The site office for the Great Centenary Charity Auction is starting to look as it should, with the arrival of some hanging frames and enough military uniforms to fill two of them. I have some good images from there which I shall be using on our facebook and twitter pages.
These coins should attract plenty of interestRAF Unifoirms
A rack full of uniforms
Office development in progressTwo rails in use, four more waiting to be assembledA highlights package from lots 628 and 629 (two boxes of autographed and framed photos) done in answer to an email query.
Yesterday may very well have seen the end of Alastair Cook’s reign as England captain, not just because it is now seven defeats and three draws in England’s last ten tests, but because of the manner of this defeat. With one ball to go until the lunch interval England were looking favourites as Joe Root and Moeen Ali were still together, and runs were starting to flow. Then Ali surrendered his wicket to the final ball of the session, meaning that in the afternoon India would have a new batsman at the crease. In the first hour after lunch the self-destruct button was not so much pressed as thumped. Both because of his seniority and the manner of it Matt Prior’s dismissal was the most gruesome, caught hooking with no fewer than three fielders back for that specific shot.
Of course if England’s bowlers had done what they should when they had India 150-7 in the first innings they would never have been in a position to lose the match. That said, full credit to India for being able to press home a winning position when they got one. Three Indian players had outstanding performances in the match, Rahane with a first innings century, Ishant Sharma with seven wickets in that final innings debacle and (for me at least) Man of the Match Bhuvaneshwar Kumar with two fifties and five first innings wickets.
Referring back to my opening sentence, if I relieve Cook of the captaincy who do I give to, and do I keep Cook in the team? Answering the second part first, yes I do keep him in the team and give him a chance to perform by far his most valuable role – making lots of runs at the top of the order unfettered by the captaincy. As for my replacement captain, I think it is a big ask for someone to come straight into the team as captain, and I would not want my new captain to be worrying about their own form over much, so given that he is established in the side, has made several big scores already this season, and appears to have a very good head on his shoulders, I would opt for Joe Root.
After England’s surrender was complete I managed to get some decent photographs from around King’s Lynn…
I got this one on the way into Learning Works in the morning
This is going to feature fairly regularly because it looks different every time one sees it.Swimming in the Great Ouse!
This is my last post about Marxism 2014, and it will be brief one, featuring repeats of some of the finer pictures from the event.
The event was a tremendous success, and the standard of discussion at all the meeting I attended was exceedingly high. With the exception of the opening and closing rallies, on both of which occasions the doors were opened too late the team did a magnificent job.
My last effort at capturing abstract art in the Elvin Hall – I think the posters give the painting scaleThe front of a Hammesmith and City line trainQuite a change from Mr Beck’s original – the London Undergorund diagram 2014 versionGareth PeirceAll four of the panel for the Paul foot memorial meeting: John Pilger, Darcus Howe, Gareth Peirce and Matt FootLive music in the institute bar
A packed Logan Hall ready for the opening rally.The Fight for Inclusive Education (wall art in Nunn Hall)
Yesterday started with a walk around King’s Lynn which yielded some excellent pictures, finishing at my aunt’s house for the journey to East Rudham for Sunday lunch. While there I had to photograph some books for my father. Later on, I sat outside and observed many bees and some butterflies enjoying the wild marjoram that grows just outside my parents house.
A compelling day of test cricket, which saw India clear favourites with a day to go, although if Joe Root and Moeen Ali bat well today it could very interesting.
Also yesterday was the final day of the Open, although there was little tension there as Rory McIlroy led the tournament pretty much from start to finish and went into the final day six shots to the good.
As usual I have a selection of photographs for you..
Sea birds overlooking the Nar outfall.
Two butterflies in close proximity
Butterfly and pebbles
A large bumble bee and a tortoiseshell butterlfy in close proximity
This railway map of South Africa featured in all three volumes of a very rare history of South African Railways
Yes I am nearly at the end of my series of posts about Marxism 2014 (one more after this as an overall retrospective).
Given the necessity of stowing my more awkward baggage (I had nothing that was massively heavy) in the room set aside for such purposes, it was necessary that I set off early on this final morning so as to have time to do so. Therefore at 8:15 AM I said goodbye to the person who I had been staying with and set off on my travels.
Having made allowances for things to go wrong I arrived at the venue at 9:30, exactly as envisaged/ intended.
My last two regular meetings were Emma Davis on “The Russian Revolution and the fight for women’s liberation” and Kieran Allen from the Irish SWP on “Alternatives to capitalism”.
After lunch it was time for the final rally, expertly chaired by Emma Davis. We had someone from Gaza address us via skype, student activist Kate Hurford, Evronia Azer from Egypt and SWP national secretary Charlie Kimber to finish it off. I missed the tail-end of the final rally because I did not wish to stand all the way to Cambridge on the train home (my inevitable fate had I got on the 16:45), so ensured that I would get to King’s Cross in good time for the 15:45.
As always I have some excellent photos for you…
Emma Davis prepares for the first meeting of the day.
Emma and chair Ellie ready to start the day in the Drama Studio
My last effort at capturing abstract art in the Elvin Hall – I think the posters give the painting scale
Alex Callinicos (stepped in as chair) and Kieran Allen ready for the second meeting of the day
Marxism 2014 organiser Amy gives chair Emma some last minute advice. On Emma’s other side are Kate and EvroniaAll the speakers who would be live in the hall plus Emma and Amy
Emma sets the sceneSkype from GazaStudent activist Kate addresses the rallyEvronia talks about the Egyptian situationEmma introduces the final speaker, national secretary CharlieCharlie Kimber at the mic.
There is much evidence of civic pride in central King’s Lynn at the moment, from the increasing ornamentation of the pedestrianized precinct to the installations on the lower Purfleet and on the bank of the Great Ouse. Also I was heartened to see the jetty getting good use.
I saw all of this while making a trip to and from the Hardwick Estate, to do a food shop. The weather was horrendously hot and humid, although as the photos show the snails clearly enjoyed it.
A slightly later than intended departure from Poplar did not quite make me late for the first meeting, in my case Jan Nielsen on how women’s lives were transformed by WW1 (I made a point of attending plenty of meetings about WW1 due to my role in the Great Centenary Charity Auction). I then went down one floor to attend the meeting on the origins of women’s oppression. After lunch I went to “Disabled people against austerity”, which was the fieriest meeting I attended all weekend. Then came the booklaunch meeting for Martin Empsons Land and Labour: Marxism, Ecology and Human History.
My day ended with a meeting on Disability and WW1: from shellshock to revolution. This meeting was well attended in spite of being up on the 7th floor. There were some shocking photos, which I have asked the speaker to email to me. I may use some of them on www.greatcharity.org, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction and/ or www.twitter.com/great_auction.
As always there were plenty of good photos:
The platform just before the start of the days first meeting in room 802Jan Nielsen speaking about how women’s lives were transformed b y WW1Books about women’soppression on the pplatform at that meeting
Helen Salmon speaking about the origins of women’s oppressionMartin Empson and the chair prepare for his book laucnh meeting.Martin Empson speaking about Land and Labour: Marxism, Ecology and Human HistorySpeaker Roddy and chair Siobhan prepare for the final meeting of the day in room 784The speaker, the chair and two interpreters who will provide sign language for the deafRoddy’s pamphlet
Roddy Slorach in full flowQuite a change from Mr Beck’s original – the London Undergorund diagram 2014 versionJubilee line trainOld stock masquerading as new: front view of a tarted up train of D78 stock
The smoking gun – note the patch covering the push-button that used to operate this door when that was thought to be a good notionGenuinely new stock – trains of this type, with concertina joins rather than bogie couplings now run on the Circle, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan linesSponsorship makes its presence felt in the world of public transport!The front of a Hammesmith and City line train
Decorations in Canning Town stationThe local football team are known colloquially as the irons and also as the hammers and this is a clue as to why.
A very busy day at James and Sons – to the extent that my one and only break did not come until 2:50PM because getting the outstanding imaging for the July sale done was the priority.
The Saturday at Marxism is always the busiest day – everyone who will be attending the event has arrived by then and nobody will be going home until the Sunday at the earliest and this year was no exception.
Nevertheless, i was not unduly worried that we got to Euston Square with only a bare 10 minutes before the start of the first meeting, although the bad news for me was that I was heading up to the seventh floor of the Institute of Education (due to the way in which the floors are numbered only 3-4 floors above where you enter the building depending on which side you go in) which since I refused to use the lifts meant a bit of a climb upstairs.
Although I enjoyed everything that I attended as I usually do at Marxism I am going to concentrate on the 3:45 – 5PM slot, at which I attended Ten years on: remembering Paul Foot, which was organised with four excellent platform speakers all of whom had known and worked with Paul Foot, and a few contributions from others likewise, but not run as a standard meeting.
Inspired by this session I changed my plans for the last meeting, giving John Molyneux on Art and WW1 a miss and instead attending Alex Callinicos on Is the far left in crisis? instead, which meant a return to the Logan Hall. Mention of WW1 leads again to those links: www.greatcharity.org, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction and www.twiiter.com/great_auction
All in all a thoroughly good day, and as you will see, plenty of good photos…
Huw Williams speaks about Marxism and Anarchism
Suzanne Jeffery talking about climate change.
Matt Foot on are the police in crisis? (a resounding yes)Rhetta Moran, the other main speaker at the are the police in crisis? meeting talks about the brutality meted out to anti-fascist protesters in Bolton
Journalist Darcus Howe and human rights lawayer Gareth Peirce in conversation before the Paul Foot memorial meeting
All four of the panel for the Paul foot memorial meeting: John Pilger, Darcus Howe, Gareth Peirce and Matt Foot
Gareth PeirceMatt Foot, legal aid campaigner of the year and son of Paul Foot
John PilgerDarcus Howe
Alex Callinicos on is the far left in crisis?Alex Callinicos made a point of saying that he had noticed the name of the person with whom this bottle of coke was supposed to be shared!
It was raining on the Friday morning, so my host suggested we get the bus to Stratford as that route involved less walking. We initially had a view to getting the Central line all the way to Tottenham Court Road, but it was so crowded that this was modified to changing at Mile End to the Hammersmith and City Line and travelling to Euston Square. On subsequent days we would travel the H&C between Euston Square and West Ham, going one stop on the Jubilee to or from Canning Town.
We arrived at the event in good time for the first meeting, in my case John Parrington on Is Science Neutral? Next came Marxism and Mental Health, which so impressed me that I asked the speaker to email me her slides, which she subsequently did. After this it was time for lunch, and the Norwich picnic was easily located courtesy of an inflatable canary which stood out the proverbial mile. The afternoon session had plenty to live up to, but courtesy of Amy Leather (who also organised the whole event) on Fracking and Mark L Thomas (middle initial used to distinguish himself from the comedian who has lately lost his touch somewhat) on The Labour Party and the Unions it did so.
In the evening, in spite of it being the eighth floor, I went to the meeting on WW1 and the British Empire, with Talat Ahmed. This was only right for someone heavily involved in the Great Centenary Charity Auction, more details about which can be found at www.greatcharity.org, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction and/or www.twiiter,com/great_auction
In the bar after the meetings were all done we were treated to some excellent live music before heading back to Poplar for the night.
As usual I have some good photos for you…
John Parrington prepares to speak at the first meeting of the day
Another attempt at the abstract art in the Elvin Hall
Beth Greenhill in position to speak at the meeting on Mental HealthLets be ‘avin’ yer – the canary mentioned in the main text.
The Martin Empson book in excellent, but financial constrainst mean that I have yet to sample the other.This is a detail from one of number of pictures that were projected before meetings started.
The cover of the timetableMark L Thomas in full flow
before the start of the evening sessionTalat Ahmed in actionLive music in the institute bar
aspiblog 