Alasdair Pettinger

@bulldozia

Words | history | sounds. Author, editor, archivist. Autistic. Latchy student of Gàidhlig, Cymraeg, Kreyòl & stringed instruments. Book: Frederick Douglass and Scotland, 1846. Researching revolutionary slogans. North Pembrokeshire. www.bulldozia.com

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Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· 21d

Orwell reckoned that Britain needed the Empire to maintain its standard of living; without it 'England [would be] a cold & unimportant little island where we should all have to ... live mainly on herrings and potatoes'. Hugh MacDiarmid, writing from Shetland: 'Don't threaten me with a good time.'

'In *The Road to Wigan Pier*, Mr George Orwell twits anti-Imperialists and tells them that the British standard of living depends upon the retention of the Empire. "The alternative is to throw the Empire overboard and reduce England to a cold and unimportant little island where we should all have to work very hard and live mainly on herrings and potatoes. That is the very last thing that any left-winger wants."

'This book, however, is written by one who lives on a colder and far smaller and infinitely less important island than the United Kingdom would then be, and on just the fare Mr. Orwell indicates, and finds life very tolerable indeed (much more tolerable than he would find it almost anywhere else in Scotland or England), and who therefore views the possibility (or, as he regards it, the inevitability) of the reduction of Scotland and England to the condition indicated with complete equanimity, to say the least of it....'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Jul 14

The other Bastille, Maenclochog.

Sign fixed to stone wall of house, headed 'La Bastille' with explanation below: 'So named because French soldiers were briefly jailed here following the failed Fishguard invasion in 1797.'

Same house, viewed at a greater distance, showing one side of the stone building, with four modern windows and a smaller, jail-like window with bars. A blue sky with fluffy clouds in the background, and the road (half in shadow) leading to junction by village green.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Jul 13

In 1793 Thomas Spence was warning that even animal tales were likely to be interpreted as seditious by the government, and recommended how to avoid prosecution, using an example of how one would edit one of Aesop's Fables: archive.org/details/bim_...

Screenshot of printed text: 'Let us thus, O ye Britons, shew what we do *not* mean, that the Attorney General may not, in his Indictments, do it for us. // THE LION AND THE OTHER BEASTS. // From Aesop's Fables. // The Lion [*not meaning our Sovereign Lord the King*] and several other beasts, [*not meaning the continental Kings and Powers*] entered into an alliance offensive and defensive, and were to live very socially together in the forest [*not meaning in Europe*]. One day having made a sort of an excursion, [*not meaning in France*] by way of hunting, they took a very fine, large, fat deer, [*not meaning Dunkirk, Toulon, or any other place taken from the French*] which was divided [....]

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Jun 13

We scattered our parents' and grandparents' ashes in a place they loved and left Beethoven to keep them company.

Close up of white plaster bust of Ludwig van Beethoven placed discreetly in verdant undergrowth.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· May 21

This - finely crafted - opening salvo from Hugh MacDiarmid always makes me smile. (From Scottish Scene, 1934: archive.org/details/mac-... - different edition)

Scan of printed page that reads: 'DUNDEE [heading]. What can one say of Dundee? In one of my poems I exclaimed "Dundee is dust; / And Aberdeen a shell..." and one of the Dundee papers demanded to know what I meant by so "damnably elliptical" an utterance - the same paper which caught my eye some years ago with the caption "The Man who invented Sweethearts." The article under this heading was a potted biography of Dante. Great journalism! That is typical of Dundee. It is a pity that Dante could not be brought back and compelled to live in it for a little; he would add a sensational new circle to his Inferno.'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· May 19

Colston looking good. (M Shed, Bristol).

Colour photo, close up of head and shoulders of prone statue, inside a display case, still daubed with protestors' red paint, with traces of slogan (a capital B, but the rest indecipherable from this angle). It is the statue of Edward Colston, toppled in 2020, now on permanent display.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· May 8

The Runaway Train. After voting in Maenclochog yesterday we paid a visit to the grave of Thomas Evans, victim of a tragic accident 150 years ago this week. He was one of several railway workers who jumped from a goods train coming down the hill from Rosebush when the brakes failed. 1/3

Two headstones on the edge of a burial ground (of the Tabernacle church, Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire), verdant hedgerow behind. The left relates to Thomas Evans (of Tumpath, Henry's Moat parish) who died 2 May 1876. The inscription also includes, I am told, a quotation from the Book of Proverbs in Welsh. The right relates to the daughter of Thomas and Mary Evans (also of Tumpath, Henry's Moat parish) who died 13 May 1874 aged 5 years.

An area of cleared ground, the site of the former railway station at Maenclochog, Pembrokeshire. The line of the two tracks is visible, as is the position of island platform between them on which a small wooden building and adjacent tree is seen.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 23

They meant drones.

Screenshot of BBC news headline: 'We thougjt Gen Z had started going to church in droves. But the truth is more complicated.'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 16

More enigmatic glaciotectonic folds.

Colour photograph of sea cliff, strip of sandy beach below, and gently rising grass slope above. The rock is abundantly fissured and folded.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 15

'Enigmatic glaciotectonic folds' at Traeth-y-Mwnt. geoguide.scottishgeologytrust.org/p/gcr02/gcr0...

Colour photograph of very irregular cliff face, with fissures, folds galore.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 10

Delighted to come across this radio show on SoundCloud from @robwalsh.bsky.social Will appeal to fans of On the Wire, perhaps even those dwelling in the fleshpots of the Fylde Coast. soundcloud.com/blowin-1

Banner image of said SoundCloud account, featuring colourful abstract painting in the background, on top of which are placed the artist-supplied info, viz. 'Rob Walsh / Music radio the way it should be / Bradford, United Kingdom' followed by SoundCloud's own 'Artist Pro' account label.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 8

'Every manufacturer lives in his factory like the planters in the colonies in the midst of their slaves, one against hundred, and the rebellion in Lyon is another Haitian Revolution.' (Saint-Marc Girardin, 1831). archive.org/details/souv...

Screenshot from printed book: '.... chaque fabricant vit dans sa fabrique comme les planteurs des colonies au milieu de leurs esclaves, un contre cent; et la sédition de Lyon est une espèce d'insurrection de Saint-Domingue'. From Souvenirs et réflexions politiques d'un journaliste (1859), incorporating the text from an article in the Journal des Débats (December 1831).

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Feb 7

From Godard's La Chinoise (1967).

Movie clip. A young man, wearing a peach sweater, shot from behind, in the process of erasing names of authors from a blackboard. Among the names still visible: Molière, Jarry, Adamov, Kleist, Lorca, Voltaire, Albee, Williams, Brecht, Pinter, Goldoni, Giraudoux, Labiche, Racine.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Jan 25

Robert Burns' song 'Scots wha hae', as it was first printed (anonymously, sort of), in The Morning Chronicle, 8 May 1794.

Screenshot from scan of newspaper page. In smaller print above the heading: 'If the following warm and animating Ode was not written near the time to which it applies, it is one of the most faithful imitations of the siple and beautiful style of the Scottish Bards we ever read, and we know but of one Living Poet to whom to ascribe it.' Heading: 'BRUCE's ADDRESS TO HIS TROOPS, AT THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. Scene - Lewis Garden.' [This should probably have read: Tune - Lewis Gordon].

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham BRUCE has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to glorious victorie!

Now's the day, and now's the hour!
See the front o'battle lour!
See approach proud EDWARD's pow'r!
EDWARD, chains and slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
What sae base as to be a slave?
Traitor, coward, turn and flie!

Wha for Scotland's King and Law,
FREEDOM's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or Freeman fa?
CALEDONIAN! on wi' me!

By Oppression's woes and pains!
By your sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins -
But they shall - they SHALL be fre[e]!

Lay the proud usurpers low;
Tyrants fall in every foe;
LIBERTY's in every blow!
Forward let us do or die!

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Jan 23

Delighted to find this extract from a letter dated 21 January, 1775, published in the (London) Public Advertiser, 29 April 1775. 1/5

Screenshot from scan of newspaper article. 'From a Lady in the Province of Massachusett's Bay to her Friend in London. "SIR, The Cause of America is now become so serious, that every American considers it as a Struggle, from which we shall obtain a Release by an ample Redress of our Grievances, or a Redress by the Sword. The only Alternative which every American thinks of, is Liberty or Death ... ["]'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Dec 7

Ethel Mannin opened the counter-exhibition organised by the Independent Labour Party to run alongside the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow in 1938. More on the counter-exhibition here: www.bulldozia.com/2020/06/23/t...

Screenshot from article in The Scotsman, 15 Aug 1938, headlined 'I.L.P. Stage Exhibition.' 'The Independent Labour Party have sponsored a "Workers' Empire Exhibition" in the Kingston Hall, Glasgow, and on Saturday the opening ceremy was performed by Miss Ethel Mannin. By means of illustrated panels, posters and photographs, the promoters seek to show "the real conditions in the Colonies." / Mr James Carmichael presided. / Miss Mannin said there was nothing spectacular in their exhibition, and time and trouble had to be taken to study the facts and figures presented. The exhibition was a gesture from the workers to show the other side in the face of the capitalist Exhibition displayed at Bellahouston Park. / The proceeds of the exhibition, which would run for a fortnight, would be used to defray costs, and to help the Trade Union movement in the West Indies and India.'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Dec 6

Preseli skies, an hour before sunset.

Colour photograph. Upland moor catching the late afternoon light, a blue sky with interesting and varied clouds, some in shadow. A fence leads away from the viewer from bottom left corner to disappear in the distance, the horizon dividing the image so that the sky takes up nearly three quarters of it.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Dec 1

Before long the Association issued a plea that ‘all peaceable and well-disposed persons … abstain from wearing BLUE COCKADES, as these ensigns are now assumed by a set of miscreants.’ 3/3 archive.org/details/bim_...

Screen grab of digitized printed text which reads: 'IT is earnestly requested of all peaceable and well-disposed persons, (as well Protestants associated as others) that they will abstain from wearing BLUE COCKADES, as these ensigns are now assumed by a set of miscreants, whose purpose is to burn this city, and plunder its inhabitants; and who wish, by distributing amongst better-disposed persons, and prevailing on them to wear these marks and distinctions, to screen themselves from the detestation and punishment due to their enormous crimes. / And it is farther recommended to all tradesmen and masters of families, not to employ or retain in their service any persons who distinguish themselves by wearing blue cockades.'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Dec 1

Choose your shibboleth carefully. A lesson from the Gordon Riots. In 1780 the Protestant Association recommended its supporters wear blue cockades as they marched on Parliament to protest the Catholic Relief Act. 1/3 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/u...

A contemporary engraving depictng the 'Burning, Plundering and Destruction of Newgate [Prison] by the Rioters on the memorable 7thy of June 1780'. The prison burns in the background, while many 'rioters' dominate the foreground, many armed with sticks, cudgels, swords, etc, and many wearing hats adorned with blue cockades. Although some of the 'rioters' are seen assaulting individuals (and 'No Popery' banners are visible), by this stage the riots had begun to attack symbols of authoritarian power (prisons, the Bank of England) rather than individual Catholics.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 20

Trains cancelled.

Photo of reconstructed platform of long-disused railway station, showing three life-size figurines, a man standing, and a woman and child sitting on bench, with regular wooden fence running behind, with station sign - 'Rosebush' (and two GWR logos) in red - above. Leafless trees in the background. Everything covered in snow, the figures included, seemingly unconcerned, perhaps frozen to death as they wait for a non-existent train.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 18

Handbill advertising a debate hosted by Robert Wedderburn in London in August 1819, a week before Peterloo. 1/2

Image of torn handbill with National Archives watermark, printed in different fonts and type sizes. The text is centred. It reads: 'Can it be Murder to / KILL A / TYRANT? / At Hopkins-Street Chapel, / Near BERWICK-STREET, SOHO. / On Monday Evening, August 9, 1819, / The Following Question will be / DEBATED, / 'Has a Slave an inherent right to slay his Master, who refuses him / HIS LIBERTY?' / The Offspring of an African Slave will / open the Question. / Chair taken at half-past eight o'Clock. Admittance 6d. / The case of Mr. Carlisle after two evenings Discussion in the presence of / a very respectable Assembly, was decided in his favor without a discenting / voice, and a monument proposed to be erected to perpetuate his praise. / The following Question will next be Debated, viz. / Is it possible for the Government to be extricated from the accumulating perils with which it is daily surrounding itself? / Debates in future will be held twice a week, viz. Monday and Wednesday. / N.B. Lectures every Sunday morning at eleven, afternoon at three.' (National Archives, https://images.nationalarchives.gov.uk/asset/81116/)

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 9

'P for Relief' using Mamdani meme generator (made by @foone) adapting bodega-style fonts and colour of 'Mamdani for New York'.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 7

Autumn colours, Cambuslang.

Graffiti on the stone parapet of a bridge, barely legible except for 'ACAB' in large, bold yellow block capitals, with the varied autumnal colours of trees beyond.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 2

Sigmund Freud, in Totem and Taboo, might have been talking about large language models. archive.org/details/stan...

Screenshot of part of a printed page, reading: 'There is an intellectual function in us which demands unity, connection and intelligibility from any material, whether of perception or thought, that comes within its grasp; and if, as a result of special circumstances, it is unable to establish a true connection, it does not hesitate to fabricate a false one. Systems constructed in this way are known to us not only from dreams, but also from phobias, from obsessive thinking and from delusions. The construction of systems is seen most strikingly in delusional disorders (in paranoia), where it dominates the symptomatic picture; but its occurrence in other forms of neuro-psychosis must not be overlooked. In all these cases it can be shown that a rearrangement of the psychical material has been made with a fresh aim in view; and the rearrangement may often have to be a drastic one if the outcome is to be made to appear intelligible from the point of view of the system. Thus a system is best [....]'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Nov 1

Constellations of sheep

Black and white photo, with intensified contrast, depicting the distribution of sheep on a hilside.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Oct 29

The old slate quarry.

Colour photograph, with late afternoon autumn sunlight catching a steep-sided slate heap on the right, and the bracken and grass on the left, with the outline of a conifer plantation beyond. In shadow, in the centre of the image is the hollow of the quarry itself, the silhouette of a conifer within just visible. The sky is a pale blue, almost cloudless except for a semi-circle of a cumulus peeping over the horizon.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Oct 22

In their brilliant book, Questioning Humanity, making a strong case for a 'sceptical, provisional humanism' - rooted in a tradition that stretches from Montaigne to Sylvia Wynter - Thomas Osborne and Nikolas Rose offer a sobering conclusion: www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/que...

'Ours may be the time of a new Enlightenment as to our awesom planetary powers and planetary responsibilities. But it is probably too late for our awareness of the multiple, almost unimaginable chances and contingencies that have not just given rise to life, but to creatures with intelligence, freedom and a sense of moral responsibility, to enable us to save ourselves from extinction. Even if we overcome the forces of greed, self-interest and wilful ignorance that still drive us towards our doom, even if we can see what is coming and know what must be done to avert it, it is unlikely that we can summon the will, the power or the politics to avert it. We may be special - or at least distinctive - creatures, rare and perhaps unique in our universe, and our 200,000 years of existence will leave its marks on the Earth, but while our planet will live on, we doubt whether any future living entity will remain who will be curious enough to excavate the traces we have left, or to try to understand how it was that we brought our end, knowingly, upon ourselves.

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Oct 16

#NoKings Barnard Castle 1792. (From the Life of William Wilberforce, Vol II (1838)) archive.org/details/life...

'Considerable numbers in Bernard Castle have manifested disaffection to the constitution, and the words, "No King," "Liberty," and "Equality," have been written there upon the Market Cross.'

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Oct 16

#NoKings Perth, 1794.

'Perth bridge was daubed with slogans, "Damn all Kings, God damn the King, Curse all Tyrants. Who would want a King to eat the Bread of twenty five thousand men, Britain must be a Republic, Liberty & equality." P&KCA, PE51/25, Declaration of William Wedderspoon and David Buist, 28 Apr. 1794.' (Val Honeyman, '"A Very Dangerous Place"? Radicalism in Perth in the 1790s,' Scottish Historical Review, Vol 87 No 224 (2008), p. 300)

Alasdair Pettinger@bulldozia· Oct 4

From a Massachusetts broadside 1779, illustrating a poem by 'a daughter of liberty, living in Marblehead.' archive.org/details/reme...