The Censorship of Enid Blyton

Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was a British children's writer known as both Enid Blyton and Mary Pollock. She was one of the most successful children's storytellers of the twentieth century.

"Blyton bans"

It was frequently reported (in the 1950s and also from the 1980s onwards) that various children's libraries removed some of Blyton's works from the shelves. The history of such "Blyton bans" is confused. Some librarians certainly at times felt that Blyton's restricted use of language, a conscious product of her teaching background, militated against appreciation of more literary qualities.

The books are very much of their time, particularly the titles published in the 1950s. They present the UK's class system — that is to say, "rough" versus "decent". Many of Blyton's children's books similarly reflected negative stereotypes regarding gender, race, and class.

The most startling incidence of this type of material to a modern audience might be the use of a phrase like "black as a nigger with soot" appearing in Five Go off to Camp. At the time, "Negro" was the standard formal term and "nigger" a relatively common colloquialism. This is one of the most obvious targets for alteration in modern reprints, along with the replacement of golliwogs with teddy bears or goblins. Some of these responses by publishers to contemporary attitudes on racial stereotypes has itself drawn criticism from those adults who view it as tampering with an important piece of the history of children's literature.

Similarly, some have suggested the depictions of boys and girls in her books was sexist. For example, a 2005 Guardian article suggested that the Famous Five depicts a power struggle between Julian, Dick and George, with the female characters either acting like boys or being heavily put-upon. Although the issues are more subjective than with some of the racial issues, it has been suggested that a new edition of the book will "address" these issues through alterations, which has led to the expression of nostalgia for the books and their lack of political correctness. In the Secret Seven books, the girls are deliberately excluded from tasks such as investigating the villains' hideouts — in Go Ahead, Secret Seven, it is directly stated "'Certainly not,' said Peter, sounding very grown-up all of a sudden. 'This is a man's job, exploring that coal-hole'". In the Famous Five this is less often the case, but in Five on a Hike Together, Julian gives similar orders to George: "You may look like a boy and behave like a boy, but you're a girl all the same. And like it or not, girls have got to be taken care of."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enid_Blyton

Black Country Patriot: Black Country Sponsored Walk Led By Determined Organiser

Black Country Patriot: Black Country Sponsored Walk Led By Determined Organiser

the model being used by our Towns and Cities.

Thanks to Screaming Mad for this it answers a lot of questions...

Birmingham City Council ?

I came across a link at the Birmingham city council website today and it screamed at me " BRIBE " see wnat you think ?

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_4011209

Black Country Patriot: Your People - Your Party.

Black Country Patriot: Your People - Your Party.

A Blogger from 6 BC

Once upon a time Hermes was driving all over the world with a cart stuffed with falsehoods, wickedness and deceit, distributing a little of his load in each country. But when he came to the land of the Arabs, it is said, the cart suddenly broke into pieces, and the inhabitants plundered its contents as if they were valuable merchandise, so that there was nothing left for hermes to carry elsewhere.

The moral of the story is.... The Arabs are the greatest liars and deceivers on earth. Thier tongues know not the truth.
(Aesop 6 BC)

My little piece of britain

My name is Robert Weale,

I've lived in Cradley Heath all my life, and I love this tiny piece of Britain, within a few minutes walk I can be lost in the peacefulness of the open countryside, like my dad used to do, or be enclosed in the warmth of one of our ever diminishing Public Houses, like my Granddad used to do, although i'll admit it's been a while since i did either

There are questions I keep asking myself.... Where has the community spirit gone? Where has our big industry gone where whole families and communtities worked in the same factories, wharehouses and mines etc? People don't feel safe the way we did 30 years ago, why ? These are just three questions I ask myself daily, I have many more and I'm sure lot's of you have similar ones. I'm currently on my way to try and answer some of these questions and hopefully to actually try to answer some of them, but I need your help.

Over the next 2 months you will be getting all kinds of leaflets from one Political party or another, I'd just like to ask that before you bin them there's one in particular that may be of some use to you, so when it appears on your carpet please take a few minutes to glance through it you may be pleasantly surprised that it's not actually filled with the vile things that most of the press say is associated with this party. The party I refer to is the British National Party, I'll be standing in the Cradley Heath and Foxcote ward this coming election, maybe we can eventually make some common sense decisions, and put the people who live in our world, in a position to answer and act on some of our questions.

Yours Truely Mr Robert Weale.