Robin Hood Statue In Nottingham
Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know was a phrase used by Lady Caroline Lamb to describe George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron. But it could be used for a whole host of Nottinghamshire heroes’.
Robin Hood – the original and classic English working class warrior. Some say he was a rich man who was defrauded of his wealth, and, so went out onto a bender of raping and pillaging. reliving folks of their hard earned cash so that he could lead the high life???
The fact is, if he ever existed, is that he practised a forced redistribution of economic wealth. He believed in a society and if he was around today he would nave been a on MI5 and MI6 list for being a subversive. We could do with him right now to help us get it right about our lives being ruined by bankers.
In fact one of taxes being promoted to help readdress the balance between the bankers and the great unwashed is named after Robin Hood. The Robin Hood tax aims to act like a casino operator, taking a cut every time the bankers make a deal. They then use the tax raised to cover over any damage that the bankers leave….! I am only joking with the last part, but, as they say many a truth is spoken in jest.
Back to Lord Byron! The man just believed in being himself a sort of ‘unto thy self be true’. This is a noble idea, however, our social, cultural and political leaders take a different view and see being true and honest as a mugs game. Lord Byron went out of his way to do good things for others except for those close to him like his sexual partners. Maybe he loathed the idea of giving one self up in love or he hated himself for being bisexual who knows? He did become a hero for the Greeks in their struggle for liberation, dying in that task.
He also made a major contribution to our lives other than providing great poems and readings but also producing a child (Ada Lovelace) who went on to be the first computer programmer, which allows people like me to play online poker and write stuff about Lord Byron….
And lastly D. H. Lawrence the man that said “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.” Never has a truer word been spoken. But in the century that gave us ‘Pax America’ it is clear that after 3 major wars in the last 25 years the need for alliances and partnership has grown and the USA cannot go gun slinging around the World. It neither has the power or the money to do this.
The quote is best attributed to a poker player which is one of the greatest things the US has given the World. It is the purest form of capitalism and since America was the vanguard for capitalism it is fitting that they also produce a game to fit.
D. H Lawrence also wanted to speak truth about love and sex using good old fashioned Anglo Saxon words to describe the main activity between lovers. It didn’t go down well with the establishment but, the people loved it.
In the end the 3 major Nottinghamshire figures can be encapsulated in Newstead, a small ex-mining village. Ravaged by politics of class warfare and no a village in which people go to sleep. Slowly but surely a major activity is being done via the Internet and the people forget their roots in being at the radical end of working class challenging the power of the bankers and their supporters. It is hard to watch but it does seem inevitable.