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Alice McCool investigates the web of culture-war connections – from the US Christian right to Viktor Orbán's influence network – that lay behind the first British CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) conference.

It's all well and good saying we should regulate social media. But social media is already regulated. So why is it failing? And what could we do in response? Chaminda Jayanetti has some ideas.

Keyana Sapp explains why American cookware is getting worse: "Once you understand the brand licensing structure, you see it everywhere, and the pattern is always the same: one company owns the name, a different company makes the product, and the factory that earned the name is liquidated."

"Around the time those tower blocks were going up, as John Pendlebury recounts, local preservationists and councillors in York teamed up to imaginatively restore and repopulate the historic precinct inside the city walls – an early example of a heritage-driven strategy that Newcastle and Liverpool would seize on a few decades later." Susan Pedersen reviews The Modern British City 1945-2000, edited by Simon Gunn, Peter Mandler and Otto Saumarez Smith.

"The gulf between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' in county cricket is wider than ever before, and is set to grow further still in the wake of last year's Hundred equity sale, according to a new report into the domestic game's finances." Cricinfo has some worrying but not unexpected news.

Peter Bradshaw watches Andrei Tarkovsky's film Nostalghia (1983).

Sammy Going South and the morality of employing child actors

The director of Trouble at Townsend wasn't the only one to have problems with a child star being too well fed. I've read accounts of both Carol Reed and Andrei Tarkovsky making the same complaint.

But Alexander Mackendrick's account (from Wikpedia, with no source given) of the making of Sammy Going South suggests that Fergus McClelland didn't just get too well fed but too happy.

"He was a lean, hard, little boy. Tough as old nails ... a really strong character. He had the hunted look of an abused child, which in some ways he was. He came from a disturbed home; his parents were getting divorced and there were problems. So he was the perfect casting. 

"But when he went out to Africa, he started having the time of his life. The unit adored him and, to my dismay, started to feed him ... he put on weight and there was no way I could stop it. So, instead of this hunted and abused child, who’s supposed to be starving and neurotic, you had a sturdy, stocky, well fed little character. A good actor, but the physique betrayed itself."

McClelland talked about his experience of making the film in an interview with Matthew Sweet for BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme in 2010 – it begins at 24:14 – confirming much of what Mackendrick said. 

Fascinating as child actors can be, it's hard to escape the feeling that there's something inherently exploitative about their employment.

Mackendrick made the film for Michael Balcon's Bryanston Film's – Balcon had been his boss at Ealing Studios. Mark Duguid has suggested:

Balcon saw the story as a heartwarming tale of a young innocent's triumph over adversity, against the fantastic scenery of the African continent. Characteristically, Mackendrick's understanding was altogether darker: he saw it as "the inward odyssey of a deeply disturbed child, who destroys everybody he comes up against".

Mackendrick's attempt to satisfy these two interpretations is probably the reason the film doesn't quite succeed.

A motif Mackendrick's was innocent characters who caused chaos and destruction – think of Mrs Wilberforce in The Ladykillers – so it's no surprise he was attracted to W.T. Canaway's original novel. Ironically, you could say the book managed to strike the balance between his and Balcon's ambitions that the film failed to find.

The original cut produced by Mackendrick was severely trimmed before release, and cut again for the US market. There it was given the ludicrous title A Boy Ten Feet Tall, apparently because it was feared white audiences would assume a film called Sammy Going South was about a black boy and stay away.

Sammy Going South is worth watching for its rare reference to the Suez Crisis in British films or novels and for about the last treatment in a film of British colonial Africa. Sammy's parents are killed in a British raid on Port Said, and he sets out to walk to the only other relative he knows, who lives in Durban in South Africa.

And Fergus McClelland's Sammy makes a credible and winning protagonist, even if Mackendrick was right to despair that he looks healthier and happier as his trek goes on.

The Irrepressibles: Tide

The Irrepressibles is the name under which the Scarborough-born musician Jamie McDermott works. The Tide come from his first studio album Mirror Mirror, which was reviewed on its release in 2010 by Nina Joyce:

McDermott’s exuberant performances dance on the border of disturbing, but an ability to melt between the light and the dark with such mesmerising grace has led to comparisons to Anthony Hegarty, though the heights McDermott’s voice can reach sometimes suggest a male Joanna Newsom, minus the folk. The time for the rise of the Irrepressibles is surely upon us. 

The somewhat poperatic tendencies undoubtedly catch your attention but the flamboyancy can sometimes seem more like a child starved of affection. The positive side to this is The Irrepressibles’s contagious spirit and exuberance for sticking a tongue out or a lithe finger up to convention.

This spirit spills over into their live performances, according to the Guardian's review of Mirror Mirror:

After much performing by woods, lakes and even amphitheatres, a flamboyant full debut from the 10-piece orchestral ensemble, who, lavishly dressed in anything from Flash Gordon gear to exotic fruit, pirouette as they play.

The video here, however, comes from Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature film, Ivan's Childhood. It's the famous scene of Captain Kholin and Masha among the birch trees.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan has been sanctioned by the British and American governments

The later careers of child stars can be an interesting, even tragic, study. Outcomes can vary from being a distinguished art historian (Jon Whiteley) to drug addiction and anonymous burial in a pauper's grave at 30 (Bobby Driscoll).

I've found a new disappointing outcome for a former child star: being sanctioned by the UK and US governments.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood would be a good nomination for the best first film by any director. It tells the story of a young orphan who acts a scout for the Soviet army on the Eastern Front in the second world war. He fights off attempts to send him to military school until he undertakes one mission too many and does not return.

Ivan was played, to universal acclaim, by Nikolai 'Kolya' Burlyayev, who has been acting and directing in Russia ever since. He has become increasingly associated with Vladimir Putin and was elected to the Russian parliament in 2021.

The result is that you will find his name on both the UK and US lists of people who have been sanctioned over their support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Click on the image above to go to YouTube and watch the whole film - and a wonderful film it is. It is beautifully photographed and has all of Tarkovsky's symbolism and dream logic, but you also get a proper story about the war.

h/t Thomas Stern on Twitter.

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"A basic income will be the best, fairest and simplest way to safeguard the most vulnerable in society and care for those who need it." Christine Jardine writes for the Daily Mirror.

Stephen Bush reviews two books on Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.

"I’ve been threatened numerous times during the course of my career but now face a daily barrage of abuse - from being threatened with rape to personal attacks on my appearance. I live in the community I work in, as do many of our reporters. Yet we do not feel safe." Behind Local News reveals the onslaught of online abuse journalists now face.

Rachel Aldred and Anna Goodman find that the low-traffic neighbourhoods scheme implemented in outer London has led to decreased car ownership and use and to increased active travel.

"The most remarkable features of the ‘vision’, apart from a failure to mention the original purpose of the National Trust and the reasons for more than a century of bequests to it, are an insulting assessment of its public, a blithe confidence in its powers of clairvoyance, and a slick, obfuscatory jargon." Nicholas Penny is not impressed by the National Trust's new vision.

"So Andrey Tarkovsky loved Star Wars?" The director's son talks to Max Dax.

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"Democracy is not just a tool for making decisions and picking between options, it’s an ongoing process of representation and dialogue that’s seeking to establish a way in which we can all comfortably co-exist. Voting is not the be-all and end-all of the process but rather just one stage within it." Nick Barlow says Brexit is a symptom and a result of a much wider malaise in British politics.

With the government doing all it can to raise the political temperature, Gabriel Power offers a list of the MPs who have been murdered in office.

An ethic of wonder that stood at the centre of Rachel Carson's ecological philosophy, argues Jennifer Stitt.

Robin Burgess on the reality of poverty in Northampton.

Catherine Bennett is not a fan of the vox pop: "This eager dissemination of unfounded, unchallenged, occasionally misleading or alcohol-misted opinion only contributes to the impression, reinforced by Question Time, that voter deliberation, if not actively redundant, is decreasingly a BBC priority."

“Chaplin is the only person to have gone down into cinematic history without any shadow of a doubt. The films he left behind can never grow old.” In 1972 Andrei Tarkovsky chose his top 10 films, writes Karen Strike.

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"This is the ideal policy – it requires no increase in public spending, but can make a real difference to the lives of low income families. We should be campaigning for this in England." Simon McGrath is delighted by Kirsty Williams' new guidance on school uniforms in Wales.

Jonathan Wallace shares his leaflet for Thursday's police and crime commissioner by-election in Northumbria.

"It’s exactly the same concerns people had when we introduced the weekend or the eight-hour workday. But the world didn’t collapse in on itself then - and it won’t now." Francois Badenhorst examines the case for a four-day working week.

Gregory H. Shill on the struggle against automobile supremacy in the USA.

"This cult of Stalker began in the USSR in the years after the film’s completion and limited release, when Stalker was the closest Soviet culture came to a punk aesthetic." Robert Bird on the later career of what is now Tarkovsky's most influential film.

Graham Appleton reviews Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell.

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David V. Johnson defends Mill's On Liberty in an age of conspiracy theories.

"Several anecdotal reports have highlighted the increased community cohesion resulting from both the organisation process on a street and the ‘playing out’ sessions themselves. The University of Bristol study found both a strengthening of existing connections and building new connections between neighbours." Alice Ferguson on the benefits brought by the 'playing out' movement.

Barb Drummond offers a cultural history of the scarecrow, taking in Henry Williamson, Traffic and the Watersons.

"Nothing like it had ever been seen on BBC television and even the natives, already familiar with the more surreal reaches of British comedy on BBC radio, took a while to adjust to this new kind of visual humour in which nothing was too sacred to be lampooned." Clive Irving attends the birth of Monty Python.

Before Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (and long before Steven Soderbergh's) there was an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s novel on Russian television, reports Michael Brooke.

Notts Lit takes us on a tour of D.H. Lawrence's Nottingham.

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"More than any other English-language narrative filmmaker, Roeg apprehended Tarkovsky's notion of "sculpting in time" with the same radical freedom as the Russian director himself did. Roeg came into filmmaking as a cinematographer, and two of the directors he worked for, David Lean and Richard Lester, both had as astute a grasp of editing as any filmmaker you can name. During his most creatively fecund time as a director, Roeg made temporal leaps and jumps that were exhilarating provided you could keep up, which was sometimes a challenge." Glenn Kenny tribute to Nicolas Roeg.

Robert Reich calls for Facebook to be broken up.

Grammar schools aren't the enemy, private schools are, says Charles Turner.

"The only other building in Norwich 'with the authority of the cathedral' was St James Yarn Mill on the Wensum, built in 1843 to give a boost to our waning textile trade." Reggie Unthank looks at Ian Narin looking at Norwich.

"Like David Bowie before her, she took a fascination with literature, theatre, dance and the avant-garde into the mainstream. She traded in the unusual from the beginning, and only became more radical as she went on." The Economist's Prospero reminds us what an extraordinary career Kate Bush has had.

Meg Olmert on how the Victorians invented our modern dog breeds.

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Theresa May’s hopes of a landslide depend on the how the old industrial towns of northern England vote. That is the conclusion of analysis by James Crouch.

Caitlin Flanagan on late-night TV comedy and its failure to prevent the rise of Donald Trump: "Somewhere along the way, the hosts of the late-night shows decided that they had carte blanche to insult not just the people within this administration, but also the ordinary citizens who support Trump, and even those who merely identify as conservatives."

"Did the Church of England not know that there were at least five archbishops buried there? Couldn’t someone be bothered to check the records? Why was no archaeological dig commissioned?" Archbishop Cranmer is not impressed by the loss and rediscovery of five of his fellow primates.

Cinephilia & Beyond offers a unique perspective on the making of Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker.

Ronnie Hughes explores Mossley Hill and Aigburth,

Fifty years ago, an 18-year-old called Keith Jarrett made his rugby union debut for Wales and beat England single handed. Huw Richards tells the story. (Alarmingly, I have vague memories of the event.)

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Flip Chart Fairy Tales on the decline of 'dad jobs' and why it matters.

Kathryn Fox looks at the careers of two early women Liberal Party agents.

"Its hard to imagine how older people who don't have anyone to scoop up all these tasks cope. You really wouldn't design it this way if you had the choice." Janet Morrison on choosing a care home.

The golden age of motoring is coming to an end, argues the West Midlands Police Traffic Unit.

"During the Victorian era, masturbation - also known as self-pollution, self-abuse, or onanism - was believed to be both a moral and a physical evil." Mimi Matthews details the crime, the consequences and the cure.

Jonathan Sisson watches Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker.

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"Why is it that when Conference supports the leadership it’s binding and an act of disrespect to rebel, but when Conference disagrees with them its word is provisional, borderline advisory?" Graham Cowie on the Scottish Liberal Democrats' row over fracking.

Richard Kemp proposes a radical shake up of the way Liverpool is run.

Nick Clegg and the dogging site - a first post from Ben Rathe that went viral.

Northern Soul presents a striking piece of local history: "In 1859 the body of a man by the name of Harry Stokes washed up in the River Irwell. Upon examination, it was discovered that twice-married Stokes was biologically female and had been successfully living the life of a Victorian man in Manchester."

"The thrill of the aerial running shot and the suddenness of the ending mean that this, rather than The 400 Blows, is the film that leaves the viewer breathless. Even writing about it makes me shiver." Somewhere Boy has been to see Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature-length film, Ivan's Childhood.

A Clerk of Oxford visits Ramsey Abbey in the Fens.

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Slogger O'Toole offers a host of reasons why the rise of referendums in British politics should be resisted.

"The former mining towns of the South Wales Valleys have one of the highest levels of antidepressant prescribing in Wales, attracting lurid newspaper headlines about areas 'hooked on happy pills'. According to Cwm Taf University Health Board, which covers former mining towns including Merthyr Tydfil, Aberfan, and Pontypridd, as many as one in six of its residents are on antidepressants, the highest prescribing rate in the UK." Anne Gulland on why medication is the the answer to social and economic problems.

Hynd's Blog knows what is wrong with our politics. Not referendums. Rosettes.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Stalker are examined in a BFI feature by Stephen Dalton.

"History is written by the winners. And good luck to the members of the Crazy Gang who have dined out on the stories of their victory in the 1988 FA Cup final for more than 25 years. But ... let’s get this straight: the stories have been embellished to the point where they bear little relation to reality. I know, because I was there." John Barnes on a famous match.

Spitalfields Life has some photos of this quarter of London in 1984.

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Photo: Julian Osley

"Popular opinion is much more (small ‘l’) liberal than is commonly supposed. It turns out that most of us can relate to a multi-cultural vision of Britain. Most of us are no longer shocked by the Rolling Stones or the Sex Pistols – how can we be when Mick Jagger has a knighthood and Johnny Rotten advertises Country Life butter? Most of us cannot understand why the church is still getting its knickers in a twist about gay marriage. We’ve moved on, further than most politicians or the press realise." Writing on Liberal Democrat Voice, Simon Titley reflects on the Olympic opening ceremony.

The SNP government in Scotland is running secrecy workshops for civil servants, claim the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Brian Whitmore on Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty gives the background to the prosecution of Pussy Riot in Moscow: "Pussy Riot isn't really a 'punk band'... And - contrary to popular belief - they didn't actually play a 'concert' in the cathedral."

Open Culture sends us to Andrei Tarkovsky's Voyage in Time: "This rarely seen documentary shows the great Russian filmmaker treading unfamiliar ground as he travels across southern Italy in search of locations for his first film in exile, Nostalghia."

"Automatic supermarket check-outs are a special kind of 'lose-lose technology' where someone loses their source of employment so that a machine can deliver an entirely inferior service." At Computer Weekly Tony Roberts suggests the Luddites had a point and calls for democratic involvement in choices about technology.

Entschwindet & Vergeht visits the Park Hill flats in Sheffield.

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Northern Neil reports from the front line in Oldham East and Saddleworth: "The seat is a fascinating mix people with rich and poor, rural and inner city and a wide ethnic mix in the area. You probably couldn't get a more representative seat for Britain."

The Lib Dems need to get more emotional to win over voters, argues Solution Focused Politics.

Keynesian Liberal writes on the fall of Lord Young (for telling the truth or something close to it) and the perils of wearing short trousers in winter.

"There was a time in New York, in the 1920s when scientists proposed a great wall along the waterfront to shut out rats completely, to seal out rats and, thus, forever end rat fear. Eventually, though, the idea was deemed implausible and abandoned: rats will always get through.” BLDGBLOG considers the challenge of achieving a rodent-free metropolis.

Rye Castle Museum has a list of books set in and around the town, including works by this blog's hero Malcolm Saville.

Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker is discussed by Subtitle Literate.

All Tarkovsky's films are free online

Open Culture brings the welcome news that all of Andrei Tarkovsky's films can now be watched online:

Shot between 1962 and 1986, Tarkovsky’s seven feature films often grapple with metaphysical and spiritual themes, using a distinctive cinematic style. Long takes, slow pacing and metaphorical imagery – they all figure into the archetypical Tarkovsky film.

Whatever that last phrase means.

You can find a short analysis of each film at Strictly Film School, so get the buckets of popcorn in and have yourself a treat.

David Lean in Close-Up with Jonathan Ross

On the BBC website now.

Coming soon: Chris Moyles on Andrei Tarkovsky.

Bergman slams Antonioni shock

Two great film directors - Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni - have died in recent days. But how did they get on?

An article in the New York Sun suggests that, at any rate, Begrman was not overimpressed by his rival:

Ingmar Bergman, who died fewer than 24 hours before him, accused Antonioni in 2002 of being artistically "suffocated by his own tediousness." Bergman went on to admit that "Blow-Up" and "La Notte" were masterpieces, but complained about Antonioni's slow-moving style that bordered on inertia: "He concentrated on single images, never realizing that film is a rhythmic flow of images, a movement."

Next week: Stanley Kubrick "a bag of shite," claims Tarkovsky.