Greenbelt Preview

Having downloaded the Daily Diary for Greenbelt here is my pick of the festival from Saturday to Monday, for some reason Friday evening appears to be missing from the document, which is a bit disappointing.

I’ll start with music and the Glade Stage on Saturday – Martyn Joseph is hosting The Rising there on Saturday afternoon. For those who aren’t familiar with this it’s where this talented and very established member of the folk community talks with other musicians about their work and influences. Both Martyn and the performers he is talking with play a bit too.

One of those Martyn will be talking to is Scott Matthews who has a smooth yet fairly melancholy voice. If you like Gaz Combes album Matador my guess is you’ll like to hear this this act.

Later on MOBO award winner Zara MacFarlane takes the stage with her haunting and beautiful jazz voice. For those who might not have heard of her if you enjoy the work of people like Leanne Le Havas you’ll love this.

Then the tempo changes for King Porter Stomp with their ska based mix of reggae and brass. This is good dancing music made for a festie stage and will be well worth going along to. These are my musical pick of the day.

There is a blast from the past when The Polyphonic Spree return to Greenbelt and the Glade on Saturday evening. They bring their weird and wonderful sound to the countryside and I suspect that will work well.

If you are looking for a bit of late night folkie weirdness then go no further than the Playhouse where The Revolutionary Army of theInfant Jesus will be playing some of their dark, haunting tunes. If you like Jaqui McShee and Pentangle then this will be your sort of thing.

The Canopy is a great stage for just discovering stuff if you sit there long enough. The only name from Saturday I am familiar with is Shlomo, the human beat box, who is doing a solo set which will be taking you back to the eighties.  

Best name of the day on that stage are Project JamSandwich. They are a crazy percussion and strings group who mix it up with influences from all over the place.

Duo Lew-Rey are playing this stage too on the Saturday evening. The duo play some chilled out modern electronic pop which is pleasant and will be good to sit and relax with if it’s fine weather.

Generally it appears that a lot of the music on Saturday will be quite hippy trippy stuff  Boat toRow on earlier on Saturday afternoon are another example of the circa 1970 revisited sound which will be coming from a number of the acts. Digitonal headlining the canopy stage on the Saturday evening keep this theme but take it in a different direction and if one listens to the sampler for their Beautifully Broken album you can hear how the chill out ambient sounds have a link back to the folk movement.

On Sunday the folk becomes popular as well as traditional as The Unthanks headline. Expect nothing but the best from them in terms of musicianship and look out for an interesting song about pigeons. (See my Cambridge Folk Festival Review)

Personally I would say if you want something with a bit more rhythm and far more exciting and a bit more messy stay up late on Sunday and go and see Ella and the Blisters who will be following the Unthanks with high voltage bluegrass. This lot seem like they’ll be much more fun and good to dance to. These I think are my musical pick of the festival.

Another act well worth catching across the festival is Tom Butler who is playing the Canopy on Saturday and the glade on Sunday. The lyrics of this guy are well worth listening to in numbers like Freedom.

Again there is lots more music on across at the Canopy including Greenbelt regular Iain Archer who is always worth a listen.

Moving on to the music on Monday there is what could be called a gathering of Greenbelt’s own on the Glade stage as the wonderful young urban folk singer Grace Petrie preceeds Martyn Joseph. Hopefully there will be a lot more of the political stuff in her set and a little less of the chat than last year. Having caught a little of Whatever's Left by Grace and the Benefits Culture, her fourth album, I think we'll hear some great things.

If you have never caught either of these two but you like the music and lyrics of people like Billy Bragg you must get yourself to listen to them. Yes, they do the odd “love song” in between but they both kick ass as political song writers.

It seems that if Saturday is the hippy trippy day then Monday is the day of the Greenbelt Family protest singer because in addition to the two mentioned above Garth Hewitt, (who I described back in the early 1990’s as sounding like a Christian Morrisey he was so miserable whilst being quite talented), kicks of the Canopy. For those unaware he has been a campaigner and member of the Greenbelt team one way or another for many years.

On the subject of the Greenbelt Family there has been a tradition of going into the pub for a sing-a-long every so often. I believe this may be happening on Monday evening about 7pm.

Moving away from the more familiar Coco and theButterfields who have a really good pop sound are worth a look. Their recent video for Hello was quite beautiful. They’re also on the Glade stage on Monday.

This is just a pick of some of the music, there is a lot to choose from. But Greenbelt is so much more than music in fact many people go and listen to the talks without ever getting to the music.

As I said previously my Daily Diary appeared to be missing Friday. I think, if I have it correct from Social Media, this is the evening Gemma Dunning will be doing a talk. Not sure which of the many topics she could be covering she’ll be talking about but it will include missional activity of one kind or another. She’ll be well worth a listen.

Greenbelt tends to get turbulent priests speaking and this year appears to be no different. Guardian Readers and others will be familiar with the work of Giles Fraser. He is a good, if somewhat polemic speaker and love it or loathe it you’ll not be board with what he says.

If you want a gentler yet at times just as radical voice from another well spoken Anglican priest Lucy Winkett who is talking on Reading the Bible With Your Feet will be worth a listen.

Both of them are on the Glade stage in the morning. Carrying on the theme of high profile Anglican clergy the points value goes up when Kate Bottley joins up with Giles Fraser and pop star turned priest Richard Coles for a panel on Twitter Vicars and the Sacrament of Social Media in the Pagoda. I suspect this will actually be worth listening to, if nothing more than for the fact Kate Bottley is a great woman who says it like it really is and doesn’t do pretention at all. She has her own slot on the Glade Stage on Monday morning talking about being the Goggle Box Vicar.

One great thing about Greenbelt is they are never afraid of dealing with issues which might be considered as too hot to handle by other conferences and festivals which have a high number of Christians attending. This year is no different as amongst the events on Saturday in the Treehouse are Thou Shall Not be Overcome: LGBT People, Our Allies and the Christian Church which has Ruth Hunt who is the Chief Exec of Stonewall speaking. Her talk is followed by three people talking about The Real Benefits Street and that in turn is followed by a talk on Primania: How’s Paying for your clothes with Katherine Maxwell-Cook.

Sunday provides a couple of interesting talks following each other in the Pagoda as Katherine Welby Roberts and Matt Haig discuss reasons to Stay Alive before theologian Marika Rose discusses Angels and Cyborgs.

Katherine Welby Roberts is also in the Treehouse talking about Life Doesn’t Come with A Bow. Again it is one of a range of interesting talks which will be occurring in there facing the issues the church doesn’t always want to. Asylum and Exile: Voices of Refugees is one of the other talks in there.

Monday is the day anybody who didn’t catch his great interview on Radio Two’s Good Morning Sunday a few months ago can hear Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow talk about the Shed which fed a Million Children. This will be well worth a listen.

I realise I could through the whole programme but this gives a flavour and some tips of things I think will be worth catching music and talks wise.

There are a couple of other things I want to signpost too before I finish.

The first is American performance artist, theologian and activist Peterson Toscano who will be bringing his Gender Outlaws in the Bible: A Theatrical, Theological Expose back to Greenbelt. He is also touring round different parts of the UK including London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Belfast and will be well worth seeing if you can, even if you can’t get to Greenbelt. Tenx9 is back on Saturday too. This year people will be invited to tell their own stories, for ten minutes, on the topic of power.

The other is the worship. There is a lot of worship that takes place at Greenbelt. Some of it is aimed at specific groups who often come together as a kind of subset of family at Greenbelt. The Outerspace and Goth Eucharists are both in the Treehouse this year on Saturday evening. I cannot begin to explain what the significance of the former has been in my own life – just to say there is something very moving about coming together and realising you are not alone.

Whilst I know people have various views on the Festival Communion service on the Sunday morning down by the main stage, this year the Glade stage, I have always found it to be moving…although some years conducted in a way which is better than others in terms of being able to worship to.

So those are my recommendations for the weekend. For the first time in about 15 years I (most probably) won’t be there because of other commitments. However, as I’ve written this for you and particularly people who might be first timers or just thinking about going. Greenbelt is a special place and it holds an incredibly special place in my heart. As somebody I know once said to me ‘it’s one of the places as a gender queer, gay, atheist, anarchist I’ve felt most at home and safe’.  That’s not because Greenbelt, despite what the critics sometimes suggest, is a liberal den of non-belief but it is because it is a welcoming festival for all of some belief or none.

New Music Review

I love discovering new music and old music I wasn’t familiar with. In the past week I have discovered music by Montmartre, Na Fianna, Chasin Vegas, and a mix of music and performance The Young Islanders. I’ve also picked up Down on Deptford Broadway the album by Skinny Lister who I was blown away by at Cambridge and Lianne La Havas new release Blood.  I also recently found myself hanging around Euston Station listening to Laurie Mann who was part of the London Busker competition.

Here are what I make of the mix. Firstly, Montmartre who are a local MK band who are a young alt folk group. Their line up has been changing around a bit, but they are producing some good music and building up a good local following. Their next gig is at The Lab in Northampton this Friday 14^th August. I want to catch them live as their music was introduced to me via being shown one of their videos and it is clear they have real potential being talented musicians who mix a range of instruments in including cello and keyboards. They have a couple of downloads available via their Bandcamp site which show they are in the earlier stages of development musically but still have a maturity to them.

Na Fianna, like Chasin Vegas and The Young Islanders were groups who found me via Twitter. Now, I know these are bands which have the marketing and use of social media sorted, but they are bands I’m not familiar with and so I tend to follow initially and give them a chance.

Na Fianna were the first I listened to and they are classic Irish sounding like the Pogues if Shane McGowan were replaced by Ronan Keating. This means that the music is a pleasant enough but sounds a bit too clean cut. That said there is a catchiness about them. By the second time I listened to Toora Loora Lay their new single I was thinking, yes this is summer time music which might be slightly clichéd in terms of the way they talk about being part of the Irish emigration story but they are kind of fun.

Chasin Vegas I took to more on first listening of their Take Me Back with their child of Britpop sound. They have a clear Oasis influence going on but have a good sound about them. Again what strikes me about them is how clean cut they seem to be.

As the name suggests The Young Islanders are another Irish outfit. These mix music and traditional dance in a way which is slick and to be honest seems to be River Dance the next generation. That said their promo does contain a harpist and vocalist who is great and sounds a lot like Cara Dillon. Yet again they seem to be gleaming.

And that’s one reason I like Skinny Lister, they are definitely not gleaming. They have that raw edged feel to them. I was worried their album Down On Deptford Broadway might not live up to the live performance but I was pleased to say it did. It is a great album which has the mixture of their sound, some of which you would find ok to play to grandma. It is good music to dance around the house to and thankfully This is War still sounds great.

Then we get to Lianne La Havas Blood. This album which came out a couple of weeks ago is currently being promoted via TV adverts which says this is mainstream and then some. She is a product being heavily promoted by Warner Music. It is a good album but seems somewhat over produced. Her distinctive voice is beautiful and has a jazz feel to it and so I fully recommend it, but I would say that something of the feeling of her earlier work seems to be missing from much of this album.

Another good young singer songwriter is Laurie Mann. I saw here whilst she was busking outside Euston as part of the London Music Big Busk competition a couple of weeks ago and whilst she is young and somewhat nervous she does have a good talent. Unfortunately she was doing a lot of covers in the set I saw, and it was in her own material that the talent she has really shone through. Allegiance which was the penultimate number of her set and one of her own was excellent. She was working a hard environment and was good enough to get me to stop and wait to the end of her set before moving on.

The Minister as Entrepreneur - Reviewed

Entrepreneur is a word which people often find difficult when applied to religious organisations and this is something Michael Volland is well aware of. This ministerial trainer on mission and diocese missioner's latest book The Minister As Entrepreneur: Leading and Growing the Church in an Age of Rapid Change published by SPCK devotes some time and space dealing with this apparent problem.

One of the problems which is identified in this text, which is based largely around a piece of fairly small scale qualitative research he did amongst Anglican Clergy within the Diocese of Durham, is the association with the language of business and the market. He gives a quote from CMS head and Fresh Expressions expert Jonny Baker indicating why many within the church feel there are problems with this language; they link it with negative aspects of capitalism.

Whilst Volland clearly seeks to go beyond this business approach in his examination of the subject and use of the term it has to be recognised that this book feeds into wider debates within the CofE on theological education and training. The language and ethos of the business environment has been central to the GreenReport (Talent Management for Future Leaders and Leadership Development for Bishops and Deans: A New Approach). This small book I think would best be seen as part of this wider discussion around how we identify gifts and vocation and how we encourage those who might have specific gifts of leadership or callings into specific types of ministry, both lay and ordained.

 

Language and it’s use is the focus of the first part of the book which takes the familiar form of operationalising the terms being used and going through the literature review. Within the first few chapters Volland also engages in some interesting theology particularly in chapter three which is titled “An entrepreneurial God?

 

In this first part of the book Volland is clear to lay out the limitations of this text and the research sample it is based upon. The discussion questions around each chapter at the end of the book together with his initial comments show that this book is intended as a discussion starter. This is indeed how it should be viewed, being somewhat brief in nature.

 

Having read previous work by Volland, such as Through the Pilgrim Door, it is clear that writing in a less academic form is his preferred medium and this is why some parts of the book read better than others. In the preface he appears to be using his natural voice whilst later it reads slightly more awkwardly as he moves away from using the voice of the storyteller wrestling with complex academic questions and more into the more usual formal academic style. I much prefer the former style which has emerged from Volland, Baker and their pioneer contemporaries. The natural style they have developed is one which is clearly rooted in their experiences as practitioners who engage with academia and I think it is very readable. The sub-headings are a useful feature which are well used in this book, guiding the reader well and it is notable that these disappear during the second half of the book.

 

The first 65 pages are distinctly different in tone to the second where he presents his research findings and conclusions as I have indicated. This is perhaps because he identifies the two halves of the book being written for different audiences. The first half is focused on and addresses a broader audience than the latter which not only focuses on his ordained Anglican sample but seems to be addressed those living within a similar occupational bubble. It is clear from his comments that time has led to this restriction but it is a shame as because it means one feels as if they have walked into local debate around resources and recognition.

 

Of course there is wider application or this book would have not been published and that needs to be taken into account. Pages 101 – 103 in chapter 8 are perhaps the most central within this second half of the book because within them Volland outlines what his respondents felt aided the exercise of entrepreneurship in their ministry. These 19 points not only relate to entrepreneurship, I would argue, but what is central to healthy churches, mission and ministry more broadly. I believe they form the basis of what our discussions on the future should be.

 

As I say this is a useful, easy to read, short text which should be taken as a discussion opener or way into engaging with a number of difficult questions which need to be grappled with more widely than just within the CofE. 

 

The Minister as Entrepreneur by Michael Volland published by SPCK. ISBN: 9780281071821

(apologies, not sure why text has gone funny in 2nd half of this post)

Cambridge Folk Festival - Review

It’s always been about new music in addition to well established big names at Cambridge Folk Festival and this, the 51st year, was no exception. Skinny Lister have just released their second album Down on DeptfordBroadway and were the most exciting new group I have seen for years. I do not exaggerate when I say that they are the ultimate festival experience. There set mixes pure English folk and pure English punk with a tinge of indie into an exciting high energy cocktail not quite like anything you’ve experienced before. Yes, there are hints of familiar flavours but this is something different which gets you singing, dancing and asking did they really just go crowd surfing with a double bass?  Last year they were on in the Club Tent and this year it was a mid-afternoon session on Stage Two hopefully next year they will be one of the headlining acts on that stage. If you want to get a flavour of the mix I’d say go over to You Tube and compare their official videos for This is War and What Can I Say? Both tracks are off the new album and show the diversity in style they cover (as well as being great tracks, although I much prefer This is War).

The other great new group I discovered this year were Finch and the Moon who did two sets in the Coldham’s Common late night club tent run by the Milk Maid Folk Club (who are currently looking to set up a folk arts centre in Bury St. Edmunds). It says so much about the group that Terry who runs this open mic style tent gave them two slots. Normally, people only get one set over the weekend. This young duo seem to have modelled themselves a bit on the 60’s Greenwich Village Folk Scene, as depicted in Inside Llewyn Davis and it was fitting one of the songs they did was a spine tingling version of Five Hundred Miles which was in the style of Timberlake and Mulligan’s version but even purer. The thing about this duo is they are understated in many ways but have a great stage presence which can only be achieved when you are being enchanted by the music.

Another fairly new group I enjoyed were The Stray Birds who were playing most stages. I caught them on the main stage on Saturday morning. These were a bluegrass group from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They stood around one old style mic and with their guitar, double bass and fiddle gave us a taste of the mountains. The harmonies from them were great and I really enjoyed their old style approach to bluegrass although it was not as frenetic and high energy as Old Crow Medicine Show’s style.  New Shoes was a great two stepper which was fun and enabled people to dance if they wanted.

Rhiannon Giddens was another American artist I hadn’t come across before but I really enjoyed her tour of musical history. She had an amazing voice and as she played a range of instruments and sang you realised she was very much the real deal. She was out promoting her debut solo album Tomorrow is My Turn.

Of the more established acts which I caught Wilko Johnson who played the main stage on Friday was perhaps the most heart-warming to see. The story of his overcoming a terminal diagnosis is well known and one can only say he plays with the obvious enthusiasm of one who knows what it truly means to be alive. His was a storming set. There was no chat between numbers but rather he went from one great full energy blues number to another. It can sometimes be easy to forget how Punk had some roots in the pub rock of the mid 1970’s but this set was a useful reminder. BBC 6 Music has recently been posing the question “What is Rock and Roll?” Well, this was the answer in its purest form, particularly Going Back Home which was the forth song of the set. Drums, bass, guitar and vocals going through great songs finishing the main set with Back in the Night and giving an encore of Johnny be Good.

Friday also saw Frank Turner playing his version of urban folk with tunes like “We Can Get Better ‘Cause We’re Not Dead Yet” which kicked the set off. There was the odd drinking song in this set which lived up to the hype around it, although in the coffee queue I heard somebody who’d seen him at Cambridge a couple of years ago saying this was not a patch on that and they were a bit disappointed. For the majority of the set Turner was playing with Matt Nazir who needs to be acknowledged for his part too particularly as the material which the duo played was stronger than the couple of solo numbers Turner gave.

Show of Hands played twice on the Saturday and I caught their early set which could best be described as a sing-a-long set. The depth they get from Miranda Sykes playing with them now (as she has for some years) is clear and the humour of this group can never been failed. They opened with AIG and included Roots, Cousin Jack and Galway Farmer within their set. They also played The Keeper from their World War One commemoration album Centenary, which was a haunting and moving number which used the harmony with Sykes voice to great effect. Sweet Bella was a blues number and whilst clearly one for the crowd to join in with it seemed a bit odd coming from them. It was a bit like ordering a beer and getting one of the Crabbies Strawberry and Lime drinks which was being promoted over the weekend. It was tasty but somehow just seemed wrong. It was more something you would have imagined being in Johnson’s set.

Gretchen Peters has a new album Blackbirds out and her voice had you melting from the beginning. There is a pure poetry in her music be it in a number about an oil spill or one of the love gone wrong numbers. Her country voice as soft, rich and velvety as the scarlet top she wore. It was the sort of music you could enjoy curled up on the sofa with a bottle of wine.

The Skatalites were the ideal Saturday afternoon chill out band. You could dance to them or simply relax, listen and enjoy the this talented group who have been going in one form or another for half a century now.

The Unthanks who are headlining both Folk East and Greenbelt are the current darlings of the English Folk scene and it is not without good reason. They are talented and great to listen to, but having just witnessed the high energy Skinny Lister I realised that I just prefer down and dirty low culture to the more refined stuff. I could appreciate this but I was very much listening rather than engaging with what was happening. By the way if you can get to hear them at either of these festivals do. They are both special festivals who need your support and are organised by people whose hearts and souls are very much the driving force.

Joan Baez played a wonderful set which mixed her own material with covers from her friends (such as Steve Earle, Bob Dylan and more). It was an interesting set to listen to the lyrics of because she has obviously been reflecting on her own mortality. I really liked her version of Steve Earle’s God is God which I wasn’t familiar with and an interpretation of Swing Low which differed in tune from the Rugby version we were all familiar with. The crowd all joined in with House of the Rising Sun and from that point it was v much sing-a-long time including a really moving version of John Lennon’s Imagine.

I have to say that whilst I am used to good festival sets the Saturday set at Cambridge this year was the strongest I have ever come across in terms of a whole days music. There wasn’t any moment in the day when I wasn’t thinking how lucky am I being able to enjoy this stuff. It was really good to see the handover to Cambridge Live had not adversely impacted the festival and it will be exciting to see how it develops in the coming years. They have put a number of great performances up on their You Tube channel if you want a flavour of the weekend and Mark Radcliffe's Radio Two Show from the festival is available until the end of the month on listen again.

Sunday rounded off my trip to the festival year. In addition to listening to the wonderful story teller John Row (who just happens to be my dad and is pictured in the opening shot of Guardian’s Sarah Lee’s photo tour to the festival) and some of the other tellers in the flower garden I enjoyed listening to Bella Hardy’s set which highlighted the contemporary cross over between mainstream culture and trad folk and Joan Armatrading’s set of two halves. The first half was good, because that is what she is a great artist but there seemed to be a certain sense she is dealing with stuff and was taking on the audience as a result. In the second half she just used her guitar and voice to kick butt. Ok I am biased but it was a great end to my festival (I had to leave early and so didn’t catch the final acts).

The Mistresses of Cliveden - Reviewed

The Mistresses of Cliveden by Natalie Livingstone is a historical journey through the history of a building which gives a peek into the lives of the aristocracy and royalty who at various points lived there.

It is an easy read and it took just three days to work my way through to page 436, where the volume’s text ends. The end notes which show the historical research which went into this book continue for another 49 pages.

The reason I think it maintains attention is that within what appears to be a weighty tome are actually five smaller sections and each is like a book within its own right. Collectively they take you through from 1642 to 1964 on a journey which on the surface appears to be full of intrigue, scandal and indiscretion.

Yet this is not a scandalous book, the writer is a regular contributor to titles such as Tatler and Harper’s Bazaar as well as being the wife of the current owner of the building. Thus, this is a measured volume which exposes only what is generally known and on occasion seeks to reinforce the positive aspects of British aristocracy and royal family, almost excusing away or minimising their misdemeanours.

The key point the author appears to be making is that these women’s stories have to be seen in the contexts of the times they were living in.

Firstly, there is Anna Maria, who lived in the aftermath of the Civil War and puritan Commonwealth. In Restoration Britain duels and women living as mistresses of men they were not married to was more normal than we would perhaps like to think. Anna Maria was a woman living in a hedonist environment where there were double standards enshrined in the higher echelons of national life. Livingstone’s tale of her life shows how the lives of wives and mistresses in this set up differed and how they also at points overlapped.

As with most of the stories in the book the description of Anna Maria’s life also explains clearly how the system of royal patronage works. This is perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of the book because we tend to think of this system as more important in Tudor times and before. Yet, we see through a range of precarious financial situations and personal relationships how important this system was to the highest echelons of society.

Next we have the story of Elizabeth Villiers, a woman whose story is most interesting as a result of her ongoing competition with Sarah, wife of the Duke of Marlborough. The competition between the women who had much to do with designing and building two of the most well known stately homes of the time is fascinating as it shows how power dynamics worked. This chapter is also interesting because it starts to give an insight into the way in which the death of a child had a devastating impact on many of these women.

Then we get to Augusta whose life from 1719 to 1772 gives us a fascinating into the rifts within the Georgian royal family. Augusta was the Princess of Wales and by the time we get to her mistress has very much changed meaning in this book. She is clearly the head of the household and a woman of integrity but not beyond working politically when needed. Indeed the political understanding and operating of these women is an interesting subtext within the book.

Of all the women in the book Augusta is perhaps my favourite, although her story is not the most interesting.

Next we get to Harriet whose story was, for me, the most engaging and the most disturbing. Being more recent and a close confidant of Queen Victoria there appears to be more material on Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland. Her story is one which is infused with politics, particularly through her friendship with Gladstone and links with royalty through her professional and personal links to Queen Victoria.

Indeed the most moving part of the book is when both Harriet and Victoria’s bereavements take place close to each other and their impacts are discussed.

What I found perhaps most difficult with this section of the book was reading so soon after watching the recent BBC Two programme Britain’sForgotten Slave Owners. This programme gave a picture of wealth at this time which often came from compensation claims. Whilst Harriet was shown to be an abolitionist advocate with regards to slavery in the USA I was conscious of the complex world in which she lived in. It is a world which history has often sought to sanitise somewhat and with that  in mind I had a mixture of feelings about this women. This uncomfortable aspect of nineteenth century history is picked up through reference to another chapter of British History which we may like to sweep under the carpet, the Highland Clearances. To be fair to the author she does pick this up but comes to no conclusion on the matter. Rather it comes across as an unfortunate aspect of history which needs to be acknowledged but not dwelt upon.

Finally we pick up on the story of Nancy Astor, first female MP to sit in the House of Commons. The anecdotes about her seem to come from a range of sources and as throughout this book material is taken from achieves and published sources but somehow there is a different feel to this part of the book. It seems that this is more sanitised and that there were less surprises found amongst the archives when it came to Astor. Perhaps this is not surprising, after all this was a media owning family who sought to control their image, at some times more successfully than at others. The key point within this chapter appears to be scorching the myth that there was a Cliveden set which was linked to Nazi Germany and the ideology of that regime. On one hand Livingstone does this successfully but on the other she highlights how the relationship between the upper echelons of society and Germany at that time was more complex than we might like to think in post-war society. As the recent pictures of the Queen from 1933 illustrate the picture was much more complex.

There is at the end of the book a description of the Profumo  Affair which involved the house and Nancy’s son.

What is missing is the writer herself. We know from the book something of her religious identity but beyond that nothing. Yet as current mistress of the house her story needs to be included, even if there was a gap between her Astor and her occupancy. I hope any revised version will include that.

Overall a book I would recommend but I would probably say wait until it comes out in paperback as £25 is somewhat high a price for this tale of five remarkable women. That said the hardback has one of the most beautiful book jackets I’ve seen. It looks and feels wonderful.

What I would add about this book is I hope BBC 4 pick it up and do a six part series (I say six part as I would like the author and current incarnation of the house included). Each woman does deserve her own programme and visually this would make a fascinating work.

I also now have somewhere else I hope to visit as this book is very much about place as much as people.

The Mistresses of Cliveden Three Centuries of Scandal, Power and Intrigue by Natalie Livingstone is published by Hutchinson. ISBN – 978-0 091-95452-9

Unseen Things Above - Reviewed

An ecclesiastical equivalent of the Archers written for the type of people who spend August Bank Holiday tweeting about the depth of the mud at Greenbelt. That's how I described Acts and Omissions by CatherineFox. This description could equally apply to the sequel Unseen Things Above, which has just been published by Marylebone House, the new fiction arm of SPCK.

This book whilst just as well observed as it’s forerunner is slightly more reflective in tone. There somehow seems more depth to it now Bishop Paul has been dispatched to the other side of the world and the focus falls more onto the other clergy in the fictional diocese of Lindchester together with one or two newcomers.

Whether you have read Acts and Omissions or this is your first visit to this fictional diocese you will warm to characters such as Dominic and Wendy – clergy who have a parish ministry and whose portrayal by the writer displays an affection clearly rooted in her own experience of meeting such people as the wife of the dean of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral.

One does wonder at points if Matt, the Archdeacon, is based upon her own husband as he at various points is referred to as “our hero” for no discernible reason. This would fit with him being the man who wins the heart of Janey, the feminist academic.

The book is fiction but with an almost ethnographic quality. As with Jeffrey Archer’s The Fourth Estate one is left wondering exactly how much is fact and how much is fiction.

This novel continues to focus on relationships but looks at them in an even more nuanced way. It highlights the CofE’s double standards which mean a heterosexual couple must marry whilst a same sex couples are barred from doing so. However the debate around equal marriage is not approached in a simplistic or polemic way. Rather this book, as with the first, is that it looks at the debate in a way which is sensitive to the complexities of a variety of positions and highlights the humanity of those involved. It shows perhaps most clearly how, in seeking to follow right practice many good people are put in positions where they find themselves having to go against their own consciences and have conversations they have no wish to. Fox appears to have shifted off the fence in this volume, I would say she provides as good an explanation of the situation in the CofE and why one way or another it must change as you could find anywhere and in a much more readable form.

Without giving the plot away it also shows the problems that overzealous activists and allies who may want to use the campaign for their own, self-centred, reasons can reek. In this case we are told early on by the narrator that the person in question is the villain of this piece. However, often similar problems are caused by allies of  good character who seek to advance the cause of equality without a knowledge of what LGBT people themselves have been doing to slowly build up good will and cause change through relationship or more subtle lobbying.

The book also guides you through the system for choosing bishops in the CofE which is enlightening.

The book is again a highly readable one which will lift a wry smile from many within the church and no doubt yet again give the reaction of “I’d never have believed it if it weren’t written by the wife of a dean” from those outside. There are insider jokes but these will not distract from the enjoyment of those who are not aware of them.

My only niggle is that the reader does not need to be told by the narrator who is the villain and who is the hero, rather it is better that they be left to make up their own mind. It felt a bit like being at the pantomime and having it spelt out who to boo and who to cheer before the characters came on stage.

This is the type of read which can be read on a train, beach or indeed anywhere else. Personally I found it the perfect end of term read to be enjoyed with a glass of good wine with something soothing on the stereo. Would I recommend it? Of course I would although I would recommend the newcomer read Acts and Omissions first. 

Note: This review first appeared on my other blog, Learning from Hagar and Co. I have now started a separate blog for reviews

Unseen Things Above by Catherine Fox is published by Marylebone House

ISBN: 978-1-910674-23-9

Go Set a Watchman Review

Ever since it was announced that a second Harper Lee book was to be published debate started to surround the book. Firstly, should it have been put out at all or was an old lady being exploited. Then when more was known about the book the discussion began to grow because Atticus Finch, inspiration to many equality activists, was apparently a racist. The latter led to serious debate on Channel Four News whilst the midnight release of the book also hit the news. So what is Go Set a Watchman like? Is it actually worth a read?

Well, I think the fact my daughter book the book on Wednesday and by Sunday evening it had been read by two of us and was ready to go on to a third person says something in itself. The interest we had in the book is not surprising bearing in mind the media frenzy I have already referred to and the fact that both of us had studied To Kill A Mockingbird for GCSE, over 20 years apart, and it had left an imprint on us both. Yet, that is not enough to account for the speed with which we devoured the book. It holds ones attention and is highly readable because it continues to raise questions you want to know the answer to throughout.

In this review I am assuming that you have a knowledge of To Kill A Mockingbird, simply because I don’t know anybody who doesn’t. If you happen to be the exception I would suggest you read that first.

This was written before Mockingbird and is rawer and in some ways more uncompromising. Set in 1950’s rural Alabama the geography described is somewhat alien to some of us, yet the central themes continue to reoccur in one form or another and that is why I believe that this book is not only a good read but a crucial read to engage with. The fact it is a sequel but written previously to Mockingbird does mean one feels occasionally that characters who were in that book are occasionally squeezed in with awkward explanations of why they are not key characters within this text.

Firstly, there is the theme of racism placed centrally in the book which seeks to explore the complexities of a time of change when the civil rights movement was growing from the viewpoint of the time itself. The use of the N word throughout jars in a book published today, but sits perfectly in a book written in the past.

Reading the book one is forced to ask what is racism, who is racist, how should it be dealt with and are what are the problems of being colour blind when it comes to race and ethnicity.

Alongside this and intertwined with it are issues of how one relates to their aging parents and how does the young adult who has escaped a suffocating environment deal with family when they return. The description of Atticus’ 

Then there is the question of how the person coming back home deals with the change they will inevitably encounter when they don’t necessarily expect that change.

There is also the key them of class division and attitudes towards those labelled as “white trash” and the barriers put in the way of those so defined.

Religion also plays a part in the book as a recent Huff article explained. There was a part which I found particularly amusing regarding a change in structure in the local Methodist Church and the debates around music. It was so funny because 60 years on and thousands of miles away it could just as likely happen today.

The way in which the church can help maintain social control and the hypocrisy sometimes involved is also highlighted in a wider debate which the book contains about the place the collective conscience should have in society.

There is also a love story within the book which echoes of reality rather than sentimentality.

Was I glad I read it? Yes, as I indicated it was a very good read. Did it disillusion me? Yes, but in a good way. By the end of the book I understood why the book had to be written in the form it was and why it may have been a good thing that a purely fictional character, who we could invest so much in simply because he was a literary creation rather than a real fallible person, was shown not to be what we as a society had made him.

Did I feel comfortable at the end of the book? No, of course not. It is not a “nice” read, it challenges and confronts but in my mind it is no bad thing when one is forced to think by a book.

Note: This review first appeared on my other blog Learning from Hagar and Co but this is the blog I am now using for reviews