In praise of...Michael White

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.

In praise of...Nigel of Bermondsey

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...

In praise of...Roald Dahl

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 praise of...Thomas Heatherwick, Architect

So a couple of weeks ago, catching up with my friend Pat she mentioned that she had just returned from the Expo in Shanghai, where she had been supporting her friend Thomas Heatherwick, who designed the UK Pavilion. Have only just got round to doing a little internet snooping about the Expo, since I am prepared to accept that there may have been extensive media coverage of it here but I could have missed it due to Election 2010 etc.

It is staggering !

This is it - not a mirage, it's an actual construction but it looks ethereal, almost as if it appeared on the horizon and couldn't possibly have been constructed.   The full details of the project are here but for now consider this:-

"The Seed Cathedral is a platform to show the work of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and their Millennium Seedbank. In the circulation zone under the landscape that surrounds the Seed Cathedral a series of installations explore in more detail the particularity of nature and UK cities.

The Seed Cathedral is a 20-metre high building, constructed from 60,000 transparent 7.5-metre long optical strands, each of which has embedded within its tip a seed. The interior is silent and illuminated only by the daylight that has filtered past each seed through each optical hair; a quiet space in which to contemplate this formidable collection of the world’s botanical resources."

I URGE and IMPLORE you to visit the website via the link above, where in addition to further details and an amazing video of the Seed Cathedral ( which I think looks like a huge dandelion seed) with the long optical strands shimmering and looking breathtakingly beautiful, there are other photos of his work including this:

The East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton (picture: Andy Stagg)

And this Bermondsey connection

Cladding around Boiler Unit at Guy's Hospital

I love it when people look at the world differently and somehow conjure up the impossible.  I'm not saying that all modern design or architecture is wonderful but doesn't this make you stop and gaze and smile ?  And these places are all functional.

So I have now checked Google again and you have to search quite hard to find much UK media coverage of this astonishing example of the best of British, attracting more visitors than any other at the Expo.   It turns out that I didn't miss the coverage during Election '10 ...because there wasn't any worth mentioning.

My little blog is unlikely to make a difference but come on, there are so many reasons to be worried and gloomy and cynical but this is an example of something fearless and an achievement of the seemingly impossible so BE PROUD! 

In praise of...democracy

Well, you can't argue with it, that's for sure.  The national picture may be puzzling but the local one was certainly clear.  Southwark Council is now in Labour hands by a clear majority.  
It brings to an end 8 years of Lib Dem control of Southwark, of which I believe those involved can be really proud.  I suppose the test would be, is it a better place than when you started ?   Bear in mind that Labour had run the council for as long as it existed before 2002.  The education department had been deemed so dysfunctional that the Govt had imposed external management of the service, schools results were poor and very few schools were deemed good or outstanding by Ofsted, housing disrepair for Council tenants were at an all-time high, there were no doorstep recycling collections, the streets were judged the filthiest in London and those things have all been turned around.  It's not perfect but it's a lot better.  As well as that, the regeneration schemes which had stalled in the north of the borough have been developed with B Square, B Spa and Canada Water regeneration schemes all visibly progressing.

So at the end of 8 years, immediate unemployment is the order of the day (with no redundancy payment).  Was it all worth it?  BM is enormously proud of B husband and there can be no regrets because we went into this knowing it could end this way.  Many friends looked at what we had chosen and thought we were mad; the insecurity, no pension etc but it has been worth it.  Southwark is an amazing place to live and B Dad has contributed towards making it so over the past 8 years.  

That said, BM for one is done now...