Author: Mick Hartley

Russell Lee – September 1940. "Small business establishments. Ouray, Colorado."

[Photo: Shorpy/Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration]

Ouray previously. And here (scroll down).

More dancing hornbeams in Queen's Wood:

Last week, darker and wetter.

non-binary, so has plural pronouns and also feels pain more keenly than the rest of us.]

And here's Emily Watkins, looking at Rowling's new book The Ickabog and having deep thoughts – "JK Rowling’s first children’s book since the Harry Potter series is a political fairy tale about people controlled by fear of a legendary monster. Emily Watkins wonders if the author might learn from her own parable". Yes, I think we can see where this is going:

If I were feeling charitable, I might characterise Rowling’s qualms with trans women as being born of a similar anxiety to that that surrounds the Ickabog. Whether we’re talking about class, race, sex or gender, aversion is a tried-and-tested mechanism for pushing something away – because, on some level, it’s perceived as a threat.

A woman in the office – what if she gets the promotion instead of me? People arriving from other countries – but where will I go? Trans rights – well what about mine? And isn’t this the kind of fear, wielded by Lord Spittleworth and echoed throughout Cornucopia, that The Ickabog is warning us to stand up against?

The Ickabog’s legendary monster is far less frightening than humans’ own hypocrisy and failure – Cornucopia’s corrupt government or the real world’s institutionalised violence. From Chouxvillian haves to Marshlander have-nots, from transphobia to racism, Ickabogs abound and they’re made of us. Myths and fear are often one and the same.

Ooh she's just dripping with patronising condescension.

Is it possible that Rowling's supposed transphobia is a legitimate and well thought out response to the very real threat posed by trans activists to women's safe spaces, women's sport, and the whole idea of woman as separate biological sex? The possibility is not even considered.

Hackney Wick – and another American Sweetgum, I think:

memberships, athletic competitions, and so forth, solely on the basis of being female. Women even had to fight for the right to use their own names on legal documents, instead of being forced to sign as Mrs. Husband’s Full Name, or to do anything of importance without a husband or father’s co-signature or permission. By anachronistically pretending all these brave, trailblazing women were truly men, the historical realities of institutionalized sexism and male privilege are written out of existence, and impressionable young people will be led to believe women haven’t played any kind of important role in history.

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As I noted a couple of years back, the American Sweetgum is a recent addition to London's street trees, and already you see them everywhere. They can grow big, up to 40 metres or so, and unlike the smaller ornamental trees they can live for hundreds of years. So we better get used to them.

her purchased one after moving to England and struggling to find work as a tailor….

Featured next to positive exclamations like joy, love, light and truth, is spiritual imagery such as the third eye, the Om symbol and various deities such as the elephant-headed god Ganesha.

In a characteristic fusion of Burman's feminism with her Indian heritage, the artist also included an image of Lakshmi Bai, the queen or rani who once ruled the princely state of Jhansi….

Perched atop the building's pediment, the iconic statue of Britannia is overlaid with an image of Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction but also a saviour and protector who has come to be viewed as a feminist icon.

Emblazoned above, in playful subversion, are the words "I'm a mess".

"Most of us, because we're working from home, are waking up feeling a bit of a mess," said Burman. "So Britannia is a mess because I'm a mess. And everybody says: that's really good Chila because, in a way, Britain is in a mess."

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[Photos © Tate (Joe Humphrys)]

h rarely pays a penny it owes and breaks business contracts or unilaterally changes the terms almost as a matter of principle. Its modus operandi in dealing with South Korean businesses has been sooner or later to expropriate them, be it in the scenic Mt. Kumgang resort or in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

The latest revelation is embarrassing for the South Korean government, which may have hoped for a more upbeat message in its quixotic drive to stimulate cross-border business.

Not so well, then.

August 1941. Warren, Michigan. "Tank manufacture (Chrysler). These are partially completed M-3 tanks, 28-ton steel giants being turned out at the huge Chrysler tank arsenal near Detroit. The camera was directed toward the end of the three main assembly lines. Mass assembly methods developed in automobile manufacture are used. Note overhead cranes for heavy parts."

[Photo: Shorpy/Alfred Palmer for the Office for Emergency Management]

t-against-coronavirus-pgqcp0ggs”>letter in the Times:

Sir, The decision to tunnel under Stonehenge is a tragedy. Apart from the damage to the landscape and archaeology, the tunnel will deprive millions of drivers of one of the most exhilarating views in England, that of the great henge rising into view over the Wiltshire downs. It is being done for the benefit of paying users of English Heritage’s visitor centre, to whom Stonehenge will effectively be confined. To them the quality of the site may marginally improve, though many find the distant cars a piquant contrast. The site itself is largely of scenic interest.

The decision is being taken not by an environment or heritage minister but by a transport secretary to ease traffic, against the advice of the planning inspectorate. Traffic can be eased by making the existing road one-way and building a reverse carriageway downhill, at a fraction of the cost. As it is, interest in the nation’s prehistory will wane as, in the long run, will visitors to Stonehenge.

A piquant contrast? A permanent traffic jam 100 yards away? This is so ridiculous – as indeed one would expect from Jenkins – that my conviction has hardened. Yes, build the tunnel!