Mighty Baby: House Without Windows

Martin Stone hopped, pre-dawn, through the Cheshire street market, scavenging books. Winklepickers, tourniquet trousers, mildewed beret, bulging swagbag: Blind Pew impersonated by Max Wall. Cigarette grafted to trembling, prehensile fingers, he was an anthology of retro fashion. And in his wake there shimmered a vortex of gossip and, amazingly, goodwill. The stallholders, having been swiftly dispossessed of their choicest treasures, reminisced so wistfully about him that he was granted a prematurely posthumous status. His regular disappearances were eagerly anticipated: nobody speaking to him could believe he was actually there. Conversation seemed to be post-synchronised. If I now revisit Ron with his cargo of competitively priced publishers' "seconds", the first thing he'll say is: "Any news of Martin? Lovely feller."

Before he profiled the bookscout Martin Stone for the Independent in 1995, Iain Sinclair had lightly fictionalised him as Nicholas Lane in his dark and fizzing 1987 novel White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings.

But before that, before he became a legendary finder of rare and lost books, Martin Stone had a musical career. He played guitar with a number of bands, notably Mighty Baby. They played the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 and Glastonbury in 1971. The track above is taken from their first LP, also called Mighty Baby, which was issued in 1969.

And Stone still plays. White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings was published in Uppingham by Goldmark. And on Youtube you can find a video of Martin Stone and Friends playing at the Goldmark Gallery there in 2011.

The last day of Birmingham Corporation Tramways

The last of Birmingham's once extensive tramway system closed on 4 July 1953.

Soon trams will return to the city centre.

Peter Cook nearly fought Hampstead for the Liberal Democrats

One of the perks of helping out with Liberal Democrat News at the party's conference was that I got to talk about The Archers with Jock Gallagher, who used to edit the programme, and comedy with Adrian Slade.

Adrian was the man who auditioned Peter Cook for the Cambridge Footlights. I remember him saying that Cook was the funniest person he had ever met. You would spend the whole evening with him laughing, but the next morning you wouldn't be able to remember what it was he had said.

Today I picked up a copy Something Like Fire: Peter Cook Remembered. Edited by his wife Lin, it contains tributes to Cook by many people who knew him.

One of those people is Adrian Slade, and he tells a story about Cook I had not heard before:

He had always felt more at home with the Liberals than any other party and he told me that he relished the idea of taking on Glenda Jackson, who had just become Labour candidate for Hampstead. The Hampstead Liberal Democrat candidacy was still vacant and for a short time he was on the verge of being persuaded by me to put himself forward for the next general election (1992). Discussions had become almost official when a new project intervened and he backed away. It would have been an intriguing and explosive contest.

Forget your bear and hare: My favourite advert this Christmas

1970s nostaligia: The Protectors

I have spent chunks of the past two days wrestling with public transport and losing, so here is some 1970s nostalgia to cheer me up. To be honest, I have much clearer memories of the theme song than I do of the series itself.

The Protectors was unusual in being a Gerry Anderson series that had nothing to do with puppets or science fiction. It starred Robert Vaughn (searching even then for the lost vowel in his name) and Nyree Dawn Porter (famous in those days for The Forsyte Saga).

Fifty-two episodes were made between 1972 and 1974. According to TV Heaven:

Written by the top TV scriptwriters of the day, The Protectors scripts were of a frequently high calibre, set against a backdrop of glamorous locations and told at a cracking pace. In typical Gerry Anderson style, the introduction sequence featured car chases, punch-ups and explosions and the ending had a stirring theme tune, ‘Avenues and Alleyways’, which became a top forty hit (charting at number 37) for Tony Christie and until 2005 it remained the singers longest-running chart hit.

You can hear the full song - and see Christie in front of some very 1972 decor - on Youtube. The video above shows the opening and closing titles of the show.

Bishop's Castle: "That despicable mass of rottenness"

I once wrote in my House Points column for the much-missed Liberal Democrat News:

The steep main street of Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire runs from the site of the long-vanished castle down to a church with a Norman tower. 

At the top of that street is a collection of fine Georgian houses. When you discover how they were paid for, you realise there is nothing new about political corruption. 

Before the Great Reform Act of 1832 Bishop’s Castle was a notorious rotten borough. Despite having fewer than a hundred electors for much of its history, the town returned two MPs. (There were worse cases: Old Sarum – a hilltop above Salisbury – had two MPs and no residents at all.) 

Not surprisingly, this situation led to corruption. But it did not take the form we generally imagine when we think of the elections of past centuries. This was not a case of candidates plying voters with free drink and then dragging them off to the polls. 

Instead, the electors of Bishop’s Castle realised their votes were of great value to would-be MPs and sold them for hard cash.

Which is why, in an 1832 article welcoming the Great Reform Act, the Spectator described the town as "that despicable mass of rottenness".

Nelson Mandela's statement from the dock, 1964

Nelson Mandela has died.

Let us remember him through his words from the dock at the opening of his trial in 1964 - you can read the whole statement on the African National Congress site:

In my youth in the Transkei I listened to the elders of my tribe telling stories of the old days. Amongst the tales they related to me were those of wars fought by our ancestors in defence of the fatherland. The names of Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and Makana, Squngthi and Dalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukhuni, were praised as the glory of the entire African nation. I hoped then that life might offer me the opportunity to serve my people and make my own humble contribution to their freedom struggle. This is what has motivated me in all that I have done in relation to the charges made against me in this case. 

Having said this, I must deal immediately and at some length with the question of violence. Some of the things so far told to the Court are true and some are untrue. I do not, however, deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness, nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation, and oppression of my people by the Whites. ... 

During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Mandela's release from prison in 1990, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall they year before, marked the dawn of a hopeful decade in politics. Suddenly the good guys were winning.

That spirit did not survive 9/11, but that has more to do with the inadequacy of the West's leaders than it does with the objective threat from terrorism.

We must hope that South Africa's leaders will be up to maintaining Mandela's legacy.

The diving board at Coate Water gains listed status

Last summer I posted a video about a campaign to preserve the Art Deco diving board at Coate Water near Swindon.

It looks as though that campaign has been successful, as the Swindon Advertiser reported on Saturday that it has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade II structure.

The paper also tells us:

The board at Coate Water was first constructed out of wood in 1922. The platform was later replaced with the current concrete diving stage, designed by JBL Thompson in 1935. 

It was officially opened by mayor Reuben George, who took the first dive from the board, and took so long to resurface onlookers feared he had drowned.

Coate Water was the birthplace of one of this blog's heroes - the 19th-century writer Richard Jefferies. You can read more about him and it in a guest post by Rebecca Welshman.

Later. There's more on the English Heritage website.

"The DfE are talking b*******," a senior Lib Dem source said

It's all kicking off in the Coalition.

BBC News reports:

The Liberal Democrats have accused the Department for Education of "going rogue" by briefing against Nick Clegg. 

The deputy prime minister has announced primary schools in England will get an extra £150m for new kitchens and dining rooms, to cope with the roll-out of free meals for infant pupils next year. 

This would be part-funded by an £80m education underspend, Mr Clegg said. 

But, after an education official told newspapers this was not the case, a Lib Dem spokesman accused them of "lying".

The Daily Mail adds some colour:

A DfE source said: 'There is no spare money in either the basic needs or maintenance budget to pay for Clegg's kitchens.' 

It was suggested the money would be taken from funds used to provide extra school places. 

But furious Lib Dems hit back, insisting the policy had been agreed by David Cameron and George Osborne, and Mr Gove's ministry should fall into line. 

"The DfE are talking b*******," a senior Lib Dem source said.

"Gove and the DfE had their eye on the underspend for free schools... which I think explains the slight bitterness from the DfE in some of the briefing. 

"What we are seeing from DfE is them going rogue. They are completely out of step. 

"It is time for them to stop whining and get behind a policy that they are going to have to deliver. The DfE are lying if they say there is no money."

The Mail also says that Downing Street made it clear that it was Tory Mr Gove's department that were out of line.

'The position is absolutely the one the DPM's office have set out,' the Prime Minister's official spokesman said.

David Cameron has no great interest in policy, which is why he gave Andrew Lansley his head and allowed him to implement heath reforms that were heartfelt but that no one else understood. Once Lansley threatened to become a political liability he was moved on.

I have some sympathy with Gove's views on education and the teaching unions are always angry with the government, so they tend to be discounted. But if Gove becomes unpopular with the wider electorate he may find himself leaving his current post.

Lady Allen of Hurtwood and the adventure playground movement

Back in July 2008 I described Lady Allen of Hurtwood as one of my heroines. So thanks to Rethinking Childhood for pointing me to this short documentary about her work from around 1970.

The blog warns us that the film's terminology about children is not that we would use today and rightly warns us that "Lady Allen’s accent could cut glass at 20 paces".

But it goes on:

But do not let any of this put you off, or you will miss out on as clear a manifesto for adventurous play as you are ever likely to see. 

The documentary pulses with children’s appetite for autonomy, and includes some powerful and moving images of children straining every sinew to achieve the goals they had set themselves in their play. What is more, Lady Allen’s ferocious faith in children’s competences is a thrill to see, and still resonates today.

So farewell then Invicta Plastics

Invicta Plastics of Leicester has gone into administration. The name may mean nothing to you, but readers of a certain age will certainly remember the Master Mind game, which the company made.

It was everywhere in the early 1970s. And, let us be honest, it was a little dull.

You may remember the illustration on the cover - the magus and the Chinese girl. An article on the University of Leicester website tells the story behind it. (The Leicester Mercury report says that Bill Woodward died earlier this year.)

Later the company made Comic Relief red noses and used to display one on the front of its factory on the A6 in Oadby. A few years ago this was demolished to build a Waitrose supermarket and Invicta Plastics has been based at Braunstone Frith since then.

Nick Clegg on human rights in China

As the prime minister visited Beijing, the Liberal Democrat leader said that although he understood the "huge opportunity" presented by the forging of trade links between the two countries, "China must both address its own human rights record and uphold the values of the United Nations".

But that prime minister was Gordon Brown and this quote comes from a 2008 PoliticsHome report.

Former Ludlow town clerk wins unfair dismissal fight

This blog has long taken an interest in the sometimes colourful affairs of Ludlow Town Council.

It is back in the Shropshire Star today:

Veronica Calderbank quit her role at Ludlow Town Council in June last year, claiming she was left with no choice after being asked to work long hours without a break, despite councillors knowing she had a crippling back problem. 

At the end of a month-long employment tribunal hearing in Birmingham, it was ruled she had been unfairly constructively dismissed. 

A hearing to assess the amount of money she will be awarded has been set for February 18. Judge Rohan Pirani suggested Mrs Calderbank might want her job back in view of the substantial losses in salary and pension, and told Councillor Jim Smithers, Ludlow’s mayor, and Councillor Nick Holcombe: “We as a tribunal can order you to reinstate her.”

Newsnight's forgettable memory man

The close of this evening's Newsnight, featuring the world memory champion, was strangely reminiscent of this...

Unfinished London: Mill Hill East to Bushey Heath

A likeable film about a London Underground line that was started but never completed.

One thing the film does not explain is that the mighty Aldenham bus depot (actually in Elstree) was built to be the main depot for the Northern Line. It was practically complete when the war broke out in 1939 and was used as a factory to build Halifax bombers.

After the war, when the Mill Hill East to Bushey Heath line project was cancelled, it became London Transport's main bus maintenance depot. It closed in 1986 and the site has since been redeveloped.

Six of the Best 403

John Whitehouse on Liberal Democrat Voice is right to suggest that we should hear more discussion of the opportunity cost of spending £50bn on HS2.

"You hear it all the time – the Government’s cuts are 'ideological' (i.e. bad), the Green Party’s opposition to nuclear is 'ideological' (i.e. invalid). Just as Cameron denied the charge, Greens sometimes protest that their opposition to nuclear power isn't ideological. Hang on a second, aren't they all involved in politics?" Tom Chance's Blog is also right to defend the concept of 'ideology'.

Diary of a Hack puts the boot in to Owen Jones and the last Labour government. He's right too.

The negative portrayals of welfare recipients in the UK press are in contrast to the positive stories which dominate Swedish and Danish mass media, says Christian Albrekt Larsen on the LSE's EUROPP blog.

Living with Rats says it is time to rethink local economies through food: "After five years of austerity and with more to come, the need to rethink local economies is more pressing than ever. Governments are not going to do it for us. The big society has evaporated as a political idea. Many of the new private sector jobs are precarious, low-wage roles with few prospects, barely keeping body and soul together."

Sixty-three years after his film debut, James Fox is interviewed for the Guardian by Simon Hattenstone.

Three wise mice, Frankenstein and chocolate raisins: Count Arthur Strong’s Christmas message

Fracking will not reduce UK gas prices

The Guardian reminds us:

In August, Cameron said: "If we don't back this technology, we will miss a massive opportunity to help families with their bills … fracking has real potential to drive energy bills down." In July, Osborne said: "This a real chance to get cheaper energy for Britain … a major new energy source that can reduce energy bills."

But they were wrong, as the article shows by quoting the former BP chairman Lord Browne:

"We are part of a well-connected European gas market and, unless it is a gigantic amount of gas, it is not going to have material impact on price."

Chris Huhne made the same point at greater length in another Guardian article a couple of month ago:

If we had US gas prices, consumers would save hundreds of pounds a year. Gas enthusiasts say this is due to the US fracking revolution driving down prices. George Osborne thinks if we turn Cheshire and Sussex into wildcatting Texas, our prices will fall. He has even given fracking a tax break. 

But there would be no such effect. We have pipelines to mainland Europe. More gas from the North Sea did not much cut British prices. The US gas price is so low because it is hard to ship. It has to be liquefied, put in special ships, and then regasified when it arrives. The fracking revolution in the US has happened more quickly than the ability to turn import terminals into export terminals. 

The key to lower British energy bills is not our own production, but more US export terminals.

None of this tells us whether or not fracking should go ahead in Britain, but it does show that the arguments of some of its warmest supporters are misconceived.

Narrow Plains: Somewhere in Between

I am so down with the kids that bands follow me on Twitter.

You can read all about Narrow Plains in this interview on I'm All Ears Music Blog.

"There isn't any UKIP in Scotland. It's been wiped out."

Nigel Farage has sacked the leader of UKIP in Scotland, Christopher Monckton, by email and the Scottish party's chairman and chief fundraiser have quit in protest. UKIP's national executive has also wound up the party's ruling "Scottish committee" and an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for today has been scrapped.

This is the latest stage in a faction fight in UKIP in Scotland that has already seen six of the party's nine shortlisted candidates for the European parliament elections resign.

A Sunday Herald report says:

Speaking to the Sunday Herald, Monckton said Ukip had been "slow" to deal with "a very tiresome faction" that was destabilising the party in Scotland, saying: "They prevented Ukip from functioning for nearly a year." 

On Farage sacking him, Monckton said: "I'm not happy he didn't telephone me before he sacked me. I thought Nigel would have had the common sense to ring me." 

He added: "In Ukip, there is an absence of professionalism." 

Monckton said the recent changes left the party without any structure or purpose, adding: "There isn't any Ukip in Scotland. It's gone. It's been wiped out." 

And he said: "London now realises it has made the most ghastly mistake." 

A senior source said: "This sacking is an example of Farage's control freakery."

Back in February I suggested that UKIP might evolve into an English nationalist party. These events may have brought that development closer.