Free Speech and Corners

The Friesians and Jutlanders who gave my country its political structure believed that the state does not exist, and may not be allowed to exist, except as the expression of the communal will of its inhabitants. Hence 'Habeas Corpus', 'An Englishman's Home Is His Castle', and - eventually - Magna Carta. The North Sea coast peoples had an aversion to central government. They tolerated no leaders unless they needed them - in time of war, threat or famine. Their leaders were appointed temporarily, and knew it. Once the problem had been solved, they went back to their farms or boats, content with their honours.

Roll on rapidly through the ups and downs of English history, and you find a curious institution in Hyde Park: a zone in which anyone may say anything at all, standing on the proverbial soapbox and prepared to defend his or her case against all comers. 'Speakers' Corner' became a symbol of English-people's freedom of speech, quite out of proportion to what was said there and who said it. England had The Establishment, Press Barons, D-Notices and all the accoutrements of a centrally-organised communications clamp-down - particularly in times of war and civil unrest - but it had Speakers' Corner...

Více »

'In Europe' by Geert Mak

I know book recommendations belong on Amazon, but I'm more of a Vltava person.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Geert Mak is a Dutch journalist and author. I am ashamed to say that I knew nothing of his work until I picked up 'In Europe' on a bookstall in Brussels. I have now ordered all his work (from Amazon).

'In Europe' is an exploration of the extraordinary mosaic of European cultural diversity, written by a man who knows a remarkable amount about history and who has a keen eye for the small details which illuminate larger-scale truths. He also has a phonographic ear for the way people speak, and reports it all - the explanations of the great, the eye-witness accounts of activists caught up in history, and the colloquial narratives of ordinary people - vividly and clearly.

The book is written in the form of a series of journeys. It darts back and forth in time, but the result is not confusion but coherence. Mak has the breadth of vision to see how things might be connected across time and space. He knows a lot about the history of every country in Europe, every ethnic group, every community. He knows a lot about the rural roots of Europe, and is fascinated by the changes wrought by urbanisation.

More than anything, he strikes me as a man devoted to justice and fair dealing. Perhaps he is a typical Dutchman in this respect. He avoids making judgements in his account of his travels and conversations, but his point of view shines through everything he writes: he is on the side of the oppressed and the marginalised, he speaks for the 'underdog', and he is dismayed by the cruelty which defiles so much of Europe's 20th Century story.

I have made 'In Europe' sound rather serious. It is not; it is a joy to read... I cannot remember an author who was able to weave knowledge, observation, wit, good judgement and a moral point of view into such an entertaining and informative volume.

If you are intrigued by Europe... please read it!

An English Enthusiast

This is about a friend of mine. Christopher was born into a high-flying, English establishment family: his father was a distinguished university professor, his sister has made an eminent career for herself in publishing, one of his brothers is a highly-successful art dealer and the other has soared through the ranks of the City of London to become a rather well-known government advisor.

But Christopher doesn't quite fit this mould, and probably never did. He looks the part - to see him in the street, or on TV, you would think him an archetypal English gentleman; probably the squire of broad acres in the Shires, or perhaps a stalwart of the clubs of St James's. You could easily imagine Christopher leading his men into battle at Ypres, The Somme... Spion Kop, Waterloo, Blenheim... or even Agincourt.

Agincourt works, because one of Christopher's many passionate interests is archery. In the garden of his small farm in Kent is a workshop crammed with lathes and un-named machines for the manufacture of arrows. One wall is covered with racks containing arrows fletched with goose feathers, duck feathers, parchment and paper... Christopher can tell you exactly what their relative merits are, and will demonstrate in a nearby field at the slightest show of curiosity.

When my Czech wife and I got married 11 years ago, Christopher's present was a bow for each of us, made by hand to a pattern which was hallowed by time in 1400 and has not changed since. Not only are they beautiful objects, but they can send a one-metre arrow 200 metres, accurately and powerfully enough to split a wooden post in two.

Christopher is a fanatical believer in sustainability. He is 'Green' incarnate. But instead of just talking about it - which, by the way, he does at length, anywhere and everywhere - he has spent the last 20 years turning his farm in Kent into a medieval replica; no modern fertilisers have been used, and all traces of 20th Century additives have been tirelessly expunged; the fields have been, for 20 years, ploughed and seeded by hand, as if the internal combustion engine and the agro-chemical industry had never existed. The result is a mosaic of meadows and streams smothered in wild flowers and plants... a delight to the eye, and a tableau of what England probably looked like before the Industrial Revolution.

In Christopher's house you find evidence of other passions... dozens of Victorian and Edwardian leather boxes, all old and battered, all in use. There are binoculars, telescopes, compasses, walking sticks and ancient tools whose purpose is unguessable. His walls are covered with shelves bearing leather-bound tomes, all old and scruffy, all read at least once. You are likely to trip over a sleeping dog on your way from the drawing-room to the kitchen - there seem to be many of them. Or it might be a lamb; they appear in Spring in huge numbers, and appear to have carte blanche to go where they wish.

Christopher is also an accomplished psychotherapist, an expert maintainer of woodlands, a man who can tell you the best restaurant almost anywhere in the world - because he's been there, and tried them all; a hedonist to his fingertips, a contrarian thinker and an excellent artist. He is left-handed.

In his eccentricity, he might be thought typically English. Yet in the force of his interests he is far from the typical English model, and raises eyebrows because of it. He doesn't care; he is impelled by his lifelong devotion to his idealistic vision of the countryside, and whatever happens to catch his eye receives the same obsessive commitment - be it archery, battlefields, politics, music, books, ideas or people.

I hesitate to say that Christopher leads his life on a higher plane than most people in our native land, but I think he does. I am very glad to know him, and I hope he's not the only one of his kind.