Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Edwardian]

32 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I suspected those were the only places in "the North" she'd heard of, having been obliged to go to party conferences there. 

 

However, on looking her up, I find she was born in Norwich, which is north of Birmingham, though I don;t think anyone with a sound grasp of geography would describe either as being in "the North". Educated and first held political office in Wandsworth. She escaped from that (I won't go any further in my description of metropolitan boroughs) and her subsequent political carrer has been in south Derbyshire. She first stood for parliament for Coventry South (a reasonably safe Labour seat) but won South Derbyshire in 2010. That's hardly a Tory shire seat - her daughter failed to win the council ward of Swadlincote, a former mining town. So we must suppose she knows whereof she speaks and that remark represents her informed opinion, not mere ignorant prejudice. [Thank you, Wikipedia contributors.]

 

South Derbyshire isn't "the North" - it's East Midlands.

 

Indeed, only one place mentioned can claim to be in the North - Blackpool - but outside the Pale of London, the southern counties and anywhere one might have a second home, like the trendy north coasts of Norfolk or Cornwall, all places fall within the Great Desolation that Westminster neither knows nor cares about and that might as well be in the North.

 

Katie Razzall* has just confirmed on BBC R4 that Blackpool is not a God-awful place.

 

Birmingham is, of course, a God-awful place 😉

 

Hat ... coat ....

 

* Earlier this morning she asked if it was too early to say that a news item about the perfect G&T made her fancy a gin. Mishal Husain replied quite firmly that is was indeed too early to say that. I am now a huge Katie Razzall fan.

[Ian Simpson]

38 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I suspected those were the only places in "the North" she'd heard of, having been obliged to go to party conferences there. 

 

 

I guess no town is going to impress you if you're judging it by its conference centre. Certainly not Brighton:

 

 

Anyway, here's a cheery little railway story to help us get over it:

'Caring' Great Western Railway conductor lets Ukrainian refugee girl on train without ticket in brilliant gesture (msn.com)

Now I have to go and fake up a Ukrainian passport. Have a good weekend, everyone!

[Edwardian]

8 minutes ago, Ian Simpson said:

 

I guess no town is going to impress you if you're judging it by its conference centre. Certainly not Brighton:

 

 

Anyway, here's a cheery little railway story to help us get over it:

'Caring' Great Western Railway conductor lets Ukrainian refugee girl on train without ticket in brilliant gesture (msn.com)

Now I have to go and fake up a Ukrainian passport. Have a good weekend, everyone!

 

Brighton I think is well-known for having a significant LGBTQ+ community.  It is also, I gather from Miss T, the favoured location for prominent Youtubers and, apparently, Swedes.

 

So, if you're a gay Swedish Youtube star, you will almost certainly live in Brighton!

 

I can't help thinking that Eastbourne would be a better venue for a Conservative Party conference.

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I can't help thinking that Eastbourne would be a better venue for a Conservative Party conference.

 

Eastbourne, as rapidly becomes evident to anyone walking along the Grand Parade past the Devonshire, Chatsworth, and Cavendish hotels*, is owned by a family of well-known anarchist-communist sympathisers:

 

 

*quarter of a century ago - no idea if they're all still there.

[Hroth]

4 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Eastbourne, as rapidly becomes evident to anyone walking along the Grand Parade past the Devonshire, Chatsworth, and Cavendish hotels*, is owned by a family of well-known anarchist-communist sympathisers:

 

 

*quarter of a century ago - no idea if they're all still there.

 

Oh, the Good Old Days!

 

So Mr Gorrie is one of the Boys From Brazil?  Wouldn't want to get on his wrong side....

 

 

[Hroth]

34 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Indeed, only one place mentioned can claim to be in the North - Blackpool - but outside the Pale of London, the southern counties and anywhere one might have a second home, like the trendy north coasts of Norfolk or Cornwall, all places fall within the Great Desolation that Westminster neither knows nor cares about and that might as well be in the North.

 

As far as the Desolate South is concerned, the North is beyond two lines, drawn between the Severn (say Gloucester) and The Wash, and the Welsh border.  They are very Parochial Folk below the line!

 

 

I really must read ALL the posts before responding, just so I can combine them all in one!!!

 

[drmditch]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

"Blackpool, Birmingham or somewhere God awful".

 

So said a government minister (and MP for Derbyshire).

 

And you wonder why, in the North, we suspect the political class at Westminster really isn't that interested in us?

 

Given the nature of this government and its supporters, perhaps that is something we should be grateful for?

 

Has anyone done any analysis on tax/provision of services that might enable us to determine whether Northumbria (including both Bernicia and Deira) might be a viable independent state ?

[alastairq]

2 hours ago, Edwardian said:

"Blackpool, Birmingham or somewhere God awful".

 

So said a government minister (and MP for Derbyshire).

 

And you wonder why, in the North, we suspect the political class at Westminster really isn't that interested in us?

 

Well, in deference...the above statement could be interpreted as being complementary to both Birmingham and Blackpool!

[I have nothing complementary to opine about either place...or, indeed, most places inside the M25, or along the M62 corridor.....or that of the M6 for most of its abhorrent length, either...!]

Somewhere God awful could be Leeds?

Or Swindon?

I also note what I consider to be an utterly contemptible comment from the Labour deputy leader!

 

When one has delivered to the backstreet NISA's of these places, the pits-of-'ell seems mildly complementary to me.

[Compound2632]

31 minutes ago, drmditch said:

Has anyone done any analysis on tax/provision of services that might enable us to determine whether Northumbria (including both Bernicia and Deira) might be a viable independent state ?

 

Probably not, but could be viable as a component of a pan-Scandinavian state. Or perhaps a plebiscite should be held on accession to Denmark?

[Regularity]

4 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

However, on looking her up, I find she was born in Norwich, which is north of Birmingham, though I don;t think anyone with a sound grasp of geography would describe either as being in "the North"

When my father worked in Leicester, someone in the office once said they had never been north of Birmingham.

 

Anyway, it’s in the Midlands*, which is why the railway was called the Midland Railway.

 

* Of England. The Scottish Midlands seem to be about Angus way, based on the railway company of that name. And the “British Midlands” are probably what the English call “The North”.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, alastairq said:

that of the M6 for most of its abhorrent length

What about the long stretch from north of Preston to south of Carlisle?

[Compound2632]

24 minutes ago, Regularity said:

When my father worked in Leicester, someone in the office once said they had never been north of Birmingham.

 

Weak practical knowledge of geography. To give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they meant they'd never been to Staffordshire.

[rocor]

3 hours ago, alastairq said:

 

I also note what I consider to be an utterly contemptible comment from the Labour deputy leader!

 

 

Would that be when she said "Instead of helping a lucky few to escape disadvantage, a Labour government will aim to abolish poverty completely and create a more equal society, raising the living standards and well-being of all."?

[monkeysarefun]

Although we have down under versions of places like Newcastle, Liverpool, Windsor, York,  Richmond, Brighton and Torquay among many others, no one has found anywhere in Australia to remind them of Birmingham, if that is any indication of anything.

 

As for Blackpool, given our love of naming things after the bleeding obvious, Brown Snake, Great Sandy Desert, 90 Mile Beach and so on, I assume our lack of a local  Blackpool is more an indication that we lack any pools that are black.

 

In fact the only reference  I can find here is a Google review where a UK visitor has rated Manly beach one star and says not to bother because it reminds them of Blackpool.

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Although we have down under versions of places like Newcastle, Liverpool, Windsor, York,  Richmond, Brighton and Torquay among many others, no one has found anywhere in Australia to remind them of Birmingham, if that is any indication of anything.

 

Just goes to show how law-abiding the citizens of Brum were compared to the delinquents of Torquay etc. 

[Compound2632]

I read that the naming of Birmingham, Alabama, was aspirational.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Weak practical knowledge of geography. To give the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they meant they'd never been to Staffordshire.

No. They specifically said Birmingham.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Regularity
They also thought that Birmingham is north of Leicester.

[Compound2632]

7 minutes ago, Regularity said:

No. They specifically said Birmingham.

 

Had been to Birmingham, but not to any place directly to the north thereof...

 

I've just had a wisdom tooth removed, so don't expect too much.

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

I've just had a wisdom tooth removed, so don't expect too much.

Don’t expect too much wisdom?

 

Joking apart, you have my sympathies, although in my case they were removed many years ago…

[alastairq]

4 hours ago, Regularity said:

that of the M6 for most of its abhorrent length

  

As I said.

[alastairq]

3 hours ago, rocor said:

 

Would that be when she said "Instead of helping a lucky few to escape disadvantage, a Labour government will aim to abolish poverty completely and create a more equal society, raising the living standards and well-being of all."?

 Nope!

 

But then, perhaps she is a dreamer?

[rocor]

59 minutes ago, alastairq said:

 Nope!

 

But then, perhaps she is a dreamer?

 

But she's not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Edited June 11, 2022 by rocor
Imagine that!

[lanchester]

8 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Eastbourne, as rapidly becomes evident to anyone walking along the Grand Parade past the Devonshire, Chatsworth, and Cavendish hotels*, is owned by a family of well-known anarchist-communist sympathisers:

 

 

*quarter of a century ago - no idea if they're all still there.

The Cavendish Dukes of Devonshires are indeed often suspected of pinko-liberal tendencies, but just for the record Haddon Hall is actually a property of the Manners Dukes of Rutland (the Belvoir Castle mob) along with quite a lot of the Bakewell area. Unlike the Devonshires they don't seem to have done politics much, but one Marquis of Granby (the courtesy title of the eldest son) was Colonel, the Horse Guards, from 1766 and was used to set up outstanding soldiers that were no longer of use to the Regiment with their own pub, provided only that they called it 'The Marquis of Granby'. That makes him a GOOD CHAP, even, surely, in the eyes of the anarchist-communist comrades.

[lanchester]

8 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

As far as the Desolate South is concerned, the North is beyond two lines, drawn between the Severn (say Gloucester) and The Wash, and the Welsh border.  They are very Parochial Folk below the line!

 

 

I really must read ALL the posts before responding, just so I can combine them all in one!!!

 

Of course, if you do a map of the UK with true North actually at the top, instead of slanting our islands so we can fit Shetland in, it turns out that the fabled North South divide is more accurately close to an East West divide. (You  can't get more southern that Cornwall but it has many of the same problems as the North). I blame Geology. And the first phase Roman occupiers ran their boundary more or less along the A46 for a reason - why spend your time yomping over Dartmoor or the Pennines being abused by the natives when you can set up a nice tight little villa in the Cotswolds and swap chariot anecdotes with Hieronymus Scribafilius. 

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, lanchester said:

The Cavendish Dukes of Devonshires are indeed often suspected of pinko-liberal tendencies, but just for the record Haddon Hall is actually a property of the Manners Dukes of Rutland (the Belvoir Castle mob) along with quite a lot of the Bakewell area. Unlike the Devonshires they don't seem to have done politics much, but one Marquis of Granby (the courtesy title of the eldest son) was Colonel, the Horse Guards, from 1766 and was used to set up outstanding soldiers that were no longer of use to the Regiment with their own pub, provided only that they called it 'The Marquis of Granby'. That makes him a GOOD CHAP, even, surely, in the eyes of the anarchist-communist comrades.

 

I knew Haddon was Rutland - but Chatsworth features in the list of earlier picnics. The two Dukes were in it together as fifth columnists.