Archives for October 2007
On the road again
Watch this space! More travel tales ahead. Coming up for November is LHR-ARN-LHR-NRT-HKG-ADL-SYD-SFO-DFW-SJU-MIA-LHR…
Which, as the plane flies, looks like this:
Look to the sky!
Being beasted around the park three times a week, I’ll often look up and ask ‘will this torture ever end?’. Then a plane passes over and my mind wanders to wondering where it’s from and how high it is. And then another comes over. And another. And another, in quick succession. That’s part of the reason that a slightly shortsighted coalition of interest groups is so keen to stop Heathrow’s expansion. (No, not that group, that’s rather different although the application of anti-terror laws is eyebrow-raising.)
I admit that I didn’t appreciate how significant the noise footprint can be until having dinner at a friend’s house a few months ago, right under the evening flightpath. What’s an occasional inconvenience in SW17 can be a persistent roar just a couple of kilometres away.
Interesting, therefore, to see that as part of its response to complaints BAA offers a website that displays the flightpath of aircraft above London on their way to Heathrow. It’s disturbingly busy up there – don’t forget this doesn’t show those approaching London City, Northolt, Battersea Heliport and other aircraft inside the London Terminal Control Area – but briefly rewarding to see where that roof-skimming 747 came from.
Joseph Burgess, 1854-1935
It was a great honour to attend the unveiling of a blue plaque in Failsworth, near Manchester, commemorating the birthplace of my great-great-grandfather Joseph Burgess. Saturday morning’s event was attended by many people including David Heyes, local MP, and the Mayor of Oldham.
I read this dedication on behalf of my great uncle, for whom he was named.
My grandfather, Joseph Burgess, spent his life, talents and energy promoting the wellbeing of the working class. His task was hard and ill paid, and took him and his family wherever by-election of conference demanded – from Glasgow to London. His spur was Truth not Fame. His gifts as a journalist could have earned him an easier life but he would not compromise to satisfy his employers – especially Beaverbrook.
I welcome the acknowledgement of this plaque to record the work of a true Christian Socialist and send my heartfelt thanks to the Failsworth Historical Society for this commemoration.
We should acknowledge and remember his spirit of activism and keep it alive; such engagement is all too rare in the early 21st century, with the hard-won victories of the past too readily forgotten or ignored.
Sincere thanks to the Failsworth Historical Society, who campaigned for the erection of the plaque, in particular Kevin McPhillips whose dissertation resurrected interest in Joe Burgess’s life and work.
