Section:GDN 1J PaGe:7 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 18:32 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019 The Guardian •
7
Woods have grown around the
village of Din Lligwy , hiding it in a
clearing where the grass is mown
in ancient-monument style around
the ruins of iron-age hut s. Signs
inform visitors that Din means
fortifi ed, and these remains of walls
are from buildings, some round
and some oblong, from diff erent
architectural periods, some with
iron foundries worked during the
Roman occupation; coins and
pottery recovered here suggest its
people traded with the Romans.
The walls are massive, compared
with those of a medieval chapel
nearby , and constructed of huge
upright stone slabs with smaller
stones placed beautifully between
them. Many of the larger stones
have enigmatic grooves and holes
in them that make me wonder
about the spiritual or psychological
archaeology of the place. What was
the internal acoustic quality of the
walls like and how did the shadows
play against them from within?
In my imagination, this creates
an image of the huts as a kind of
cinema for the soul.
I notice a tiny maidenhair
spleenwort growing in shadow
and return to looking at lichens
and mosses on the stone, ferns in
the cracks, and the surrounding
trees. I realise I am watching the
juxtaposition between verdant life
and decay that leads to the kind of
pleasure Rose Macaulay attributes
( Pleasure of Ruins , 1953) to the self-
projection of the tourist into the past,
“of composing poetry or prose, of
observing the screech owl, the bat,
and the melancholy ghost, and the
vegetation that pushes among the
crevices and will one day engulf ”.
We have been wandering in
Anglesey and then in north Devon
as tourists of decay, looking at
ancient and modern sites in various
states of disintegration, and what
fascinates me is not so much what
these ruins used to be but what they
are waiting to become, as the gothic
power of nature transforms and
engulfs historical forces. Vegetation
fl ourishes in fi ssures between the
ideologies of science, aesthetics and
the supernatural; there is an anarchic
ecosystem taking root in the ruins
of cultures and nations; it pioneers
the way for woods , reclaiming an
unthinkable transformation of
society from its shadows, spaces that
hitherto did not exist.
Paul Evans- The German chancellor Angela
Merkel was not born in East
Germany, as an article said. She was
born in Hamburg, but was brought
up in East Germany after her family
moved there when she was a few
weeks old ( How a cross-border
picnic paved the way for the lifting of
the iron curtain , 19 August, page 21). - We misnamed the insurance
market Lloyd’s of London, as Lloyds
of London ( Who will be ‘cancelled’
next? , 13 August, page 2, G2).
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
[email protected] or The readers’
editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU;
alternatively call 020 3353 4736 from 10am to 1pm
Monday to Friday excluding public holidays.I was somewhat perturbed to read
the article headed “ Third of Britons
confess to ageist discrimination ” (19
August ) and to then read overleaf
the report “ Wheatley off ers zombie
pensioners in generation divide
satire ”. Ageist portrayals clearly
continue to be commissioned on
TV. This forthcoming series for
Channel 4 will cast young people
as “heroes [who] need to take on
the old fl esh-eating zombies”,
thereby fuelling fears of growing old
and attributing wholescale blame
to a generation for the social and
political ills of the present.
Theresa Buckland
Brighton- Well done, Suzanne Moore ( G2 ,
20 August). Not only is the Today
programme obsolete, it aff ects the
wellbeing of our household. Since
banning it I feel so much happier,
and am better informed.
Sally Bates
Cotgrave, Nott inghamshire - Your piece about the stick insects
giving up sex after becoming British
( Report , 20 August) was very funny
and the name Clitarchus hookeri was
inspired, but you are rather too late
for an April fool joke.
Barry Ramshaw
Bristol - Re rugby and diversity ( Letters , 20
August), in Lancashire in the 50 s and
60 s what you played depended on
which school you went to. Grammar
schools played union and secondary
moderns played league.
John Trayner
London - Paul Dacre is to describe how he
helped to shape modern Britain
( Channel 4 signs Dacre to dissect
Mail and the UK , 19 August). At last,
someone ready to take the blame.
Hugh Edwards
Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria
Alex Clark’s article ( Journal , 19
August) on BBC Radio 4’s adaptation
of Proust across the August bank
holiday weekend was stimulating.
Such comprehensive presentation
might be accorded also to the music of
living composers, often at risk of being
judged on isolated performances
of single works. Presenting music
recently created alongside that of the
last 100 years would enable listeners
to assess their achievements more
accurately. Avoiding the creation of a
seclusion zone for new music, suitable
contexts where their work becomes
meaningful should be planned. Works
by Mark-Anthony Turnage might
be featured alongside music by
Beyoncé. And some of Giles Swayne’s
music might be related to gamelan
music. In short, “new music”
should be presented as a fresh
continuation of many traditions.
Meirion Bowen
LondonEstablished 1906Country diary
Din Lligwy, Anglesey
Ban the detention
of pregnant women
Zombie pensioners:
ageism never dies
Let’s not keep new
music in seclusion
You report how a pregnant rape
survivor experiencing a miscarriage
and barely able to stand was
unlawfully held in immigration
detention which amounted to
inhuman and degrading treatment
( Home Offi ce pays £50,000 to
traffi cked woman detained during
miscarriage , 20 August).
This case show precisely why
the Home Offi ce must heed our
advice and that of the medical
profession, and actually ban the
detention of pregnant women.
Medical Justice sent volunteer
midwives to visit pregnant women
in immigration detention for a
decade. We warned the Home
Offi ce that women and their
unborn children were suff ering
inadequate healthcare. The Home
Offi ce paid little attention.
In 2013 we published Expecting
Change , a dossier calling for a ban on
the detention of pregnant women,
backed by the Royal College of
Midwives and the Royal College of
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, as
well as 337 other organisations.
One of our clients complained
for three weeks about abdominal
pains and was sent to A&E , where
she miscarried with two guards
in attendance. She subsequently
attempted suicide and was
admitted into a psychiatric ward.
In 2016 the Home Offi ce
commissioned Stephen Shaw,
a former prison and probation
ombudsman, to review the use of
immigration detention – he too
called for a ban on the detention
of pregnant women. In his 2018
follow-up, he called again for a ban- an option the Home Offi ce again
chose not to implement.
Immigration detention is
optional, so the Home Offi ce
is responsible for any woman
miscarrying in detention. The
Home Offi ce must do the right
thing, urgently, and ban the
detention of pregnant women.
Emma Ginn
Director, Medical Justice
[email protected]
@guardianlettersTwitter: @gdncountrydiary
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