Democracy for the many, not just the few

I was invited to this event my a Facebook friend and being interested in democracy I was glad that it was on a theatre-free evening so I could attend. The location suited me too though the 7pm start was bit of a challenge (theatres normally start at 7:30pm), luckily the staff at Wagamama were up to the challenge and I was in and out of there within twenty minutes.

I liked the format of the evening, which was not unlike Gurteen and LIKE events that I go to. We started with four speakers limited to just five minutes each (I'm not sure they all managed that) on why they thought Proportional Representation (PR) is a good think for democracy and for Labour. We then collected in four self-selecting groups to address four different questions. We did this for about half an hour before regrouping for a brief summary session.

As usual at these sort of events I talked a lot and struggled to keep notes while doing so. What follows is some highlights from those notes and some subsequent expansion of those ideas made after the event.

It was not clear whether democracy was seen as a good thing in itself, even though it can lead to the German stand-off situation, or whether it is the outcomes it is assumed to produce, like less inequality, that are important. This is very important as if we do not know what it is that we are trying to achieve and what the principles are that drive this, then we lack purpose and direction.

Everybody seems to agree that First Past The Post is deeply flawed not least because it creates many cases, such as Labour voters like me in Richmond Park, where my vote does not count as my party has no realistic hope of ever winning the seat. The problem is what system to replace it with as every system has strengths and weaknesses, e.g. they may balance proportionality with local accountability. At times it felt like we were saying PR means PR and were scared to go into what PR really means when we know that is a bad approach from the Brexit shambles.

The mood in the meeting was mixed on whether Labour should commit to one form of PR before the next General Election or not. My view is that we should. We should have a clear idea of what system is best and try to get other parties to agree to this before the election so that it can be implemented afterwards having already achieved majority support from the electorate. I also think that to be vague on this issues opens Labour open to the suggestion that they are looking to change the voting system just to suit them, much as the Lib Dems (probably rightly) were blamed for supporting AV.

If PR is a principle that we, Labour, believe in then we should insist that it applies to every election, particularly local elections. Most, if not all, of the regional assembly elections already use some form of PR.

There is a lot more that Labour could, and should do, to reinforce democracy than just change the voting system. We should address issues like voter registration, party funding (particularly by corporates) and also when we vote, Thursday evening does not suit everybody. It is good that we have committed to reducing the voting age to 16 and we should do more things like that.

There was some discussion about the Lib Dems and whether they should be included as a progressive party, particularly when on the one chance they had they put the Conservatives in power. I think of Lib Dems as Tories but the meeting was split on that.

We only discussed different PR schemes in passing but I think that I hardened towards the idea of top-up lists where most MPs/Councillors/etc. are elected as they are now with a few additional people  then appointed from party lists to make the overall totals roughly proportional. This is not straightforward, none of the system are, as, for example, it would create two classes of representatives and those from the lists would be seen by some as getting "jobs for the boys".

It is good that people are talking seriously about improving our democracy but I would like those debates to be more clearly driven by principle than opportunity, to cover all aspects of democracy and to be more detailed.

La Boheme at Normansfield Theatre

Opera at Normansfield Theatre hits so many good buttons that I have to have a very good reason not to go and, luckily, nothing got in the way of this performance of La Boheme.

One of the good buttons if that the concerts are for charity and so I was more than happy to part with £20 for my ticket. Another one is the location and despite the intense cold and the presence of some some snow I enjoyed the forty minute walk there.

My timing was good enough for us to claim four seats in the front row with our coats before disappearing down to the basement to make another donation to charity (and get a beer).

La Boheme was presented by Villa InCanto who I had seen before. They have a simple and effective technique that works very well. The leader, Riccardo Serenelli, introduced the opera and then each of the four scenes before taking his place at the piano leaving the stage to the the flower girl Mimi, her beloved poet Rodolfo, his friend the painter Marcello and his love the fickle Musetta. I had seen La Boheme several times and, even so, I found the introductions useful.

The four singers Zarah Hible, Renato Cordeiro, Jorge Tello Rodrigues and Elise Lefay were all very good. Indeed this was the best ensemble that I could recall hearing, usually there is one singer who standouts for being slightly above or below the standard of the others but not this time.

The setting helped too with the intimate atmosphere of the small theatre and the seating arranged in a horseshoe making it a very personal performance.

Everything about the evening was lovely (except the weather!) and once again I was reminded of just how lucky I am to have a special place like Normansfield Theatre on my doorstep.

Rebecca Louise Law: Life in Death exhibition at Kew Gardens

I had gone to Kew Gardens for the orchids but I had heard good things about the Rebecca Louise Law: Life in Death exhibition in Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art so I strolled along to that.

The gallery is in one of the quieter and least attractive parts of the garden, on the path between Victoria Gate and Lion Gate and I had not been there before.

It is a modest sized gallery with half a dozen room containing several small exhibitions. Rebecca Louise Law: Life in Death was in Room 5 and, unlike the rest of the gallery, operated a one-way system through it.

The exhibition consisted of several thousand dried flowers suspended on threads from the ceiling. They were hung such that a narrow path weaved through them. This took you right up to the flowers though we were instructed to take care not to touch any of them. Dried flowers are somewhat delicate after all.

It sounds like a simple concept and it probably looks it from the photographs to but to walk through it was an amazing experience, and one I took very slowly so that I could savour it for longer.

There was a great variety among the flowers and grasses that were suspended for our pleasure and I stopped to look at many of the threads individually as well as enjoying the cumulative effect of being in a room full of them.

The exhibition closes on 11 March and I hope that I will get the chance to see it again before it does.

Kew Gardens Orchids Festival 2018

Every year Kew Gardens has an orchids festival and every year I go to it. It is easy to see why.

They take over most of Princess of Wales Conservatory and this year they did so with a Thailand theme. That was shown in the designs, such as this temple, and in the music (not pictured).

As always I got there for the 10am opening on a Sunday and went straight to the conservatory. Everybody else was going to the same place so it was already lively by the time that I walked in but it was not too busy to be frustrating. Waiting for people to move out of the way of a photo you are trying to take can take a while particularly when they are oblivious to the situation.

There was no such problem with the many elevated displays. These also allowed me to capture some of the conservatory with the flowers, I like to mix the natural and the manufactured, and in this case I also included some of the paper lanterns in the shot.

It did not matter where the orchids were placed or how they were arranged, they always looked wonderful.

There are usually some animal objects of some king in among the flowers and while this year's elephant failed to impress me I did like the buffalo.

But the orchids were, rightly, the stars of the shows so it is only fair to finish with a closer look at some of them.

Curtains at Rose Theatre tackled a difficult subject intelligently

I went to see Curtains at Rose Theatre as much to support my local theatre as anything else. There was nothing particular about the play or cast that enticed me but it seemed like a reasonable show and worth a punt. The price was bit of a shock though, my seat in my usual area, A38, cost me £40 for a preview performance. That's a lot of money for a Zone 6 theatre, pushing twice what it should be.

The combination of the uncertain play and the high price kept a lot of people away and the theatre was as empty as I had ever seen it And that was a shame as Curtains was a decent enough show.

It was very much a show in two halves, the second longer than the first. Before the Prosecco break the scene was set with the death of an old woman who died on her birthday surrounded by her family. It was a slow start but with enough drama and characterisation to keep me interested.

In the second half the characterisation blossomed in the unusual situation that has been built in the first half, the main story developed into some serious directions and some new stories emerged from the interactions between the characters. There was a lot going on including the father trying to manage the situation in a way that was uncomfortably familiar, his wife trying to come to terms with the situation and what had led to it, a couple drifting apart dropping plenty of hints of problems at home, a prodigal daughter lost in middle age and a young man flirting with religion.

The main theme, which gave the play its title, was dealt with sensitively and intelligently. This was a nice contrast to the many humorous elements and it gave the play a serious heart and a purpose.

Curtains did that clever thing of entertaining and also making you think about a serious and awkward subject.