Dadbhai Naoroji 1825-1917

Spotted on my last foray into London on the outside of the Art Nouveau Finsbury Town Hall. I guess it's rather aposite given the events of the last few days.

He was elected as a Liberal MP in 1892 and was the first Indian to sit in the House of Commons. He was a founding memeber of the Indian National Congress and a mentor to Gandhi. He was also paternal uncle of the rather un-Gandhiish J.R.D.Tata.

I wonder what he would amke of the mess that the Mother of Democracies is in at the moment?

I guess that I should come clean and say that I voted Lib Dem in Thursday's election. Yes there are issues that I differ from the manifesto on - I'm less than convinced of the need for big government from Brussels and I'm less than sure that an amnesty for illegal immigrants is the way to go (though I acknowledgement that that is at least an attempt to deal with the continued problems that we have with immigration). I believe that renewing Trident at the very least needs to be at the very least looked at - because it aint an independent deterrant and its not too effective against the enemies that we face. I believe in fairer taxes where those who can afford to pay more to the sociry off've which they make their money should do, I believe that education will shape the future of this country and that that is where we need to invest, I believe in maintaining public services as much as possbible in a harsh economic environment, I beleive in a low carbon economy. But most of all I beleieve in electoral reform. Because this simply isn't working. A party that has 10% of the popular vote should have 10% of the seats in the house. I'm sorry but it IS that simple. We need concensus politics not the monkey house at the zoo that we see week in and week out at PMQs. Yes that will mean seats for UKIP and the BNP but thats democarcy and UKIP and the BNP do reflect some peoples fears. And you cant defeat these dickheads unless you confront them and take them on face to face on open debate. We should be able to votefor what we want rather than a least worst option. We need a UNITED kingdom not a divided one. Back to the matter at hand - we had a hustings at work which I attended which I really enjoyed. The Tory candidate came across as supercilious and the Labour guy as defending the indefensible who the hell can a union guy be a Labour MP when Gordo is every bit as anti-union as the Tories? Tony Juniper, the Green Candidate couldnt make it which was a shame because I would have liked to have heard his ideas. Simon Sedgewick_jell turned up as a bit of a comedy turn but didnt impress...so Lib Lem it was. I had Friday off so that I could stay up to watch and made it til 6.30 when there were less than 100 seats left to declare and by which time it was pretty much decided that it was going to be a hung parliament.... Stick it out Nick a commitment to a commission dont mean dick...

Blitz Street

On my wanderings last week I spotted (well was looking out for thanks to plaquesoflondon.com )n inconspicuous plaque on a pub wall in Nevill Road. An ordinary, terraced street in an unremarkable suburb of London with an unfortunate claim to fame, that being that the first zeppelin bomb to fall on London dropped into the back garden of the Nevill Arms pub on 30th May 1915. The attack killed 7 and injured 35 and with it came a new era in warfare. An era thats certainly left its mark on London, in most cases the marks are all but disappeared, signalled by a gleaming glass and not so gleaming concrete plonked down in the middle of victorian brick. The blitz is being recreated at the moment by Channel 4 subjecting a specially made terrace to ever larger explosions which kind of misses the point of the true horror of the blitz. Not the effect on brick and mortar but on flesh and bone.
Maybe these periodic conflagrations are the equivalent of a bush fire that some trees require to activate these seeds. From Boudicca through Saxon and Viking raids, Peasants Revolts, plague and fire, The Gordon Riots right up to 7/7. Its part of a dynamic city I guess, one that constantly reinvents itself. And thats not even counting on the rather less dramatic predations of the property developers who ensure that history doesn't get in the way of profit.
Theres a quote from Babylon 5 that seems rather apt - "The universe is driven by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter and enlightened self-interest"
Election Day tomorrow. Woo-hoo!!