As part of its maiden voyage, the UK’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is in the eastern Mediterranean, where it will join the US-led coalition in the fight against ISIS in Iraq. A UK naval commander said the carrier will be conducting the “lion’s share” of operations against ISIS in Iraq for the next few weeks.
“At the moment, we’re taking on the lion’s share of that operation over Iraq, which is a fantastic, say, feather in our cap. But an achievement that ‘A,’ we’re trusted and ‘B,’ that we’re able to do that,” Commodore Stephen Moorhouse, the commander of the Queen Elizabeth’s strike group, said on Sunday.
UK military officials told USNI that US and UK F-35bs have already conducted anti-ISIS airstrikes from aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth this week. The strikes mark the first time a British aircraft carrier sent planes into combat in over two decades.
A US Navy destroyer has also joined the British carrier’s strike group, which is the largest UK Navy flotilla that has been deployed since the 1982 Falklands War.
The HMS Queen Elizabeth will be in the Mediterranean for about two to three weeks. After that, it will head through the Suez Canal towards Asia, where it is expected to sail through the South China Sea to stoke tensions with China. In Asia, the ship will visit India, Japan, and South Korea.
“At the moment, we’re taking on the lion’s share of that operation over Iraq, which is a fantastic, say, feather in our cap.”
MacDermott’s War Song
AKA The Jingo Song
First published 1877
Lyrics GW Hunt Music GW Hunt Roud Index V38547
Music Hall performers GH MacDermott 1870s, 80s
Folk performances None I would hope!
The ‘Dogs of war’ are loose and the rugged Russian Bear
Full bent on blood and robbery, has crawled out of his lair
It seems a thrashing now and then, will never help to tame
That brute, and so he’s bent upon the ‘same old game’
The Lion did his best to find him some excuse
To crawl back to his den again, all efforts were no use
He hungered for his victim; he’s pleased when blood is shed
But let us hope his crimes may all recoil on his own head.
We don’t want to fight but by Jingo if we do
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men’ we’ve got the money too
We’ve fought the bear before, and while we’re Britons true
The Russians shall not have Constantinople.
The Turk has got his faults; of crime he bears the taint
The Russians like sly Reynard, pretends to be a saint
‘Tis all for Christianity the heathen Turk he’ll fight
Although’ when told, and pretty plain, two wrongs don’t make a right
As peacemaker Old England her very utmost tried
The Russians said they wanted peace, but then the Russians lied
Of carnage and of trickery they’ll have sufficient feast
Ere they dare to think of coming near our Road unto the East.
The misdeeds of the Turks have been ‘spouted thro’ all the lands
But how about the Russians, can they show spotless hands?
They slaughtered well at Khitva, in Siberia icy cold
How many subjects done to death will ne’er perhaps be told
They butchered the Circassians, man, woman, yes and child
With cruelties their Generals their murderous hours beguiled
And poor unhappy Poland their cruel yoke must bear
Whilst prey’s for Freedom and Revenge go up into the air.
May he who ‘gan the quarrel soon have to bite the dust
The Turk should be thrice armed for he hath his quarrel just
‘Tis said that countless thousands should die thro’ cruel war
But let us hope most fervently ere long it will be o’er
Let them be warned, Old England is brave old England still
We’ve proved our might; we’ve claimed our right and ever will
Should we have to draw our sword our way to victory we’ll forge
With the battle cry of Britons, ‘Old England and Saint George’.
(The text below was originally a blog post on jingoism.)
According to the Oxford English dictionary, “jingo” was originally a word used by magicians, equivalent to something like “Hey presto!”. In the early 19th century “by jingo” became a jokey alternative to swearing in the Halls and elsewhere. It is in this sense that jingo was used in MacDermott’s War Song (aka “The Jingo Song”) with its chorus:
We don’t want to fight, but by jingo if we do,
We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.
We fought the bear before, and while we’re Britain’s true,
The Russians will not have Constantinople.
This was a song written by GW Hunt and first sung by MacDermott to great acclaim in 1877. Russia had declared war on Turkey, and Disraeli’s Conservatives were backing the Turkish and threatening to launch a war against Russia.
The Tories, staunch defenders of the British Empire, backed the Turks hoping to block Russian attempts at imperial expansion. The Liberal Party and most of the organised left, opposed any military action, and tended to be anti-Turkish as a result of “the Bulgarian atrocities of 1876” in which thousands of Bulgarian Christians were massacred by Turkish troops.
This was the context in which The Jingo Song was hugely successful – it was one of a number of patriotic, pro Empire songs that featured heavily in Music Hall repertoire from the 1870s on and off until the First World War (to get a flavour of pro-war songs in the lead up to 1914, take a look at the film Oh What a Lovely War!).
“Jingoism” became a by-word for extreme nationalism – William Morris and others who opposed the war were attacked on the streets by right-wingers who were described by people from both sides of the argument as “jingoists”.
War games with live ammo and targets. Nothing better to hone the skills and limber the guns. Not to mention great sport, killing people who can’t fight back.
It is called hunting. Unfortunately they don’t get to pose with the prey.