis of Midian. This appears to be a historical allusion to the king Alexander I Balas, who ruled the Seleucid Empire after the death of Antiochius IV, and who supported the legitimacy of the Maccabees cause. However, in this folk rendering of history, Mebikyas enters the king's military camp and decapitates him at his dinner table, while his food was still in his mouth. The remainder of the book, chapters 16 to 36, have no dealing with the Maccabees (disambiguation) revolt and offer no further historical narrative. Their purpose is unknown, as they recount significant events from the Old Testament.

2nd Book of Ethiopian Maccabees
The Book of Second Meqabyan has 21 chapters.  It starts: "After he found the Jews in Syrian Mesopotamia".  The story says that a king of Moab named Meqabis made war against Israel as a punishment on them.  Later he felt bad for his sins and taught the people living in Israel God's law. After his death, Tsirutsaydan introduced idolatry and burnt the sons of Meqabis.

3rd Book of Ethiopian Maccabees
The Book of Third Meqabyan has 10 chapters.  It starts: "And the islands of Egypt shall rejoice". It tells about salvation and punishment, as seen in the lives of Adam, Job, David and others.

English Translations
    Selassie, Feqade. Ethiopian Books of Meqabyan 1–3, in Standard English. 2008; Lulu Press Inc, Raleigh, NC

    Curtin, D.P. The 1st Book of Ethiopian Maccabees. 2017; Dalcassian Publishing, Philadelphia, PA

References

Other websites
 The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today, by R. W. Cowley - specific info on Meqabyan 1-3 found at footnote #9
 The Book of First Meqabyan in Iyaric

Religious texts
5th-century books

Meqabyan


Cowpox is a disease. This disease affects the skin. It is caused by a virus (cowpox virus) that is related to the Vaccinia virus. People (or animals) who have the disease have red blisters. The disease can be spread by touch from cows to humans. The virus that causes cowpox was used to perform the first successful vaccination against another disease. The disease vaccinated against was the deadly smallpox. Smallpox is caused by the related variola virus. Therefore, the word "vaccination" has the Latin root vaca meaning cow.

In 1798, the English physician Edward Jenner made a curious observation. Jenner lived in the countryside, not in the city.
Some of his patients had gotten cowpox, and recovered from it. He observed that those patients did not get the disease again, they seemed to be immune against it. What was more, they also seemed to be immune against smallpox. Smallpox was a deadly disease then, that killed most of the people it infected. So he used the fluid he got from cowpox lesions, and scratched it into healthy people. That way, he could make those people immune against smallpox.

The Cowpox (Catpox) virus is found in Europe and mainly in the UK.  Human cases are very rare and most often contracted from domestic cats.  The virus is not commonly found in cows; the reservoir hosts for the virus are woodland rodents particularly voles.  It is from these rodents that domestic cats get the virus.  Symptoms in cats include lesions on the face, neck, forelimbs, and paws, and less commonly upper respiratory tract infection.  Symptoms of infection with cowpox virus in humans are localized, pustular lesions generally found on the hands and limited to the site of introduction.  The incubation period (the time between an infection and the first signs of the disease) is 9–10 days.  The virus can be found mostly in late summer and autumn.

Historical use
Cowpox was the original vaccine of sorts for smallpox. After infection with the disease, the body (usually) gains the ability recognise the similar smallpox virus from its antigens and so is able to fight the smallpox disease much more efficiently.

Later, and still today, another vaccine was used: vaccinia. Vaccinia is similar to cowpox, but not the same.

Related pages
Chickenpox
List of diseases

References

Diseases caused by viruses
Animal diseases

Cowpox


The Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia (MNAF - National Museum Alinari of Photography), formerly Museo della Storia della Fotografia Fratelli Alinari is a photography museum located in part of the premises of the former Ospedale di San Paolo in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy). It hosts special exhibitions on a regular basis and possesses 350.000 vintage prints from the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum closed in 2012.

Since 1 November 2006 it is located in the Ospedale di San Paolo, a former pilgrims' hostel that was later transformed into a school. Before that, the museum was in the Palazzo Rucellai and in the premises of the Fratelli Alinari. It was the first museum of Italy to be devoted exclusively to photography.

The collection is continuously expanded with acquisitions and donations and contains works by, among others:
 Robert Anderson
 Vincenzo Balocchi
 Carlo Baravalle
 Felice Beato
 Alphonse Bernoud
 Samuel Bourne
 Bill Brandt
 Roger Fenton
 Frédéric Flacheron
 Wilhelm von Gloeden
 Paul Graham
 Robert Macpherson
 Carlo Mollino
 Luciano Morpurgo
 Carlo Naya
 Mario Nunes Vais
 Domenico Riccardo Peretti Griva
 Giuseppe Primoli
 Roberto Rive
 James Robertson
 Giorgio Sommer
 Giuseppe Wulz

The museum exhibits also thousands of photo albums, cameras, objectives and other objects connected with the history of photography.

Bibliography
 Amedeo Benedetti, "I Fratelli Alinari", in Gli archivi delle immagini, Genova, Erga, 2000, pp. 348–358.

External links
 The Alinari Museum

Museums in Florence
National museums of Italy
Art museums and galleries in Italy
Italian photography organisations
Photography museums and galleries
Photographic technology museums


Neo-scholasticism (also known as neo-scholastic Thomism or neo-Thomism because of the great influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas on the movement) is a revival and development of medieval scholasticism in Catholic theology and philosophy which began in the second half of the 19th century.

Origins
During the medieval period, scholasticism became the standard accepted method of philosophy and theology. The Scholastic method declined with the advent of humanism in the 15th and 16th centuries, after which time it came to be viewed by some as rigid and formalistic. "Scholastic philosophy did not, however, completely disappear.  An important movement of Thomistic revival took place during the 16th century and enriched Scholastic literature with many eminent contributions. Thomas de Vio Cajetan (1469–1534), Gabriel Vásquez (1551–1604), Toletus (1532–1596), Fonseca (1528–1599), and especially Francisco Suárez (1548–1617) were profound thinkers, worthy of the great masters whose principles they had adopted." Moreover, as J. A. Weisheipl emphasizes, within the Dominican Order Thomistic scholasticism has been continuous since the time of Aquinas: "Thomism was always alive in the Dominican Order, small as it was after the ravages of the Reformation, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic occupation. Repeated legislation of the General Chapters, beginning after the death of St. Thomas, as well as the Constitutions of the Order, required all Dominicans to teach the doctrine of St. Thomas both in philosophy and in theology."  A further idea of the longstanding historic continuity of Dominican scholasticism and neo-scholasticism may be derived from the list of people associated with the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

In the mid-19th century, interest in Catholic circles in scholastic methodology and thought began once again to flourish, in large part in reaction against the "Modernism" inspired by thinkers such as René Descartes, Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel, the use of which was perceived as inimical to Christian doctrine. The meaning and core beliefs of theological Modernism were never tightly defined; in large part, Modernism simply represented that which was attacked by Rome in 1907 as 'the sum of all heresies'. Moreover, given that Modernism remained the perceived enemy of neo-Scholasticism throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were certainly changes over the decades in what was attacked. Certainly, however, common threads of thought can be detected.  These include (1) the belief that revelation continued up to and including the present day and, therefore, did not stop with the death of the last apostle; (2) the belief that dogmas were not immutable and that ecclesial dogmatic formulas could change both in interpretation and in content; (3) the use of the historical-critical method in biblical exegesis.

For many thinkers, the dangers of Modernism could only be overcome by a complete return to scholastic theology. In particular, Catholic interest came to focus on the 13th-century theologian Thomas Aquinas, whose writings were increasingly viewed as the ultimate expression of philosophy and theology, to which all Catholic thought must remain faithful.

This was particularly vigorous at first in Italy. "The direct initiator of the neo-Scholastic movement in Italy was Gaetano Sanseverino (1811–1865), a canon at Naples."  The German Jesuit Joseph Kleutgen (1811–83), who taught at Rome, was a particularly influential figure in his defences of pre-modern theology and philosophy, his argument that a theology based upon a post-Cartesian philosophy undermined Catholic doctrine, and his recommendation that the Aristotelian scientific method of Aquinas was the theology the Church now needed. The Accademia di San Tommaso, founded in 1874, published until 1891 a review entitled La Scienza Italiana. Numerous works were produced by Giovanni Maria Cornoldi (1822–92), Giuseppe Pecci, Tommaso Maria Zigliara (1833–93), Satolli (1839–1909), Liberatore (1810–92), Barberis (1847–96), Schiffini (1841–1906), de Maria, Talamo, Lorenzelli, Ballerini, Matussi and others. The Italian writers at first laid special emphasis on the metaphysical features of Scholasticism, and less to the empirical sciences or to the history of philosophy.

Papal support for such trends had begun under Pope Pius IX, who had recognized the importance of the movement in various letters. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854), the Syllabus of Errors (1864) and the proclamation of papal infallibility (1870) all heralded a move away from Modernist forms of theological thought.

The most important moment for the spread of the movement occurred with Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Aeterni Patris, issued on 4 August 1879. Aeterni Patris set out what would come to be seen as the principles of neo-scholasticism, and provided the stimulus for the donation of increased support to neo-scholastic thought. It called for 'Christian philosophy to be restored according to the spirit of St Thomas'.

Key principles

"Neo-Scholasticism is characterized by systematic investigation, analytical rigor, clear terminology, and argumentation that proceeds from first principles, chief among them that objective truth is both real and knowable." Neo-scholasticism sought to restore the fundamental doctrines embodied in the scholasticism of the 13th century. The essential conceptions may be summarized as follows:

1. God, pure actuality and absolute perfection, is substantially distinct from every finite thing: He alone can create and preserve all beings other than Himself. His infinite knowledge includes all that has been, is, or shall be, and likewise all that is possible.

2. As to our knowledge of the material world: whatever exists is itself, an incommunicable, individual substance. To the core of self-sustaining reality, in the oak-tree for instance, other realities (accidents) are added—size, form, roughness, and so on. All oak-trees are alike, indeed are identical in respect of certain constituent elements. Considering this likeness and even identity, our human intelligence groups them into one species and again, in view of their common characteristics, it ranges various species under one genus. Such is the Aristotelean solution of the problem of universals. Each substance is in its nature fixed and determined; and nothing is farther from the spirit of Scholasticism than a theory of evolution which would regard even the essences of things as products of change.

But this statism requires as its complement a moderate dynamism, and this is supplied by the central concepts of act and potency. Whatsoever changes is, just for that reason, limited. The oak-tree passes through a process of growth, of becoming: whatever is actually in it now was potentially in it from the beginning. Its vital functions go on unceasingly (accidental change); but the tree itself will die, and out of its decayed trunk other substances will come forth (substantial change). The theory of matter and form is simply an interpretation of the substantial changes which bodies undergo. The union of matter and form constitutes the essence of concrete being, and this essence is endowed with existence. Throughout all change and becoming there runs a rhythm of finality; the activities of the countless substances of the universe converge towards an end which is known to God; finality involves optimism.

3.  Man, a compound of body (matter) and of soul (form), puts forth activities of a higher order—knowledge and volition. Through his senses he perceives concrete objects, e.g. this oak; through his intellect he knows the abstract and universal (the oak). All our intellectual activity rests on sensory function; but through the active intellect (intellectus agens) an abstract representation of the sensible object is provided for the intellectual possibility. Hence the characteristic of the idea, its non-materiality, and on this is based the principal argument for the spirituality and immortality of the soul. Here, too, is the foundation of logic and of the theory of knowledge, the justification of our judgments and syllogisms.

Upon knowledge follows the appetitive process, sensory or intellectual according to the sort of knowledge. The will (appetitus intellectualis) in certain conditions is free, and thanks to this liberty man is the master of his destiny. Like all other beings, we have an end to attain and we are morally obliged, though not compelled, to attain it.

Natural happiness would result from the full development of our powers of knowing and loving. We should find and possess God in this world since the corporeal world is the proper object of our intelligence. But above nature is the order of grace and our supernatural happiness will consist in the direct intuition of God, the beatific vision. Here philosophy ends and theology begins.

Late-19th-century spread
In the period from the publication of Aeterni Patris in 1879 until the 1920s, neo-scholasticism gradually established itself as exclusive and all-pervading.

On October 15, 1879, Leo XIII created the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and ordered the publication of the critical edition, the so-called "Leonine Edition", of the complete works of Thomas Aquinas. Moreover, Leo XIII increased Thomist studies in his support for the Collegium Divi Thomae de Urbe (the future Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum), by founding its Faculty of Philosophy in 1882 and its Faculty of Canon Law in 1896.

Accordingly, the thought of Thomas Aquinas came to be assessed positively in relation to all other 'modern' systems of thought. In particular, the Aristotelianism of Thomas was seen in contrast to the thought of Kant (itself seen as representative of 'modern' thought). Other 'modern' forms of thought, including Ontologism, Traditionalism, the dualism of Anton Günther, and the thought of Descartes, were also seen as flawed in comparison to Thomism.

The movement also spread into other countries. It found supporters in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, England,  Switzerland, France, Hungary, the United States, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. In Belgium, a particularly important moment was the establishment by Leo XIII at Louvain (then still a francophone university) in 1891 of the "Institut de philosophie" for the special purpose of teaching the doctrine of Aquinas together with history and the natural sciences. It was endorsed by four Catholic Congresses: Paris (1891); Brussels (1895); Freiburg (1897); Munich (1900).

Early-20th-century development
In the early 20th century, neo-Thomism became official Catholic doctrine, and became increasingly defined in opposition to Modernism. In July 1907, Pope Pius X issued the decree Lamentabili sane exitu, which condemned 65 Modernist propositions. Two months later, he issued the encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, in which he unequivocally condemned the agnosticism, immanentism, and relativism of Modernism as the 'synthesis of all heresies'. The anti-Modernist oath of 1910 was very important; this remained in force until 1966. In 1914, Pope Pius X acted against Modernism by ordering, though the Sacred Congregation of Studies, the publication of a list of 24 philosophical propositions, propositions summarising the central tenets of neo-scholasticism to be taught in all colleges as fundamental elements of philosophy, which was intended to promote a purer form of Thomism; in 1916, these 24 propositions were confirmed as normative. In 1917, the Church's new Code of Canon Law (Codex Iuris Canonici) insisted that the doctrine, methods, and principles of Thomas should be used in teaching philosophy and theology. Thomist thought therefore became reflected in the manuals and textbooks widely in use in Catholic colleges and seminaries before Vatican II. It was promoted also to the laity.

Variation within the tradition
While writers such as Edouard Hugon, Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and Henri Grenier were maintaining the tradition of the manuals this did not mean that there was no variation or disagreement among thinkers about how best to formulate Thomism, especially in response to contemporary trends. Variation within the tradition of neo-scholastic Thomism is represented by Martin Grabmann (1875–1949), Amato Masnovo (1880–1955), Francesco Olgiati (1886–1962), and Antonin-Dalmace Sertillanges (1863–1948).  Authors such as Étienne Gilson, Jacques Maritain, and Joseph Maréchal investigated alternative interpretations of Aquinas from the 1920s until the 1950s.  Gilson and Maritain in particular taught and lectured throughout Europe and North America, influencing a generation of English-speaking Catholic philosophers.

The growth in historical investigation into Thomas's thought led some to believe that neo-Thomism did not always reflect the thought of Thomas Aquinas himself. This historically oriented theology was particularly carried out by writers such as Étienne Gilson, Marie-Dominique Chenu, and Henri de Lubac.  At Vatican II, traditional neo-Thomist thought was opposed by such exponents of the nouvelle théologie.

Many Thomists, however, continue in the neo-scholastic tradition.  Some relatively recent proponents are treated in Battista Mondin's Metafisica di san Tommaso d'Aquino e i suoi interpreti (2002), which treats Carlo Giacon (1900–1984), Sofia Vanni Rovighi (1908–1990), Cornelio Fabro (1911–1995), Carlo Giacon (1900–1984), Tomas Tyn (1950–1990), Abelardo Lobato (1925–2012), Leo Elders (1926–2019), and Enrico Berti (1935–2022), among others.  Due to its suspicion of attempts to harmonize Aquinas with non-Thomistic categories and assumptions, neo-scholastic Thomism has sometimes been called "strict observance Thomism".

Whilst discussing Anglophone theologians, Edward Feser has opined that proponents of the more traditional Thomist perspective such as Ralph McInerny foster the possibility of a contemporary revival of neo-scholastic Thomism.  Feser could be included along with these thinkers and other such as Brian Davies as engaging in a contemporary polemic in defense of the traditional system of Thomistic metaphysics in response to modern philosophy.

See also
 Mortimer J. Adler
 Anthony Kenny
 Analytical thomism

References

Further reading
 Boersma, Hans, Nouvelle Theologie and Sacramental Ontology: A Return to Mystery, (Oxford: OUP, 2009)
 Cessario, R, A Short History of Thomism, (2005)
 Kerr, Fergus, After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism, (2002)
 Kerr, Fergus, Twentieth-century Catholic theologians, (Blackwell, 2007),
 Kerr, Fergus, 'Thomism', in The Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, (Cambridge, 2011)
 Mettepenningen, Jürgen, Nouvelle Théologie - New Theology: Inheritor of Modernism, Precursor of Vatican II, (London: T&T Clark, 2010)
 Aveling, Rev. F. "The Neo-Scholastic Movement," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXXI, 1906.

 Many philosophical and theological journals focus on neo-Scholasticism: Divus Thomas (since 1879); Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica (Milan, since 1909); Annales de Philosophie Chrétienne (Paris, 1830-1913); Revue néo-scolastique de Philosophie (Louvain, since 1894); Revue de Philosophie (Paris, since 1900); Revue des Sciences philosophiques et théologiques (Kain, Belgium, since 1907); Revue Thomiste (Paris, since 1893); Philosophisches Jahrbuch für Philosophie und spekulative Theologie (Paderborn, since 1887); St. Thomas Blätter (Ratisbon, since 1888); Bölcseleti-Folyóirat (Budapest, since 1886); Revista Lulliana (Barcelona, since 1901); Cienza Tomista (Madrid, since 1910). Angelicum, since 1924; The Modern Schoolman since 1925, New Scholasticism since 1927 which became American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly in 1989, The Thomist since 1939.

External links
Scholasticon by Jacob Schmutz Online Resources for the study of early-modern scholasticism (1500–1800): authors, sources, institutions

Christian theological movements
Thomism
Philosophical schools and traditions
Christian democracy

Neo-scholasticism


Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley  (14 April 1857 – 16 July 1916) was a British scientist and professor.

He was born in Kensington, London. Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, he studied medicine at University College London and in Berlin, Germany (1881) and, in the same year, started his career as a house surgeon and registrar at the University College Hospital. From 1884 to 1890, Horsley was Professor-Superintendent of the Brown Institute.

In 1886, he was appointed as Assistant Professor of Surgery at the National Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy, and as a Professor of Pathology (1887–1896) and Professor of Clinical Surgery (1899–1902) at University College London. He was a supporter of women's suffrage and was an opponent of tobacco and alcohol.

Personal life

Victor Alexander Haden Horsley was born in Kensington, London, the son of Rosamund (Haden) and John Callcott Horsley, R.A. His given name, Victor Alexander, was given to him by Queen Victoria.

In 1883, he became engaged to Eldred Bramwell, daughter of Sir Frederick Bramwell. On 4 October 1887, Victor and Eldred married at St. Margaret's, Westminster. They had two sons, Siward and Oswald, and a daughter, Pamela.

He was knighted in the 1902 Coronation Honours, receiving the accolade from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October that year.

Horsley was a champion of many causes. One of his primary life crusades was the temperance movement. Having observed that many injuries admitted to the hospital were due to alcohol, Horsley threw himself into becoming a temperance reformer. He soon rose up to the position of vice president of the National Temperance League and the president of the British Medical Temperance Association. In 1907, along with Dr. Mary Sturge, he published a book on alcoholism titled Alcohol and the Human Body.

According to his biographers, Tan & Black (2002), "Horsley's kindness, humility, and generous spirit endeared him to patients, colleagues, and students. Born to privilege, he was nonetheless dedicated to improving the lot of the common man and directed his efforts toward the suffrage of women, medical reform, and free health care for the working class (...) An iconoclast of keen intellect, unlimited energy, and consummate skill, his life and work justifies his epitaph as a "pioneer of neurological surgery".

Medical career

Horsley specialised in surgery and in physiology. He was the first physician to remove a spinal tumor, in 1887, by means of a laminectomy. He developed many practical neurosurgical techniques, including the hemostatic bone wax, the skin flap, the ligation of the carotid artery to treat cerebral aneurysms, the transcranial approach to the pituitary gland and the intradural division of the trigeminal nerve root for the surgical treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

As a neuroscientist, he carried out studies of the functions of the brain in animals and humans, particularly on the cerebral cortex. His studies on motor response to faradic electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex, internal capsule and spinal cord became classics of the field. Those studies later translated into his pioneering work on neurosurgery for epilepsy. Between 1884 and 1886, Horsley was the first to use intraoperative electrical stimulation of the cortex for the localization of epileptic foci in humans, preceding Fedor Krause and Wilder Penfield.

He was also a pioneer in the study of the functions of the thyroid gland. He studied myxedema and cretinism, which are caused by a decreased level of the thyroid hormones (hypothyroidism), and established for the first time, in experiments with monkeys, that they could be treated with extracts of the gland.

Appointed in 1886 as secretary to a governmental commission formed to study the anti-rabies vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur, Horsley corroborated his results and created a campaign to vaccinate against rabies in the United Kingdom. As a pathologist, he carried out research on bacteria and founded the Journal of Pathology.

In June 1886, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and, in 1891, jointly with his brother-in-law Francis Gotch, delivered their Croonian Lecture on the subject of the mammalian nervous system. In 1893, he was awarded the Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh. A year later, in 1894, he won the Royal Medal for "his investigations relating to the physiology of the nervous system, and of the thyroid gland, and to their applications to the treatment of disease".

Horsley, who had been a keen rifle shot when serving in the Artists' Rifles as a medical student, also investigated the effect of gunshot wounds on the brain, experimenting with animals provided by a butcher and using the recently issued Lee-Metford rifle.  He concluded that the immediate cause of death that follows was due to respiratory failure, not heart failure.

His best-known innovation is the Horsley–Clarke apparatus, developed in 1908 together with Robert H. Clarke, for performing the so-called stereotactic surgery, whereby a set of precise numerical coordinates are used to locate each brain structure. He was a pioneer in neurosurgery and operated on a total of 44 patients.

He authored the book Functions of the Marginal Convolutions (1884) and, as a co-author, Experiments upon the Functions of the Cerebral Cortex (1888) and Alcohol and the Human Body (1902).

Political career
Horsley was a Liberal Party supporter and contested the December 1910 General election as a Liberal candidate for the London University seat. The Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society campaigned against his election because of his involvement with vivisection. Following the election, he was adopted as prospective Liberal candidate, first for Islington East and then, in 1913, for Harborough in Leicestershire. Harborough was a Liberal seat and a general election, expected to take place in 1914 would most likely have seen him elected to parliament. However, he resigned as prospective candidate, citing opposition to his views on women's suffrage and temperance on the part of constituency officials, just before the First World War started.

Horsley strongly supported the Liberals' welfare state initiative, the National Insurance Act of 1911, despite strong opposition from most of his medical colleagues.

First World War service and death

In 1910, Horsley was commissioned as a captain in the Territorial Army, in the 3rd London General Hospital of the Royal Army Medical Corps. On the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered for active duty on the Western Front, where he was initially posted as surgeon at the British hospital at Wimereux, France. In May 1915, he was posted as a colonel and Director of Surgery of the British Army Medical Service in Egypt, based at the 21st General Hospital in Alexandria, in support of the Dardanelles Campaign. In the following year, he volunteered for field surgery duty in Mesopotamia, where he died unexpectedly in Amarah, Iraq, on 16 July 1916, of heatstroke and severe hyperpyrexia, at only 59 years of age.

Namesakes

Horsley was the first neurosurgeon appointed to the hospital in Queen Square, London, now called the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery – the Victor Horsley Department of Neurosurgery is named in his honour.

The Walton Centre for Neurology & Neurosurgery NHS Trust in Liverpool, England, another leading Neurosurgical Hospital, dedicated its intensive care unit to him, naming it the Horsley ward.

At its Annual Representatives Meeting, the British Medical Association has a series of lunchtime lectures entitled The Victor Horsley Lectures. After the Second Gulf War, a British Field Hospital was established at Shaibah Logistics Base, and the area of tented accommodation for hospital staff was known as Horsley Lines.

Horsley is credited with the invention of the "Horsley Hook", a device which he used to avulse the trigeminal nerve.

References

Further reading

1857 births
1916 deaths
People from Kensington
19th-century English medical doctors
Academics of University College London
Alumni of University College London
Anti-smoking activists
English scientists
English suffragists
English neuroscientists
Deaths from hyperthermia
British endocrinologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
Food preservation
Fullerian Professors of Physiology
Knights Bachelor
Male feminists
English neurosurgeons
Royal Army Medical Corps officers
Royal Medal winners
People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent
Artists' Rifles soldiers
British Army personnel of World War I
British military personnel killed in World War I
Burials at Amara War Cemetery
Military personnel from London

Victor Horsley


An aquarium (plural aquariums or aquaria) is a place where fish and other animals that live in water are kept by humans. An aquarium can be a small tank, or a large building with one or more large tanks.

Keeping an aquarium is a popular hobby around the world. Careful aquarists (people who keeps aquariums) make sure their fish live in an environment similar to their natural habitats. This means caring about water quality, lighting, and food.

Large public aquariums are often popular with tourists. They show the fish and other animals they keep in large tanks, and also often protect species that are close to extinction. An example of a public aquarium is Sydney Aquarium, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

History
The artificial fish habitat  have existed since ancient times. Sumerians kept fishes in ponds before cooking them.

Aquarium


The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is a secessionist movement in Nigeria, associated with Igbo nationalism, which supports the recreation of an independent state of Biafra. It was founded in 1999 and is led by an Indian-trained lawyer Ralph Uwazuruike, with headquarters in Okwe, in the Okigwe district of Imo State.

MASSOB's leaders say it is a peaceful group and advertise a 25-stage plan to achieve its goal peacefully. There are two arms to the government, the Biafra Government in Exile and Biafra Shadow Government.

The Nigerian government accuses MASSOB of violence; MASSOB's leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, was arrested in 2005 and detained on treason charges; he was released in 2007. MASSOB also championed the release of oil militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who faced similar charges at the time. In 2009, MASSOB launched "the Biafran International Passport" in response to persistent demand by Biafrans in the diaspora.

Ideology
MASSOB agitates for a Republic of Biafra comprising the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria; though Uwazuruike has stated in interviews that the Niger Deltans "can have their own republic." The group's philosophy is hinged on the principle of non-violence as propagated by Mahatma Gandhi.

Activities

Hoisting of Biafran flags
At its inception, MASSOB concentrated on organizing rallies and peaceful protests which culminated in hoisting Biafran flags at different locations in the South East. In recent years, this practice has been reserved mainly for celebrating key dates and events or in commemoration of dead members.

Protests
MASSOB members stage demonstrations to protest arrests and killings of its members. In one of these protests, the house of the late Nigerian leader, Nnamdi Azikiwe, was torched. The then Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Col. Joe Achuzie (rtd) exonerated MASSOB from blame and accused the security agents of "carelessness and irresponsibility."

Re-introduction of the Biafran currency
In 2005, MASSOB re-introduced the old Biafran currency into circulation. This sparked a lot of excitement at the time especially as one Biafran pound was said to exchange for two hundred and seventy naira at the border communities of Togo and the Republic of Benin. In his reaction, the then President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, likened the Biafran pounds to a collector's item and attributed its high exchange value to its relative rarity.

Introduction of the Biafran passport
MASSOB launched the Biafran passport in 2009 as part of the program to celebrate its 10th anniversary. MASSOB leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, said the introduction of the Biafran passport was in response to persistent demands from Biafrans in diaspora.

Nigerian government response
Since its inception, MASSOB has continually alleged mass arrests and killings of its members by government forces. The group's sanitation grassroot information spokesperson, Kelechi A Chukwu, has alleged that the government forces carries out secret executions of MASSOB members in detention centres and prisons nationwide. In May 2008, the group released a list of 2,020 members alleged to have been killed by security agents since 1999. MASSOB leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, has been arrested on several occasions and charged with treason. In 2011, Uwazuruike and 280 MASSOB members were arrested in Enugu while attending a function in honour of Ojukwu. Few days later, President Goodluck Jonathan ordered Uwazuruike's release as well as all other MASSOB members in detention.

In June 2012, the Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria condemned the alleged killing of 16 members of MASSOB by security agencies in Anambra.

In February 2013, MASSOB claimed that several corpses found floating in the Ezu River on the boundary of Enugu and Anambra States were those of its members previously arrested by the police. The group claimed that the police routinely executed MASSOB members without proper trial.

On September 13, 2015 police in Anambra state arrested no fewer than 25 MASSOB members who were marking their 16th anniversary; one MASSOB member was shot. At St Charles Lwanga Catholic Church Okpoko,18 members were arrested and one shot and at Iba Pope Catholic Church, while at Awada, 11 members of MASSOB were arrested. At Awka, two MASSOB were arrested by the police according to the MASSOB former Deputy Director of Information, Mazi Chris Mocha

On May 31, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan, a Niger Deltan Ijaw from Bayelsa State and from the South-South geopolitical zone, branded MASSOB to be one of three extremist groups threatening the security of Nigeria. Jonathan declared that "the Nigerian state faces three fundamental security challenges posed by extremist groups like Boko Haram in the North; the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra in the South-East; and the Oodua People's Congress in the South-West."

See also
 Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta
 Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force
 Nigerian Civil War
 Oodua Republic Front
 Indigenous People of Biafra

References

External links
Official Site of MASSOB
Biafraland Forum
MASSOB-Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra in the USA
MASSOB-Archive of News, Interviews, Articles, Analysis from 1999 to Present

1999 establishments in Nigeria
Biafra
Independence movements
National liberation movements
Political organizations based in Nigeria
Separatism in Nigeria
Secessionist organizations


Sin City is the title of a number of stories by Frank Miller, written in a comic book-style and the name of a movie that is based on the books.

Sin City movie

A movie version of the Sin City books was released in 2005.  It starred a number of famous actors, including Jessica Alba, Brittany Murphy, Bruce Willis, and Elijah Wood. The movie was directed by Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino.

The movie is based on four stories from the Sin City books:  "The Customer is Always Right", "The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard".

Other websites
 Official Sin City website

 Roger Ebert's original review of Sin City
 Sin City Trailer 1 (14.5 MB, Quicktime)
 Sin City Trailer 2 (27.4 MB, Quicktime)
 A list of differences between the books and the film
 Comic book-to-film visual comparisons
 An extensive interview with Miller and Rodriguez (59:39 minutes, click "Extended Audio")
 The Spoilers Alternate DVD Commentary of Sin City
 Peter Sanderson's indepth analysis of the film
 Sin City at FranksFilms

American comic books

Sin City


Impero was the fourth  built for Italy's Regia Marina (Royal Navy) during the Second World War. She was named after the Italian word for "empire", in this case referring to the newly (1936) conquered Italian Empire in East Africa (Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia territories) as a result of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. She was constructed under the order of the 1938 Naval Expansion Program, along with her sister ship Roma.

Impero was laid down in May 1938 and launched in November 1939. The entrance of Italy into World War II forced the Regia Marina to refocus its construction priorities on escort warships, so Impero was left incomplete. After Italy surrendered to the Allies on 8 September 1943, the rest of the Italian Navy steamed to Sardinia to rendezvous with their American contemporaries. Still incomplete in Trieste, Impero was captured by the Germans, who used the hulk for target practice. Sunk by Allied bombers in February 1945, she was refloated in 1947 and scrapped in Venice from 1948 to 1950.

Background
The Italian leader Benito Mussolini did not authorize any large naval rearmament until 1933. Once he did, two old battleships of the  were sent to be modernized in the same year, and  and  were laid down in 1934. In May 1935, the Italian Naval Ministry began preparing for a five-year naval building program that would include four battleships, three aircraft carriers, four cruisers, fifty-four submarines, and forty smaller ships. In December 1935, Admiral Domenico Cavagnari proposed to Mussolini that, among other things, two more battleships of the Littorio class be built to attempt to counter a possible Franco-British alliance—if the two countries combined forces, they would easily outnumber the Italian fleet. Mussolini postponed his decision, but later authorized planning for the two ships in January 1937 for the 1938 Naval Expansion Program. In December, they were approved and money was appropriated for them; they were named  and Impero.

Description

Impero was  long overall and had a beam of  and a draft of . She was designed with a standard displacement of , a violation of the  restriction of the Washington Naval Treaty; at full combat loading, she displaced . The ship was to be powered by four Belluzo geared steam turbines rated at . Steam was provided by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers. The engines provided a top speed of  and a range of  at . Impero would have had a crew of 1,830 to 1,950 if she had been completed.

Imperos main armament would have consisted of nine  50-caliber Model 1934 guns in three triple turrets; two turrets were placed forward in a superfiring arrangement and the third was located aft. Her secondary anti-surface armament would have consisted of twelve  55-caliber Model 1934/35 guns in four triple turrets amidships. These were to be supplemented by four  40-caliber Model 1891/92 guns in single mounts; these guns were old weapons and were primarily intended to fire star shells. Impero was intended to be equipped with an anti-aircraft battery that comprised twelve  50-caliber Model 1938 guns in single mounts, twenty  54-caliber guns in eight twin and four single mounts, and sixteen  65-caliber guns in eight twin mounts.

The ship was protected by a main armor belt that was  with a second layer of steel that was  thick. The main deck was  thick in the central area of the ship and reduced to  in less critical areas. The main battery turrets were  thick and the lower turret structure was housed in barbettes that were also 350 mm thick. The secondary turrets had 280 mm thick faces and the conning tower had  thick sides. Impero was to be fitted with a catapult on her stern and equipped with three IMAM Ro.43 reconnaissance float planes or Reggiane Re.2000 fighters.

History

Authorized to be built by Ansaldo of Genoa, the new battleship's keel was laid down on 14 May 1938 and launched on 15 November 1939. At her launching, she was christened Impero, after Italy's empire in Africa. With Genoa being in bombing range of France, and war now a definite possibility, Impero was moved to Brindisi on 8 June 1940 due to fears of French attack. Trieste was considered a better location, but Roma was fitting out there and the shipyard could not handle two battleships at one time. While at Brindisi, some of her machinery was installed, along with parts of her smaller caliber weaponry. Despite the intent to move Impero to a safer location, Brindisi was still hit by Allied bombers, though Impero was not damaged. Nevertheless, the Regia Marina decided to shift production priorities to desperately needed escorts for merchant convoys. As a result, construction of Impero was delayed to expedite those ships. The only work done was the fitting of the engines and some gun mountings.

Fitted with small-caliber anti-aircraft and anti-surface weaponry, Impero was sailed—using her own propulsion—to Venice on 22 January 1942. At some later time, she was moved again to Trieste, though no further work was done on the ship. After Italy's capitulation to the Allies in September 1943, Impero was seized by the Germans, who intended to break her up for scrap. This was evidently never completed, as the hulk was discovered by Allied forces in Trieste after the war half-sunk. The Germans had instead used her as a target ship and the Allies had damaged her during an air attack on 20 February 1945. Impero was stricken from the naval register on 27 March 1947. The hulk was raised sometime that year and towed to Venice and beached, where she was scrapped from 1948 to 1950.

At the time of the capitulation, Imperos hull was 88% complete and the engines were 76% complete, but overall the ship was only 28% complete; it would have required about eighteen more months of work for the ship to be finished. Key features like the armament, electrical wiring and a reworking of the bridge had still not been completed.

Footnotes

References

External links

 Impero Marina Militare website

Littorio-class battleships
Battleships sunk by aircraft
Maritime incidents in February 1945
1939 ships
Naval ships of Italy captured by Germany during World War II
Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C.
Ships built in Genoa

Italian battleship Impero


A cluster bomb, or cluster munition, is an explosive device. It explodes in the air or on the ground, and releases many smaller bombs. It is an anti-personnel weapon because it kills or maims people, not armoured vehicles.
They were used a lot during the Vietnam War and have been used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They are considered illegal by over 100 countries. These countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions adopted in May 2008.

Related pages
Russian invasion of Ukraine

Explosives

Cluster bomb


"And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake.   It comes in the introduction to a long poem called  Milton: a Poem (1804).  Today it is best known as the hymn Jerusalem, sung to music written by C. Hubert H. Parry in 1916, more than a century after Blake had written the poem.

The words of the poem

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

What the poem is about

There is a legend that the young Jesus went to England with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to England and visited Glastonbury.  The poem connects this legend to an idea in the Book of Revelation ( 3:12 and 21:2) describing a Second Coming in which Jesus builds a new Jerusalem. Some Christians thought that a new Jerusalem would be like Heaven, somewhere of love and peace. The poem asks if Jesus visited England and if Heaven was created in England.  Blake lived in the time of the early Industrial Revolution when there was a lot of poverty and misery.  Many people think the "dark Satanic mills" were the factories where many people worked in horrible conditions.  This contrasts with the country with its beauty and clean air: "England's green and pleasant Land". The second half of Blake's poem says people should try to establish "Jerusalem" once more.

Parry composes the music

Blake's poem was not very well known during the 19th century, but in 1916 a collection of poems was published which included "Jerusalem".  Britain was fighting a terrible war (the First World War), and so the people needed some strong, patriotic music to give them courage. Robert Bridges, the Poet Laureate asked Parry to put it to music at a Fight for Right campaign meeting in London's Queen's Hall.  He wanted Parry to write a tune that the audience would be able to sing easily.  At first Parry wanted verse one to be sung by a  solo female voice, but the version sung nowadays is the arrangement for orchestra made in 1922 by Sir Edward Elgar.  When King George V heard it for the first time he said that he preferred "Jerusalem" to "God Save the King", the National Anthem.

England (as distinct from Britain) does not have an official anthem and so the British National Anthem "God Save the Queen" is used for national occasions, for example before English international football matches or at the Last Night of the Proms.  The song is also the unofficial anthem of the British Women's Institute.  It is often sung as a  hymn in churches, although people in some churches think it is not a hymn.  It is also sung in many schools.

References

1800s British poems
Compositions by Hubert Parry
Christian hymns
1910s songs

And did those feet in ancient time


Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning "home of the Fur") is region of far western Sudan.

It borders the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. It is divided into three federal states within Sudan: Gharb Darfur (West Darfur), Janub Darfur (South Darfur), and Shamal Darfur (North Darfur). It is currently in the midst of an ongoing humanitarian crisis that developed from the conflict between Ganjaweed militias and rebel groups (namely the Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice and Equality Movement)

Geography and climate

Darfur covers an area of about 493 180 km² (196,555 miles²)—just over two-thirds the size of France and more than half the size of Kenya. It is largely an arid plateau with the Marrah Mountains (Jebel Marra), a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3000 m (10,100 ft), in the center of the region. The region's main towns are Al Fashir, Nyala, and Geneina.

There are four main features of the physical geography. The whole eastern half of Darfur is covered with plains and low hills of sandy soils, known as goz, and sandstone hills. In many places the goz is waterless and can only be inhabited where there are water reservoirs or deep boreholes. To the north the goz is overtaken by the desert sands of the Sahara. A second feature are the wadis, seasonal watercourses ranging from small rivulets that flood only occasionally during the wet season to large wadis that flood for most of the rains and flow from western Darfur hundreds of miles west to Lake Chad. Many wadis have pans of alluvium with rich soil that are also difficult to cultivate. The west of Darfur is dominated by the third feature, basement rock, sometimes covered with a thin layer of sandy soil. Basement rock is too infertile to be farmed, but provides sporadic forest cover that can be grazed by animals. The fourth and final feature are the Marrah Mountains, that rise up to a peak at Deriba crater where there is a small area of temperate climate, high rainfall and permanent springs of water.

The rainy season is from June through September, transforming much of the region from dusty brown to green. Because much of the population of Darfur is agricultural, the rains are vital. In normal years, a crop is ready to be harvested by November. Once harvested, the dry stalks may be fed to domestic livestock. In the far northern desert, years may pass between rainfall. In the far south, annual average rainfall is 700 mm and many trees remain green year-round.

Economy and demography

Darfur has an estimated population of 7.4 million people. Darfur's economy is primarily based on subsistence agriculture, producing cereals, fruit and tobacco as well as livestock in the drier north. In addition to this, Darfur also suffers from frequent droughts during the summer and heavy rainfall in the winter. This has caused many farmers to provide inadequate crops causing the deaths of thousands of people.

Darfur Conflict

The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Janjaweed militia group and the tribes of the region. The United Nations estimates that over 400,000 people have died since the beginning of this conflict.

Related pages
 Darfur conflict

Notes and references

Other websites
 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting  "Our Choice, Too: On the Edge in Darfur" (Video)
 African Holocaust Darfur Report
 "Delivering Aid to Darfur" (with video) about AmeriCares efforts in Darfur
 Safer Access - A Collective Response on Darfur is Needed

Geography of Sudan

Darfur


The ozone layer is a layer of ozone high up in the Earth's atmosphere stratosphere, between approximately 10 kilometres and 50 kilometres above Earth's surface.  The exact amount of ozone varies, depending on the seasons and the location.
 This layer absorbs between 93 and 99 per cent of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun.  This radiation is dangerous to living organisms on Earth.

Over the last hundred years, the ozone layer has been damaged by man-made chemicals, especially CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), which were used mainly in aerosol sprays and refrigerants. CFCs are broken down in the upper atmosphere when they react with the ozone, causing ozone depletion. International leaders recognized this and united in banning the use of CFCs.  As a result, the hole in the ozone layer has been shrinking and the ozone layer has been recovering.

The ozone layer was discovered in 1913 by French physicists Charles Fabry and Henri Buisson. Its properties were explored in detail by the British meteorologist G. M. B. Dobson, who developed a simple spectrophotometer, the Dobsonmeter. This tool  could be used to measure the ozone levels found in the stratosphere from the ground. Between 1928 and 1958 Dobson established a worldwide network of ozone monitoring stations. Most of these stations are still in use today. The "Dobson unit", a convenient measure of the total amount of ozone in a column overhead, is named in his honor.

References

Atmosphere

Ozone layer


Air pollution is a type of environmental pollution that affects the air and is usually caused by smoke or other harmful gases, mainly oxides of carbon, Sulphur and nitrogen.

In other words, air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence or introduction of a substance which has a poisonous effect.

Many of the world's large cities today have polluted air or low air and complain about it's daily
quality.

Even 2,000 years ago, the Romans were complaining about the polluted air in their cities. At that time, the air was thick with smoke from fires and the smell of sewers. Air pollution has been classified as a danger to human health and Earth's many ecosystems for a long time.

Air quality
Pollution can be gas , liquid or solid. It can also be classified chemically, such as:- oxide, hydrocarbon, acid or other kinds. Pollution can also be classified by what makes it.

Many pollutants go into the air from natural sources. These pollutants include dust, sea salt, volcanic ashes and gases, smoke from forest fires, pollen, and many other materials. In fact, there are many more natural pollutants than pollutants that humans make. However, humans and other living things have adapted to most of these natural pollutants.

Air pollution is usually described as either primary pollutants or secondary pollutants.Primary pollutants are pollutants that are put directly into the air by humans or natural sources. Examples of primary pollutants are exhaust fumes (gas) from cars, soot from smoke, dust storms and ash from volcanic eruptions (as seen in the picture on the left).

Secondary pollutants are pollutants that are made from chemical reactions when pollutants mix with other primary pollutants or natural substances like water vapor. Many secondary pollutants are made when a primary pollutant reacts with sunlight. Ozone and smog are secondary pollutants. Ozone is a gas that stops harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.  When it is near the ground, though, it can poison people and other organisms.

Human-made air pollution comes from many things. Most air pollution made by humans today is because of transportation. Automobiles , for instance, make about 60% of the human-made air pollution. The gases inside car exhaust, like nitrogen oxide, make smog and acid rain.

Farmlands and forests sometimes burn in wildfires producing soot (a black powder composed mainly of carbon, produced when coal, grasses, wood etc. is burned) from smoke. Soot can affect people and other life. People start many of those fires.

Industrial air pollution
Many industrial power plants burn fossil fuels to get their energy. However, burning fossil fuels can make a lot of oxides (chemical compounds that have oxygen and other elements inside). In fact, the burning of fossil fuels makes 96% of the sulphur oxides in the atmosphere. Some industries also make chemicals that make poisonous fumes (smoke).

Indoor air pollution
Air pollution is not only on the outside. Homes, schools, and buildings can also have air pollution. Sometimes the air inside a building is even worse than the air outside. Many things which humans use every day can pollute the air. Compounds inside carpets, paints, building materials and furniture also pollute the air, especially when they are new.

In buildings where the windows are tightly shut to stop air leaks, the air inside can be polluted more than the air outside.

Acid precipitation
Acid precipitation is precipitation, like rain, sleet, or snow, that contains acids from air pollution. When fossil fuels are burned, they let out oxides into the air. When these oxides mix with water in the atmosphere, they make acid, which fall as precipitation. Acid precipitation can kill living things like fish and trees, by making the place where they live too acidic. Acid rain can also damage buildings made of limestone and concrete.

Ozone hole
A global concern is the hole in the ozone layer in the stratosphere.  The Earth's ozone layer protects life from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, but in the 1970s, scientists found out that some chemicals let out into the atmosphere makes the ozone turn into oxygen.  This lets more ultraviolet rays reach the Earth.  During the 1980s, scientists found that the ozone layer above the South Pole had thinned by 50 to 98%.

Human health
On March 17, 1992, in Mexico City, all children under the age of 14 could not go to school because of air pollution. This does not often happen, but being exposed to air pollution every day can make people have many health problems. Children, elderly (old) people, and people with allergies especially, can have a lot of problems because of air pollution. Studies from the University of Birmingham showed that deaths because of pneumonia and air pollution from motor vehicles like cars are related.

The World Health Organization said that 2.4 million people died because of the direct problems of air pollution. Some of the problems include:

Head
Dizziness
Headaches

Face
Burning, scratchy eyes
Runny nose
Coughing and hard breathing

Other
Lung cancer and lung diseases
Sore throat
Chest pains, colds, and allergies

Agricultural effects
In India in 2014, it was reported that air pollution had cut crop yields in the most affected areas by almost half in 2010 when compared to 1980 levels. There can also be increased yield of crops due to some air quality conditions.

References

Other website

 Air quality science and general information
 UNEP Urban Issues
 European Commission > Environment > Policies > Air >Air Quality.
 UNEP Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles

 Air quality modelling
 Stuff in the air Standard air quality modelling procedure for industrial sources.
 Wiki on Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling. Addresses the international community of atmospheric dispersion modellers — primarily researchers, but also users of models. Its purpose is to pool experiences gained by dispersion modellers during their work.
 Air Dispersion Modeling Conversions and Formulas One of six technical articles devoted to air quality and air pollution dispersion modeling.

 Effects on human health

Air pollution


The Rio Hondo (Spanish for "deep river") is a river in Los Angeles County, California. Its official beginning is at a reservoir called the Whittier Narrows Reservoir; and it flows  southwest to the Los Angeles River. Notably, the Whittier Narrows Reservoir is also fed by the San Gabriel River, and water can be released into either river. Therefore, the watersheds of the Los Angeles River and San Gabriel River are connected by the Rio Hondo.

Most of the Rio Hondo is lined with concrete, but there are two places the river is free-flowing. These are the Peck Road Water Conservation Park and the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. Eaton Wash is a tributary to the Rio Hondo.

Rivers of Los Angeles County, California

Rio Hondo (California)


Edward Henry Berge (1876–1924) was an American sculptor. He is mainly known for his bronze monumental works and figures, created in the traditional manner in contrast with the avant-garde work of his contemporaries.

Berge was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1876. He studied at the Maryland Institute (currently known as the Maryland Institute College of Art or MICA) and was part of the first class of the Rinehart School of Sculpture, which comprised three boys and four girls. The other two boys were J. Maxwell Miller and Hans Schuler. Upon completion of Rinehart School study, the three went together to Paris where they enrolled in the Académie Julian for three years and studied under Raoul Verlet and Auguste Rodin.  Berge was a member of the National Sculpture Society and the National Arts Club. He died in his native city in 1924. His son, Henry Berge (1908–1998) was also a sculptor and focused on bas-relief.

Sculpture
Berge mainly worked in marble and bronze and completed many monuments, portrait busts and relief sculptures, many of which are on display outdoors or in public buildings in Baltimore City, including:
 Armistead, Fort McHenry.
 Chapin A. Harris, Wyman Parkway and 31st St.
 Latrobe, Broadway and Baltimore St.
 On the Trail, Clifton Park.
 Sea Urchin, Johns Hopkins University.
 War Memorial, Cherry Hill Administration Building.
 Watson, Mt. Royal Terrace at North Ave.
 Wildflower, Homeland Garden.
 Muse Finding the Head of Orpheus, Walters Art Museum (original stone maquette), Lorraine Park Cemetery (bronze at Berge family plot).

References

Further reading
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art, Madison, CT: Sound View Press, September 1999.
Berge, Stephens. Edward Berge: A Short Biography, 1983.
Naylor, Henry and Caroline. Public Monuments & Sculpture of Baltimore: An Introduction to the Collection, (Bethesda, Md.: The Writer's Center), 1987.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Memorial Exhibition of Sculpture by Edward Berge. (Baltimore, MD),  1925.

External links

 Sculptor Edward Berge

1876 births
1924 deaths
Artists from Baltimore
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Maryland Institute College of Art alumni

Edward Berge


Rear Admiral Bowman Hendry McCalla (June 19, 1844 – May 6, 1910) was an officer in the United States Navy, who was noted for his roles in the Spanish–American War and putting down the Boxer Rebellion.

Biography
Bowman H. McCalla was born in Camden, New Jersey on June 19, 1844. He was appointed midshipman on November 30, 1861. McCalla's courage and leadership during his career often earned him great, and due, respect among his fellow officers.

In the spring of 1885, during the Panama crisis of 1885, McCalla led an expeditionary force of 750 seamen and marines which landed at Panama to protect American treaty rights when the revolution there threatened to block transit across the isthmus.

As commanding officer of USS Marblehead, from September 11, 1897 to September 16, 1898, he took part in the blockade of Cuba and was responsible for the cutting of submarine cables linking Cienfuegos with the outside world, thus isolating the Spanish garrison there, in May 1898. In June 1898, he led the invasion of Guantánamo Bay.

While in command of Newark during the Boxer Rebellion two years later, he was cited for conspicuous gallantry in battle as he led a force of sailors from Tientsin to Peking. McCalla's force of 112 men spearheaded an international column, under British Admiral Sir Edward Seymour, which was attempting to fight its way to the aid of foreign legations under siege at Peking. In the course of the battle at Hsiku Arsenal, McCalla, along with 25 of his force, was wounded; five were killed. See Seymour Expedition, China 1900.

Commissioned rear admiral October 11, 1903, and entered on the retired list June 19, 1906, McCalla died on May 6, 1910, at Santa Barbara, California, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Awards
Sampson Medal
Civil War Campaign Medal
Spanish Campaign Medal
Philippine Campaign Medal
China Relief Expedition Medal

Memberships
In 1898 he was elected as a veteran companion of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars. He was also a veteran companion of the Illinois Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, vice president of the Military Order of the Dragon and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Namesakes
Two US Navy ships were named USS McCalla in his honor.  McCalla Field and McCalla Hill at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay are named after him as well.

References

External links
McCalla's Memoirs of a Naval Career, 1910 MS 215 held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy

1844 births
1910 deaths
American military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion
American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
People from Camden, New Jersey
Military personnel from Santa Barbara, California
United States Navy admirals
Union Navy officers
Military personnel from New Jersey

Bowman H. McCalla


Amrita Island is a small inhabited island in Squeteague Harbor in the village of Cataumet in the town of Bourne, in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Several residential homes are located on the island. Baxendale Road is the only road and it connects the island to the mainland from Megansett Road.

History
Thomas Baxendale, of Brockton, Massachusetts, and his wife Esther Minerva purchased Amrita Island in 1893. The couple then began to build a residence on the island, including a mansion named "Island Haven," along with a stone bridge; four other homes named Stonehenge, Sorrento, Castle le Mere, and Guardian; three bathing pavilions; a gazebo; a cottage; and a mausoleum that would eventually house the Baxendales and several of their beloved animals.

The island is well known for its ties to animal welfare advocacy. Baxendale was an advocate for animal welfare, and during his time on Amrita Island, he hosted lectures on animal advocacy and donated funds to the local Animal Rescue League. Upon Esther Baxendale's death in 1927, Harvard University was given Amrita Island in the Baxendales' will. In turn, Harvard University donated the island's 21 acres to the Animal Rescue League of Boston. On a mainland parcel of land adjacent to the Island, until 2007, the Animal Rescue League operated "a summer camp for inner city children between the ages of seven and fourteen...where they learned animal care, dog obedience, pet shows, nature study, and woodworking."

Notes

Bourne, Massachusetts
Islands of Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Coastal islands of Massachusetts
Populated coastal places in Massachusetts

Amrita Island