Monday, October 07, 2024

The Joy of Six 1275

'We cannot sit by as the left denigrate our history and pull down our monuments,' said Kemi Badenoch last week: she and her colleagues’ wilful neglect of museums shows that such talk is absurd." John Harris is angry about the assault on local museums since the election of David Cameron in 2010.

Erica Lamberg introduces to the concept of 'resenteeism', where lack of advancement opportunities, a toxic corporate culture, an excessive workload and feelings of burnout lead to people feeling trapped in jobs they do not want. Not surprisingly, this affects productivity.

More evidence that nothing works properly in Britain any more because it's underfunded: We Love Stornoway reports on the end of the tourism service on the Western Isles.

Simon Matthews looks at the 1949 film Now Barabbas Was a Robber, which was based on a play by William Douglas Home: "There are flashbacks to their lives before jail, the corrupting effect of the war is shown (a topic of much thought at the time, with talk of crime waves and a much readier resort to violence) and, indeed much of it, with its succession of interior scenes and wardens, plays like a POW film. The dialogue, and acting, are impressive."

Jon Hotten remembers Brian Close, the controversial Yorkshire and England captain: "The length of time that Richards and Botham spent talking about Brian Close spoke of his influence on the game and on their lives."

"Witchcraft, and the threat of such could be found from the collieries of East Shropshire through to the Clun and the distant agrarian places, whose names feel like an ode to Middle earth. Witchcraft was the hidden threat, the force that you could not control but also that which you turned to for comfort, or help." Amy Boucher on an important aspect of the county's social history and folklore.

2 comments:

Mike Conroy said...

Accounts of Brian Close's life are always entertaining and the debate will run and run about the fact he only played 22 tests in a 27-year career, despite having the best win ratio of any England captain. What people need to understand, however, is that during this period playing for England was seen as a demotion for Yorkshire players. I've heard of a conversation in the Headingley pavilion at the end of the 1967 season:

Yorkshire member: Ey up Brian, 'appen I've not seen thee for a few months, what's tha been doing wi' thesen, you been injured?

Close: Eeeee yer daft bugger, I've been captaining England

Yorkshire member: Offfffttt, there's no future in that, thee wants to get a proper job, tha knows

Jonathan Calder said...

Lovely. I've come across a similar attitude to international rugby among Leicester Tigers fans.