I went for a walk along the Basingstoke Canal on Saturday. It was a fantastic late autumn afternoon, and, on my way, I came across a couple of Pill Boxes and anti-tank cylinders.

I don’t know why, but I always thought Pill boxes were exclusive to the Kennet & Avon Canal, perhaps because that is where I spent my youth fishing.

Pill Boxes were named after (would you believe) boxes that carried pills and these particular ones were built during WWII. They were designed to be manned, so our brave boys could resist the evil Hun in the event they made it to Britain.

Futile Resistance

However, if the Nazis had got that far, it would have been likely our bravest, fittest and strongest soldiers, were either dead or captured. This would have left us relying on a collection of old and maimed types, or worse still, some useless fat fuckers like Tory MP, Mark Francois.

Resistance would have been futile and anyone who was thinking that what was left of the Home Guard could fight off the German war machine, were deluding themselves. It would have been a massacre.

Fortunately, miracles happened at Dunkirk, the Nazis took biblical losses in the Soviet Union (starving or freezing to death if they hadn’t been shot) and the USA joined the Allied Forces. The Pill Boxes never did get their moment in the firing line and that is good thing.

The Rest is History

The rest, as they say, is history. The Nazis were crushed, and new territorial lines were drawn between the much-expanded Soviet Union and Western Europe. The Cold War started and Europe united to ensure no one nation could go rogue again.

Never again would Europe have to endure an isolationist nation driven on by populism and inflammatory right-wing rhetoric.

Oh, now hold on a minute…