Brexit continues to poison politics

A member of Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats has resigned as a result of the English Liberal Democrats accepting as a member, and candidate in a local election in May, someone who would have stood for Farage's Brexit organisation in last December's general election (until Farage pulled her along with others where their candidacy may have affected Tory chances). The former member concerned is a French citizen who is affronted that the Lib Dems should so swiftly adopt a person who only a few months ago was prepared to stand on a platform diametrically opposed to our campaign to remain in the EU and one with barely-concealed racist undertones. One does wonder how committed the new recruit is to any political philosophy and why more time was not allowed for this to be established.

I am proud to say that our local party resolved tonight to back our members from the EU in any way we could in the face of the Tories' short-sighted, xenophobic, hostile environment. 

Geraldine Mucha

If I had not been nursing a cold (not Covid-19, just my usual early spring affliction, contacts will be glad to hear), I would have been at a regional meeting of the Welsh Liberal Democrats yesterday and would not have taken my mind off things with the annual Radio 3 broadcast celebrating International Women's Day. I would then not have heard Geraldine Mucha's piano concerto.

Sarah Walker, in introducing the piece, said that she detected the influence of Bartok but went on to say that it was nothing like anything she had heard before. I would add Martinu as a possible influence, especially in the slow movement, but would certainly agree with her other impression. The concerto cries out for a Proms performance - and perhaps some enterprising young musician might select it as their personal choice for the next international piano competition?

Canals go electric

The boats on Amsterdam's iconic canals will all be electrically-driven by 2025, thanks to an initiative begun two years ago. It is probably the first move to electrify all the boats on a canal network, but it is not the first electrification of a canal boat. There have been canal boats powered from overhead cables since the 1890s though there appear to be very few such systems surviving. At the same time,  an automotive boat was not commercially viable because the massive lead-acid batteries which were then the only widely-available power source took up valuable cargo space.

An enterprising leisure narrow boat operator on the then recently restored Stratford-on-Avon canal launched the Electric Blue at the back end of last century, clearly named for one of the tropical morpho species collected in the Stratford Butterfly Farm. As to what led to its demise, I can find no answer on the Web now. (If anyone out there has any links, I would be grateful for them.) Perhaps there was just not enough space for the users in those days before the lighter and more compact lithium-ion systems were developed. Anyway, these are clearly the future and good luck to Amsterdam.

Mike Davies, perchance

It was one of those lucky accidents. The other day, I had prepared a Lidl insulated bag with another stout Lidl bag folded inside it. Spotting an opportunity to take advantage of brighter weather and an imminent bus departure, I quickly got ready and made for the bus stop. In my haste, I picked up the wrong bag. It was not until I reached the checkout that I realised my error. Too mean to buy another bag when I had plenty at home, I pressed into emergency service the other small plastic bag which I carry in my pocket, but reckoned that it, crammed full as it was, would not stand the strain of the walk all the way back from Cadoxton to Skewen. So I waited for the X8, even though I knew it would be fifteen minutes before it turned up.

It was there, at the disintegrating bus "shelter" that Mike Davies, who happened to be passing, recognised me and started a conversation about the failure of the council to replace the shelter. To my shame, I did not recognise him at first. In my defence, it had been eight years since I last met him, at the home of the late Leslie Hale during my unsuccessful campaign to be re-elected as councillor for the ward. There was a lot of catching up to do.

Mike, one of twins, had been manager of the Times Furnishing Company's shop in Neath. He had also been the leader, from the keyboard, of a small band, good enough to be chosen to back some headline acts when they visited the area. He cannily married the band's vocalist which kept the costs down, he said! Mrs Davies is still active with the Neath and District Ladies Choir.

In those eight years, he has come into his own as a photographer of the local scene and wildlife. He has been generous with his pictures, professional standard though they are. They have adorned the BBC TV weather presentations, both Welsh and national. He also contributes images to local charities, such as the Bryncoch Environment Group, for calendars, postcards etc. He also photographically documented the construction of a local wind farm, but donated his commission from the operating company to Neath Port Talbot hospital.

York conference: self-isolation

In the light of a Covid-19 case turning up in Swansea recently, the result of a presumably familial visit to north Italy, representatives of Liberal Democrat parties in the area must be watching the local news media for fear of developments. The federal spring conference is due to start in York next week and party chiefs are poised.

I must remember to ask John Cresci if he has been back to the old sod recently.

Problems of an ageing EU population

From the pages of the European Parliament's Think Tank:

Demography matters. The economy and the labour market, but also social protection, intergenerational fairness and healthcare, the environment, food and nutrition are all driven by demography. The population of EU countries has grown substantially – by around a quarter since 1960 – and currently it stands at almost 450 million. The numbers are now beginning to stagnate however and are expected to decline from around the middle of the century. With the world population having risen still more substantially and growth continuing, the EU represents a shrinking proportion of the global population. The EU population is also ageing dramatically, as life expectancy increases and fertility rates fall below past levels. This has serious implications across a range of areas including the economy, healthcare and pensions. Free movement within the EU and migration from third countries also play an important role in shaping demography in individual Member States and regions. 

There is more here.

It is likely that the UK will suffer less from this than the EU, whose economy will pick up faster when the current recession ends. The Johnson government's proposals for immigration will probably cope with any shortages of highly qualified staff, and the reduced post-Brexit industrial activity means that there will be less pressure on the unskilled and semi-skilled labour market. However, for the EU as a whole, there will have to be hard choices as to who to let in and for how long.

All the foregoing is separate from our, and the EU's, obligation to take in genuine refugees.

A message from Stephen Dorrell of the European Movement

The negotiating mandate published by the government last week has laid out an alarming vision for the future where the United Kingdom will diverge from European Union regulations on key issues, risking the possibility that efforts to tackle climate change and unfair competition could be undermined.

This is the first time since the end of the Second World War that the government has outlined a mandate for negotiations that will not tear down borders to trade but erect them. Despite claiming to be pro-trade and pro-enterprise, this government is actively taking steps to isolate ourselves from our closest neighbors.

Instead of distancing ourselves from our partners in Europe, we should be working together to tackle the biggest issues of our time. This politics of protectionism only serves to erode our common interests and values.

With negotiations due to start today, the European Movement will be lobbying the government to ensure that our European rights, standards, and values are upheld post-Brexit.

FUND OUR FIGHT

Perry Mason: a wish granted

Last year, I expressed a wish that CBS in the UK would show the Perry Mason TV series from the beginning. I cannot have been the only one doing so, because CBS Justice started with Season 1, Episode 1 this afternoon. It is possible that clearance of rights may have held up the re-runs, or possibly checking that "thumbnails" of the sponsor's products which appear on the end-titles do not conflict with broadcasting laws in this country. However, neither Beads-O-Bleach, nor Trend detergent ("the brand the smart girls buy"), nor Blue Dutch cleanser, the three featured products of the Purex Corporation, are currently on sale in the UK. There might have been other in-programme product placements which needed weeding out. Indeed, there was a lot of gratuitous offering of cigarettes in today's three episodes, though it was impossible to make out a maker's name.

That is one major contrast with Season 9, currently showing on CBS Justice on weekdays. By 1966, when that last black-and-white series was made, the perils of cigarette smoking had been made known to the American public for two years, by virtue of reports from the US Surgeon-General's office. It would not be until 1971 before there was a complete ban on tobacco advertising on US TV, but clearly network commissioners were already chary.

The early Perry Mason, based on the Erle Stanley Gardner books, was also more tricky - willing to keep witnesses out of the way of the police investigators and even tampering with or faking evidence.

It is not immediately obvious why Burr wanted to take a break, but it is recorded as his decision to make series 9 the last. It could have been an artistic judgment - the scripts were patchy, occasionally having recourse to recycling plots (with names changed) from earlier episodes, there was some sloppiness in production (check for "Goofs", which become more numerous, in the IMDb Web pages for the later series) and Burr's performance itself has become more mechanical. One only has to look at the broadcast frequency - one 52 minute episode per week for eight or nine months - to realise the punishing schedule of television production in those days. The death of Ray Collins (see below) in 1965 may have cast a pall over the series. It is also probable that ill-health, and problems with his weight, were factors in Burr's decision.

Certainly the format of seemingly open-and-shut case demolished as the real perpetrator is unmasked in the courtroom, mechanical or not, continued to be successful. Take Matlock for instance.

Burr followed Perry Mason with Ironside, in which he not only redressed the balance in favour of the police, but also highlighted how a man could hold down a responsible job from a wheelchair, given the right assistance. That assistance included an African-American police officer in the shape of Don Mitchell, in the role of Mark Sanger, probably a breakthrough for US TV in the late 1960s. Ironside also tackled social issues in some of its plot lines. One imagines that as a gay man, perforce closeted for most of his career, he had an instinctive feeling for the underdog. A biographer noted that "throughout his public life Burr was unfailingly generous to charities and gave much of his time (when he wasn’t keeping a grueling work schedule) to public service of one sort or another."

He was certainly generous to other actors. When Ironside was abruptly terminated towards the end of  a successful nine-year run, Burr was approached to reprise the Perry Mason role with the benefit of colour and movie production values. He accepted only on the condition that Barbara Hale, the original TV Della Street, also be hired. William Hopper, the actor who played Mason's original investigator Paul Drake, having died, the new role of Paul Drake Jr was created for Hale's son, William Katt. The various series are studded with family connections. The investigator in the TV movies marking the final appearance of Perry Mason was played by William R Moses, the son of Marian McCargo, former US Wightman Cup doubles player, who appeared in both series 8 and series 9. Christian Nyby directed 13 episodes of the black-and-white series; his son, probably better-known for his work on Star Trek, directed 19 of the TV movies. There are other father/mother to daughter/son relationships among the minor actors. Several actors were continuously employed in minor parts such as "courtroom spectator". The most notable "ghost credit" was that of Ray Collins, the respected former Mercury Theatre actor who played the original Lt Tragg. Collins continued to be billed even after COPD prevented him taking an active part.

I am looking forward to Season 9, Episode 30 when the demob-happy production team are said to have planted several in-jokes. One noted feature is the appearance of Erle Stanley Gardner himself, for the first and last time in the series, fittingly as a judge.