The WI book Group has been reading “I am Malala” which is the autobiography of the young girl shot by the Taliban a couple of years ago. We learned a lot about the life of the women and girls who are eager for education but have to be so brave to just attend school every day. The journalist Christina Lamb, who helped Malala write, came and talked to the BFWI some time ago either at a Council Meeting or at a Literary Lunch. Malala’s descriptions of English life and of Birmingham where she now lives with her family showed how much she appreciated the freedom to move around without a male escort all the time and to choose how she dressed---but she missed the flat roofs where the children could play cricket! We compared her fighting technique with the young Swedish Greta who is in all the media at the moment.
There is a deal of banner-waving going on at the moment and I fear that our little town of Winslow may have to start on some form of protest soon. Our community library is under threat of demolition: we are being offered a portacabin as a “temporary” substitute until a proper centre is built. As there are not even plans submitted for this yet and knowing the speed of decision-making we fear that this could be a stealthy way of being closed down altogether. I am sure I don’t need to remind you that the preservation of libraries features in one of the WI mandates so perhaps we should be girding up our loins for a good old protest---banners are boring so what about a sit-in or read-in or library hug?
The natives are restive. If members of Parliament can behave disgracefully I am sure the WI members can too. It comes to something when the item on TV which is most tear jerking is the Ten o’clock news! To the barricades!