England in October
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
October in England was unusually balmy, especially so during an exploration via its excellent rail service of its quaint south where old England still persists.
Dominating the seaside town of Brighton is the magnificent Mughal-style Royal Palace Pavilion, shaped like a mosque with minarets, built by George IV in 1822. Outside is a plaque honoring Subedar Mir Dast from the Frontier, who was conferred the Victoria Cross for gallantry against the Germans in the WWI 1915 Battle of Ypres. The former palace became a hospital during WWI, where wounded Muslim soldiers from Punjab and Frontier were treated with special sensitivity, including halal cuisine.
Canterbury Cathedral, the mother church of the Anglican Church, was particularly worth a visit. Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was assassinated here at the behest of Henry II (father of Richard the Lionheart, of Crusades fame) in the year 1170. Inside also are memorials to British soldiers who fell fighting in Pathan areas well over 100 years ago. It’s intriguing how UK history is entwined with Pakistan’s northwest frontier region.
England’s old de facto capital was Winchester, once the hub of Catholicism. Inside Winchester Cathedral is buried famed author, Jane Austen. Set up nearby in 1382 was Winchester College where the Nawab of Pataudi, in 1959 as captain of the school cricket team, broke all batting records.
A new Ł50 note could be the first to feature a Muslim woman, Noor Inayat Khan (Madeleine), a notable heroine of WWII and kin of Tipu Sultan. She was executed by the Gestapo in Dachau and posthumously awarded the highest honor, the George Cross, in 1949.
During a hospital visit to a close English friend, it was edifying to note that his surgery and hospital stay were all free under the National Health Service set up 70 years ago in 1948.
But all is not rosy in UK. Its Ministry of Defense is to study the high suicide rate among soldiers returning from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Daily Telegraph of Oct 22 depicted a crisis of loneliness, with efforts underway to tackle social isolation through a pilot scheme featuring walking groups and cookery classes. Figures show about 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in over a month.
On October 15, Daily Telegraph wrote an obituary of Roshanara Khan, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar’s first wife who, when they co-performed together, exceeded Ravi, making him uncomfortable. Later, she quit the public scene and lived as a semi-recluse.
On education, the UK watchdog group, Ofsted, is going to put less emphasis on exam results and would look at the wider curriculum, according to the chief inspector of education. Ofsted will now discuss replacing “current outcomes for pupils” with broader assessment of “quality of education.” There is concern that too much time is spent on exam preparation.
There is more intellectual diversity in British media, with fewer blind spots than in the US.
But then, a top Israeli diplomat Danny Dannon told an event at the House of Lords on October 9 that the head of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, is an anti-Semite.
