Waiting room of a west country IFA.
I'm trying to get up to speed on this. Is David "Danger" Davis driven by principle, personal ambition, an addiction to political risk or all three? Should opponents of "42 days" - such as me - get behind him on the grounds that it will be a single issue by election, or is there too much about Davis to dislike? Some viewpoints. First, Davis's old mate Iain Dale:
"David Davis doesn't make emotional decisions. He makes them with a military precision. He won't have done this on the spur of the moment, he will have thought about it deeply and played some war game scenarios. In the end he will have come to the conclusion that the only way to defeat the 42 day agenda is to start a massive public debate. And that's what a by election will do.This isn't about one man's vanity. It is about the ability to sacrifice personal and public advantage for a greater cause. As he said in his statement, Sunday is the anniversary of Magna Carta. Over the last 800 years people have fought and died to protect our civil liberties. If it falls to one man to sacrifice political advantage to try to make a stand against their further erosion, then so be it."
Hackney Labour Councillor Luke Akehurst:
"Absolute belief in liberty at the expense of all other political goals seems to me just as dangerous as the absolute belief in equality at the expense of freedom promoted by communists. Real politics involves trade-offs between liberty, equality, economic prosperity and security (and probably some other values too) to try to achieve a society that maximises the happiness of its citizens. On 42 days, like the Government, I've come to the conclusion we need to trade in a bit of liberty to get a bit more security, just as we use taxes to trade a bit of people's economic freedom to deliver more equality."
Here's Jackie Ashley, pondering the complexities:
"It is too early to know if Davis's gamble will succeed. But the first thing for both Cameron and Brown to watch is that he seems to be trying to reconnect popular debate with Westminster's arcane shenanigans. Byelections can be low-down, dirty, chaotic and farcical. But they cannot be won by bribing Northern Irish MPs or twisting arms in private. They are about going back to ordinary people, and asking them - something that never happened over 42 days or indeed the Lisbon treaty."
For me that's that's what's attractive about Davis's move - the possibility it creates for a proper debate on civil liberties, one that might expose Davis's inconsistencies in the process.
It's good for me to visit my mum, who lives far from Deepest Hackney in the small west country town where I grew up. It means I get to watch some telly, especially the sorts of programme I never see when I'm at home because I'm too busy cooking, working or supervising homework, or because the kids are in command of the remote. I recommend The One Show: proper, popular magazine journalism co-presented by Adrian Chiles, who I've always liked. And Springwatch: red-clawed nature as reality soap opera, if you can bear an hour of Bill Oddie.
Another benefit is closer acquaintance with the economics of growing old. Since my father's death a year ago, Mum has employed a carer for one hour a day. Every penny is well spent, but it comes to a lot of pennies and Mum is neither poor enough to qualify for benefits nor well-off enough to absorb the expense without anxiety. Any political party that gets to grips with this issue is on to a big vote-winner.
Then there's the local history. This photo is of a long-disused Great Western Railway ticket office. The tiny station it served was used by my father when returning home on leave from RAF duties during the war. The same line also served the local colliery, which closed in the 1960s. I retain childhood memories of decrepit coal trucks and pit head machinery, but stronger ones of the pub the ticket office adjoined, the Miners Arms. I was surprised and intrigued to see that it's become an Indian restaurant.
"We must go there, Mum," I said.
"Oh, I don't know. I don't like anything too spicy."
"Don't worry. I'll choose you something mild."
It turned out they'd only been open for two weeks. Mum had chicken tikka, which was served, sizzling, on an iron skillet. She told the young waiters all about the ticket office, the trains and the mines. They packed up our leftovers in a takeaway carton - Mum reheated them for her lunch the following day - and promised to visit the local museum.
This went live on Saturday afternoon:
Not long after Oliver Twist first arrives in Fagin’s den – in Saffron Hill, very adjacent to where the Guardian presently lives – two young ladies pay a visit. “They wore a great deal of hair,” wrote Charles Dickens, “not very neatly turned up behind, and were rather untidy about the shoes and stockings. They were not exactly pretty, perhaps; but they had a great deal of colour in their faces, and looked quite stout and hearty. Being remarkably free and agreeable in their manners, Oliver thought them very nice girls indeed. As there is no doubt they were.”
Heading for Dublin, my wife and our kids caught an evening train from Euston to Holyhead yesterday, avoiding the weekend closures and delays. They phoned this morning to tell the tale of their journey. It seems the carriages were packed and there was all sorts of confusion over reserved seats. For a while, Sheila and one of the children had to stand. But then a quiet, suited businessman insisted that one of them take his seat, and soon afterwards a young man with a nose stud and coloured hair said he'd be happy to stand in the bar for an hour. So that was all four of my family sitting down. At intervals, Sheila checked that the young man didn't want his seat returned, but he was happy in the bar: he'd met a woman there. Sheila bought them both a drink. Indeed, the crowding and disorder seems to have broken social ice all round. By the time the train reached Crewe, two teenage girls were having a fine time flirting with a teenage boy and my wife had made the acquaintance of a woman who'd been a midwife in Peckham for 13 years. Seems there can be an upside to British public transport hell. "Epic," was how Sheila put it.
My entire family is now gripped by I'd Do Anything, the latest Saturday night telly talent show looking to cast for a West End part. The search is for a leading lady for Lionel Bart's Oliver!, the film version and soundtrack of which I remember vividly from childhood. Nancy, who protects young Twist and pays for it with her life - thanks to that horrid Oliver Reed - was played by Tottenham-born Shani Wallis, who never secured another major role, despite making a big impact.
Wallis very cockney and, as the photo shows, of no more than medium build. That's why it's so interesting that accent and physical stature have featured prominently in the debates among the judges. Of the four remaining contestants two are Irish, as was the one removed last night. Was an Emerald brogue a problem? It might have been, had not boss judge Andrew Lloyd-Webber declared that many of the poorer residents of mid-nineteenth century Saffron Hill would have been Irish. Thank goodness his lordship had done his research.
Presumably it is thought less of a problem that neither of the - in my book - most likely winners, the graceful and charismatic 17 year-old Samantha from the Isle of Man or the hearty and emotional 28 year-old Jodie from Blackpool don't have London accents either. Viewers will make the final decision and I've a feeling that if Jodie prevails, it will be partly due to a kind of folk memory wrapped up in an English stereotype about big, brassy barmaids. Gripping.
The London elections devoured my working life and many other parts of it. I'm still trying to catch up with my sleep and everything else, including what's been happening in the rest of Britain. Politically, it's been worse for Labour there than in the capital. Here's the script for my latest Vlog for Current TV which should go live soon.
"Last week the Labour Party lost local elections all over England and Wales - and lost them badly. The Conservatives gained 256 seats. The party of government was ejected from 331 and Ken Livingstone was toppled as London Mayor.How big is this disaster? Do the results indicate just a nasty mid-term slump for Gordon Brown and company or the beginning of the end for “New” Labour? Might the first Conservative government of the 21st century be on its way?
Most pundits seem to lean towards the latter, but beware. The Tories gained ground in the north of England but they’d probably need more. And the London results could have been worse for Labour. Boris Johnson’s margin of victory over Livingstone was quite small. Labour gained one constituency seat on the London Assembly and held on to another they were expected to lose. Yes, there was a general swing towards the blue, but it wasn’t uniform or crushing.
Still, the prime minister needs more than crumbs of comfort. He needs a clearer message, more energy and, most of all, fresh, new ideas. How long does he have to find these things? I’d give him six months to a year."
A stuffing at the forthcoming Crewe & Nantwich by-election should concentrate the premier's mind further, were that required. Follow the campaign there with the help of Crewe's very own top quality blogger.
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