The Importance of Archaeology

This blog is normally reserved for matters relating to the decision making process; scrutiny and accountability in legislatures.

But today I want to draw your attention to a threat to the future of archaeology in Britain - and how it threatens the loss of knowledge about our past. I have to declare an interest:  history - and archaeology - fascinate me. As well as my academic and practical political interests - I spend a lot of time reading archaeological reports - and (save for lockdown periods) - visiting places of archaeological interest. I live close to Watling Street - and archaeologists in Milton Keynes have uncovered a host of Bronze Age/Iron Age/Roman settlements in my part of a very modern city.

We in Milton Keynes have a special debt to those with the foresight to fund and undertake archaeological work while the New City was under construction. There is a special series of monographs about what has learned about this area - published by the Buckinghamshire Archaeological Society. While the fantastic Milton Keynes Archaeology Unit has been wound up - a number of Archaeological Companies are continuing to unearth new secrets about our local past. Many reports can be found on the Archaeology Data Service website or in libraries.

Throughout the UK, archaeologists have helped us to understand where we came from - how our ancestors lived - and have revolutionised our understanding of the space which we, for our short lifespan, inhabit. Some projects have caught the public imagination - such as the discovery of the body of Richard III by the  University of Leicester School of Archaeology and Ancient History's Archaeology Unit. (Leicester Archaeology Monographs). Our understanding of our history has been turned on its head (see for example the references in the superb series presented by Huw Edwards "The Story of Wales"). The fascination with history powers a lot of tourism (and if you see my post from Tuesday this week about Owain Glyndŵr, you'll see how my recent holiday was enhanced by the work of Archaeologists - and took me to Sycharth, Conwy, Harlech, & Glyndyfrdwy). 

Our fascination with Stonehenge has led to many TV programmes and much tourism - drawing (in 2019) more than 800,000 visitors. Other crowd pullers include the Jorvik Viking Centre , the British Museum, and many local museums across the country.

It seems perverse then that a number of Archaeological Departments face the chop.

The Council of British Archaeology has highlighted the problem - do visit this page! I studied Law at Sheffield University & Politics at Leicester University. Cuts are threatened to the esteemed Archaeology Departments of both. The University of Chester (Chester was a Roman legionary city, and the site of a key battle  in the early 7th Century), Birkbeck College, part of the University of London, and Aston University  are also considering cuts to their archaeology departments.

There is an article in today's Guardian which is well worth reading.

If you'd like to add your name to the petition - and I'd urge you to do so - the address is here

2020 has arrived - and Washminster has returned!

It takes a long time for a New Year to arrive - It first arrived in Samoa & Christmas Island at 10h00 GMT - Tuesday 31st December. New Zealand saw the New Year in at 11h00. China saw 2020 in at 16h00, and a large part of the European Union at 23h00.

London - which includes Greenwich - where the "Prime Meridian" runs through, welcomed the New Year in, five minutes before this was posted.

However it still has a long journey to go. It will reach the USA at 05h00 but the final welcoming of 2020 will be in parts of the US Minor outlying Islands at Noon on Wednesday (GMT).

Wherever you are reading this - and whether the New Year arrived many hours ago - or is still some time off, may I wish you a Happy New Year.

Washminster is back!

At first the posts may be separated by a few days - as I get back into the rhythm. It's been a long time since I was blogging on a regular basis. You can still look back at some of the earlier posts. The first was made on Wednesday 7th March 2007, and began as an exercise to get me writing on a regular basis, ahead of starting to study for a Ph.D. at the University of Hull. I was working at Westminster at the time , and was able to witness some of the key events of that decade. On the 27th June 2007 I posted a number of times from the Palace of Westminster - as Tony Blair stepped down and power passed to Gordon Brown.

I've posted about the various US Presidential Elections - and reported from Washington at the height of each one.

(Warning - this is me! But I'm pictured with a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton - taken in a Democrat campaign office in Fairfax County, Virginia)


Many of my posts were written with my students in mind. But time moves on - and some of the law may no longer be applicable. Certainly the British Constitution has seen many changes in recent months.

So what will the new Washminster look like? It will of course continue to bring news and insights about the British Parliament and the US Congress - but won't stop there. While I continue to follow both - I am also interested in what is happening elsewhere - do expect to read more about the French Parliament; the European Parliament; and politics across Europe (especially France, Greece and The EU), the United States and China.

Much of my time will be spent exploring History - so expect lots of posts about areas that I will have been researching. These will include the ancient history of the very modern city that I live in (Milton Keynes); British History from the re-population of Britain after the last Ice Age to the death on the Battlefield of Bosworth of Richard III; Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome - and China (plus anything else that attracts my interest). I'm looking forward to going to the Troy exhibition at the British Museum - I had intended to go a lot earlier - but was otherwise engaged as a candidate in the Parliamentary constituency of Buckingham. The British Museum is a great place to visit - and is now one of the most places that I visit most frequently in London.

As the year progresses, I also hope to visit a number of interesting places around the UK (and beyond?) - Ill be posting about those too.



Do subscribe to this blog - and send me your comments. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to invite some guests to post for a one-off or even a regular basis.

Just keeping watching this space.

Meltdown

A slight trip, and the British railway network falls flat on its face.

On Tuesday evening, as I was returning to Milton Keynes for my French conversation class, after a day at Westminster, Euston descended into chaos. At least three separate incidents were causing problems on the line between London Euston and Rugby.

I wrote the draft for this post (in longhand) yesterday while awaiting the arrival of a friend from Lutterworth who was travelling via Coventry. The train had been have problems for most of its journey from Scotland. It finally gave up the ghost in Rugby. In the meantime a freight train breakdown shut down the route via Northampton.

Even the best networks suffer occasional problems (and to be fair, reading the news from France this morning, alerted me to the problems their network had suffered due to the heatwave). 100% punctuality is an impossibility - so much can happen that is outside the control of the track operators and the train operators.

But for regular users of the trains, service disruptions occur all too frequently. The annual average for London Midland is 87.9% of trains arrive within 5 minutes of schedule. Virgin trains had 89.4% of trains arriving within 10 minutes of schedule in May 2015. (Btw it would be nice if at a station COMPARABLE statistics were available!)

Train travel is very expensive in the UK - and this isn't good enough. ANSWERS (rather than apologies & the occasional refund) is what passengers want - in other words ACCOUNTABILITY.

The road to Runnymede goes through Milton Keynes!

I've been using some of the (small) amount of free time I have at the moment, to read up about the events leading up to the meeting at Runnymede. Using my modern atlas of France, I've been able to plot (approximately) his itinerary during the disastrous campaign of 1214.

By 800 years ago this week King John had moved into the Midlands (much of the time in previous months he had been in London or southern England). After a few days in Woodstock (just to the north of Oxford - and close to the site of Blenheim Palace - in fact, after Woodstock Palace was destroyed during the Civil War of the 17th Century - stones from it were used to construct Blenheim) - he moved to Silverstone (now the centre for motor racing). From there he travelled to Northampton, spending a night in Blisworth. Northampton had a grand castle - reputedly his father's favourite castle in England. Sadly little now remains - but the station, built on much of the site, is still known as Castle Station.

Then - 800 years ago today - he left Northampton to join the main route from the Midlands to London. He came to Stony Stratford - now part of Milton Keynes. It is an ancient town (though of medieval origin rather than Roman). In Roman times, there may have been some settlement across the Great Ouse river in what is now known as Old Stratford, but the Roman Road (Watling Street) ran through countryside in what is now Stony. (I am writing this from home - in Furzton, which adjoins Watling Street - it was countryside until only 30 years ago).

Stony, because of its strategic position on a major river crossing on this ancient, but continuously important road, has had many royal visitors. It was there that the boy king Edward V was met and taken into 'protective custody' by his uncle, the future Richard III. 

If I have time, I may well pop up to Stratford sometime today - and after popping to my favourite bakers (Woodstocks - by coincidence) - I'll drive home on exactly the route King John took, exactly 800 years previously.

The OU

As you may already know, I am an associate lecturer with the Open University. I currently tutor on two of their Law courses. The OU has been offering courses and awarding degrees for more than 40 years. Both my parents studied through the university when I was a teenager. (I have to say that it's a great boost to a teenager to have his parents studying - it sets a great example - and can excite enthusiasm for one's own studying). In those days "Walton Hall"

appeared an almost mythical place from which books and games (yes, I found it strange that learning could be done through 'playing' board games - but it can, and was) were sent; work was sent to be assessed (no electronic submission in those days); and TV programmes (broadcast at unearthly hours before video players were available!) were made. Now I live in Milton Keynes - and Walton Hall is just a few minutes drive away. Despite that, I don't actually work at Walton Hall. As an associate lecturer, I deliver tutorials - in Oxford, Reading and Birmingham.

I am still in awe of the University. It has thousands of students, across the country (and further afield) and offers a great range of courses. There are some postgrads working at "the campus", but it's unlike any traditional university. There is a good library on site ( which I use), but the bulk of study goes on in homes with some courses offering tutorials near to students' homes.

The fantastic studios (where some of the classic OU programmes were made) have gone, but the OU still has a great output of programmes which are broadcast on mainstream British TV (the current 4 part documentary on the House of Commons is one, as are the various series of "Coast".)

Do visit the website, and if you are considering studying, you would be in some excellent company.

Cycling Around Furzton

I was so nice to see the sunshine! I decided to go for a cycle around Furzton, which is part of Milton Keynes. I know I won't be in line for an Oscar - this was a video cam strapped to the front of my bike - and the "soundtrack" is from the editing software. But if you have any preconceptions about Milton Keynes being a concrete city - see what it's really like. The Lake is a balancing lake designed to limit the flooding which used to occur in the Loughton Valley. This winter it has been severly tested!!!

Memories

Forty years ago today, I attended a meeting in Walsall at which the Leader of the Opposition of the time, Harold Wilson, spoke. A week later he was Prime Minister, after an eventful general election and a weekend in which Ted Heath attempted to put together a coalition in order to remain in power.

I'd been introduced to politics four years previously. During the general election of 1970 my father had taken me to a number of political meetings. I met Roy Jenkins and George Brown - leading figures in the Labour Party at the time. (Jenkins signed my autograph book, Brown refused to - he was defeated at the election - coincidence????) My father was never active himself, but gave me the opportunity to explore politics. My interest continued during the years of the Heath Government - I followed closely the moves towards Britain's entry into the EEC (now the EU). As I was the first male in my family for at least three generations not to go straight from school down the mines - I took a keen interest in the Miner's Strike which led to the calling of the 1974 General Election. At that election my parents let me go to some of the local meetings - where I met Bruce George (who I was later to work with) and Geoff Edge (who became my local MP - and who encouraged my interest in politics (and Milton Keynes - where he had been an Open University lecturer and councillor)). These two young would-be MPs both gave me useful advice and I shall always be grateful to both of them.

On the Sunday before the election, there was the rally in Walsall Town Hall. Geoff & Bruce spoke - as did the other Walsall candidate - John Stonehouse. Harold Wilson was the main speaker. For me February 24th has always been seen as my political "birthday". I'd taken an interest before then, but afterwards, I became truly involved. Although too young to join the Labour Party, I helped give out leaflets (and in the October 1974 election helped cut up copies of the electoral register to paste onto cards for the "Get Out the Vote" activities on election day - I'm glad technology has moved on!)

For me 1974 was a momentous year. Sadly my Grandfather passed away on March 31st. We had been down in South Wales as his end neared. I'd seen him for the last time in the afternoon, & my mother stayed on at the hospital until he died a couple of hours later.  She remained with my grandmother as my father drove my sister and I back home to Aldridge. I guess I'm one of the few people who can remember exactly where they were at the moment the local government map was massively redrawn. At midnight old counties disappeared - and new ones emerged, as did many councils. It was exactly midnight as we crossed the border from Wales into England (quite possibly we were the last people to leave the historic county of Monmouthshire - which at that moment became Gwent). I learned a lot about my grandfather's story in the subsequent weeks - which further radicalised me. He had been a coalminer - who suffered long periods of unemployment in the 1930s.

My interest in politics extended to US politics - and the year was dominated by the unfolding Watergate story. Then in August Nixon finally resigned (& I spent hours glued to the TV)!. In Britain we had a second general election - and I had my first time as a candidate!

During the election Ted Heath came to Aldridge for a question and answer session. I was offered a ticket by someone I had met during the February election when I had attended meetings of all the major parties. (I'm convinced that he thought that I might be persuaded out of my preference for Labour!). At the invite-only meeting Ted Heath was asked questions which were all along the lines of "tell us how wonderful you are, Mr Heath?". As a very nervous young lad of 14 I stuttered out a question about the EEC, which while hardly piercing, was not sycophantic. The next day I was told that my question got onto the late night regional news summary. The Labour Candidate in our school mock-election, immediately stood down and I was made the Labour candidate - making my first speech in the school hall. If I recall, I pushed the vote for Labour up from 10 (the result in February) to 113. The rest is - as they say - history. (if not a particularly glorious one!!!!).

November 21 saw the Birmingham bombings. We were less than 10 miles away. One of the girls in my class had a sister who had been in Birmingham that evening, but had moved onto another pub. It was a shocking time. That news overshadowed another piece of local news. One of the three Labour MPs for Walsall was missing, believed drowned off Miami Beach. John Stonehouse had been the most senior of the three Labour MPs elected for Walsall constituencies in 1974. He had been a former minister. I was genuinely saddened. I hadn't got to know him as I had Bruce George and Geoff Edge. He was more aloof, but I had briefly met him. The next shock was to come on Christmas Eve. In the newspapers was the report that he had turned up in Australia. The local police thought they might have discovered the infamous Lord Lucan - instead it was the missing MP.

So for me, 1974 has a lot of memories - was it really 40 years ago!!!

Break Over!

You may have noticed the recent absence of Washminster. I'm afraid it has been a rather busy period for me. My mother has recently moved from my childhood home (I was there from the age of seven) into a brand new apartment in the Hagley Road Retirement Village in Birmingham. After studying law I did all in my power to keep as far away from conveyancing as possible - but this move has involved, almost other things, working with our solicitors to ensure that the deadlines were met (complicated by the fact that as a joint owner in the property since our father passed away, my sister was touring in the USA during the conveyancing period). Anyway the move is now complete & I spent a couple of days this week making sure that she was settling in. I'm very impressed by the ExtraCare Retirement villages. My mother in law moved in the ExtraCare village in Shenley Wood, Milton Keynes earlier this year - and is really enjoying it. I have to say - as an option for retirement - a well built apartment with lots of facilities; plus an active social calendar - it's ideal for retirement. My wife and I often go over to Shenley for the quiz (I blew it this week - the first time I couldn't make it - and our team wins for the first time!) and for other events.

I've also started up a new blog - West of Watling Street. It's about that part of Milton Keynes lying to the west of the Roman Road which has been known (but NOT by the Romans themselves) as Watling Street. I live in Furzton, which is bounded on the North East by Watling Street. The blog includes lots of history - I was provoked by an American friend who said that she loved the city - it is well planned, with lots of walks; cycle routes; trees (30 million!); lakes; a long length of canal.... but she regretted that "it doesn't have the history that she loves about England." I have set out to demonstrate that while MK is a "new city", it is full of history. The Romans lived here (and a Celtic settlement lay just behind my house); there remain a number of medieval villages (within the modern estates); Richard III took his nephew-King into "protective custody" in Stony Stratford; and Bletchley Park played a key role in World war Two. If you want to know more about Milton Keynes rich past - and superb present - then do visit the blog.

All this having been said - Washminster is now back. This month is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. I've already attended one major conference on his life and legacy, and read quite a bit (and listened to some audiobooks) - so I'll be posting quite a bit about JFK.

Bank Holiday

So this is it...the end of summer. Today is the last bank holiday of the summer. Our next official holiday is Christmas Day! (at least in the US 'Labor Day' is a week later - so I'll be following the US example!!).

But a new season is about to begin...

The House of Commons returns on 2nd September. The week's business can be found here. (and they'll be discussing cycling on their first day). Conference season starts with the TUC Conference in Bournemouth from the 8th September - and the party conferences follow.

The Institut francais in South Kensington reopens and there's a lot on - I hope, with my newly found free time, to make my visits more frequent. There are a number of films on that I'm keen to see. The programme can be accessed here.

In Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes - Feastival returns.

So, if you are in Britain - enjoy today! (to friends overseas, also enjoy yourself - even if it isn't an official holiday!)

Cycling

I hope today to get along to the Sky Ride Milton Keynes. (Further details here). It's on all day - and is a gentle ride.

"The 5km route starts from the Willen Lake Cafe, opposite the mini bowl, at 10.00am, and stays open until 4.00pm. You can ride the traffic-free route as many times as you like, circling the lake and taking in the peace pagoda, the stone circle, the labyrinth as well as all the leisure facilities in the park. With off-road tracks, gentle climbs and gentle descents, there’s something for everyone."

I enjoy watching the Tour de France, but sadly I'll never be up to that standard (on Friday I reached 31kmph for a couple of moments - going downhill - on the Tour the average speed, sustained over an hour, can exceed 50kmph). For me cycling is a way of saving money - it's cheaper to ride to Milton Keynes Central station than to take the bus, or to take the car & pay the parking fees. Most of all it is good for my health! When I go for a cycle I feel better afterwards; and my studying is more productive. There's increasing evidence that exercise boosts studying.

On Friday I took two hours off to cycle along the Loughton Brook; up to Wolverton; across to Stony Stratford and alongside the Roman "Watling Street" to my home. I felt so much better - in mood - and also I've written quite a bit since.

I can recommend taking up cycling - even if you are no longer in your first flush of youth (I'm certainly not - I can remember watching Churchill's funeral!) - and the city rides that are being put on around the country are a gentle way to do it.

Stony Stratford

I live in Milton Keynes - a place some people think has no history. [It is a 'New City', planned from the 1960s; developed since - and now with a population of almost a quarter of a million]. But it is full of history. A Roman Villa can be visited in Bancroft; the major Roman road, later known as Watling Street runs through the city (and close to where I live); ancient villages remain [often hidden within one of the estates on the grid] - and Bletchley Park is a site and now museum of international historical significance.

Then there is Stony Stratford - sitting on Watling Street. It wasn't a Roman town itself (MK's Roman town was 'Magiovinium' - to the South East of Fenny Stratford) - and there is evidence of roman settlement across the Great Ouse in Old Stratford - but it came into its own during the medieval period. Watling Street continued to be a major route across England - and stony Stratford developed as a coaching town. If you walk around you'll see the tell-tale signs of coaching inns -

 

After the death of Edward IV, his son - the twelve year old Edward - left Ludlow heading for London. At Stony Stratford his uncle, Richard of Gloucester [to become Richard III] - who was named as his protector in Edward IV's will - met with the young Edward V - and took him into his care.

This plaque can be seen on a property in Stony Stratford High Street. At the moment (in the little spare time I have), I'm reading about Richard III. As someone with many connections to Leicester (and a former tutor at Leicester University), I followed closely the developments involving the discovery of Richard III's body. Currently I'm part way through John Ashdown-Hill's fascinating book "The Last Days of Richard III".



In the interests of full disclosure I should mention that I've also recently joined the Richard III Society.

Keeping an ear on Brittany

With the legislative elections in France just days away (1st Round 10th June – 2nd Round 17th June) – you might like to listen to some French radio. For these elections, I will be keeping a special eye on Douarnenez in Brittany (for background – see my post on The Furzton Blog).


The widget below will enable you to listen to France Bleu Breizh Izel (from Quimper). France Bleu is a network of local stations around France (someone likened it to the BBC local radio network).

 

FREE INTERNET RADIO STATIONS

France Bleu Breizh Izel

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Douarnenez is the 7th circonscription in Finistere (Like the districts in the US House of Representatives – the constitutency is given a number within the State – but the ‘departement’ is the unit used for French national elections) The candidates for the 7th circonscription are - Serge Defrance, Sophie Niderkorn (LO) Didier Guillon, Valérie Dreau (UMP) Janick Moriceau, Jean Cathala (EELV) Evelyne Delgrange, Yvette Fournol (FN) Michel Canevet, Isabelle Clement (AC) Annick Le Loch, Paul Gueguen (PS) {CURRENT MEMBER} Jean Jouanno, Marie-Claude Le Guen (AEI) Françoise Pencalet-Kerivel, Jean-Yves Leven (FDG)

PMQs

I commented in yesterday’s post that I despised PMQs (Prime Minister’s Question time in the House of Commons). Don’t get me wrong – it can be tremendous fun. TV doesn’t do justice to the atmosphere – which can be electric. If you ever get the chance to see it in person – do go. But tremendous fun is praise for entertainment. Sadly, it’s the only coverage of Parliament that many people see – and it can be quite off-putting. It is of limited value for scrutiny. I fear that it has helped to lower Parliament in the eyes of the public.


Prime Ministers put a lot of effort into preparing for PMQs. They have extensive briefings – and both “do their homework” (reading the written briefings – preparing to answer what ever is likely to be thrown at them), and practice with colleagues (at what Americans would call murder boards). In any event, the parliamentary experienced on the way up is sufficient to make Prime Minister’s experienced at dealing with difficult questions.

There can be key “soundbites” – and the weekly battle between a Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is closely analysed – and success at the dispatch box can have important electoral repercussions. However, imho (I’m getting better at the shorthand used in internet communications), more heat than light is generated, and a heavy price is paid for MP’s “fun”.

While I'm Working

I sometimes prefer to work in silence. This is particularly useful when when I am researching and writing. At other times I need to listen to music. One of the advantages of modern computers is that is possible to work on the computer – whilst also using the machine to play a CD or listen to internet radio. I’ve grown to enjoy French (language) music – which I have done since the mid 1980s as a way of improving my language skills. My favourite internet station is ChanteFrance (which is almost completely music – and plays a wide range of ‘pop music’). I also listen occasionally to Radio France London (which has a higher proportion of talk).


When not listening to French music – I will avail myself of the wonderful services provided by C-SPAN. I subscribe to the podcasts of “Washington Today” (which I tend to listen to when walking). At the computer I listen to (and watch sometimes) live broadcasts from the House of Representatives (C-SPAN 1) and sometimes the Senate (C-SPAN 2). I will also watch specific programmes – either because they have advertised on the C-SPAN website or I have discovered them through a search in the C-SPAN archive).

I may occasionally watch a broadcast from Westminster (though NOT PMQs – which I despise).

[David's other blog is - The Furzton Blog]

The Passage of Power

On 26th March I posted about the forthcoming publication of Robert Caro's "The Passage of Power" (original post accessible here). Well my copy has arrived at my home in Furzton, Milton Keynes. It was well worth the wait. Like the previous three volume of Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson - it is both scholarly (excellent details of the sources used) and enthralling. Caro has a style (and his subject, a Life) which means it is difficult to put the book down.

This volume covers the period from Johnson's run for the presidential nomination in 1960 (and his uncharacteristic slow start - Caro explains well this unusual behaviour by LBJ) to the State of the Union address given in January 1964. Caro notes the latter as the end of the transition period between Kennedy's assassination and LBJ making the presidency his own.

Although I have quite a heavy workload at the moment - with OU marking; writing up my Ph.D; and planning for the future - I will be giving time every day to reading this superb book.

French Legislative Elections

Now that the Presidential Election has concluded, the next national elections in France are for the Assemblee nationale, one of the two house of the French parlement. (The Senat is the other - which has indirect elections).

Details of the circonscriptions (UK- constituencies; US - Districts) can be found on the Assemble nationale website. For the first time there are specific circonscriptions for French nationals living abroad (Scottish Parliament and Weslsh National Assembly please note!). There are eleven of these circonscriptions - the USA is in 1st & the UK in the 3rd.

I subscribe to "Le petit journal" - a daily email (and webpage) for French ex-pats. There are a number of local editions. There is also a page dedicated to the elections, with an emphasis on the candidates for the "Francais etablis hors de France". It can be accessed here.

The City of Milton Keynes

Andrew Pakes reported in a tweet yesterday "Cabinet Office say #MiltonKeynes has missed out on city status. Good campaign bringing the city together. Disappointing result."

I may be a radical, but I was irritated by the campaign to plead with the Queen for her to "honour" Milton Keynes with city status. [As with most things, although the decision is made in the name of the Monarch - in practice it is a government decision - for my students - see 'Royal Prerogative'].

Milton Keynes is already a city. It is not the gift of the State or a Monarch. A city is made by its citizens. This is recognised in the United States. For 20 years I lived in the ancient settlement of Northampton. It was Henry II's favourite place in England (I think Chinon was his favourite place - I understand why) - and Parliaments have met there. But it has consistently been refused city status. In 1264 the town rebelled against the King - the scholars who had set up a university there were kicked out (imagine, it could have been Oxford and Northampton - but Oxhampton doesn't sound as right as Oxbridge) - and so local stories say the King swore that Northampton would never have a university or be a city. Well it has its own University now (2005). But unlike the much smaller Northampton in Massachusetts, it remains a mere borough.

It's about time British people asserted their rights. Let's be honest, there is a strong tradition. In 1215 the King was forced to sign the Magna Carta. The claim to the divine right of Kings and to tax without the consent of the people was resisted and Charles I lost his crown (and his head). British people have rioted to win the rights we now enjoy.

My passport now describes me as a "British Citizen", not a subject. I like my status as a citizen - both of the UK and of Milton Keynes. The local council is a unitary authority - having the same powers and responsibilities as 'cities' such as Birmingham, Leicester and Coventry. The only thing stopping Milton Keynes being a city is a bunch of bureaucrats who seem to have decided to award the 'honour' to another place in the name of the Queen.

If you want to get rid of wasteful bureaucracy - get rid of them. Let's stop pretending that we can only be citizens if we plead with the Crown to give us a 'gift', and she graciously bestows it upon the place. It is not an honour, but our right.

So I will continue to call the city where I live, the City of Milton Keynes - and recognise the right of my neighbours in Northampton to enjoy the same status as their younger, smaller, namesake in Massachusetts.

How far to Congress?

While researching my post for last Tuesday, I discovered a website that allows you to calculate the distance between any two places on earth. As the world is round, a straight line on a map is of no use. Instead, for longer distances it is necessary to know the "Great Circle" distance between two points. The calculator is available below -

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators#distance

The Latitude and Longitude for the US Congress is 38°53'23"N , 77°00'27"W
(in decimal format that is Latitude: 38.88972222222 Longitude: -77.0075)

So as I write this, I am 3,636.8 miles or 5,852.912 kilometres from the Capitol Building. I have walked the 25 miles from the Mount Vernon Estate to the steps of the Senate (see these videos - starting here and continuing by pressing 'older posts' ) - but neither my swimming nor walking is up to the full journey from home

I'd rather be in....

....well the famous quote by W C Fields was "Philadelphia" - but of course today, with an important Primary taking place there, "Florida" would be the chosen place. [Having said that I love Philadelphia - it has so much history - I could (and have) spent hours exploring the sites associated with the American Revolution and the formation of the republic: I'd also rather be in Washington DC; and after starting my day with a cup of Pike Place Roast coffee - I wouldn't say no to a visit to the Seattle home of Starbucks.]

But, my attention will be on Florida today. Sadly at a distance of 4,338 miles (Great Circle distance) I will have to rely on the computer - useful internet addresses for today are

Miami Herald - http://www.miamiherald.com/
Bay News TV - http://www.baynews9.com/
CNN - http://us.cnn.com/POLITICS/
MSNBC - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/ns/politics/
Fox News - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/index.html

Healthy Learning

One of the privileges of living in Milton Keynes is that talking a walk is so easy. I live in Furzton, just a couple of minutes walk away from Furzton Lake - which is 1.8 miles to walk around, and has wide enough pathways to allow walkers, joggers and cyclists to peaceably co-exist. Similarly the network of  "Redways" and linear parks allows pleasant and motor-traffic free walks - either to a specific place (I often walk the 2 miles from my home to Milton Keynes Central Rail Station - purely through parkland) or on a 'circular' route.

As well as being pleasant - and physically healthy - these walks offer an opportunity to learn more. I subscribe to a number of podcasts. The walk in the morning to the station gives sufficient time to listen to the overnight version of "Today in Parliament", and some of the previous evening's "Washington Today". During my walks around the lake I either listen to an audio book (from Audible - recent purchases have included "Master of the Senate"; Dallek on the American Presidency; Schrecker on McCarthyism "The Modern Scholar: American Inquisition) or one of the many C-SPAN podcasts .

Walks are also fantastic opportunities to think things through. Many ideas for Washminster posts arise and are developed on one of these walks. Minor episodes of "writers block" can also be ended that way.