“The power which causes the several portions of the plant to help each other, we call life… intensity of life is also intensity of helpfulness — completeness of depending of each part on all the rest. The ceasing of this help is what we call corruption.” John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume 5 (1860)Cornish academic BernardContinueContinue reading “Wanted: an NHS”
Tag Archives: Community
Building: the Resistance
The resistance to building is building. There’s now a national alliance, Community Voice on Planning. Here’s what’s currently centre-screen on their home page: “Please don’t forget our DAY OF ACTION on 12 APRIL. The theme is ‘Listen to the People’s Voice on Planning’This is a sample of some of the Events that we know ofContinueContinue reading “Building: the Resistance”
Our Silent, Supine Cities
It’s been a good week’s viewing for fans of Wessex history. On Monday the BBC ran a repeat of Michael Wood’s portrait of Alfred the Great, warming up for Neil Oliver on Tuesday, who wove a documentary about the king’s bones and their present whereabouts. If it was supposed to be an exclusive, it didn’tContinueContinue reading “Our Silent, Supine Cities”
Defending the Defensible
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot.Rudyard Kipling, Tommy (1890)Never in the field of current affairs have there been so many unflattering headlines about the military as we have witnessed this weekend. Marines accused of murder. Retired topContinueContinue reading “Defending the Defensible”
Rights & Wrongs
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.”VoltaireThe London regime has invited comments on a UK Bill of Rights. But where do ‘rights’ actually come from? The official line is that they’re concessions made by government towards the governed. Politics is defined by the struggle of theContinueContinue reading “Rights & Wrongs”
Tax – and Spend Better
“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”Oliver Wendell HolmesWhat defines a community? Among other things, it requires trust. It requires it because it calls for a lowering of the barriers that separate the private from the public. At whatever level, it’s about sharing. Time. Money. Identity.One reason for believing that corporate capitalism is NOTContinueContinue reading “Tax – and Spend Better”
Embracing All
A frequent objection to decentralisation is that small-scale jurisdictions are prone to takeover by well-organised, highly motivated bands of fanatics. History furnishes examples, from Savonarola in Florence to the Anabaptists in Münster and the Calvinists in Geneva.The threat is real but centralisation does not remove it. All that it does is magnify its consequences. ThereContinueContinue reading “Embracing All”
Back to School
This month, young Eric was at it again. Pickles’ Communities & Local Government Department issued new planning rules for schools, ordering local councils to allow good schools to expand and threatening the cane if they exercise their own democratic judgment. This is, to put it bluntly, an idiotic policy, created by idiots, for idiots toContinueContinue reading “Back to School”
Identity Theft
John Penrose is a Conservative MP, for Weston-super-Mare. He is also the Coalition’s Minister for Tourism and Heritage. Conservation. Heritage. Two good grounds, surely, for thinking that here is a man who understands the value of long tradition and historic continuity? No. Not in the least.Mr Penrose supports the gerrymandering Bill that seeks to makeContinueContinue reading “Identity Theft”
The Rotten Parliament
The campaign to allow MPs to continue to represent real communities, shaped by geography, history and culture, has a growing following. It even has its own Facebook page.The so-called ‘Conservative’ Party and its glove-puppet partners remain steadfastly committed to ripping up our history in the name of ‘fairness’. It really is no defence to sayContinueContinue reading “The Rotten Parliament”
Wessex Regionalists 