Bevin, Ernest

British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin once said that "The Kingdom of Heaven runs on righteousness, but the Kingdom of Earth tuns on alkanes." Well, actually he said "tuns on oil" not "runs on alkanes," but they re essentially the same. By far, the major sources of alkanes are the world s natural gas and petroleum deposits. Laid down eons ago, these deposits are thought to be derived from the decomposition of plant and animal matter, primarily of marine origin. Natural gas consists chiefly of methane but also contains ethane, propane, and butane. Petroleum is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that must be separated into fractions and then further refined before it can be used. 

Alan Bullock, The Life and Times of Ernest Bevin, 2 vols. (London Heinemann, 1960-67), vol. II Minister of Labour 1940-1945, W. K. Hancock and M. M. Cowing, British War Economy (London HMSO, 1949), pp. 148-50, 301-3, 452-5. 

Bullock, Life and Times of Ernest Bevin, vol. II, chs. 1-6 Hancock and Cowing, British War Economy, chs. 11 and 15 P. Inman, Labour in the Munitions Industries (London HMSO, 1957), chs. 7-8. 

Alan Bullock, Ernest Bevin Foreign Secretary (London Heinemann, 1983), pp. 266, 368-70, 378-9. 

Bullock, Alan, The Life and Times of Ernest Bevin, 3 vols., London Heinemann, 1960-83. 

At that moment a charming young lady came up to us and asked us if we were not ashamed to have our whole country under the thumb of Ernest Bevin. We said mildly that we didn t think this was quite true. Whereupon we were treated to fifteen minutes of hysterical abuse, the kindest thing she said of us being that we were poor blind fools who did not even understand plain facts which were known to all the world. 

British Army), 136-137 Beaumont Nesbitt, Major General F. G., (British Army), 136 Ben Gurion, David, 20, 72 Ben-Horin, Eliahu, 19, 25, 32 Bevin, Rt. Hon. Ernest, 53, 271 Blanchard, Lieut- Colonel, U.S.A., 239... 

More interestingly, the conventional narrative of Britain and atomic weapons dates the decision to go ahead with the design and construction of a bomb to a meeting of a cabinet committee in January 1947. This committee had a relatively restricted membership Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister Ernest Bevin, the Foreign Secretary Herbert Morrison, Deputy Prime Minister and Lord President Viscount Addison, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and John Wilmot, Minister of Supply. 

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