If Fabio Capello believes John Terry should captain England he should ignore the FA and make him captain.

The whole country would support him.

The FA's behaviour has been so unreasonable that I am surprised it has not been challenged in the courts.

One of the creators of the National Trust

Above:  have just finished reading this volume of the diaries of James Lee-Milne, one of the creators of the National Trust (as we know it today).  James Lees-Milne, as revealed by these diaries, was not a particularly nice person (selfish, snobbish, two-faced) but his diaries are important because of the details he records.  Especially interesting are his comments about lesser country houses (manor houses) - I made notes as I read and later looked the places up on Google.

The diaries demonstrate how a relatively small clique of people, mostly intermarried, controlled society in the first half of the twentieth-century.  This still goes on today - look at the media, Parliament (all parties), the institutions etc all are controlled by public school Oxbridge people.  And on the rare occasions when the elite responds to criticism of nepotism they recruit someone right out of the ordinary to act as a token (for instance how does Bonnie Greer get to be a trustee of the British Museum?). 

Ordinary working class people don't get a look in, no matter how talented and qualified they might be. 

Anyway, to get back to James Lees-Milne, it is clear from the diaries that the National Trust effectively operates through artifice.  A few of the properties are preserved exactly as they were at the moment of acquisition, but most are a Lees-Milne vision of how a historic house ought to look.  Particularly shocking is the way furnishings and objects are taken from one property to help furnish another.

Above:  Lees-Milne often refers to Charlecote, a National Trust property in Warwickshire.  Last year I read this history of Charlecote by Alice Fairfax-Lucy, and I visited the house twice.  Although the house is interesting it illustrates the enigmatic nature of the country house myth (the tenuous Shakespeare connection, the Victorian re-imagining of the architecture, the Lees-Milne recreation etc).

Above:  on my second visit I took this photograph of the the front of Charlecote.  The man in the doorway is one of the guides.  I waited for ages for him to go inside but he wouldn't budge.

Entrance hall - paintings familiar from the Alice Fairfax-Lucy history; heraldic glass with many impalings; beautiful intaglio table.

Dining room - silver table centre of palms and turbaned characters; beautiful Sevres dessert service; hideous large black French clock.

Library - two globes of the world that I coveted; portraits of royalty interspersed with portraits of the Lucy family; inlaid faux Tudor chairs (made in India).

Billiard room - Chinese porcelain pagoda; portraits of unpleasant-looking Edwardian people; scintillating blue and gold vases (Chinese 1800).

Drawing room - gold-orange satin wall coverings; a pair of marble and gold candelabras (acquired 1843); Indian dress sword captured at Lucknow.

Above:  in a display in the gatehouse was this model of the house, obviously a children's toy.  The house with its accretions of various myths (or fakery if you prefer) is now mediated as a toy presumably for the education of children.  How did they play with this toy I wonder? (Gentry and peasants as opposed to Cowboys and Indians?).

I hope I am not going to be bored - the past week at work

Monday

I was at my desk early - I am always one of the first to arrive.

When Campaign Manager Keith Chandler arrive there was a sudden demand to produce some factsheets which took up most of the morning.

In the afternoon I worked on the communication plan for individuals.  This meant going down to the archive on the ground floor, a big windowless room with racking that contains every report ever produced by the Institute, including all the contents of the old library which were just dumped in the room when the move out of London took place about ten years previously.  The archive has a staff of three, but the only person down there was Gary, aged about twenty, not terribly bright, slim build, jeans and white shirt (no tie), amiable disposition, fair hair thinning and combed over a small patch (which he is very sensitive about).

I sat at the reading table and asked for various items which Gary fetched for me.

Tuesday

I spent the morning in the archive.  Yesterday evening Gary had had his hair completely cut off but you could still tell where the bald patch was.  The accounts staff laughed at him over this.

Half-way through the morning there was a visitor from the Institute's "sister organisation".  Apparently there are lots of these visitors who just go to the archive and then go back to London without ever going upstairs to the offices.  This visitor was a typical researcher, black trousers and houndstooth jacket, barking out commands to Gary.

Meetings cancelled because of "sickness" - I am inclined to think the Institute's staff are lazy.

Wednesday

All the morning taken up with discussing a new brochure with Campaign Manager Callum Smith.

A meeting with the Manger of the Telephone Surveys section - she was excited about some research she had done.

Thursday

All of the day I worked on the communication plan for private individuals.  Progress was slow, mainly because my mind kept wandering.  I hope I am not going to be bored in this new job.

 

Friday

I asked admin assistant what happened to the previous Director of the Institute.  She launched into a bitter account of the office politics that drove her out.  The offices may seem enervated, but they obviously house deep passions.

In the afternoon I joined the Telephone Survey team for a couple of hours.  There are three permanent staff (including Manager  Abi Reed) supplemented by part-time staff.  They all work in a tiny room on the ground floor, just big enough for a table and six chairs (once everyone is sat down you can't move without considerable disruption).  You have a choice of using headphones or a handset.  All calls are recorded.  I listened in to the calls as they were made - very interesting.

The last hour of the afternoon spent sorting out print quotes.

John Terry

By a process and logic I do not understand John Terry has lost the England captaincy.

The decision was taken by the Football Association, which routinely makes stupid decisions (David Bernstein being particularly stupid, venal and ignorant).

Nevertheless one has to ask why John Terry has lost his public position for unproven racial abuse (and one complaint to the police) whereas Diane Abbott MP kept her public position after obvious and flagrant racial abuse that is wholly in the public domain and resulted in forty or so complaints to the police.

It would appear that the police and Crown Prosecution Service are afraid to prosecute Dianne Abbott and afraid not to prosecute John Terry, despite obvious absurdities in both cases.

Therefore one has to assume that the ideology of multiculturalism (with its vested interests and well organised claque) has corrupted the administration of the law.

A bad law administered corruptly.

One person is punished despite "apologising" another person gets off because she "apologised" (actually ordered, on camera and while giving an interview to Sky News, to apologise).

Where is the logic?

John Terry is being hounded to appease a lobby that is unappeasable (because it is politically driven and does not care who is damaged in pursuit of its political objectives).

Who in government and the media is going to stand up to this lobby?

The report on the Today programme this morning was unbalanced

In a report on the Today programme this morning about trade with India the reporter failed to mention Indian protectionism as an inhibiting factor on British trade with India (for instance the recent resistence to British supermarkets expanding into India).  He also made no reference to the covert Indian practice of requiring multiple bribes with every major contract entered into with the Indian government (every time you look at the ND channel it is reporting accusations of corruption against Indian politicians).  Without these two factors the report on the Today programme this morning was unbalanced.

Lazy journalism on the Today programme.

After the mildest winter anyone can remember we now have a light fall of snow.

In the garden there are white Iceberg hybrid tea roses in full flower (a survival from summer) against a background of pink camellias in full flower (early for Spring) with white powdery snow on the ground and on the glossy green leaves.

This summer-in-the-middle-of-winter is like something from the Mabinogion.

The cruelty she is responsible for

Watched Daily Politics at lunchtime which featured Emma Harrison, founder of A4E - an organisation which is supposed to help the long-term unemployed into work.

Talking to some of the helpless people that fall into the clutches of A4E they had to turn up each day for a "course" which involved them sitting in a room from 9 to 5 (or 10 to 4, I can't remember exactly) week after week doing nothing (there was no "training" they just had to sit there).  Bored out of their minds and depressed by the pointless nothingness of their daily existence the unemployed people would sign themselves off benefits rather than go back to that room.  A4E then counts this as a "success" and claims a fee from the government for getting people off benefits.

This happened under the last Labour administration, a couple of years ago.

Today I looked at Emma Harrison on television laughing and joking with the other guests, who were presumably unaware of the cruelty she is responsible for.

The Daily Politics studio is close to the Embankment, and it would have been entirely understandable if some of the long-term unemployed should grab Emma Harrison as she emerged from the building and tip the frightful woman into the Thames.

Jonathan Meades On France

I am currently watching Jonathan Meades On France.

The untouched:  "...a vague fey love of nature..."

"This is the country that ate a zoo..."

"All cities are artifices..."

"Undemonstrative facade after undemonstrative facade... modesty is often arrogant..."

"The bourgeoisie does not admit it is bourgeois..."

"Ghettos which are hardly hidden, but are off the map... imported impoverished cultures..."

"It is planning not architecture which is culpable..."

"Roots are what vegetables have..."

"Landscape is routinely sacrificed to profit..."

"The sapping horrors of bucolic life..."

"The creepy malignant socialist Francois Mitterand..."

"Charles de Gaulle came to power by employing the tactics of a protection racketeer... the threat of armed coup had been averted by a bloodless coup..."

"It is not until fashions have gone out of fashion that their preposterousness becomes apparent..."

Eyeworks churns out an endless line of rubbish television for the United Kingdom market but for the Netherlands they produce quality drama like Nova Zembla.

Presumably Paul Jackson is responsible for the UK content.

I am struggling to find an ethical source of eggs.

Even the boxes they sell in Sainsburys with the blue and white cruelty-free logo come from producers that practice live male chick maceration.

Keeping chickens myself is not really practical - I don't have the time to look after them.

I am waiting to hear from a local farm that keeps chickens.

At least if I give up eating eggs it should reduce my cholesterol level.

Shirley Williams on the Today programme

Interesting to hear Shirley Williams on the Today programme talking about the Health & Social Care Bill currently going through Parliament.

I agree with her that the NHS as currently constituted provides a very high standard of health care throughout the population.

It is not the top 25% (by income) that we need to be concerned about.  They will always get the best service because of their greater purchasing power and lobbying skills.  It is the bottom 25% that needs to have completely free access to the best healthcare.

Have just watched on Newsnight a discussion about the Wolf report into vocational education.

It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the teaching profession has corrupted the education system to ensure their schools get better ratings in the School League Tables - apparently they were putting children on courses that led nowhere and resulted in worthless qualifications.

https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/publicationDetail/Page1/DFE-00031-2011 

Black XS L'Exces features punk star Iggy Pop

Paco Rabanne's new commercial for Black XS L'Exces features punk star Iggy Pop.

I'm sure they have researched the market and tested the concept and talked through endlessly all the various scenarios.

And I understand they want to attract a young audience by being shocking.

But if I asked you the simple question:  "what does punk rock smell like" what would you say?

Iggy Pop himself is no doubt a very clean and fragrant person.

And  I know many agencies discount the idea of subliminal impressions.

Nevertheless I come back to the question:  "in your mind what does punk rock smell like" ?

"Reactionary and divisive"

Ed Miliband has attacked the SNP's policy of nationalism from an intellectual standpoint.  It is about time someone challenged Alex Salmond to defend nationalism as a political philosophy.  Ed Miliband called the SNP "reactionary and divisive".

Nationalism has been discredited in western Europe since the 1940s.

Lunchtime - watching Jo Coburn interview people about the growing crisis in the Falkland Islands (BBC2).

The Argentine government is sabre-rattling and has imposed an economic blockade on the islands.  As Argentina is an unstable country the fear is that some volatile part of the Argentine military will launch a freelance attack on the Falklands.  The British government has sent HMS Dauntless to the south Atlantic (specifically to destroy Argentine aircraft should an attack be attempted).

Personally I think if Argentina were to attack Britain a second time we would be justified in destroying military bases on mainland Argentina (and ideally imposing a demilitarised status on them).

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was floundering on Newsnight tonight.  "As Tony says... as Tony says... as Tony says..."  Not having anything original to say suggested she had not prepared properly for the programme - always a fatal mistake.

Numinous

Above:  drab day, overcast and cold.  In the afternoon a drive to a village in the south east of the county.  Half a dozen houses, a ringwork "castle" and a stone church outwardly medieval but actually 1865.  I had to get the key from a cottage opposite.  Large number of mud-encrusted wellington boots outside the back door, lying any old how.  The churchwarden, an elderly lady, accompanied me round the church - coughing with the cold air.  The graveyard spongy underfoot.

Above:  the old rectory could be seen from the graveyard, monstrous in appearance.  This is the back which is dated 1804 - the front was put on in 1888.  Fragment of a Saxon cross used as a garden ornament.

Above:  the interior was untouched Victorian.  Plastic coverings everywhere because bats live in the building (and as a protected species cannot be ejected.  I was very impressed by the candelabras either side of the altar.

A numinous building.  I am glad I made the effort to visit it.  The congregation is tiny, so who knows how long it will remain open.

In the Observer today I read Andrew Rawnsley writing about the Scottish referendum.

Has Alex Salmond really referred to Scotland as an occupied country?  What an idiot.  Occupied by whom? 

"Steampunk"?

Above is a screen print from the BBC website.

Watching Andrew Neil's Sunday Politics earlier today I noticed the programme's logo.  It is actually a logotype with a font that must have been especially created for the programme.  Is this font "steampunk"?

I try to be well-organised - the past week at work

Monday

Most key people were out the office today.

I wrote an article for a publication, listed my key objectives for the next 12 months, talked to John Johnson (IT assistant).

But mostly I was bored.

Tuesday

Back from holiday was Denise Cavendish who I had not yet met.  Admin assistant and a silly woman, always gossipping (not in a nice way).  Because she sits near me she is difficult to ignore.

A meeting with Senior Campaigns Manager Keith Chandler.  Working with him is very stressful.  He is badly organised and leaves things until the last moment.

Lunchtime I went to a new supermarket that opened today.  It was almost completely empty of people with only a few shoppers wandering through.  The aisles too high so that it had a claustrophobic feel.

In the afternoon I continued with the marketing plan.

Wednesday

For the third night running I woke from a deep sleep at 3.30 then found it difficult to get back to sleep.  Eventually I got up at 7 not at all rested.  Consequently I was tired all of today. 

Most of the morning I was in a meeting with a list broker, trying to segment various populations.

In the afternoon a discussion with Campaign Manager Callum Smith about the merits of direct mail as opposed to digital communications (direct mail costs more and is less easy to evaluate but gets better results over the long term).

Thursday

I try to be well-organised, but this is no guarantee I will not feel stressed (which for me occurs when I am not in control of things.

Because I had a deadline to meet I left the office (too many interruptions) and went with my laptop to a coffee shop in a local mall.  Coffee and Bakewell tarts.  On sofas nearby were three young business women drinking coffee and talking office politics.  I had no idea where they worked, but I understood immediately the situations they were facing.  Eventually they tottered off on their high heels carrying ridiculous handbags (one covered in fur).  When they had gone I was the only person in the coffee shop apart from the assistant.

Having sent my article off to a magazine I felt able to relax in the afternoon.  I tried to establish a better relationship with Keith Chandler and talked to him about Newcastle United FC (he claims to know Mike Ashley).  Also I talked to the Institute's Director Vijay Singh about the Balochi people in Iran.

Friday

Nearly two hours this morning replying to e-mails.

Then into a meeting with Deputy Director Lois Cooper.  We were supposed to be discussing the launch of new campaigns, but often we talked about psychology, history, and the cultural legacy of the Jewish people in eastern Europe.  We got on so well that I didn't like to mention that her marketing plans were completely unrealistic.

When I got home this evening there was a new moon in the sky and the church bells were ringing (practice).