A stroll over Herne Hill on the southern fringe of Ilminster in South Somerset.

On the last Friday in October I decided to go for a stroll over wooded Herne Hill on the southern fringe of Ilminster in South Somerset.  It was a bright, sunny, warm day and it seemed ideal for taking a few pictures of the autumn colours.  The hill, 361ft high, is owned and maintained by Ilminster Town Council.

Leaving the car in the pay and display car park opposite Tesco in Shudrick Lane, I turned left towards Ditton Street and then up the steep Listers Hill to the edge of town.  At the end of the last row of Edwardian terraced houses I turned west along the lane and then crossed the playing field where I picked up the footpath signposted to Greenway and Donyatt. 

Taking the tree-lined lane which goes steadily uphill I  came to a bench where a gap in the trees allowed a fine view north to Ilminster and its Church of St. Mary, built of Ham stone in the latter half of the fifteenth century and known as The Minster, with Beacon Hill on the skyline.

Ilminster in South Somerset viewed from Herne Hill.

The path became steeper and stepper until I reached the trig point at the top of the hill where another handy bench allowed a rest before I took some photos of the view east along Shudrick Valley.  The views to the south were difficult to photograph because of the low autumn sun, but I could see the tower of St. Andrew’s Church at Dowlish Wake and the hamlets of Sea and Peasmarsh.

Looking east along Shudrick Valley from the trig point on Herne Hill.

Setting off across a crisp golden carpet of Beech and Oak leaves at the top of the hill I soon came upon an intriguing tree stump inlaid with two pence pieces.  Someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to create a fascinating pattern, but what it signified I do not know.

A tree stump decorated with two pence pieces on the summit of Herne Hill.

Autumn colours on Herne Hill near Ilminster in South Somerset.

Exiting the western side of the wood it was now straight downhill all the way to the old railway line at Donyatt Halt.  As I followed the hedgerow and track there were fine views of the village of Donyatt and its village church of St. Mary with the Blackdown Hills beyond. To the north-west the Quantock Hills were easily visible. 

The path to Donyatt from Herne Hill near Ilminster.  The Blackdown Hills are on the skyline.

At Donyatt Halt I rested awhile then took some photos of the substantial World War Two Taunton Stop-Line defences - that will be for a future blogpost – before walking along the cycle path, which follows the track bed of the old railway, back to Ilminster.

"I am going to curtail alien immigration and deport undesirables", said the Conservative Home Secretary - in 1924!

Robin Tilbrook, Chairman of the English Democrats, has posted an interesting article on his blog comparing what an English Conservative Home Secretary said about immigration in 1924 to the views of today’s Tory leadership.

Mr Tilbrook reveals Sir William Joynson- Hicks, Conservative Home Secretary in 1924, said:

“I am going to curtail alien immigration and deport undesirables; we do not want to flood England with the alien refuse of the world.  I regard aliens who live in their own communities, marry within them, and speak their own language, as unsuitable to be British residents.”

The English Democrats Chairman writes:

“Of course in those days Conservative Home Secretaries were proper Conservatives and were also patriots who would be revolted by the current Home Secretary’s unpatriotic support for foreigners ruling over us through the EU.”

To read Robin Tilbrook’s blogpost in full here is a link:

http://robintilbrook.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/home-secretary-going-to-deport.html

Meanwhile, it seems one Conservative, Rory Stewart the Minister of State for International Development and Minister of State for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, might have one or two thoughts along the same lines as Sir William Joynson-Hicks.

Mr Stewart, speaking of British Isil fighters, was quoted in The Telegraph saying:

“They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate, they believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an eighth century, or seventh century, state.

So I am afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them.”

Doubtless British Isil fighters could be classed as “undesirables” but, if they somehow managed to return to these shores, could they be deported?   They are, after all, British and which nation would want to take in British “undesirables"?

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/22/way-dealing-british-islamic-state-fighters-kill-almost-every/

Funding setback for Somerset's Wellington Monument. The National Trust should take advice from Scotland.

Take funding advice from Scotland.

"You have to admire the way our Scottish neighbours manage to extract finance from British institutions.  The Barnett formula enables the Scots to obtain more funds, per head, from the British Treasury than is given to the English.  That situation is mirrored by the Big Lottery Fund as the Scots receive £14.04 per head, the English £9.32.

In such circumstances it is hardly surprising that the National Trust failed, for the second time, in their application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the £2 million required to initiate much needed repairs to the Wellington Monument, that striking landmark on the Blackdown Hills (“Fund setback for West monument”, Western Daily Press, Oct 4) .  Perhaps the National Trust in England should ask its counterpart in Scotland for advice.  The Scots certainly seem to have the knack for obtaining money from British national institutions."

S.W., Ilminster, Somerset

The letter above was published in the Western Daily Press on October 13th.  Reading it and the Daily Mail article below (see link) illustrates how our neighbours in Scotland manage to extract what could be said to be more than their fair share of UK finance.  It seems that England always comes last in the queue, behind Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as Scotland.  

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4867000/Scots-win-lotto-English-charities-50-head.html

Autumn colours at Burrington Combe on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.

Autumn colours at Burrington Combe on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.

The Wellington Monument on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset. A striking tribute sorely in need of repair.

The Wellington Monument on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset must be one of the most well-known, if not the most well-known, landmarks visible from the M5 south of Bristol.  Over the years millions of people must have viewed it as they travelled through the Vale of Taunton Deane.  Therefore, it is disappointing that the Heritage Lottery Fund has turned down an application for a contribution to the sorely needed funds required to carry out repairs to this striking monument.* 

The Wellington Monument on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

A National Trust information board at the monument explains why the repairs are needed.  It states: “A combination of its exposed position, unique shape, varying quality of construction and failed repairs has contributed to the current poor state it is in”.

A section of stonewall halfway up the Wellington Monument.  Apparently there are voids in the rubble filled walls which presumably exacerbate the problems caused by the ingress of rainwater. 

Erected in honour of The Duke of Wellington, the victor at Waterloo, the monument has a chequered history.  Suggested in 1815, it was not completed to its present height of 174ft until 1892 due to intermittent funding and the need for repairs following a lightning strike in 1846.  It was originally planned to have a statue of the Duke of Wellington at the top of the triangular column with 24 cannons and granite lions at its base.  There was also a proposal for three homes for Waterloo veterans, who would act as caretakers, to be built within the monument’s base.  No statue, veterans’ cottages or lions were forthcoming and although 4 cannons were installed in 1910 they were removed in 1940.  Today there is only 1 cannon on site, it was installed in 1984.

The National Trust took over the monument, and twelve and a half acres of surrounding land, in 1933.  By 1966 another sixty-two acres were in the care of the Trust.  From the spacious car park it is a pleasant, level walk through an avenue of trees to the monument where you can glimpse views over the Vale of Taunton Deane with the Quantocks, Brendons and Exmoor beyond. 

  

*Here is a link to an explanatory article on the ITV News Website.

http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2017-10-03/project-to-save-wellington-monument-suffers-setback/

Paul Mason, Labour supporter and former BBC journalist, warns the first six months of a Corbyn government would be "like Stalingrad".

This is an extract from an article entitled "Jeremy Corbyn: Its right to plan for a run on the pound" published on the BBC News website on 26th September.

"Labour's last election manifesto contained pledges to bring rail and water companies and Royal Mail back into public ownership as well as a number of other large spending commitments - to be funded by borrowing and higher taxes on business and the better-off.
Speaking on Monday, Mr McDonnell said a future Labour administration would not be "traditional" and "people want to know we're ready, and they want to know we've got a response to anything that could happen".
Labour, he argued, must "scenario-plan" for all kinds of potential challenges it might face in government "bringing the relevant expertise together at every level to talk through what happens if there is such and such a reaction".
"What if there is a run on the pound? What happens if there is this concept of capital flight? I don't think there will be, but you never know.
"We've got to start work now… how exactly are we going to manage these industries when we take them back into public ownership? And let's start doing the detailed work now. Let's start doing the consultations with consumers or passengers or whoever and also with local authorities and local councils or whoever."
A Labour spokesman said: "This was an exercise not done by us but by members. The scenarios were to deal with numerous events such as national disasters and acts of terror that could occur under any government."
Speaking at the same conference fringe event as Mr McDonnell, former broadcaster Paul Mason warned the first six months of a Corbyn government would be "like Stalingrad", with attacks from the establishment." 

I had this letter commenting on the views of Mr McDonnell and Mr Mason published in the Western Daily Press on October 10th.


Would Corbyn be a Nazi or a Communist?
During the recent Labour party conference John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said that a future Labour administration should have contingency plans for capital flight and a run on the pound.  I admire his honesty and forward planning in preparing for such an economic future under Labour.

Speaking at the same event as Mr McDonnell, Paul Mason, Labour supporter and former BBC journalist, painted a near apocalyptic picture of life with Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.  He said the first six months would be “like Stalingrad”.  In Mr Mason’s scenario I wonder which role Mr Corbyn’s Labour would be playing, Hitler’s Nazis or Stalin’s Communists?

S.W.,

Ilminster, Somerset

I would have thought Leningrad a better analogy for a Labour government under siege, but who am I to question someone with such left-wing credentials as Mr Mason? 
Incidentally, the title for my letter was not mine. It was chosen by the WDP's letters editor.