DannyB

Let’s Change the Way We Shop

Immersed. Immersed in projects about radical histories, radical walks, radical talks. The term Radical has an interesting history, a keyword in the Raymond Williams sense. The projects all link together with the State of the World and How that Might be Changed. But I need a break, an interruption, an interregnum. Something connected but notContinue reading “Let’s Change the Way We Shop”

The Rights, and Wrongs, of History

‘Each generation writes history anew’. Circumstances change, ideas change, the world changes. Events of the past still have resonance and life, they have power; they may illustrate class struggle or express class interest. Therefore there are at least two views, that of the ruling class, and of the working class, of the rich and ofContinue reading “The Rights, and Wrongs, of History”

A Day in Boulogne Sur Mer

I like Boulogne-sur-Mer and its shabby-chic and tatty edges. It’s a port and port-towns are usually without airs and graces, pomp and circumstances and many other cliches. There is something about the proximity to the sea and all that has meant historically and still means today. The fear of the people as storms prevent theContinue reading “A Day in Boulogne Sur Mer”

A Sea Crossing

It’s important to go with the flow. Checking in 90 minutes before the ferry is due to sail. Turning up at the passenger terminal 20 minutes before then. Waiting patiently because the hand held computer-machine which is used to scan passports isn’t working. Talking to the P&O worker about the over-use of technology, of technologyContinue reading “A Sea Crossing”

A very small number of images from 1800 – 1803

As part of a talk on the Captain Swing rebellion I thought I would have a look at the art of the period. Or rather the art and design from 1780 – 1832. This is roughly the period that EP Thompson covers in The Making of the English Working Class and covers the French RevolutionContinue reading “A very small number of images from 1800 – 1803”

Street Level Camaraderie

A day out in London, mainly to visit Tate Britain to study the art of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. More of that later. I don’t why people say London’s not friendly. I didn’t get a a minute’s peace. It was early and the streets and the underground were quiet with that particularContinue reading “Street Level Camaraderie”

Global Supply Chains

We should take liberties with Raymond Williams book Keywords. It was never meant to be definitive, a list of all possibilities. It was a methodology. How to take a word and look at the social relations which help to form and define it and how meaning changes over time. According to The Shorter Oxford EnglishContinue reading “Global Supply Chains”

It needs a driver

Workers are hidden, out of sight, to be kicked, spat at, abused, ill-treated, badly paid, forced to work in dangerous conditions, made a scapegoat for the ill-will and corruption of politicians. Workers are to be despised, shouted at with racist slogans from the mouths of money drenched riff raff. Workers are to be blamed whenContinue reading “It needs a driver”

Riots, Rebellion and Machine Breaking

It’s widely believed that the Captain Swing riots started in Kent in August 1830 in Lower Hardres a parish and village just south of Canterbury. There had been widespread agrarian rebellion in East Anglia in 1816 and 1822. There were incidents of rick burning and machine breaking throughout the period. Bad harvests made the situationContinue reading “Riots, Rebellion and Machine Breaking”

Radical St Pancras Walk – Resources

The walk started at the British Library. Not the Thatcher-ite edifice some imagine – she cut the budget so it was never completed to the original design. The British Library was built on land which was once the railway yards of St Pancras station. Those yards were created by demolishing densely packed slums. An estimatedContinue reading “Radical St Pancras Walk – Resources”