Kostas Balafas, Photographer of Epirus

A reminder of Balafas' wonderful black and white photographs of Epirus (248 images)

The book:

"Epirus is Balafas’ photographic portrait of his birthplace, the mountainous region in the North West of Greece, and its people. Taken from 1945 to 1970, the 300 photographs in the collection make up a narrative of local history through the lens of landscape and tradition. At the same time, as Angelos Delivorias points out in his introduction, history is but the reality of life. Each of Balafas’ photographs is a unique testimony to the passage of time in one place, and to the artist’s experience of it. In this respect, the photographer becomes a poet and his work a mythmaking narrative. Kostas Balafas was born in 1920 of peasant parents in a mountain village of Epirus. He took part in the Resistance (1941-44), fighting against the German occupiers, and recording it in an album of photographs entitled "The Rebel Army in Epirus". From 1951 he was an employee at the Greek Public Electricity Company, devoting his spare time to photography. His photographic style and subjects are greatly influenced by the hard conditions of his childhood and the struggles of the Greek people for independence, which he witnessed: Balafas portrays the toil and sufferings of the poor; young workers, old women and small children on their way to earn the day’s bread; and the rough landscape surrounding them."

Dorset: Tunnels Beneath Dorchester

From the Dorset Echo

A mosaic and a network of tunnels

Rebetika Music at King's College, London, 18 October 2014

One for the diary 18 October:

"The popular musics of Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Levant shaped an affective underground across the region for much of the twentieth century, the popular styles of one country spilling over into the next thanks to radio, film and recordings. Post war migration made them a subterranean presence in London’s soundscape, too, from Green Lanes to the Edgware Road and beyond. What imbued these hybrid, cosmopolitan musical practices with such power, persuasion and resilience? What did the authorities, from place to place, from era to era, fear in them, exactly? How did the musical underground of one country become that of another? What cultural and political labor do these genres still perform? What charge do they still carry?

Roderick Beaton, Director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies and Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine Language and Literature, and Martin Stokes, King Edward Professor of Music, will give two short, illustrated talks, exploring the idea and the allure of a musical underground, focusing on rebetika and broader Eastern Mediterranean soundscapes, respectively.

The performance element will connect King’s College London research with some prominent voices in the Greek, Turkish and Arab communities of the city.Cigdem Aslan and Friends explore Smyrnaic and Piraeus rembetika, in both Greek and Turkish. Oxford Maqam represent the underground of the early Egyptian sound recording era, from Sheikh Salah Abd al-Hayy Hilmi to Sayyid Darwish, from Sami Shawwa to the famous Cairo dance orchestras of the era".

Raw Music: Christopher King, Vinyl Asides; Alexis Zoumbas

Featuring Christopher King  (Vinyl Asides, Episode 8).

On Alexis Zoumbas, "Blues All Kinds" from Magic Jukebox blog.

Christopher King on Zoumbas, Paris Review


Donal Dineen’s Sunken Treasure: Alexis Zoumbas’s ‘A Lament for Epirus 1926-1928’, Irish Times -This rare collision of tradition and modernity is one of the most beguiling records you will ever hear

Scotland: The Unfair 'Barnett Formula' Public Funding Bribe- Inequitable in Perpetuity?

The Barnett formula was discussed in this 2004 publication, which resulted from seminars in Uppsala in 2002. "In Scotland the fiscal issue remains up for grabs- especially as the Barnett formula is increasingly seen as politically unsustainable in the longer term. It discriminates against the English regions and favours Scotland. In any future negotiations Scottish elected officials may well prefer a trade off that gives them increased control over (almost certainly higher) local taxation in exchange for reduced centrally distributed largesse. Given the much stronger social democratic ethos that exists in the Scottish Labour Party, this is a possibility." (page 31).

This Telegraph article by Dan Hodges makes a fair point: "not at any price".

The Times has a related front page story on 17 September.

"Mr. Cameron's pledge to maintain the Barnett formula, which ensures that the Scots receive annual funding of £1,600 per head per year more than the English, triggered a revolt in the party..."

Gordon Brown has argued on TV (eg "Scotland Decides, The Dimbleby Interviews") that the Barnett formula continues to be justified "on the basis of need" (see especially the interview section from the 20'56 mark until 21'50). Gordon Brown made some very persuasive and convincing points overall, but some might justly object that the Barnett formula is not a good example of "sharing the same economic rights", of "equity between the regions", or of a process of "sharing and allocating resources equitably and fairly, according to need". Does Scotland really have much greater needs because of its rural areas and greater number of pensioners?

Gary Gibbon, Channel 4 News, wrote that Gordon Brown is "trying to get the Tories to sign up to the current funding arrangements for Scotland – the Barnett formula – in perpetuity".

Brown's call for "Three Guarantees" (BBC News)

What is "the Barnett Formula"? (Wikipedia)

"Barnett viewed the formula that he devised as unfair. In The Scotsman in January 2004 he wrote, "It was never meant to last this long, but it has gone on and on and it has become increasingly unfair to the regions of England. I didn't create this formula to give Scotland an advantage over the rest of the country when it comes to public funding."

See Barnett's original article in The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday, 11 January 2004

See Lord Barnett's latest "terrible mistake" admission

Can it really be that the three main UK political party leaders have made a vow amongst themselves to have the Barnett formula "set in stone"?

Dan Hodges has returned to the topic (17 September):

"The people of Scotland have been given a guarantee that whatever people in the rest of the Union might decide, they will be insulated from their political choices...Nor, as we saw yesterday, are the people of Scotland being asked to sign up for economic union. Yesterday we had the “Vow” – brokered by Gordon Brown and endorsed by the leaders of the three main parties – that the Barnett Formula will be retained if independence is rejected. That’s the mechanism whereby Scotland gets 20 per cent more in annual public spending than England, and which was described by its architect Joel Barnett yesterday as "unfair and should be stopped, it is a mistake. This way is terrible and can never be sustainable, it is a national embarrassment.” It is this unsustainable national embarrassment that is supposedly the bedrock of our Union".

Update from Sky News "The Barnett Formula Explained"

A disagreement about the Barnett formula Andrew Fallon talks to Andrew Neill

Lord Barnett on the Barnett Formula: Latest -Talking to Peter Stanford (Telegraph) IMPORTANT!

Update: Gordon Brown, in his Fife speech on 20 September, confirmed that the Barnett formula will be maintained. Does Michael Gove agree?

The Guardian Q and A, Alan Travis and Tom Clark:

"What does it actually amount to?" 
"A close reading of the language on public spending amounts more to a hedge than a pledge. The UK parties were already committed to keeping the so-called Barnett formula, which determines Scotland's relatively generous UK funding for health, education, law and order and other devolved domestic services. But the convoluted wording on the promise to keep the 35-year-old Barnett formula meant the commitment was not quite clear. This confusion was compounded by William Hague saying on Friday that with increased devolution the formula would be 'less relevant' over time".

"What does the rest of the United Kingdom want to happen to the Barnett formula?
"The Barnett formula, named after the 1970s Labour chief secretary to the Treasury at the time, Joel Barnett, is used to calculate how public spending on devolved matters is allocated by the Treasury between the four British nations. English MPs from all parties, and the Welsh government, are demanding that it be revised. The formula is based on the population of each country, with England originally allocated 85% and Scotland 10%, but it has since been updated. Lord Barnett has made clear that it was not based on a needs assessment of each nation. In per capita terms, based on the 2011-12 allocations, it was estimated that per head England gets £8,529 per person under the formula, Scotland £10,152, Wales £9,709 and Northern Ireland £10,876. One way to address the different levels of public spending could be to base the formula on a needs-based assessment, rather than solely population, as Barnett, now 90, has suggested. This week he proclaimed it a "national embarrassment" and said he was ashamed his name was still associated with it".

Lord Barnett on the Subsidy, Mail Online

Final update on this topic: Tim Shipman, from his front page story on the Scotland deal, Sunday Times, 21 September:

"With Tory MPs poised to revolt if Cameron, as promised, keeps the Barnett formula, which guarantees Scots £1,600 a head more than the English, Paterson added: 'The English will not tolerate another lop-sided settlement designed to appease nationalist sentiment paid for by English taxpayers'".

Dorset: Roman Villa and Mosaics, Druce Farm, Puddletown

The Roman Villa was featured on the BBC Regional News today (view here).

"The project is due to finish next year, when the site will be covered up".

An article from June in Dorset Life


Directions to the Roman Villa, Druce Farm, Puddletown, from a previous Open Day online announcement (NB probably NOT open to visitors now - need to find out when it will next be open to visitors):

Instructions on how to get to Druce Farm from Dorchester

"Follow the A35 East towards Bere Regis/ Poole/Bournemouth for about 3.9 miles,

Take the exit signposted A354/B3142 to Blandford/Milborne St. Andrew/Piddlehinton,

At the roundabout take the 1st exit on to the B3142,

From Poole follow the A35 West towards Bere Regis/ Puddletown/Dorchester for 1.1 miles,

Continue on through one roundabout on the A35 for about 9.3 miles,

At next roundabout take 2nd exit and continue along the A35 for 6 miles,

Take the exit signposted A354/B3142 to Blandford, Piddlehinton, Puddletown,

At the roundabout take the 3rd exit on to the A354,

At the next roundabout take the 1st exit on to the B3142,

After about 1 mile turn right just before a sharp left bend (there is a triangle of grass at junction, be aware that there is also a lane which you have to cross before entering farms driveway) and Druce Farm is ahead.

Drive through the gateway (Druce Farmhouse is on your right), then some large Victorian cottages, pass the cart shed on your left, follow the farm track with a modern cottage on your right.

The track forks - take the left hand track and you will see several cars in the field".