Politics won't go away
X Factor and the BNP (there is no connection - just lazy journalistic practice)
Apparently Rachel has been kicked out of X Factor. Don't know what the poor woman did wrong - she carries a tune pretty well and has some interesting hair styles. Maybe she seemed too well-adjusted and therefore lacked the sympathy vote. Having watched the Peter Kay spoof a year or so ago it is impossible not to notice how those affected by personal tragedy or mental insecurities do well in these 'talent' show. Don't get me wrong, concern for those affected by mental illness should be a bigger priority, but if you're running a singing contest then holding a note might count for something. Anyway none of this stuff matters. But what does?
In recent weeks we've seen the BBC manage to mess up the BNP question twice. Once by allowing a fascist on TV as an 'ordinary' politician and then giving Griffin the chance to complain of being treated unfairly. OK the nitwit editors of Question Time might not understand any better - but surely experienced journalists such as Dimbleby have a better grip of these things?
What is good about Britain?
I spent a few days in the Lake District last week - and managed to visit three National Parks in the space of 12 hours. Well "visit" is a bit of an exaggeration but I set foot in three parks. Such a modest experience can't help but prompt reflection on what is good about Britain. The National Parks clearly are something to be proud of. Despite all the knocking, the postal service is something to support and defend - the government clearly has problems on this score taking the side of the management in the current dispute. The recommendations on MPs expenses do, however, also help remind us that we are pretty well served by our political classes - in comparison with some other democracies (I suppose I'm thinking primarily of the US and Italy here). Yes, I wish our politicians were more transparent in their dealings but they are hardly what you'd call corrupt. I know that satirists have a role to play in a democracy but when they help undermine public confidence in the idea of democratic politics we do have problems.
Standing up for vegetarians and scientific advisors
I've been a vegetarian pretty much for 28 years. Rare lapses have been a result of not wishing to embarrass hosts or others, rather than any craving for fish or meat. I really would rather have a good bowl of dressed salad than a slice of beef and mustard. It is tastier, healthier and cheaper to be a vegetarian. I'm not a crusading type I should add - I do understand that some people will not change their eating habits; though less meat-eating would be beneficial in all sorts of ways. So it was a bit disappointing to hear the almost universal condemnation of the advocacy of vegetarianism as a contribution to dealing with climate change. OK, one less burger won't deal with the emissions of the latest Chinese power station but it is something any of us can do something about.
Poor Professor Nutt's comments about cannabis and the government's slavery to tabloid editorial headlines is a further reminder that New Labour seems sadly incapable of leading public opinion. High Peak's MP usually says he wasn't elected to vote against a Labour government - but here are two opportunities for Tom Levitt to show independence of thought.
Published Date:
01/11/2009
Modified Date:
01/11/2009
A Healthy Society
There are a number of ways in which you might seek to measure the health of a society or community. One measure would be a check on the intellectual and cultural activity that is evident. In the High Peak we have just had an ideal opportunity to examine and measure the cultural well-being of our people.
The Buxton Festival is coming and to an end and the Festival Fringe reached its conclusion on Sunday July 26th. An awards ceremony was held at the University of Derby, Buxton. The ceremony was opened by the Mayor, Tony Bingham; High Peak's MP, Tom Levitt, was also there - though his interest would have been partly triggered by responses to his performances in the Fringe.
Of broader interest to us all were the achievements of the performers, artists and writers from the High Peak. It is worth recording the successes across the Borough. As it happened there was a major event taking place in the University's Dome building that weekend - the Peak District Products Art Fair. This was a showcase for around 60 professional craftspeople, artists and food producers and the PDP has been going from strength to strength since 1991.
Amongst the winners in the Fringe awards was local artist, and PDP member, Sandra Orme who had contributed to a number of exhibitions and art projects. She had a winning entry in the Derbyshire Open Exhibition and had also worked on a community arts projects - Vers@Tile - which was displayed in the Buxton Museum main gallery.
Other High Peak artists recognised in the Fringe Awards were Adrienne Brown and Langley Brown who won the best exhibition award.
Amongst the Fringe events was a weekend of film, organised by a committee of Buxton people - and at least three of the new films shown had a local interest. A documentary - Walking in Circles - had attracted huge interest and focussed, in part, on three young women who had visited a remote part of the Himalayas in 1958. One of those women - Eve Sims - now lives near Buxton and was present to answer questions about her experiences. Another documentary - made by local artist Andrew Robinson - presented an audio-visual account of Buxton's Crescent building which juxtaposed the memories that local people had of the building with images of its present decaying state.
There was much music made in the Fringe festival. Amongst the prize winners were the Derbyshire Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorale who put on an ambitious programme to mark the end of their summer school. One professional orchestral musician observed that this "was the best youth orchestra I've heard". Equally adventurous - if rather different - was the jazz quartet Critical Mass which won the small ensemble award. Critical Mass is led by local bass player Emlyn Vaughan and was joined for its gig by internationally-acclaimed sax player Gilad Atzmon who said to the audience "these guys are the future of music".
Other notable musical successes were the High Peak Orchestra's concert which played to nearly 300 people; the young people of Chapel Jam who arrived in Buxton on the local bus service having entertained other travellers and then 'toured' the town playing their own songs; other young musicians to make an impression included a string quartet - Ailsa Hoyle, Maddy Brown, Miriam Brown and Caz Sampson.
There was a rich programme of theatre - much of which took place in the cellars of the Old Hall Hotel. Underground Venues has been managed for three years now by Tom Crawshaw, Yaz Al-Shaater and Michael Grady-Hall - all of who grew up in Buxton and have entertained thousands of people with their energetic and witty shows over the years. They are now on their way to the Edinburgh Festival.
The next generation of Buxton actors - the Young REC Theatre Company - were to be seen in a Marquee by Poole's Cavern working on two new shows The Darkest Angel and Ye Gods!
There were scores of other local people involved - singing, dancing, acting, reading, managing and directing. None of this will necessarily save a life - but it all serves to help enrich our lives. This is a good news story - and one of which we can all feel proud.
Published Date:
27/07/2009
Modified Date:
27/07/2009
Sitopia
Sitopia - is that a typing mistake?
Well the answer is no. I found myself in Birmingham last week - well it wasn't exactly a mistake or the consequence of some teleporting adventure, merely an observation that I go to Birmingham but rarely (about every 20 years on average). Anyway I heard part of a lecture by Carolyn Steel based on her book Hungry City. As it happened what she had to say connected with the Transition Buxton idea that was featured last week on HPNC. I'm in a bit of a rush frankly and so I've copied and pasted from Carolyn's website. www.hungrycitybook.co.uk
"Sitopia is a made-up word, from the Greek sitos, meaning food, and topos, place. So it means ‘food-place’, as opposed to utopia (‘good place’, or ‘no place’) a term used since Plato to describe an ideal – and therefore unattainable – community. Utopianism is the nearest thing we have to a cross-disciplinary tradition of thought about the problem of dwelling. The trouble is that it’s not a realistic approach, because it aims at perfection. That’s why I’m proposing sitopia as a practical alternative. The world is already shaped by food, so we may as well start using food to shape the world more positively.
"If you look back at urban history, you realise that the dilemmas we face today are nothing new. Their scale may be unprecedented, but people have been puzzling over the question of how to build equable, workable, sustainable communities for about as long as cities have existed. I believe food is the key to thinking about these issues – the obvious answer that has been staring at us all along, only it was too big to see.
"Food is what connects us all to each other and to the natural world, which makes it an incredibly powerful medium for thinking and acting collaboratively. It encompasses all of life – not just what is necessary, but also what makes live worth living. I can’t think of a more powerful or positive global revolution than one in which we all learned to see the world through food".
Levitt No Ass!
Tom Levitt made his stand-up debut at the Buxton Festival Fringe on Friday and went down well. The official Fringe review says: "This show is as much about comedy as being comic - its strength lying in the affection that Tom Levitt displays for past comedy heroes (legends) whilst presenting his synopsis of comedy through the ages. Like all good story tellers, he starts at the beginning - 1,000 years BC in this case and fast forwards to the (relative) present. Throughout, his sincerity ensures that the audience is left with a kindred respect for the performers regardless of any familiarity with their work."
For more on the biggest arts festival of its type in the north of England (on until 26 July) see:
www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Published Date:
12/07/2009
Modified Date:
13/07/2009
Transition Buxton
Last week in HPNC we raised the issue of the need for community-based organisations that people - especially young people - might want to feel part of. Some of the traditional organisations, such as political parties, churches, trades unions, fail to generate enthusiasm or excitement. So are there alternatives? Locally - well in Buxton anyway, let us know what is happening in Chapel, Glossop, New Mills and elsewhere - Transition Buxton might provide a positive example. I'm not going to presume to know enough about Transition Towns and their short history to provide a deal of information here. Instead go to;
www.transitiontowns.org or for local information try www.transitionbuxton.co.uk
The basic point is that the we are consuming energy and resources recklessly. We are rapidly depleting finite materials and destroying the ecological balance of the planet at the same time. Looking at worst case scenarios the planet could be essentialy dead so far as human life is concerned within the lifetimes of today's young people. We're aware of the message by now; only the most stubborn people refuse to accept it (some of them do live in the High Peak and write the occasional bonkers letter to the Buxton Advertiser).
What the Transition Movement seeks to do is to get communities to change the way in which they live and use the resources available to us. There are some simple practical things to be done - grow your own food, buy locally produced and seasonal food, walk where you can or at least share cars, learn how to repair things rather than throw them away and buy new ones. Not that my growing my own potatoes will in itself save the planet - we do need to press governments to act too. But our own small actions can help generate a sense of purpose and excitment that governments are more likely to listen to.
Of course capitalist economies depend on growth - the news that the UK economy has shrunk is, therefore, bad news. It might be celebrated, of course, if we said that "Hurray, we're wasting less this quarter!" For as long as personal wealth is tied to economic expansion and consumption it is hard to present a shrinking economy as anything other than bad news. Psychologists have been arguing some time that wealth, work, consumption do not lead to mental healthiness and wellbeing - the opposite rather. The increase in eating disoders, drug dependency, tribal violence and other characteristics of mental ill health may be a side-product of a social drive for continuing economic expansion. [This does raise the possible question: "Are we unwilling to act to save the planet because we feel a sense of collective suicide as being appropriate in this context?]
Anyway Transition Buxton are a friendly bunch and come from a range of social backgrouds. On July 29th there are two good opportunities to meet them. At 7.30pm there is a meeting called "Clone Town Buxton?" at the Grove Hotel. Straight after you might want to walk up the hill to the Sun Inn for some informal talk and some drink - check www.transitionbuxton.co.uk for more information or to subscribe to an electronic newsletter.
Published Date:
05/07/2009
Modified Date:
13/07/2009
Burying Good News
In a week that saw the BBC expenses scandal surface, the USA football team beat Spain 2-0 and the death of Michael Jackson there was only one story we could possibly cover. The Brown administration seems to have developed a rare talent to bury good news and that is exactly what happened when Ed Balls announced that the Numeracy and Literacy Strategies would end in English schools.
There is plenty that New Labour can be criticised for but there is no real doubting its consistent focus on trying to change, for the better, the fortunes of children and young people. In 1997 Blair promised that his three priorities were 'Education, education, education' and soon after election victory the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies were introduced into primary schools. From the outset many felt that they were too prescriptive and didn't allow for the diversity of experience that children bring to their school lives. The Strategies seemed to reflect a white, middle-class view of what should be taught and learned and how it should be taught. They left little space for children to bring their own knowledge and interests and use them as a springboard for learning. The result was that some boys, some working class children, some children from minority ethnic groups struggled to make sense of what was expected of them. Ed Balls seems to have recognsied this and from 2011 teachers will be given more freedom to plan according to their own professional judgement. A whole generation of teachers has, of course, worked according to edict and may lack a little confidence in making more decisions. Let's hope not.
Are young people more narcissistic?
My question. My answer is - "Some are, some aren't". The question was prompted by some research published in the US recently by someone interested in the behaviour of jurors. (http://tinyurl.com/qjccvx if you're that interested). Last week we raised here the question of whether or not politicians - through their greedy behaviour - alienated young voters. This research raises the possibility that other social and economic forces may drive a wedge between young people and a sense of civil and public duty. In the US, at least, it is suggested that young people regard naked money-making, consumerism and individualism as OK. It is argued that this may have plusses too - people who are driven to maximise their personal achievements might also be more tolerant of others, less prejudiced. As I say this is the US - and who knows how the Obama experience might subsequently change young people's attitudes and philosophy? I work with a good many young people and, by and large, find them caring and interested in other people. They are also, of course, keen to create an identity for themselves and I imagine this is where Facebook, texting and all these other social networking devices come into it. I'm optimistic about this generation - but just as they embrace the opportunities that technologies provide to express themselves then a similar realistic vehicle for successful social collaboration is needed.
Published Date:
27/06/2009
Modified Date:
27/06/2009
MPs on the fiddle
The question of individual MPs bizarre expenses claims (the claims we can see that is) is less of a concern to me than the effects of the money-grabbing culture. I get less excited by the news that some MP has bought bags of compost, and then claimed the money back, than by the possible clamour - "What's the point of voting, they're all a bunch of crooks."
Those that are crooks we'll have to hope are dealt with by the law. But what about the state of our democracy?
If we believe that parliamentary democracy is the best system of goverment available to us in this modern world then we need a democracy that we can trust. If we are to trust it then we need people to take part. I'm familiar with the arguments that say that going to vote every four or five years is hardly participation - but it's a minimum requirement surely?
There is a danger that a whole generation of people may become so sceptical about the political class that they'll stop participating even minimally. We've probably got beyond the stage where we can simply appeal for an honest bunch of politicians to step forward. Our political parties are in decline; many of the pressure groups that used to have influence (e.g. trades unions) are also in decline. We are increasingly governed by groups of professional politicians. We need to claim our politics back. Political parties could do something about that - but local party members are probably tired and to some extent disillusioned. (Even the victorious Tories will struggle to be really visible locally).
Our modern culture and systems of communication may work against public participation and engagement. There is some irony in the fact that I'm sitting here typing this - in the hope that it will provoke a response - when 75 years ago I'd have had to talk to people face-to-face if I wanted a response. TV, telephone, texting, blogs, twitter - all of the electronic media keep us apart rather than bring us together.
So, more questions than answers - but we need to start answering them. Democracy may be at stake.
Published Date:
20/06/2009
Modified Date:
20/06/2009