Liberal Burblings

Archive for December, 2006

The Honours List rears it ugly head again. Don’t get me started. It is a ridiculous sham. Some people, often those who have already been richly rewarded in life, are given an award for doing their job. Others, who deserve one, don’t get one.

So let us raise an end of year glass to those who have turned down an honour:

Dawn French
Jennifer Saunders
David Bowie
Benjamin Zephaniah
Alan Bennett
Albert Finney
George Melly
Geraldine McEwan
Hank Marvin
Jim Broadbent
John Cleese
John Cole
Jon Snow
Keith Richards
Kenneth Branagh
Michael Frayn
Nancy Banks-Smith
Nigella Lawson
Paul Scofield
Peter Alliss
Polly Toynbee
Michael Winner (the only time he’ll appear on a accolade list from me! And I nearly didn’t put him on this list because he actually turned down the award because it wasn’t grand enough for him!)

There is a full list here, and we ought to also raise a glass to the grandaddy of awards refusniks:

L. S. Lowry, artist (declined OBE in 1955, CBE in 1961, knighthood in 1968, and CH in 1972 and 1976; holds the record for the most honours declined)

Before the ban on hunting with hounds, we were told the law was illiberal because it would destroy hunts, put people out of work and take away the liberty of people to enjoy hunting.

Now we are told that the law has failed because it has not destroyed hunts, not put people out of work and has not taken away the liberty of people to enjoy hunting.

Huh?! Have I missed something?!

Could it be that the law is actually successful because it has precisely excised the one practice which was objectionable – specifically the tearing apart of foxes by hounds – while leaving untouched the unobjectionable elements such as riding out with hounds, following scents etc etc?

Doh!

So all those people who said that the campaign for a ban was a class prejudice thing, are actually left with rather a denuded argument, are they not? The social activity of hunting has been left untouched, save for the actual tearing apart of the fox by hounds.

All those who said that the ban would allow a conversion of hunts to drag or trail hunting have been proved right.

One of the most painful experiences of the Atlee government was having to borrow loads of dosh from the US. The good news is that today we have finally paid it back!:

Gordon Brown’s officials will (today), at the push of a button, make two electronic transfers of so-called “war loan” across the Atlantic, marking the end of a chapter of British history that began under Labour chancellor Hugh Dalton in 1945. The final payments of the loans, to the United States and Canada, are not negligible – $83.25m (£42.5m) and $22.7m respectively.

…In 1945 Britain borrowed $4.34bn from the US consisting of a $3.75bn line of credit and a “lend-lease” loan facility of $586m. The following year the government agreed a $1.185bn line of credit loan from Canada.

The staggering thing is the rate of interest – 2%!

I am always a bit late reading books. I have just got round to John Peel and Sheila Ravenscroft’s “Margrave of the marshes”.

It is a wonderful book and underlines what a wonderful chap Peel was. It is a shame that John Peel only got round to writing about a third of the book. The third that he did write is absolutely fascinatingly and beautifully written. The tales of his time in the USA are priceless. His tale of his meeting with John F Kennedy would be unbelievable had it not been accompanied by two remarkable photos, taken by Peel in Dallas, of the great man.

A paragraph written by Peel’s wife, Sheila, deserves to be engraved on Peel’s tombstone. He ran a record label called Dandelion Records. I have one of the albums released on it somewhere. Sheila Ravenscroft writes:

Sadly John never raised the funds necessary to finance the 101 Sharons, his pet Dandelion project for which he planned to gather together 101 women called Sharon, lock them in a studio and refuse to release them until they’d recorded an album.

In the dim and distant past I went swimming in the sea on Christmas Day. This year, I was delighted to repeat the exercise.

I did it with my daughter and nephew in some style at the Mike Moyle Memorial Christmas Day Swim at Crooklets Beach, Bude.

The event was organised with considerable panache by Bude Surf Life Saving Club.

It sounds simple – run in, have a dip, run out. But there were 200+ people taking part and about a thousand spectators.

In past years, the “dippers” have stood on the sand, someone blew a whistle and they all ran into the sea.

This year it was a bit more of an occasion. A wide lane of the beach was roped off. A start line was established at the very top of the beach by the Surf Life Saving Club building. All 200+ swimmers congregated at the top of the beach and a klaxon was sounded.

Then the fun started. We all charged down the beach.

Bear in mind three things, however:

1. No wet suits were allowed.

2. You had to dive in and cover your whole body with sea water.

3. The top 80% of Crooklets Beach is covered in stones.

So we had to run over the stones! (What sadist thought of that?!) And if you had stopped or slowed down you would have had 200 people piling into the back of you.

So, although I recovered from the cold of the sea just after the “dip”, I am still recovering from the bruises on the soles of my feet, incurred running across the blessed stones.

However, it was a very fitting tribute to Mike Moyle, who was a founder member of Bude Surf Life Saving Club and the Bude Lifeboat. He was a consistent and loyal activist for both of them over nigh-on fifty years.

There is a young lady called Aurelia who sells The Big Issue in Newbury by W.H.Smith.

She has been selling the magazine there for several years, in all weathers. She originates from Romania and lives in one room with her two children and mother.

She recently featured in a photographic survey of Newbury and had her photograph exhibited at the Corn Exchange. I congratulated her on this when I bought a Big Issue copy from her about a month ago.

Recently Aurelia was abused and had cola poured on top of her head by youths. Subsequently, while the Newbury Weekly News was interviewing her at her usual pitch, they reported that she was verbally abused by two separate passing women.

This is outrageous. I made a point of looking for Aurelia this morning but she was not there. I wanted to say how much I am appalled by such ridiculous and offensive abuse. I will make a point of speaking to her soon.

As far as I am concerned, Aurelia is an integral part of Newbury and I hope that she and her family remain here and prosper for many years to come. The people who have abused and tormented her are complete idiots.

Number Ten’s website now has a virtual tour on it. It kills a few minutes. It is reasonably impressive, although I notice it still has “beta” written on it. It has a “beta” feel to it!

I have recently been thinking about what would happen if Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Shane MacGowan appeared at an X-factor audition (putting aside, for a moment, the fact that Johnny Cash is in some heavenly choir and Shane MacGowan is otherwise detained enriching Dublin pub-owners).

Imagine the comments:

Johnny Cash: “Hopelessly flat” – Louis Walsh.

Bob Dylan: “Tuneless whining” – Simon Cowell.

Shane MacGowan: “Even attempting to be a pub singer is beyond you” – Simon Cowell.

The Guardian today reports that Gerald Ford gave an interview with Bob Woodward, stipulating that it should only be published after his death. His criticism of Bush’s policy on Iraq is devastating.

That is not just because the critique is from a former Republican President. It is made all the more powerful because Ford bases his comments on the American interest:

I just don’t think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people unless it is directly related to our own national security.

This really does cut the ground from under the feet of Bush. Most, if not all, Americans apply the test of US national interest to their President’s actions. Ford’s comments emphasise, once again, that Bush is left defending his Iraq adventure in the manner of a Fairy Godmother going around the world trying to spread sweetness and light.

That is not a venture which goes down well in red-necked America.