Can’t save them from own incompetence

Quote of the day:

” As nice a guys as we are in National, we can’t save Labour from its own incompetence.”

Simon Bridges on Breakfast  in response to a comment on Labour’s website woes which were exposed by Whaleoil.

Apropos of this Whale has replied to a letter from Labour’s general secretary Chris Flatt  agreeing to his requests with nine conditions including:

5. Fred Dagg gets his right­ful posi­tion at the top of the Labour Party List. In perpetuity.

While Fred would add a much needed rural voice to the Labour list I suspect someone of his entrepreneurial and independent spirit would be out of place there.

Thursday’s quiz

1. Who said: “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ”?

2. Who composed The Four Seasons?

3. It’s espoir in French, speranza in Italian,  esperanza in Spanish and manawa ora in Maori, what is it in English?

4. What was a tamarillo’s former name?

5. Where (more or less)  does the 45th parallel cross State Highway 1?

Milk price down 2.6%

The trade weighted price of milk dropped 2.6% in Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade auction this morning.

The price of anhydrous milk fat was down 5.9%; milk protein concentrate dropped .3%; rennet casein dropped 2.4%; skim milk powder was down 7.1%; and whole milk powder was 2.6% lower.

 

Not united on bi-partisan approach

Phil Goff was very circumspect on Checkpoint last night when asked to comment on calls for a speedier resolution of which areas of Christchurch can’t be rebuilt.

He said Labour was trying to to be bi–partisan about it. (2:12 @17:39)

The party, doesn’t appear to be united on that approach, or at least one MP isn’t following her leader’s example.

 Lianne Dalziel got a lot of media exposure yesterday criticising the government about the time it is taking to resolve which areas will be abandoned.

Did someone forget to tell her about the bi-partisan approach or isn’t she listening?

As Bill English says:

. . .  the latest earthquakes had given the matter “extra urgency” but drip-feeding information or partial decisions would not help.

“These people are suffering the severe and psychological impact of another quake and they’re going to need some reasonably definitive answers, not half-baked ones.”

Thousands of people are living in limbo while dealing with continuing quakes and aftershocks and  insecure housing and infrastructure.

But giving them only part of the information they need to make decisions, or information which later turned out to be wrong would only make matters worse.

The Checkpoint interview showed both Goff and Green co-leader Metiria Turei appreciate this and the difference between advocacy and politicking. I’m not sure Dalziel does.

Can’t vote if not enrolled

People helping with Hekia Parata’s campaign and scrutineering  in the Mana by-election last year came across a good number* of people who wanted to vote for her but couldn’t.

They had opted to be on the Maori roll last time they had the choice and those who do so can’t swap to the general roll between elections.

The matter of supporters not being able to vote might also trouble candidates in the Te Tai Tokerau by-election because either they’re on the general roll or not enrolled at all.

Duncan Garner writes:

I have just spoken to the pollster of the Maori TV Poll. He says Harawira may face a further and much more serious problem. Many of those identifying themselves as Harawira supporters are not enrolled on the Maori roll. This will mean that many can’t vote next weekend.

If people are on the general roll they can’t swap to the Maori roll but if they’re not enrolled at all they can enrol until next Friday and cast a special vote. However, I think both Labour and the Maori Party would be better placed to mobilise people who aren’t enrolled to do so then vote than Harawira and his supporters.

Garner’s not the only one to think Harawira’s in trouble. Brunette at Roar Prawn has become addicted to iPredict and is backing labour’s Kelvin Davis:

And the stocks are climbing all the time.

Due in large part to some people finally realising that Hone’s support does not run that deep and most Maori in the Far North are sensible enough to see that he is not the man to take them to the promised land.

* good number = vague amount based on anecdotes.

June 16 in history

1487  Battle of Stoke Field, the final engagement of the Wars of the Roses.

1586 Mary, Queen of Scots, recognised Philip II of Spain as her heir.

1738  – Mary Katharine Goddard, American printer and publisher, was born (d. 1816).

1745  British troops took  Cape Breton Island,.

1745 – Sir William Pepperell captured the French Fortress Louisbourg,  during the War of the Austrian Succession.

1746  War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeated a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.

1755  French and Indian War: the French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

1779  Spain declared war on  Great Britain, and the siege of Gibraltar began.

 

1815  Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.

1821 Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer, was born (d. 1908).

1829 Geronimo, Apache leader, was born  (d. 1909).

1836  The formation of the London Working Men’s Association gave rise to the Chartist Movement.

 

1846  The Papal conclave of 1846 concluded. Pius IX was elected pope, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy (not counting St. Peter).

1858  Abraham Lincoln delivered his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.

 

1858  Battle of Morar during the Indian Mutiny.

1871  The University Tests Act allowed students to enter the Universities of Oxford,  Cambridge and Durham without religious tests, except for courses in theology.

1883  The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland killed 183 children.

1890 Stan Laurel, British actor and comedian, was born  (d. 1965).

1891 John Abbott became Canada’s third prime minister.

1897  A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States was signed.

1903  The Ford Motor Company was incorporated.

1903– Roald Amundsen commenced the first east-west navigation of the Northwest Passage.

1904  Eugen Schauman assassinated Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.

1904 Irish author James Joyce began a relationship with Nora Barnacle, and subsequently used the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; traditionally “Bloomsday“.

 

1911  A 772 gram stony meteorite struck the earth near Kilbourn, Columbia County, Wisconsin damaging a barn.

1912 Enoch Powell, British politician, was born  (d. 1998).

1915  The foundation of the British Women’s Institute.

1922  General election in Irish Free State: large majority to pro-Treaty Sinn Féin.

1923 Baby farmer Daniel Cooper was hanged..

1924  The Whampoa Military Academy was founded.

 

1925  The most famous Young Pioneer camp of the USSR, Artek, was established.

 

1929 Pauline Yates, English actress, was born.

1930 Sovnarkom established decree time in the USSR.

1934 Dame Eileen Atkins, English actress, was born.

1937 Erich Segal, American author, was born  (d. 2010).

1938  Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, was born.

1940  World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.

1939 Billy Crash Craddock, American country singer, was born.

1940 – A Communist government was installed in Lithuania.

1948 The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marked the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.

1955 Pope Pius XII excommunicated Juan Perón.

1958  Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising were executed.

1961  Rudolf Nureyev defected at Le Bourget airport in Paris.

1963   Vostok 6 Mission – Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.

1967  The three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival began.

1972 Red Army Faction member Ulrike Meinhof was captured by police in Langenhagen.

1972  The largest single-site hydro-electric power project in Canada started at Churchill Falls, Labrador.

1976 Soweto uprising: a non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto turned into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd and kill 566 children.

1977 Oracle Corporation was incorporated as Software Development Laboratories (SDL) by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates.

1989  Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian Prime Minister, was reburied in Budapest.

1997 The Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; 50 people killed.

2000 Israel complied with UN Security Council Resolutiwen 425  and withdrew from all of Lebanon, except the disputed Sheba Farms.

 

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia

Word of the day

Macroseism – major earthquake.

6/10

6/10 in NZ History Online’s quiz.

Four candidates – sign of strength or division?

Four men are vying to become Federated Farmers’ president when Don Nicolson retires at the end of the month.

“This will be the first contested election for the position of President since the early 1990′s,” says Conor English, Federated Farmers Chief Executive and Returning Officer.

“It is believed to be the largest number of candidates seeking the office of President in Federated Farmers history.

When so many voluntary organisations are struggling for members and finding people willing to become office holders is increasingly difficult, this could be seen as a sign of the organisation’s strength.

But it could also be a sign of division in the Federation.

I hope it’s not the latter. Farmers and the wider rural community need a strong and united voice and that requires an organisation focussed on issues of concern to members not one side-tracked by internal manoeuvring.

The nominees are: Donald Aubrey of Ben McLeod Station, who is vice-president;  Frank Brenmuhl of Christchurch, a former Federated Farmers dairy section chair; Lachlan McKenzie of Rotorua who is dairy spokesman;  and Bruce Wills of Napier, current meat and fibre spokesman.

Doing the numbers

A lot of people will be upset that Labour’s lax security has allowed easy access to their names, addresses and donations to the party.

The Party should be very concerned not just about that but also about the numbers which Whaleoil found on their website.

Just 18,ooo people on the database  isn’t many for what’s supposed to be one of only two major parties in the country.

Only $11,831.50 received online   indicates a lack of financial support. Even if it’s made up in small donations, it doesn’t appear many people are prepared to support this fundraising effort.

It is possible that they have another database with many more supporters and other more profitable fundraising efforts but why would they be secure when so much else wasn’t?

Good news x 3

1.  After tax wages outstripped prices in march year:

After-tax wages continue to rise faster than prices, Finance Minister Bill English says.

The real after-tax average wage increased 2.5 per cent in the year to March 2011, after accounting for all consumer price increases including food prices and the one-off rise in GST last October.

“Everyone’s circumstances are different, and we appreciate things remain challenging for many New Zealanders. But it’s encouraging to see that, on average, take-home wages continue to rise faster than prices,” Mr English told Parliament today.

“In the latest March year, the after-tax average wage grew 7.1 per cent in nominal terms and 2.5 per cent after adjusting for inflation.

“This means that since September 2008, after-tax wages have increased 17 per cent in nominal terms and 10 per cent after adjusting for inflation.

“That compares with real growth of just 4 per cent over the entire nine years to September 2008.”

“To put these figures into perspective, New Zealand’s 2.5 per cent increase in inflation-adjusted after-tax wages in the latest year compares with just 0.6 per cent real growth in Australia.”

The figures use data on average weekly ordinary time earnings from Statistics New Zealand’s Quarterly Employment Survey. This is the official series used to calculate the wage floor for New Zealand Superannuation. Comparable data is drawn from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“This Government is committed to helping New Zealanders get ahead, enjoy higher incomes and lower interest rates for longer,” Mr English says. “This will require continuing change, year after year, to put the economy on a more competitive footing.”

2. Outlook for economy continues to improve:

The best terms of trade since the early 1970s and growing business confidence are bringing a positive outlook for the New Zealand economy, according to the BusinessNZ Planning Forecast for the June quarter 2011.

The BusinessNZ Planning Forecast incorporates BusinessNZ’s Economic Conditions Index (ECI) which tracks 33 indicators, including GDP, export volumes, commodity prices and inflation, debt and confidence figures.

The ECI for the June quarter is 22. This is up 10 from the previous quarter and up 10 from a year ago.

Key factors include the continuing rise in world commodity prices and continued strong growth in New Zealand’s largest trading partners Australia and China.

Projections of 3-4% growth for 2012 and 2013 appear feasible.

3. MAF expects good returns for primary produce to continue in the medium term:

MAF’s Situation and Outlook for New Zealand Agriculture  and Forestry says:

New Zealand exporters are receiving high prices for logs, wool, lamb, timber, beef and dairy products as the rebounding global economy drives demand for commodities.

With the exception of horticulture, these rises are more broadly based than the 2008 rise, which mainly affected dairy prices.

Short-term supply disruptions such as droughts and floods in various parts of the world are a significant factor supporting recent agricultural price increases.

At the same time, the strength of demand coming through from emerging markets, the recovery in many developed economies, and continuing demand for agricultural resources for biofuel production has led
the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to revise upwards its view of medium-term international agricultural prices.

The relative strength in the New Zealand dollar has seen only a portion of these foreign currency price gains passed through to New Zealand farmers and foresters. The strong New Zealand dollar has, however, also reduced the
impact of price rises in imports, especially fuel and fertiliser.

Beyond 2012, steady production growth in dairy, forestry, wine and kiwifruit, together with an assumed depreciation in the New Zealand dollar, leads to strong forecast growth in export revenues.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

It isn’t a train coming towards us, it’s daylight and a sunny day at that.

June 15 in history

923  Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France was killed and King Charles the Simple was arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.

    

1184 King Magnus V of Norway was killed at the Battle of Fimreite.

1215  King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta.

1246  With the death of Duke Frederick II, the Babenberg dynasty ended in Austria.

 

1389  Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeated Serbs and Bosnians.

1520  Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.

 

1580  Philip II of Spain declared William the Silent to be an outlaw.

1623 Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician, was born (d. 1672).

 

1667  The first human blood transfusion was administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.

1752  Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity.

1775  American Revolutionary War: George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

 

1776  Delaware Separation Day – Delaware voted to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.

1785  Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon exploded during their attempt to cross the English Channel.

 

1804  New Hampshire approved the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.

1808  Joseph Bonaparte became King of Spain.

 

1836 Arkansas was admitted as the 25th U.S. state.

1844  Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.

1846  The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

 

1859  Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the “Northwestern Boundary Dispute” between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.

1864  American Civil War: The Siege of Petersburg began.

1864  Arlington National Cemetery was established when 200 acres (0.81 km²) around Arlington Mansion (formerly owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee) were officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

1867  Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana.

1877  Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.

1888  Crown Prince Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm II and is the last emperor of the German Empire.

1896  The most destructive tsunami in Japan’s  history killed more than 22,000 people.

 

1904  A fire aboard the steamboat SS General Slocum in New York City‘s East River killed 1000.

1905  Princess Margaret of Connaught married Gustaf, Crown Prince of Sweden.

 

1909  Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa met at Lord’s and formed the Imperial Cricket Conference.

1910 David Rose, American songwriter, composer and orchestra leader, was born (d. 1990).

1911 W.V. Awdry, British children’s writer, was born (d. 1997).

 

1911  Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) was incorporated.

1913  The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippines concluded.

1916  U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.

1919  John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight at Clifden, County Galway.

 

1920  Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.

1920  A new border treaty between Germany and Denmark gave northern Schleswig to Denmark.

1934 The U.S. Great Smoky Mountains National Park was founded.

1935 Jack Lovelock won the “Mile of the Century“.

1937 A German expedition led by Karl Wien lost sixteen members in an avalanche on Nanga Parbat. The worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.

 1943 Muff Winwood, British songwriter and bassist (Spencer Davis Group), was born.

1944 World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invaded Saipan.

1944  In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, was elected and forms the first socialist government of North America.

1945  The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) was founded in Amsterdam.

1946 Noddy Holder, British singer (Slade), was born.

 1949 – Simon Callow, British actor, was born.

1949 – Russell Hitchcock, Australian singer (Air Supply), was born.

 

1954  UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) was formed in Basle.

1955 The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual “Operation Alert” (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA’s preparations for a nuclear attack.

1959The  Chinese Gooseberry was renamed kiwifruit.

1963 Helen Hunt, American actress, was born.

1971 Nathan Astle, New Zealand cricketer, was born.

1973 Pia Miranda, Australian actress, was born.

1978 King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby, who took the name Queen Noor.

1982 Mike Delany, All Black, was born.

1985  Rembrandt’s painting Danaë was attacked by a man (later judged insane) who threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with a knife.

 

1991  Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supported Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois.

 

1992  The United States Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it was permissible for the USA to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries.

1994  Israel and Vatican City established full diplomatic relations.

1996  The Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded a large bomb in the middle of Manchester.

2002  Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

Word of the day

Labefactation - loosening, shaking,weakening, fall, deterioration, downfall; the process of coming apart or falling into decay.

The people of Christchurch have the strength and resilience to resist the labefactation of their city.

Give blood – I can’t

My daughter and I might not be alive if it wasn’t for the blood transfusion I received the day she was born.

I’d been a blood donor since I was at high school but hadn’t realised how much good such a small sacrifice could do until I was on the receiving end of a transfusion.

A small prick on the thumb to get enough blood to test for iron; another small prick in the arm then 10 or so minutes relaxing while a litre of blood was collected isn’t much to endure to potentially save lives.

I’d still be doing it if I could but I’m one of those ruled out in the wake of the mad-cow disease scare in Britain.

Today’s World Blood Donor Day and an opportunity for me, as a very grateful recipient, to say please give if you can.

Discs & lists

Desert Island Discs and humble lists were the topics of discussion between Jim Mora and me on Critical Mass today.

BBC4 asked listeners to compile a list of the eight discs they’d take with them to a Desert Island.

The Daily Mail discussed the results and noted:

Clumsy typing also led to votes for singer Not King Cole and the Black Eyed Peas song ‘I Got A Filling’, instead of I Got A Feeling.

Lists – we all write them and old ones provide fascinating information on history.

In Empty trash, buy milk, forge history Gal Beckerman looks at the work of historians Sheilagh Ogilvie, Tracy Dennison and Leigh Shaw-Taylor. Their work shows what the things of every day life in the past can teach us – including the discovery that urbanisation started  long before the industrial revolution:

When I compile the daily history posts I’m reminded that it’s almost always about big events. The story on the lists gives an insight into ordinary, day to day life.

Three questions

1. Is this a rogue poll:

Maori TV poll (500 eligible voters; 80 fell under “don’t know”)

Hone Harawira (Mana): 41%
Kelvin Davis (Labour): 40%
Solomon Tipene (Maori): 15%

2. Is the Maori Party deliberately not trying very hard on the theory that defeating Hone Harawira is more important than winning Te Tai Tokerau this time?

3. Will Harawira be having the odd moment when he wonders about the wisdom of forcing a by-election?

Fieldays forecast fine?

Anyone who’s been frozen at the Agricultural Fieldays knows to go prepared for any temperature, but it’s the financial forecast rather than the weather which will be of most interest this year.

The Fieldays are the southern hemisphere’s largest agribusiness exhibition. Dr Stuart Locke, Director of the Institute for Business Research at the University of Waikato describes them as a barometer of farming confidence.

Unlike the rest of the economy, the agricultural sector is booming, he says. Payouts to dairy farmers are up, and all agricultural commodities are currently experiencing excellent returns.

“So the million dollar question is: Will farmers be opening their wallets at Fieldays, or will they be squirreling away cash to pay off mortgages and other debt?”

At any gathering of farmers there’s a feeling of confidence I haven’t seen before. My farmer reckons it’s similar to the wool boom of the 1950s which his parents talked about, but this time good returns are spread more widely. Wool, sheep meat, beef, dairy and venison are all getting much higher prices than expected. Cropping, forestry and horticulture are also doing well.

The response to this so far has been conservative and debt repayment is the first priority. But after that there will be catch-up repairs and maintenance and development will follow.

We’re building a new woolshed which will make a small contribution to the wider economy. But more importantly it’s a sign we’re confident that the forecast for sheep farming is fine.

Who cares about the rules?

This was put in an Oamaru mail box yesterday:

The other side had a couple of baskets of groceries and quoted Campbell Live to show the price rise between them.

You might not be able to see the parliamentary crest which means you and I paid for it but it is there.

What isn’t there is a promoroter’s statement which the Electoral Commission says is required:

The Electoral Commission reminds all candidates, party secretaries and third party promoters that:

1. An election advertisement, irrespective of when it is published, must contain a promoter statement.
2. A promoter statement must state the name and address of the promoter of the election advertisement.

     5.     The promoter statement must be clearly displayed in the advertisement if published in a visual form and no      less audible than the other content of the advertisement if published in an audible form.

A person who wilfully publishes, or causes or permits to be published, an election advertisement in contravention of these requirements commits an offence.  Such matters will be referred to the Police unless the Commission considers that the offence is so inconsequential there is no public interest in reporting the facts to the Police.  Each instance will be considered on its merits.

All promoters of election advertisements should take reasonable steps to ensure that:

1. Election advertisements are published in a manner that ensures the promoter statement is clearly displayed to the public viewing the advertisement.
2. All persons entrusted with the task of erecting, posting, displaying, or otherwise publishing election advertisements are aware of the requirement to clearly display the promoter statement and that the statement should not be obscured, cropped, or in any other manner prevented from being clearly displayed to the public viewing the advertisement.

Whaleoil found a similar flyer and quoted the guidelines for MPs which say:

 . . .  an advertisement in any medium that may reasonably be regarded as encouraging voters to vote or not vote

• for a candidate or party
• or type of party or candidate by reference to views or positions that are or are not held . . .

 By that definition the flyer is an advertisement and therefore requires a promoter statement.

Ignorance is no defence and anyway it would be difficult for Labour to claim they were ignorant of the requirement. They voted for the law which made the promoter’s statement a requirement and Whaleoil’s post was published on Thursday. Someone in the party with authority would have seen it yet these flyers were still being distributed – illegally – yesterday.

Who care’s about the law? Labour doesn’t appear to in this case.

Offensive depends on viewpoint

Quote of the day from Chris Keal in the NBR:

“Individuals could sue for breach of privacy, but to mount a successful case they would have to prove that facts or details revealed were “highly offensive” (and although some NBR readers would deem Labour membership as such, the donors involved presumably hold an association with the party in higher regard).”

 He was writing on whether Whaleoil contravened the Privacy Act when he got Labour Party membership and donation information.

Whaleoil’s explanation of how he got it shows how easy it was to get the information because it was unsecure.

I wonder if it was a staff member, party officer or MP who was responsible for the gaping hole in the website security?

June 14 in history

1276  While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song Dynasty court held the coronation ceremony for the young prince Zhao Shi, making him Emperor Duanzong of Song.

1287  Kublai Khan defeated the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.

 

1381 Richard II met leaders of Peasants’ Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London was stormed by rebels who entered without resistance.

 

1645 English Civil War: Battle of Naseby – 12,000 Royalist forces were beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.

 

1648  Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts colony.

1775  American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.

 

1777  The Stars and Stripes was adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.

1789  Mutiny on the Bounty: Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reached Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,000-mile) journey in an open boat.

 

1789 – Whiskey distilled from maize was first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It was named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

1800 The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquered Italy.

1807  Emperor Napoleon I’s French Grande Armee defeated the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1811 Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author, was born (d. 1896).

 

1821  Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrendered his throne and realm to Ismail Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.

1822  Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled “Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables”.

1839  Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley staged its first Regatta.

 

1846  Bear Flag Revolt began – Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, staredt a rebellion against Mexico and proclaimed the California Republic.

1863  American Civil War: Battle of Second Winchester – a Union garrison was defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia.

1863 Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War.

1864 Alois Alzheimer, German physician, was born (d. 1915).

 

1872  Trade unions were legalised in Canada.

1900  Hawaii became a United States territory.

1900  The Reichstag approved a second law that allowed the expansion of the German navy.

1907 Nicolas Bentley, British writer and illustrator, was born (d. 1978).

 

1907  Norway adopted female suffrage.

1909 Burl Ives, American musician, was born (d. 1995).

1919  John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown left St. John’s, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.

 

1928 Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Marxist Revolutionary, was born (d. 1967).

1929 Cy Coleman, American composer, was born (d. 2004).

1937 – U. S. House of Representatives passed the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act.

1936 Renaldo “Obie” Benson, singer (The Four Tops), was born (d. 2005).

1938 Action Comics issue one was released, introducing Superman.

1940 World War II: Paris fell under German occupation, and Allied forces retreat.

1940 The Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence

1940  A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

1941 June deportation, the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, began.

 

1942 Anne Frank began to keep a diary.

 

1946  Donald Trump, American businessman and entrepreneur, was born.

 1949 – Alan White, British drummer (Yes), was born.

1950  Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, was born. 

1951  UNIVAC I was dedicated by U.S. Census Bureau.

 

1952  The keel was laid for the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.

 

1954 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that places the words “under God” into the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance.

1959  A group of Dominican exiles with leftist tendencies that departed from Cuba landed in the Dominican Republic with the intent of deposing Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina.  All but four were killed and/or executed by Trujillo’s army.

1961 Boy George, British singer (Culture Club), was born,

1962 – The European Space Research Organisation was established in Paris.

1962  The New Mexico Supreme Court in the case of Montoya v. Bolack, 70 N.M. 196, prohibits state and local governments from denying Indians the right to vote because they live on a reservation.

1966  The Vatican announced the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (index of prohibited books), which was originally instituted in 1557.

 

1967   Mariner 5 was launched toward Venus.

1976  The trial began at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.

 

1982  The Falklands War ended: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley unconditionally surrenderred to British forces.

 

1984 Robert Muldoon called a snap election.

1985  TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by Hezbollah shortly after take-off from Athens.

1990 Miners from Jiu Valley were called to Bucharest by President Ion Iliescu to quell demonstrations in University Square by anti-government protesters.

2001  China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan form the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.