Luciana Berger

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Guthlac

It has been a very sad day for the Labour Party.  Not because seven MPs have resigned from the party – these things happen and I’m sure they will happen again.  No the reason why is because a senior member of the Labour Party had to resign because she had been subjected to continual anti semitic abuse.  I am sure there is room for some form of debate over whether certain things that have been said are or are not anti semitic but that really does miss the point.  A woman has been driven out of a major political party because she is a Jew.

If this were any other organisation, let’s say the Police, then the Labour Party would rightly be demanding an enquiry as to why this has happened.  The wilder fringes would have started concocted theories that may well fit their view of the world rather than the facts, such as they are.   The organisation would have been trying to recover from this and their leader would have been on TV trying to undo some of the reputational damage caused by the headline ‘…Senior member of staff hound out by anti semitism…’ .   Jeremy Corbyn’s response was somewhat light when addressing the accusation by Luciana Berger that she left because of what she described as institutionalised anti semitism.

Beyond the shame that any organisation should feel under these circumstances it is really  bad politics.   My son and his wife live in north London.   The other Sunday we visited them and were held up on the Hendon Lane because of children attending the local synagogue – as with the school run their parents had insisted on dropping their kids off right at the door.   So as we were waiting to get through this we noticed three security guards outside the building.    We later passed another synagogue where again there were security staff at the gates.   None of this was because of the Labour Party’s ability or otherwise to deal with anti semitism within its organisation but if I were a Jew and I heard Luciana Berger today then I may well start to join the dots.  Which leads us to the Labour Party’s political problem.

The borough of Barnet has three Conservative MPs.  None of the constituencies are safe seats:

Result from 2017 General Election

They are all Conservative/Labour marginals and so are exactly the seats that Labour needs to win if they have any hope of progressing beyond  their 2017 number of MPs.   All of the seats have a significant Jewish population.   So you have to ask yourself will claims that the Labour Party is anti semitic help or hinder their attempts to win any of these very winnable seats?   I think it is best described as a sub optimal problem.

Now it is fair for the Labour Party to attack the seven MPs for leaving the party for political reasons.   I have seen them described as Tories and good riddance to them which again is part of the political rough and tumble which I don’t think is unfair.  Politics is a rough game and if you can’t take the knocks then you really should look for a different pursuit.   As things stand at the moment I suspect there break today will not really count for much other than to probably allow political scientist PhD candidate to fill a chapter in their thesis  .

Now anyone reading this might suggest that what I’m saying is outside the current Labour Party.  Perhaps that is so but I before you jump to that conclusion listen to what Tom Watson, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, has to say about the matter:

 

I guess it is too much ask that the leader of the Labour Party make a similar address and in some way try to alleviate the damage being done to a once great political institution.  An institution that has probably done more to improve the lot of the average person in Britain than any other .   This whole problem gives the Tories a free pass because I have no doubt that anything Labour supporters can do the wilder fringes of the right wing can equal.  Unfortunately, the Labour Party can no longer stand up against such oppression and in the end that is possibly one of the greatest losses from today.

 

 

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The Harry Potter Party….

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Guthlac

“…Roll up roll up there is a new act in town.  I give you the brighter future…I give you the Harry Potter party….”

I was going to write about what might be a new development in British politics.  However, events have overtaken things and several Labour MPs have broken away from the Labour Party.   How this will develop over the next few days is very hard to say – none of the names mentioned  have the weight of political big beasts, although given the current crop of big beasts that really isn’t saying much.  There has been talk that perhaps JK Rowling might add her name to some new form of political movement.  If this were to happen then if I were in Tory and Labour HQ’s I would start to be very worried.  This is a women you have to remember who has single handedly been the voice to a generation growing up in the late 1990s/2000s – she has 14 million followers on Twitter and is a bona fide rockstar.   That sort of heft could well change everything as I suspect the majority of the new movements votes may well come from 20 somethings who are disillusioned with Corbyn over Brexit and are looking for somewhere new to express their views.   These are the very people who have been very influenced by   Rowling.

This is all speculation at the moment but something has had to give as there doesn’t seem to be any sense that either main party is interested in the country as a whole but rather with their own internal struggles.  In fact the only difference between the two is that as one party, the Conservatives, form something resembling the government of the day so their internal struggles are lumbering the country with political paralysis. Whether you agree with Brexit or not the current situation is untenable and something has had to give.   Whether this is that something no one has the first clue – perhaps it is time for Professor Sybil Trelawney to step forward.

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I don’t know why…

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Guthlac

For reasons best known to…well I don’t know because I don’t know why – I decided to make a drawing.   World does seem to move in a mysterious way – just look at Brexit.

 

 

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Taking stock..of sorts…

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Guthlac

So where have I got with the Ironstone Benefice project?   Not too sure but I have been working on it for just over two years now and I have to say it has been fascinating for two reasons:  Firstly, I have been exploring parts of Leicestershire that I knew partially but now having sometime on the ground I feel I have much better understanding of the county I have called home all of my life and Secondly it also spans the rekindling of my interest in photography.   So here are some of the images from the last two years.

INteresting bunch.

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In the land of Vikings…

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Guthlac

A beautiful winter’s day – it could be early spring (I hope it isn’t because spring should not start on Valentine’s Day in this part of the world – it could be a harbinger of something much worse!)   This was another visit to try and work on the Ironstone Benefice project which I and my good friend David Manley have been working on for two years now.   Today I was in the Wreake Valley walking in the footsteps of the vikings.

The name vikings congers up a vision of violent seabound warriors whose blood thirst helped destroy all who came before.  As usual this is more Hollywood than reality.  Of course the vikings were ruthless warriors but they also settled the lands and lived alongside their Anglo Saxon cousins.  We know that the Danish settlers made a home in the Wreake valley because of the places names and also the name of the river.  Wreake, in old Danish means meandering river, which is a good description of the Wreake.   We can also say how far along the valley the Danes settled because the Wreake enters Melton Mowbray as the Eye, a good pre Roman British name and leaves as the Wreake.  All the villages the sit alongside the Wreake have Danish names i.e they all end in by, so we have Asfordby, Kilby, Frisby, Hoby, Rotherby and Rearsby (Rearsby probably marks the end of the Danish settlement as the names further to the south are Anglo Saxon.)

There is little or no archaeology standing above the ground to say where the Danish settlers first set up home but the usual pattern is that they took over areas that were not being farmed by the Anglo Saxon farmers.  What is clear though is that the Danish elite must have replaced much of the Anglo Saxon elite in the areas hence the Danish place names.

Apart the photography it was just a pleasure to be out walking in the countryside and cleaning out the lungs for a few hours.

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It’s about three weeks – what have I learnt?

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Guthlac

So here is my street photography set up – scary isn’t it.  A five year old camera body – although mine is around 3 years old and a lens that is over forty years old.  Those of you who might have been aware of this blog over the past few weeks will know that I have been trying to get to grips with this set up for a few very important reasons:  firstly it is incredibly light – just 600g; it is remarkably robust – the lenses is bomb proof and so is the camera – it was raining quite heavily on Sunday and and the body never missed a beat and finally it is cheap.   The quality of the images I have started to produce with this set up are starting be very interesting indeed and I have started to master the problems associated with using an old manual lens on a mirrorless digital body.

The biggest problem I have had is mastering focus. (Exposure can be sorted out in post – not ideal but it works.)  I uses the focus peaking system which has been problematic but finally I think I have got the hang of it.  Last weekend was the first time that my ancient muscle memory started to kick in which has helped a great deal.

The benefits of the set up, apart from the cost, really started to come into its own on Sunday.  As I wandered the streets of central London I came across photographers using much heavier cameras which seem to be over kill compared to my lightweight set up.  Using the camera does have a feel of the old Leicas about it  (I know that is sacrilegious in many quarters for very good reasons) and I know have some understanding why many photographers over the generations have sworn by this set up.  Having the lightweight set up seemed to allow me to stay in the crowd without being too obtrusive – a real bonus when working in the street.

As for the lenses I have discovered that either the 28mm F2.8 or the 35mm F2.8 are best used at two settings – fully open or F8.  Beyond F8 the images start to become very soft indeed and I have no doubt if I had better quality FD lens much of this problem would disappear.  But I have to make the most of what I have got and that is actually a really useful constraint to have which got to start thinking about the state of photography in general.

I am as guilty as the next gearhead – I love buying new equipment whether I have really needed it or not.  Perhaps the most pointless piece of kit I have ever is the Canon 24mm tilt and shift.  It was a fantastic lens but required a lot of setting up to work correctly – something I never quite got around to.  Gear was king.  Then it wasn’t.   I have now reached the point in my photographic journey where lightness and simplicity is what I seek.  Out have gone heavy lenses and cameras to be replaced by two set ups:  Firstly a Sony A7 mk 2 and three primes and one telephoto zoom.  I can easily fit all of this into a small shoulder bag;  Secondly my travel set up above which can be carried over my shoulder with an extra lens stuffed in a pocket if needs be.  This is about as simple and yet powerful as you could wish for.

Of late I have watched an awful lot of vloggers on YouTube banging on about how this camera is crap or that lens isn’t worth it.  It does seem so adversarial and not really getting to the point we all capture photographs and try and make images out of them.  The image is king.   You might not think my photographs are as good as yours and that is fine but photography isn’t about the latest gear and I think my travel set up has clearly demonstrated that point.

Enough of me banging on about what I think about photography and back to the camera and lens set up.   After this weekend I think it is starting to gell.  I suspect there will be a long way still to go but I am making real progress and finally producing the images I find rewarding with my very inexpensive but light travel set up.  Click Click.

 

 

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With Ralph in my mind…

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Guthlac

This is the second series of images made on the Streets of London on Sunday.   As I was making the images this morning I couldn’t help but hum Streets of London in my head.

I think London may have change quite a bit since he wrote that song in 1969.

 

BTW if you ever wondered why Brexit is bonkers and why Ireland is going to be really screwed this clip elequently demonstrates the point.  Here is an Englishman singing about London on The Late Late Show on RTE (The Republic’s BBC sort of).  We are the same people, we share the same bloody history, live on the same Archipelago so why are we insisting on screwing each other over for no gains at all on either side?   It is truly bonkers and I guess when historian’s come to write the history of this time that will be the name of the book/chapter!

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Streets of London

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Guthlac

We live in a sea of photographs.  Each day millions, probably billions, more are added.   Yesterday I was wandering in and around Soho, London whilst the Chinese New year celebrations were taking place.  It was a fantastic day out and even better if you want to make some street photography – which I did.  I loved it, such characters such life.  I couldn’t get home to work on the images which is what I did this morning and some of the images are reproduced here.

When reviewing the images I captured I started have second thoughts  as they contained parents with their children – should I reproduce those as well?   There is one which I think perfectly illustrates the dilemma of modern motherhood – a mother teaching her son how to use a smartphone.  I think it is a beautiful moment but I feel it is a very special moment between the two and shouldn’t be for a wider audience on this blog.   Is that right?   Well I think so but I suspect other people’s views may well differ.   This brings me back to the billions of images already out there on the internet.

Anything you put onto the internet you have to accept will be datamined by one or more of the tech companies.  This bog, for example, is being datamined as I write it.  I use the Google Chrome browser which has a really good spell check that I use all the time.  However, for it to work it has to pass every word to the cloud for the A.I. of the spell check to work.  Once that data is with Google they will never let go of it as it is worth billions to them when my small blog is combined with the data for millions of other people.  The same is true of the millions of photographs and videos that were taken yesterday and posted to the different social media sites – perhaps even the young son’s content is also there along with his mother’s .  So should I worry about the effect my photograph would have on those two people?  Well I believe the answer is yes even though the reality is that it doesn’t really matter at all.  Is this censorship?  Of course it is but not out of legal peril but rather common decency.   I’m not sure where that line is but I’ll try and not to cross it.

 

One final point.  By applying this additional editorial process I think I might have made a better selection that reflects yesterday.

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Non dormientes officium…

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Guthlac

Sometimes I find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep in a hotel.   It has nothing to do with the bed or anything like that. My suspicion is that as I get older I just find any change in my circumstances affects my sleep patterns – this certainly wasn’t the case when I was a young man.    Anyway it does give me chance to make some art.

nocturnus quidem.

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Some More Perspective…

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Guthlac

Over the past few posts I may have given the impression that I am for Brexit.   I am not.  However, I not in favour of running down Britain which I feel has sometimes taken the over some of  the Remainer approach to Brexit.  Britain has many many faults, such as every country, but is a very rich and successful.  It has a powerful military and a global spanning cultural reach.  It will survive and no doubt thrive after Brexit I just feel that aligniating out largest market is not in the best long term interest of Britain.  Neither is allowing the European Union go off in a Franco/Germany dominated direction either.  However, that is so much water under the bridge and now I feel we just have to make the best of where we are whether that is with a withdrawal agreement or not.

Yesterday I received a book I have been wanting for sometime – The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381.   Now for most people this is hardly on the top of their reading list but as this blog I believe  has demonstrated time and again I not your normal ‘someone’.   The book very much does what it says in the title and consolidates and reprints all the records for the three taxes from the late 14th century.

For me the most interesting one is the Poll Tax return for 1379.   Here for the first time in a national register we get to see the people of England.   In the area of my study,  the coalfield of north west Leicestershire, we see the first miners appearing  two John Coleman, William Collier and Roger Collier.  Each had to pay 4d.  However as interesting as this list is the one thing that is not recorded is perhaps the most significant of all. Some of the people listed had survived the first outbreak of the Black Death in the late 1340’s.  They probably would have been young children who may well have seen their own family die in front of their them.  By whatever means they had survived and were now recorded for posterity.   Even the people recorded who were not alive when the Black Death hit for the first time would left lives scared by the memory of what had happened.

So the next time you might hear someone making exaggerated claims about the effects of Brexit then remember the people recorded in the 1379 poll tax return.   They had seen what real horror looks like and might smile at how trivial Brexit is in comparison.    This doesn’t mean that things aren’t going to be bumpy over the next 6 months or so or the Republic of Ireland is going to be truly screwed if things do wrong and we leave without a deal.    Instead what it means is that things are not anything like as bad as John Coleman, William and Roger  Collier  had survived or their parents had told them about.  We do need to take a chill pill every now and then when thinking about Brexit – and that includes me!

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