The Joy of Six 1489

Searchlight has the measure of Reform UK's leader: "It’s a script Nigel Farage knows well. Candidates or causes closely linked to him, perhaps even bearing his name and his photograph, make large, attention-grabbing promises. Votes are won on the strength of them. Then, once the votes are counted the promises are declared – with an air of wounded innocence – to have never been made, and certainly not by him."

AI fakes spread disinformation but, asks Anna Merlan, is the distrust they create even worse?

"Julie Critchlow, one of the mums involved, told The Times in 2006 that much of the food they were delivering was healthy, and that the accusation that the kids were given chips every day was ‘such a lie’. 'We were taking all sorts – baked potatoes, salads, tuna sandwiches. You try getting teenage girls to eat a hamburger every day. Most of them won’t touch the things.'" Heather Parry looks back twenty years to the media panic in Rotherham which followed the Channel 4 documentary series Jamie’s School Dinners.

Patrick Wadden argues that Medieval Irish people saw themselves as Europeans, not Celts: "The Irish language and people were only labelled as Celtic for the first time in the 18th century. In the rich and varied textual sources that have survived from early Ireland, including annals, saints' lives, laws, and sagas about great heroes such as Cú Chulainn and Fionn Mac Cumhail, the words 'Celt' and 'Celtic' do not appear even once."

"In the case of Peter Grimes, Forster suggests, something is lost. Rather than Grimes as a lugubrious murderer, in Britten’s opera the blame is rather sanctimoniously placed on the townsfolk for misunderstanding him, turning the whole thing into social criticism, which was far from Crabbe’s original. It takes away from the strangeness and mystery of the character of Grimes, from his psychological complexity, but also from the ‘horizontality and mud’ that shape the feeling of the poem and the world it describes." John-Paul Stonnard finds that E.M. Forster did not appreciate the version of George Crabbe's character Peter Grimes presented by Montague Slater, who wrote the libretto for Britten's opera.

Helen Pickles rightly suggests Ripon, Yorkshire's smallest city, as a tourist destination.

The Case for Expanding the Rail Network

The Campaign for Better Transport has published a new report backing 33 rail reopening schemes.

Between them they would add 343 miles to the passenger rail network (166 miles of reopened route and 177 miles of freight-only route upgraded to passenger rail standards).

One of the schemes advocated is the freight-only line from Leicester to Burton upon Trent, though the report envisages fewer intermediate stations than were planned when this scheme was close to being put into practice in the 1980s.

Another freight line mentioned is the one from Walsall to Water Orton through Sutton Coldfield. The photo above shows the former Sutton Park station in 1982. (Don't look for it; it's not there anymore.)

Among the proposed reopenings of lines that have closed altogether is the one from Harrogate via Ripon to Northallerton, which has always been high on the list of Beeching's greatest mistakes.

You can download The Case for Expanding the Rail Network from the Campaign for Better Transport website.

Lib Dems stand down in favour of the Greens in Skipton and Ripon

Embed from Getty Images

A pact too far?

In return for the Green Party not fielding a candidate in Harrogate and Knaresborough, the Liberal Democrats have agreed not to fight Skipton and Ripon.

As the Craven Herald says:

What makes this deal more remarkable is that the Lib/Dems have been second to the Tories in every general election from 1992 to 2010. And for two general elections prior to 1992 the Liberals were runners up.

Going back a little further, the Liberal Party won the old Ripon constituency in a 1973 by-election and came within a few hundred votes of winning Skipton at the October 1974 general election.

Are we, in an overoptimistic attempt to regain Harrogate, ceding traditional Liberal territory to the Greens? What will the long-term consequences of these local pacts be?

GCHQ warns British political parties of danger of Russian hacking

The National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ) has written to the leaders of Britain's political parties warning them about the threat of Russian hacking at the next general election.

And Sky News has the text of the letter, which comes from Ciaran Martin, the centre's chief executive:

"You will be aware of the coverage of events in the United States, Germany and elsewhere reminding us of the potential for hostile action against the UK political system ... 

"This is not just about the network security of political parties' own systems. 

"Attacks against our democratic processes go beyond this and can include attacks on parliament, constituency offices, think tanks and pressure groups and individuals' email accounts."

And, the report goes on to say, the Sunday Times quotes a GCHQ source as saying it regards protecting the British political system from foreign hackers as "priority work".

Later. Lord Bonkers tells me he "caught two fellows with snow on their boots going through the Shuttleworths" at a remote rural committee room during the Ripon by-election of 1973.

Stewart Lee joins the Liberal Democrats

He probably looked fat and depressed when he did it, and he is certainly operating two levels of irony beyond the appreciation of his keenest fans, but Stewart Lee has joined the Liberal Democrats.

The news was announced in an Observer column yesterday:

My constituency voted 78% remain. On Wednesday, my MP was too ill to vote. I’m joining the Liberal Democrats, itself on some level a hopeless admission of defeat.

Welcome aboard, Stewart. Some of us admitted defeat when we were teenagers.

These passages in his column caught my attention:

But, with Trump’s trade deal help, at least our bananas will be bendy again. And on 1 February 2019, a man dressed as a sensible pirate will stand at the foot of an obelisk in Ripon, North Yorkshire, and blow an enchanted bendy horn, a horn only to be blown in Britain’s hour of need. And when that bendy horn is blown, as if by magic, all the straight bananas in Brexit Britain will suddenly bend once more, never to be straight again.

And:

Ripon constituency’s referendum split reflected pretty much the national percentages, at 52% to 48% in favour of the reinstatement of perpetually bendy bananas, hence its horn duty. I have already booked a room at the Weatherspoon’s in Ripon square for 2019, in order to be at the epicentre of the people’s populist banana-bending revolution. 

Weatherspoon’s owner Tim Martin, a vocal opponent of straight bananas, funded a boisterous chapbook ridiculing the insolent yellow fruits, First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Straight Bananas. And Tim has promised to be at his Ripon outlet personally on bendy banana day, handing out free bendy bananas to his regular clientele of terminally nostalgic drinkers and plucky all-day breakfasteers, toasting their own imminent obsolescence.

It did so because I have stayed at the Weatherspoon's in Ripon square. There it is in the photograph above.

I am not a Weatherspoon's fan, but it was a large, clean room with a big television and there was another pub serving the rarer Timothy Taylor's brews just round the corner. What more do you need?

I like Europe and Stewart Lee and the Ripon hornblower and its obelisk. One day we shall draw them all together.

I quit storms Ripon Hornblower

A month ago I celebrated George Pickles, the Ripon Hornblower.

Now, on the Ripon Gazette site, comes news that he has resigned. Which is a shame, because he seemed very good at it to me.

Another councillor is quoted as saying: "I am shocked, stunned and amazed."

Farewell to Ripon

I had originally planned to spend the second week of my summer holiday in North Yorkshire too, staying in Richmond and then heading for somewhere remote like Keld.

But I left it late to book accommodation and could not get in where I wanted. And the weather was dreadful, which made me look for comfort rather than adventure.

I know, I thought. I'll go to Shropshire.

The Ripon Hornblower

This is George Pickles, the Ripon Hornblower, Setting the Watch around the obelisk in the city's market square. It is, says his website:

which has been carried out every evening on the market square without a miss, not for one single day, for 1125 years. It is the longest ongoing unbroken daily ceremony in the world.

"And no, madam," I heard him say, "it's not been me all that time. There were two more before me."

Mr Pickles carries out the ceremony with due seriousness, and then chats to the tourists who have gathered to watch him at 9 p.m.each evening.

Great Bus Journeys of the World: Ripon to Richmond

You can take a tour from Ripon bus station on one of these vintage buses, but there is really no need. Because the service bus to Richmond will give you all the scenery and interest you could want.

It takes you through Masham, with its Black Sheep and Theakston's breweries; through Middleham, whose castle was the childhood home of Richard III (of whom you may have read here); and through Leyburn, which has a station on the Wensleydale Railway.

All that and Walburn Hall too.

I want to go back to Ripon, not just because I so liked the place, but also to visit these attractions.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Studley Royal

Just before the bus from York reaches Ripon it takes you past an incongruously large rural church. A little research proves it to be the Church of Christ the Consoler at Skelton-cum-Newby and there is a remarkable story behind it.

The church is a memorial to Frederick Vyner who, age 23, was captured and murdered by brigands in Greece in 1870. His mother raised money for his ransom, but when Frederick was killed she used it to
 to commission the architect William Burges to build the church.

That unspent ransom money also paid for the church of St Mary the Virgin at Studley Royal.

This magnificent church was a wholly unexpected pleasure at Fountains Abbey. As the guide book says:

Inside and outside, the St Mary's reflects the inspiration Burges found in medieval gothic buildings, from the studded metalwork of the great doors to the patterned encaustic tiles and mosaics of Christian images which cover the floor. 

The sanctuary is rich in gold and colour. Beneath the starry dome of Heaven, carved and painted angels soar above the lovely colours of the windows depicting Bible scenes/  The bronze door, the Virgin and Child is a gift from Burges to the church.

The church is the resting place of a notable Liberal politician: George Robinson, the first Marquess of Ripon.

You can look from this church down to the front of Ripon Cathedral. Legend has it that a farm far away on the horizon above the cathedral was also owned by the Vyners and was painted white so that it could be picked out when they were admiring the view.

Close to St Mary's stand Choristers' Cottage, also designed by Burges and evidence that there was originally a plan to have a permanent choir of men and boys here. Nearby you will find the obelisk which served as a focal point in this man-made landscape before the church was built in 1870.

Studeley Royal Water Gardens

This is a landscape of follies, statues and temples to the virtues. My guidebook says:

A path through the trees leads to the Surprise View - a treat for any unsuspecting visitor. William [Aislabie] created this path around 1755, but it was his daughter, Mrs Allanson, who, in the 1790s, put up a shelter with a sliding door, perhaps replacing an earlier covered seat. As visitors arrived, a servant would throw the door back, dramatically revealing the view.

More on the National Trust website.

The water mill at Fountains Abbey

When Fountains Abbey was dissolved its water mill continued working. By 1900 it was providing electric power for Fountains Hall. Today it is in the hands of the National Trust and open as interpretation centre while new way to harness the power of its millstream are sought.

Remarkably, you can the original doors of the abbey now serving as floorboards inside the mill. Henry VIII's commissars would be delighted.

Fountains Abbey

Today Fountains Abbey serves as the most wonderful folly you can imagine.

Britain's largest monastic ruin and most complete Cistercian abbey stands in the landscaped park of Studley Royal, another great house that belonged to the Aislabie family. The house itself suffered a serious fire in 1946 and was pulled down shortly afterwards, but its park and water garden are very much still there.

Some would see the dissolution of the monasteries as an advance of modernism  but more and more I see Henry VIII as Britain's answer to Stalin - at least when I am walking around abbey ruins.

Huby's Tower, seen in the photograph above, dominates most views of Fountains Abbey. But it was not built until the early 16th century, not long before the monks were driven out.

Fountains Hall

As the Ripon & District Light Railway was never built, I had to get the bus out to Fountains Abbey on my second day in the city. To my surprise, I was the only passenger both on the journey out and the journey back.

There is far more to see than just the Abbey at Fountains Abbey. This is Fountains Hall, built in the early 17th century with stone from the Abbey and at first in the hands of Stephen Proctor. A Protestant and one of the new men who prospered in Henry VIII's reign, he was unpopular with his neighbours whose sympathies, privately not publicly, were still Catholic.

Later in passed into the hands of one of those Catholic families and then into those of William Aislabie, restorer of Hawksmoor's Ripon obelisk.

In the 20th century the owners, the Vyner family, hoped to offer it as a rural retreat for the Duke and Duchess of York. But when Edward VIII abdicated the Duke of York became George VI and had quite enough houses already.

The Vyners finally left in 1979 and today Fountains Hall is owned by the National Trust.

Near the entrance you will find this memorial window to Elizabeth and Charles Vyner, who both died on active service in World War II while still teenagers:

WHEN YOU GO HOME TELL THEM OF US AND SAY
FOR YOUR TOMORROW WE GAVE OUR TODAY

Ripon Police & Prison Museum

Ripon has a notably unsentimental selection of museums. There is the Workhouse Museum, the Courthouse Museum and (the one I visited) the Prison & Police Museum.

This is housed in a building that was originally a prison and later served as the city's police station. Displays tell the story of British policing from Saxon times to the present day.

One thing this brings home is how many more local police forces there were before they were merged into the West Yorkshire Constabulary and then the West Yorkshire Police. As a good Liberal, I question what this has achieved.

The second theme of the museum is prison life, including a recreation of a Victorian cell. Other displays illustrate the punitive exercises which were used in prisons, the types of punishments meted out (including a frame over which the delinquent youth of Leeds were once stretched to be birched) and transportation to Australia.

The museum as a whole provides an unexpectedly absorbing insight into social history.

Ripon Cathedral and St Wilfrid's crypt

Ripon is the fourth smallest city in England, so its cathedral is never far away. Here it is seen from the south across the River Skell.

Perhaps its outstanding feature is the crypt from St Wilfrid's seventh-century church on the site. The Ripon Cathedral website clams it is "arguably the oldest church building in England to have remained in continuous use".

You can enjoy a tour of the crypt on video.

The Treaty of Ripon

Thanks to the booklet published by the city's civic society, I came across the plaque in a Ripon backwater.

The Treaty of Ripon put an end to the Bishops' Wars of 1639-40 between England and Scotland. These were caused by Charlies I's attempt to impose an Episcopalian system of church government upon Scotland.

Defeat in these wars, and their expense, forced Charles to abandon his attempt to govern without a parliament and were thus a Cause of the Civil War.

The English puritans were sympathetic to the Scots' resistance to High Anglicanism but suspicious of what they saw as their attempts to interfere in English business. Again, this attitude prefigured the concerns of the Commonwealth era.

The late Conrad Russell writes: There was more to it than that.

Ripon & District Light Railway

So there I was walking the towpath of the Ripon Canal when, on the far bank, I saw what looked like the remains of an industrial railway.

I continued to the next bridge, crossed it and then worked my way back through some modern housing to find what I had seen. It turned out to be the Ripon & District Light Railway.

As its website says:

The permanent 2' gauge railway uses Hudson track and rolling stock and Lister locomotives. Its purpose is to move maintenance materials around a small development of houses and light industrial workshops - and to play trains!

The owner, Neill Clayton, was friendly and explained that all the track and rolling stock had been purchased elsewhere and brought to the site. He showed me some of the treasures in his collection - the wagons I saw across the canal had come from an old sewage farm railway system.

And the name? Neill's website explains:

Ripon & District Light Railway draws its name and inspiration from a 1904 proposal to build a 2'6" gauge line linking Fountains Abbey and Ripon town with the North Eastern Railway's main-line station at Ripon. 

The project was welcomed by the City Council - until they realised how much disruption would be caused by laying track through medieval streets. The North Eastern Railway played on these fears - and won approval for their novel 'motor bus' service as an alternative.

The Ripon Canal meets the River Ure

The Ripon Canal runs for a little over two miles from its basin near the centre of the city, past the racecourse to the River Ure.

I walked the towpath and when I arrived at the far end of canal I found the Ure was very high - this was the summer of 2012, after all. The Ure has come from Wensleydale and flows down to York, by which time it has changed its name to become the Ouse.

Then a boat obligingly appeared. The photograph above shows it coming off the Ure and entering the canal. I helped with the first lock (named Oxclose Lock) and then walked back to Ripon.

Ripon canal basin

For many years Ripon was the most northerly point on Britain's inland waterway system. The Ripon Canal takes you to the River Ure, and from there you can navigate via the South Yorkshire waterways to the Trent and the Midland canals.

In truth, this status was purely theoretical for much of the canal's history. According to Wikipedia, the Ripon Canal was impassable by 1906, officially abandoned in 1956 and not fully restored until 1996.

In 2002 Ripon lost its status, as the Lancaster Canal was connected with the main system by the construction of the Ribble Link.

So now the most northerly point on the system is Tewitfield, the current northern limit to navigation on the Lancaster Canal. However, there are plans to restore this waterway all the way to its original terminus at Kendal, even though this will involve some new lengths of canal to undo the damage caused by the construction of the M6.

Anyway, this is Ripon canal basin, which I found close to the centre of the city on a lovely sunny afternoon.