October 11, 2008Autumn climax
Image: The Garden through the Year, Graham Stuart Thomas One of the great English gardeners, Thomas filled Garden through the Year with ideas and advice for every month. In the chapter October, he writes that the way to grow asters, especially the variety 'Climax', is "to select single large-rooted offsets in spring and plant them in good soil at least two feet apart. The result will be great pyramids of blossom. . ." He's a good man to read in the autumn. A barbecueAn Englishman's Castle comments on the report that the European parliament has officially adopted an EU anthem and flag. The EU's threat to freedom is clear. A barbecue could prove useful. The Ugly Duchess
Alice meets the Duchess. It's often interesting when art and medicine meet. The inspiration for illustrator John Tenniel's Duchess in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most popular paintings in the National Gallery - "the Ugly Duchess". Many people have wondered if the lady was born with her looks. It is now suggested that the sitter suffered from Paget's disease, which was named after Sir James Paget, the British surgeon who first described it in the late 19th century. The Ugly Duchess will be part of the new exhibit Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian, which opens October 15 at the National Gallery. DynamismHugh Hewitt's views on the economic situation are buttressed by a book he recommends - Walter Russell Mead's God and Gold: Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World. Hewitt writes, As Victor Davis Hanson noted this morning: "Sometime in the next few days, wiser investors should see that trillions of global dollars are now piling up and could begin to prime the economy — and that still valuable stocks, for a brief period, are up for sale at once-in-a-lifetime bargains." This is part of the dynamism that is described in Mead's God and Gold, a book that Hewitt thinks is vital reading now. The unique hold role of the Anglo-Americans in modern times stems in part from the way in which these societies have come to believe that dynamism is their tradition: that they honor the past and acknowledge their roots by pressing on into the future. Individual responsibility, grounded in ethics and common sense, was vital to that success. Mead explains why. Kirkus Reviews writes, "Mead enlivens the text with numerous amusing and illustrative anecdotes, artful literary allusions and helpful invocations of great historians and philosophers. . .A remarkable piece of historical analysis." October 10, 2008When in crisis, think Shakespeare
David Tennant in the RSC's Love's Labour's Lost These days my only question when I unfold the Wall Street Journal is how desperately big the headline will be. Today on page one the economic implosion was called a rout, a sprawling crisis and a slow-motion crash with the financial markets ailing. At the very least we have a run on metaphors. It seems a fantasy, a view supported by someone who, unlike me, does know something about the economy. So it's time for Shakespeare, whose fantasies feel real in the way reality does not. David Tennant, the famous Dr Who, has leaped from his role as the prince of Denmark - a lonely and symbolic figure of those times when we have to make difficult decisions and we'd so prefer not to - into the role of Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost. Charles Spencer thinks that Tennant is dazzling, but debunks Shakespeare's play as the work of a young man. Spencer's shorthand misses half the action as he neglects to mention that "the cynical, jesting Berowne, who takes a vow with the King of Navarre and his chums to forswear the company of women" does so in order to study. In light of all the fantastically intelligent financiers and regulators staggering in the dark, Berowne asks a pertinent question - BEROWNE In the play's last scene the men are forsworn, and hearing Berowne ruefully describe himself, I can't help but thinking of all those financial masterminds - Figures pedantical; these summer-flies have blown me full of maggot ostentation "O Lord, sir!" says Costard, "It were pity you should get your living by reckoning, sir." Too close to the mark! Shakespeare makes me weep when I hope to laugh. Forsworn, perjured and impeached, the men nevertheless seek the troths of their ladies. Shakespeare, an everyman to my current emotions, gives the women a breathtaking response. Here is one of them - KING Reading about the Great Obama and the faltering McCain I'd like a year's hiatus from the election with every politician in a forlorn and naked hermitage, learning to be true, before asking me to vote. As that, alas, is not possible, I may be spending quite a bit of time with Shakespeare. October 09, 2008Robert GrossetesteIt's the feast day of Robert Grosseteste, the scientist and church reformer. Worth repeating
This was once St George's Hospital, entirely built and paid for by generous private individuals to be a public clinic and teaching hospital. The building was sold off by the NHS and is now the luxury Lanesborough Hotel in London. Roger Scruton points out that almost the entire social order of Britain arose from private initiatives - Schools, colleges and universities; municipalities, hospitals, theatres; festivals and even the army regiments, all tell the same story: some public-spirited amateur, raising funds, setting out principles, acquiring premises, and then bequeathing his [or her] achievement to trustees or to the Crown. . . It is the way of people who are at home, and who refuse to be bossed about by those whom they regard as outsiders. Their attitude to officialdom reflected their conviction that, if something needs doing, then the person to do it is you. The vision and support of the individual Brits who built St George's created a place where Henry Gray, the anatomist, John Hunter, the father of modern surgery, Edward Jenner, who introduced vaccination for smallpox, and Thomas Spencer Wells, a pioneer in abdominal surgery, worked. Did the British people get everything right? No. Is there a role for the government? Yes. Is it the role its prima donnas want you to pay for? We doubt it. Under both Labour and Conservative governments the state has developed a gross appetite for devouring the good that was created and managed for centuries by British citizens. It wants them under its control. It has a ravenous need to dominate them. Because its need has nothing to do with love, and surprisingly little to do with common sense, it ruins what it touches, and people pay. . . Willfully, carelessly, and meanly the state makes British people think they can do nothing by themselves, nothing without the state dictating, ordering, interfering, arresting, fining, and taxing. . . More than money at riskThe free economy created by sensible, ethical people in Britain and the Anglosphere is being lost to those who exploited it unethically - Anyone over the age of 40 will recall the abiding result of the days when we had a socialist economy in this country: poverty. We had better prepare for some more of that. The state does not have its own money to engage in stock market speculations, such as buying shares in clearing banks. It undertakes this gamble with our money. Do the people in charge know what they are doing? An eye of goldRegarding the economic crisis, William Drummond of Hawthornden seems to have caught its essence in 1656 - This Life, which seems so fair, Many investments appear to be nought, but the hard work and energy and inventiveness and goods of millions of people is not nought. We will have to put our hands on real things, and not be afraid. October 08, 2008Book festivals small and large
This week one of Britain's smallest literary festivals and one of its largest welcome visitors. Frinton-on-Sea might prefer to hide its collective head in a book after the BBC shot a Wonderland episode deliberately set up to make Frinton look distinctly odd. Instead, Frinton has decided to laugh, and will hold its seventh Literary Festival with performance poet John Hegley, "one of the funniest men alive"; writer Germaine Greer, speaking at a literary lunch at the Frinton Golf Club; journalist and wit Simon Hoggart, speaking at the Tennis Club at dinner; and on Sunday, back to the Golf Club for afternoon tea and a celebration of nonsense and absurdity with stars of Frinton's Summer Theatre.
Cheltenham Meanwhile The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival hosts 450 writers, 350 events and 70,000 readers and makes a rousing two-week-long conclusion to the more than 30 book festivals held all over Britain since May. Perhaps there is something in the water? A health and holiday spa since the 18th century, Cheltenham also hosts crowds for horse racing and jumping. A country with so many people interested in horses or books or both is a country to like. October 07, 2008Simpler times yesterday and today
Image: Loft "From the narrow unshuttered window in the loft they looked out westward into a night full of stars." Ellis Peters, The Confession of Brother Haluin I once bedded down in a hay loft for several months. Today I am happy to have the internet and a gas fire and antibiotics when needed, but I still long to live in simpler times. For instance, I want a simpler government that doesn't lie, doesn't break promises and doesn't gamble with everyone's retirement. I think the simplicity we're looking for was captured in the last pages of the Confession. Edith Pargeter, who published the Brother Cadfael mysteries under the name Ellis Peters, began her life in 1913 simply - the "Pargeters had little money, living in a two-bedroom cottage with no gas, water, or electricity" (Oxford DNB). This simplicity of life resembled that lived by Cadfael, her 12th century monk. The riches were similar, too. Like the Benedictine Abbey, the Pargeter house was "full of books and music". Edith was too young to be aware of World War I, but she was in the thick of World War II, serving in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) from 1940 to 1945 in the western approaches command. George VI presented her with the British Empire Medal for meritorious service on VE-day, 8 May 1944. Edith Pargeter's books are "widely admired for historical depth and accuracy". The Cadfaei mysteries are set during the war waged by Matilda and Stephen for the throne of England. There is a shocking, historical episode in One Corpse Too Many when the castle of Shrewsbury is taken and the defenders are hanged. During Cadfael's journey across Shropshire in Brother Haluin's Confession, there are scenes that recall the Anglo-Saxon rebellion decades earlier and the waste that followed the Norman settlement. These were simpler times, but like Edith Pargeter's times, and our own, they were torn by the catastrophes visited on men and women by each other. I am drawn to a simpler life, but not so simple that I am drawing water every day. I think the still centre - the less than simple simplicity we want today - is the thing for which Cadfael was searching. Beyond the solution to his mystery, he was looking for something that changed everything - What was changed was the replacement of falsity by truth, and however hard the assimilation might be, it must be for the better. Truth can be costly, but in the end it never falls short of value for the price paid. That, I think, is what we want - the freeing and life-giving truth. Why is Australia sitting pretty?Australians have not forgotten what it means to be responsible - When Australians borrow money to buy a house, they know that if they default and the mortgaged property doesn't cover the debt, they will be responsible for the shortfall. And the lender will chase them for it. It's a neat way of reminding Australians to borrow responsibly. The responsibility of individual Australians keeps everyone safe. E Union only goes so farFrom Powerline - . . .It's always seemed that in a time of crisis, national loyalties would likely reassert themselves. Today, that happened, as Europe's biggest economies were unable to organize a coordinated response to the world-wide credit crisis. It was Europe's biggest and most powerful country, Germany, that served notice on the others that "union" goes only so far: Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck made clear his government's opposition to the idea that the euro zone's single largest economy should put up money to prop up institutions outside his country. October 06, 2008Brian Davis
Red Squirrel, Scotland Brian Davis has been photographing for only a year, but he has been watching birds and animals for a long time. Like many British people, he is an amateur in the best sense of the word - he loves. His public photo galleries are here. EU hits iceberg of its own makingChristopher Booker explains how EU regulations - in particular "mark-to-market" - have led to the economy hitting a gigantic iceberg. Janet Daley dissects the EU response to the financial crisis. The Telegraph's photo of "the masters of Europe" is telling. Would you want them directing you to the lifeboats? Britain, if it were not being dictated to by the EU, and if it were not being governed by people with no real business experience, might never have hit the iceberg. This is also an American crisis, and it was caused by the same type of uninformed regulators, grandiose business investors and home-owners hoping to make a profit from rising house prices. British woman skydiver freefalls above EverestA British woman was among three skydivers who became the first yesterday to freefall at extreme altitude through the skies above Mount Everest. Meanwhile, world markets are searching for a parachute. October 04, 2008A brave man in stormy days
On a windy and stormy day in Portland, Oregon, with his feast day coming up on the 6th, I thought of William Tyndale's persevering courage in the face of exile, shipwreck and political and religious storms. Tyndale defied even Henry VIII. He is remembered for his contribution to freedom of religion and freedom of the press in Stranger in a Strange Land. October 03, 2008I am so sick and tired of British writers forgetting history
Old Bristol Bridge, 13th century Daniel Hannan MEP and Douglas Carswell MP want to bring self-rule back to the people of Britain by strengthening local government and leaving the EU. They write - It's true that many of the things we want exist across the Atlantic - referendums, elected sheriffs, a local sales tax, open primaries. But the American revolutionaries took their inspiration from English political thought. American revolutionaries, who at the time were British subjects, took their inspiration from English political thought and how people actually lived in Britain. Henry I recognized the rights of the citizens of London to appoint their own sheriffs and judges, to limit their taxes, to arrange their own lands, pledges, and debts, to transport their goods free of tolls and to be free of having soldiers billeted on them - in the 12th century. Hundreds of cities and towns followed suit. Over the centuries they expanded as unique self-governing ventures with a continuous history of resistance to the high-handedness of sovereigns. British townspeople didn't depend on the national government or some quango to decide who their sheriff was going to be. For hundreds of years they took care of that themselves and figured out how to pay for the new fire engine and which roads to repave and what the load limits should be and a thousand other practical things that affected the quality of their lives. And because they were paying for these things out of their local taxes they made certain they received good service. The safety of Londoners is exactly why London Mayor Boris Johnson forced the resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair and why there should be no doubt he had a right and responsibility to do so. Despite my disappointment that the writers don't seem to appreciate the spirit of liberty that sings in British history, I'm glad that Hannan and Carswell are batting so strongly for common sense. Their book - The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain - has some excellent ideas. Intangible wealth?Ideas about intangible wealth may be even more important this year. You have to wonder if government has been protecting our wealth. But it's not all up to government. It's up to us, too. October 02, 2008Lord Shaftesbury
Yesterday was the feast day of "the poor man's earl". Lord Shaftesbury is eccentrically remembered in Piccadilly Circus in the statue of Eros releasing his shaft. Anthony Ashley Cooper, seventh earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885), was a good guy who pushed hard his whole life for reforms. "His outstanding qualities were tremendous integrity, courage, and persistence, and a passionate concern for the welfare of his fellow human beings" (Oxford DNB). European Arrest Warrant debutFor the first time the European Arrest Warrant is being used in a manner that we in Britain were assured would not be applied. Lord Filkin, then the Home Office Minister, said when the legislation went through Parliament that no one would be extradited for conduct that was legal in Britain. Britain has declined to adopt a 'Holocaust denial' law, because it is contrary to British traditions of freedom of enquiry and expression. However, the first person to be arrested under the European Arrest Warrant was an Australian who had denied the Holocaust and who was flying to Dubai when his plane touched down in Heathrow. How clever of them to debut their European Arrest Warrant with this particular "crime" - there are not many defenders of Holocaust deniers. What "thought crime" is next? Placing our freedom in the hands of law enforcement in Germany and elsewhere in the European Union was a rotten idea. Thanks to Idris Francis and Dave Barnby for bringing this to our attention. October 01, 2008"Joyous fireworks"
As Shakespeare's Globe theatre season draws to a close, Midsummer Night's Dream glows on the stage for three more nights. The reviews suggest what I missed - **** "Jonathan Munby has taken Shakespeare's much-loved comedy of errors, bound it in a tapestry of music, magic and madcap ebullience, and launched an irrepressible crowd pleaser... luscious, multi-sensory theatre" (Time Out Critics' Choice) **** "Enthusiastically applauded by a capacity audience... Siobhan Redmond is wonderfully funny" (The Times) **** "The Mechanicals are so joyously funny they have most of the groundlings whimpering for mercy, so by the time the billowing curtains wash over the audience like a tide, they're in this Dream's thrall" (Metro) **** "explodes like joyous fireworks" (Sunday Times) "I am to wait." Letter to HM The QueenI have sent another letter to HM The Queen, and have sent copies of the letter to members of the Royal Family: Your Majesty, It is the right of the British people to petition their monarch. My first petition to Your Majesty was a letter of the 25th of June. It was answered by Mrs Sonia Bonici, who said, "I should explain to you that there is no question of Her Majesty, as constitutional sovereign, refusing Royal Assent to an Act which has been passed by both Houses of Parliament". I wrote to Your Majesty again on the 11th of August. I have not received a reply to my second letter although it makes a constitutional point of the gravest importance for Your Majesty and the British people and the continuation of the Monarchy itself. In Canada, in 1964, Your Majesty made unequivocally clear what the people expect from their constitutional sovereign - "The role of a Constitutional Monarch is to personify the democratic state, to legitimate authority, to assure the legality of its measures and to guarantee the execution of its popular will". Parliament may try to persuade Your Majesty to obey it, but Your Majesty has pledged to defend the laws and customs of the people and Your Majesty's constitutional writ extends to protecting your people from a tyrannical Parliament and from any unjust statute that Parliament may pass. What would Your Majesty's father, our dearly beloved George VI, have done if he had been told by Parliament to give away Britain's freedom and sovereignty to Hitler? Would he, could he possibly have agreed to do Parliament's bidding? The answer, again, was made by Your Majesty - "I shall work as my father did throughout his reign to uphold Constitutional government and to uphold the happiness and prosperity of my peoples". In giving your Royal Assent to the Lisbon Treaty, Your Majesty has ignored the wishes of your people, which were also ignored by Parliament. Tyrannical is a realistic description of Parliament, which promised the people a vote on the EU's Lisbon Treaty and then broke its promise. Negligent is an honest description of many MPs who admitted that they had never read the Lisbon Treaty. Foreign leaders are agreed that the Lisbon Treaty is the same as the EU constitution. Parliament is forcing the British people to accept this unwanted political settlement, which is sweeping away their long-treasured liberties, laws and customs, which have stood them in such good stead for hundreds of years. Our Declaration of Right and Bill of Rights plainly state "That no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or potentate hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm". Giving any foreign body authority over the British people is unconstitutional. Britain's Constitutional government includes a sovereign, a parliament and a judiciary. Are we to believe that Parliament's overweening domination has reduced the champion of the people, Your Majesty, to a cipher, who cannot speak for us or defend our liberties and whose Royal Assent means nothing because it can never be denied? Perish the thought. It was and is still Your Majesty's responsibility as our constitutional monarch to refuse Parliament your Royal Assent when Parliament passes unconstitutional statutes. Yours sincerely,
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