Having walked by 22 Parkside near Wimbledon Village on many occasions, it was intriguing to learn that Richard Rogers the famous architect, had designed the small building there as a home for his parents.
The only site designed by Mr Rogers that I can recall visiting, is the Pompidou Centre in Paris and even that visit was many years ago. As I recall, the Pomidou Centre has many of its building works and pipes constructed on the outside of the building which made it almost unique at the time.
Reverting to 22 Parkside; the building is set back from Parkside the opposite side of the road from the Village end of Wimbledon Common. The home is not visible from the road which presumably means that traffic noise is largely absent.
Having learned that the Rogers' house has been given to the National Trust, their information was that NT visitors would not be admitted until 2028. However the house would be open to visit on one day last week by appointment but unfortunately when upon enquiring, all bookings to visit had been taken so we will have to wait a while.
Merton to my knowledge, only has one other National Trust site, namely Morden Hall Park which mrs maytrees and I have viited on many occasions. There there is a large garden centre, two cafes a decent second hand bookshop and several other activity centres and sites. Unusually for the NT there is no requirement of being an NT member to vsit Morden Hall Park, nor is there any admission fee payable.
The addition of a second NT property to the London Borough of Merton is welcome.
Bernie Paul and I decided on a reuion for the old HCPT Group 35 leadership team with lunch togather after 12:30pm mass at Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday this week.
Having arrived early I decided that the sacrament of reconciliation might be apt for me. Having joined the relatively short queue for the two confessional boxes it was amazing to find that the wait was almost 45 minutes.
I recalled whilst waiting being in the same queue may years before when one of the priests announced that the passing of time, now meant that only those with 'mortal' sins should remain. The queue immediately evaporated at which I inwardly laughed.
After holy mass we decided on Bills for lunch. Happily there was a Bills in the shopping centre opposite Westminster Cathedral. We each had hambugers and drinks which were all very enjoyable.
Much of the converstaion of course centred on the many journeys to Lourdes we had made mainly with the HCPT over the years eg HCPT Group 35. We also decided that traveling together one more time as we had done in 2018 would if possible be worthwhile. Lourdes. Bernie mentioned flying there but my preference was to take the train; London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord thence Gare Montparnasse to Lourdes although when travelling previously many SNCF trains were strike-bound;
The journey home by train from Gare de Lourdes we assumed would be uneventful as Sunday was a SNCF non-strike day. However upon arriving at the station notification was given that the TGV to Paris had been cancelled. There was a chance of finding a train to Paris from Dax so we took a local train to Dax. Over coffee there while we waited many people French and others mentioned Mrs Thatcher's union fights which they hoped President Macron would emulate.
Youngest sister, mrs maytrees and I, decided on Tuesday to visit Polesden Lacey for lunch and a walk in the countryside.
The weather was fine and we arrived at midday just as the kitchen opened for cooked lunches. Steph had a light lunch and mrs maytrees opted for baked potatoe with salad. I ordered a deliously hot dish with feta cheese and Eastern vegetables.
After lunch we toured some of the grounds. Despite having visited Polesden Lacey many times before mrs maytrees and I found the site very interesting as the estate of course alters with the seasons and weather. Steph who cannot drive recalled only visiting once before years ago when our father was still very much alive.
The only issue we had was the normal one for National Trust properties, namely the fact that accessibility other than by car is difficult. Presumably the landed gentry who of old owned such estates before they were bequeathed to the NT, enjoyed living in remote countryside.
A few days later we visted another NT site, Winkworth Aboretum. There we met up with youngest daughter Catherine, her husband Johnny and nine month old baby Emily.
Like Polesden Lacey the grounds were delightful but here the cafe, NT shop and other premises were newly built with what seems to be a combination of architect designed taste and vistor enjoyment.
A light sandwich type lunch was enjoyed by the adults as were slices of very enjoyable home made cake and tea after our walk around some of the grounds.
The ongoing Russian war in Ukraine now spans over four years. Putin had signified that his invasion of Ukraine would be over in a week or was it a few days? Either way he was wrong. His war has probably caused many Ukrainians who were supportive of Russia to become extemely critical of Putin and Russia.
Putin seems to have litlle regard for the huge losses of life his war is causing, with thousands of Russians fallen in battle as well as many Ukrainians. Reports have it that he will soon be issuing mandatory call-ups on a national basis having already encouraged civilian prisoners to fight by releasing them from jails and allowing them to forgo their prison sentences.
Recently, with USA support for Ukraine apparently in decline, the latter country's stock of defence weapons has substantially reduced though European countries are endeavouring to supply more for them.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has designed and is producing some very advanced drones which have attacked a number of strategic Russian oil installations far inland and on the Crimea.
On the other hand, Russia with support from its allies, has its own weapons of war, drones and rockets which are playing havoc and far worse, on Ukrainian battle fronts as well as in Kyiv and other towns and cities.
There is a large report in The Times newspaper today illustrating some frightening events for Ukraine in its attempts to mainatin supplies to a vital front line town:
The grinding battle for Donbas remains the epicentre of the war in Ukraine. Yet the plethora of drones and their vastly increased range have widened the “kill zone”, making much of the eastern region almost inaccessible to journalists.
This summer other events have diverted attention from the war in the east: Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign against Russian infrastructure, the escalation in Russia’s ballistic missile attacks in response, and Ukraine’s internal political upheavals.
Yet the fate of this 30-mile arc of territory, commonly known as “fortress Donbas”, linking four Ukrainian cities from north to south—Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka—is of grave importance to both Russia and Ukraine. As a result, the area is exposed to more fighting than anywhere else on the front.
Pope Leo has sent his top peace negotiator Archbishop Paul Gallagher formerly of Liverpool, to Moscow in an attempt at least to mediate a peace settlement though sadly, so far without any apparent success.
Blog psting this week was to be about the sad death of Jason Arday especialy following the suspensioon of another academic by Ghent University for criticising him. However this week's Spectator magazine has its editorial on the same matter which I feel unable to better, so instead their article appears below, in full. I believe however that the suspension of the academic in Belgium occurred too late for the Spectator but that supports even further the tenor of their main editorial:
The Samaritans warn against attributing suicide to a single cause. Doing so simplifies a complex tragedy. Those who take their own lives tend to do so because of an array of biological and social factors; pointing to a single spark, campaigners fear, can lead others experiencing similar pain to see suicide as the only way out. This advice does not seem to have registered with those politicising Jason Arday’s tragic death, which many are assuming was a suicide although that is yet to be confirmed.
The pinning of blame for Arday’s death began swiftly after the news broke last Friday. Arday’s supporters have suggested he died because of the press coverage of his case. Had journalists not uncovered Arday’s alleged plagiarism or exposed, among many other assertions, his dubious claims to have raised £5.5 million for charity running marathons while injured, or scrutinised his story that a pig’s head was left on his parents’ doorstep, his reputation would not have suffered. By digging into Arday’s absurdities, the narrative goes, the ‘right-wing press’ pushed the father of two over the edge.
Carole Cadwalladr, the former Observer journalist, described Arday’s death as ‘a digital lynching’, highlighting articles The Spectator had published about the Cambridge professor. In a 7,000-word polemic, titled ‘J’accuse’, the author Will Self has called on Andy Burnham to establish a public inquiry and suggested journalists persecuted a vulnerable man in pursuit of clicks. Self also indicated a congruence between ‘the British legacy media’ and ‘Himmler’s SS’ and proposed that ‘the police should be impounding computers’.
Labour MP Dawn Butler has written to Ipso, the press regulator, to suggest that Arday ‘would still be alive today’ if not for ‘coverage by the Times, Telegraph, Mail and Spectator’. Zack Polanski, the Green leader, has called this moment a prime opportunity to ‘tackle the press’. A petition is calling for Arday’s Law, a legal cap on the amount of coverage permitted about an individual in a set period.
The Prime Minister says this is not a ‘moment for any rushing to judgment’. But where the left leads, Burnham so often follows. He has previously voiced support for greater press regulation, backing Leveson 2, pushing for publications to sign up to a state-run regulator, and associating himself with campaigners from both Hacked Off and the Good Law Project, organisations that are using Arday’s death to demand greater press restrictions.
To use Arday’s death as an excuse to clamp down on journalists would be an appalling abuse of the man’s legacy, an intentional misremembering of recent history and an assault on the liberties that make such investigations possible. It would obscure the failings at the University of Cambridge, and across higher education, which Arday’s swift rise and rapid fall revealed, and prevent legitimate questions about diversity initiatives and progressive dogma.
Suggesting that Arday was criticised only by the ‘right-wing’ press disregards the fact that it was Times Higher Education – not exactly regarded as a bastion of reactionary thought – that first put questions to Arday about his work, a move that prompted him to contact the police and libel lawyers. While the original piece reporting on his alleged plagiarism may have come from Nathan Cofnas – a self-described ‘race-realist’ academic, formerly of Cambridge – one of the most damning exposures of Arday in fact came from the Guardian. Criticising a black academic whom the paper had lauded on his appointment may have been unpopular with readers – but an admirable commitment to reporting the truth won out.
For most of his career, Arday had benefited from fawning coverage: uncritical acceptance of his claims about his life and achievements. This was matched by a lack of inquisitiveness by the employers who continued to promote him. When Arday began to face questions about plagiarism in his work, Cambridge had the opportunity to deal with the matter quietly. Instead, the university doubled down, so it was left to journalists to try to uncover the truth. Public interest in Arday’s case was unsurprising given the prestige of the institution involved, the extent of the faith placed in him and the absurdity of what was discovered.
The reporting exposed the cult of ‘anti-racism’ which had established itself at one of the world’s top universities. Born of a desire to seem on trend following the Black Lives Matter furore, Cambridge over-promoted a black academic rather than ask questions about his competence.
Undoubtedly, having the details of one’s life and career picked apart in the national press would not be easy. But scrutiny comes with putting yourself in the public eye. The press is not to be courted and then denounced the moment it says something you dislike. It should be defended as a cornerstone of a liberal society, a bulwark against cant, lies and deceit.
A tragic death should not be reduced to a progressive parable of journalistic malice. However much Arday’s supporters disliked certain articles about him, that does not make the authors of those articles culpable for his death. Arday’s passing must not be used to silence those who ask difficult questions of powerful institutions and prominent figures
Our oldest daughter Alice who is head of mathematics at her school selected this exhibition at Somerset House for us to view with her and her two children, our oldest grandchildren.
A very interesting question posed in the exhibition gallery was whether the pictures were more about mathematics or art bearing in mind that MC Esher had trained to be an architect
We enjoyed lunch together beforehand and had a very interesting day thanks to oldest daughter.
Details of some of my most interesting journeys from age 11 to age 77 are set out ine the above autobiography so there follows little more than a list in no particular order:
The first at age 11 was alone from Wallington Surrey. to Pyla near Arcachon France to stay with the family of Prince Henri Melchior de Polignac (RIP) at their villa over a private beach. Travelling was by cross channel ferry; train to Bordeaux thence car to Pyla
Travelling to Ireland with school friend John Farr (RIP) and then meeting my now wife hitch hiking in Connemara Ireland. Also Connemara 2025
Train, ferry and train from London to Istanbul
Bus from Istanbul to Ankara
Escape small pox outbreak in Turkey by ferry to Cyprus
Army Land Rover around Cyprus which island was then undivided.
Train from Cairo to Luxor when train corridors filled with prisoners of war,
Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens Egypt deserted because of war.
