Skipping to the Loo! Joining the Queue Marylebone railway station is rather a nice place. Some splendid Victorian architecture, a florist, coffee bars and an airy, friendly atmosphere. A pleasant place to arrive, until you leave your busy train and need to access the ladies loo quickly. Looking around you might notice an odd little construction advertising the dubious joys of Bicester village and staffed by enthusiastic young people in fancy dress. Nestling behind it and near to the posh chocolate stall, you will spy the weary queue for the toilets. You know that queue. Your visits to cinemas, theatres, motorway services, festivals and other events have taught you all about recognising that queue and all its implications. But, hey, you’ve actually found the loos. And they are open.  And at least you are not visiting one of those places where you have to take potluck on the likelihood of finding anywhere at all. Sometimes you are fortunate and find a central, visible, well signposte...

  ‘WATCH THE WALL MY DARLING, WHILE THE GENTLEMEN GO BY’ These days we are used to hearing about the darker side of nursery rhymes. We know that ‘Ring a Ring o’Roses’ is all about the plague, and that ‘Little Miss Muffet’ probably refers to a certain Dr Muffet who crushed up spiders and used them as medicine for his patients (including his daughter). But it’s sometimes a bit unnerving to read a poem that probably seemed quite charming in its original context, but then takes on a darker meaning in the 21st Century. ‘Smugglers’ Song’ by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1930) is a rhythmic and mysterious poem, where a child is told by a parent to face the wall and to ask no questions if she hears horses' hooves at midnight: Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark — Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk; Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie — Watch the wall, my darling,  While the Gentlemen go by Kipling’s smugglers are ‘gentlemen’, romantic figures bringing brandy...

Image is a link to: https://plinth.uk.com/collections/keepers-exhibition   Art, Barbie and the Women’s World Cup It’s July. The school holidays have started. Politicians are disappearing into rabbit holes to lick their wounds and invent ever more grotesque policies. The NHS staggers on, war rages in Ukraine and holiday makers are getting upset that 48 degree temperatures are turning beaches into no-go areas.  But, in the good old Roman tradition of bread and circuses, it’s the time of year when media attention often turns to blockbuster films and major sporting events, so let’s focus our attention there and try to make some sense of what’s going on.  ‘Keepers’ It’s worth taking a look at a rather interesting online art exhibition that has recently opened. Entitled ‘Keepers’ , it reminds us that men have long been the key gatekeepers and rule-makers for sport.  The exhibition is on until 31 August and includes a wonderful take on the table football game that still dom...

  SANCTUARY, REFUGE, COMPASSION Supporting refugee women Refugee Week  - 19 to 25 June 2023 Refugee Week takes place every year in June. Everyone is invited to take part in this world-wide festival of art and culture celebrating the remarkable contributions of refugees. If you take a look at the wonderful website www.refugeeweek.org.uk you will find information, ideas and suggestions about how you might get involved, ranging from simply reading a poem to joining a major campaign. The theme for this year is Compassion, and how we might extend our own circles of compassion, referencing Einstein, who spoke of ….widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. And they have this specially designed poster available for anyone to download. A terrible irony It’s horrible to see, in the midst of the positive waves of support for refugees and all the preparations for the festival, that appalling tragedies continue. As Refugee W...

  Taking a Stand on Hats! Where did you get that hat? On May 6th an elderly chap who had just inherited a new job also received a new hat to go with the post. It   was carefully placed on his head by the Archbishop of Canterbury who is no stranger himself to a bit of jaunty headgear. At this point the   historians among you will surely recall the immortal words of King Frederick the Great, who grumbled that: ‘A crown is just a hat the lets the rain in’. A rather more precise definition of a ‘proper’ hat is available for any women planning to enter the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. Ladies must wear a hat or headpiece with a solid base of 4 inches in diameter in the Royal Enclosure. Fascinators are not permitted. Novelty hats (i.e. ones which are excessively oversized, or are promoting or marketing any product or brand) are not permitted. In fact it is really quite remarkable to think about how much time has been squandered on making up rules about what constitutes ac...

SOUND THE TRUMPET ! (But not for John Knox) The Monstrous Regiment In 1558 John Knox (1514-1572)  wrote a pamphlet denouncing gynarchy. ‘The First Blast of the Trumpet’, was a tirade against what he called ‘The Monstrous Regiment of Women’ . A firebrand Protestant leader of the Scottish Reformation, he managed to offend a number of powerful women by writing such things as: To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion, or empire above any realm, nation, or city, is repugnant to nature; contumely to God, a thing most contrary to his revealed will and approved ordinance; and finally, it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice. Several royal women took exception to his ranting. They included: Mary 1 of England, also known as Bloody Mary and well known for her vicious methods of persecuting Protestants Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland and mother of Mary Queen of Scots, who ridiculed him. Mary Queen of Scots herself, who, although she ‘feared’ Knox’s prayers...

  STRIKING WOMEN Lysistrata In 411 BC, Lysistrata, a bawdy comedy, by Aristophanes, had ‘em rolling in the amphitheatres of Ancient Greece. The play is often performed today with a strong feminist slant, although if you look carefully the politics are probably a bit dodgy. Lysistrata, the heroine, is tough, principled and resolute. She’s fed up with the ongoing war between Athens and Sparta, so encourages the women of Greece to go on a sex strike and stop sleeping with men until peace is declared. They all solemnly agree. After lots of slapstick, including the older women of Athens seizing the Akropolis and pouring water over a chorus of decrepit old men who are trying to smoke them out, all the men gather (exhibiting physical signs of extreme desperation), and peace is agreed.  Of course it’s a bit ironic that all the actors in Ancient Greece would have been men, but the ideas in the play have continued to resonate. And it is very funny. A millennium or so later…. Women worki...

  SISTERHOOD AND STRENGTH Scary sisters The Graeae, three sisters in Greek mythology, managed to survive by sharing one eye and one tooth, which is really rather impressive. Sadly it all went a bit downhill for them when Perseus stole the eye for blackmail purposes, but since the sisters’ names in translation are Dread, Horror and Alarm,  we needn’t really get too upset. Sisters as stock villains - wicked, ugly, conspiratorial, wild or seductive, regularly appear in literature, religion, history, show-business and folklore. The more wholesome sisters, the Marys and the Marthas, don’t get such good publicity. Cinderella certainly had a bad time with her sisters, but at least didn’t suffer the gruesome fate of Cordelia in ‘King Lear’, who had no support at all from her nasty sisters. Mary Tudor and Elizabeth 1 didn’t get on at all well; neither did Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Haviland.  The Weird Sisters definitely had it in for Macbeth, and ‘Whatever happened to Baby Jane?...

  2022 Early September At the beginning of this month there was a palpable air of panic. Headlines on energy prices and the cost of living competed with the news of catastrophic floods in Pakistan and the war in Ukraine. In Britain politicians were tearing pieces out of each other in a leadership election, Parliament wasn’t functioning, the heatwave had caused havoc with the harvest, there were multiple strikes and civil liberties were at risk. Mid September And now? For some days the country has been on hold. Immaculate organisation, solemn ceremony, gleaming uniforms and medieval language are on screens everywhere. The backdrop to our lives has changed. People are classified as ‘mourners’ and ‘well-wishers . Their opinions are channelled through a respectful media, punctuated occasionally by moments of protest.There are sombre speeches about duty, heavy responsibility and service. How do we navigate this? Everything has changed and nothing has changed. After the ceremony, the mo...