Bermondsey Mum

Age

2011-11-12T21:33:00.000Z

Caitlin Moran is BM's current fave girl crush (it used to be Ros in Spooks but hey..). BM sneaks a peek at Twitter during the working day sometimes to break the gloom and yesterday, I almost came undone because of her tweet about the John Lewis ad, which I won't link to because by now you have probably seen it.

John Lewis, as readers will know is BMs fave retailer. Because they edit the baffling choice; because their edit is pitch perfect and because it feels like...home...even if it's a fantasy home.

Anyway, the ad brought me up short; not because I anticipate this from my children but because of how I remember just how it felt having a secret that was so hard to keep leading up to Christmas...and the very first gift to my parents that I remember organising (as the eldest and it was for Mam) was a box of Cadbury's Contrast chocolates. I had forgotten all about it until this ad and it made me cry.

Okay I give in...here it is

Good times

2011-11-12T21:23:00.000Z

Health matters

2011-11-12T17:26:00.000Z

Many years ago, when I first came to work in London it was as a Nurse. I didn't last long, for lots of reasons which I may return to another time. Fast-forward 25 years and that Nursing background informs my day to day work so that I would never consider those years wasted. I take no satisfaction in reading about the latest 'crisis in nursing care' report but equally I'm not surprised by those reports. NHS hospitals in particular have become adept at providing treatment, without care.

Care matters. I would actually disagree that it is unskilled work. During my training, it was a cardinal rule that physical care allowed you to observe and assess the whole patient; to consider their hydration status, mobility issues, level of consciousness and orientation and to detect any changes which might be significant so that treatment would be adjusted as appropriate.

When I started my Law degree and others learned that I used to be a Nurse, I became used to comments about how it must be a relief not to have to do bed baths or wipe bottoms or whatever. Again, I would say that it takes considerable skill and sensitivity to engage with another human being in such an intimate way and yet allow them to retain their dignity whilst maintaining a degree of professional detachment. If close personal care is delegated away from trained Nurses without maintaining close supervision, Nurses lose their ability to know their patients and then what are they? Drugs administrators?

I fear that the growing number of stories in the media will be as nothing compared to the storm to be unleashed with the publication of Robert Francis' QC's Report following the Public Inquiry into the Mid-Staffs Hospital scandal, due in Spring 2012.

And why is this likely to be a major scandal and possibly lead to the next big institutional crisis (after Banks and MPs expenses )? Well because it was a Foundation Trust. There was a rush to convert to FT status by lots of Trusts and it is emerging that the quality standards monitors appointed to check that they were fit to manage themselves as FTs, each thought that the others were checking. Classic.

Before I returned to the big City to work, I would have said that I was pretty well informed generally but the meaning of Foundation Trust had sort of passed me by. Turns out they are almost like a privatised part of the NHS or to put it another way, FT status allows the Trust to BORROW. Yes, read it and weep.

In order to re-build our hospitals nationwide, the last government (and the Tories didn't object at the time) created these entities, so that their borrowing would be off-balance sheet essentially.

The Health Service Journal estimates that about 30% of these FTs are so indebted that they cannot make their loan repayments...but they are too big to be allowed to fail.

Enter Circle and their acquisition or management contract for Hitchingbrooke Hospital. In the clamour by Labour MPS over the past couple of days to condemn this move, where I wonder was Andy Burnham MP, who presided over the unseemly rush to convert as many Trusts as possible to FTs in the dying days of the Labour government?

The hard reality is that it was either Circle takeover or closure. We had better hope it works, because it's unlikely to be the last and if it doesn't work, what then? Another massive bailout?

I feel tired.

Stirring-up

2011-11-05T16:03:00.000Z

The annual BM christmas cake mixing session is nearly upon us. But this year, we are confounded by choice; whether to go with the tried and tested (ie sticky pages) Delia Complete Cookery Course recipe or these tempting time-savers:-

1. I give you Delia's pre-measured Christmas Cake Mix from Waitrose

But it is £10 and you still have to buy eggs, plus icing etc

2. Competition from the venerable Mary Berry for Tesco Finest, with her Christmas Cake mix in a less attractive bag. It is also £10.00 but it contains marzipan and icing sugar and tells you clearly on the bag, exactly what additional stuff you need to buy.

Sadly no photos of Mary's product, because the Tesco site won't let me copy it.

Even though I scoff at the idea of having it all weighed out for you, partly because it takes some of the fun out of it for the children, I have to say, it probably makes more sense than ending up with leftover sultanas, raisins and mixed peel knocking about a cupboard for months afterwards destined (eventually) for the bin.

So while the Eurozone may be collapsing, there's a dearth of any meaningful political leadership about and a disconnect between what people want and the political will to reform financial markets...BM takes refuge in cake-making.

Surreal poster watch

2011-09-04T19:32:00.000+01:00

Craig Revel-Horwood and Ann Widdecombe (playing 'Widdy in waiting') in panto...in Dartford...

I'm tempted to ask, what is the world coming to, but I have to confess a sort of weird admiration for AW; she's clearly bonkers and maybe always has been. On the other hand, she seems to be having fun, someone is obviously paying her good money to ham it up and if nothing else, she's a good sport. She is growing old disgracefully, just as she said she wanted to, and good luck to her.

Having said that, and each to their own 'an all, but BM squirms at the thought of ever sitting through this particular performance...much as I admire her pensioner spirit, it is a fact that she ruined SCD for me last year!

In a state of flux

2011-09-03T18:20:00.001+01:00

I wonder do we ever realise when we are living through a period of relative calm, or do we just take it for granted? Because it seems as if everything from the personal and private to the wider world is going through a period of great upheaval and uncertainty at the moment, and it's unnerving. BM is a creature who craves security and there's not a lot of that about right now.

One thing that I find fascinating, is the emerging theme that capitalism or our version of it, hasn't worked and we need to develop something else if we are to continue living in a civilised way. John Lanchester, writing in the LRB has been developing this theme over the past 3 years. His book 'Whoops' about the collapse of the banks in 2008 manages to be simultaneously a delight (for the writing) as well as stomach-churningly worrying because of the reality and scale of the problems he describes.

So far so predictable. The 'Left' for want of a better word, had for some time pre-dating the crash of 2008 engaged in analysis of the problems associated with unregulated and unfettered capitalism.

More surprising and I believe encouraging, have been Charles Moore's recent pieces in the Telegraph and Spectator expanding on the theme and to some extent, attempting to reclaim a more conservative (small c), decent brand of capitalism. Then listening to Any Questions (lunchtime repeat) today, I heard Norman Lamont - hardly a revolutionary figure - commenting that the changes to regulation of the banks, which Vince Cable has been seeking for some time, should happen without further delay!

And just when I was feeling a little optimistic about the near future, browsing the business section of the Guardian, I see that James Murdoch has declined his £4m bonus this year...but will still earn $12m in salary. Clearly I'm not an economist but how can that sort of executive pay be explained? 'Because I'm worth it' seems to be the preferred explanation when this level of remuneration is questioned.

It's clearly not sustainable but these people live in a different sphere and can governments really intervene and press the re-set button? I think most ordinary people want them to. But if we are to be mobilised to have our voices heard and our votes counted we need to see a compelling alternative to replace what's been broken.

In praise of...Michael White

2011-08-23T12:08:00.000+01:00

In case you missed it, his views on the London looting etc and the politicians prescription for dealing with it. One thing I will say about Tony Blair, he never took his eye off the ball in office, it was Gordon Brown who dismantled the Respect Taskforce and did not replace it with an alternative, leaving the issue of the growing underclass, neglected during his 4 years in charge.

Who owns feminism?

2011-08-06T19:32:00.000+01:00

That's what occurred to me today when I read the piece written by Julia Raeside in today's Guide supplement, ostensibly reviewing TV shows by Cherry Healey and Dawn Porter (here I have to confess an interest as Dawn is a neighbour). It was a very personal poisonous rant about 2 women who make shows of which she is contemptuous...on the basis that they are somehow false feminists.

I felt a bit angry for Dawn and also sad that in 2011 there are women who don't fully understand what seems to me to be self-evident - that the whole point of feminism is to be the kind of woman you want to be.

Not the sort of woman who is defined by men; or by intellectuals of either gender or just by poisonous TV reviewers.

Poison is an easy way to grab some attention I suppose and it certainly works at the Daily Mail (Jan Moir). But I didn't think or expect to find it in the Guardian. Perhaps it was a sort of job interview for the DM? Let's hope so!

In praise of....Frank Field

2011-08-02T21:32:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, Frank Field MP set off a small firework on the Today programme by suggesting in a very honest way that some children reach Nursery School age at 3/4 unable to say or recognise their own name. It seemed to shock John Humphries at the time and even led to a question on Any Questions last weekend. No-one working in Early Years will have been surprised. By the age of 5 it is possible to predict with chilling accuracy the life chances and future achievement of every single child.

You can predict the ones who will go to prison.
You can predict the ones who will never find a job.
You can predict the ones who will have mental health issues...at 5.

That's because the gap in achievement on entry to Primary school between those at the top and those at the bottom does not narrow as they progress through to Secondary school. Even though children pick up basic skill sets along the way, that achievement gap remains broadly the same. How depressing is that?

Well Surestart was meant to address that. ' Narrowing the Gap' it's called in the jargon. Except that it hasn't really worked. The political view which is easily expressed was that professionals could work some magic and re-start those children's life chances with early intervention, if only there was more investment. The alternate view which was held by many of those professionals and not so readily expressed by politicians (for obvious electoral reasons) was that actually parents are much more important and unless they are engaged with their children and have aspirations for them, nothing is likely to change.

Another jargon term: 'Hard to reach families' a euphemism for those parents. Trouble is that they have more children than their better educated and more aspirational peers and their lack of engagement and aspiration is replicated in their own children. So in very crude terms, the problem is growing. How to break the cycle? I'm not sure anyone has a magic solution but it starts with honesty and Frank Field has been telling it like it is for some time now. And he does offer solutions but no easy magic formula; just better targeted engagement with those families using a whole range of measures adapted to individual circumstances. Not sexy, not 'bite-size news' and therefore unable to be picked up by any ambitious politician...

BM is back... and not altogether optimistic about the world.

Glastonbury...eat your heart out

2011-06-24T21:07:00.000+01:00

BM was somewhere in this crowd in 1987...BEST.CONCERT.EVER.

Politics and anniversaries

2011-05-08T14:13:00.000+01:00

It's a year today since our lives changed overnight and that experience is no doubt being felt all over the country as several hundred local councillors (mostly LibDems it has to be said) lose their seats. For some of them it will not be too much of a wrench since outside of the metropolitan areas, few people choose to devote themselves to it full time (perhaps wisely some might say).

However there are many who have devoted themselves to full-time local politics, delivering the services that matter most to people's everyday lives ie clean streets, planning and urban regeneration, policing and education.    Most of them will not receive any redundancy package and this weekend won't be much fun as they try to work out what to do next.     I'm not sure that our experience would bring them much comfort (in that it has taken a year for life to start to look a bit brighter) but there is no denying for BM at least, the upside of losing that election which I would list as follows:-

- freedom, as in no longer feeling responsible for everything that goes wrong;
- more family time - invaluable despite the tricky 'getting to know you again' phase
- the sense that once again, we are in charge of our own destinies and are no longer at the mercy of the electorate and/or media
- rediscovering friends and being able to spend weekends as we please
- for BM personally pressing restart on a dormant career.

So many ironies over the past week that I have lost track. Not least that the electorate, in what must be a mass example of cutting off their nose to spite their face, have almost certainly gifted the next century in power to the Conservative party.

In terms of dishonest and hateful politics, surely the worst must be those diehard Labourites who went in with the Tory led No to AV campaign, and for what? In the foolish, utopian belief that they will ever have a majority again (without Scotland) under FPTP and more poisonously, to destroy the LibDems and wipe their noses in it?   They may appear to get their wish insofar as the Libdems are concerned but at what cost - almost certainly the SNP will go ahead with a referendum on independence and not many would bet against Alex Salmond succeeding on current form.   England has not turned red over the past week and is unlikely to in the future either.

And even if the LibDems tough out this Parliament in Coalition and reap some reward in 2015 for doing so, have the past few weeks so poisoned the relationship between LibDems and Labour that the prospect of any future Lib-Lab Coalition is out of the question?   If so, the left is split and the Tories romp home to a (probably handsome) majority.

Interesting times but it seems to me now, from a safe distance, that the levels of dishonesty are worse than ever. It may be a while but there will be another MPs scandal and at the root of it will be the complacency of rock-solid safe seats, earned by a FPTP system which the electorate voted to retain. Why? Because it was another way of poking Nick Clegg in the eye. And yet, the Politics Show last weekend (1 May) commissioned research from academics which showed that so far in Coalition, the LibDems have delivered 75% of their manifesto promises...wonder how that ranks alongside Labour majority administrations 1 year in...

Also curious that that research got no replay. Like I say, there's a lot of dishonesty about, not least in the media which is either red or blue, so no obvious champion out there for the LibDems. Still, despair is not really an option and like any news story, this one will change when the media tires of it and the shine (almost visible, don't you think?) wears off Mr Cameron.    I wonder how long that will take?

Love this!

2011-05-03T20:14:00.000+01:00

The Blue

2011-04-10T09:45:00.000+01:00

It occurred to me the other day that despite its title, this blog has not given Bermondsey much of a mention for a while. So it was serendipitous when BH brought home a book sponsored by the South Bermondsey Partnership and written by local historian, Debra Gosling titled "Down the Blue".

For those amongst the readership of this blog who are unfamiliar with the area, 'The Blue' is an area at the intersection of Southwark Park Road, St James's Road and Blue Anchor Lane. There are shops, caffs (sic) , a library and a market. Here is a little map:-

When we first moved to this area, 'The Blue' was a bit of a mystery to BM - especially the name, it didn't make sense unless you assumed it was because of the 'Blue Anchor' pub. After a while, I got used to the name, grew to appreciate the usefulness of (some) of the shops and gave no further thought to the matter.
But I love a story and Debra Gosling has conducted extensive research into the issue and her book makes fascinating reading.

It starts with a colour - blue, which for centuries was associated with all things holy. 'Anchor' could of course refer to the river and maritime connection but in ancient times, it also denoted a pious hermit or Anchorite who gave his life to God and lived in a small hut on whatever food or alms he was given by kindly passers-by.   In medieval times, Bermondsey Abbey along the road, stood as a fortress of godliness south of the river but served primarily the aristocracy (dowager Queens of England were sent there to die) and the upper echelons.  To the west of the abbey, lay marshland and meadows and the lonely road to Canterbury, the destination of many a pilgrim.     Since they could not rely on the Abbey monks for spiritual guidance, many of these pilgrims would stop and pray along the journey with Anchorites.   They were revered and received bequests in wills from the better-off among their visitors. One such will dating from the 15th century refers to a hermit 'in the meadows beyond the Thames'.

After the Reformation, its not clear what became of the hermits but from at least 1696, a map from the local studies library shows a gate at 'Blew Anchor', the site of the current Blue Anchor pub.

There endeth the history lesson - go and buy the book (or borrow from Blue Anchor Library).
p.s.next time some photos of the new 'Blue'.

21...

2011-03-26T07:57:00.000Z

And yet, she sounds like she understands heartbreak

BH prefers this...

2011-03-16T19:55:00.000Z

Genius!

2011-03-14T21:06:00.000Z

And he looks a bit like our neighbour, Potato...

Reasons to be cheerful

2011-03-03T21:01:00.000Z

1. Spring is sprung
The evidence (despite the cold over the past few days) is everywhere. Crocus', narcissus and even tulips are appearing in BM's garden.

2. Daylight morning and evening
It makes such a difference to the daily toil and to BM's mood.

3. Woolfson & Tay are nominated for Independent Bookseller of the year
Which goes to show that quality always wins out and virtue does not go unrewarded.

4. Book for this month - The Help by Kathryn Stockett
It's astonishing and moving and surprising (also an example of why a book cover should not put you off reading it but often does)

5. Monty Don returns to Gardeners World 11 March!
All is well with the world again.

The new whipping boy

2011-02-08T10:46:00.000Z

Poor Nick Clegg; everyone from Jonathan Ross and Jeremy Clarkson to readers of the News of the World thinks he deserves a good kicking. For what, I wonder? Doing the right, however politically uncomfortable thing?

I grow tired of hearing otherwise quite rational people exclaim, much as in the same way they do about Tony Blair for slightly different reasons, that the Lib Dems are finished as a political force. How easy it is to throw stones and I have no doubt that the Lib Dems have done their share of it over the years, so perhaps that explains the public animosity towards them?

And yet, there's a petulant refusal it seems, to acknowledge their positive role in Coalition government. Again the NOTW (paywall) poll on Sunday suggested that a majority favoured the Coalition over either a single Tory or Labour government but at the same time, 73% felt that the Lib Dems would be seriously damaged by Coalition come the next general election. It's as if we know that something's got to be done, we are prepared to grit our teeth and go along with it but we want someone (other than ourselves and our credit habit) to blame for it - the bankers won't do because they are well insulated by their money, so the Lib Dems with fresh-faced, eager-to-please Mr Clegg will.

I don't have any answers for the Lib Dems except to say that they have got to see this through. I suspect that Mr Clegg has already accepted his fate but believes passionately that this is a chance to re-balance the economy and the country, onto a surer footing, thus ensuring the right legacy however damaging politically in the short-term.

In the BM household, we watch as Southwark Labour councillors (3 so far) with either criminal convictions or charges pending (in one case for alleged internet paedophile activity) cling onto power and wonder how times have changed. A year ago this sort of scandal (and it is) would have sunk the LibDem Council administration without trace but now...well it barely raised a murmur in the local press. BBC London ran a brief piece and even that failed to gain traction. Not for the first time BM feels that alls changed...

January 27

2011-01-27T07:16:00.000Z

This is the day my mother died 12 years ago. It was sudden, unexpected and overwhelming. She was 54 years old.

Until then, I had taken her for granted as one does, getting on with my life and I think not having any real comprehension of how much I loved her. For a while the loss of her shattered our whole family but slowly things got better in their own way for each of us. My father who was and remains most clearly lost without her, has lived to see 9 grandchildren, something she would have loved.

It seems to me sometimes that I am now navigating without a compass. Pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing in particular have all perhaps been slightly more anxious as a result. And of course, she has not been around to share the joys either.

So this is an important day. For various reasons I will not be in Ireland as I would have liked. Instead I will be at work and in the evening, meeting friends for dinner. These are the same people who were with me when I heard she had died and who, whether they realise it or not helped get me through the months which followed.

This is a picture of her in 1971, wearing a mini-skirt and lacy cream tights which you can't see but I remember them because we were all having our picture taken that day and at one point I was sitting on the floor and I could put my finger through her tights.

She had 4 children by then and would have 6 in all before she was 30. During the mid-seventies she grew her hair long and (shockingly for our small farming village community) wore trouser suits. With the arrival of my own children has come a recognition and understanding of her need back then to cling onto some sort of identity beyond that of farmer's wife and mother.

My youngest sister and I were talking last Summer about fashion and stuff and she remembered a comment that one her work colleagues had made about Mam, which made us smile because it was so true and perhaps even more than us, she would have loved to hear it - "She always had great style".

Reach for the stars

2011-01-22T19:52:00.000Z

To BM, the Shard is one of the most exciting, invigorating sights in the skyline over Bermondsey...my spies confirm that the concrete core has now reached its peak at 88 floors and from here upwards it will be steelworks and glass. I am an unapologetic admirer...it speaks to me of optimism and confidence and SE1 showyoffiness. This is a birdseye view and account of what its like to work there which will have to do until it opens in 2012 and we, the great unwashed can visit the viewing platforms on the 30th floor and possibly even the top floor (according to BH) although another source tells me that the penthouse flat (wraparound) has already been sold for a cool £20m...

(Picture: Susannah Ireland)

The myth of a low-tax economy

2011-01-22T16:49:00.001Z

Daniel Hannan MEP believes that Joe Higgins MEP, is the most honest man in Ireland...but then that narrative suits him now that the miracle that was the Irish econony of the 1990s & noughties has been exposed a cheap con trick. I think Barrosso tells it straight here; but that interpretation of Ireland's current woes does not fit Hannan's economic instincts of low tax, free market enterprise. The truth as BM sees it is that Ireland benefitted from the easy money available to it through being a member of the Euro, enabling it to have infrastructure built funded by (mostly) other European countries whilst at the same time because of the fiscal freedoms the Euro offered, allowing it to entice all sorts of tax evaders (oops, avoiders) to work in the country paying only 12% corporation tax. I knew very few people who returned to enjoy the 'boom' years who were actually employed - au contraire, they were self-employed. Why join the PAYE and pay 35% upwards on a sliding scale when you could incorporate and pay only 12? The cult of the cute hoor is embedded in the Irish psyche and this time, the government was actively encouraging it.

Over the past 10 years or so, the government began to share some of its largesse from tax receipts with the people and true to its conservative instincts, gave the people the money to spend as they pleased. Benefits went up,spending on schools and hospitals decreased but that was okay, right ? People now had the money and could decide where to spend it themselves - the market would take care of the rest. Until it all came tumbling down...

Maybe in a roundabout way, Hannan's argument is right. The real lie of a common Eurpean currency was that it was possible to succeed sharing monetary policy only. The Eurosceptics have always feared a larger plan ie shared fiscal policy and perhaps what we are seeing in the fracture of those weak spendthrift economies is the exposure of the reality that European and Monetary Union can only succeed if there is a common fiscal policy as well. But I'm not an economist... or a politican...or even a politician's wife anymore so what do I know? Anyway the clip is short and interesting if only because it reveals a level of exasperation from Barrosso that he usually manages to keep under control.

The Tweet Mirror

2011-01-21T21:00:00.000Z

Just as I was thinking that Mary's new programme just wasn't up to the standard of the previous offerings, she goes and does something quite wonderful and surprises me! Like every other piece of technology that has come along, I found myself thinking, "well of course, I'm just amazed it hasn't been done before". Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the tweet mirror. Seriously, if I were a teenage girl again, I think I would wet myself with the sheer fun of it!

Judge for yourself if you haven't yet seen the show. And BTW, like I say you could easily skip most of the first two thirds of the show . All quite depressing stuff about people shopping for cheap disposable fashion in cheap disposable places with cheap disposable staff...no shit sherlock, for who knows what reason, people are prepared to put up with it.

But then, when it seems a bit repetitive and hopeless, she pulls a rabbit out of the hat - the tweet mirror.... and I'm telling you, the woman is a genius! That mean little guy in charge of Pilot wasn't giving anything away at the end but you just knew that he wasn't about to shell out the best part of £1m if he hadn't already seen some pretty amazing results. Mary Rules!

Headspace

2011-01-04T20:02:00.000Z

Over the past several weeks, this has been steadily reducing. Long archived material has had to be retrieved, refreshed and re-loaded. Quite a bit of it turned up at the same time so now, BM feels like it's so crowded in there that finding any detail on demand is tricky. Some stuff just stubbornly refuses to emerge because so many files have suddenly been re-loaded at the same time. The brain is a complex organ, no? It's not like we can buy some more memory, is it? (Don't be fooled by that casual IT reference there, and for pity's sake don't ask me to explain it).

So what's to be done? I could try simply ditching extraneous stuff. BM's version of juggling - but dropping the balls. As in resigning as Chair of the children's centre. What does that tell you about working mums and the Big Society? Also cleaning but at least it's possible to delegate that to someone else, a no-brainer. So far, so small stuff. Space as I said, is limited. The big stuff will have to wait.

Familiar faces

2010-12-22T21:43:00.002Z

We had a Book Group Christmas get together on Monday evening and it was a really good evening and oddly comforting, in a way I didn't expect. One of the joys of the evening was spending time in the company of familiar friendly faces, which made me realise that I had been missing that aspect of daily life in the routine of journey, work, journey, B husband and children. I miss my friends. Which makes my existence over these 3 weeks or so sound a bit miserable, which it hasn't; just a bit intense I suppose. But that's inevitable and is why I wish, I wish I could fast-forward 3 months or so when everything and everyone is more familiar. Not that I want them to be my friends, at least I don't expect that to happen.

Some other random realisations in no particular order:-

As a Solicitor and mother/woman in her forties, I am no longer part of the 'young' crowd at work;
Staff Christmas parties are therefore to be endured rather than enjoyed;
My age shows in my degree of sartorial formality;
I may have fussed a bit too much about the clothes before I started;
Apart from the gnawing insecurity, (whisper it) I think I am enjoying the challenge;
Marks & Spencer, Moorgate is offering joints of Lamb & Beef half-price (and BM loves a bargain)
I need a cleaner/wife

So back to book group - well, we are evolving, but then that's life I suppose, nothing stands still - it's either going backwards or forwards and I know which one I want.

More thoughts from the frontline to follow.

Just visiting

2010-12-16T14:14:00.001Z

So I am nearly at the end of my first 2 weeks of full-time employment in 6 years but more of that another time. No, what I would like to share with you now is one of the downsides I suppose of occupying any house which is over 150 years old.

I should begin by saying that I am something of a creature of habit. I like tea first thing before anything else, coffee later on. I like being first one up in the morning and I especially like being alone in the kitchen with the radio on, in that short time space before the children wake up.

Over the past 12 days or so of adjusting to employment again, I have used these precious minutes to take stock, plan (as much as possible) my day ahead and enjoy the peace.   Until today...

You see we now have some new, rather famous neighbours (yes, even more famous than Lionel!) and they have set about re-plastering and goodness knows what else to the house. Not a problem you might think since the workmen don't arrive before 8am. But they are not the problem, in fact I'm delighted that they are having the work done.

No, it's something else. We are semi-attached and I suspect share common underfloor spaces and possibly also roof spaces although I can't be sure of that since I have never been up in the loft.   Not to put too fine a point on it: Mr (and I suspect Mrs and the children) Mouse have packed their bags and moved into ours.    We met this morning shortly after I switched on the lights in the kitchen. They seemed to have been having some sort of meeting in the middle of the kitchen floor - no doubt concerning their new accommodation.

Having spent a not inconsiderable sum over the years on pest eradication, I am gloomy about the prospects of shared co-habitation. It won't work because I now know too much about their hygiene habits, reproduction etc.  But the memory of the smell of decomposing mouse/several probably, under our floorboards is also still fresh. If we call in the experts again, the Mouse family will simply head on back next door for a while I suppose.

I suspect I may have to broach the subject of a joint instruction (with new famous people). It's not what I had in mind when I pictured our conversations over Christmas drinks.

"The all-American smile" by Hubble Gardiner

2010-12-04T21:20:00.000Z

Magic moment at 4.24...

That's entertainment

2010-12-01T09:34:00.000Z

Like a good percentage of the population, BM and family are fans of Saturday (and now Sunday) evening TV staples, "Stricly Come Dancing" and "X Factor". Although we can claim to have been early adopters of SCD, we are what can only be described as Johnny-come-latelies to the XF, having started watching at the beginning of the '09 season.     We have actively ignored the other viewing phenomenon that is "I'm a Celebrity..." on the basis that it's little more than licensed bullying, despite the proviso that the victims are (a) celebrities and (b) volunteered.   I wish I lived in a world where IACGMOOH didn't exist but it does and who knows, maybe it distracts the many milliions who enjoy it from other serious problems.  But to my squeamish conscience, what I have seen feels a bit too much like a form of Roman entertainment (and I don't mean La Dolce Vita).

So I at least, have enjoyed SCD for the simple things - the spangly dresses and sequins, fake tan, campness, innuendo of the judging panel and Brucie as well as the acceptable levels of sex for teatime viewing (I give you the Argentine tango...)  But what with John Sergeant and now Ann Widdecombe, it's starting to make me feel a bit queasy...people seem to be voting for her, in order to see her further humiliate herself for our entertainment. It's as if we grew tired of simply watching people learn to dance, improve, compete and ultimately, win.    But what's wrong with just keeping it simple, I mean isn't the rest of life just complicated enough?

As for XF, in this household we watch on the basis that it is all ultimately controlled by Mr Cowell and I suspect he will contrive a result which best suits his purposes this year, as every other year.   He thinks it's time a group won, so this year his group will almost certainly get to the final.     The internet campaign for Wagner has failed to derail the Cowell project but now that Wagner and Katie (again, more cruelty as entertainment...) are out, so far as the BM household is concerned, it's Matt to win!

A good thing about the 1980s

2010-11-20T20:15:00.000Z

Thanks to Tunbridge Wells Dad for reminding me how good this is.

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone...

2010-11-19T15:00:00.001Z

Robert Peston may not be a poet so much as the herald of bad news but he invariably gets it right. Not just in the blog post yesterday but also earlier on the Today programme when he explained that Ireland's government bailout of the banks 2 years ago, meant a whopping £110bn loan from the ECB, an amount greater than the total value of the Irish economy. Since then, the economic slowdown, reduced government tax receipts and increased welfare payments has led to the current crisis.

Trouble is, for ex-pats like me it has long been a mystery how Ireland could sustain in the best of times, not to mention the past 2 years, a welfare benefit system which saw Jobseekers Allowance paid at a rate of £196 Euros per week, + £130 with a dependent spouse + £29 per each dependent child - by UK standards these amounts are astonishing.   In the good times, those rates as well as those for Child Benefit and Pensions were admirable, signs of a society willing to share success with those less fortunate.   Except that the 'success' was an illusion or more accurately, a mass delusion which saw ordinary homes in relatively rural areas valued at London prices and middle income families, investing in second homes to rent (to whom, I often wondered).    Top that with the low tax rates which everyone enjoyed particularly those who decided it was more prudent to be self-employed on an incorporated basis and pay only 12% corporation tax and it becomes clear how badly things can go wrong when the easy money dried up.

Well, someone a couple of years back shouted out that the Emperor had no clothes and suddenly everyone woke up.   Ireland like many post-industrial countries does not produce enough and unlike say, Britain is relatively low in the natural resources which matter, like oil and gas.

Some will say it was good while it lasted; others blame the politicians (always a safe bet, although isn't the electorate responsible for the politicians they elect? ) but the truth is that most people over 30 when this 'boom' started over 10 years ago, were wary and couldn't quite figure out where the wealth had come from and what was sustaining it.

In many ways, BM suspects that the situation in the UK is worse; the tax threshold is already high, the level of welfare benefits paid relatively modest so there is little room for manoeuvre...at least Ireland has scope to cut further and raise taxes if necessary. On the other hand Ireland did not enjoy anything like the investment in health and education that the UK has seen over the past 10 years or so.

Personally, I never liked the brash 'loadsamoney' Ireland but that's not to say that I enjoy seeing it humbled in this way either. And as the Irish Times (not previously known for its republican stance) put it today, to think that Ireland's struggle for independence over 200 years has led to this day. All's changed.

In praise of...Nigel of Bermondsey

2010-11-12T14:31:00.000Z

Nigel of Bermondsey, in common with BM, is to Bermondsey what we in the west of Ireland used to call 'a blow-in'.   Not Bermondsey born and bred, he/we arrived in this corner of SE London roughly 10/15 years ago, loved it and stayed . One of the reasons BM felt it entirely natural to stay and raise a family here despite the flight to the suburbs by contemporaries was because it felt like home. I was welcomed here and not just because of B husband's (former) position. It's a pretty striaghtforward sort of place; you make an effort to get involved with the community and they welcome you in. Much the same I suspect as Nigel's experience of the place.

Except that Nigel is a poet at heart and has taken this place to his heart. He is an adopted Bermondsey Boy (no offence to Gary G) who much like the minstrels of old Southwark, finds in music a way to celebrate and eulogise both its triumphs and disasters.   Because of this, Nigel has become an integral part of Bermondsey's continuously evolving fabric; he provides a bridge between the old and the new, his music offering a way for other 'blow-ins' to appreciate the rich history and heritage of the place in a modern context.   As well as gigging all over London and on the radio, Nigel's set is now a fixture in the annual Southwark Event.

BM is the proud possessor of his (2) albums to date...as well as the not yet released album entitled 'Bermondsey Folk'! For what it's worth Nigel, I loved it. Deeper than the others, I can sense the influence of John Constable and others within the local history movement and I loved how this is all woven together in a modern, gentle 'folk' way.

Full disclosure: BM and Nigel of Bermondsey are not related...however our spouses and sons share a fascination with Dr Who and stop-motion animation...

Remembrance

2010-11-11T19:29:00.000Z

Other hat

2010-11-02T14:12:00.001Z

Governor's, that is. The Sutton Trust have today published a report which is both depressing and familiar in which it sets out the current findings of an ongoing long term longitudinal study, of children born in the early 90s compared with children born in 2000, in this case dealing with behavioural issues.

It's depressing because it shows that for those children born into the lowest income families, behavioural issues have actually got worse and familiar because the impact of problematic behaviour on curriculum outcomes is significant across every phase of schooling. It has had a high priority in my particular school (necessarily in my view) because unless children know how to behave towards each other and the adults in the room, and how to manage and control their emotions properly, they cannot begin to learn and just as important, neither can anyone else in that room with them.

Nevertheless we have just had an Ofsted inspector comment that we should not lose sight of our other curriculum outcomes at the expense of PSED (Personal Social and Emotional Development) as it's known in the jargon. We haven't, believe me, but as I say if a child cannot share, or wait and take his/her turn or hits out at another child in frustration, then no learning can take place in that room.

Nationally this pattern of behaviour issues is also associated with poor attainment on entry to Primary school in CLL (Communication Language and Literacy). It's hardly surprising when you think about it a little and equally, if successful intervention takes place which necessarily involves the child learning to verbally express their frustration as well as be polite ie say "Please" and "Thank you", the corollary is an improvement in CLL outcomes.

Very often though, it is the parents who need support and whilst that might sound critical, it's not meant to be. Parenting is hard: not just the daily monotonous grind of physically caring for young children but rather the realisation that it's a process, that they are not going to be beautifully behaved just because you tell them to. It takes energy and consistency and young children are naturally programmed to test their boundaries. Also they 'model' behaviour - in other words they copy what they see and observe rather than what they are told.

How do we make parenting support and 'training' less judgmental, I wonder?   One ongoing project in Southwark, which I have mentioned before is EPEC (Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities).   But I think it would be facile to imagine that one single project could be the answer.   It takes a whole range of approaches and input from different agencies sometimes to reach a satisfactory outcome which is why I remain convinced that Children's Centres offering a range of support to children and their parents, are the best way to help all kinds of families achieve the best possible outcomes for their children.

Finding a (new) look

2010-11-02T13:40:00.000Z

So it turns out that it's harder than BM expected to find the right sort of suit ie on the knee skirt (not mid-thigh), 33" inside leg trouser (not ankle-flapping) with jackets which nod shyly towards fashion instead of making a bold fashion statement. I accept that it is possible to find such a wardrobe, my difficulty is the matter of cost. Because fairly predictably, the classic well-made, long-lasting, quality outfit costs...a fair bit.

It was ever thus you might say and you would be right. What has changed however, since BM's last shopping expedition for work clothing is the advent of mass online retailing...and discounting! Which does make matters easier apart from the nuisance of having to arrange returns or queue at the post office. To my mind this still trumps the hot, viciously-lit changing room of a department store any day.

B Husband thinks I may be obsessing about the kit a tiny bit, although strangely every woman I talk to agrees about the importance of getting the appearance of competence right, at least for starters. And as for actual competence, I'm off on a course tomorrow for a little refreshment/exercise/stretch of the brain muscle.

Work

2010-10-25T19:17:00.000+01:00

I dipped in and out of the coverage of the Pope's visit to Britain last month but one thing which stuck in my mind was a speech given by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a joint service at Westminster Abbey. The Pope spoke too of course but what I remember most are these words spoken by the Archbishop:-

'Work is so often an anxious and obsessive matter, as if our whole value as human beings depended upon it; and so, consequently, unemployment, still a scourge and a threat in these uncertain financial times, comes to seem like a loss of dignity and meaning in life.

'We live in an age where there is a desperate need to recover the sense of the dignity of both labour and leisure and the necessity of a silent openness to God that allows our true character to grow and flourish by participating in an eternal love.'

I thought it one of the most profound and beautiful statements I have heard about the nature of humanity and human dignity in a long time.   I found myself thinking about those words quite a bit over the intervening weeks because the truth is that we do identify ourselves in terms of what we 'do'.   I remember that when I first arrived in London in 1987, being struck by how almost the first question people would ask about you was "and what do you do?" and one sensed very quickly that this is how your value as a person was judged. Where I came from, it was considered bad manners to ask such a thing and even worse to volunteer the information.   In many ways, although they would have dismissed such a suggestion as nonsense, that level of civility was the essence of what we might now consider to be 'cool'.

What I've been pondering is I suppose what Dr Williams was saying which is, if our whole identity is tied up in our work, what or who are we when that unexpectedly disappears? And what happens if that event ie unemployment is repeated on a mass scale ?

Maybe the scale of the measures announced last week as they become clear over the next few years and the consequent effect on the public services will mean that for instance the unpaid work done by the many volunteers up and down the country will be valued more, rather than ignored or worse, simply taken for granted .

I'm not done with this yet...

Back in the game

2010-10-25T11:42:00.000+01:00

A lot has happened over the past 10 days or so, perhaps the most significant development being my return to full-time employment...well, the certainty of it at any rate. For now, I can plan the last few weeks of this life whilst preparing for something entirely different.

Although I have had serious crises of confidence about my ability to return to the fray/pitch (oops, losing the game metaphor now) I have nevertheless managed to persuade some very nice people in the City that I've still got it and what's more, they need me. So phase 2, and my favourite part, will involve kit and more specifically, acquiring it. A very good and wise friend of mine maintains that getting the kit right is more than half the battle, since it will not only give you confidence but also instill confidence in others.

So that's the fun part. The trickier issues will involve childcare, managing my voluntary commitments, some of which inevitably will have to go and I suppose ultimately it means altering the nature of my relationships including friendships. It will be a process of change for all of us but I can honestly say that I am excited at the prospect.

For now though, I'm going to focus on phase 2 as above and get shopping.

Bermondsey Banksy ctd.

2010-10-14T09:40:00.000+01:00

So it seems that the owner of the building is responsible for the cover-up although what he plans to do with it is anyone's guess. As ever, in their own inimitable way, the Simpsons in an intro written and designed by Banksy himself, sum it up:-

It's a cover-up!

2010-10-13T14:22:00.000+01:00

What's happened to the Banksy ? It's almost as if he has been wallpapered over. And whodunnit?

Bermondsey Banksy?

2010-10-11T09:47:00.003+01:00

First seen Saturday morning...in The Grange, SE1. Official confirmation that it's the real deal here

Close your eyes and listen...

2010-10-07T17:59:00.000+01:00

Tom Waits, another neglected poet...

National Poetry Day

2010-10-07T10:39:00.002+01:00

Classic avoidance strategy...lots of things going on right now, none of which would be helped by referring to them here. Instead, as it's a day of poetry, I will share with you one of my favourite poems.

Sonnet no.XXII by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

When our two souls stand up erect and strong,
Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either curved point, - what bitter wrong
Can the earth do to us, that we should not long
Be here contented? Think. In mounting higher
The angels would press on us and aspire
To drop some golden orb of perfect song
Into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay
Rather on earth, Beloved, - where the unfit
Contrarious moods of men recoil away
And isolate pure spirits, and permit
A place to stand and love in for a day,
With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.

Our generation's Dennis Healey moment?

2010-09-30T10:47:00.000+01:00

B Husband predicted back in May that Ed would win. The growing strength of the Unions as seen in the London local elections in May, with Labour re-gaining control of Southwark and several other inner London boroughs as well as strengthening their grip in places where they had a dismal record in public office such as Doncaster, were all portents of what was to come. Then Ken Livingstone, (surely Banquo's ghost made flesh) wins the nomination for London and now Ed M wins - well, it's a clean sweep.

As ever it's in the detail that the real story lies; for instance I had not understood that a Trades Union endorsement such as Ed M received from the Big Three (Unite, Unison & GMB) meant that only he and his team got the membership lists in order to canvas their support. The other candidates were effectively denied access to a significant part of their constituency but this is perfectly legitimate and is where the real power of the Union bosses lies.

Of course the Unions and indeed senior Labour figures now say, that individual trade union members vote however they like but if you only receive literature or contact from one candidate...well you can see what that would mean. Same thing happened with the London nomination, where the Unions backed Ken over Oona King.

But back to The Brothers Miliband - one rather poignant detail which has been widely covered by the media was how upset David's wife was said to be about what has happened. She, or sources close to her have also let it be known that on those occasions over the past 2 years or so, when he could have mounted a coup against Gordon Brown but didn't, it was Ed pleading with him on Brown's behalf and urging him to maintain party unity that stopped David from taking those opportunities. Small wonder there is a profound sense of bitterness and betrayal in the David camp.

Given that he was the heir apparent and could have chosen to court the Union bosses, in my view it is to his enormous credit as a man (although perhaps not as a cynical politician) that David chose not to but instead appealed to the wider Labour constituency (and probably the country).

So what are we to make of Ed then?  I suspect that he feels no small sense of achievement in finally bettering his older brother, and emerging certainly with no one in any doubt about his ruthlessness or cynicism as a politician.  Given all of that, personally I thought it patronising in the extreme for him to say in his acceptance speech that he had never in his wildest imaginations, thought he would one day be leader of the Labour Party.

Beyond that, I'm not entirely sure that he realises what he has done; what sort of Faustian pact the Unions believe has been made - even if he doesn't. He is said to be keen to moderate his message and people who know him tell me that he is a social democrat but that's clearly not what the Unions think they have got. How long before they test him ?

And now for something completely different

2010-09-30T10:07:00.000+01:00

This blog is not defined by any geographical boundaries and so I give you this beautiful house, outside and in:-

It's called Ship House at no 1, Trafalgar Avenue just off the Old Kent Road and it's for sale.

Malini is happy to give tours and is passionate about the background and history of the house as well as its previous owners and occupants. Have a look on the site where you will see her contact details. Sadly it's way out of our (financial) league, but well worth a visit if only to gaze in admiration.

(All photos from shiphouse.com)

Update

2010-09-30T08:01:00.000+01:00

Still here...well, just about anyway. These things happened over the last 4 days: Beautiful boy turned 10; following a successful interview on Tuesday, BM is up for 2nd round next week; Ofsted who have been conducting a 'three-way' inspection since Monday afternoon are still in the building but it finishes later today; slept for about 4 hours each night.

I'm shattered, time for rest and reflection and then will commit thoughts to the blog on these events and others, including this generation's Dennis Healey moment.

Controlling capitalism

2010-09-22T10:02:00.000+01:00

Vince Cable will make a speech today at the Lib Dem conference, says the Guardian, setting out clearly what he and the government plan to do to prevent another banking collapse and at the same time, prevent bankers and others in the financial services believing that their remuneration can escalate unchecked.

It's often said that in the way that democracy is the least worst form of government, so capitalism is the least worst means of achieving relative prosperity for all.   And yet, the issues which are troubling Dr Cable now are not in any sense new.   My admiration (near worship actually) for all things John Lewis is hardly a secret so I think it's worth repeating the words of their founder, John Spedan Lewis reflecting on remuneration:-

"The present state of affairs is really a perversion of the proper working of capitalism. It is all wrong to have millionaires before you have ceased to have slums. Capitalism has done enormous good and suits human nature far too well to be given up as long as human nature remains the same. But the perversion has given us too unstable a society. Differences of reward must be large enough to induce people to do their best but the present differences are far too great.
"If we do not find some way of correcting that perversion of capitalism, our society will break down. We shall find ourselves back in some form of government without the consent of the governed, some form of police state.
"The dividends of some shareholders exceed their own highest hopes, hopes that may have been much too greedy, and the incomes of the more fortunate of the captains of industry are many times as great as would have caused the same persons to work just as hard and for just as many years if, instead of going into business, they had happened to become, say, lawyers or doctors. This is quite wrong."

He went on to build into the founding Partnership Trust deed an irrevocable ratio between the earnings of the lowest paid worker and the highest paid so that in his view, together with the co-ownership status of every employee or 'partner', there would remain an incentive to drive the business forward for the benefit of all.

Sadly not many other captains of industry see their duty to society as anything other than to make ever-increasing profit for their shareholders. Pure unfettered capitalism after all, sees no social imperative.   Which is why I hope the Dr Cable's proposed regulations succeed.

26 letters

2010-09-16T17:54:00.000+01:00

I came across the writer Sara Sheridan via Normblog (see the blogroll on the right), not having read any of her published works so far. But that's not the point; the point is that in addition to being a bestselling author of historical novels, she is also part of a writer's collective called '26'. They engage in lots of different writing projects, which in themselves sound wonderful and well worth a visit to their website. More pertinently, their most recent project is in conjunction with London Design week, called 26Treasures and running at the V&A from 18th September. Each writer has been allocated a treasure and invited to write 62 words in any style or format, reflecting on that object.

Sara Sheridan has written a poem entitled 'On a Plate' about this beautiful object...

which dates from Southwark 1653 and was made as a marriage gift to...who knows?

The exhibition runs from 18-26th September. Somehow, even though time is tight right now, I suspect it will be well worth a visit.

Book, Books, Books

2010-09-12T09:16:00.001+01:00

The eagerly anticipated opening of Woolfson & Tay, independent bookshop, gallery & cafe finally took place yesterday and BM was there - alas, sans camera! However SE1 took theirs and they have a full report, also interestingly a picture of Val Shawcross with the proprietors ( but perhaps that's for another day).

Anyway from what BM observed, this deserves to be a huge success. Lots of lovely, interesting and diverse books including a children's section. Also ceramics, paper products and other non-book gifts as well as really tempting cakes, which going by the number of people sitting in the cafe, seemed to be going down rather well.

Looking forward to a quieter explore during the week.

In praise of...Roald Dahl

2010-09-12T09:05:00.001+01:00

The children love him and all of his works. Me, I confess that prior to motherhood my only encounter with him was watching, not reading, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Shameful admission but there it is. His work just didn't cross my reading radar as a child. The past 5 years or so have made up for that and I think we have been through the entire canon of children's books.

'Storyteller: The Life of Roald Dahl' by Donald Sturrock was the book of the week on Radio 4 last week and I urge you to listen again on the iplayer via the link while you can. Although it had been on in the background, I wasn't really paying attention on Monday or Tuesday but Wednesday's reading stopped me in my tracks. It's another reminder as if it were needed, that people live very complex lives and even the most outwardly gilded have personal tragedy of the worst kind to bear and in this case, overcome.

Now, I may have to buy the book!

In which...reality bites

2010-09-12T08:51:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the radio silence over the past week; life has caught up with BM a bit and the job search took precedence over pretty much everything else. Anyway, happy to say that it looks as if it paid off and things might be looking up for the BM exchequer very soon.

These past few months have been a strange mixture of anxious 'in-between jobs' time and re-charging the batteries, after what's been a fairly tumultuous 10 years or so. Back then BM and BH were both young professionals about town, me expecting a baby, he starting a political career. Like everything in life maybe, we could have had no idea how those 10 years would pan out.
Flash forward to 2010, both pushing mid-forties, when even the most clear-headed tend to take stock, and what does the balance sheet look like?   Well I suppose it depends on how you measure these things. In pure financial terms, it's pretty bad, particularly if you compare us with our contemporaries from 2000 who continued to pursue a legal career. In non-monetary terms we have packed a lot into those 10 years, met people we would not otherwise have met including the famous and not so famous and experienced another way of living beyond a concentration on the self. And we have a lovely family, which I treasure above anything else.

The way I see it, I have another 20 years or so of useful working life left ahead of me and (and yes I am aware of just how cliched this sort of mid-life assessment is) so it's important, within the constraints of family finances, to make them count by ensuring that the work is meaningful and life-enhancing, instead of soul destroying.   At the moment that might just be possible. That's the plan anyway, and I have to have a plan, however flaky.

But if the last 10 years have taught me anything, it's that things don't always go according to plan - or at least plan A.  I've not worked out a plan B yet but I'll keep you posted.

Under the arches

2010-09-04T16:07:00.001+01:00

34 Maltby Street, 104 Druid Street and 1 The Ropewalk are the sites of a Saturday morning 'collective' opening, by businesses which usually carry on their wholesale trade out of these arches, to the great retail public and today BM and the children went along for a look.

This is what we found...

As always, the coffee from Monmouth was delicious and now no need to hoof up to Borough Market and queue with the tourists - hurrah! Also tempting pastries on sale and next door, cheeses from Neal's Yard as well as cream, ice-cream and other tantalising dairy things.

Staying with the pavement, despite there being a building site adjacent, we followed the arches along, past the Lassco premises to The Ropewalk, where the 'Kernel' micro-brewery is based as well as 'The Ham & Cheese Company'. The children thought it was quite an adventure with the trains rumbling past overhead and the industrial feel of the area. A little further along, we found Fern Verrow Vegetables and bought some lovely tomatoes and apples.

I understand that the Saturday opening from 9-2pm has been going for at least a couple of months and I wish them well. What with the Farmer's Market in B Square, we are a little spoiled for choice I suppose. For what it's worth, BM will be supporting this little project, simply because these people have (literally) invested in the local area, creating jobs and revitalising an otherwise quiet/dead area, certainly at weekends.

Threading our way back along to Monmouth, it was beginning to get quite busy. The setting is on a different scale but the exercise reminded me of how Borough Market used to feel before it turned into a tourist, gourmet-fast-food destination.

(All photos by the junior newshound).

Lionel stirs things up a bit...again

2010-09-03T18:50:00.000+01:00

Lionel Shriver (did I mention she is virtually my next-door neighbour?) has a piece in today's Guardian about the relative lack of prominence and praise afforded to women writers of literary fiction, as compared to that enjoyed by men. In particular she is irritated by the level of praise lavished - really not too strong a word in this case - on Jonathan Franzen for his new book, 'Freedom'.  The praise may well be deserved but it's fascinating that he is lauded for writing a book essentially about a family which as LS relays, the NY Times Book Review described in breathless prose as "family as microcosm or micro-history".

Perhaps the flaw in Lionel's (did you notice that, first name terms?) piece today is that (other than a slight reference to Annie Proulz) she fails to list any women writers who deserve equal if not greater praise for a body of work just as literary as that of Jonathan Franzen's.

Let me fill in that gaping glaring hole with Anne Tyler. She has devoted her career to writing about the everyday lives of ordinary people in an extraordinary way. Although she is admired, she is not feted perhaps in the way some male writers are - I'm thinking of the near reverence afforded to Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon and Philip Roth.

I'm not the only one who feels that Anne Tyler is underrated - this is a link to Norm's archive piece on her writing which is much more succinct than I could ever be and for what it's worth I agree with his assessment of her work to date.   Enjoy!

Making the most of the final few days of school holiday

2010-09-03T18:22:00.000+01:00

At last, the weather has picked up! For BM and crew this means daily trips to parks near and far to get lots of exercise, catch up with friends before school starts again and generally enjoy the sunshine as much as possible.

First up (and this will convince anyone not living in London how poor weather conditions really were) I give you this...

A giant plane tree felled by the wind in Spa Gardens over the weekend! Photo taken by junior newshouund who is already thinking of stories for his Autumn school newsletter and plans to pursue this one further by interviewing the manager of the play centre.

There was no evidence of damage to any of the lovely trees in Dulwich park which we visited on Tuesday; in fact it turned out to be much warmer than anticipated and friends re-united, the children hired bikes from here

(photo via www.londonrecumbents.co.uk - I promise you it was not raining!)

Wednesday we were back in familiar territory in Southwark Park and running all the usual pre-school errands.

Thursday to a Bloomsbury private garden square to play tennis with Granny and today, a visit to Broadstairs, one of BM's favourite seaside places. The signs were not good as we arrived...greeted by grey skies and spots of rain but it brightened up and so did we. It's got such a lovely Victorian feel to it,

There are of course beach huts but I especially like the built-in changing cubicles, accessed via central and side stone stairways (which look like 1930s additions) from the promenade or...the lift! Isn't this just gorgeous? I didn't find out whether it is still in use.

Lovely sandy horseshoe-shaped beach and up on the promenade the most charming houses with regency-style (I think) railings and balconies

Dickens called Broadstairs his favourite watering hole in Kent and you can see why on a sunny day at least.

Didn't take a photo of the wonderful well known ice-cream shop - noticed the name had changed again though and it seemed to me that the range of flavours was less than I remembered. Had to leave by 3 so that B husband could make it back for the England game at Wembley but no complaints from the children who slept all the way home!

Wet, wet, wet

2010-08-26T21:29:00.000+01:00

C'mon, what's happened to the weather, it's supposed to be August! This is what it's been like in London...

The garden is positively verdant ...but that's not right in August, right? Turns out the Shetland Islands have been the sunniest place to be in the UK this August with Lerwick enjoying 136 hours of sunshine compared to the next nearest of 100 hours in Wittering, Cambridgeshire. Unlike poor old Bournemouth, which had a lot less sunshine and a bit too much of this...

Still, 10 days or so to go until the children go back to school - there's got to be one good day in between, right?

Reading update

2010-08-24T15:51:00.001+01:00

As I suspected, the Kate Atkinson series of Jackson Brodie detective novels are unputdownable page-turners...with the result that I have now read 3, with only the newly published 'Started early, took my dog' to go, which will have to wait until it's a paperback !

In a neat piece of serendipity, I am now reading 'American Wife' by Curtis Sittenfeld, which was Kate Atkinson's favourite book of 2009. It was one of those books I picked up at a church fete for 25p and promptly forgot about...until yesterday. It's almost as if there was a plan!

Empowering Parents, Empowering communities

2010-08-24T15:40:00.001+01:00

Nice piece in the Guardian today about this successful parenting project in Southwark, although to be fair it is only at the half-way stage. Worth noting too that despite the climate of cuts facing the Authority, a decision was made to fund the research project jointly with Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust earlier this year. It's also worth reading the terms of reference for the study which interestingly point out that the facilitators are parent peers - so the whole process becomes a virtuous circle. Watch this space for the final judgements of the research project, published probably September 2011.

Childhood horizons

2010-08-22T21:40:00.001+01:00

I've been mulling this over recently and have come to no firm conclusion either way: when I was growing up, in fact let's broaden this and say, to people of my generation (ie early forties now) growing up in the sixties and seventies, the world beyond our families, school and places we might visit on our holidays seemed like a vast unexplored place of wonder - at least it did to me. Sure, I read about other countries and learned about them for the purpose of passing examinations but apart from some descriptive prose and a few textbook photographs, foreign travel was largely unknown.

Then in the 1980s, with the freedom which came with living away from home and earning a living came the possibility of travel to these mysterious places (via an Inter-rail card to begin with). Before the advent of no-frills airline travel, believe me exploring Europe felt like an adventure in itself!  Continents beyond Europe seemed to me at least, to be tantalisingly unexplored places but the time involved and the cost of travel was at that time prohibitive.  Those considerations aside however, the world was still full of possibilities and challenges.

What I'm getting at I suppose is, I wonder how today's children and young people view the world, when those opportunities for exploration are so different. For a start, they could virtually (in the truest sense) visit their destination without ever leaving home.   In addition, with the idea of gap years so prevalent that adults my age now want in on it, what is there left to do that is novel and because of that, is it possible that they are therefore driven to take more risks to achieve novelty than our generation might have done?

I don't know myself but it must be a challenge to any younger person to think of new ways to define themselves other than 'travelling' to South America or Asia or Africa, when those trips are so well prescribed and described by the countless others who have been there before them and broadcast their experiences online. Has the internet, in other words made it harder for people to experience travel to foreign lands as a true novelty and something capable of wonder ?

Or maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong angle. Is it possible that the lack of novelty in that sort of travel might prompt a new interest in space exploration? The final frontier, as a famous Vulcan put it.

Whatever happened to...Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

2010-08-22T21:05:00.000+01:00

From 'Rattlesnakes', another album soundtrack of my youth...

Tony Blair's donation to the Royal British Legion

2010-08-18T12:47:00.001+01:00

Am I the only one who thought when hearing of this: gosh what a generous thing to do? I'm beginning to think I was.

It seems that nothing, even this donating all of his advance and all of the worldwide earnings of the book post publication, will satisfy either the left or right-wing media. In Comment is Free today, Hadley Freeman writes a price which is pure fodder for the 'Bliar Bliar pants on fire' brigade.  Over at the Telegraph,  more of the same from a different angle.

I'm tired of the constant references to an 'illegal' war. Pay attention folks, Lord Goldsmith the Attorney General at the time, gave the decision to go to war the green light and then (here's the important bit) Parliament voted for it. So enough with the accusations of illegality, war crimes etc. You may disagree with   Lord Goldsmith's advice and question its provenance, which is what Parliament was there to do on your behalf (and indeed the Chilcot Inquiry is examining), but fundamentally according to the rule of law in this country, it was a legal war.

While I may have a healthy sense of scepticism about political motives generally, nevertheless one cannot live a life constantly second-guessing and therefore I am inclined to accept that Mr Blair acted in the best interests of this country and Iraq throughout his time as PM.    That doesn't always mean that he made the right decisions but I do not autmatically infer into those decisions some sort of dark, ulterior motive as the conspiracy theorists would have it, connected to America and its imperialist ambitions.

The sort of revisionism I see now from so called leading lights of the Labour movement and elsewhere, make me frankly sick. Fine if they were opposed to the war initially, made that publicly known and importantly, voted against it. But many of them didn't and what they are doing now smacks of rank opportunism rather than any kind of real leadership.

So back to Mr Blair - he has by all accounts done a very generous thing and it also appears that he put a great deal of thought into the donation, with negotiations going on over several months. Why seek ulterior motives in that gesture ? Is it not enough to accept (and God knows he has taken plenty of flak for it too) that he has made plenty of money from other enterprises as his entitled to do, post public office and now wishes to make no profit from his recollection of events during that period in office?   Let's see what Mr Brown does with the proceeds of his memoirs and for that matter, I wonder what Mr Tony Benn did with the proceeds of his voluminous diaries or indeed the many others who have profited handsomely from their time in public life.

On a more basic level, surely in order to function as human beings and as a society, we have to believe in the intrinsic goodness of other human beings, and it worries me that the response to Mr Blair's announcement was not one of welcome and thanks (apart from the Royal British Legion) but suspicion and almost derision.

Holiday reading

2010-08-16T16:15:00.000+01:00

I made the (understandable) mistake of assuming that the weather would be atrocious as usual and therefore did not give much thought to packing some decent reading material before we left.   The result was that I:-

1. Finished 'Any Human Heart' by William Boyd.
2. Read 'Case Histories' by Kate Atkinson
3. Read Irish versions of the Sunday papers, Times, Observer and Telegraph
4. Read Colm Toibin in LRB on Catholic Church

From this I have learnt that William Boyd is very clever and book clubbers, sorry I missed the discussion on this because I can now see that it would have been interesting.

Case Histories was a find because it's good of course but also it's the first of a series involving Jackson Brodie, private investigator.  I love it when I discover something I like and that there's more to come. I suspect that the author has constructed Brodie as a sort of fantasy ideal man but what's also interesting about that is that the stories are about to be filmed, and Jason Isaacs has been cast in the lead role.   Okay, he's easy on the eye but there's always a difficulty when a prose character becomes alive on screen.   I suppose we'll have to wait and see and in the meantime, I can now look forward to 2 more books in the series!

Irish papers and radio so far as I could tell, were full of stories of petty and not so petty political corruption - no change there then.    As long as I have been aware of Irish politics, there was always a whiff or stench from Dublin. What's different about the stories last week was the fact that corruption had been uncovered in local councils up and down the country. Certainly no poverty of ambition on the part of those involved, in the scale of what passed for political favours.

Finally Colm Toibin on the Pope wearing Prada - that's not a joke, he actually does. Read it on the ferry coming back so technically still part of the holiday and it did take my mind off the crossing.    CT carries on the debate that Andrew Sullivan and others have been having for some time now about the complicity of the Church (ie the institution) in the abuse scandals which seem to be never-ending not least because of the Church's badly botched PR operation.    Beautifully written piece whatever about the subject matter.
Pretty heavy going really.    I need something human and lighter over the next couple of weeks - must find the new Barbara Trapido or maybe Anne Tyler. Will keep you posted.

No wi-fi, no cry

2010-08-16T14:09:00.000+01:00

So there was no wi-fi, not much of a TV signal, a satellite signal which came and went and a house full of 4 adults and 5 children under 10...uh oh, recipe for disaster you might think. But you'd be wrong...because we also had that rarest of ingredients in an Irish holiday...sunshine! Lots of glorious, life-affirming rays of warm sunshine! Whole days were spent at the beach and it rained once, for 10 minutes.

I would just point out that over the years I think we have earned this week of benign weather, having endured holidays where it rained every day, throughout the day. Driving through Easkey, Co Sligo 3 years ago (which was flooded in August) to get an ice-cream, is seared in the memory...

Never mind, this week may have made up for that. This is the view from the house where we stayed, overlooking the River Suir

and this is the beach at Duncannon, Co Wexford where things got a little competitive with the sand castles

close up of the houses and church coming up

They got a bit carried away on account of the sand sculpting competition elsewhere on the beach.

BM took the opportunity to catch up on some reading but more of that later. For now, without turning into Maeve Binchy, it's fair to say that this was one of the best holidays we have had and certainly the best in Ireland.

BTW, the lady who owns 'The Pines' where we stayed is thinking of selling up, Euros 450k if anyone is interested...

BM...On the road again

2010-08-07T07:32:00.000+01:00

Okay, so there was a slight miscalculation with the estimated length of journey from Bermondsey to Pembroke dock...we left at 05.30hrs, assuming a couple of stops along the way, ETA 13.00hrs. In fact, we had the stops and still got to Pembroke by 11.30. There may have been some resentment expressed about the ungodly hour BM required everyone to get up and out but hey - we were first in line in the boarding queue!

We are in the (less than) sunny south-east. It rained 3 times on the way from Rosslare. The countryside looks suspiciously green and lush. People are nevertheless defiantly wearing shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops...under raincoats.

Second contingent from the north-west arrive later today. On the scale of excitement and anticipation, kids are set to 'dangerously high'. Further reports to follow, energy and wi-fi permitting.

A chart of what's going on in California (for those of us who like the visual)

2010-08-05T15:37:00.000+01:00

Click on the picture to enlarge in a new window for the full impact!

(via http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/)

BM...out and about

2010-08-04T10:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we visited Bradford-upon-Avon - by canal boat or should that be 'launch' ? This is how we travelled

It was a certain person's 70th birthday hence the balloons and gift bags.

Along the way, we passed by this noble bird

We navigated through this very narrow lock and bridge

and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere

Lovely and sloow way to travel. Lots of fun with the steering. There were no accidents. Some running alongside on the towpath but no-one fell in. Remarkable and sort of cheering I suppose, how busy it was on a Tuesday...albeit in August.

The birthday person, who is a bit of an expert on all things maritime and inland waterways too, gave a gentle history lesson to the younger generation on the type and variety of canal boats we saw. Observed the usual courtesy between canalboaters along the waterway, although I suppose given the leisurely pace, it would be hard to pass within 4 inches of another slow-moving boat without saying something friendly. At least all of ours were friendly.

We stopped for lunch at the Lock Inn Cafe (highly recommended) and then executed a neat 18 point turn mid-canal to make our way back to base.

Lovely day. Home in Bermondsey by 8.30pm - London traffic is so quiet in August ...

What's happened to...Michael McDonald

2010-08-03T22:04:00.000+01:00

Punk didn't happen for BM in the furthest reaches of western Ireland in 1979. Instead this, and other Doobie Brother hits, was part of the soundtrack to my youth...

A new Whovian in town

2010-08-01T20:05:00.000+01:00

Okay so you think you know people: I mean in the sense that you read their blog and newspaper articles, you link to them in your blog (right hand column) and then out of the blue, comes confirmation that they are in fact also connected to you by the fact of their Whovian status! I'm talking about Andrew Sullivan, who revealed today (at least it was not previously known to me) that he is and has been a lifelong DW fan.

For those of you who didn't already know, I am surrounded by Dr Who fans/obsessives/followers (delete as appropriate) and it's/his influence pervades our everyday existence in ways you might not be aware of. For instance, dressing habits of a boy from the age of 3 and a half entirely dictated by DW. Bear in mind that this was before the revival by Russell T Davis and therefore consisted of recycled beige shorts, cricket sweater and (my) old raincoat, which when it fell apart, was succeeded by a grey John Lewis dressing gown. That look lasted for almost 2 solid years. (I blame John Lewis, they make them to last...) This was the Peter Davison look you see (with celery stalk). Not easy to pull off and not the easiest outfit to wear on a beach in 28C heat...Anyway, every sartorial decision made by the boy, now 9, revolves around which Doctor is currently part of his ongoing and very real, fantasy life. Between that and B Husband's lifelong devotion to Time Lord, I long ago decided to give in and go with it.

But because it is actually very good drama, I have come to admire it too. Best thing about it for me is that DW is (conventionally) unarmed but wins every time, for reasons which Andrew Sullivan sets out lovingly in his article. I can't link to it because of the Sunday Times paywall, but if you link to his blog on the right, he usually posts his articles there anyway. Enjoy!

Bermondsey acoustics

2010-08-01T19:56:00.000+01:00

It's a feature of where we live that not only can we hear the roar from the Lion's Den when Millwall are at home, but we can listen in on what's happening at the Carnival Del Pueblo at Burgess Park too...I have to admit I had forgotten it was on until the beat and rap echoed across the Old Kent Road towards this part of Bermondsey. For those not in the know, Elephant & Castle has the largest population of South American inhabitants in London and today, I suspect, in the UK. It sounds like they are having a great time!

Early intervention

2010-07-29T08:29:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Sarah Teather, Children's Minister at DfE and Ian Duncan Smith Work & Pension Secretary announced the setting up of a new independent commission into early intervention, which aims to ensure that children at greatest risk of multiple disadvantage get the best start in life.   This will be chaired by the Labour MP Graham Allen (who has previously worked with IDS on a a similar joint review entitled "Early Intervention: Good parents, great kids, better citizens" in 1998).

The earlier report is well worth reading.   Essentially, they suggested that 'early' intervention means within the first 3 years of a child's life.  The earlier report was of course written when IDS was in opposition, but for this Commission to do a further review now interests me for 2 reasons.

Firstly, and I have to declare an interest here, Surestart. The Surestart programme has been running since 1998 but NESS (National Evaluation of SureStart) found that there was little evidence of positive impact from the first part of the programme (and this was after a great deal of public money had been spent). It was not until the programme switched to Children's Centre provision after 'Every Child Matters' in 2006, that impact was measurable although the evidence is still patchy and the evaluation is ongoing. It's also worth bearing in mind that Surestart covers children aged 0-5. ( http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/).

The future of the Surestart programme via Children's Centres has of course been the subject of heated debate over the part few weeks with Ed Balls in particular, suggesting that the Coalition government intends to cut and even abolish it.  But if 'Early Intervention' means anything it means Surestart.

So I 'm wondering whether we are not seeing, with the setting up of this commission, a first step towards a re-organisation of Surestart, possibly narrowing the age criteria and also I suspect the number and type of programmes offered by Children's Centres.   Speaking both as a parent user and Chair of Govs of a Children's Centre, I have to say I would have no problem with this. When the money was flush, it was perhaps not a problem that the majority of mums accessing services when I attended as a parent, were just like me ie over 30, middle-class. But let's be honest - it was not set up for people like us.

Secondly and this is simply an observation, made elsewhere too, that Ian Duncan Smith looks and sounds very different to how he did when he led the Conservative Party.   It renews my faith in human nature to observe how his views seem so entirely different now and that, no longer having any ambition to lead the party or the country, he is freed up to actually make a difference worth making, using research-based evidence and not simply ideology.

My question I suppose is, was he always like this and was our view of him simply distorted by the prism of media coverage OR following his departure as Leader, did he undergo his own Damascene coversion on the Easterhouse estate in Glasgow? Either way, he seems an altogether more human politician now and that is surely a positive thing and leads me to be cautiously optimistic about the future of Surestart.

What's not to love?

2010-07-28T20:56:00.000+01:00

Dave or Ed Milibandwagon?

2010-07-28T20:54:00.000+01:00

Not sure either of them have managed to jump-start it yet which is why it's not exactly electrifying.

Except several people seem to believe that the future destiny of the Lib Dems may well depend on who wins the most boring contest in electoral history, this September. John Rentoul is not alone in hoping for a David win believing that surely Labour would not be so dim as to elect Ed. Or would they? UNITE is a big, powerful union with quite deep pockets. That buys a lot of direct mailing to members reminding them, many of whom work in local authorities delivering the public services about to be cut and live in the council housing which will not now be improved because 'there is no money' - the modern mantra - who fights their corner. Note how they are also backing Ken for the London Mayoral nomination....

David would be the smart choice for Labour but these are unpredictable times. People are worried and cannot be relied upon to do the sensible thing, preferring perhaps instead to invest in a Leader who has a track record of street-fighting (in the political sense).  Athough he has managed to avoid too close scrutiny over it, it's worth remembering that Ed M. presided over the worst of the Blair/Brown war years with his close allies, Charlie Whelan and Damian McBride in the Brown bunker at No.11.

Current thinking appears to be that Clegg and Cameron will strike some sort of electoral pact before the next parliamentary elections, assuming the coalition survives that long. Sandra Gidleigh, on the Week in Westminster on Saturday, probably speaks for many in the party when she said that unless there was evidence the Lib Dems were having a serious impact on policy and law-making they would be 'toast' at the next election, as referred to by Matthew Norman today.    Which is where the debate over Dave/Ed comes in. David M would be closer to Clegg than Ed although Ed has appeal to many on the left of the party. Backed by the Unions who are squaring up for the fight of their generation however, would Ed even be interested in finding common ground wth the LibDems?

Why do I care? Hard to explain really, except that politics gets under your skin so that even now, when we are no longer affected by it day to day, it's impossible to ignore...or maybe it's like a scab that you can't help but pick...either way, it is compulsive.

Rev

2010-07-27T11:54:00.000+01:00

Is this not the best (dark) comedy on TV right now? This episode was particularly good but I have been unable to track down what for me, was the best scene ie the denouement between Adam, our eponymous hero and Darren, the happy clappy interloper with accompanying smoothie bar, in which Adam explains why clergy like Darren, with their absolute certainties, frighten him because faith and belief is and should be about doubt and overcoming that doubt.

Never mind, this is a clip of the wonderful Archdeacon and Adam discussing repairs to the broken church 'rose' window.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane - a review

2010-07-26T19:19:00.000+01:00

BM missed this the first time round 15 years ago, when it made the writer Martin McDonagh a star and led to his subsequent success with "In Bruges" amongst other things. Anyway, this play is where that success began and it opened in 1995 at the Royal Court, around the time that another Irish play, "Dancing at Lughnasa" by Brian Friel also took the London stage by storm. Both came at a time when modern Ireland was riding the Celtic Tiger and loving it; ostentatious consumption was almost de rigeur. How times have changed.

This a terrific production, in no small part because the malevolent matriarch, Mag Folan is played so beautifully by Rosaleen Linehan, a legend of the Irish theatre. For those who are interested in these things, Rosaleen is the mother of Graham Linehan, writer of 'Father Ted' and 'The IT crowd'.

Fifteen years ago, many Irish people watching this play would have shrugged off the references to emigration and employment hopelessness, but I was struck watching it, how those issues seem all too relevant today. I wouldn't wish to leave the impression that it's all doom and gloom - far from it. It's very, very funny and moving and incredibly tense throughout.

The play is on at the Young Vic until Aug 21st so book now - if there are any tickets left!

I leave you with a photograph of Leenane, not so many miles from where BM grew up, and a place of such utter loveliness that anything else I say will be superfluous.

(Photo: John Miranda 2010)

Poor neglected blog...

2010-07-26T18:49:00.000+01:00

BM has been UNBELIEVABLY busy over the past 2 weeks or so, hence the shocking lack of posts and general neglect. But that's not to say that interesting snippets to share with you, dear reader have not forced their way into my crowded consciousness during the break - au contraire - as ever, and no doubt I am not alone in this, items for the blog and my failure to actually blog them, have contributed to the ever growing list of things to feel guilty about. But no more, I'm back and ready to roll!

For those who might not normally visit the right hand list of interesting places to pass the time, I would point out that I have made some changes. Some sadly have gone and others, arrived. A Bloomsbury Life in particular is like nourishment for the visual soul, with pictues like this one of the work of UK guerilla gardener and artist, Anna Garforth. Why haven't I seen more of this and how come an American lady (much as I worship her) is the one drawing attention to her work ?

and up close...

(All photos Anna Garforth via A Bloomsbury Life)

You see...it's a living thing...moss, suddenly beautiful.

All the fun of the Fete

2010-07-17T19:48:00.000+01:00

This was before the crowds gathered and is meant to show our lovely 'Bermondsey in Bloom' bunting on display outside River Room

and near the playhouse.

Then....things got a bit busy at the BBQ so despite the fact that literally, hundreds of people attended, games were played, faces painted, bouncy castle bounced on and loads of recycled toys and books recycled again - I have no further pictures of the day! Except to say it was not as sedate as this, much earlier Bermondsey Fete

By Joris Hofnagel c.1569

(This is being indulgent because I have as you may recall, used this image before! Click for greater detail)

Food as a political issue

2010-07-17T18:08:00.000+01:00

During the recent local election in Southwark, Labour made a pledge to introduce free school meals to all primary school children across the borough. This was unfunded. They probably didn't expect to win (they weren't the only ones, sadly). Anyway, they did and now they are trying to find ways to fulfil this pledge or maybe a way of backing out of it while saving face...

Primary schools in Southwark are being invited to take part in a local pilot beginning in September. Schools taking part will choose 1 year group, those children will be offered free school meals and the school will be offered additional support in working with children, school staff and parents/carers on understanding the benefits of healthy meals on long-term health and wellbeing and maintenance of a healthy weight. The findings will then be analysed alongside the results of 3 ongoing national pilots (in Newham, Wolverhampton & Durham) to inform the roll-out to all schools in the borough.

Several things about this idea trouble me. Firstly, the 3 national pilots have been up and running for 1 year already and are being co-ordinated by the DfE, with research ongoing by NCSR , into not simply the issue of obesity but also behaviour, concentration and academic attainment. The Southwark approach seems a bit of a stop-gap, 'on the hoof' idea with no real focus. Why do this when a national, properly funded study is mid-way along and will report its findings about 18 months from now? How is the study of 1 year group per school going to, for instance, inform the Council about the capital investment necessary to enable that school to offer free school meals to all its pupils? It just seems a bit pointless - as if they have to be seen to be acting on their pledge, so they have come up with this. In the meantime, it will be increasingly obvious that it is unaffordable and they will be able to say that they tried but the Coalition government policies made it impossible.

Maybe the real question is why, after 13 years of a Labour government the key measure of child poverty ie FSM take-up, is relatively unchanged in Southwark.

A child of the universe

2010-07-14T21:38:00.000+01:00

Been a bit bogged down with work and other commitments over the past few days hence the lack of posts. In addition, although lots of issues have prompted an inner debate, (eg Roman Polanski affair, Zenna Atkins' comments on incompetent teachers) to be completely honest I'm not sure that I have anything fresh to add by blogging about them. Although they do make me cross.

So, I thought instead I would share with you the site linked to on the right, Sagan's Brain, which at times like this when I am slightly preoccupied with the everyday and stressed about things I cannot control, allows me to escape out into the wider universe....and wonder.......

When I've caught up with what the universe has been up to, I feel a fresh sense of perspective dawning. Although I've always been interested in space and science, Sagan's Brain is the first site I've come across which is quite accessible to a non-scientist. And by way of final recommendation, the younger Dr Who aficionado of the household is also a fan. What greater recommendation is there?

Bermondsey (Square)'s new bookshop

2010-07-12T10:06:00.000+01:00

So, it's official: Woolfson & Tay, Cafe Gallery and Bookshop is opening in Bermondsey Square on 11th September. Good to see that it's an independent bookseller and it's got a full programme of Autumn events to look forward to.

Is this further confirmation of Bermondsey's improving profile? Yes, I know it's at Bermondsey Square which is hardly The Blue, but still...the last nearest bookshop was Riverside at Shad Thames but that became another coffee shop several years ago, leaving just the Riverside Bookshop in Hays Galleria.

I wonder if they'd be interested in some outreach work with local schools...?

Seed Cathedral update

2010-07-12T07:31:00.000+01:00

Not only has the Seed Cathedral won the RIBA Lubetkin Prize 2010, it is also turning into one of the most popular of the pavilions at the Shanghai Expo 2010, passing the 2m visitor mark a few weeks ago.

This is a just another excuse for me to post more pictures of this beautiful construction/apparition on the landscape...

(click on this one for greater detail of the seed head)

I think it's inspiring that, at the end of the Expo, the rods will be distributed to schools throughout China and the UK...just like dandelion seeds.

We are complete

2010-07-11T18:34:00.000+01:00

Time was, when Holy Communion money was not touched until you were 18...but those times are gone and so, following much negotiation a proportion of the said Holy Communion money went today to the purchase of the Doctor Who 11 Doctors Action Figure Set. Behold:-

I am told by the DW fans in the household that this is covetable, since it includes the Paul McGann figure, William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton, not seen before (well not by me anyway). In the Forbidden Planet shop today, they were restricted to one per customer. So, 2 very happy boys in the BM household this afternoon - and that's before the football starts!

Can Oona do it?

2010-07-11T17:10:00.000+01:00

It's been a few weeks now since the Labour nomination contest for the Mayor 2012 campaign got going and as expected, it's a two horse race. The pundits took an early view that Ken has it in the bag but whispers on various blogs over the last week or so, suggest that Oona is sharpening her message and as a result may just pull off an upset at the Party Conference in September. That said, there's a long way to go and several more hustings to get through before then.

Earlier today, both contenders appeared on the Politics Show. It's well worth a look (go to 36 minutes in, unless you want to watch the whole show) and for my money, Oona was impressive. Ken loves a good fight and that seemed to be all that he was offering in dealing with cuts to services across London, if he is elected in 2012. Oona on the other had some interesting things to offer on housing, youth and knife crime and as she correctly pointed out, by 2012 cuts will have been implemented and whoever is in power will simply have to find imaginative ways of delivering services to Londoners. If she can win the nomination, she will be a very attractive cross-party candidate. In the debate over whether government exists to provide public services or to provide jobs for people to deliver those services, we know where Ken stands but Oona seemed less tribal.

However, Ken did seem untroubled by her on today's performance, which makes me wonder whether the pundits aren't right after all and he has the unions in the bag and therefore sewn up the nomination. I understand union members' concerns and desire to have a champion fight their cause - but not every Londoner belongs to a trades union and will Londoners' best interests be served if Ken is allowed to re-run the 1980's from City Hall?

Cristina Odone blogs for the Telegraph

2010-07-07T23:10:00.000+01:00

Today her theme is the battle between working and stay-at-home mums, or rather whether there is a qualititative difference in the care provided by these different types of mum. Not that she is really curious - her mind is firmly made up and guess which type she believes is best...it's not a stretch.

Two things strike me as noteworthy from the blog (and I take into account the fact that blogs are by nature opinion pieces but nevertheless):-

1.  Her current position is described in the Bio as 'Research Fellow as the Centre for Policy Studies'. So I'd like to know what level of research rigour was applied to the bald statement of fact (without any evidential references) that:-

"Then along came the chest-thumping professional women who scoffed at the domestic goddess, mocked the mumsy attitude and, even if they happened to spawn a baby or three along the way, ensured there was someone else to do the boring tasks of feeding, nappy-changing, reading The Hungry Caterpillar six times in a row. The message was clear: women should be like men, not mums.
Soon, many of these professionals held high-flying jobs and influential posts and had the ear of government. They persuaded ministers that national policy should get women out of their homes and into work. No one, it was clear, should be a full-time mother."

I'm particularly interested in the assertion that this unnamed group of women, directed government policy. If the subject matter weren't so serious then this and the idea that this is written by someone described as a Research Fellow, would be laughable.

2. She goes on to describe full-time mothers as 'angry and resentful'.

Again no research link, no evidence base for any of this, how shall I describe it - nonsense, I think sums it up best.

The simple fact is that much of government policy on family, welfare, child development and bridging the inequality gap has been driven by sound research and analysis of data collected on a continuous basis by the ONS. (for stats nerds like me, invaluable tool for knowing your local area but that's another story)

It may serve Ms Odone's career and imminent book release well to incite controversy with this sort of provocative opinion piece but she has nothing of any substance to say.

There's something about Mary

2010-07-07T21:14:00.000+01:00

Portas, that is. Clearly I am not alone in admiring her chutzpah and drive, not to mention her head-on, direct approach to her TV retail challenges - she is much admired by the gay community, although she is not defined by her sexuality and by fashion bloggers, particularly those featuring fashion for the over-40s, a woefully neglected consumer group.

She clearly has a keenly developed sense of trends, which you see in the way she approaches her TV challenges but more recently I was suprised and yes, delighted to see via the Women Like Us website, a call for women over 40 interested in fashion to get in touch with her. She is setting up an online fashion outlet for this group and wants to do some focus group testing! And the reason this is particularly relevant to Bermondsey is that the groups are due to convene at the Fashion & Textile Museum in Bermondsey St. There again, Mary has 'taken the trend temperature' and decided that Bermondsey is hot!

Couldn't resist a little clip from th fruit and veg shop episode- also because I loved the whole 'Three sisters' thing going on!

Changing the nappy curriculum

2010-07-06T23:15:00.000+01:00

Much as been made today on blogs and in the newspapers about the DfE's proposed review of the EYFS ( Early Years Foundation Stage).   For the uninitiated, this became mandatory for early years providers for children aged between 0-6 from September 2008. For all the brouhaha it caused at the time, it's not new really. It replaced 2 earlier frameworks which provided guidance for children aged 0-3 -Birth to 3 matters- and Foundation Stage curriculum which covered children aged 3-6, ie up to the end of Reception class. One of the aims of the EYFS was to provide a seamless 'curriculum' or framework with age appropriate developmental goals against which a child's progress could be measured.   This is actually important because if a child is not developing within the expected age phases between 0-3 in particular, additional support from external agencies can be sought. The record-keeping it requires also means that there is evidence to provide to those agencies where necessary.

What many of the articles I have seen today miss is that the EYFS is a framework for learning and it is meant to be PLAY-based. I stress that because it's easy to characterise it as 'testing for toddlers' when in fact such practice is not part of the guidance and would be considered on any Ofsted inspection to represent very poor practice. However, it does require appropriate observation of the child and planning in accordance with the child's interests and yes, it requires childminders to do this too. Why not?  Would we be happy if they simply placed the child in front of a TV all day? And if not, what do we want and how do we want to monitor that it is taking place?

As I mentioned above, the EYFS for 3-6 year olds replaced the previous Foundation Stage curriculum and while the themes have changed the 13 developmental areas have remained the same. Children score points on a scale of 0-9 against these 'curriculum' areas, which sounds very calculating when we are talking about toddlers and reception classes.

However, it was well established before EYFS a score of 6 points or more across the curriculum areas ie 78 points in total at the end of Reception class, is the best indicator we have of GCSE and subsequent education/career success and life chances. A score of less than that is almost a clear predictor of educational failure, welfare dependency and in some cases depending on the area involved (eg Personal Social and Emotional Development) can predict how likely that child aged 6 is, to end up in prison.

I for one am happy with the EYFS; it's not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort on the part of the carers or teaching staff involved with those children aged 0-6 but are we saying that those children are not worth it?
And yes, childcare and early years education is not cheap to provide and nor should it be. We should value the people who put the work into helping our very young children develop a lifelong love of learning. The question of who bears the cost is another matter for another time.

The Fez

2010-07-05T12:03:00.000+01:00

Not BM's first choice of headgear but for the Doctor Who fans in the household, it is a thing of beauty. And now, following a successful eBay bid, we will soon have one of our own. Playgrounds of Bermondsey will soon play host to the boy in the Fez....and suit...and bow tie.....you have been warned.

Interesting and exciting times

2010-07-05T11:23:00.000+01:00

Nice article in today's Guardian by Julian Glover, expressing but much more eloquently, what BM has returned to several times over the past few months - Labour and the Trades Unions howl over the Budget cuts and anticipated cuts in the spending review but have no realistic alternative policy agenda to offer.   And yet, while they hog all or most of the media attention, moaning and being self-righteous, it seems to me that they are missing what's going on under their noses.   Wedded as they are to 'process' often at the expense of outcomes, it seems that this extends even to the Labour Leadership contest, which Polly Toynbee despaired of in Saturday's Guardian.

There are loads of examples of fresh ways of looking at things like welfare reform and new ways of making the public services work better for everyone. BM wrote last week about Southwark Circle and about Participle's new vision for the welfare state 'Beveridge 4.0'.   Even those affected by the reform agenda which makes me most nervous (Education) are not simply sitting and waiting - conferences are taking place all over the country, looking at new ways to deliver essential services within a tightened financial framework. As a school Governor, I have been impressed at the way in which Southwark had the foresight to introduce traded services for schools, with the result that while the impact of any cuts from central government will undoubtedly be felt, the impact on Southwark schools and children is likely to be less severe.

More widely, I noticed at the weekend that the Prince of Wales is facilitating some of this brainstorming: 'The Garden Party to Make a Difference' will run from 8-19 September at Clarence House, Lancaster House and Marlborough House. It will involve the arts, science and business and will include mucic from Jools Holland, debates by Jonathan Dimbleby, Sanjeev Bhaskar & Clive Anderson, comedy by Marcus Brigstocke and Hugh Dennis, a discussion and demonstrations of Ecocars by Roger Saul and Kevin McCloud and fashion by Dame Vivienne Westwood.

Another article which caught my eye at the weekend was a piece for 'Think Tank' in the Sunday Times, entitled 'Stop the aid - it's cash that ends poverty'. (Sadly cannot link to it due the paywall..)  Claire Melamed is head of the growth and equity programme at the Overseas Development Institute and Joseph Hanlon is the author of 'Just Give Money to the Poor'. Their article discussed the success in countries such as Brazil & Mexico of simple cash transfers to the poor, rather than disparate multiple aid programmes.  In Brazil this has resulted in a near halving of child malnutrition and in rural Mexico, high school enrolment has doubled among children whose families receive cash transfers; and for the first time, girls are just a likely as boys to go to school.    They suggest that this idea of giving money to the poor, is essentially copying what we in Britian have been doing (successfully as it turns out, in terms of eradicating extreme povery and death from famine) for 200 years or so. It's not a panacea for the reasons they go on to set out but it's interesting. And it seems, their opening gambit in the lead up to the UN's search for a successor to the millenium development goals programme.

You see what I mean; it is possible to re-think the process. Just because it has been done a certain way for a period of time, does not and should not mean it cannot be done differently and better.    Julian Glover has it about right - the public accept not only that cuts to public services are are coming but that long overdue reform is also on the way.    Which is why I suspect that Labour need more than a change of leadership to begin to appeal to the public again.

The Revolutionary Communist Party

2010-07-05T09:43:00.000+01:00

Interesting piece in the current issue of the London Review of Books by Jenny Turner about the RCP and its activities, specifically the activities of Claire Fox (Institute of Ideas) and regular panellist on Question Time and Prof. Frank Furedi, who, from time to time provides fodder for the Daily Mail of the 'Outraged of Tunbridge Wells' variety.

BM and Frank Furedi have a bit of a history since back in the day when she was a practising Solicitor, acting on behalf of injured workers, Mr Furedi was putting himself about as a sage on the risk of 'Health & Safety gone mad' following the publication of his book 'Courting Mistrust: The Hidden Growth of a Culture of Litigation in Britain', (Centre for Policy Studies, 1999) and several articles in the national media at that time.

BM's response at the time was featured in the trade magazines 'Hazards' and 'Occupational Health', which we won't go into now save to say that workers' rights have been hard fought and won but despite this, workplace injury is far from uncommon and the litigation which ensues is often lengthy with no guarantee of success. Any compensation recovered is often poor consolation for the long-term consequences of an injury or work-acquired illness.

So it was a surprise to learn of Dr Furedi's past and current connection to the RCP. Not sure what to make of it except to consider the delicious irony of his views being lapped up by the tabloids.

It's been this sort of week...

2010-07-02T13:07:00.000+01:00

Ireland catches up!

2010-07-02T12:36:00.000+01:00

...and passes its first Civil Partnership legislation. And this despite opposition from the Catholic Church on constitutional grounds (do they really want to go there...?) although it had overwhelming popular public support.

Sometimes the law is a bit slow in catching up with changes in culture.

Making politics work

2010-07-02T12:26:00.000+01:00

In my Normblog profile last week, I mentioned that the single change I would effect in government would be to the electoral system, because I think it would/will change everything else. It looks as though the referendum on AV will take place first Thursday in May 2011. AV is not perfect and there are many critics but as James Graham sets out today in Comment is free, it's AV or nothing and for that reason, campaigners for electoral and political reform should support it.

There has been a lot of blogging/comment about the LibDem 'obsession' with electoral reform, much of it dismissive as not addressing the real, more pressing issues people have to face every day. It's certainly the case that it's a complex subject but then so are many others such as public sector reform, how to stimulate a private sector recovery etc. I suppose it's harder to find emotive ways of explaining it in simple terms which would resonate and make ordinary people care.

But I suspect that's the whole point. So often it seems to me in a system which favours a 2 party duopoly, politicians don't have to really try very hard to explain complex issues, instead relying on old emotive slogans to bolster support. Then see what happens when they are not forced to 'work harder' to explain for instance, why membership of Europe is important (UKIP emerges) or welfare reform and immigration issues (BNP emerges). They then use examples of these, more extreme parties who nevertheless represent the concerns however misguided of real people, to warn of the dangers of electoral reform since it might allow those parties access to real power.

The current system is a mess - electorally and politically, since it allows our currently elected politicians to dodge the tough issues. It always worries me that mainstream politicians appear horrified by the emergence of the BNP as happened for instance in Barking & Dagenham , ignoring the fact that however despicable these parties may be, they have gained legitimacy because of a monumental failure of leadership by those self-same, mainstream parties.

AV will not make an enormous difference, it's true. But it's a start and that has to be a good thing. I believe that in certain areas (not all I accept), it will force incumbents to address and explain uncomfortable issues and debate with and defeat extremist parties legitimately, in order to win.

As James Graham mentions in the article linked to earlier, AV is essentially a Labour policy. It will be interesting to see whether they campaign for a Yes vote, especially since Toby Young suggests in the Telegraph that David Cameron may be forced to, to save the Coalition.

You see, already electoral reform is up-ending the way politics is done!

Serendipitous fabric design - Update

2010-07-01T20:18:00.000+01:00

Readers paying attention will recall that a company called 'Old Town' offers a print fabric called 'Bermondsey in Bloom' and they have very kindly now sent a bolt of the fabric in the blue colourway (see the options below).

We at the nursery school are about to reciprocate with samples of the following, which were designed by the children, following a trip to the temperate house in Kew Gardens, in association with the fabric designer Hanna Cottrell, to represent a 'River' and 'Rainforest' environment. See if you can guess which one is which.

Both now hang as curtains in their respective rooms.

'Bermondsey in Bloom' (blue) is about to be made into some lovely bunting and will adorn the School come July 17th.

It has been a good day!

Spooks in the USA

2010-06-30T21:55:00.000+01:00

Okay, so the press are having a great time because Anna Chapman is more Russian minx than matron. But one thing is clear: she's no Ros Miers either...

For the record, quite a lot of 'Spooks' is filmed nearby since the production company is Bermondsey based and BM has encountered the formidable Ros more than once. I'll say one thing; she gets a lot of wear out of that leather jacket...

London Assurance....a review

2010-06-30T21:22:00.000+01:00

My admiration (possibly small crush) for Fiona Shaw has been mentioned before. Granny, who is a dynamic pensioner and theatre afficionado, saw London Assurance last week and enjoyed it very much. She then went on to read my Normblog profile and being a generous sort, queued and booked tickets at some ungodly hour yesterday so that BM could attend the last night - last night.

Readers, what can I add to the plaudits afforded by much more eminent reviewers? Not much except to say that it was a complete HAMFEST of the best kind! FS and Simon Russell Beale were clearly having a blast and Richard Briers was terrific as the mild-mannered, Adophus 'Dolly' Spanker.   Maybe it had something to do with it being the final performance I suppose, but all of them seemed to throw caution to the wind and in final few scenes, displayed some energetic dance moves.

But back to FS & SRB, both of whom in their turn made their characters sexually ambivalent with hilarious consequences. I was not familiar with the playwright, Boucicoult prior to last night but now understand why he was a star in his day. One can easily imagine this playing to rowdy, raucous 19th century playhouses.

Loved it, love them, a good night out!

(Picture:Tristram Kenton)

A mood for change

2010-06-29T18:13:00.000+01:00

Reading Steve Richards in today's Independent, I am struck by however legitimate his argument, he rather misses the point - which as I see it, is this: people, and I mean the electorate, were broadly voting for change. Not outright, 'there you go, have a majority' sort of change but change nevertheless. I suppose his most valid argument is whether people realised that this, ie. a deficit cutting government, is what they were voting for. He's right to say that none of the main parties spelled out in any detail how they would tackle the deficit, although all talked about tough times ahead etc but then manifestos are only ever aspirational, not promises.

I suspect although I have no evidence for this, simply a hunch, that most people read between the lines and had some sense of what was coming. The IFS suggested pre-Election that Labour plans would mean an effective 20% or thereabouts cut to public services if Health and DFID were to be ring-fenced.

Overriding all of this of course, is the issue of our democracy. It's not a true democracy in that everyone has a say in the decisions made - instead we have a form of representative democracy, whereby we elect representatives to make those decisions on our behalf. We do not expect to be consulted about every decision - that's their job (which always bothers me when politicians talk about increasing the number of referendums. Unless it's a constitutional issue, my feeling is that we elected them to make the decisions so get on with it! ).

So although I believe that Steve Richards is right to raise the issue of whether the Coalition has a mandate for the measures they are about to introduce, I disagree with his final analysis. I doubt that any sentient adult who voted at on May 6th could have been unaware that cuts were coming, whoever emerged as the winning party. Furthermore, the general cynicism which greets most pronouncements from politicians of all stripes, leads me to believe that people made up their own minds about what was needed and voted accordingly.

Democracy, eh ? The least worst option when compared with all the others. Someone famous said that once.

Southwark Circle

2010-06-28T20:07:00.000+01:00

Almost a year ago, I picked up a leaflet full of recipe ideas at the Bermondsey Street Festival, which had been produced by Southwark Circle, a membership organisation open to anyone living in Southwark over the age of 50. Members get help with life's practical tasks, as and when they need it from a network of handy, local people called Neighbourhood Helpers who are CRB and reference checked.

Anyway, I read today Madeleine Bunting's interesting article on welfare reform on the Guardian's Comment is Free site, highlighting the work done by Southwark Circle as a model of what good, thoughtful 'win,win' reform can look like.

Contrast this article and the generally positive tone, with that of Diane Abbott's responding to a suggestion, that the unemployed might be encouraged to move to areas where work is available provided their social housing was also portable.   There's no question that she raises many issues which would make such a move unattractive to those affected. But surely that cannot be a reason for not even considering it. As Madeleine Bunting notes in relation to the Labour government:-

" its instincts were too closely bound up with using the state as the instrument to deliver services. But the consequences are that the "service user" becomes passive. If services are restricted, they have to exaggerate need to qualify, locking them into what can often be demoralising dependency".

Clearly the Labour government had run out of ideas but it's a bit depressing to note that none of the leadership contenders are offering anything fresh or at least are prepared to say it at this stage.

Surely innovation is what is required in order for those who are in need to receive the type of service they are entitled to. One of the partners involved in the development of Southwark Circle is an organisation called Participle, also based in Tanner Street, Bermondsey. They have set out their vision for 21st century public services in what they call Beveridge 4.0.

"Changes in society, demographics, lifestyle and availability of resources, have left us with services that are out of step with modern Britain. We need to stop patching and mending institutions and services designed for another era, the time has come to create something new. A radical new vision for our public services is required.  We call our vision Beveridge 4.0."

Once again, Southwark leads the way.

Oh, and what's that I hear you ask ? Who was in charge when this innovative project was conceived and developed .....?

Absent friends

2010-06-26T20:57:00.000+01:00

Did I mention that Kyle has now returned to Australia? We all miss him but perhaps especially J who has emailed him almost every day, including today photos of her tap-dancing display at the school fete yesterday. Kyle if you're reading this in Sydney, your t-shirt is ready and will be on its way to you on Monday.

O had the rather inspired idea of printing Kyle's Mii picture onto a t-shirt but it takes a bit longer than we anticipated hence the delay. Anyone curious about the real Kyle Taylor can check out his website but in the meantime, here is the Mii version.

An announcement!

2010-06-25T11:01:00.000+01:00

Norm Geras whom I admire and am more than a bit in awe of, blogs at Normblog. He does a weekly profile of other bloggers and today it features.....me!

Thank you Norm and welcome to any newcomers who came via the profile.

Busy day today so there will now be a short break and normal blogging will resume later this evening.

The Fete at Bermondsey

2010-06-25T10:52:00.000+01:00

By Joris Hofnagel c1569. Click on the picture for a full view.

Yes, BM is not in costume but has been busy at the oven and will be selling her wares and that of others later today at the childrens' school Fete with other stalwarts of the PTA. Hope it's as jolly as the scene above and at the very least, our weather today is better!

Where does charity begin or end?

2010-06-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

BM attended an open meeting organised by a long-established (650 years) local charity yesterday, at which they shared the welcome news that they are now in a position to start distributing grants to worthy causes again, having been preoccupied with other matters for the past few years.   It's a sign of the general anxiety being felt that on a day when England were playing and the weather was suddenly Summer-y, the attendance at this meeting which ran from 3-5, was beyond what the charity had anticipated.

Several things stuck in my mind from the session. Firstly a great deal of good work is being done by small groups, associations and the smaller local charities who now fear for their very existence. Secondly, is it possible that some of them duplicate other services on offer from the local authority and thirdly, for the charity running the session, how do they establish in deciding which grant applications to approve that they are not funding duplicate projects?   (I have no answers, just questions).

The other interesting snippet (gleaned via a presentation given by Kids Company) was that several City firms seem to be ramping up their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) time, offering in some cases, 5 CSR days per annum in addition to annual leave to staff.   Clearly at a strategic level, the bigger firms understand what the 'Big Society' concept means and are showing willing.    The local Southwark Volunteer Centre, which handles these offers and brokers time for projects in need,  is experiencing a surge in offers of CSR time.  The sceptic in me assumes this must mean that it's tax deductible, but you can't look a gift horse etc.

Overall the session was a useful reminder of just how complex our 'society' is with statutory services supported by so many varied volunteer groups. Again, while one can't deny that problems exist which is why many of these groups were formed, I didn't and don't believe that our society is 'broken' in the way some would have you believe.

The Tempest ? More like storm in a teacup

2010-06-24T11:16:00.000+01:00

B husband and I saw Sam Mendes' new production of 'The Tempest' last night at the Old Vic. It and 'As you like it' are the touring productions of his Bridge Project for 2010. 'As you like it' played earlier in the day with 'The Tempest' following in the evening at 7pm (earlier than usual to give the reviewers time to file for the morning papers it seems).

I have explained before my reluctance about theatre (unless it involved Mark Rylance...) but I really wanted to like this production because Stephen Dillane plays Prospero and although I have only seen him once before in Peter Brooks production of Hamlet, I recalled that he was very good, in an intense and mesmeric way. Perfect for Prospero I thought - except that he wasn't and for the play to work, even from my relative ignorance, Prospero has to command, which he didn't.

In conversation afterwards, I was relieved to hear others saying the same things, not least that we could barely hear him speak. It all seemed a bit quiet and flat - not quite a tempest then.

BM's eldest child played Prospero in a school production last Autumn (aged 9) and on balance, all of the things which they got right (the fury of the storm, the spookiness of the island, the joy of the reunion) were missing last night. Disappointing but there it is.

Oh, and because there was no interval (don't know why) there was no proper opportunity to do a bit of people watching, because of course the place was full of famous faces (apart from us). Had to content myself with a close-up of Kevin Spacey who was easily recognisable but many others, whose faces were familiar, I would have needed more time to put a name to.

On the plus side, it was still daylight when we emerged and we were home by 9.45pm!

What's upset Adam Boulton now?

2010-06-23T08:09:00.000+01:00

His recent, very public, row with Alastair Campbell was a Youtube hit. Now it seems he is irritated by Mary Beard, Cambridge Classics Don and the London Review of Books.

Sigh...

2010-06-23T07:45:00.000+01:00

Sometimes, it's all so predictable...the Budget has been touted for weeks in advance as 'tough'. Before the election the Institute for Fiscal Studies costed all manifestoes and confirmed that all parties would have to make deep spending cuts to balance the books - cuts which none of them were willing to spell out before May 6th. So far, only half of the equation is known to us ie the welfare cuts and tax rises. The real pain will come when the spending review is concluded in the Autumn and it becomes clear where the axe will fall, given that Health and DFID are protected.

I think we all know that things have got to change. The private sector is no longer large enough to pay for the public services we currently enjoy, so the balance needs to be re-set. Everyone of every political stripe recognises this and yet...in their response to the Budget yesterday, I think we saw the same old, disingenuous posturing from all of the opposition parties (secretly probably relieved not to have to deliver this budget).

I'm reminded of something James Meek wrote in the London Review of Books a couple of weeks ago about the conspiracy "which prevails in modern Western democracies between voters and the governments they elect: we, the voters will get to blame you for problems that are actually ours, and in return we will allow you, the government, to pretend that you are steering the country, like a helmsman steering a ship when you can't."

Meanwhile, so much for 'new politics'. As James Meek concluded, democracy needs reinvention and with so much else going on, how likely is that to happen? On the other hand, can we afford for it not to ?

These and other troublesome issues make BM sigh.

Pre-Budget nerves

2010-06-21T15:05:00.000+01:00

News of some of the measures due to be announced tomorrow have been gradually leaking out and speculation simply adds to the anxiety for BM who worries on behalf of the schools she is responsible for.   Cuts in year to higher education, which have been highlighted over at Normblog are beginning to take effect, with whole departments being cut in some instances. Locally, a friend whose husband works as a lecturer at City of Westminster, is worried because his contract has just been re-written offering him £2,000 per annum less with more responsibility or he can take redundancy and several secondary schools which had followed the then DCSF guidance and offered Diplomas as an alternative to GCSE/A Level have had to give staff notice overnight, as that funding has been cut in-year as part of the £6bn savings announced by George Osborne 2 weeks ago.

That earlier 'mini-budget' included cuts to local authorities early years improvement work with private, independent and voluntary sector daycare and early years providers, which will come to an abrupt end. That alone makes BM nervous about the commitment to Surestart and Early Years provision in general.    If I thought that any of these cuts were driven by evidence based research which showed that the services provided were inefficient or ineffective, I would be less worried but that is palpably not the case.

Whilst I have great sympathy for third level educators, all of the research evidence shows that that is the most expensive sector in education. If one thinks of the funding of 0-19 education as a pyramid, it is inverted in that the bulk of the spending occurs from age 12 upwards and yet, this is in direct contrast to the research which shows that funding of the Early Years is crucial to success in later education and life chances generally.

Early Years education is complex, dealing as it does with issues such as behaviour management as well as early appreciation and development of literacy, numeracy, science and physical development. The success of early years intervention is not easily measured and certainly not in the short-term which makes it an easy target. To someone not familiar with the sector and the research, it just looks like expensive childcare.

Will the Budget display an evidence-based approach to the distribution and allocation of cuts ? We will get our answer tomorrow.