History Lessons. Why really all should have voted for the Labour Party on May 7th.

This blog is a joint production of the terrible twins Elizannie and Clarice and appears on both their blog sites. If that seems a little odd, well so do the events of May 7th to the writers.





As Elizannie has have been having a bit of a blog overload in the aftermath of May 7th, she has decided to let Clarice help out for this one. After all she should know more about History and English Lit having lectured for the WEA on both subjects [plus Popular Culture] for many years.


In a discussion with their cousin about what may come next after the May 7th result, it was decided that now history is not a compulsory subject on the school curriculum, perhaps not enough voters on Thursday realised what it was like to live in the patriarchal, capitalist society of the 19thC where money said everything about an individual down to the fact that the poor were showing God's disapproval by being poor and the rich his approval by their riches. This was further extended by having the 'deserving poor' - allowed to receive the charity of the rich [quite often the leavings from their table] and the undeserving poor. The rich were morally bound to reinvest their business profits/wages and by becoming even richer  showed even more God's approval of their life style - which included of course their treatment of the poor and this would extend to the minimum wages paid to employees [dare I add zero contracts?] If an employee became ill/unable work, well basically hard luck. Obviously some sort of sinning somewhere along the line as God once again is showing his disapproval. [An awful lot of sibulance in that sentence. A bit more effort could do something with that]


To reinforce this 'God Given Right', think of the words of the third verse of 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' by Mrs Alexander. Now no longer sung in our churches, it was sung by rich and poor alike in churches up until the 1970s/80s:

The rich man in his castle,

The poor man at his gate,

God made them high and lowly,

And ordered their estate.

This blog is also a homage to the wonderful singer and socialist, our mate Roy Bailey and his 'gigging mate' the equally wonderful but sadly late Tony Benn . They used to perform a wonderful 'gig' which we saw on many occasions, singing along in our cracked voices, which was basically the history of dissent with songs provided by Roy and narration by Tony. Luckily everyone can still enjoy and learn from their inspiration by following this link .


So it was decided that perhaps a reading list should be provided of 19thC and early 20thC novels which would provide a fictional but accurate overview of the differences between rich and poor in this country, which was becoming more affluent in the light of the industrial revolution. But that affluence was not shared by all who produced it. To make a profit three parts are needed: production; investment; labour. The suppliers of the first two were enriched exponentially, the suppliers of the third actually became worse off it their living conditions and welfare is taken into account. And because there was an ever increasing pool of labour [sound familiar] due to the agricultural revolution with workers flooding into the newly growing industrial towns from the countryside, any industrial revolt would be pretty pointless.


Clarice has been awful lazy of late. So she promises that she will go through the list and 'review' each novel in turn in a socio historical way. And so she should. You will notice no Marx is included. Although he may be referred to in the footnotes... but only as are other 19th/20thC commentators and politicians.


So this is the list, no particular order, no particular preference:

19th Century
Mary Barton                         Elizabeth Gaskell
Shirley                                 Charlotte Bronte
A Christmas Carol                  Charles Dickens
Felix Holt                              George Eiliot
Sybil or Two Nations              Benjamin Disraeli
Hard Times                           Charles Dickens
The Nether World                  George Gissing
A Child of the Jago                 Arthur Morrison
Dombey and Son                   Charles Dickens


20th Century
The Ragged Trousered             
Philanthropists                        Robert Tressell
Love on the Dole                     Walter Greenwood
Tono-Bungay                          H.G.Wells
People of the Abyss                 Jack London 




Some, more modern, but giving a good historical overview:
Rape of the Fair Country           Raymond Cordell
How Green was my Valley         Richard Llewellyn
Animal Farm                            George Orwell

Fame is the Spur                      Howard Spring

                        

Blog dedicated to all those Labour Activists who worked so hard in the weeks leading up to 7th May 2015 including Roy Bailey and Elizabeth Ann Mills. It was not in vain.

Are we returning to the world of 'A Christmas Carol'?

• Marley in his pigtail, usual waistcoat, tights, and boots; the tassels on the latter bristling, like his pigtail, and his coat-skirts, and the hair upon his head. The chain he drew was clasped about his middle. It was long, and wound about him like a tail; and it was made (for Scrooge observed it closely) of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.       A Christmas Carol

Many of you know that I am a bit of a geek when it comes to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I have taught/lectured on it from both the English Literature and the Popular Culture 'angles'. I collect different editions of the book  and interesting ornaments/memorabilia. I have blogged on it and written political parodies on it. So when my latest acquisition - Marley's Ghost - arrived today, I was pretty excited.

As always, when reading/teaching 19thC literature, it is frightening how close we are to returning to the mores of Victorian society under this present government. The notion of the 'deserving and undeserving poor' [which had actually been around since Tudor times] played a big part in the distribution of charity in Victorian patriarchal hierarchy.

When Scrooge in A Christmas Carol early in Chapter One asks the two gentleman who are seeking charitable donations to help the poor: 

'Are there no prisons?' asked Scrooge.'Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.'And the Union workhouses?' demanded Scrooge. 'Are they still in operation?''They are. Still,' returned the gentleman,  'I wish I could say they were not.''The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?' said Scrooge.'Both very busy, sir.''Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,' said Scrooge. 'I'm very glad to hear it.'

it is somewhat similar to Iain Duncan-Smith's shameful comment this week: 

'I am happy for people to visit food banks. I don't have a problem with them'. 

The story of Marley's Ghost is that he, the late partner of Scrooge, visits the latter on Christmas Eve to warn him that unless Scrooge changes his ways he is doomed to become a restless spirit like Marley:

'I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?'Scrooge trembled more and more.'Or would you know,' pursued the Ghost, 'the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!'

Scrooge tries to argue that he is only doing what a good Victorian should be doing, making and reinvesting his profits - see the Protestant Work Ethic :

'But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.'Business!'' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'

This is to me one of the most important statements in the book. It resembles the biblical quote, parallels of which can be found in all the great religions: 

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?      Mark 8:36

Another important statement occurs when the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the figures under his robe. This ornament of mine shows a sanitised pair, illustrations from the book show a more frightening pair:

From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.'Oh, Man! look here. Look, look, down here!'exclaimed the Ghost.They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.'Spirit! are they yours?'Scrooge could say no more.'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. 'Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!''Have they no refuge or resource?' cried Scrooge.'Are there no prisons?' said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. 'Are there no workhouses?'

 The John Leech original illustration

The last 'comparison' with the present day/Victorian times I will make is using the 'metaphor' of Tiny Tim. He is presented in the book as a fragile, sickly child who, although his father is in regular employment, it is not possible for the family to afford the good food and medical treatment that he needs for what is a curable condition without which he will die.

We have seen under this present government an erosion in both confidence and financial support for the NHS, despite David Cameron's electioneering promise that the Conservative Party was 'the Party of the NHS' [January 2010] We have learnt how many working people, including parents of course, cannot exist solely on their wages but have to rely on welfare benefits and/or food banks to feed themselves/ their families. When the cry goes up that we are in a period of austerity and cuts have to be made one remembers the quote of the late Tony Benn: 

If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.

In other words, no military campaign has ever been put aside because we are in a period of austerity......

Are we getting close to returning to the sort of society and times that Dickens wrote about in 1843? Please think about this and when listening to the pleas and excuses of the government in the forthcoming election campaign perhaps it will help to decide where we go next.

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself. Robert Frost

Its been a funny few days. Good: we had a few days recuperation 'at home' in the South West after my bout of bronchitis and the weather was really kind to us. Not so good: the residue of the weather not having been so kind this winter was evident everywhere. Driving across the Somerset Levels and seeing how Muchelney is still cut off by the floods, huge 'lakes' of standing water, sodden fields etc. Talking to a friend from Burrowbridge who had been flooded and comparing our experiences of the floods in Chertsey. Our cliff top dwelling campsite is now smaller than it was as a large area has fallen into the sea. Most unexpected, but then so were the wild waves which reached the height of the cliff top.

It was good as always to catch up with friends and family, but not so good to receive an email from a friend of nearly 40 years standing to say that she couldn't put up with my inane ramblings [ramblings I admit to, inane seemed a little harsh] any longer and our friendship is over. I suspect that my political opinions which differ to hers, never discussed face to face but which I air [ you may have noticed dear reader] on the world wide web annoy her. Since I have friends from all sides of the political spectrum, different faiths and ethnicity and - you may have noticed - enjoy a good discussion on all sorts of issues, I find this rather sad but am not about to change my ways.

And then, for holiday reading, I have been re-reading the late Tony Benn's Dare to Be A Daniel which kind of says the same thing as the Robert Frost quote of the blog title. Except I somehow feel Tony Benn was better at putting it across than I.

The Robert Frost quote was sent by a cousin this morning and is quite humbling really. It reminds one of just why and how people like Tony Benn stood up for their principles and could do it for a lifetime. I hope I can do the same, and remember why I am a political activist.



P.S.   Talking about principles, I am so disgusted and offended by the Grant Schapps post budget 'Bingo & Booze' 'infographic' I can't reproduce it on my blog, but it can be seen here. However I will show the satire of it tweeted by David Schneider this morning: 

For Duncan xx

Tony & Bob

Due to a combination of the floods and  unwellness [is that even a word?] February and early March has been a wash out in the Elizannie/Other Half household and we are actually off on a bit of a recuperation for a few days later today. But how could I leave without paying a tribute to two of our political heroes, one whom I knew and one I would have liked to have known.

The announcement of the death of Bob Crow on Tuesday this week came as a complete shock. A man of very strong principles - and I may not have agreed with all of them! - but someone who looked after his union members, stood up for justice for so many other causes such as Football against Racism. I remember listening to Boris Johnson blustering and puffing on a radio station before the last scheduled train strike when Bob Crow 'phoned in because that was the only way that he could get Boris to talk to him. Pure Genius. He will be sadly missed and the photograph below of the tribute to him by his members at Convent Garden Tube station says it all:

Tony Benn's death was not so unexpected but still very sad for those who had loved and maybe also known him for so many years. I was furious when I found out some years ago that he used to visit my father's house when I was a child tucked up in bed! - but made up for it by meeting him later in life. There are many wonderful obits out there so I will just say that when I awoke to the very sad news of the passing of Tony yesterday I realised that we had all lost a true Socialist, a Gentleman in all senses of the word.

The last time we saw him was at Kings Place theatre in March 2013 where he was due to appear in his 'Writing on the Wall' show which he shared with Roy Bailey. Unfortunately at the last minute Tony had to cancel due to his poor health and Roy carried on on his own. Just toward the end of the evening, Roy was called off stage and returned with a very frail Tony who had not wanted to let his audience down. Roy was crying and Tony got a standing ovation. He looked so frail but when he spoke his voice and words had all his usual strength and conviction. So many of us had tears streaming down our faces that night. 

Thank you Tony for so many things - you will be sadly missed but you have left us all with great memories and many good quotes.

Tony & I at a peace rally in Trafalgar Square.

I had just given him a great smacking kiss 

and he laughed and said 'That was very nice'!

Antiwar Mass Assembly, October 8th

We joined thousands of others at the Antiwar Mass Assembly in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. There is always a warm feeling when surrounded by like-minded comrades although even pacifists were surprisingly calm when I misjudged handling of my 'Stop the War' placard.

It was good to bump into friends who had made the same pilgrimage [although by different tube routes] from our village, and hear other friends speak and sing. The speeches from the 'platform' were many and inspiring. Each speaker was allowed two minutes: Brian Eno read out a list of things upon which the money the war is costing could be better spent. Eno's two minutes was up before his list was finished. Lots of other inspiring speakers including Joe Glenton and Hetty Bower, aged 106.

Hetty has led many peace marches and led the march later in the day to Downing Street. Addressing the assembly in Trafalgar Square she told how she could remember how, at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 when she was aged nine, she could remember her father saying [and I am mis-quoting from a bad memory!] 'the first casualty will be truth'.

It was sad that our gathering was to mark the anniversary of our ten years of intervention in Afghanistan. How much better it would have been to have been celebrating ten years of world Peace. Or one hundred years. Or more. We can only work for this together by being and staying together.

Below is a snippet of my mate Roy Bailey, who appeared with Tony Benn, singing 'I Ain't Afraid' by Holly Near



The photograph top right was one of the many memorials to those killed in the war around the Square. It shows an art work [for a clearer image of the words, click here ] by the fabulous Robert Montgomery To see another memorial go to Elizannie's sister blog Clarice's Book Room

Music is my tardis

A good friend wrote the above phrase on my facebook after reading my last blog, just about the time that I realised that I hadn't mentioned music in my list of memory inducing 'prompts'. So I dedicate this blog to Carl with the hope that he will listen to all my favourite 'tunes' and not suffer too much at some of them....

Like humour, one's own musical tastes are so subjective. I have seen really good friends nearly come to blows over the 'best' rendition of a song. Just this last week I entered into a really fierce facebook debate on the best version of Leonard Cohen's wonderful Hallejuah - obviously John Cale although not everyone agreed....

And memories induced by music don't always mean that the particular piece of music is one of one's actual favourites! For instance whenever I hear Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come On Eileen it reminds me of a holiday in Woolacombe in the 1980s. I like the song but it wouldn't be one of the pieces I would chose for Desert Island Discs.

I know you are all waiting for me to start quoting all the Bob Dylan songs that mean a lot of me and all the memories they hold. Well there are so many that I will just give the one song, from the first Dylan album I ever bought [Bringing It All Back Home] way back when. The song is Love Minus Zero and reminds me of hours spent in my mother's front room with my old mono record player [yes that was what they were called back along!] I can't find a YouTube that does justice to Dylan singing it so have mixed two musical memories to link to this version by Joan Baez.

Most couples have their own tune and we have ended up with
Where do you go to my Lovely? by Peter Sarstedt . How this happened we have no idea but it is a ripping good tune...

I am hopping all over the place with these memories, why Queen appear next with Bohemian Rhapsody I have no idea, except memory is like that - random and not orderly! We used to listen to Queen constantly when we were 'exiled' in Germany [working for Ford] in the late '70s. And to the embarassment of all my children Other Half and I both know all the words to this whenever it is played anywhere and sing along with it - loudly!

Back to the late 60s and hippy times, to when we first heard Arlo Guthrie singing Amazing Grace. Since then we have heard lots of artists perform this, including massed bands, but there is still something unique about Arlo's performances. We have had it played at Christenings and Funerals and I am dropping hints for a forthcoming wedding!

Another completely random choice would be something by Paul Robeson. A favourite of mine, but he was also a favourite of my Father's. The trouble is, I really don't know which one song I would choose - the lullaby my mother used to sing, one of the Welsh songs he sang to support the miners, the hymns ..... Oh well Mum, here's your song Curly Headed Baby!

Roy Bailey is the music man I probably go to see most frequently these days. So my song from him I Ain't Afraid would be and the memory is of him and Tony Benn doing a great set at Cambridge Folk Festival in 2000. A set we have seen many times and enjoy every time!

I could go on for ever but must stop but before I do there are two songs I cannot ignore. Family know why I have Joan Baez singing Dylan's Forever Young. A very special memory.

And lastly, Billy Bragg's version of The Internationale. This song encapsulates so many memories: Family, friends, beliefs, hopes and ideals. And it is my ringtone on my mobile. And Billy and I are both 'Made in Barking'!

No photos today - the PC won't play.

Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone

When I was a child and moody adolescent and really needed something, I found the worst thing I could say to my mother in mitigation of whatever the particular 'want' was were the words 'But everybody else has it'. This always brought forth the reply [after of course the standard 'If everybody else put their head in the fire would you?' We had coal fires then of course]

Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone

*
This of course refers to the story of Daniel and the lions' den
My mother, despite being a Christian Socialist, thought it terribly common to look like everyone else/join in the latest 'craze' which to a child/moody adolescent is of course the most important thing in their world.

Although my mother most definitely never watched anything that the Monty Python team produced, I was reminded of her 'quotes' when the Life of Brian hit the big screen in the late 1970s. One scene has Brian hounded by followers who believe he is the true messiah and ask him to give them guidance. He tells them not to follow him and that they should make up their own minds because 'You are all individuals'. To which they reply in chorus 'We are all individuals'. I often think of this scene when someone quotes the Daily Fail as the source for their political/sociological views, wondering why that individual cannot think for him/herself rather than follow a possibly false messiah?

[This in turn always reminds me of the wonderful scene in Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times when Chaplin's character of the factory worker unwittingly leads a revolutionary demonstration and is arrested for his part in it] People seem to need a leader?

I often thought about the phrase as I got older and decided that perhaps my mother had a different interpretation to mine. To me 'Daring to be a Daniel' is really, as the story of Daniel exemplifies, a question of standing up for what one believes to be right in the face of opposition. I am not sure if I am the stuff from which martyrs are made, but as I get older I find it more and more difficult to keep quiet about social injustices and tend to take up causes [you may have noticed!]

In 2005 the lovely Tony Benn, definitely one of my political heroes, published a book called Dare to be a Daniel: Then and Now which somehow backs up my interpretation of the phrase.

So today's message [!]: Think for yourself and always stand up for the causes in which you believe!


The inspiration for this blog came from the photograph above which I took on Mother's Day this year. Middle Son took me to a plant nursery to choose some plants for Other Half to plant in our garden [!] and this perky little plant amongst all the rows of others appealed to me.

Ranting

In the pub last night talking to friends, one remarked about the number of campaigns I promote on facebook and twitter [and of course blog about!] This led to jokes [these were the friends from uni days and we all know each others' political views, religious views and favourite authors] and the word 'ranter' came up in the same sentence as my name....

I feel quite proud to be allied to the Ranters, who were individuals in the times of the English Civil War who roamed about the countryside and preached their individual beliefs. They became known collectively as 'Ranters' and my favourite is Abiezer Coppe. More about the Ranters and further reading and links can be found at this website: http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/ranters.htm A link on that website takes one to a site about Abiezer Coppe where his story is fully told. One comment about him says:

Coppe and his followers alarmed the clergyman Richard Baxter and other Puritans with "filthy lascivious practices" such as "roaring, drinking, whoring, open full-mouthed swearing". Coppe was also denounced for preaching in the nude and for committing adultery.

Quite a character!

Coppe was eventually arrested and at his trial:

On 1 October 1650, he was brought for questioning before a parliamentary committee. During his examination, Coppe apparently feigned madness: he mumbled and talked to himself when questioned and is said to have flung nutshells and fruit about the room. The committee sent him back to Newgate and he was never brought to trial.

Many Ranters became Quakers although I don't think Coppe would have qualified for membership of the Society of Friends, when he was eventually released from prison he returned to his original Baptist beliefs and became a physician. Please follow the links and read more about him and the other Ranters because they are so interesting!

The musician Leon Rosselson wrote a great song about Abiezer and folk singer Roy Bailey* performs a wonderful version of it, clicking on the blog title above will take you to the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLLzbEx7gDg which shows Roy performing it. It also shows Tony Benn and is taken from one of their 'The Writing on the Wall' performances which give a 'history of dissent' in the form of narratives by Tony interspersed with songs by Roy. It is well worth buying the CD of these 'gigs' to hear the song properly and listen to the rest of the great songs and Tony's narration**. The photo above is of the CD [courtesy of amazon.co.uk]

Perhaps I should express my thanks to the present Coalition Government for giving me so many opportunities for causes of which to rant and support. At the moment there are several which I would love you all to support with me:

Petition to save our Coastguard services:
http://www.petitiononline.com/ukcghq/petition.html

Petition to save the BBC World Services:
http://www.savews.com/

Petition to save the forests from privatisation:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/save-our-forests#petition

Maybe I should include a 'rant of the day link' in these blogs. What do you think?

Notes:

**Recorded live at Cambridge Folk Festival in 2000 this CD is a good substitute for those who haven't yet managed to catch their show and a fine reminder for those who have. Benn's contribution is a skip through the history of resistance to oppression and exploitation in England from the Peasants' Revolt of the 14th century up to the present day.... All this is interspersed with and illustrated by, songs from folk-singer Roy Bailey At the end of the first half Bailey had the audience singing the chorus of one of the west's most famous revolutionaries.
Socialist Review March 2005
If you listen carefully Elizannie and Other Half are singing along in the crowd!

*see http://www.roybailey.net/

Please don't look for Elizannie on twitter and facebook - I 'assume' a different name on those sites!

Heroes

We are back from a rather meandering road trip around parts of the country which somehow managed to evoke several of my heroes, many of whom I have previously mentioned in these 'pages'.

The ending of our half term holiday in the West Country coincided with a celebratory concert given by a political folk singer friend of ours [and hero!] - Roy Bailey. He was 75 last month. Picture above and click on the blog title to go to his website. Roy Bailey is a good friend of another of my political heroes, Tony Benn, and in fact they perform together in a 'gig' called The Writing on The Wall which is basically the history of dissent. There is a brilliant CD of this available from Roy's website [no I am not on commission!] I have seen them perform this gig many times, the last time at the British Library in 2009 during the BL's Taking Liberties: The Struggle for Britain’s Freedoms and Rights season. 

Roy's concerts always feature him talking about his political beliefs and influences. On Sunday he was talking about two more of my heroes and influences - Paul Robeson and Joe Hill.

Our journey to Sheffield took us via East Midlands Airport, where we stayed at a nearby hotel on Saturday evening. However it was slightly alarming when watching President Obama [of course a hero of mine!] speaking about the foiled bomb plot on the Friday evening news to hear him mention East Midlands Airport.

When we left the East Midlands we travelled onto Sheffield via a circuitous route to take in places we had not previously visited. Driving through Matlock we passed Masson Mills which was Richard Arkwright's most prestigious mill. I suppose only a retired history teacher/lecturer would get excited about this and although I would not describe Arkwright as a hero of mine he certainly was a key figure in the industrial revolution. I suppose in a way it is not surprising that the site is now a shopping village [as well as a museum] and thus one of the birth places of the capitalist system has now become one of its 'cathedrals'!

Onto Buxton in Derbyshire, where Vera Brittain once lived. A definite heroine of mine, especially for her work toward Pacifism and Socialism. I had to restrain myself when browsing in a bookshop from buying yet another edition of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, my bookshelves are groaning as it is and I had already bought too many books during our days away....

Arriving in Sheffield it was lovely to see Andrew Motion's [a literary hero of mine, of course!] poem on the side of one of the university buildings. To see a wonderful picture of this and other great photographs of Sheffield please go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theotherbailey/5137117621/in/set-72157625167089633/

Meanwhile the poem is a lovely way to end this travelogue of a blog!:

What If..? by Andrew Motion
O travellers from somewhere else to here
Rising from Sheffield Station and Sheaf Square
To wander through the labyrinths of air,

Pause now, and let the sight of this sheer cliff
Become a priming-place which lifts you off
To speculate
What if..?
What if..?
What if..?

Cloud shadows drag their hands across the white;
Rain prints the sudden darkness of its weight;
Sun falls and leaves the bleaching evidence of light.

Your thoughts are like this too: as fixed as words
Set down to decorate a blank facade
And yet, as words are too, all soon transferred

To greet and understand what lies ahead -
The city where your dreaming is re-paid,
The lives which wait unseen as yet, unread.