tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-543747512453642706.post6227531972148972736..comments2008-04-27T06:13:39.959-07:00Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11534963974507529592noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-543747512453642706.post-33864389133455247752008-04-27T06:13:00.000-07:002008-04-27T06:13:00.000-07:00Hi Paul<BR/><BR/>I came across your book via the Guardian review. I believe the struggle you're articulating has many fronts and aspects. For example, I think the Transition Town movement, although a reaction to Peak Oil, is all about communities fighting the multinationals' rape of the planet and restoring the local connections - it has multiple benefits. (Where I live, Machynlleth, Wales, is a Transition Town.)<BR/><BR/>I suppose where I take issue with your book is why you concentrate only on England - why not the UK? I moved to Wales from England. I like it here partly because some towns - Llanidloes is a good example - remind me of what England was like before the process you describe became endemic. But it is still under attackfrom the same forces. <BR/><BR/>I'm a writer. In the early '80s I worked with a couple of artists on reinventing the Marvel character Captain Britain, a Captain America clone draped in a union jack. I knew he was a ridiculous character, and in the wrong hands could be a channel for fascist propaganda, so I made him a bit Carollian and tried to introduce some politics. When I did so I was censored - and resigned. (A couple of yeasr later it was cool to have politics in comics).<BR/><BR/>Now I find that I'm coming back to the character, and am plotting a second 'return to roots' story. I am trying to address all the issues in your book, but inevitably for Britain as a whole. Not just the Celtic roots (the character comes with a strong connection to Merlin etc.), but its modern diversity.<BR/><BR/>In particular, I want to understand the current public attitude to what the UK has become, as a country colonised by vested interests and marketing pressures, global economic forces and lifestyle changes. <BR/><BR/>You mention various local campaigns against specific developments, such as in Oxford and Lancaster. Do you have a view on how how many people support what you term 'the battle against the bland', and whether, in fact, the majority view is: enthusiastic accceptance of modern life; resignation in the face of forces outside one's control; quiet despair; retreat into individualistic consumerism as compensation; or, in fact, a renaissance of new community spirit? If there was a call to rise up and fight in the battle, how many would do so, and do numbers count any more?<BR/><BR/>Best wishes<BR/>David Thorpe<BR/>www.davidthorpe.info<BR/>hello@davidthorpe.infoLow Carbon Kidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04215770376688861114noreply@blogger.com