Brexit Britain No. 10

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Guthlac

 

“…Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem and everyone refuses to believe in magic…”

Mad Hatter – Alice in Wonderland

As everyday passess the whole Brexit debate gets more and more absurd.  I believe this to be a statement that everyone can agree on whether they want Brexit or not.  I haven’t got the first clue how to get around all the conundrums associated with Brexit and really if I did nobody would listen to me so all I can report on is what Britain is like as this political shitstorm dribbles down over us all.

Yesterday I was at the NEC for the annual Photography Show (now with added video – my addition.)   As usual I spent more time looking at the people attending the show than the exhibitor’s wares.  Certainly on weekdays we photographers seem to be a pretty similar bunch: white males who appear to have seen more summers than we would have liked.  Most of the women appear to have attended as the plus one rather than have any great enthusiasm (I’m sure this is a great misunderstanding on my part but that was the impression I got).

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the show was away from the large corporate stands of the camera manufacturers  and in the myriad small stalls who had any number of things and service to plug that were in someway photography related even if that was at the most tangential.  But of course the best thing about the whole show was that for a few hours we could all get away from Brexit and talk F stop and dynamic range.

As I walked around the show I seemed to be the only photographer who was trying to document what was going on before him.  This was a shame  as I have to say there was a treasure trove of photographic opportunities.

 

But perhaps the image I like the most from the day was this one from the Hahnemuhle stand.  Here we find two men in deep conversation about something which appears to have shocked the large lima behind them.  However, to the side Brian Blessed seems to find the whole thing totally amusing.

Isn’t life absurd? This is the only way I can explain Brexit.  Meaningful vote 3 anyone?

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Dunderheads….

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Guthlac

Another week starts and given the way things are developing it is unclear where we will be by Friday.  Oh Brexit the gift that just keeps on giving.

 

‘One of my dunderheads,’ Connie Sachs explained to Smiley

Not sure which of the Oxford educated members of the Cabinet this would apply to?

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Images à la sauvette…

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Guthlac

 

I’m working on a new book about my Street Photography.   It is very much in the development stage at the moment and may never see the light of day.   Part of the process is to delve deep into my photographic archive to see what I might find buried there.  Whilst doing this I came across this image I captured probably in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s.  At first I thought it was just another photograph then I took a closer look and I noticed that he is looking at page 3 of The Sun which, if you weren’t aware, was famous/infamous for topless nude women.  Now whether this is what Cartier-Bresson had in mind when he published his book Images à la sauvette it certainly was an image taken on the fly (or sly depending on which translation you want to believe).  Whether it was a Decisive Moment I will let you decide.

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Brexit Britain No. 09

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Guthlac

It is very easy in these days of total confusion about WTF is happening in Westminster to forget that life goes on.  Perhaps the most surprising thing so far is just how little the nonsense is affecting life outside the bubble.  Should we crash out with no deal then that will undoubtedly change (you can choose whether that will be for the better worse.  regular readers of this blog will know my views.)   With just two weeks, yes only two weeks, to go before we leave the European Union things still feel very very normal.

Self denial or common sense?  Only time will tell.

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Brexit Britain No. 08

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Guthlac

What more can be said?

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Brexit Britain No. 07

Posted on March 13, 2019 by Guthlac

What can be said that hasn’t already been said?   We are now stuck in the netherworld of WTF is going on?   The political class of all shades have completely mishandled Brexit from top to bottom.   We are in the situation whereby playing party games is much much more fun than actually trying to put the country’s needs first.   Well shame on all your houses.

I really didn’t think it would come to this but I think the only way out is another referendum.  Before we get deafened by the Brexiteers crying foul, something they love to do all the time without coming up with one workable solution for little things like the Republic of Ireland/UK border question,  I cannot see the way forward.    Perhaps the only good thing about this whole nonsense is that as I travel the country there doesn’t appear to be the slightest sign of people not going about their normal business.   Whether this is a good sign or bad sign I’ll let you decide.

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Brexit Britain No. 06

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Guthlac

I like most of my fellow citizens have given up trying to work out what stupid games are being played in the Palace of Westminster.  Today we are supposed to have a meaningful vote.  Why this is more meaningful than the last one is anyone’s guess?   Last night we had the Prime MInister rushing to Strasbourg to…well I’m not sure what was achieved.

So if this meaningful vote fails then tomorrow we are going to have another meaningful vote on whether the House of Commons is willing to allow Great Britain leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.  Failing that there is a third vote scheduled for the day after tomorrow to see if the House of Commons wants to ask for an extension.   I haven’t the first clue if this vote will be taken if the House of Commons votes to leave without a deal – which by the way is the current legal position.

So just over 2 weeks to go and we still don’t have the first clue what is happening.  Neither does the EU which seems to be quite sanguine about everything.  If I was in their position I wouldn’t be because anything could happen and in truth the EU fears this whole process as much as the British Government does.   But seeing as truth seems to have been the one thing absent from the whole Brexit process I vote for Unicorns.   No wait this is…a meaningful vote?

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Brexit Britain No. 05

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Guthlac

Yesterday I visited the small Northamptonshire village of Lilbourne.   As I was walking around the fields to the east of Lilbourne I was struck by how it could be seen as an example of  so many of the issues tied up with the EU referendum and the subsequent article 50 negotiations.   The Daventry constituency, of which Lilbourne is a member, voted to leave the EU by almost 60%  and yet a large number of jobs in the area are tied up with supporting the biggest transportation and distribution infrastructure in the country through which much of the trade with  the European Union passes.

Lilbourne  has two major medieval transportation routes passing through the parish.   The Watling Street runs to the south west and has been a major route since the Romans.  What is less known is that Lilbourne formed part of an equally important medieval route between Oxford and the north of England. (Not one but two Motte and Bailey castles controlled the crossing of the River Avon at Lilbourne.)   Today the village is isolated by the passing M1 and is just south of the massive Junction 19 where the M1 and M6 meet.  This in turn forms one of the corners of the massive distribution system based around the triangle of the junctions of M1/M6, M6/M42 and M1/A42.   It is claimed that a lorry can deliver anything within 4 hours to around 90% of the population of Britain from this triangle.

The third issue is one of the border.  The Watling Street forms the border between Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.  Lilbourne, with its two Motte and Bailey castles,  sits above on the southern bank of the River Avon (The same river than 20+ miles to the south west runs through Stratford upon Avon.)  This forms the boundary between Leicestershire and Northamptonshire which is little more than sign on the side of the M1 for most people which is similar to junction 20 of the N1/A1 on the island of Ireland.  Of course should things go wrong in parliament/Brussels over the next three weeks then this will no long be a pub quiz question in Ireland but rather the border between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union – so somewhere on this junction there will need to be two customs posts – one for the traffic coming off of the N1 and one for traffic using the B113 and the L7092 (They are the same road but the border crosses the road.)

One final thing is that to the east of the village is a huge array of wind turbines which of course are part of Britain’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint and meet the European Union requirements.  What will happen to those after March 29th?

Such is Life.

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Brexit Britain No. 04

Posted on March 8, 2019 by Guthlac

Beyond the sanity of the world outside Westminster everything appears to be disappearing up its own backside.   The Prime Minister is going to lose this vote or that and we’ll then be doing this or perhaps that.   You wouldn’t run the simplest store on a local market like that let alone a country that is supposed to be one of the leading countries on the planet.

Just what does meaningful mean anyway?

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Brexit Britain No. 03

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Guthlac

Today was the first day in the heartland of Brexit britain – Wakefield – 66% in favour of leaving the European Union.  Guess what none of the people appeared to have horns or tails.   The reason for the visit was to experience/view the latest  exhibition at the Hepworth.   It didn’t disappoint as the main temporary exhibitions – Magdalene Odundo: The Journey of Things and Modern Nature: British Photographs from the Hyman Collection were first rate.  I’m afraid I’m never really any good at explaining why an exhibition is worth a visit and if you wish to get a much more cultured appraisal then take a trip over to my good friend David Manley’s blog. (However he is rather busy at the moment so it might be some time before he posts a review)

Perhaps the most surprising piece on display was a series of small prints by John Blakemore.   If you know his work then you would expect brilliantly chosen subjects meticulously printed – these prints met neither of those standards and were startling because of that – perhaps the Hyman collection didn’t have better examples of Blakemore’s work at hand?

 What any of this has to do with Brexit is another matter.  Perhaps the one lesson to take away from today is that for such an important decision about the nation’s future coming up in the next week or so the good people of Wakefield seemed to be very relaxed.

Interesting.

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