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Dickens: Prestigious International Conference Coming To Aberdeen

Apr 112014

With thanks to David Innes.

Aberdeen has been selected to host the 2016 conference of the international Dickens Fellowship.

Held last year in France and scheduled for Chicago in July of this year, this annual five day celebration of the life and work of Charles Dickens will be held in Aberdeen in July 2016.

Dr Paul Schlicke, a leading Dickens scholar and retired senior lecturer in English at Aberdeen University, formally presented the bid from the Granite City at a meeting of the Council of the Fellowship in London.

Charles Dickens (1812-70) came to Aberdeen on two occasions, in 1858 and 1866, when he gave public readings in what were then the County Rooms (now the Music Hall), and in 1849 he declined an invitation to stand as rector of Marischal College.

The Dickens Fellowship, founded in 1902, is the biggest fan club of a dead author in the world and has branches all over the world. Aberdeen’s group, started up in 2012, the bicentenary of Dickens’s birth, and affiliated with the international organisation this past autumn. It is not only one of the newest branches but also the only one in all of Scotland.

In the early days of the Fellowship’s existence Edinburgh hosted a branch, but it folded some fifty years ago. The international Conference has been held in Scotland only twice before, in 1929 and 1994, both times in Edinburgh. The decision to come to Aberdeen is therefore a tribute to the dynamism of the Aberdeen Dickensians and recognition of the city’s commercial and cultural importance.

A civic reception will greet delegates, and the conference will be a showcase for all the attractions of Aberdeen and the North-east of Scotland generally. It will be an opportunity to show off the city’s museums and art gallery and to provide excursions to regional castles and distilleries, to the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre at Arbuthnott, and to Hospitalfield House, the arts centre in Arbroath, at which a cache of Dickens’s letters has recently been discovered.

The University of Aberdeen will have a central role to play, providing accommodation, dining, and lecture and seminar facilities. An exhibition is planned in the magnificent new Sir Duncan Rice library, which holds one of the richest collections of Dickens materials in the world .

Renowned Dickens actors Simon Callow and Miriam Margolyes hope to perform at Aberdeen’s conference. The broadcaster, Aberdeen’s own James Naughtie, has agreed to speak at the conference banquet.

For more information about the conference including enquires regarding sponsorship, participation and membership of the Aberdeen branch of the Dickens Fellowship, see the website https://sites.google.com/site/aberdeendickensfellowship/ or contact Dr Paul Schlicke at p.schlicke@abdn.ac.uk, or tel 07864945213 (moble) or 01467643337.

The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.

Alan Davie 1920 – 2014: Celebrating A Most Colourful Life

Articles, Featured, Information 1 Response »

Apr 112014

By Suzanne Kelly.

At age 93 Alan Davie passed away peacefully on 5 April 2014.

His unique talents bridged art, music poetry and jewellery making (among other gifts); improvisation and intuition always guiding his hand.
He leaves behind a body of work which is exuberant, mystical, engaging, and compelling.

He commanded genuine affection in his friends and associates, and admiration from peers including Pollock, Rothko and Hockney.

One of Scotland’s greatest artists, Davie’s work and life merit the phrase ‘vibrant and dynamic’ overworked as that phrase may be. For decades he veritably defied the ageing process by creating images filled with joy, magic and passion.

He lived to see Tate Britain announce a show of its own collection of Davie paintings, plus items, especially jewellery, lent by the artist. This will run from mid April through September this year. The Gimpel Fils gallery in London proudly showcased his work for an amazing 64 years.

Davie’s interests in fine art and musical improvisation informed his artworks, created with the enthusiasm of a colour-loving child and a daring genius. He was an early abstract expressionist, and his work has inspired many artists since.

While many around him shied away from colour, Davie was synonymous with what was bright, beautiful, bold and powerful.

He was born in 1920 in Grangemouth; he studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art for two years, and later taught at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts. He found artistic inspiration from the artwork of many cultures around the world; symbolism, intuition and improvisation mixed with his unrestrained love of colour and paint to create unforgettable work.

Gimpel Fils Gallery will have a show of his work at the end of this month. Aberdeen Voice spoke with Rene Gimpel, the great-grandson of the founder, Ernest Gimpel.

Ernest Gimpel opened his first gallery in Paris in 1883.

The gallery there ran until 1940 and after the war, reopened in 1946 in London.

Six years ago they-established a branch of the gallery in Paris.

Rene Gimpel had this to say of his friend Alan Davie:-

“Reflecting on his death made me realise I knew him when I was a child when my parents were working with him; I knew him longer than I knew some of my family members. With Peter Gimpel’s (Rene Gimpel’s uncle) death, Alan became in a sense the leading figure for us. We would visit him in his beautiful studio and home in Hertfordshire; he was the silent leader for us – not that he was aware of the position. We were guided by when his next show was, his next project, next interview; and we assisted. There will be a real void.

“He talked about Bach which he played every day. Piano, clarinet, cello – there were always lots of instruments lying around and lots of scores. It was different getting way from the city and one’s desk and getting out there. The highlight was the visits to the studio. Works on paper would be on the floor as well as the wall and decades’ thick oil paint covered the walls and easel. Until recently he painted every day because that’s what he did.

“If you have a vocation you go on doing it. He would wait for our comments; he could work on 15 paintings at any one time, and he worked quickly, but at a certain stage the painting would stop. Often a work would be put away for a while and then taken out, sometimes years later, to be worked on further, or it could be completed in a few days.

“He painted layer upon layer; he just painted on top of works – there will be masterpieces found by restorers and researchers underneath his paintings in the future. The thing about Alan when his wife Billie was alive, he would keep good records of his work; he would sometimes just hand work over to people, and he donated work to benefit auctions.”

Davie was no stranger to Aberdeen; he visited Peacock Visual Art and made a print with them.

Mark Hudson was the last interviewer to speak to Davie; he wrote:-

“His exuberant improvisatory canvases had a ruthlessness, as he painted out passages of paint other artists would have killed to have created, in pursuit of a visceral anti-perfection, a sense of mystery and ritual that made the efforts of his British peers look positively effete in comparison.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/10706381/The-artist-that-time-forgot.html

Hudson’s piece was called ‘The Artist that Time Forgot’. As is so often the case with the genuine genius who is ahead of their time, it is after they pass (and time passes) that their greatness becomes more fully appreciated. Davie’s work may not have received the acclaim it deeply deserved throughout much of his life, but there is no doubt that he and his work will be cherished by those who love art, now and far into the future.

We’ve lost someone very special in Alan Davie; but we still have his epic works and the example he set.

Samples of Alan Davie’s paintings such as Birth of Venus can be found on these links:

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/display/bp-spotlight-alan-davie
http://www.gimpelfils.com/pages/exhibitions/exhibition.php?exhid=43&subsec=1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/alan-davie-9645

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Deborah Bonham At The Green Hotel

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Apr 012014

Deborah Bonham’s new album Spirit is out, she and the band have taken to the road to promote it in the UK and Europe. Suzanne Kelly and Julie Thompson saw the show at the Green Hotel in Kinross. Photos by Julie Thompson.

There are reasons to see your favourite performers live.

For one thing you quickly separate the studio-invented acts that can’t perform live rather quickly from the dedicated artists who are musicians first. Of these, there are a small number of people who transcend their recorded music and come alive onstage.

Their lives shows are always refreshing and unique; they make every show feel new and every audience feel special. This is true of Deborah Bonham and the musicians in her band.

When I learned Deborah Bonham would be playing Kinross, I knew I had to be there. This was to be the third time I’d see her and the band. The first time I saw her was in Chichester, doing an intimate charity night for Willows and a local dogs’ charity. She shared the bill with Willows’ patron and Bad Company/Free/The Firm legend, Paul Rodgers.

Rodgers, his wife Cynthia, Deborah Bonham and her extended family, are ardent animal lovers, and the combined efforts of the performers and their families created an electric atmosphere. Paul Rodgers was brilliant, but I’d not expected the emotional rollercoaster ride Bonham gave us.

Even those who were familiar with her material, such as Lorraine Robertson and her husband from Aberdeenshire – were still struck by the emotional outpourings of Bonham’s performance. Her personal triumphs and trials inform her writing and vocals. When Bonham sang of lost loves and lost relatives, there might have been a few dry eyes in the house – but not many. The band was playing music in an industrial shed that deserved to be heard in the Albert Hall.

For my part I only had my meagre camera phone, which was not up to the task of capturing any of the performances that night; I knew I had to get Julie to photograph these people.

It would be one thing being on your best performance to impress Paul Rodgers when in a hall filled with music business professionals and your families; would she and the band be consistently on form elsewhere? Material such as ‘No Angel’ requires the strength of a Janis Joplin (Bonham evoked Joplin in the best possible way – I think she’s somehow she must be related to Plant and Joplin); how consistently well performed would or could it be?

Her ode to her family members who have passed on, The Old Hyde’ (about John Bonham’s beloved farm) got many audience members (including me) emotional that first night and at a later show in London even when I knew what was coming; how would this song translate to a fairly lengthy spell on the road? Exhausting to perform, emotionally draining and usually performed towards the end of a demanding set, this work sets a very high beam.

When I saw Lorraine at the Green Hotel, she explained that she goes to see Deborah perform as often as she can, and that the power and intensity are always there.

She clearly can’t get enough, and indeed even after seeing Bonham for many years now (first at a country fair on the same bill as Robert Plant); tonight’s show still got Lorraine choked up.

A black and white photograph of John Bonham at his kit with a triumphant arm stretched overhead looked out on the stage in the venue that night; when it was time for Deborah to do ‘The Old Hyde’ – it was almost too much for her (and the audience) to look at them side by side. Keeping it fresh? It was as if she’d never done the song live before in terms of emotional content.

The touring band are Bonham on vocals and acoustic guitar occasionally; her partner Peter Bullick on guitars and mandolin (his fills and solos are accomplished but fresh, and I particularly like his slide guitar); keyboard player (and long-lost friend of mine) Gerard Louis; on bass Ian Rowley and percussionist Rich Newman. Newman particularly came to the fore when called upon to repeat John Bonham’s percussion in ‘Rock and Roll’ – if anyone has the right to cover this track, then it’s this band.

After the emotional (if not spiritual) ups and downs of the two sets, it was a superb, energizing way to end. And so it was that everyone had more drinks in the comfortable Backstage Bar, and those who stayed at the hotel enjoyed a happy session which lasted a wee few hours.

What a great venue for music. (All sorts of offers appeared when I booked – discount champagne; discount beauty treatments; late checkout. They must have seen me coming).

As to the Green Hotel’s Backstage bar – well. It’s a paradise of memorabilia from every guitar-based act you can think of, and plenty you can’t.

There may be a spare inch of wall space not covered by guitars, posters or mouth-watering autographed memorabilia of some sort, but I didn’t’ find it.

Backstage is David Mundell’s labour of love, and the bill of artists who come here to play intimate shows is impressive, and growing more so by the day.

It’s a must see stop on any pilgrimage for lovers of guitar; an old Gibson of Jimmy Page’s peers out at you from behind the bar as you order your jack and coke. It’s a rock haven created by a devotee.
http://www.mundellmusic.com/gigs_green_hotel.php

The new album Spirit is here. My favourite tracks so far are the title track, ‘Take Me Down’ with its country music romantic flavour and ‘Fly’ which is nothing short of empowering for us women of a certain age; it speaks of freedom and escape. Whether the songs are going in a blues (No Angel), rock, or country-esque direction (Take Me Down), the sound of Bonham and the band is unique and memorable.

I’ll definitely be seeing more of Lorraine Robertson, because like her, I’ll want to see more of this band. Soon.
www.deborahbonham.com

*STOP PRESS* Deborah Bonham donated ten signed copies of her new album to Willows Animal Sanctuary, which is having its first open day on Friday 5 April. More info here http://www.willowsanimals.com/

Almost Blue: Promoting The New Country

Aberdeen City, Articles No Responses »

Mar 282014

Since August 2013, the local music scene has been enhanced as regular country gigs have been offered to city and NE music fans, David Innes reports. This is down to the energy and efforts of Martin Raitt and his Almost Blue Promotions.

Martin explains:
“In May last year I attended a My Darling Clementine gig in Alford and after the show singer Michael Weston King and I got talking. When I asked why touring country and Americana bands rarely seem to come to Aberdeen, he offered to play here if we could set up a gig for them.

“So after looking around for venues and quickly learning the rudiments of how to promote a show, we promoted our first gig in August 2013.

“Michael was as good as his word and it was a proud moment when My Darling Clementine played at Drummonds. The show went well even if the crowd was small, so I decided there and then to carry on and try to promote more shows.

“Since then we have had a further six gigs with more booked for the rest of 2014.

“I’d regularly travel to Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth to see shows, I felt frustrated that the artists I wanted to see rarely came to Aberdeen, so I started Almost Blue Promotions to try to change that and make Aberdeen a regular stopping point for touring artists. The city has a vibrant live music scene. There are regular jazz and blues nights, Rock bands are everywhere, and folk music is very well catered for, but I didn’t see enough country or Americana bands playing.

“Glasgow has its regular country music club and several festivals; Perth has its annual Southern Fried Festival of Americana and Inverness and the Highlands have regular acts playing.

“Defining country music to people who don’t listen to it, is difficult. People tend to think of cowboy hats and line dancing, and there are country music clubs who cater for that sort of music, but Americana, or alt.country is probably best defined as rock music which leans heavily on country for influences, but includes significant and strong elements of bluegrass, roots, folk, R&B, blues and soul.

“It’s a very wide genre, covering so many different styles, and it always seems to be pushing the boundaries, bringing new influences into recordings and live shows. As far as Almost Blue is concerned, we’ve promoted traditional country with My Darling Clementine, Drew Landry’s acoustics southern blues, The New Madrids’ delicious country rock and soul and The Coal Porters’ Bluegrass.”

So where has this love of country come from in a man who must have been growing up during Britpop’s heyday?

“I was brought up listening to the country music records my dad was always playing. One of the most memorable is Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue, still one of my favourites. It’s a collection of cover versions of country songs that Elvis and the Attractions recorded with Billy Sherrill in 1981. It inevitably led me to listen to Gram Parsons, Merle Haggard and George Jones, and it’s also where I took the agency’s name from. The album was showcased at the city’s country and western club in the Hotel Metro prior to release and the reissued CDs feature live tracks from that show.

“Around the same time Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett and others were coming to the fore with their brand of singer-songwriter and rock influenced New Country, so it was then OK for me to admit that I liked country music!

“I’d love Almost Blue Promotions to host regular shows featuring high quality Americana acts in Aberdeen and for artists to look at Aberdeen as a place they want to play in the same way they currently regard Glasgow. I really believe that there is an audience in Aberdeen for this and that people will show up to listen once word spreads about gigs and they can have confidence that the artists will be of the best quality.

“In the past few months I’ve built up a database of contacts. This includes the biggest and best UK agencies dealing with Americana, and we’re looking forward to bringing some really great acts to Aberdeen. It’s not just about American artists, there are some terrific Scottish and UK Americana acts that I am looking to bring here too. My Darling Clementine from England, The Dave Latto Band (Fife) and Perth’s New Madrids have already played terrific shows in Aberdeen.”

And what are Almost Blue’s plans and ambitions?

“Our current goal is to offer at least one show per month but it would be great to organise an Aberdeen Americana Music Festival in the future. If I could choose any artist to play at the festival, I’d have to include Steve Earle, John Prine, Emmylou Harris and Dwight Yoakam. If I could bring back Townes Van Zandt, George Jones, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Waylon Jennings…there are so many it’s impossible to choose.”

http://www.almostbluepromotions.com

Upcoming Almost Blue Promotions gigs (all at The Blue Lamp, Gallowgate at 8pm)

Wed 2 April Thad Beckman

Fri 4 April Dean Owens

Tues 29 April Madison Violet with support Danni Nicholls

Fri 6 June Sam Baker

Fri 18 July The Red Dirt Skinners

Reviews of Almost Blue gigs

https://aberdeenvoice.com/2013/11/drew-landry-blue-lamp-26-11-13-david-innes-reviews
http://flyinshoes.ning.com/profiles/blogs/live-review-the-new-madrids-the-blue-lamp-aberdeen-9-march-2014

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Children In Chains: Blue Lamp – Thurs 27 March

Aberdeen City, Articles No Responses »

Mar 252014

With thanks to Dave Black.

As part of Aberdeen’s Festival of Politics, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign Aberdeen are screening the film Children in Chains (40mins), followed by a Q&A with the director Jon Pullman, a political activist and film director from Edinburgh.
Children in Chains is his most recent project, and focuses on the abuse of Palestinian children in the Israeli Military Court System.

Many children stand up against the occupying soldiers of Israel combatting tanks and guns with mere stones but as the film explains, “for them the consequences of defiance can be kidnap, torture and imprisonment”.

SPSC asked him to explain a bit about the making of the film;

SPSC:Tell us something about your latest film project

JP: Children in Chains was inspired by a seminar which I attended and filmed back in 2011. Having been involved in the campaign for justice and human rights in Palestine for many years, I really thought I knew all there was to know about the suffering endured by ordinary people living under Israeli occupation. However, the main presentation at this event was given by a West Bank-based lawyer, Gerard Horton.

Gerard spoke powerfully and in some detail about the appalling treatment of young Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli military court system. It was a shocking revelation to most of us and I realised that I had to make the information more widely available through film.

SPSC: How did you make it?

JP: The core of the film is Gerard’s presentation. However, in order to avoid just a talking head, with the limited appeal that would have, I built up a selection of commentary and often harrowing real-life footage that would help bring the issue alive and hopefully engage a much wider potential audience.

SPSC: What challenges did you face?

JP: The difficulties are always in the edit. And deciding on a target audience. I wanted to produce a documentary that was short enough to be usable at meetings, classes and public events, but long enough to make an impact with the subject matter. I also wanted to give a bit of background historical context for those not necessarily familiar. This is a challenge in itself because how do you summarize a conflict so misrepresented and so disputed in just a few minutes.

SPSC: What was the most striking/surprising/shocking thing when you made the film?

JP: The sheer volume of incriminating material on the internet. Much of the footage I used in Children in Chains was filmed by Palestinian activists on the ground. These days, we rarely have to rely on third party witnesses to tell us what’s going on in the world; there is usually somebody there with some sort of lens. It is shocking to me that the cruelty and violence involved in the oppression of the Palestinian people is so visually documented and freely viewable and yet unacknowledged by the political powers that really matter.

SPSC: Why should people see this film?

JP: Israel-Palestine is a subject that most people glaze over at the mere mention of. This is largely due to how the conflict is portrayed – an intractable squabble over land. The reality is much darker and disturbing. The brutal and illegal abuse of Palestinian children is just another aspect of Israel’s project to destroy Palestinian identity, but, by nature of the subject, has a particular power to move people, and through that, transform awareness. This film aims to do that.

SPSC: Do you have any other Palestinian projects in the pipeline?

JP: I visited the West Bank twice in 2011 and brought back many hours of vibrant, life-affirming footage of ordinary life among Palestinians and remain determined to produce a film that documents this experience. I think it’s important to depict and celebrate the positive aspects.

‘Children in Chains’ and Q&A with Director Jon Pullman will be taking place on Thursday 27th March, 7.30pm, upstairs at the Blue Lamp. The event is free. All welcome.

Tony Benn – Twinkling Old Poisonous Irrelevance?

Articles, Opinion 2 Responses »

Mar 202014

The death of Tony Benn at age 88 has led to comments as diverse as “Maximum respect going out to my main man” – Ali G, and “that twinkling old poisonous irrelevance” – Adam Boulton. By Duncan Harley.

It’s a funny old world really. Just last week I attended the funeral service of Raymond Christie late resident of Newton Of Balquhain, Inverurie. Only a very few of us Scots will have heard of him.

Within the shire he was well known and well liked. As a farmer, publican and churchman he sparkled.

As a man he did what he considered supportive to family, friends and above all his community.

A good service, a good burial and although I did not go, a good few drinks in the Strathburn to celebrate a life well lived and well appreciated.

Ronnie Rocket was there as was George Skinner plus the new owners of the Black Bull. It was a poignant ceremony and worthy of the man.

Raymond’s sons and his daughter were on hand on the way in to welcome all to the service. My friend Joe was too frail to attend but sent his wishes via his wife Anne. All in all it was a good Doric send off.

Tony Benn also died last week. Another life well worth celebrating, a life truthfully spent in doing whatever mattered to the man. A life spent walking the walk and speaking the talk.

A man of principle who took politics out of the constricted corridors of power. A man who became an iconic figure of our age.
A man who perversely gave up politics in the belief that he could devote more time to politics.

The ever present voice of the right in the form of Adam Boulton had this to say in connection with Tony:

“Oh really, and who elected you? Tony Benn rounded on my colleague John Stapleton as he put a polite but pointed question to the tribune of the left at a Labour conference in the early 1980s. Labour conferences back then were a contact sport. I’d already been spat at, grabbed by the lapels and — this was a surprise — barged out of the way by the party leader and book-lover Michael Foot. Mid-period Benn was a man of that mood. Ready to champion any radical group that wanted to impose its will by protest and threat, from Arthur Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers to the Militant Tendency.

I interviewed Tony Benn many times in many moods — pithy, long-winded, charming, vicious and always entertaining and informative. But I don’t think anything he said to me ever mattered. The truth is that by 1983 Tony Benn’s work was done. The twinkling old gent mourned this week is an irrelevance except to the family he loved and those who loved him. Benn’s legacy to the nation should be judged from when he was a frontline politician in the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties.”

The Boulton piece was published in the Sunday Times under the title “that twinkling old poisonous irrelevance.” http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/comment/columns/adamboulton/article1387581.ece

Many folk of course wonder why Adam Boulton has written about Tony Benn with such great gusto. ‘Where is the respect nowadays?‘ say some and others point to Benn’s interview with Ali G where he came out of an interview with Ali G looking slightly shocked but victorious.

The sanctification of death often brings out the best rhetoric from those who are left. Often it comes from the standpoint of a relief that it was not them who died. After all, who wants to see death from the standpoint of one within.

Described as a “political nutter” by Andrew Marr, Mr Boulton was recently reported recently to have described Channel 4 news presenters as ‘Muppets’ who were ‘fighting over the autocue’

He may have a point or two about unprovoked rudeness.

As Tony Benn once said:

“If one meets a powerful person ask them five questions: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?” If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.”

Tony, bless his soul, tried hard to rid us of such foolishness as Trident and that Thatcher of whom we dare not speak.

I miss both Benn and Raymond Christie for what they stood for and of course for their honesty. Many wonder if we will miss Adam Boulton in quite the same way.

RIP Tony Benn, 3/4/1925 – 14/3/2014. A man of principle.

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Salmon Farm Escapes: Threat To Wildlife?

Articles, Environment 2 Responses »

Mar 182014

With thanks to John Robins, Animal Concern.

Following another mass escape of farmed salmon into the wild the Scottish Government has been asked to ban marine fin fish farms and move all production to on-shore enclosed pond and caged systems.

Such systems pump in seawater which is filtered and returned clean into the natural environment.

In on-shore salmon farming fish welfare is raised and maintained, sea lice problems are eliminated and escaped fish cannot enter the marine environment where they can introduce disease and genetic damage to wild salmon stocks. Land based salmon farmers have no excuse to shoot and kill seals.

John Robins of Animal Concern states;

“Increasingly windy and stormy winters greatly raise the risk of floating factory fish farms being breached and releasing vast numbers of genetically inferior and perhaps diseased fish into the wild. Escapees cause havoc within wild salmon stocks. The only way to protect the marine environment and protect the welfare of farmed salmon is to get this industry out of our seas and into controlled on-shore facilities.

“The Scottish Government must realise it is not actually in the fish farming business and recognise that it has a duty to properly control the industry and protect the marine environment from the many downsides of intensive salmon farming. If the Scottish Government refuses to do this perhaps the companies which insure salmon farms will.”

Below is a copy of our request to the Scottish Government.

Rt. Hon. Richard Lochhead MSP,

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment,

The Scottish Government,

EDINBURGH

Saturday, 08 March 2014

Dear Minister,

I write concerning the news that recent storms have caused the escape of 154,569 fish from a Meridian Salmon Group farm at Ness of Copister in Shetland. The company has also stated that they were unable to reach the farm for a period of two weeks because of the bad weather. Just over two years ago Meridian lost 300,000 salmon in a similar incident at another of its farms in Shetland.

These incidents highlight the very detrimental impact salmon farming inflicts on the marine ecosystem. They also raise serious questions about the welfare of salmon in floating factory fish farms.

Many of the salmon involved in this latest incident will have died from starvation, stress, physical trauma and entanglement in the mesh of the cage nets. Others will starve due to being unfit for life in the wild. Tens of thousands will however survive and compete with wild salmon for food.

The surviving escapees will migrate to rivers and may interbreed with wild salmon thus degrading the wild salmon gene pool. Many salmon farms rely on medication to control or suppress disease and there is a very real risk of escaped fish transferring disease to wild salmon.

As has been seen over the last few years we are experiencing new patterns of weather including, due to movements in the jet stream, far stronger, more prolonged and more frequent winter storms. Gusts of hurricane force winds are no longer a once in twenty year occurrence but are being recorded several times a year.

The only way to maintain the welfare of farmed salmon and protect the marine ecosystem from the damage caused by mass escapes of wild salmon is to move salmon farming onshore into self- contained pond and tank units. This was pioneered in Scotland by Otter Ferry Salmon in Argyll and I believe they currently have a very successful halibut farming operation on Gigha using these onshore techniques. On-shore farming also eliminates the sea lice problem encountered on marine fish farms, avoids the pollution of large areas of seabed and gives salmon farmers absolutely no excuse to shoot seals.

I urge the Scottish Government to protect our marine environment and maintain the welfare of farmed salmon by legislating to remove all fin fish farms from Scottish waters and encourage the industry to change to onshore tank based systems.

Yours sincerely,

John F. Robins,

For Animal Concern

PS. I find it unlikely that Meridian were the only salmon farmers to suffer loses in recent storms. Can you tell me what salmon farms have reported escapees since October 2013? Please give details including locations and number of fish lost. If necessary please regard this as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and/or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

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Marine Engagement Boost For Hebrides – Sea Change

Articles, Environment No Responses »

Mar 142014

With thanks to Richard Bunting.

Conservation charity Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) is celebrating today’s announcement that it has been awarded £120,000 through the UK Government’s Coastal Communities Fund – enabling it to launch an innovative project to strengthen people’s connections to the sea in 15 remote island communities across the Hebrides, including by creating sustainable eco-tourism employment opportunities.

HWDT’s ambitious Sea Change project will strengthen conservation of whales, dolphins and porpoises – collectively known as cetaceans – and develop the region’s appeal as a major destination for wildlife tourism.

Key to this will be engaging coastal communities in learning, training and volunteering – so that they can develop stronger links with and understanding of their marine environment, and invest in its sustainable use for the long-term benefit of local people.

“This Coastal Communities Fund award is fantastic news for our work with communities in the Hebrides. We want our Sea Change project to help local people make the most of their natural marine assets – benefitting the conservation of our world-class marine environment and bringing real economic and social benefits to the whole region,” said Eva Varga, HWDT Operations Manager.

“The project will set up a legacy, with the communities themselves taking ownership of it, and so ensuring its sustainability for years to come. We hope that increased tourism numbers will also strengthen the tourist-dependent businesses in each community.”

She added:

“In the communities involved, the success of our Community Sightings Network – through which people can report sightings of cetaceans, helping us to map their distribution off Scotland’s west coast – and of our educational visits have shown a real enthusiasm for Scotland’s remarkable and inspiring marine biodiversity.”

The scheme will support local people by developing skills and creating work opportunities through an extended Community Sightings Network.

It is planned that the Sea Change project will be carried out on Mull, Coll and Tiree, Islay and Jura, Colonsay, Barra, Small Isles (Eigg, Muck, Rum, Canna), Mallaig and Arisaig, and in two locations on Skye.Each of these communities attracts tourism and has seen an increase in wildlife tourism in recent years.

The importance of white-tailed eagles to the local economy of Mull and Skye is well-documented. HWDT believes developing sustainable marine wildlife eco-tourism could have similar or greater success.

The Sea Change project will directly create two new jobs, and potentially safeguard and indirectly create many more employment opportunities in the region.

The Coastal Communities Fund was created to direct regeneration investment to seaside towns and villages

HWDT will recruit a new full-time Sightings and Strandings Officer, to train volunteers, organise school visits and support 15 community-based hubs on the islands, which will then run the project from their own community. The new employee will also liaise with boat operators, local people and tourists on reporting marine animal sightings and strandings.

HWDT plans to work collaboratively with community enterprises, trusts, wildlife groups, businesses, schools and individuals, so that the project is tailored to each of the 15 communities and to encourage as many volunteers as possible to get involved.

Engagement with local communities and education work are key parts of HWDT’s pioneering work to secure the future of western Scotland’s cetaceans and basking sharks, as well as the Hebrides’ globally important marine environment.

A new Visitor Centre Manager at HWDT will ensure that the charity’s headquarters in Tobermory becomes the project base and a community resource for learning, training and volunteering.

HWDT also carries out scientific surveys, and is currently recruiting volunteers to take part in its 2014 expeditions onboard its research yacht Silurian, working alongside marine scientists. For details call 01688 302620 or visit www.hwdt.org.

The Coastal Communities Fund was created to direct regeneration investment to seaside towns and villages to help rebalance their local economies, reduce unemployment and create new work opportunities for young people from the local area.

Announcing the Coastal Community Fund winners today, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rt Hon Danny Alexander said:

“The Coastal Communities Fund is supporting some of the most fragile communities. It is a great way to make sure that people living around our coastline can share in the benefits of the increased returns for the Crown Estate’s marine activities.”

Over 50 projects across the UK have been awarded a share of £27.7 million through the Coastal Communities Fund. Details of the project winners are at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/global-content/programmes/uk-wide/coastal-communities.

What’s Satire Ever Done For Us? The Spitting Image Exhibition

Articles, Featured, Opinion 1 Response »

Mar 142014

For 12 years the establishment and celebrities were grist to the Spitting Image mill; nothing and no one was sacred. If you weren’t laughing, you were outraged. By Suzanne Kelly.

Issues of the day were brought to light, political sleaze was explained and mocked in spectacular fashion, and well, those of us with a sense of humour had a great laugh.
A new exhibition in London’s Cartoon Museum pulls together puppets, memorabilia, news reports and anecdotes. It is a small exhibition in a small museum.

However, while floor space may be limited, the depth and breadth of the collection and the Spitting Image exhibition is deeply impressive.

This is also one of the most important shows you’ll have the chance to see, if press freedoms (facing new threats) and political satire are to be understood, preserved and appreciated.

The Cartoon Museum has been flying the flag for the cartoon as art and entertainment since 2006, and features a great diversity of art going back centuries. There are simple cartoons such as ‘Popeye’ which were simply intended to amuse. There are biting political cartoons from the distant past, and social commentary cartoons spanning decades which, when collected and curated, form an extremely important historic record.

But this Spitting Image exhibition must be the most impressive and engaging of all the museum’s major exhibitions to date.

There is an impressive schedule of evening talks and events featuring those who worked on Spitting Image. Roger Law (a founder of SI with Peter Fluck – listen to them on Desert Island Discs here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mlw9 ) will deliver an illustrated talk on 19 March on ‘The Art of Theft’.

There is a Spitting Image Roundtable on 7th May with people behind the show, and a ‘Design your own puppet character’ session with puppet maker and puppeteer Scott Brooker.

“At 10pm on Sunday, 26 February 1984 British television witnessed the birth of a new phenomenon – a satirical puppet show which would push the boundaries of taste and decency, present the Royal Family, politicians and celebrities alike in surreal yet telling situations, and become one of the most talked-about programmes of the 1980s and 1990s. The country had never seen anything like it.” – CartoonMuseum

We may never see the like of Spitting Image again; it was the reactionary product of a heady mixture of Thatcherism, international issues, domestic political power struggles, the Reagan/Thatcher special relationship, and later on celebrities and sports. Apparently Peter Cook once remarked that the sports vignettes were his favourites.

Perhaps they were, but Spitting Image’s satire wasn’t so much biting as it was scorching. Many times it pushed the envelope just a bit further than people expected; many viewers for instance finding the Queen Mother puppet a bridge too far.

Margaret Thatcher in S&M gear likewise provoked a response.

Memorable puppets included a completely grey John Major, a schoolboy Tony Blair sporting an ‘I’m the Leader’ badge, The Queen, and a slobbering Roy Hatterslea will be in the public conscious for quite some time.

In the display was a never-used Osama Bin Laden puppet – it oozes menace.

Imagining what could have been made of this in a sketch is a powerful idea to grapple with; the puppet sits in its case waiting for an opportunity which never materialised.

The exhibition screens Spitting Image episodes, and on the day I visited, many people stopped to watch the segment depicting how Zola Budd came to be English rather than South African, and while doing nothing more spectacular in her Olympic race than tripping up American Mary Decker, Budd nevertheless managed to make a bit of money from her exploits.

Spitting Image was a platform of perfect political satire and the springboard for many of our most important talents – Ian Hislop, Nick Newman, Harry Enfield, Rory Bremner, Hugh Dennis, Kate Robbins and John O’Farrell are some of those who were involved.

The show evolved from the partnership of artists Roger Law and Peter Fluck who met in Cambridge as students. Cambridge and its Granta magazine must have been quite a crucible. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sprang from that Cambridge seam, and were responsible for an increase in political satire in the 1960s.

Cook’s ‘Establishment’ nightclub in Soho must have been incredible; Roger Law was also involved in that venture as an artist. Cook of course lent his support in many ways to Private Eye magazine, still the zenith of political satire in the UK today.

The exhibition was well attended when I was there; people of different ages and several tourists wound their way through the gallery. Watching the episodes being screened on a wall brought back the importance of the show; we visitors watched in silence except when laughter broke out which it frequently did.

The puppets are quite something to see; the fact they were collected together at all is something of an event. Many were auctioned off and the collection dispersed; one puppet disappeared only to surface years later at a boot sale – from where it was rescued.

The ephemera and historical notes gave insights from many different perspectives; it was safe to say the visitors read the information presented with relish. There are many anecdotes which I won’t spoil by sharing – do go visit the museum if you can.

It’s a gem of a show, and I only wish it could tour the country (with a stop in Aberdeen of course). Actually, I wish that we could have a new version of Spitting Image for today. However, there are many reasons whatever the next big thing in popular political sarcasm is, it won’t be Spitting Image. Gallery Director Anita O’Brien had a few minutes to speak; she explained:-

“Satire is one of the great art forms which Britain invented, which continues to thrive. The difficulty with Spitting Image now, though people would like to bring it back and feel it would be wonderful is that the political climate and landscape have changed, and people are not as politically involved. I think when it comes to people the nature of their political involvement has changed. The media has changed; you had four channels then; it is far more fragmented now.

“I think people do different things – there is an emphasis on CGI, and people’s expectations of media has changed – people expect a different look and feel (to the latex puppets of SI). I also have to say cost – I just don’t think the media would be able to bear it – it would be very labour intensive, and a huge number of people would have to come together.

“I think that might be the biggest stumbling block. Also they were all very involved and quite committed to what they were doing. They perhaps hoped they would bring down the government; it didn’t happen [we laugh]. This was the ‘80s; there was a very strong political engagement; very anti-Thatcherite.”

I suggest the fact that the programme existed had an impact on political engagement, and suggest that Spitting Image was the reason people even knew who cabinet ministers were. O’Brien commented:-

“I think a lot of people who maybe might not have read political columns at the time would have watched the programme… Peter Cook said he actually enjoyed the sports more than the politics; if he wanted politics he would have read a newspaper. We’re hoping that people will come who might not have seen it and can come and become more aware of it, and gain a view into satire.”

But what’s the point of political satire? Is it nothing more than childish, vulgar base humour with no hope of achieving anything?

Here’s an example then:-

“In the mid-1980s Gary Trudeau, writer and illustrator of the comic Doonesbury used satire to help put an end to a racially motivated law in Palm Beach, Florida. The law in question mandated that all workers or employees, including gardeners, retail clerks, janitors and taxi drivers, who were part of a racial minority were required to register with police and obtain and ID card within 48 hours of accepting a job.

“In 1985, upon discovering the continued existence of this Jim Crow legislation, Gary Trudeau illustrated a series of comics lambasting Florida’s government for its continued support of a racist law. By 1986, local politicians drew up the “Doonesbury Act” and repealed the outdated law.” – http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/satire.html

Sarcasm and political satire are sometimes the only weapons people have against powerful institutions and powerful people. We now have threats to our free press coming in light of the News of the World hacking scandal, wherein a sledgehammer is being used to crack all the nuts, good ones and bad ones, for the actions of a few corrupt, powerful people in the press, who were buying information from the police.

Compared to the laissez-faire approach and support the government gave to the banking sector in light of the vast scale of corruption it was and is riddled with, does the recent attacks on press freedoms really warrant any new law? Should those who are meant to be scrutinized by a free press have the right in a democracy – whatever that is – to limit the important checks and balances the press provides?

Let’s hope not. It is bad enough that the press is under fire as a whole institution for the actions of a few. Let’s make sure that political satire remains a protected, powerful and widely-used tool of dissent and change.

And with that, I buy a few posters. As I’m leaving, I’m thinking about Private Eye, Hislop, Ingrams, Granta, and ultimately Peter Cook.

Before I leave, I ask when we’ll see the like of Peter Cook again; ‘Indeed’ is O’ Brien’s answer.

Spitting Image – From Start to Finish runs until 8 June 2014

Cartoon Museum,
35 Little Russell Street,
London,
WC1A 2HH,
Tel: 0207 580 8155
www.cartoonmuseum.org

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Anthropomorphism And Murder Most Foul

Articles, Opinion No Responses »

Feb 142014

The killing of mammals is unacceptable to many people and the debate took a new turn last week with the shooting of Marius after a last supper of his favourite rye bread. By Duncan Harley.

Denmark is not getting a great press these days. First there was the furore over the so called “Denmark dolphin slaughter” which filled social media with images of blood soaked seas and led to huge numbers of appalled and disgusted folk commenting on the shocking images before passing them on to others who in their turn also passed them on, often without either further investigation or question.

This week there is widespread indignation about the treatment of a giraffe called Marius who was shot before being fed to the lions in a Copenhagen zoo.

The story was flashed round the world via social media before being picked up by the mainstream media. Note the time frame here, social media first, then mainstream media. Citizen journalism often now leads the pack. The Arab Spring and the killing of Drummer Rigby are prime examples of the new news media.

The ultimate victim however may be truth itself as unverified news stories circle the globe.

The Guardian’s headline “Some rye bread – then a bullet in the head” was one of the more restrained mainstream Marius pieces and pointed out that the dissection of the animal following his last meal was just one of a series of such events held at the zoo. Seemingly the zoo’s programme of public dissection has in the past included snakes, zebras and goats.

Zoo scientific director Bengt Holst defended accusations of animal cruelty by saying “It is important that we explain to people why we do it.” He continued “People are fascinated by it, it helps increase the knowledge about animals.”

Calls to resign and death threats followed the director’s no doubt well intentioned comments, leading some to wonder if sanity in zoo land could ever return.

The truth of the matter may be somewhat complex however.

In the case of the so called “Denmark dolphin slaughter”, the Danes may be being unfairly vilified since the killings take place some 814 miles from the Danish capital of Copenhagen and in an automonous self governing island community situated in the Norwegian Sea midway between the UK, Iceland and Norway.

Furthermore, some sources suggest that the ‘dolphins’ in question may not actually be dolphins at all but a species of long finned pilot whale.

The hunt is known as the grindadráp and is a centuries old tradition carried out in the Faroe Islands, an island nation overwhelmingly dependent on what the sea can provide. Designed to produce a sustainable and annual harvest, the grindadráp is indeed gruesome however islanders are quick to point out that the hunt is not done for any commercial gain, with the meat being solely distributed amongst the local community.

A Faroese islander living in Aberdeen commented that the old and the poor receive most of this harvest.

“The Faroese are a very close community” she said

“we take very good care to ensure that everyone gets a share”

“Nothing is wasted, what is not used immediately is frozen for the winter season.”

With a population of just over 21,000 people the Faroe islanders claim that they rely on the sea harvest to supplement a meagre land based agricultural system. With an estimated 0.1% of the global population of pilot whales being killed each year the hunt is considered to be sustainable according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The morality of the hunt can of course be questioned, however the claims by the Faroese regarding their commitment to community and sustainability looks reasonably sound. It is a gruesome activity of course and the “Cove” like images of a blood red sea cause offence to many.

How to get to the zoo

The islanders have claimed that they have strictly enforced laws designed to prevent unnecessary suffering during what they see as an annual harvest. The grindadráp seems to them acceptable, especially when contrasted with the daily slaughter of tens of thousands of cows, pigs, sheep and chickens in the rest of Europe.

As for Marius the giraffe, biologists routinely dissect frogs, rats, sharks, and cats in comparative anatomy classes to learn about animal anatomy.

Medical students are similarly trained and when you next visit a GP it may be useful to consider the fact that his or her care of your condition may depend entirely on a good understanding of the anatomy of the human body.

However, yet again, the morality can of course be questioned and the truth of the matter may be slightly different from the mainstream media portrayal.

The Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende wasted no time in pointing out the double standards implied in the criticism and even death threats made against the Copenhagen Zoo scientific director Bengt Holst. Pointing out that that the killing and consumption of millions of farm animals in the EEC each year went largely unchallenged amongst the meat eaters in Europe, the papers readers were quick to comment that:

“Cows, pigs and chickens live their lives in hell so that we can have cheap meat from the supermarket.”

Which roughly translated reads something like:

“Køer, grise og høns, som lever deres liv i Satans forgård i små bure og stalde med mavesår for at blive slagtet på samlebånd, så vi kan få billig kød fra supermarkedets containere.”

A Dane currently living in the UK commented that most consumers “think nothing of buying a dead chicken which has never seen light” and wonders why the press have focussed on children being able to watch the dissection.

“Surely it was their parents decision to bring them”, She said.

“We take animal welfare very seriously in Denmark and treat our farm animals very well. I don’t really see the difference between slaughtering cows and sheep for human consumption and slaughtering a giraffe for tiger consumption.”

To many, a zoo visit conjures up cosy childhood memories of cute monkeys and ever watchful meercats.

Perhaps though the reality of the local zoo being little more than a breeding establishment with an unromantic focus on scientific endeavour has come as a shock to many folk.

However, although zoo officials may not publicise the fact that the killing of animals is the price of conservation, animals including pygmy hippos, zebra and bison are regularly ‘put down’ as a consequence of breeding programmes. Poor Marius was but one victim of the human instinct to kill to protect a species.

It opens up a whole new debate really.

Perhaps we should thank the Danes for highlighting the issue.

STOP PRESS:

Jyllands Park Zoo has today (13th February 2013) announced that it too has a giraffe named Marius.

In an almost unprecedented PR disaster the Danish zoo announced:

““We can’t have two males and one female. Then there will be fights,” zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen told Danish news agency Ritzau. “If the breeding program coordinator decides that he should be put down, then that’s what we’ll do.””

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