Quick and without much explanation today, I'm afraid, since I've just eaten too many eccles cakes to be able to move much! 

Datablog asks: what's the real number of jobless people in Britain?

The Heritage Crafts Association spring conference will be held on the 19th of March 2011 at the V&A.  It looks a steal at £25/30. 

Simon Barrow (Ekklesia) on why he has no faith in the Big Society. 

A couple of posts about an interesting new book on Britain, Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and Its Meanings.  Ken Worpole comments as does Nick Pearce. 

The big palaver has been Demo2010, the student protest march in London which turned ugly.  The threat of violence is often inherent in a protest, but it often seems doubly so in a student one.  This was of course not violence igniting throughout the crowd, but the usual "yeah, that showed 'em" brigade who excel at ruining it for everybody else.  (On HE reform itself, see this article about Mandelson, Labour and the Browne report.) 

The shouting-and-placard-fest marks David Cameron's 6 month anniversary as PM.  He'll be out for his tea, then.  ToryDiary's Paul Goodman reflects on 6 months of 'Dave'.

North-South divide watch: now then, here's summat on that.  (I am reminded to review Helen Jewell's book on this.)  

An interesting post by Aaron Peters at LFF on 'anxious aspiration'. Peters' solution is a Labour politics of 'familiar fairness in unfamiliar times'.  Yet, elsewhere, Mark Vernon writes that 'a rigorously fair [society], would, actually, be an inhuman one.'

Phil Woolas has gone, but questions of racism and political campaigning remain.  Two responses from the Labour blogs: Dan Hodges suggests 'Phil Woolas is our fall guy' and Jon Lansman responds that 'this isn't a working class racism problem, this is a Labour problem'. 

Finally, stepping away from the politics!  On the heritage front, No Tech Magazine have sniffed out a bunch of free online pamphlets about things like tool care, hedging, and dry stone walling. Also, British Waterways are planning big work on the canal network.  Someone remind me to try and see the lock gate workshop at Stanley Ferry!

Don't be shocked, but homosexuality and women bishops continue to be is-sues in the CofE.  The Bishop of Wakefield has been up in my own stomping ground of Calderdale and has some sensible comments on homophobia and the church.  Also, the flying bishops appear to be finally flying off. 

A small stack of interesting political bits and pieces: Shadow Secretary for Work and Pensions (sort of the anti-IDS, I guess) Douglas Alexander has been busily pointing out the obvious flaw in OsCam's welfare cuts, i.e., people can't go and get jobs if there aren't any.  On the "cut this, not that" front the always-good Simon Jenkins asks if Britain really needs the military?  And another whiff of completely unexpected Conservatism around bugger all being done about bank bonuses. 

The Heritage Crafts Association chair's report is an interesting glimpse on what they've been up to over the last few months. 

Finally, Kea plums are up for protected status through the EU. 

I have been hesitating throughout this week about writing a post on the comprehensive spending review.  Since most of the posts and articles I've been reading have been CSR-related, I haven't posted any of them here whilst I contemplate.  So, this handful of links is a bit of a CSR black hole. 

Having said that, the Inequalities blog have a good article on how the coalition has 'found it so easy to cut benefits for the poor'.  This is more about social attitudes than the CSR itself and it's very much worth a look. 

The North-South divide has been cropping up in the news with concerns the CSR cuts will aggravate it.  So it must be John Bulmer time.  Still, oldies but goodies: John Bulmer's North.  (Vaguely related note: I've just started reading Helen Jewell's book about the North-South divide, and I had never before twigged that Northumbria = North of the Humber.)

The Heritage Crafts Association are reporting that skills minister John Hayes has highlighted support for craft skills in a recent speech at the RSA.  This is good news for the HCA, but 1) how seriously do we take this as an indication of potential government policy? and 2) if we do, and we read it alongside the Browne report on higher ed (and do read Stefan Collini's article in the LRB on that front), should we be worried about it as a vision for education which isn't really doing any favours for the social status of traditional crafts? 

Completely unrelated to any of the above (unless we get into spectral ethnography; but that's only my new favourite thing on Tuesdays), Peter Ackroyd has a new book out about the English ghost.  Related to the spectres of English Catholicism, apparently.

And speaking of ... the CofE blogosphere has been firing busily over news not only of the ordinariate but of every women-back-in-the-kitchen brigade charging out to form their own non-secret society.  As I imagine it, a Society of St Teatowel and St Nappy meeting would consist of a chorus of "more tea, vicar?" from 1950s housewives.  It could all go horribly wrong when the housewives turn out to actually be Sharon's Dita Von Teese-themed hen night.