Today's winner can be found in High Street, Oakham.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Direct rail service from London Euston to Shrewsbury returns
Welcome news in the Shropshire Star today: the Office of Rail Regulation has given its approval for a direct rail link service between Shrewsbury and London.
There will be two workings each way from Monday to Saturday, and one on Sunday.
The good news for me is that the service will call at Coventry. When I first started going to Shropshire I used sometimes to catch a train from Leicester to Coventry and pick up the Shrewsbury service there.
These days getting from Leicester to Coventry involves a change of trains at Nuneaton, but it will still be well worth it to avoid the experience of changing at Birmingham New Street.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Rev comes to Market Bosworth
From the Leicester Mercury:
An unholy row has erupted after a parish priest announced that a ceremony to mark his civil partnership is to be staged at his church.
A local parishioner has said that the service to celebrate the partnership between the Reverend Dominic McClean and his male partner at St Peter’s Church in Market Bosworth amounts to a “gay wedding”.Thanks to...
It's like a a real life episode of Rev - http://t.co/qiJPxzSrA5 - row erupts over parish priest's civil partnership service at church
— Ned Trifle (@nedtrifle) September 15, 2014
...for giving me an excuse to use one of my photos of St Peter's, Market Bosworth.
The English question and the whale in the bathtub
The West Lothian question should not trouble a Conservative over much. Why overturn a constitutional arrangement that works in the name of abstract principles like ‘fairness’ or ‘justice’? That’s the sort of folly that Liberals and Radicals go in for.
But David Cameron had to act on it and act quickly. Because today large parts of the Conservative Party are hardly Conservative at all. The brighter among them do care about abstract principles, but most are Angry White Men who believe the disappointments of their lives and the failings of British society are the fault of Europe or the Scots or some other group institution or group.
It is from this latter group that most Conservative activists and increasing numbers of their backbench MPs are drawn. Such people believe the Scots already get more than their fair share from the English taxpayer – hence the imperative on Cameron to be seen to offer the English something once he had decided to issue a pledge in an attempt to buy off the Yes campaign in the Scottish referendum.
And if he hadn’t acted, not only would his own party have been in revolt against him, Nigel Farage would likely have emerged as the champion of the disaffected English.
So it looks as if we are to have English votes for English laws. In theory this is a fair reform, but the practical problems are that it will either make no difference (that would be the situation in most parliaments) or that it would lead to the UK being governed by one party and England by another and prove to be unworkable.
So, much as the idea of an English parliament meeting in York appeals, I cannot see it as a sensible option. Nor am I attracted by the idea of artificial English regions, each with its own assembly and capital.
I agonised about these problems in a book review in Liberal Democrat News a few years ago:
What to do about England in the new devolved United Kingdom is a question that will not go away. A Useful Fiction quotes Anthony King’s description of the country under the current settlement as “a huge whale in a small bathtub”, and without the counterbalance that the new parliaments offer in Scotland and Wales, it is England that has suffered most from the demise of local democracy.
The traditional Liberal answer is to call for assemblies to be set up in the English regions, but I do not find this attractive. There are problems on agreeing where the boundaries should be drawn and the inconvenient fact that on the only occasion when plans for an assembly were put to the public (in the North East in 2004), they were voted down decisively.
More than that, the regional system Labour has set up acts like a shadow, unelected variety of local government that makes it easier for Whitehall to force new infrastructure projects through in the force of popular opposition.
Perhaps the real problem is that English regional government appeals to those who do not feel comfortable with Englishness at all. Many on the liberal-left who are indulgent to Celtic nationalism still fear that England is too big and too irredeemably Tory to be allowed a modern constitutional form. They would rather see English identity hobbled by a collection of smaller assemblies.If we are not to have an English parliament or a comprehensive system of regional government, then we shall have to learn to live with a looser solution where large cities and counties that want more power are given it and those that do not continue under a regime much like the one that exists at present. At the very least, we are going to have to give up the expression ‘postcode lottery’.
And as for coming to terms with Englishness, I commend a Spectator article by Nick Cohen:
The danger for Labour is that it could find itself portrayed as the enemy of the English. It is a novel position for the party. Most Labour politicians are wary of the left intelligentsia – and vice versa – and know the dangers of the electorate thinking them unpatriotic. But patriotism is changing. It is not enough for a political party to show that it loves Britain; it has to show that it loves each of its constituent parts. For Labour, the only national party with strong roots in England, Wales and Scotland, the balkanisation of Britain, represents a moment of danger.
The question now is no longer: does Labour love Britain? But does Labour love England? Maybe not enough to allow fair treatment for the English electorate. Labour is giving every indication that it will not accept English votes for English laws. It wants to devolve more powers to English cities and regions, as do the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. But it is not contemplating a federal Britain, and is refusing to cooperate with David Cameron’s attempts to answer the English question.
I sympathise with its reasons. I don’t want to see Welsh and Scottish politicians excluded from English life, not least because they are the men and women most likely to forward left wing interests. I hate the prospect of the petty, almost racist, populism of the Scottish nationalists spreading south. But my Britain is going or gone. The Labour Party cannot expect others to stand by an archaic system, rigged for the left’s benefit.Who will benefit from the new system born from Salmond’s populism and the panic of the leaders of the UK parties in the face of it remains to be seen. But that is the battle we must now fight.
Leonard Cohen: Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye
It seems odd to be wishing a 1960s musician a happy 80th birthday, but we had better get used to it. Even Steve Winwood is 66 these days.
Here is Leonard Cohen at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 and he is just as cool today as he was then.
I have chosen two other Leonard Cohen songs as Sunday music videos - I must be grown up:
John Leech to speak at East Midlands Lib Dems conference
The autumn conference and annual general meeting of the East Midlands Liberal Democrats will take place in Hinckley on Saturday 1 November.
The keynote speaker will be John Leech, Lib Dem MP for Manchester Withington, and the four candidates to be the party's new president have also been invited.
Book via the East Midlands Lib Dems website.
“It was as black as the night sky”: The Beast of Harborough returns
The Hatborough Mail reports that the Black Beast of Harborough was seen near Lubenham on two consecutive evenings earlier this month.
We have previously reported sightings of the Beast near Arthingworth and Foxton.
We have previously reported sightings of the Beast near Arthingworth and Foxton.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Peter Capaldi travelling in time before Doctor Who
Each episode of the second series of The All New Alexei Sayle Show, broadcast in 1995, featured a Drunk in Time sketch. This was a parody of a long-forgotten American series called The Time Tunnel.
As well as Alexei Sayle, they featured Jenny Agutter and Alfred Marks as the controllers and Jim Carter as an historical figure. Here he is King Herod.
And Sayle's fellow traveller in time was played by an actor called Peter Capaldi. Whatever happened to him?
The street name signs of Oakham
In Oakham today to visit the Dowager Lady Bonkers in hospital, I noticed that at one time the practice in the town was to paint street names on the side of houses.
Some, like Station Street, are well preserved. Others, like Kings Road, have decayed.
And some, like Long Row, have been imaginatively vandalised.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Sandy Denny
Over the years I have posted several songs by Sandy Denny (photographed here in about 1970):
- Solo (with Fairport Convention)
- Bushes and Briars
- Fotheringay
- Who Knows Where the Time Goes (with the Strawbs)
Read more about Sandy Denny.
84 per cent Yes vote in Billesdon
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| Church Street, Billesdon © Andrew Tatlow |
No, Billesdon is not an enclave of Scottish Nationalism. It is a village in Leicestershire and it had its own referendum yesterday.
In it, local residents voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed neighbourhood plan. The 84 per cent Yes vote came from a turnout of 55 per cent.
I hope the plan will give them real control over the development and preservation of their village.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
The skeletons found holding hands
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| Hallaton © Graham Horn |
Today's newspapers loved the story of the two skeletons that were found holding hands. But even more interesting is the place that they were found.
The University of Leicester Archaeological Services website explains:
ULAS archaeologists have been working with local volunteers to uncover the lost chapel of St Morrell overlooking the small village of Hallaton in east Leicestershire. The Fourth year of excavations with the Hallaton Fieldwork Group (HFWG) has revealed the full plan of the chapel as well as the cemetery and evidence that the hillside has been used since at least the Roman period.
The location of the chapel was unknown before research by local historian John Morison suggested it might be on Hare Pie Bank where the annual Easter Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking take place. Geophysical survey by HFWG showed a square boundary (approximately 36m across) with features inside it. Subsequent excavations by ULAS and the group have uncovered the chapel thought to be a place of pilgrimage in the medieval period and a pilgrim badge with ‘Morrell’ inscribed on it was found within the walls of the chapel.
The excavations have identified the walls and tiled floor of the chapel as wells as fragments of stone masonry, wall plaster, tiles and lead from the windows. A number of silver pennies dating between the 12th – 16th centuries have also been found on the site indicating when the chapel was in use.And Dr Graham Jones will tell you all about St Morrell. His seems to have been a local cult, and he is not marked anywhere beyond Hallaton:
The name in English is derived from French and means 'small, shrivelled dark thing' - compare the name of the Morello cherry. Queen Elizabeth I of England was known (not entirely pejoratively, perhaps) as 'a little morrella'. Because of the name's unusual flavour in the context of an English local church, the conjecture has been canvassed that it is a corruption of some Old English name such as Merewalh. This was a name borne by a Mercian sub-king on the Welsh marches of England. These lie in the far west Midlands rather than the east, but Merewalh was a benefactor of an east Midlands saint, Botolph of Icanho (what later became Boston), and several of his relatives were commemorated in Leicestershire and its neighbouring counties.
However, a much more plausible explanation, and one with evidential support, is that Morrell, 'Mawrell' in 1532, represents St Maurilius of Angers, a fifth-century bishop and patron of that French town, whose legend purported that he sought exile in England where he worked as a gardener for an English noble. The families of Norman lords of Hallaton originated in that region of France. Also, land in Leicestershire and neighbouring Warwickshire was given in the eleventh century to the monastery of St Nicholas of Angers.
Is this Britain's most prolific father? Bus driver fathers 26 children by 9 women
The Daily Mirror wins our Headline of the Day Award.
Reader's voice: It's not your usual sort of story, is it?
Liberal England replies: No, but it gives me an excuse to use this picture.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Charlotte Barnes to contest Ludlow for the Liberal Democrats
From the Shropshire Star:
Charlotte Barnes, Shropshire Councillor for Bishop's Castle, has been selected by Ludlow Liberal Democrats to contest the MP Philip Dunne's seat in the Ludlow constituency.
A mother-of-two, Mrs Barnes has built a reputation as a local campaigner on issues such as unwanted housing, the Bishop's Castle Youth Club and the future of the town's business park. She is currently pressing the mobile provider EE over their poor signal in the area.
She said: "It's a great honour to be selected to represent the Lib Dems in next year's contest.
"I will be following in the footsteps of great local campaigners such as Matthew Green and Heather Kidd. "We face some real challenges in this rural part of Shropshire.
We are often neglected by both Central Government and the County. The threat of our hospital services disappearing, falling school rolls and a chaotic slash and burn council are just some of the problems our area faces."I had a drink with Charlotte when I was on holiday in the county a couple of summers ago. I am sure she will make an excellent candidate.
My Scottish forebear who defied Queen Victoria
It feels a good evening to honour my great great grandmother's brother Sandy Campbell, who is described in Robert Smith's book A Queen's Country:
Sandy Campbell sported a magnificent beard. Queen Victoria didn't like it and asked him to remove it. She said she liked all her stalkers and ghillies to be clean-shaven. But Sandy refused to part with his beard, saying he had never shaved all his life and didn't intend to start now. He told the Queen that he would rather go back where he came from. The matter was quietly dropped and Sandy and his beard stayed at Balmoral ...
Sandy Campbell was a favourite with Queen Victoria. In his years at Loch Muick he met many members of the Royal Family and their VIP guests, but he was probably known as much for his hobbies as he was for his skill as a stalker. He dabbled in taxidermy in an age when "stuffers" were much in demand. The animals and birds he stuffed were put on display, along with other curios, in the Glassallt Shiel's coach-house - "the Loch Muick Museum", Princess Alexandra called it.
Stones found in the hills, cairngorms, quartz, pieces of rock-crystal and rock-salt, deer antlers and the horns of sheep and goats, foxes' masks and brushes - they all found their way into the museum. I never discovered what happened to Sandy's collection in the Loch Muick Museum. If it had survived the years it might have found a place in the visitors' centre at the Spittal.
"He was a bit of an eccentric," said John Robertson. He planted honeysuckle away out towards the Dubh Loch, halfway between in and the Glass-alt, beside a cairn of stones. He also planted holly trees along the lochside. John thought that only two of them had survived.
Today, the museum has gone and everything in it, but if things had been different Sandy might have been remembered by one of the cairns he would put up at the drop of a hat. "If he parted company with somebody," said John, with a grin, "he would build a cairn." He erected one at the lochside and called it Campbell's Cairn, but his self-made monument was demolished by an avalanche about 1957.The illustration shows the ballroom at Balmoral, which today houses an exhibition of royal artefacts. Among them is a silver figure of a Highland games athlete by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm.
It is labelled "S. Campbell," and I like to think my forebear was the model for it.
Alistair Carmichael: Shetland may reconsider its place in Scotland after yes vote
An article published on the Guardian website this evening has, judging by the comments put the cat among the pigeons:
Oil-rich Shetland may want to reconsider whether it stays part of an independent Scotland in the event of a yes vote, the Scotland secretary, Alistair Carmichael, has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Carmichael said if the islands were to vote strongly no but the Scottish national vote was a narrow yes, then a "conversation about Shetland's position and the options that might be open to it" would begin.
The Liberal Democrat MP, who represents Orkney and Shetland in Westminster and has been secretary of state for Scotland in the coalition government since last October, said those options might include the islands modelling themselves on the Isle of Man, which is a self-governing crown dependency, or on the Faroe Islands, which are an autonomous country within the Danish realm.
Asked if he was suggesting that Alex Salmond should not necessarily take for granted that oilfields off Shetland will belong to Scotland in the event of a yes vote, he said: "That would be one of the things that we would want to discuss. I wouldn't like to predict at this stage where the discussions would go."
His comments were echoed by Tavish Scott, Shetland's MSP, who, when asked whether Shetland would have to obey the will of Scotland if it voted yes, said: "Will it now? We'll have to look at our options. We're not going to be told what to do by Alex Salmond."
The option of becoming a crown dependency was "something we will look at", Scott said, though he ruled out considering full independence for the islands.
New blow for Salmond
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
A steam train arrives at King's Cross/St Pancras Underground station
Filmed, I believe, on 13 January 2013.
Former dinner lady jailed for running £150k skunk cannabis factory at her Leicester home
Headline of the Day sees a home win by the Leicester Mercury.
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