I spent today in Thetford at a meeting of the Regional Empowerment Partnership. It was good to talk through where this is heading and get a better idea of the project’s constraints and expectations.
You’re not interested but ...
My recent reading has included “Rebel Pity” by South African biologist, communist, humanist and anti-apartheid campaigner Eddie Roux. “Sir Gregor MacGregor and the Land that Never Was” is David Sinclair’s biography of a Nineteenth Century adventurer and swindler. “Murder in the Marais” by Cara Black contrasts extreme right-wing Paris politics in the 1990s with the Nazi occupation of the 1940s. David Baddiel’s “Whatever Love Means” was disappointing (what did I expect?). Gary Dexter’s “Why Not Catch 21?” likewise.
But then I found “Carry On London”, Ritchie Calder’s contemporary account of how London faced up to the Blitz in 1941. This was really extraordinary: detailing how community-based organisation solved many of the problems faced in the bomb shelters and refugee camps, and including some uncompromising criticisms of local government failings and central government bureaucracy. That this was published in 1941 speaks volumes about the strength of Britain’s commitment to freedom at any price. What a contrast to the erosion of freedom today! This period could teach us so much about building community resilience and cohesion and defending freedom. Will key decision-makers be interested? Of course not - they have long since lost their faith in People and their interest in Freedom.
“Zoo Quest to Guiana” is David Attenborough’s 1956 account of his journey to South America to collect exhibits for London Zoo. So much has changed!
