Jane Winter’s blog posted 21 April 2024
Michael Ward has written a fascinating about about Beatrice and Sydney Webb, co-founders of the Fabian Society, which laid the foundations for the welfare state in the UK. He not only recounts their eccentric and revolutionary lives, but also explores the multi-faceted network of people whose lives and work they influenced. Highly recommended.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 2 April 2024
Remembering with sorrow and outrage the seven aid workers killed by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza while trying to deliver food to starving Palestinians. They deserve that their killers should be identified and made accountable for this clear breach of the Geneva Conventions. Their courage and compassion should never be forgotten, along with the many other aid workers,. journalists, medical staff, and other non-combattants who have died in this unjustifidable war.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 17 March 2024
ALEXEI NAVALNY
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (4 June 1976 -16 February 2024) was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner. He organised anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia and against President Vladimir Putin and his government. He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. In August 2020, Navalny was poisoned by government agents using the nerve agent Novichok. His life was saved when he was medically evacuated to Berlin. He was still recuperating when he returned to Russia in January 2021, and was arrested immediately on arrival. Following a series of show-trials, in August 2023 Navalny was sentenced to 19 years in prison on extremism charges. Altogether he spent 1,124 days in prison, 308 of them in solitary confinement. In December 2023 he was secretly moved from a high-security prison to an arctic maximum-security penal colony known as IK-6, nicknamed “Polar Wolf” for the harshness of its regime. On 16 February 2024, Navalny died there, aged 47, in unexplained and suspicious circumstances. He had appeared in court by video-link only one day previously, apparently reasonably well. His body was not released to his mother until eight days after his death. No independent post-mortem was allowed. It is widely believed that he was murdered by the state. Very many thousands of Russian people publicly marked his death and his funeral in defiance of state opposition. Four weeks after his death, people are still leaving flowers at his grave. Despite Putin’s claim to have won 88% of the vote in this weekend’s election, the BBC puts his actual support at between 30 and 35%. Many Russians heeded Navalny’s and others’ call to demonstrate by arriving at polling stations today at midday and voting for anyone but Putin, spoiling their ballot paper, or writing Navalny’s name across it.
The letter reproduced below sums up his legacy. It is my own transcription of a live reading of the letter at the Royal Albert Hall in London by Benjamin Cumberbatch at an event called Letters Live on 8 March 2024, which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25qEVGqPwLk Any mistakes are my own, as is the punctuation. I believe that Alexei Navalny’s message is relevant to everyone around the world who cares about democracy, freedom, and human rights.
ONE OF ALEXEI NAVALNY’S LAST LETTERS
written from IK-6 in Kharp on 17 January 2024
Exactly three years ago I returned to Russia after undergoing treatment for poisoning. I was arrested at the airport and here I am three years in and for three years I’ve been answering the same question. Inmates ask it plainly and directly. Prison administration staff ask it cautiously with the recorders off. Why did you come back?
In answering this question I even feel a slight annoyance of two kinds. The first is at myself for not being able to find such words that everyone would understand and stop asking. The second at Russian politics over the last decades, which has so inculcated society with cynicism and conspiracy theory that people fundamentally do not believe in simple motives, like if you come back you must have made a deal with someone, it just didn’t work out or it hasn’t worked out yet. There must be some cunning plan involving the powers of the Kremlin. In any case, there’s some secret underpinning. After all, everything in politics is not all as it seems.
But there are no secrets or schemes. It’s actually very simple. I have my country and my convictions and I don’t want to renounce either my country or my convictions, and I cannot betray the first or the second. If your convictions are worth anything, you should be ready to stand up for them and, if necessary, make some sacrifices. And if you’re not ready, then you have no convictions at all. You just think you do. But those are not convictions and principles, just thoughts in your head.
Of course, this does not mean that everyone who is not in jail has no convictions. Everyone pays their price and for many it’s so, so high without jail. I participated in elections and aspired to leadership positions. A different standard applies to me. I travelled across the country and declared from the stage: I promise I will not let you down; I will not deceive you; and I will not abandon you. By returning I fulfilled my promise to my voters. After all there must eventually be those in Russia who do not lie to them.
It so happens that in Russia now for my right to have and not hide my convictions I must pay by sitting in solitary confinement, and of course I don’t like sitting, but I will not renounce either my ideas or my homeland. My convictions are not exotic, sectarian, or radical. On the contrary, everything I believe in is based on science and historical experience. Power should change hands. The best way to choose a government is through honest and free elections. Everyone needs a fair judiciary. Corruption destroys the state. There should be no censorship. These principles are the future.
And now sectarians and marginals are in power. Generally they have no ideas. Their only idea is to cling to their seats. Perfected hypocrisy allows them to adapt and adopt any disguise. Thus polygamists have become members of the Communist party, have become Orthodox Christians. Owners of golden passports and offshore accounts have become aggressive patriots. Lies, lies, and nothing but lies.
It will collapse and fall apart. Putin’s state is unviable. One day we’ll look at its place and it will be gone. Victory is inevitable. But for now we must not give up but hold on to our convictions.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 13 Febrauary 2024
I hope you like my revamped website. I’m sorry if you have had difficulty finding it in the last few days while some glitches were being fixed. If you find a message saying my website is no longer available, clear the browsing datafrom your search engine and type in www.janewinter.net again.
You might like to know that I am speaking at the Arundel Literary Festival on 8th March 2024 about my book on Rupert Brooke. See https://www.thevictoriainstitute.com/literary-festival/ – look for the Red Room events. I am also taking part in the session by Michael Ward on his new book on those arch influencers and networkers, Sydney and Beatrice Webb, which is on 9th February.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 30 December 2023
Apologies fo the long silence – I have been very busy writing. I have just competely re-vamped my website to give you a better idea of what I’ve been doing. I would like to wish everyone al the very best for 2024, which we can only hope will be a more peaceful year than 2023!
Jane Winter’s Bog posted 13 August 2023
You might be pleased to know that Conor Jameson’s book on the reknowned ornothologost W H Hudon is now available at Finding W. H. Hudson – Conor Mark Jameson – 9781784273286 – Pelagic Publishing
Also, I have finshed my book All Thimgs to all Men: The Manufacture of the Rupert Brooke Myth. If any agents are interested, please get in touch!
Jane Winter’s Blog, posted 26 February 2023
If, like me, you are fascinated by the century that ran from around 1850 and 1950 – a time of great devastation but also of more amazing progress than had happened for several earlier centuries put together – and the extraordinary personalities it produced, then you may like to know about the following two books:
An imposing, life-size oil painting dominates the main meeting room at the RSPB’s base in the heart of England: ‘the man above the fireplace’ – always present, rarely mentioned. Curious about the person in the portrait, the author began a quest to rediscover William Henry Hudson (1841–1922). It became a mission of restoration: stitching back together the faded tapestry of Hudson’s life, re-colouring it in places and adding new threads from the testaments of his closest friends. This book traces the unassuming field naturalist’s path through a dramatic and turbulent era: from Hudson’s journey to Britain from Argentina in 1874 to the unveiling by the prime minister of a monument and bird sanctuary in his honour 50 years later, in the heart of Hyde Park – a place where the young immigrant had, for a time, slept rough. At its core, this extraordinary story reveals Hudson’s deep influence on the creation of his beloved Bird Society by its founding women, and the rise of the conservation movement
Available from: Finding W. H. Hudson – Conor Mark Jameson – 9781784273286 – Pelagic Publishing
Paperback £24.99 £22.49 Hardback £55.00 £38.50 Ebook (PDF) £22.49 £13.49
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Called ‘the king of Correspondents’, Henry W. Nevinson (1856-1941) captured the political zeitgeist in his newspaper journalism and books about conflicts across the globe. He provided astute, first-hand observations on events such as war between Greece and Turkey, the Siege of Ladysmith in South Africa, the aftermath of the 1905 Russian Revolution and the Gallipoli tragedy in the First World War, his copy obtained in perilous situations.
He bravely exposed the persistence of slavery in Angola, unrest in India and conflict in Ireland, his vivid and exquisite prose shocking and enlightening British readers. He cultivated controversy with his brave stance on issues like women’s suffrage and the self-determination of small nations such as Georgia. His first wife, Margaret Wynne Nevinson, was a suffragette and writer, their son the celebrated artist C.R. W. Nevinson. In the 1920s Henry Nevinson accompanied Ramsay MacDonald on the first visit of a British Prime Minister to an American President. His perspectives, whether on the Middle East, the Balkans, Russia or the United States, illuminate many of the conflicts which resonate in today’s uncertain world.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 26 December 2021
Like so many people around the world today, I was saddened to heard of Archbishop Desmond Tuturu;s death, and I was moved to write the following, which I hope sums up the feelings of many of us:
The Arch
appropriately named,
Desmond was a man
continually building bridges
between the apparently unbridgeable.
never afraid,
he was never afraid to call out injustice,
but his condemnation was always laced with ubuntu,
forgiveness without vengeance,
opposition without violence.
above all else, love.
an extraordinary capacity for giving and eliciting love.
he was surrounded by love,
exuding it and spreading it,
and engendering it in everyone he met.
and with it all came laughter.
a man, he told me, fell out of an aircraft.
his parachute failed, and as he fell to earth,
he passed another man, shooting towards the heavens.
do you know anything about parachutes? he cried as they passed.
no. do you know anything about pressure cookers? came the reply.
and little Desmond would fall apart,
laughing at his own joke,
and you would be left,
wondering if there was a parable in there somewhere,
while holding your own sides with laughter.
undaunted by slaughter,
a humble man raised to greatness,
like the Lord he served,
The Arch went out undaunted,
unafraid, laughing,
and endlessly building bridges that others had destroyed.
it would, I think, have made him smile
to die at Christmas.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 25 November 2021
Sorry to have been off the air for so long. I have had long Covid and am still under the cosh somewhat
However, my new work-in-progress, a book about what befell Rupert Brooke’s reputaation after his death, has just been shortlisted for the Tony Lothian Prize by the Biographers Club, along with five other amazing books. Many congratulations fo my fellow contenders. The reult will be announced on 8th December. You can find out about all the shortlisted books here – the all sound absolutely fascinating. I think the judges face a difficult task.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 9 August 2020
I should like to thank from the bottom of my heart the young couple who picked up a little bag I managed to lose in Balham on my way to a blood test. It contained an important card explaining that I am taking blood-thinning medication, which luckily included my name and address. It is a beautiful handmade bag that my husband gave me many years ago, and I was very sorry to lose it. This lovely young couple found it and went to the trouble of visiting my home to restore it to me. I had resigned myself to its loss, but was very sad about it, and the actions of these kind young people restored my faith in human nature in these hard times in which we live. I do not know who they are, but I am sure that the young baby they had with them my husband met them on the doorstep with grow up a good person under such honest and and selfless tutelage.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 12 June 2020
I thought you might like to know about this lovely book of paintings of the South Downs by Frances Knight.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 7 June 2020
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Of course they do. All lives matter. Equally.
I regret that mobility problems and serious risk of Covid 19 prevent me from taking the knee or attending demonstrations to show my support for an end to racism, but I am there in spirit. I understand that until the UK recognises that we are responsible, with others, for the slave trade, and for the colonisation of many parts of the world, including the USA, Australia and India. That process involved genocide of the indigenous populations, land grabs, and slavery. This is not a history of which we can be proud. It is a history we must confront if we are ever to eradicate racism. A small start would be to stop identifying people by their race, or worse still their colour (I am not white, my GP is not black). As a former human rights activist I understand that the canon on human rights is deficient. It does not include the right to truth, or the the right to respect. It does, however, include the right to life. No-one with any humanity can watch the video of George Floyd’s death without horror, if they can bear to watch it at all. However, his is just one among hundreds, if not thousands, of non-“white” people’s deaths, so it is not just a personal tragedy, or an American tragedy, but an international tragedy. We are all responsible. We all have a responsibility, whatever our racial origins, to speak out and to act differently if we re to put a stop to racism being part of our way of life. Silence is not an option, it’s a crime.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 25 February 2020
As you may know,my emails were hacked some time ago, and I remain actively involved in Hacked Off. If you think press harassment is a thing of the past, read this article by Bran Cathcart about what happened to beautician Danielle Hindley: https://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/25/the-beautician-and-the-beast-danielle-hindley-v-the-mail-on-sunday/ It is truly shocking story, but this kind of thing goes on all the time. Naturally the media who cause these problems don’t report on them, so please think about supporting Byline, the site that published this story.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 5 December 2019
I should like to thank Peter Winnigton for clearing up some outstanding questions about Ka Cox and Will Arnold-Forster. Peter is researching the life of Nathalie Duddington, born Natasha Ertel, who worked with Constance Garnett on her translations of Russian works. Constance Garnett met Natasha’s family in Russia — her father was the novelist Alexander Ertel — and when Natasha’s university studies were disrupted by the 1905 revolution, she encouraged Natasha to study in England. She came, gained an excellent degree in Philosophy at London, married an Englishman and remained in England for the rest of her life. Peter is looking for information about Natasha’s friend Ursula Cox (no relation to Ka, so far as we can tell). If you can help, please contact me and I will pass the information on.
Thanks also to Neil Maybin and Jeff Cooper of the Friends of the Dymock Poets for all their help with my current research into Rupert Brooke’s legacy. May thanks are also due to Peter Monteith of King’s College Archives for his endless patience and enthusiasm
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 28th October 2019
On 26 October my husband and I enjoyed the great pleasure and honour of being invited ot the Lord Mayor’s banquet in Belfast, Hosted by the Lord Mayor and my friend, John Finucane. It was a wonderful event and a joyous occasion and my thanks to John, to the friendly company, to the musicians and the staff. Thanks also to Geraldine Finucane for her usual generous hospitality.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 28 August 2019
I’d like to introduce you to a very exciting writer, Angela John. She’s written several fascinating books, all of which are worth a read. Details here: Angela John flyer
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 2 August 2019
I have been invited for a second time to speak at the St Ives Festival next September. I will be talking about Ka Cox and Will Arnold-Forster’s in Cornwall. The talk is at 3:30 pm in the Borlase Smart Room at the Porthmeor Studios in St Ives on 17 September. I hope to see some of you there.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 25 July 2019
Sorry to have been off the air for so long. I have been busy working on my new book about Rupert Brooke’s personal and literary legacy, and also battling with some problems following a knee replacement a year ago.
My biography of Ka Cox and Will Arnold-Forster is now finished and I want to get it published. It is definitely a story worth telling (see my biography page for more details). I NEED AN AGENT. If you interested, please use my contact page to get in touch, and I will send you a full synopsis, plus marketing details Please note, I am not interested in self-publishing.
If you are not an agent, but would like to be notified when the book is published, please send me your contact details via my contact page.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 11 November 2018
Today marks the centenary of the end of the First World War. Although no survivor remains to tell his or her story, many of us are still affected. My grandfather fought in the war, and although he survived, like so many others he never spoke about the experience.
I think it needs to be remembered that WW1 was mainly a colonial war, about the acquisition of territory and the attempt to extend empires – in effect, a series of land-grabs. Although there were many acts of amazing individual bravery during those four terrible years, many of those who died had no choice about their participation, they were conscripts. I am with E M Forster, who said that (I paraphrase, as he spoke of betrayal rather than death), if faced with the choice of dying for my country or dying for my friends, I hope I would have the courage to die for my friends.
It is deeply ironic that this commemoration of Armistice Day comes in the midst of the Brexit chaos. Many of us have become Europeans; some of us born as European Citizens as well as UK citizens. We are about to lose our European citizenship, if Brexit goes ahead. My British GP is of African and, I think, English origin and my surgeon is German. My MP is of Asian descent. I myself have English, Scottish, Dutch, and Spanish blood in my ancestry. My nephews and nieces have Jamaican blood in their veins. Many of these national labels are fairly meaningless. We are all citizens of the world. Everything that happens on the planet affects us all in one way or another, and we are responsible for all those matters, to some extent (think of all that plastic in the seas). The idea that those whose died in WW1 died for their country or for us, and that we owe them a debt as a result, seems spurious to me. On the contrary, we owe them a debt of apology for putting them through such horror for no good purpose.
That does not mean that we should not honour and remember them, but for me, I do not do that out of patriotism – who chooses where they are born? – but in horror at the carnage suffered by not just to British and Commonwealth citizens, but by all the combatants, whatever their nationality. I also remember the senseless deaths in so many other wars before and since. I wear my poppy for every soldier ever killed.
It also does not mean that I do not love my country. We all love our birthplace; our language, our culture, our food, the countryside, and in the case of England the weather and the turn of the seasons. But love of one’s country is not the same as patriotism, which is just a form of nationalism.
Human beings are unique among species in our tendency to destroy each other in massive numbers. I am not a pacifist. I believe that those who inflict violence on others and will not respond to reason must sometimes be met with violence (WW2, unlike WW1 had to be fought), and I believe in the right to self-defence. However, I am not prepared to die for the political convictions of my country’s leaders, whatever they may be. We will always need an army, but it should be made up of brave volunteers, well-trained, and, so far as is possible, well-equipped, protected, and nursed through the physical and psychological aftermath of combat, and their main purpose should be defence.
I am, though, convinced that very few wars have ever been worthwhile, especially WW1, which I believe should be remembered not with sentimentality, but with shame. Shame for the awful slaughter of mainly very young men who had no real idea of what they were fighting for. We should not forget, but we should learn the lessons, and aim to put an end to war. Wars will cease when men and women refuse to fight.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 30 October 2018
Well, my biography has been turned down now by three possible publishers so far, none of whom actually read the book, although one of them read five whole pages, so I am now looking for an agent.
I have finally got the pain from CPRS (see below) under something approaching control, and am in the midst of a course of acupuncture, which seems to be helping. I am unlucky in that the condition is rare and rarely affects people of my age, but lucky in that only peripheral nerves are involved, I was diagnosed early by my surgeon, and treated appropriately by my GP and my physiotherapist. My thanks to all of them. My prognosis, although uncertain, is that it will at some undetermined point remit.
It s great to see that this year’s fourth annual lecture on “Democracy in Crisis: Brexit & The Rise of Fake News” is to be delivered by British journalist, television presenter, author and broadcaster James O’Brien, has already sold out. However, a larger venue is being sought, so search for it if you would like to attend.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 10 October 2018
Sorry to have been off the air for so long. Last June I had an operation for a total knee replacement, and since then I have been suffering from complex regional pain syndrome (CPRS), which is incredibly annoying. I would like to know a) what causes it; b) what treats it; and c) how long it will last – all matters to which there seem to be no answers.
In the meantime, I have finished the biography and am very grateful to the Hamilton and Millikan families for more information about Ruth Mallory, who was married to Will Arnold-Forster for a tragic four years. I am now looking for a publisher. I have been turned down twice but am determined to find a publisher. Theirs is a story that deserves to be told. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has helped me on my five-year journey.
Many congratulations to my friend Hugh Grant – a co-founder with others of Hacked Off – on his marriage to Anna. I hope they will be very happy, as they are both great people.
Many commiserations to my friend Liz Weston on the loss of her husband Pete Harvey, whom my husband and I have known for many years, and to my friend Lois Whitman, whose husband Marty died earlier this year. Two more happy marriages.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 25 March 2018
As I mentioned in my last blog, 1 March 2018 was a good day to bury bad news, with much of the country brought to a standstill by arctic weather and President Putin claiming a world-wide nuclear arsenal. So the government chose to announce that it was not going to establish the second half of the Leveson Inquiry into press hacking.
Part 1, before which I appeared as a core participant, looked at standards and ethics in the print media. Part 2, in which I was also called as a witness, was meant to look at all the actual wrongdoing, such as the hounding of the parents of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal, and the hacking of the murdered Millie Dowler’s mobile, giving her parents false hope that she was alive.
Hacked Off is crowd-funding in order to bring a legal challenge against the promise broken to so many victims of press abuse. Of you would like to contribute, please do so here.
Many thanks to Dr. Christina Bradstreet for identifying two of the guests at Ka Cox’s memorial service, Rose Esther Dorothea Sketchley, the art critic and historian, and her sister. Dr Bradstreet would like to know more about Rose, and in particular any links she may have had to Spiritualism. If you have any information, let me have it via my contacts page and I will pass it on to her. Thankyou.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 19 March 2018
First of all, I must apologise for taking so long to update my blog. I have been very busy researching, and, especially, writing. I have now finished the first draft of the biography, and just have some fine-tuning to do. I would like to thank the Arnold-Forster family and other branches of the family, as well as various friends, for their unfailing support.
I would also like to thank Ginny Agnew of Austin, Texas, for undertaking research of me at the Harry Ransom Center, and Professor Paul Delany of the Simon Fraser University, Canada, for his equally invaluable help. Also Sue Slack and Rosemary Christophers for bringing new information to my attention.
I must credit Michael O’Hare for his third event in the series on Northern Ireland for St Mary’s College, which focused in the Unionist perspective, and congratulate Angela John on her latest biography “Rocking the Boat” and her success in getting a blue plaque commemorating journalist and commentator Henry Nevinson and his son, the artist, Richard Nevinson, which will be unveiled in June.
You will have seen that the government has broken its commitment to Part 2 of the Levenson Inquiry into press abuse. Please visit the Hacked Off website to sign their petition here. Thankyou.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 1st October 2017
Firstly, I should like to thank all the people who came to my talk at the St Ives Festival, and especially those who who came up to me after wards with ideas and suggestions. I would especially like to thank Ian Gordon and his sister Jenny for their information about their grandparents Cosmos Gordon and Frances Graham, which has filled in some important gaps for me. I should also like to thank Kate Arnold-Forster for sending me the visitors’ book for Eagle’s Nest, which has thrown fascinating further light on Ka and Will’s social life.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 20th August 2017
I’ve been off the air for a while owing to back and knee problems, but the biography is going well – I’m about half way through writing it now. I want to thank the Hamilton family of the USA, who sent me invaluable information, and also Nicholas Thomas of Cornwall, who has also been consistently helpful and supportive. I am speaking at the St Ives Festival on 13th September about my research (for more information see Ka Cox Poster). Finally, a south west England group, Litttermouth, has produced a brilliant musical video of press freedom and regulation, which you can see here.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 27th March 2017
This evening I had the very great pleasure of hearing published Cecil Woolf, a nephew of Leonard and Virginia Woolf, reminiscing about his illustrious forebears at 2 Temple Place in London, which is hosting an exhibition called Sussex Modernism: Retreat and Rebellion (well worth seeing). He was cross-examined by his wife, Jean Moorcroft Wilson, herself an expert on Virginia Woolf. Cecil Woolf’s talk was charming, entertaining, evocative, and witty, and he rightly reminded us that his uncle and aunt were not 20th century icons, but living people. Jean Moorcroft Wilson both dressed and interrogated in style, and said that she had cut his speech ruthlessly to keep it to time, so I very much hope that he will take up the suggestion of a member of the audience and publish the full-length version.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 11th February 2017
If you have a six to nine year old, you might want to encourage them to read Friendship and Spies, a great book written by my niece-in-law Alison J Smith, a teacher and writer of great insight. Her book is both informative of the world of WW2 and spies, and is also a great read for people of all ages. I don’t want to spol this story, so go look at http://Alison J Smith
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 4th February 2017
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a question and answer session between Jon Snow and Seamus Mallon as the second in St Mary’s College Twickenham of their Troubles, Tragedy, Trauma annual conference on Northern Ireland, organised by my food friend Michael O’Hare. For once, I thing the intervieww got the better of Jon Snow ( a rare event!). Seamus Malon’s grasp of the situation in Northern Ireland is formidable. I believe a podcast may be available soomn.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 19th December 2016
Many thanks to Louisa Young for helping me identify the mystery author of various letters to Will Arnold-Forster. They were written by her grandfather, Hilton Young, later the first Baron Kennet, and a lifelong friend of Will’s.
Here’s another book you might be interested in. It’s called The Witty Vagabond, by the Cornish art historian David Tovey. It a biography of Crosbie Garstin (1887 – 1930), a fascinating author, artist and adventurer who died at the young age of 42. It is excellently researched and fully illustrated, and has been printed in a limited edition of only 300 copies. I predict that it will soon become a collector’s item. A labour of love on David’s part, and with the publishing industry being so difficult for this kind of book these days, it is self-published and only available from David himself. Here are the details.
Season’s greetings to everyone!
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 28th November 2016
Huge congratulations to Nadine Hack for winning Coach of the Year from the Association of Professional and Training Coaches. See here for more details. As you will see, she won Women’s Mentor of the Year last year – she goes from strength to strength.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 31st October 2016
I want to introduce you to a book written by a friend of mine, the respected biographer Angela John: The Actor’s Crucible – Port Talbot, and the Making of Burton, Hopkins, Sheen and All the Others. It is now out in paperback, and here are the details. It is not only a biography of actors like Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, and Martin Sheen, all of whom, like Angela herself, hale from Port Talbot, the beleaguered steel town in Wales, but it is also a vivid portrait of the town itself, which has been the unlikely birthplace of so much talent. On to of that, it’s a great read and would make a wonderful Christmas present for anyone interested in acting – or, indeed, steel making!
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 19th October 2016
I was delighted to be invited to the English premiere of a short film, The Wonders of Clarence Bicknell, on 17th October. You can see the film here. Clarence Bicknell (1842-1918) was a man of letters, an artist, author, traveller, botanist, archaeologist, pastor, humanist and a devotee of the international language, Esperanto. Born in London, Clarence was the 13th child of Elhanan Bicknell, whale oil magnate and art patron; after studying at Cambridge University he became an Anglican priest, and from 1879 lived in Bordighera on the Italian coast between Menton and Genoa; he died at his summer home nearby in Casterino in the high mountains of the Franco-Italian border on 17th July 1918. He was a talented and happy many who added to our sum of knowledge. This is a lovelt film, lasting only 15 minutes, and well worth watching. There is no copyright, so if you want to share it or show it to others, you are free to do so.
Jane Winter’s blog, poster 12th October 2016
I am delighted to have played a part in rescuing the identity of a painting of one of Will Arnold-Forster’s relatives, Forster Delafield Arnold-Forster. In September 2014 I came across on the internet a painting of a Lieutenant Arnold Forster among those paintings owned by the national art collection, with a request for information about the painting. I posted a message saying: “I believe Lieutenant Arnold Forster to be Forster Delafield Arnold-Forster (note the hyphen), who was to become the first member of the British navy to command a submarine, the Holland 1 – see Beneath the Waves: A History of HM Submarine Losses 1904-1971 by A.S Evans and Silent Killers: Submarines and Underwater Warfare by James P Delgado.”. Moving with the speed of light, the National Museum of the Royal Navy finally replied this month, saying: “Our collections’ data states that the subject of the painting is Lt (later Rear Admiral) Forster Delafield Arnold-Forster. He is standing in the control room of Holland I. The painting is framed and signed GM Barnett in the lower left corner. GM Barnett was Arnold-Foster’s daughter, Georgina Margaret Arnold-Forster, whose married name was Barnett.” I am glad to say that Delafield Arnold-Forster has now been given his proper identity. You can see him in all his glory here.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 18th August 2016
Grateful thanks to Colin Harris and the staff at the Special Collections of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, where I have spent the past two days delving in Henry Woodd Nevinson’s relationship with Ka Cox.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 8th June 2016
On 7th June I had the privilege of being shown round two houses where Ruth Mallory lived in Godalming: Westbrook and The Holt. I should like to thanks the owners of both houses for their generosity in allowing me to visit their homes and gain a deeper insight into Ruth’s life and times. Many thanks also to Robin Stannard for arranging these visits and showing me round Goldalming, and giving me a better understanding of the arts and crafts movement in Surrey and how deeply it affected Ruth’s life.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 30th May 2016
Yesterday I was deeply honoured to be invited to a reception for the President of Ireland, Michael O’Higgins, and to attend a concert, Imagining Ireland, at the Royal Festival Hall, to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising and celebrate the cultural links between Ireland and England. I was transported straight back to Ireland, where complete strangers talk to you like an old friend, and any song will be accompanied by the sounds of toes tapping in time to the music. Lisa O’Neill’s rendition of the iconic Foggy Dew will live long in my memory.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 13th April 2016
Speaking of Hugh Grant, last night I had the honour and the pleasure of attending the world première of his latest film, co-starring the wonderful Meryl Streep. Florence Foster Jenkins. The plot is rather difficult to explain so let me just say that it is both funny and touching, and showcases both a Hugh Grant and a Meryl Streep you will never have seen before. It goes on general release here in England in mid-May.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 1st March 2016
Many congratulations to Hugh Grant, whom I met through Hacked Off (and all credit to him for co-founding it), for the award of Fellowship by the BFI for his outstanding contribution to film. Such awards are tantamount to a lifetime achievement award, and are the highest honour the BFI can give. Well done, Hugh!
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 11th February 2016
I note with sadness that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, is floating the idea that we all draw a line under the past in Northern Ireland, and has the backing of locally-recruited Chief Constable George Hamilton, both of whom have an institutional vested interest in that agenda. What a pity that they cannot recognise that the bid by the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings for a new inquest, backed by the Birmingham Six, wrongly accused of that atrocity, are all calling for the truth about what happened. To me, it says that the past will not lie down while injustice flourishes. Tomorrow marks the 27th anniversary of the murder of Pat Finucane, in which Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted that there was state collusion – when will they get justice or even the truth? Add to those names those of so many others whose pain has never been assuaged, and it is clear that no artificial line can be drawn in such bloody sand, just as it cannot in many other places around the world. The truth will out, and the truth will set us free.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 31st January 2016
Yesterday I spoke at a conference, Troubles, Tragedy and Trauma: Northern Ireland’s Historic Legacy, organised by Michael O’Hare, whose twelve-year-old sister Majella was killed without provocation by a British soldier in 1976. Other victims who spoke powerfully were Joe Campbell, whose father Sgt Joe Campbell was an RUC officer who was almost certainly murdered at the behest of some of his colleagues; Stephen Travers, a survivor of the Miami Showband massacre; Alan McBride, who lost his wife Sharon and his father-in-law John in the IRA Frizell fish-shop bombing in the Shankill Road; and Eugene Reavey, three of whose family were killed by the British army. Their testimony was devastating, and showed that the conflict in Northern Ireland spared no-one on any side. It also showed that, until some effective mechanism is found for dealing with Northern Ireland’s troubled past, the peace there will remain fragile. All these families, like many others, have been waiting decades for justice, The event was chaired with consummate skill and humanity by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, now a professor at the Centre for Irish Studies at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, who among others sponsored the conference. The other speakers were respected journalist and commentator Eammon Mallie; Owen Bowcott, for many years the Guardian’s Northern Ireland correspondent; and Dr Tom Clonan, a vindicated whistleblower of sexism and collusion within the Irish army. My speech (which varied somewhat in the delivery) can be found here https://janewinter.net/jw-speech/re.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 27th January 2016
A belated Happy New Year to everyone!
I would like to thank Marcus Bicknell for posting a request for information from me about Will Arnold-Forster’s gardening activities on Italian Riveria. Marcus has been researching the biography of his botanist ancestor Clarence Bicknell with spectacular results which you can see here.
It is with great sorrow that I mark the passing of Marie O’Donoghue, daughter of the Arnold-Forster’s gardener, Mr Kliskey, She died just after Christmas after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Marie was a lovely woman who gave me many insights into life at the home of the Arnold-Forsters, The Eagle’s Nest. I was so pleased to hear that, even in January, it had been possible to send camellias from the garden there to her funeral.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 2nd December 2015
Last night I went to the Third Leveson Annual Lecture, organised by Hacked Off and delivered by Jo Brand. Jo gave a highly entertaining but trenchant critique of those media groups who have a monopoly on the UK press and their poodle “regulator”, IPSO. She attacked the tendency of the tabloids to stereotype whole groups of people and reduce complex issues to oversimplified headlines. She also gave several examples of the ways in which IPSO is failing to help victims of press intrusion. One that sticks in my mind is the story of two young men from Jersey who went on holiday to Thailand, where unfortunately one of them was murdered. A local man later confessed to the crime, but the tabloids, without a shred of evidence, accused his friend of the murder. One might think that a regulator would come down hard newspapers that behaved like this, but IPSO did precisely nothing (although Jo described their inaction in more colourful language!). Hacked Off will be showing a video of her speech on their website (link below) which is highly recommended for anyone who missed the event.
Jo was joined by a panel of Hugh Tomlinson QC, chair of Hacked Off, Jacqui Hames, former presenter of Crime Watch and a member of the HO Board, and journalist Nick Davies, who exposed the the Milly Dowler hacking scandal. Jacqui has rarely spoken in public about her own experience, but last night she recounted how, when she was a police officer working for Crime Watch, her husband, also a police officer, came on the programme to make and appeal in relation to the hideous murder of Daniel Morgan (you can find out more here). There are serious allegations of police corruption surrounding this murder, and the tabloids went to town on Jacqui and her husband, going to far as to accuse them of having an affair – with each other!
One of the issues that is a great concern now is that the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale MP, is threatening to remove one of the central planks of Lord Leveson’s recommendations for press reform. Leveson recommended that if the press joined a properly independent self-regulator (which IPSO is not), they should run an arbitration scheme which would protect them from the threat of being sued by those rich enough to bankrupt a newspaper. As an incentive, he said that papers who refused to avail of this protection then then found themselves sued would have to pay not only their own costs, but also those of the other litigant, whoever won the case. This was a way of ensuring that people who are not rich can afford to take a newspaper that libels them to court if they have no access to arbitration because the newspaper has refused to join the scheme. The press have railed against this provision, calling it a gross infringement of the freedom of the press, but, as Nick Davies pointed out last night, any paper that joins the scheme will be in a position to print stories that they know to be true without the fear of going bust. He pointed out that the only reason that Jimmy Saville’s horrific record of pedophilia and sexual exploitation was not exposed during his lifetime was the depth of his pockets. As a member of the audience pointed out, it seems inexplicable that campaigning magazines like Private Eye have not so far seen the benefits of such protection.
I am a journalist’s daughter. I believe in freedom of the press, and am wholly against state regulation of the media (something which Leveson never advocated). However, there is a difference between a free and fearless press that holds the powerful to account and one that distorts the truth, bullies the innocent, whips up social tension through stereotyping, and intrudes on private grief. If you agree with me, please consider joining Hacked Off, and if you can afford it, send them a donation.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 10th November 2015
I would like to thank Lisa Davies, who contacted me via this website with very helpful information about the cottage that Ka Cox used to own in Aldbourne in Wiltshire.
WHY I WILL NEVER SHOP FROM CULTURE VULTURE AGAIN. Six weeks before my husband’s birthday, I ordered a jumper from Culture Vulture as a present for him. At the time of the order, their website said that they could not deliver before a certain date, but as that date was three weeks in advance of his birthday, I was not worried. When the jumper had not arrived by the expected date, I contacted them and was told another date. This date was just a few days before his birthday, but they offered to send it express at their expense, so I thought it would be fine. When the jumper had not arrived two days before his birthday, I called them again (they never once contacted me to tell me about the delays), and was told they could not dispatch the jumper until after his birthday. The company refused to accept that this was poor service, and would not allow me to contact the supplier of the jumper direct. When I spoke to a supervisor his response was, “Well, that’s just how it is.” I was very upset, but the delay was only a few more days, so I explained to my husband that one of his presents would be a bit late. The jumper still did not arrive. When I queried this by email, I was told that the order had been cancelled. When I asked who cancelled it, they told me I did, which is completely untrue. On their website they boast fast delivery and say you can shop with them with confidence. Not true, I’m afraid. As they do not offer a facility to offer feedback on their own website, I am publishing my experience here.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 22nd September 2015
Yesterday I attended a most enjoyable event organised by the Biographer’s Club. Andrew Lownie gave an illustrated talk about his recently-published book on the Cambridge spy and defector, Guy Burgess, “Stalin’s Englishman”. The biography, which has involved 20 years’ research in the face of a great reluctance to co-operate on the part of the intelligence services, examines not only why Burgess betrayed his country, but how he got away with it for so long.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 14th September 2015
I’ve just spent the past week in Penwith, partly on holiday and partly researching for my biography project. I’d like to thank Steven Litherland, President of the St Ives Art Club, for taking time out of his busy preparations for the St Ives Festival to help me look for the records of Will Arnold-Forster’s membership of the Club. Unfortunately, the early records of the Club are missing. He and I are following up some leads, but if anyone knows where they are, please get in touch.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 21st July 2015
Grateful thanks to George Mathieson, great-nephew of Edith Cox, Ka’s father’s second wife, for helping me to identify two more guests at Ka’s memorial service. One of the nicest aspects of my research has been coming into contact with so many descendants of Will and Ka. Please see my questions page to see if you can help with any of my many unanswered questions, such as where all Will’s American paintings and drawings have got to.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 9th July 2105
Over the weekend of 6th and 7th July I visited Cambridge with the Friends of Charleston. Charleston, as many people will know, is the wonderful former home in Sussex of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, often called “Bloomsbury in the country”. You can find out more about it here. In Cambridge we visited the rooms used by Maynard Keyenes, with their recently-restored murals by Grant and Bell, and Dadie Rylands, whose rooms were decorated by Carrington. We also saw pictures by Grant, Bell, Roger Fry, and other Bloomsbury artists, and woodcuts by Gwen Raverat. Grateful thanks to all the Charleston and Cambridge staff who provided such a fascinating weekend.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 5th June 2105
Many thanks to Bridget Barry for helping me to identify one of the quests at Ka Cox’ memorial service. Maybe you can help with some of the others? Or maybe you know why Will Arnold-Forster gave his address as being in Jamaica at some point during World War One? Please see my questions page.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 23rd April 2105
On 20th April I was lucky enough to attend the world premiere of Lee Salter’s film The Fourth Estate, about the lack of plurality in the British press. It’s a thought-provoking insight into just how narrow the press has become and how poorly it serves marginalised groups and women, who make up half the population. Catch it if you can. More information can be found here.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 20th April 2105
I am delighted to have make contact with Elizabeth Bazeley, the great-niece of Ka Cox, whose biography I am researching. She is Ka’s sister’s grand-daughter and was able to show me some wonderful photograph albums and two paintings by Will Arnold-Forster, Ka’s husband, who is the other half of my research. Many thanks to Liz and her husband Chas, and also to Christopher Beadle, a descendent of Ka’s step-mother, Edith, for all their help.
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 28th March 2105
Many congratulations to my good friend Nadine Hack who has been given an award for being Women’s Mentor of the Year by the Association of Professional coaches, Trainers, and Consultants. Nadine and her husband Jerry Dunfey have fantastic track records, jointly and severally, in human rights and the promotion of constructive dialogue in South Africa, Israel, and around the world. Nadine does not need the affirmation of external honours, of which she already has many to her name, but her friends quietly rejoice that her massive contribution, particularly in relation to the role of women, has been recognised again,
Jane Winter’s blog, posted 25th March 2015
IS JOURNALISM A PROFESSION?
When I was a child, I remember some of my journalist father’s friends joking that theirs was the second oldest profession, thus ranking journalism as second only to prostitution. Sadly, opinion polls consistently suggest that the majority agree with them. Their flippancy begs many questions, but the one that seems most relevant to me today is: is journalism a profession?
Sir Alan Moses, the Chair of the self-appointed, unrecognised, and so-called Independent Press Standards Organisation, speaking at the LSE on 12th March 2015, said not. He said journalism cannot be compared to other professions such as medicine or the law, because there are no recognised qualifications and no entry standards, and therefore no benchmarks against which to judge journalism.
Factually, he is correct. Anyone can class her/himself as a journalist. To obtain a UK press card, the nearest thing any journalist has to a qualification, s/he has only to be an “Eligible Newsgatherer”. The definition of such a person rests “only in the hands of the industry. Eligibility does not depend upon membership or non-membership of any organisation; nor does it depend upon the views of any State or private organisation.” So the news industry defines who is or is not a journalist. There does not appear to be any mechanism for removing anyone from the trade. Journalists can be sacked, but they cannot be struck off.
“Trade” is an interesting word here, implying as it does, a transaction. The issue of what is and is not legal within journalism, has been exercising the courts recently, with many journalists being accused, and many being acquitted, of various crimes, including paying for confidential information. There is, though, another transaction involved, which is that of trust and public confidence, in return for accuracy and truthfulness in reporting.
Now, I know many journalists who would describe themselves – and whom I would also describe – as professional. They behave ethically, and they hold power to account, without fear or favour. They also uphold, as I uphold, the important principle of the freedom of the press. I also know many journalists who – like my father used to – train the next generation of journalists, the majority of whom are idealistic and concerned about the scandals that have beset journalism in recent years.
However, as the thousands of victims of hacking and other forms of press abuse know to their cost, not all journalists act professionally.
As a supporter of Hacked Off (although I write this in a purely personal capacity), I believe that genuine self-regulation is the only way to curb press abuses while maintaining the freedom of the press. However, lately, I have begun to wonder is that is enough. The road from the quack to the doctors’ profession, with its Hippocratic oath, it register of medical practitioners, and its General Medical Council, has been a long one, but today doctors are respected and, if they break the rules, they lose the right to practice. Journalism, on the other hand, is still a safe haven for carpet-baggers.
As the creation of IPSO has shown, the “modern” press is still resisting any kind of meaningful regulation. No-one wants to see state regulation of the press – although it may come to that, as Lord Leveson foresaw in his fall-back proposals should self-regulation fail. There is, though, a way out for journalism, even, possibly, for IPSO, although it would need to free itself of the yoke currently imposed by the industry in the form of its Regulatory Funding Authority, which not only holds the purse strings but has a power of veto over IPSO, thus robbing the organisation of any right to use the word “independent” in its title.
If IPSO were to concern itself with the standards its name encompasses, it could set about drawing up entry rules for the profession of journalism. It could set up mechanisms of accreditation and for throwing out of the profession any journalist who flouted those standards. Any such move would have to be made in consultation with the National Union of Journalists, as well as the editors and owners, and also with the public, if it were to have any traction or credibility. However, it could give back to journalism the good name that it has lost, in the eyes of many members of the public, at the hands of those press barons for whom profit is their only motivation.
Do I think IPSO will seize this opportunity? No. Not while the RFA pays the piper and calls the tune. Do I wish someone would do so? Yes, please. I would like journalism in the UK to reclaim its rightful place as a legitimate fourth estate, rather than being, at least some of the time, a jaded, second-best non-profession.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 18th March 2015
On 12th March I went to hear Sir Alan Moses, the chair of the structurally non-viable “regulator” set up by the majority of the press, IPSO, speak. I cannot improve on the critique of his speech by Professor Brian Cathcart, a founder of Hacked Off, which you can read here .
Meanwhile, the depths of the Trinity Mirror phone hacking scandal unravels.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 4th February 2015
On 3rd February I attended a meeting of the House of Lords’ Select Committee on Communications, which is conducting an enquiry into “Press Regulation – where are we now”? Joan Smith, Evan Harris and Hugh Tomlinson QC, among others, gave evidence. You can find a record of the proceedings here. The Committee’s report is due out in April.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 19th January 2015
VIRTUALITY v. REALITY
I have three computers in my house: two PCs and a laptop. Two of them have different operating systems and a different two are of different (32 v 64-bit) processing strengths. I have no tablet, and no smart phone. I do not subscribe to twitter or facebook. I am, I know, of a dying breed.
My breed still believes in the written word; still sends letters in envelopes with (exorbitantly expensive) stamps; still sends actual cards through the actual post for weddings, births, funerals, festivals and deaths; still makes (equally expensive) telephone calls from a landline (the reception is better, where I live).
I could, of course, come screaming into the 21st century. I could embrace social media, and confine my communications to email, saving anything that matters in “the cloud”.
In reality, I do, of course, use email all the time, and the internet, and am composing this epistle on a computer, but that is beside the point.
The thing that troubles me is the prevalence of virtuality. I really don’t want my personal details to be available to everyone, without my consent. I omitted to mention that I have a website (as you will know), and that, thanks to “what is?” I am unable to remain anonymous (of course, I have a contact page and anyone who wants to contact me can do so), and am thus bombarded with unwanted spam, much of it offensive, not to me personally, but impersonally to everything I believe in. I really do not want to know how to enlarge my non-existent penis, or to meet the perfect, unwanted and unnecessary, Thai (or whatever nationality you care to name) wife.
I also do not want to receive advertisements every time I search the web, referring to my last purchase, which seems to me like a form of spying. Just because I bought a particular spice powder once does not mean that I want it buy it forever – and particularly not before it has even arrived or I have even tried it – and even if I did, I could probably find it again unaided. I also do not want to be bribed with alleged prizes for giving feedback on a website I have only just visited for the first time and have not even looked at. Nor do I want to receive emails from a site I visited to see what they had to offer, asking, “did you miss something?”, because I decided not to buy. If I look at what someone is saying on twitter, I do not want the first thing I see to be an invitation to sign up to what I consider to be a pernicious, consumerist, egotistical lifestyle. Life, frankly, is too short.
The trouble with all this unwanted intrusion into my private cyberspace is that I know it has more sinister connotations. People who are foolish enough to enter into “chat rooms” can find that their fantasies (we all have them, and there’s nothing wrong with that) can all too easily become realities for which they were not prepared. Children, especially, are vulnerable to pederasts and grooming. Those who are uncertain of their own identity can find themselves sucked into situations they cannot control. By adopting “avatars”, people can become what, simply put, they are not.
Worse still, in my opinion, people can adopt “personalities” and make “friendships” which do not actually exist. They enter into a virtual reality which has, in fact, no connection with reality. You can become anything you want to be on the internet, and encounter anyone you want to meet. This does not, however, make you into a real or a whole person. On the contrary, it diminishes you. Real relationships with real people take effort, but are so much more worthwhile. Getting a life is more difficult than the web would have you believe.
I know that there are ways to fix my technological dysfunctions, and boringly time-consuming ways to avoid spam, and I am working on them, but you won’t find me on facebook.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 11th January 2015
It was heartening to see the demonstrations in Paris and throughout France and elsewhere around the world today.
Humbly, I would like to add my own declaration: je suis Charlie, je suis flic, je suis juive. However, I would like to add in English (although I love the French langauage, I find it’s terms colonial sometimes): I am Muslim, I am an office cleaner, I am a printer, I am a supermarket assistant. Nous sommmes tous le monde surtout des êtres humains. In the end, we are all human beings.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 7th January 2015
I was deeply shocked by today’s report of a terrorist attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which at least ten journalists, a police officer and an office cleaner were murdered. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims. Satire is sometimes offensive to some people, but in a civilised society one does not kill those who make fun of one, however upset one may feel. Democracy can only exist where there is freedom of the press – and freedom of thought and belief, a concept which embraces all religions and none. No-one has the right to impose their views on anyone else, least of all by violence.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 21 November 2014
Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to see a private viewing of The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, who is the Bristol landlord who was wrongly accused of the murder of his tenant, Joanna Yates, and was hounded by the media as a result. There is a marvellous performance by Jason Watkins as Christopher, and it is an immensely watchable film. Steve Coogan also plays a cameo role, and despite its serious content, the film is full of hilarious moments. Check it out at
http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week50/lost-honour-christopher-Jefferies
You can see the first episode (of two) on Wednesday 10th December 2014 – appropriately enough, International Human Rights Day – at 9:00pm on ITV television.
Jane Winter’s blog posted 16 November 2014
Working on my biography has become a full-time job. I have been lucky enough to find hundredsof previously unpublished letters, many of them in a fragile state (they are, after all, over 100 years old in many cases), which shed a great deal of light on the lives of Ka Cox and Will Arnold-Forster. They deal with many aspects of the couple’s lives, including both World Wars, the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the rise of Nazism, an eclipse of the sun, the run-up to the formation of the United Nations, gardening, British art, and much, much more. I spend my time scanning and transcribing these letters, as well as fossicking around in university archives, and am in discussion with members of the Arnold-Forster family about conserving their extraodrinary collection for posterity.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 15th September 2014
Unfortunately. owing to continuous unwanted spam, I have removed all comments from my website. If you want to send me a genuine message, please use contact me. I will reply to all genuine messages.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 9th September 2014
Just back from a week in Cornwall where I have been talking to local people about Will Arnold-Forster , Ka Cox and Ruth Mallory. I am so grateful to all of them for their help. Some of them actually knew the people I am researching, although my informants were only children at the time. Nonetheless, they have given me some fascinating insights.
Yesterday, the press launched the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which is really the discredited Press Complaints Commission (PCC) mark II. In my opinion, it ought to be called the Industry PSO, because there’s nothing independent about it. It is funded by the major newspaper groups, it occupies the PCC’s building and has taken over most of the PCC’s staff. It does not offer people the cheap, effective system of redress against press mistakes and abuses recommended by the Leveson Inquiry. Despite the terrible abuse meted out to families like those of Millie Dowler and Madeleine McCann, those who monopolise the press industry are in denial that they have a problem, and they don’t want to fix it, they just want to pull the wool over our eyes. Fortunately, not every newspaper has joined IPSO, and it’s my hope that they are waiting for a better bus to come along.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 11th August 2014
Sorry I’ve been of the air for a while, I’ve been ill. Will be up an running again soon.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 12th June 2014
I need some help with my biography. Please see here to see if you can put me straight.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 11th June 2014
The outcome of the hacking trial, in which Rebekah Brooks and Andy Couson are the main defendants, is imminent. It remains to be seen whether corporate charges against the newsgroups concerned will follow. In the meantime IPSO (the trade’s own “watchdog”, which is really its way of rejecting the Royal Charter approved by the Queen and supported by the public and all political parties in Parliament) is in the process of being set up. Some of the victims recently met Sir Alan Moses, the chair of IPSO, who seems to think that he can persuade the press to clean up their act. The jury is out on both the trial and Sir Alan’s aspirations, so far as I’m concerned.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 30th April 2014
On Monday 28 April I attended a meeting on plurality in the media organised by the National Union of Journalists and held in the House of Commons. Speaker after speaker expressed concerns about the fact that almost all UK media is controlled by a tiny cartel of newsgroups, who sensationalise and distort stories for profit, often wrecking individuals’ lives in the process. Plurality and diversity are vital to democracy. The European Union is considering this issue right now. Please sign the petition highlighted on my home page. In the run-up to the General Election, please ask every candidate you come across what they are doing to limit the power of the media and make them fair, independent and accountable.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 10th April 2014
It was an honour and an unexpected privilege to be invited to the Ceiliúradh (celebration) at the Royal Albert Hall of the first ever state visit by an Irish President, Michael D Higgins, to the United Kingdom, reflecting as it does the Queen’s first ever state visit to Ireland three years ago. Taking place at the Albert Hall, packed to the rafters, we were regaled by many Irish stars based in Britain (and some not), giving us verse, dance, and poetry that reflected – to some extent anyway – the relationship between our two countries. In particular, the Irish folk music was a blast. You can get a flavour of it here. The recording does not reflect the fantastic atmosphere, but the rendering of the rebel song “The Auld Triangle”, sung by Brendan Behan in my parents’ front room when I was a child (and understood nothing of rebellion), but attributed by many to his brother Dominick, is really worth watching. It is amazing that such a song could bring our two countries together, but it does, because it is about hope, longing, and love.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 18 March 2014
Today marks the first anniversary of the signing of the Royal Charter to bring about responsible, independent self-regulation of the press. Over 200 people who really know about and care about press freedom – including newspaper editors Will Hutton and David Yelland, playwrights like Tom Stoppard, authors like A S Byatt, journalists, actors, academics and victims of press abuse like me – have signed Hacked Off’s declaration calling on the press to clean up their act by joining a regulator which complies with the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry. If you would like to add you name, sign here.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 27 February 2014
On 24 February I attended a meeting at the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Hollins, and organised by Hacked Off, to inform members of both Houses of Parliament about our concerns that IPSO (the Independent Press Standards Organisation), which some of the larger press conglomerates have set up in response to (or more accurately in defiance of) Lord Levenson’s recommendations for reform of the press. A well-attended meeting heard from victims of press abuse who had been failed by the out-going Press Complaints Council (PCC) and HO leaders Brian Cathcart and Evan Harris gave a forensic analysis of why IPSO is just the PCC mark 2. You can find more on this here. Many of the parliamentarians who attended the meeting were convinced that real reform remains a priority, and that it is time the press came to their senses and realised that fact. One or two others felt that victims were being too confrontational and should be more prepared to compromise, but Lady Hollins, herself a victim of press harassment, pointed out that where there is abuse, it is not up to the victims to find the remedy.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 6 February 2014
I was so sorry to learn today of the death of Will and Ka Arnold-Forster’s neighbour, Willie Craze, whose wife Robina died only three months ago. I met them both last year and they were extremely helpful – and entertaining! – in bringing both Will and Ka to life for me. They will both be sorely missed in the community in Zennor.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 16 January 2014
Today I and other members and supporters of Hacked Off met with the WAN-IFRA delegation, self-tasked with looking at press freedom in the UK (please see blog of 10 January 2014 for more information). As a human rights defender, I have no problem whatsoever about external scrutiny; it’s a very healthy phenomenon. I understand that the monopoly cartel that runs most of the press industry in this country wants some validity for its opposition to the all-party Royal Charter on press self-regulation. I hope that the WAN-IFRA delegation approached this concern on the part of those who dominate our press industry with an open mind. I fear that not all of them did so. Some of them seemed to have arrived with their minds already made up, although others seemed less sure. I was concerned that most of them seemed not to have done their homework, and were unfamiliar with the issues, not having read the Leveson report, and not being fully cognisant of the fact that some portions of the press have brought themselves into serious disrepute here, to the point of facing criminal prosecutions. We tried to put their mission in context. We explained that the Royal Charter has overwhelming political and public support, and that, unlike in other countries, those who run the press here in the UK are actually in a minority, protecting their vested interests. We also highlighted the horrendous abuses of their power by the press – the vilification of the Dowler, McCann and Watson families, and of course, the totally wrongful scapegoating of Christopher Jefferies, wrongly accused of the terrible murder of Jo Yeates. But we also focussed on the smaller abuses of less high profile cases of ordinary people whose privacy has been invaded, whose grief has been intruded upon, and whose reputations have been ruined by papers more interested in profit than reporting the truth. All of us stressed our strong support for the freedom of the press. No-one wants to limit their ability to print all the news that’s fit to print, or to hold the powerful to account. Indeed, the role of the press in those matters is crucial to a thriving democracy. However, it is also crucial that, when the press itself wields enough power to make or break a government, when it pays police officers and others for confidential information, and when it puts sales before the rights of citizens to grieve in private, it must itself be accountable. We tried to assure them that the Royal Charter is not about state regulation of the press. It is about responsible self-regulation. This, we argued, is the interest of the press themselves – insulating them from political interference and from those who have enough money to crush them in the courts. We also put forcibly to them that the best way to keep the police out of the pressroom is for the press themselves to clean up their act and prevent abuses, rather than apologising afterwards and budgeting to pay damages. We have no interest in seeing the papers in court. We want them to consider the balance between news values and the public interest (which is not the same as the public’s interest in prurient news and non-news). WAN-IFRA promised us that they were on a fact-finding mission. We can only hope that this is indeed the case, because the facts speak for themselves.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 13 January 2014
I will be speaking about hacking at an event organised by Brunel University on 22nd January 2014. You can find more information here.
Jane Winter’s Blog posted 10 January 2014
WAN-IFRA (the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers) is visiting the UK next week. Perhaps because they represent publishers, they have got it into their heads that the Royal Charter which has implemented most of Lord Leveson’s recommendations for dealing with press abuses like those visited on Milly Dowler’s and Madeleine McCann’s families is somehow going to restrict the freedom of the press. I will be joining Hacked Off to meet the WAN-IFRA delegation on 16th January to try to show them the victims’ side of the story. You can find out more about the WABN-IFRA mission here. For a balanced and independent picture of press freedom in the UK, see the Media Standards Trust’s report, A Free and Accountable Media, here.