Ilkley...

Licensed yesterday: Ilkley railway station at dusk...

Acting presidential...

Americans have bought nearly 17 million guns so far this this year - more than in any other single year - which suggests that the election may not be decided on Tuesday night. Since Donald Trump has already said that the only way he can lose is if the vote is rigged, the result may be decided in the courts or, just possibly, by armed insurrection in the streets of the more combustible cities. I’m hoping for a Biden landslide, which would give Trump the opportunity to act presidential - for the first and only time in his life - and concede the victory to his opponent.

Licensed today: milecastle 42 on Hadrian's Wall (the Mexicans paid for it)...

 

Tolerating intolerance...

In the wake of the attacks in France, Islamic leaders have tried to make a clear distinction between their religion and the violent acts which claim to defend it. This ‘distinction’, trotted out after every such atrocity, is both disingenuous and misleading. As a reading of the Koran makes clear, religious intolerance plays as central a role in Islam as the cross and the resurrection play in Christianity, and tolerating intolerance is no way to bring this cycle of violence to an end. 

Stillington village, licensed today...

Yorkshire...

I’ve watched the northern counties being incorporated, one by one, into tiers 2 and 3. Now it’s the turn of East Yorkshire and Humberside to go into level 2, with West Yorkshire, as I’ve just discovered, going into level 3. The situation is so volatile; I wonder how many people actually understand their rights and responsibilities, as we head into winter.

Yorkshire in better days, licensed today… 

Thought for the Day...

Just listened to Thought for the Day, on Radio 4, which featured, as usual, a ‘faith perspective’ on current events, with a homespun homily tagged on at the end. Today’s offering included a well-known quote from Julian of Norwich - “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well” - to suggest that, the global spread of coronavirus nonwithstanding, God has everything under control.

The Thought for the Day slot is pre-recorded, which gives Martha Kearney no opportunity to ask the most obvious follow-up question: “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not one of my favourite buildings, but licensed today: Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds… 

Blasphemy...

In the countries where free speech actually matters, the law of blasphemy is being consigned to the history books. With religious beliefs now being offered no special protection, they have to compete for our attention - and affiliation - in the forum of ideas. However, in countries where Islam predominates, the blasphemy laws are being strengthened, to the point where belief in any religion other than Islam may be considered blasphemous. The likely result? Mob rule, sectarian violence and summary executions.  

President Macron has nailed his colours to the mast, speaking about “the freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the refusal of any call to hatred”. France won’t be giving in to Islamic extremists whose interest in freedom only extends to fellow Muslims, and I hope other European heads of state will follow his example.

The war memorial in Hull, with an obliging seagull completing the picture...

Paull lighthouse...

I’d never seen a lighthouse incorporated into a row of terraced houses… until yesterday. Paull is a village on the north side of the Humber. The broad estuary is immediately to the right, beyond a sea-wall…

 

Bowness on Windermere...

The clocks go back tonight. I’ve decided to put my clock back to 2019… so I can wander into a pub, join the throng of people at the bar, and maybe hug a stranger.

Licensed yesterday: boats in Bowness Bay...

 

Clerical abuse...

Though the details may change, the abuse of children by Church of England clerics presents a depressingly familiar narrative, with the church proving to be more interested in protecting its own reputation than in seeking justice for the victims.  

One aspect of clerical abuse has long puzzled me. If churchmen really believed in heaven and hell, sin and salvation, would they put their immortal souls at risk by preying on children? Perhaps they know that hell is, in fact, nothing more than a cynical invention to keep gullible parishioners on the ‘straight and narrow path’. Abusive clerics don’t fear the prospect of eternal punishment in the life to come, because they know it’s just a fairy story.

Licensed tday: a pub in Wansford, Cambridgeshire...

Sectarian violence...

When Muslims turn to violence, their victims are, overhelmingly, other Muslims. Currently, in Pakistan, the Sunni majority is using the country’s strict blasphemy laws to target - and murder - Shias. Blasphemy is still a capital offence in Pakistan and even unsubstantiated allegations can lead to mob violence and lynchings.  

The Sunni/Shia split dates back to the immediate aftermath of Mohammed’s death, in the sixth century CE, with a dispute over the succession. Since Mohammed did not leave a united people, and neglected to appoint a successor, a schism quickly opened up among his followers. Some believers accepted that Abu Bakr, Mohammed’s father-in-law, was rightfully installed as the first caliph. Other believers supported the rival claims of Ali, Mohammed’s son-in-law. The supporters of Abu Bakr became Sunni Muslims, named after the sunnah tradition, while the supporters of Ali became Shia Muslims, named after an abbreviation of ‘Shiat ‘Ali’. This schism divided Islam from the outset, and Muslims have been killing fellow Muslims - over the ways they choose to worship the same God - for fourteen centuries.

There is no obvious mechanism for healing this long-standing rift, since the followers of both traditions believe that they - and they alone - have access to divine truth. Dogmatic beliefs create a perfect barrier to progress. Without an Islamic ‘reformation’, sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims will continue indefinitely.

Licensed today: Wainman's Pinnacle, overlooking Cowling and the Aire Valley...

 

Stalking the postman...

Blimey, my local postman gets to appear in two national papers… on the same day (and the pix were taken on the same day, in Howden)...

The Times

 

The Guardian

Fantasy football...

Forced to play in empty grounds, a lot of smaller football clubs are going bankrupt. Clubs at the top of the pyramid are more fortunate. Even without fans paying to come through the turnstiles, the big clubs can rely on TV money to fund the grotesque transfer fees and players’ wages. Mesut Özil, the Arsenal midfielder, is currently being paid £18m a year to not play football; the last time he warmed the substitutes’ bench was back in March. At the same time, Arsenal, pleading penury, have sacked 55 members of their backroom staff and the club’s dinosaur mascot. Fantasy football is alive and well; it’s called the Premier League.

Licensed today: a farmhouse under construction near Caldbeck, Cumbria…

 

Everyday life...

My diary is pretty empty. The next occasion I’m looking forward to is Donald J Trump being frog-marched out of the White House by military police, deposited unceremoniously, like a bag of rubbish, on Pennsylvania Avenue and warned “Don't let us find you in this neighbourhood again”.

People often give me a funny look (or, just possibly, an earful of abuse) whenever I photograph everyday situations such as this pic, which was licensed today…

 

Taking offence...

On cue, another Muslim has been “offended” by something someone has said or done or written or drawn: in this case it was a cartoon of Mohammed, used by a teacher in a French school to illustrate the concept of free speech. And, because he was “offended”, he assumed the right to take the life of a hard-working teacher, husband and family man… in the traditional way, as sanctioned by the Koran: decapitated with a butcher's knife.

In the hierarchy of rights and responsibilities, free speech and the rule of law - man’s law, that is, not God’s law - are paramount. While religious people are required to operate under the rule of law, like the rest of us, there is no reciprocal requirement for law-abiding people to respect the unevidenced beliefs promoted by the religious.

As Christopher Hitchens used to say… “If someone tells me that I've hurt their feelings, I say, 'I'm still waiting to hear what your point is.’ I've been told 'That's offensive’, as if those two words constitute an argument or a comment. Not to me they don’t”.

Licensed last week: another shot of Lowther Castle in Cumbria… where the Lowther family squandered the family fortune on this vainglorious architectural folly…

 

Topiary...

Another shot of the topiary gardens at Levens Hall, Cumbria, licensed yesterday...

 

Invitations to violence...

A writer in today's Guardian complains about the portrayal of Muslims in film as either “terrorists or oppressed women”. Yes, film-makers too often resort to hackneyed stereotypes. And yes, millions of Muslims lead peaceful lives, preoccupied with the same things that preoccupy everyone else: family, friends, work, leisure, etc. Yet there are aspects of Islam which make the religion uniquely problematic. The insistence that every single word of the Koran is irrefutably true is not extreme; it's a moderate, entirely mainstream belief. So what are we to make of verses such as these? “When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them” (9:5). “When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them” (47.4). “God’s curse be upon the infidels” (2.89).

These, and hundreds of similar verses, aren’t parables or metaphors; they’re explicit invitations to violence against those of other faiths or no faith at all (and let’s not forget that “infidels” aren't wicked people... they're just non-Muslims). Criticism of the Koran is forbidden - within the faith and without - and those brave souls who call for an Islamic ‘reformation’ are putting their lives at risk. While most Muslims will refuse these invitations to violence, some, inevitably, won't. Koran-inspired violence will continue to erupt periodically, as long as Muslims believe the book to be “perfect”. 

Licensed today: boats on Windermere...

Lavenham...

Always happy to license a pic of a much-photographed place. This is Lavenham in Suffolk...

 

Chris Killip...

Just woken up to the news that Chris Killip has died, aged 74, with words of appreciation by Martin Parr. Chris Killip was an uncompromising character, who shot mostly with a 5x4in camera; his pictures, of the industrial north-east, are powerful, unforgettable. Years ago, when I worked on Camera magazine, I interviewed him at his home. With the only furniture being a wooden table and chair, Chris explained that he’d only just moved in (though, after a few beers in his local pub, he admitted he’d actually been living there there for ten years). Next morning he offered me the “standard breakfast”, which turned out to be two asprin.

Licensed today: Brandlehow pier and Derwentwater...

 

Bar tailed godwit...

A bar tailed godwit has been ‘clocked’ flying 7,500 miles non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand in just 11 days, at speeds up to 55mph. Amazing! Godwits flock to the wetlands along the River Humber; in their breeding plumage they offer reassurance that spring has finally arrived. Pic: Creative Commons...

River Aire...

This cartoon, in today’s Guardian, neatly skewers the government’s topsy-turvey responses to the coronavirus. Back in March the message, though drastic, was at least comprehensible: “stay home”. Now? We’re lost in a maze.

The River Aire at Beal, today, with a wintry sky (and Ferrybridge power station on the horizon)...

Pentre Ifan...

Licensed today: Pentre Ifan, a neolithic dolmen in Pembrokeshire, Wales...

Cockermouth...

Licensed today: the main street of Cockermouth, in Cumbria...

Pumpkins...

According to an article in today’s Guardian, less than 50% of the population is aware that pumpkins can be eaten. The poll of 3,000 adults in the UK, carried out by the food charity Hubbub, reveals that of the 24 million pumpkins bought, 12.76m will be carved but the flesh not used… adding to the mountain of avoidable food waste.

According to the front-page story in the Goole Times, the town is getting a £900,000 face-lift. Hmmm... It might cost a bit more than that...

 

Anvil Barn...

The house next door is finished and on the market. Seems like a big price for a small house...

Mattresses...

New stock arrives at the bedding store in Goole (guaranteed to be "only lightly soiled")...

Skipton...

The spring branch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, in Skipton, last week... 

Motorway...

The Ouse Bridge, carrying the M62 over the river, between Goole and Howden...

 

Storms and crises...

"One observes the storms and crises that are multiplying in the world, the economic catastrophes, and so on. We go through these incidents and experiences almost unthinkingly. What is our life, as it is lived daily, all about? Where is it we are going? It is important to understand the question of what is living - the days we spend in constant strife, the battle, one against the other, the everlasting struggle, accumulating, losing, frightened, pursuing pleasure and stimulation, the physical and psychological pain, the utter empty loneliness of one’s life, the escapes that thought has invented as religion and politics. Behind all this, there is fear and great anxiety, untold misery. This is what we call living, with occasional flashes of joy which is uninvited, a feeling of happiness that soon fades into pleasure. 

This life, we know pretty well. Outwardly there are increasing storms coming, and each one is concerned with one’s own life. We don’t think beyond our particular agony, frustration, misery and confusion, but all this is the lot of most people. We don’t seem to be able to change ourselves or outward circumstances. It is difficult to change the economic and political structure, but perhaps we could, if we apply our minds, our thought, our energy, bring about a change in ourselves, a change which is so immensely necessary. Unless one transforms oneself completely, we are going to have a dreadful time ahead of us. 

This is not a prophecy; this is what one observes actually going on, with things getting worse: overpopulation, lack of food, and the devastation when there is no rain. Poorer countries are going to peacefully or violently demand that the rich should give and not hold everything to themselves. Observing this, one asks whether you as a human being living in this mad chaos, can change, not through necessity, compulsion or the demands of another, but whether you can change yourself, put away your all-consuming selfishness, the pursuit of money, demanding more and more and more, and whether you can end your suffering, not only the physical pain but also the inward, unresolved suffering" (Krishnamurti)...

Wymondham...

Licensed yesterday: the 17th century market cross in Wymondham, Norfolk...

 

Trump...

Maybe there is a God after all. The man who scoffed at the virus, refused to wear a mask, insisted that CV-19 would “soon be gone” and even suggested that patients mifght benefit from injecting bleach, has now tested positive… proving that the virus can attack sceptics too.

Licensed today: the view down Kirkstone Pass to Brotherswater... 

Terraces...

Licensed today: terraced houses in Seamer, North Yorkshire... and Burwash, in Sussex...