Tag Archives: riot

Resisting Writing on Politics

Yesterday I received my copy of Presence. It’s always nice to appear in print. However, because it’s in print you will have to wait a bit until I can post it. It’s not that interesting anyway, so you aren’t missing much. I have to say that I find most haiku, even good ones, to be wearing in quantity.

Today I tried to write about my frustration at the way the world is going, but I don’t really have it in me to be political, so it didn’t go well and I ended up with nothing to show for several hours of work.

Then I had an email about an article I had originally submitted back in  November. I’d already agreed to make the alterations the editor wanted a couple of months ago and was wondering what the hold-up was when I got an apologetic email telling me he didn’t think it was the right fit and couldn’t use it. I’d already resigned myself to this, so I’m frustrated rather than downhearted. It is, after all, only words. I have an unlimited supply to draw on and am unlikely to run short.

After that I was able to watch a riot in Bristol, as protestors besieged a police station, set fire to vehicles, threw fireworks and put at least two policemen in hospital. The protest? It was about the new bill going through Parliament, the one about giving the police more powers to deal with demonstrations. My current thinking is that this is not the best way to ensure you have public support for your concerns.

And on that note I will leave it before I begin to get political.

 

Peace Medals

When all the fighting was done, the UK decided to have a national Peace Celebration. The selected day was Saturday 19th July 1919. This was a little optimistic as the Great War was not officially over when they started the planning, and we were still engaged fighting the Bolsheviks in Russia. We were also still fighting amongst ourselves, with mutinies in Southampton, Calais and Kinmel and tanks on the streets of Glasgow.

There was trouble during the celebrations too, with the riot at Luton being the best known. The town museum, as I remember from a visit many years ago, has a livelier version of events than The Guardian. They blame trouble between the The Discharged Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Federation and the Comrades of the Great Warfollowed by a riot which involved looting a piano shop and playing Keep the Home Fires Burning after setting fire to the Town Hall. The two ex-service organisations had different political outlooks, the Comrades of the Great War being set up as a right wing alternative to The Discharged Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Federation. Eventually they were to resolve their differences and become founder organisations of the British Legion.

Part of the Peace Celebrations featured the giving of medallions, often in white metal, to local school children. Unlike 1911, Nottingham didn’t produce a medal. The Nottingham Peace Celebrations provided sports, cinema visits, fancy dress parades and teas for 30,000 children, though there is no mention of medals, apart from sports prizes.

Some places provided generic medals, though others were specifically made for individual towns and villages. The Derby Peace Medal in the header page is one of the better examples of design – featuring the badge of the local regiment.

The Sheffield medal is more typical, with a generic figure of Peace on one side and the city coat of arms on the other side.

The Birmingham medal is slightly better from the design point of view – I’ve always liked this representation of Victory. It features on a generic peace medal, with an agricultural scene on the reverse, which was the first of these medals I ever had (given to me by my grandfather back in the 1970s).

This is the obverse and reverse of the Derby medal.

Note: I’ve added a link to the previous post to access a picture of the 1911 silver steward’s jewel.