Balancing acts

Some stories in this weeks number of the 'Surrey and Epsom Comet' caught my eye over breakfast. The Comet being our local freebie, a freebie which still includes small ads from people wanting to sell stuff - for example 13 Patricia Cornwell novels for a tenner. A member of the family of online and print newspapers to be found at reference 1.

First up was the Guild of Professional Dog Walkers, up in arms over a plot to license their access to Banstead Common. Presumably there have been complaints about the number of dogs from other users of the common. As someone who tolerates dogs, rather than much liking them, my first reaction is that if you can't be bothered to walk your own dog, maybe you shouldn't have one. My second reaction is that somehow we have to get along with these people.

Then we had plans to redesignate an area in an old-peoples' complex in Cheam, presently used as a communal space and to push the communal activities into smaller rooms. Apparently some of the old folk had been getting upset by the amount of noise generated by said communal activities. And this in the very desirable area known as Cheam Village, with part of the complex concerned being snapped above. With Southern Housing being in the chair on this one - the long established housing association to be found at reference 3: 'We’re one of the largest housing providers in the UK with around 80,000 homes across London, the South East, the Isle of Wight and the Midlands, giving over 167,000 people somewhere affordable to call their own'. We will have to find out what they do on the Isle of Wight.

And lastly we had anger about a scheme to replace car parking spots in Merton with bays for hire cycles. With the car parking spots marked with an orange spot in the snap above possibly being among those which have been redesignated. Wimbledon Chase railway station just around the corner. With the council presumably doing its best to balance the needs of car users and (the often inconsiderate) cycle users in a crowded urban space. An opposition Liberal Democrat councillor has raised concerns.

All three matters probably soaking up lots of management time from somewhere. I'm just glad that it is not my time - not that I was ever any good at this kind of mediation and compromise. Not enough patience.

References

Reference 1: https://www.surreycomet.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://bansteadcommons.org.uk/.

Reference 3: https://www.southernhousing.org.uk/.

Big hair

Ten days ago, to the Wigmore Hall to hear one Giorgi Gigashvili give us some Beethoven (Op.109) and some Prokofiev (Op.82). To be found at reference 1, where he offers a range of haircuts, including the big hair he sported on this occasion.

A cold and overcast day. Although I don't suppose that was what prompted memories of thick cardboard tickets and ticket collectors with a range of punches, making holes of different shapes. Presumably an elementary check on passenger behaviour. I could just about remember ticket collectors at barriers at railway stations, but not at tube stations. Maybe there have been machines at these last for rather longer.

What is it about the new lid to the gas works below that attracts the dead leaves? This on Clay Hill Green.

A small M&S trolley outside the station. Not scored.

We had intended to get a train to Victoria, but ended up getting one to Waterloo - which got us to Olle & Steen a little earlier than was necessary.

On the way to which we passed a flower delivery van parked across the road from the Botree Hotel, a van containing flowers which were nowhere the standard of those delivered to the Wigmore Hall - although looking at reference 2, one would not have thought it was good enough for them either. Perhaps they were for the economy rooms, the ones without windows.

From Olle & Steen, a different street scene from that on a Sunday. Much less cosmopolitan, much less nicotine. While inside, we had a large and scruffy Englishman sprawled in his seat, with a posh newspaper, managing to take up far more space than was decent in the space available. His place was downstairs where they had more room for sprawlers.

The concert was spot on, the first time we have heard a Beethoven piano sonata for a while. And I liked the Prokofiev rather more than I was expecting. The Schumann encore - the Op.18 Arabesque - was very familiar, which was odd, as I do not do Schumann on purpose. Maybe it is used as a stocking filler.

We had thought to eat in Waterloo - perhaps Fishcotheque - but in the end we went for Lina Stores, which could accommodate us on this occasion.

Started off with a 2023 traditional Chardonnay from the Alto Adige - a region which does not often let us down - and which is to be found at reference 4. Where we are told to use a glass for a young white wine, whatever that might be. But glass aside, it went down well enough.

I thought the ambience rather good, with a good mixture of customers and good service. There was, for example, a young lady wearing a very striking pink and black blouse, with a colour and pattern which reminded me very much of the fine curtains we used to have in our front room - until the sun rotted them that is. Plus ceiling furniture which was the height of fashion in such matters. Sadly, BH found the place a little noisy, although I suspect we would have done better had we been sitting by a window rather than in the middle of the dining room.

We were intrigued by the 30 egg yolk tagliolini. 30 egg yolks seems rather a lot for anyone, even for two sharing. Maybe what they mean is that 30 egg yolks go into a batch of tagliolini - whatever that might be.

Rather better mixed bread than one usually gets.

And a splendid sausage, rather like the ones I have bought from the Italian grocery by Borough tube station. With the first such occasion being noticed at reference 5.

BH took a ravioli, although she did sample my sausage.

Got into a bit of a muddle about the dessert, but it went down easily enough. Helped along by a spot of white grappa in a proper grappa glass.

Out to pick up a tube at Bond Street. Where, on the way down to the platform, I continued to puzzle about all the grot seeping between some of the steel segments which line the various tunnels.Where does it all come from?

A zoomed version from the top right hand corner.

A full Epsom train, complete with lots of people with fast food, some of them eating. Something I still find rather tiresome.

Somewhere along the way, I wondered how much the price of steel would have to rise before it would be worth raising the German High Seas Fleet from the bottom of Scapa Flow, where it has been since it was scuttled there at the end of the First World War. There should not be any bodies, so there should be no war grave flavoured issues. A wonder which is sorted out this evening at reference 6: most of it was recovered long ago - which I do not think I ever knew. And I may not have ever known that it was the Germans themselves who did the scuttling. Obvious really, now that I do know.

Back home, a late eight brick walk, the first one for months. I rather enjoyed the walk - but not so much that it has been repeated since. 

Snapping them in the dark, when I had finished, did not work at all and this snap had to wait until the morning. Maybe if I learned how to work the flash.

Later still, a strange bit of projection onto the fabric of this chair, with lots of faces appearing on the right hand side of its back. They were quite vivid for a while. Can't get it to work just presently, so it must have been some trick of the light and the alcohol taken. I will continue trying and report back in due course.

PS 1: Sunday morning: failed to raise any faces on the chair image on the laptop. At least, apart from one rather feeble one. Possibly focussing too much on looking for pairs of eyes, often the core of such projections. Probably trying too hard, need to relax somehow.

PS 2: Monday evening, 21:00: the chair came alive again. Seen from the right of the snap above, at a range of around 3 metres, rather than from where the telephone was. Perhaps not as strongly as on the first occasion, but alive nonetheless, with all kinds of grotesque heads. A combination of the dimmer artificial light of the evening, of the point of view and of my being fairly tired? But no alcohol on this occasion, so there was more to it than that.

References

Reference 1: https://giorgigigashvili.com/.

Reference 2: https://www.thebotree.com/.

Reference 3: https://www.linastores.co.uk/locations/marylebone-lane.

Reference 4: https://www.cantina-terlano.com/en/wines/chardonnay-17/.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/11/facts-not-opinions.html.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_German_fleet_at_Scapa_Flow.

Memory games

Prompted by the remarks about 'Shetland' at reference 1, I have been poking around a little to see what I remember from the distant past. This (Saturday) morning, I thought I would take a look at the record from ten years ago to see how much of that I remembered, actually lighting on eleven years ago, it being a little early.

'Flowers' was a short post, an early indication of what became a rather stronger interest in the matter of what controls how many petals a flower has.

'Albert' was another short post, the product of my having come to learn about 'Fat Alberts' in the course of my time with C&W at Swindon in the course of my time with the Home Office, in the early years of the present century. I remember the Fat Alberts, but have no idea what prompted this particular post.

'Another puzzle' was about a couple of odd books from an outfit called 'Nabu', an outfit which still exists at Abebooks, from which I learn that it is really 'Nabu Public Domain Reprints', probably nothing to do with the people at reference 2. I think I still own the books in question, but Nabu had vanished from the memory banks.

'A visit to Disney World' is a report of something dream-like. Re-reading has not prompted any memories, although it is recognisably the sort of thing that I might have written.

'Mothering Sunday 1' is a report of an interesting storm felled tree at Polseden Lacey. A report which has not prompted any memories.

'Mothering Sunday 2' is the larger report of that day out, which took in both a book fair at the Dorking Halls and Polesden Lacey. A report which prompted no memories of the day out - but I did remember about the book about Evelyn Cheston. A curious book, which I correctly remembered as having red covers and which I was able to put my hand on quite quickly: curious enough to have survived the various culls in the intervening years. The sort of thing that, these days, if it were produced at all, would be published as website rather than as a book. Presumably Mr Cheston had to pay Faber & Faber to publish rather than the other way around. Presumably he had money. Or perhaps his wife's money.

Surprised to find this morning that Google knows all about Mrs Cheston. Would he have done eleven years ago? Did I bother to look?

I also learned from reference 3 about the Royal Female School of Art and a connection to Axminster, in Devon.

Left from the Tate website, right from the book. Maybe a fellow artist would get more of the sense of the original from the collotype than I did.

But the big take-away is how much more we packed into this day out than we would now. 

'How awful' is a short post about pay-day lenders, presumably topical at the time.

'The day of the bullingdon' is a report of a day out in London, involving a lot of Bullingdons. Again, I packed a lot more into this day out than I would now. And while I remember nothing of this particular day out, I do remember the café in Duncannon Street and I do remember being fascinated by the white head gear of the lady snapped at the top of the post.

The café is still there - although I think that they may have invested in a new blind - and I still use it occasionally, most recently a little more than a year ago, as noticed at reference 5.

And 'Messrs. B & P' is a report of a rather large concert given by Pollini, the favourite pianist of my late brother. A much larger concert than I would attempt now - and I was a bit concerned about that ten years ago, a concern which turned out to be misplaced. I remember nothing of the concert, apart from thinking that Pollini used a Fazioli rather than a Fabbrini - but reference 7 knows better. I wonder now how much it cost him to carry his piano around with him on tour: it must have taken quite a chunk out of his fee.

Conclusions

Memories of events of ten years ago pretty much non-existent, despite these prompts. But there is some memory left of the things in those events.

PS: some time later: a curiosity: I have just learned that 'train oil' usually means whale or seal oil. From an old German or Dutch word. Nothing to do with proper trains at all. Maybe also the original cod liver oil - cod not being an oily fish in the way of herring or mackerel.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-new-trek.html.

Reference 2: https://www.nabu.org/.

Reference 3: https://modjourn.org/. The work of a couple of universities in the US.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Female_School_of_Art.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/01/pie-and-wain.html.

Reference 6: https://www.fazioli.com/en/.

Reference 7: https://www.classical-scene.com/2010/04/28/thoughts-on-hearing-maurizio-pollinis-hamburg-steinway-fabbrini-in-concert/.

Reference 8: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2014/04/. The home of the posts in question.

Reference 9: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collotype.

Wellingtonia 121

I was pleased yesterday to find that Wisley are not only planting more Wellingtonia - they already have quite a lot of them - they also go in for varieties - a possibility I had not previously thought of.

The rules do not usually allow very young trees, but I thought that this dwarf variety could be an exception. To be found down by the new lake which used to be a vegetable trial ground, a ground from which I once lifted a handful of Brussels sprouts which looked like they were going to go to waste. As noticed at reference 3.

A dwarf variety going by the name of 'Moonie's mini', described at reference 2. Might be the best I am likely to be able to do in our own garden - at least it might be if I could find somewhere from where to buy one. For once, Bing was not helpful.

PS 1: there is a useful article about Wellingtonia at reference 4 - an article which rather damps down the estimate of hundreds of thousands of these trees in the UK I once came across but cannot now trace. This author goes for a few tens of thousands. And I should perhaps not have been surprised that people in the US were not best pleased when an English collector wanted to name the tree for a UK hero - but the name has stuck, at least in the UK.

PS 2: the Veitches of Exeter were important in the Wellingtonia business. Must ask BH what she knows about them. But in the meantime see reference 6.

PS 3: a little later. Getting there on the hundreds of thousands. My own reference 7 does not help. But Bing turns up reference 8 (BBC), from where I go to reference 9 (Royal Society Publishing) and from there to reference 10, from where the snap above is taken. A quango called Forestry England, presumably the rump of the Forestry Commission of old.

PS 4: a little later still: BH has now confirmed that the Veitches did indeed use some fields just to the south of Exminster and that she used to know the family in the very large house adjacent, set above the road, snapped above. No neighbours in those days and just grass from road to house. Complete with a reminder that the Veitches were once big in aruacariae as well as Wellingtonias. I also remember an old wooden board, maybe 2m wide by 1m high, telling passers-by that they were there.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/wellingtonia-120.html.

Reference 2: https://redwoodtrees.co.uk/redwood_database/sequoiadendron-giganteum-moonies-mini.

Reference 3: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2016/01/butterflies-1.html.

Reference 4: https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sequoiadendron/sequoiadendron-giganteum/.

Reference 5: https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/. Looks to be a fine source of information about trees - at least if you know what they are called.

Reference 6: https://www.gardenhistorygirl.co.uk/post/the-veitch-nursery-a-family-dynasty-c-1808-1969.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/jigsaw-20-series-3-report-no3.html. Claim mentioned but not referenced.

Reference 8: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623. 'Giant redwoods: World’s largest trees 'thriving in UK' - Rebecca Morelle, Alison Francis, BBC - 2024'. Turned up by Bing, complete with reference 9.

Reference 9: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230603. 'Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the UK: carbon storage potential and growth rates - Ross Holland, Guilherme Castro, Cecilia Chavana-Bryant, Ron Levy, Justin Moat, Thomas Robson, Tim Wilkinson, Phil Wilkes, Wanxin Yang and Mathias Disney - 2024'. Which sends me on to reference 10.

Reference 10: https://www.forestryengland.uk/route-for-redwoods.

Group search key: wgc.

Tomatoes

Monday was a baking day, batch No.745, with what I might say was a successful outcome, with two good loaves appearing by mid afternoon. This mean a late afternoon circuit, which ended up with this non-scoring trolley from B&M, a long way from home. Not captured as I had my own trolley. Capture which would have meant, in this case, wheeling the thing home and taking it back in the morning.

At some point, I had been reminded that, because of my forays into the M&S food hall, we were running something of a surplus on tomatoes and that I had better do something about it. So what better than to attempt a version of the tomato salad we had taken a few days previously at Cappadocia? As noticed at reference 1. To which end I had picked up some fresh parsley from Waitrose and, fine fresh bread notwithstanding, knocked up the salad snapped above. Tomatoes, parsley and a little rape seed oil. I thought about cucumber and decided against; no substitute for the crunchy pomegranate used by Cappadocia. Not bad at all. The bread was pretty good afterwards too.

The only catch was that this (Friday) morning, checking at reference 1, I find that the salad that I remember from Cappadocia does not look to involve tomatoes at all. Parsley yes, pomegranate yes - but there are no tomatoes to be seen. More a green salad than a red salad.

Memory playing tricks again. Quite short term tricks on this occasion.

The next day, I passed up on another non-scoring trolley, this one from Sainsbury's, just off East Street, when I was heading for the Screwfix underpass.

And then, nearer home, I came across what appeared to be the demolition of what had been a rather odd looking house, not very old, tucked behind the electricity sub-station (if that is the right term) at the bottom of Christchurch Mound, by the stream.

BH tells me that it had once been the home of an old lady who had an even older cat, a cat who got rather senile by the end, up to all manner of stupid stuff. But that was quite a long time ago and we may have moved forward an owner or two. We await developments with interest.

No clear what goes on in the back garden in the snap above. The house being demolished more or less centre, the sub-station below it. Stream running bottom left to top right immediately above it. Tin-lid next door long gone. Presumably this house was a bit of in-fill after most of the estate had already been built.

There does appear to be the shadow of a small chimney in the snap above and a chimney pot in the one above that, so not that recently, as I guess most new houses had stopped having chimneys by the 1970s.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trollfest.html.

A new Trek

Not so warm for my last visit to the Estrela, but the leaf buds were bursting on the hawthorn outside out bedroom window and it was warm enough by early afternoon to sit outside to eat.

There was a train with an abstract, geometric paint job on the front of a carriage of a train at Clapham Junction. Very bright and cheerful. The first time I have seen such a thing during the Southwestern Trains tenure of the franchise.

A Claud Butler bicycle on the deck in the tunnel under the tracks at Vauxhall. Not much like the Claud Butler which I used to own near fifty years ago, when it served to carry me to work, from Bury Lodge (of reference 4) to Titchfield - a run which involved a more serious hill in the middle than I would care to tackle now. 

The route which is marked in light blue and is 18km or 1 hour according to Ordnance Survey, which sounds about right. In my mid-twenties, both directions in rain, frost, snow, light or dark was not a problem - although I remember that keeping the bicycle light batteries topped up was a bit of a pain. I don't remember punctures - although I would have carried the kit in those days - but I do remember the bottom bracket failing. A failing which required an afternoon's attendance by a couple of Army mechanics who happened to be on hand.

Not a brand I come across very often - although I should say that the one noticed at reference 3 is much more like the one I used to ride than that snapped above.

Not made much progress on checking out the nearest Wellingtonia to the Houses of Parliament, but I did think to checkup on the one in Vauxhall Gardens, taking in the handsome young fir free snapped above on the way. About which Google Images is not much help at all, even when I tell it that it is the tree I am interested in - this being necessary despite having given it a cropped version of the snap above. But, to be fair, there are a lot of conifers and identification is tricky. Maybe a visit to Wisley will do the trick?

Wellingtonia all present and correct. Presumably, at some point, the parky (aka professional tree surgeon) trimmed off the lower branches.

While outside the Estrela, I noticed for the first time the overhead traffic light. Apparently it has been there for years and years, but I do not think I ever noticed it before. One does not take in as much as one might like to think. 

Useful Tate Library to the right. Apparently the upper floors are let out to affordables, some more desirable than others.

Adequate bread and adequate bean soup. Sometimes their soups are quite good, but they they are not reliable. However, there was a change on the wine front, for a change. Served at room temperature, so presumably they don't sell enough to keep one in the cold cupboard behind the counter. Rather good for all that. 

And the key 'soalheiro alvarinho' turns it up fast enough at reference 5, in the far north of Portugal. Presumably seen its share of armies over the years, as Portugal and Spain settled down to their present frontier.

The black spot may well be the place in question, but who knows whether the snap lifted from reference 5 is looking north towards Spanish mountains or east towards Portuguse ones? Maybe with a bit more effort I could work it out from the road running up the middle.

Food got much better with the spare ribs, served without their sometimes dodgy gravy, but with plenty of trimmings.

Polished off with one of their fruit salads and a spot of brandy. Just the thing after all the fat and carb snapped above.

In the margins, I found out that the Estrela, strong on fish and sea food, offer a fine crab salad. Something to try one day. Maybe not as plentiful as the crab at reference 7, but maybe with a spot more presentation. Salad and so forth.

There was some discussion of the short takes of the advertisements which are made for televisions and telephones these days, perhaps something to do with declining attention span. There was also the matter of the irritatingly short takes used by the people who make the 'Shetland' series that BH and I are currently watching of an evening. The being that they have two or three strands of story on the go at once, with the takes being in seconds rather than minutes, although I have not bothered to time them. I find it rather tiresome and not helpful for keeping track of what it going on. These stories are quite complicated enough as it is without trying to keep track of it from 10 second dollops. But I might say that, notwithstanding, they make good use of sound track to crank up the atmosphere.

Also that the current series depends on people remembering what had happened at an outdoor party (so far north?) more than twenty years previously. Consulting my own memory, I don't find very much at all that far back, just the odd highlight. I dare say more could be unearthed if suitably prompted, but could one trust it. Would it be reliable testimony?

And while I think of it, the Wikipedean take on the origin of the name. BH has been asking.

While à propos of the proposed cuts to benefits, it was pointed out that it costs more to live if you are disabled. You need all the extra stuff and all the extra help - offset, to some extent I suppose, by a reduced tendency to splash out on outdoor entertainment. No doubt the relevant government department take all this sort of thing into account when setting the rates for personal independence payments (aka PIPs).

No aeroplanes on the flight path down to Heathrow, is being the day of the substation fire. We wondered how proof such things are against hackers from parts east. Something for some IT security part of government to worry about. But there were two trotting rigs on the South Lambeth Road, out taking the air.

The name of the author of the book I have read recently about Orwell's first wife went missing. After a while Anna Wunder popped into mind. From which it was easy enough to get my telephone to tell me the right answer, Anna Funder. A useful backup to the wetware. A book which I shall be reporting on in due course - but suffice it to say for the present that I was a bit shocked by what I read about Orwell - even allowing for this being a fictionalised account. Childhood hero and all.

I have probably noticed the curious placement of the central chimney before and it would still be interesting to plot the descent of the shafts from the inside.

An interesting medley framing the spy house in the middle. One of the chaps at TB did time there as an electrician when it was being fitted out, and he told us of the interesting arrangements that were made to stop bad people getting at or making use of the waste water, perhaps to export classified material.

More prosaically, I wonder whether the stainless steel canopy over the bus station, aka art work, has been made into a listed building yet? Speaking for myself, sometimes I am impressed, sometimes I find it rather ugly: I guess it must all depend on my mood and the lighting.

These colours seemed a bit brighter than usual. Just because they are newer or because some new variety of spray paint has arrived in the shops? One supposes that the stuff is quite dear, so the people doing it can't be on their beam ends - assuming, that is, that they don't just steal the stuff.

On the first train a young lady with some kind of educational music book, rather like a score, which appeared to be made up of lines of music with a treble clef - that is to say not a score for a piano or a string quartet. Plus she had a telephone, or something of that size and shape, which could act as a keyboard. At least it looked like a short keyboard, even if no sound came out on the odd occasion that she appeared to be consulting it. Maybe it transmitted sounds into her ears wirelessly. No idea what she was up to - and rather too much drink taken to go over and ask her. Maybe if I had happened to be sitting next to her.

One novel for BH from RPPL. Knocked off, as I recall, in a day or so. Entirely readable and by no means featherweight. It has been retained for a second helping. I learn today from Wikipedia that the author is more poet and translator than novelist, there is a French connection (this novel being set in provincial France), she now teaches at Goldsmiths and lives in Tunbridge Wells.

A young man (who looked to be of school age, which I suppose just about computes given the time of day) with a rather flashy looking bicycle was occupying the space by the doors on the train to Epsom. It looked brand new, and it was, I think, some kind of Trek mountain bike, and nothing at all like my Trek tourer, much more like the bike at reference 3 than anything at reference 2. This one was something called Level 4 and was complete with various go-faster stripes which he was very proud of. While I had a short chat with the chap standing behind me about real bicycles.

Reference 2 does not admit to Level 4, but it does admit to Gen 4 - which seems to push the prices into thousands rather than hundreds. Who was paying for this one?

I wondered afterwards whether part of the point of reference 2 is to make the whole buying experience terribly complicated, arcane even. To add value by making choice and purchase a big production, a big experience. Perhaps the people who sell mobile phones are at the same game - perhaps targeting the same sort of young men.

Home to capture the trolleys previously noticed at reference 1.

PS: POTUS has been going on about how VAT is, in effect, a tariff on goods imported from the US into places like the UK. One should perhaps remember that most states in the US levy a sales tax, which is not that different, albeit at a rather lower rate, say averaging around 10% as opposed to our 20%.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolley-803.html.

Reference 2: https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/mountain_buyers_guide/.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/trolleys-702-and-703.html.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/02/marmalade.html.

Reference 5: https://soalheiro.com/wines/soalheiro-alvarinho-classico-2022/.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melga%C3%A7o,_Portugal.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/fishy-polesden.html.

Television violence

Still reading Freud’s essay at reference 1 which I reported on at reference 2, given Freud’s emphasis on the important of violence in our makeup and in the way we organise ourselves, I thought it would be well to take another opinion on same, starting with the fine book at reference 3, which I first read more than ten years ago.

This led to Willard W Hartup, which led to the affordable reference 4. In which connection the large variation of price of second-hand books on the Internet continues to surprise me. The market is far from perfect – in the sense that economists used to use the word – and it is often worth checking. In this case, a book of some 600 pages, made up of papers given at a conference in Monte Carlo on aggression, organised by NATO in 1973. My copy formerly owned by someone at the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. 

And I recall some people from that time starting to get a bit uneasy about the amount of science which was being sponsored by the US Department of Defense. Did you really want to take the Defense Shilling, as it were?

Turning the pages of reference 4 led to the paper about television violence and children’s aggression at reference 5. Robert E Liebert was a professor for many years at SUNY of reference 6 and looks to have done a lot of work on this subject – although, oddly, apart from his various books, for example at Abebooks, he is more or less invisible on the Internet. And invisible at SUNY, despite being there for around thirty years.

Now I have often wondered whether violence on television serves to sublimate or promote violence, so I was interested to read that, on the basis of more than 50 studies in the US alone, involving more than 10,000 children, Liebert concludes that ‘there is a statistically reliable and socially significant relationship between the amount of violence that a child sees on entertainment television and the degree to which he becomes aggressive in his attitude and behaviour’. He discounts the one dissenting study. Violence on children’s television was clearly a topic of considerable interest at that time.

I have also looked at reference 7. This was a report of an experiment done with about 140 children, half boys and half girls. Half were shown a short film with aggressive content, half were shown a non-violent film. Immediately after the showing, the children were tested for aggression in two stages. The second stage involved watching them at play, but the first stage involved giving children buttons to press which it was said could hurt or help an unseen child. An unseen child who did not in fact exist. I don’t suppose such an experiment would be regarded as proper now, but the key result is summarised in the snap above. It seems reasonably clear that watching violence promoted violence, with a bigger effect for boys than for girls.

While in the interview at reference 8, Liebert affirms that violence on television does not sublimate innate violence, does not allow children and others to blow off aggression harmlessly. He also tells us that televised action attracts, as well as just violence.

Fifty years later than the book with which I started, I am aware of several successful and non-violent television programs for children: ‘Sesame Street’, ‘Peppa Pig’ and ‘Big Cook Little Cook’. And not all computer games are violent, thinking here of ‘Super Mario Kart’, a favourite of one of my own children. Perhaps, collectively, we have learned: we have successfully promoted non-violent entertainment for children.

But it would be interesting to find out whether Liebert’s work has stood the test of time. Maybe that will come.

References

Reference 1: Civilization and its discontents – S. Freud – 1930.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/interim-report-no1.html. 

Reference 3: The evolution of childhood: Relationships, emotion, mind – Melvin Konner – 2010. 

Reference 4: Determinants and origins of aggressive behavior – edited by Jan de Wit, Willard W Hartup – 1974. 

Reference 5: Television violence and children’s aggression: The weight of the evidence – Robert E Liebert – 1972.

Reference 6: https://www.suny.edu/. 

Reference 7: Some Immediate Effects of Televised Violence on Children's Behavior – Liebert, Barron – 1973.

Reference 8: How children react to graphic violence on TV, real and fake – Sandra J. Weber, Robert M Liebert, New York Times – 1991. A newspaper interview be found at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1991/02/10/854891.html?pageNumber=224.