John Lampen reminds us that not much changes in the military mind.
'In his fascinating book Nonviolence: the history of a dangerous idea, Mark Kurlansky tells a story about William McKinley, US president in 1903,' says John.
'At the end of the war with Spain, the president realised he had the chance to invade the Philippine islands and wrest them from Spanish rule. He later told a group of fellow Methodists how he had knelt night after night and prayed until he seemed to discern the answer: "and one night late it came to me this way - I don't know how but it came... that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianise them, and by God's grace do the very best we could for them, as our fellow men for whom Christ also died."
'So he despatched 70,000 troops to the islands to crush local opposition and annexe them. Mark Twain commented drily, "We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them." The acquisition did irreparable harm to the United States' previous image as a champion of freedom, and led in the course of time to the Marcos regime.'
Sound familiar? John reminds us of the famous George Santyana quote: 'Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

Eye sometimes goes digging underneath major events and often finds quite startling information (and you thought we were just a gossip column!).
We commend to readers with internet access a long report on the History News Network of George Mason University (link below). This is a compelling account by a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Alfred W. McCoy, of how official torture techniques can masquerade as the behaviour of 'rogue soldiers'.
McCoy has researched the subject of interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror and last year published a book on it (New York: Metropolitan Books).
When he saw the published photographs of abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail he says he did not see snapshots of a breakdown in military discipline. After a decade of studying military techniques used in the Philippines he could see 'the tell-tale signs of the CIA’s psychological methods.
'For example, that iconic photo of a hooded Iraqi with fake electrical wires hanging from his extended arms shows, not the sadism of a few "creeps" but instead the two key trademarks of CIA psychological torture. The hood was for sensory disorientation. The arms were extended for self-inflicted pain.'
When the US ratified the UN Convention against torture in 1994, it added 'reservations.' Physical torture was banned but sensory deprivation and self-inflicted pain were not.
Eye notes that one of the techniques, called 'Water Boarding', appears to have originated in 1541 in France - it was standard Gallic torture.
See the McCoy article on http://hnn.US/articles/32497.html.

A reader with a little 'inside' knowledge tells Eye that while Friends have been well represented in the not too distant past in the staff of Downing Street, with five active Friends, sons of Quakers, or alumni of Quaker schools, working there, there is also a more permanent presence... pictures representing each of the letters of the alphabet ascend the staircase to the left of No.10's front door, and the letter Q is for Quaker.
Sadly, the Peace Testimony does not seem to have taken root.

I'm really upset about the amount of packaging on supermarket food. I've heard about campaigns where people unwrap their shopping at the checkout and leave the packaging behind. Does this work?

Laurie: Food packaging is a major contributor to household waste. Packaging materials probably add ten to twenty per cent to the climate impacts of food supply (the typical UK diet produces 2000kg/year of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases). Plastic bags and wrapping is a nuisance as it uses a lot of energy to make and it's hard to recycle. But the major problem is glass and plastic bottles, glass jars and aluminium and steel cans. You probably wouldn't want to leave them behind at the checkout!
The best thing is to buy simple unprocessed food, produced as locally as possible and to buy in large quantities if it works for you. That cuts down on packaging and transport, but you still end up with plastic, paper and cardboard waste. Recycle as much as possible with the council and compost the paper and cardboard left.

My dilemma is over condensation. In the old days excess moisture escaped via draughts or condensed on windows. Now we have few draughts and double-glazing it condenses inside cupboards - and I am concerned about wood panelling and furniture next to the kitchen. The wood is cold enough for steam from cooking to make it wet. Either I have to keep the house warmer or open a door or window or use the extractor fan.

Laurie: The extractor fan is the best option. Of course, the air it removes is replaced by cold air from outside (through cracks, keyholes) although not as much as opening a door.
The hi-tech solution is to get a heat exchanger, which extracts the heat from the air in your kitchen to warm up incoming air. But these cost over £1,000.
Better insulation will cut condensation. Get cavity walls filled (your electricity or gas company may do this at a reduced cost). Is there a space behind your wood panels that you could easily fill with insulation?

I've been thinking about becoming vegetarian but I understand that organic farming can't work without livestock. Shouldn't I go on eating some meat?

Laurie: The current level of meat and dairy consumption in the UK is much higher than you would need to maintain a mixed organic farming system - and it is only possible with either very intensive production here, or large-scale extensive production in places like Argentina and New Zealand. The Soil Association and the Henry Doubleday Research Association are very clear that organic production works just as well with plant-based fertilisers (sometimes better). One of the best choices you could make for the environment is to become vegetarian or vegan, or if you must eat meat avoid red meat.

Boxed in by all these earnest environmental articles, Eye has retreated to the kitchen!
The editor takes a rather religious approach to food, so we have fielded our guest editor Laurie Michaelis with some everyday culinary dilemmas facing Quaker cooks who wish to play fair with the environment. Readers have supplied the questions.

I have recently moved to a flat with a large fridge-freezer. I don't use the freezer but there isn’t a separate switch. I've filled it with screwed up newspaper to cut running costs but what else can I do?

Laurie: I think it's brilliant that you've developed a lifestyle that doesn’t require a freezer. The average fridge-freezer uses about 600kWh of electricity a year, costing about £60 and generating 300kg of CO2. If you bought an efficient (A+ rated) new fridge without a freezer compartment it would use about 110-120 kWh per year, costing only £12/year to run and generating 60kg of CO2. So if you don’t need the freezer I would get rid of it! (Filling up the space in a fridge or freezer does save energy if you open the door frequently, as it cuts down on the volume of cold air that escapes each time. I'm afraid it probably won’t make much difference if you never use it).
The editor stepped in here with one of her own cranky ideas: Rent your freezer out to the neighbours, as I do. They've never got enough space for all those windfall apples, mashed up for apple sauce, and blackberries and plums from the summer. Use a barter system - you provide the accommodation in exchange for a few bags of fruit. What’s cranky about that?