“They were just Shadows and Whispers in the Night”

In September 1944 the 23rd Canadian Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, was attached to 43rd (Wessex) Division of British 30 Corps. It was to support that division’s proposed assault across the Rhine to relieve 1st British Airborne Division in the Arnhem bridgehead. On the morning of 25 September, Major M.L. Tucker, the officer commanding the 23rd Field Company, was called to an Orders Group. The decision to evacuate the remaining airborne troops had been made and Major Tucker was told the Canadians should use their stormboats for the operation. They were given no additional resources for carrying, off-loading or assisting the men evacuated, presumably because no one believed that large numbers of men could be rescued. Major Tucker and Lieutenant R.S. Kennedy went forward to recce the area and subsequently Lieutenant Kennedy and Lieutenant Tate located two sites northeast of Driel where stormboats could be launched. Fourteen stormboats and 17 Evinrude outboard motors were available and 10 Field Park Company provided 12 fitters and equipment repairers who proved invaluable. Major Tucker was told that Oosterbeek Church, directly across the river from the launching site, was the centre of the airborne bridgehead. The first stormboat was to be on the north side of the river by 2140 that night. Major Tucker’s account of that incredible night was written on 30 September 1944

Mosses new to Hong Kong (4)

Sixteen moss species - Eurhynchium asperisetum (C. Muell.) Tak.; Rhynchostegium pallidifolium (Mitt.) Jaeg.; Bryum argenteum Hedw.; Bryum caespiticium Hedw.; Bryum capillare Hedw.; Platyhynidium riarioides (Hedw.) Dix.; Dicranella varia (Hedw.) Schimp.;Entodon virudulus Card.; Fissidens strictulus C. Muell.; Ectropothecium obtusulum (Card.) Iwats.; Caduciella guangdongensis Enroth.; Plagiomnium cuspidatum (Hedw.) T. Kop.; Plagiomnium vesicatum (Besch.) T. Kop.; Pyrrhobryum spiniforme (Hedw.) Mitt., Taxithelium nepalense (Schwaegr.) Broth. and Claopodium aciculum (Broth.) Broth. are reported new to Hong Kong. Among them, four are new to Guangdong Province of China

Lewis Carrol and Iris Murdoch: dialigue after a century

The article dwells upon influences of L.Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland in Iris Murdoch’s early novel The Flight from the Enchanter. The analysis is conducted in the terms of inheritance and contradiction with the traditional classical 19th c. nonsense and fairy tales. Attention is paid to the fact that assimilating and embodying the deeper structural principles of Carroll’s nonsense Iris Murdoch stays in strong opposition to the child’s (childish) mentality. The results show that these principles (“child’s” thinking, enchantedness, believing the unbelievable, wordplay as the structural basis) are found in Murdoch’s novel but represent the immaturity with which she strongly polemizes

Long-Term Economic Hardship and Non-Mainstream Voting in Canada

Canadian voting behaviour from 1979 to 2000 is examined by relating long-term economic changes to support for “non-mainstream” parties, defined as parties other than the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives. This long-term perspective is unique, in that standard economic voting research focuses mostly on how short-term economic changes affect support levels for the incumbent. In order to illustrate the effects of long-term economic decline, federal voting results are related with short- and long-term economic data, namely unemployment and labour-force participation rates, all aggregated at the provincial level. The pooled data produces results that confirm the relevance of short-term changes to explain support for the incumbent party, while support for non-mainstream parties is, instead, explained by long-term economic changes

Mosses new to Hong Kong (3)

Ten moss species - Philonotis turneriana (Schwaegr.) Mitt., Fissidens javanicus Dozy & Molk., Lopidium nazeense (Ther.) Broth., Himatocladium cyclophyllum (C. Muell.) Fleisch., Homaliodendron exigiuum (Bosch & Lac.) Fleisch., Homaliodendron microdendron (Mont.) Fleisch., Homaliodendron scapellifolium (Mitt.) Fleisch., Pinnatella anacamptolepis (C.Muell.) Broth., Calyptothecium wrightii (Mitt.) Fleisch. and Haplocladium angustifolium (Hampe & C. Muell.) Broth. are reported new to Hong Kong. Among them, four are new to Guangdong Province of China. An updated checklist of Hong Kong mosses is provided

Studies on Hong Kong Cheilolejeunea with two species new to China

Five species of the genus Cheilolejeunea are reported from Hong Kong. Among them, Cheilolejeunea osumiensis (Hatt.) Mizut. and Cheilolejeunea ryukyuensis Mizut. are new to China. Cheilolejeunea intertexta (Lindenb.) Steph. is newly reported for China except Taiwan, and Cheilolejeunea trifaria (Reinw. et al.) Mizut. is documented for the first time for mainland China except Hainan and Taiwan. The detailed description and illustration of Cheilolejeunea osumiensis as well as the key to the five Cheilolejeunea species of Hong Kong are also presented