Ready to serve? Boris Johnson says he is.

Last Wednesday, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the General Staff and the most senior military officer in the UK, described the people of modern Britain as part of a “prewar generation”. A generation who may have to prepare themselves to fight in the coming years in a war against an increasingly assertive Russia – a country suffering from its own post imperial dementia. The general looked to the example of Sweden, which is on the verge of abandoning its traditional neutrality and is set to join NATO. Sweden has just reintroduced a form of national service. He said that Britain needs to take “preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing”. The general has long complained about the falling numbers of people enlisting in the armed services, and it appears that he now wants to inject the possibility of the return of conscription into our political discourse.

This intervention appears to have been coordinated with Conservative politicians like Penny Mordaunt, who this week published an article in the Sunday Times calling for the British armed forces to “keep pace with the growing capabilities of other nations". And our favourite disgraced ex-Prime Minister attracted newspaper headlines with his "Of course, I jolly well would": Boris Johnson pledges to join Army to fight Russia if needed". Have I really gone from being post-war to pre-war in my lifetime?

If the Tories want to bring back conscription in Britain, it should be for the Brexit supporting British nationalists so that they can clean up the mess they created. Strange isn't it, that it’s always the generation that doesn’t expect to be called up themselves who are the ones who are most keen to send young people off to serve.. All those Brexiteer types can go first and, while they cower in a muddy trench being yelled at by a sadistic sergeant on a power trip while subsisting on tasteless field rations sourced from a company whose director is a school friend of the defence minister, they can tell the rest of us about ‘Brexit benefits’.

If conscription does indeed make a come back in Britain, we can expect the news to be swiftly followed by the revelation that a hastily formed company, which Michelle Mone strongly denies any connection with, has been awarded a contract for £200 million worth of body armour sourced from a sweat shop in China.

We don’t live in the 1950s any more and British deference culture now exists only in the nauseating sycophancy of a few with vested interests. The response of the average working class teenager to being told that they are being called up to fight for King and country would be to reply: Not my king. And those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would probably add "Not my country".

The only reason that the political ground is currently being prepared for discussion of some sort of national service (a phrase which itself begs the questions – whose nation? and in service of whom?) is because the British state remains hell bent on getting involved in wars in far away countries in order to maintain the British nationalist fantasy that the United Kingdom is still a global player with a significant military influence on the geopolitical stage. It’s a delusion that results in mainly young working class people killing and maiming in order to further the interests of wealthy upper middle class men, and being killed, maimed or left with mental health struggles themselves. Then they are returned to a Britain where they are statistically more likely to suffer addiction problems, homelessness, and poverty and we get the promotion of charities to step in and fulfill needs for ex service people because the state has shamefully abandoned its responsibilities for them.

They say ‘bring back National Service’. I say bring back secure well-paid jobs, final salary pensions, clean rivers, union rights, the right to protest, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, affordable rail fares and social housing, and a social security system that allows everyone to live in dignity. If the state wants citizens to defend it, then the state needs to make itself worth defending. The British state fails miserably on that count.

Will Starmer do anything about the House of Lords?

(Prompted by a conversation with friend Mike at the Duchy Nursery Cafe in Lostwithiel)

Regular readers of my blog (and there are some doughty followers, whom I thank profusely) will know that I am a devoted republican and can see no role for royalty or the House of Lords in an elective democracy in the 21st Century. I've often banged on about abolishing the House of Lords and I'm hoping that it is something that will surface during the forthcoming General Election campaign.

Although Starmer has said in the past that he wants to abolish life peerages and the remaining hereditary peers and replace them with a fully elected upper chamber, that is not, in fact, what Labour is proposing. Rather, what we are getting is yet another promise to ‘reform the Lords’. All that Labour is promising is a plan to hold a ‘consultation’ on what a reformed new chamber might look like, and a promise to ‘reform’ the current appointments process. The latest thinking from the Labour camp appears to be along the lines of some, as yet unspecified, “interim reforms” along the way to abolition. Perhaps I can help him with a couple of suggestions?.

If Starmer does get in, I hope that he lifts spirits with an immediately dynamic start, signalling that "this time, it's different". In 1997, Gordon Brown started off with a bang by giving independence to the Bank of England. For Starmer, the equivalent could be/should be the long-awaited reform of the House of Lords. Reduce it to, say, 600 peers (from 782 at present), of which 500 would be appointed by proportional representation based on the General Election popular vote, and selected from party lists (if Labour wins 40 per cent of the vote, it gets 40 per cent of 500, so 200 peers; the Tories 34 per cent, so 170 peers; the Greens 7 per cent, so 35 peers, etc). Any necessary 'balance' peers should be crossbenchers selected by the Appointments Commission, with an eye to special groupings, such as regional ones. The Lords Spiritual should go, as should the Hereditaries. Future peers would only be appointed within the above structure.

That's it: a simple, clear, dynamic start to our Labour future – and straightforward to implement. What's not to like.Over to you, Keir. It's a vote winner.

Power to the ordinary people

The appalling treatment of the sub-postmasters by the Post Office seems to be entirely consistent with other scandals, such as contaminated blood, Windrush, and the Grenfell fire. The common factor is that none of those affected had any connections or wealth. They were “ordinary people” and it was not until someone with connections and more influence took an interest that something was done. Until then, their plight was effectively invisible.

The standard tactic for dealing with any matter embarrassing to the government (whether Labour or Conservative) is to delay the inquiry for as long as possible. Where compensation is an issue, claimants are forced to jump through difficult and protracted hoops. Rather perversely, some such schemes are administered by the very departments that first caused the problem.

Finally, someone from the government is bound to say that “lessons will be learned” as a result of the relevant inquiry. But, in reality, we all know that there is little, if any, chance of any lesson being learned when ordinary people without influence and/or power are caught up in such scandals.

I'm always struck, after sometimes decades of fighting for compensation, by how much power the state has. ministers come and go, and the government changes, but the advice from civil servants who have been there for years, never changes. And that might really get to the heart of the problem. That is why injustice drags on: it’s often those who made the decisions in the first place are charged with righting the wrongs. We have a distant and unaccountable bureaucracy incentivised to save both money and face. 

But any politician promising greater respect for the public, as Starmer does, risks simply running the same machine – stuck in its centralised-globalised muddle of shoddy outsourcing, false economies and groupthink. There is no determined desire to be accountable or really learn and work to change the culture. Why does justice take so long in some of these cases? I can’t help feeling they’re just waiting for people to die and let it all be forgotten.

What I find truly dispiriting is that there are so many examples of the inability of our public institutions to spend our money wisely and ensure that senior people are held to account for delivering what they should effectively and behaving honestly in the process.

I’m not sure our elected representatives realise that, when they speak in grave, hushed tones of the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, the rest of us are wondering why it took an ITV drama to get them to this point. Was it “public ‘apathy’” that was the biggest hurdle to fully understanding what was going on? Some say that this is the case but they are kidding themselves. Apathy implies that people don’t care. I think people care very much. The challenge facing all political parties isn’t apathy. It’s despair. And I put that down to our present administration. A pox on them all.

Out of the mouth of the tin pot twerp

This is going to be a long, long, long year in politics. There will be a General Election and the focus of the Tories moves from governing to surviving.

Is it just me or is Sunak becoming quite like Johnson and Trump, in that it is almost impossible to listen to him speak?  It only becomes tolerable when what he says is relayed in print. Sunak is one of the most irritating people out there. John Crace has described it like listening to a 'nasal mosquito'. Throw in his “message discipline”, repeating the same attack lines ad nauseum, and it is enough to drive any follower of politics completely insane. 

Rishi Sunak claimed yesterday that “the Conservative party is completely united in wanting to deliver for the country ….. ”  And he said it with a straight face. Or rather, he lied with a straight face. Despite all the Tory venom recently about the Rwanda debate, he still lies about unity. They think we are stupid. And later, a spokesman for No.10 denied that the earth revolved around the sun, that this was a myth peddled by a leftist, woke, biased, London-based media and that the “common sense view of hard working people” is that the “world is flat.” I've made this bit up but some of the stuff they want us to believe is equally far-fetched. 

Sunak went on to say of the House of Lords. “Will the opposition in the appointed House of Lords try and frustrate the will of the people as expressed by the elected house? Or will they get on board and do the right thing?”

Let’s look at that closely. It is a threat. It seeks to delegitimise the second chamber of the UK Parliament. It embraces the notion of elites out to thwart a mythical “people”. It attempts to set the government as the only true voice “of the people”. It seeks to generate frustration with parliament. It implies a conspiracy - a plot - that is out to subvert "the people". It embraces the notion that disagreement is somehow unpatriotic. A strategy of the worse Trumpian kind.

This is simply wrong. It is shameful. If it were not so dangerous, coming from this tin pot twerp it would be laughable. And there's more to come from this lot. Look out for the lies.

Church Cove January 2024: Part 5

It looked like it was going to another windy day and one that was not particularly conducive to walking along the coastal footpath. As it turned out, it was a lot brighter than we thought but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. We completed our tour of the churches on the Lizard with those that are in the Meneage sector of the peninsular, the “land of the monks”. In the process, we continued our hagiography with some well-documented saints, and also some that are rather obscure. So obscure, in one instance, that they did not actually exist.

A field of daffodils. The heralds of Spring are here in profusion. None in our garden yet but we have a few snowdrops.

St Anthony in Meneage lies near the Helford River, where the church sits on Gillan Creek, just above high water mark. It is approached along what is described at the start as a 'weak road'. I'm not too sure what that means exactly but it skirts the creek and, apparently, must be forded at high tide. It is an experience driving it but meeting an on-coming car must be hugely problematic..... we didn't!

The church sits next to a boatyard; the site is idyllic, but the church building, rather unexceptional. Its survival, for many hundreds of years, at this high water mark, is remarkable as its tenuous hold on dry land has necessitated many rebuilds over the centuries. It is medieval in origin but much altered over the years. The tower is fifteenth century. To which St Anthony the church is dedicated is not certain, probably a Franciscan ascetic of Padua, also of Lisbon as he was born Portuguese, but there are a few alternatives.

You never know what tragedies lie behind a headstone. Take this very artistic slate one denoting a very sad series of events. Louis Rushworth-Lund was born in 1987, and tragically fell into a deep pond at a garden centre in Chacewater in March 1990 and drowned, aged just 2½. His parents, keen sailors, decided to cross the Atlantic to help them come to terms with their loss. On the Dutch Caribbean island of St Maarten, just 2 months later, Louis’ father Crispin was murdered by robbers, leaving his wife Belinda and young daughter Alice with 2 deaths to grieve.

In the west door is an unusual “dog flap”, allegedly to allow comings and goings of shepherds’ dogs whilst their masters prayed. Nice story but the flap looks a little small for any reasonably sized sheep dog.

A nice etched glass window, dedicated to Willie Jenkin, a former organist and church warden

The carved granite font is thought to be 13th Century.

The  carved oak pulpit, installed in 1950 is the work of the talented Violet Pinwill.

The church of St Mannacus and St Dunstan at Manaccan, a tiny church in a tiny village. St Mannacus almost certainly didn’t exist and the name Manaccan originates from 'land of the monks'. But St Dunstan definitely did; he was Bishop of Worcester, then London and finally Canterbury in the 10th Century.

Before getting into the building, I was amazed by the bizarre appearence of a thriving fig tree growing out of the wall. Here it is, in winter and exfoliated, but it’s roots are clearly in the mortar and foundations. The stone and the trunk are clearly in harmony and although its origin is unknown, it has been there for some 250 years

Rather unusually, possibly uniquely, there is no church porch. You enter the church through an excellent Norman arch.

Inside the 12th Century church there is a fine reredos, the remains of an old rood loft stair, a good side altar and window endowed by the Vyvyan family, and a Loyal Coat of Arms to Charles I. This is a common sight in West Cornwall, which was fiercely loyalist in the Civil War. But it was so cold, with very few sources of heat visible. Wrap up warm if ever you visit.

Manaccan’s most unlikely claim to fame is having Titanium ore named Manaccanite. The element was first identified in 1791 by the scientist/cleric Reverend William Gregor. He was vicar near Grampound Road but was brought some interesting mine spoil from Manaccan and in which he identified a “new element”.

Saint Melanus, Mullion. Wonderfully warm church in the attractive, but very quiet, village of Mullion. What you see is mainly from the 15th Century but there are relics of the older 13th Century church. Saint Melanus himself is a Breton (of course he was) Saint of the 6th Century; he took office as Bishop of Rennes 519 AD.  

And almost the first thing we come across another sheep dog flap in this impressive church. Shepherds clearly attended services with their dogs and the latter were obviously free to enter and exit to relieve themselves at will. We love stuff like this!

The interior of the church is light but some think it is rather dominated by the full width 20th Century 'Arts and Crafts' rood screen which has quality but does rather cut the three altars off from the congregation. I can see what they mean but it doesn't act as much of a distraction for me.

The carved oak bench ends are considered to be the best in Cornwall, but run very closely by those at Alternun. They date from the 15th century, and the craftsmanship is amazing.

There are some common themes on the bench ends: royalty, village life, symbolism are all there. They have been extensively analysed and there is a comprehensive catalogue of them on display.

One bench end that amused me was this one, purported to be 'Jonah and the Whale', but more recently thought to be someone vomiting into a pot. That I can see.

More fine carving by the Pinwill sisters. I do love running my fingers over the delicate tracing and envying those with the skills to produce something like this.

The late afternoon sun illuminating the Royal Coat of Arms

The centre aisle with the rood screen. We looked very closely at it, from all angles, and concluded that the only way up was via a ladder.

Church Cove January 2024: Part 4

 A stormy and cold day which put us doing our planned walk along the coastal footpath. Maybe tomorrow, if the weather permits. We are getting too old and cautious to take any chances along narrow cliff paths with high winds. Instead, we visited a few places in the locality - Porthleven, Coverack and Kennack Sands. All very pleasant and all cold!

Let's start off with a video of Church Cove at high tide. Turn your sound up and enjoy the waves crashing in.

A mural on the doors of the old lifeboat station which was last used in 1929. It was painted in 2018 by the urban artist Sketch. For those who are in the know, the characters painted are recognisable as members of the old lifeboat crew.

Surfing off Porthleven.

And again with a different surfer.

Members of the Porthleven Bluetits Chill Swimmers enjoying a late morning swim. And the best of luck to them. Not something I would contemplate doing in a million years.

Porthleven Inner Harbour.

Coverack Harbour.

Kennack Sands, with the video version below.

Church Cove January 2024: Part 3

 A relaxing walk - 3 churches, 1 holy well, 3 coves, 1 pub, 1 cafe, coastal footpath, mud and sun. Who could ask for more.

The route from Church Cove, took us inland to Grade and Cadgewith and then back along the coastal footpath. About 5.5 miles. Reasonably energetic , with the first half being made more 'interesting' because of the mud.

Just up the lane from Winch House is The Mariners. Built in the 17th Century, it was originally three cottages. In the early-mid 1800s the middle cottage obtained a license to become a public house and was known as a ‘kiddlewink’, a nickname that came from the fact that the pub was only licensed to sell Ale and not spirits but smuggled spirits were kept in a jug or kettle on the bar and a customer would look at it and wink and say ‘a drop of your special’. Fact or fiction? Who cares. It's a great story.

Church #1: St Wynwallow. We skirted past this today and did not repeat our visit of yesterday.

Every now and again some gymnastics were called for to get over muddy patches. In other places, it was a case of wading through to the occasional comment of "couldn't you have chosen a route along lanes?".

Church #2: the Church of St Grada and the Holy Cross at Grade. Not quite the most southerly church in the UK but almost. Not only historic but also rather interesting, slightly mysterious and quite difficult to find. It is remote with no direct access. A rough lane takes you there and, for that reason, it is only open during Spring and Summer. Well, that and the fact that there is no electricity or heating so it's deemed too cold to hold services over that period, But it is open for visitors all the time.
Saint Grada (Grade, Grace) is another obscure but unique Cornish saint. She is accepted to be local, female and a maiden; that’s all we’ve got. The full dedication is to St Grada and the Holy Cross, and the original dedication was simply to the Holy Cross since an early parishioner brought back a piece of the “True Cross” from an early pilgrimage to Jerusalem (more on this next). When, and indeed why, the dedication changed to St Grada is not recorded but records suggest the early 13th Century, not long after its construction. The tower is 13th C and the body of the church was a century older but needed an extensive 19th Century rebuild. 

Coming back to the 'holy cross' dedication. A sixteenth century version of a legend tells how Sir Roger Wallysborough of Cornwall made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem where he stole a piece of the Holy Cross - apparently he hide it in his thigh!. On his return, his ship was wrecked off Cornwall and he was cast ashore. During his ordeal he vowed to give a piece of the relic to the church of the parish where he landed safely - guess where that was. Grade is the only church  dedicated to the holy cross on the coast, and in 1553 mention is made of a silver box “of the Holy Cross” amongst the parish possessions. If it was ever there, it's been long stolen and/or lost. I should point out that there are other versions of this story that add in a few fantastical elements, such as doves acting as prescient messengers and Sir Roger dying in a nearby field.

Following my usual practice when I come across an interesting military grave, I tried to find what I could about J P Newman. It turns out that his name was Jack Paul but, for some reason, he served under the alias of 'Newman'. His next of kin was his father, H Paul, of Norwich. Jack's service record shows that he worked on airships and a little more research shows that there was an airship base, RNAS Mullion, not that far away at Cury. I didn't know that airships were used to track and attack German submarines in WW1. The base was dismantled in 1919 and very little of it remains now. I couldn't find out the cause of death for Jack Paul but I'm assuming that he died in an accident at the base. 

A rather sad headstone: "In loving memory of SUSIE beloved child of N & E BOULDEN who died Oct. 15th 1896, aged 3 years". I can't find out anything else about her, except for the fact that the Boulden family have been present in the graveyard for generations. When I come across headstones like this, I often wonder who was the last person to think about them and remember them. At least, I've remembered Susie and given her some substance for a while. And you will as you read this.

A very pleasant church to visit and one with a very peaceful atmosphere. It is small but not the smallest we'll come across on the walk.

Some of the staned glass on the south wall.

The obligatory piece of serpentine, a rather fine pulpit.

Three ways of getting into the graveyard - a wooden stile, a steeped granite version (probably the original entry point) and a gate. Take your pick. We did and used the wooden stile.

A holy well - St Ruan’s Well - and water for baptisms at St Grada used to be fetched from this well. Think of the many people who, through the centuries, have come to pray here. And here's a little more of the fantastic: Oral tradition cites St Ruan as being a werewolf who was invulnerable to wolves and credits him with driving them from Cornwall.

Church #3. The smallest church we've come across: St Mary’s Church, Cadgwith. It is not very old and was originally built as Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church. It became St Mary’s in the Anglican diocese of Truro in 1926. It was originally constructed of wood before being clad in corrugated iron when bought by the Diocese of Truro; just when it turned a lovely shade of blue is not recorded.

It’s original construction was in 1895 when the fishermen of Cadgwith were having difficulty finding brides. A consignment of brides was procured in the Republic of Ireland but they were all Catholic and before they settled in Cadgwith the Methodist fishermen had to build their new wives a Catholic church. Within a generation the Catholic congregation had shrunk and in order to maintain the church the Diocese of Truro took it over. Rather unique, eh?

It is still well used with regular services. Small but perfectly formed!

I know you've been looking out for it and here's the serpentine feature.

A pleasant surprise. I thought it was a Stonechat or a Chaffinch but it turns out to be a Bullfinch. Something I have not seen for a long, long while.

Just a seed-head in monochrome. I like it.

Cove #1: Working fishing boats at Cadgwith Cove. Refreshments at the Cadgwith Inn - recommended.

THV (Trinity House Vessel) Galatea is a lighthouse tender operated by Trinity House, the body responsible for the operation of lighthouses and marine navigation aids around the coasts of England, Wales and the Channel Islands. Trinity House, itself, was founded in 1514, during the reign of Henry VIII.

What a shame! I missed this by a couple of weeks. If I had been here on Christmas Day, I might have been the first in the water. And pigs might fly.

Lobster pots at Cadgwith Cove.

The Devil’s Frying Pan on the way.  This 200 feet deep hole was once a cave, the roof having collapsed leaving a bar of rock and an archway through which the waves pound.

Looking westwards towards Church Cove.

Cove #2: Church Cove now.

Church Cove then. About 100 years ago. Hasn't changed much, has it?

Cove #3: Light levels dropping at Poldhu Cove. The beach cafe is recommended.