Fawcett MK: Keeping Up

  Women and gardens ‘If Eve had had a spade in Paradise and had known what to do with it, we should not have had all that sad business with the apple’ (Elizabeth von Arnim) In mid-June, as we sizzled towards Midsummer’s Day, plants were shrivelling, flowers were dying, water butts were empty, and hosepipe bans began to creep in. Gardeners despaired, and yet only few weeks previously, our television screens had been filled with the annual explosions of colour and spectacle of the Chelsea Flower Show. From the Garden of Eden to Chelsea, gardens have inspired, delighted, frustrated and soothed us. But what about the gardeners? What do we know of them? And more specifically, for the purposes of this blog, what about the women gardeners? Elizabeth von Arnim, who published her witty autobiographical novel ‘ Elizabeth and her German Garden ’ in 1898, was frustrated by pompous 19th century assumptions that ‘ladies’ should not do physical work in a garden. She describes how she would: ‘ …s...

Museum revelations In the shadow of Salisbury Cathedral there is a fascinating museum, where a visitor can explore all kinds of exhibits from Neolithic burial sites to a representation of the town sewage works. Tucked away in a corner, displayed within a glass case, is a small, beautifully embroidered cape in the purple and silver colours of the early suffrage movement . It is unfinished, with a caption explaining that it once belonged to Millicent Fawcett, who lived in Salisbury for a while. It is probably too small for Millicent herself to have worn but perhaps it was intended as a gift for a child – a mini-Suffragist perhaps. Whatever its actual history, it triggers a poignant reminder of how young Millicent herself was when she became committed to the cause of women’s suffrage. By the age of 19, for example, she was collecting signatures to support a petition to parliament that she was actually too young to sign herself. Museums are wonderful for revealing fascinating and unexpecte...

If April IS the cruellest month, then two dismal images from recent weeks reinforce that perfectly. They are haunting, dispiriting, and difficult to understand.  But at the risk of sounding like an obscure medieval riddle, let’s consider the similarities between a statue and a tree, both of which recently hit the headlines. Why Millicent? ‘When any of us talk about standing on the shoulders of giants, Millicent Fawcett was that giant of female empowerment.’ (Ruth Davidson) Following the Supreme Court’s gender ruling on April 16, demonstrations took place in Parliament Square. The statue of Millicent Fawcett, the only representation of a woman in the square, was defaced, alongside several other statues.  ‘Investigations continue’ according to the police. Millicent Fawcett was not a militant. She was a suffragist who worked tirelessly for over 50 years in pursuit of women’s suffrage. She opposed the violence espoused by Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes. She lobbied, gav...

  **Like our blog? Then visit Fawcett MK's new website  ** A Different Lens Another voice There is a funny and lively piece of theatre touring the UK at the moment. It will be available for a few more months, so catch it if you can. It’s called ‘ Pride and Prejudice -Sort Of ’ and as the title suggests, it is not a straightforward adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel. All the characters are played by a small ensemble of women, who change clothes and accents with astonishing dexterity while singing, dancing, and using some interestingly choice language. The key events of the novel remain the same, but, and here’s the twist, the story is presented to us by the servants. They, of course, are always present, hearing and seeing everything, but disregarded by their employers.  The idea of retelling a story from a different point of view is not new, of course. In The Wide Sargasso Sea , Jean Rhys wrote a ‘prequel’ to Jane Eyre giving a voice to Mr Rochester’s first wife, the ‘mad...

  Nourishing our minds Welcome to (L)egoland, where cruel and pompous men are strutting their stuff and playing with countries as if they were little plastic bricks. In this global playpen for billionaires, the President of the United States, having played a leisurely round of golf, feels he can in all seriousness quote Napoleon: ‘celui qui sauve sa patrie ne viole aucune loi’, (he who saves his country violates no law). So, for this president, laws don’t apply, people are fired from their jobs, lying has become the norm, women scarcely feature, and war ravaged countries are eyed up as potential holiday resorts.  Is switching off the answer? Elsewhere in the world…well….where to start? Misery, violence, racism, misogyny, poverty, abuse? Levels of awfulness so great that for some of us the only answer is to switch off completely. How many people have you heard saying ‘I can’t watch the news anymore, it’s too upsetting, I can’t face it’ .  But if we don’t face it, what then...

The Darkling Plain A new year begins Well, here we are. About a couple of weeks into 2025. As we reached the Quarter Century out came the fireworks. Hurray! Auld Lang Syne, Peace and Goodwill, ring out the bells and all that. An opportunity to listen calmly to wise words from highly regarded world leaders offering us hope and optimism for the future and reassuring us that we are safe under their watch. Oh, sorry. No chance of any of that. Whatever were you thinking? Racing to the bottom Listen instead to the grating sound of people yelling and screaming and twittering at each other. Look at the rich, entitled and powerful who are taking offence at the smallest perceived slight as they desperately seek attention. Watch as people leap onto bandwagons and make pompous and abusive statements about things that they know nothing about and care even less. And notice how addressing the suffering in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Sudan and elsewhere is now much less important than the priorities of vario...

The Seeping Stench of Violence November 25th is White Ribbon Day. Each year this date signals the start of 16 days of international activism to combat violence against women and girls. Its profile has grown during recent years and many organisations are gaining White Ribbon accreditation. Politicians are more involved; the media are reporting White Ribbon events, and and people are increasingly standing together to campaign against the insidious rise of violence. But the scale of it is almost impossible to absorb. Look at this dreadful statistic. EVERY ELEVEN MINUTES, ACROSS THE WORLD, A WOMAN OR GIRL IS KILLED IN HER OWN HOME. Unfortunately, much of this month’s blog makes grim reading. But it is so important to keep remembering that women are not safe, and that violence and domestic abuse are a terrible stain on humanity. Attention must be paid. So, before the Christmas jollifications begin, and before waves of sentimentality obscure and distort the reality, please, please, pause for...