Bishop's Castle: "That despicable mass of rottenness"

I once wrote in my House Points column for the much-missed Liberal Democrat News:

The steep main street of Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire runs from the site of the long-vanished castle down to a church with a Norman tower. 

At the top of that street is a collection of fine Georgian houses. When you discover how they were paid for, you realise there is nothing new about political corruption. 

Before the Great Reform Act of 1832 Bishop’s Castle was a notorious rotten borough. Despite having fewer than a hundred electors for much of its history, the town returned two MPs. (There were worse cases: Old Sarum – a hilltop above Salisbury – had two MPs and no residents at all.) 

Not surprisingly, this situation led to corruption. But it did not take the form we generally imagine when we think of the elections of past centuries. This was not a case of candidates plying voters with free drink and then dragging them off to the polls. 

Instead, the electors of Bishop’s Castle realised their votes were of great value to would-be MPs and sold them for hard cash.

Which is why, in an 1832 article welcoming the Great Reform Act, the Spectator described the town as "that despicable mass of rottenness".

Nelson Mandela's statement from the dock, 1964

Nelson Mandela has died.

Let us remember him through his words from the dock at the opening of his trial in 1964 - you can read the whole statement on the African National Congress site:

In my youth in the Transkei I listened to the elders of my tribe telling stories of the old days. Amongst the tales they related to me were those of wars fought by our ancestors in defence of the fatherland. The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their freedom struggle. This is what has motivated me in all that I have done in relation to the charges made against me in this case. 

Having said this, I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court are true and some are untrue. I do not, however, deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the Whites. ... 

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Mandela's release from prison in 1990, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall they year before, marked the dawn of a hopeful decade in politics. Suddenly the good guys were winning.

That spirit did not survive 9/11, but that has more to do with the inadequacy of the West's leaders than it does with the objective threat from terrorism.

We must hope that South Africa's leaders will be up to maintaining Mandela's legacy.

The diving board at Coate Water gains listed status

Last summer I posted a video about a campaign to preserve the Art Deco diving board at Coate Water near Swindon.

It looks as though that campaign has been successful, as the Swindon Advertiser reported on Saturday that it has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade II structure.

The paper also tells us:

The board at Coate Water was first constructed out of wood in 1922. The platform was later replaced with the current concrete diving stage, designed by JBL Thompson in 1935. 

It was officially opened by mayor Reuben George, who took the first dive from the board, and took so long to resurface onlookers feared he had drowned.

Coate Water was the birthplace of one of this blog's heroes - the 19th-century writer Richard Jefferies. You can read more about him and it in a guest post by Rebecca Welshman.

Later. There's more on the English Heritage website.

"The DfE are talking b*******," a senior Lib Dem source said

It's all kicking off in the Coalition.

BBC News reports:

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Department for Education of "going rogue" by briefing against Nick Clegg. 

The deputy prime minister has announced primary schools in England will get an extra £150m for new kitchens and dining rooms, to cope with the roll-out of free meals for infant pupils next year. 

This would be part-funded by an £80m education underspend, Mr Clegg said. 

But, after an education official told newspapers this was not the case, a Lib Dem spokesman accused them of "lying".

The Daily Mail adds some colour:

A DfE source said: 'There is no spare money in either the basic needs or maintenance budget to pay for Clegg's kitchens.' 

It was suggested the money would be taken from funds used to provide extra school places. 

But furious Lib Dems hit back, insisting the policy had been agreed by David Cameron and George Osborne, and Mr Gove's ministry should fall into line. 

"The DfE are talking b*******," a senior Lib Dem source said.

"Gove and the DfE had their eye on the underspend for free schools... which I think explains the slight bitterness from the DfE in some of the briefing. 

"What we are seeing from DfE is them going rogue. They are completely out of step. 

"It is time for them to stop whining and get behind a policy that they are going to have to deliver. The DfE are lying if they say there is no money."

The Mail also says that Downing Street made it clear that it was Tory Mr Gove's department that were out of line.

'The position is absolutely the one the DPM's office have set out,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

David Cameron has no great interest in policy, which is why he gave Andrew Lansley his head and allowed him to implement heath reforms that were heartfelt but that no one else understood. Once Lansley threatened to become a political liability he was moved on.

I have some sympathy with Gove's views on education and the teaching unions are always angry with the government, so they tend to be discounted. But if Gove becomes unpopular with the wider electorate he may find himself leaving his current post.

Lady Allen of Hurtwood and the adventure playground movement

Back in July 2008 I described Lady Allen of Hurtwood as one of my heroines. So thanks to Rethinking Childhood for pointing me to this short documentary about her work from around 1970.

The blog warns us that the film's terminology about children is not that we would use today and rightly warns us that "Lady Allen’s accent could cut glass at 20 paces".

But it goes on:

But do not let any of this put you off, or you will miss out on as clear a manifesto for adventurous play as you are ever likely to see. 

The documentary pulses with children’s appetite for autonomy, and includes some powerful and moving images of children straining every sinew to achieve the goals they had set themselves in their play. What is more, Lady Allen’s ferocious faith in children’s competences is a thrill to see, and still resonates today.

So farewell then Invicta Plastics

Invicta Plastics of Leicester has gone into administration. The name may mean nothing to you, but readers of a certain age will certainly remember the Master Mind game, which the company made.

It was everywhere in the early 1970s. And, let us be honest, it was a little dull.

You may remember the illustration on the cover - the magus and the Chinese girl. An article on the University of Leicester website tells the story behind it. (The Leicester Mercury report says that Bill Woodward died earlier this year.)

Later the company made Comic Relief red noses and used to display one on the front of its factory on the A6 in Oadby. A few years ago this was demolished to build a Waitrose supermarket and Invicta Plastics has been based at Braunstone Frith since then.

Nick Clegg on human rights in China

As the prime minister visited Beijing, the Liberal Democrat leader said that although he understood the "huge opportunity" presented by the forging of trade links between the two countries, "China must both address its own human rights record and uphold the values of the United Nations".

But that prime minister was Gordon Brown and this quote comes from a 2008 PoliticsHome report.

Former Ludlow town clerk wins unfair dismissal fight

This blog has long taken an interest in the sometimes colourful affairs of Ludlow Town Council.

It is back in the Shropshire Star today:

Veronica Calderbank quit her role at Ludlow Town Council in June last year, claiming she was left with no choice after being asked to work long hours without a break, despite councillors knowing she had a crippling back problem. 

At the end of a month-long employment tribunal hearing in Birmingham, it was ruled she had been unfairly constructively dismissed. 

A hearing to assess the amount of money she will be awarded has been set for February 18. Judge Rohan Pirani suggested Mrs Calderbank might want her job back in view of the substantial losses in salary and pension, and told Councillor Jim Smithers, Ludlow’s mayor, and Councillor Nick Holcombe: “We as a tribunal can order you to reinstate her.”

Newsnight's forgettable memory man

The close of this evening's Newsnight, featuring the world memory champion, was strangely reminiscent of this...

Unfinished London: Mill Hill East to Bushey Heath

A likeable film about a London Underground line that was started but never completed.

One thing the film does not explain is that the mighty Aldenham bus depot (actually in Elstree) was built to be the main depot for the Northern Line. It was practically complete when the war broke out in 1939 and was used as a factory to build Halifax bombers.

After the war, when the Mill Hill East to Bushey Heath line project was cancelled, it became London Transport's main bus maintenance depot. It closed in 1986 and the site has since been redeveloped.

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John Whitehouse on Liberal Democrat Voice is right to suggest that we should hear more discussion of the opportunity cost of spending £50bn on HS2.

"You hear it all the time – the Government’s cuts are 'ideological' (i.e. bad), the Green Party’s opposition to nuclear is 'ideological' (i.e. invalid). Just as Cameron denied the charge, Greens sometimes protest that their opposition to nuclear power isn't ideological. Hang on a second, aren't they all involved in politics?" Tom Chance's Blog is also right to defend the concept of 'ideology'.

Diary of a Hack puts the boot in to Owen Jones and the last Labour government. He's right too.

The negative portrayals of welfare recipients in the UK press are in contrast to the positive stories which dominate Swedish and Danish mass media, says Christian Albrekt Larsen on the LSE's EUROPP blog.

Living with Rats says it is time to rethink local economies through food: "After five years of austerity and with more to come, the need to rethink local economies is more pressing than ever. Governments are not going to do it for us. The big society has evaporated as a political idea. Many of the new private sector jobs are precarious, low-wage roles with few prospects, barely keeping body and soul together."

Sixty-three years after his film debut, James Fox is interviewed for the Guardian by Simon Hattenstone.

Three wise mice, Frankenstein and chocolate raisins: Count Arthur Strong’s Christmas message

Fracking will not reduce UK gas prices

The Guardian reminds us:

In August, Cameron said: "If we don't back this technology, we will miss a massive opportunity to help families with their bills … fracking has real potential to drive energy bills down." In July, Osborne said: "This a real chance to get cheaper energy for Britain … a major new energy source that can reduce energy bills."

But they were wrong, as the article shows by quoting the former BP chairman Lord Browne:

"We are part of a well-connected European gas market and, unless it is a gigantic amount of gas, it is not going to have material impact on price."

Chris Huhne made the same point at greater length in another Guardian article a couple of month ago:

If we had US gas prices, consumers would save hundreds of pounds a year. Gas enthusiasts say this is due to the US fracking revolution driving down prices. George Osborne thinks if we turn Cheshire and Sussex into wildcatting Texas, our prices will fall. He has even given fracking a tax break. 

But there would be no such effect. We have pipelines to mainland Europe. More gas from the North Sea did not much cut British prices. The US gas price is so low because it is hard to ship. It has to be liquefied, put in special ships, and then regasified when it arrives. The fracking revolution in the US has happened more quickly than the ability to turn import terminals into export terminals. 

The key to lower British energy bills is not our own production, but more US export terminals.

None of this tells us whether or not fracking should go ahead in Britain, but it does show that the arguments of some of its warmest supporters are misconceived.

Narrow Plains: Somewhere in Between

I am so down with the kids that bands follow me on Twitter.

You can read all about Narrow Plains in this interview on I'm All Ears Music Blog.

"There isn't any UKIP in Scotland. It's been wiped out."

Nigel Farage has sacked the leader of UKIP in Scotland, Christopher Monckton, by email and the Scottish party's chairman and chief fundraiser have quit in protest. UKIP's national executive has also wound up the party's ruling "Scottish committee" and an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for today has been scrapped.

This is the latest stage in a faction fight in UKIP in Scotland that has already seen six of the party's nine shortlisted candidates for the European parliament elections resign.

A Sunday Herald report says:

Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Monckton said Ukip had been "slow" to deal with "a very tiresome faction" that was destabilising the party in Scotland, saying: "They prevented Ukip from functioning for nearly a year." 

On Farage sacking him, Monckton said: "I'm not happy he didn't telephone me before he sacked me. I thought Nigel would have had the common sense to ring me." 

He added: "In Ukip, there is an absence of professionalism." 

Monckton said the recent changes left the party without any structure or purpose, adding: "There isn't any Ukip in Scotland. It's gone. It's been wiped out." 

And he said: "London now realises it has made the most ghastly mistake." 

A senior source said: "This sacking is an example of Farage's control freakery."

Back in February I suggested that UKIP might evolve into an English nationalist party. These events may have brought that development closer.

Lord Bonkers on the great philosophers

At dinner this evening I asked Lord Bonkers about his recollections of two of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century. This is how he described them:

Bertrand Russell - "Terribly Clever."

Ludwig Wittgenstein - "Terribly Clever but Rather Hard Work."

The educational background of Guardian journalists

A useful item in the current Private Eye records the private schools attended by many of the Guardian's leading journalists:

There's editor Alan Rusbridger (Cranleigh); G2 editor Clare Margetson (Marlborough); political editor Patrick Wintour (Westminster); economics editor Larry Elliott (St Albans); environment editor John Vidal (St Bees); fashion editor Jess Cartner-Morley (City of London School for Girls); US editor Janine Gibson (Walthamstow Hall); literary editor Clare Armitstead (Bedales); film critic Peter Bradshaw (Haberdashers' Aske's); theatre critic Michael Billington (Warwick); associate editor Madeleine Bunting (Queen Mary's, Yorkshire); as well as columnists Jonathan Freedland (University College School); Seumas Milne (Winchester); Sinon Jenkins (Mill Hill); George Monbiot (Stowe); Tanya Gold (Kingston Grammar); Timothy Garton Ash (Sherborne); Chris Huhne (Westminster); Zoe Williams (Godolphin and Latymer) and of course Polly Toynbee (Badminton), who also sent tow of her own children to private school.

The Eye also tells us that "it is written into the paper's union-ratified rulebook that staff posted abroad are entitled to have their children educated at the paper's expense - a perk most hacks take up".

A disapproving reader asks: What point are you making here?

Liberal England replies: I am not making any point: it is just interesting to know these things.

How modern British politics keeps it in the family

Emine Saner has an article in today's Guardian looking at the number of children of politicians who are trying to follow the same career.

In it she quotes Professor Steven Fielding from Nottingham University who compares the number of political families to:

"the later 19th century and early 20th century, when access to politics was restricted, and you couldn't afford to be in politics unless you had quite a lot of money, and it was expected that the aristocracy played a certain role. That diminished in the 20th century but it has reasserted itself for slightly different reasons. Class plays a role, but these people are more middle-class and they have the skills of their parents and networks. They're not from grand families, but they are from well-connected families."

He adds that the political world isn't the only place where this is happening – journalism is another, and law.

"It's not a good thing that politics, or any profession, is open to certain people and not others."

Lenny Harper on how Jersey is governed

Christopher Hitchens once described Ian Smith's Rhodesia as "Surrey with the lunatic fringe on top". You could say much the same about Jersey - a tax haven where people can be imprisoned for whistleblowing.

And if you don't believe me, listen to Lenny Harper. He is not a tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theorist but a hard-bitten cop who served in Belfast, South London and Glasgow before he tangled with the Jersey authorities.

The Coalition, in the shape of Tom McNally, has had the chance to do something about Jersey but has declined to take it.

This video came to me via The People's Voice and Voice for Children.

Watch Bryan Magee refute Boris Johnson in 1978

Only you can't watch him because, unlike almost all of the dialogues in Magee's 1978 series Men of Ideas, the one on moral philosophy with R.M. Hare does not seem to have found its way to Youtube. So you will have to read Magee's refutation instead.

Magee and Hare were discussing the independence of facts and values. They agreed that no set of facts could logically imply a particular value.

The example Magee gave was what would follow if scientists were one day to prove that some races have higher intelligence than others - something that he and Hare, as Western liberals of their era, hoped would not happen.

Magee said:

But, at the same time, no particular social policy would necessarily follow from this fact. Some people might say: "Well, if this group is born less intelligent than that, society need devote less of its resources to educating it." But others might with equal justification say: "On the contrary, if they are born less intelligent society needs to devote more of its resources to educating them." 

It would, in other words, be entirely open to people what policy decision they were led to by the same fact.

Boris Johnson tries to get over this important point by using words like "species" to give his arguments a spurious appearance of science. But as Stumbling and Mumbling shows, he has misunderstood how IQ is calculated.

So Johnson's appeal to IQ to justify his preferred, deeply unequal, social order. And he wants to be careful: Sir Keith Joseph destroyed his prospects of leading the Conservatives with a speech with more than a whiff of eugenics - "The balance of our population, our human stock is threatened."

Crystal Palace to stay up, aliens tell Bromley woman who "used to be Joan of Arc"

Thanks to Mark Pack for nominating this one. The judges did grumble about the News Shopper "trying too hard", but in the end there could be only one Headline of the Day.

Lord Bonkers welcomes delegates to the ALDE Party Congress

From his opening address:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome over 900 Liberals from across the EU and beyond here to London's Canary Wharf. 

The European Liberal family includes three current prime ministers and over a quarter of European Commissioners are Liberals. Liberal parties are in government in 16 different European countries, as well as being the third largest political group in the European Parliament. 

This family is a truly formidable fighting force – and we British Liberal Democrats benefit massively from being part of it. 

A word  to the wise. Don’t fall asleep outside the building or Clegg will have you deported.

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"This represents arguably the most xenophobic set of proposals put forward by a UK government since the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1968." Yesterday was not a good day to be a Liberal Democrat, says Andrew Page.

"A striking aspect of the Welsh Government’s legislative programme since the devolution of primary law-making powers has been the number of so-called framework bills presented to the Assembly. These skeletal laws contain little in the way of detail in terms of how a policy will be delivered in the Bill itself. Instead, they rely on a second layer of law, subordinate legislation or regulation, to flesh out the practical elements of the law when it comes into force." Lib Dem AM Eluned Parrott, writing on Click on Wales, argues that Labour's increasing use of framework legislation is subverting democratic accountability.

Steven Fielding examines the "enemy within" theme to be found in the cinema and television of the Thatcher era.

"When I first became World Chess Champion in 1985, the Soviet Union was still standing and Soviet chessplayers had been unchallenged since the disappearance of Bobby Fischer. Few could imagine then that we would see a match between an Indian and a Norwegian in less than 30 years." Garry Kasparov looks at Magnus Carlsen, the new word champion, for Time.

Municipal Dreams looks at Birmingham's council housing in the inter-war years.

The Public Domain Review introduces us to the British artist Eric Ravilious.

People of King's Lynn advised to ignore clowns

BBC News wins Headline of the Day today.

Now read about the Northampton clown.

The last train from Swindon to Swindon Town

Because of its connections with Richard Jefferies (about whom I wrote my Masters dissertation), I have a soft spot for Swindon. So after yesterday's video about its unexpected tram system, here is one about the last train to leave the GWR Swindon station for Swindon Town.

Swindon Town served the Old Town of Swindon, which stood on a hill above the later railway station and works of the New Town. For a good while in the 19th century these two formed separate settlements, but inevitably streets and houses sprung up to join them.

You can read more about the Midland and South Western Junction Railway, which in its heyday joined Southampton and Cheltenham, on the Swindon's Other Railway site.

Nick Clegg's self-defeating move on Europe and immigration

I once heard Jim Wallace say that when your opponents start fighting on your chosen ground you should be pleased. It shows you are winning this debate.

He is right, which is why I do not think Nick Clegg's embrace of the Conservatives' anti-immigrant rhetoric will achieve its aim of curbing the threat from UKIP.

Imagine you are a UKIP voter - go on, try. If you here even the leader of the hated Liberal Democrats admitting that we are too soft on immigrants who come here to live off the state, that will confirm you in your view of the world. It will not make you question it and decide to vote Liberal Democrat instead.

I think there is a better approach and it is that advocated in the Commentary in the current issue of Liberator, which advocates the consistent third of the electorate that is pro-European:

That one third is a minority but it is a considerably larger one than that which has ever voted Liberal Democrat. It is the obvious pool in which the party should be fishing. 

The pro-European vote has effectively been abandoned in previous elections, perhaps on the assumption that it had nowhere much else to go. Not merely can that vote be awakened but it is essential that it is awakened ahead of any referendum eventually happening.

At present Nick Clegg is veering between this approach and one that seeks to appeal to everyone. When pursuing the latter he talks about the centre, but in the case of immigration at least, he locates that centre far to the right.

I  am not the most instinctive pro-European you have ever met. I recognise that being in coalition involves compromise. It is just that I do not think this latest Clegg initiative will work.

Mainstream politicians, by pandering to the Farages of this world, are feeding the very far-right public opinion they fear. I suspect that, once again, we are seeing an effect of the political class now being formed from such a narrow, privileged base.

Norman Baker: The Home Office is like the Generation Game

BBC News reports Norman Baker's appearance before the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

It quotes him as saying of his new role at the Home Office:

"It's less friendly because of its sheer size... It's less homely than the Department for Transport. But it's a key government department and I'm happy to be there."

And:

"Like the Generation Game, you can see these events coming past you and you have to work out what to do."

But Norman told MPs he was "happy". Didn't he do well?

The history of Swindon's trams

From Swindon Web:

The age of the tram in Swindon was a brief but colourful chapter in the history of the town which included an early tragedy, a period of great success and finally a surrender to the more effective - though much less picturesque - method of public transport, the bus.

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LibDem Policy Wonk has an extremely unofficial list of target seats for the Liberal Democrats at the next general election.

Nick Boles's idea of a new National Liberal Party doesn't add up, argues Alun Wyburn-Powell on Democratic Audit UK.

Sustainable Review has good news: "Excess heat from the London Underground will be captured and used to heat local homes, the Mayor of London ... has announced. The initiative will see the existing Bunhill Heat and Power heat network extended to supply a further 500 homes in Islington with cheaper and more sustainable heating."

Talking of the Underground, Urban Ghosts shows us 13 abandoned stations and disused stations.

Jonathan Meades remembers meeting Anthony Burgess in an audio on The International Anthony Burgess Foundation website.

Psychogeographic Review looks at Marshland: Dreams and Nightmares on the Edge of London by Gareth E. Rees: "A world that stretches out from the few hundred acres of Hackney Marsh in East London, into an infinite universe of myth and imagination."

Captain Cobbler by Keith Melton

Keith Melton, who fought Lincoln for the Liberals in 1979 and Cleethorpes  for the Liberal Democrats in 1997, as well as fighting Lincolnshire in the 1994 European elections, has published his first novel.

Captain Cobbler: The Lincolnshire Uprising, 1536 tells how Nicholas Melton, a shoemaker from Louth, confiscated the keys to the Church of St James in the town, to prevent Commissioners of Thomas Cromwell from stealing the church silverware.

It was a straightforward community protest, but it rapidly escalated during the week to become a widespread uprising against the tyranny of the government of King Henry VIII,  and his chancellor, Baron Thomas Cromwell.

Keith has been researching and writing the novel to tell the story of his namesake for over seven years since his retirement from Nottingham Trent University, where he was the founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development in Business.

Read more on the Captain Cobbler 1536 blog.

Secrets of the Jubilee Line

You may also enjoy Secrets of the District Line and Secrets of the Central Line.