The EDL are not wanted in Aylesbury

England's Defenders?

Aylesbury last Saturday was its usual relaxed weekend self enjoying a sunny day enlivened by St. George’s day celebrations on a subdued scale. In Kingsbury Square the cafes and pubs had plenty of tables outside as people enjoyed the weather with their children and had a drink or snack whilst enjoying the Morris Dancing. There was also a Dragon roaming around attracting the kids and a little street train with a loco called “George” bringing the kids around the pedestrianised centre of the town. In the Market Square, overlooked by the statue of the local MP John Hampden whose refusal to pay the “ship tax” (Buckinghamshire is not on the coast!) to Charles I precipitated the English Civil War, the market traders jostled for custom from their colourful stalls as they have done for over four hundred years in this the County Town of Buckinghamshire. In the courtyard of the King’s Head, an ancient coaching inn owned by the National Trust, locals and visitors were enjoying the live music and the traditional ale from the Chiltern Brewery.


Market Square, Aylesbury

But what a difference a week will make in this town of 70,000 people. There is a sizable minority of Muslims in Aylesbury who are mostly from Pakistan controlled Kashmir where they have fled from conflict and work hard to provide a better future for themselves and their children. We have a Mosque and some of the best schools in the UK and by and large everybody rubs along quiet well. There is, as in any large town, a lumpen proletariat and there have been in the past some racist incidents whose reports generally include the words “skinheads” and “drink” but we pride ourselves on community relations and have had a Muslim Mayor.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/may/28/race.world

Aylesbury has a mixture of London commuters and busy local employment and is set in the attractive and rich farming area of the Vale of Aylesbury close by the Chiltern Escarpment and the area of Outstanding Natural Beauty known as the Chiltern Hills. It is a good and improving place with a good quality of life which is appreciated by the inhabitants who include sturdy yeomen of Buckinghamshire and many who have moved here from elsewhere including a large Italian and Irish community and more recently Polish. It is an inclusive place and we are particularly protective of disabled people who are very visible in the Town Centre on a normal Saturday as Stoke Mandeville Hospital with the National Spinal Injuries Centre is nearby. That was last Saturday. Next Saturday will be different, very different.


The borrowed iconography of the EDL including Constantine the Great's motto " In this sign I will conquer"

On Saturday 1st May our town is being high jacked by a self appointed Rent-a-Mob called the English Defence League or EDL. The effect is palpable. Aylesbury Bus Station will be closed, many small shops are closing at 12, they gave been advised by the Police to not have chairs and tables outside, keep shutters down and consider if they want to really open. The fear is well founded as the video taken by a neutral outsider at a recent EDL “Rally” in Stoke on Trent where 17 people were arrested shows. So next Saturday May the 1st these strangers are going to use our town to contrive conflict where none exists. So next Saturday in Aylesbury Town Centre there will be no buses, no old people, no children, no disabled people and no shoppers. There will also be no pubs open in the town. Here are the details from these Brave English Defenders own website;

“Initially, point 'A' was chosen as a muster area due to it having a small cluster of pubs that would serve as a meet point for our supporters to socialise in before the demonstration. However, the local licensing authority has visited these pubs and as an upshot of that, they have decided to close on the day. We would like to point out that at every single EDL demonstration; no pub has ever received any damage whatsoever. A business that could take three weeks worth of business in the space of a couple of hours deciding to close? I don't know what was said to them, but it sure must have been scary.”

Some Brave Army the EDL marching on its accelerated alcohol consumption?


Kingsbury Square, Aylesbury where all the pubs and cafes will close next Saturday

Some England, some defence? And who are the EDL? Well they have no discernible policy, have not been elected or stood in any democratic process and their web site consists of one long sneer against Muslim people quoting liberally from extremist and unrepresentative Muslim preachers to justify their obsessive fixation with “defending” the English against Islam?

The national leader of the English Defence League has warned that Saturday's demonstration in Aylesbury could be the first of many after a bitter row erupted with police and council bosses. Officers were hoping to keep EDL members on the outskirts of town before a rally in Market Square, to prevent skirmishes with counter demonstrators. But yesterday Tommy Robinson – not his real name – said EDL protestors are now planning to evade police and instead gather in Vale Park – where an anti-EDL demonstration is due to be held.


King's Head Aylesbury

He said: "If our demonstration doesn't go how we want it to go, we'll come back in six weeks. No other place has tried to block us like this one has." The EDL fell foul of police and council chiefs after trying to put up a stage and use loudspeakers – which they need a licence for. At a tense meeting on Monday, they were also told that they were not allowed to carry wooden framed banners. Coach loads of EDL members would have been met by police and escorted to Market Square, where they would have been contained inside solid barriers. Robinson said ominously: "We don't think they're doing well if they want it to go peacefully."

Here is a thoughtful article in the Guardian about this entirely bogus “protest” which is hijacking our town next Saturday by local resident and Labour Parliamentary Candidate in the forthcoming General Election, Kathryn White.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/09/english-defence-league-aylesbury

So in Aylesbury next Saturday let us keep our nerve with these unwanted and unwelcome visitors. As Communities Minister John Denham pointed out, “The tactic of trying to provoke a response in the hope of causing wider violence and mayhem is long established on the far-right and among extremist groups.” Let us remind ourselves of the EDL’s origins which highlights the ambiguous position that the BNP holds in regards to this new combination of football hooligan gangs and street racists. The BNP, and the NF before it, used to openly embrace football hooligans as useful muscle with a fierce nationalist pride. However, demonstrations and punch ups no longer fit with the image that the BNP tries to project, and so the EDL has filled a gap in far right politics that the BNP voluntarily vacated in its pursuit of votes.


The flower of England?

So does England need these “Defenders?” Well, England has defended itself fairly well in the past and I presume will do so very well in the future and the EDL membership will make no contribution either way. Like the ludicrous Nick Griffin, the convicted racist who leads the BNP, who surrounds himself in photo ops with make believe soldiers in battle fatigues the EDL will seek to use the last refuge of a scoundrel and these shower of aggressive, unemployed yobs will wrap themselves in false patriotism, a patriotism which probably doesn’t include not being dole scroungers? You have to wonder about the mentality of people whose idea of a good day out on a Bank Holiday weekend is to hold a market town and its diverse inhabitants to ransom. There is no point in me telling them not to come to Aylesbury for their tribal cow stomping because, lets face it, these yobs didn’t get where they are today by listening to others. There is also the practical point that if they were to get themselves tanked up, fight the other side in a macho male tribal display and then go home and watch their yobbery on TV after a footie match it would cost them a lot more than these members of the underachieving Master Race can afford.

Preserve us from such sham defenders; preserve us from such sham patriots.

East London Line reopens.

The long awaited reopening of the new East London Line takes place at 12.15 today, becoming part of the London Overground network. A service of eight trains an hour will run between New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction, between 0700 BST and 2000 BST, Monday to Friday. Full evening and weekend services will begin on Saturday 23 May, when 12 trains will run an hour. Until then this is a “soft service” so it can be withdrawn or amended at any time as the line, signals and rolling stock are tested in “live” service.

Trains will travel through Whitechapel station and Shoreditch High Street, a flagship Zone 1 station. London Mayor Boris Johnson, who officially opened the route, said: "This new railway will bring jobs and opportunities to communities up and down the line, massively improving access for hundreds of thousands of people.

"This type of investment is essential if London, throwing off the shackles of recession, is to emerge with the ability to grow, prosper, and secure its position at the summit of world cities, to the benefit of all Londoners. This type of investment is essential if London, throwing off the shackles of recession, is to emerge with the ability to grow, prosper, and secure its position at the summit of world cities, to the benefit of all Londoners."


Platform view at Shoreditch High Street

Oyster cards work on the new trains which have no doors separating the carriages, meaning passengers are able to walk the length of the train. The opening is the first phase of the £1bn extension. Engineering works are continuing to extend the East London Line to Highbury and Islington by the spring of 2011. An extension of the line to Clapham Junction, in south-west London, is planned by 2012.

London's transport commissioner Peter Hendy said: "Not since the (Underground's) Jubilee line was extended over 10 years ago have we seen such a transformational transport project delivered in London.”The new East London route has been eagerly awaited by people who live in, work in and visit the areas it serves. It delivers four new London Overground stations and a huge increase in the number of travel possibilities to residents and travellers in a single day. It is also an important part of the 2012 (Olympic) transport network and has been delivered ahead of schedule and on budget."


Inside the carriages which are open the full length of the stock

Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokeswoman Caroline Pidgeon said: "Right in the middle of a General Election campaign, the mayor is desperate to claim credit for something he didn't initiate.”The East London Line opening will be welcomed by many Londoners, but must not be used as a political football. The fact that two 'official openings' have already been postponed on technical grounds clearly demonstrates that political convenience has been the key factor driving the date of the official opening. Transport for London would do everyone a favour if they stayed well clear of political stunts relating to the opening of the East London Line."

The line will form part of a planned wider London Overground orbital network, which will allow passengers to travel around London on the line without having to enter central areas of the city. With the completion of the new station and interim terminus at Dalston Junction residents of this area can look forward to the benefits of new transport links rather than the near permanent traffic jams the construction of the station has caused. Wherever possible the Line has reused existing rail routes.


A driver's cab view of Haggerston station, like much of the East London Extension the track here follows existing railway lines


For the full story of London’s newest “Old” railway see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/04/east-london-line-goes-overground.html

For a history of this Line prior to closure and rebuilding and Marc Brunel’s famous tunnel where modern tunnelling was invented see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/east-london-line.html


The way we were - Metropolitan Line "A" Stock on the line before refurbishment near New Cross

Jewish Marrakech

Many visitors to Morocco are surprised at the Jewish areas known as Mellah in towns such as Marrakech and Essaouira. Mellah is from the Arabic word for salt as Jews in Morocco were often traders using their contacts in the Jewish Diaspora to set up the trade and banking relationships helped by the fact they often spoke several languages. Long protected and respected as “people of the book” they have been an integral part of Moroccan society and as well as traders have been respected as craftsmen and educators.



Indeed it was the Moors who brought Jews to Al-Andalus, Spain and Portugal and frequently welcomed them when they suffered persecution elsewhere. Morocco has an ancient Jewish population which dates back to at least the dissolution of the Jewish state by the Romans around 70 AD. Jews were long an integral part of the Moroccan social landscape and even unintentionally prepared the Berber mindset to embrace Islam in later centuries.


Hand of Fatima - Mellah

Since the advent of Islam, Jews in Morocco were, with the exception of the puritanical al-Mohad era with its forced conversions, tolerated and prospered as tribute-paying zhimmis (protected minorities). Spanish and Portuguese Jews – aka Sephardim – began to flee persecution at the end of the 14th century after a bloodbath in Seville. Following the fall of Granada in 1492, this flow became a flood. The Mellah, east of the Medina, used to be the Jewish quarters in Marrakech. It was here that sultan Abdullah Al-Ghalib moved the Jews to his protected Kasbah in 1558.



The royal family appreciated the talents of the Jewish community of traders, jewellers and bankers who spoke many languages. This protected quarter was surrounded by walls and entered by two gates. The Mellah looks distinctly different from the rest of the Medina, almost a town in itself – supervised by rabbis, with its own souks, gardens and synagogues. The present Mellah is today almost entirely inhabited by Muslims as most of the Jewish community in Marrakech have either moved to Casablanca, France or Israel. However, the quarters are distinct and still worth a visit. Do not miss the local Jewish cemetery, the Miaara, with its brilliant white tombs stretching into the distance. The oldest synagogue in Marrakech, Rabbi Pinhas, on Rue Talmud Torah is still in use.



Prior to the creation of Israel, there were nearly 300,000 Jews in Morocco. Then, following the partition of Palestine in 1948, the tide turned when anti-Israeli rioting killed nearly 50 Jews. That same year, 18,000 Jews migrated to the newly created state. When this occurred and until 1956 Morocco was subject to a much resented colonial relationship as a French “Protectorate.” With the growing bitterness of the Israeli-Arab conflict, gradual immigration to Israel continued, until the number of Jews dwindled to an estimated 5-8,000 today. Nevertheless, the Jewish community still enjoys some prominence in Morocco. The king has a Jewish senior adviser, Andre Azoulay, and Jewish schools and synagogues receive government subsidies.


Jewish Council Marrakech 1949

Jews have been living in Morocco since the time of Antiquity. Prior to WWII, the Jewish population of Morocco reached 225,000. Although, Jews were not deported during WWII, they did suffer humiliation under the Vichy government. In 1940, the Nazi-controlled Vichy government issued anti-Semitic decrees excluding Jews from public functions. Sultan Mohammed V, the present King’s Grandfather, refused to apply these racist laws and, as a sign of defiance, insisted on inviting all the rabbis of Morocco to the 1941 throne celebrations. Mohamed V, refused to allow the Vichy Government to register Moroccan Jew and no Jews were deported from Morocco. This and the fact that Jews were (after a hiatus) allowed to emigrate to Israel explains why (despite the ludicrous Arab League boycott) Israel and Morocco enjoy a de facto cordial relationship. The Israeli President has visited Morocco and the King is often used as an honest broker.




The Miaara -Jewish Cemetery

Following the U.S. landing in 1943, a few pogroms did occur. In June 1948, bloody riots in Oujda and Djerada killed 44 Jews and wounded scores more. That same year, an unofficial economic boycott was instigated against Moroccan Jews. In 1956, Morocco declared its independence, and Jewish immigration to Israel was suspended. In 1963, emigration resumed, allowing more than 100,000 Moroccan Jews to reach Israel.

In 1965, Moroccan writer Said Ghallab described the attitude of his fellow Muslims toward their Jewish neighbours:

“The worst insult that a Moroccan could possibly offer was to treat someone as a Jew....My childhood friends have remained anti-Jewish. They hide their virulent anti-Semitism by contending that the State of Israel was the creature of Western imperialism....A whole Hitlerite myth is being cultivated among the populace. The massacres of the Jews by Hitler are exalted ecstatically. It is even credited that Hitler is not dead, but alive and well, and his arrival is awaited to deliver the Arabs from Israel.”

Nonetheless, before his death in 1999, King Hassan tried to protect the Jewish population, and at present Morocco has one of the most tolerant environments for Jews in the Arab world. Moroccan Jewish emigres, even those with Israeli citizenship, freely visit friends and relatives in Morocco. Moroccan Jews have held leading positions in the business community and government. The major Jewish organization representing the community is the Conseil des Communautes Israelites in Casablanca. Its functions include external relations, general communal affairs, communal heritage, and finance, maintenance of holy places, youth activities, and cultural and religious life.


Rabbi Hanania Benisty, Chief Rabbi d.1953

"The Jews no longer reside in the traditional Jewish Mellah, but intermarriage is almost unknown. The community has always been religious and tolerant....The younger generation prefers to continue its higher education abroad and tends not to return to Morocco. Thus the community is in a process of aging."



Marrakech's Jewish flavour is alas no longer quite as pungent as it once was. But wander through the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter beyond the Place des Ferblantiers, and you still find the embers of a more haimishe time hanging over the Mellah, where the streets, enclosed and brooding, retain their distinctive and utterly beguiling air of days gone by. Several small synagogues remain, though only a few still reverberate to the sound of prayer, and those that do are mighty hard to find, largely because they look like - and indeed are - private houses. But meander along these narrow lanes on a Friday evening and the odds are you'll spot a knitted kippah. A friendly word and you'll be welcomed with open arms to a true Moroccan Shabbat.


Jewish Students, Marrakech 1946/47

On closer inspection, the true nature of the Mellah, the Jewish quarter - in essence, the Moroccan version of the ghettos of European cities - becomes clear. Many of the homes are still decorated with mezuzot and a wealth of other sacred Jewish symbols. Today, Marrakech is home to 300 Jews out of the 5,000 in the whole of Morocco. Marrakech's Mellah, once a vibrant shelter to those expelled from Spain after 1492, recalls an era in which both Jew and Muslim were involved in the salt and spice commerce, and both lived and prayed within the medina's thick paprika-red walls.



In early 2004, Marrakech had a small population of about 260 people, most over the age of 60. Casablanca has the largest community, about 3,000 people. There are synagogues, mikvaot, old-age homes, and kosher restaurants in Casablanca, Fez, Marrakech, Mogador, Rabat, Tetuan and Tangier. In 1992, most Jewish schools were closed, but Casablanca has experienced a bit of a renewal and now 10 schools serve 800 students there.



Morocco is perhaps Israel's closest friend in the Arab world. King Hassan often tried to be a behind-the-scenes catalyst in the Arab-Israeli peace process. In July 1986, he hosted Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in an effort to stimulate progress. Two months later, Hassan met with a delegation of Jews of Moroccan origin, including an Israeli Knesset member. In 1993, after signing the agreement with the PLO, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin paid a formal visit to Morocco. In May 1999, King Hassan organized the first meeting of the World Union of Moroccan Jews, in Marrakech.





Jewish Scout Troop Marrakech 1949

In April and May 2000, the Moroccan government sponsored a series of events and lectures promoting respect among religions. Andre Azoulay, royal counsellor and a leading Jewish citizen, spoke about the need for interfaith respect and dialogue. In October 2000, two Moroccan youths tried to vandalize a Tangiers synagogue. King Mohamed VI publicly declared in a televised speech on November 6, 2000, that the government would not tolerate mistreatment of Morocco’s Jews. The youths were subsequently sentenced to one year in prison.



On May 16, 2003, a series of suicide bombers attacked four Jewish targets in Casablanca, and a fifth attack was made against the Spanish consulate. No Jews were hurt in the attack because it occurred on Shabbat when the buildings were empty of Jews. Twenty-nine Muslims were killed. Though the bombings affected the Jewish sense of security, they were viewed by most Moroccans as assaults on the country's social and political order, and a test of the young king's power, rather than an act of anti-Semitism. King Mohammed VI visited the site of one of the attacks the day it occurred and urged the Jewish community to rebuild. The government subsequently organized a large rally in the streets of Casablanca to demonstrate support for the Jewish community and the king reasserted his family's traditional protection for the country's Jews.



If you’d like to explore the Mellah, then you can enter through the Place des Ferblantiers, which was once referred to as the Place de Mellah. If you are having a hard time finding the area, look for the tin workers who now line the outer edge of the square souk. In this area, you’ll also be able to visit Place Souweka, which is a fountain that marks the centre of the quarters.






A former synagogue which is now a Berber Pharmacy

When walking through the souk, attempt to stay on the main passageways through and you’ll come upon the Jewish Cemetery and shrines that are still visited today. The synagogues are also along this same route and the main ones are called the Lazama and El Fasiines. If you’d rather not have a guide for the area, then you’ll have to ask until you reach your destination. Otherwise, a guide is the easiest way to find them. The Mellah has even more synagogues that are all viewable by navigating your way through the somewhat tricky medina alleyways. Two other synagogues worthy of note are the Rabbi Pinhas and Bitoun.




Courtyard of Lazama Synagogue

After viewing the Badi Palace we headed down the Place des Ferblantiers towards the Mellah. As we came upon a busy market place we asked the local policeman for directions to the Synagogue. He called to the locals and two came to us and showed us to a building on the corner. We could tell it was a synagogue by the external decoration but it was not the Lazama Synagogue we were looking for. Rather it was another former synagogue which housed a Berber pharmacy dealing in herbs and natural remedies. We spent a fascinating time with the pharmacist who showed us the treatment area and demonstrated the herbal remedies and oils. He explained that whilst no longer a synagogue it is being restored and will contain a Jewish Museum and a kosher restaurant.


Lazama synagogue

The Lazama synagogue is not easy to find but if you follow the directions on the map as you get near you will be offered directions by one of the young kids on the lookout for tourists, brought down a long alley to an unmarked door. Entering this door you find yourself in a striking courtyard decorated in the Jewish colours of blue and white and with Hebrew inscriptions on the first floor frieze. The Synagogue is one of a series of buildings constructed around a large, well-tended central courtyard. The eastern side has only recently been embellished by a gallery (ezrat nashim) for women an innovation in Morocco, where women traditionally remained at the entrance to the synagogue or in a separate room. The original wooden movable lectern has been replaced by one of marble along the eastern wall. On the floor above the Lazama synagogue is a Talmud Torah School, a soup kitchen and the community centre.



This synagogue was built in 1492 by the megorashim, or Jews that fled Spain after the Inquisition. When the megorashim first arrived, tensions existed between them and the native Jewish community, who looked like their Arab neighbors and had different religious and cultural practices. They built this synagogue in order to preserve the Spanish methods of Jewish observation, but over the years, the tensions alleviated as the communities began to integrate. After its construction, it also became a yeshiva or Talmud Torah and recruited religious men from many rural regions all over Morocco to study. The community supported these scholars; each family in the mellah would “adopt” a student and sponsor them during the course of their studies.




Tomb of Rabbi Solomon Bel-Hench in the Ourika Valley

"The Jewish community developed a fascinating tradition of rituals and pilgrimages to the tombs of holy sages. There are 13 such famous sites, centuries old, well kept by Muslims. Every year on special dates, crowds of Moroccan Jews from around the world, including Israel, throng to these graves. A unique Moroccan festival, the Mimunah, is celebrated in Morocco and in Israel."

One particular trait of Moroccan Judaism is the veneration of tzaddikim or holy men. This reverence is shared by Moslems, but for different reasons. Sermons in the synagogues by the spiritual leaders of Moroccan Jewry had considerable impact on their audiences. Even today, pilgrimages made by Moroccan Jews to the tombs of the tzaddikim are linked to these rabbis' prophesies. The tzaddik is considered according to Kabbalah to be the "foundation-stone of the world", it is he who hands down judgments made by God. One such place of pilgrimage is only 30km from Marrakech in the Ourika Valley where you will find the tomb of a former Chief Rabbi of Marrakech, Solomon Bel-Hench, which like the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Pinto in Essaouira is still a place of pilgrimage.



Morocco is a place apart, no more so in Marrakech, the city which gave its name to Morocco, with its 70/30 population split between Berber and Arab and with a large expat community. The Rif and Atlas mountains kept it separate and even the colonial interlude seems with hindsight to have had a positive effect in terms of development and self confidence. It was the only country in North Africa not to be ruled by the Ottomans and its status as a Kingdom adds to the sense of difference. Morocco is a tolerant and a more diverse place than you might expect. It was noticeable from the street urchin to the policeman that Jews were only ever referred to respectfully and the Jewish heritage is proudly and openly on display. In this as in other ways there is much about Morocco which is life affirming and we can learn from them how to be good neighbours.

For more background see;

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/morocjews.html

Essaouira – Morocco’s White City

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/03/essaouira-morrocos-white-city.html

Spring has sprung!

Cherry Blossom

It is a beautiful spring Saturday here in the Chiltern Hills and the Vale of Aylesbury. Outside I’m inspired by my own personal talisman of spring, the Cherry Tree in the front garden whose cherry blossoms are even more vigorous and bountiful after the long cold winter. These blossoms and the bulbs, primroses and alpines are now reproaching me that I need to get the garden sorted. Soon we can expect the tottering figure of Hortus Praetorius* to be scratching about in that disorganised way of his.



For beautiful as this Saturday morning is it is a strange morning here. It is hazy on the horizon and going out this morning there is a fine dust on the car and a faint acrid smell in the air. It is quiet, with not a plane in the sky or an airport open across the UK because of airborne ash from a volcano over a thousand miles away in Iceland. Hundreds of thousands of stranded air passengers who hoped for lift-off this weekend will remain grounded until next week at the earliest as the plume of volcanic ash shut down most of European airspace yesterday. A telling example of our fragility on this earth in the face of the power of nature and all the more reason to enjoy what is good in nature such as this spring morning and the flowers in the garden. So enjoy these pictures of the flowers this morning and some spring quotes. You have to do something when you can’t fly anywhere!





Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" - Robin Williams

Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. - Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go. - Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe



Hee that is in a towne in May loseth his spring. - George Herbert

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. - Charles Dickens



It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! - Mark Twain

Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations. It is not much matter if things do not turn out well. - Charles Dudley Warner


Daffodil

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
- Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"


Grape Hyacinth

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. - Ruth Stout

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. - Proverb
Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. - Doug Larson

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. - W. Earl Hall



If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. - Anne Bradstreet

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven -
All's right with the world!
- Robert Browning



April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. - William Shakespeare

Spring is always a delightful time in the Chiltern Hills when the snowdrops, primroses, bluebells and daffodils appear in the undulating wooded hills. This is why this special place needs to be protected from High Speed Rail – more of this anon.



See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/04/chiltern-spring.html

Hortus Praetorius* = Latin for Head Gardener.


Wild Primrose

Old Etonian cries “Power to the People”

Everybody here saw PR Dave deliver his vacuous “Power to the People” speech launching the Conservative Manifesto in front of Battersea Power Station. Unfortunately I saw him deliver it in front of a White Elephant bought for £400 M with debt from Irish Banks to Treasury Holdings and which is now owned by that long suffering individual, the Irish Taxpayer.

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?storycode=3154094



The Conservatives launch of their manifesto at Battersea Power Station was just like their policies, nice looking on the outside, and hollow on the inside.
The last Tory launch at Battersea power station was when Margaret Thatcher fired a laser gun to signal the start of a theme park that, in the end, was never built. Worked stopped a year later, in 1989, leaving the building in its current derelict state.





So launches by Tory leaders in Battersea power station seem like a good idea at the time. They tend to have impeccable PR. But costs soon escalate, the foundations decay, and the whole edifice is left in a state of dereliction.

Let us remind ourselves what we must not do;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/03/lest-we-forget.html

Is David Cameron the Leader or the Deputy Leader of the Conservatives?

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/03/lord-cashcroft.html

And of David’s Statesmanship with his blood curdling cry to fight the Russians at Selfridges!

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/we-will-fight-them-selfridges.html