robert peston’s WTF?... and ‘influencing’ democracy

I’m half way through Robert Peston’s latest book “WTF?”… and am finding it absolutely fascinating (and hugely illuminating). I’ve got a lot of time for Peston. I think we share similar views (perhaps this why I like him?!) about society, the world, politics(?), the establishment etc. He describes himself as “a fully paid-up member of the community of internationalist liberals – and we are as intolerant of those who challenge our convictions, which we arrogantly take to be universal truths, as the nationalists we hatefully and wrongly see as being small-minded” - I might have written this myself!. In the book, he tries to provide an even-handed analysis of ‘stuff’. It’s passionate, personal, angry, funny… and very readable.

I’ll no doubt quote various bits of his book over the coming weeks(!), but I’ve been particularly intrigued (and not a bit frightened!) by what he wrote in the chapter entitled “Algorithms Win Elections”. I’ve long shaken my head in disbelief when it comes to elections/referendums and democracy… Now I don’t want to bore you(!) but, apart from urging you to buy a copy of his book for yourself, I’m going to quote a number of extracts from this particular chapter (don’t worry, I’m not going to reproduce all 37 pages verbatim !).

In the chapter - regarding the EU Referendum and the notorious ‘additional £350 million every week’ to spend on the NHS’ bus slogan - Peston quickly and effectively discounts it as a ridiculous “charlatan claim”, but goes on to point out that Dominic Cummings, campaign director of Vote Leave, says the £350million claim was: “the most effective argument not only with the crucial swing fifth (of voters) but with almost every demographic. Even with UKIP voters it was level-pegging with immigration. Would we have won without immigration? No. Would we have won without £350m/NHS? All our research and the close result strongly suggests No… The IN campaign realised the effectiveness of this as Andrew Cooper, Ryan Coetze and others said after 23 June, eg: ‘The power of their £350 million a week can’t be overstated’”.

Peston later goes on to say: “There is no doubt, for example, that Vote Leave understood far better than Britain Stronger In (the official campaign to keep the UK in the EU) the opportunity presented by new technologies for gathering information about potential voters and then communicating with them. Looking back on the contest, Vote Leave was deploying a Star Wars  battle cruiser against Wild West gunslingers on the other side. In some ways, it is miraculous that the margin of victory for Leave was not greater”.

“The In campaign’s treasurer, Poland Rudd, is withering about what went wrong with his side’s polling, approach to social media and fundamental message: ‘Craig Oliver ran the campaign on the slogan “Don’t Risk it”’, he says. ‘What we failed to understand was there were too many voters with absolutely nothing to risk’”.

“The star performer for Vote Leave, according to Cummings, was its operations director, Victoria Woodcock… According to Cummings, Woodcock was the ‘most indispensable person in the campaign’… What she did that was so valuable, for Cummings, was manage the creation of new ‘canvassing software’… The point, according to Cummings, was to suck in and process data about voters ‘from social media, online advertising, websites, apps, canvassing, direct mail, polls, online fundraising, activist feedback and… a new way to do polling’… There is no ambiguity about the importance of social media to Vote Leave”.

(After reference to various betting markets and hedge funds that benefited from the referendum result): “The fundamental point, relevant here, is that our shaky confidence that democracy yields equal benefits for all is tested when very wealthy people both finance political campaigns and become enriched when those campaigns succeed. It creates the impression – perhaps mistaken, but hard to dispel – that the system is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful”.

“In a future not very far away – and it may be as soon as the next election – campaigns could be won and lost in the way that hedge funds such as the multi-billionaire Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies have beaten the market for years, with data gathering and self-learning algorithms. Cummings and Vote Leave got close with the way they used their VICS program and the expertise of AggregataIQ to gather information about voters and then targeted their marketing in a more laser-like way. A party’s values and messages matter. But in today’s digital babel, they are probably less important than how the message is presented and to whom it is communicated”.

“What we need, and urgently, is a proper public debate about where to draw the new line in this social-media and online age between complete freedom of expression and rules that do not deliver unfair political advantage to technologically savvy plutocrats. This is a pressing question, not just for the conduct of elections and referendums but also for the everyday discourse that takes place online…”.

“Today’s Big Brother is Big Data. If we don’t give our political and data regulators powers fit for the Facebook age, a deep-pocketed tech billionaire will fix the outcome of an election, by dint of his or her ownership of a self-learning model that gathers and processes information about voters’ preferences and susceptibilities”.

Of course, you probably already knew all about this (yes, I had a very limited understanding… but the more I think and learn about it, the more worried I become!).

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Big Brother IS watching.
But, hey, read the book. It’s quite brilliant.

the children act…

I went along to the Watershed again this afternoon (twice in four days!) to see Richard Eyre’s “The Children Act”, based on Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name. I’d read (and enjoyed) the book some three years ago. Emma Thompson plays the part of a widely-acclaimed judge who is married to her work (and her marriage is correspondingly suffering - much to the frustration of her husband, played by Stanley Tucci). A 17-year old boy with leukaemia (played by Fionn Whitehead) needs a life-saving blood transfusion – but it’s against his Jehovah’s Witness beliefs. As the boy is just short of adulthood, the judge is asked to determine the case...
It’s a beautifully-constructed, well-paced, intricate, painful and sensitive story which encompasses relationships, legal argument, moral responsibility and music (amongst other things!)… and I thought the music was wonderfully effective (something you can’t quite get from the book). Indeed, Thompson reveals her wide-ranging talents by also playing the piano and singing!
All the principal actors were excellent, but I thought Emma Thompson was quite brilliant.
A rather beautiful, powerful film.
Highly recommended.

PS: The cinema was virtually full this afternoon... with perhaps 90% 'elderly' women, 5% 'elderly' men and 5% 'others'!

under the tree...

I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson’s film “Under The Tree”. It’s a black comedy (I’m trying to think of an alternative description, but failing miserably!) about a dispute between neighbours, which spirals out of control. It starts with a tree completely overshadowing a neighbouring garden - but then progresses to bickering couples, mooning garden gnomes, disappearing pets… and a chainsaw (amongst other things)! It’s a very astute (and, at times, quite hilarious) observation of how people might react to situations that affect their everyday suburban lives and how relatively minor disputes can escalate into painful nightmares.
Battle lines are drawn; reprisals mysteriously happen; entrenchment intensifies…

The good thing (as far as I was concerned) was that, in their various ways, all the main protagonists were not particularly nice people (even if I did find myself ‘caring’ for them) – they each had their faults and issues – and so I felt able to sit back and watch things develop without feeling unduly anxious regarding the outcome or urging one side to emerge victorious. I could go on, but don’t want to give away too much!

The film has clearly thrown new light on our own ‘neighbour issues’ (with Japanese Knotweed spreading into our garden from next door), but…
Despite its somewhat farcical nature, I very much enjoyed the film (and I predicted the concluding images!)… it reminded me, in some ways, of the last Icelandic film I’d seen, “Rams”, which was also about communication (or lack of) between neighbours.

august 2018 books...

A Recipe For Sorcery (Vanessa Kisuule): Earlier this year, Vanessa became Bristol’s new city poet. She’s also an occasional, but very enthusiastic and talented, member of our weekly Drawing Group. She and I have enjoyed coffee/red wine together (mine was the red wine, obviously!) and, believe me, she’s a pretty amazing woman. Over recent years, I’ve found myself reading more and more poetry (not something I necessarily find easy to appreciate) and have found reading Vanessa’s latest book of poetry remarkable, captivating and challenging. She’s also a performance poet and, after watching her ‘perform’ via YouTube, she really is rather spellbinding. But, hey, she’s a young, passionate, black woman who essentially writes about women and I’m just an old, out-of-touch, white bloke! Well, strange as it might seem, I really enjoyed this collection of her poems – incredibly honest and sexually explicit (uncomfortably so on occasions), frank, frequently funny and always thought-provoking. She has a wonderful way with language… I found myself reading every poem out loud (not quite with the same virtuosity as Vanessa, but it’s a start!). Frequently, there were times when I would have liked to ask her about the background to a particular poem. I think she’s a bit special.  
Notes On A Nervous Planet (Matt Haig): Haig is perhaps (or at least was) best known for his children’s books and adult fiction. Unwittingly, following his successful ‘Reasons for Staying Alive’ book (about his own experiences of anxiety and depression), I suspect he will gain a reputation as one of a small band of men who can write about emotions? Full of very sensible stuff. This is the first of Haig’s books I’ve read and so my knee-jerk reactions to it might be a little harsh and/or unfair. However, although I found the book both interesting and informative, I also felt that, at times, Haig had a found a rather glib way of writing a popular book and making a little easy money (yes, I know, that’s rather harsh!)… and that, actually I could have very easily written whole swathes of the book myself (yeh, right!)... I frequently found myself thinking “yes, but he’s only stating the blooming obvious”(!). Yes (as one tiny example), learning to restrict time on the internet or on your smart phone makes absolute sense… a couple of years ago, I changed my blackberry phone for an incredibly basic phone (with ancient text technology etc). I now use my phone simply to make and receive calls or somewhat laborious texts… I don’t bother with emails or the internet. I’ve found the whole experience both refreshing and liberating. But it’s NOT rocket science (and I also go for walks and stare at the sky… as he also suggests!)(and he didn’t even mention sketching, but he should have done). However, hats off to him when it comes to his writing about anxiety, depression and mental health.
A Conspiracy Of Friends (Alexander McCall Smith): I’ve read a number of Smith’s novels, but this is the first of his ‘Corduroy Mansions’ series I’ve read (in fact, I now realise that it’s the third book in the series). The stories were originally serialised online. Essentially, they’re about the lives of the inhabitants of a large three-story (plus basement) house in Pimlico, London. It’s all pretty mundane, undemanding, unexceptional stuff and yet Smith has the ability to conjure up pictures of beautifully observed characters and gentle, amusing normality. Easy, light, enjoyable holiday reading.
Talking To My Daughter About The Economy (Yanis Varoufakis): This is the second book on capitalism I’ve read in the past couple of months (scary!). Very different to Ken Barnes’s “Redeeming Capitalism” but just as effective – perhaps even more so? As you probably recall, Varoufakis became the Greek finance minister in 2015 and this book is a ‘brief history of capitalism’ but, as the title suggests, it’s addressed directly to his 13 year-old daughter in answer to her question “why is there so much inequality?”. He wrote it in 9 days and it’s the only book he’s ever written ‘without any footnotes, references or the paraphernalia of academic or political books’. And it’s pretty brilliant. Somewhat predictably, he’s massively critical of the banks (and rightly so in my view!), but he does so with the authority of someone who has, for many years, been a professor of economics in Britain, Australia and the USA (although he acknowledges that the reason he became an economist was because he refused to “leave it to the experts”). It’s a straightforward, no nonsense book - one reviewer described it as equipping “his readers with the beginnings of a new language, and punctures myth after myth” – it’s articulate, intelligent and talks a huge amount of sense. I was enormously impressed.
Slade House (David Mitchell): This apparently first started as a short story on Twitter. The story focuses on a building, Slade House… “on one side of a high wall lies a narrow, dank alley; on the other, a sunlit garden; and between them, a small black iron door”. So begins a mysterious, magical adventure… starting in 1979, and progressing to the present day at nine-year intervals, it tells five intriguing, dark stories. It mixes horror, humour, suspense and deception… with extraordinary imagination and cleverness. I was hooked!

I’d like UK politics to be far less tribal, please…

Several years ago, I remember listening to four (I think) ‘senior’ politicians on the radio talking about their political lives (sadly, I can no longer recall their names)… about issues of the day; about their regrets; about their frustrations; and about stuff they’d been proud to have been involved in. A General Election was due, but each of the politicians in question had decided it was time they ‘stepped down’.
The politicians were from different parties and I can clearly remember listening to the programme in absolute awe.
Each of them spoke with quiet authority and, crucially, from their own personal perspectives… they were generous to each other; they acknowledged each others’ point of view; and, in the course of the discussion, there were several times when they were able to agree various compromise options to hugely difficult issues.
The discussion was relaxed, authoritative, intelligent and good-humoured. There was a wonderful spirit of ‘if-only-we-could-have-set-aside-our-respective-party-dogmas-we-might-have-achieved-something’. It was quite, quite brilliant… without doubt, one of the most impressive political ‘debates’ I’ve ever experienced. Above all, it all seemed SO refreshing and hopeful.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve become HUGELY disillusioned with the whole world of politics here in the UK (yes, I’d be the first to acknowledge that one or two other western democracies have similar issues… mentioning no names!).

I’d also be happy to acknowledge that we are fortune to have some very gifted politicians in the UK… I could probably come up with a list of more than 50 (if only I could actually remember some of their names!) whose opinions, integrity and principles I particularly respected… and there are obviously many more about whom I know very little(!).
It’ll probably never happen, but I long for a time when the UK might be governed by a coalition of sensible, sensitive, gifted people (not necessarily those whose political views reflect my own!) and an end to the appalling, embarrassing, bah-humbug, them-and-us, politics that we witness on a weekly basis at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Sadly, with party politics seemingly dominating everything else, we have the continuing, farcical Brexit ‘debate’ which has totally divided the Tory party (not to mention the nation) whilst, at the same time, we have a largely ineffective Labour opposition party unable to bring the government to account on a whole range of issues - at a time when the government is regularly ‘failing’. I'd like a world where the politicians who represent us endeavour to make decisions on a 'taking-everything-on-its-merits' basis, rather than how Party Whips instruct them to vote.

So, if it’s ok with you, I’d like the following politicians to get together and offer themselves to the country as the core of an alternative government (please feel free to add your own favourites – as long as they don’t include Rees-Mogg, Gove and Johnson - or even delete some of mine!): Caroline Lucas; Dominic Grieve; Harriet Harman; Chuka Umunna; Yvette Cooper; David Lammy; Luciana Burger; Mhairi Black; Layla Moran; Andrew Mitchell; Anna Soubry, Ben Bradshaw and Tom Brake for starters?

july-august 2018 books...

Runaway (Peter May): Published in 2015, the story tells of five teenage friends who run away to London from Glasgow 50 years ago in search of a music career. Within a year, three have returned, damaged. Fifty years on, the three friends, now in their sixties, journey back to London to finally confront a dark truth from their past. May is a brilliant storyteller (apparently, he too ran away to London in his youth after being expelled from school) and has become a favourite novelist of mine over recent years. It’s a gripping story, but it was also a reminder of my own life in the ‘swinging sixties’ (although mine wasn’t quite as nerve-wracking or exciting  as theirs!) and the reflections of a grandfather about his regrets and missed opportunities… but also about the faint pride in some of the things he had achieved. I very much enjoyed the book.
The Handmaiden’s Tale (Margaret Atwood): Yes, I know I’ve come very late to read this (and, no, I haven’t watched any of the television episodes… so far). First published in 1985(!), it’s a quite brilliant, vivid and terrifying novel, set in a near-future New England, of a totalitarian state which has overthrown the US government. As you’re probably already aware, it explores themes of suppressed women in a patriarchal society and the various means by which these women attempt to gain individualism and independence. The Handmaids are forced to provide children by proxy for infertile women of a higher social status, the wives of ‘Commanders’. Not only is the book scary, but it’s also sobering to think that it’s already more than 30 years old. At the time of its publication, it must have been somewhat laughable to think that anything approaching such a regime might be considered possible – certainly in the western world. And yet, having been on the recent anti-Trump march (and hearing/reading his various knee-jerk comments/decisions) and seeing a number of women dressed in their Handmaid’s ‘uniform’, you begin to wonder. A stunning book with a very important message… by a brilliantly-gifted writer.
Iona Of My Heart (Neil Paynter): This is a book of four months’ daily readings which reflect the concerns of the Iona Community. Editor Paynter called for contributions and it was lovely to see that two volunteer friends (Noelia Mendoza and Lee Ann Monat) from my time on the island in 2012 contributed to the book (I now regret not getting round to submitting something myself!). ‘Iona of my Heart’ is an apt title (certainly for me anyway) and I found that the daily readings gave me a daily rhythm of reflection and contemplation in the same way that the daily liturgies did during my two months on the island. 
The House Of Mirth (Edith Wharton): This novel, published in 1905, tells the story of a beautiful, impoverished, 29 year-old woman in New York. She’s a socially adept, intelligent and attractive young woman but her dependence on high society is her Achilles heel. Fashioned for a life of luxury and ease, she conducts herself as if she is entitled to such a life, despite being unable to afford it, and she scorns those who lead alternative lifestyles. Her father loses his fortune and she becomes increasingly desperate to find herself a husband to support her - high society life and attending regular house parties at which she endeavours to retain the superficial endorsement of the ‘movers and the shapers’ of social taste. Alas, it was not to be and she becomes vulnerable to gossip and slander. She’d grown up in a world of high social status where it seems that her only purpose was to secure a ‘leisure-class marriage’…
Strangely, I found that reading it so soon after finishing ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, there were some haunting parallels between the two stories (well, for me anyway)… worlds dominated by male status and power – either reducing female roles to mere vehicles for reproduction or providing them with the means to enjoy a privileged existence (without status, power and wealth, a man no longer counted: “he had become extinct when he ceased to fulfil his purpose”). Wharton writes beautifully; she has a wonderful, frequently very humorous, ‘turn of phrase’. It’s a frank and poignant novel about New York society at the beginning of the 20^th century and I very much enjoyed it. 
Reservoir 13 (Jon McGregor): I love McGregor’s books… and I really loved this one. A teenage girl on holiday goes missing in the hills; villagers are called up to join the search; news reporters descend on normally quiet village in the heart of England. The search continues for days, months… and years, as does rural life. The novel takes us on a thirteen year, teasing journey as we follow the inhabitants and activities of ongoing village life – and, all the time, asking ourselves if so-and-so might be the guilty party? Somewhat predictably, given that there must be more than three dozen(?) people involved, I kept needing to . on the particular characters (who is she/he married to? who’s daughter/son is this? what’s the relationship between x and y? etc etc). But brilliant writing - capturing the year-round rhythm of life and individuals in a rural community… and a truly haunting, enthralling story.

first reformed…

I went along to the Watershed last night (no afternoon showings!) to see Paul Schrader’s film “First Reformed”.
The film is a haunting, harrowing reflection on faith and doubt. Reverend Ernst Toller, the pastor of a small New England church (brilliantly played by Ethan Hawke) has his faith tested through an encounter with an unstable environmental activist and his pregnant wife. Toller is a solitary priest at a small church, in upstate New York, with a dwindling congregation which is being slowly eclipsed by its nearby, ‘successful’ parent church… with all its plush facilities and resources. He himself is tormented by cancer, alcohol and traumatic memories.
I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from the film. I sensed from what I heard that it would be challenging… and it certainly proved to be just that - but not in a bad way. Testing faith issues (not just Christian, but all faiths and even non-faiths) that many of us would identify with; asking difficult questions of our own prayer lives (where applicable); testing our commitment; confronting difficult moral and ethical issues within an increasingly demanding world. I could delve into various aspects of the film’s ‘plot’, but I’m conscious of not wanting to spoil things or give too much away…
What I would say is that it’s a beautifully-made, intelligent, powerful, challenging and stark film… and it’s well worth seeing.
My only regret was the way in which Schrader chose to end the film. It was almost as if he didn’t quite know HOW to end it and so what emerged, in my view, was frankly a little preposterous.
But, hey, what do I know!

cheltenham cricket festival…

Chris, Jeff and I went along to watch the third day of the Gloucestershire v Durham second division game at Cheltenham College yesterday. The Cheltenham Cricket Festival has been going for the past 140 years (apparently, it’s the world’s longest-running cricket festival) and yesterday everything was all rather lovely – the stunning setting of Cheltenham College (independent boarding school, of course!), idyllic sunny weather, good company, the odd beer tent and even the sight of England all-rounder Ben Stokes pounding in to bowl 18 overs… you get the general idea.
The cricket wasn’t bad either – some 350 runs scored in the day and 15 wickets falling. Somewhat predictably, given the sunny conditions, the only sources of shade to be found were in the beer tents and marquees.
Despite the school holidays, the age profile of the spectators was definitely on the ‘old’ side – we seemed quite sprightly by comparison with the average punter (the three of us being 68, 69 and 70 respectively!). The only youngsters on view were those who turned up for a mini-cricket tournament at lunchtime (they included a reasonable number of girls in the teams, which was good to see). In fact, the overall attendance was much less than I’d anticipated (I’d initially even wondered if we would have difficulty in getting into the ground). You could get a very decent view of the cricket from the seats scattered along the boundary edge or from the temporary ‘stands’ (which were somewhat mysteriously set back a fair way from the boundary - until one of the locals explained that the ‘real’ crowds these days turned up for one-day 50 over or 20twenty games – and this allowed them to put more seating in front of the temporary stands).
A delightful, typically-English, somewhat nostalgic, summer’s day.
Photo: The Durham slip cordon (including Ben Stokes, extreme left).

july 2018 books…

Virginia Woolf (Mary Ann Caws): Caws is a Professor of English, French and Comparative Literature at the City University of New York and this biography examines the career and private life of Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). The book contains numerous photographs and illustrations from Woolf’s life and friendships – in particular her happy marriage to Leonard Woolf, the Bloomsbury Group, the house at Charleston and establishing the Hogarth Press (with Leonard). She was considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors (and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device). I’ve only read three of her books (‘To The Lighthouse’, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘The Waves’), but came to find that each of them had a haunting, rather beautiful quality. Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society in the inter-war years. She suffered three mental breakdowns (before she was 32) and was dogged by severe depression throughout her life. She committed suicide (by drowning) at the age of 59. Maggie Gee (Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University) describes her thus: “She is my hero for two reasons: because she a genius, and because she was very brave, both in life and in her work”… which seems entirely appropriate.
‘Tiger’ Smith Of Warwickshire And England (EJ Smith): Another second-hand book from Taunton cricket bookshop. ‘Tiger’ Smith (1886-1979) was a notorious wicket-keeper for my ‘home county’ of Warwickshire. Although his playing career ended in 1930, he became an umpire, then Warwickshire cricket coach (until 1951) and continued to supervise the local indoor cricket school right up until the early 1970s (I remember my grandfather Fred talking about ‘Tiger’). Published posthumously in 1981, Smith’s autobiography (“as told to journalist/sports writer Patrick Murphy”) is certainly not a literary masterpiece, but it does provide a fascinating insight into some of the game’s characters (Smith himself was renowned for his ‘gruffness’ – “he was no paper tiger”!). A good read for old cricket fogeys like me!
Redeeming Capitalism (Kenneth J Barnes): Written by my great friend, this is a truly fascinating, well-researched, intelligent book (and it’s very readable too). It deals with a highly complex subject in a way which is both comprehensible and hugely thought-provoking.  The book begins with the spectacular collapse of the New York investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 (28,000 employees and nearly $700billion of managed assets). It outlines the financial mess the bank got itself into and describes the cheating, immoral ways in which it tried to cover its tracks. It also reminds us that, despite the catalogue of errors and deceptions, none of the senior executives of Lehman Brothers went to gaol or even faced criminal charges – because the prosecutors concluded that they hadn’t actually broken the law! As Ken puts it: “the motive for deception was strong, not because the penalty for failure was severe… but because the financial reward for success was extreme”. But, hey, I’ve blogged separately about it, so I’m not going to repeat myself!
Skating To Antarctica (Jenny Diski): Diski has previously published six novels (none of which I’ve read), but this is her only non-fiction book (she died in 2016). It’s a cross between a memoir and a travelogue of a journey. On a whim, she decides she’d like to go to Antarctica (to experience an “boundless, empty white world” that would remind her of the time spent in a psychiatric hospital – white sheets and white walls) and the book recounts her observations on the natural world (including birdlife, elephant seals and penguins), explorers and her travelling companions alongside part-recollections of her difficult childhood (including being taught to ice skate from a very early age!). Her father and mother had a very stormy relationship - her father left when she was 11 and her mother was a dysfunctional parent who suffered mental breakdown and chronic depression. Diski spent much of her own youth in a psychiatric hospital – either as an in- or out-patient. She last saw her mother in 1966 (when Diski was 19). I have to say that, although I thought it was a fascinating (and, sometimes, very depressing) story, I really struggled to ‘get into it’ for the first half of the book.
In Relation (James Russell): This is the book that accompanies the RWA exhibition of the same name. It features nine couples who “transformed modern British art”: Laura Knight+Harold Knight; Ernest Procter+Dod Procter; Vanessa Bell+Duncan Grant; Phyllis Barron+Dorothy Larcher; Ben Nicholson+Barbara Hepworth; Eric Ravilious+Tirzah Garwood; Robert Colquhoun+Robert MacBryde; Mary Fedden+Julian Trevelyan; and Roger Hilton+Rose Hilton… all ‘ artist couples’ and all pivotal in their way. I knew the work of most of the 18 artists but, through seeing the exhibition and reading the book, realised just how LITTLE I knew about the lives (and work, to some extent) of some of the artists (ie. Ernest Procter, Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde and Rose Hilton). A fascinating book (and exhibition) and it’s certainly made me want to learn more, particularly for example, of Julian Trevelyan’s work.

marching against trump…

They reckon a quarter of a million people were in London yesterday in protest against virtually everything the US president stands for and says (and there were lots of other marches around the country, including Bristol). The protesters were happy, peaceful, dignified, colourful, noisy… and DETERMINED to demonstrate to Mr Trump and the world (as if he would take any notice!) that the UK does NOT love him.
Indeed, we don’t!

Inevitably, today’s newspapers are all about Trump. I suspect that most will convey a similar message to our Guardian newspaper, so (perhaps for the benefit of my American friends?) here are just a couple of brief extracts to give you a flavour:

“The British government did its absolute best – given that the streets of the cities were full of protesters – to lay on a glittering welcome for Mr Trump this week. Blenheim, Sandhurst, Chequers, Windsor – you don’t get much more in the way of British establishment red carpet than that. But this reckoned without the Trump character and, more sinisterly, the Trump political project. The president undermined Mrs May before he even left America. He bullied and lied at the Nato summit in Brussels. He then gave an explosive and deliberately destabilising interview to Rupert Murdoch’s ‘Sun’ on the very day of his arrival in Britain…
This guaranteed that Friday’s press conference at Chequers would be purgatorial for Mrs May and maybe even a little chastening for the president and his team. And so it proved, in spite of what had clearly been the private reading of the diplomatic equivalent of the Riot Act to Mr Trump. But it was not just the rudeness that mattered – though rudeness does matter, a lot, both in personal and in public things. It was the political impact and consequence. That unmistakable consequence is that Mr Trump’s America can no longer be regarded with certainty as a reliable ally for European nations committed to the defence of liberal democracy. That is an epochal change for Britain and for Europe…
A president who supported the Atlantic alliance, the stability of Europe and liberal democratic values – in short, every other US president of the postwar era… would have tried to help, would have seen the EU-UK problem as one that needed solving, and would have used his influence to get America’s European allies to find a shared way forward after Brexit. Such a president would have been doing the right thing. But Mr Trump is not such a president. He is not our ally. He is hostile to our interests and values. He may even, if this goes on, become a material threat…
This week he deliberately inflamed the politics of Europe and of Britain” (Guardian Editorial 14 July).

“This was a far cry from Bill Clinton strolling through Hyde Park during his presidential swansong or Barack Obama dropping in on a primary school in Newport. For Trump, making his first visit to the UK as president, there was no park and no school, no 10 Downing Street, no Houses of Parliament and no Buckingham Palace. Nor was this the state visit that May had promised when she dashed to Washington shortly after Trump took office. The tens of thousands of people marching in the streets of London might have had something to do with it” (David Smith, The Guardian).

Rest assured American friends, there’s never been such UK press comment (and there will have been other similar comments in other newspapers today, I assure you) about ANY president in my entire lifetime!

In order to avoid a transport nightmare on the day itself, I’d travelled up to London the night before and stayed over in Bromley – thanks to my good friend Becki’s kind hospitality. It meant that I was able to get into central London quite early (and seeing the ‘baby trump’ inflatable in Parliament Square as a bonus!). I relaxed over coffee on the Southbank and the sun was shining… so I decided to make my way slowly across town to Portland Place (immediately adjacent the BBC’s Broadcasting House). Initially, I’d planned to take part in the main march (from Portland Place to Trafalgar Square - which was due to start at 2pm) but ended up walking with the Women’s March (Portland Place to Parliament Square – starting at noon) because, when I first arrived just after 11am, there were already crowds gathering. By an absolute fluke, I also met up with my great friends Diane and Steve Eyre, and so we were able to march together (what a very special bonus that was!).

Predictably (I’ve been on a fair few demonstrations in the past, so I know!), I didn’t actually need to have made my own placard – there were literally hundreds provided at street corner pick-ups. But, I’m glad I did… it was MY statement (although I could have added lots of other adjectives describing my opinion of Mr Trump!)… and it provoked lots of positive comment and endorsement.

 

Of course, we all knew that Trump was avoiding London like the plague… but it didn’t matter. Was it worth making the journey to the UK capital for a few hours “just to take part in a political demonstration” that was unlikely(!) to bring a change of heart to this so-called leader of the western world? Yes, absolutely. And, whatsmore, I felt that I was also there representing dozens of family members and friends who weren’t able to make the trip (one of the bonuses of retirement)… and, indeed, in solidarity with my friends from the USA.

Small voices against the extremes of political power… a token gesture? Well, maybe. But actually, I think it wasn’t just a message for Mr Trump… it was message to politicians/political parties throughout the world and, IN PARTICULAR, a message to our own politicians and parties here in the UK.

redeeming capitalism...

My great friend, Ken Barnes (he’s an ordained minister who has conducted business on six continents as a senior executive; he also holds the Mockler-Phillips Chair in Workplace Theology and Business Ethics at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston, USA), has written a remarkable book which explores the history and workings of capitalism in a business world that, these days, frequently seems devoid of any core principles or ethical constraints.
It’s a truly fascinating, well-researched, intelligent book (and it’s very readable too). It deals with a highly complex subject in a way which is both comprehensible and hugely thought-provoking.  The book begins with the spectacular collapse of the New York investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 (28,000 employees and nearly $700billion of managed assets). It outlines the financial mess the bank got itself into and describes the cheating, immoral ways in which it tried to cover its tracks. It also reminds us that, despite the catalogue of errors and deceptions, none of the senior executives of Lehman Brothers went to gaol or even faced criminal charges – because the prosecutors concluded that they hadn’t actually broken the law! As Ken puts it: “the motive for deception was strong, not because the penalty for failure was severe… but because the financial reward for success was extreme”.
Ken goes on to list several other instances of individual and corporate fraud and financial deception. He also provides an enlightening mini-history of economics and capitalism – taking in the likes of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Max Weber – before moving on to ‘postmodern capitalism’ (which he described as “capitalism that is devoid of a moral compass and resistant, if not impervious to ethical restraint”).
I found myself constantly scribbling in the margins or highlighting fact after fact (not something I usually do with books, believe me) – SO many snippets of information and detail eg. growing wage gap between corporate CEOs and the people who work for them; 1% of Americans today have an annual income 38 times greater than 90% of their fellow Americans; 78% of the US economy is now in the service sector, including financial services; (I could go on for several pages like this!).

Perhaps not surprisingly, given his background at Gordon-Conwell , Ken is a great advocate for the need for a different kind of capitalism to emerge – one that begins to change the social, political, ethical AND religious drivers that have formed our economic system from the onset. He calls this “virtuous capitalism” and puts forward a compelling argument which re-imagines capitalism within a faith-based ethic. He maintains that “there lies in every breast of every human being a shrouded yet indelible knowledge of God and both an ability and a desire to reflect the goodness of God, which explains the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in the world (84%) still profess faith in God”. Although, as a Christian myself, I love the concept of “virtuous capitalism”, I’m afraid that I don’t quite share Ken’s optimism in people’s spiritual attitudes. Indeed (and I know one can quote research paper after research paper), a recent survey that indicates that more than half the population here in the UK has “no religion”.

Nevertheless, I absolutely DO agree with Ken that it is entirely possible to build a business ethic that is universally applicable and which incorporates such features as morality, mission, common good, openness, trust, fairness, thrift and mutuality (I think my own architectural practice was built on such a platform). There needs to be a change away from greedy, uncaring corporations towards business such as Danish company Novo Nordisk (where the CEO is paid a fraction of what similar ranked executives would make in the US; where the accounting focus incorporates environmental and social concerns; where economic performance is measured a 20-25 year view in mind).
There are far too many aspects of the book that I COULD refer to (eg. The Occupy Movement; the theology of wealth; tax avoidance; United Global Compact/the Religious Freedom+Business Foundation; the third world; world politics; rich and poor etc etc)… but you really do need to read this book for yourself!

Nearly two years ago, I read an equally fascinating book on capitalism by Paul Mason, entitled “Postcapitalism”… and, although written from very different perspectives and backgrounds, there are lots of similarities – even if their respective ‘solutions’ were fundamentally different. Much food for thought!

One of the passages in Ken’s book related to what he called “The Geography of Virtuous Capitalism”, namely: “Economics is indeed a global concern, and not just in our current postmodern context, but in all future contexts as well. The resistance of nationalists and those who gnash their teeth over the corruption and inefficiencies of both corporate and government pan-national organisations notwithstanding, railing against globilisation is akin to howling at the moon. The world is small and through interconnectedness getting smaller every day. The challenge facing our economies, political structures, and environment are becoming ever more complex and intertwined. To become a force for good in the world, virtuous capitalism cannot be based on a beggar my neighbour mentality or the weaponisation of economic policies designed to give one country an advantage over others. It must be based on a think-globally-act-locally mentality and an ethos of shared responsibility for each other and for the planet we call home”.

This struck a chord with me very locally (although perhaps not quite in the way Ken envisaged). Here in Bristol, we’ve taken an initiative to introduce what we call the ‘Bristol Pound’. It was introduced in 2012 and we have our own printed money (and it’s also accessible digitally via smart phones) to trade in Bristol, localising supply chains and keeping money circulating in our city. It’s a movement, an idea, a hope, a better way of doing money… and it works! Two years ago (this is just one example), an enlightened developer decided to construct a scheme next to the harbourside (Wapping Wharf/Gaol Ferry Steps) consisting of a mixed-use scheme of apartments and cafés/bars/shops/restaurants. The developer took great care to select those he felt would complement each other and, crucially, ensure that they were all independent, local businesses. It’s been a phenomenal success… it’s become the go-to place in Bristol (and many of the traders have also opted to use Bristol Pounds). The traders are happy and the developer plays his part by ensuring that the area is kept clean and that the development continues to ‘look the business’ (the scheme won a prestigious heritage design award last year). As a result, a real sense of community has developed – the traders all know each other and seem to get on wonderfully well. So, on the back of this success, the developer put forward ideas for further shops, a yoga/massage unit and other eating places – housed in converted shipping container units. Again, the result has been wonderfully successful… and the sense of community has continued to develop. The developer is now seeking permission to build a number of small, independent office/studio units (plus café/bar) at the opposite end of the site (again using converted shipping containers) – a hotel is planned within the heart of the development on the site of the old gaol. In normal circumstances, the developer might have struggled to obtain permission for this latest proposal but, because he has a) now developed a very successful track record, b) prospective occupiers are keen to be associated with a development which they know will enhance the area and its community and c) has the firm support from people who use the facilities, I have absolutely no doubt that this latest phase of the scheme will prove equally successful. Relatively small beginnings; a determination to do things as well as possible (from design, environmental and organisational perspectives); being prepared to engage with end-users AND the local community; the city council is delighted by its success (which ‘rubs off’ on them, so they look good too!)… Think globally, act locally? A model for the future perhaps… on a VERY small scale?

Returning to the book, I have to say I was both encouraged and delighted by what it had to say and how it said it. I’m one of those people who have really struggled to come to terms with the implications of the 2008 financial crisis (and beyond!). I’m not easily reconciled about such matters, and yet, I finished this book feeling hopeful and even optimistic(!) that redeeming capitalism IS possible – given time, commitment, faith, perseverance, a sense of serving the common good and an acceptance of the need to engage with fellow stakeholders.

I think it’s a brilliant book and, even though you might not think so, one that you should definitely read.

the elephant man...

Somewhat unusually, Moira and I went along to the Old Vic this afternoon to sample director Lee Lyford’s take on Bernard Pomerance’s award-winning play (and we only paid £10 each for our tickets, thanks to a group booking!).The play is based upon the life of Joseph Merrick (1862-90). In 1886, the chairman of London Hospital wrote to the editor of The Times and told of a hugely disfigured 27 year-old man who was reduced to living in a small, isolated attic room at the hospital due to his “terrible deformity” (you may have seen the film, with John Hurt?… I haven’t)… enlarged limbs, lumpy skin and impaired speech. The letter resulted in public donations which, essentially, funded his hospital stay until his death. The play does NOT feature an actor with grotesque make-up in order to replicate the original Joseph Merrick. Instead, they have opted to use an actor (the brilliant Jamie Beddard) who has Cerebral  Palsy – which effectively restricts him to a wheelchair and renders his voice difficult to understand (the play effectively uses sub-titles that appear above the stage)... and yet, his performance in the role is breathtakingly rather beautiful.

In Victorian times, Merrick was seen as ‘freak show’ exhibit. Today that just seems shocking, unacceptable and barbaric. Once properly hospitalised, Merrick received financial support from the wealthy and those who went to great lengths to demonstrate to all and sundry what ‘fine citizens’ they were to support such ‘causes’. In the play, Merrick’s character (as portrayed by Beddard) makes the audience think about how we marginalise people in society today – not necessarily on purpose, but sometimes subtly and without direct intention. As director Lee Lyford indicated in the programme: “I think a lot of the time we’re all quite frightened about getting it wrong, but it’s all about asking questions and breaking down the barriers to inclusion”.

There were times in the play when I thought they were just trying too hard to emanate the ‘feel’ of the Victorian era (the stripped-back, yet traditional, staging; the quite stilted dialogue; the ‘intertitles’ music hall references of the late 19^th/early 20^th century silent films etc etc) but, overall, I thought the play worked very well.

It’s a powerful, thought-provoking piece of theatre which, in these austere times (which are particularly affecting disabled people) and the NHS's 70th birthday, it comes as a timely reminder that we should be thinking of the ‘common good’ and not to simply allow privilege to thrive.

june-july 2018 books...

The Lewis Man (Peter May): Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the ‘Lewis Trilogy’, I immediately continued with the second (and read it in less than two days). Quite brilliant… clever, tense, thought-provoking and even quite profound. Felt totally exhausted by the end of it (in a good way). He’s definitely my kind of writer… more will follow!
The Character Of Cricket (Tim Heald): It was very tempting to continue with Lewis Trilogy book 3 immediately after book 2, but I decided that I needed a brief breathing space. I bought this book for 50p at Taunton cricket ground… published in 1987, it’s a rather gentle, nostalgic reflection on the pleasures of the English cricket season. However, it’s a little different to the usual cricket book in that Heald decides to visit various cricket grounds (26 in all) around the country – taking in obscure village pitches to the grandeur of Lord’s – and reporting on his experiences (including such observations as his journey from the railway stations to grounds, the local tandoori restaurant or church, the architecture of the various cricket pavilions and grandstands, his conversations with programme sellers, groundsmen, club secretaries and ancient supporters). All gentle stuff (and frequently very amusing), but fascinating from the perspective of an aged cricket-lover like me! Despite our different backgrounds - Heald (listed as a ‘journalist’ and writer of mystery novels in Wikipedia – although I’d not come across him before) hailed from a middle-class, prep school/public school, Balliol College, Oxford – he was only five years older than me and so many of his cricketing recollections echoed my own childhood memories. An integral part of the book’s charm were the beautiful, quirky, distinctive illustrations of Paul Cox.
The Chess Men (Peter May): Wow. Just brilliant (and, again, finished within a couple of days)! Poignant, compassionate, brutal, intriguing… and a bit of a thriller. So impressed. Intelligent, tightly plotted and with believable characters… and all set against rugged landscapes of the Western Isles. Trouble is that it’s left me feeling somewhat bereft and in mourning – that was the last in the trilogy. The only option is to search for his other books (eg. Enzo Files and China Thrillers).
The Diary Of A Bookseller (Shaun Bythell): Our friend Alan lent us this book and it’s an absolute delight. It will almost certainly feature as one of my top five books of the year. It’s exactly what the title suggests… it’s a bookseller’s diary. Bythell owns and runs ‘The Bookshop in Wigtown (it’s Scotland’s largest second-hand bookshop) and he writes candidly (and disparagingly!) about his customers and about his staff (especially Nicky!). It’s a lovely, lovely book – very funny and yet also beautiful, charming and passionate at the same time. Amazon’s role in book selling is slated and, after reading this book, I’ve decided to persevere with ‘real’ books rather Kindle or whatever… but maybe I’ll get a local second-hand bookseller to cast his/her eye over our list of books – with a view to creating more space on our packed bookshelves for yet more books? I found this book an absolute delight… and I felt VERY empty (almost grieving!) once I’d finished reading it… but, hey, I’ve signed up to their facebook page in order to retain a link.
The Spirit Of Cricket (Christopher Martin-Jenkins): Another purchase (for £1) from the Taunton second-hand bookshop (I love the cover photograph of two captains tossing a coin at the start of a game – both in their team blazers, one immaculately dressed and very ‘dapper’, the other rather overweight and with shabby cricket shoes. It’s a personal anthology encompassing extracts, articles and contributions from a whole host of well-known (and some not so well-known) cricket writer)s and enthusiasts. As one would expect, they include accounts and reminisces of famous matches… but, amongst my favourites, is the more bizarre stuff such as these: Firstly, Wisden (the well-known cricket ‘bible’) apparently includes obituaries of all ‘first class’ cricketers and Martin-Jenkins’s book includes a reference to one individual who gained an entry on the basis of his appearance in a game that, due to bad weather, was curtailed to just two overs… the player didn’t bowl or bat, merely fielded for 12 balls. Secondly, a wonderful tongue-in-cheek essay entitled “The Art of Being Captained” – tips on how to avoid the captain’s eye eg. “how to slip down the batting order when the wicket’s a shade too green; and how to drop catches off the captain’s bowling and still stay in the team”. A rather lovely book for cricket oldies like me!

arcadia...

I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to see Paul Wright’s “Arcadia” – a study of Britain’s shifting (and contradictory) relationship with the land through 100 years of footage from the British Film Institute’s National Archive. Although I didn’t have huge expectations for the film, it proved to be a mesmerising array of material.
Watching the film, one is VERY aware that this could ONLY be Britain – Morris dancing, fox hunting, horses and hounds, privilege and class, rich and poor, eccentricity, naturism (there were a LOT of people dancing around in the nude!), folk festivals, racism and even paganism… you get the general idea.
The film began with a series of black and white chocolate box images (plough fields, scenic villages, children dancing around the Maypole and the like)(Brexiteers would hail it as their model for the Britain of the future!), but soon moved on to encompass so many different aspects of rural Britain – the beauty, brutality, conflict, magic and madness – and, in particular, how we as a nation seemed to have largely lost our connection with nature and turned our backs on the environment.
It’s really very much a montage of archive clips - accompanied by some rather wonderful music from Anne Briggs, Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Will Gregory (Goldfrapp). But, actually, it’s much more than that – I found it quite compelling (and somewhat sobering).
I need to see it again!

may-june 2018 books...

Visiting The Minotaur (Claire Williamson): Claire is a friend of our daughter Ruth and this book of poetry is the second book of hers that I’ve read (the previous one was ‘Soulwater Pool’). I really like her writing style and found myself reading every single poem out loud (to myself!). These poems explore emotionally raw subjects such as the suicide of a mother and brother; the nature of grief; issues from her own childhood… but also about raising her own children, about culture and about friendships. I’d have loved to have had some of the background to a few of the poems but, nevertheless, her words are powerful and engaging enough to speak for themselves… with the bull as a recurring motif. A beautiful, lyrical book.
Bring Up The Bodies (Hilary Mantel): To be truthful, I’m not normally a great lover of historical fiction, but I was rather blown away by this book. As you are probably already aware, it tells the story of Henry VIII’s “darkly glittering court” (to quote the book’s cover) from the perceived viewpoint of chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, at the time when rumours abounded of Anne Boleyn’s faithlessness and when the king had become captivated by Jane Seymour. Mantel’s ability to combine her eye for detail with well-researched historical context is remarkable… but she also has the incredible talent of being a brilliant story-teller and to make the reader feel we are part of each the lives of the book’s characters. Mantel is an extraordinary writer. I’ll now definitely have to read Wolf Hall (belatedly)!
La’s Orchestra Saves The World (Alexander McCall Smith): I do like McCall Smith as an author… he seems to be able to write in an almost effortless way. This novel, set on the eve of WW2, tells of a lonely, young widow who decides to bring villagers and men from the local Suffolk airbase together by forming an amateur orchestra (there’s also a love link to a Polish refugee). It’s a very easy read (I finished it in a day), but I found it all just a little too sugar-coated and altogether rather too quintessentially English for my liking (perseverance, patriotism, pots of tea and the power of music will show the way!).
Look To The Lady (Margery Allingham): First published in 1931 (our edition in 1960). More light summer reading (only my second ‘classic crime’ novel by Margery Allingham… and my second featuring ‘detective’ Albert Campion). I have to say I wasn’t very impressed. The first half of the book was intriguing (a well-to-do Suffolk family had guarded an irreplaceable chalice for hundreds of years on behalf of the crown; a band of devious criminals were attempting to steal it; Campion rescues the son of the well-to-do family from the streets of London…), but then, for me, it just descended into a rather silly and ridiculous farce (involving a crazy witch amongst other things). Despite some occasional clever and genuinely amusing passages, I thought the story petered out extremely disappointingly.
The Blackhouse (Peter May): I’d previously read (and very much enjoyed) two Peter May books and had subsequently received encouragement from various friends that I should definitely read his Lewis Trilogy of novels… this is book one. Lewis-born detective inspector is sent from Edinburgh to investigate a murder… old skeletons begin to surface. There’s something about crime mysteries and Scottish islands that appeals to me (eg. ‘Shetland’ tv series based on Anne Cleeves’ books)… baffling misdeeds in hauntingly beautiful, isolated places? Whatever it is, this book certainly delivered… something of a crime ‘thriller’, fascinating characters and a clever, intriguing storyline (with 100 pages to go, I couldn’t imagine how all – well, most – of the loose ends could be tied up). Can’t wait to read the second book.

a monster calls at bristol old vic…

Last night, Moira and I went to the Bristol Old Vic to see director Sally Cookson’s production of Patrick Ness’s young adult novel “A Monster Calls”.
It was superb.
Actually, before we’d even seen to performance, we just KNEW it was going to be superb… five-star reviews, passionate acclaim by twitterers, stories of audience members hugging each other at the end, tears… and, of course, the very fact that Sally Cookson was the ‘conductor’ behind it all.
The story centres on a 13-year-old boy, Conor O’Malley, and his mother who has terminal cancer. He’s being bullied at school, his father lives in America with his new family, he doesn’t get on with his grandmother, and his mother refuses to come clean about her illness. Life is stark and very tough… and he’s angry. Oh, and of course, there’s a monster – in the form of an old Yew tree – which, ultimately, helps the teenager come to terms with his situation through stories.
As ever with Cookson’s productions, the cast is quite brilliant (I thought Matthew Tennyson, as Conor, was outstanding) – as was the set design and lighting and (of course) the music (Benji and Will Bower!).
It’s profoundly sad and moving, utterly captivating, visually stunning and hugely inventive.
Brilliant, imaginative storytelling and exceptional live performance.
An astonishing piece of theatre.
Photo: from the Old Vic website
PS: The production finishes in Bristol on 16 June and opens at the Old Vic, London on 7 July for six weeks.
PPS: Son-in-law Felix Hayes is also in the cast playing the Dad (and, of course, he’s excellent!).