Poofs’ Football and Plebs’ Ballet
‘Ballet,’ grumbled Albert Steptoe when seeking to quash son Harold’s attempts at bettering himself, ‘that’s just poofs’ football!’ Harold expanding his interests beyond his father’s limited horizons represented a threat to the senior Steptoe, so junior’s aspirational efforts had to be shot down, lest the old man be left behind. There was always more to the generational conflict on Oil Drum Lane than a simple source of laughter, and this particular clash could be viewed as a metaphor for the demarcation lines between the differing interests of the middle and working classes.
On one level, these demarcation lines have become a little more blurred since the heyday of arguably the finest sitcom ever produced; the so-called ‘prawn cocktail set’, for example, have legitimised a middle-class and somewhat fair-weather following of the national sport, and the astronomical cost of a season ticket at your average Premier League ground has served to push the traditional fan-base down into the unfashionable environs of the lower leagues. But snobbery still exists on both sides. Even today, it takes a brave boy on a council estate to express a nascent interest in opera, ballet or the theatre. These remain regarded as the province of the privately educated – elite and expensive; maintaining this ludicrous concept that culture is class-bound is one reason why a government preaching austerity is not prepared to subsidise the arts beyond small token donations that keep them within the reach of only the privileged and the converted.
Mocked as they often are, the reforming Victorians – however patrician and patronising their motivations can be retrospectively perceived by some – at least ensured public libraries were there to cater for and encourage the growth of widespread literacy in the second half of the nineteenth century. A library was no longer exclusively reserved solely for academics or equating with a room in a country house; it became a liberating repository of knowledge for all, regardless of ‘breeding’. The 1850 Public Libraries Act was the first piece of legislation in British parliamentary history to break down the artistic barriers between rich and poor.
Joining a library as a child is the first out-of-school passport to intellectual expansion; for one humble ticket, a trio of books can be borrowed for a fortnight before being returned and replaced by three more. As a child, I would hand my ticket over to my mother whilst at school and ask her to pick something up for me from the local library with no real idea of what she would select. I didn’t really care what she’d choose, for I knew when I arrived home there’d be a book I’d never seen before waiting for me. Often, it would be about a subject I’d never had the slightest interest in or something I’d been largely ignorant of; but I’d read it, nonetheless, so unquenchable was my appetite for reading. After around five years, I moved from the children’s library into the big library, the one that contained more books than I had ever seen in my life, the pages of which weren’t likely to feature any pictures. Gradually, I’d progress onto novels and biographies, the growth of my reading interests tracked over a period of twenty years’ membership of the one library – from ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ to ‘A Clockwork Orange’.
Perhaps tellingly in an age of prevailing philistinism, one of the first coalition cuts casualties was the public library. Set against those dependable old standbys of government emotional blackmail, schools and hospitals, funding for establishments that merely encourage reading was not very high on the list of preservation priorities. Everyone’s online now, so why do they need to borrow books? What an antiquated notion! The fact that the online access of many was restricted to the computers in the public library wouldn’t be something one would expect a group of ex-public schoolboys raised in environments festooned with the written word to understand.
As each local oasis of knowledge was threatened with closure, many patrons clubbed together and volunteered to run them as a community enterprise; admirable, yes, and certainly preferable to nothing at all; indeed, how could a largely Tory Government not approve of ‘library interns’ doing the job of qualified librarians without requiring payment? Perfect Big Society values! The dismissive contempt with which such vital services have been regarded by the powers-that-be speaks volumes as to their condescending attitudes towards what is good for the lower orders. When Alan Bennett described widespread library closures as tantamount to child abuse, he was quickly shouted down by a government spokesman; but what else would anyone expect a government spokesman to say? Stroll down your average provincial high street, count the number of pound shops, money shops, charity shops, bookies, fast-food outlets and amusement arcades – surely ‘they’ have everything they need to satisfy the interests we’ve sanctioned for them? After all, Gideon showed he had his finger on the pleb pulse with the Lottery parody promoting last year’s budget. Why prise open a window to all the worlds housed within the pages of a thousand books? That would only give them ideas above their allocated station.
Many of our greatest writers and artists who didn’t emanate from culturally enriched backgrounds found salvation from the paths they had been assigned in public libraries, art galleries and museums; to say their eyes were opened by being able to access the arts for free is something of an understatement. I wouldn’t anticipate any member of this or any government of recent years to see the arts as a tree whose roots they are thoughtlessly hacking away at. Until relatively recently, the arts – particularly music – formed one of the traditional working-class escape routes along with football, boxing and crime; today, the majority of new rock bands constitute posh boys whose parents can subsidise their dilettante dabbling; many of them are academy graduates taught how to be rock stars, whose oeuvre doesn’t come from the gut and an intense desire to transcend the limitations of their origins, but sticks to a set of approved guidelines. This is why they haven’t got a single original idea in their heads and their music is varnished in a soulless sheen of vacuous blandness.
Ironically, whilst the government are keen to discourage interest in the arts by people not born into a social demographic taught to value them – Culture Minister is the kind of ministerial post occupied by politicians who view it as a stepping stone to a more high-profile position – those involved in the arts are acutely aware that they cannot rely on the moneyed classes to keep them afloat. Many of the less celebrated concerts during the Proms season can be watched for as little as a fiver; when the English National Ballet goes on the road, tickets can be as low as £12. Principal Ballerina with the latter, the ethereally graceful Tamara Rojo, bemoans the fact that the arts are seen by some as a trivial luxury undeserving of all but the most paltry subsidy and best enjoyed by those who ‘appreciate’ them rather than those who dwell in ignorance of their magic.
But as small as the cost of access to certain art-forms, those that come free are the true Utopian gateway, as the late sci-fi author Isaac Asimov knew only too well. ‘For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books,’ he wrote, ‘the (public) library was the open door to wonder and achievement…now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.’
Petunia Winegum
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April 16, 2015 at 10:12 am -
I really believe that the overwhelming majority of people are not the slightest bit interested in opera or ballet. Let’s be honest, they are seen as elitist art forms enjoyed by the affluent middle and upper classes for the most part. I’m not saying that those forms of entertainment should cease to exist, but I don’t see why they should be subsidised. Let those who really want them pay for them, in most cases they are easily able to do so.
Libraries are another matter entirely. As the OP says, the written word is sought by almost everyone. That’s because there are books, magazines and newspapers covering every subject known to man, and therefore have near universal appeal. For me, and I suspect vast numbers of people, it would be a very sad day indeed if libraries ceased to be.
About six or seven years ago, my local library received £1.5 million of lottery money. How was it spent? Refurbishing the bloody perfectly satisfactory building, installing vile self-checkout machines, and expanding the coffee area which has become an unofficial crèche. Not on improving the range and selection of books on offer.
Call me old fashioned but I still love books, real physical paper and cardboard books, not these awful eBooks. I just cannot get on with them. I like to be able to hold the book and turn the pages backwards and forwards. To be able to pick it up and put it down. Not to have to worry too much about dropping them. To be able to read in bright sunshine and not to need to recharge or find a power source.-
April 16, 2015 at 10:22 am -
Not to mention reading an original text rather than the new approved and improved version…
Second-hand bookshops and Boot Sales are a far superior form of library than the state-run variety. -
April 16, 2015 at 10:22 am -
One small element of the physical book that the eBook could never compete with is that magical moment when you pick up an old one in a charity shop and it has a faded personalised dedication on the first page. Who wrote it and who was it dedicated to? You realise you’re just the current curator of the book, the latest in a long line; fifty years hence, someone else will be holding it and asking the same questions. There’s a wonderful continuity to it that no digital medium could ever match.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:28 am -
I have a 1950’s book written by an old IRA man from the old days of the Fenians. It’s autographed by the actual author. I daresay that if Yewtree ever thinks I’m worth the effort I’ll appear in the Daily Mirror bylined as having been discovered to have a hoard of terrorist-related materials discovered in my seedy bedsit. Lord knows what they’ll make of my rare copy of “The Guinea Pigs”, all about how the security services practised their Guantanamo techniques on the the Seventies cohort of Irish freedom fighters..
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April 16, 2015 at 10:37 am -
I inherited an old family Bible from my God Father. There are some wonderful handwritten entries on the flyleaf. BTW I am not at all religious but I do treasure that old leather bound, falling apart book.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:24 pm -
I don’t get opera and ballet, Philistine that I am. However, I have no problem with others enjoying these professional entertainments, providing all the costs are borne by those participating.
I take the same view of professional sports, I find it offensive that, particularly in lower leagues, local councils are all too ready to pump public money into hidden subsidies of football clubs – these are professional entertainment businesses, often run by crooks, which should stand or fall on their ability to turn a profit from their audience, the last thing I want is any of my Council Tax heading straight for their bent pockets.-
April 16, 2015 at 4:00 pm -
Spot on, I’m in full agreement with you there.
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April 16, 2015 at 7:59 pm -
Agree entirely Mudplugger.
Unfortunately my direct experience is that the same levels of deceit & expectation are to be found even at the lowest levels. I have recently witnessed local clubs, provided with pitches & clubhouses at minimal cost by the parish, community involvement not apparent, trying to avoid paying for their hobbies. Questioned about the club members’ contributions, one unashamed rep said that players expected to be paid, not pay for their game. & of course be outfitted too.
The FA & the local leagues have a lot to answer for. Asking questions about the validity of CASC status & checking annual a/cs might be a start.
But of course I’m prejudiced.
From quite a rough council estate but never forgotten being told at 12; ‘We play rugger here, if you want to play soccer there’s a girl’s school down the road.’ Visits to top grounds in the days when I lived in the NW didn’t change my mind on that either.
Tin hat is close to hand.
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April 18, 2015 at 6:54 am -
About six or seven years ago, my local library received £1.5 million of lottery money. How was it spent?
Lottery don’t just dole out cash to spend on what you like, you know. You can only spend it on what they have given it to you for. And things like the book collection are seen as core responsibilities of the Council, so not eligible for Lottery funding.
I should add that it’s the local councils that make the decisions to cut library funding, not central Government.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:36 am -
For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about libraries (which incidentally must surely come under local, not national, government control) facing closure, I recall not so long ago that our libraries were being purged of books by such authors as Enid Blyton that were deemed offensive by Guardian-reading left-leaning types. (I have never forgotten Blyton’s usual shorthand for a female bad ‘un, by the way – wears sunglasses and smokes.) So we have to be realistic about what we are trying to achieve.
Yes, the potential loss of books freely available for all is regrettable. But have you visited your local library recently? In mine, mums and toddlers noisily dominate the kids’ section, while the tables that used to be available for newspaper-reading have now acquired computers with free internet for 1 hour. (The vagrants who used to read the newspapers have now been replaced at the tables by a surprisingly high percentage of young Asian males, whose tendency to play games is more noticeable than their propensity to study.) People browsing the shelves for books to borrow are few and far between.
As for the books themselves, not surprisingly fiction is dominated by the biggest-selling authors and the non-fiction shelves seem to be devoted mostly to home improvements and cookery. Rather like the telly, you could say that the library is a freeze frame of the popular culture of the day.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:40 am -
Yes, that is sadly my experience of recent visits to the “new and not improved” local library.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:36 pm -
Mine too, unfortunately. There has also been a fair ammount of culling of the classics – try finding one of Anthony Trollopes’ many fine works. Don’t even bother with searching for any of the vast body of works dealing with traditional country pursuits.
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April 16, 2015 at 6:21 pm -
Yes – my library has turned into a creche and books seem to come last in line – I don’t go anymore. Amazon and Ebay! (And I get to keep the books forever!)
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April 16, 2015 at 12:07 pm -
April 16, 2015 at 1:19 pm -
I’m with Roderick – the whole environment of public libraries has changed over the last 20 years, they are now no more than a free creche and a social centre for the disadvantaged. Nothing to do with the joy of the written word, uninhibited by censorship. They are no longer places of enlightenment, rather an exercise in keeping off the streets those who would rather not be on the streets.
Our local library is about to get a six-figure refurb and, as with others, it will be nothing to do with improved availability of life-enriching text, but all about addressing social issues, pandering to target groups, pretending to provide a valuable service, whilst crying the poor tale about evil Tory cuts. Strange that they never seem to apply the cuts to the councillors’ allowances instead of the libraries. I’ll not be going there again.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:50 am -
Nor should you forget the anti-aspirational ethos of the educational establishment, operating under a cloak of concern for “equality”.
Briefly and ingloriously I was a co-opted governor at the infants’ school which our children had attended happily a few years before. Because of the number qualifying for free school meals, the head teacher was awarded some extra money to ” enrich the curriculum”. She made every penny count and produced a plan for some real music ( William Tell overture sort of thing) which would appeal to children, pictures for the walls which told a story, suitable real poetry and so on. She had to get approval from the Area Education Office where the official treated it with scorn. It was not her job, she was told, to impose her culture on the children ( overwhelmingly white British). She should teach them through experiences with which they were familiar. Going to the chip shop or hiring a video were cultural experiences. She was most upset and glad to retire soon after.
The new head teacher was a pleasant enough lady but, on County Council direction, tried to introduce a ” curriculum development statement” which stated ” it is the policy of the school to make the students (sic) responsible for their own learning”. When I remonstrated that infants were too young to do her job, the comment was not welcome. I later discovered that this declaration of policy was being foisted on every school in the county, from infants to sixth form college – and it was being done under the guise of ” local management of schools”- about as local and spontaneous as a Soviet general election!
As a result of the triumph of this educational model, functional illiteracy has increased so greatly that fewer libraries will be needed. In twenty years of employing young men for production work ( 1983 to 2003) I did not come across one who could do joined up writing or simple mental arithmetic.
Back in the Fifties when Leicestershire was the first county to go comprehensive, the Labour leader of the local district council gave the game away . He told the local paper ” Good working class lads go to grammar school, get good jobs and vote Tory. We’re going to put a stop to that” and Margaret Thatcher, as education secretary, was later a vigorous enforcer of the scheme. -
April 16, 2015 at 11:04 am -
Two points, if I may.
Firstly, it isn’t down to central government that some libraries might face closure. The incoming Coalition government faced the rather thankless task of reducing the vast overspend of other peoples’ money, and one of the reductions was in money paid from central to local government organisations. It rather suits some of the local gummints to pick some rather emotive areas for spending cuts with the intention of claiming that the heartless Tories made them do it. I have absolutely no information on which to base this, but I do wonder if the majority of councils cutting services like libraries, toddler groups and the like are controlled by left-leaning parties; it does suit some to use services like libraries as political footballs. Other councils do seem to have been able to made significant cost savings without major cuts to front-line services, including libraries.
Second point is about public subsidy for the Arts. Erm – why? Are they an essential to the survival of the nation, like defence, keeping the peace and the impartial administration of justice (sic)? No, they are not. They add immensely to quality of life, but then so does ice-cream and chocolate, and they aren’t subdidised. So – how about abolishing public subsidy for the Arts, and instead setting up a sort of National Trust for the Arts, to look after plays, ballet and similar ‘culture’ as the current National Trust looks after country houses and tracts of land. Give it charitable status, and power to run it’s own affairs free of gummint interference – and free of the public’s money. There is still plenty of financial support for the arts which the new Trust can tap into – it could even find itself better off without the dead hand of gummint dishing out it’s meagre rations. Im fact, I’m struggling to see a downside…..
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April 16, 2015 at 1:14 pm -
Under-investment in the arts (at whatever level) belies the fact that what has kept this country active on the world stage over the past half-century has been culture – music, fashion, cinema, literature, art. Without them, we really would be relegated to the status of an offshore island with nothing but an imperial past to fall back on. My own personal opinion is that the arts are essential to the survival of the nation.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:52 pm -
I would entirely agree that the arts are essential to the survival of the nation, but so is it’s heritage, most of which is kept either by private philanthropy or by charitable donation, and much of which is in very rude health. I don’t think the arts will suffer one little bit if released from the dead hand of State control; indeed, I suspect the reverse would be the case.
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April 16, 2015 at 2:25 pm -
Not sure if it’s a coincidence or some kind zeitgeist thang going on, but last night the BBC World Service had a report about some controversy over a UK Prancemeister saying all the British Dancing Schools are crap and are molly-coddling their pupils and none of them are any damned good. Then a huffy other voice came on and said, actually many of his proteges are in professional companies and doing well thank you very much. Sadlers Wells was mentioned. Then somebody started babbling about how Britain is getting left behind like the England football players because Dance is now a global business and people are entering the schools from all around the world. It all rather made me laugh.
If it’s any comfort another report was about the Japanese bemoaning the fact that they haven’t had a Japanese Sumo champion in over a decade. All the big boys now come from Mongolia and before that they were coming from Tahiti or similar. Then the Japanese report explained how the Sumo schools are a tough regime and Japanese boys are now so well-off they have no interest in getting fat the hard way, when they can play on their Nintendo and achieve the same weight in the bedroom.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:11 pm -
With the so called obesity epidemic running rampant in the UK, maybe there will be opportunities for some of our well-padded young lads.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:28 pm -
Some of the women in my local supermarket would be prime Yokozuna material.
Not sure if tattoo’s are allowed in the sacred ring however.-
April 16, 2015 at 8:05 pm -
That sounds like the Morrisons just down at the coast from me. If your diameter is less than your height, or you don’t have facial ironmongery & tattoos, you will feel like an alien.
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April 16, 2015 at 3:38 pm -
A bit of philanthropy would be welcome, true. It doesn’t seem to be quite as ‘fashionable’ these days, though. The likes of John Paul Getty III was always willing to put his hand in his pocket.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:11 pm -
Philanthropists are only after the children. Just look at Bruce Wayne and the boy wonder.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:27 pm -
Ah, yes – Dick Grayson, Bruce’s ward!
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April 16, 2015 at 4:30 pm -
The Dark Night…
He made me dress like a pixie yer honour.
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April 16, 2015 at 4:05 pm -
And yet, the government is still able to find £12 BILLION to spend on overseas aid. Among those receiving such aid are China and India.
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April 16, 2015 at 5:59 pm -
Quite. It makes me grind my teeth, too. Cuts to the armed forces, but feather-bedding for NGO middle managers and ‘developing nation’ despots. Damned if I can see the logic.
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April 16, 2015 at 7:56 pm -
That’s the trouble with you engineers, always trying to find logic in the illogical, usually political, sometimes criminal, facets of life.
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April 16, 2015 at 8:16 pm -
We could buy a lot of stuff for the armed forces with that money; instead we’re subsidising states with their own nukes!
Madness, but like many topics, the main parties will shut down any discussion because they don’t want us asking questions.
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April 16, 2015 at 11:10 am -
I went in my refurbed library in the middle of town recently. Tramps/OAPS corner had gone in place of multicultural use of tables for study and computers near to. Near the desk as well. They were quiet. I spotted a notice and asked about the reading group. I was guided up stairs to the group, which happened to be that very afternoon and just about to start. A pleasant lady told me, as we climbed the stairs that changes are one their way. The group was very interesting. I read the boring book I was handed over the next few days. Due to meet next in May. I kept an appointment in town when I left there. The guy next door has never set foot in there since he had to pay nearly fifty quid in charges for some books that went over date! In such ways do they shoot themselves in the foot. Another local library refurbed and made our art group exhibiting our pictures and pots into a tedious officious nonsense. We withdrew. About half previous exhibition space left. Insurance to pay for our puny efforts etc. Now they are there for officious numtpies to run and accountants to destroy.
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April 16, 2015 at 12:14 pm -
snobbery still exists on both sides
I think a lot of the snobbery has to do with ignorance and an assumption that anyone who is interested in art/ballet/classical music, etc. is doing it for show. Probably a bit like how personal hygiene used to be seen. Not for the likes of us! Nothing beats good honest dirt!I’m certainly glad to have grown up where I did in the 70s/80s, as there was a lot of cultural activity in the local town. There were regular performances by national orchestras/ensembles and dance companies at the town hall, and the place was always packed. I remember seeing international musicians, like the bassoonist George Zukerman, and pianists John Ogdon and Murray Perahia. This was due in no small part to the attitudes of the local authority, including the efforts of people in the education department who actively promoted music and the arts. I also have fond memories of the library, housed in an 18th century mansion in the park, a place of calm where you could immerse yourself away from the bustle of school or shopping. Times have since changed. Performers of the calibre who used to visit have not been seen for a long time. The library was moved several years ago into a new single storey building, after the old one developed problems with fire-raising and/or dry rot. It is still standing, but boarded up and its continued presence is a topic of debate. It has even made it into Private Eye’s “Nooks and Corners”, where I was surprised to learn that it was not only designed by an Adam but the master mason was the same one who worked on the White House. More recently, someone apparently connected with the council called for its demolition. The new library also made the news not too long ago, when one of the visitors decided to test the echoing open-plan layout by shooting at others with an air gun. Much more 21st century than anything I can remember.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:08 pm -
Seeing my first ballet felt like buying porn. It was so against everything I’d been brought up to believe was ‘for me’ that it had a genuinely subversive edge to it. Ridiculous, really.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:48 pm -
Repertory Theatre groups used to visit prisons and do performances for the old lags. Jimmy Savile used to persuade pop stars, Rolf Harris and Pans peoples to visit the uber-nuthouse of the Sun’s imagination, called Broadmoor, which used to be full of porn-watching, sicko-paedo loonies who should have been hung, but only after Kelvin McKenzie and Jamie Pyatt had personally castrated them all.
How surprising to learn that the place was in fact full of vulnerable virgin schoolgirls, hiding in plain sight. Subversive barely scrapes the paint.
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April 16, 2015 at 3:36 pm -
Yes, I remember seeing a strange clip of when Savile took the Beach Boys to play a hospital in the early 70s. I can’t remember where it was, though; pretty sure it was somewhere in Yorkshire, as I think it was local news footage.
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April 16, 2015 at 7:57 pm -
The £1M the NHS spent on their idiotic Leeds report placed it in the Nurses Home at Leeds General…
no waking moment without …. vibrations it seems.
http://jimcannotfixthis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/we-want-infirmation.html
” The pictures clarify one thing. Whilst the gig took place in the Nurses Home, it wasn’t a gig just for nurses was it. These fuzzy images have appeared on a Blog since 2013, their fizziness suggesting they are from an old cine-film perhaps. Why has it taken until 2013 for them to show up I wondered. The Beach Boys have a massive world-wide fan base and this gig does appear to be of a major significance somehow. It’s hard to imagine One Direction doing such a secret gig in 2014, just for those local folks. The entire historical quietness of this struck me very forcefully. Another meme of Operation Yewtree was Savile as self-aggrandiser. My god-fathers I thought, he got The Beach Boys to do a Charity Gig and hardly anybody outside Leeds ever seemed to hear about it!”Now I know where the images came from! Look North!!….
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April 16, 2015 at 8:10 pm -
Moor, I recall (as a guest, not inmate) seeing Pinter’s The Birthday Party performed at Broadmoor back in the ’60s.
Followed by an entirely unexpected contact with Mr Saville in the staff bar after. Pink paisley jump suit complete with mask- him, not me.-
April 17, 2015 at 9:36 am -
There’s a book about a Shakespearian ring being performed there in the early 90’s. McKellen & Cox featured, but it seems to have been Mark Rylance who was the driving force. I wondered if they all drew a wage for it. Art for Arts sake. or Money for God’s sake? Apparently the idea started because they fancied the notion of performing King Lear in front of the criminally insane. I imagine the inmates would have preferred Johnny Cash, although Hamlet must have got their homicidal juices flowing. Lord knows what Jamie Pyatt would have made of it at The Sun… he must have been frothing at the inkwell.
What sort of mask was Jimmy wearing? Hannibal Lecter’s? Do you recall what he was drinking? Allegedly he was a teetotaller.
The pink jumpsuit seems to have been de rigeur; maybe it was so Security could always see him coming.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/aidemitlum/archive/01599/Jimmy_Savile_1599795a.jpg-
April 17, 2015 at 1:31 pm -
Moor, it was a long time ago, but I think I recall the scene; an all over close fitting hood with a kind of peak.
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April 17, 2015 at 2:28 pm -
Pink wouldn’t have gone down well with those guys methinks.
Peeking from within a peak. Poetry.
How did he get to drink, there’s a puzzle.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:42 pm -
When my local library has had enough of free creche facilities it turns to the OAPs for it’s support. ‘Knit and Natter’ is the latest initiative.
Still, the thread is an excuse to exhume one of the best ever newspaper headlines which referred to a library crisis in Essex: ‘Book Lack in Ongar’ – it read.
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April 16, 2015 at 1:50 pm -
My mum has told me that her local library is now the One-Stop. Not sure if the BBC is involved.
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April 16, 2015 at 2:08 pm -
Ah, but the reforming Victorians had a use for an educated working class, they were needed to build the early Dreadnoughts. So money was spent and eventually a capable lathe operator could buy a small house and ponder education for the kids. All that died away in the 1970s and ’80s. Finance would keep us afloat and the private schools and imports would keep the professions going. Working class education ceased to be a priority and the old incentive for self improvement had largely gone.
Now we have the internet, the greatest free library of all, with such an opportunity you would think we would all be Tolstoys and Einsteins. What have we got instead – Facebook, Twitter and folk making the beast. Popular culture is now led by big money and Simon Cowell. What hope for Proust, Picasso or La Fille mal gardee.
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April 16, 2015 at 2:39 pm -
Picasso needs state assistance?
http://yalibnan.com/2015/04/02/picasso-masterpiece-tipped-for-record-sale-unveiled-in-hong-kong/ -
April 16, 2015 at 2:51 pm -
Talk of state subsidy for the arts reminds me of the Hadron Collider. Where is the democratic control of that? Anyone know? I read it has cost gazillions and they were saying on the raydio that it has just been refurbished and restarted, and I was thinking, they only just finished building it a couple of years ago!! It was busted already? Which PFI company had that contract!? Big State money seems to just flow around the world and disappear into black holes in all manner of activities. All we seemed to get out of Hadron was the d’reemy TV Prof and he’s coining it from the BBC, another state behemoth. If all this stuff was any good there’d be private companies queueing up to do it.
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April 16, 2015 at 5:25 pm -
Science, though, can be like art. It costs money to acquire and maintain, but can’t necessarily make money, often because someone has to make the discovery before it can be exoploited commercially. Without NASA, we wouldn’t have Vecro or Teflon.
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April 16, 2015 at 5:56 pm -
That’s one helluva price for a frying pan !
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April 16, 2015 at 5:59 pm -
What’s In It For You
Though the LHC has brought black-hole alarmists out of the woodwork, the project will have little effect on our day-to-day lives, unless your family and friends are the type to discuss the origins of the universe over dinner.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-07/supersized-10-most-awe-inspiring-projects-universe?image=8How many ballet-dancers can you fit on the head of a pin I wonder.
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April 16, 2015 at 6:13 pm -
There are 21 member states (who contribute funds and people) and a lot more observers and associates. Interesting little note at the bottom of the page about the World Wide Web – it was conceived at CERN.
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April 16, 2015 at 8:07 pm -
I thought the Military-Industrial Complex usually claimed that last honour.
There are commercial spin-offs already.
” Lord Evans of Watford, chairman of AVO, said: “Our strategy to establish AVO as a leading provider of convenient, cost-effective and clinically superior treatment to patients with cancer, based on proven technologies, will move forward significantly with the acquisition of Adam. “Adam’s management team are well known to us and share our vision of introducing disruptive technology – that will change cost models – to fast growing cancer treatment markets.” The deal will see AVO acquire 100pc of Adam’s share capital in exchange for a 29.9pc stake in AVO. The arrangement – based on yesterday’s opening prices, values the acquisition at £1.3m”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/pharmaceuticalsandchemicals/10015723/UK-cancer-firm-AVO-buys-Large-Hadron-Collider-spin-off.htmlI imagine the NHS will pay AVO quite hadsomely in due course…
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April 17, 2015 at 12:23 pm -
The MIC were heavily involved in the basic structure of the Internet, which the WWW uses.
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April 17, 2015 at 12:37 pm -
Not the MIB?…
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April 16, 2015 at 5:59 pm -
What’s In It For You
Though the LHC has brought black-hole alarmists out of the woodwork, the project will have little effect on our day-to-day lives, unless your family and friends are the type to discuss the origins of the universe over dinner.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-07/supersized-10-most-awe-inspiring-projects-universe?image=8How many ballet-dancers can you fit on the head of a pin I wonder.
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April 16, 2015 at 6:02 pm -
“…will have little effect on our day-to-day lives….”
Bet they used to say that at posh Victorian dinner parties about people faffing about with that new-fangled electricity….
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April 16, 2015 at 8:08 pm -
Nah, they knew how much faster they could make those bobbins spin in their no longer dark, but still satanic mills.
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April 16, 2015 at 10:04 pm -
Growing up in the 1950s, I believed that in contrast to most kids I knew that our house was crammed with books – they would probably have filled 2 feet of shelf space! But, we owned a lot compared to the books you borrowed from the library as well as compared to most folks I knew. Some years ago, my book collection – professional and recreational – occupied over 100 feet of shelf space. No-one in my family is likely to want most of them, and I’ve given lots away, and although as a child I was in the library almost every week, it is decades since I was last in a public library – and when I go into a professional society library it is to find Journals and Conference Proceedings, not text books.
If you don’t mind reading and handling books that have been handled before, the Charity shops, secondhand shops and probably even your local hospital have them for sale at a fraction of the cover price.
For me – and I emphasise that this is a personal view – the Public Library has lost most of its relevance.
You might not like reading e books on a reader, but a Kindle takes up very little space – and there are thousands of free books out there, including many classics, and I’ve tried to restrict my recreational reading to the Kindle, although professional books (I’m an Engineer) don’t tend to work well in e book form because the diagrams and photos are less easy to connect with the text. Some books that I paid for cost only a few pence each – and others, of ‘bestseller’ type were discounted heavily relative to the the paperback price. You can carry a substantial library with a Kindle.
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April 16, 2015 at 11:43 pm -
As a child I was an avid reader from the day I learned to read. I was never away from the library and the private libraries that used to exist. Loved Enid BlytonBlyton though the books bore no resemblance to my life in a working class area of Glasgow, we all loved the idea of a life we could hardly conceive of. By about 10 I had moved to adult books and could never get enough, I would read anything. I loved the peace and silence of the old fashioned libraries. My son was the same but I don’t think my grandson will have much interest, far more fun playing with the computer. I have to admit I rarely read a book now, the IPad takes all my time reading and answering email, I feel quite guilty about that but never seem to have time to read any more. I also enjoy ballet and opera although that came when I was older, love live theatre too but it is expensive to go to London to see it. It’s sad that reading is falling out of favour with children but I don’t think there is much that can be done to reverse the trend.
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April 17, 2015 at 9:26 am -
Welcome to the information age, Petunia. I used to go to the library all the time, but you see, the internet happened. It ain’t just for the rich anymore.
Spare us the faux-class-war allusions and nostalgia-filled guff.
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April 17, 2015 at 11:45 am -
Internet? Oh, you mean this medium we’re using right now? Thanks for letting me know about it. I wondered what those weird-looking portable TVs were in my local library.
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April 17, 2015 at 12:38 pm -
You can leave the tippex at home from now on.
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April 20, 2015 at 9:12 am -
Your sarcastic response doesn’t make my statement any less true, unfortunately.
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