On the Edge of Town

Leader Thursday April 22, 2004 The Guardian

Appropriately, this week's announcement of the UK's first research centre of suburban studies coincides with a new government report on creating more sustainable cities. The new centre is welcome, as is its director's robust rejection of the suggestion that his discipline risks being branded with the "education-lite" label applied to media studies. Residential districts that now accommodate over half the country's population are ripe for study by town planners, sociologists and architects - as they have long been in America. The Kingston centre's remit is wider still. It also intends to look at the suburb in film, fiction and history. The roots of British prejudice against suburbia - a love that dare not speak its name, says the centre - will repay exploration.

But as John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, declared in the report examining the success of eight core English cities, a quiet urban revolution has also been taking place. The drift away from cities has been reversed. Proportionately, the drift began in the 1930s, followed by an actual drop in numbers in the 1960s. But new populations are being attracted back. Old industrial urban economies have gone, but new ones have sprung up. In Mr Prescott's words: "Our cities are back and the reasons are simple. They remain the centres for wealth creation, trade and exchange." It is not quite that simple because as the Kingston centre will note, the suburbs are no longer just dormitories, but generators of jobs too.

The government is right to celebrate the revival of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool. But big challenges remain, that ministers should not be allowed to duck. Beyond the big eight - the other four cities are Bristol, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield - there are a score of smaller industrial towns in the North where the prospects are far from bright. The government has still not got the north v south balance right, partly because it still does not have a coherent regional policy. The divide is getting wider. Then there is the growth of "doughnut cities" - flourishing city centres with a collar of decay them. Urban renaissance is far from won.

The "Original Planet of the Apes" & Police Treatment of Climate Change Protestors

The original film version of "Planet of the Apes" (not the prequels/sequels or re-makes !) had a profound impact on me as a child. In this film the hero, Charlton Heston, is one of a crew of astronauts who land on what we believe to be a far distant planet at some equally distant time in the future. Only the Heston character, Taylor, survives. At the end of the film we discover that the planet is, in fact, earth : an earth now run by ape men. I will call them "ape men" rather than "apes" because this is what they are. There are 3 species of "ape men", supposedly corresponding to chimpanzees (scientists), orang-utang (politicians) and gorillas (militia). The gorillas are frequently seen chasing humans (now a subordinate species) on horseback.

The image on the front page of the Financial Times today also had a profound impact on me, as a reminder not only of the original "Planet of the Apes", but of media images of the 1980s Miners Strike in Britain, when policemen on horseback pursued protestors. The FT image shows a mounted police officer in riot gear, followed by another, chasing, whilst shouting at, a climate change protestor who is running through the scrub land around Heathrow Airport. In short, this is an ugly scene, particularly so for someone who is an environmentalist, in fact a supporter of the climate change protestors, and a horsewoman. I seriously question whether mounted police should conduct themselves thus, or have we already fast-forwarded into the future ?

Animus, Anima, Animal ?

It is widely accepted amongst psychologists that people have a masculine and feminine dimension to their character, whatever their gender, albeit that sex (as in gender) will generally determine the predominance of the masculine in men, and the feminine in women. Carl Jung called the "masculine personality" of a woman her "animus", and the "feminine personality" of a man his "anima".

However, I often wonder whether people also have an "animal component" to their personality, or, indeed, an "animal personality". If so, then I can identify with those who, like myself, feel connected to their feline or equine selves.

THE FUTURE IS NOT what is used to be

DENIAL is a river in Middle England.

The Edge of Town is Back !

This blog is resuming as of 25 July 2007, technology permitting.

This Blog is Relocating

Due to Gremlins (of a technical or censorship nature, possibly both !) this and my other blogs (see below) are relocating for a time to www.witchofworcester.wordpress.com.

Carl Jung on Climate Change

Jung had what he regarded to be a number of prophetic and semi-prophetic dreams during the course of his life. In one of these, Europe experiences a flood of biblical proportions, and, in another, returns to the Ice Age. Perhaps these dream scenarios are not mutually exclusive in the implications for the real world. The consequences of climate change may be more multi-dimensional than we can imagine.

CHAVS : The Country House & Vacuous Set

The subject of "chavs" has come up elsewhere in my blogs, and I now want to look at this from a different perspective. I understand that the expression "chav" is widely regarded to be derived from "Council House and Violent". This may be so, but "chav" has come to describe more than this particular group (or class) of people. Indeed the Chav has definitely gone up market (whilst Burberry may have gone down) in my opinion, and, I would suggest, the real Chavs are now as much the "Country House and Vacuous Set" as the "Council House and Violent" type. Indeed, Kate Moss is, I believe, generally regarded to be the Queen of the Chavs. A woman, until recently at least, of few words, she is the incarnation of a certain aesthetic quality closely linked to the zeitgeist of recent years, beautiful, but ultimately rather empty, materialism.

The Edge of Town : "Dawn of the Dead"

I watch very little TV these days, but occasionally feel the need for a fix, and so it was last weekend. On Saturday, I caught the trailer for what appeared, at first sight, to be a programme about edge of town suburban (sub-urban !) housing development. As this is a subject which can really get me going, I felt an instant surge of adrenalin. Many places are threatened with such development just now, not least in the West Midlands, and Worcester in particular. However, the programme trailer turned out to be for a US horror film made in 2004, called "Dawn of the Dead".

Sure enough the action is set on "the edge of town", supposedly the US City of Milwaukee (?), and opens when the heroine, a nurse, is involved in the admission of patient with a "bite" that turns nasty : very nasty, indeed, as it happens. In fact, a bite like this and you're one of the "undead", or a human blood devouring zombie. Very soon there are very few survivors of this outbreak, and those there are take refuge in an edge of town shopping mall, which happens to be next to the local gun shop (more of a major ammunitions arsenal). This is just as well, for the only way for healthy sane folk to kill their zombie compatriots is to shoot them through the brains. Needless to say there is alot of this amongst the more general carnage.

The film, which I have to confess was actually rather gripping, is accompanied with a curious sound track which starts off with easy listening rock ballads, and descends into nihilistic grunge. By the end, the cinematography has also disappeared, to be replaced with home movie type footage which reminds you of "The Blair Witch Project", but even more fragmented. This is also rather effective. However, like many intoxicating things, the film leaves something of an aftertaste. Bit like a bad trip, I imagine, never having had a real one. In short, you want to make sure your doors are bolted, just in case the neighbours turn nasty during the night.

Darkness on the Edge of Town
by Bruce Springsteen

They're still racing out at the Trestles
But that blood it never burned in her veins
Now I hear she's got a house up on Fairview
And a style she's trying to maintain
Well if she wants to see me
You can tell her that I'm easily found
Tell her there's a spot out 'neath Abram's Bridge
And tell her, there's a darkness on the edge of town

Everybody's got a secret, Sonny
Something that they just can't face
Some folks spend their whole lives trying to keep it
They carry it with them every step that they take
Till some day they just cut it loose
Cut it loose or let it drag 'em down
Where no one asks any questions, or looks too long in your face
In the darkness on the edge of town

Some folks are born into a good life
Other folks get it anyway, anyhow
I lost my money and I lost my wife
Them things don't seem to matter much to me now
Tonight I'll be on that hill 'cause I can't stop
I'll be on that hill with everything I got
Lives on the line where dreams are found and lost
I'll be there on time and I'll pay the cost
For wanting things that can only be found
In the darkness on the edge of town

The Marriage of Gordon and Jade

"Mr and Mrs Gordon and Jade Goody-Brown" has such a nice ring to it that I'm tempted to explore the possibility of this union, especially as the Union of Scotland and England is open to question just now.

First of all, however, my apologies to Sarah, but second marriages (and indeed subsequent ones), particularly to younger women, are all the thing just now. I'm sure you'll get a good settlement. Jade, after all, has alot of money herself.

Indeed, this is one reason I think she would make Gordon a good wife. After a crash course in political correctness (something Gordon and his Gang are so good at), Jade could make a start on Labour Party fund raising : plenty of good work for her to do there.

In my crystal ball, I see a splendid party at Beckingham Palace. The entry of the new Prime Minister and his Wife - Mr and Mrs Gordon and Jade Goody-Brown - is announced with a fanfare of music (1997 and all that again !)

....A new soap for Channel 4 perhaps ?

"In Yer Face" Vs "Two-Faced"

I find myself in the unlikely position today of wanting to say something in defence of Jade Goody. Clearly alot of people have found her behaviour offensive and, by all accounts - as I do not watch Big Brother - rightly so. However, various sensible people from the Asian and white communities have pointed out that the reaction has been far out of proportion to the offence, particularly with regard to the involvement of British politicians. Jade may be "in yer face", but the likes of New Labour Ministers are "two-faced", wanting, on the one hand, the "street cred" associated with popular culture (however unpopular with some people), and, on the other, the "moral authority" associated with condemning it when things go wrong.

Gordon Brown, Big Brother & The Wicker Man

I felt that Gordon Brown's reference to Jade Goody and Big Brother at the Fabian Society conference last weekend was inauspicious, and so it has turned out. In my E-Pantomime , "Carry On Communities" (for full version see my blogs), the former Chancellor is expelled to to a remote Scottish Island. I now want to take this story a little further....

When Mr Brown arrived at the island, he found that the film director Ken Russell was remaking "The Wicker Man", and looking for someone to play the policeman who visits the island to investigate a mysterious disappearance. The rest of the cast seemed to consist of former members of Celebrity Big Brother, including Jade Goody.

Mr Brown was delighted to have the opportunity of starring in a major film production. "A new and unexpected career opportunity", he thought, "from which I might one day relaunch a career in politics". However, not being much of film buff he was unaware of the ultimate fate of the policeman.

Also unknown to him was that the Wicked Blair Wizard was once again on the scene, this time in the guise of "The Wicker Man" island Laird (played by the Prince of Darkess himself, Christopher Lee, in the first version of the film). Finally, and perhaps sadly for Mr Brown - or perhaps not - Jade Goody was to play the role of his seductress.

What We Forget to Remember

Former Tory MP and Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo has been involved in a number of rather good radio and television programmes since losing both parliamentary seat and the prospect of becoming leader of the Conservative Party. One of these programme series, "What we forgot to remember", was on broadcast on Radio 4 towards the end of last year. The principle message of the series was that the collective memory of historical periods is somewhat selective, and it is often the case that what goes unremembered can be as important, if not more so, than certain well-reported and remembered happenings.

It seems to me that the United States, notwithstanding the apparent sophistication of its media, has been as vulnerable as the rest of the world to the problem of selective collective memory, even where the events in question are happening in the present.

Yesterday, one of the tele-evangelists which seem to thrive in the US, informed media audiences across the globe - I heard him on Radio 4's PM Programme - that an urban area of the United States (I think a major city was mentioned, but no particular one) would be the victim of some hostile action, possibly leading to the deaths of millions of people. God, according to this right-wing man of religion, had informed him of a forthcoming disaster. Apparently, this kind of prophesy has come up regularly during the the Presidency of George Bush, and, it is said, tend not to be taken seriously now.

However, many major urban areas in the United States are suffering from problems - environmental, social and economic - which are certainly not fully reported in this country, and probably not over there either. "Unsustainable" might well sum up these problems, but it is only when disaster actually strikes, as in the case of New Orleans last year, that the problems are fully reported in the US and international media. Yet the likelihood of catastrophic flooding in New Oreleans has been on the cards for many years : I, for one, remember covering the subject in an "A Level" geography lesson in the late 1970s.

The US just collectively forgot to remember it, and even now, we forget about New Orleans as the urbanisation of areas vulnerable to flooding continues in the United States, in this country, and, most of all, in the rapidly developing countries of Asia.

The question is, do films like former US Democratic Vice-President Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", about the effects of global warming, and actor-film-maker Spike Lee's "Requiem" for New Orleans make any real difference, not only to the political and collective consciousness but to public planning programmes ? I hope so, for as Spike Lee recently said : "Volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods. It’s not just New Orleans, we should be scared because if FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency".... — you saw what they did. Pray to God you don’t have to depend on FEMA. This stuff affects all Americans". Amen !