Sovereign

There's A Word That's Been Bandied About Of Late

Let's see what my Collins Concise has to say about it.  "1) A person exercising supreme authority  2) A former British gold coin 3) Excellent or outstanding 4) Independent of outside authority"  Art!

This rings a bell

     And where does it come from?  The Old French 'Soverain', itself derived from the Latin <swills mouth out> 'Superanus' NO SNIGGERING AT THE BACK!

     Then there is this beast.  Art!

HMS Sovereign S108

 
     This is one of Her Brittanic Majesty's 'Swiftsure' class nuclear-powered hunter-killer submarines.  Those big fat noisy Sinister/Ruffian subs carrying ballistic missiles?  One of these puppies would be sitting on their tails waiting for the Cold War to thaw out a little.

     She's not the first such vessel.  Art!

     This is HMS Royal Sovereign, a battleship doubtless dubbed with that title because it was so easy to mistake for for specie as used in business and finance.  Or something.  She was an example of a 'nearly' ship as she managed to miss every major naval engagement of the First and Second Unpleasantness.  Art!

Queenie on a sovereign

     As mentioned in the intro to this Intro, a sov was also a gold coin.  They were first struck in 1489 under the reign of Henry VIII, who wanted a vulgarly large and impressive coin, which is what he got.  They stopped being minted in the early seventeenth century and were not re-introduced until 1817.  At that time they were a circulating coin, but more recently are now a bullion coin, so you won't get one in your change at Asda.  They weigh 7.98 grams, or in proper measurements, 0.2354 troy ounces.  Technically they are only worth £1 but I've just done a quick Google and coin & bullion traders are offering £375 per individual coin.  Art!

     It is very much a collector's coin and if you have a look at the Royal Mint website you can find lots of coins to spend your own filthy lucre on.

     ANYWAY all that is by way of a tangent - what, did you think this was going to be logical and straightforward?  Pshaw! - because another use for 'sovereign' is with what might be officially called The Great Bampot Movement, that is: Sovereign Citizens.

     The GBM began, as so many things that cross the Atlantic do, in South Canada.  It's more a loose alliance than a structured organisation, having members who are anti-government, anti-tax, white supremacist, anti-semitic, pro-gun and others - probably a few Flat Earthers in there, too.  Art!

Then there are the Fat Earthers ...

     The GBM believe so many bizarre things that it's hard to describe them all, but at the core of it is that they believe they don't have to pay taxes, of any sort, nor do they need driving licences or have to take out insurance.  They still get to enjoy driving their untaxed, uninsured, licenceless car on the federally-maintained highway, mind you.  In fact they get to enjoy every aspect of government without having to pay for it, because they say so.  Another article of faith of the GBM is that, in a tortuously argued trail of nonsense, The Government holds millions of dollars for each person which can be accessed if only the right terms and processes are followed - because who can't resist free money?

     There are GBM scammers out there who sell 'kits' to the gullible and desperate that contain pseudo-legal mumbo-jumbo, dog Latin and other odds and sods that cost big bucks, and which have absolutely no legal standing.  Art!

     That guy in the orange jumpsuit and handcuffs is how these people end up when they collide with the real world.  Here's a link to the ever-excellent 'Southern Poverty Law Centre' (who have a much wider remit than their title implies) if you want tons of detail:

Sovereign Citizens Movement | Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org)

     As a horrid example, let us look at Bruce Doucette, a SovCit who set himself up as a 'Judge' and who harassed public officials, serving fake subpoenas and imposing his own 'sentences', stoking up other GBM members against state civil servants.  The state of Colorado took an exceedingly dim view of his antics and in 2018 he was sentenced to 38 years in prison.  Two of his co-conspirators got 22 and 26 years respectively for colluding with him.  Art!

     Hey, by the time he gets out on 2056 I wonder if we'll have flying cars?

"Rebus"

Yes, another strange word as found in one of the Sherlock Holmes stories I've been reading of late.  Sherlock and Watson had gone to visit the scene of the crime, which was at a large country house called 'Cheeseman', since that was the name of the magnate who had built it.  Don't scoff, if you have millions of pounds people only call you 'eccentric' not 'bonkers'.  Watson notices a 'rebus' amongst the tiles in the porch.

     Well, it turns out that a rebus is a visual pun, using words or pictures to represent an object.  Art!

     Nope, not going to solve them for you.  Work it out. As Roy used to say, 'Say what you see.'

"The War Illustrated"

We've not had one of these for a while so let us proceed with Edition 169 and December 1943.  Art!

     This stalwart chap is Sergeant G. Powell, who commanded a troop of Churchill tanks in their first ever engagement in North Africa, at Sbiba.  His trio of tanks were expected to crest a hill (actually a mountain) and destroy three houses being used as machine-gun posts.

     Surprise!  His three tanks were faced with 20 Teuton panzers backed up by anti-tank guns and machine-gun nests.  The other two Churchills were knocked out and his own main gun put out of action, but after 14 hits it was still going and 'neutralised' all the enemy infantry.  He withdrew, carrying 4 injured crewmen and a soldier, after being hit himself.  He got the Military Medal and the Teutons wisely withdrew 15 miles.

"The Sea Of Sand"

We jump back to the depot at Mersa Martuba, where a possibly-sinister Something is approaching -

In fact almost a minute went by before he saw what Doretti had seen.  Of course, the Italian had the advantage of height and binoculars.

A bobbing, weaving black blob, that slowly resolved into a running animal.  A camel.  Riderless, a saddle dangling in dissaray from the hump.

‘What the ruddy hell is a camel doing on it’s own?’ commented Tam.

‘ “Doing”?  It looks like it’s doing a flat race,’ replied Davey.  ‘I reckon it’s running from summat.’

Another black blob came after the first camel, resolving into another camel, this time with clutter on it’s back.

The first animal came racing into the depot, onto the main track and carried on through, not slowing down.  Davey, with a vague idea of stopping the creature, let it pass without trying to catch it.

‘That was not a happy camel,’ he told Tam in an aside. 

Doretti cranked the siren once, bringing everyone to the eastern edge of the depot.  Sarah, dozy and with a headache, climbed up the vantage point to see what approached.  The soldier passed her his binoculars and indicated the second camel.

Sarah had only heard the footfalls of the first animal a minute before, a frantic rhythm that disturbed her sleep under an awning in one of the cooler mud huts.  This second creature only managed a limping gait, one leg either injured or rendered senseless.

     What are they fleeing from?

Finally -

"Shri Hari Nivas" - as seen on a plaque as I passed a house on Tandle Hill Road whilst walking Edna this morning.  Your Humble Scribe will have to Google and elucidate.

Chin chin!