Dissembler daze and knights….

Dissembler daze and knights….

“Arthur” she cried out, as loudly as she possibly could. Well, she had to be loud as the corridors were so long. He could be anywhere – and he most probably was. “Oh where are you, my love? There are still so many, deeply noble duties to perform today – and your most treasured friend Merlyn is due to appear so soon”.

Guinevere was accustomed to these problems but nonetheless she had never really accepted her lot. She smiled  wanly “My Camel lot, indeed!” Weary but resolute, she started off down the most likely route to search for her errant partner.

Way ahead of her and several times more cunning, in the meantime he had taken residence up at the very top of the most far distant towers. “That high and mighty Lancelot is due today – I can no longer abide him, so I think I’ll stay up here out of the way. Maybe I can get the wizard to turn him into a beetle or something – just keep him out of my way. Always bragging about rescuing damsels or ransacking enemy castles – nothing I couldn’t do in my sleep, but I have so many more vital tasks on my plate which he just does not realise the importance of. He has to grow up and discover that life has subtleties and nuances – it’s not all just charging around on rescue missions, however much fun they may be!”

Passing his soiled lance to Baldthing, his serf, Du Lac smiled as he went once more, in painstaking detail, over his recent duel. No, his opponent had been a very poor adversary and fully deserved his somewhat spectacular demise. Very spectacular, actually, he corrected himself, then burst out into fits of uproarious mirth. “Well, frankly, I AM unbeatable”.

“Now we head on to see whether Emperor Tedium has any news. Perhaps he’ll be eating his Holy Gruel, perhaps he’ll have been consumed by all those Welsh witches or maybe gone on a sabbatical with the Sorcerer.”

Luckily this latest conquest had been just a short owl’s flight from the centre of the kingdom. Soon he was at the gate. 

There was a sudden flash of light. It was the most vivid white flash, a crescendo – and then it dissolved into every colour of the rainbow, with a few new ones thrown in for good measure. Everywhere, everything else looked pale and jaded – there was only one point one’s eyes could focus and, sure enough, it was in that direction that Baldthing’s master now cast a scornful glare.

“You always try to upstage everyone, don’t you, you, you, you useless conjurer. Why can’t you just come to the gate like normal people and heroes like myself have to?”

Merlyn devapourised on the top of the flight of stairs outside the turret top room where Arthur had taken refuge. He liked his holidays and took them very seriously. This time he’d chosen to visit Bretaigne in the 21st century. He smiled – he’d had quite an adventure – the people all hiding their faces behind masks had been rather scary – but it was great to come home to civilisation, again.  

Casually he discharged a residual portal energy fragment  which earthed in pleasingly flamboyant manner just outside the main gate and then knocked on Arthur’s door. As the room used to be his, it dutifully opened for him and he swept in boldly, where he found his former pupil gazing out of the window looking disconsolate.

“Merlyn, I am so glad to see you – you have arrived just in the nick of time – though I imagine you’ll tell me you’d already worked it out. But that tiresome night has come. Yes, and that tiresome knight has come, as well.” he added, somewhat confusingly. His manner perturbed the wizard but he simply replied “Ah, you know – I’ve seen it all before”. This was indeed true and added the deeply bittersweet element to this unique individual’s life patterns, but is a description that I needs must leave for another day!

“Come, let us WALK down to the Great Hall” the king said, suddenly and as if with new resolve. “Que sera, sera”. He smiled “My friend’s horseman Senor Sancho Panza is teaching me some Hispanic”. Already the sun was setting and shadows were stretching out over the keep. The crisp air was full of busy, evening sounds and, as they approached the inner doors, there were strong wafts of wonderful aromas carrying notice that today’s feast was almost ready.

At this point they were approached by a very dishevelled figure, wearing blackened and rather torn garments. His face, too, was blackened and his hair appeared singed. Arthur stared at this, then at Merlyn, whose eyes he caught. As one they both burst into laughter: “Lancelot – what HAS happened to you? A dragon, up in Eryri, maybe?” The recently stricken knight spluttered and looked daggers at Merlyn, but said nothing. Sullenly, he followed them into the castle, where the beautiful Guinivere was waiting by the table.

When I say “waiting” I mean that she had very recently stopped moving – she was not serving food! “My love, there you are – and you have found our two principle guests, so you were not just hiding somewhere. Oh, but noble Lance, you do not look good after your journey – and many conquests, I am sure. Come, let me take you to your chamber, that you can restore yourself”.

Baldthing followed slowly behind them as, at the same time, other figures started to filter into the room. At the far end a huge fire was burning, meat was roasting and sparks flying. Elsewhere lamps and candles also cut through the shadows. “Gawain, it’s good to see you – hmm, and Mordred, too”. Arthur greeted over a dozen such gallant defenders of his dreams and ideals, protectors of this beautiful and prosperous realm – that he ruled over so…..justly.

Lamorak and Palamedes approached, deep in conversation. “My liege, how good it is to be back with you in Camelot, at your splendid round table. Tonight we can put everything right once more!” The liege, although he smiled broadly, felt uneasy. “Indeed, at this table we are each of us equals, and can discuss how all these, our lands, lie. But it seems you suggest, perhaps, that some things are not now proper?”

Palamedes smiled as well, but did not answer. A bell rang and a loud voice bellowed out “Good knights of Fair Britaigne, pray drink a toast to our valliant leader and then be seated to enjoy this banquet”. The rumbustious gathering became suddenly galvanised. Almost as one they lifted vessels of mead or ale or wine and cried “Arthur” then pulled their heavy chairs up to the magnificent table. Five yards across, hewn from the strongest oak this circular bwrdd was the essence of the responsibility and accountability upon which the king and his advisor had built this nation.

“Where is Du Lac?” cried Mordred, “Surely he must be here with news for us of his, his exploits?”

“I am here” came a voice surging in confidence, springing from the shadows at the back of the hall. “And you, too, young Mordred – though I am not sure quite why. Come, everybody, let us feast – and talk!”

All was not well, it turned out, albeit the problems lay chiefly to the North and the East where, it seemed, invading armies were landing and creating havoc. Villages were being ransacked and whole communities slaughtered. But this was many leagues away and, nearer to Camelot, affairs were more parochial.

Guinevere had slipped in and placed herself at Arthur’s side. She looked unsettled – even worried. “What ails you, my love? Is it these tales of unrest?” She tore her eyes away and cried out “Behold everyone, we have minstrels with us today. When you’ve eaten your fill, let us all sing and dance to bring cheer into this dark, winter night”. Seeing his gaze still upon her she breathed “Oh, it is nothing, Sire, nothing to concern you”.

Merriment continued, logs burned on the fire and music filled the air. Storytelling ensued with all sat once more in a circle around the table. Everyone looked forward to Merlyn’s contributions as he drew from a vast compendium of myth and history and peppered their solemn telling with humour and odd touches of magic and chemistry. Especially chemistry – as Lancelot knew only too well!

Arthur looked for his noblest knight but could not see him. Then another crimson bubble exploded high up in the joists and a cloud of tweeting shadows flew three times round the room. Several of the knights lay slumped backward in their chairs or splain forward onto the table. Seconds later the same happened to the king himself and he fell into a deep, if fundamentally troubled sleep. Merlyn grimaced a sad smile – it was time to put an end to this.

Four hours later, as the weakest of dawns painstakingly cast a miserable light over the keep the wizard was quietly smoking his pipe and waiting to execute his plans. It was one of the perks of his holidays that he could bring back certain essentials such as this tobacco. He felt blessed – albeit also cursed – as he steeled himself for the morning.

“Never do that to me again” came the anticipated gruff command from Du Lac, striding out from the sleeping quarters.

“Because?” shrugged Merlyn, nonchalant.

The knight drew himself as tall as he could and started to bare down on the frail old man. He drew his sword as if to strike. At the very same moment a woman’s voice broke out “No, you cannot. Don’t!” Distracted he turned toward Guinevere as the sword grew suddenly heavy in his hands. It fell and Merlyn watched as it plunged deep into a rock beside him, leaving only the handle and a short section of the blade visible.

“You are just a bully Lancelot – you pick on weak opponents and they are easy targets upon which to build up a reputation of skill and gallantry. Arthur’s beautiful dream, his peaceful, united and industrious realm is being eaten up by invading forces – and you prance around just looking after yourself. You have no honour and will be useless to fight off the invading Norse warriors. Leave Bretagne – rehabilitate yourself by returning if and only if you can bring Arthur the Holy Grail”.

Du Lac tried to reclaim his sword, but to no avail. Crestfallen, he shouted out “Baldthing we are leaving. Now. Get my horse”. He looked up to address Guinevere, but she had vanished. Probably not Merlyn’s doings on this occasion!

The Great Upset

The Great Upset

“A Great Reset was planned – do you remember that one?”

“How could I forget? I was so much a part of it.”

“Well we all were, weren’t we?”

“A few very much more than others, don’t you think – very, very”.

I looked at him more closely, then. He was old and wizened and at the same time grey – he lacked colour or any distinctive features, really. As he was a contemporary of mine, I guessed I must be somewhat like that to his eyes.

“Anyway, you’re looking well after all these years, my friend” he answered “and don’t for a moment imagine that I do not know why – or how – you managed to make it this far. I’m sure that I know a whole lot more about you than you guess about me!”

We’d met at university and studied sciences together. He’d been more focussed than I, and came away with a first in microbiology and organic chemistry – I’d scraped a second in Genetics and playing drums for a punk reggae band. I’d had far more fun and, I always argued, a far better education. But he got the good jobs as I, well, I continued my education.

I connected with most people I met, I networked, from a very early age and always felt each should contribute and be involved in discourse, in projects, in life – so it all took longer. But that was OK as we all had forever, didn’t we? Four – or was it five – years later and I’d finished my PhD and our lead singer had jumped off a bridge a hundred metres into his next life. The band broke up in respect and deep sadness. We’d been there and he’d had his say.

The World expanded. Fortunes were to be made.

You should follow your goals and not just sit in the shade.

So I did but was always that crazy rebel ska percussionist, connecting people and ideas. It worked and I rose to leading research teams and then planning new projects for the company. It was like I was a chef, bringing great flavours together to create superb new taste sensations for my diners or an artist making my canvas sing to its viewers with harmonies unparalleled  in their experience.

Perhaps it was not always what the World needed but we gave them this anyway and they thanked us. We were successful and prospered. But always were of the people and not the establishment. That cold, dreary life I could not even start to comprehend. Well, I could see that it was needed – that the country had to have rules and regulations – but their endless committees and formal processes always seemed to take forever and contribute nothing to real life.

This was where he’d gone with his first class honours degree, straight up this greasy pole, into the higher echelons of scientific governance, into the rare atmospheres of closed room mutual back scratching and preferential decision making based upon favours given and waiting to be gained, with foundations built into the fundamentals of administrative goals, set long ago and kept governed by mysterious forces of social conservatism. Societal governance, in truth.

I’d bumped into him from time to time – attending conferences where he might be a breathtakingly bland guest speaker or at trade shows when he might appear at our stand and follow obscure lines of enquiry or sit at the back of the room silent as we debated finer details of our new products with user professionals and journalists. What was he thinking? Why was he there? Our conversations became ever more perfunctory and meaningless and I was always glad to see the back of him. He showed what was through a door I’d slammed very shut early in my life and was ever more pleased that I’d made the right choice.

During those two years when the country – and the whole World – had been maintained under at first a kind of house arrest and, later, martial law he was a frequent face in Government broadcasts. He was there to present a rationale and to be the cool face of logical objectiveness. Knowing him, as I did, I always watched these events with a wry smile of disbelief on my face. He selected partial truths and ignored conflicting evidence, he used biased scales on graphical representations of his anyway questionable facts. His conclusions came from the data he presented, yes, but they bore, in truth, scant connection to reality.

Why did he do this? How far could he sacrifice the good science we had studied together back in our University? Did he simply ignore the truth to generate some obscure other agenda? I did not know but found myself using my networks to circulate critiques of his prognostications of doom. I’d had enough and it was clear the public needed help to fight back. I pointed out errors, I demonstrated bias. I talked almost covertly with long standing, trusted friends and found all as astounded as myself. Our networks strengthened and the weight of our evidence seemed overwhelming but we realised, we knew, that we had not got the stage. The government and their allies had all the major positions of influence wholly in their control.

How to break through this stranglehold?

The answer was so simple and breathtakingly reassuring. Despite all the in depth psychological analysis of population dynamics that had enslaved the people, they did not follow by all the theorems, the graphs and the determinist conclusions written into all the planning. “Rubbish in, rubbish out” we’d learned so early when undertaking computer examination of our experimental results.

All the conclusions my erstwhile friend and colleagues came to were then filtered through a separate panel for psychological analysis to be enabled for action in deeply sinister manner. We’d seen the results of this in the brutally detached communications emanating from central and local government. Soul destroying, heartless and cold blooded. Goal centred and inhuman and all enforced without question by unthinking footsoldiers on the ground.

What was the Great Reset? Why, it was the stark target they’d been working towards for decades, quietly, methodically and seemingly inexorably. Industrial and commercial strategy, portrayed as benevolent and caring, based on the Technocracy movement which burgeoned in the 1930s post depression but pre world war in North America. They? Yeah “they”, the devotees of the ideas, those conscripted to the ideas and those built into the networks they spawned. In my student days, I read The Illuminatus books, about centuries old forces fighting it out for power and glory in a hippy science fantasy earth superficially very much like our own. Technocrats were as from these books but, just like the Catholic Church, they are real and very operational.

Now melded or merged into Global organisations, acting and thinking in these terms with no  expression of national loyalties these guys felt (and still feel) they had higher goals, had responsibility to planet, not people and to their long crafted agendas not short term reactive pragmatism. They were not politicians – they were Technocrats.

Drawing together powerful leaders from global industries, influential directors of international NGOs as well as people with resonant status of their own right they formulated systems through which the planet’s control strings could be concentrated into a very few hands. These hands would then control the use of resources going forward and so guide us all to a golden, peaceful and prosperous future.

How totally naive!

What they’d achieved, in horrendously gullible style, was to get the planet to the brink of creating a dynasty of gods, akin to those of ancient Greece. We would have bestowed upon them absolute power and for all eternity whilst at the same time enslaving the rest of humanity and probably consigning half or three quarters to an early grave.

But it did not happen, of course, as I began to describe earlier. For humanity had so much greater depth than their calculations gave us credit. They’d omitted joy and sorrow, excitement and empathy, they did not consider connectivity or history and had not the slightest understanding of love. All these powers started to interact under cover – and were amplified all the more for being so.

Yeah, I found people in my scientific fraternities with long term issues and observations I could not refute, regarding how our discipline had been hijacked by determinist, productivist and frankly very unscientific attitudes, which I had disregarded earlier, whilst caught up in the enthusiasms of earlier prosperities. Over that first winter we drew together and expanded our understandings, whilst building legal, political and social groupings. It was still touch and go, we had felt – witnessing the heavy handedness of police enforcement and with a knowledge that confining the population was a foundation plank of their visions. 

Social gathering was early banned but partially ignored at first, however, as time went on, policing grew tougher until the eventual declarations of curfews and martial law. The Covert Human Intelligence Sources Act, 2021 enabled extreme pressure to be placed upon our resistance in the UK, and we realised the same structures had been put up on a global basis. They had very nearly made any dissent illegal.

Still my onetime colleague spouted his unhinged distortions from his multi-media pulpits. “Of course the Earth is at the Centre of the Universe” he’d say, and conclude that “anyone supporting this insane idea that we are circling the sun should be locked up”. Kafkaesque. It had got that blatant and all true, objective science was ignored or scorned – because any true, objective science disproved his conclusions and recommendations.

So what was the tipping point? Ah, theories and popular references always try to determine such detail – the last brick onto the Jenga pile, a final straw on that sad, overburdened camel’s back. I do yoga and that is all about balance. Harmony, connectedness and working together sensitively. Here it was resonance, I’ve always felt.

A resonance of empathies, a surge of collective realisation, streams of dominoes, stiff dominoes of conformity, tumbling. It had got so close to a point of no escape, of permanent confinement but instead police threw off their inhuman spaceman riot cladding, medics cried out against the lies, people everywhere just hugged in the streets, celebratory concerts were held in momentous manner, poets shouted celebratory verse in the open air and everybody cheered. There was a global infusion of happiness – which pulses still through all our veins, I think.

Over the fifteen that had passed since that extraordinary climax to “The Affair”, as we now politely describe the whole saga which culminated in those two horrendous years, many new courses had been set and “small is beautiful” had become firmly embedded over “big is best” and “the economies of scale”. True costs now included social and environmental damage and reward was geared to building future proofed policies.

“So you were at the heart of it, Pat? It was either that or a gun at your head – and I could see no signs of that”.

“It grew around me, and I never joined – I was just an integral part. There was no way out – I’d have lost everything and, anyway, I saw no reason to change.”

“But how, how could you live with yourself?”

“They were not lies – they were simply the means to progress. It was all just a mechanism, for us all to move forward”.

“But did you approve of where we were headed? Did it seem….justified?”

“It was not a question of justification. We knew that there was no choice. We KNEW that there was no other way!”

Chris Hemmings

crishtrees@gmail.com

November 29th, 2020

(Happy Birthday, Pa! – you’d have liked this, I imagine so, hey, it’s for you!)

Note: Here’s the Wiki on Technocracy – so not my invention!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy#:~:text=Technocracy%20is%20an%20ideological%20system,to%20scientific%20or%20technical%20knowledge.

Extinction of Protest

Extinction of protest

HS2 Update: Just in case you didn’t know:

We are sorry to announce that due to COVID-19 the camps listed below are now isolating; so are no longer accepting campaigners, or any other visitors at this time. Hopefully camps will be back to “normal” very soon, so we can stop HS2 together! However, if you still wish to help us then please feel welcome to drop off any donations at the entrances.

Contact camps in advance to pre-arrange any donations or related questions. Please follow the recommended NHS guidance, wear a mask, social distance, and wash your hands frequently if you are planning on dropping off any donations outside camps.

Please keep sharing our posts on social media to raise awareness of this awful project & if possible donate to our fundraisers.

Isolated camps at this time include Crackley Woods Protection Camp, Wendover Active Resistance Co, Jones Hill Wood, and Denham Ford Protection Camp. To find out more and how to contact them them click here.

With Love and Gratitude,

Stop HS2 Resistance Camps and HS2 Rebellion

9th November, 2020

Just do Slovakia this weekend……

Just do Slovakia this weekend.

Just because we can.

Not because it means anything…..

“EDITED :

I had a 30 minute call with a Slovakian friend.

Over last weekend Saturday and Sunday 31 Oct/1st November, the Slovak government with assistance from the armed forces, fire and rescue services, Vets, Medics from Austria and Hungary carried out mass testing of the population. They used the 30 minute antigen test and over two days they tested 3.6 M people. They aim to do a similar scale of testing next weekend. You recieve a certificate for either +ve or -ve test. Only of you have a -ve test can you leave your house otherwise you and all other house dwellers must quarantine for 10 days. The only people exempt from testing are those under 10 and over 65.

If you do not have a -ve test you cannot go to work, go to a shop and buy food. If you try to enter a shop you are stopped and must show a certificate for a -ve test. The police are managing the situation around quarantine currently however over 1500 police officers are against the measures and know that what is being done is not being conducted on a sound legal basis.

One of the reasons given for the mass testing was to avoid lockdowns and to save the economy …………

Next weekend based on current tests and a map of so called infection rates they will decide where to focus their testing.  This is actually happening now and apparently something similar in Czech republic but there is no further information on that perhaps someone can enlighten us.

ALARM 📷 From Slovakia

Call to the international community!

We  are addressing the international community of all of your citizens  following message. The Slovak Republic has become the scene of a  monstrous mass experiment on human lives. On October 31, 2020,  government of the Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič’s under various  threats and intimidation, drove people like cattle for nationwide  testing at COVID-19, experimental antigen tests, not approved by the  Slovak State Institute for Drug Control and not registered in any  country and therefore no one is responsible for its safety! The World  Healthy Organization WHO granted to the test kit an exemption for the  experiment on Slovak citizens. Testing is also performed by  veterinarians!

In a pilot test conducted last week in Slovak city  Bardejov, serious illnesses occurred immediately after testing, and  after a forced mass assembly, they also contracted other illnesses such  as influenza and COVID-19. The Government of the Slovak Republic  mobilized the Slovak army and police and invited foreign troops from  Austria and Hungary and there were seen also troop of US Army uniforms  were captured. Those who refused to take the tests, will be excluded  from life, will be imprisoned under house  arrest, will not be allowed  to work, will not be allowed to buy food or medicine.The world needs to  know what’s going on. Slovak citizens became  the victims of Mengele ‘s  experiments and live genocide.

Today we are the victime, but if we  citizens of the whole world do not revolt,  you will be the victime  tomorrow. Please share, sign petitions, protest, defend yourself, today  it is testing, tomorrow should be the vaccination!”

A witches tale

 “Pwy sydd?”

The loud cry from outside the door disturbed Lowri and she had bawled out her reply. 

A voice answered, but not in her tongue. He sounded harsh and full of the authority of the crown.

“Lowri Evans. Are you in this house? I have come from the Court in Caernarfon to serve notice unto you that you be charged with heinous crimes, and shall come with me now into custody, prior to trial by the magistrate as soon as can be arranged”.

She knew this moment had been coming – it was as inevitable as it was so deeply unfair. They’d taken Rhydderch yesterday and Agnes had ran off into the night. Maybe to Ceinwen, maybe to the Ty Haf up the valley. They’d find her, Lowri knew that. There was no escape and no one in Llannor would now help. Not now they were accused. 

But for years it was not like this. Agnes and she had been at the centre of village life. Their father Evan, had built the beautiful cottage they now kept, near the crossroads, with many of his friends, just before he married their beautiful mother, Mair. Both of them and their brother had been born there and been so happy until Mair had died in childbirth. The baby had not survived, either. Both girls were still children, although Rhydderch was now old enough to work with his father and was nearly grown up.

He helped his sisters recover from the tragedy and somehow the bonds of childhood strengthened so they built their lives as a reaction to their early loss. They were determined to avoid others suffering the same losses and learned from the wise elders of the village, like Ceinwen, secrets of good health and safe living. As time went on and they all grew up they too became wise in these crafts. They grew herbs and made tinctures based on old folk lore. Rhydderch became the forager and gatherer, amongst his other works and he would walk many miles to gather particular plants. He would walk up to the North Coast and climb Yr Eifl, or down to the far end of the peninsular and then find a boat to carry him to Enlli, where the twenty thousand saints of the Old Celtic Church were buried. Always he’d bring back the plants they needed.

Meanwhile she and Agnes were now well known throughout the area and they helped many a soul recover from ailments. They tried, as well, to provide advice on avoiding sickness, on herbs to add to daily foods to improve them and ways to keep homes fresh and free from evil airs. 

This was how they had first met young Mary, the daughter of Pedr Hughes, yeoman farmer of Criccieth, some ten miles from Llannor. A frail and sickly child, her father had brought her to the house at the crossroads as he’d heard that Lowri and Agnes could “use their healing powers”.

“Oh no, Mr Hughes, we have no powers” Lowri had said “It’s just that many people over the years have found out how the herbs and flowers and other wild plants can help us. Agnes and I – and our brother Rhydderch – have learned about these for many years”.

“Good” the farmer had replied “then you can cure my Mary. She is a sickly child and my wife Margaret has great angst, as a result of this”. 

This was an unusual request, and unlike any other they’d had to undertake. They did not know Mary, nor did she live close by. It would be difficult to see how she had developed her weakness or, then, to cure it but they had no choice but to agree that they would try. First they put together a gentle, soothing tonic, with warming herbs and some imported spices Rhydderch had found for them at the market in Pwllheli. Lowri had had to carry this to Criccieth, where she had sat and talked with the child for some time in the farmhouse kitchen.

It was far bigger than their humble cottage back in Llannor, with a great ingle nook fireplace. There were glass windows, even, and fine, carved chairs to sit on. Hams were curing in the chimney and cawl cooking in a large pot hanging over the fire. Llena, the maid, walked in with a jug of water she’d just filled from a tank outside the house. Lowri had passed it on her way in – square, made of a dark metal, colour a bit like slate. Mary filled a pot with some and quickly drank it. “Now, add five drops of this medicinal herbal liquid to your drink every morning, Mary. It should help you find your strength”.

But it hadn’t helped – or so her father said when he called in Llannor three months later. “And what’s worse is Margaret is now quite ill. I am sure this is all your fault – have you put a spell on them you witches!” He turned and left, despite their protestations, and they heard no more from him for several weeks. Through a friend, who’d been in Criccieth, they heard, two months later, that Mary remained weak and unwell but Margaret had got much worse. “They think she will surely die – and that you did curse her, that you cursed BOTH of them”.

“That is a lie! We would not do such a thing even if we could. We use herbs and spices and old people’s understandings to help people and to heal them. We do not kill people.”

But it was to no avail. When rumour spreads, it spreads fast and digs deep into the hearts of people, even into the hearts of friends. Old Ceinwen consoled them as best she could, but she could do nothing. A few weeks later, soon after Midwinter’s night, they heard that Margaret had passed away and that Pedr was on the warpath. “I will get those witches tried and hanged for this foul crime” he’d cried out.

Thrown into the gaol in Caernarfon, within the town walls and right next to the enormous, towering castle, Lowri found her sister, sobbing in the corner. “And they have Rhydderch here as well. What can we do?”

Three weeks later all three together were shackled and taken up to the Crown Court where they were placed in front of the magistrates. Yeoman Farmer Pedr Hughes told the story himself, with great passion, of how these witches had conspired to kill his late, beloved wife. He told of Lowri bringing a poisoned potion which had made his daughter iller than ever. Even now she seemed ever closer to death. “That witch must have cursed my dear Margaret on the day she visited Criccieth” he cried out, sounding to be in agony.

The magistrates looked deeply concerned. They, for a few moments, talked with one another. Then the chief magistrate looked forward. “You have presented a strong case that these three have indeed conspired to cause you this terrible loss, although I know that they are mostly held in very good opinion by their fellow villagers and have been for a good few years. I wonder can any of you accused find reason that we spare you today?”

Rhydderch and Agnes were lost in tears and grief, and could find nothing to say. Why could their innocence not be obvious to everybody? Lowri, however, was strong enough to speak. She had been thinking about her visit to the farm. “Please, Sirs, for, as I know I did not, I could not place a curse on anyone, I remember that Mary was given water from a very dark container. Perhaps it is that which made her unwell and has maybe killed her mother. I know for certain that it was not me or my good brother and sister”.

“That is a terrible thing to say” Pedr at once stood up and almost shouted, in barely controlled rage, “It is untrue that that water could harm anyone. I had the blacksmith make it for me just two years ago from the finest new cast lead”.

The magistrates turned to each other again, and talked for a few minutes.

Then, again, their leader addressed the court. “We have listened to this terrible tale of disgrace and witchcraft. After considering all the evidence we are agreed with the case presented. Take these witches away and hang them until they are dead”.

In due course, this was indeed carried out and all three died by hanging, sometime in 1622.

Reference:

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/incredible-true-stories-behind-five-19154303?fbclid=IwAR1p7ObGeXTMDfPVmJBm0XABz6JI6SzGbcR6UtfeNtKrumaCVB5tsYO1caw

A witches tale

Chris Hemmings

crishtrees@gmail.com

31/10/20

Gilad

So this was a rare event, spread over two days, focussed on a flamboyant rebel and mixing work and play, culture and politics, expertise and prejudice, strength and weakness. It just went to demonstrate how much one can pack into twenty four hours!

Gilad was born to and grew up in an Israeli Jewish family. He’s a mean jazz saxophonist, a prolific writer and, my, can he talk!?! Fundamentally, also a rebel and a thinker. He does not identify as Jewish any longer, he don’t live in Israel no more, nor will the UK Labour party let him speak at their meetings so he abides now in Athens and elsewhere, albeit clearly spends time in the UK. 

His 2019 Christmas message: https://youtu.be/WwTWlKmQX2I

For two days, then, we had The Gilad Experience! A Purple Haze with the Wind Crying for …..what? Still not entirely sure but I loved the journey. 

Ok, first stop was “The Penrhyn Arms”, a fine pub uphill, on the inland side of the mainroad which has the Little Orme to seaward. Like an olde fishing village on the Cornish coast, bending roads and all kinds of different levels, with much atmosphere. Sadly, a bend after the square with the pub, the village is lost into acres of new, brash housing. Hold that thought – it may be useful later…… 

As I chatted with friends the band set up simply by shifting a couple of tables, close by us, to the side and occupying maybe ten metre squared in a window alcove. Drum kit, electric piano and double bass. No PA at all and the centre gap gave room for trumpet player Neil and headliner Gilad. So, for the evening we were right up close to the music.

Acoustic Jazz, Coltrane style, switching lead instrument round, all getting their solo spots. They did two sets and it was all precision stuff. It was impressive, too, as they were pretty much a “scratch” band – bass and drums from Birmingham, piano from Chester and trumpet from the campsite down the hill. His day job is owning said venture!

So, yeah, they gelled. Maybe wasn’t the Hot Club de France but certainly that kinda vibe. Wow – could Llandudno be cool?! We had a very relaxed evening, chatting with each other and, periodically, the band. At my table Tony knew Neil through his Conwy folk club connections and Gilad seemed easy to engage in banter – there wasn’t time for conversation, but you learn a lot, anyway.

One thing which came out was the need for professionalism. They were beautifully “on cue”, all talked the same musical language and clearly fired off what each played. Solos were fun but I most enjoyed the duet pieces when sax and trumpet rippled over each other’s melodies and weaved complex, intertwined musical tapestries.

But fantastic though this tuneful evening had been, it was only the overture for the verbal symphony we experienced the next day, at a private seminar soiree, hosted by two friends, nearby. 

After a splendid buffet and a chat with my anarchist friend, Chris, we came to order and Gilad began to relate his story and, essentially, by implication, how come he’s an expat twice over and persona non grata where you might think – or hope – he’d be welcomed. How come the British Labour Party label an Israeli born Jew as so anti-semitic that they “unstage” him at all Labour local authorities?

He’s passionate. He had us Corbynista on edge by telling how, for him, the immense early promise and enlightenment offered by JC had been irrevocably tarnished for Gilad by, as far as I could determine, his inability to deal positively and proactively with the weaponised “anti-semitism” abuse hurled at him and the Labour Party. Our eloquent racounteur essentially suggested that Jeremy should have been far more assertive in his own and his party’s defence. 

Watching, as I did, the TV showdown between racist liar Johnson and pure, honest multiculturalist Corbyn, I flinched whilst the former labelled JC as anti-semitic and unwilling to purge the Labour Party of such attitudes to no retaliation other than a quiet shake of the head. He is noble to a fault. Ghandiesque, in fact but his new kind of politics needs adjustment to the new brutalism of Trumpism. “I speak the truth because I say it is the truth and so do my social media cohorts and my MSM claque”. When this includes the compare of the interview program you are appearing on – in this case went to school with Mr Johnson – then you needs must adjust.

Or not – and there lay Gilad’s departure from JC’s fan club! Clearly, though, this departure predated the election, and his hassles with LP local authorities for his anti-Zionism form a strong and influential tale. This was assumed on Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll have to do the background research, but, I’m sure it’ll have been analogous to that of Jackie Walker, Ken Livingstone and Chris Williamson. Shameless weaponisation of concerns over Israeli actions in Gaza and all Greater Palestine, in suppressing the indigenous Palestinian population under the Zionist banner, being used to terminate their contributions as being “anti-semitic”.

If you place within the strictures of a faith an implicit permission to treat those of other or no faith with contempt and so give yourselves force majeure over these people then I would suggest this faith to be illegal under all international law. To say “God gave this land to us, and us alone” cannot be given legal force.

In a question, I suggested that Israel had become the “poster girl” for global, expansionist capital. It was being defended in its actions because, essentially, capital should be allowed to purchase a country and drive out its unwanted population just like capital can buy a mine just to close it or a business to strip out its assets. Agri-business can be allowed to strip out natural rainforests and drive out all their complex populations, of all species, including humans, because that way they can drive a profit. And capital needs profit, seeks it insatiably and withers away without it.

So, Israel’s a good investment shielded by biblical texts.

There was lively discussion on this point, as well as many others, over around three hours. As mentioned above, there was Labour Party incredulity at his audacity, coupled with the deep, near humiliation of the recent general election defeat and spiced with Gilad’s professed departure from the Corbynite/Labour fold. Protests against his views, thus, were coupled with the back knowledge of Labour’s loss and that possibly, just possibly, he could be right!

How could he stand up and do, well, stand up, using Israeli anti-Jewish jokes? I’ll not quote them – suffice to say that blacks use “nigger” jokes in the same, sardonic manner. The audience squirms but objective analysis cannot criticise him over this. He is recounting exactly what others say and not inventing it himself. He talks of the holocaust not to deny it, nor to in any way diminish its impact but, I think, to suggest it not be used to attain status as victim nor as a pivot for social planning going forward.

I don’t know about him but I see that such histories should be taught as of human suffering derived from labelling and the outcome of targeting minorities – particularly in times of stress or to distract the general population from other matters. It is all too easy for a strong leader to turn his or her subjects against minority groups. It is ALL such events, not just one we should remember and, every time we do so we should emphasise “Never again should any form of racism or religious prejudice be allowed to flourish and drive any government’s actions”.

How far we are from that goal at present! I don’t need to catalogue them, they are too many and so ongoing, but think of more recent and current examples like Cambodia, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Brazil, USA, Myanmar, Ukraine, India and, yes, Palestine. All emphasise how picking on one sector of any population can let out brutal instincts and will encourage and unleash unrestrainable hatreds.

I will not here deny that I see the recent UK election as having used these techniques in wholesale manner. Firstly and perversely to label the Labour Party as racist and actually creating a politically correct firestorm of derision on Jeremy and his supporters whilst, behind this shield, painting Europeans and other immigrants as a problem to be fixed. Now, having gained power on this and a host of other lies, our government, this regime, will be driven by an increasingly divisive, racist cohort.

Small wonder Gilad has taken residence elsewhere!

Thanks to Eva and Bargas for arranging and hosting this enlightening event. I shall look forward to meeting up with this insightful and controversial saxophonist in the future.

20th December, 2019.

Gilad’s web site: https://gilad.online/

Excellent backgrounding article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/06/gilad-atzmon-israel-jazz-interview?fbclid=IwAR2GljSNv2RDPwM-rTLZkIuRyz_2FmXIAyBmu8FcHEacp1aQh37hWPmeIH0

Sacks full of chat

So on AAV there was discussion on Brexitious issues. Guy called Lionel Sachs was being anti-Corbyn and, to me, overstepped the mark. Having heard such views in social and print and broadcast media, especially in “anti-semitic” critiques, this didn’t surprise me much. However, I had to step in and absolutely not use any a/s references. Not difficult:

Anyway, Sacks expounded the idea that JC was “recruiting from the far right”, from UKIP, into the Labour Party, which is so absurd but I wanted to determine whence the idea came.  I had first wondered “has he not realised this?” and also thought “is this why they are using the a/s slur”? Thus it seems they’re attempting to paint Momentum as The Black Shirts of Moseley in the 1930s. Actively looking in the wrong direction as Farage romps around totally unassailed by them.

Who pulls their strings? And why?

Chris Hemmings Lionel – “Recruiting from the hard right”!! Don’t set yourself up for ridicule. JC is fully aware that Labour support drifted away in blighted, employment poor, communities to right wing siren calls using immigrants as an easy target. 

But the response has not been to woo the sirens – instead, it is to counter the misinformation put about by the Farageists and offer a collectivist, socialist, inclusive country under a Corbynite Labour Government.

I reckon that’s a bloody good offer to the long suffering never listened to folks. Me included!

Lionel Sacks Chris – are you saying there was no move from labour to UKIP, NewKIP? Most people think there was. And has JC shown any sympathy for the remainers who supported him in the snapped election? Most of us don’t think so. Why not? Because he has focused on getting people to support labour who are prepared to support Farage. … A neo-fascists. 

I also was a strong JC supporter… 4 years ago. 

Lots of water under the bridge, washing away support for him.

Think before ridicule.

Chris Hemmings Thinking is what I do! And it’s the Tories who have an open door to the far right – 60000 joined the Tories in the twelve months up to the crowning of Boris, adding 50% to the membership! All UKIP types, I’m sure.

You watched Carol Cadwalkadr’s TED talk on Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and the death of democracy? That’s what happened to large swathes of Labour support. Unlistened to and offered succour by racist Farage and others of his ilk. As I say, siren calls.

But the snap election didn’t, as it were, “soak up remainers”, the issues were – and still are – far wider. Corbyn has throughout this time been focussed on the real issues. Brexit was just a smokescreen thrown up to hide the damage being wrought by this worst of governments!

Lionel Sacks Call is “siren calls”, sure. We agree, JC has focused on getting Farage supporters back. Sure, very few support neo-fascists for good, analytic reasons; but what the hell kind of labour supporter supports them at all?

Most analysis shows the strategic voters mostly voted labour. I did. I would vote Labour anyway; but many of us where very focused. And to have JC turn round and, basically, tell us “thanks, now fuck off while I do my version of siren calls” will and has lost him support. His (and McCluskey’s) choice their responsibility. 

I agree, without brexit, he could have even been in power now and all the better for it. 

But the brexit shit show is a fact. Supported by the working class who’ll suffer more from the fallout and the disgruntled middle – who’ll suffer less. 

And JC has met that fact badly.

Lionel Sacks And, Chris, I think you underestimate brexit. It’s an economic far right policy which enables them to make a bonfire if rights, regulations and protections. They used the social far right to sell it – xenophobia etc. call it “siren calls”? Or people giving into their worst sides or fear or whatever. Brexit supporters are still enabling ultra neo-liberalism, Thatcher2.0. 

And JC thinks he can ride that tiger and deliver a “good brexit” (which, by the way, no-one campaigned for ) is a joke, like the allies appeasing Hitler after supporting him as a bulwark against communism…

If JC wanted to live up to his initial promises, he’d have exposed brexi for what it is and opposed it. He didn’t…

Chris Hemmings Trouble was there were, and still are, many on the left who oppose “the European Superstate” which they see the EU as. I have sympathy for such a perspective but know for certain it has to be faced up to and reformed. We’d throw out that baby with the brexit bathwater, but sufficient of the left – Tony Benn devotees, for example, hold to it for JC to ignore.

The three years have seen Brexit solidify as a project of the fascist, xenophobic right. I’d say JC has aided that process. For heavens sake, he’s been under immense internal party pressure, realigning it, nearly winning the 2017 GE, and constantly reining in the also inept Govt of TM to excellent effect. Eventually she was painted into a corner and so had nowhere else to go, other than resign. We all knew her party had by than been topped up with kippers hence, as I said, Boris “Nero” Johnson.

So now we see the final acts of this drama. Lib Dems rendered a farce, nationalists and Greens on board and Europhile Tories crumbling.

JC4PM – QED!

Chris Hemmings PS – everybody knows Europe will not reopen treaty negotiations. Everybody!

Lionel Sacks Well, quite. JC did worse than fumbled the brexi ball; he continuously passed it back to the opposition. We handed him the PV march, he passed it to the Tories. We handed him a strong position after the snapped election – he give the ToryUKIP part the whole field … The list goes on. You see that and still think he’s fit for pm? What crisis will he skrewup next?

Lammy4PM!

Chris Hemmings JC plays the long game. He has nearly purged his party but the Cambridge Analytica derived Facebook and other social media delivered damage is harder to repair. We’re talking 1930s Moseley, 1960s Powell, 1970s,80s,90s,etc Murdoch all deeply reinforced by vile tailored messaging.

Yes, I so wanted him to be at the march back in the spring, I wished his join us with all my heart, as I marched with me banner down Whitehall. But I knew he couldn’t. “Not yet” I told myself.

His record is superb, we now have a genuine socialist party in Britain that can lead us forward towards radical and essential changes. There is no status quo to keep to. Staying in Europe or closely allied to it is not a conservative option as the EU and the whole world have deep changes to bring about. JC is so up for that. Me too!

And you?

Lionel Sacks He played a long game, badly and is loosing… In Search of his own private unicorn. 

Sure, I blamed Cambridge analytica etc.. and other forces before that was revealed – but JC has done nothing, zero, to discredit those influences on the referendum – because he wants brexit… so Labour is filling up with people who’d vote with a neo-fascist because Facebook told them a pack of lies. 

Obviously I want change, but JC told me to fuck off and off I’ve fucked. He isn’t capable of bringing the change needed.

Chris Hemmings Wow, so deeply judgemental, Lionel! I’ve only met JC once, though seen him speak several times. I feel he has honesty, humility and empathy and is a very special character. Miss out on that and, I feel, you are missing partnership in one of the most unique and rewarding opportunities this country has had.

Lionel Sacks Politicians are there to be judged, FFS – you’re not electing a boyfriend or any kind of partner

I’ll risk missing out on a cup of tea if it means holding power to account – and JC doesn’t get a free pass. No one does – that way lies dictatorship. This isn’t religion either. 

Anyway, I hope you are happy together, what ever the future holds 🙂

Chris Hemmings Of course one weighs up politicians and JC is a pro, so open to the same scrutiny as all others. In fact he has far, far more and most of it using the sense in which I used the J word, the second sense here:

“judgemental, adjective

1 – of or concerning the use of judgement.

“judgemental decisions about the likelihood of company survival”

2 – having or displaying an overly critical point of view.”

Lionel Sacks You use “judgement” incorrectly about me. Try 1. if you read my comments as technical judgements, you will find I’m correct – or at least, have cause – in the faults I’m finding. 

If you think, as you say – thet any and sll judgement are just being overly critical you are falling into the trap of following a religion, or being in a relationship or a dictatorship. 

Think again.

Lionel Sacks … and if you treat any criticism of JC as just 2. You are not engaging in honest discourse but just devout sophistry…

Gosh, I’d forgotten, this is an AAV post, of course a good dose of evangelical ferver is required.

Chris Hemmings Hey, I don’t want to bring religion – or even faith – into this chat. I don’t use such structures, other than green humanism…….

As I said, all politicians should be scrutinised but JC has had far deeper and frequently unjust criticism. I hold to that as objective analysis. Much of the entrenched establishment are deeply worried at the prospect of the first change in government in the UK for forty years.

Those forty years have caused all the damage we now need to repair!

Lionel Sacks … and there are many progressives in the Labour party who’d do a great job if JC would only get out the way. 

And I can’t answer for the Tory media. But my criticism isn’t unjust. Obviously you can see that otherwise why start waffling about generalities… 

Anyway, good luck in your faith in JC.

By this time I was asleep and did not provide a rejoinder in the morning. Did it help further my understandings? What should Sacks be filed under?

• Socialist
• European
• Anti-Corbynite (Therefore not socialist!)
• Jewish
• Anti austerity
• “Progressive”?
• Capitalist?
• Potential extinction rebel?

It seems to me that I have, here, to bring in the A/S element. How else can one explain his intransigence? LS was critical of JC throughout the discussion and seemed not to move on anything although his responses often lacked logic or evidence. Me: “JC plays the long game” LS: “JC plays the long game – badly” but provided no rationale for this denial. 

I’d pointed out the lost millions of impoverished working class voters. He dismisses them – “what the hell kind of labour supporter supports them at all?” – ignoring my description of them as unlistened to and desperate, responding to false promises from Farage and Johnson, et al.

We don’t know the numbers but, if Labour are fifty or so seats down with, say, 10000 votes lost at each, that’s half a million votes and all in Labour heartlands. Tory policies have driven them into the arms of the right wing extremists. I can see that offering them a future, as well as those who’ve stayed loyal to the Labour cause, is an investment well worth Jeremy’s time. 

Lionel and his southern brethren are far better placed to weather the storms ahead. He should understand this. Methinks he does, yet he moans: “JC turn round and, basically, tell us “thanks, now fuck off while I do my version of siren calls””.

Corbyn, and most of the Labour Party, actually said “Yes, we hear you. Things have been very tough – often institutionally heartless – for too long. You saw the Tory Govt of Cameron supporting staying in Europe and you hated the Cameron Government. Voting to leave came from that position but  membership has truly brought many benefits. To cut off all ties would be disastrous, so we must all, instead, build a new consensus, to retain and improve the benefits but work to change aspects which are unhelpful and alienating”.

Well, OK, he hasn’t said that but that’s how I distill his utterances and the concerns he has shown. Giving a voice to the struggling, hearing their worries and seeing their grief.

So we rebuild one step at a time.

1 – VoNC in Boris Falafel.

2 – JC as interim PM to extend the leaving date and call a General Election, with referendum to follow.
3 – GE to bring such a turmoil! Tory – Brexit Faragist – Kippers fighting out over all the Leave votes, Labour being anti austerity pro amended  Europe, Lib Dumbs being a laughing stock, like a slighted lover who wants her abusing partner back, despite all the damage he’s done to her, Scot Nats being very pro-Europe but anti UK, same as Plaid in Wales, with Caroline and the Greens being Momentum flag bearers in all but name, save being 100% pro Europe and not having to pander to certain trades unions!

4 – Result of GE? Well, this aint easy but
Labour – 281

Tory – 235
Lib Dumb – 45

Scot Nat – 48
Brexit – 18
Plaid – 3
Green – 2

NI – 11 (+ 7)

334 vs 264 vs 45

Would be acceptable!

Down on the Farm – a summer picnic at Bryn Cocyn Organic.

“We should all become gardeners” was my take home message from Patrick Noble who, with wife Joyce, were our hosts for the day.

Of course, it is not quite as straightforward as that! But, then again, maybe it is……

The weather was hovering around being inclement most of the time. The forecast rain was duly ambushing us whenever we let our guard down – “Well I reckon it’s rained itself out by now” was my foolish sage comment a short while before another onslaught. But, hey, this was August and so the rains were warm, the breezes gentle and so we didn’t really care too much!

I was late, of course, so had to catch up the group on its orchards walk. Fairly recently planted, the trees are, by and large, maturing well and a reasonable harvest was starting already to mature. Worcesters, always very early would be ready in the next week. They have a fair variety of cultivars, for pollination and, of course, to provide a good length to their season of availability. They take clean attractive fruits to market, to sell at a good price and couple this with the production of single cultivar juices, each with its individual characteristics and, again, a very attractive product.

The tour continued through the large field of mixed vegetables where also is sited the large polytunnel, home at this time of the year to tomatoes and a range of other more tender plants, extending the range of produce they are able to offer. Outside were impressive rows of leaf vegetables such as kale and spinach beet – even a very tasty beetroot with a very dark colour.

Not success everywhere, mind, as, bafflingly, and despite a very good show of leaf, the gourds had produced no flowers at all, let alone going on to set fruit. Another row – spinach, as I recall – had lost its fleece netting cover and severely needed weeding to save a crop. This work is not a soft option, there is a huge range of tasks and often arduous and backbreaking. There are modern, sensible aids – horticultural practices have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years – but it still requires commitment. Especially so for growing organic produce, which has a wide range of certification criteria which absolutely have to be met. If you fail, you then lose the official Organic status and, with it, so the perceived value of the crops falls. You cannot get the same prices!

We walked through the livestock fields and had a chat with the cattle. They buy in six to nine month olds and raise them up to slaughter, dispatching them one by one over a long period  and having none of the traumas of conventional systems. Certainly the animals we saw seemed healthy and very relaxedly grazing. There’s also a flock of sheep, which I didn’t see, but is kept in the same manner.

Back indoors, in the farmhouse, we all had hot drinks, cake and lively conversations. I’d been to Bryn Cocyn a couple of times before and so knew Patrick and Joyce’s relaxed, amiable and ably efficient approach already but for the other ten of us it was a great introduction to this modern traditional outlook. All seemed well impressed – Harriet ready to move in!

So, sipping my tea, I asked Patrick what he felt about the movement to promote “Restoration grazing”  – RG – as the way ahead for agriculture. The idea that cattle and sheep grazing, far from being one of the major sources of climate changing carbon release into the atmosphere, could instead be used to FIX  carbon has been quite widely circulated of late, looking to push back against cries that we should all go vegetarian or vegan “to save the planet”.

He’d grimaced when I asked him this. Not to defend the idea but, as he went on, that he felt it was very far from the truth. He’d very long been very concerned about carbon loss from soils, which starts when you clear woodland to establish fields for grazing. RG, they say, reduces the intensity, reduces fertiliser use and allows an understory of roots to build up in the soil. But the amounts, even in ideal conditions, are painfully small and the animals are still releasing a lot of methane.

In practice, of course, the non RG systems use much arable land to grow fodder crops and, additionally, feed large quantities of imported feedstocks, like maize or soya to cattle in overlarge herds and very unnatural conditions.

84% of UK farmland is used to grow livestock or their fodder crops. Instead, there could be a significant increase in arable production for human consumption and still large amounts of grazing land could be returned to the far more carbon fixing and environment enriching role as native deciduous woodland.

“And we farmers should then all become gardeners” he concluded – and I wholeheartedly concurred!

Wonderful afternoon out in a beautiful location on a fantastic farm for the future – although, of course, it too could see the product mix change somewhat, as a new economy emerges……..

Chris Hemmings

crishtrees@gmail.com

August 17th, 2019

“Eat Veg to save the planet” – Vegans against climate change

Vegan Society Conference 2019 – the inaugural one!

https://www.vegansociety.com/whats-new/events/grow-green-conference

“OK, I’m now pre-blog, on a late night Virgin train to Wolverhampton and, thence, to London, where I arrive at some unearthly hour in the morning. Half oneish, I believe. Then a few hours to kill afore the conference in the morning.”

Which I did by my now quite well established procedure of walking non-stop. For six hours I made my way around central London and watched the gang-fighting, listened to the frequent screams as yet more innocent civilians were brutally detached from their lives and sheltered from the gangs of muggers which awaited me around each and every street corner. Well, it was dark and my imagination was fired by the frequent reports I’ve been noticing in the media. After all, I was in the London dystopia and doubted I would survive the night.

Luckily, the Gods smiled upon me!

Then, eighteen hours later: “On the train to Crewe now, having wound down after the day, courtesy of Tavistock Square gardens, with its squirrels and many Japanese students taking pictures thereof, then a handy Costa with comfy seats, mocha coffee and a phone charging 13A socket and then finally experiencing Euston Road’s evening sunshiny dynamic, including THAT tree podium of yesteryear which now bears no such decoration! [I’ll show you the photo one day – it was an absurd four metre high and square dais with several five or six metre high trees upon it!] In Costacaff I’d typed up a fullish record of the meeting, from notes jotted onto my phone which had worked really well – so I no longer even need a physical notebook for minute taking!”

Cool, there’s the contextualisation. Now the meeting:

It was great to go to the conference pretty “blind” as I took few preconceptions. I imagined “Grow Green – helping the move to plant based agriculture” was to portray a winding down of animal husbandry and so increasing plant food in our diets. Clearly veganism was to be a solid part of it. Early on, as we all arrived, I had time for a relaxed chat at a militantly vegan table.

“No, no domesticated animals at all. Just wild ones, obviously – worms and mice and hares and birds and so on. But we cannot continue to eat meat, cheese or milks. That’s finished”. The couple at the stall were unmovable, this was not negotiable.

We didn’t talk of good Simon Fairlie’s rational, holistic wish for continuance of organic animal husbandry, not just for meat but also leather, wool, fleeces, company  and, of course, the grazing they perform. For some, this is “Keeping our landscape the way we know and so love it” with grassy vistas everywhere, although it’s absolutely not for me. I see radical change as inevitable, but, like Simon, I see some continued contributions from farm animals.

I would have brought the Monkton sage in but they gave me no space in the conversation, so adamant and vocal were they in the vegan cause. [The sage is Simon who is based at the fantastic, eclectic, enthusiastic Monkton Wyld Court, near Charmouth in Dorset, but that’s a whole other tale to tell one day!]

Such  was the extreme of this spectrum and there were a good number of adherents to it. But there was a tension, too, as another group felt absolutism was unnecessary for it would only scare folk who were just sampling the diet. “Too strict observance will drive folk away”, it was suggested.

This was seriously compounded because the vegan diet had been seized upon by the food industry recently, as it had became trendy. In catering for a burgeoning market with many affluent adherents (Look into “Planet Organic” on Tottenham Court Road, for example!) ingredients were sourced globally so had a high carbon footprint and were often actually not even grown organically. The end products, although utterly vegan, were frequently not even especially palatable! Just expensive and well packaged and advertised. In this it parallels other “specialist” diets such as gluten free or weight loss where supermarkets offer ranges of overpriced and lowly nutritious products, exploiting rather than serving its public. Does this veganism have any merit at all, many wonder?

We had John Taylerson, BIC Innovation, praising the “plant milk” sector, “growing rapidly” whilst traditional dairy is “flat”. OK, maybe this shows a move away from animal products but, if we are just switching to an expensive, manufactured and highly irrelevant substitute product, then I see little or no gain.

Carina Perkins (The Grocer), Nina Pullman (Riverford), Dr Marco Springmann (Oxford University) and Vicky Hird (Sustain) spoke in the discussion groups to decry this unsatisfactory market development. Carina noted that the imaginatively named “flexitarians” were actually responsible for most of the growth in plant – fruit and veg – purchasing, that is, folk who are neither vegan nor even vegetarian, just health conscious.

It was noted strongly that the best vegan food is home cooked from raw, simple ingredients.

Then there was climate. Now here we were on safer ground. Nobody wanting anything other than to combat Climate Change in whatever manner we could. Good, local grown, simple, unprocessed Vegan food is self-evidently considerably less damaging than any derived from animal husbandry. The figure “50kg of plant matter is needed to make 1kg of meat” is a typical clincher in this debate – why not feed on those 50 kg ourselves! “We have to meet our commitments made with respect to the Paris Agreement – we want one single degree not the more massive three degrees warming”. One degree will be damaging enough, resulting in sea levels rising, glaciers and polar ice caps melting further and, most noticeably, increased weather abnormalities. Three degrees rise would compound this impact considerably and be more likely to trigger a catastrophic “tipping point” scenario.

To combat this requires a considerable effort and, in the agricultural sphere, providing for a vegan diet, will allow considerable decreases in CO2 emissions. Not yet, one notices, a correction – merely slowing the rate of deterioration.

How to achieve this? Well, simply, by altering land use patterns. Simply? Hell, no, it will be a battle! At present 83% of agricultural land in the UK is dedicated to animal husbandry (1) so there has to be fundamental change in attitudes. However, given that we work to achieve this, and then get there, we also require a nationwide relearning of how to grow our own fruit and vegetables – as, of course, we used to –  so we no longer have to import the bulk of them from overseas (2&3). “Imports are now 90%” said Dr Marcela Villareal, a UN FAO, food and agriculture organisation, worker and she suggested Eire to be more like 98%. How crazy is that, for the Emerald Isle, with fantastic soil and mild climate?

Brendan Montague, editor of The Ecologist, labelled Brexit as “US agriculture  taking over”, adding that “our government is not fit for purpose”. Nice to see The Ecologist far from Zac Goldsmith’s stance on this issue! Brendan saw the need for “new rural operators such as worker coops to run farms to be a new power base” to help bring forward the changes we need.

This new arable production will be, of course, on some of the land formerly used for livestock. Some, too, could be put to hemp cropping, for a variety of excellent products, and to new crops such as lentils, chick-peas and many other at present ignored crops, to extend our present all too limited range of arable produce. A lot more of such land must be replanted as woodland – including productive orchards and nut trees, which I can see sensibly undergrazed with sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens and geese. But a large percentage should end up as native deciduous woodland – much of the country is designated “temperate deciduous rainforest” land. That’s what much of our marginal agricultural land must return to – areas such as the uplands of Wales which are now so largely a sheep shorn desert! Several speakers emphasised this change during the day.

Nathaniel Loxley (of Vitality Hemp) gave an impassioned pitch for increasing UK hemp production, praising its 12000 year history of continuous cultivation by humanity, calling for new growers to join him and a very few others in the UK doing so. Its long been on my list, so I heartily agreed but had to point out the present obstacle – that there is an annual licence fee of about £700 payable rather than a support grant given! In France they have no such problems and, in recent years, they have rapidly grown to become by far the world’s largest producer of this commodity, overtaking China, who have actually reduced their output.

Nick Saltmarsh, of the intriguingly named “Hodmedod” talked of novel crops, such as lentils. The company is carrying out inspirational work, encouraging farmers to move to non-standard crops. At present there are 700000 tonnes of legumes grown each year in the UK, 4% of our arable production. Cropping is good but we import far more soya beans. I cannot say “we should grow these here” as most are fed to livestock and that industry cannot be encouraged, although I guess it would be better than importing the beans from Brazil and fields planted in freshly cleared tropical rainforest lands. This situation anyway illustrates how cheap carbon prices mean we subsidise unsustainable food habits and drive climate change in one single industry which can also, at the same time, extinguish the indigenous trades which would, otherwise, be feeding us.

In this proposed move to growing far more fruit and vegetables, and other arable crops, we find an integral ingredient of the “Green New Deal” now offered by the more enlightened political groupings operating in the country. It is apparent that there have to be far reaching changes to the financial strictures which currently control land use, most notably the system of agricultural grants which have, in Wales for example, inflated land prices absurdly. Removal or redirecting these subsidies seems to be a vital first step! This could then lead to lowering of land prices and the dividing up of the present ranch size holdings to allow far more growers to make a living and live a healthy life.

In a “keynote address” Dr Villareal gave the conversation a global perspective, asking how we could arrive in a position where 821 million live in abject food poverty whilst levels of obesity accelerate in all countries, now standing at 672 million obese with two billion overweight, with one third of food wasted and thrown away in the “developed” world. She also lamented the sad fact that 12 million hectares of agricultural land were being lost each year to desertification. Clearly unsustainable in so many ways.

Vegans and vegetarians rationally also bring animal cruelty into the equations – and farming has been becoming increasingly uncaring and callous towards its charges. This is not an economic or even a climate argument. Instead it is emotional and asks that we, as human beings, be sensitive – even empathic – towards species we coexist with. “Ah, but we are killing them anyway – what does it matter” is a standard reply. Me, myself, I don’t want to waste my breath responding to such statements. I would hope that those making them would themselves in time see how hopelessly untenable such positions are.

So, I paraphrase and summarise to get the ideas through. But it was a live, vibrant event and my above dry distillation gives little of the flavour. I didn’t try to count but imagine there must have been around a hundred and fifty of us. Venue was excellent, well equipped, comfortable, practical and reasonably chic. Attending were vegans of sundry origin, greens, farming folk and other growers, journalista and simply the interested. Young guy next to me in the lecture theatre was a maker of natural wood furniture, but he was really interested in my pet project to cultivate Stevia.

With so many like minds there was, of course, much networking capacity but, faced with a very busy gaggle of discursive delegates deeply engaged in passionate conversation, its actually difficult to get stuck in! I managed but could have done with  some small group discussions for this to have been more fruitful.

I enjoyed a good chat with two notable tree folk, who approved of my “Five Trillion Trees” concept and agreed it to be the correct order of magnitude.  Andy Egan of the International Tree Foundation, a global woodland establishing group, pointed out how I’d raised the total higher than anyone else, but accepted my logic fully. One trillion was the nearest rival! Alan Watson-Featherstone of “Trees for Life” is based in Scotland and connected to the restoration of native “Caledonian” Scots pine forest. He spoke of ecological restoration and the need for an integrated, comprehensive land use strategy. “Perverse subsidies” for sheep farming, he pointed out, are incentivising the degeneration and erosion of topsoils.

I had other conversations, the most notable of which was with former Green party leader Ms Natalie Bennett. As a first degree agriculturalist, she is well placed in the Green movement to argue the case for fundamental system change to revolutionise our food production structures. In her addresses to the meeting she imparted much common sense, such as emphasising Organic as the only useful and practical form for “agro-ecological” growing. She also observed that we must challenge the idea of cheap food: “Cheap food costs people’s health and costs us all the Earth”.

Yes, we think alike and so it was easy to talk. Happily she agreed that she’d love to come and spend a day with us in Colwyn. Hopefully as we lead into our own such new growing venture, bringing the twenty first century agricultural revolution to my home town. I am, of course, already laying my plans to bring such a venture into existence………..

Refs:
1) https://vegansci.com/2017/03/12/animals-account-for-85-of-uk-food-land-footprint/

2)”Home production contributed 16% of the total UK supply of fruit in 2017, compared to 17% in 2016″. From HMG stats:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/712016/hort-report-31may18.pdf

3) https://gro-intelligence.com/insights/brexit-reveals-uk-dependence-on-eu-fruit

Chris Hemmings

crishtrees@gmail.com

April 13th, 2019

Trust me, you’re NOT being a scientist, Richard.

Richard Dawkins on Radio Four, talking Nonscience with other such experts.

I had to catch up on this a day later as I’d missed the live show. So I’d been given a first impression by one who did listen and was told it was “OK and not very controversial”.

It depends how you measure it but I’d say my informant was wrong. To me, the broadcast simply once more showed evidence that the scientific hierarchy is in an advanced state  of entrenchment. This saddens me as, at university, Richard Dawkins radical anti-establishment views had appealed to my reformist attitudes. “This is how to approach science” I’d thought, “with an open and inquiring mind. Together, we’ll drive forward the boundaries of understanding”.  

The programme was the standard BBC fodder of a number of interviews strung together with apparent live chat between host and “special guest”. When Dawkins is host and Ben Goldacre the SG my more recent experience suggested to me that I could have issues with their approach and I’ll admit to having been more than a touch wary!

I took no notes and so for full review I’ll have to “listen again” again – this is just the intro. Oh how hard I work in my bid to overturn the established status quo! On first listening, though, it was the deep, ingrained, effortless arrogance which stood out. “I’m a scientist – trust me”. Translation: “We feel equipped to mock anyone who does not agree with our positions because we are scientists and they clearly cannot be”.

[There is a sub-plot here as there’s also a clear reference to the medics’ “Trust me, I’m a doctor”, with one of their indicator topics being vaccination. So much background psychology going on, eh?]

Anyway, they started by grouping people who purportedly go by the Terry Pratchett FlatEarth/Discworld idea with others who describe the vaccination industry as a rogue trade, selling a pack of lies. Of course, Pratchett wrote his books as farcical p*sstakes of our world and never once suggested that he believed our planet to be an interstellar pancake. It was a useful mechanism to poke fun at, for example,bankers or government administrators or any experts or tradesfolk.

Nowadays, there are reputedly to be found individuals who are so taken by the flatearth idea that they have clubs and internet sites to discuss the details. They boast having branches “all round the World”. Good, harmless fun, but remind them not to sail too close to the edge……. No, their ideas are not supported by a shred of evidence – no giant turtles have been demonstrated supporting our planet.

Me, as a scientist, a true scientist, I would actually group these flatearthers with those who DO believe in vaccines because the very idea is as far fetched and, frankly, as farcical! I mean, really, when did Jenner’s mad notion that filling an open wound with pus drawn from a cow’s pox spots become other than what it  says on the tin – “This process is insane”!

And I went back again and this time I took notes on their pronouncements and ponderings. This analysis provided a list of these scientists’ examples, used to illustrate their “case”:

1. US President Trump and the climate change deniers.
2. The flatearthers, discussed above.
3. MMR and general vaccine refuseniks/”antivaxx”  groups.
4. Lunar landing deniers – saying it was all filmed in the Arizona desert.
5. Families, in Flint, Michigan, USA, poisoned by lead in their water supply.
6. Kids who, coming from their faith base, believe in creationism, not evolution.

In truth, on this trip through the programme, I actually had more time for Goldacre – he voiced some common sense. He even suggested Dawkins sometimes went too far in his anti-Godism tirades and I heard bristles on Richard’s back twitch! Ben says he uses “all media and won’t dumb down”. He suggests TV programmes should say “this new idea has evidence in favour of it but also evidence questioning its validity”. That “it’s reasonable to question all published theories”. He talked of the problems arising and the mistrust engendered when the results of clinical trials of medication are routinely left unpublished or only selectively released.

Yet he STILL thinks vaccination is beyond suspicion? He still portrays Andy Wakefield as the Devil incarnate and pronounces anti-vaxxers as heretics and an anti-scientific mob. Practice what you preach, Ben, practice what you preach. Question your assumptions and give credence to the countless, clear accounts of vaccination precipitating collateral damage in their recipients. A cot death is NOT “an anecdote” – it is evidence. Read about the late Sally Clarke. Allergies, eczema, SSPE, autism, childhood diabetes – the list of vaccine associated physiological damage is long, much longer than I’ve just cited.

He and Dawkins talked of statistics and the worry that a young-mum-to-be develops when she hears of or even meets a baby/infant whose mum says was damaged by its vaccination.

“She should look at the statistics” Dawkins cries “and not just be swayed by anecdotes”. Leaving aside the fact that ALL SCIENCE is constructed from collecting observations – ie “anecdotes” –  I have to ask “Have you looked at vaccine statistics, Richard?” Show me any which carry rational merit. No, you cannot, as there are none. There are indeed many studies published but they all look at skewed populations, use specious comparison methods or do not follow the populations correctly over time.

Looking at the impact of the MMR vaccine over large European populations they followed children who’d had all childhood jabs except the MMR and compared them with those who had simply “had all their jabs”, so including the MMR. There was no difference in  rates measured of autism in the two groups. They concluded “The MMR does not cause autism”. However, both groups showed, over around twenty five years, a steady increase in levels of autism.

Yes, rises in autism prevalence correlate very well with the increased total number of jabs administered to European kids during this period – all jabs, of course, not just the MMR. Clearly, though, as generally a later vaccine, MMR is often the final precipitator of a profound autistic regression. Therein lies the confusion in analysing these statistics.

[I have no space here to delve further into the whys and wherefores of these impacts – they are covered, along with a whole lot more in my two books “Vaccinology – voodoo science” and “Vaccine Voodoo, books 2&3”, both on Amazon.]

No, I’m not a climate change denier and I understand that it is now extensively driven by anthropogenic forces. I have planted many thousands of sapling trees in deciduous woodlands to help combat the problem. I do, of course, concur with suggestions that, were modern man not creating so much havoc, the planet may well have been tumbling back towards a glacial maximum at this point – yes, the next Ice Age has probably been postponed indefinitely, as Prof Bill Ruddiman suggests!

And I excitedly watched Neil Armstrong take his “one small step” as a wee young t’ing. Looked good to me! I mean, yes I see there was a “Space Race” but don’t you think the Soviets would have cried foul if a spaceship had not even left the earth’s surface?

My credentials as a Neo-Darwinist, allied to the late Steven Jay Gould, are unchallengeable. Darwin himself was an amazingly good chronicler and indeed he left so much more than just a description of the process of evolution of species. I lived  close to a huge pile of boulders above Rhosgadfan in Gwynedd, near the North Wales coast, named “The Darwin Stones” as it was he who, 160 years earlier, on examining them, concluded they had been transported to the site from the West Coast of Scotland by the glacial ice sheets.

Erin Brochovitch type tales always have me sympathetic to those harmed by such events and this lead poisoning was another such history. I’m glad these campaigners were able to break through the institutionalised, state authority suppression of their case, to obtain justice as the truth was finally exposed and it was good to hear Prof Marc Edwards, the American academic on the programme, had been part of their support.

So why, oh why, oh why, cannot Dawkins and Goldacre see that the anti-vaccination campaigners have an equally strong case? Marc Edwards would, I think, have agreed with me on this, but they did not ask him the question.

In an attempt to clean up the image of science these two science-media-celebrities just dumb it down further and demonstrate what an arbitrary, cash chasing and prostituted institution it really is.

Reference: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0001b1k?fbclid=IwAR2EsLPFTG3HUwsVyZH6kEXAxOyFDVcn2NAfYr85UOOeQ45Xpl1hDstUhwU

PS– There was also a section in which RD interviewed a female academic  on peer review. They noted criticisms of like spawning like as peer reviewers only recognise what they already know and understand. They don’t approve of rule breakers who look at matters in a different manner, so closing off science to either innovation or critique of their foundational philosophies. However, the bulk of her critique was that women are selected against by peer reviewers, who tend to be establishment, white and middle or older aged males. Like she really thinks that women arriving in these situations will change the system? No way would that happen – as another guest – yes, male! – pointed out!

No, the system needs wholesale restructuring,  away from deep dependence on industry sponsorship and through the top heavy structures of professional institutions. Methinks such a purge, intensely overdue, may depend on certain bodies of truth being allowed to take centre stage and be celebrated as the truth that has been suppressed for far too long.

Much as the lead poisoning story detailed here only FAR, FAR more significant!

Cast list, nicked from another blog…..

Richard Dawkins considers what scientists are doing right and what they’re doing wrong, concentrating on the process of science, communication, education, and policy with experts in their field. These include Bad Science author and academic Ben Goldacre, physicists Dr Jess Wade and Prof Jim Al-Khalili, science policy fellow and podcast presenter Dr Maryam Zaringhalam, Virginia Tech’s Marc Edwards, who exposed the Flint water crisis, Norman Lamb, MP, chair of the HoC science and technology select committee, education consultant Tom Sherrington, head teacher Alan Grey and director of the Science Media Centre, Fiona Fox.