Tom Roper's Weblog

Tolpuddle

According to the BBC there were 10,000 there and I can well believe it. It was certainly the biggest Tolpuddle festival I've attended.
The best speaker was without a doubt Tony Benn, as inspiring and encouraging as ever, (though he struck a pessimistic note about the prospects of peace): "don't ask why the poor are poor, ask why the rich are rich?", the best music provided by Billy Bragg, who finished his set with two songs  written with and performed by the children of St Mary's Middle School, Puddletown, one for a play they had performed earlier in the day on the history of the Martyrs, and one about the G8, ending with an unaccompanied version of the Red Flag.
My photos are going up on Flickr soon. And Technorati lists a number of posts.

Students put university on eBay

Students put university on eBay: students at Exeter University put the institution up for sale on eBay as part of their protest against proposed cuts.
(Via BBC News | Technology | UK Edition.)
I thought one of the Welsh universities, possibly Swansea, did this last year. Still funny, though.

Tolpuddle: a more considered account

As promised, a more considered account.
Weather: OK, rain on Sunday morning, stopped me running, though ~I ran and got lost in the woods above Athelhampton on the Saturday
Numbers: lots of people there (we didn’t go last year, for reasons I can’t quite recall, so I'm comparing with 2002 not 2003)
Politics: well, Tolpuddle is always Tolpuddle, so Labour party stalwarts are wheeled out to do their stuff: this year Hazel Blears and Hilary Benn. But no doubt about what the crowd thought, it was Iraq that was the issues of the day
Music: the Oyster Band captivated my children, aged 12 and 10). I've always found them a bit bombastic, but enjoyed it nevertheless
Billy Bragg sang the following:
Sexuality
NPWA
She Came Along to me
The Wolf Covers its Tracks
Like Soldiers Do
To Have and to have not
Which Side Are You On
Between The Wars
Power In a Union
Waiting for the Great Leap Forward

I'm indebted to the Billy Bragg forums at : http://www.billybragg.co.uk/forums/index.php for the set listing

Tolpuddle

Just back from Tolpuddle. Some photos are up, and a longer account of the event will follow when I have time