Regular followers of this blog will be aware of my republican views and that I find the concept of a monarchy not only outdated but offensive to any sense of democracy or egalitarianism. Cake-maker extraordinaire, Claire Price (standing, left) decided to try and sway my opinions with a delicious Union Flag cake and a celebration of the queen's 90th birthday! Well, the cake was delicious and I remain committed to my anti-monarchist ways.
The Union Flag is looking a little tarnished these days as it is misappropriated by all manner of nationalist bigots as a tool in the divisive, unnecessary and foolish campaign to take the UK out of the EU. The vicious anti-immigrant language of the likes of Farage and Johnson has led to the death of one of the very few MPs with any integrity, the young, campaigning activist, Jo Cox who was shot and stabbed to death last week by a lunatic who had been whipped up by the general language of fear and hatred being promoted by the "Leave" campaign and their mouthpieces such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Express.
The estimable
Richard Dawkins hits the nail on the head with his analysis of the situation as regards the pointlessness of the referendum and the idiocy of asking an ill-educated and propaganda-fed population to decide on a matter of the utmost importance. This referendum has come about as a direct result of Cameron's moral cowardice; as he was too scared to say to his government, "I believe that we should stay in Europe and these are the economic and political reasons why..." we are being dragged towards an abyss of irrelevance, bankruptcy and fascism by a team of extremely manipulative liars and spin doctors who have turned this from an argument about economics into one of xenophobia and hate. The sorry conclusion of this is that someone of worth, of talent, belief and principals has died.
This is not a referendum about membership of the EU. It is a referendum about the future of the ultra-right in the UK and I read a comment somewhere yesterday which said, "I feel like a lefty who is being forced to support Cameron in a Tory leadership election". It is terrifying that Cameron is the moderate in this shambles.
Tuesday night at the School of Jewellery was the "Industry Night" where the local jewellery industry are invited in to view the show and it was jumping.
The work, as ever, was fantastic and I'm really proud of the work by my HND students:
 |
| Megan Chiles |
 |
| Emily Frearson |
 |
| Yi (Herbert) Feng |
 |
| Kate Hadden |
 |
| Stephanie Holt |
 |
| Vanessa Miller |
 |
| Mahroz Mirzahekmati |
Here they all are, with me, Jo Pond and Kate Thorley!
The BA Design for Industry very nicely bridges the craft-focus of the HND and the design-focus of the BA Jewellery and Related Products, with a strong focus on digital and new technologies:
 |
| Rebecca Wilkes |
 |
| Katy Tromans |
 |
| Wang Sing Liew |
 |
| Stephanie Wills |
 |
| Aaron Cumbers |
BA Horology - the only degree course in Horology anywhere in the world - were also part of the show:
 |
| Lance Bennett |
The BA Jewellery and Related Products show was very strong too:
 |
| Shen Zhang |
 |
| Amber Cooper-Green |
 |
| Jie Guan |
 |
| Anne-Marie Don Zinga |
 |
| Ye Ting Chuen |
 |
| Zeyun Chen |
You can link to more of their work, work by other students at the
Jewellery Futures Website.
Wednesday night saw me in church for Choral Evensong. Yes, indeed. In Roger Hirons' "Untitled (A Retrospective View of the Pathway)" in which the choir are reconfigured to perform the service lying down on their backs. We were requested not to take any photographs, so here is one from the
Birmingham Cathedral website:
I have to confess that I didn't understand any of this but the whole thing was rather lovely and the blue of the robes of the choir reminded me very much of Hirons' other works in copper sulphate crystals.
The cathedral is quite lovely, with some phenomenal Edward Burne-Jones windows:
Most exciting for me was seeing the altar cross by one of my jewellery heroes, John Donald:
In Brighton for this weekend, preparing for a busy week of concerts and the British Art Medal Society conference in Oxford.
