Saturday, December 28, 2019

Liberal England in 2019: Part 2

April


"I am a Liberal. I want to be able to get on a train at St Pancras and take a pork pie anywhere I damn well please." I had a go at those elitist Remoaners you here about.

And I got all philosophical on my readers' assess: "Things are transient: we are more permanent."

I found the site of Stamford's medicinal spring beside the Welland.

Donald Trump was invited to pay a state visit to Britain and I pointed out that we used to know how to deal with such unsavoury visitors. Read how the people of London dealt with General von Haynau.

The Independent Group or Change UK or... was already in trouble:
The overwhelming impression the Tiggers give is one of amateurism. Everything had been done in a hurry and nothing has been done very well. 
But then I suppose if you are parachuted into a safe seat, as so many Tigger MPs were, you are likely to acquire an exaggerated sense of your own skill as a politician.
The Edwardian Liberal John Hobson was in the news as commentators rushed to condemn Jeremy Corbyn for contributing a foreword to a reprint of his book Imperialism because of its antisemitism. But there is more to Hobson than that.


May


I continued my exploration of the place of bombsites in post-war British cinema by looking at The Heart Within - an early treatment of race featuring a teenage David Hemmings.

Three more efforts by my own person Thirties poet W.T. Nettlefold came to light.

The residents of Bishop's Castle turned to civil disobedience to protect their bus service.

I worked out that our continued poor performance in Eurovision is not down to Brexit but to Simon Cowell:
Back in the day, the international stars who did Eurovision for the UK had their own shows on Saturday evening television. 
Today those slots are filled by reality shows, so it is their competitors and winners who are known to the British public and who get chosen for the contest. 
As they are unknown across the rest of Europe and often not great singers, it is little surprise that they do so badly.
Richard Beckinsale is remembered with a mural in his home town of Beeston.


June


I posted a video from the New Economics Foundation that explains why house prices are so high. Clue: It's not the fault of the planning laws.

Did you know Boy George's uncle was the Catholic priest in Market Harborough. I got it from a taxi driver who got it from two nuns.

William Simons, the first actor I ever saw on stage, died.

I visited an exhibition on the Mod scene in Leicester and Nottingham.

The Park is a Victorian housing estate close to the centre of Nottingham:
It feels like the sort of place Soviet spies would be sent to live after capture to wait until an exchange to be arranged. Their lives would be pleasant, but if they tried to escape they would be shot. 
It feels like Patrick McGoohan’s Village transferred to central Nottingham.
My post went on to prove it is actually in the hands of a foreign power.

The Lib Dems have not been tribalist enough, I argued in contrarian fashion. And I still think I was right.

Then it was back to my memories with a post on the Brecon and Radnor by-election of 1985 - and Nigel Tufnell.

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