Join The Debate……

…….any debate.! If you are in London and are short of something to do on  Sunday (although if you are in London, that should never be a problem) why not pay a visit to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park.

Tucked into the north east corner of the park, close to Marble Arch, you will find groups of people gathering around the various speakers, listening, arguing, debating or just plain raging over a wide range of subjects. Inevitably, of course, the most popular subjects are religion and politics in all of their wide and varied flavours. Supporters and opponents of the various factions gather around a speaker, who, although soap boxes are in short supply these days, usually stand on something to raise themselves above the rest of the crowd and “discuss” their chosen subject.

Apart from the big two subjects you may find groups discussing just about anything from social reform to your favourite TV program. Some of the best speakers don’t seem to have any agenda at all and just free range through whatever comes into their or their audiences heads.

Speakers Corner has its origins in the mid 1800’s. During periods of social unrest  the issue of the right to speak in Hyde Park was raised and eventually the Parks Regulation Act of 1872 placed the responsibility for permitting public meetings with the parks authorities rather than with central government.

 Speakers Corner is often put forward as the showcase of the concept of freedom of speech, although this concept is not just restricted to this location. Also, contrary to popular belief you are not allowed to say whatever you like within the confines Speakers Corner without fear of prosecution. The laws concerning slander or incitement apply here as they do anywhere else, however, providing that any statement made here does not lead directly to a riot or a personal complaint, the police and park authorities rarely get involved.

Interestingly, the ruling in a court case in 1999 established in English case law that freedom of speech could not be limited to the inoffensive but should also include “the irritating, the contentious, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative as long as such speech did not tend to provoke violence”. Also, the right to free speech as set out in Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights also accorded the right to be offensive!

So if you want to present your point of view on any subject, or to argue against someone else’s opinion……or even if you just want to be entertained, pay a visit to Speakers Corner on any Sunday. You will be in good company, past combatants include Karl Marx, Lenin, George Orwell, William Morris and my Grandfather, who has vehemently against religion of any kind and would, apparently, regularly harangue religious speakers of all denominations!

Finally. Why that has this corner of  Hyde Park become the focus of the Capitol’s free speakers? There are various theories but my favourite is that it is close to the location of the Tyburn Tree. Formerly London’s main place of public execution, where the condemned were allowed to speak freely before being hanged! 

More of my pics here and pics from others here

 

Does Anyone Really Understand The London Postal District Boundaries?

The boundaries are a bit of a mystery. Sometimes they make sense but quite often they don't. They frequently meander around with no apparent regard for development or geography and occasionally they rampage across the landscape , cherry picking specific locations for no apparent reason. Perhaps there are logistical requirements, spreading out the workloads of the poor beleaguered posties. Or perhaps it's all a big Post Office in joke. Who really knows?

You do have to ask yourself, just why it is necessary for Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to be in five different postal districts? Surely, it would have made sense for the boundary to follow the perimeter of the parks. It was hardly going to tax the resources of any one district, but no, the parks are unevenly divided between W1, W2, W8, SW1 and SW7, with the lines curving and twisting through the parks. The Serpentine, for instance, largely belongs to W2, but SW7 takes a bite out of its southern shore. The main north south boundary on the western side of the parks deviates to take most of the Round Pond into W8 but still manages to leave part of it behind in W2!

There are examples of this strangeness all over London, if you care to look. In reality, of course, it makes very little difference to our lives, but it is nice to know that this City so often seems to find a way to avoid conforming to what most people would consider to be logical…………….and I like that!