Latest news with #VirginiaWoolf
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Again and again, we are shocked by the treatment of learning-disabled people. Yet we never learn from the past
BBC Radio 4 has just aired a short series about the writer Virginia Woolf, to celebrate the centenary of her novel Mrs Dalloway. According to the publicity blurb, the aim of Three Transformations of Virginia Woolf was to explore what she 'has to say to us today', and how she 'captured and critiqued a modern world that was transforming around her, treated mental health as a human experience rather than a medical condition, and challenged gender norms'. Because the three episodes immediately followed the Today programme, I distractedly caught two minutes of the first, before flinching, and turning it off. The reason? Only a few days before, I had read a diary entry Woolf wrote in 1915, presented alongside the acknowledgment that she was 'suffering deep trauma at the time', but still so shocking that it made me catch my breath. It was a recollection of encountering a group of learning-disabled people, who were probably residents of a famous institution called Normansfield hospital. 'We met and had to pass a long line of imbeciles,' Woolf wrote. 'The first was a very tall man, just queer enough to look at twice, but no more; the second shuffled, and looked aside; and then one realised that everyone in that long line was a miserable ineffective shuffling idiotic creature … It was perfectly horrible. They should certainly be killed.' That passage arrives a third of the way through a brilliant new book titled Beautiful Lives, straplined How We Got Learning Disabilities So Wrong. Written by the playwright and drama director Stephen Unwin, its story goes from the Greeks and Romans to the 21st century. Much of it is a history of the misunderstanding, hatred and appalling mistreatment experienced by endless millions of people. But partly because Unwin has a learning-disabled son – 28-year-old Joey, who he says has 'challenged everything I was brought up to believe in and turned it on its head' – it is also a very topical demand for all of us 'to celebrate the fact that such people exist and have so much to offer'. A sign of the ignorance Unwin spends some of the book railing against is the fact that this superbly original work, published in early June, has not been reviewed in a single mainstream publication. In the context of the attitudes he writes about, that is probably not much of a surprise – but there again, the book is so timely that its passing-over still feels shocking. After all, it follows the same unquestionable logic as all those high-profile discussions and debates about institutional racism and empire, and demands a very similar process of reckoning. On this subject, there is a mountain of questions to ask. Some are about language that still endures: 'imbeciles', 'morons', 'cretins', 'idiots'. How many of us know about the first official Asylum for Idiots – later the Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives – founded in Surrey in 1847, and infamous for what Unwin describes as 'widespread cruelty … and soaring mortality rates'? However much young people study history, do their syllabuses ever cover the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913, which formalised the idea that people categorised as 'idiots' and 'imbeciles' (and all disabled children and young people) should be institutionalised, let alone the fact that it granted local councils powers to remove such people from their families by force? Why is the US's record on institutional cruelty and cod-psychology even worse than the UK's? There is another part of the same story, centred on a slew of 20th-century politicians and cultural figures who believed that learning-disabled people – and disabled people in general – were not just pitiful and wretched, but a threat to humanity's future, an idea expressed in the absurd non-science of eugenics. They included that towering brute Winston Churchill, DH Lawrence (who had visions of herding disabled people into 'a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace'), and lots of people thought of as progressives: Bertrand Russell, HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, the one-time Labour party chair Harold Laski, and the trailblazing intellectuals Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Their credo of pure and strong genes may have been discredited by the defeat of the Nazis, but we should not kid ourselves that everyday manifestations of loathing and condescension that underlay those ideas do not linger on. Ours is the age of such scandals as the one that erupted in 2011 at Winterbourne View, the 'assessment and treatment unit' in Gloucestershire, where people with learning disabilities were left out in freezing weather, had mouthwash poured into their eyes and were given cold showers as a punishment. The year 2013 saw the death in an NHS unit of Connor Sparrowhawk, the autistic and learning-disabled young man whose life was dramatised by Unwin in a profoundly political play titled Laughing Boy, based on a brilliantly powerful book written by Sparrowhawk's mother, Sara Ryan. As well as its principal character's life and death, it highlighted the fact that the health trust that ran the unit in question was eventually found to have not properly investigated the 'unexpected' deaths of more than 1,000 people with learning disabilities or mental-health issues. Right now, about 2,000 learning-disabled and autistic people are locked away in completely inappropriate and often inhumane facilities, usually under the terms of mental health legislation. Only 5% of learning-disabled people are reckoned to have a job. Six out of 10 currently die before the age of 65, compared with one out of 10 for people from the general population. But this is also a time of growing learning-disabled self-advocacy, which will hopefully begin to make change unavoidable. One small example: at this year's Glastonbury, I chaired a discussion about the cuts to disability benefits threatened by the political heirs of Laski and the Webbs. The speakers onstage included Ady Roy, a learning-disabled activist who is involved in My Life My Choice, a brilliant organisation that aims at a world 'where people with a learning disability are treated without prejudice and are able to have choice and control over their own lives'. He was inspirational, but it would be good to arrive at a point where what he did was completely unremarkable. It may sound a little melodramatic, but it is also true: such people, and allies like Unwin, are at the cutting-edge of human liberation. Far too many others may not have the same grim ideas as Woolf, Lawrence, Keynes and all the rest, but their unawareness and neglect sit somewhere on the same awful continuum. That only highlights an obvious political fact that all of us ought to appreciate as a matter of instinct: that the present and future will only be different if we finally understand the past. John Harris is a Guardian columnist
Epoch Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
Soul Music: The Essence of What Makes a Song Uplifting
The things that are dearest and most real to us are beyond words. Who can define or describe life, love, or beauty, but who can deny their existence? Most enigmatic of all is the soul. A definition or a description of 'soul' is impossible, but the attempts of our poets and composers, seem more successful than those of our scientists and philosophers. Virginia Woolf wrote in her story 'A Summing Up' that '[Sasha] was conscious of a movement within her of some creature beating ... about her and trying to escape which she called the soul.' Perhaps we can do no better than that.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tell us about your tree of the year
The Woodland Trust has announced its 10 nominees for the UK tree of the year. The shortlist includes The Knole Park Oak in Kent – believed to have inspired an epic poem in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando – and a cedar tree climbed by the Beatles in Chiswick, west London. Now we would like to hear about the tree that means the most to you and why. You can share your reasons – and pictures – below. You can share your own tree of the year using this form. Please include as much detail as possible. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you include other people's names please ask them first. If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.
Time Out
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The London tree made famous by the Beatles that is nominated for Tree of the Year 2025
Can you imagine all of the things that London's oldest trees have seen in their lifetimes? They've watched generations and generations of people come and go, from medieval peasants and Tudor aristocracy to 18th century poets and 21st century tourists with selfie sticks. They've been climbing frames for kids, inspiration for Britain's greatest painters, music video stars and have even overseen era-defining political agreements. So, it's only right that London's oldest living residents get some proper recognition. One ancient cedar in west London have been shortlisted in what is essentially the Oscars of famous trees – Woodland Trust's Tree of the Year awards. Each year a panel of tree experts have chosen nine 'inspirational' trees of different ages and species from across the UK for the shortlist, with a tenth tree was put forward by the public. Among the nominees is 'The Beatles' Cedar Tree' in Chiswick House and Gardens. The magnificent tree from Lebanon is one of several in the Chiswick House grounds, and dates all the way back to the 1720s. This one is particularly special because it starred in The Beatles' 1966 music video for 'Rain', with the Fab Four filmed sitting on its branches. Woodland Trust calls the tree 'a stunner in its own right' and said that its 'vast boughs swoop down to brush the ground, creating an interesting spot for the band to sit and play their guitars' for the music video. The shot was later used for the cover for their Nowhere Man EP. The other nominees that Chiswick's cedar is up against include The King of Limbs, an ancient oak in Wiltshire that Radiohead named their 2011 album after; the Tree of Peace and Unity in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, a lime tree where leaders met in 1998 for the signing of the Good Friday agreement and the Knole Park Oak in Kent thought to have inspired an epic poem in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando. Voting to decide which tree takes the crown for 2025 opens today (July 11) and will close on September 19. You can pick your favourite here – the winner will be announced on September 26. The City of London is getting a new 'sky garden'.
Wales Online
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Tiny 'Lonely Tree' vies with UK giants to be crowned Britain's best
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A small, slightly bedraggled tree next to a Gwynedd lake is in the running to be crowned the UK's most iconic. The Lonely Tree of Llanberis is easily the smallest and youngest in this year's Tree of the Year competition but it has quickly become one of the most photographed in Britain. Perched over pebbles in Llyn Padarn, and framed by Eryri's mountains, the young birch has survived against the odds to become a cherished local landmark. Ten rare, ancient or at-risk trees across the UK have been shortlisted in the Woodland Trust's 2025 competition. They include a cedar tree climbed by The Beatles, an oak that may have inspired Virginia Woolf, and a lime representing peace in Northern Ireland. Another entry is the Borrowdale Yews at Seathwaite, Cumbria, which were immortalised by Wordsworth over 200 years ago. Like the King of Limbs, in Savernake Forest, Wiltshire, which inspired the name of Radiohead's album, these trees dwarf the diminuative Llanberis entry. Yet the Woodland Trust said that, despite lacking in stature, it is a 'a photographer's dream'. The charity added: 'Its bent, stretching shape has contorted in response to harsh weather conditions, making it a symbol of resilience and a fascinating focus for the lens through all seasons. 'The scene is everchanging as the lake levels rise and recede, with the tree alternately exposing its tenacious roots at the water's edge or clinging to its own tiny island as the surroundings are submerged. In the right light, the reflections mirrored on the lake's surface are picture-perfect – so much so that the tree appeared in a 2021 Chromebook advert.' Join the North Wales Live Whatsapp community now (Image: Douglas Crawford Tree Wise Urban Forestry/Woodland Trust/PA Wire) In September 2024 , the Lonely Tree was temporarily off-limits when Netflix closed the Y Glyn lakeside area, also known as the "lagoons". The streaming giant was there to film major battle scenes for season four of The Witcher, starring Liam Hemsworth. 'Set for release later in 2025, we don't know yet if the Lonely Tree will make the cut,' said the Woodland Trust. 'But directors surely would have taken advantage of such a beautiful vista!' It's thought the Lonely Tree of Llanberis is a mere 15-years-old – some two millennia younger than the Borrowdale Yews. Neither is it expected to survive much longer – there's more on this here. Voting opened today (Friday, July 11) runs until 11.59pm on September 19. You can vote here. This year's winner will be announced on September 26, and will go on to represent the UK in the European Tree of the Year finals. The 2015 theme is 'Rooted in Culture', which seeks to highlight how trees inspire creative minds and become ingrained in our cultural landscape. Dame Judi Dench, patron of the Woodland Trust, said: 'Our oldest trees hold more stories than Shakespeare; some were putting down roots long before he began writing, more than 400 years ago. They are as much part of our heritage as any literature.' The Beatles' cedar tree in Chiswick, which is around 300 years old, was nominated given that the band perched on one of its low-swooping boughs in a video for their song Rain in 1966. Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Meanwhile the Lollipop Tree on Salisbury Plain played a starring role in the final scenes of Sam Mendes's First World War film 1917. Knole Park Oak in Kent, thought to be Britain's tallest at 135ft, made the list as the tree believed to have inspired an epic poem in Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando. A panel of experts selected nine trees for the shortlist, while the public chose a 10th as a wildcard entry. This year, David Treanor, from Glasgow, put forward the 'Argyle Street Ash', pointing to its reference in James Cowan's 1935 book, From Glasgow's Treasure Chest, as 'quite the most graceful ash I have seen'. Laura Chow, head of charities at People's Postcode Lottery, which is supporting the competition, said: 'These trees have witnessed key moments in history, provided solace to war poets, been a supporting artist in a blockbuster film, and inspire reflection and creative photography as the seasons change.' Find out what's happening near you
