Not much evidence of a movement towards an autonomous Somerset at the weekend, but there was a village street party (or there would have been if rain hadn't stopped play), a village scarecrow competition, debate about lorries rampaging through the main street, and lots of signs advertising a fete for the playing field; all evidence not just of life imitating the Archers, but of civil society in full swing.
Getting a campaign together must surely be as much about creating a sense of community, having meals together, and discussing things informally as it is petitioning, marching, or protesting. The Chartists knew this, which is why historians have begun to look as much as who was involved in organising tea and sandwiches, playgroups and informal schooling, as well as the more formal 'public sphere'. On the train back I read something in the London Review of Books about the current possible failure of 'democracy’s authentic potential'. The Chartists were fighting for this potential; I wonder if localised action, disconnected from national politics, is more the melancholy sound of its retreat.
And speaking of things outside of London, and on a more upbeat note, there's still time to see the travelling Henry VIII exhibition at York.
