17 May in Liberal England history

I enjoyed doing this for 18 April - whether my readers enjoyed it as much is another question - so here is a survey of what has concerned this blog down the years on 17 May.

2019

Hard times in the Shropshire hills. Stiperstones primary school was to close and Bishop's Castle residents were planning to block the road in a protest against bus cuts.


2018

I previewed A Very British Scandal as the first episode was about to be shown.



2017

"Boris Johnson moos 'like a cow' and devours cakes on bakery visit" ran my Headline of the Day.

You can't say we weren't warned.


2016

Talking of Boris Johnson, I blogged about his failure when mayor to publish a report on air pollution near London' schools.


2015

Included in a Six of the Best, Down at Third Man was worrying about the future of English cricket:

"The players coming in during the next few years come from a generation deprived of free to air cricket. This generation will have come in on the echoes. Soon it will be a privileged generation: in the main sons/daughters of club cricketers and sons of parents able to afford a very expensive education, or sons able to win scholarships to such institutions."

2014

I went to Woodhouse Eaves, which had once been a sort of health resort in Leicestershire's Charnwood Forest:

Today, the first hot day of the year, the countryside was alive with hikers and Scouts, giving it something of the atmosphere of its 1930s heyday.

2013

UKIP supporters, I suggested, were not that keen on the UK. They were English Nationalists.


2012

I quoted Christopher Hitchens and his praise for Karl Popper's insistence on the importance of argument:

It is very seldom, as he noticed, that in debate any one of two evenly matched antagonists will succeed in actually convincing or "converting" the other. But it is equally seldom that in a properly conducted argument either antagonist will end upholding exactly the same position as that with which he began.

2011

Lord Bonkers reacted to the headline "Fox blasts British overseas aid plan":

It was clearly set out in the Coalition agreement. Now clear off down the garden and leave our dustbins alone.

2010

I quoted something I had written for the Guardian website back in 2006 (when it paid much better than it does today):

When [Charles] Kennedy stood for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 1999, the West Highland Free Press - a radical newspaper published in his own constituency - remarked that people in London were beginning to ask what it had been asking for 15 years: what exactly does Charles Kennedy stand for? 

Though he won that contest and went on to lead the party for nearly seven years, we never really found out.

2009

Those were the days. I wrote seven posts on 17 May 2009 and most of them were about politics.

In one of them I argued that:

the causes of the anger over MPs' expenses go beyond indignation at what has been done with our money. That anger is so great because this affair has laid bare what an unequal society we now live in.

2008

Michael Gove wanted to tell teachers what they should wear:

No doubt this is meant to appeal to Tory voters who like tradition, but in reality there is little tradition of teachers dressing smartly. The traditional dress for teachers was the academic gown, which was designed precisely to distance education from the world where a good business suit matters. 

Less grand teachers wore a tweed jacket with leather patches and a worried expression.

2007

Embed from Getty Images

I asked why people could not forgive Ming Campbell for being old:

If a comedian or journalist had made similar reference to the fact that a politician was a woman or was gay or was Black, it would have finished that comedian or journalist's career. Yet in our society it is perfectly acceptable to make fun of people for being old.

2006

The idea that the state should decide the speed at which people walk their dogs is ridiculous.

I still hold that view today.

2005

I discussed Siôn Simon Syndrome:

there is a law that people accuse others of the faults they most fear in themselves, much as those who make most fuss about homosexuality are supposed to be repressed homosexuals themselves.

2004

Iraq Body Count estimated the number of civilian deaths in the country since the start of the invasion at somewhere between 9,148 and 11,005

How Conservative policy doomed Stiperstones School

Over the years this blog has followed the campaign - at first triumphant and later doomed - to save Stiperstones primary school in Shropshire.

I have been sent a letter about its imminent closure that was written for publication in the Shropshire Star.

As I cannot find it on the newspaper's website, I shall keep the letter anonymous while from quoting it:

I have just learnt that this term Stiperstones School is to close after more than a century. It follows Westbury a couple of years earlier and, no doubt, others will follow. ...

These closures are due to the way in which the government funds schools, i.e. by head count. The logic is that fewer pupils per class equates to greater costs per individual. This is typical of silo thinking and top down decision making. 

The question of increased transport costs, stress on younger children having to travel further to alternative schools, and the impact on families living in rural communities is not factored in, not to mention the extra cost of extending the facilities of the schools to which they are transferred. 

The bottom line is always money, ignoring the fact that schools with a good ratio of teachers to pupils are better able to cope with special needs, and are able to benefit from the help of local volunteers, for example in listening to reading. Current Government policy quite clearly threatens small schools. 

In the case of Stiperstones it would have needed almost double the roll to survive on current Government rules, which in this case would be beyond its health and safety limits! 

Our rural communities need to attract more young families and a good local school is one of the biggest incentives. This however, is strategic big picture thinking and sadly we are beset with knee-jerk ‘leadership’. ...

When the Lib Dems were in power in the Shirehall, no school was 'reviewed' until its roll had fallen to 20, nor considered for closure unless an inexorable and permanent decline was evident.

Stiperstones Primary School to close

Sad news from Shropshire and the Shropshire Star:

Stiperstones Church of England Primary School is set to shut, with children being moved to Norbury or Chirbury. 

The move came about after the federation in charge of the school said it was struggling with funding. 

The plan is set to be signed off by Shropshire Council’s cabinet at at meeting on May 22.

Back in 2011 I covered the campaign to save the school. Visiting the village that August I wrote that the school was:

convinced that its future is safe because it is entering a federation with  the school at Chirbury. I do hope these celebrations do not prove premature.

Well, it was granted another eight years of life.

Bishop's Castle loses its newsagent

I realise my concern with life in rural South Shropshire is a minority taste, though Stiperstones Primary School did make it into a recent book by David Boyle.

But it would be remiss of me not to notice this story from the Ludlow & Tenbury Wells Advertiser:

There are moves afoot to get the services of a newsagent back into Bishop's Castle. 

A group of people, including former employees, are looking at options to revive the newsagent that closed in the town a few weeks ago. 

The scheme is to look at a business that not only sells newspapers, tobacco and confectionery but also other items that people want to buy.

I wish them well. It sounds a winning business model to me.

From Snailbeach to the Stiperstones ridge by motorbike

We have, thanks to a drone, seen the remains of the lead mining industry at Snailbeach in Shropshire.

This film by the same cameraman takes us on a motorbike ride from the village to, if not the Devil's Chair, then at least the car park under the Stiperstones ridge from which you can climb up to see it.

Along the way we pass the chimney at the old Tankerville mine [2:06], the Stiperstones Inn [4:01] and Stiperstones primary school [4:15]  and The Bog Centre [9:42].

Can anyone tell me what the music is?

Stiperstones School to remain open

Early last year this blog was much concerned with the fate of Stiperstones primary school in my very favourite part of Shropshire.

Now the BBC News pages for the county confirm that the school is to remain open after agreeing to enter a federation with another primary school.

And a big Liberal England hello to Councillor Cecilia Motley, now the cabinet member responsible for schools in Shropshire. She is not quite Aggie Caesar-Homden, but she does confirm that you need a faintly exotic name to land this role at Shropshire Council.

Stiperstones Primary School

My first stop on the Shropshire Hills Shuttle was the village of Stiperstones. I wanted to have a coffee at the Stiperstones Inn and to see how the primary school was getting on.

As you can see from the photo above, it is convinced that its future is safe because it is entering a federation with  the school at Chirbury. I do hope these celebrations do not prove premature.

Good and bad news from Shropshire

There is new hope for Stiperstones School as its governors have agreed initial plans to form a federation with fellow primaries at Hope and Chirbury.

Someone is planing to reopen the Tally-Ho Inn at Bouldon in Corvedale.

But then there's this...

Shropshire Council still wants to close Stiperstones School

Yesterday Shropshire Council announced the results of its consultation over its proposals to close village schools in the county. It still intends to close Stiperstones School.

According to the Shropshire Star:

Faye Moore, lead member of the Stiperstones School steering committee, said the community had been left “absolutely gutted” with today’s council report.

She said: “We have all worked so hard to save the school. The council is not looking at the bigger picture and the effect this will have on the community.

“The standard of eduction here is very high and proven by the Ofsted report. I just can’t understand the decision.”

So it is over to the Hereford diocese of the Church of England. It may yet bear out a recent observation by Simon Jenkins:

As neighbourhood facilities such as the post office, the shop, the pub, the surgery, the police house, the branch library and the village school disappear, it is ironic that the one ubiquitous beacon of local community in a secular society is one that has stood since the middle ages, the church steeple.

Six of the Best 152

Writing for Liberal Democrat Voice, Merlene Emerson gives her impressions of Leicester South after being one of the busload of activists who came up from London last Saturday. (Thanks for the lift back to Zuffar Haq's HQ, by the way.)

Stephen Tall, also on Liberal Democrat Voice, defends a Liberal Democrat candidate who has been outed by her local paper as appearing in photos on a fetish site. My reaction was that this is just what you would expect in Northamptonshire, but you may find Stephen's take more enlightening.

I may just have chosen two of their articles, but Keith Nevols believes we need another Lib Dem Voice: "We need somewhere where we can have frank discussions about what we should be doing better, what went wrong at the last election, why our poll ratings are in single figures, how should we approach the next election, how can we make the coalition work and our own role within it, and, above all, where we can criticise our party’s leadership and have a proper debate and exchange of ideas?"

Richard Kemp has welcomed the move by Liberal Democrat peers to have government plans for Police Commissioners to be piloted in certain areas before they are brought in nationwide.

Think carefully before you call someone "a dinosaur" as an insult, counsels Insidious.

Not all is well in the Shropshire village of Snailbeach, reports Snailbeach Sheep: "the school is under threat, the toilets got a reprieve at the 11th hour, the church and chapels have dwindling congregations and spiralling costs, the road is slipping sideways down the hillside and the council haven't got the funds to pull it back up and on top of all that - pylons are thought to be a good idea for the valley."

Plan to save threatened Shropshire village schools

The campaign to save the Shropshire village schools threatened with closure is the subject of an article in today's Independent by Jeremy Sutcliffe. It concentrates on the schools at Stiperstones and Lydbury North.

Sutcliffe quotes the information officer of the National Association of Small Schools:

Small schools bring significant benefits, not just in sustaining rural communities. Ministers should see small schools as assets not liabilities. They offer a family-friendly, community-based model for education which is too precious to lose."

The article also reveals that the Hereford diocese of the Church of England is looking at alternatives which could mean the five church schools under threat - including Lydbury North and Stiperstones - being turned into a primary academy. All five would stay open on their present sites, under the direction of a single governing body.

Save Stiperstones School latest

It is time to catch up with the campaign to save Stiperstones Primary School in Shropshire. In recent days campaigners have staged a demonstration at County Hall in Shrewsbury and threatened the council with legal action over the way it has conducted its consultation process.

Why is the council so determined to close village schools in remote parts of the county? In an earlier post I suggested it was the ruling Conservative group's macho determination not to raise the Council Tax. But it turns out that every council in the land seems equally determined to do this. Why Labour councils are not putting up their local tax to enable them to spend more is a question for another day.

And you cannot blame Coalition cuts either. Because, at every consultation meeting, the council has insisted that any revenue or capital savings will be reinvested in education the county.

So what we appear to have is a Conservative group pursuing an essentially socialist policy of centralisation and standardisation. I smell ineffective politicians and over-mighty officers here.

My latest theory is that the whole process is an act of revenge by the Conservative councillor in charge of the process. She wants to get back at the world to make up for being obliged to go through life called Aggie Caesar-Homden.

I hope that winning our Name of the Day award will be some small recompense to her.

Open letter to all conservation organisations serving the Stiperstones area

Geoff Sproson writes:

I have a question for the council members, for the management boards or trustees of Natural England, English Heritage and Shropshire Wildlife Trust. Is the preservation of a vital and vibrant local community any less important than the preservation of a heathland, a lead mining site or a grove of ancient trees?

Stiperstones sings while Philip Dunne flounders

Stiperstones C of E Primary is a good school. The very positive ethos rests on deeply held Christian principles about the value of every child. As a consequence, school staff show great warmth towards pupils, and take good care of them.

The school focuses as much on pupils' personal as on their academic development. It is not surprising therefore that the pupils are happy, and greatly enjoy being at school. There is a good partnership with parents, who readily endorse the school's values. One satisfied parent wrote that her children were very positive about Stiperstones C of E Primary School because 'the staff are dedicated and give more than is expected of their time to improve the school and ensure the children have a well-rounded education.'


The school's inclusive ethos and the good quality of pastoral care lead to pupils' good personal development, including their good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. One school council member said that he would recommend the school because 'the teachers actually care for you like your parents.'

In lessons, pupils behave well and are attentive and responsive to their teachers and other adults, with whom they have very good relationships. In the playground and around the school, pupils are friendly and considerate towards others.

It's no wonder that people are fighting to keep Stiperstones Primary School open: this is an extract from the school's last Ofsted report.

As today's Shropshire Star reports, there have been two developments today. The school's 29 children have recorded a song, Don't Go Stiperstones, written by a former pupil.

And the area's Tory MP Philip Dunne has put his foot in it, chirrupng on local television about schools that are too small.

Another Star story says:

In the interview on the regional news programme, Mr Dunne said: “There comes a point when a school becomes too small to provide the quality of education that we all want for our children.”

Not surprisingly these remarks went down very badly with the parents of children at Stiperstones School and the same Shropshire Star report shows him desperately trying to undo the damage:

Mr Dunne today said: “They seem to have misinterpreted what I said as I have made no specific reference to Stiperstones School.”

The MP said he believed the school provided a good education and should not be closed.

But this is too weak. If Conservatism means anything beyond making sure the rich stay rich, then Dunne should be championing this school's virtues.

One final point of interest is that Stiperstones is a C of E school. This part of Shropshire was always a enclave of Nonconformity, in part because of the influx from Cornwall when the lead mines were developed in the nineteenth century.

The parents of children at Stiperstones School have now set up a Facebook page.

Shropshire Tories want to close village schools

As they so often do, the Conservatives are letting me down by not being Conservative enough. Because, reports the Shropshire Star, Tory run Shropshire Council is proposing to close a number of village schools.

Never mind the Big Society: aren't Tories meant to have romantic feelings about things like village schools?

My picture shows one of the threatened schools - Stiperstones Primary School, with the unmistakable hills behind. The campaign against the closures is already underway.