Lord Bonkers' Diary: What the Liberal Democrats should do is...

Lord Bonkers concludes his visit to the United States.

As for we Liberal Democrats...

Then there is the Labour Party, as the New Party is calling itself these days. They need to dump Jeremy Corbyn, Christopher Robin Milne, Chairman Mao and all that crew and find themselves someone who can connect with the workers, as they flatter themselves they used to do. Frank Byers’ granddaughter is Terribly Keen, some military fellow called Jarvis has the skills you need in a closely fought by-election, but I am not holding my breath.

As for we Liberal Democrats, we need an ingenious new plan that will see us returned to the front rank of politics. What we should do is… Dash it all! My flight has just been called.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10

Earlier this week in Lord Bonkers' Diary...

Do you know New Rutland?

My old Friend Rising Star

The New Rutland Primaries

Liam Fox? My dear, I screamed!

Read More

Tom Plumb: From wicket-keeper to the workhouse

I had lunch at the Queen's Head in Billesdon today a pleasant Marston's pub. The village trail leaflet tells an interesting story about it:

In the late 19th century, the landlord of the Queen’s Head was Tom Plumb, the famous All-England wicket-keeper of the 1860s, described by W.G. Grace as ‘about the best wicket-keeper of his time.’ 

He coached two Billesdon players who went on to play for Leicestershire: spin bowler William Finney and fast bowler Arthur Woodcock. Woodcock achieved a national reputation as the fastest bowler in England, and his Wisden obituary opined: ‘how much Leicestershire’s promotion to the first-class [in 1894] was due to his bowling is a matter of history.’

Grace wrote about him at some length:

Thomas Plumb was born at Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 26th July, 1833. His height was 5 ft. 10 in.; weight, 12 St. As a wicket-keeper he was not considered quite up to Lockyer or Pooley's form, although I cannot account for it; possibly it was owing to his connection with Buckinghamshire, whose position as a county was not first-class. 

I am inclined to believe if he had had greater opportunities for displaying his powers, or if he had been connected with a crack county, he would have taken quite as high a position as either of the famous pair I have just mentioned. Anyhow, I am convinced that he was a great deal better than he was thought, and about the best wicket keeper of his time against fast bowling. 

His style was quick and neat, without the slightest show; and while as keen as anyone, he never kept knocking off the bails uselessly as I have seen others do.

And you can find Tom Plumb's career record on Cricket Archive.

But there is a sad story about him which did not make my trail leaflet. You will find it in his obituary in the 1905 Wisden:

The death took place on March 29th of the once-famous wicket-keeper Tom Plumb. For some years he had been in very poor circumstances, and he passed away in the workhouse at Northampton.

Lord Bonkers adds:

People moaned about Kerry Packer and Tony Greig, but the improvement they secured in the lot of cricketers means that it is many years since I have heard of a wicket-keeper (even one from an 'unfashionable' county) entering the workhouse. 

I did once see Bruce French selling matches in Worksop marketplace though.

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Lord Bonkers' Diary: Liam Fox? My dear, I screamed!

We join the old boy as he waits from his flight back from the states.

Liam Fox? My dear, I screamed!

So here I sit in the VIP departure lounge at JFK, fighting off all attempts to put ice in my Auld Johnston. Before they call the flight to Oakham International, let me share with you my hopes for the months ahead in Britain.

First, the Conservative Party. Cameron has made that the fatal error of announcing that he will go before the next election, with the result that the his potential successors have been running wild. Let me list them…

George Osborne, whose political philosophy does not extend beyond the demand that he should have all the sweets and have them now.

Theresa May, who reminds me of a Matron I once employed at the Home for Well-Behaved Orphans. Whilst Terribly Efficient, she was unwilling to take the broad view on bedtimes and muddy knees providing the first XI won its fixtures and her charges showed promise at committee room theory and practice.

Boris Johnson, who wears a Donald Trump fright wig.

I also heard Dr Liam Fox refuse to rule himself out as a future Tory leader. My dear, I screamed!

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10

Earlier this week in Lord Bonkers' Diary...

Do you know New Rutland?

My old Friend Rising Star

The New Rutland Primaries

Read More

I was unimpressed by Sajid Javid before it was fashionable

I have never heard Sajid Javid do anything but mouth slogans. He makes Danny Alexander sound like J.K. Galbraith

— Jonathan Calder (@lordbonkers) April 9, 2014

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Chris Lewis on life after cricket... and prison

Chris Lewis was one of many players christened "the next Ian Botham" to play for England in his era. Unlike most of them, he was an extremely talented cricketer.

That he played 32 tests and 53 one-day internationals and still left behind the feeling that he had not made the most of his talents is a tribute to just how apparent those talents were.

He was a lively opening bowler and a late order batsman who was good enough to score a test century. The video here shows him hitting his first test fifty.

In 2009 he was jailed for 13 years after being caught smuggling drugs. He was released last summer after serving six of them.

He is the subject of a long article in today's Leicester Mercury, which takes in his work talking to young players for the Professional Cricketers' Association:

Today is Tuesday and Tuesday means Nottingham and Trent Bridge. Fifteen grounds done, four more to go (that's 18 clubs and the MCC). Chris Lewis is visiting every one, every first class ground in country and talking to the nation's aspiring young cricketers about life, sport and all the bits in between they don't really think abut. 

"Because I didn't think about it, when I was their age," he says. "I know I didn't. I want to tell them that the decisions they take now, the things they do today, can have a bearing on the rest of their lives." 

Sometimes, it makes little difference. He knows that. Sometimes, when you're speaking to a room full of 19- and 20-year-olds who all think they know best, it's hard to get through, to break the veneer of brio and swagger. 

"But sometimes, it gets through, you know, and you can see that you've reached them," he says.

I wish Chris Lewis well. As I blogged when he was convicted:

My favourite memory of Lewis is seeing him in the nets at Grace Road (Leicestershire's county ground) with a queue of boys waiting to bowl to him. 

Not many test players would bother to do that.

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Satnav and the death of our navigation skills

England is a palimpsest of Medieval churches, abandoned mineral railways, ruinous Gothic institutions and follies built by mad aristocrats. But you won’t find them on your satnav.

So I wrote for the New Statesman website in the days when I wrote for the New Statesman website.

Today comes news (via the Telegraph) that a paper in Nature has backed up my anti-satnav prejudice:

Satellite communication consultant Roger McKinlay, former president of the Royal Institute of Navigation, believes the world is losing its way due to over-reliance on navigation aids. 

Writing in the journal Nature, he argues navigation and map reading should be on the school curriculum. 

Describing navigation as a "use-it-or-lose-it" skill, he warned: "If we do not cherish them, our natural navigation skills will deteriorate as we rely ever more on smart devices."

The school curriculum? I won a Map Reader badge in the Cubs and I think it meant more to me than my degrees did later in life. It was a hint that I might one day succeed in being the sort of outdoors child that I felt I ought to be but feared I never would.

Long before satnav came along, I was surprised by how little idea even educated people had of the geography of their own country.

Organise a work meeting anywhere but central London and you would be deluged with requests for directions. Can't you just look at a road atlas?

And this attitude persists in quiz programmes where questions about British geography or treated as something no one can be expected to know.

What can people who know so little about the subject make of the news?

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Lord Bonkers' Diary: The New Rutland Primaries

Another dispatch from Lord Bonkers recent visit to the United States.

The New Rutland Primaries

By now you will have heard the results of the New Rutland primaries, but I placed my bets as follows. In the Republican contest I put my money on a fellow who rejoiced in the name of ‘Trump’. He goes around in a Boris Johnson fright wig and is the sort of Fascist who would long ago have been debagged and thrown in a stream in the original Rutland, but he is all the rage with the Republicans over here.

My choice on the Democrat side was Hilary Clinton. She is the wife of the former President Clinton and, as such, has had A Lot To Put Up With. Her only rival for the Democrat nomination is one Bernie Sanders, who came bounding up to me at the Gladstone hustings. Did I know his brother, who used to be a Green councillor in Oxford?

It happens that I do know him. I once made the mistake of sitting opposite him at Paddington and was treated to a lecture on how methane generated by cows was causing the atmosphere to warm with the result that subsistence farmers in the Nazca Desert could not make a living and were turning to asparagus farming with the result that the polar ice caps were melting which meant the fishermen of Ullapool were unable to… At this point I bribed the guard to stop the train and put me off at Didcot.

My own address to the Democrat event went tolerably well and when I left town the next day aboard the 3.10 to Yuma, a little fellow called “Come back, Bonkers!” after me.

Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South West, 1906-10

Earlier this week in Lord Bonkers' Diary...

Do you know New Rutland?

My old Friend Rising Star

Read More

In 1969 we could send men to the Moon but lacked the technology to fake a landing

S.G. Collins explains.

h/t the mighty Brian Moore.

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Nick Clegg to hold public meeting in Harborough on 19 May

Nick Clegg will be speaking on Europe at a public meeting on Europe in Oadby on Thursday 19 May.

Also featuring Dinesh Dhamija, the founder of Ebookers, the meeting will take place at Beauchamp College with a 5.30pm for 6pm start.

My old friend Liberal Democrat councillor Phil Knowles says:

"Zuffar Haq and the team are working very hard to make this a successful evening and I have no doubt that tickets will be in high demand. My recommendation is to book early to secure your place at the event and to avoid disappointment.''

To book a place at the meeting, please email Linda Broadley.

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Six of the Best 584

"The UK has gone further down the road of co-opting its citizens into immigration policing than most European countries," says Frances Webber.

Tesco's marketing strategy involves making us feel warm towards farms that do not exist, explains Tom Levitt.

Charlotte Gill is not impressed by a Leeds primary school's decision to ban the game of tag: " I find all of this safeguarding a great shame. It shows how childhood, which should be a free and exploratory time, is now being over-policed."

JohnBoy pays tribute to Barry Hines. Among the facts he is uncovers is that Hines once played in a Loughborough Colleges team alongside Dario Gradi and Bob Wilson.

"Though the origin of Easter eggs and Easter bunnies can be traced back to ancient times, the Victorians did not begin to celebrate Easter in the way that we know now until the late 19th century. It was then that Easter bunnies became fashionable." Some fascinating social history from Mimi Matthews.

Eric Grunhauser on the stave churches of Norway, which combine Christian architecture with Nordic designs and the motifs of a Viking great hall.

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