Passing the hat round

Government intervention to prevent the collapse of Bradford and Bingley brings to an end the sorry tale of former building societies that so ill advisedly threw away their trusted mutual status. If only we could be sure that the corrosive impact on the real economy would end too. And if only it would also bring to an end the intemperate attitudes and worthless values that riddle so much of the financial sector today. Alas, short of sustained and creative public involvement - or intervention from much higher, celestial quarters, it will not.
We hear much - far too much - these days about the creation of value - usually for institutional owners and bonus besotted boards of directors. We don’t hear half enough about the destruction of values that is the core reason for the whole financial crisis in my view. This latest particular tale of woe is symptomatic of finance and banking as value free zones.
While many were surprised to learn of the extent of the unprincipled dangling of tantalising and falsely cheap mortgages in the United States to those who could not afford them, not dissimilar things were going on here. For example the practice of so called ‘self certification’ (cutting out precautionary checks cuts short run costs too) where people seeking a home of their own were offered the tempting chance to lie about their incomes was almost equally devilish.
In the United States the resulting financial ‘assets’ were mixed up with others in deliberately overcomplicated and obscure packages which, with rank duplicity, were hawked to lazy and incompetent bankers abroad who had no idea of their true nature and didn’t trouble themselves to find out on their way to collecting their latest bonuses.
How could our national leaders and supposed regulators have let this happen? And how could we as a nation have allowed our various leaders over recent decades to permit - indeed to encourage - the loss of ownership and the evisceration of the real economy that make us so dependent on these kinds of ‘services’? We have to rebuild our prosperity on more than money lending and the economics of the casino.
Here in England it was in 1986 that the government of Mrs Thatcher allowed building societies to cast caution to the winds, throw away their mutual status and cave in to the carpetbaggers looking for a quick killing. This invited and rewarded behaviour that utterly contradicted the principles of thrift on which so many ordinary people had been brought up. But one hopeful fact is, I believe, that a majority of people still hold fast to these good traditional values both here at home and in the United States. What is needed are secure opportunities for people to put their principles into practice.
To help encourage this is one of the reasons why I have been arguing for the re-establishment of the trusted and trustworthy Municipal Banks. I am convinced that there is a major role for the public as well as the voluntary sector in the realm of savings and loans. There is more on this in other articles posted in this blog. Public sector involvement should not in my view be confined to clearing up private sector messes, picking up liabilities and organising fire sales.
While those not currently responsible will assert that it could have been better done, the Government was right to intervene. However I do think that Building Societies should not have to bear part of the burden - the diminishment of this sector’s role through demutualisation has been part of the problem. I wish that there was a prospect of continuing public involvement in good times as well as bad.
One reason for my thinking here, apart from a belief in co-operation as well as competition, is that I also believe that it will take far longer to infuse values rather than value into the financial sector. And please don’t tell me you can’t change ‘human nature’, whatever you might mean by that. If you do take this view, get out more and speak to ordinary decent people who would never dream of acting like feckless financiers. It is their nature that is inspiringly human and whose example should be followed.
We also need to ensure that remaining Building Societies stay mutual and return fully to their traditional approaches. There have been more than a few signs of contagion of practices from the banking sector, particularly taking advantage of, instead of respecting the loyalty of their savers. There would be substantial obstacles to be overcome (many put there by governments) but it could be done - if the will was there.
Founded (separately as the Bradford Equitable Benefit and the Bingley Permanent societies) in 1851, merged in 1964 and steadily and prudently built up over 150 years, they were destroyed by recklessness in a decade. Bradford and Bingley’s advertising for many years created an air of solidity and trustworthiness in the days when the bowler hats associated with city gents were a symbol of respect. The flash Bradford & Bingley directors along with the similar ill-begotten brood at Northern Rock have severely damaged the wealth of many people and have wrecked the reputation of the North of England as a place where traditional values still hold sway. That is why in my view the country needs far fewer flyboys and many more Mannerings!
About five years before throwing away their respected status as a Building Society, the would-be big shots at Bradford & Bingley bought Stan Laurel’s bowler hat. Would that the joke was now on them, but there’s little chance that they will be out of the door with only cap, or rather bowler, in hand. Laughing all the way to some other commercial bank no doubt.

Recognising Tolkien

The great City of Birmingham is fortunate in having many important connections with JRR Tolkien, the world-renowned author of The Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin and much else besides including both academic work and some captivating children’s stories. At present however, the City does not make nearly enough of these deep and substantial links - especially in those parts of the City that helped to form the landscape of Middle-earth and the characteristic inhabitants of The Shire.
Tolkien’s family roots were in Birmingham and he himself felt very closely connected to the city. In fact he described himself as a Midlander. As he wrote in a letter, this is how he thought of Birmingham:
"My father’s and my mother’s family were Birmingham people. I was born far away but came home in 1895, and have remained a Birmingham man ever since. The West Midlands are the best part of England".
Tolkien lived as a child in what was then the hamlet of Sarehole at what was then number 5, Gracewell between 1896 and 1900 and at several other locations elsewhere in Birmingham until 1911. Looking back on this idyllic time in his later years, he described the four years that he lived at Sarehole as:
‘the longest seeming and most formative part of my life".
The house in which Tolkien lived with his mother and younger brother Hilary is still there (5 Gracewell is now number 264 Wake Green Road) which is now in Springfield Ward, close by Sarehole Mill just across the road in Hall Green Ward. Sarehole Mill, one of our listed buildings, is now a museum in The Shire Country Park.
Tolkien writes in one of his letters:
"As for knowing Sarehole Mill, it dominated my childhood." In another letter he writes, "…I... lived for my early years in ‘The Shire‘ in a pre-mechanical age."
His own description of his surroundings in Sarehole reveals the profound influence that the area had on him and on his concept of Middle-earth. He said that it was:
"…a kind of lost paradise…there was an old mill that really did grind corn with two millers, a great big pond with swans on it, a sandpit, a wonderful dell with flowers, a few old-fashioned village houses and, further away, a stream with another mill…I took the idea of the hobbits from the village people and children".
The Shire is based on the area around Sarehole Mill, The Dell and Moseley Bog (where Tolkien and his brother played as children) and The Dingles. We are very fortunate that a good deal of the original landscape in which Tolkien delighted still exists. This is why The Shire Country Park was established to conserve and interpret this unique and historic area. In addition to the links with Tolkien, there are Bronze Age burnt mounds in Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill was also once owned by famous industrialist Matthew Boulton.
In 1900 the Tolkien family moved to Moseley, then to Kings Heath, to be near the tram route for him to attend King Edward’s School, at that time in the City Centre. In 1902 they moved again to be near the Oratory Church in Edgbaston, an area which includes the ‘two towers’ of Perrott’s Folly and the Waterworks. The two towers are strikingly aligned to the eye when leaving the old St Philip’s School into Plough and Harrow Road. This is one reason why many people including myself (I went to St Philip’s Grammar School as did Tolkien for a while) are convinced that they contributed in Tolkien’s imagination to the Towers of Middle-earth. As our picture shows, you couldn’t miss them as you walked out of the school into Plough and Harrow Road - just as Tolkien himself would have done.
Hall Green’s annual weekend at Sarehole in May celebrating Tolkien and his works attracts over 10,000 visitors each year - many from far afield. The sustained popularity of the unique Middle-earth weekend is proof of the vitality of Tolkien’s legacy and how deeply it is embedded in the local community. Hall Green based Shire Productions gives unique dramatised extracts from The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. Our image by Shire Productions official photographer, Stuart Williams, ‘Forth Eorlingas’, is from an excerpt from Lord of The Rings performed in Moseley Bog.
A local author, RW (Bob) Blackham, a prominent member of the Birmingham Tolkien Group, has produced a richly-illustrated and authoritative volume ‘The Roots of Tolkien’s Middle-earth’ which sets out in fascinating and original detail the connections to Tolkien and the sources of Middle-earth inspiration in Birmingham. This work is highly recommended!
In the light of all of this, it is very clear that we should mark Tolkien’s connection with Birmingham much more strongly. The scant recognition of Tolkien in Birmingham consistently surprises overseas enquirers. So the Birmingham Tolkien Group (BTG) is working to establish a Tolkien Centre set in The Shire Country Park to commemorate the unique cultural legacy of our deep connection to Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings and The Shire in particular. I have developed PowerPoint presentations on the proposed Tolkien Centre and The Shire Country Park and have presented these to key individuals, local conservation, local history and community groups, all of whom gave the concept a very warm reception.
A Tolkien Centre would serve the whole of Birmingham from a primary location within The Shire Country Park - ideally with an associated facility in Edgbaston near to the two towers. The strategic vision is of a Tolkien Centre in the Country Park to make Birmingham the world leader in recognising Tolkien. And, very importantly, it would promote sustainable living and engage communities through a state of the art eco-friendly building.
The Park and the Centre together would secure the future of many locations that influenced Tolkien, and should be essential elements in the heritage and tourism strategies for Birmingham. They will greatly enhance the image of the City at home and abroad. The most appropriate location would be near to Sarehole Mill and Tolkien’s childhood home.
There would be many community aspirations for a Tolkien Centre. For example: developing links with schools, colleges and libraries particularly on ecology and the environment; promoting literacy and wider interest in literature; expanding interest in history, heritage and Tolkien; helping to conserve crafts using skilled workers, artists and sculptors; encouraging creative and recreational activities; promoting sustainability and a deeper respect for the environment; building capacity to sustain the Park through volunteering. Hall Green Library already works closely with local schools, and a Tolkien artwork project had very good results.
Broader reasons for a Tolkien Centre include the enhancement of the City’s image through a distinctive building marking Tolkien’s unique connections with Birmingham. A world class eco-friendly building would also be a base for enjoying and conserving the Cole Valley - a green thread of biodiversity in the City - and encouraging lifestyles to combat climate change. A Tolkien Centre would be a notable addition to the City’s distinctive buildings and would signal Birmingham’s commitment to sustainable regeneration.
But could there be a fly in the Ointment? The Environment Agency would (outside of the South East!) object to building in the ‘100 year flood plane’. The Agencies original estimates showed extensive areas flooded on both sides of Cole Bank Road. But a consultant’s report commissioned by BTG shows that the area north of the Mill (behind it, in the main field for the Middle-earth weekend) is much less flooded - a judgement that is confirmed by local observations. So a Tolkien Centre located to the North of Sarehole Mill is the realistic alternative. But there remain many issues to resolve, not least among them that you cannot please everybody!
An Anglo-Saxon style hall would be a central feature of the design, as would sustainability. The Centre would be carbon neutral. This would be achieved by many means: green roofing would be used to reduce water run-off, improve insulation, produce oxygen and harmonise roofs with the local environment; photovoltaic panels would generate electricity backed up by a combined heat and power boiler; a small wind turbine would supplement power generation; there would be extensive use of timber in construction as a renewable resource for sustainability and to fit the aesthetics of the Centre and the Park.
In addition, geothermal heat would be drawn into the building from the surrounding land; a wind driven ventilation system would draw in fresh air from outside and expel stale air; a Ritter grid system for the car park would stabilise the ground and allows grass to grow through; rainwater collection would be used for recycling to flush toilets and a (possible) reed bed sewage system to keep down the load on the City’s treatment plants will be evaluated.
The Centre would use a timber pellet fuelled boiler, which would be carbon neutral using pollarded timber, most of it grown in The Shire Country Park; insulation levels would be well in excess of the building regulations in order to minimise heating requirements; heavy masonry walls where appropriate would provide a heat sump by absorbing sunlight; rammed earth would also be used in construction as local conditions allow.
The result would be a building that would be a great cultural asset for the whole city which would: be ecologically cutting edge; promote all forms of sustainability; act as a focus for life-long learning; be a lasting attraction in its own right; have an inspiring aesthetic reflecting its ideals; provide an anchor for the City’s Tolkien attractions and form a base for regenerating the River Cole Valley.
So that in giving long overdue recognition to Tolkien in Birmingham, the Centre would also be a building of which the whole of the City could justly be proud.

Confidence in the Market?

Anxiously scanning the press for coverage of the latest financial crisis, I came across some rather revealing quotes. Here are just a few of them:
Market Trader Ivor Bonus said: "Private sector solutions are best except when you’re a bit short. Why shouldn’t we have a few quid from the public purse? Our clients pays their taxes - well some of them..." Senior minister Gordon Stabledore said: "I’m the one the country needs whether it knows it or not. No-one’s got more experience of crises than me..." A junior minister, a Mr A. Dearest, reportedly said: "Listen to me - someone - what I say makes a difference. Remember, I’m the one that put the ‘chance’ into Chancellor..."
Meanwhile, punchy and insightful leader-in-waiting Dave Nochainge said: "The Government’s a load of rubbish but we’ll take all they do in taxes..." Ambitious politician Chip Faright said "No, I meant cutting taxis - it’s a good way to cut government expenditure and it’s fair as well - pensioners on thirty quid can’t afford them anyway..." Highly moral central banker Rex Blankcheck said: "If I can hazard a guess, then no, we won’t be doing that - but call me tomorrow..."
Market analyst Archie Hindsite said: "If you’d called me yesterday I’d have told you this would happen..." Longstanding Municipal Bank advocate Will Mix said: "It’s a good echo in here..." A partner in leading brokerage Plunge and Surge said: "The market always knows best - just a minute - (aside) "SELL! - no, wait - BUY!" - now where were we..."
I ask you, is it any wonder?

Preserving Our Land

Keeping good the land in one form or another and holding on to it, in one way or another, have been clear objectives throughout history - at least until relatively recently. Our first photo may possibly have been taken with a very early camera at a seventh century Anglo Saxon village at West Stowe in Suffolk. On the other hand a more likely explanation is that the village is an excellent re-creation and the individual posing alongside the dwelling is an impostor! The threats that are faced, large and small, past, present and future, are not disconnected and I’d like to explore some of the linkages between them in this article.
Earlier in the year I was in contact with a local resident living in Brooklands Road, Hall Green, in connection with the commemoration of membership of the Women’s Land Army and Timber Corps, who carried out immensely valuable work for the country during the wartime years. Pictures of posters that had been reproduced in the press around the same time are evocative of the period and two of the images are presented here. It is hard to overstate the value of the work that these women so willingly undertook.
With this in mind, and following a discussion with members of the Hall Green Preservation Group about wartime events and places that suffered bombing in Hall Green, I recalled some time ago being given a photograph by a resident who still lives in Robin Hood Lane. While, by all appearances, it is not connected with Women’s Land Army activity, the unusual picture does show a harvest being gathered in Hall Green! The photograph is of the Moorlands in Sherwood Road, which was formerly the home of the late and much lamented Moor Green Football Club. The elderly resident and his family had a long and enjoyable connection with the club. His photograph shows the field producing what looks like a very good crop.
These days, for different but very strong environmental and local reasons, we need to ensure that we keep and look after all of the green land that we have left. And I do mean all of the green belt. There are plenty of genuinely brownfield sites (not including, as the government still insists in doing, peoples gardens in mature suburbs) large and small available, but of course they sometimes need a bit of money spent on remediation works. Who knows, with the ominous and painful trend in food prices, we may need some of it to be flexible in use - as once was the Moorlands!
This includes the small amount of official open space that we have in Hall Green (such as Marion Way Park), allotments (as in Scribers Lane and Baldwins Lane and nearby in Springfield as shown in the photograph) established gardens, green spaces enclosed between roads (such as the very large area between Cubley Road and Green Road that we are trying to save from developers), front gardens, central reservations and areas bordering the highway. Some of the latter have historic associations - for example the medieval hedges that are one of the oldest remaining features in our area. One of the hedges, in Webb Lane, is shown in the photo. Another historic location is the medieval ridge and furrow part of The Dingles.
One apparent threat to our land is the growing number of slab and tarmac front gardens. This practice seems to be gathering pace. It adds to run-off and flooding, and the loss of greenery is a minor contribution to climate change. Minor possibly, but potentially not minuscule. My rough guesstimate of the area occupied by front ‘gardens’ in Birmingham alone is between ten and twenty million square yards. And of course, the remorseless advance of tarmac and slabs is having an altogether adverse effect on the green and pleasant character of Hall Green.
And climate change (for which there is overwhelming evidence, some councillors’ views notwithstanding) threatens low-lying areas bordering both rivers and the sea. In my view it is greatly to be regretted that a decision appears to have been taken to stop defending previously reclaimed land in East Anglia and elsewhere from the sea. Could it be that this is yet another instance of money being set above all else to the status of an idol in our benighted times?
Back on the problem of the small-scale desertification of former front gardens, there have for some time been much less damaging ways to accommodate a vehicle within the curtilage of a property - such as having two paved strips in an attractive setting. Some imaginative designs are available and it is important that what is not paved is green rather than simply being porous. And it is not simply cars that are the concern. I spend a lot of time walking round Hall Green and elsewhere in the city (frequently with leaflets in hand!) and there are many front deserts that never see a vehicle. We face a ‘can’t be bothered’ problem as well as car-parking issue.
All the land that we still have that is green is worth protecting. Accordingly, Birmingham City Council is right to take all possible steps resist this wretched Government’s crass and repeated attempts to force through a massive round of new building (essentially to accommodate dysfunctional and self-centred modern lifestyles and population movements) despite the adverse impact on the green belt. In my opinion, we should be seeking to expand the green belt, reclaiming some areas wherever possible and adjusting our own ways of life, rather than the face of the landscape, accordingly.
So in these times it is land battles of a rather different kind that need to be fought. But persevere we must if we are to preserve all of these good and green areas of land. This would surely be a modern victory well worth digging for!

Chancel Repair Liability - a Cautionary Tale.

Rectorial land is land carrying an obligation to repair the chancel of a church. The chancel is the part of a church that contains the altar and is reserved for use by the clergy and choir. It is usually situated at the eastern end of the church and is usually separated by the communion rail.

Rectorial land is thought to exist in approximately 5,300 parishes throughout England and Wales.

Put simply, in medieval times the parishioners were responsible for the repair of the nave of the church (where the congregation sits) and the rector was responsible for repairs to the chancel. The rector was entitled to 10% of the farm produce of the parish (the tithe) as well as the income from any other land in the parish owned by the church. This bundle of rights was called,' the rectory' and carried with it the responsibility to repair the chancel. After the dissolution of the monasteries these rectories were sold off to lay people who were then known as 'Lay Rectors.'

As time passed, further rectorial land was created as tithes were converted into land and these rectories were eventually divided up and built on to create the urban and rural landscape of today. Parliament eventually abolished tithes, but it did nothing to abolish Chancel Repair Liability, mainly because it was never imposed unless the 'Lay Rector' was a public body such as an Oxford College.

Unfortunately, back in 1970, a gentleman bought land to farm that had a clause in the deeds noting an ancient lay rector liability. This had been queried in 1968 by the previous owner who had been assured by the legal advisors to the Diocese that it carried no weight in law. Upon death, the farm passed to the gentleman's daughter and son in law, who in 1990 were astounded to receive a demand for money to repair the chancel, this being the part of the church which, before the Reformation, had been the clergy's responsibility to keep in good repair. Despite strenuous attempts by the couple at resolving the issue by offering to donate money and land, all offers were rejected by the church.

From the church's point of view, an 'open cheque book' to be passed from generation to generation is a valuable asset, but from the couple's point of view, they had no alternative other than to fight the demands as even if they paid the initial amount demanded there was nothing to stop the church coming back, year after year, for more.

The legal costs incurred in taking the matter to the High Court were horrendous and resulted in the ruling that the couple were responsible for the chancel repair costs. The Appeal Court later over-ruled this decision stating that the law was unjust and contravened the couple's Human Rights. The Appeal Court declared that the couple should be released from the obligation.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) then appealed to the House of Lords, taking the case to legal heights that necessitated the couple remortgaging their home to pay off the lawyers. The House of Lords, whilst not condoning the ancient law and the implementation of it ruled that Parochial Church Councils are not Public Bodies and are therefore exempt from adhering to the Human Rights Act and Convention.

To decide the final repair bill amount, the case went back to the High Court where the unfortunate couple had to represent themselves as they had no money left to pay the legal fees. The judgement found them liable for a bill of repairs totalling £186,986, plus VAT and costs, bringing the total to approximately £250,000 in addition to the £200,000 they had spent over seventeen years in fighting the case.

In order to pay the bill the couple will have to sell the Warwickshire farm but while it has the chancel liability attached to it, it is unsaleable and effectively worthless. The PCC have compounded this by registering a caution at the Land Registry stating that the land cannot be sold, mortgaged or given away without the consent of the PCC.

To add insult to injury, if the couple suddenly found the quarter of a million pounds to pay the church, there is nothing to stop the Parochial Church Council continuing to demand more and more money, year after year ad infinitum.

And if that isn't bad enough, there is more...
The implications of this ruling are far reaching as it means that the Church of England can now hunt down thousands of property owners across five thousand English and Welsh parishes whose houses, gardens, schools, businesses etc have been built on the three and a half million acres of old church land, forcing them to pay unrestricted costs for building repairs to the local church.

It is important to note that the liability does NOT have to be mentioned in the property deeds for it to be valid. The owner can still be found by the PCC and the law enforced. Solicitors that DO manage to find out about the obligation during conveyancing are obliged to notify the Land Registry, thus blighting the property and rendering it impossible to sell, mortgage or remortgage.

If you own the land, whether it's a square foot or a hundred acres you are liable to foot the 'blank cheque book' bill as soon as you are tracked down by your local church via the PCC. There may be several households each owning a portion of the rectorial land but the church only has to find one person to pay the entire costs. There is no obligation on the church to divide the bill between owners. It is up to the unfortunate lay rector presented with the bill to seek out and extract money from his/her neighbours.

And as there are two sides to every coin...
A Bishop has made the following points:
The Church of England, in its parish churches, is responsible for maintaining 45% of the Grade 1 listed buildings in the country and the majority of all parish churches are Grade 2 or higher.
The parish churches are an essential part of the heritage and landscape of England as well as being centres of worship.
The Church has no central funds available to maintain the parish churches. There is no state funding for parish churches unlike continental countries where there is a church tax and whole communities maintain the churches. Parish churches rely on donations from the congregations and members of the community.
Applications for grants can be made to English Heritage but lay rectors have to be approached in respect of any repairs before English Heritage will even consider a grant. Furthermore, the statutory responsibility for maintaining parish churches falls on the PCCs who are under a duty to seek what funds are legally available to them.

And what can be done about it?
Bishops, whilst having no jurisdiction in law do have the power to recommend, as heads of their dioceses, that all their PCCs are encouraged to investigate the release of their lay rectors from the liability forthwith. Some have already done this.

If the liability was repealed it would also solve the problem regarding grant applications as with the abolition of lay rector liabilities. PCCs would then be able to seek funding for maintenance and restoration 'of an essential part of the heritage and landscape of England' through English Heritage.

If you are concerned about the implications of the Chancel Repair Liability for your family or for the rest of England and Wales, please write to the local bishop. A list of dioceses can be found on the web at: http://anglicansonline.org/uk-europe/england/dioceses/index.html

There is also an informative website at: http://www.chancel.org.uk/

This site features chancel searches, repairs and indemnity insurance as well as a discussion forum. Of course, if all else fails, you could write to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, London SE1 7JU!

My thanks to my Hall Green ward colleague, Councillor Jackie Hawthorn, for research on this piece.

Our Neurotic Economy

There has been much discussion by analysts of various varieties of the economic woes of the country. This doesn’t seem to have got us very far. So perhaps it’s time for a different sort of analysis.

A little time on the psychoanalyst’s chaise longue could be well spent to ease the money-grasping neurosis in banks and markets. The Treasury and the Government as a whole certainly could do with losing their bookish obsessions with so called ‘free’ trade, and there could be help also to avoid the anxiety-driven reactions by markets and governments that make long-term recovery less likely.

The psychoanalytic metaphor is revealing, as neurosis often springs from unstable relationships. There’s way too much talk of customers ‘switching’ their suppliers - or companies changing their countries. The cure involves loyalty, stability and confidence, which in turn call for consistency. For example, long-standing savers and fuel customers being treated fairly, investment consistency displacing dividend consistency and corporations being less self-obsessed and thinking beyond the impact of their actions merely on themselves.

Confidence involves lasting understandings, well-merited trust and appropriate self-revelation - in contrast to the unstable culture of deceit that is evident in marketing driven business and society today. Many neurotics also exhibit a high level of dependency. Business executives should be less driven by avarice, and depend less on big bonuses and pay rises way above inflation. We consumers are already seeing the need to depend less on the ‘must-have now’ mentality. The financial dependency cultivated by banks and related grasping moneylenders has taken its toll and they should ease themselves onto the analytical sofa.

Neurosis also involves anxiety. The fear of not meeting frequently ludicrous and arbitrary targets and the impulsive, short-term decisions that such anxiety breeds, needs to be reduced. Lack of self-restraint - greed in particular - is an infantile trait found in many neurotics and more than a few boardrooms. This must cease, and corporate stakeholders should mature to mutual confidence, moderation and patience in a culture of commonality that also includes their customers. Qualities such as fairness, trust, commitment and loyalty define a healthy frame of mind for individuals and for industry - and indeed for society itself. Bonds of a very different ilk, as it were.

There is a deep need for a new industrial psychology (as well as something resembling an effective industrial strategy) to curb the prodigal coarseness of the loadsamoney culture that has brought us to where we now are. The gains from what might be described as ‘quality capitalism’, against the alternative of meaner and socially barren variants, go well beyond an improved economy to rebuilt national morale, and the personal and mutual self respect and security that would make for a genuine and long-lasting feel-good factor.

Northern Lights

Places far to the north have always had a fascination for me. What is the most northerly town/permanent settlement? What is day to day life like there? What is it like to have 24 hour daylight? There’s much to be seen in the travelling too and a book or two by your side can also be a good idea. I’ll begin, however with something a bit nearer home - how far north can you get on the British mainland?

I can tell you from first hand experience, since I’ve set what must be a national record. Apart from the water’s edge itself the most northerly point is the top car park at Dunnet Head in Caithness.

My unlikely record is for the most northerly AA callout, when my car refused to start there. With the mist closing in we began to be a bit concerned, but amazingly the AA arrived in half an hour! Talking about closing in brings me to the desirability of double summer time. We waste an awful lot of light in the early mornings for several months. It’s well known that natural light lifts one’s mood and the extra hour would bring benefits both to safety and power consumption. And, also topically, sport would benefit from the extended evenings. We should do this by not setting clocks back one October and still putting them forward at the end of March. We’d driven across the north coast of Scotland over the Kyle of Tongue starting from Lochinver (nice hotel) in Sutherland and on another day venturing up to Cape Wrath (you have to go by bus over unmade roads across a military range). Great views from the 800-foot cliffs but no toilets. Ladies can usually prevail on the lighthouse but gentlemen must beware sudden changes of wind direction. Getting back to points to the north. I’ll start with one of the most interesting countries, with a unique landscape - the land of fire and ice, Iceland.

Lying just south of the Arctic Circle, Iceland is not all that far north - but it can feel like a different world even before you arrive. If you go by sea you’ll past the new volcanic island of Surtsey.

Surtsey is a protected reserve and is closely studied as nature colonises it from scratch. It's just south of the Westman Islands, themselves just south of Iceland proper. If you arrive by air at Keflavik, the half-hour drive to the capital, Reykjavik, takes you past roadside volcanoes no less.

Reykjavik looks and feels like a frontier town. With no natural stone there’s a lot of imaginative use of concrete and metal in the buildings. The cathedral is an attractive and impressive concrete structure - it is really shows what can be done with imagination. Such buildings don’t all have to look like Birmingham’s Central Library! Back at home, Hall Green has the concrete built Church of St Peter, which is certainly striking and has some marvellous stained glass http://www.stpetershallgreen.org.uk/


Just outside Reykjavik’s cathedral is a statue to the discoverer of America who, as we all know, was in all probability, Leif Erikson, who pushed further west from settlements in Greenland (called green by the Viks possibly to entice further settlers but that’s another tale) calling the settlement Vinland. Columbus stumbled across the West Indies centuries later. We usually stay at the conveniently located Hotel Reykjavik which has all the hot water you’ll need (you soon get used to the smell of sulphur, although it would take the edge off a cup of tea). Food can be expensive and a little unusual especially at breakfast. But if you really like bananas you’ll be fine. Later in the day try the salmon - natural and superb.

A good time to visit Iceland is late May when the nights are light and there is still snow on the hills opposite the capital. Reykjavik is surprisingly relaxing, with the geothermally heated baths, the cathedral, the Pearl, the site of the Reagan - Gorbachev summit, the base for the best day tour (the Golden Circle at one point in which you can stand astride the join of tectonic plates with one foot in Europe and one in North America) and on clear days a view of the atmospheric Snaefells ice covered volcano across the bay. This, as fans of Jules Verne will know, was the point of descent in Journey to the Centre of the Earth - the first book I read as a child and which I’ve never forgotten - no comments however on either of the Hollywood screen versions.


At the north of the island, that much nearer to the Arctic, is the interesting northern town of Akureyri at the head of a long fjord, with a pleasant micro climate and which is the base for the main northern tour. Continuing literary allusions, as readers who grew up with Herge’s Adventures of Tintin, Akureyri was a port of call and the Golden Oil incident in The Shooting Star in which one of the ships was The Aurora. Incidentally, once Herge had settled on what Tintin was all about (please ignore Tintin in the Congo and the first half of Tintin in America) there is an admirable moral tone to the stories which can be helpful to parents struggling to encourage some older fashioned values such as truthfulness, courage, friendship, duty, loyalty etc. I suggest for starters King Othakkar’s Sceptre, Tintin in Tibet and The Calculus Affair. Incidentally, the English translations are more entertaining than the original French.

My next, brief stopping off point on this lightning composite tour is the Faeroe Islands. If on the basis of our recent experience you think you know what a wet summer is like - forget it. If you really love rain, then the Faeroes are the place for you. That said, they have a great deal of interest and it’s a great approach by ship. The capital, Torshavn, at 62 degrees north, is a friendly little place worth wandering round - and good for taking shelter. When in places such as this, I always mooch round the vicinity getting into side streets looking at people’s houses and gardens etc to pick up a hint of the flavour of what local life is like. While it is true that villages, as in Iceland, can redefine ‘quiet’ you could see some traditional green roofs. The Faeroes have a growing movement for full independence from Denmark - but, of course, a little care is needed in discussion on such subjects.

Steaming across now to Norway, towns like Bergen and Alesund are attractive, historic well worth looking round. And if you’re a fan of the Faroes you’ll like the Bergen weather too. But if you have a sensitive disposition avoid the market in case you come across whalemeat stalls. Alas, the Norwegian position on whaling besmirches an otherwise admirable and strongly environmental nation. If you get to Alesund, you’ll see some Art Nouveau architecture and there’s a park near the rocky hill with what is to me at least a very interesting statue. This is of Rollo the Viking (855-931), who brought his people from Norway to the northwest of France and whose descendants would call themselves Dukes of the new Duchy of Normandy. If you look closely at the picture of the statue of Rollo and then at my picture, you may see why! However, the sculptor is likely to have had to rely on his imagination!


The Norwegian fjords are justly popular, almost a travelling cliche. But one thing in favour of cliches is that they’re often true. All I’ll say here is that you may have to be part of a crowd at Geiranger Fjord, but when you get there you see why everyone else is there too. But I want to continue on further north. Warmed by the North Atlantic current (while this stays with us) the climate is still relatively mild as you cross the Arctic Circle (the Norwegians self deprecatingly call this the banana Arctic). If you’re going north by sea, and if like me you’re new best friend on board on rough days is the toilet bowl, you’ll want to take the inside passage between the Lofoten Islands and the mainland. If your captain is sufficiently skilled or reckless you might also get taken into one of the bays in the Lofotens without scraping the sides of the ship on the way up to Tromso.


At almost 70 degrees north, Tromso is rightly described at the Paris of the North with two months of continuous summer daylight and a lively population of 64,000 many of whom boast of enjoying a dip in the sea. Tromso was one of the settings for Clare Francis’ gripping espionage thriller Wolf Winter. On by ship from Tromso one passes Hammerfest which lays claim to being the world’s most northerly town and merited a full chapter in Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson as the place where Bill spent a dark fortnight (more entertaining for the reader than the writer) waiting for a display of the Northern Lights.


Hammerfest’s claim to the most northerly title depends not only on latitude but also on what you mean by a ‘town’ because further north still is Honningsvarg, which certainly looks and feels like a town and is the place from which you get to the North Cape. At the cape you need a bit of luck with the weather (tends to be misty) and we were lucky enough to get a warm day on our visit - so warm that the reindeer sought out patches of snow on which to stand to keep cool. Unexpectedly, there are some interesting modern sculptures too on the cape (not dissimilar in feel to the modern fountain in Birmingham’s Centenary Square) and there is a great atmosphere around midnight with people up on the cape and ships below it calling to each other and revelling in the midnight sun.


Progressing further north still, and half way between the cape and Spitsbergen the old Amber Spyglass comes in handy on the approach to Bear Island in the western part of the Barents Sea. Incidentally, if you like this kind of brass refracting telescope you can get one from Covent Garden or Spitalfields antiques market at a very reasonable price. Bear Island has an interesting wartime history on a key convoy route. It’s now a nature reserve with just a meteorological station. Views from the south are spectacular. A copy of Alistair MacLean’s novel Bear Island evokes something of its important wartime history.


As the latitude approaches the upper 70s, we approach what Norway calls the Svalbard Archipelago, the main island of which is Spitsbergen, as close to the North Pole as to Norway and of course an important setting in Philip Pullman’s fantasy novel Northern Lights (retitled The Golden Compass for the US and filmed under that name).


The main settlement on Spitsbergen, Longyearbyen, has a surprisingly large population of around 1500. Instead of cars at the front of peoples homes there are snowmobiles. Despite warning signs or Mr Pullman’s novel you’re not that likely to encounter a bear, but there is a strong feeling of reaching the edge of things and the temperatures, much moderated by the north Atlantic current are quite mild. What it must be like living there throughout the months of darkness is hard to envisage, but it is intriguing in the summer. The two other usual ports of call are Barentsburg and Ny Alesund.


Barentsburg is one of the oddest places I’ve ever visited. It is a Ukrainian/Russian mining town with a population of around 800. When we were there, there was still a statue of Lenin and Soviet style artwork and concerts (at 78 degrees North!) are given for visitors. When I asked, rather cheekily what life was like there, the answer I got was ‘Better than the Ukraine’! But this of course was before the Orange Revolution (lets hope there’s not another chapter to come written by Mr Putin). While in theory you could go overland from Longyearbyen to Barentsburg you’d definitely need both amber spyglass and rifle (for the bears, not, hopefully, for the Russians). We reach the last port of call at Ny Alesund, which at 78.5 degrees North, is the most northerly settlement in the world other than purely research or military stations although in reality its function is mostly research. You can still see the tower from which Amundsen started his polar airship flight.


Beyond this, cruises used to advertise getting in sight of the polar icecap. I don’t know if they still claim this, but you’re unlikely to see any ice with the rapid retreat of the polar ice due to global warming. Another telling sign of the times is that Spitsbergen is now the base for a doomsday seed bank which will contain examples of as many plants as possible in case of ecological or other disaster. If you do get taken a bit further north, you may get the privilege of seeing a Walrus colony, though whether you’ll be lucky enough to glimpse the Northern Lights for yourself may depend on making a return trip later in the year to Longyearbyen (weekly flights from Tromso) or spending a fortnight back in Hammerfest!