Even the snow can’t keep down construction dust and political rumor
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NOW IS THE WINTER of our discontent inevitably passed into flowering shrubs and variegated greenery. It was the snowiest winter in recorded history here in Leesburg, Virginia, at Weider History Group, and was the stormiest, coldest winter in decades for Britain as well. We were both glad of the warming sun when it finally arrived.
The United Kingdom’s famous winter of political discontent was 1979, which saw Margaret Thatcher sweep into Government with a Tory majority that launched a revamp in Britain’s economy and wholesale changes to their “way of doing business.” It wasn’t without controversy. If the picture of social unrest in Britain has hardly been the same in 2009, the mood of the country has been decidedly testy. A new decade does offer a fresh Government the opportunity and perils of once again providing a sea change in British society.
Those of us with memories seasoned enough to recall the early years of the Iron Lady’s Government know that any premier league changes in a country’s way of doing business are bound to provide discomfort and unrest. For Maggie, the challenge was to wean Britain’s heavy industry off the public subsidies that swamped the treasury and crippled the prospects of long-term economic growth. Through the 80s, she battled the unions, privatized previously nationalized industries, opened up public housing to personal ownership and stopped underwriting British coal mining. The Tories haven’t gotten many votes in South Wales ever since. Even her political adversaries, though grudgingly, admit decades on that she likely saved Britain from becoming an also-ran as a European economic power.
Of course, what saved the Thatcher political bacon was the Falklands War. When Argentina waxed bellicose over the British South Atlantic islands (largely in an effort to prop up its own unpopular and undemocratic regime), Maggie rallied Britain to the cause. Ah yes, history has often confirmed that there’s nothing like a rousing military success to make a country feel good about itself and its leadership. It was a timely victory indeed for both the Thatcher Government and the nation.
I was down in Cornwall that summer and remember visiting with British soldiers newly returned from the antipodean Falkland campaign. I bought a round of pints for them, and they voiced a national pride I’d not heard before from British young men. Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” was playing on the pub’s music system.
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PA WIRE
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MATT CROSSICK/EMPICS ENTERTAINMENT
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REUTERS/DAVID MOIR
Now, with Britain preoccupied by preelection tit-for-tat and facing its biggest economic challenges in three decades, Argentina is rattling its sabers again over the islands it calls the Maldives. It seems unlikely this time that it will come to military action. The matter has been referred to the United Nations, however, and the sticking point is the oil that Britain is taking from the Falklands’ territorial waters. The UN and oil make for a heady mix, as we know, and the outcome is anyone’s guess. Those Falkland Islanders, though, are as British as scones and Marmite. I wouldn’t be looking for street signs in Port Stanley written in Spanish any time in the foreseeable future.
In the meantime, while Britain struggles through economic woes not dissimilar to those found back here in the States, the huge budget deficits the Government has run in the last few years have shaken international confidence in Britain’s capacity to deal with its public debt. A silver lining in the cloud hanging over Britannia’s head has been the decline in the value of the pound sterling.
Such a currency movement does make it marginally easier for the UK to compete in the export market and may indeed prove a boon to Britain’s flagging manufacturing sector. At the same time, with the euro and the dollar more expensive, holiday-loving Brits are all that more likely to be staying home this summer. The “staycation” is back, and once again British holidaymakers may rediscover the old-fashioned joys of the seaside holiday—and those iconic piers that Siân Ellis writes about so eloquently in this issue. That trend also can be nothing but a boon to the local economy of places like Brighton, Blackpool and Bournemouth.
The other result of the pound hovering around &doller;1.50 per this spring is that it makes Britain a much more affordable place for Americans to visit. All of a sudden that pint of beer and ploughman’s lunch, afternoon tea and a pillow under one’s head are actually reasonable. Bargain basement airfares, I’m afraid, are a thing of the past. If you’ve been waiting, however, for a British travel adventure, this may well be the year to consider it.
After that cold winter, it shouldn’t be surprising that the snowdrops were late this year. As of the ides of March, Siân described the daffodils in her Welsh valley as “still hidden in greenery.” By the time this issue wends its way to our readers, though, the laburnum will be tossing golden plumes of pollen into the late spring air.
Often I am asked where my own favorite corner or corners of Britain might be. By now, I really ought to be accustomed to the question, but somehow it always seems to catch me by surprise. I suppose it’s rather like asking a mother which is her favorite child. I put the question to Alan Webber, whose name graces our masthead as senior copy editor. Al banged around Britain for some years as a younger man—eh, back in the 40s and 50s. He remembers celebrating VE Day at the Drum Inn in Cockington (see September 2009, p. 35) and was a London-based journalist a few years later. He has been back many times, and often returns copy to me with the wistful comment, “Ah, you make me homesick.”
Al waxes lyrical over the villages of Devon and Somerset and the tiny city of Wells. He also confesses a strong partiality for the Yorkshire Dales and Durham. I couldn’t give him too long to ponder that question of favorite places, though, or the list would just keep getting longer. Somehow, I think many of our readers will understand— certainly those folks you recognize as our regular authors would.
In fact, in somewhat of a different form, I put the problem to some of your favorite writers. Our next issue will commemorate the 30th anniversary of British Heritage. As a collaborative project, we have assembled the 30 “must-see” places in Britain.
As it happens, this year also marks 30 years that I have been traveling our Sceptered Isle. If I am really pushed, I’ll confess to a fondness for the coal valleys of South Wales. Yes, it’s probably the people more than the scenery. As for the scenery and sheer “atmospherics,” it’s hard to beat the valley of the River Tweed and the Scottish borders, or Dorset’s Thomas Hardy Country. York shows up on both mine and Al’s short list—as it probably does on that of most folks who have spent any time there. Then, there’s Bath, and the Norfolk Broads, the New Forest, Edinburgh and the Wye Valley. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten started. At the end of the proverbial day, anywhere there’s a proper pub, real ale and good folk with whom to visit will do nicely, thank you.
Do check out the new British Heritage web pages at www.historynet.com. We regularly post at least one feature from each issue online—and invite you to post your comments. We also have picture galleries as well, taken from my recent adventures in culinary Ludlow and at The Raven Inn in Llanarmon-yn-Ial—with more to come. There is an archive as well, with more than 150 articles from British Heritage over the last 10 years. It’s a treasure trove of history and British culture. It’s also proven to be a much-used resource for students doing papers. Ah, to be one of those again.
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CLIVE NICHOLS/PHOTOLIBRARY
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