Sanctuary Wood

A quick lunch in Ypres followed by a visit to Sanctuary Wood where our historians donned their Wellington boots and headed into some very muddy WW1 trenches and tunnels.

Ypres

Arrived at Ypres following a very smooth Channel crossing. A brisk orientation walk through the town is planned before lunch before heading to the battlefields themselves. Our historians have already spotted some of the WW1 cemeteries and railway lines.

Battlefields Trip

Welcome to the Y10 Battlefields trip updates. 50 intrepid and excited historians plus 5 rather bleary eyed teachers met at 5am and set off on our adventure. A lovely view of the sun rising over Rochester an early highlight of our trip.
More from the trip once we get to Belgium.

International Women's Day

Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. First celebrated in 1911, it was used as a rallying cry for the women's suffrage movement and then pivotally for reform during the First World War. Nowhere was this more important than in Russia where the women's protests in 1917 led to the fall of the Tsar. It is now a national holiday in Russia. See here for more information from the official site for the Day. Read here about its history from the UN's perspective.
Michelle Obama was celebrating the day as well yesterday with a press conference at the White House. It is a significant world celebration and event but there is not much about it in Britain. Should this change?
Here is one group's attempt to higher the profile of women's battle for equality starring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench - what do you think?

EHIC Cards and Weather Update

For those going on the Belgium trip who still do not have an EHIC card, here is the website where you can apply for one and find out further information. Your parents will need to apply for you, quoting their National Insurance number.

To keep an eye on the weather, click here for a detailed weather forecast for Ypres. Below is the BBC 5 day forecast for Lille which, although in France, is the nearest weather station it has for Ypres.

Justin Webb Visit

An exciting visit today from Justin Webb, the presenter of the Today programme on Radio 4. He started working for the BBC in 1984 and has done a variety of different jobs since then from Breakfast News to the European Correspondent to (most importantly for A2 Politics students) the BBC's Chief Washington Correspondent from 2001. He remained in the USA until 2009 when he started working for the Today programme.
Come along to the Library at 1.15pm to hear his talk and ask him questions.

Electoral results

An election and referendum result in one day! The Barnsley Central By-election was won by Labour with 61% of the vote, up from 50% at the General Election 2010. The Liberal Democrats were pushed into sixth place which will obviously leave Nick Clegg with some questions from his party. Two different interpretations of the results: one from the Guardian lauding the success of the Labour Party and one from the Telegraph delighting in the Liberal Democrats' humiliation.
The Welsh Referendum on whether to devolve further powers to the Assembly was successful with 63% voting yes. This will mean that the Assembly has direct law-making powers in twenty areas including health and education. See the BBC's site for more information and for what it might mean for the future of the Welsh Assembly.

King John on Film

A new film about King John, "Ironclad", will be released on Friday. It is of particular interest to Nonsuch students as it focuses on the Siege of Rochester Castle, which took place after John was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Early reviews suggest that this won't win many Oscars next year, but that the Siege itself is quite exciting, and that Paul Giamatti puts in an enjoyable performance as the devious monarch. This BBC article wonders why John is so often portrayed as a villain, and why he has such a reputation as a poor king. Some contemporary chroniclers such as Matthew Paris and Roger Wendover wrote at length about various acts of cruelty he was said to have performed, but, as most Year 7s will know, these were often full of inaccuracies. The Tudors were more sympathetic to John as was involved in a dispute with the Pope, which obviously would have been well received following the break with Rome. The popular view of John, and in particular his connection with the Robin Hood stories, comes from 19th Century. His chaotic personal life was viewed as morally dubious by the Victorians, and the Whig view of History identified the signing of the Magna Carta as a crucial moment in England's political development, pushing the barons forward as heroes against John's repressive rule.

Whatever the film might say, John eventually recaptured Rochester Castle in November 1215 (bringing down one of the towers after tunnelling under it and then setting fire to the wooden supports with the fat of 30 pigs) and looked set to complete the rebelling barons completely. However, he failed to seize the opportunity and then, after a "fit of over-indulgence", died of dysentry in October 1216. His son Henry III was declared King and the Magna Carta reissued. His reign was over, but his reputation for incompetence and cruelty had been sealed.

You can read more about King John here, and about other incompetent Kings here. For the Disney interpretation of John, look here.

A History of Protest Songs

Radio 4's Front Row had a discussion tonight about the importance of protest songs, including a discussion about how songs had been written and performed by protesters in Cairo's Tahir Square and downloaded onto YouTube - you can see some examples here and here. It included a contribution from Dorian Lynskey, who has written "33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History of Protest Songs", which discusses 33 of the most influential songs, from Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" through to Green Day's "American Idiot". You can see the whole list here and also see his blog where he discusses other influential songs, usually supported by YouTube clips. If you have Spotify, you can download a playlist of 50 of them here.Which songs or musicians do you think have had an important part to play in encouraging protest and political change? Do let us know.

STV and the Irish Election

This week's Irish elections look set to result in a coalition between Fine Gael and Labour, with Fine Gael's Enda Kenny appointed as the new Taoiseach. It is of particular interest to Nonsuch HP readers as it is an example of how the Single Transferable Vote system works on a national scale. The elections have seen the previous ruling party, Fianna Fáil, resoundingly defeated over their handling of the economic crisis. Not all the results are yet in due to the need to have several recounts within each constituency, as the votes are transferred until sufficient candidates have met their quota. You can read a good explanation of how the system works here, and get the latest statistics on the Irish Elections here, courtesy of the Irish Times.