ANDREW WHITEHEAD
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Enthusiasms
    • London Fictions >
      • Alexander Baron
      • A walk round Baron's manor
      • John Sommerfield >
        • John Sommerfield Archive
        • John Sommerfield's Spanish notebook
        • John Sommerfield, 'More Room for Us'
      • Lynne Reid Banks
      • "Against the Tyranny of Kings and Princes": radicalism in George Gissing's 'Workers in the Dawn'
      • 'Beyond Boundary Passage'
      • 'London' by Dorf Bonarjee
    • A Mission in Kashmir >
      • Full text: A Mission in Kashmir
      • 'The People's Militia: Communists and Kashmiri nationalism in the 1940s'
      • The Rise and Fall of New Kashmir
      • The Making of the 'New Kashmir' manifesto
      • 'For the Conversion of Kashmir'
      • 'I shall paint my nails with the blood of those that covet me'
      • Freda Bedi looking 'From a Woman's Window' on Kashmir
      • Kashmir 1947: Testimonies of a Contested History
      • Kashmir @ 70
      • Kashmir 47 Images
      • Kashmir 47 on film
      • Kashmir 47 in fiction
      • Father Shanks's Kashmir 'Diary'
      • Krishna Misri: 1947, a year of change
      • Shanti Ambardar: Kashmir 1947
    • The O'Brienites >
      • Martin Boon
      • Dan Chatterton
      • George E. Harris
      • John Radford and the Kansas colony
      • Edward Truelove
      • 'New World'
    • Clerkenwell >
      • Popular Politics and Social Structure in Clerkenwell >
        • The Residents of Clerkenwell
        • The Occupational Structure of Clerkenwell
        • Clerkenwell and Reform
        • Fenians, Reformers and the Clerkenwell "Outrage"
        • Clerkenwell: Socialism Finds a Niche
        • Clerkenwell: Not Forgetting the Anarchists
      • Red London: radicals and socialists in late-Victorian Clerkenwell
      • Patriotic Club
    • NW5 and Around
  • Voices
    • Partition Voices >
      • Partition Voices: L.K. Advani
      • Partition Voices: Ram Advani
      • Partition Voices: Qazi Ghulam Ajmiri
      • Partition Voices: Angela Aranha
      • Partition Voices: Helen Baldwin
      • Partition Voices: Bali family
      • Partition Voices: Edward Behr
      • Partition Voices: Benazir Bhutto
      • Partition Voices: H.K. Burki
      • Partition Voices: Sailen Chatterjee
      • Partition Voices: Pran Chopra
      • Partition Voices: K.S. + Ayesha Duggal
      • Partition Voices: Alys Faiz
      • Partition Voices: Jugal Chandra Ghosh
      • Partition Voices: Ashoka Gupta
      • Partition Voices: I.K. Gujral
      • Partition Voices: Syed Najmuddin Hashim
      • Partition Voices: Khorshed Italia
      • Partition Voices: Pran Nath Jalali
      • Partition Voices: D.N. Kaul
      • Partition Voices: Jolly Mohan Kaul
      • Partition Voices: Basant Kaur
      • Partition Voices: Betty Keyes
      • Partition Voices: Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan
      • Partition Voices: Usha Khanna
      • Partition Voices: Frank Leeson
      • Partition Voices: Abdul Ghani Lone
      • Partition Voices: Gopal 'Patha' Mukherjee
      • Partition Voices: Kuldip Nayar
      • Partition Voices: Amrita Pritam
      • Partition Voices: Francis Rath
      • Partition Voices: Annada Sankar Ray
      • Partition Voices: Bhisham Sahni
      • Partition Voices: Sat Paul Sahni
      • Partition Voices: Sir Ian Scott
      • Partition Voices: Sir Paul Scott
      • Partition Voices: Sheila Sengupta
      • Partition Voices: Mahmooda Ahmad Ali Shah + Sajida Zameer Ahmad
      • Partition Voices: Bapsi Sidhwa & Urvashi Butalia
      • Partition Voices: Air Marshal Arjan Singh
      • Partition Voices: Bir Bahadur Singh
      • Partition Voices: Karan Singh
      • Partition Voices: Khushwant Singh
      • Partition Voices: Shingara Singh
      • Partition Voices: H.S. Surjeet
      • Partition Voices: Ben and Marguerite Suter
      • Partition Voices: Leela Thompson
      • Partition Voices: K.B. Vaid
    • Kashmir Voices >
      • Kashmir Voices: Asiya Andrabi
      • Kashmir Voices: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
      • Kashmir Voices: George Fernandes
      • Kashmir Voices: General J.R. Mukherjee
      • Kashmir Voices: Abdullah Muntazir
      • Kashmir Voices: Ali Mohammad Sagar
      • Kashmir Voices: Syed Salahuddin
    • Communist Voices >
      • Communist Voices: Manmohan Adhikari
      • Communist Voices: Jyoti Basu
      • Communist Voices: Brian Bunting
      • Communist Voices: Guillermo Cabrera Infante
      • Communist Voices: Benoy Choudhury
      • Communist Voices: Anima Dasgupta
      • Communist Voices: Sailen Dasgupta
      • Communist Voices: Denis Goldberg
      • Communist Voices: Grootvlie miners
      • Communist Voices: Indrajit Gupta
      • Communist Voices: Chris Hani
      • Communist Voices: Lionel Martin
      • Communist Voices: Vishwanath Mathur
      • Communist Voices: Geeta Mukherjee
      • Communist Voices: E.M.S. Namboodiripad
      • Communist Voices: John Rettie
    • Political Voices >
      • Political Voices: Sally Alexander
      • Political Voices: Lou Appleton
      • Political Voices: Murray Bookchin
      • Political Voices: Fenner Brockway
      • Political Voices: Tony Cliff
      • Political Voices: Nellie Dick
      • Political Voices: Leah Feldman
      • Political Voices: Jeffrey Hamm
      • Political Voices: Denis Healey
      • Political Voices: Eric Hobsbawm
      • Political Voices: Ian Mikardo
      • Political Voices: Mick Mindel
      • Political Voices: Adrian Mitchell
      • Political Voices: Phil Piratin
      • Political Voices: Betty Reid
      • Political Voices: Fermin Rocker
      • Political Voices: Ralph Russell
      • Political Voices: John Saville
      • Political Voices: Alfred Sherman
      • Political Voices: Screaming Lord Sutch
      • Political Voices: Dorothy Thompson
      • Political Voices: E.P. Thompson
      • Political Voices: Tom Wilson
      • Political Voices: Harry Young
      • The Land Song
      • Harry Pollitt on disc
    • The British New Left >
      • New Left: T.J. Clark
      • New Left: Chuck Taylor
      • New Left: Headopoly
    • South Asia
    • Burma
  • Collecting
    • Political Pamphlets
    • Political Journals
    • Political Badges
    • Political Tokens
    • Political Ephemera
  • Radio Gems
    • 'What's Left of Communism?'
    • 'India: a people partitioned'
    • India's Minorities
    • Documentaries and Features
    • From Our Own Correspondent >
      • FOOC: Working at Westminster 1990
      • FOOC: Ulster's Talking Shop 1991
      • FOOC: House Rules at Westminster 1992
      • FOOC: India's Red Fort State
      • FOOC: Keeping Kosher in Cuba
      • FOOC: Italy's Gourmand Communists 1992
      • FOOC: Scoundrel Politicians - 1993
      • FOOC: Kashmir's New Puritans 1993
      • FOOC: The Rajah of Bihar 1993
      • FOOC: Bringing the Gospel to Mizoram 1993
      • FOOC: Netaji, India's Lost Leader 1994
      • FOOC: A Self-Respect Wedding 1994
      • FOOC: The Miseries of Manipur 1994
      • FOOC: Village Bangladesh 1994
      • FOOC: Calcutta's Communists Discover Capitalism 1995
      • FOOC: Localism in Ladakh 1995
      • FOOC: Bhutan, not quite Paradise
      • FOOC: Crime and Indian Politics 1995
      • FOOC: Sonia Gandhi 1995
      • FOOC: Sri Lanka's Missing Leaders 1995
      • FOOC: India Votes 1996
      • FOOC: Communism Revisited 1996
      • FOOC: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 1996
      • FOOC: Kerala's Jewish Community 1996
      • FOOC: India's Corruption Scandals 1996
      • FOOC: The Maldives Crowded Capital 1996
      • FOOC: India's Polluted Capital 1996
      • FOOC: Jinnah, Pakistan's Quaid 1997
      • FOOC: Mauritius, an Indian Ocean melting pot
      • FOOC: The Hijras Blessing 1998
      • FOOC: Massacre at Baramulla 2003
      • FOOC: An Old Photo from Kashmir 2007
      • FOOC: Prosperity Driven from Detroit 2008
      • FOOC: An Atheist in MLK's Atlanta2013
      • FOOC: San Francisco's City Lights 2014
      • FOOC: Kashmir Revisited 2014
      • FOOC: By Ferry in Burma 2014
      • FOOC: Toyah's Grave 2017
      • FOOC: The Tibetan Colony in Kashmir 2017
      • FOOC: Stars of Tamil Politics 2018
      • FOOC: Koreans in Chennai 2018
      • FOOC: Epitaph to Empire 2019
      • FOOC: Armenians in India 2019
      • FOOC: Lahore's Bradlaugh Hall 2020
    • What's your favourite political song?
    • London Snapshots
  • Writing
    • Bibliography
    • Tramping Artisans
    • Working Class Housing in Jericho, Oxford
    • New Statesman
    • The Freethinker
    • Outlook
    • Asian Age
    • Indian Express
    • miscellaneous writing
  • Gallery
  • Contact




​Andrew Whitehead's
Blog

The Clerkenwell "Outrage"

30/12/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
To St James's Clerkenwell this morning, an elegant late eighteenth century church - and inside the memorial to those killed in the Clerkenwell "Outrage" of 1867. Fenians, Irish Republicans, blew up the wall of the local prison in an unsuccessful attempt to spring two of their number, who should have been in the exercise yard at the time.

The authoritites had been forewarned. The Republican prisoners were confined to their cells - which probably saved their lives. The explosion was hugely too powerful, and brought down not just the prison walls but most of the row of houses opposite the jail, killing at least twelve people.

Some of the outside wall of the jail still stands - along with the chief warder's home, on a street corner and remarkable for having no windows overlooking the street.

Clerkenwell Green just yards away was in the Victorian era a venue for outdoor political meetings, including some held in the aftermath of the explosion by sympathisers with the Fenians - notably a local radical, James Finlen. That created a further public outrage, and Finlen became a figure of notoriety, and eventually was forced to leave London by the hounding of the popular press.



2 Comments

What's brewing in Tufnell Park?

29/12/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
Lawdy, lawdy! Costa comes to Tufnell Park. It opened on December 18th - and although it feels a touch antiseptic, the store seems to be doing good business.

When we came to this area (alright, it is fifteen years ago), TP was a bit of a wasteland. No mini-supermarket, no cashpoint, no decent coffee ... It did even then have some pluses: Lalibela, the Ethiopian restaurant, was already there; Rustique, the rather curious self-styled 'literary cafe' opened about that time; and the Spaghetti House has been around for ages, though it took us ages to discover it (and to try out the very good Chinese takeaway).

Now there's a small Sainsbury's, with cashpoint ... a Sardinian restaurant ... a homemade ice cream store ... a letterpress printers ... the Junction has become a rather good gastro pub ... there's a shop that gives away books (honest! - though it's generosity is constrained by its very limited opening hours) ... and as chocolate sprinkles on top of all that, there's now Costa.

So dear old TP, for so many years the backside of Kentish Town, which is in turn the backside of Camden Town, which is in turn ... TP, which doesn't even have a postcode to call its own ... TP is slowly, slowly, getting there.

Not that I've yet been in the Boston Arms which I've walked past several thousand times. But if anyone dares me, I'll do it!

3 Comments

'Vote like an Egyptian'

29/12/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
A really nice Christmas present - a trio of badges from Cairo, all supporting (or from groups supporting) the successful 'yes' side in the recent constitutional referendum. "An Islamist deluxe collection", in the words of an Egyptian friend.

The green badge displays the Muslim Brotherhood's emblem of two swords, and a short verse from the Qu'ran which translates as: "be prepared". On the top right is a badge of the Salafi 'Nour' party. And the one with President Morsi's image reads: "yes to the constitution".

Nice to know that the very American device of the political campaign button is flourishing in Muslim Brotherhood-run Egypt.

A big thank you to Brian for the badges, and to Shaimaa for the context and translation.
2 Comments

A taste of Kashmir ... in north Yorkshire

28/12/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
It is remarkable how Kashmir continues to have such a grip on the British imagination - even though hardly any Brits have visited the valley for the past twenty years or more.

Popping in at a North Yorkshire tea shop over Christmas, I came across a line of locally made chutneys and preserves - incuding this 'spiced but mild' Kashmir Chutney.

There is no obvious link to Kashmir beyond the hint of the exotic, oriental, enticing ... but how that word 'Kashmir' stills bears a sense of wonder!

3 Comments

The BBC's "Gluepot"

17/12/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
I'd never come across "The Gluepot" until I read Tony Murray's account of Anthony Cronin's comic novel The Life of Riley. And it turns out I work barely a hundred yards from the place.

It's the colloquial name for one of the BBC pubs which encircle (not strictly true - they are all on the Fitzrovia side) Broadcasting House. This particular one is 'The George', a decent old boozer on the junction of Great Portland Street and Mortimer Street. I can say this with some first hand knowledge as I popped in there this lunchtime for - a great rarity for me - a quick half.
Picture
In the lobby as you enter from the Mortimer Street side is an account of how The George got its BBC nickname. I've taken a photo, but it's not a model specimen so I'll also transcribe its account.

Picture
'This house is known in the area and especially to the older BBC people as "The Gluepot".

'It was christened thus by Henry Wood, the conductor, who used to rehearse his orchestras and give concerts in the Queen's Hall which was at the rear of this building, on the site where the St. George's Hotel now stands. During breaks in rehearsals and concerts, his musicians, being thirsty people, made their way to this house to slake their thirsts. Many times several of them drank too deeply rather than wisely and were late in returning to their musical duties, where they were severely reprimanded by The Maestro and accused of staying too long "in that bloody Gluepot".

'We dedicate this Gluepot to the memory of the great Sir Henry Wood.'

1 Comment

Waterlow Park

16/12/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Waterlow Park, captivating in the bright winter sun. What a lot of bright autumnal Sundays we have had this year. You can just make out the turquoise green of St Joseph's through the trees. The most wondrous sights are often close at hand!

0 Comments

'Foreign rule ... has made of him a rogue'

15/12/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
One of my more expensive buys from Oxfam (£4.99) - but then it is a curious period piece, with period photos to match. Rosita Forbes was a remarkable woman explorer and travel writer - there's a biographical note on the web with the appropriate title Appointments in the Sun.

This title was published by the Right Book Club - a counterblast to the hugely more successful Left Book Club - in 1939. Not always to approving reviews. A review tipped in to this copy concludes of Miss Forbes: 'It is a great mistake on her part (and in the very worst of taste) to write about the private lives of some of those in authority in these [princely] States. Never have we been in greater need of their support and understanding than to-day, and such remarks as Miss Forbes makes can do no good, but might well do irreparable harm.'

I bought the book because it has a chapter on Kashmir's royal family, where again the author writes 'in the very worst of taste'. She recycles some of the more vicious colonial era stereotypes and prejudices about Kashmiris. I apologise for any offence caused by repeating her words - but they are instructive of the attitude of the colonial elite as late as the 1930s:

'Throughout history the Kashmiri has been a victim. From his own character and the position of his country on the high road of invasion he was predestined to be conquered. Foreign rule, continuously changing, has made of him a rogue. His villainies are insignficiant and habitual. They do not detract from his charm. The Kashmiri proper will always run rather than fight. He has a genius for the misrepresentation of the smallest and least important fact. Lamentably untrustworthy and undoubtedly attractive, he invites oppression, and a succession of conquerors have made habitual his natural inclination towards slavery. A hopeless people, but with a ready wit and imagination that makes them the first of story-tellers, they love and live on rumour. ... They may not be courageous, noble or virile, they may not have the fighting qualities of the Rajput and the Dogra, but they are excellent cultivators, capable of developing their rich land, and their endless lies are often a form of courtesy, or a habit. Straight speech to so quick-witted a people is dull as cold boiled mutton. They offer prevarication as a spiced dish.'

Later in the chapter, Rosita Forbes returns to this theme, remarking: 'The Kashmiris have known too many grievances under a succession of conquerors to be happy without one.'

It is alarming to think that these ossified and ill-informed sentiments were once common currency among at least some of the English in imperial India and its princely states.


0 Comments

Badge Makers to the King

8/12/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
I spent yesterday evening at the Notting Hill headquarters of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain - and came away with this marvellous gift (thanks Vlod!), the association's badge still mounted in card, as supplied from the makers. And the makers were the very illustrious J.R. Gaunt & Son, medallists and badge makers to H.M. the King - which means that the badge must be more than sixty years old.

J.R. Gaunt seems to have specialised in making military badges and buttons - and is still in business, no longer off Regent Street, but in Birmingham.

The occasion yesterday was a public viewing of the work of a distinguished Ukrainian artist, Dmytro Dobrovolsky. And particularly, a display of his 'Cycling to Bush House' - a wonderful icon of what is now is starting to feel a distant era in the BBC's history. The BBC handed back the keys to Bush House on the last day of last month. Over!

Picture
Dmytro Dobrovolsky, 'Cycling to Bush House'
0 Comments

On Safari

2/12/2012

3 Comments

 
Picture
Nairobi National Park, more than 100 square miles of it, is only five miles from the city centre. It's quite possible to be there as the park opens at 6am, have a drive round and spot some memorable wildlife, and be back in the city for the start of the working day.

I didn't see any lions or rhinos, but got incredibly close to this elegant giraffe grazing by the trackside. We later spotted a small herd of giraffe, and larger groups of antelope and buck - probably four or five different species - as well as buffalo, ostrich and a rich mix of bird life, from vultures to delicate birds with long trailing tails.
Picture
The park landscape has an elegance to it, and sometimes on the skyline you can see high rise Nairobi not all that far away. Coffee table Africa and the new Africa in the same vista.

Picture
The only down side was the mud. There had been a lot of rain over the previous few days, and although the guidebook says almost all tracks in the park are accessible by ordinary car, that not so when it's muddy.

Our car got stuck in the mud. 'Everybody get out and push'-type stuck. Gloopy mud which sticks to you and weighs you down. So yes, I got to my first morning appointment on time - but I just hope they didn't notice my shoes.

3 Comments

The Corruption Reporting Office

1/12/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Just back from a 72-hour work trip to Nairobi - and spotted this sign within the grounds  of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. At least it's a statement of intent.

KBC is situated in a beautiful corner of the city - lots of space and trees - and just opposite is the Norfolk, the most colonial of Nairobi's top hotels, which trades off the 'White Mischief' reputation of Kee-nyah between the wars. I had a banana smoothie (well, it was too early for a GnT) on the Norfolk's "Lord Delamere Terrace" - which, as far as vices go, comes, I would contend, fairly low down the list (#48 gullible sentimentality for the least palatable aspects of colonialism).

Picture
What I liked most about Harry Thuku Road - home to the country's main university as well as the KBC and the Norfolk - was the storks. Commanding birds with a massive wingspan, who preside over the area from their perches on trees and rooftops. It was awe inspiring to see these magnificent birds right in the centre of one of Africa's busiest capitals. (The traffic was also awesome - I've never quite encountered such gridlock. The airport isn't far out of town, but it took two-and-a-half hours to drive there - and that was in mid-evening).

As the sun started to set, the storks would come to roost on the tree tops, offering a really sensational silhouette. These photos are taken on a iPhone, so not the highest quality, but you can get a sense I hope of why I took to the place.

Picture
I didn't see anything of the city apart from the centre - and a glance from a main road of Kibera, reputed to be Africa's biggest shanty town - but I liked what I saw: a confident, modern, friendly city which feels like it's going places.

This was my first visit to Nairobi, and I really want to go back and see more.


Picture
0 Comments

    Andrew Whitehead's blog

    Welcome - read - comment - throw stones - pick up threads - and tell me how to do this better!

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All
    1857
    648
    A.A. Gill
    Absolute Beginners
    Adrian Mitchell
    Afghanistan
    Africa
    Agra
    Aird Uig
    Ajanta
    Akbar Khan
    Alan Dein
    Alexander Baron
    Alexandra Park
    Algarve
    Alys Faiz
    Amit Chaudhuri
    Amwell
    Anarchism
    Anc
    Andy Roth
    Anna Bhushan
    Annie Besant
    Anthony Cronin
    Anthony Kirk-Greene
    April Fool
    Archives
    Archway
    Armenian Church
    Arnold Circus
    Arnold Wesker
    Arsenal
    Arthur Conan Doyle
    Arthur Morrison
    Arthur Whitehead
    Atlanta
    Attia Hosain
    Ayahs' Home
    Baden Powell
    Badges
    Bangalore
    Bangladesh
    Barbican
    Batley
    Battersea
    Battyeford
    Ben Chisnall
    Bernard Kops
    Bessie Braddock
    Bethnal Green
    Bill Fishman
    Bjp
    Blackberries
    Blackfriars
    Blackwall
    Bloodsucker Stanley
    Bloomsbury
    Blue Carbuncle
    Blustons
    Bob Dylan
    Boer PoWs
    Bombay
    Borowitz
    Boundary Passage
    Boundary Street Estate
    Brendan Behan
    Brick Lane
    Bridget Riley
    British Library
    Britishness
    Broadway Market
    Bronterre O'Brien
    Burgh Castle
    Burma
    Burston Strike School
    Bus
    Bush House
    Buzzard
    Cable Street
    Calcutta
    Caledonian Road
    Camden
    Canvassing
    Cape Coast
    Captain Wimbush
    Carmarthen
    Cashmere
    Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe
    Charles Bradlaugh
    Charles Darwin
    Charles Dickens
    Charles Pooter
    Charlie Gillett
    Charlotte Despard
    Chartists
    Chelsea
    Chennai
    China
    China In London
    Churchill
    Clapham
    Clapton
    Clerkenwell
    Clive Branson
    C.N. Annadurai
    Cnd
    Cochin
    'Cohen The Crooner'
    Colin Macinnes
    Colin Ward
    College Lane
    Common Wealth
    Communists
    Connaught Place
    Contemporary India
    Cormorant
    Covent Garden
    Covered Reservoir
    Crete
    Cricket
    Cricks Corner
    Cromer
    Cromer Street
    Crouch End
    Curious Kentish Town
    Cyril Satorsky
    Dalston
    Dan Chatterton
    Dante
    Dartmouth Park
    David Edgar
    Delaware
    Delhi
    Denis Healey
    Denmark Street
    Derby
    D.H. Lawrence
    Dina Wadia
    Docklands
    Dorothy 'Dorf' Bonarjee
    Dorset
    Dr Quraishi
    Earl Cameron
    Earl's Court
    Easby
    Easingwold
    East End
    Edinburgh
    Education
    Edward Truelove
    Ela Sen
    Election 2010
    Emerald Court
    Emmanuel Swedenborg
    English Civil War
    Ephemera
    E.P. Thompson
    Eric Hobsbawm
    Ewan Maccoll
    Fabians
    Facebook
    Fairport Convention
    Faith
    Faiz Ahmed Faiz
    Faroes
    Fergal Keane
    Fermin Rocker
    Fiction As History
    Finsbury
    Fitzrovia
    Fleet River
    Fortis Green
    Frank Bostock
    Frank Kitz
    Freda Bedi
    Fred Bakunin
    'Freedom'
    Fresh Garbage
    Fulham
    Gallan Head
    GE2015
    George E. Harris
    George 'Jonah' Jones
    George Orwell
    Ghana
    Ghost Signs
    Gibbons
    Gildersome
    Glasgow
    Godstow
    Golders Green
    Gordon Brown
    Gospel Oak
    Graham Greene
    Grand Union Canal
    Granta
    Grateful Dead
    Greenwich
    Ground Zero
    Guardian
    Guy Aldred
    Hackney
    Hadleigh Castle
    Haggerston
    Hammersmith
    Hampstead Heath
    Hangover Square
    Harry Pollitt
    Headopoly
    Henry George
    Herbert Read
    Herons
    H.H. Asquith
    H.H. Champion
    Highgate
    Highgate Camp
    Highgate Cemetery
    Hindi
    History Workshop
    H.M. Hyndman
    Holborn
    Holloway
    Holly Village
    Holywell Street
    Hoopoe
    'HOPE'
    Hornbeam
    Hornsey
    Houndsditch
    Huddersfield
    Huddersfield Town
    Iain Sinclair
    Ian Jack
    Ibex House
    Iceland
    Igor Clark
    ILP
    India
    India In London
    Indian Students
    Indira Gandhi
    Ireland
    Ironbridge
    Islington
    Jack Kerouac
    Jago
    Jean McCrindle
    Jeff Cloves
    Jericho
    Jethro Tull
    Jill Mcgivering
    Jinnah
    John Cornford
    John Pym
    John Rety
    John Simonds
    Joseph Grimaldi
    Jyoti Basu
    Kamala Markandaya
    Karachi
    Karaganda
    Karl Marx
    Kashmir
    Kensal Green
    Kensal Rise
    Kentish Town
    Khorshed Italia
    Kilburn
    King Dido
    King's Cross
    Knossos
    Kohima
    Kovalam
    Labour Party
    Lahore
    Land And Labour League
    Land Song
    Las Vegas
    Latin
    Laura Del-Rivo
    Laurence Hope
    Lavenham
    Lawrence Ferlinghetti
    Leeds
    Leeds Postcards
    Leicester
    Leonard Motler
    Leyton Orient
    Lgs
    Lib Dems
    Libya
    Limehouse
    Lincoln's Inn
    Liverpool
    Liz Rorison
    Lodhi Gardens
    Loft
    London Fields
    London Occasionals
    London View
    London Views
    Lost And Starving Dogs
    Louisiana Bayou
    Lowdham
    Lower Marsh
    Lucknow
    Madurai
    Mahatma Gandhi
    Major Cartwright
    Malden Road
    Malta
    Margaret Harkness
    Margaret Thatcher
    Margaret Whitehead
    Marie Stopes
    Marques & Co.
    Marrakesh
    Martand
    Martin Boon
    Martin Carthy
    Marylebone
    Mary Wollstonecraft
    Maurice Margarot
    Max Bacon
    May Morris
    Michael Foot
    Mildmay Club
    Mile End
    Mirza Waheed
    Monopoly
    Monteath Mausoleum
    Moravians
    Morley
    Mortimer Terrace
    Mosque
    Mumbai
    Muridke
    Muriel Walker
    Museum In Docklands
    Muswell Hill
    Myanmar
    Nairobi
    Narendra Modi
    National Secular Society
    Nedou
    Nehru
    New Left
    New River
    New York
    NHS
    Noida
    Novotel
    Old Delhi
    Olympics
    Oral History
    Orange Street
    Orkney
    Oxford
    Oz
    Paintballing
    Parakeets
    Parkland Walk
    Parsees
    Partition
    Pat Dooley
    Patrick Hamilton
    Peeli Wali
    Peggy Seeger
    Pendragon Castle
    Penny Black
    Peter Kropotkin
    Peterloo
    Philip Spratt
    Poetry
    Political Badges
    Political Pamphlets
    Political Song
    Pondicherry
    Primrose Hill
    Pubs
    Queen
    Queen's Crescent
    Queen's Park
    Quiz
    Radio
    Raj
    Rajiv Gandhi
    Ram Advani
    Ram Nahum
    Ramsay Macdonald
    Rangoon
    Raph Samuel
    Reading
    Red Beryl
    Red Herring
    Red Kite
    Reform League
    Regents Park
    Rena Stewart
    Rent Strike
    Rethymnon
    Reynold Eunson
    Rhubarb
    Richard Carlile
    Richard Thompson
    Richmond
    Riff Raff Poets
    Rinkoffs
    Ripping Yarns
    Robert Blatchford
    Robert Bradnock
    Robert Owen
    Robert Peel
    Roger Casement
    Rolling Stones
    Rosa Branson
    Rosie Hogarth
    Roy Amlot
    Rude Britannia
    Rudolf Rocker
    Sachin Pilot
    Saffron
    Saklatvala
    Sam Lesser
    Samye Ling
    Sanchita Islam
    San Francisco
    'Sapphire'
    Sarah Wise
    Sarmila Bose
    Sausages
    Scottish Borders
    Sekondi
    Sheikh Abdullah
    Shetland
    Shoreditch
    Shrew
    Sidis
    Sidney Street
    Simla
    Sir Francis Burdett
    Sir Frederick Sykes
    Slavery
    Smiley Sun
    Sobha Singh
    Socialist Worker
    South Africa
    Southall
    Spanish Civil War
    SPGB
    Spinalonga
    Spitalfields
    Srinagar
    Stairway To Heaven
    Stalin
    Stanley Hall
    Stanley Menezes
    St Barnabas
    Stepney
    Steptoe And Son
    Steve Winwood
    St Giles
    St Martin's
    Stoke Newington
    Stork
    St Pancras
    Stroud Green
    Strumpet
    Stuart Hall
    Subhas Bose
    Susie Crockett
    Tariq Ali
    Tate Britain
    Tazi Shahnawaz
    Thames
    Theosophy
    The Pamphleteer
    Thomas Bolas
    Thomas Paine
    Thomas Spence
    Tibetan Muslims
    Tichborne
    Tom Mann
    Tommy Jackson
    Tom Paine
    Torriano
    Tottenham
    Toyah Sofaer
    Trump Protest
    Tube Disaster
    Tufnell Park
    Turtles
    Twitter
    Tyburn
    Uher
    Ukraine
    Underground
    Unitarians
    Unity Theatre
    Upper Street
    Usw
    Vale Of Health
    Victoria Cross
    Vikings
    Vinyl
    Vizag
    Walter Batty
    Walter Crane
    Walthamstow
    Wankers
    Warren Street
    Wartime Propaganda
    War Writing
    Waterlow Park
    West Bengal
    Whidborne Street
    White Heat
    Whittington
    Whittington Park
    Willesden
    William John Pinks
    William Morris
    Woodberry Wetlands
    World Cup
    World Music
    World Service
    Wren
    York Rise
    Zadie Smith
    Zainul Abedin
    Zina Rohan
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Enthusiasms
    • London Fictions >
      • Alexander Baron
      • A walk round Baron's manor
      • John Sommerfield >
        • John Sommerfield Archive
        • John Sommerfield's Spanish notebook
        • John Sommerfield, 'More Room for Us'
      • Lynne Reid Banks
      • "Against the Tyranny of Kings and Princes": radicalism in George Gissing's 'Workers in the Dawn'
      • 'Beyond Boundary Passage'
      • 'London' by Dorf Bonarjee
    • A Mission in Kashmir >
      • Full text: A Mission in Kashmir
      • 'The People's Militia: Communists and Kashmiri nationalism in the 1940s'
      • The Rise and Fall of New Kashmir
      • The Making of the 'New Kashmir' manifesto
      • 'For the Conversion of Kashmir'
      • 'I shall paint my nails with the blood of those that covet me'
      • Freda Bedi looking 'From a Woman's Window' on Kashmir
      • Kashmir 1947: Testimonies of a Contested History
      • Kashmir @ 70
      • Kashmir 47 Images
      • Kashmir 47 on film
      • Kashmir 47 in fiction
      • Father Shanks's Kashmir 'Diary'
      • Krishna Misri: 1947, a year of change
      • Shanti Ambardar: Kashmir 1947
    • The O'Brienites >
      • Martin Boon
      • Dan Chatterton
      • George E. Harris
      • John Radford and the Kansas colony
      • Edward Truelove
      • 'New World'
    • Clerkenwell >
      • Popular Politics and Social Structure in Clerkenwell >
        • The Residents of Clerkenwell
        • The Occupational Structure of Clerkenwell
        • Clerkenwell and Reform
        • Fenians, Reformers and the Clerkenwell "Outrage"
        • Clerkenwell: Socialism Finds a Niche
        • Clerkenwell: Not Forgetting the Anarchists
      • Red London: radicals and socialists in late-Victorian Clerkenwell
      • Patriotic Club
    • NW5 and Around
  • Voices
    • Partition Voices >
      • Partition Voices: L.K. Advani
      • Partition Voices: Ram Advani
      • Partition Voices: Qazi Ghulam Ajmiri
      • Partition Voices: Angela Aranha
      • Partition Voices: Helen Baldwin
      • Partition Voices: Bali family
      • Partition Voices: Edward Behr
      • Partition Voices: Benazir Bhutto
      • Partition Voices: H.K. Burki
      • Partition Voices: Sailen Chatterjee
      • Partition Voices: Pran Chopra
      • Partition Voices: K.S. + Ayesha Duggal
      • Partition Voices: Alys Faiz
      • Partition Voices: Jugal Chandra Ghosh
      • Partition Voices: Ashoka Gupta
      • Partition Voices: I.K. Gujral
      • Partition Voices: Syed Najmuddin Hashim
      • Partition Voices: Khorshed Italia
      • Partition Voices: Pran Nath Jalali
      • Partition Voices: D.N. Kaul
      • Partition Voices: Jolly Mohan Kaul
      • Partition Voices: Basant Kaur
      • Partition Voices: Betty Keyes
      • Partition Voices: Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan
      • Partition Voices: Usha Khanna
      • Partition Voices: Frank Leeson
      • Partition Voices: Abdul Ghani Lone
      • Partition Voices: Gopal 'Patha' Mukherjee
      • Partition Voices: Kuldip Nayar
      • Partition Voices: Amrita Pritam
      • Partition Voices: Francis Rath
      • Partition Voices: Annada Sankar Ray
      • Partition Voices: Bhisham Sahni
      • Partition Voices: Sat Paul Sahni
      • Partition Voices: Sir Ian Scott
      • Partition Voices: Sir Paul Scott
      • Partition Voices: Sheila Sengupta
      • Partition Voices: Mahmooda Ahmad Ali Shah + Sajida Zameer Ahmad
      • Partition Voices: Bapsi Sidhwa & Urvashi Butalia
      • Partition Voices: Air Marshal Arjan Singh
      • Partition Voices: Bir Bahadur Singh
      • Partition Voices: Karan Singh
      • Partition Voices: Khushwant Singh
      • Partition Voices: Shingara Singh
      • Partition Voices: H.S. Surjeet
      • Partition Voices: Ben and Marguerite Suter
      • Partition Voices: Leela Thompson
      • Partition Voices: K.B. Vaid
    • Kashmir Voices >
      • Kashmir Voices: Asiya Andrabi
      • Kashmir Voices: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq
      • Kashmir Voices: George Fernandes
      • Kashmir Voices: General J.R. Mukherjee
      • Kashmir Voices: Abdullah Muntazir
      • Kashmir Voices: Ali Mohammad Sagar
      • Kashmir Voices: Syed Salahuddin
    • Communist Voices >
      • Communist Voices: Manmohan Adhikari
      • Communist Voices: Jyoti Basu
      • Communist Voices: Brian Bunting
      • Communist Voices: Guillermo Cabrera Infante
      • Communist Voices: Benoy Choudhury
      • Communist Voices: Anima Dasgupta
      • Communist Voices: Sailen Dasgupta
      • Communist Voices: Denis Goldberg
      • Communist Voices: Grootvlie miners
      • Communist Voices: Indrajit Gupta
      • Communist Voices: Chris Hani
      • Communist Voices: Lionel Martin
      • Communist Voices: Vishwanath Mathur
      • Communist Voices: Geeta Mukherjee
      • Communist Voices: E.M.S. Namboodiripad
      • Communist Voices: John Rettie
    • Political Voices >
      • Political Voices: Sally Alexander
      • Political Voices: Lou Appleton
      • Political Voices: Murray Bookchin
      • Political Voices: Fenner Brockway
      • Political Voices: Tony Cliff
      • Political Voices: Nellie Dick
      • Political Voices: Leah Feldman
      • Political Voices: Jeffrey Hamm
      • Political Voices: Denis Healey
      • Political Voices: Eric Hobsbawm
      • Political Voices: Ian Mikardo
      • Political Voices: Mick Mindel
      • Political Voices: Adrian Mitchell
      • Political Voices: Phil Piratin
      • Political Voices: Betty Reid
      • Political Voices: Fermin Rocker
      • Political Voices: Ralph Russell
      • Political Voices: John Saville
      • Political Voices: Alfred Sherman
      • Political Voices: Screaming Lord Sutch
      • Political Voices: Dorothy Thompson
      • Political Voices: E.P. Thompson
      • Political Voices: Tom Wilson
      • Political Voices: Harry Young
      • The Land Song
      • Harry Pollitt on disc
    • The British New Left >
      • New Left: T.J. Clark
      • New Left: Chuck Taylor
      • New Left: Headopoly
    • South Asia
    • Burma
  • Collecting
    • Political Pamphlets
    • Political Journals
    • Political Badges
    • Political Tokens
    • Political Ephemera
  • Radio Gems
    • 'What's Left of Communism?'
    • 'India: a people partitioned'
    • India's Minorities
    • Documentaries and Features
    • From Our Own Correspondent >
      • FOOC: Working at Westminster 1990
      • FOOC: Ulster's Talking Shop 1991
      • FOOC: House Rules at Westminster 1992
      • FOOC: India's Red Fort State
      • FOOC: Keeping Kosher in Cuba
      • FOOC: Italy's Gourmand Communists 1992
      • FOOC: Scoundrel Politicians - 1993
      • FOOC: Kashmir's New Puritans 1993
      • FOOC: The Rajah of Bihar 1993
      • FOOC: Bringing the Gospel to Mizoram 1993
      • FOOC: Netaji, India's Lost Leader 1994
      • FOOC: A Self-Respect Wedding 1994
      • FOOC: The Miseries of Manipur 1994
      • FOOC: Village Bangladesh 1994
      • FOOC: Calcutta's Communists Discover Capitalism 1995
      • FOOC: Localism in Ladakh 1995
      • FOOC: Bhutan, not quite Paradise
      • FOOC: Crime and Indian Politics 1995
      • FOOC: Sonia Gandhi 1995
      • FOOC: Sri Lanka's Missing Leaders 1995
      • FOOC: India Votes 1996
      • FOOC: Communism Revisited 1996
      • FOOC: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 1996
      • FOOC: Kerala's Jewish Community 1996
      • FOOC: India's Corruption Scandals 1996
      • FOOC: The Maldives Crowded Capital 1996
      • FOOC: India's Polluted Capital 1996
      • FOOC: Jinnah, Pakistan's Quaid 1997
      • FOOC: Mauritius, an Indian Ocean melting pot
      • FOOC: The Hijras Blessing 1998
      • FOOC: Massacre at Baramulla 2003
      • FOOC: An Old Photo from Kashmir 2007
      • FOOC: Prosperity Driven from Detroit 2008
      • FOOC: An Atheist in MLK's Atlanta2013
      • FOOC: San Francisco's City Lights 2014
      • FOOC: Kashmir Revisited 2014
      • FOOC: By Ferry in Burma 2014
      • FOOC: Toyah's Grave 2017
      • FOOC: The Tibetan Colony in Kashmir 2017
      • FOOC: Stars of Tamil Politics 2018
      • FOOC: Koreans in Chennai 2018
      • FOOC: Epitaph to Empire 2019
      • FOOC: Armenians in India 2019
      • FOOC: Lahore's Bradlaugh Hall 2020
    • What's your favourite political song?
    • London Snapshots
  • Writing
    • Bibliography
    • Tramping Artisans
    • Working Class Housing in Jericho, Oxford
    • New Statesman
    • The Freethinker
    • Outlook
    • Asian Age
    • Indian Express
    • miscellaneous writing
  • Gallery
  • Contact