Sunday 4 December 2016

A weekend visit toLondon in November 2016


I undertook my penultimate visit to London on Friday 25th November 2016 returning on Monday 28th November 2016.The purpose of the visit was a break from the intense pattern of my life since the past six to seven weeks of the early October experience about which I have written as I attempt to move back to my work and life before the autumn of 2013. In fact, although there were several enjoyable moments and overall I achieved the purpose, I also worked my focus not just for 2017 but for several years after that which covers long term ambitions, several considerations, continuing efforts on general health and mobility and preparing for either a move of residence or my permanent loss of self-aware consciousness.



Before saying more on this, a spooky moment. I went to see the National Theatre production of the play, This House, on Saturday evening about the Labour Government prior to Thatcher coming into power. I had an end of row seat six rows from the stage with two seats empty in the row until a few seconds before the curtain was to rise when Michael Gove, former Secretary of State for Education and then at Justice (and Lord Chancellor) and candidate for Tory Party Leader and Prime Minister and the only contender not to be offered a Ministerial position, (and I assume his wife), took the seats.



On Sunday morning I returned from breakfast in my hotel and switched on the Andrew Marr show to find Michael Gove being interviewed and then closing the show with Emily Thornbury before Jools Holland played the music. Then this evening on return from seeing a film at West India dock and discovering Waitrose super store at one end of the Canary Wharf shopping malls I returned to the hotel and switched on the news to find a review of past events at Birmingham schools and Muslim education issues and one Michael Gove was showing making a statement to Parliament. Thus, Michel confirms there is life after political death for some. I presume a public relations firm was involved but I may be presuming too much. Then today Wednesday 39th he was one of the few Tory party backbenchers who not only attended the Scottish Nationalists engineered debate on the Iraq War but spoke on the issue of should there be a new investigation into whether Tony Blair deceived parliament. The motion was overwhelmingly defeated by the combination of Labour and Conservative Members.



The reason from the change in approach to the weekend began when I commenced to read to read Richard Taylor’s Against the Bomb- British Peace Movements 1958-1965 managing to get a copy for £75 and finding that I am also mentioned  but the academic study contains some mistakes about matters I know about and have documentation or know where the documentation is located, although it is very good in several respects of understanding what happened, why, and then why the movement fell apart.



I had already decided to concentrate next year on Political Engagement issues commencing with my period of full time activism in relation to the peace movements 1959 to 1962; with the second work on child care and protection, the third on the deaths of my care and birth mothers related also to the Social Services and Health; and fourthly on Identity including issues of family history, physiology and neurology and only then returning to rewriting that already written on creativity and beliefs.



Before then I urgently need to reorganise the location of records in my home which I will commence on return and work out how to clear one or two rooms in such a way as to re store material with the options of using the roof space, the no expense option other than physical activity or expensive or buy temporary access to local self-storage or renting a lock up, or a mixture of using roof space and a lock up/self-storage. This can be comparatively inexpensive but I need proximity and the difficult is going to finding a location in South Shields Tuesday priority check out Middlefield’s sign recently noted. This proved worthwhile as Blue Box provides large metal containers 20x8x8 inexpensively and there is a site in South Shields at Temple Town which is the riverside roadway into Shields with the former ship building, oil platforms and repair facilities on the river bank and several small industrial activities. The whole area is part of planned development when funds and interest arises although priority is being given to £100 million development in the town centre with after the Word project the creation of a new transport hub.  It will not be until the New Year that I investigate Blue Box containers as I plan to commence to store items based on the potential part in the 101 project or for disposal as part of my estate if nothing comes of 101.



I will begin my account of the weekend with the visit to the small Garrick Theatre which is in the Charing Cross Road a little way before Leicester Square underground station to experience the National Theatre production of This House. I and my companion travelled from East Croydon to Victoria in a one stop train at Clapham Junction and then went for 24 bus which stop on the far right as one exits to the right side with buses coming from Pimlico. It was necessary to stand for the first past of journey along Victoria Street and Whitehall, alighting at Trafalgar Square and arriving at the theatre with the opportunity to take seats.  There was time for a coffee and we enjoyed ice creams in the interval. Three decades ago (1979) I purchased a small paperback £4.95 which provides a brief note on every London Theatre, it location and a seating together with transport and list of restaurants and hotels in central London.



There are 675 seats listed a Royal and Upper circle and where I have been able to confirm there was a top tier proving another 125 seats but closed for some years. I had acquired two end of row seats in row G of the stalls with a large pillar next which mean the seat behind was not sold but by the time of curtain up the theatre appeared full with in addition several members of the public/or guests filling the onstage House of Commons balcony which was shared with musicians.  The Theatre is included in the 10 one hour TV documentary programmes on West End Theatres fronted by Sir Donald Sinden and Directed by his son with first appeared on Sly Arts in 2013, the same year as I experienced the play on a relay from the National Theatre. There were to have been 40 programmes in total but sadly Sir Donald died in 2014. The programmes were available on Sky for a while and DVDs were issued with some still available and some costing nearly £50. I have been to the Garrick once before in 1979 to see the Noel Coward play The Vortex.



I have the programme notes for the National Theatre production but cannot locate the date when the relay was experienced. The revival of the play by James Graham is timely because most the Major and now May Government is small and because of some coincidences of issues. However, the focus is on the second Labour government of Harold Wilson 1974-1976 followed by Jim Callaghan of1976-1979 and the challenge faced in getting through Government legislation particularly after the new Tory Leader Margaret Thatcher removed the arrangement to Pair, enabling the balance of power to remain between government and opposition when Members are ill or required leave for family reasons as well as those absent on Government or on official business.



The situation arose because on the 27th May 1976 the allegation was made that a Member who had been agreed would Pair voted and a Speaker’s Ruling was reversed by one vote. Michael Heseltine, Opposition Industry spokesman made the unprecedented act of removing the Speaker’s Mace which is required to be in place for the House of Commons to conduct its business and the House was suspended and Mr Heseltine persuaded to apologise or risk exclusion. Looking back over the list of such situations during the past century it is noteworthy incidents appear to be grouped at different periods although further research would be necessary to establish if there are any common features to these situations.



It is possible to draw several conclusions from this play which I suggest have resonance to the here and now. On one hand, it is an important aspect of representative democracy in the UK that elected members of Parliament show respect and behave in an honourable way and that Parliament has the power to govern itself in this respect.   However, it is also important that the institution does not become self-protective to the extent that it forget its function to present the interests of all the constituents collectively irrespective of any other consideration.  This is difficult and at times complicated to achieve and was expressed brilliantly by Chris Bryant recently in a BBC Question Time programme who explained the dilemma he is in because as a fervent supporter of Remaining a part of the European Economic Community he was faced with the situation that some 70% of his constituents had voted to Leave, so what is he to do when the House of Commons can vote on substance.



There are similar conflicts which arise within Political Parties and Political Parties when Government which occurred when first the second Wilson Government was  in a minority relying on the votes of Opposition parties and where compromises were required on a range of issues to ensure that the Government did not fall in a motion of no confidence so the loyalty of all Members in paramount and where in the real situation the Member of Parliament was for Coventry South West,  Audrey Wise (born in Newcastle upon Tyne as the daughter to a Labour Councillor (nee Brown). Audrey was arrested on the picket line in the Grunewald dispute in which Asian women workers attempt to gain union recognition and she repeatedly defied her party Whip on matters where she felt the Party was wrong as did not represent the interests of her constituents.



There is a parallel with the performance of the present Labour Party Leader Jeremey Corbyn who persistently voted against the government of his party during the leadership of Tony Blair but where the Government majority was such that his rebellions and that of other colleagues did not affect the ability of the government to pass legislation. The other issue of significance is what lengths will a Party go to keep in power and where the play and history has a different perspective on the passing of a non-confidence vote which led to a General Election and Margaret Thatcher gaining power in 1979 and which brought ten years of attack on local government which I experienced at first hand as a Social Services Chief Officer although this was mild compared to ruthless ideological hatred of  public service which the Cameron Clegg coalition and which was put into full throttle when Cameron gained a majority in 2015 and where despite the rhetoric of Theresa May.



In the play the Government had repeatedly relied on the willingness of the member for Batley and Morley, Sir Alfred Broughton, a Cambridge graduate and a qualified doctor who had served in in the medical Corp of the Royal Airforce during World War II and who had been a local authority Councillor for three years on demob. He was willing to be in the precincts of the House and be walked through despite being at death’s door, but the Prime Minister, but in in the play, the Chief Labour Whip decided against and the motion of no confidence with tied by 310 votes to 310 with the Speaker obliged to vote in favour of motion by tradition thus the government was defeated. The Liberals who had been in coalition with the Government voted with the Tory Party as did the Scottish Nationalists and the Ulster Unionist party who were willing to support government if they agreed to an oil pipeline however in truth Callaghan had decided enough was enough because his repeated inability to pass government measures and the compromises which were required.



The play is also true to the characters in the Whips office at the time Bob Mellish 13th of 14 children, a Docker who became a Major in the Far East during World War II, fell out with left wingers in his constituency, became a Privy Councillor and was made a Life Peer; Walter Harrison the Member of Parliament for Wakefield who had been a member of the West Riding County Council and Council Alderman before entering Parliament in 1964. Walter became expert as knowing what was going on in government and Parliament   mentioning at one moment he used to drink in the same pub attended by the drivers of the Ministers Official cars. 



It was Harrison who refused the offer of the Tory Deputy Chief Whip Bernard Wetherill to Pair when the decision was taken not to bring Broughton to the Commons and which if the offer had been accepted would have ended Wetherill’s political career, but he went on to become Speaker in House of Commons between 1983 and 1992. He had been apprenticed at a tailor in the family firm which moved to Saville Row, becoming a Director, Managing Director, and Chairman and which led to several jokes in the play.



The Labour Chief Whip Michael Cocks went to Silocoates School, Wakefield and then graduated at Bristol University becoming a teacher locally before Member of Parliament for Bristol West. He also became a Life Peer following deselection and being replaced by Dawn Primarolo but he went onto to become a Vice Chairman of the BBC. He remained a member of the Privy Council. Ann Taylor became the first woman senior Whip in 1977, having been educated in Bolton which she served as a Member of Parliament for Bolton West, after graduating at the University of Bradford. She held the seat until defeated by a Tory and then selected and winning at Dewsbury until standing down in 2005 after a Parliamentary career which saw become the Leader of the House of Commons and a Chief Whip, Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, and then as Life Peer she became a Defence Minister in House of Lords after the Brown reshuffle. The other notable member in the Whips Office representing the Conservatives was Sir Humphrey Atkins, a gentleman Tory, who served in the Royal Navy for 8 years between 1940 and 1948 and who resigned from Government with Lord Carrington over the invasion of the Falklands by Margaret Thatcher. He served as Secretary of State in Northern Ireland and became a life peer and member of the Privy Council before his death in 1996.  The play is great entertainment and as the lecturer in politics sitting behind me mentioned to his companion at one point its historical accuracy is good and there is lesson foe present Tory administration with a narrow overall majority and a Party split over the issue of Brexit and on Austerity.



The defeat of millionaire Zac Goldsmith by the Liberal Democrats overturning the 2015 23000 majority demonstrates the collective public will can change although too much must not be read into this result which provided the opportunity for the 70% who voted to Remain in the constituency to give Prime Minister Mrs May a severe warning that if she goes for a hard Brexit she will be defeated at a General Election and face a Tory split. The constituency has been Lib Dem until Zac could bring the family wealth and opposition to the 3rd Heathrow runway to gain a 4000 majority in 2010. Zac fought a dreadful racist slanted campaign in the London Mayoral election. Denis Skinner tweeted Hit the Road Zac but I prefer Can’t by me Seat.



The plan for Sunday had been breakfast at Premier Inn which I enjoyed although with modest consumption, a bowel of grapefruit, then twos sausages pieces of bacon, scrambled eggs mushrooms and tomatoes with coffee and then a fruit juice but no toast pan au chocolate etc. The train to Victoria was packed but and there no success in finding suitable red shirts at a reason price at John Lewis or other stores in Victoria Street (will say more about the saga of the red shirt later). Took the bus to Waterloo after finding chaos Circle District line and had to stand from there to Canary wharf where there was a lively fashion show in the central Mall close to the station entrance.



I then found I had failed to bring the unlimited card but the email was accepted so I could experience the film A United Kingdom at the Cineworld Docklands on Sunday 27th November 2016, and which merits some reporting and attention as part of the story of political awareness and engagement. I only have a vague memory of the fuss at the time of the impact of the African tribal leader from Botswana, Seretse Kharma marrying a white young woman or that the play and film “Guess who is coming to dinner?” was loosely based on their story together.  There has been a book called Colour Bar by Susan Williams and on which the present film A United Kingdom is said to be based with David Oyelowo as Seretse and Rosamund Pike as his wife The film accurately  covers the important aspects of how they met and their life together, but there are also significant differences in terms of the political events although again the overall story of why the Atlee and Churchill post war government accepted South African Apartheid and Churchill  lied to voters reneging on what he had said is accurate.



Seretse Kharma was born in 1921 and died at the age of 59. He was the grandson of King of Botswana a large country the size of France but then one of the poorest and least populated with now some 2 million people with France 66 million and the subject to direct rule as a British Protectorate on the borders with South Africa who coveted the potential of its Mineral wealth which fortunately was vested in the indigenous people.  Where Seretse was aged 4 his father died so he was to inherit the title with his uncle appointed Regent. Seretse obtained a degree in South Africa, spent a year as an undergraduate at Balliol College, Oxford and then trained to become a Barrister in London.



He met his future wife at a dance arranged by a mission at which she was taken by her sister and although there was no immediate connection on dancing together a common interest in Jazz was discovered. The film portrays his future wife as” forward” in her interest for the time in question and gives the impression of a quick relationship leading to an engagement but in fact they courted for a period of a year, with opposition from her father who had served as an army officer in India and then worked in the tea trade and by his uncle primarily over race but she was also considered inferior in terms of social status. Following the request to return home he formally proposed marriage which was accepted in the knowledge that this would breaking with her family and moving to his homeland. There was immediate intervention by the British Colonial Office on learning news and the given the fascist racialist direction of South Africa and with the UK in significant debt because of the World War II there was fear South Africa would declare independence with the loss of cheap gold and uranium needed for Nuclear weapon development. Every obstacle and pressure was put on the marriage which went ahead as a civil ceremony.



Not knowing the extent to which the two sisters cooperated with the writer of the book  it is unclear how much some of the information provided is accurate but I am inclined to accept that opposition came from the Regent who attempted to steer the elders against Seretse becoming king and his wife the Tribal Queen and because of his status he would not only be allowed to attend functions restricted to the White community  but with her entitlement the mixed marriage would be continuously and openly evident.



Fortunately, in an interesting connection with democracy in in Greek city states, major decision affecting the tribal state were taken by all the men with the women, apparently, also in attendance and he could convince them that he would be a good king and leader but only with his wife alongside him. They agree but this was unacceptable to the British and they attempt a move which would bring the couple back to London, where it appears the plan was to offer him the position of Ambassador to Jamaica, preventing him returning to his homeland for a period of five years. Suspecting this was the intention Ruth remained on her own, although pregnant, and had difficulty in finding her feet on her own especially with her husband’s sister and the woman who had married in Regent who by this time had departed with his people to establish a separate community.



The government had established an “independent” commission to examine the position and the respective suitability of the couple and the findings of the report were suppressed for 30 years as it recommended in their favour. It is established that marooned in London without his wife and subsequently his wife and daughter Seretse has the support of Tony Benn, then the young back bench member of Labour Member of the House of Commons during the Atlee government who along with Fener Brockway took up the cause and brought a commitment from Tory opposition leader Winston Church to end the five-year exile. Ruth also made an influential appeal broadcast in the newsreel shown in cinemas between the two film performances, the only way in which the public could view news other than photographs in newspapers and magazine such as the popular Picture Post.



When Churchill was elected into power he reneged on the election promise and imposed a life ban citing the report and continuing opposition from the former Regent. The film reveals that in addition to concerns about the position of the South Africa Government the main reason the British Government wanted to impose direct rule is the prospect of valuable mineral being found in area which covered both countries. However, it was possible to established that under the original contract which formed the protectorate the indigenous people retained the mining rights and this would provide crucial in the deal which was subsequently agreed and in which Seretse gave up the controversial issue of Kingship proposing a more democratic and eventually independent state.  The couple then lived in Bechuanaland in Botswana for the rest of their live having three more children.



On return in 1956  as private citizens and  unsuccessfully attempting to become a cattle farmer he commenced an involvement in politics with election to the Tribal Council in 1957 forming the Bechuanaland Democratic Party in 1961, having great success in the national elections in 1965 which swept aside the socialists and pan African rivals he became Prime Minister of the territory and commenced to pressed for independence from his base in the newly established capital city of Gaborone  In 1966 The third poorest nation in the world became independent and Seretse became the first President, winning subsequent elections until he died in office in 1980, becoming the finest growing economy in the world with the discovering of Diamonds using the revues to invest in education, in health care and creating a infra  structure as well as developing other sources for  economic wealth and advancement, a crucial matter for countries  whose development has  been other time limited resources  such as oil, gas and other valuable minerals. He was responsible for a   lucrative trade deal with the European Economic Community.  The formal break with the Apartheid South Africa occurred in 1976 when a new currency was created to replace the Rand.



Ruth against expectations remained in Botswana after the death of her husband and was joined for the rest her life by her sister. One of her sons became president of Botswana in 2008 something she did not live to see. Overall the country has moved from one of the poorest to one of the richest in Africa although there is racism between tribes and HIV/Aids was rife although government action has started to change the position, the level of corruption and wealth creation by politicians is unknown or the extent to which here are deal with outside interests which work against the interests of most the people.







In addition to forgetting to post letters before setting off for Newcastle on Friday 26th November 2016 I forgot to bring the memory stick in which I had painstakingly copied work I had planned to continue when opportunity provided. Otherwise I have brought everything necessary. On finding parking close to covered area of the station, purchasing the weekend parking ticket for £23 and being advised I can use a first-class voucher from virgin to book seats in advance. I realised I had left the walking stick in the car, a good indication of present mobility and confidence, but remembering the value of the stick-on London Transport I went back the car leaving the case and bad behind a pillar under the covered area, retrieved the stick and all was well.



Having mentioned the main experience of the weekend I will turn to the two days of journey and search for the red shirt.  I was relaxed the night before and was convinced I had not forgotten anything until on the train I realised I had left the memory stick (with planned work) still attached to the desk top. This meant going out and but the least expensive on arrival in East Croydon where I discovered that W H Smiths there has a great collection of Hornby Trains and other scale models on the first floor of the store. I posted the letters to the National Union of Mineworkers with my query about the Holy Loch Marchers being arrested for walking along Princess Street and become a Friend of the Durham Miners Gala. On the way, I called in at Sainsbury and bought a marked down Taste the difference sandwich, a packet of popcorn and a can of Pepsi for under the usual deal. I also visited Debenham’s where I purchased a traditional style red shirt collar size 18½ neck and it was only on Thursday evening I found another at the same store in Sunderland and this Saturday one in Newcastle but cannot order in store, or line or by phone! Email sent!



A week ago, on the Friday morning I was asked for the first time to show my ticket in the first-class lounge collecting copy of the Metro beforehand and the Times in the Lounge, enjoying a cup of coffee and bringing a packet of biscuits with me for my guest. When purchasing the parking ticket, I enquired by the Virgin 1st class travel warrants and was told these can be converted to specific train.



I was not allowed to board the train until after 12 because of different messages from Virgin staff and still not resolved Internet connection although well occupied with this, reading the papers in a moment and the on-board food and drink which was been exceptional. I could have had five rounds of drinks settling for two whiskies with ginger on ice and a bottle of water. I enjoyed a hot sausage roll with sauce, crisps, muffin (2), banana and coffee (2) cake. I was very lucky on arriving at Kings Cross, crossing over to St Pancras, buying the single ticket with rail card and then taking the lift this side direct to platform to find a train to East Croydon arriving with a few minutes. The lift down from the side entrance the Premier Inn was working and I was soon in my room on top floor with heating up to the maximum. It was very cold outside because of a sharp wind. I decided not explore about car parking and the Box Park until the morning



In the morning, I confirmed my memory of an open ground level car park adjacent to the one being refurbished but this is a private one for local office people and then another for residents.  The Box Park is as I assume it would be although the top level direct from the station is limited and not all the individual containers are open although the impression gained is that they are in process of being opened. The large bar occupies the end closes to the station. The amusing aspect is that on entering the area there was a   what appeared to be a family group of four adults with one in the distinctive North east dialect talking of the Bridges (Sunderland). I return I checked that Sunderland was not playing in the capital.  Yesterday evening on return from the Northern Region Momentum conference in Newcastle I watched the highlights of Sunderland’s great 2.1 win at Leicester which means they are now one win from potentially leaving the bottom three with three clubs having played the same number of games above them on 12-14 points. This led me to check the forthcoming fixtures and I go and see Sunderland play a week Saturday although next Saturday despite tow loses which means that only head the Championship table by one point I have a ticket in Platinum Club at St James for the game between Newcastle and Birmingham City. I will go in early for a road dinner then collect the ticket and watch the lunch time premiership game on TV at the stadium.



The return journey on the Monday was also very good as I arrived at 9.30 to be eligible for reduce fare and then arriving on the platform found that 9.28 Thames link train was just arriving at 9.32, one of latest train with a seat on my own in the Disability section of the compartment and a disability toilet across the way. I there arrived at Kings Cross First class lounge before the scheduled two hours allowed but there was no problem and I obtained a comfortable seat part of small settee, enjoying a pan au chocolate, a banana, a fruit juice and coffee, two packets of crisps one brought back with me to the train plus two packets of the biscuit also brought back.  I enjoyed a chat with a lady from Wakefield (Sandal) and then with a widow from Leeds who talk more than me. I read the times but did not get a copy of the Metro until reaching Newcastle.



I took up the allotted single seat in the quiet coach but when the meal arrived, a chicken curry I loved over to the vacant four table seat to the wino facing back as the facing forward aisle seat was from Peterborough to Durham. However, this was not taken up so I moved to window forward position and had the table to myself for the rest of the journey. I enjoyed two whiskies with giver on ide, banana, muffins (2) and crisps. Did some writing and reading. On the way, back I called in at Morrisons for shop of   essentials at Jarrow having forgotten when the £4.40 voucher was, going to supermarket in Shields the following day. I unpacked and caught up on post (the £200 winter fuel allowance, the emails and decided to UT off the intention to write to Bradford and to Richard Taylor. There has been no acknowledgement to the letters to Durham Miners or NUM to date

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