Congratulations @emmaraducanu The first British woman to win a grand slam in 44 years! 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE, ERECTED On this day, 12 September 1878, Cleopatra's Needle was finally erected on Victoria Embankment, 59 years after it had been gifted to Britain. Cleopatra's Needle is the name for each of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City in the nineteenth century. The London and New York obelisks were made during the reign of the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC). They don't actually have a connection to Cleopatra (69-30 BC) and were already over a thousand years old in her lifetime. The story of how it got to Britain is an adventure in itself. Cleopatra's Needle was presented to Britain in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan, Muhammad Ali, in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile (Aboukir 1798) and the victory of Sir Ralph Abercromby - a Scottish soldier from Clackmannanshire, and commander of the British - at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. Although the government welcomed the gesture, it did not wish to fund the transport. So the expense was borne by philanthropists; firstly, the Italian explorer and archeologist Giovanni Battista Belzoni who managed to get it as far as Alexandria, but could not transport it over water. There it lay for 58 long years, until 1877, when patriot Sir Erasmus Wilson rose to the challenge. A pontoon ship was built, but disaster struck on 14 October 1877, when it was almost lost to the bottom of the Bay of Biscay, along with the tragic death of 6 crew members of a rescue boat (who are named on a bronze plaque at the foot of the Needle). The abandoned pontoon ship was found floating with the Needle by the Glasgow steamer Fitzmaurice and taken to Ferrol in Spain for repairs. A tugboat was eventually commissioned to tow it to the Thames, arriving on 21 January 1878. It was finally erected on this day in 1878. Its Dedication states: THIS OBELISK PROSTRATE FOR CENTURIES ON THE SANDS OF ALEXANDRIA WAS PRESENTED TO THE BRITISH NATION A.D. 1819 BY MAHOMMED ALI VICEROY OF EGYPT A WORTHY MEMORIAL OF OUR DISTINGUISHED COUNTRYMEN NELSON AND ABERCROMBY Pic from of A Force For Good (10-6-16). Two serene Sphinx watch over the obelisk.

Forever proud to be both British and Scottish 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #aforceforgood #ukaforceforgood #uk #british #britain #unitedkingdom #unionists #unionistsofinstagram #scottishandbritish #scottish #scotland #snpout #no2indyref2 #no2separation #greatbritain #rulebritannia #unionjack #unionflag #patriots #activism #activists #unionsupporters #AlistairMcConnachie #scotland #BritishIndependence #unionjackshirt #unionjackman #captainbritain #SturgeonOUT #HumzaOut

360 SCOTNATS TODAY, MARCHING IN ANTI-BRITISH CIRCLES The Scottish Nationalists had an anti-UK march in Stirling today, Saturday 11 September. A Force For Good counted them in at 360 (even though they are now lying and pretending it was 2,000)! As someone pointed out to us, they are now literally "marching in circles...of 360 degrees". We'll be out on Saturday 25th September on the Royal Mile for the All Under One Banner Scottish nationalist "Smurfs Annual Outing" when we will be reminding them of the great things about being British! If you'd like to join us there, please message us via this Facebook page, or our email at [email protected] Pic: AFFG at the last Edinburgh event on 5 Oct 2019 when we accurately counted 11,286 of the Scottish nationalists, and not the (take your pick) 80,000 to 250,000 that various SNP MPs lied about. Please support our work by becoming a monthly Union Supporter https://www.aforceforgood.uk/union-supporters

A FORCE FOR GOOD are going to be back out on the Streets against the Scottish Nationalists and standing up to the SNP/GREEN madness very soon. If you would like to stand with us please message the page or visit aForceForGood.UK 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #aforceforgood #ukaforceforgood #uk #british #britain #unitedkingdom #unionists #unionistsofinstagram #scottishandbritish #scottish #scotland #snpout #no2indyref2 #no2separation #greatbritain #rulebritannia #unionjack #unionflag #patriots #activism #activists #unionsupporters #AlistairMcConnachie #scotland #BritishIndependence #unionjackshirt #unionjackman #captainbritain

HAPPY NATIONAL DAY, GIBRALTAR! Today, 10 September, is Gibraltar National Day. It commemorates the day in 1967 when it held the Gibraltar Sovereignty Referendum, when the Gibraltarians overwhelmingly voted to stay British, rather than come under the control of Spain. When we say "overwhelmingly" we mean it! As in 12,138 votes for Britain, and 44 votes for Spain, or 99.64% to 0.36%. When Scottish nationalists say that "no country" voted to be British, they always forget (or are completely unaware of - in their usual dim way) this one, along with several others. Gibraltar is one of 14 British Overseas Territories. Pic from the 2018 National Day at https://gibspain.com/listing/gibraltar-national-day-sep-2018/

SAS RESCUE, BRAD TINNION KILLED On this day, 10 September in 2000, Operation Barras, one of the great unsung British military actions of modern times, and one of the boldest rescue missions in modern history – the successful SAS rescue of 6 soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and their Sierra Leone Liaison Officer, held by around 200 "West Side Boys". The Royal Irish were part of a UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, and they had strayed into territory "held" by this group of gangsters. They were imprisoned for 2 weeks, but unknown to their captors, the SAS were, almost immediately, in place and watching their every move from the surrounding jungle. On the day of the daring rescue, at least 25 "West Side Boys" were to meet their maker. Unfortunately, Bombardier Brad Tinnion of the SAS was killed. The action has been credited with breaking the power of this gang of criminals, and bringing a degree of relative peace to Sierra Leone. The event has been re-enacted in the Discovery documentary, "SAS Mission Impossible Zero Hour". Fun Fact: "The West Side Boys" actually styled themselves "The West Side [plural of N word]" - as if they were a gangsta' rap group. However, the UK media must have considered this far too awkward (or hilarious) to say or print every day, and so gave them a more politically-correct and jolly appellation - which had the effect of making them sound like something out of a Broadway musical! Pic from http://www.davidrowlands.co.uk/gallery/gal_detail.asp?varPaintCode=090

QUEEN BECOMES LONGEST REIGNING BRITISH MONARCH On this day, 9 September in 2015, Her Majesty the Queen became the United Kingdom's longest reigning Monarch, surpassing in length the reign of Queen Victoria of 23,226 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes. Her Majesty celebrated by opening the Border railway between Waverley and Tweedbank. She also stopped off at Newtongrange (pic) where she officially opened the line, and gave a short speech. It was nice to see the crowds greeting the Queen at all these places. Hundreds of people had gathered at Waverley in the morning and waited patiently, even though the Queen was delayed by 40 minutes owing to her helicopter from Aberdeen being delayed by fog. Amusingly, this gave much longer for Nicola Sturgeon to have to face the Union Jack waving crowd.

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OCEANIC, CRASHES off SHETLAND On this day, 8 September 1914, HMS Oceanic, foundered on a reef off Shetland. She had been launched as RMS Oceanic, a luxury ocean-going passenger liner, at Harland and Wolff, Belfast, on 14 January 1899. She was built under a deal which would see her partly maintained by the Royal Navy on the understanding that she could be brought into military service if required. Consequently, she was commissioned on 8 August 1914 as HMS Oceanic, to act as an armed merchant cruiser, with guns added to her deck, and a detachment of Royal Marines. Her job was to patrol the north of Scotland to the Faroes, and around Shetland, and to stop shipping and check for signs of German connections. There were concerns about a ship of her size properly navigating this dangerous area. Her service didn't last longer than a month, because faulty navigation caused her to run aground on a reef off Shetland, known as the Shaalds of Foula. Thankfully, it was a calm sea and the crew was rescued and nobody perished. Three weeks later, harsh weather caused the entire ship to disappear under water.

PASLEY, SCOTSMAN WHO "CREATED IDEA OF BRITISH EMPIRE", BORN On this day 8 September 1780, the child who would go on to "create the idea of the British Empire" - going into the 19th century - Charles Pasley, was born in Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire. He is credited as being one of the main ideological thinkers behind the rise of the British Empire, post-American revolution (1775-1783). At the age of 16 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and was to have a distinguished career, particularly in the field of engineering. He rose to become a General and was knighted. He wrote the defining text on the military's role in the British Empire, entitled, "An Essay on the Military Policy and Institutions of the British Empire", published in 1810. This text changed how Britons thought their Empire should relate to the rest of the world. He warned that Britain could not keep its Empire by its "splendid isolation". Britain, he believed, would need to fight, and by using the colonies as a resource for soldiers and sailors it grew by an average of 100,000 square miles per year between the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and the American Civil War (1861-65). He died on 19 April 1861, and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, in Kensington and Chelsea. It was Arthur Herman has said it was Pasley who "created the idea of the British Empire" in his book, 'The Scottish Enlightenment: The Scots' Invention of the Modern World', (London: Harper Perennial edition, 2006) at p. 330. Infographic from A Force For Good, which includes a quote from 2013 by an Indian historian about Scots in the British Empire.