Tea at Trianon: ‘Feeding Frenzy’

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

‘Feeding Frenzy’

From The National Pulse:

Hundreds of British schools financially strained by COVID-19 are being targeted with Chinese Communist Party investment.

“Experts anticipate a ‘feeding frenzy’ as firms, including some run by high-ranking members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, seek to expand their influence over Britain’s education system,” the Daily Mail notes. Currently, 17 British schools are under Chinese control, and nine of which are “owned by firms whose founders or bosses are among China’s most senior Communist Party members.” But that number is set to multiply. Schools, which are being used to spread a “whitewashed” view of the communist country, have also seen their owners admit acquisitions are part of China’s Belt and Road initiative. (Read more.)

From The Daily Mail:

The world is being taken over by stealth by the Chinese Communist Party. Under a neo-colonial project, President Xi Jinping hopes to achieve global economic domination via massive international investments. It extends way beyond buying up mineral assets or Western telecommunication systems. There’s a cultural dimension that reeks of propaganda and indoctrination. Not content with financing some British universities, we now learn that Chinese companies directly linked to the highest ranks of the Communist Party have serious financial interests in our schools.
The Government must wake up to the dangers and act quickly. Particularly at risk are private schools. Inflation has meant that fees have risen rapidly over the last two decades and so they have become unaffordable to all but the richest. As a result, such schools – especially those with boarders – are reliant on Chinese students to help balance the books. Since 2014, a network of Chinese companies has been quietly buying up struggling establishments. (Read more.)