#Parliament Square Garden

[sometimeslondon]

Winston Churchill statute in Parliament Square Garden in front of the Elizabeth Tower (aka Big Ben)

[antifainternational]

January 13 - Global Day of Action for Palestine

Here is a list of protests in solidarity with Palestine for January 13th. If there's no protest on saturday near you, take a look at this site (where we got this list from) to see if there is one near you on another day.

It's a looong list so it's under the cut here:

AUSTRALIA

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Parliament House. Info: http://www.afopa.com.au/afopa-events/2024/1/13/global-day-of-action-for-palestine

ALTONA BEACH, VIC, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Altona Beach (Kites for Palestine). Info: https://bukjeh.org/etn/fly-a-kite-for-gaza/

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Garema Place. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1Tmi9jyT6x/

DARWIN, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm Nightcliff Foreshore. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C13PZfQyx6P/

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 3:30 pm, Surfers Paradise Esplanade. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1vvY_kpjkM/

HOBART/NIPALUNA, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Davey Street in front of Grand Chancellor. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/877061687400715/

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Civic Square. Info: https://friendsofpalestinetasmania.org/

MOSS VALE, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13 (Weekly), 1 pm, Leighton Gardens, 127 Argyle St. Info: https://apan.org.au/event/weekly-moss-vale-vigil-for-peace-justice-in-palestine/

MPARTNWE, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 9 am, Cars meet at Telegraph Station, 9:30 am Bikes meet at Snow Kenna Park. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C10iKLbSjU-/

NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Newcastle Museum. Info: https://facebook.com/events/s/protest-end-the-genocide-in-ga/351713430807807/

PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA – Sat Jan 13, 10 am, Oxley Beach (Kites for Gaza). Info: https://apan.org.au/event/port-macquarie-fly-a-kite-for-gaza/

AUSTRIA

GRAZ, AUSTRIA – Sat Jan 13, 4 pm, Grazer Hauptbahnhof. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1xAHAstgtj/

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Alter Markt

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, 1070 Platz der Menschenrechte. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12dm9itpPv/

WIENER NEUSTADT, AUSTRIA – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, Herzog Leopoldstr. 32 beim BORG.

BELGIUM

BRUGGE, BELGIUM – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Burg. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1413973119327402/

GHENT, BELGIUM – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Stadshal. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1xNF3Drkr4/

BRAZIL

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, MASP. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1uPIywL3Ch/

CANADA AND QUEBEC

COBOURG, ON (CANADA) – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Victoria Hall (every Saturday). Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1050719572872023/

WINNIPEG, MB (CANADA) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Winnipeg City Hall. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12TvRUgZr5/

DENMARK

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Sundbyoster Plads to Amagerbro Station. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C141sIFsEyb/

ENGLAND

HALIFAX, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Savile Park (Kites for Gaza). Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1rcDm1M-bN/

HALIFAX, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 1 pm, Wilkos on Southgate. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14Vb4wMgI_/

HEBDEN BRIDGE, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 3 pm, Roadside Rally, Holme St; 4 pm, Vigil, St. George’s Square. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14Vb4wMgI_/

LEEDS, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13, 12:30 pm, Leeds Becket University to City Square. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1zmlUvMtUE/

LONDON, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Bank Junction. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1uiCejM9U7/

NELSON, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 1:30 pm, Nelson Bazaars. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1745872575916888/

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, St Peter’s Church. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/895516721895213/

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – Sat Jan 13, 10:30 am, Ellesmere Green. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C131K5OqywW/

FINLAND

HELSINKI, FINLAND – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Central Railway Station. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1zWU7JtCWt/

FRANCE

LYON, FRANCE – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, Place des Terreaux. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12BHiDoyBT/

PARIS, FRANCE – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Republique. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12Kx3hIFnC/

TOULOUSE, FRANCE – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Jean Jaures to Arnaud Bertrand. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1wtkVPiTaC/

GERMANY

AACHEN, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Hauptbahnhof

AUGSBURG, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Moritzplatz

BERLIN, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Neptunbrunnen. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1uWAoUMYgr/

BRAUNSCHWEIG, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Schlossplatz 1

DUSSELDORF, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Hauptbahnhof

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 1:30 pm, Hauptwache. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1xJbX7tDbH/

FREIBURG, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Konzerthaus. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1wmG5TKy0H/

JENA, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Holzmarkt. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C15Gvxyse7n/

KIEL, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Bootshafen

MAINZ, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Hauptbahnhof

MUNICH, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Odeonsplatz. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1vDFzfsviF/

SAARBRUCKEN, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Landwehrplatz

STUTTGART, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Schlossplatz. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1uhwaBs1OB/

TUBINGEN, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Holzmarkt. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1uiIwVooMj/

ULM, GERMANY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Marktplatz

IRELAND

CARRICK-ON-SHANNON, IRELAND – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, The Bridge. Info: https://www.ipsc.ie/protest/emergency-protests-for-palestine-around-ireland

CORK, IRELAND – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Grand Parade

DERRY, IRELAND – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Derry Waterside Train Station. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/379355981136459/

DUBLIN, IRELAND – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Garden of Remembrance. Info: https://www.ipsc.ie/protest/emergency-protests-for-palestine-around-ireland

SKIBBEREEN, IRELAND – Sat Jan 13, 12:30 pm, Aldi Carpark. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/884577173028746/

ITALY

FIRENZE, ITALY – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, Corteo da Piazza dei Ciompi.

NAPOLI, ITALY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Piazza Garibaldi. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C11jF13IMfk/

ROME, ITALY – Sat Jan 13, 3 pm, Via dei Fori Imperiali to Largo Corrado Ricci. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12TtZUNVDn/

KOREA

SEOUL, KOREA – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Zionist embassy. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1wWJ2WJvMn/

MEXICO

GUADALAJARA, MEXICO – Sat Jan 13, 4 pm, Rambla Cataluna to Plaza de la Liberacion. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C13FY23uHH_/

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – Sat Jan 13, 4 pm, Angel to US Embassy to Zocalo. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C126FgtOh2y/

NEW ZEALAND

TIMARU, NEW ZEALAND – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, Face of Peace, Caroline Bay. (Kites for Gaza). Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/351982744232340/

WHANGAREI, NEW ZEALAND – Sat Jan 13, 10 am, Town Basin. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1062868608192188/

NETHERLANDS

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Museumplein. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14bgz6skSe/

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Dam Square to Museumplein. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C15I-anI-lc/

LEEUWARDEN, NETHERLANDS – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Leeuwarden Station. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1rgX_OoVe4/

ZWOLLE, NETHERLANDS – Sat Jan 13, 3:30 pm, Starbucks station. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C11cUhjsyFd/

NORWAY

OSLO, NORWAY – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Youngstorget to Zionist Embassy. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/876776784142252/

PERU

LIMA, PERU – Sat Jan 13, 3:30 pm, Plaza 27 de noviembre, San Isidro – Parque Kennedy. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1r3BHZrSSM/

PORTUGAL

PORTO, PORTUGAL – Sat Jan 13, 3:30 pm, Praca da Batalha. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14UrYhs-hB/

PORTO, PORTUGAL – Sat Jan 13 (every night), 10 pm, Camara Municipal (Vigil). Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1mWoJ0srwr/

ROMANIA

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Universitate to Victoriei. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C11qxxuIlKe/

CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA – Sat Jan 13, details TBA. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tsmB2ojCq/

TIMISOARA, ROMANIA – Sat Jan 13, details TBA. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1tsmB2ojCq/

SCOTLAND

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Foot of the Mound. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1od7QsNlCM/

INVERNESS, SCOTLAND – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, The Spectrum Centre. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C15ggmFtNyg/

ORKNEY, SCOTLAND – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 1 pm, St Magnus Cathedral Steps. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/899757958430523/

SOUTH AFRICA

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Mandela Glasses, Sea Point Promenade. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14N2xlqjyK/

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, US Consulate, Sandton. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C13qpzSNbYt/

KNYSNA, SOUTH AFRICA – Sat Jan 13, 9 am, N2 C/O Main Service Rd and Wagtail St, Sedgefield, Western Cape. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/910931826901335/

SPANISH STATE

A CORUNA, GALICIA, SPAIN – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Praza de Lugo. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14lQvascZx/

BETERA, VALENCIA – Sat, Jan 13, 5 pm, Ayuntamiento de Betera. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1ISqjUN2ir/

COMPOSTELA, GALICIA, SPAIN – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Praterias. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14lQvascZx/

MOLINA DE SEGURA, SPAIN – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Plaza de Ayuntamiento. Info: https://twitter.com/LibreRegion/status/1743912944612540608

VIGO, GALICIA, SPAIN – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, Porta do Sol. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C14lQvascZx/

SWEDEN

KARLSKRONA, SWEDEN – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Klaipedaplatsen. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/7004450806289059/

KRISTIANSTAD, SWEDEN – Sat Jan 13, 2:30 pm, Stora Torget. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C15GIWbNI_K/

MALMO, SWEDEN – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, St Knuts Torg. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1348ATC6Uq/

VARBERG, SWEDEN – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Varbergs Torg. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1piXtgLGYj/

SWITZERLAND

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Theaterplatz. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1m6lOxLDI-/

UNITED STATES

EUGENE, OR (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Federal Courthouse, 405 E 8th Ave. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1jOAiXiUJ0/

FORT COLLINS, CO (US) – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 3 pm, Old Town Square Stage. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1n9pmNOGFd/

FORT WAYNE, IN (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, MLK Bridge.

KALISPELL, MT (US) – Sat Jan 13, 12, Main and Center by Depot Park (Every Saturday). Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1puNa1ucrm/

KANSAS CITY, KS (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Granada Park, Roeland Park. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C10Y27LJ1EO/

LANGLEY, WA (US) – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Bayview Rd and Hwy 525. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/373235975254744/

MIAMI, FL (US) – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, University Metrorail Station. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C15V1BXLyc-/

NEW YORK, NY (US) – Sat Jan 13, 12 pm, NE Corner 5th Ave and 44th St, Brooklyn. (Vigil, every Saturday). Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0KsY8PvCwp/

NEW YORK, NY (US) – Sat Jan 13, 5 pm, Bryant Park Library Steps. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C145mA_Jido/

OAKLAND, CA (US) – Sat Jan 13, 5 am, West Oakland BART, Port Shutdown for Palestine. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1qpwPaLsLY/

OLYMPIA, WA (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Heritage Park, 5th Ave SW. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1xUYlRPtRc/

PETALUMA, CA (US) – Sat Jan 13 (every Saturday), 12:30 pm, Petaluma Blvd and East Washington. Info: https://www.facebook.com/events/362661229552435/

PORTLAND, OR (US) – Sat Jan 13, 6 pm, Protest Michael Rapoport, Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1nDhO7vNM4

SACRAMENTO, CA (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1pm, State Capital, West Steps. Info: https://sac4palestine.org/january-3-2024-solidary-rally-with-national-march-on-washington/

SAN DIEGO, CA (US) – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Plaza de Panama, Balboa Park. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C13b08grRj2/

ST PAUL, MN (US) – Sat Jan 13, 2 pm, Western District Police Dept to MN State Capitol. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C12sMuQJHeh/

VIROQUA, WI (US) – Sat Jan 13, 11 am, Main St and Decker St, Weekly Vigil by Driftless Solidarity. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1fWWvKNJlI/

WASHINGTON, DC (US) – Sat Jan 13, 1 pm, Freedom Plaza, 1325 Pennsylvania Ave NW Info: https://march4gaza.org

BUSES ACROSS THE COUNTRY to this national march from CT, FL, IL, IN, MA, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA and WI – get at the website

PRE-RALLY – WASHINGTON, DC – Sat Jan 13, 7 am, National Mall. Info: https://twitter.com/_FRFP_/status/1742706175114661946

HEALTH CARE WORKERS MARCH – Sat Jan 13, 10 am ,Dept of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave SW. Info: https://www.instagram.com/p/C10DXDiADMK/

[dallasdoesntexist]

dark academic things I love since moving to Edinburgh

I recently moved to Edinburgh to study psychology at the University of Edinburgh. These are some things I like to remind myself of how privileged I am to be able to experience when I'm feeling a bit melancholic

The sun against Arthur's seat in the morning

Feeding the squirrels in George Square garden when you got to the lecture too early

The empty Royal Mile on your way to your 9AM

Mourning the loss of Teviot Row House (may she rest in peace... for two years while she gets renovated)

Watching the sun paint the sky pink and the buildings a deep orange as it sets, cup of hot earl grey tea, laptop open, notebooks everywhere, LED candles flickering around the room.

Tutorials where people take things as seriously as you do

Walking around Greyfriars Kirkyard on a crisp autumn evening, sipping chai from a local coffee house

Sharing biscuits with the crows in Holyrood park

Disgracing the architecture of the Holyrood Parliament building -- much preferring St Andrew's House -- but also just disgracing the Parliament as a whole

Not feeling like you're trying too hard; everyone's trying harder than you

Meeting a bunch of Oxbridge rejects. Being thankful you didn't apply (and thus avoided that embarrassment...)

Buying dried herbs from the herbalist across the street from the university to make your own tea blends

Quoting Shakespeare; someone finishes the quote for you

Pondering your own mortality in the many museums across the city (especially the Surgeon's Hall museum...)

Feeling validated when someone mentions they're on their third coffee of the day and it's only 12PM

getting the bus from Old Town to New Town, being able to look out across the North Sea. Mentally conjuring up Siren's songs

Venturing out to Leith for the Witchcraft Market once a month

Pinning handouts of poetry to your pin board in your room. Saves you spending money to print off your own

the Law library

Taking a French class, because Greek clashed with your main course and Latin had prerequisites. Studying all 3 on your own out of spite

Being taught in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, where Burke and Hare delivered bodies to

It's normal to wear a suit and tie every day; it's also normal to wear a hoodie and jeans if you woke up too late from studying all night

Cringing when someone compares the city to Harry Potter. Then softening as you realise they're just noticing the same magic that you noticed, too, only articulating it differently

Watching the trees turn red and scatter their leaves across the pavement before they're carried away by the wind. being reminded once again of your own approaching doom

Going to the Frankenstein bar, zoning out of the conversation and watching the black&white film that plays on loop. Then talking at the person next to you about the inaccuracy, using quotes from the novel to back up your argument

Bonus points if they agree

Everyone freaking out about deadlines in a few weeks' time; knowing you'll be fine, because you developed your study methods in school

The Christmas market coming up

Farmers' markets on the weekends

Beltane Fire Society, and the upcoming Samhuinn festival in the pitch black of Holyrood park

Imagining the horses and their carriages trotting along the cobblestone roads

Fantasising about moving to Dean's village; knowing you'll have to settle for Stockbridge

Or wanting to move to Murrayfield, but not wanting to be too far from the university

Vanilla room spray. Fresh black coffee. Biscuits to dip into it

Being the one people go to for answers, but only helping them if they're genuinely stuck and want to learn

Cashmere scarf, tweed coat, saddle bag -- copious amounts of compliments on your outfit choice

Watching the bats flutter past your window

Not being able to go into the castle, lest you fail all your exams!

Buying a hefty coat from Armstrong & Son's vintage emporium

Double doors built so small, you have to open both in order to get through. Then feeling like a villain as the heavy wood slams behind you

Dimly lit, dark wooden hallways

Free coffee, if you know where to look

Taking a nap in the library between lectures. No weird stares

Being able to spot the people you know have definitely read The Secret History, or The Song of Achilles, or The Picture of Dorian Gray

Avoiding the touristy areas, but finding places just as good

[paolo-streito-1264]

Alfred Eisenstaedt. View of the north end of the Palace of Westminster as seen from Parliament Square Garden - London, England.

[bougainvilea]

hey aya!! i’m thinking of going to melbourne with my family for a week and i was wondering if you had any recs for what to do?? preferably around the cbd area cuz i can’t drive haha 😅

OMG HI BESTIE!! honestly im suchhhh a homebody but my recs are the ngv, cafes (archie's all day diner is my fav, its in the close north, near ish to parliament station), and acmi. also re: restaurants make sure u go to lygon st for italian food, go to oakleigh (far from the city, abt a 40 min train) for greek food, and go to fitzroy for lebanese & ethiopian food. also i hear box hill has great vietnamese food tho its a bit out of the way. carnegie has good thai food. make sure u see the botanical gardens (theyre gorg) and at least one gig. fed square does some cute xmas stuff if thats ur thing. berlin bar is interesting if ur a bar person, the free walking tours r great and useful tho i have said a few of the locations they recommend lol.

now im gonna tag some other ppl who might know naarm better than me (because, again, i am suchhhh a homebody) for some recs, which u will hopefully have access to in the replies!! @idsb @andtosaturn @knuckles-bloody-for-me @kwonhozhi @thsismetrying

edit: feel like im going insane bc i cant remember anyones url?? anyway if u live in or have visited naarm pls reply to this w ur recs haha

[listingcereals]

Calendar of Resistance for Palestine! Events and actions around the world

Saturday, November 25

ARGENTINA

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Parque Centenaria (Bicycles for Palestine.)

AUSTRALIA

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Garema Place.

GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 12 pm, 115 Moorabool St, march to Marles’ ministerial office.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Broadwater Parklands.

HOBART, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Davey St.

LAUNCESTON, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Civic Square.

PADSTOW, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 12:30 pm, UMA Centre.

WOLLONGONG, AUSTRALIA – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Crown St Amphitheatre.

AUSTRIA

WIENER, AUSTRIA – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Wiener Neustadt, Herzog Leopoldstrasse 32.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Christian-Broda-Platz.

BELGIUM

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Sat Nov 25, 6 pm, Gare Centrale.

CANADA AND QUEBEC

MONTREAL, QUEBEC – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Place des Arts.

OTTAWA, CANADA – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Parliament Hill.

VANCOUVER, BC (CANADA) – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Vancouver Art Gallery.

SAINT JOHN, NB (CANADA) – Sat Nov 25, 12 pm, King’s Square.

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA (CANADA) – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Manitoba Legislative Bldg.

ENGLAND

ALTRINCHAM, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, George St.

BLACKBURN, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, Darwen St.

BOLTON, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, Market St.

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – Saturday Nov 25, 12 pm, Clock Tower.

BURY, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, Central St.

ESSEX, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 12 pm, Square 5.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Bombed Out Church.

LONDON, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 12 pm, Park Lane, Central London.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Piccadilly Gardens.

OLDHAM, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, High St.

ROCHDALE, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, Yorkshire St.

STOCKPORT, ENGLAND – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Barclays Bank, Bridge St.

FRANCE

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – Sat Nov 25, 4 pm, Place de la Comedie.

PARIS, FRANCE – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Place de la Nation.

TOULOUSE, FRANCE – Sat Nov 25, 5 pm, Metro Reynerie

GERMANY

AACHEN, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3:30 pm, Hauptbahnhof

BERLIN, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Oranienplatz.

BERLIN, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Anhalter Bahnhof.

DRESDEN, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Wiener Platz

FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Hauptwache.

FREIBURG AM BREISGAU, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 11 am, Augustinerplatz.

SAARBRUCKEN, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Landwehrplatz

WEIMAR, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 3:30 pm, Hauptbahnhof

WUPPERTAL, GERMANY – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Geschwister Scholl Platz

IRELAND

BELFAST, IRELAND – Sat Nov 25, 1 pm, Outside Ulster University, York St

SLIGO, IRELAND – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, GPO.

ITALY

MILANO, ITALY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Piazza Castello.

REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY – Sat Nov 25, 3 pm, Piazza della Vittoria.

JAPAN

SENDAI, JAPAN – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Sendai Station

TOKYO, JAPAN – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Tears for Palestine, Shibuya (Hachiko)

NETHERLANDS

GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Ossenmarket.

HOOGERHEIDE, NETHERLANDS – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Kooiweg 40. Shut Elbit Down.

TILBURG, NETHERLANDS – Sat Nov 25, 2 pm, Central Station.

MORE IN REBLOGS

[batnbreakfast]

@kindworldsword asked me what I'd recommend for someone visiting London for the first time.

This has gotten quite long, so I'm putting everything under a break. Nevertheless I've likely have forgotten something I love doing while in London.**

Honestly though, most of the times I just walk around the city, go to the theatre, and eat lots of food, so the most important recommendation is: Take a good pair of shoes and an appetite. (If you would like restaurant recommendations, message me.)

Have a great time!

Things to do in and around London

Take a walk along the river

This is my go-to walk. I do this when I'm back in the city. I do this when I'm stressed out and need to clear my head. I do this when I've got some time left before leaving.

Start at Embankment, cross the river on the right bridge to get a view of the House of Parliament and the London Eye. Continue to walk eastwards along the river - you'll see quite a few famous landmarks like the National Theater*, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre. Take a break at the Tate (the perks of free entry) and have a look at the Rothko room or join a free guided tour. Continue along the river - you can take a detour along Borough's Market for food and drink or skip that part and just walk until you're at Tower Bridge. Is it a touristy spot? Yes, it sure is. It's also a great spot for some people watching and catching a bit of sun sitting on the lawn in front of Bridge Theatre.

*National Theatre

There's a viewing gallery at the Dorfman Theatre, so if you're around there before their matinee show: Go along the left side of the building, walk past the stage door, up to the Dorfman entrance. The indoor walkway will take you past the costume designer's working space - which is well worth the detour.

Book a free ticket for the Horizon22

Not as touristy as the Shard or Sky Gardens, and even better: It's free. The Horizon has the highest viewing platform in the city right now and you'll have a spectacular view of the city. Most people working there are up for a chat about the view and really knowledgeable. It's near Liverpool Station and you can also try and book a ticket via QR Code at the entrance door.

Buy a theatre ticket

Go online or visit the TKTS boot at Leicester Square. If you're lucky you can get fringe theatre tickets or seats further back in the more famous theatres for little money. The Globe theatre offers standing room tickets for 5 GBP. If a play is sold out lots of theatres offer last minute tickets in the morning, but you might have to queue. (Cate Blanchett's play came with queueing from 3am until they opened at 9am.) You can message me about theatre recommendations during your stay if you like. 

Covent Garden

While I don't care for the actual shops in the market building, I like watching the buskers in front of St. Paul's. If you need a break from all the hustle and bustle, take a side entrance to the church yard on Henrietta or King Street. The actor's church offers free lunch concerts and benches to sit out in the sun. There's a church cat - wouldn't recommend trying to pet him though. 

Walk along the small courts and yards north-west of Covent Garden. Find the house were the Phytons lived together on Neals Yard and the Bambi Mary Poppins stencil. 

Museums

Yes! Most of them are free and there's plenty of them. I love the Wallace Collection, I'd recommend the National Gallery, I already mentioned Tate Modern, and of course there's the V&A (soooooooo good), the National History Museum, the Wellcome Collection, the British Museum, the Museum of Home, the...

I often sit on the stairs of Hintze Hall at the National History Museum next to Hope their whale skeleton. I love the ceramics at the V&A. I have three favourite paintings at the National Gallery. Often you can take part in a free tour, and if you don't want to spend a whole day at a museum: Don't. Just pop in, have a look around, and go your merry way.

Thames walk towards Rotherhite:

Start at the Tower Bridge and just follow the walking way along the river. At one point you'll have to take a detour around a huge industrial estate, but you'll be able to return to the river quickly. Time your walk to have either lunch or dinner at The Mayflower in Rotherhite - one of the oldest existing river pubs with excellent pies & mash and a superb sticky toffee pudding. Take the underground train to the other side of the river or a bus back to London Bridge.

Richmond

Go to Richmond (by train from Waterloo Station) and walk along the little streets south of the Green. The Sandman and Ted Lasso have been filmed here (among others), so if you watched either one of these shows, you'll recognise the area. You can go down to the river and then either walk or take an ebike to Kew Bridge.

Trafalgar Square/Chinatown/Soho

Go, sit on the edge of one of the Trafalgar Square fountains. Watch people from all over the world, hear the buskers in front of the National Gallery. If you need food, Chinatown isn't far away (Cafe TPT or Misato are my go to places) or you could go for cake & tea in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Walk along the streets in Chinatown, cross over to Soho, walk along there. If you need coffee, go into the Algerian Coffee Shop on Old Compton Street, they are doing a great espresso. London's only queer women's club She Soho is also on Old Compton Street. 

Markets

Are they touristy? Sure, but I love them. Portobello Road on Saturdays and Brick Lane on Sundays are my favourites. I don't care about Columbia Road too much, because it's always way too busy. 

Street Art around Brick Lane

Go and have a look around Brick Lane if you like street art. Walk around the area and explore, there's always something new to see. Look out for broccoli and eggs.

Book a London Walk

The original London Walk company has already been around when I first came to the city around 1990. They offer a wide range of walks - I can recommend their street art tours in Whitechapel or their ghosts walk. If you do an evening tour, the walk will likely end up in a pub, so you can have a drink with the other attendees.

Walk along the canals

You can walk either from Paddington or King's Cross to Camden - you'll see a lot of houseboats, the London Zoo, and end up in Camden, where you'll have plenty of food stalls available. I feel like Camden Market as such is a bit overrated these days.

Barbican & Barbican Conservatory:

If you like Brutalism and history, this is the place to be. You can see remains of the London Wall, sit by the artificial ponds, and visit he botanical gardens. It looks like something straight out of a end-of-the-world film with huge plants covering concrete. You might have to book a ticket, even though it's free. It only opens on Friday & Sunday as far as I remember.

And if you need a break from London:

Take a day trip to Brighton

I just love the city. If you like to be by the sea - the train from London Bridge only takes about 90 minutes. Walk along the Northern Lain area for lots of lovely shops, great food, and drinks. Go visit the pier and eat some donuts. Watch the sea. Visit the Royal Pavillion.

[princesscatherinemiddleton]

The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19th September at 1100hrs BST. Prior to the State Funeral, The Queen will Lie-in-State in Westminster Hall for four days, to allow the public to pay their respects.

The Queen's Coffin currently rests in the Ballroom at Balmoral Castle. Her Majesty's Coffin will travel to Edinburgh tomorrow, Sunday 11th September, by road, to arrive at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where it will rest in the Throne Room until the afternoon of Monday 12th September.

On the afternoon of Monday 12th September, a Procession will be formed on the forecourt of the Palace of Holyroodhouse to convey the Coffin to St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. The King and Members of the Royal Family will take part in the Procession and attend a Service in St Giles’ Cathedral to receive the Coffin.

Her Majesty's Coffin will then lie at rest in St Giles' Cathedral, guarded by Vigils from The Royal Company of Archers, to allow the people of Scotland to pay their respects.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 13th September, The Queen's Coffin will travel from Scotland by Royal Air Force aircraft from Edinburgh Airport, arriving at RAF Northolt later that evening. The Coffin will be accompanied on the journey by The Princess Royal.

The Queen's Coffin will then be conveyed to Buckingham Palace by road, to rest in the Bow Room. On the afternoon of Wednesday 14th September, the Coffin will be borne in Procession on a Gun Carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where The Queen will Lie-in-State in Westminster Hall until the morning of the State Funeral.

The Procession will travel via Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard. After the Coffin arrives at Westminster Hall, The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service assisted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, and attended by The King and Members of the Royal Family, after which the Lying-in-State will begin.

During the Lying-in-State, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit Westminster Hall to pay their respects to The Queen. On the morning of Monday 19th September, the Lying-in-State will end and the Coffin will be taken in Procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the State Funeral Service will take place.

Following the State Funeral, the Coffin will travel in Procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. From Wellington Arch, the Coffin will travel to Windsor and once there, the State Hearse will travel in Procession to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle via the Long Walk. A Committal Service will then take place in St George's Chapel.

[aimeedaisies]

Court Circular | 21st November 2023

Buckingham Palace

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee today commenced a State Visit to The King and Queen.

The Prince and Princess of Wales welcomed The President and Mrs Kim on behalf of The King at the Four Seasons Hotel, 10 Trinity Square, London EC3.

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses, drove to Horse Guards and were met by The King and Queen.

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee, accompanied by The King and Queen, drove in a Carriage Procession to Buckingham Palace with a Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry.

Gun Salutes were fired in Green Park by The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, and at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company.

Guards of Honour were provided at Horse Guards by F Company Scots Guards and at Buckingham Palace by 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.

His Majesty’s Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, The King’s Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard and a Detachment of Household Cavalry were on duty.

The King presented The President of the Republic of Korea with the Insignia of an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee, accompanied by The Duke of Gloucester, this afternoon visited the Korean War Memorial, Victoria Embankment Gardens, London SW1, where The President and Mrs Kim laid a wreath and His Royal Highness, Patron, the British Korean Veterans Association, also laid a wreath.

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee subsequently met United Kingdom Korean War veterans.

The President and Mrs Kim afterwards drove to Westminster Abbey where His Excellency laid a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.

The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee met General Sir Adrian Bradshaw (Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea) and In-Pensioners who fought in the Korean War, before touring the Abbey, escorted by the Dean (the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle).

The President and Mrs Kim afterwards drove to the Palace of Westminster and were received by the Lord Speaker (the Lord McFall of Alcluith) and the Speaker of the House of Commons (the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle).

The Speaker welcomed The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee and His Excellency delivered an Address.

The President and Mrs Kim subsequently attended a Reception with Peers, Members of Parliament and other guests.

The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP (Chancellor of the Exchequer) had an audience of The King this afternoon.

The Lord Hodge (Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland) was received by His Majesty and reported on the recent proceedings of the General Assembly.

The King and Queen gave a State Banquet this evening in honour of The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee at which The Prince and Princess of Wales, The Duchess of Edinburgh, The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present.

The following had the honour of being invited:

Suite of The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee:

His Excellency Mr Choo Kyungho (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance), His Excellency Mr Park Jin (Minister of Foreign Affairs), His Excellency Mr Lee Sangmin (Minister of Interior and Safety), His Excellency Mr Bang Moonkyu (Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy), His Excellency Mr Cho Taeyong (Director of National Security), His Excellency Mr Yoon Yeocheol (Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United Kingdom), Dr Kim Taehyo (Principal Deputy National Security Adviser), the Hon Kim Eunhye (Senior Secretary to The President for Public Relations), Dr Choi Sangmok (Senior Secretary to The President for Economic Affairs) and Ambassador Lee Choongmyon (Secretary to The President for Foreign Affairs).

Specially attached to The President of the Republic of Korea and Mrs Kim Keon Hee:

The Viscount Hood (Lord in Waiting) and the Viscountess Hood, Mr Colin Crooks (His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea) and Miss Sheila O’Connor (Head of VIP Visits, Protocol Directorate, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).

Diplomatic Corps:

His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Honduras and Mrs Mirian Nasser de Romero.

The Cabinet and Government:

The Prime Minister and Mrs Murty, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and the Lady Cameron of Chipping Norton, the Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP (Deputy Prime Minister), the Minister of State for the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and United Nations and the Lady Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology (the Rt Hon Michelle Donelan MP) and Mr T Turner, and the Leader of the House of Lords and the Lady True.

Special Invitations:

Mr Ashley Alder (Chairman, Financial Conduct Authority), Mr Andrew Bailey (Governor of the Bank of England) and Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey, Sir Timothy Barrow (National Security Adviser) and Lady Barrow, Sir Philip Barton (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs) and Lady Barton, Ms Jenny Bates (Director-General, Indo-Pacific, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), Dr Stephen Billingham (Chairman, Urenco) and Mrs Billingham, Mr Jonathan Brearley (Chief Executive Officer, Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) and Mrs Brearley, Ms Ruth Cairnie (Chairman, Babcock International Group) and Mr Anthony Heggs, the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Lady Carrington, Mr Joshua Carrott (Co-Founder of YouTube Channel, Korean Englishman) and Ms Gabriela Kook, Sir David Chipperfield (Architect) and Lady Chipperfield, Mr Jonathan Cole (Chief Executive Officer, Corio Generation) and Mrs Cole, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Lady Davey, the Rt Hon Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP (Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party at Westminster), the Leader of the Scottish National Party at Westminster and Mrs Flynn, Dame Anita Frew (Chairman, Rolls-Royce and Croda) and Mr Michael van Hemert, Ms Poppy Gustafsson (Chief Executive Officer, Darktrace Holdings Limited) and Mr Joel Gustafsson, Mr Rene Haas (Chief Executive Officer, Arm Holdings) and Ms Regina Frenkel, Mr Demis Hassabis (Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DeepMind), the Speaker of the House of Commons and Lady Hoyle, General Gwyn Jenkins (Vice Chief of the Defence Staff) and Mrs Jenkins, Mr Oliver Kendal (Co-Founder of YouTube Channel, Korean Englishman) and Mrs Kendal, Dr Rosalie Kim (Lead Curator, Hallyu Exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum), Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser (Chief Executive, UK Research and Innovation) and Professor Philip Bond, the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, the Lord Speaker (the Lord McFall of Alcluith), the Lord Newby (Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords) and the Reverend Canon the Lady Newby, Sir Kenneth Olisa (His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London) and Lady Olisa, Ms Jihyun Park (Human Rights Activist) and Mr Kwanghyun Joo, Miss Sohee Park (Fashion Designer), Mr Woongchul Park (Founder and Chef Patron, Sollip) and Mrs Bomee Ki, the Lord Reed of Allermuir (President of the Supreme Court of the UK) and the Lady Reed of Allermuir, the Dowager Viscountess Rothermere (Patron of the Arts), Sir Mark Rowley (Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis) and Lady Rowley, Mr Wael Sawan (Global Chief Executive Officer, Shell Global) and Mrs Sawan, Professor Hazel Smith (Professor of International Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and Dr Mihail Petkovski, Ms Cho So-hyun (Footballer, Birmingham City), Dr Sarah Son (Lecturer in Korean Studies, University of Sheffield) and Mr Kyung Moon Son, the Leader of the Opposition and Lady Starmer, Mr Jakob Stausholm (Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto) and Mrs Stausholm, Mr Colin Thackery (Korean War Veteran) and Mrs J Simms, Dr José Vinals (Group Chairman, Standard Chartered) and Mrs Rafaela Camallonga Vilanova, Dame Emma Walmsley (Chief Executive Officer, GlaxoSmithKline) and Mr David Owen, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs Welby, Ms Nari Yi (Florist), and Ms Jenni Kim, Ms Jisoo Kim, Ms Lisa Manobal and Ms Rosé Park (Band Members, Blackpink).

Korean Delegation and Guests:

Mr Yonghyun Kim (Chief of Presidential Security Service), Ambassador Taejin Kim (Chief of Protocol), Mr Joo Sung Kim (Chief Physician to The President), Mr Dong Man Park (Physician to The President), Mr Jung Hwan Kim (Assistant Secretary, Office of the Personal Secretary to The President), Ms Younkyung Cho (Personal Attendant, Office of Personal Secretary to The President), Mr Jae-yong Lee (Chairman, Samsung Electronics), Mr Kwang-mo Koo (Chairman, LG Corporation), Mr Dong-bin Shin (Chairman, Lotte Corporation), Mr Dong Kwan Kim (Vice Chairman, Hanwha Corporation), Professor Myungsik Kim (Professor, King’s College London), Professor Do Young Noh (President, Institute of Basic Science), Professor Narry Kim (Professor, Institute of Basic Science), Mr Jin Ryu (Chairman, Federation of Korean Industries), Mr Kimun Kim (Chairman, Korea Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), Mr Cha Yol Koo (Chairman, Korea International Trade Association), Mr Kyung Shik Sohn (Chairman, Korea Enterprises Federation), Mr Hyun Joon Cho (Chairman, Hyosung Corporation), Mr Saehong Hur (President and Chief Executive Officer, GS Caltex Corporation), Mr Sunggeun Song (Chief Executive Officer, IL Science Company Limited), Mr Dabriel Choi (Chief Executive Officer, DC Medical, University College London) and Mr Chang Hun Yoo (Chief Executive Officer, SSenStone Incorporated).

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal, Master, the Corporation of Trinity House, this afternoon presented Merchant Navy medals for Meritorious Service at Trinity House, Trinity Square, London EC3.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

1 January 2024

By Doug Faulkner, BBC News

The UK marked the beginning of 2024 with fireworks, street parties, and a message of inclusivity as people celebrated across Britain.

As Big Ben struck, midnight drones lit up the London sky with the message "London, a place for everyone," before a vibrant firework display began.

About 100,000 people gathered to watch the 15-minute spectacular in the city.

In Scotland, Britpop band Pulp performed as thousands braved the cold to mark Hogmanay.

There was also a fireworks display as Edinburgh marked its 30th year of the celebrations, while there was a mass ceilidh staged in Inverness.

London's display included more than 12,000 fireworks, 600 drones, and 430 lights.

It quoted Shakespeare heard from the King and also paid homage to the NHS, which celebrated 75 years in 2023.

A quote from King Charles III was used to mark the 75th anniversary of the Windrush crossing in which he said new arrivals "collectively enrich the fabric of our national life."

Further messages throughout the show were heard from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Dame Helen Mirren, Bella Ramsey, Stephen Fry, Joanna Lumley, George the Poet, and Baroness Floella Benjamin, who read a poem by the late Benjamin Zephaniah.

The celebration continued with a New Year's Day parade, which started in Piccadilly at midday before making its way towards Westminster's Parliament Square.

Several days of weather warnings did not put off revellers in Scotland with tens of thousands watching Edinburgh's firework display.

Visitors from more than 80 countries gathered in the city, while Pulp headlined a concert in Princes Street Gardens.

Following the fireworks, thousands continued to celebrate, singing Auld Lang Syne, and dancing.

Inverness was host to the Red Hot Highland Fling, described by organisers as "one of the biggest ceilidhs on the planet," where folk singer Siobhan Miller entertained partygoers up to midnight.

Later, hundreds of hardy swimmers are expected to brave the waters of the Firth of Forth as part of the annual Loony Dook — dook being a Scots word for dip or bathe.

People are encouraged to don fancy dress for the charity swim.

In Allendale, Northumberland, the annual Allendale Tar Bar'l ceremony was held.

The centuries-old tradition sees 45 local men carry burning whiskey barrels through the town.

Before the celebrations, King Charles III and Queen Camilla waved to onlookers as they attended the New Year's Eve service at a church in Sandringham, Norfolk.

Ahead of giving his New Year message, the Archbishop of Canterbury urged politicians not to treat their opponents as enemies but as fellow human beings.

He told the BBC:

"Our capacity to disagree deeply and not destructively is cause for hope."

His message will be broadcast on BBC1 and iPlayer at 12:55 GMT.

In his New Year message, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted at tax cuts in an election year and said the UK should "look forward with pride and optimism."

He said his resolution would be to "keep driving forward."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer used his message to say that while it had been "another tough year economically for millions of people, hope was the fuel of change."

Meanwhile, Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, renewed his party's call for electoral reform and appealed to "transform the nature of British politics for good."

[fatehbaz]

British attempts to assert dominance on a far-away colony were achieved through the execution of planning policies in the initial townships. These old imperial concepts of planning still have direct impacts on how Australians interact with public space in the inner city.

---

The use of public space in cities around the world is an effective way for both governments and citizens to express themselves. These uses include: exercising authority, as well as challenging it; celebrating and mourning; and casual recreational activity. These ways of engaging with public space have never quite translated into the Australian context. [...] While towns and new suburbs in the young colony were deeply influenced by European urban design, a key feature was excluded – the piazza. Governor Richard Bourke made very clear to surveyors that new towns in New South Wales (which at the time encompassed present-day Victoria) must not include public squares as these could promote rebellion. [...] [H]is wish to prevent mass public gatherings in the city was certainly realised. [...]

---

The placing of ornate, iron, wooden, or stone fences at first glance seemed to serve a purely decorative purpose. It can still be seen in the bluestone footings around the Carlton Gardens and State Library of Victoria where the iron fences once stood. This form was a disguise of the function so people could not climb over, slide through, dig under, and sometimes see over these barriers. Gates were opened at a particular time of the morning and locked at sunset to deny access to the public under the cover of darkness. [...] Even today, the city’s main square (Federation Square) was not designed as a place to be in. [...] Bourke’s demand to the early surveyors became part of the way Melburnians lived and experienced the city as Melbourne grew as a “destination city”. [...]

The central business district developed into a “9-to-5” place. People came to shop and work, then retreated back to their suburbs at the end of the day. As a result, an importance was placed on suburban life. [...] It was not until planning policy shifted in the 1980s, and renewed investment and interest in the inner city accelerated, that the idea of civic spaces and communal environments began to embed themselves in  our urban consciousness. [...]

---

Without a city square and with clear boundaries set around parks and gardens, Melburnians responded by finding other places to gather. Some groups responded by acquiring impressive private buildings, such as the Trades Hall. The general public gathered “under the clocks” of Flinders Street Station, or on the steps of Parliament House. These are still gathering places today, even after City Square (1980) and Federation Square (2000) opened. Public spaces were not built into the fabric of the city and as a result they feel artificially imposed on the urban landscape and awkward to use. The city was designed as a place where interacting with public space was discouraged. Melburnians seem to meet in places such as cafes, bars and pubs [...]. People organically found ways to interact with what little space they had, and we have seen the rise of laneway culture and street art as a response.

---

All text above by: Aaron Magro. “Australians don’t loiter in public space – the legacy of colonial control by design.” The Conversation. 19 May 2023. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[world-of-wales]

─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : MAY ✧• ─

3 MAY - William opened James' Place in London.

4 MAY - William held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace.

5 MAY - He received Admiral Sir Antony Radakin (Chief of the Defence Staff)

6 MAY - William attended a SportsKey session at the Doug Ellis Sports Centre in Birmingham where he was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of West Midlands (Mr. John Crabtree).

8 MAY - William appeared in a video address at the 2022 Bafta Television Awards as he introduced a special segment highlighting “Planet Placement".

10 MAY - William visited the the Palace of Westminster along with Cahrles and Camilla in his role as the Counsellor of State for the State Opening of the Parliament where they were received at the Sovereign's Entrance by the Marquess of Cholmondeley (Lord Great Chamberlain) and the Duke of Norfolk (Earl Marshal). Later in the afternoon, he and Catherine attended the opening of the Glade of Light Memorial in Manchester where they were received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester (Sir Warren Smith).

11 MAY - William and Catherine were received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Renfrewshire (Colonel Peter McCarthy) as they visited St. John's Primary School in Port Glasgow. They later visited Wheatley Group in Kennishead where they were received by Mr. John McLeod (Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Glasgow). They subsequently visited the University of Glasgow.

12 MAY - William visited Heart of Midlothian Football Club at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh where he was received by Mr. Kingsley Thomas (Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh).

13 MAY - William and Catherine took part in the 2022 Mental Health Minute as they took over the radio staions for a special 60-second broadcast. He later invested Mrs. Deborah James with the insignia of a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

14 MAY - He attended the FA Cup Final between Chelsea Football Club and Liverpool Football Club at Wembley Stadium.

15 MAY - William departed for the United Arab Emirates from Heathrow Airport in London.

16 MAY - William was recieved by The Queen's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (His Excellency Mr. Patrick Moody) as he touched down at Abu Dhabi International Airport. He paid his Condolences to The President of the United Arab Emirates following the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan before flying back to the United Kingdom in the evening.

17 MAY - William held an Investiture at Windsor Castle in the morning. Later in the afternoon he presented new Colours to 1st Battalion Irish Guards.

18 MAY - William was received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire (Mr. Ian Dudson) as he unveiled a new Submariners Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas.

19 MAY - The Duke of Cambridge recieved The President of the Republic of Colombia. He and Catherine were received by Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (Sir Kenneth Olisa) as they attended the Royal Film Performance of "Top Gun: Maverick" at the Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square.

24 MAY - William paid a visit to Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Later in the evening, he attended a Reception at the Cavalry and Guards Club in Piccadilly.

25 MAY - William and Catherine gave a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace along with The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Princess Beatrice and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

26 MAY - William held a Meeting for the Earthshot Prize.

27 MAY - William received the Lord Hague of Richmond and Mr. Simon Patterson (Chairman & Vice Chairman, The Royal Foundation).

28 MAY - William took the salute at the Colonel's Review of The Queen's Birthday Parade on Horse Guards Parade.

30 MAY - William was spotted at the Houghton Horse Trials supporting Zara who was competing in the event.

[keyrousse]

So I went to London last weekend. Landed at 7:30 on Friday, returned 18:30 on Saturday*.

Upper row: Speedy's bar (because of course I went there for a full English breakfast; ate it at 10 AM, got hungry around 4 PM), a fountain in an alley in Regent's Park, a red phone booth in front of the British Museum (a.k.a. the museum of stolen artifacts; the entrance was free ;) )

Middle row: Chinatown, Parliament (as viewed from a certain park bench behind the Westminster Cathedral), Trafalgar Square (mmmm, mulled cider)

Bottom row: The Eye of London with the Parliament in the background, St Dunstan in the East garden (thanks Dordean for the suggestion :) ), the Tower Bridge.

Those are not all of the photos of all of the places I've seen. I was satisfied even though I haven't seen everything I probably should have (I did go to St. James' Park. I haven't reached Buckingham Palace.). I walked about 25 km in two days. Used the metro and the buses. There was the 'my room is cold' issue. *And then my return flight was delayed for 4 hours.

(btw, automatic passport control: 👍, 10/10)

Next? Apulia in Italy with my sister in March, then Corfu in July (also with my sister. And her daughters).

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Douglas Murray

Published: Apr 30, 2022

There are many ways to fracture a people. But one of the best is to destroy all the remaining ties that bind them. To persuade them that to the extent they have anything of their own, it is not very special, and in the final analysis, hardly worth preserving. This is a process that has gone on across the western world for over a generation: a remorseless, daily assault on everything that most of us were brought up to believe was good about ourselves.

Take our national heroes – the people who used to form the epicentre of our feelings of national pride. Twenty years ago, Winston Churchill easily won the BBC’s competition to find out who the nation thought to be the Greatest Briton. Today whenever the BBC runs a piece about Churchill it includes the ‘case for the prosecution’: a set of tendentious and fallacious arguments now frequently made against him. This has consequences. When the outburst of iconoclasm began in the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, Churchill’s statue was one of the first to be assaulted. Indeed it was attacked so often that the statue in Parliament Square was boxed up, and only got unboxed when the French President arrived in London for the day.

It isn’t just Churchill who gets this treatment. Almost everyone in our history does. Again and again, largely due to importing some of the worst ideas in modern American life, we are told that we need to scour our past and purge whatever fails to satisfy our current urges.

Two years ago the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, set up a Robespierrean ‘Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm’: a commission made up of people who all seem to share a wholly negative view of these islands, and one of whom was known for having once shouted at Her Majesty the Queen. And yet that commission is meant to decide what we are allowed to keep of our history. And not only what should come down, but what should go up in its place. Among the suggestions for more appropriate modern statuary are a memorial to the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, a tribute to the Windrush generation and a new National Museum of Slavery. Only last week it transpired that a London council is planning to rebrand William Gladstone Park, because the great prime minister’s family stands accused of benefiting from the slave trade. The front-runners for alternative names for the place include Diane Abbott Park.

Where once our national story was one of pride and heroism it has come to be looked at solely through the reductive, simplistic lens of racism, slavery and colonialism. Our civil servants and public appointees must demonstrate a commitment to ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Equity’ in order even to be allowed to work. Every political institution, including the House of Lords, is suffused with the same new dogma. Likewise every cultural institution, from the National Trust and Kew Gardens to the British Library, Tate and Globe theatre has decided to ‘decolonise’ – which means stripping us of our history or reframing it in an implacably negative light.

All of this has come across our culture like a flood – in the main, precisely because it is imported from America, where a cultural revolution is under way which consists of an assault on all of the foundations of the country. This includes a project of the New York Times which seeks to move the founding date of the American Republic from 1776 to 1619: the year in question being when slaves were first brought into the country. The non-historian who led this sloppy effort has been awarded a Pulitzer prize and chairs at American universities for her efforts. The attempt, like the one that’s going on in Britain, is to pretend that our nations were born in sin, everyone else into Edenic innocence.

Anybody found guilty of living in American history is torn down in a similarly remorseless way, from Christopher Columbus to Theodore Roosevelt. Absolutely no one is safe. The Founding Fathers have been rewritten. A couple of generations back, few Americans may have known that Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. Today it is almost the only thing anyone knows about him. Again, this has consequences. Last autumn the statue of Jefferson that had stood in New York City Hall since 1833 was ignominiously removed, boxed up and wheeled out the back door. According to one council member Jefferson no longer represents US ‘values’.

It is hard to think of anyone from two centuries ago who would. But in the relentless war on everything to do with western history at least the tactics are now clear. Aristotle and Plato have been denounced for not having 2022’s views on race. Similarly all the Enlightenment philosophers, so that David Hume’s name has come off buildings in Scotland. The charges are always the same: having views not exactly in line with those of the 21st century, being complicit in the slave trade, being complicit in colonialism. Or just being alive while these things were going on. When the evidence isn’t there, the anti-western ‘scholars’ of our day have shown themselves perfectly willing simply to invent it.

What are the effects of this? Among much else, it is not remotely clear why societies which have such terrible pasts should ever rouse themselves to do anything in the present. Last year the US Ambassador to the United Nations used the occasion of the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to denounce America for its ‘original sin’. She talked about the killing of George Floyd and presented a recent shooting at a spa (which had nothing to do with race) as an example of the ongoing racism in America. Towards the end of her speech, in passing, she remembered to mention the internment of around one million Uighur Muslims by the Chinese Communist party. Funnily enough, China’s representative was up next. ‘In an exceptional case’ the Chinese Communist representative said furiously, the American had actually ‘admitted to her country’s ignoble human rights record’, and so she had no right ‘to get on a high horse and tell other countries what to do’.

Until Russia invaded Ukraine in February this was the default presumption of the competitors and opponents of the western powers: that our countries had so deracinated themselves, so scourged themselves for historic sins and so denuded themselves of any decent approach towards their own history that they were unlikely to summon up the courage to stand up for themselves, let alone for their allies.

In fact Vladimir Putin’s war has done something to revive a sense of purpose and solidarity in the West. In one swoop the 30-year-old question about the point of Nato has been answered. When Sweden and other countries join the alliance later this year it will be cemented further. Even countries such as Germany have shown themselves willing to do highly unusual things, like actually spend money on defence now a real threat has re-emerged in their neighbourhood.

But the idea that Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine will solve the West’s problems or clarify our minds already looks like a forlorn hope. In a poll taken last month almost half of Americans said that if their country was invaded as Ukraine’s has been they would flee the country and not stay around and fight. Worst was that among 18- to 34-year-olds only 45 per cent said they would remain and fight, while 48 per cent said they would flee.

But why would they not? Who would stay and fight for a country that you have been told is rotten from the start, has no legitimate heroes and is riddled through even in the present day by ‘white supremacy’ and ‘institutional racism’? It is the same in other countries. The Europeans may have remembered that you have to spend money if you want to be able to defend yourselves. But more important still is to have a sense that you have something that is worth defending.

Putin, the Chinese Communist party and others have looked at the West in recent years and seen these increasingly fractious, riven and self-lacerating societies. Each has done what they can both online and off to exacerbate this tendency. They think we are awful and irredeemable, and they are delighted if large swathes of our populations and political and cultural figures agree with them. Just last week one of the CCP’s propaganda papers pumped an image around Twitter of Uncle Sam behind the Oval Office desk, surrounded by corpses. The caption accused America of racism and family separations at the border. Perhaps the people of Xinjiang province have something to say about the sincerity of that attack.

Of course, unity is not the only thing you need in a nation, as Putin has demonstrated. But it’s not nothing either, as President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have shown. The key question any country and any culture has to answer is whether it wants to keep going. Most of the western powers have been told in recent years that we should keep going in order to find our way to greater equity, equality, diversity and a whole pile of other meaningless guff, including ‘diversity’: an entirely anti-western concept from its foundations.

The war in Ukraine may be just the first test of the western alliance. It is clear that in the 21st century the CCP is going to present a much more substantial challenge than Putin ever could. Will the West be willing to rise to that challenge? Only if we regain the sense that we have something worth preserving. And the knowledge we had in the Cold War that free western societies deserve to win out, not because it is in our interests to do so, but because we are better than the alternatives.

How some people will shudder at the idea of even expressing that. But it is true. It is why the countries that most beat themselves up about their pasts are the countries that the world most wants to come to. We must be doing something right today, which means we have must have done something right in our past. The rest of the world recognises that fact by its footfall. It is time we started to recognise that truth ourselves.

[ Via: https://archive.is/dP2sQ ]

==

People actually risk their lives for the opportunity to participate in the western tradition. While smoothbrains who, by accident of birth, are fortunate to be able to take living there for granted, never have to contemplate the stories of the former group, and so say stupid things like "well, we're no better than [theocratic regime]/[communist dictatorship]/[poverty-stricken hellhole]."

The irony of course is that this sort of self-critique and self-flagellation is only possible among western countries. In any other social arrangement it would be, at best, ignored, at worst, grounds for eliminating you from it.

[kammartinez]

By Keziah Weir

Frieda Hughes and I are an hour into our conversation when Wyddfa the snowy owl enters the chat. With some coaxing, he has hopped down the hallway, lined with woven rugs, to perch next to Hughes in her high-ceilinged kitchen. The pair of them, framed by a Zoom square, are in their home in Wales, where they live with 12 other owls, plus “five chinchillas,” Hughes says, “one aging ferret, a python called Shirley, and the two rescue huskies.” By publication of this piece, she has added a fourteenth owl.

Wyddfa, who is so dapper that he immediately elicits very silly comments from this interviewer—Hello, sir! He’s a little gentleman!—joined the household in 2016 after a zoo could no longer care for him because of a damaged wing; another of the owls has “wonky feet.” All of them have an avian forebear, without whom the parliament might never have found their way into Hughes’s care: an orphaned fledgling, now the eponymous subject of her new book, George: A Magpie Memoir (Avid Reader Press). The book chronicles the five months in 2007 during which Hughes hand-raised the magpie after finding it tossed from a nest in her garden. “I had no idea how much I was going to fall in love with that bird,” Hughes tells me. “Oh, dear.”

London-born Hughes, a painter and poet, describes her growing up as peripatetic. “I felt as if the ground on which I stood was constantly changing and shifting,” she writes in the introduction to George, “because, following the suicide of my mother, Sylvia Plath, on 11 February 1963, my father, Ted Hughes, found it difficult to settle.” Her parents play a small role on the memoir’s pages, though the reverberations of their loss are felt throughout; most explicitly, Hughes notes the surreal feeling of strangers knowing, or believing to know, the intimacies of her personal history. (In the early aughts, the filmmakers behind the 2003 Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle Sylvia requested that Hughes grant them the right to use Plath’s poems. The film, Hughes wrote in her own poem, “My Mother,” would be “for anyone lacking the ability / To imagine the body, head in oven, / Orphaning children.” Needless to say, she did not grant the request.)

As a child, the ability to keep animals became an elusive sign of permanence—“if I had a pet it should mean that I’d have found a home in which to be stationary,” she writes—something she says she has finally found. 

During the five months of George, Hughes was grappling with the impending dissolution of a marriage—she and her husband had, three years earlier, moved together from his native Australia to Wales and he longed to return home—and her own chronic fatigue. An incessantly needy and increasingly tricksy young magpie proved to be a consuming diversion for Hughes, though not everyone was as charmed by his penchant for stealing food off plates or landing on heads. “Oh, there’s a magpie on the sofa,” Hughes quotes one visitor saying “with an offhand sort of grimace.” As a reader, it’s hard not to fall a little in love with him, an attachment aided by Hughes’s illustrations of him that run throughout the text.

Hughes has long been attracted to what she describes as “the wounded and the limping.” As a child, she says, “there were lots of little tragedies because I wanted to save everything, and couldn’t”—a theme that continues in her memoir. “If only I could have found it before the cat and the fly eggs,” she writes of another orphaned bird that died in her care, “if only I had a magic wand.” Still, as much as she acknowledges the difficult inevitability of death, she clocks lifeforce all around too. Of the wiggly garden creatures she collects to feed to baby George: “If worms had only a single thought in their little nematode bodies, it was that they wanted to LIVE.”

Before our interview, Hughes had been riding around the countryside on her motorbike when it broke down, stranding her, but she seems unbothered by the hiccup outside of apologizing that it had made her late for the call. There’s a forward momentum to her, a sort of indefatigable sense of thrust. One accepts difficulty, and moves forward. “He’s stuck on the ground,” she says fondly of Wyddfa, before we say goodbye—but “he makes the most of it.” 

Here, we discuss George, learning to open up after years of secrecy, and how to love despite the promise of loss.

Vanity Fair: I’m always interested in the why now of memoir. What made you want to revisit this time with George?

Frieda Hughes: Well, actually, I wrote it as George happened. A year later, I turned it into a book and then I tried to get it published. I had a publisher who was interested and then, I'll be perfectly frank, my brother committed suicide, and I thought I can't actually cope with the book and dealing with my brother's death at the same time, and so I put it on the back burner.

When, finally, my brother's affairs were all sorted out, and everything else, I thought, okay, I can revisit the book, I can get back to my art, I can get back to my painting and my poetry. I think I probably rewrote the book over the following years. Then I wrote an article about keeping owls for the Financial Times, and Cecil Gayford, my editor, saw this article and said to my agent, would Frieda consider writing about her love for birds, and she said, well, she already has. 

I have a new appreciation for magpies after reading the book—I had always really loved crows and ravens, but I hadn't thought so much about magpies. 

Where I live in the country, magpies are not regarded with great affection. They're regarded as pests and killers of baby birds. They get an awful lot of bad press, but in fact, all corvids are more interested in clearing up dead things. Ravens are apparently the supreme intelligence of the corvids; crows are very serious—so smart, so clever, but very, very serious. Magpies are complete imps, absolutely mischievous, curious. Honestly, I swear they have a sense of humor.

I remember a couple of girlfriends coming to visit and one of them was taking loads of photographs, and George was performing for them. He sat on my head, he nibbled my eyelashes, which is a bit unnerving because I could feel his beak against my eyeball, but he was adorable, and afterwards, my friend contacted me and said, "Frieda, I took all these photos and you can hardly see him. He's just a little bird." The thing is, we can't photograph the personality, can we, and that's what's so frustrating. His personality was extraordinary, and one of the things that really hooked its way into my heart was the fact that he related to me. The dogs would come up for a pet or a stroke or a snack, but George would look at what I was doing and play with it. When I was doing sketches of him, he would come and sit on the paper and try and pull the lines off the paper. 

He was probably only a couple of days old when you found him. I wondered how you think that played into the attachment that you had to George, that you had rescued him and that he needed you.

Hugely, because the more needy and desperate an animal or bird is, the higher up the priority list they come. George really needed feeding. He had the droopy wing, I didn't even know if he would ever learn to feed himself. It wasn't until I was working in the garden and I would uncover, on more than one occasion, a dead mouse, and George would be watching and suddenly, he appears and grabs the mouse and flies off and I thought, you know what? I think George is going to be fine. 

It is such a different project to raise an animal with the hope that they will be able to return to the wild. I think that's something that most people don't experience. Usually, you're raising an animal who you hope will be with you till the very end. In some ways, your experience seems almost much more like child-rearing where the goal is for children to grow up and take care of themselves.

In George's case, I was very, very torn. Part of me wanted him to stay, desperately. But it doesn't matter how much we love people or animals. At some point, we are going to have to let go, if we don't die first. They are going to go off to a new life; children grow up and leave home. Some parents are really happy about that, other parents, less so.

It's the same with partners. Sometimes we die, sometimes we fall out of love. We only borrow people. I believe in making the most of it, but also I believe in not ever keeping anything or anyone prisoner of one's own affectionate imposition. There are people I love, but if they feel that they need to go, I ain't going to be the one to stop them. I would only wish them wings, as it were. Loving people and animals so that you can let them go when you need to, if you ever need to, I think that is the best—difficult, but the best.

In the book, you wrote about your now ex-husband. There was a mirroring going on—him wanting to go back to where he was from, and dealing with that in the relationship as you were also dealing with the fact that your bird was wanting to go back to the wild, where he was from.

Yes, very much. He had said that he wanted to move back when he got old, only he wasn't able to tell me what old meant. He was 14 years older than me, so he was 14 years ahead of where my head was. He, too, ultimately needed his freedom. One might make all the effort one could to make things nice, but if somebody wants to go, they want to go—and also, quite often, by the time they want to go, we are quite glad for them to go.

In George's case, not. But having said that, he was complicated by these bad habits he developed, like the one of jumping on heads, which scared my elderly neighbor to the point where she wouldn't go out of the house if there were magpies in the garden. Hence the aviary, that enormous aviary, now populated by six very large Eurasian eagle owls.

They are alluded to at the very end of the book. I want to hear about who you have right now.

The first owl was Arthur, with the broken wing. Three of the owls that I have were given to me by other people who could no longer look after them; one had an operation on his shoulder, and another one was just incredibly sick and had diabetes, and so I got these owls and they came with two eggs. So I bought an incubator and hatched Charlie and Mac in 2015, and then two years later came Eddie, and they are fabulous. They're very, very handleable. They come in the house for a couple of hours at night just to play around in the kitchen

In the time period of the book you were working on a collection of autobiographical poems, which seemed to take a lot out of you emotionally. Over the years, how have you juggled a desire for a certain amount of privacy, but then also wanting to draw from your life and feelings in your writing? 

I'm working on balancing it all the time, because the answer is I'm not sure how to balance it. When I was younger and my father was still alive, the wish to be private on his behalf, not to say... I'll give you an example. The other kids would come back from a weekend and say, we did this and we did that and we did the other. I wasn't ever sure what I could give away or not give away, what would be okay.

In my first book of poems, it became really difficult because that's where we start, with our innermost emotions and feelings. I had all these poems boiling away. For years, I wrote poetry and never told anybody. Ultimately, I worked up to showing my dad my poems. He'd have criticism, and finally one day—I think I must have been about 15, 16, 17—I said, "Daddy, don't you have anything good to say?" He looked at me in complete surprise and he said, "But I thought you knew they were very good. I was only mentioning the bits that need pushing.” From then on, he would say, “Okay, this bit's brilliant and that works really well.” He was a very good teacher, but at the same time, I was trying not to read any of his poetry or my mother's poetry because I didn't want to be influenced.

My first book I wrote while I had chronic fatigue. I wanted to be autobiographical and I didn't dare. I'd trained myself so seriously to be private for the family's sake. So allegory became my best friend. And then in 2007, I set myself certain parameters for the autobiographical poetry book, 45. One was that I could be open about myself. When you say it must have been emotionally taxing or challenging, it was, because it was like stripping my skin off because I wasn't used to it. I hadn't had that practice.

In the end, as I get older, I think, does it matter? I'm getting older. One day, we're going to die. If I was publishing my autobiography at the age of 96, I wouldn't care much about what I put in it. I'd just put everything in it, but I'd have to be 96 because then I know I was probably on the way out. So I don't know. I'm working on it. 

You wrote in the book about the strange ways that either people react to you once they realize who your parents are.

It's very odd because until they bring it up, I labor under the illusion that I'm the only person standing where I'm standing. The moment they bring it up, I feel the spot on where I'm standing is now quite crowded with all three of us.

In your poem “Mother,” you’re writing about the strange idea that there are people who are portraying your parents in different ways and dramatizing, or writing biographies or making movies. Is that something that has gotten easier, emotionally, as you have dealt with it over the course of your life?

One of the difficulties is when people make up whole sentences and relationships and ways of speaking and there's nothing to support it. I've been very determined to make a home in which I feel safe, and create my own support and not look at those things because there's no point. I could rant and rave. I'm not going to change anything. 

So poetry is where I put things I feel very, very strongly about, and reading a poem like that on stage, you feel as though you're delivering it as a killer blow. It might only be for one moment in the ether, but it's something. When people reinvent my parents, it'd be like anybody reinventing yours or anybody else's parents. It's wounding and it takes them away. 

When articles or books have come out that depict negative versions of your parents’ relationship, do you just try to steer clear of that as well?

Well, they're rehashing it. It's been written about a lot. There was the very good recent biography by Heather Clark, Red Comet, very thorough. I had to read that for permissions, and I thought it was a really masterful piece of work. It didn't impose judgment and it didn't guess at anything. Everything was backed by research and reading, and for that reason, I found it really impressive. 

You have this rule, you wrote, to live each day the best you can no matter what—having experienced significant and public loss, and then also dealing with chronic health problems, how have you kept that up?

I can't believe I was in such pain when I was looking after George. I still get back pains, I still have problems with it, but I'm so much better. I work out at the gym three times a week, I do the gardening. I'm actually in better nick than I was then, and although they say that we never get rid of chronic fatigue, it's like a little warning sign; if I ever feel that coming, I now know, hey, I'm doing something wrong

A journalist actually asked me after my brother died, "Do you now want to kill yourself?" Part of me wanted to slam the phone down on her, but I thought, I actually think I know where that question's coming from. Because it would be what's in everybody's mind, or certainly a lot of people's mind, she just spoke it, she just put it out there. I'm the only one left in my little family. Somebody has to live life like it matters. My attitude is very much that I need, for my sake and for theirs, to make my life matter. 

[kingwilliamv]

The Prince of Wales’ Court Circular entries for November 2022

Total: 25 engagements

Solo:

Public: 6

Private: 7

Joint (w/ Kate and/or other BRF members):

Public: 10

Private: 2

Breakdown:

November 1: Attended the Tusk Conservation Awards at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey

November 2: (2)

Attended a Tusk Trust Symposium at St James’s Palace

Attended the Film Africa Workshop, at the Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker Street, London WC2

November 3: (2)

Met the Two Ridings Community Foundation youth grant panel and beneficiaries of the funding generated to support local young people’s mental health, at the Street, Coast and Vale Community Action, 12 Lower Clark Street, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Visited the Rainbow Centre, Castle Road, Scarborough

November 8: Held an Investiture at Windsor Castle

November 9: (2)

Attended a Meeting with the Duchy of Cornwall Rural Committee at 10 Buckingham Gate, London SW1

Attended the Child Bereavement UK Chairman’s Dinner at Oswald’s, 25 Albemarle Street, London W1

November 11: (2)

Received Ms Hannah Jones (Chief Executive, The Earthshot Prize)

Received Mr Alastair Martin (Secretary of the Duchy of Cornwall)

November 12: Attended the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall

November 13: Laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on the occasion of Remembrance Day

November 14: Attended the Service of Thanksgiving for the Earl of Home KT which was held at the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London WC2

November 15: Attended a Reception at Windsor Castle following the Platinum Jubilee

November 16: Visited the Senedd Cymru — Welsh Parliament, Pierhead Street, Cardiff, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of South Glamorgan (Mrs Morfudd Meredith)

November 17: Attended a Reception at Coutts and Company, 440 Strand, London WC2

November 18: Visited Royal Air Force Coningsby, Lincoln, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Lincolnshire (Mr Toby Dennis)

November 22: (3)

Welcomed The President on behalf of His Majesty at the Corinthia Hotel, Whitehall Place, London SW1

Attended the Ceremonial Welcome for The President of the Republic of South Africa at Horse Guards Parade

Attended a State Banquet this evening in honour of The President of the Republic of South Africa at Buckingham Palace

November 24: Visited Newquay Orchard, Yeoman Way, Newquay, and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall (Colonel Edward Bolitho)

November 29: Held a Meeting with Mr Alastair Martin (Secretary of the Duchy of Cornwall)

November 30: (3)

Called upon Ms Michelle Wu (Mayor of Boston) at Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston

Attended a Welcome to Earthshot event at Boston City Hall

Attended a National Basketball Association match between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat at TD Garden, 100 Legends Way, Boston

——————————————————————————

Current total for 2022: 188 engagements