We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident....

....that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Yes people, today is the 4th July.




This morning, Dr Squirrel and I arrived at Washington Old Hall, the ancestral home of George Washington, founding father and first ever President of the United States of America. The place was already humming, and we had to park quite a bit further down the road.

In the background, under the marquee, you can see children from two local primary schools ready to to put on their little performances, including a reading from Martin Luther King's famous I Have A Dream speech. The boy in the foreground, with his back to us, is a local school student, dressed in the uniform of George Washington's personal bodyguards. At the appropriate time, he will take the flag to two representatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who will raise it on there yonder flagpole. The City of Sunderland has a friendship pact with the City of Washington, DC because of these historic links, and one of the local primary schools is actually named after John F Kennedy.

The Daughters of the American Revolution raise the flag. Then the band strikes up, and the stately garden rings to the sounds of the Star-Spangled Banner.

The United States is unique. A work in progress, a noble experiment. Let us all do whatever we can to make sure that soon, this flag stands once again for freedom.