Farewell to Dervla Murphy

[cycle tramp]

I'm going to respond to this and make a statement:

Following the reference to her on this forum I got three of her books from the library:
Cameroon with Egbert
Muddling through Madagascar
South from Limpopo

What could have been tales of discovery to wet the appetite of any who might chose to follow after her was in fact in all of these books a diatribe of all the ills white man had visited upon these poor unfortunate peoples. Each descriptive passage became a nauseating litany of everything white men have done every where she had been.

In truth she established herself as a white hating racist. I gave up and returned the books.

Although to be fair, we have bathed rather alot of countries in the blood of its own native people, robbed them of their historic artifacts, plundered their land for natural resources and then told them how lucky they were that we had graciously decided to run their own country for them.....

...and then decades later handed back Hong Kong to a regime with known human rights abuses, with no protection for the residents, who up until then rather enjoyed the concepts of democracy and (some) freedom of speech.....

...our track record isn't great, and I don't see why we shouldn't be reminded off this, if only for us to carry ourselves with a bit of humility.

[simonhill]

tigertoo you should try Full Tilt. Probably her only real cycling book and I would imagine the most read by people here. It certainly inspired me when I read it in the 80s.

I can't comment on her later stuff, but I don't read much, I'd rather ride.

[slowster]

...and then decades later handed back Hong Kong to a regime with known human rights abuses, with no protection for the residents, who up until then rather enjoyed the concepts of democracy and (some) freedom of speech.....

That is a disingenuous misrepresentation of the return of the control of Hong Kong to China. It was chinese sovereign territory which the UK seized by force and compelled China to cede to the UK. The lease of the New Territories expired in 1997, and as I understand it Hong Kong on its own could not have viably been kept by the UK.

The action by the UK Government to offer 3 million Hong Kong residents born before 1997 the right to come and live in the UK and eventually gain UK citizenship was a commendable response to China's breach of the terms under which it took back control of Hong Kong.

[Stradageek]

What could have been tales of discovery to wet the appetite of any who might chose to follow after her was in fact in all of these books a diatribe of all the ills white man had visited upon these poor unfortunate peoples. Each descriptive passage became a nauseating litany of everything white men have done every where she had been.

In truth she established herself as a white hating racist. I gave up and returned the books.

I'm half way through 'Where the Indus is young' my fourth or fifth Dervla Murphy book.

I think she is challenged by poverty and injustice wherever she goes and tells it like it is. She laments both deprivation and shallow capitalism. I see no political agenda except where it is obviously justified e.g. in Palestine.

I continue to find her writing both informative and inspirational.

Stradgeek - vicarious traveler, especially on cold dark evenings.

[cycle tramp]

...and then decades later handed back Hong Kong to a regime with known human rights abuses, with no protection for the residents, who up until then rather enjoyed the concepts of democracy and (some) freedom of speech.....

The action by the UK Government to offer 3 million Hong Kong residents born before 1997 the right to come and live in the UK and eventually gain UK citizenship was a commendable response to China's breach of the terms under which it took back control of Hong Kong.

..oh, tough luck on anyone born after 1997 (who would now be 25, and who have grown up with the important pillars of democracy and (some freedom of speech)).. it looks like Winnie the Pooh, leader of China has gone a bit mental and sees everyone and everything as a threat, so he's taken them away....
...we all know there were lots of responses that we could have tried... but oh no, we needed Chinese investment in our economy so it was perfectly reasonable to had back Hong Kong...
.....Places we also invaded by force include Ireland and Scotland and Wales... we going to give them back anytime soon?

[slowster]

...we all know there were lots of responses that we could have tried...

Please list them.

[cycle tramp]

...we all know there were lots of responses that we could have tried...

Please list them.

....okay, but I need a couple of days head start to try and find them in my pile of history papers

[leftpoole]

...and then decades later handed back Hong Kong to a regime with known human rights abuses, with no protection for the residents, who up until then rather enjoyed the concepts of democracy and (some) freedom of speech.....

The action by the UK Government to offer 3 million Hong Kong residents born before 1997 the right to come and live in the UK and eventually gain UK citizenship was a commendable response to China's breach of the terms under which it took back control of Hong Kong.

..oh, tough luck on anyone born after 1997 (who would now be 25, and who have grown up with the important pillars of democracy and (some freedom of speech)).. it looks like Winnie the Pooh, leader of China has gone a bit mental and sees everyone and everything as a threat, so he's taken them away....
...we all know there were lots of responses that we could have tried... but oh no, we needed Chinese investment in our economy so it was perfectly reasonable to had back Hong Kong...
.....Places we also invaded by force include Ireland and Scotland and Wales... we going to give them back anytime soon?

I would be happy personally to hand Ireland back, as I suspect would some Government MP's....

[matt2matt2002]

What a great thread.
May I remind certain folks here that we once owned a great deal of what is now France?

[Jdsk]

"We" seems to be doing some very heavy lifting.

Jonathan

[Tinnishill]

y Jdsk » 19 Jun 2022, 11:32pm
"We" seems to be doing some very heavy lifting.

Jonathan

As Tonto once said, "What do you mean 'We', white man ?".

[pwa]

...and then decades later handed back Hong Kong to a regime with known human rights abuses, with no protection for the residents, who up until then rather enjoyed the concepts of democracy and (some) freedom of speech.....

The action by the UK Government to offer 3 million Hong Kong residents born before 1997 the right to come and live in the UK and eventually gain UK citizenship was a commendable response to China's breach of the terms under which it took back control of Hong Kong.

..oh, tough luck on anyone born after 1997 (who would now be 25, and who have grown up with the important pillars of democracy and (some freedom of speech)).. it looks like Winnie the Pooh, leader of China has gone a bit mental and sees everyone and everything as a threat, so he's taken them away....
...we all know there were lots of responses that we could have tried... but oh no, we needed Chinese investment in our economy so it was perfectly reasonable to had back Hong Kong...
.....Places we also invaded by force include Ireland and Scotland and Wales... we going to give them back anytime soon?

I read this with some amusement. Scotland, yes, if by "we" you mean England, and you also think that you personally are linked to those actions. But Ireland was invaded by a French speaking ruling class who had not long come over from Normandy, and who moved on to clobber Wales and Ireland when they had finished subjugating the English. England, Ireland and Wales were all clobbered by the Normans. My own Irish side of the family are partly descended from people who were part of that invasion, having come with the Normans from Wales. I suspect all Irish families are descended partly from invaders. And many modern English families have Irish and Welsh ancestry. Using the word "we" in this is fraught with complications. So is blaming "the English" for events that most English people, even at the time, had no part in.

Scotland is a different matter. Integration happened much later, and under the control of what was then established as the English crown. Though again, most English people at the time were not consulted about it. I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it so I'm not too keen on the "we" bit.

If I were to try to put myself on one side of the blame game I'd have difficulty. Invader or victim? One or more of my ancestors was a Welshman who joined up with a Norman-led venture into Ireland, where they integrated with some of my other ancestors who were Irish, so I have ancestors on both sides of that one. As most Irish people probably do. Many Welsh people have English ancestors and many English people have Welsh or Irish ancestors. Using "we" is a baffling thing to do.

[slowster]

Using "we" is a baffling thing to do.

Yes, I did not comment on that, but in that context I think if I were Welsh, Scottish or from Northern Ireland, I would find the use of the phrase 'we going to give them back' annoying at the very least. It implies that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and their inhabitants are possessions of England. It's not a question of giving them anything back. If any one of them collectively chooses independence and leaving the United Kingdom through a democratic process (or joining Ireland in the case of Northern Ireland), that is their absolute right. It is not 'ours' to give; it is theirs to take should they decide to do so.

[Tinnishill]

As nobody has mentioned it yet, here is Miss Murphy's famous kit list for her (winter) trip from Waterford to Delhi.

Single speed bike.

CLOTHES WORN AT THE START
1 woollen vest
1 pair of woollen ankle-length underpants
1 pair of gabardine slacks
1 pair of waterproof trousers
2 heavy sweaters
1 Viyella shirt
1 gabardine wind-cheater
1 woollen balaclava helmet
1 skiing cap
1 pair of leather fur-lined gauntlets

CHANGE OF CLOTHES
1 woollen vest
1 pair of woollen ankle-length underpants
1 Viyella shirt

TOILET ARTICLES
1 bar of soap
1 face-cloth
1 hand-towel
1 toothbrush
1 tube of toothpaste

MEDICAL SUPPLIES
3 tubes of insect repellent cream
100 Chlorinate tablets (for water purification)
1 ounce of potassium permanganate (against snake
bite)
1 dozen Acromycin capsules
1 tin of Elastoplast
100 Aspirin
100 Paludrin tablets (against malaria)
6 tubes of sunburn cream
BOOKS
Nehru's History of India
William Blake's Poems (Penguin edition)

INCIDENTALS
1 ·25 automatic pistol
4 rounds of ammunition
12 Biro pens
6 notebooks
4 maps
1 cycling cape
1 camping knife
1 Thermos flask
1 mug
Passport
1 money belt
£300 in traveler's cheques

BIKE SPARES
1 tyre
1 inner tube
1 lamp-battery
4 links for the chain
1 brake cable
3 puncture repair outfits
1 pump connection

[cycle tramp]

The action by the UK Government to offer 3 million Hong Kong residents born before 1997 the right to come and live in the UK and eventually gain UK citizenship was a commendable response to China's breach of the terms under which it took back control of Hong Kong.

.....Places we also invaded by force include Ireland and Scotland and Wales... we going to give them back anytime soon?

I read this with some amusement. Scotland, yes, if by "we" you mean England, and you also think that you personally are linked to those actions....

......I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with it so I'm not too keen on the "we" bit.

......Using "we" is a baffling thing to do.

That's a fair point. There's only so much time i can spend on this forum, and some of my posts do require a final 'edit' (and possibly a re-wind/erase, and volume control)... rather than a Donald Trump point and fire approach..

Having read the above comments I'm kinda reminded of the Holy Grail Sketch about the Britons.. any way when I wrote 'we' it was a reference to our government..