The British Political Establishment - not delivering what you voted for!

I came across an interesting article from Vernon Bogdanor in The Guardian this week.  He makes the interesting point that MPs could connive to block Brexit indefinitely.  This is what he had to say:

 “. . . were Parliament to pass legislation preventing Britain leaving the EU without a deal, Brexit could be delayed forever, since the Commons would then be free to reject every deal presented to it”.

He also writes:

“ Looking at the sorry performance of the House of Commons elected in 2017, it is difficult to avoid remembering Winston Churchill’s condemnation of the parliaments of the 1930s as being “ decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent”.  Parliament has shown itself not to be the solution to Brexit but the problem.”

Here is a link to the article:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/29/parliament-brexit-prorogue-mps-alternative-no-deal

Meanwhile, on a similar theme, this was my favourite letter of the month taken from the August 24 edition of The Week.  It was originally published in The Sunday Times.

Getting what you voted for.

To The Sunday Times

Michael Heseltine and Betty Boothroyd get into an awful lather about the “subversion” of Parliament as they attempt to stop us leaving the EU.

They overlook the facts that MPs voted in favour of holding a referendum; that the majority of MPs were elected on manifestos that pledged to honour the result of that referendum; that MPs voted to trigger Article 50 in the knowledge that it committed us to leaving; and that it was MPs who voted down the deal that was negotiated with the EU – on three occasions. 

If the result of all this is the UK leaving on 31 October with no deal, that is the result of decisions made by Parliament.  Where is the subversion?

Eileen Haxby, Harrogate.

An August visit to Seaton in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.

On August 23, the Friday before the Bank Holiday weekend, I had a pleasant drive in bright sunshine down the A358 to the seaside town of Seaton in Devonshire.  Having passed through Axmouth it became obvious that the fine weather had drawn people to the coast as most of the little laybys beside the B3172 overlooking the River Axe were occupied.  On the Esplanade around 80 percent of the car parking spaces were taken, but I found a space halfway along the seafront and put £2 in the meter to allow a couple of hours strolling.

The first thing I noticed was that the new ‘modern’ apartment block in the middle of the Esplanade appeared to be complete, and is just the monstrosity I expected it to be.  In my opinion it’s a blot on the coastline in general, and a blot on Seaton’s seafront in particular!

The Esplanade, Seaton, Devonshire in August 2019.

Walking west along the Esplanade the sea front was as crowded as I had ever seen it.  All the benches on the sea wall were taken, lots of people on the beach, queues for ice-creams, people in the sea, and the usual promenaders. 

I strolled up Castle Hill, occasionally stopping for a breather and taking the odd photo.  The benches between the cliff top and Cliff Field Gardens provided a convenient place to sit down and enjoy the view to the east.

A view of the beach and seafront at Seaton in Devonshire as seen from Castle Hill.

A view of Beer Head in Devonshire as seen from Seaton.

The steep path down to The Hideaway café gave me an opportunity to take some photos of Beer Head with the sea sparkling in the afternoon sun.  My return journey took me east back along the seafront where every other beach hut was occupied, and past the ice cream kiosk – still with its queues.

My two hours were up by the time I got back to the car, so it was off to a busy Seaton Tesco for some shopping, and then back home for tea.     

August cloudscapes over South Somerset.

The first ten days of August came with some stormy weather bringing gusty winds and heavy bouts of rain, but when the skies cleared a series of delightful cloudscapes appeared over South Somerset.

Some of the photos I took of them are posted below without comment.  The pictures cover an eleven day spell and speak for themselves. 

10th August 2019.

11th August 2019.

12th August 2019.

17th August 2019.

21st August 2019

Blackberries, or brambles as some call them, the wild fruit of August.

Lia Leendertz in her The Almanac.  A Seasonal Guide to 2018 (Unbound, 2017) chose blackberries, or brambles as she names them, as her kitchen ingredient of the month for August.  She wrote:

“Call them blackberries if you like, but there is something special about the word ‘bramble’, covering the as it does both the fruit itself and the act of gathering them.  To bramble is to ramble and search, to take on the thicket, sleeves resolutely rolled down, and to cover yourself in scratches . . .  You can buy blackberries or grow them in the garden, but it is not only the experience that will be missed: wild blackberries have a complexity of flavour that is completely lacking in the cultivated types, a wild, woodsy, homely taste, nostalgia in berry form.”

As a child I enjoyed picking blackberries from the hedgerows when spending holidays in the countryside with various relatives in the Lulsgate and Redhill areas of North Somerset.   You can also find blackberries in the city, although you have to be careful where you pick them due to possible pollution by exhaust fumes from road traffic.  One year, about twelve years ago when living in Bristol, I picked enough blackberries in the Malago Valley for my wife to make a couple of dozen jars of excellent home-made jam. 

Blackberries are an admirable source of vitamin-C and contain a good amount of minerals such as potassium, manganese, copper and magnesium.  So, when my wife and I enjoy a cup of tea and a jam sandwich it’s not only a tasty treat but a nutritious one as well! 

Blackberries in a South Somerset hedgerow.

B.E.McLaughlin a Portsmouth police officer who joined the RAF and served in Bomber Command is at rest in a Hampshire churchyard.

L. recently sent me a photo of a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard of St. Mary’s in Portchester, not too far from her home near The Solent.  The grave was that of Flight Lieutenant B. E. McLaughlin DFC RAFVR, an experienced pilot who was serving with No. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Sandtoft in Lincolnshire when he was killed.

Benjamin McLaughlin was the son of George Thomas McLaughlin and Ivy Love McLaughlin of Paulsgrove, Hampshire.  At the age of 21 he joined the Portsmouth Police Force and served with them until May of the following year when he went to Palestine to take up a position in the Palestine Police Force.  In December 1937 he returned to England and re-joined the Portsmouth Force.

In July 1941 McLaughlin joined the RAF and on August 5 1942 he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer.  He subsequently flew Lancasters from RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire with 12 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command’s No.1 Group.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1943 while serving with 12 Squadron and had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant by that date.

On 21 of his sorties with 12 Squadron McLaughlin flew with Flying Officer Norman Watson as his Navigator.  By a remarkable coincidence they would both have a connection to the Police Force.  Watson survived the war to become Assistant Chief Constable of Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary.  McLaughlin was not so fortunate. 

On July 5 1944 he was instructor pilot in a Handley Page Halifax Mk.V, the Merlin engine version, which crashed while practicing flying on 3 engines at 200 feet.  The aircraft, which was operating from RAF Sandoft in Lincolnshire, came down at Alkborough on the south bank of the Humber.  Nine men were on board including a pilot and three flight engineers under training; there were only two survivors. Sadly, Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Edward McLaughlin, aged 30, was not one of them.

Although Benjamin McLaughlin has no connection with Somerset he served in Bomber Command at the same time as my late father-in-law, Douglas Eyles. He flew from RAF Fiskerton in Lincolnshire as a Flight Engineer with the Lancaster equipped 49 Squadron between November 1943 and May 1944.  

Stooks near Sea in South Somerset.

These days it is not often one sees stooks in the English countryside, but I took this photo near the hamlet of Sea in South Somerset on August 2nd.

Stooks near the hamlet of Sea in South Somerset.