Difference between revisions of "Winston Churchill"
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| − | + | The Wikipedia article for [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill Winston Churchill] is missing some criticism but is probably accurate in general. | |
| − | + | It says of him: ''A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States. | |
| − | == | + | ==Criticism== |
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| + | {{QB|''... Churchill was a man who met a moment, and the moment was much shorter than he's given credit for - about six months. He made four speeches, all of which were derivative of Shakespeare and Macaulay. Everything else about his wearyingly long public life was self-serving and disastrous: he was a terrible self-publicising hack; he was a loathed soldier; he was the worst First Sea Lord we ever had. A staggeringly inept Home Secretary, he was wrong about absolutely everything he set his sights on. He was responsible for the Dardanelles, the worst disaster of the First World War. He sent soldiers to shoot Welsh miners. He put field guns on to the streets of the East End of London. During the General Strike, he was so rabid that he had to be kept out of government, because he wanted to machine-gun bus drivers. Later, he was the worst sort of empire loyalist, desperate to hold on to India, and racist about Gandhi, that naked little fakir (frankly, if you had to choose the greater man between Gandhi and Churchill, there's no contest). He sent the Black and Tans into Ireland. He'd have bankrupted the country by returning us to the gold standard; he gave away large areas of eastern Europe to Stalin. And he was responsible for the disgraceful but forgotten war of intervention to support the White Russians at the end of the First World War. Altogether, he represents everything I find most dispiriting, snobbish, philistine, proudly anti-intellectual and stubbornly backward-looking about Britain''.}} | ||
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| + | The quote is from a News Statesman article by prominent British commentator, A A Gill. | ||
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| + | In an article entitled '''Cromwell and Churchill for "Worst Briton"''' he says: ''As someone who championed Shakespeare for the greatest Briton, I would have to vote for Cromwell as my worst - a man who closed down theatres, banned dancing and cancelled Christmas.... My other nomination is Churchill.<ref>[http://www.newstatesman.com/200212160058 AA Gill nominates Oliver Cromwell and Winston Churchill as the 'Worst Britons of all Time]. New Statemen 16 Dec 2002.</ref> | ||
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| + | ==Links== | ||
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| + | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill Winston Churchill] at Wikipedia. | ||
[[Winston Churchill and Chemical Weapons]] | [[Winston Churchill and Chemical Weapons]] | ||
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Wikispooks does not aim to duplicate anything at Wikipedia, so if the material presented above later appears in the article at Wikipedia it should be removed from this page. You will be doing everyone a favour if you do it right now. | Wikispooks does not aim to duplicate anything at Wikipedia, so if the material presented above later appears in the article at Wikipedia it should be removed from this page. You will be doing everyone a favour if you do it right now. | ||
| − | Please remove anything harmful to the reputation of a Living Person unless it is documented in a "Reliable Source" eg a major newspaper or book. Please use "Talk" if you wish to remove material appearing here because you feel it is superfluous, misleading, completely unreferenced or appears to be | + | Please remove anything harmful to the reputation of a Living Person unless it is documented in a "Reliable Source" eg a major newspaper or book. Please use "Talk" if you wish to remove material appearing here because you feel it is superfluous, misleading, completely unreferenced or appears to be "Original Research" as might appear on a blog. |
Revision as of 12:28, 9 November 2011
The Wikipedia article for Winston Churchill is missing some criticism but is probably accurate in general.
It says of him: A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
Criticism
... Churchill was a man who met a moment, and the moment was much shorter than he's given credit for - about six months. He made four speeches, all of which were derivative of Shakespeare and Macaulay. Everything else about his wearyingly long public life was self-serving and disastrous: he was a terrible self-publicising hack; he was a loathed soldier; he was the worst First Sea Lord we ever had. A staggeringly inept Home Secretary, he was wrong about absolutely everything he set his sights on. He was responsible for the Dardanelles, the worst disaster of the First World War. He sent soldiers to shoot Welsh miners. He put field guns on to the streets of the East End of London. During the General Strike, he was so rabid that he had to be kept out of government, because he wanted to machine-gun bus drivers. Later, he was the worst sort of empire loyalist, desperate to hold on to India, and racist about Gandhi, that naked little fakir (frankly, if you had to choose the greater man between Gandhi and Churchill, there's no contest). He sent the Black and Tans into Ireland. He'd have bankrupted the country by returning us to the gold standard; he gave away large areas of eastern Europe to Stalin. And he was responsible for the disgraceful but forgotten war of intervention to support the White Russians at the end of the First World War. Altogether, he represents everything I find most dispiriting, snobbish, philistine, proudly anti-intellectual and stubbornly backward-looking about Britain.
The quote is from a News Statesman article by prominent British commentator, A A Gill.
In an article entitled Cromwell and Churchill for "Worst Briton" he says: As someone who championed Shakespeare for the greatest Briton, I would have to vote for Cromwell as my worst - a man who closed down theatres, banned dancing and cancelled Christmas.... My other nomination is Churchill.[1]
Links
Winston Churchill at Wikipedia.
Winston Churchill and Chemical Weapons
De-classified memos/minutes concerning use of poison gas against Iraqi Kurds and Germany.
British use of Chemical weapons in Iraq
The British use of gas against the Iraq 'insurrection' in 1919
Notes
- ↑ AA Gill nominates Oliver Cromwell and Winston Churchill as the 'Worst Britons of all Time. New Statemen 16 Dec 2002.
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Wikispooks does not aim to duplicate anything at Wikipedia, so if the material presented above later appears in the article at Wikipedia it should be removed from this page. You will be doing everyone a favour if you do it right now.
Please remove anything harmful to the reputation of a Living Person unless it is documented in a "Reliable Source" eg a major newspaper or book. Please use "Talk" if you wish to remove material appearing here because you feel it is superfluous, misleading, completely unreferenced or appears to be "Original Research" as might appear on a blog.
