By stewartb
Commentary on the recent Telegraph article written by Sir Keir Starmer has been extensive in the UK press. That it proved controversial is an understatement. However among its questionable elements, there are ones that merit additional attention when viewed from a Scotland perspective.
(Review of Starmer’s article: https://archive.ph/dyz6e )
Starmer states: “A century ago, Clement Attlee wrote that Labour must be a party of duty and patriotism, not abstract theory. To build a ‘New Jerusalem’ meant first casting off the mind-forged manacles. That lesson is as true today as it was then.”
Of all that could be said about the Attlee government and its achievements, Starmer opts to refer to ‘patriotism’. And what symbolism does he embrace as the leader of a party seeking votes in Scotland in order to become Prime Minister of the whole United Kingdom? What symbolism is he choosing at a time when the future of the Union is contested and when as Prime Minster he would deny Scotland the democratic means of determining its constitutional future? A ‘New Jerusalem’!
Let’s remember the contemporary, ’patriotic’ significance of this ‘New Jerusalem’ derived from William Blake’s poetry.
1) From a BBC documentary in 2013: ’Nothing evokes the shared national spirit of England’s industrial age more than this poem by William Blake, first set to music almost a century ago. “And was Jerusalem builded here?”, he asks, amongst England’s “dark Satanic mills.” Blake’s words have a special significance for the Labour Party. In 1945, Prime Minister Clement Attlee invoked his “New Jerusalem” when he launched Labour’s proudest achievement: the creation of a Welfare State for the British people.’
Source http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio4/transcripts/20130527-analysis-labours-new-new-jerusalem.pdf
2) Attlee used this ‘patriotic’ rhetoric on a number of occasions. For example, at the end of a notable campaigning speech delivered in Scarborough in 1951, he states:
‘The fact is that a very remarkable job has been done under great difficulties. You see our new towns, you see our smiling countryside. I am proud of our achievement. There is an immense amount more to do. Remember that we are a great crusading body, armed with a fervent spirit for the reign of righteousness on earth. Let us go forward in this fight in the spirit of William Blake:
‘I will not cease from mental strife,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.’
Source: http://britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=161
And Labour Party members at their UK conferences continue to sing this anthem – about a vision for England.
3) Praiseworthy references to ‘Jerusalem’ crop up widely but all with a common connection:
‘Jerusalem’ is a beautiful hymn by choral trailblazer Sir Hubert Parry, and a favourite for England’s national anthem’; ’According to its most common interpretation, Blake’s poem suggests that a visit from Jesus will create heaven in England, in contrast to the ‘dark Satanic Mills’ of the Industrial Revolution’ and ‘‘Jerusalem’ has become the official hymn of the English Cricket Board and is usually sung at both the Rugby League Challenge cup Final and the Super League final.’
Source: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/parry/jerusalem-hymn-lyrics-history/
4) ’.. in 1927, the centenary of William Blake’s death, there were calls for Jerusalem to become an English national anthem. Although nothing ever came of this, the hymn’s widespread appeal has not dimmed – with those calls for the hymn to represent the English being renewed again in the present day.’
Source: https://theconversation.com/jerusalem-a-history-of-englands-hymn-55668
5) ’For more than a century, the hymn “Jerusalem” has been a staple of English national culture. Usually invoked as a sign of patriotic pride—at Last Night of the Proms or the 2012 Olympics …’ and ‘Whether patriotic or ironic, a shared feature of all “Jerusalem” allusions tends to be a sense that everyone knows what it is about as an archetype of Englishness.’
6) References to Jerusalem continue in similar vein: ‘In the century since Parry set it to music, ‘Jerusalem’ has become emblematic of a conventional view of Englishness as a rural vision of a green and pleasant land. ..… This book explores the ways in which ‘Jerusalem’ has been used to create often conflicting narratives of Englishness, from royal celebrations to sporting events, from the 1920s exhibition of empire to protests against the poll tax in the 1990s, and from boosting the morale of a country suffering during war to dividing that nation during the vote for Brexit.’
Source: Whittaker, J (2022) Jerusalem: Blake, Parry, and the Fight for Englishness Oxford Academic Press (https://academic.oup.com/book/43075 )
In a review of Whittaker’s book written on 14 July 2022 and appearing on the University of Lincoln website, there is this: ‘Jerusalem: Blake, Parry and the Fight for Englishness documents the history of the hymn and the poem it originated from; looking at the complex way in which it has come to be an emblem for Englishness.’
Whittaker is quoted: ‘“It has become synonymous with something essential to the character of England and Englishness, and frequently the site of mental fight regarding what is meant when we talk about Englishness.’
End note
What does it say about Starmer’s Labour Party and its inherent sense of Scotland (or Wales for that matter) as a nation and as a respected partner within the Union when it chooses in election campaign messaging in 2023 to express its vision, its ‘patriotism’, by reference to a ‘New Jerusalem’? At the very least it seems crass – leaving aside the issue of its narrow religiosity.
Having seen the Labour Party in recent times exploit the symbol that is the Union flag, are we now seeing it embark on a merging of British and English nationalism – the party would call it ‘patriotism’ of course – in order to win votes from the Tories? Symbolism is following policies favourable to Tory voters in England.
Who knew that Ian Murray MP in 2014 when wearing his ‘Union Jack’ suit was destined to become a trendsetter for his party! So Mr Murray may be comfortable with all this, but what of the wider Labour Party in Scotland?
Talking-up Scotland 
”A New Jerusalem …” ? Well , given Starmer’s comments about the siege of Gaza , I don’t expect he will be too bothered if Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to annex it !
LikeLiked by 1 person
GET RID Of THIS BLOODY STARMUR
HE WILL DO NOTHING FOR SCOTLAND AT ALL
BUT THE NO AND I MEAN NO LABOUR BRANCH MANAGER
HAVE DONE A SODDIN* THING FOR SCOTS
ALL WAS SECOND HAND DELIVERY FROM ENGLAND
WITH VERY VERY LITTLE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
ALL TAX MONEY WAS USED IN SOUTH EAST ENGLAND
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sir Kid Starver must be on the meth again – and is there a face more despicable than that of wee unIan Jockstrap Murray?
LikeLiked by 2 people
“And now for England” as Cameroon said with glee”.
Shir Drear Charmer must have been watching—a Toadie sprog taking it all in.
Gavinochiltree
LikeLike
And Starmer’s Labour party ignores Northern Ireland too
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe Starmer is the new Stanley Baldwin?
Cause he definitely isn’t a Socialist!!
Maybe drag us all back to this!!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-58341335
LikeLiked by 1 person
The reason I raise the question of standing charges for gas and electricity is because OFGEM very quietly implemented a public review into standing charges in U.K. on 16/11/23 so if you are annoyed about how high they are there is still time to respond see the link below.
Not much of a public review if nobody knows it exists is it ?
I get the felling they’re at it ,
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/standing-charges-call-input
LikeLike
Click to access Macquarie.pdf
Check this out the OFT looking at Macquarie leasing an Australian company that came to U.K. and took over part of the national grid and then got the contract to supply energy companies in U.K. with smart meters so when you get a smart meter fitted it’s Scottish and southern energy or British Gas or EDF or eon etc that fits it , it’s Macquarie’s who then charge the energy company for the meter and the fitting of the meter and the maintenance of the meter OVER THE LIFETIME OF THE METER which is up to twenty yes 20 years so that’s why standing charges keep going up it’s PFI all over again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An interesting snippet on Smart meter ‘owners’ from a recent ‘Fully charged podcast’.
The guest was Jonathan Porterfield, who has been part of Orkney’s huge leap into the alternative energy era.
Unable to export the excess power produced due to the mainland interlink capacity, they hit on the idea of rather than switching off wind generators, they go for dispersed energy storage, with ‘every’ home having battery storage.
With huge support for the plan, the hit the most ludicrous block I’ve ever heard of – The company ‘leasing’ the Smart meters pointed to a clause in their contracts which prevented it – Nothing to do with impracticality, everything to do with bumping up their already substantial profits from among the highest standing charges in the UK (despite being essentially self-powered).
It’s as you highlighted, like PFI madness all over again….
LikeLike
Advice to Orkney , disconnect their smart meter they’re not compulsory , connect another type of meter, I have refused and refused a smart meter for about a decade they couldn’t enforce one then I moved to a new house only to find one already installed.
There are about ten different models of smart meter all operated differently it’s a mess no uniformity just a free for all profits get rich quick scheme
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I bought this place in 2014 it already had a Smart meter on the Eon supply – I was interested in solar/battery or generator solution to circumvent lengthy power cuts, and asked if there were any restrictions – No restrictions apart from work being done by a certified electrician.
The lengthy outages are no more, only the short ones at stupid o’clock which make the boiler go through start-up, UPS on it’s way for this weekend to cure that one permanently.
The UK system appears to have been optimised for money-making and precious little else…
LikeLike
Impressive .
East of Carpathians or in them.
Nice , wild countryside bear and wolf country 🙂
You’re right , UK since Thatcher has been about deregulation , essential businesses
allowed to regulate themselves and they do , by sending their staff to work temporarily for their regulator no doubt they get a promotion if they do a good job and don’t rock the boat.
Businesses work together across the board to diddle customers , smart meters a perfect example .
The actual energy suppliers wash their hands of what customers are charged for smart meter installation and there is a charge , it’s added into the ever increasing standing charges.
The likes of eon ,British Gas , EDF etc etc are just administrators of your gas and electricity account and pay the actual energy suppliers a set rate for the gas and electricity their customers get , but each administrator sets the standing charge differently applying different standing charges and different KWh and M3 rates for gas and electricity what this does is introduce confusion to the equation whereby customers cannot accurately compare prices across the board.
Then we have the the smart meter companies who install the smart meters and maintain them they charge the administrators like eon and British Gas for the actual smart meter over twenty years and then charge for its maintenance and they do this over twenty years too which is the lifetime of the smart meter this allows the likes of eon and British Gas to avoid up front costs for the smart meters which in turn allows them to double standing charges from for example 20p to 40p a day which a lot of folks will treat as being negligible but over twenty years for 56 million premises in U.K. is substantial and of course eon and British Gas etc do not tell their customers about how they do this they pretend that they themselves are installing the smart meters leading people to believe eon and British Gas etc have paid up front for the smart meters and have installed them themselves when they have not in fact done so British Gas and eon etc can then pay their shareholders bigger sums having tricked their customers into thinking eon and British Gas etc have had the cost of buying and installing smart meters.
This trick is why people often say hang on why are we paying increasing standing charges when not much changes in the actual infrastructure my gas and electricity has been coming into my house through the same pipes and cables for twenty or thirty years what they don’t realise is that they will be paying increased standing charges for the installation of smart meters for the next twenty years or more because eon and British Gas etc are only leasing these smart meters from the likes of Macquarie leasing co etc.
LikeLiked by 2 people
My nearest city is Bacau, so east of the Carpathians where bears and wolves generally speak romanian and occasionally get elected before imprisonment…
Aye, pretty chuffed considering it was a brand new house in 2013 when I bought it, double glazed, insulated to the latest standards etc., etc.. Only when I retired and came to live in the place did I begin to realise what was wrong from an energy efficiency perspective, an old hobby horse since my youth.
There’s only me in the place, so no contributory energy effects such as lights on to emulate human heat, no curtains up over the windows, just venetian blinds, so it’s been a stable ‘experiment’ over the last 5-6 years.
I imagine efficiency will escalate markedly when a family takes over the place and behaves as families do, for me it satisfied curiosity in my closing years,
You are quite right to highlight the monstrous injustices which have been visited on consumers in the UK since energy ‘privatisation’, but having lived through and seen the numbers on the iraq oil crisis which never was, this has been going on a long time involving international collusion.
When the public become a ‘milk cow’ as they have over the last half century, the ways of colonialism never really died, they merely changed spots….
LikeLike
I wonder what drew you to live in Eastern Romania .I would imagine its location means there will be a substantial Muslim population and Turkish influence but also I guess Romania perhaps had Roman influence too.
Bacău on the map looks like it’s surrounded by hills do you get any flooding there ? maybe all the trees still soak up the rain unlike here in U.K. where farmers have cut down all the trees and hedges exacerbating flooding.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Came here first on a water project in 2006, and having decided to retire after Gaza did so in 2014 and couldn’t be arsed moving again, simple really…
Orthodox and Catholic christianity mainly with pockets of muslim, judaism, hinduism, all sorts here…
Romania derives it’s name from the Romans who invaded and settled with the native Dacians before the Empire collapsed – Hence similarity between Italian and Romanian languages which come from the same root but diverged.
Occasional heavy flooding along the main rivers cause periodic chaos from slack gradients, but nothing serious in my immediate locale..
Hilly country here doesn’t lend itself to industrial farming (hence the number of horses and carts built on a log which can go almost anywhere), quite a contrast to the vast plains to the south and west…
LikeLike
This practice of making you pay standing charges for a smart meter and the fitting of a smart meter and the maintenance of a smart meter over a 20 year period is called “ AMORTIZING “
LikeLiked by 1 person
No standing charges here for gas or power, nor different tariffs depending on where in the country you live – Everybody pays the unit rate for what is consumed along with a shed-load of extras which are nevertheless based purely on consumption.
LikeLike
Where do you live Bob , any room ? we are coming too
LikeLiked by 1 person
🤣
Eastern Romania, proper seasons but 40+ summers and -16 winters…
Last year’s annual bills were leccy 262 quid, gas 485, so hardly a struggle, but put in the last round of insulation over summer which seems to be pushing the gas under the 360 quid a year mark, bringing overall consumption to ca 25% of where I started 😉
LikeLike
Starmer is telling us now that New New Labour’s magic money tree will bear no fruit if his party are elected as the next UK government…..”Labour won’t turn on the spending taps”
Well is no one in the media then going to challenge him on HOW his promoted Missions will be fulfilled.
His five Missions : Economic growth, Clean Energy, NHS, Safe streets and ‘Opportunity’ (whatever THAT means)…..so his party will supposedly achieve ALL this WITHOUT turning ON the SPENDING TAPS……
Could he be clearer than he is being in telling us all that the path his party will take will be the SAME path as the Tory party have taken since 2010…..are people in Scotland really really listening to and understanding what he is actually telling them ?
I really hope so………
LikeLike
Not my real name…..The majority of people just don’t want to get involved in finding out what is being done , frightened of making a mistake or not understanding things and can’t be bothered reading up on it to find out the detail of what they don’t understand, the result is they are happy to digest information from an easy source that they rely on , BBC , STV , newspapers , Facebook , etc all these are used politically to spread lies and confuse.
LikeLike