I thought this was worth flagging up and publicizing:
from the F word:
“A quick reminder to London readers: Abortion Rights is calling for people to come out in force this evening, for a protest against efforts to restrict access to abortion.
This is a protest against Ann Widdecome’s ‘Not on your life…’ roadshow, which the Tory MP is dragging up and down the country to promote ‘pro-life’ amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which would chip away at women’s rights.
Similar protests will take place when the roadshow hits Liverpool, Coventry and Cardiff - please see the Abortion Rights website for more info. The group has also produced a detailed briefing on the bill’s progress through Parliament, and efforts to tack on anti-abortion amendments. “
Flyer here
Thanks for reading this and please pass on the good word!
p.s. the F word:is a brilliant site - take a look
and season”s greetings to the world! yes it has been a long time. where does it fly?
its been a month of beautiful colour, the smell of woodsmoke which reminds me of my childhood , halloween and bonfires and of course fireworks. Tomorrow is the 5th of November!
i”ve stumbled across the books below which look like fascinating reading. Recently I”ve been spending quite a bit of time in Whitechapel, getting to know it better, and also - Limehouse. ( I”ve always had a great interest in Limehouse, the only thing i knew about it before were all the stories about the opium dens..the Picture of Dorian Gray paints a vivid portriat of the area) And of course, one of the reasons Whitechapel so intrigues many people ( across the world!) - is thanks to our old friend jack the ripper and the Whitechapel murders, which as some have put it are perhaps the most over-documented series of events in East End history. everyone loves a good juicy unsolved mystery.
I”d like to spend more time writing about the hidden haunts of London that i”ve come across. i”ve been trying to spend more time just walking around, and its interesting how you stumble across so much - hidden squares which turn out to accommodate delightful gardens, old plaques, fountains, headstones..
A photography exhibition at St. Paul”s Cathedral which documents the ordinary lives and everyday locations caught up in human trafficking and calls for an end to this illegal 21st century trade. The exhibition seeks to expose the reality of trafficking and the action needed to tackle it. Running until the 29th March, produced by Panos Pictures, in partnership with Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Eaves and UNICEF UK. Photographs by Karen Robinson and David Rose.
Calling all modern-day abolitionists! Please sign the petition to urge the UK government to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, bringing help and protection for all trafficked people in the UK a step closer. Tony Blair announced in Jan 2007 that he would do so - the petition requests that this be done so as a matter of urgency.
Thanks Leighton for passing this one on..
“The last simultaneous “lone” demo 2006 is on December 20 in Parliament Square ..permission from the police should have been applied for by the 14th” (which probably means all the procrastinators are “out”!) “As Rachel says, “The idea of the Simulataneous Lone Mass demonstrations is that you draw attention to the stupidity of the Serious Organised Crime & Police Act laws which prohibit peaceful mass demos outside Parliament without permission. By applying to protest as an individual about anything you like - silly or serious - and doing so, as a lone individual - together - simulataneously - with other lone protesters - and by applying en masse to protest as individuals - you draw attention to the crapness of the law. Whilst obeying the letter of it.”
**
Photos from the “Lone Demo” on the 24th of July available here on the CAMPACC site - Campaign against Criminalising Communities”.
More info on Lone Demonstrations on Mark Thomas” site
And the original peace protestor - Brian Haw”s site
Xmas is just around the corner and the festive season is already here. Apparently - according to some figures from Visit London - London is a “Christmassy” city - and “evokes” xmas ” here to the extent that ppl are rushing in from all over europe to do a bit of shopping and enjoying the xmas jollities. (Any excuse for a party eh?)
Things seem to be rushing along quicker this year - don”t know why that is? Is it the usual Sod”s Law situation - when you”re trying to cram more things in - the less time there appears to be. A trip to the exotic east - the Indian sub-continent - lies in wait for me around the corner: we will soon be off (7 days to go!) to a wedding in Bombay; and then hopefully on to Calcutta and Darjeeling after that, and winding up in Dhaka for a week in Jan. Should be exciting - what with Dhaka getting all geared up for elections ( yes I do hope the violence is of a “manageable” level when i”m in town) and New Years” Eve on a white sand beach. And the hill station should be lovely and peaceful and cold.
Thinking of the “exotic east” and India, I have recently finished reading a fantastic book called Shantaram - I urge you all to read it too - and this has just given me a whole lot of local colour to look forward to for the Bombay leg of the trip. Leopolds” - I”ll definitely be checking that place out. Hopefully there will be plenty of photos and travelogue style anecdotes to share when I get back. {Of course - I still haven”t gotten around to uploading our Turkey photos + travel journal - what a marvellous setting that was - Ancient Lycia! More on that later}
So plenty to do this week before rushing off - endless amounts of work to finish off + there”s plenty been happening I want to write about. Time is fast approaching for the “as the year draws to a close” reflections.
Right now the Painted Page exhibition at the new Folio Society Gallery @ the British Library is showing Images of medieval life in the Luttrell Psalter. You can view the original 13th Century illuminated mansuscript in the John Ritblat Gallery also at the BL.
The exhibition uses a mix of facsimile images of the manuscript + technology to make what is usually considered “for antiquarian interests only” an enjoyable, interactive experience and accessible to the public. There are explanatory notes on what the various icons and imagery might have meant + their social significance: providing insight into the 13th century world and how they may have viewed their reality and their life. Which is what”s interesting about illuminated (i.e. illustrated) manuscripts of course. The metaphorical and allegorical nature of medieval imagery and art is particularly interesting to me. Generally I”m interested in the social aspects of history.
The exhibition is free and runs until 7 January 2007. There is some fantastic technology at work here - the “Turning the pages” interactive feature is loads of fun and hopefully will soon be out of the “innovative” bracket into “usual IT bracket” : hmm let”s see.
** The John Ritblat Gallery showcases the “treasures” of the British Library drawn from the millions of items they have in their collection: there”s a new room dedicated to the Magna Carta.
***
Illuminated manuscripts are the most common historical artefacts from the Middle Ages and the best surviving specimens of medieval art. And for some earlier periods of history they often are the only surviving examples of painting.
“An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration or illustration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniatures. In the strictest definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver. However, in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term is now used to refer to any decorated manuscript.”
You can find out more on this fascinating topic on wikipedia and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek - the National Library of the Netherlands
What is going on? A tornado hit the streets of London this morning - Kensal Rise - more info on the BBC here.
Photos via the BBC website - ( these are courtesy of Paul de Silva)
Madness. Freak weather is here that”s for sure.
Amartya Sen will be speaking on what Bengal”s history tells us about living with multiple identities.
Not a free lecture i”m afraid - £10 at the British Museum today at 6:30 p.m.
“Bengal has arguably the longest history of engagement between East and West, stretching back over several centuries of settlement, with Calcutta once the capital city of the British in India. For Bengalis, the British were just one chapter in a long history of cultural exchange and accommodation. That history has seen a cultural heritage shared across faiths (in particular, Hinduism and Islam) and then split, in the twentieth century, across two nations: India and Bangladesh. How does this story of multiple identities - of faith, nation, culture - shed light on the challenges of globalisation in the twenty-first century as many Bengalis migrate across the sub-continent and across the globe? How do those diaspora identities, whether in Tower Hamlets or Delhi, refashion their past and what insights can history can offer for the increasing primacy of religious identity?“
Part of the Voices of Bengal season at the British Museum
the last few months have sped past me. i have been busy regenerating london - what a task. a lot”s been happening here there and everywhere and i shall pick up on my “reporting” and let you know what”s been going on in my neck of the woods.
the world out there has been extremely busy too - I”ve a few things up my sleeve I want to be commenting on - will be more on that shortly.
the streets of London for the last oh - i don”t know how long - last month or so? have been flooded with “free” newspapers competing with the “incumbent” free morning paper - the Metro. In the old days you never got a copy of the Metro if you got on a Tube say at 9:35 or so. Now you have the City AM, London Lite and the London paper shoved down your throat. the City AM people are less shovy - and you don”t generally see them in the evening. It seems to be a showdown between London Lite and the London paper - both will have 2 different people standing like 2 cms away from each other - every 2 mins up and down every street - till about 10:30 p.m. at night - trying to offload lots of copies onto you. As anyone could have predicted, there are now a lot of newspapers on the streets. Perhaps we”ll need an increase in paper recycling bins?
anyhow - there are usually some amusing tidbits one can find in these papers - some are funnier than others. this morning”s City A.M. has a couple that made me giggle and I will be sharing them shortly.
Good question indeed.
This week’s public lectures at the LSE are asking some hard-hitting questions. This particular lecture is presented by the LSE Cold War Studies Centre as part of the ‘End of the Cold War and Making of a New World Order Lecture Series‘ and delivered by Professor Barry Buzan.
Many have talked of the ‘war on terror’ as if it were a new Cold War. This simplistic and misleading understanding is subject to a major critique by one of the leading writers on international relations today.
Date: Wednesday 4th October - 6:30 p.m. @ Old Theatre
Further details and directionsÂ
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