Jarrow - a long walk

Another book that I have on the pile for my summer holiday reading is the new book by Stuart Maconie. I've enjoyed his previous travel books which include a social history of the North, as well as other parts of the country, and their light-hearted approach to exploring the places that Stuart passes through, usually at a leisurely pace. This time, he walks the route of the Jarrow marchers: 200 men, who walked the 300 miles from Tyneside to London in 1936 in protest at the damage being done to their towns and industries.

The book was written about a walk which marked the 80th anniversary and explored the changes that have happened to the country since then, but also how austerity and the north/south divide remain 'the same'.

It's all geography of course, as well as social history, and I'm looking forward to reading it...

Rivers of Blood

Currently reading Stuart Maconie's new book: Hope and Glory. I enjoyed his previous travel books and this also has an element of travel in it.

In the chapter "Rivers of Blood", which takes its name from an infamous speech by Enoch Powell, he looks at the issue of migration.
Maconie visits Norfolk for this chapter. He stays in King's Lynn before moving on to Thetford, where a significant proportion of the population are Portuguese migrants. Some good descriptions of the places that he visits, and would make a useful alternative stimulus resource for exploring some of the impacts of large scale migration into an area.

Middle England

Just got the new Stuart Maconie. "Pies and Prejudice" was about the North, "Adventures on the High Teas" is a search for 'Middle England'. May start it later...

Update: just over half way through now and enjoying it very much...

Some good quotes: like the section on Tunbridge Wells, which I went to a couple of months ago, the fact that the Quorn hunt now has to make do with a 'meat substitute', the rise of the gastropub, the joy of Marmite and the full English breakfast, and the section on music - on the basis of one section I bought the 'Ivor the Engine' music of Vernion Eliot (which to be fair I'd been considering for a while...)... plenty of cultural geography in there....

New Stuart Maconie

One of my favourite "travel" books of recent years was Stuart Maconie's "Pies and Prejudice" about 'The North'.
Loking forward to March, and the release of his new book about Middle England...