At noon on 29th October a plaque was unveiled at the Divinity School in Cambridge, commemorating the course that Roger and others organised in communist Czechoslovakia, whereby students could study for the degree-level Cambridge diploma in theology, using this as a vehicle for philosophy, history, philology and literary studies, as well as theology. Few people now recall those times, or the great difficulty and danger that the students underwent in order to sit their clandestine exams. All six who took the exams passed, and two were awarded first class degrees, one of them going on to become deputy foreign minister. This cheerful but discreet event was attended by Marta Chadimová and her daughter, the lectures having taken place in Marta’s apartment.
Later that week Marwa al-Sabouni came to London, she and Roger giving a joint seminar at Policy Exchange on the question of architecture and social conflict, with special reference to Syria. Marwa’s modesty and sincerity melted all hearts, and her walk around London with Roger and the minister, James Brokenshire, enabled them to meditate, in a politically engaged way, on the social demands that are both woven into architectural forms, and also set on edge by them. Although inoculated by the tower-block ‘informalities’ that have had their part in promoting the Syrian conflict Marwa was nevertheless shocked by the inhuman nothingness of Victoria Street.
There followed a visit to Cambridge to take part in a private dialogue with Jordan Peterson, an event that may very well appear on you tube before too long. Roger returned to London to discover, first, that he had been appointed by James Brokenshire to the chair of a Parliamentary Commission on beauty in building, and secondly that the leftist rabble has refused to accept the appointment, since it was made above their heads and without reference to their right of veto. We post on this site Roger’s reply to charges of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. However, concerned by the intellectual impoverishment of his attackers, Roger has decided to collect as many of his outrageous remarks as he can discover, so as to include them in a folder, to appear on this site. His opinions on many topics diverge shockingly from those of The Guardian, and it would be very helpful to his critics to be provided with the necessary evidence, together with snippets of the more easily digestible arguments, since those too will be proof of crime. Topics such as hunting, marriage, pop music, Israel, sex, gender, identity and the nation have provided Roger with such opportunities for criminal thinking that we are sure we will be able to provide our readers with a bulging folder of charges. This will save Roger's critics a lot of unnecessary trouble and serve to brighten their lives with a sense of their own righteousness. We will publish the results with our next newsletter.
Meanwhile Roger is beginning to assemble the commission on beauty and looks forward to getting on with the work, which is of the first importance for the future of our country. Anybody with an honest input should contact Izzy, via this site.
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