Everton 1 Chelsea 1

FA Cup 4th round day at Goodison Park; despite appearances the temperature was only just above freezing.

This week has been one of gloom and doom for Everton supporters. Talk of financial crisis and players leaving the club fuelled fears that todays FA Cup 4th round match with Chelsea would be like 'lambs to the slaughter'. This was reflected in the thousands of empty seats all around the stadium.

The doom merchants were proved partially wrong. The vultures (other clubs) may circle around Everton's best players, but today we witnessed an excellent team performance. The statistics of possession and corners both show that Everton more than matched their multi millionaire opponents. Saha's second half headed goal allowed us to anticipate a famous victory; however, it was wiped out by a Chelsea equaliser in the last ten minutes.

Everton and Chelsea will replay the game the in three weeks at Stamford Bridge. Clearly Everton's best chance of progressing has gone, but with another performance like this (with Cahill back in the team) and all is not lost.

Everton attack the Gwladys Street end.

Aww Bless!

When he is ill and you don't have time to be get cold and flu remedies from Boots!

This photograph is taken from the hilarious Boots the Chemist television advertisement. It lasts just 30 seconds and it has two women  friends meeting in the high street, both with streaming colds, sharing tales of all the jobs they have to do. One has a bag of cold and flu remedies from Boots the Chemist for her husband who is poorly in bed with manflu - 'awww bless', adds her friend very sympathetically. Clearly Boots don't aim their advertsing at men as this is from a series of mildly sexist television promotions making a similar point. They are implying that men are faking illnesses while women carry on regardless. It would be churlish not to find the advert amusing - it certainly makes me smile.

However I have seen parallels in the last two days when two football television presenters have got into trouble for making sexist comments about a female referee; they questioned, amongst other things, whether she could possibly understand the off-side rule. This photograph has been doing the rounds on Facebook and Twitter:

No comment.

And then there was this one:

All this is based on stereotypes: women don't get football, and men don't know what being ill means. At one level they are harmless and have formed a rich vein of humour for years. Yet deeper down they cause real harm; women should be involved in football at every level. In fact Sian Massey does know the off-side rule as was so brilliantly shown by her split second decision in the Wolves v Liverpool game last weekend. More importantly though, men's health should be taken seriously, not mocked by Boots the Chemist. The awful fact is that men are far more likely to have undiagnosed cancer, depression, or diabetes than women.

The stereotypical view that women bravely soldier on while men take to their beds has no foundation in fact; it is no more true than female ignorance of the off-side rule.

Village Life

Cilcain is probably the most picturesque village in Flintshire. It is a place where people like to visit; they may wish to cycle the many trails or walk in the foot hills of Moel Famau. Cilcain has a post office (often closed) and a pub (often very quiet); aside from the farms there is very little economic activity going on. Yet it is undisputably a prosperous place. Students study Cilcain as the classic commuter village of the area; I was once told that over 60 teachers live there. I will get to the point, the village does not exactly give the impression of welcoming visitors. Due to the narrow lanes parking is difficult and the one car park has this daunting sign:

Why do locals need a car park? A welcome in the hill side?

Car parks have been provided a couple of miles outside the village for ramblers and mountain bikers. In doing so they ensure that these visitors will not stop and spend money in the village.Which is a great shame as the White Horse is an excellent pub with a an impressive range of beers. Rant over.

The Norman Cavalry in 1066 - best weekend fact.

Watching Time Team yesterday morning (as I often do) they unearthed an interesting fact about the Battle of Hastings that has made me smile all weekend. The skill of the Norman cavalry is usually cited as a prime reason why they were successful in defeating Harold and the weary English army (they had just marched 200 miles south from their success at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York). I have always imagined the ferocious Normans riding through the English ranks on enormous horses cutting the poor home side into shreds. Not a bit of it. According to Time Team the Norman horses were only around 12 hands high, which is about the size of a large donkey. This is backed up by the Bayeux Tapestry that does seem to show large men riding rather small horses (see above) - not, it seems, the women who did the stitching getting fed up of doing big horses! Poor old King Harold, defeated by an army whose cavalry where riding tiny horses; perhaps the English soldiers were just laughing too much.

Everton 2 West Ham 2

We went to the game expecting an easy Everton win; after all the Hammers are proping up the league and their manager Avram Grant is expected to be sacked at any time. However things are not especially rosy at Everton these days. During the week Steven Piennar had moved on to Spurs and Yakubu was loaned to Leicester. Nevertheless the betting people had Everton has firm favourites for the three points.
The game itself was not high on quality and West Ham proved to be a tough nut to crack. In fact they probably deserved to win - the scoring pattern was 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2. Everon's final equaliser came with only seconds remaining.
Marouane Fellaini was Everton's best player; the worry is that, like Piennar, he will be tempted to take the money and play for a more successful team. Nobody played especially badly but the strikers, Beckford and Anichebe, were unable to control the ball and set up chances.
It is hard to see what the remainder of the season will bring for Everton; it may well be that there will be a struggle against relegation. One thing is for sure, the club must stick with the manager; Moyes has brought success and stability, without him Everton will face a difficult future. Next Saturday Everton face the big spenders Chelsea in the 4th round of the FA cup; they will need to do better than yesterday if they are to progress further.

The view from the Bullens Road stand as Everton warm up.

Viewing Lloyd George.

Books about Lloyd George dominate my bookcase. The 'Welsh Wizard' has fascinated me since I was a university student; I still can't work out what I really think of him! The early works on Lloyd George are generally (but not always) written by authors spellbound by his brilliance. Others written by family members (with one notable exception) are also positive. My favourite title is the book written by Olwen Carey Evans entitled 'Lloyd George was my father'; of course he actually was, but there were a number of others that might make the same claim.
More recent biographies have tended have tended to be more critical and offer a more balanced view of Lloyd George's achievements. The best book I read last year was by Ffion Hague entitled 'The Pain and Privilege: Lloyd George's Women'. No prizes for guessing what this was about; it is a beautifully written book tracing the many women that played a part in Lloyd George's life. The latest book providing a more critical evaluation of his career and personality is by the ex cabinet minister Roy Hattersley. This biography is highly critical of Lloyd George - one gets the feeling that Hattersley does not like the subject of his book one bit. Hattersley portrays Lloyd George as a self serving politician, rooted in nothing, and almost without principle. He shows how Lloyd George shamelessly used his family and friends merely as stepping stones to further his political career. I am not sure agree with the overall tenor of Hattersley's superbly written book, but it does show that even after nearly 70 since he died, Lloyd George still has the power to divide opinion.

Lloyd George still has the power to divide opinion.

“All governments end in failure”.

That quotation is not entirely fair as the British governments of 1906 and 1945 are usually considered successful; but even these ended with political crises. Why then do most governments eventually implode upon themselves? I think there are two reasons. The first is simply down to bad luck; Harold Macmillan when asked about the toughest thing about being prime minister replied ‘events dear boy events’. Some prime ministers are just down right unlucky and events outside their control bring them down (Edward Heath and John Major are the two best recent examples). The second factor that does for governments is that they do ill-advised things and then pay a very heavy price. In other words these governments try to do things that are beyond their competency and control. For example, why did Eden think his Suez policy was a good idea in 1956? Or why did Thatcher think that the late 80s was a good time to reform local government finance? Most recently, why did Blair get so involved with Bush’s Iraq war? On each occasion these prime ministers received volumes of advice against their chosen paths, but they just chose to ignore it. In each case the political consequences proved to be catastrophic.

This week I listened to a speech by David Cameron defending his decision to embark upon the largest reform of the NHS since it’s foundation in the late 1940s. To date Cameron has been a politically astute prime minister and has deservedly maintained high approval ratings. However, I predict that with this attempt to ‘reform’ management of the NHS he may be sowing the seeds of his own demise. Waiting lists are at all time low and public satisfaction levels with the NHS are consistently high; our health service may not be perfect, but it is hard to see what political advantage Cameron will get from foisting yet another reform on the NHS.

David Cameron is apparently a fan of the ‘nudge’ theory, whereby reform is carried out incrementally – one small step at a time. Yet his NHS reforms will be on a massive scale and implemented within a year or two. I listened with care to his speeches and the interview on the ‘Today’ programme; somehow this was a David Cameron that did not sound as assured as usual or even that he fully believed in what he was saying. Perhaps he should have heeded that other political adage, ‘when in doubt, do nothing’.

A serendipitous dinner party...

Last night I went to a very enjoyable dinner party. We were celebrating the 60th birthday of the photyman; TW is a world renowned photographer and he certainly knows some interesting people. During the course of the evening I met several fascinating people. They included a man that lived with Amazonian tribes and took photographs of their medicines for an exhibition; he showed me some of his prints and they were unusual to say the least. Also there was an art student at London's top art college; he had recently been mugged and his iphone taken - before it was reported missing the thief had used to it carry out drug deals in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Another was with a man, with plenty of tales to tell, who had motor cycled around the world. For a while I sat and chatted with a local historian with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the locality. Before I left I even managed to have a conversation with a man who believes he has a Roman fort on his land and is commissioning a geo-physical survey before a dig takes place. Finally, there was TW himself, world renowned photographer and raconteur.

Even Jane Russell was there; I was collecting my coat and hat from the prison cell.

Thank you very much to T, L, and family.

10 reasons to vote No to AV.

Later this year we are to be offered a referendum on replacing the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system with that of the Alternative Vote (AV)  for Westminster elections. Here are 10 good reasons to vote NO:

• AV will not substantially change the outcome from the present FPTP, so why bother?
• It might allow the candidate who came second (or even third) to win
• It would not be more proportional than the present system (not that I want proportional representation anyway).
• It runs counter to our political traditions; reformers may mock this but FPTP is generally accepted by the people. At least there is no popular movement for electoral reform other than among the chattering classes.
• It would spoil election night; many of us love that!
• It would unduly benefit the centre party as being the 'lesser of two evils'.
• It might curb radical political ideas that from time to time have invigorated our nation as each party becomes afraid of alienating the middle ground.
• FPTP recognises the social diversity of the nation; we tend to get the MPs we want; contrary to popular belief the vast majority of constituents are very happy with their MP, even if they did not vote for him or her.
• AV would do nothing to give a voice to minorities or smaller parties.
• The added mystery and complexity of the count would remove politics from the people; low turnout is has nothing to do with FPTP.

I am sure there are other good reasons for voting No in the referendum, but let this be my contribution for now.

Vince Cable's hat.

Before Christmas Vince Cable got himself into some hot water when he suggested to reporters posing as constituents that Rupert Murdoch was unfit to control even more media organisations in the UK. As Business Secretary charged with adjudicating any future media sector take-overs in an impartial way his private thoughts about Murdoch should have remained just that, private. In the political storm that followed Cable was pursued through the streets by the paparazzi. Whatever one might think of him, Vince Cable certainly knows how to wear a hat. He may have  become a 'damaged' Business Secretary, but at least he has retained his style.

Vince Cable and that hat.

Short of anything I really wanted for Christmas I bought myself a Vince Cable hat. They are known as Fedora - a pinched felt hat. They are very practical being warm and relatively waterproof.

I was also prompted to get a hat by my interest in the Victorian photographs  of Caerwys where every man wears a hat, and a good one at that; certainly not the ubiquitous 'beanie' hats that are de rigueur today.

The hat duly arrived from the Village Hat and Cap Company (recommended). In came in a large box with Village Hat and Cap Company written on the side; there was no hiding it. My Fedora looked stunning but would I have the courage to wear it? Well, I went for a walk in the dark with it on without incident. So emboldened I wore it for work. All went well until a good friend asked if I was going to a fancy dress party!

Vince Cable may have lost his place as the nation's favourite politician, but for me he is still to be admired for his courage to wear a very dashing hat.

What of my Fedora?

First day of spring?

I was talking to a Caerwys farmer recently; being British we talked about the weather. I was asking how the very early severe winter would impact upon his livestock. He was not in the slightest bit worried as he told me that no matter when winter starts it only ever last fifteen weeks. So judging by this we are approaching the end of winter (well, soon anyway). Today's beautiful sunshine made me think that my farmer friend might have been right. Out and about this morning I spotted a tree laden with cat's tails (or as we know them Catkins) - a sure sign of spring. In my raised garden beds the daffodils are pushing through the cold soil. Even the Lamas in Caerwys looked a little happier in the warm sunshine. This may not be the end of winter, afterall it is only the 9th January, but if my farmer friend is right Spring is just around the corner.

Catkins - named after Kitten tails, which they resemble; sign of spring.

The Caerwys Lamas have endured a harsh winter, but seemed happy enough today.

Not exactly a host of golden daffodils, but at least they are on the way up.

Pete Postlethwaite & the Shropshire Lad

Pete Postlethwaite played some excellent roles; perhaps it is only after his death that we recognise his achievement. My particular favourite was his portrayal of Giuseppe Conlon in the 'The Name of the Father' - the story of the Guilford 4.  Postlethwaite came from Cheshire, but later in life moved to the county below - Shropshire. He was a regular at the Three Tuns public house in Bishops Castle (a beautiful small town well worth visiting). The Three Tuns has a brewery attached. Anyway, Postlethwaite fell in love with Shropshire and made a big contribution to local life there. He particularly liked the poetry of A.E.Houseman (best known for the poem 'The Shropshire Lad'). It is poetry that I really like too; Postlethwaite did some poetry readings of Houseman's material. His voice was perfect for the melancholy lines. Earlier on the radio I heard him read these lines:

On Wenlock Edge

On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;
  His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves;
The gale, it plies the saplings double,
  And thick on Severn snow the leaves.
 
'Twould blow like this through holt and hanger
  When Uricon the city stood:
'Tis the old wind in the old anger,
  But then it threshed another wood.
 
Then, 'twas before my time, the Roman
  At yonder heaving hill would stare:
The blood that warms an English yeoman,
  The thoughts that hurt him, they were there.
 
There, like the wind through woods in riot,
  Through him the gale of life blew high;
The tree of man was never quiet:
  Then 'twas the Roman, now 'tis I.
 
The gale, it plies the saplings double,
  It blows so hard, 'twill soon be gone:
To-day the Roman and his trouble
  Are ashes under Uricon.

Dating old photographs.

One of the challenges faced by local historians is to date old photograghs. For the Caerwys book we had access to hundreds of photographs; of these only a few were dated. Fortunately we were able to date the most important Victorian photograpgh taken by John Thomas precisely  to 1875. Others have proved to be less valuable as we have not been able to offer an exact date. However with some detective work and common sense it is possible date most photograghs to within a few years. The most difficult are those from around the turn of the 20th century. I suppose I have wanted to know whether or not the images were 19th or 20th century. The following image is a good example. It was given without any date:

A view of South Street Caerwys.

The dresses of the ladies on the left of the photogragh are hard to see clearly, but they do appear to be 'fuller' than those of the post First World War period. The Town Hall is clearly visible and that was built in the 1880s; the Baptist Chapel at the bottom of the street was built in 1893. Therefore judging from the buildings and the style of dresses we are looking at a date of between the mid 1890s and 1914. Beyond that it is hard to be more accurate.

Moel Famau walk

The attempt to break out of the 2010 lethargy continues apace. Yesterday it was the bike, today shanks pony up Moel Famau. On a perfect day for walking we joined perhaps a hundred other folk at the top on a similar mission to burn the Christmas calories and try out new fleeces. The weather has turned a little colder again and the ice made it slippy underfoot near the summit. I took these two photographs:

A familiar view of the lakes above Cilcain, but with near perfect reflection.

The intrepid party make their was towards the summit.

Recycling Christmas excess.

By recycling Christmas excess I mean getting on the bike and burning up the calories (does that add to my carbon footprint?) Each year I set a target of 3000km; in 2010 I only got to 2500km. In other years I have done much better. The best ever cycling year was 2000 when I reached 4000 miles. I now no longer ride in miles but prefer kilometres as it seems so much easier to get bigger numbers. Anyway with the good intentions that pervades every January 1st I set off on my bike. Today, as opposed the the arctic weather last year, was mild and wet. I set the computer to zero and pedalled off into the misty gloom. Twenty soggy kilometres later and it was over; soaked to the skin but full of an unjustified self-righteousness that I promise will not last too long.

The km counter set to zero; here we go again.

When the fog lifts...(perhaps a metaphor for New Year's Day).