Elizabeth I (but not in name.)

What I have learnt so far about Elizabeth of York, the rightful heir to the throne of England. (from Alison Weir's book of that name.)

Henry Tudor (or Theodore in English), claimed to be related to Cadwallader (or Cadwaladr), a 7th century Welsh king who prophesied the coming of a great king who would unite the kingdom.  Henry went into battle with a Welsh flag. Naturally he also claimed lineage with King Arthur.  Cadwallader is better known as the obnoxious vicar's wife in Middlemarch.

Richard III's son died at a young age. Richard became obsessed with his succession and blamed his wife Anne Neville, Richard planned a divorce with the view to marrying Elizabeth of York.  Sound familiar?

Elizabeth and her mother (and siblings) spent two spells in 'sanctuary' in Westminster Cathedral. Other residence were Elton Palace, Sheen Palace and Sheriff Hutton Castle where Elizabeth was kept under virtual house arrest during Richard III's reign.

Henry and Elizabeth's first son was called Arthur. There have been a number of royal Arthur's over the years.

Who is Wynkyn de Worde?  He is England's number two.  Like most number two's, largely unheard of.  He was Caxton's apprentice in London and took over from him at Caxton's death. Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth York were patrons of the printing press.

Lady Margaret Beaufort- Born Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.  Married Edmond Tudor of Pembroke.  His brother was Jasper.  Henry VII was born there.  Edmond died at Carmarthern in the custody of Sir William Herbert.  Margaret remarried Sir Henry Stafford in Maxstoke Castle, near Nuneaton.  When he died, as an exceedingly wealthy heiress, so quickly moved on to Thomas Stafford, an interesting partnership given that he was a Lancastrian.  They had an amicable relationship, with Stanley finally moving in to support her son Henry at Bosworth, when the die had already been cast.  Ruth tells me that there is a Margaret Beaufort School In Bletsoe.  

Margaret Beaufort's key locations that interested me.

A Moment of War. (I bought the book)

Bullets were in our mouths if not in our rifles. Indeed, few of us had guns at all. We marched to make a noise, to keep warm, to know that we were still alive, our right arms raised high, punching the freezing air, our clenched fists closing on nothing.

Brooklyn Ben held political classes, which were often crowded, and which painted a world free from betrayal and butchery.  Speaking in his quiet, cracked voice, with its soft Jewish accent, he plumped up the dry demands of Comunist dialectic into a nourishing picnic of idealism and love.

We had yet to learn that sheer idealism never stopped a tank.

Laurie Lee

The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli

by Niccolo Machiavelli:  To the great Lorenzo Di Piero De Medici

Chapter 18
....whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? 

It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person it is much safer to be feared than loved, when only one is possible.  

Love is preserved by the link of gratefulness which, owing to the weak nature of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a fear of punishment which never fails.

Nevertheless a prince ought to encourage fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred.

Returning to the question of being feared or loved, I come to the conclusion that, because men love according to their own will and fear according to the will of the prince, a wise prince should establish himself on that which is in his own control and not in the control of others. He must try however to avoid hatred.

CHAPTER 19 
THAT ONE SHOULD AVOID BEING HATED AND DESPISED

But Pertinax was created emperor against the wishes of the soldiers. They were accustomed to live beyond the rules under Commodus, and could not bear the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them. Thus having given a cause for hatred, to which hatred there was added a lack of respect for him because he was old, he was destroyed at the very beginning of his administration. It should be noted here that hatred is acquired as much by good works as by bad ones. 

Is this an epitaph to Jeremy Corbyn?

CHAPTER 25 
WHAT ROLE FORTUNE PLAYS IN HUMAN AFFAIRS AND HOW TO RESIST HER

I compare fortune to one of those great rivers, which when in flood covers the plains, sweeping away trees and buildings, bearing away the soil from place to place. Everything flies before it, all yield to its violence, without being able in any way to resist it. But although its nature is like that, it does not follow therefore that people, when the weather becomes fine, should not make preparations, both with canals and defences, so that in the future the rising waters are directed away, and their force is not so unrestrained and dangerous. It is the same with fortune, who shows her power where courage has not made preparations to resist her. She turns her forces where she knows that walls have not been raised to constrain her.

The Chain of Events

The link goes like this.....
Monica, my colleague tells me her story about how her grandfather came to emigrated from Spain to Mexico fleeing the Franco regime.

I go on to listen to Orwell's book 'Homage to Catalonia' and Laurie Lee's 'A Moment of War'.
I read about the war on Wikipedia.  I see that Tolkien is listed as a writer on the nationalist side. Interesting.  It's because Tolkien is incensed by the burning of thousands of churches by the Anarchists.
I read that Tolkien's life was probably saved by German body lice.  In the First World War, during the battle of the Somme, Tolkien served as officer with the Lancastershire fusiliers    They occupied a German trench and slept in a dugouts, picking up the pest which no amount of ointment could eradicate.  Tolkien contracted trench fever and was sent home to his wife.  Everyone one of his battalion was wiped out.

Tolkien was born in South Africa.  His father was originally from Konigsberg in East Prussia.  Tolkien claimed that his name was a corruption of the German word tollkühn, meaning foolhardy, but others have said it is more likely to mean 'son of Tolk'. 

Apparently Royal Holloway is a British centre for the study of the Spanish Civil War.  They are also hot on King John, Runnymede, providing a number of short talks on youtube for me to watch.

...now a king, and now is clay

Thou art not holy to belie me so;
I am not mad: this hair I tear is mine;
My name is Constance; I was Geffrey's wife;
Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost:
I am not mad: I would to heaven I were!
For then, 'tis like I should forget myself:
O, if I could, what grief should I forget!
Preach some philosophy to make me mad,
And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;
For being not mad but sensible of grief,
My reasonable part produces reason
How I may be deliver'd of these woes,
And teaches me to kill or hang myself:
If I were mad, I should forget my son,
Or madly think a babe of clouts were he:
I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
The different plague of each calamity.

This is "Catch 22"

Quote from RSC King John.
Constance- mother of Prince Arthur. 
PS - best value seat in the house (The Swan) Standing on top row far right - £5:00. Great view and the ability to walk around during the show!

All communication is 'Prayer'

Sarah, my niece, informed me, the vicarious student that I am, that her lecturer began a lecture with this quote.

I mused that I have often wondered the opposite.  What if the word 'prayer' were banned?  As with all 'religious' language.  How would we describe prayer?  Would it be liberating to redefine these concepts?

Now the shoe is on the other foot.

So let us be religious.

Prayer- spoken in faith: I will be understood.  But how can I be confident that I have been heard?  How do I know my intention is interpreted?  How to I know I am loved?  Will anything happen- for me, against me?

Communication involves the whole body; the mind; the spirit.

So communication is spiritual, and illustrates the fact that we live as spiritual beings, despite the best intents of Dawkins 2019 book "Outgrowing God".

Communication is influence.  It is a gift to be received.  It is the clamourings of a beggar.

Communication requests a response, an interaction, a co-creation, communion.

"Life makes no absolute statements.  It is all Call and Answer."  

Says D.H. Lawrence.  English Writer

Bit more of Mrs Dalloway

Oddly enough, she was one of the most thoroughgoing sceptics he had ever met, and possibly (this was a theory he used to make up to account for her, so transparent in some ways, so inscrutable in others), possibly she said to herself, As we are a doomed race, chained to a sinking ship (her favourite reading as a girl was Huxley and Tyndall, and they were fond of these nautical metaphors), as the whole thing is a bad joke, let us, at any rate, do our part; mitigate the sufferings of our fellow-prisoners (Huxley again); decorate the dungeon with flowers and air-cushions; be as decent as we possibly can. Those ruffians, the Gods, shan’t have it all their own way — her notion being that the Gods, who never lost a chance of hurting, thwarting and spoiling human lives were seriously put out if, all the same, you behaved like a lady. That phase came directly after Sylvia’s death — that horrible affair. To see your own sister killed by a falling tree (all Justin Parry’s fault — all his carelessness) before your very eyes, a girl too on the verge of life, the most gifted of them, Clarissa always said, was enough to turn one bitter. Later she wasn’t so positive perhaps; she thought there were no Gods; no one was to blame; and so she evolved this atheist’s religion of doing good for the sake of goodness.

A terrible confession it was (he put his hat on again), but now, at the age of fifty-three one scarcely needed people any more. Life itself, every moment of it, every drop of it, here, this instant, now, in the sun, in Regent’s Park, was enough. Too much indeed. A whole lifetime was too short to bring out, now that one had acquired the power, the full flavour; to extract every ounce of pleasure, every shade of meaning; which both were so much more solid than they used to be, so much less personal. It was impossible that he should ever suffer again as Clarissa had made him suffer.

The Dissertation I never wrote

"A Study in Whiteness" - how do white therapist view the world from within their own ethnicity?

Themes
Social ranking occurs in all societies.  It happens subconsciously.  Children aged three and above are aware of the rank they and their family occupy. Ranking is a dynamic process, sometimes overt (as in apartheid South Africa), often covert, as in the rank observed by 'beauty'.  Although assuredly denied, television has a beauty filter.

Burnham's Social GRACES identify the breadth of dimensions that can be considered.
Gender, race, religion, ability, age, culture, class, ethnicity, sexuality.

Most parameters are fixed.  Some change naturally such as age.

People in a higher rank tend to find it harder to 'see' the rank of those beneath them, and minimise their own power.  The rank above is conversely visible and often inflated by those below.

I am interested to hear about how white therapists understand their own power and rank, not only working with families of different ethnicity, but also with the same ethnicity.  This is the theory of the lens; a filter, that affects the way the world is seen and impinges on assumptions, beliefs, and communication. Also on the sense of security in the relationship.

'Positive Discrimination'
Power cycles are seen to perpetuate the status quo.  If I subconsciously think that a male doctor is superior to a female doctor, this is felt as an anxiety. 'Will the male doctor be more knowledgeable than the female doctor?' If the female doctor does something wrong, this confirms my fear.  If a male doctor does something wrong, it was my bad luck to see this individual.  My beliefs in the establish rank persist.  If all the doctors in my practice are female, I am not able to make this comparison. The same interaction occurs with politicians, and clergy.  If the black vicar gives a bad sermon, that is because they have been put in a job they are not up to, but I forget how many appalling sermons I have heard given by white men.

If people are selected for jobs on the basis of their race, rather than their ability, this is racist just as much as if they are ignored because of their race.  Again, it is the system that is at fault here, not the individual.  The balance of power, and therefore responsibility, lies with the system, not the applicant.

However, for the status quo to change, we must change some of the variables, hence creating 'women only' short lists.  But how much do we want to change in the first place, or do we actually prefer the status quo?

What will the future hold?

In about 1985 I went to a Christian gathering in Wembley Arena.  It was on of the first big 'praise party' events of that era.  One of the speakers was George Verva, who set up OM.  However I do not think it was him, but one of the speakers related the story of Mother Barbara, a Russian Orthodox nun, born in 1889,  who (as the story goes) told Bishop Aristocoli of Athens about the many prophecies she had received in pray.  Apparently Bishop Aristocoli related these prophecies on his death bed in 1951.  There are many discussions about the validity of the story.  

See Prophecy Today or Mother of God

What I remember was being astonished by the idea that the UK could divide four with Scotland, Ireland and Wales becoming separate countries.  In 1986 this seemed incredible.

My predictions are not so spiritual or controversial.

• Britain will 'crash' out of the EU.
• Scotland will vote for independence.
• England's economy will dip.
• Wales will choose independence
• Ireland will be united, with Northern Ireland as an autonomous province.
• The British Royal Family will fade, with it status only really holding in England.  In Scotland the royals will relate to the country as they do in Canada and Australia.

And perhaps austerity will bring about a greener and kinder politics.  Who knows.

Too Simple

Recently there has been a drive to uncover 'male-centric' design around the world.

'Too simplistic' is my verdict.

On 6th November 2019 the BBC website published an article called "What would a city designed by women look like?"  This article made the following observations.

1) Toilets-  It is well known that men need less toilets.  My observation is that public toilets (especially in other European countries) are hard to find.  Normally you have to pay for the privilege.  This is particularly challenging for disabled people.  People with the power limit access to free toilets to save money.  The general public elect their politicians.  They get what they elect.  I fully support more toilets- but women are in a majority when it comes to the electorate.  Vote for toilets!

2) Play areas- Dito above.  As fathers' roles change, they too should be voting for play areas.  This is what children would vote for...rather than lower taxes.

3) Car free areas in cities.  Again, is this to do with gender?  There is an enormous capitalist lobby (mainly men here I guess) who want us to continue to burn petrol, and drive cars.  It's a major part of our western economy.  We have to vote against it.  When the cities of Europe where built, women did not have the vote.  The power structure in our society go back to male only models.  This is where the changes need to occur.  They are deeply institutional.  They also ignore the young, the old, the disabled and gay/lesbian people.

On 5th June the BBC website published an article on the book called Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men written by Caroline Criado Perez. 

A great question- But surely there are more hard hitting examples?

They highlighted 8 designs which were felt to be 'male-centric'.  These were
1) CPR Manikin dolls.  These are usually 'male shaped torsos. - My view is that you will never see a torso like a CPR manikin.  If you do - you won't need to do CPR.  I am guessing that the lack of breasts to to reduce titters.  Many men actually have 'man' breasts.
2) Spacesuits.  This is an obscure error which affects very few women in the world.  I think other examples could be more hard hitting.
3) Military Equipment.  Again, surely- it is obvious why military equipment is male-centric.  It's mainly men who are into killing. Most equipment will be mass produced to a minimum budget (a bit like hospital or prison food.)
4) Car-Crash dummies.  This is a fair criticism I feel.  But dummies do include children.  Also Asian men are statistically shorted than European men.  They are also much slimmer, so perhaps the problem is the tests are done on a model of the engineer themselves.  This is a bit like Anthony Gormley, who argues that as an artist he is limited to looking at the world from within his own body.
5) Smartphones.  These change with the fashions.  Sometimes they are big, sometimes small.  I thought you could buy the size that suits you?  I find it hard to believe that these phones are male-eccentric.  It rather stretches a point.
6) Sports Attire.  The article highlights an upset young girl who cannot buy basket ball clothes in her size.  The famous player she writes to discovers that her size exists, but within the boys range.  This is simply a labeling problem that was rectified.  Is it sexism?  Would we say the same if boys have to buy ballet clothes designed for women?  What about horse riding kit?  On second thoughts this is unlikely to happen because boys are unlikely to accept female clothing, where girls are often prepared to purchase male clothing.  This is probably an example of the supremacy of Power.  Items associated with power tend to appropriated by the less powerful.  Hence we all wear blue jeans.
7) Science gear. This is simply to do with sexism and demographics.  The more women come into science, the less they will be a minority.  Minorities nearly always have to fit in with the majority.  The irony here is that there are more women in the world than men.  We are waiting however for more female scientists, and politicians for than matter.
8) Office space.  This is an interesting one. The argument here is that the average office temperature is set for the temperature comfortable for men. Perhaps this applies to large call centres.  But not where I work.  In my office there is the battle of the temperature gauge.  The males stand aloof, but maybe this says more about me.  (As I say, I am not an environmentalist-  I am not aware of  'temperature' particularly (I am aware of the gas bill).

I have lived in a majority female world for a lot of my life and note the how things look from the other side.  It's a pleasant world and I do not feel hard done by.

1) ID badge makers in school reception areas.  These days when you visit a school a machine makes you an ID badge.  It usually takes a picture of my upper torso.
2) Gorgeous men.  Interestingly I think it is culturally acceptable in women majority offices to have big pictures of gorgeous men, like Daniel Craig in the office.  In my office we have a life size cardboard cut out.  I do not think it would be acceptable to have a similar woman cut out.  Staff talk about how the new manager looks gorgeous, and makes their heart flutter.  Not acceptable to talk the other way round.
3) Children Centres.  I helped to run a fathers group in Hinckley.  Our first job when we got to the building was to take down the pictures of women's breasts.....(breast feeding).  Such images just make fathers feel inadequate.
4) Child mental health training.  Where are the men?  Nearly everyone who attend the child mental health training I offer are female (and I am sure it's not to do with me- or Daniel Craig who always accompanies me.)  The mental health promotion of our children is in the hands of women.
5) Sport radio.  I am a minority in my family.  It was only when traveling with a friend and his family to a wedding that I realised that I have not been able to listen freely to sports radio for many years!  Oh cruel world!
6) Little Cars.  As a friend of the small car, I find they are not designed for people as tall as me.  I can not see the speedometer because my line of sight is too high.  I have to duck down to look below the top of the searing wheel......".Me Lord."

So what would a city look like designed by women?  By definition I can not say, but I can conjecture.

1) City's begin with people.  People begin as little babies.  For me the quality of life of little children is a gauge of how well the rest of us are living.  I would expect child care to be central, with facilities to support young families (for dads and mums alike.)  I would expect play areas that are well maintained.  Grandparents would be designed into this pattern too.
2) Educational centres that include parents/carers, especially mothers.  While children are predominantly cared for by mothers, the time that children are in education offers mother an opportunity to invest in themselves.
3)  Road safety.  Car ownership is male-centric 76% of males own a car compared with 69% of females.  The population splits (like the brexit vote) into 49% male to 51% female.  Statistically more women are exposed to risk on the pavement than men, with more deaths and serious injuries to pedestrians than to cyclists or motorcyclists.  designing safer streets will address this balance.
4)  Parks and green spaces.  Places for people to relax and recuperate are likely to positively affect women, who spend more time with little children, and older people, who again are biased towards women.  Women are known to be politically more left wing in their views.  They are more prepared to have the state spend their money on the quality of life in cities, but they have less money than men in the first place. 
5) Social Housing.  Young people are likely to need social housing.  Also the elderly and retired.  These are areas when if society does not priorities housing, the poorer groups will be forced out and have to move.  The rich can choose to move.  But that is their privilege.

A World of Music

There is a world of musical entertainment out there...joining the young people in Britain, I surf  and find the best of the internet offerings.

The Bottle Boys- From Denmark

My favourite
Taylor Swift
Disney
Michael Jackson


For the record-

What about the amazing Petr Spatina, who chooses to play in the streets of Prague.

Petr Spatina

Border Politics

Borders- If I was a geography lecturer, this would be my subject.
Currently I work on a border, and recognise all the peculiarities of this territory.
Borders are often 'disputed', Historic', 'Neglected', full of barbed wire and minefields.  They are often difficult to cross, and sometimes they shift, with shifting political climates.

Names-  Sometimes at a border you cross from one country, into the same country!?  Examples- travel from Macedonia into Macedonia.  Or Luxembourg into Luxembourg.

Other examples are well known- Korea into Korea, Cyprus into Cyprus and Sudan into Sudan. What about Moldova?  Romanian Moldova includes the cities that were once the historic Capitals of the nation, and Moldova, recently created from the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The pink area is Romanian Moldova-
The independent country of Moldova is the the east.

 What about Ireland into Ireland?  Is it one country?  Was is one country in the context of the UK, or the Island of Ireland?  Before the Protestant migration was it one country, or was is that just the geography of 'land'.  Should Sri Lanka be partitioned?  Not one country?  Borders, Islands, languages and ethnicities.  All very complex, hence perfect for a degree.

Borders sometimes don't shift.  The famous Serbian- Croatian border follows the course of a river bed that has long since moved on, leaving chaos behind it.

Other borders that don't make sense are India- Bangladesh, unless you live there.  Also Netherlands- Belgium, though since the EU came along, this has been of little consequence.

The Northern Irish border is a prime example of the stupidity of borders.  I think of them in a similar way to 'security' as a whole- it largely inconveniences the innocent and rarely the guilty.

The only border that I think is visible from the air (satellite) is the Gaza border.  The Israeli mechanised farms sit next to the patchwork of Palestinian farms.  Even the intensity of green is visibly different.

Borders don't make sense.  Apparently up until the first world war anyone could come into the UK without border checks.  The USA- Mexican border has proved how stupid borders are.  A wall will not only prevent humans interchanging, but also large species of wildlife; wolves, bears, cougars.

There are great examples of 'good' borders.  One is on the border between France and Spain.  Pheasant Island in the Bidasoa River changes sovereignty every six months, back and forth.  Lets have a bit more of this.

We visited Drielandenpunt (the German name) on the Vaals Hill, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.  This is a celebration of the stupidity or borders.  You can cycle round and round the 'three countries' marker.  There is a funfair nearby.  This is where marks, francs and gilders were all cast aside.  It also marks the highest point in The Netherlands, so many a Dutch cyclists has ascended Vaals Hill.

The old borders are still visible with barriers and police stations, but like the IRA arms dumps, they are slowly rotting away.

It is interesting to note that if there were free movement of all people across the whole world, it is highly likely that all the problems of the world would be resolved very quickly.

The Italian, Austrian, Slovenia border is interesting.  We currently have

North Tyrol and South Tyrol (divided by Austria and Italy)

Austrian Tyrol in Red.  Italian in Orange.

Austrian Carinthia and Lower Carinthia (divided by Austria and Slovenia)
and
Austrian Styria and Slovenian Styria (divided by Austria and Slovenia).  These where once united as the Dutchy of Styria which dates back to 1180

Austrian Styria in Red, and Slovenian in Orange