The real test for Corbyn and the Labour Left is applying the same standard to dodgy regimes that they like.

Surely the test for Corbyn and the Labour ‘Left’ is not whether they compare Israel the same as South Africa, the UK, USA, France, China or Saudi Arabia, but whether Corbyn and the Labour ‘Left’ compare Israel to Putin’s Russia, Saddam’s Iraq, Gaddafi’s Libya, Assad’s Syria, Zimbabwe, Serbia (under Milosevic), Iran, the IRA terrorists and other ideological regimes and groups that they appear to condemn less than any brutal state policies that are White capitalist State or Arab Monarchy led. Despite the Israeli State’s brutal, violent, racist, land stealing policies comparisons with Nazi Germany, or the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, are simply ridiculous – those regimes and their Leaders and minions are off the scale for evil. But Jeremy Corbyn and many on the Labour authoritarian Left seem unwilling to compare their favourite repressive leaders, dictators and violent groups to the same standards that they rightly apply to the Israeli government and its actions.

I disagree that this is anti-semitism:
“• Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.” I agree with the right of the State of Israel to exist but it can be a valid political position to disagree with a Jewish State established by force in Palestine (just as it is historically fair to point out that the United States of America stole Texas from Mexico after a colonial war). I disagree in general with changing international borders by force because of all the problems that that brings, even though usually arbitrary borders as accidents of history bring themselves many problems. I am not a great fan of the nation state, however denying a right for people who want to be Israelis a state in Israel (excluding the settlements, occupied territories and East Jerusalem) when that state has existed for seventy years is ridiculous.

To my mind it is these points from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and examples that the British political far Left have a problem with
• Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
The latter often by language and tone if not directly or even deliberately.

Ironically on the latter they are in company – along a spectrum of extremism – with so-called ‘Islamic’ extremists, and so-called ‘Christian’ far right racists in the US and Europe, and Russia. One thing that separates many US far right from the Russian state backed racist Eastern and Western European far right is that the US ‘evangelical’ ‘Christian’ far right is often very pro the brutal Israeli government. The Russian backed narrative is the same as the racist blame messages rife in the former Russian Empire and Soviet Union and across much of Eastern Europe “Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.” A view shared by many ‘Muslim’ racists. Just as the people of different neighbouring countries with political or popular antagonism often have very much in common, authoritarian, religious and ideological extremists do too. It is a reminder to the peace loving, friendly, tolerant majority to stand up to them all the time.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism found here
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf via this page
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/stories/working-definition-antisemitism

As at 7 September 2018.

 

It is worth Jewish fanatics, those who steal and occupy land with settlements, those who defend the brutal reaction of the Israeli military to peaceful protests & their use of extreme lethal force against peaceful and non-lethal assaults alike, to remember that it was a Jewish fanatic who destroyed the best chance of peace that existed with the two State initiative supported by President Yitzhak Rabin. Here was a genuine Israeli hero, a soldier and a brave politician, a Statesman, murdered by a cowardly extremist. One of the worst political crimes of our era and one that has held Israelis and Palestinians alike in hostage to violence. We should remember the courage of Yitzhak Rabin and the ability of politicians and leaders to talk to enemies and make compromises for the sake of peace.

If you’re in Zaporizhia South East Ukraine there is a great beer scene growing.

This is a review of AmBar beer bar in Zaporizhia / Zaporizhzhia, a major city in south east Ukraine. The review compares briefly with a few micro-brewery / ‘craft’ beer and brewery bars, and is the original I posted on TripAdvisor. It turns out that TripAdvisor policy is that you cannot compare places with each other, so the review must only be about the particular place. That doesn’t do justice to why I thought AmBar is the best bar in the city to try out a range of Ukrainian beers with food, so I’m posting an expanded version of the original review here.

Out of an increasing choice, this is probably the best bar in the city to try a range of mainstream and speciality Ukrainian beers, along with food. While Beer Book, recommended by American travel writer Meghan Fox and locals, is the only US/AUS/UK style craft beer bar I have found (a small three room basement bar), the beers there tend to be more extreme craft beers. The excessively hoppy or strong types favoured by ‘craft beer’ fans. On the other hand the excellent Tirlo, which does beer and food (and other drinks), has mainly mainstream national and ‘international’ branded beer, and the smart brew pub / craft brewery restaurants Pinta and out of centre Kronsbeer, do their own beer. Kronsbeer has an excellent range in its unlikely setting on a main road next to a car wash. I like bar restaurant AmBar, at Oleksandrivska, 88, behind the Palmyra mall complex, which serves probably the best range of Ukrainian styles of beer, and food that accompanies them (unlike the new small German style Limbier brewery, between the Theatre and Dubovka park, not limited to the dried fish and ‘chips’ – crisps & beer snacks). AmBar is a typical restaurant type ‘bar’ so best visited with friends. https://ambar.net.ua/ Opposite an apparently long established upmarket fish restaurant, Beluga, I’ve never noticed before. My friend and colleague Alesia introduced me to this bar, we visited twice, coming back with another University friend, and I will certainly visit again when I am next in town. The beer bars listed in my review are all expensive for Ukraine but high quality.

Locations. Pinta (traditional theme downstairs, modern glass and metal upstairs), Tirlo (beer hall size basement, sleek and modern) and Beer Book are fairly near each other to the north west (river direction) and a mile away in the centre of the main avenue. AmBar is a few miles away south east end of the Avenue near the University / Cathedral district not far from the Aurora shopping mall. Limbier (small modern brewery with a little bar where you can have a freshly poured pint or get takeaway) is about fifteen or twenty minutes walk from there, on the south west end of Troitska Street, over the tram tracks. Kronsbeer is south, on the edge of the outer Pivdenny District, about a mile from the main railway station. The best way to get between the three areas is to get someone to call a reputable taxi.

Note. Other choices are available. There are many trendy bars and restaurants – especially it seems in the Summer – along Mayakovskogo and surrounding streets but in my experience Ukrainian bars, restaurants and hotels want to sell ‘international’ branded drinks not good Ukrainian beer and wine. (An exception is the cheap and cheerful and good Puzata Khata traditional Ukrainian theme self service restaurant chain). You can also get very cheap takeaway beer – mass produced national and local and some increasingly tasty regional brews – from the numerous beer kiosks, some of which have been smartened up like those in the bigger neighbouring city of Dnipro. Or drink cheap local mass produced beer in some of the dingiest dives you’ve ever seen. Locals can tell you about those; the bars I describe are comparable to good beer bars in Western and Eastern Europe. Bastion should also get a mention here, as the first international type beer bar I found, though I don’t recommend the Carling and you will probably have to reserve a table as it is quite a small cellar when the outdoor seating is not in use, and you have to have a table. It took me several times to find it again after visiting first with a Polish and Belorussian colleagues.

Culture days in Britain Summer 2018. Long report.

Culture days in Britain Summer 2018.

 

I don’t usually write about culture on this website. But this Summer in Britain I’ve visited by chance or design several exhibitions that have been really impressive. The Grayson Perry exhibition in Bristol, Tolkien in Oxford, the Singh Twins in Wolverhampton, and Japanese culture in Cardiff have been highlights. I didn’t think I would enjoy the Grayson Perry but I really did. It is very impressive. And very similar but very different was the Singh Twins’ banners that I saw in Wolverhampton. Highly important series of works by the three artists. While the Kizuna (friendship) exhibition in Wales and the Chinese warriors in Liverpool brought these sometimes very familiar seeming Eastern cultures closer to us. Well done to all involved. And if you have a day off, or a free afternoon think about going to one of your local galleries or museums or take a bus or a train to the next town or city and you will usually find something that interests you.

 

Longer musings follow but that short review is what I really wanted to say.

 

Culture days in Britain Summer 2018. Long report.

 

Long report.

 

I don’t usually write about culture. It is only as an advancing adult that I’ve made much of an effort when holidaying or working abroad to see at least one or two cultural things. A museum or two, a gallery, maybe two; I’ve quite gone off castles due to too much tragic or pathetic history but often a castle or two as well as they happen to be there. Normally I still love my European (city) breaks where you just soak up the atmosphere of the wonderful Hapsburg historic squares and the cityscapes. In Porto, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhya / Zaporizhia, Vasilivka (Ukraine – definitely not Hapsburg), Alicante, Villajoyosa I’ve visited various great museums or displays in the first half of this year and seen some impressive cultural celebrations. In Britain I’ve made a little bit of effort when in a new town or city, or on a short trip, to see some cultural sites. It took me a few years to realise this was a good way to make sure when you went somewhere you actually saw some of the town, and got a break from the bubble of political conferences, which I never did at political or academic conferences when I was younger and concentrated on being seen and drinking in the bar(s). Also a useful break from the drinking.

 

This Summer, 2018, I happen more by chance than design to have called in to several excellent exhibitions in Britain. In late June in Bristol I decided to call in to the Grayson Perry exhibition at the City Art Gallery, largely because I thought I should. I didn’t think I would enjoy it and I really did. I was very glad I walked in and paid the reasonable fee. One large busy room with fantastic banners. Insightful, full of imagery of modern Britain. Very deservedly highly important art of modern times. A week later in Oxford it was the small packed Tolkien exhibition at the Weston wing of the Bodleian library. Lots of interesting detail that I didn’t know, and classic illustrations. Next door in the ‘Treasures’ collection or ‘Treasury’ room I was able to see a copy of the Georgian epic tale ‘the Knight in the Panther’s Skin’ by Shota Rustaveli. Plus some of the translation notes by Marjory Wardrop – this remarkable woman being why the illustrated manuscript was placed in a celebration of remarkable women. Back in Liverpool, it was the Terracotta warriors. An incredibly packed exhibition (packed with people), a dozen figures – enough to make an impact – many artefacts, animation (by my friends at Draw and Code) and useful illustration and interpretation. Unlike most historical displays I see there was enough detail and factual information, although much of course was speculation. Grayson Perry (‘the Vanity of Small Differences’ tapestries), Tolkien, the Knight in the Panther’s Skin, Chinese men. This write up was going to end there but since then I’ve been for the first time to Wolverhampton. I stopped in Wolverhampton specifically to see the Singh Twins exhibition ‘Slaves of Fashion’ that I missed in Liverpool. I was very glad I did. The exhibition – large banners like the Grayson Perry – is like the Grayson Perry rich in colour, interesting details, thought provoking (I can also use the over used word challenging), and has impact. One large room with the electronic hangings and two side rooms with connected exhibits from the Wolverhampton Gallery and from National Museums Liverpool, and the story of how the artworks are made. That shows the work and thinking that has gone in to create these pieces which like the Perry are of great importance for 21Century art in Britain, and a real contribution of British (and Indian) art to the World.

 

I stopped in Wolverhampton en route to Cardiff where I found a city hosting a National Eisteddfod. (A celebration of the culture and language in Wales). With my father-in-law, bookseller Nick, we took in some of the atmosphere of the stands and exhibitions there and then went to see the Kizuna exhibition on Japanese culture and Wales. There are banners proclaiming KIZUNA all around the city centre but I had no idea what this meant. It means bonds of friendship, and the interesting display, two parts in one long room, charts the history of connections between Japan and Wales which is longer than you might think. 50 Japanese companies employ over 5,000 people in Wales. Many antique, some very historic, and modern pieces of Japanese culture, design and technology are on display. A Japanese lacquered coffer (chest) has been at Chirk Castle on the North Welsh border for four hundred years, while 50 Japanese companies employ over 5,000 people in Wales today. Another first for me on this trip was a first actual day out in Swansea. On probably the wettest day of the Summer I had an interesting walk through the different ages of town centre and dock / river front regeneration, and got to the Egypt Centre at Swansea University (a couple of miles from the city centre) this time. So several other cultural locations to see on a future visit.

 

There is so much on in Britain each Summer now that you can experience high quality culture everywhere. You could watch theatre, outdoor and amateur Shakespeare every night and multiple times at the weekends. As I’ve spent much of the Summer at home I’ve enjoyed seeing the great numbers of tourists. Foreign visitors from all around the World taking advantage of the weak pound perhaps to enjoy a trip to Britain. It’s great to see them here. As local residents in a town we often don’t see the things the tourists do, this is a reminder to also be a tourist in your own town from time to time. Or visit the next one.

 

I went to the Tolkien and the Terracotta Warriors with Frances and Judy respectively, and the Japanese displays with Nick. These are my views but they were also very impressed by these exhibitions. My father was fascinated with China (and ancient Egypt). My sister has awed us with her story of seeing the Terracotta Warriors at Xian in China in 2000. And she brought back mini clay figures for each of us that were a rare site in Britain then. Seeing the figures in my home city was a nice way to see a small party of the immense culture of China.

 

The Japan (Kizuna) exhibition in Cardiff is on until 9 September.

The China’s First Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors in Liverpool until 28 October.

The Singh Twins’ Slaves of Fashion at Wolverhampton until 16 September.

Culture Days in Britain Summer 2018.

I don’t usually write about culture on this website. But this Summer in Britain I’ve visited by chance or design several exhibitions that have been really impressive. The Grayson Perry exhibition in Bristol, Tolkien in Oxford, the Singh Twins in Wolverhampton, and Japanese culture in Cardiff have been highlights. I didn’t think I would enjoy the Grayson Perry but I really did. It is very impressive. And very similar but very different was the Singh Twins’ banners that I saw in Wolverhampton. Highly important series of works by the three artists. While the Kizuna (friendship) exhibition in Wales and the Chinese warriors in Liverpool brought these sometimes very familiar seeming Far Eastern cultures closer to us. Well done to all involved. And if you have a day off, or a free afternoon think about going to one of your local galleries or museums or take a bus or a train to the next town or city and you will usually find something that interests you.

Hogarth punch bowl 1750

Tips for LFC fans going to Kiev (spelt Kyiv in official translations).

Tips for LFC fans going to Kiev (spelt Kyiv in official translations).

 

To add to my previous post, 8 May 2017.

Kyiv tips for Eurovision & other visitors.

 

  1. Nearly everywhere takes cards. Euros are very easily exchanged at fair rates but pounds will probably be exchanged everywhere. Exchanges on the street are perfectly good. Officially you have to pay in Ukrainian currency.
  2. Near the stadium there is a good Silpo supermarket in the basement of Gulliver mall.
  3. On Shota Rustaveli Street there are good Georgian restaurants. I’ve been to one and guessing the other is good.
  4. Good value self-service Ukrainian food at Puzhata Hata (Пузата Хата) e.g. a branch diagonally opposite the right hand Kreshchatik side of the Bessarabaska market.
  5. Porter pub has several branches around the centre. One is near the market, over the road on the left hand side away from the main street Kreshchatyk. Very near the LFC fan zone. One just off the other end of the main street and one on Sofiyska.
  6. Look out for shops and shopping centres in the underpasses and subways. Also many good bars and restaurants in the streets off Kreshchatyk before you reach the Maydan Square.

 

 

Brief more details.

Supermarket. The giant Gulliver shopping mall is very near the stadium (entrance nearest the Palats Sportu metro, or on the opposite side through what looks like the business entrance. There is a good Silpo supermarket in the basement (find escalators down), & a restaurant. On the 5th floor (our fourth floor, ground = 1) there is a good food hall for takeaway type food. Plenty of vegetarian options, I even saw a Tofu burger as the second dearest burger on the menu. There is a small perhaps cheaper supermarket along (Bul.) Lesi Ukrainki, 5 minutes walk away from Gulliver, a few blocks, with a very cheap traditional cafe attached.

 

Nearby the mall there are good Georgian restaurants, a falafel stall (good for vegetarian and vegans), and slightly nearer the centre a branch of the chain self-service typical good value Ukrainian food Puzhata Hata (Пузата Хата) http://www.puzatahata.ua/eng/ That branch is diagonally opposite the right hand Kreshchatik side of the Bessarabaska market. Look for a round red logo, and red writing. I spelt the name wrong in my earlier post.

 

Shops in underpasses. Ukraine is very hot in Summer and very cold in Winter. So they put shops and shopping centres underground, often in underpasses. Going along the main road from Gulliver mall to Bessarabska market (an old covered market) you may be surprised to find shops in the underpass. The next one in the direction of the main street Kreshchatyk you can get lost in there are so many twists and turns. Open at night to get through, with the shops closed. Under the main Maydan Square itself the whole underneath is a huge mix of prestige and regular shopping centre complex.

 

Pubs, bars, restaurants. It is normal in Ukrainian bars or ‘pubs’ to get food and drinks, so they look more like restaurants and you usually have to wait to be shown to a table. You can only get drinks but it is normal to get some food as well. I recommend it. As the FCO travel advice says, many drinks are stronger than at home. Their cheap ordinary lager is like our cheap ordinary lager (rubbish) but you rapidly get better, sometimes stronger, Ukrainian beer options, plus all the imported / foreign brands.

 

Porter Pub. Mentioned above. It’s like a Ukrainian Flannagan’s Apple but more civilised. A great rock covers & own songs band “Drive Music”, sometimes members of “The Brown Sugar” were playing in the branch on Taras Schevchenka last Friday night. Pub in Ukrainian / Russian = Паб.

There are good bars and restaurants on Prorizna. Khmilniy Knyaz on Prorizna is a British type craft beer bar (US / Aus / British type craft beer – not British type bar). Expensive for Ukraine – £16 for 3 beers & 3 small plates of food, good food and drink.

The area off Yaroslaviv, behind St. Sofia’s Cathedral is worth walking around to see lots of spectacular murals. A bohemian feel to it like similar districts in Berlin or Krakow. Thanks to my guide (& colleague) Sofi for showing me the murals district.

 

To add to my previous post, 8 May 2017.

Kyiv tips for Eurovision & other visitors.

Ukraine impressions February 2017.

As I arrive in Ukraine for my sixth visit since 2014, here are some as jotted impressions of my arrival and days in Ukraine last time, February last year. Photographs to follow.

Ukraine impressions February 2017.

Arriving at Zaporizhia airport. A small Soviet era regional airport – about the size of Derry, or Belfast city ten years ago, or Liverpool twenty years ago.

UN planes loom out of the lightening mist of dawn. Large aircraft and helicopters painted white with giant UN letters on the fuselage. From previous Ukrainian contributions to UN peacekeeping missions I presume.

Departing from the airport two weeks later, early on a Friday morning. The tiny terminal was crowded with two Kyiv flights and a Minsk flight within one hour of each other around 6.30 am. A small new departures hall required taking your bag off the one x-ray machine, out of the main building, around the side and a short walk towards the tarmac to the new departures. No one told me this, I followed another passenger fortunately.

30 – 40 minutes from the University side of the city (if no traffic); 40 (- 50 in traffic, a guess) to the river side of the city centre. Quicker if in a good car.
The airport is a couple of miles in the countryside on the edge of the city, past industrial, new suburban, and mixed industrial / residential district.

150 hr (about £4) in an unofficial taxi.

Information for tourists and travellers to Zaporizhzhia airport.*
The brand new (February 2017) tiny domestic departures lounge is located outside to the right (when you come out) of the bijou main terminal / check in. Round the corner and ahead 100 yards. It is big enough for 1 flight.
Internal flights are by UIA / МАУ, and Motor Sich, the airline associated with a giant local military and civilian aircraft and vehicle company. The Motor Sich plane was a new looking turbo prop. Slower but with customer service and a style that still feels like air travel is a special experience. The UIA plane was now a full size regular 737-800, unlike the smaller Boeing planes used in my first internal flights to then Dnipropetrovsk, & Zaporizhia in 2014 and 2015. Unlike the first time I took internal flights from this airport, 14 months earlier, the domestic flights were now almost entirely full (previously local residents, students and business people had stuck to the traditional train journeys, especially the overnight inexpensive sleepers).

[* For changing to internal from international flights in Kyiv & arriving at Dnipro airport see below, to be added. Arriving in 2018, the internal flights were again not entirely but very full].

A few Ukrainian festive traditions.
Pancake week. Not a pancake day (our Shrove Tuesday) but a whole week in the run up to Lent. Máslenitsa (Russian), Máslyana (Ukrainian). I was lucky to be visiting Ukraine in this week as Easter was very early.

Giving presents at midnight on New Year’s Eve, rather than on Christmas morning, Day or Eve.
Father Frost is the traditional Russian speaking world Father Christmas / Saint Nicholas / Saint Nicolaus / Santa Claus figure.
There is a New Year Tree rather than a Christmas Tree.

What noises animals make in the Russian speaking world.
Ducks – clack.
Frogs – crack.
Horses and crows – I think are the same as in Britain? I didn’t note a different noise in the amusing class where for some reason we discussed animal noises.

At and around the University.
Internet improved – the WiFi signal and coverage.
More classrooms and buildings improved.
Some buses more modern? [I’ve seen one modern bus so far on my first afternoon in Zap in 2018]. Locals were more used to the awful crowded mini-bus ‘buses’ marshrutkas.
Roads – no better. Still largely terrible. [2018, roads terrible, largely, and driving absolutely catastrophic, mostly, but not everyone, and still the cars avoid hitting people. Parts of the main intercity highway between Zaporizhia and Dnipro were improved, several sections were being worked on as we drove, and many sections were absolutely abysmal. My friend Eldar navigated the potholes as impressively as our leisure rally car team member, driver, Yuriy, had done when working in the Odessa rural districts].
More coffee shops and restaurants.

After a foot of snow or more and freeze in February came thaw and a huge volume of slush.
The University cleaners swept any of the laboriously cleared paths from the snow and even brushed any cleared patch, the paths were spotlessly clean. I even saw one brushing the ice clean. Possibly the only, vital, health and safety provision I have seen in Ukraine is the University taping off paths immediately underneath buildings – so that no one is hit by the giant icicles when they melt and break off.

The cleaners are gangs of old women and a few men (more for gardening), sometimes for clearing or gardening ‘volunteer students from Faculties’. Just as municipal sweepers and park horticultural workers (very committed to their work) across Ukraine seem to be usually old women and men. The same in Dnipro the municipality workers planting bedding plant displays along the river front beds, April 2018. Unlike in the UK Universities do not appear to have cut down on cleaning ladies (they are all ladies), though I doubt they are paid very much either.

Some prices.

ZNU 10/02/17.
In the student canteen
40 hr – £1.35 for borsch, salad and potatoes with meat and a juice drink.

In a trendy café a coffee could cost twice that, coffee & cake a fiver like in a regular coffee shop in the UK at the time (now rather dearer in more affluent areas). Though actually my latte in studenty bar / dancing venue ‘Amsterdam’ was only 20 hr (about 65p). It was dearer when the café bar had been part of the local Costa Coffee imitation chain, Coffee Life (and there was less competition from smart new expensive places). Alcoholic drinks (two or three) plus food for two cost £10.

In Tirlo / Тырло, my new favourite ‘bar’ it was £1 a pint (European 500ml or so) for national beer, more for stronger ones and rather more (expensive in Ukrainian terms) for imported or locally brewed branded as international / European brands. It is a chain type atmosphere but a nice one, (restaurant meets craft beer hall in Ukrainian terms).

[Note these are for a large post Soviet / post industrial city in SE Ukraine, more touristy places are dearer, but you can find expensive trendy places here, & both cheap & very / expensive places in the popular / main tourist cities just like here. In Dnipro, April 2018, I paid 50p for a national ordinary Ukrainian beer in the very cheap Hotel Dnipropetrovsk bar, an uninviting looking first floor room well stocked with national products, food & drink, with friendly staff; £2.60 for an imported Belgian Leffe brune on draught in the trendy friendly Reporter basement bar, £1.50 for their own branded one draught bland Ukrainian lager].

What I’ve been doing in Ukraine.
I first went to Ukraine as an election observer for the Presidential election when Petro Poreshenko was elected, after the former President fled. I liked it and returned three times (and this time) as a volunteer professor at Zaporizhzhya National University in a large city in SE Ukraine, and also for two months as a Long Term Observer of elections in two cities (with added after work contract ZNU Uni visit). Plus during third visit a few days tourism with my wife in Lviv / Lvov and Kiev / Kyiv, & other times meeting friends I’ve made. I was deployed as a Long Term Observer in 2015 in Odessa & Chernihiv for the OSCE/ODIHR mission.

81 years since the battle of Jarama.

 

Last year the New European newspaper published a feature by me on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Jarama, the first major engagement in the Spanish Civil War for the British and Irish International Brigades. That feature, edited and made more readable by Jasper Copping, was an extract from this long essay. Attached to this post.

The battle of Jarama K Reid 2018 web

For the published article there is a link to the .pdf file at the end of this page: https://kironreid.co.uk/2017/02/18/recent-writing/

 

The photographs here relate to Britain, Ireland and the Spanish Civil War but are not illustrations to the essay.

A small marker of village railway heritage.

Local Railway history / heritage – LYR Co. markers at Hightown. There are two Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company boundary markers in the garden at my family’s house in Hightown. The marker stones are sandstone, about 1 foot across, 3 inches deep, and two and a half feet high. These are from the original agreement with the Blundell family (the landowners, Lords of the Manor) that the railway could be constructed but that space had to be left for a bridge to be built if Hightown expanded in the future.* The road bridge is immediately north of the railway station. The houses in St. Georges Road were built in 1905 / 1906 onwards. The railway station was opened in 1848 when it was initially part of the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway. It became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company from 1855. These marker stones presumably date from about that time, although they may have been erected to mark the corridor to be kept free for a future road bridge when the houses were being built. The LYR itself was amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway in 1922. The road bridge was opened in 1967. I know there is at least one marker stone along the footpath from Formby to Hightown, on the stretch between the end of the Rifle Range and the bridge over the River Alt. That marks the railway line itself however rather than this rather innovative plot of land that will have been empty awaiting a bridge for anywhere between 60 and more than 100 years.

There was one other marker in Hightown, a wooden post on the opposite side of the railway bridge behind the former bank, this was rotted but still a visible LYR marker post just next to the roundabout (Kerslake Way on Alt Road side). Unfortunately it was removed when the bank was turned into a shop some years ago. What was an apart from that a wonderful conversion. Therefore in Hightown only the two markers at our house remain. These are at the side of the driveway next to the embankment of the road bridge. One is by the gate and was covered in ivy for quite a few years which chipped the sandstone quite a bit and has now been removed. The other is further back. I first made an enquiry of the County archaeologists after the summer in 2007, when strengthening work was done on the bridge’s road structure. This didn’t directly affect the marker stones but I was concerned that they may be lost if there is bridge work or work on the house later and no concern is given to the importance of these markers. Someone may just remove the stones without thinking, as happened to the wooden one.

The house is owned by my mother and the stones are on private property.

* I know this but don’t have the source. It is probably a document I saw in Crosby Library when researching local history as a teenager. My other sources on this and the WW2 related history are My Hightown 1897 – 1969 by Joe Bulman. (1st ed. 1975; 3rd ed. revised and enlarged by Andrew Lee-Hart and Matthew Tinker; Sefton Libraries, Southport, 2003); A Guide to Merseyside’s Industrial Past, Paul Rees, revised ed. Countyvise, Birkenhead, 1991 & NW Society for Industrial Archaeology and History; The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Society http://www.lyrs.org.uk/; Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_and_Yorkshire_Railway;

My previous enquiries: 2008; 2010; 2011.
Merseyside Archaeological Service acknowledged. English Heritage previously replied with a link to their procedures and information. A Sefton Council officer acknowledged but I have never received any substantive information as to whether they have any relevant plans or policies in relation to the WW2 heritage or the railway markers. I put my enquiries to the planning department in the absence of knowing who was the right contact for heritage conservation issues. An Archaeological Project Officer from National Museums Liverpool also replied showing some interest (and offering to look at photographs that I took but never passed on). It may be due to the ‘Landscape Partnership Scheme’ then ongoing that some signs about the World War Two heritage have been erected in the sand dunes at Formby. Hopefully the online database by various partners, publicised on tv by Channel 4 will help increase interest and protection action.

Is Sefton Council the worst Council in Britain for preserving World War II heritage?

Sefton Council, has done great work creating a walking and cycling accessible coastal path all the way from Hall Road on the edge of Liverpool via Hightown to Formby. In doing so it has either deliberately or through ignorance neglected or deliberately filled in important remains of the World War Two coastal defences that protected Liverpool Bay and the West Lancashire coast. If deliberate then this is a stupefying decision to almost literally cover over local history; if due to ignorance then it shows a stunning lack of local knowledge.

 

I grew up in Hightown a large commuter village on the coast a couple of miles outside of the continuous Liverpool conurbation. In the late 1970s, we played as children among the sand dunes where a new estate was being built, sand dunes that were still lined with concrete and barbed wire fences from World War II defences. Where we could freely wander into the Second World War bunkers, probably gun emplacements, maybe just air raid shelters between the dunes, West Lancs Golf Course, and the coast near the outflow pipe at the end of the small River Alt.

 

There are three emplacements still there, and inland what look like air raid shelters – pillboxes – in a couple of farmers’ fields, and another concrete defensive point at a small bridge over a brook a couple of miles north and inland at Little Altcar. Is this heritage preserved, explained, access provided, or simply maintained? It is ignored, completely as far as I can tell, and in the case of the dark, damp and dingy coastal bunkers we used to duck in and out of, they’ve been deliberately blocked up so that it is hard to tell what they were.

 

The photographs here are from 2009 (the dates have got jumbled up in transfer at some point) and a couple showing the site of two of the bunkers from December 2017. In the earlier photos Frances & Jules are standing on the rooves of the bunkers so you can see where they are and how hard they are to spot just from a few yards away. My, crouched by the entrance, shows the scale. The later photos show they are even harder to spot now, and I saw the entrances seem to have been filled in more.

 

These ‘bunkers’ are probably the coastal defence battery as described on Wikipedia (the first sentence quoting the entry on heritage gateway: “Listed as in poor condition (surveyed in 2000) is Coastal Battery S0011771 (Crosby Point Battery), between Coastguard Station and Hightown, north of Crosby. This is near the end of the West Lancs Golf Course, a mile south from Hightown station just off the footpath from Hall Road to Hightown. When Sefton Council upgraded the Sefton Coastal Footpath they blocked up two [actually three] gun emplacements that remained of the Fort Crosby site.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hightown,_Merseyside

 

Ironically these bunkers used to be hidden slightly back in the dunes so one had to look to find them. Now they are exposed near the path but are less visible.

 

By contrast in Jersey (where they obviously have more unique for Britain war heritage), in Ireland, or in other countries I see more evidence that some sites and remnants are actually preserved and the memory kept.

 

The World War II remains are listed in the various databases, it seems heritage is preserved quite well digitally, but not in reality. Three World War Two invasion defence pillboxes can be seen near Gorsey Lane and are listed in the database, each as: Type 23 World War II concrete pillbox, constructed in the period 1940 to 1941. These are found in the Defence of Britain Archive of the Council for British Archaeology, 2002.

 

Each feature is listed on the Heritage Gateway / Pastscape database

 

Crosby Point Coastal Battery and its history is recorded here:

 

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1425941

 

Clicking on related monuments give you the descriptions of others nearby, though which describe each one I am writing about I am not sure because I don’t know the precise locations.

 

One pillbox is here: http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1425940

 

It is a shame that the links to these various really useful and interesting sites are not more obvious on the front page or links of ‘Historic England’, the body formerly known as English Heritage. This page does enable you to search listed and many other heritage sites: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/non-listed-sites/

 

But only of course in England, in our artificially divided island where official heritage maps, like traffic and transport information has to stop at arbitrary lines on a map between Wales, England and Scotland.

 

A Channel 4 programme, ‘Britain at Low Tide’ featured this section of coast in episode two in November 2016. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britain-at-low-tide Channel 4 promoted the CITiZAN database and coastal archaeology survey app. https://citizan.org.uk/app/ Created by different partners, it uses a variety of sources including much information from Historic England’s databases. The map is easy to use and you can pull up the results around Hightown including the remnants I am talking about. Unfortunately, the Bing map base is not as useful for the coastal areas as looking at the Ordnance Survey maps that underlay the feature on the Historic England site. And the regular Ordnance Survey map does not show these features.

 

Note. http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/

A search on a typical Hightown postcode set at 2km (to not only cover the built up settlement) brings up many results – quite a few in the historic villages of Ince Blundell and Little Crosby, but most of the entries listed are the sites of ships wrecked off the coast near Formby – there are 50 !! listed over the last 250 years.

 

 

I wrote about the same topic on this website, last year, here: https://kironreid.co.uk/2017/07/21/failure-to-preserve-world-war-2-heritage-in-nw-england/

‘Failure to preserve World War 2 heritage in NW England.’ 21 July 2017.

I’ve raised the issue several times since 2008, in 2010, 2011.

 

On a nearby preserving the past topic I’ve also tried to get local and heritage authorities interested about a small aspect of railways heritage. I’ll write about that next.

 

advice for connecting with me on LinkedIn and any social media.

Especially advice for former students (UK / Ukraine), graduates including friends – wanting to connect online.

If you want to sign me up as a contact on LinkedIn send me a personal message so I know it is you signing me up, not an automatic sweeping of your address book. Send me a link in the app / site if it lets you, or an email. The same applies to friend requests on Facebook. And yes I apply this even to the good friends from the Liverpool Uni Law School who send me requests as I do to students and graduates from other places I’ve been.
The same for people wanting to connect for professional reasons – if I don’t know you I am not likely to accept a request unless I know it is a genuine personal and professionally interested approach. It’s so I can keep tabs on LinkedIn and keep this account professional, and try and manage the volume on Facebook (after many of us get carried away with signing up lots of people early on). Thanks. This is another reminder, to add to the section on my LinkedIn profile – though it is right at the bottom and I need to do more work on the profile being more concise 🙂