Marxism 2015 5: The Middle Part of Saturday

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series of posts on Marxism 2015, the five-day politcal festival in central London organized by the Socialist Workers Party. Previous posts in the series can be viewed here.

RODDY SLORACH ON DISABILITY

In my last post I gave an account of the first meeting I attended on Saturday, in Nunn Hall. My second meeting was in the same venue, and the title was “Has There Always Been Disabaility?”

Two books on display at the front of the room.

Speaker Roddy and chair Gabby before the meeting.

After this meeting, it was time for lunch, and I attended the Norwich SWP picnic (London food prices being well beyond my reach!).

WHERE WILL WE LIVE?

After lunch, my first port of call was the Drama Studio for a meeting on housing…

The speaker’s main focus was on the US, which he had recently visited, and where the housing situation is worse than in this country because there is even less social housing available. The meeting was structured around a slide presentation. I have experienced a large number of such presentations but only a very few good presentations – of which this was one. I will settle for displaying those of the slides I was able to capture…

Yes - even the USA genuinely radical cnadidates can get elected (she did). — Yes – even the USA genuinely radical candidates can get elected (she did).

A lively discussion followed. Having had an English born speaker talk at length about the USA we had a contribution from the floor from an American born Londoner talking about England…

Emma, who chaired the opening rally contributing to the floor at the meeting on housing (she is the American born Londoner referred to in the body text)

HOW SHOULD SOCIALISTS VOTE IN THE EU REFERENDUM?

This meeting took place in Galleon room A in the Royal National Hotel (the suite which can be one, two or three rooms according to choice was divided into three, with rooms A and C being used for meetings and room B for entry and exit to prevent the two meetings from impinging on each other).

This was one of the most interesting meetings I attended. The debate on the EU referendum as currently framed is between two groups of right wing b**t**ds, one of whom want to stay in and the other whom want to leave for entirely nationalistic reasons. The task for socialists is to change to the terms of the debate by building a left wing campaign for a vote to leave the EU, offering no support to the racists of UKIP. A vote to stay in will leave an even bigger, even smugger smile on the face of David Cameron. A vote in favour of the EU would also be a vote in favour of what is being done to Greece and a vote in favour of desperate people being left to drown in the Mediterrenean.

To finish this post, my second of an eventual three about the Saturday, here are some more pictures…

Francesca, chair for this meeting, introduces main speaker Paul McGarr

Speaker slips were used for this meeting, in spite of which the discussion at one point resembled a Hackney branch meeting, so many speakers from that area contributing.

Marxism 2015 4: Saturday Morning – Getting There and the First Meeting

An account of getting from my accommodation to the event on the Saturday morning and of the first meeting I attended that day – on the subject of Education.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, the fourth of a series of posts I shall be producing about Marxism 2015, the five-day political festival in Central London organised by the Socialist Workers Party. The three posts that I was able to put out during the event are available here. I hope I am able to strike a good balance between not running this series until too long after the event has finished and not overwhelming people with vast numbers of blog posts all at once.

THE JOURNEY IN

Having arrived late for the first meeting on Friday I was not going to make the same mistake twice and left the house where I was staying considerably earlier. By good fortune having walked to the end of the road on which I was staying I stepped almost straight on to a 123 bus heading in the direction of Blackhorse Road Station. On the journey I was able to snap this picture of an interesting tribute to William Morris…

DSCN8970 At Blackhorse Road the good fortune continued as I also stepped pretty well straight on to a southbound Victoria line train (in spite of having declined to join the stampede of those who heard the sound of a train arriving and were apparently unable to control themselves). I was now so far ahead of schedule that I decided to alight at King’s Cross rather than Euston and take a longer but slightly more scenic walk. Although I could not get the whole vast edifice in one shot, I got some good pictures of that most amazing of central London buildings, St Pancras Station…

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There were two more photo-worthy sights in this short space of time, a pub named in honour of the world’s first steam locomotive, Stephenson’s “Rocket” (Heron of Alexandria devised a primitive steam engine which he used to remotely open temple doors in the first century CE)…

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…And this building bearing the another famous name…

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THE FIRST MEETING OF THE DAY

A PERFECT CHOICE OF VENUE

I chose to attend a meeting on education, which was to take place in the Nunn Hall, a particularly appropriate venue as this wall painting makes clear…

The plaque telling us about the painting

Ms Branson's own signature — Ms Branson’s own signature

THE MEETING ITSELF

The meeting started with a statistic that is a devastating indictment of current education, as these pictures show…

Although Jacqui Freeman, giving her opening speech made the mistake of standing directly in front of the slide you can still see enough.

A close up of the really important bit of the slide - a truly horrifying stat. — A close up of the really important bit of the slide – a truly horrifying stat.

The ever increasing and ever narrowing focus on exams has led to some very unpleasant consequences…

200% increase in children calling childline re exam stress in 2013-14
Children as young as eight taking up smoking for stress relief

The speaker referred to the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM – given the unpleasant effects of this movement not an inappropriate acronym!)

The drive for uniformity and conformity that is so rigorously enforced in schools for children of ordinary people is signally absent from one type of school – the speaker cited Bancrofts, which is near the crumbling state school in which she teaches. Bancrofts proclaims itself “diverse and inclusive”, makes clear the although they focus on academic results these are not the be all and end all etc. Unfortunately there is one aspect where it fails on inclusivity – to attend this establishment one’s parents need to be able to afford £15,576 per annum.

Before displaying a few more pictures, I will conclude with a couple more quotes from the meeting:

The first quote is attributed to someone involved in running Ofsted and tells you all you need to know about their despicable attitude: “If morale in the staff room is low, headteachers can be assured they are doing something right.”

The other quote that I picked up on was from a would be music teacher who was being assessed and in responding to a question about how they would teach a particular thing expanded their answer to include a supplementary explanation of what they would do differently for a disabled pupil. One might think that extra credit would be given for providing such a full explanation, but the “assessor’s” response to hearing about allowances being made for a disabled person was laughter.

One final vignette, a schoolgirl who spoke from the floor talked about her school trying to funnel people towards Oxford and Cambridge, so that the school would gain kudos – she was the subject of some apparently prolonged efforts to get her to switch from Paleontology which she wanted to study to Archaeology solely because she could do the latter at one of these two universities.

Speaker Jacqui and chair Phil before the meeting

The Hogwarts like Bancrofts School - diverse and inclusive so long as you come from a rich family. — The Hogwarts like Bancrofts School – diverse and inclusive so long as you come from a rich family.

Marxism 2015 3: Accommodation and Day Two

A personal account of day 2 of Marxism 2015.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to this, my third post about Marxism 2015, the five-day political festival hosted by the Socialist Workers Party at the Institute of Education in London. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.

ACCOMMODATION

I was booked to stay with somebody in Walthamstow, and although their house is not close to a tube station, it would nor amlly have been easy to get there. However, the tube strike meant that we had to go by bus to Clapton and get a London Overground service to Wood Street. In the heavy traffic generated by the tube strike this took considerable time. Getting in the following morning was easier, but I failed to allow enough time (a very rare occurrence) and arrived a little late for the first meeting…

AT THE EVENT

Here is a photo of my timetable for the day in question, showing the meetings I decided to attend…

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All of these meetings were magnificent, but I am going to concentrate for photos on the first two, and for most of my text on the third.

Here then are some photos from the first meeting, and fascinating stuff it was too, with a convincing demonstration of egalitarianism in early human history…

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These reconstructions are wrong in one respect - the houses had neither windows nor doors, being approached through the roof, with most of daily life taking place on said rooftops (there being no roads). — These reconstructions are wrong in one respect – the houses had neither windows nor doors, being approached through the roof, with most of daily life taking place on said rooftops (there being no roads).

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A mother goddess from these ancient remains.

A 19th century South American village on similar lines.

For the second meeting I attended that day on Mental Health, photos really can tell most of the story…

Another connection to where I grew up - Jeremy from Streatham talking about the Mental Health Charter. — Another connection to where I grew up – Jeremy from Streatham talking about the Mental Health Charter.

Jo from London tells of family memories of living near a mental hospital (When we first moved to London there was exactly such an institution within a few minutes walk of our home)

This picture adorns one wall of the Elvin Hall where the meeting took place.

Susan gives her opening talk on Mental Illness: A Disorder of Capitalism.

A GERMAN-CENTRIC TAKE ON CLASSICAL MUSIC

Although I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting I was a little disappointed that it was so dominated by German and Austrian composers, with only brief mentions of the Italians (my favourites). Before moving any further I must pay tribute to Siobhan from East London who stepped in at the twelfth hour when the person who should have been chairing the meeting could not be located, and did an excellent job…

Siobhan from East London who stepped in as chair at the twelfth hour.

Although as I have said I would have preferred more credit to be given the Italian composers, I did enjoy this meeting, and overall Sabby Sagall acquitted himself well in slightly testing circumstances…

Sabby Sagall speaking about Classical Music.

I will finish this post with a few pictures from later in the day…

Mark L Thomas addresses a packed house on "Are the Greens a Left Alternative?" — Mark L Thomas addresses a packed house on “Are the Greens a Left Alternative?”

Shahrar Ali, leading Green, offers constructive comment from the floor.

Sarah Creagh introduces "Rosa Luxemburg and the German Revolution" — Sarah Creagh introduces “Rosa Luxemburg and the German Revolution”

A moment of whimsy -a close up shot of on of Sarah Creagh's earrings. — A moment of whimsy -a close up shot of on of Sarah Creagh’s earrings.

Blackhorse Road Station, from where a 123 bus gets to the end of the road on which I was staying, by night (definitely the best time to see it!)

Marxism 2015 1: Getting There and The First Couple of Meetings

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my first blog post about Marxism 2015, a five day political festival taking place in Central London. In this post I will be covering the journey down, and the very start of the event. The way the event works (at present) is that there are two sessions on the Thursday afternoon before the Opening Rally on Thursday evening (which will have a post to itself), then three full days (Fri, Sat, Sun), before two sessions on Monday morning and the final rally at 2PM on Monday.

GETTING THERE

Following the advice contained in Sutcliffe’s first law of travelling by public transport I selected the 10:56 train, which arrived at King’s Cross bang on time at 12:38, giving me oodles of time to walk to the Institute of Education (where the event is happening), deposit my larger bag in the left luggage room, eat my sandwich and locate the venue of my first meeting.

THE FIRST MEETING: GENDER AND SEXUALITY

This meeting which took place in Clarke Hall was bedevilled by technical problems but nevertheless a very fine meeting. Just some of the things covered were Istanbul Pride (over 100,000 last year, attacked by riot police this year), the votes for gay marriage in Ireland and the USA, and two high profile transgender cases, Kelly Maloney (who was formerly boxing promoter Frank Maloney) and Caitlyn Jenner (formerly 1976 Olympic gold medal decathlon winner Bruce Jenner).

It also introduced me to an acronym: TERF which stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. The example cited was Janice Raymond.

Before moving on to the second meeting, here are some photos from these early stages of the event…

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Our main speaker at this meeting, Laura Miles.

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MEETING 2: ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND SECULAR STAGNATION

i went to this meeting after a last minute change of heart, and regretted the decision. Although there were some points of interest, it was the one meeting I have been at so far (near the end of Saturday) that I did not particularly enjoy. However, I have some photographs…

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Andrew Kliman, main speaker at the second meeting I attended.

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Last Minute Post: One more day to #saveFoP

Drumming up last minute support for petition: https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en?recruiter=181177831&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

A very brief post indeed this – we have one more day to save Photography as we know it. Here is the link, given in full because I have dedicated this whole post to it:

https://www.change.org/p/european-parliament-save-the-freedom-of-photography-savefop-europarl-en?recruiter=181177831&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink

Please share as widely as possible!!

In anticiaption of your support…

Special Post: Hampstead and Golders Green

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series “London Station by Station“. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be enocuraged to share it.

A RAPID ASCENT

The two stations in my title are neighbours on the Edgware branch of the Northern line. Hampstead is the deepest station on the entire network, 192 feet below the surface, and it is just north of this station towards Golders Green that the deepest point anywhere on the system is reached, 221 feet below the surface of Hampstead Heath. Yet Golders Green, the very next station, is at surface level, open to the air.

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Part of the explanation for the juxtaposition that introduced the body of this piece is that the gap between the two stations is quite a long one – an intermediate station was excavated at platform level but never opened…

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Golders Green was the original northern terminus of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern line) when it opened in 1907 and is still the site of the Northern line’s main depot.

Here is a final picture to end this brief post…

Twitter Following Approaches 2,500

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece, I have some pictures and some links to share, and a small section about the Great Centenary Charity Auction, and some photos. I hope that you enjoy this post enough to share it.

TWITTER FOLLOWING APPROACHES 2,500

My personal twitter following currently stands at 2,496. When I set up my personal twitter account back in late October, after some six months administrating the account of the Great Centenary Charity Auction (@great_auction) I had little idea that it would prove quite so successful.

THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION

The first Great Centenary Charity Auction, held on June 28th, raised in excess of £20,000. A second is planned for March 2016. It is for this reason that a series of posts are being put out on the official website, www.greatcharity.org advertising successes from the first auction to build for the second. The full series of such posts runs as follows:

1)Lot 101

2)Commando Knife Cuts The Mustard At Auction

3)RFC Uniform Flies High At Auction

4)Another Success Clocked Up At The Great Centenary Charity Auction

5)British War Medal Brings In Big Money At Auction

I have already mentioned the twitter account, and there is also a facebook page, www.facebook.com/GreatAuction which I urge people to like.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

TWO FINAL LINKS

Although these form the end of this post, they are very important:

1)A Belfast Telegraph about the shooting a bird of an extremely endangered species that had been adopted by a school.

2)An account of how a secular student society in Manchester had its entire website deleted shortly after receiving an ominous communication from Saudi Arabia.

Special Post: Victoria

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my series “London Station by Station“. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to share it.

THE ULTIMATE IN TRANSPORT NODES

A SOUPCON OF HISTORY

Victoria Underground station first opened as part of the Metropolitan District Railway in 1868. The construction of this of the system was combined with the building of the Victoria Embankment, and was designed and overseen by Joseph William Bazelgette who was also responsible for the design of London’s sewer system. Peter Bazalgette, the TV producer who has a bridge programme from the 1980s to his credit and Big Brother to his debit is a great-great nephew of Joseph William.

The infighting between the Metropolitan District (now the District line) and it’s supposed senior partner the Metropolitan meant that the Inner Circle (now the Circle line), the other line to serve these platforms was not completed until 1884.

In spite of giving its name to the line in question, Victoria was not one of the original Victoria line stations, opening as part of the second of three tranches in 1969, before the final section from Victoria to Brixton opened in 1971.

A PHILATELIC DIGRESSION

One of the quirks of the Victoria line is that every station features a pattern o a picture of some sort used as a motif. The pattern used at Victoria, is based on one of the most famous items to feature a picture of Queen Victoria, the 2d blue postage stamp. I do not have a picture of the London Underground pattern based on it to hand, but this was lot 682 in James and Sons’ May auction…

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THE TRANSPORT HUB

Victoria is the most used station on the entire London Underground network. In excess of 60 million passenger journeys per year start or finish at this station. Victoria is a major train station, serving a wide variety of destinations to the South and East of London, including running the Gatwick Express, which connects to London’s second busiest airport. There is at the moment a bitter rivalry between Gatwick and Heathrow over who will get a new runway. My own view? Neither – do not build the thing at all – instead encourage people away from aeroplanes.

In addition to the train services there is Victoria Coach Station, from which you can reach most parts of the country, although some of the journey times are very long.

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC FINALE

As usual for these posts I have some map pictures…

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Special Post: Balham

A personal account of Balham Station, with some photographs and a link to an important petition about photography.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series “London Station by Station“. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be encouraged to hare it.

BAL-HAM: GATEWAY TO THE SOUTH

This is one of the stations designed by Charles Holden and opened in 1926 when the Northern line was extended south to Morden (the southernmost point on the system, a mere 10 miles south of the centre of London – by comparison, Amersham, the most far flung station on the current network is 27 miles out, and Brill, the furthest ever outpost of any line is 51 miles out).

I can provide pictures of both surface buildings and some blurb about the station itself in the form of two photos of stuff in the book Bright Underground Spaces…

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I do not usually share extraneous links in this series of posts, but connected with the photographs above is a petition that I signed and shared earlier, and which now has over 200,000 signatures – lets keep building it!

Although there are only five stations south of Balham on the Northern line, it is also a main-line railway station, and connects southwards to a number of destinations via three distinct routes, through Streatham Common, Streatham Hill and Hackbridge.

I made extensive use of Balham at one time, when I lived at Parklands Road and worked in New Malden, and it was easier to take a longer walk than strictly necessary and get a train to Clapham Junction, where I could change to another train for New Malden than to do anything else.

Also, given the the majority of it was through commons, the walk though long was quite a pleasant one.

To finish, as usual I have some map pics…

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Special Post: Triangle Sidings

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in my series “London Station by Station“. This one is a little bit of a departure from the standard because it takes in three separate stations. I hope that you will enjoy it and will be inspired to share it.

TRIANGLE SIDINGS

The triangle of the title has Gloucester Road, Earls Court and High Street Kensington at its corners. The first two stations are also served at tube level by the Piccadilly line. High Street Kensington and Gloucester Road both opened in 1868 under the aegis of The Metropolitan Railway. The first station was opened at Earls Court in 1871, and replaced with the present one in 1878. Both the Piccadilly stations were part of the original section of that line that opened in 1906.

The curve of track from Gloucester Road to High Street Kensington, now used exclusively by Circle line trains, plays a role in a Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Bruce Partington Plans, because at that time there were flats overlooking the line in that area, and Holmes was able to work out that the German agent Hugo Oberstein lived in one of them, and from that how the unfortunate Arthur Cadogan West had made his involuntary entrance to the underground system.

These days the land above triangle sidings is occupied by a Sainsbury;s supermarket.

The complexity of this section is largely down to Earls Court being the chief hub of the District line. Trains leave Earls Court going East to Upminster, North to Edgware Road, Northwest to Kensington Olympia, South to Wimbledon, West to Turnham Green, whence some services go south to Richmond and others continue West to Ealing Broadway. Platforms 1 and 2 carry trains to Upminster and Edgware Road, while all the other services, which for London Underground purposes are going in the opposite direction leave from platforms 3-4.

To finish this post I have some maps pics and a couple of photos from London Underground: The Official Handbook…

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	London Underground t… on Project Piccadilly
	Thomas on All Time XIs – Detective…
	Anna on All Time XIs – Detective…
	amsutcliffebtinterne… on All Time XIs – Detective…
	All Time XIs –… on The Museum Detectives