The Rest is History Episode 677 The Star-Spangled Banner Tom and Dominic are doing a series on National Anthems and they start off with that impossible-to-sing anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. No wonder it’s impossible: it has 19 semi-tones. It was written in the 1812 war with Britain (a war largely forgotten except in Canada) and it was originally called The Defence of Fort McHenry. At the time the stars-and-stripes consisted of 15 stars and 15 stripes, and Fort McHenry had a huge 42×30 ft flag which was taken down at night and raised every morning in defiance of the British- so despite the impression given in the song, it wasn’t fluttering all night getting shot at. The tune was “The Anacreontic Song” which was used by 80 other songs with different words. The words to the anthem were written by Francis Scott Key. Even though it’s not explicitly there in the song as it is usually sung, Tom and Dom acknowledge that there are racist overtones in the lyrics with its mention of “the hireling and slave” in the third verse, especially as American slaves who escaped to the British military during the war, were offered freedom and the opportunity to join the Corps of Colonial Marines to fight against U.S. forces. Also Key was a slaveowner in his own right, and a statue of him was toppled in 2016. By the end of WWI there was still no U.S. anthem with ‘Hail Columbia’ and ‘American the Beautiful’ sung as patriotic songs. In 1931 the Star Spangled Banner became the national anthem but it has always been controversial.
Stuff Matters LEDs: How a little blue light changed the world Prompted by a cheap throw-away flashing wrist band at a sporting game, Ed Conway considers the millions and millions of LEDs in the world. Light Emitting Diodes had been invented earlier and promised a huge saving in energy costs, given that unlike incandescent lighting which emits only 5-10% of its energy as light (as distinct from heat) most of its energy is expressed as light. Red and green LEDs had been invented earlier, but the holy grail was a blue LED. After years and years of experimentation largely at his own expense and time, in 1979 inventor Shuji Nakamura finally successfully invented the blue light, which could provide the white light we know today. Fortunately he finally received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2014. But would it run into the Jevons Paradox i.e. the phenomenon that when technology becomes more efficient, do we actually use less of it, or simply find new ways to consume more? Will we just innovate our way into more consumption? Fortunately, it seems that the Jevons Paradox doesn’t apply here. In rich countries LED has cut electricity usage even though LED use has become even more pervasive, and in poor countries where electricity use has finally arrived, there has been less energy use that would have occurred with incandescent lighting. LED may have broken the Jevons Paradox, but it is unique in having such a strong effect.
How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians Episode 8: From the First Intifada to Camp David featuring presenter Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen, and Mark Tessler, Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, USA. In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon, and five years later we saw the First Intifada, a Palestinian uprising with kids throwing stones. Arafat, at that time in Algiers, was surprised by the uprising but things had changed with the significant immigration of Russian Jews to Israel. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait in the First Gulf War, leading to United States involvement and evoking anti-US feeling. The Madrid Conference of 1991 saw George H. W. Bush trying to revive the Israel/Palestinian peace process, which was made easier by the Labor party’s return, which had a policy of supporting a two-state solution. There were two Oslo Accords signed- the first in 1993 and the second in 1995. However, there were protests against the Accords on both the Jewish and Palestinian sides and in 1995, the Israel Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist. Likud came back into power, but was defeated in 1999 by Ehud Barak who worked with Bill Clinton for the Camp David Accords- the last roll of the dice. The talks collapsed and Likud won again.
The History Bureau Putin and the Apartment Bombs Episode 5: The Investigator “As Putin’s power grows, American journalist Scott Anderson returns to the story of the 1999 apartment bombings. Only one man will speak to him: Mikhail Trepashkin. Once KGB, then FSB, Trepashkin used to believe fiercely in the system he served. Now, drawn into the mystery surrounding the bombings, he follows the evidence into the shadows where police sketches don’t match suspects, allies end up dead and the cost of digging deeper into the FSB’s activities keeps rising. In this episode, Helena speaks to Scott about the investigator turned whistleblower who refused to give up.” After Trepashkin tried to alert Yeltsin, he was sacked from the KGB and so he used his skills as a lawyer to work on an independent enquiry set up by MPs and represented one of the victims. However, on the case reaching court he found that the files had been cleaned out. The committee dissolved when commissioners began being poisoned. It’s not good to be an opponent of Putin.
The History of Singapore Episode 3: The 99% When the British East India Company set up a trading point in Singapore in 1891, there were only about 1000 people on the island. After the signing there was an influx of Bugis from Indonesia, attracted to Singapore as a port city. Trade and piracy were two sides of the same coin: it would be ‘trade’ if conditions were good or ‘piracy’ if conditions were bad. Singapore soon became the Port Royal of the East Indies, as alcohol, drugs (especially opium) and coolie labour replacing piracy as a source of wealth. Coolie labour from China brought many dialect-speaking Chinese to Singapore, and by 1900 three-quarters of the Chinese population were dialect speakers. The Bugis were exploited and oppressed by the British, while Indian immigrants, mostly from South India, moved into the merchant and money changing professions where they largely allied themselves with the British- the 1%. The British were happy to be hands-off, and the Chinese secret societies moved into the vacuum, keeping control of their members and clashing with other secret societies. Singapore became a Crown Colony in 1867, with a governor, executive council and legislative council. In 1877 the British government imposed the Chinese Protectorate to control the Chinese community, and it suppressed most of the secret societies. Voluntary associations arose, often linked by family, occupational and professional networks. In 1889 the Chinese Advisory Board was appointed to report to the governor, and merchants with status and wealth competed for influence. In 1906 the Chinese Chamber of Commerce was formed, and it became a form of Chinese parliament. After WW2 politics continued to draw on this ‘association’ model.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 