The Joy of Six 1453

Martin Barrow reports that, following the intervention of Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, it is hard to find anyone prepared to defend the current arrangements, outside the actual 'business' of children’s homes and foster care.

"Despite the numerous inquiries that have been carried out, the lessons identified often fail to translate into meaningful, lasting change. As a result, organisations find themselves repeating the same mistakes, leading to avoidable disasters. Those impacted wait years for answers, and political impetus for reform can wane." Rebecca McKee and Jack Pannell make the case for reform of public inquiries.

The 'one chatbot per child' model for AI in classrooms conflicts with research that shows learning is a social process, argues Niral Shah.

Jo Lonsdale and Jane Downs tell the story of Mary Ann Macham, who fled slavery in Virginia and found safety in the North East of England: "Mary Ann was born in Middlesex County, Virginia, in 1802, her father 'a gentleman's son', her enslaved mother raped by him. Aged 12, Mary Ann was sold at a public auction at Richmond, a 'poor puny little thing', as she later said, fetching $450."

Emma Slattery Williams on Christmas in the Victorian era: "Roast turkey remains the customary fare for Christmas lunch and we can thank the Victorians for this, too. In the early 19th century, turkeys would have been too expensive for the majority of households to afford. But the development of the railway made them more accessible and affordable, and soon they had become the star attraction at Christmas dinner tables."

"Despite their initial rejection by the Ministry of Transport, the signs were actually rather well designed. Seen side-by-side against the regulation sign that was supposed to be used ... they compare very favourably." Oxfordshire Signs looks back to the days when the county had its own unique designs for road signs.

The Guardian discovers the Welland Valley: "An unsung alternative to the Cotswolds"

We've all heard of The Notswolds, and an article in the Guardian today adopts my definition of Les Notswolds profonds: the Welland Valley between Market Harborough and the Welland Viaduct.

Ben Lerwill visits Market Harborough:

The town itself has ancient Saxon roots and is easy to like, with a head-turning mix of Jacobean, Georgian and Victorian architecture. I stumble on Quinns, a cracking independent bookshop tucked down an alleyway, then devour a curry bowl at a lively cafe called Two Old Goats. 

A board on the street lists notable town residents through the ages, the most recent being rugby giant Martin Johnson. I read this, then turn and immediately see him on the pavement 10 metres away. It’s unclear if this clever routine is something he does for all visitors, but he’s hard to miss in any case.

He visits Foxton Locks:

The real pull of the Welland valley is the countryside, a slow-moving world of hushed green dales and drifting red kites. On local advice, I head to rural Foxton Locks – Britain’s highest combination of staircase canal locks, where 10 adjacent early 19th-century locks transport boats up and down a 23-metre hillside – for a gawp and a wander. “It takes 50 minutes for boats to get from one end to the other,” says volunteer Malcolm, who seems delighted to have a visitor to talk to. The neatly painted locks rise up handsomely beside us.

And he visits Medbourne to stay at one of the models for the Bonkers Arms:

My base is nearby Medbourne, one of numerous placid, calendar-pretty villages that stud the Welland valley. Medbourne has a clear stream, a lovely pub – the Nevill Arms, where I spend the night in a four-poster and enjoy exactly the kind of warming, candle-lit dinner you’d want from a country inn in winter – and cottages built of tough, reddish Leicestershire ironstone.

Best of all, be mentions a cafe in Great Easton I didn't know about.

Paul Scholfield and Simon Callow were Salieri and Mozart in the original production of Amadeus

Because of the new television version of Amadeus ("flat, airless and banal" – Guardian), there's been much recent discussion of Paul Shaffer's original play and of the 1984 film.

A television documentary about Paul Schofield has recently appeared on YouTube. Simon Callow, who played Mozart to Schofield's Salieri in the first production of the play, talks about the experience in the video above. (Just click play to see the extract.)

If you watch the whole programme on YouTube, you will see that Schofield was regarded by his contemporaries as a peerless stage actor. Because he made relatively few screen appearances, his name has rather faded from memory. Looking at his IMDb entry, it's only A Man for All Seasons that's likely to be watched today.

Andrew George is the member for the Isles of Scilly

It's not just Scottish MPs who worry about island ferries: Andrew George's St Ives constituency, as well as the far west of Cornwall, takes in the Isles of Scilly, which are 28 miles off the Cornish coast.

In this latest Cornish Times column, the Liberal Democrat MP reports a meeting with the transport minister Keir Mather: 

He says he wants to help. I’ve invited him to visit, to help him better understand the challenges islanders face, and then help ensure sustainable solutions are found. Scilly may be an exceptional place. But it’s also a tough place to survive, especially if you’re not well off.

He then adds pointedly:

Two-thirds of all income to the primary provider of transport to Scottish islands (CalMac) is government subsidy. In comparison Scillonian passengers, freight customers and inter-island travellers pay unsubsidised full commercial rates. No government has yet offered parity for the Isles of Scilly.

Andrew also reports that he is calling a Special Educational Needs summit next year:

I’m keen to listen, and to work with local families to ensure children get the support they deserve.

And writing of falling immigration figures, he says:

The real worry across many sectors – including agriculture and care work here in Cornwall is how we will cope with the politically driven fall in migrant workers. But of course, no leading politician dares mention this.

Major breach on the Shropshire Union Canal near Whitchurch

Photos: Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service

A bank of the Shropshire Union Canal has collapsed near Whitchurch and boats have been left in a sinkhole or teetering on its edge, reports BBC News.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service describes what has happened:

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is currently responding to a major incident in the Whitchurch area following a significant breach of the Shropshire Union Canal near Drawbridge, Chemistry, Whitchurch.

 

At about 4:22am, Fire Control received reports of a canal bank collapse with large volumes of water escaping into surrounding land.  Crews form Whitchurch, Prees, Shrewsbury, Newport, Albrighton and Telford attended.

 

Three boats had been caught in a developing sinkhole approximately 50 metres by 50 metres in size and crews helped more than 10 members of the public to safety.

 

Firefighters have been working in challenging conditions with unstable ground and rapidly moving water, crews immediately established upstream and downstream safety sectors and began mitigating water flow using barge boards and water gate systems.

 

We are working with out partners on scene including West Mercia Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service (including HART), the Canal & River Trust, the Environment Agency, local authority emergency planning officers, and National Resilience.

 

Are Manager Scott Hurford said: "We can confirm no persons are believed to be on board the affected canal boats, and no injuries have been reported. 

 

"Approximately 12 residents from nearby moored boats are being supported and relocated to a welfare centre at the former Whitchurch Police Station.

 

"A major incident was declared at 5.17am however as of 8.30am the situation was stable with water flow reduced and there is no ongoing search and rescue activity.

 

"Multiagency attendance remains in place to manage the environmental impact, protect nearby properties, and ensure public safety. Please avoid the area while we continue to deal with this significant incident."

This incident may give more prominence to the lack of maintenance now being carried out on the canal system since the government has reduced its funding of the Canal & River Trust.

The Joy of Six 1452

Peter Jukes says Boris Johnson and Alexander Lebedev must be investigated in a new public inquiry into Russian influence

"If you are young or have a young family, should you vote for millionaire Nigel Farage? For me, he is likely to directly impoverish and disenfranchise the young – Reform UK policies are already shaping up in this way. Where will it end?" Mark Cunliffe itemises Reform's attack on the young.

"This punishment represents the state’s most severe power to harm its citizens. Understanding how and why it is used tells us about our appetite for punishment and the state’s power to inflict it. And evidence suggests that its use is rising." Jake Phillips and Hannah Gilman discuss why the number of whole-life sentences is increasing in England and Wales.

Charlotte Williams investigates how archaeology helped the US colonise the Panama Canal Zone – just as the current US government threatens to retake it.

Alex Harvey revisits Lindsay Anderson’s If.... 50 years after its release: "Anderson was a classic child of the British imperial class. His father, a Scot and a soldier, was born in Northern India, his mother, a formidable memsahib, in Queenstown, South Africa, and Anderson himself in Bangalore. He was raised to replicate his father’s social class and profession."

"The family of the ITV Sport presenter Mark Pougatch were all wearing lederhosen." Thomas Weber attends the World Conker Championships at Southwick in Northamptonshire.

Counting Crows: Mr. Jones

I heard this the other day and was instantly transported back too... Well, it turned out to be the spring of 1994. Mr. Jones was everywhere then, so much so that I'm surprised to find it never got higher than no. 28 in the UK singles chart. It was a big hit in the US though.

But what is the song about? Wikipedia (crediting an old Counting Crows FAQs) thinks it knows:

The song is about struggling musicians ([Adam] Duritz and bassist Marty Jones of The Himalayans) who "want to be big stars", believing that "when everybody loves me, I will never be lonely". Duritz would later recant these values; and in some later concert appearances, "Mr. Jones" was played in a subdued acoustic style, if at all.

Guerilla guardianship on the River Roding

 Here's the YouTube blurb for this film:

The Roding is London’s largest forgotten river. Out on the eastern fringe of the city, it endures every modern indignity: scythed by motorways and concrete bridges; choked with sewage and rubbish; canalised, fly-tipped, retail-parked, thickened with the polluted slime of London clay. It is a forbidding place to call home. 

Yet in 2017 that is what the environmental barrister, Paul Powlesland, set out to do. Embarking on a hair-raising journey up the Thames on a tiny narrowboat (his propeller nearly fell off on route) he made it to the mouth of the Roding, chugging upstream to anchor among the reeds. His mission: to protect the river and speak for its rights. The River Roding Trust was born. 

Seven years later Right to Roam visited the Roding to team up with Paul and the Trust to highlight this incredible story of guerrilla guardianship. Alongside the local community we planted trees, created hibernacula for reptiles and amphibians and tackled the endless crust of rubbish washed in by the tide.

We believe that access to land and water is about more than just recreation. Instead it can be the start of a new relationship with nature, where we connect in order to protect. A concept we call Wild Service.

Yet currently only 8 per cent of land in England has a "right to roam" and only 3 per cent of rivers enjoy an uncontested right of access – a major obstacle to community guardianship. We’re campaigning for that to change.

If you're interested in these issues, you may enjoy The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes.

Ludlow market stallholder spends donkey's years raising £190,000 for equine charity – selling footstools and false teeth

Our Headline of the Day Award goes to one of its regular recipients: the Shropshire Star.

This gives me an excuse for linking to one of my favourite stories from last year – the one about the pet donkey who strayed from home and was later found living as the head of a herd of elk.

George Dobell: We're losing in Australia because of the way cricket is organised in England

George Dobell argues that England have not been competitive in Australia because the domestic cricket season here is now geared to making a quick buck rather than producing test players.

He mentions Ashley Giles's comments after our Ashes defeat four years ago – you can read them in a Guardian report from the time:

"Unless we look at more systemic change, a collective responsibility and collective solutions, we can make whatever changes we want – you can change me, the head coach, the captain – but we’re only setting up future leaders for failure. That’s all we’re doing. We’re only pushing it down the road. ...

"Are we creating [domestic] conditions that will allow us to better prepare our cricketers for playing in the conditions out here? I’m not sure we are at the moment.

"What we play, when we play, on what [pitches] we play – that’s a collective responsibility. It’s up to us as ECB but also a conversation to have with the counties."

At present the England and Wales Cricket Board puts me in mind of Robert Conquest's Third Law of Politics:

The behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies. 

The Joy of Six 1451

"Almost a quarter of pupils say they 'never' feel safe or 'only on some days'. ... Half of all secondary school pupils say they 'only sometimes' or 'never' enjoy school, and parents aren’t always aware – they underestimate this figure by a factor of three." Cara Cinnamon on the Department for Education’s newly published pupil experience data.

Prem Sikka states the bleeding obvious – to tackle child poverty the government must deal with parental poverty – but isn't it rare to see it stated?

Is your car journey suspicious? Police forces are trialling AI technology that enables them to identify and track “suspicious” journeys by drivers on Britain’s road network. Mark Wilding and Charles Hymas have the story.

Kathryn Rix explains the legislation that bound MPs suffering with prolonged periods of mental illness from 1886 until legislative reform in 2013.

Starr Charles reports that the Twentieth Century Society has selected 10 UK buildings as part of its annual list highlighting 30-year-old buildings it says deserve to be nationally listed. The society says: "Given that around 30 years after construction is often the point at which buildings are likely to require their first major refurbishment, any listing designation at this point would provide a timely opportunity to ensure that such works recognise and respond to what makes a building significant." 

"Reading the poems now, it is the lyricism that stands out and still surprises. Sometimes it seems as though the subjects Larkin writes about are merely placeholders for the poet’s deeper fascination with poetry, and its relationship with the passing of time." Jeremy Wikeley looks at Philip Larkin's early collection of poems, The Less Deceived.

Anger in Shropshire as Bentlawnt loses its post box and mice take over the nearest alternative

This just in from Shropshire Live:

Anger is mounting in the small Shropshire village of Bentlawnt as residents remain without a post box, months after its sudden removal, with Royal Mail failing to respond to repeated pleas for its return.

The essential village service was removed from its position outside the old shop without any community consultation. Despite persistent lobbying, local residents and politicians say they have been completely ignored by the postal giant.

Bentlwant's councillor happens to be Heather Kidd, the Liberal Democrat leader of Shropshire Council. She is quoted in the story:

"What worries me is that the now privatised Royal Mail now think they have carte blanche to remove these boxes. This is particularly vexing in rural areas like ours where boxes are few and far between."

It also quotes a concerned local resident:

"The nearest box to Bentlawnt is outside Stapeley Vets, but it is unusable as it is infested with mice, which eat the letters. Nobody, including the vets, uses it."

Consulting my files, I find I don't have a photo of the missing Bentawnt post box but do have one of the mouse-ridden box outside Stapeley Vets.

Bunny councillor hops away from the Conservatives

Andy Edyvean, a former deputy leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council, has left the Conservative Party and now sits as an Independent, reports BBC News:

In an email to colleagues, Edyvean said he took the "difficult decision" over a "worrying decline in the standards" at a council he "was proud to serve".

One point of interest here is that Edyvean is the councillor for Bunny ward, which wins our Ward of the Week Award. Bunny is a village a few miles south of Nottingham.

I have a memory that the conversation between Brian Clough and the chairman of Nottingham Forest, in in which the former agreed to become the club's manager, took place as they walked round the boundary of Bunny cricket ground, but I can't find any mention of this online.

XTC: The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead

This single was the first CD I bought. I liked it so much I bought it even though I didn't yet have a CD player.

This is my thousandth blog post of the year, a feat I haven't managed since 2016. I've no particular ambition to do it again, and I'm starting to write more for other outlets now, but you never know.

The Joy of Six 1450

"Millions of teenagers would lose the freedom to enjoy games and social interaction in the name of 'safety'. Even complaining on family WhatsApp would be impossible, as they would be banned from that too. Such a restriction would severely impact not just young people’s ability to play games or socialise, but also access support services, or engage in or discuss political content or ideas." James Baker argues that Liberal Democrats should not support Baroness Benjamin's amendments to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

Sophia Alexandra Hall explains why care leavers need better access to childhood records: "Among the papers was a photocopy of a photograph of Jackie and her sister. The council initially refused to give her the original, saying it belonged to them. She persisted. When she finally received it, she discovered a date and time written on the back. Those details had never appeared in the copy."

Anglican Ink has an anonymous post by an anonymous retired Church of England that paints an unflattering portrait of the young Justin Welby.

We hear a lot about making cities child friendly, but Max Western and Afroditi Stathi remind us that the modern urban landscape isn't kind to old people either.

"The public story of Google Maps is that it passively reflects 'what people like'. More stars, more reviews, better food. But that framing obscures how the platform actually operates. Google Maps is not just indexing demand – it is actively organising it through a ranking system built on a small number of core signals that Google itself has publicly acknowledged: relevance, distance, and prominence." Lauren Leek on how Google Maps quietly allocates survival across London’s restaurants and how she built a dashboard to see through it.

Scott Shea chooses six songs that tell the story of Sam Cooke.

Nottinghamshire councillor Tom Hollis told his criminality is "not normal" after sheep eviction trial

The Nottingham Post wins our Headline of the Day Award.

Cllr Hollis, the deputy leader of Ashfield District Council, is a Zadroznyite – a member of the Ashfield Independents, whose leader Jason Zadrozny almost won the Ashfield constituency for the Liberal Democrats at the 2010 general election.

Market Harborough, 1927: A Christmas Day treat for tramps

Here's a seasonal story from 1927 – from the Christmas Eve edition of the Leicester Mercury to be precise.

Treat for Tramps

Police Chief as Host at Market Harborough

The quaint and picturesque old Grammar School at Market Harborough, which is partially built on wooden piers, and stands near the parish church, will be the banqueting Hall of road tramps on Christmas Day.

Feveral years now a woman in the town has interested herself in bringing some comfort and joy each Christmas to the men who tramp the roads.

Supt. Robertson, with this financial help, will entertain the tramps to breakfast and dinner.

He expects about 40 guests, all of them men who are wayfarers whose life is spent on the road and in common lodging houses.

Breakfast will be at 9 o'clock and dinner at 1 o'clock.

I find a police superintendent doing that on Christmas Day rather impressive.

Here's the inevitable picture of the Old Grammar School. I blogged about an echo of the days of tramps and tramping last month.

How Derby became a major railway centre

Jago Hazzard on George Hudson and formation of the Midland Railway.

You can support Jago's videos via his Patreon page. And why not subscribe to his YouTube channel? I know I do.

Tim Farron presses banks to improve access to their services

The high-street banks' retreat from the high street was accomplished with little complaint or even comment from politicians. Maybe that's a reflection of where power now lies in Britain, but it will have done nothing to make people feel warmer towards politics and politicians.

But here's Tim Farron raising the issue in the Commons last week.

Banking hubs are owned by Cash Access UK, which is owned by the banks, and run for it by the Post Office. So I'm not sure how far the minister, Lucy Rigby, is justified in implying it's the government that's rolling them out.

Here in Market Harborough, it was local government - in the shape of Harborough District Council - that acted as a catalyst by making space available for a banking hub in its offices.

That hub has just moved to a more convenient site among the shops. You can see it in the photo above.

Banks save £2 billion a year from abandoning our high streets and town centres. Our post offices pick up the slack, but they are not funded by the banks anywhere near enough to be able to maintain their presence. This must change.

[image or embed]

— Tim Farron (@timfarron.bsky.social) 16 December 2025 at 10:09

The pitch meeting for Love Actually

Sorry if this is your favourite Christmas film.

There are lots more such videos on the Pitch Meetings YouTube channel.

Lib Dems beat Labour on penalties in Camden

On Friday evening Camden Liberal Democrat councillors and campaigners took on their Labour counterparts at football. At full time the scores were level at 6-6, but the Lib Dems won on penalties to repeat their victory from last year.

Richard Osley, our man on the press box with a mug of Bovril, reports for the Camden New Journal:

As usual when these two teams meet, it was not a match light on controversy.

The Lib Dems say a late equaliser by Labour housing chief Sagal Abdi-Wali to make the scoreline 6-6 was netted in "Eddie time". Mayor of Camden Eddie Hanson had been in charge of the stopwatch.

But the yellow team’s complaints died down when they promptly won a penalty shootout to take the bragging rights – just four and half months before the local elections.

Labour only scored one of their penalties with hot-shot captain Camron Aref-Adib among the missers.

The match was played to encourage donations to the New Journal’s Christmas Hamper appeal.

The Joy of Six 1449

"They can mess about with flags and play the national anthem and rail against DEI all they like. But if they shut down your mum’s nursing home, will you vote for them?" Helen Pidd looks at how Reform UK are coping with running the council in Lancashire.

Michael Savage dissects Liz Truss's attempt to win herself a share of MAGA gold: "The alternative media ecosystem has no shortage of comeback stories. It is always possible to rebrand yourself when you give in to a rabid political fanbase."

"Systematic synthetic phonics is taught using 'decodable' books that often have very limited content. But using real books is a way to motivate children through the imaginative ways that stories, poems and information are portrayed in these books." Dominic Wyse says England’s synthetic phonics approach is not working for children who struggle to read.

"In a story ... a boy runs into Jesus. He curses the child, who instantly drops down dead – though Jesus brings him back to life after a brief reprimand from Joseph." Mary Dzon on medieval Christians' enjoyment of tales about the young Jesus being a holy rascal.

Bob Trubshaw has studied the numerous east-west routes in north-east Leicestershire that continue into Lincolnshire and on to the Norfolk coast. They once transported wool in great quantities and were used by countless pilgrims heading for Walsingham.

JacquiWine reads Dark Tales, a collection of Shirley Jackson's later short stories.

For World Monkey Day: The death of King Alexander of Greece

Embed from Getty Images

Today is World Monkey Day and to mark it here's the sad story of King Alexander of Greece.

Alexander came to the throne in 1917 after his father (Constantine I) and elder brother (Crown Prince George) were deposed by the Entente Powers and the Liberal statesman Eleftherios Venizelos. Alexander became a puppet king under the control of Venizelos, and Greece continued to fight the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

In 1919 Alexander married Aspasia Manos, a commoner. This became a major scandal. and the couple were forced to leave Greece for several months. 

Soon after their return to Greece, Alexander tried to separate his dog from a tame Barbary macaque with which it was scuffling. In the process, he was bitten by the monkey and died of sepsis a few days later aged 27.

Wikipedia spells out what his death led to:

Under the restored King Constantine I, whose return was endorsed overwhelmingly in a referendum, Greece went on to lose the Greco–Turkish War with heavy military and civilian casualties. The territory gained on the Turkish mainland during Alexander's reign was lost. 

Alexander's death in the midst of an election campaign helped destabilize the Venizelos regime, and the resultant loss of Allied support contributed to the failure of Greece's territorial ambitions. Winston Churchill wrote, "it is perhaps no exaggeration to remark that a quarter of a million persons died of this monkey's bite".

The Rest is History podcast once chose the greatest 10 monkeys in history and unaccountably left this one out. I have never quite trusted it since.

Lib Dems get five new peers and drop opposition to government bill

Photo by Martina Jorden on Unsplash

I can't see behind its paywall, but the Telegraph is convinced that the Liberal Democrats dropped their opposition to the government's workers' rights bill in return for being granted five peerages.

Whether there's anything to this theory I can't say, but I'm pleased by both its elements.

We Lib Dems have been short of new peers since the debacle of 2015, so it's good to see three being appointed – working for the leader now seems to be the highway to ermine. 

In fact we were granted five peerages, but two of those went to hereditary peers who are party spokespeople – Dominic Addington and John Russell. It may a good sign that this has been done, because it suggests it's still possible that Labour will remove hereditaries from the House of Lords.

Reform of the Lord's is desperately needed – it's one of the largest legislative chambers in the world and, uniquely, larger that it's own lower house. But while it exists in its current Ruritarian state, we need good Lib Dems to be there.

And I am delighted to see the Lib Dems dropping their opposition to Labour's workers' rights bill in the Lords.

Since the last election we have come for landowners, for parents who send their children to private schools and for the owners of £2m homes. It's good to see us siding with the workers again.

So if there has been a deal, we've driven a good bargain. Because both sides of it are good for the Lib Dems.

Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore: Tragic Magic

This is a track from Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore's new album Tragic Magic. An advertisement on Lattimore's Bandcamp page says:

Tragic Magic brings together Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, two of contemporary ambient, experimental and electronic music’s most celebrated composers, for a unique collaboration at the Philharmonie de Paris, with extraordinary access to the Musée de la Musique’s instrument collection, in partnership with the French label InFiné. 

The album features seven immersive, evocative compositions guided by the human spirit – intimate, grounded in friendship, both earthly and cosmic – and part of a greater continuum, reflecting the solace and transformative power of artistry across generations.

And KLOF Mag says its recording sessions were deeply influenced by the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires:

Melted Moon directly confronts the recent wildfires. Over Lattimore’s looping harp, Barwick’s voice, uncharacteristically clear of effects, sings with haunting hope: "Under the melted moon / The lights are all out… You may never go home again / At least not the home you know."

Reader's voice: You've been listening to Radio 3 late in the evening again, haven't you?