Thursday 5 November 2015
Red Poppy Wearing - The last and only article you'll ever need
Dear Media of Britain.
Out of the goodness of my heart I have written the only article you will ever need about wearing poppies leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
No, you don't have to wear one.
No, don't harass or insult people for not wearing one.
No, wearing a red poppy does not glorify war.
No, red poppies do not glorify the War on Terror, or the invasion of Iraq specifically either.
Yes, you can wear a white poppy instead (or as well), just don't imply you're therefore better than everyone else.
Furthermore, you can wear a poppy any time from the beginning of the appeal on 23rd October until after Armistice Day on 11th November. England, Wales and NI have the same red poppy and Scotland has a similar but subtly different red poppy, both are fine. And, you can wear it on the left side, right side, either way up or however, as long as, in the words of the Royal British Legion, you "wear it with pride".
There we go. Complete and Done. Now go and get a poppy, it's an excellent cause.
And, Media of Britain, if at any point you're unsure, just re-read the tweet below.
Labels:
Courage,
Remembrance
Saturday 10 October 2015
Lib Dem Battlegrounds in 2016
The 2016 elections are particularly important as first major
post-Coalition test for the Lib Dems. Many Lib Dems will hope that leaving the Coalition will allow a relatively immediate
recovery in Lib Dem fortunes, especially if Tim Farron and the party manage to
make some noise over the next 6 months in opposition to government policies. If
recovery does not begin in 2016 it means that losing the Coalition will not be
enough and Lib Dem recovery will be much more difficult, if possible at all.
There are four separate contests next May: Scottish
Parliament, Welsh Assembly, English Locals and the London elections, all last fought in either 2011 and 2012. It has been said many times but it needs remembering that the Lib Dems took huge losses during the Coalition. They lost 2000 councillors (about half their total), 11 out of 16 MSPs in Scotland and 1 out of 6 Welsh AMs as well as many MPs and MEPs. All these contests in 2016 pose their own unique challenges. Basically, the political scene has got a lot more crowded in the last decade.
In each of these arenas the Lib Dems face a more complicated problem than just
hoping their support drifts back from Labour or the Conservatives.
England
There is the least to say about the London elections. The Lib Dems are not going to win the Mayoral election short of a major miracle, nor are they likely to win any Assembly constituencies. They haven't won a single one since the Assembly was founded and in 2012 they didn't even come 2nd anywhere. Their best result is likely to be to use the Mayoral and constituency campaigns to motivate and maximise Lib Dem list votes across London to maintain the party's two list AMs or even capture a further one.
There is the least to say about the London elections. The Lib Dems are not going to win the Mayoral election short of a major miracle, nor are they likely to win any Assembly constituencies. They haven't won a single one since the Assembly was founded and in 2012 they didn't even come 2nd anywhere. Their best result is likely to be to use the Mayoral and constituency campaigns to motivate and maximise Lib Dem list votes across London to maintain the party's two list AMs or even capture a further one.
The English locals are possibly the most significant of the
4 contests, given the sheer number of people involved: thousands of
councillors. Interestingly, the long-term slide of local Lib Dems does not
start in 2011 with the Coalition. Lib Dem
losses stretch unbroken back to 2008, which itself was a small rise that failed
to replace the losses of 2007. It was as far back as 2006 that the Lib Dems saw
their last real sustained peak in councillor numbers. This period from 2002-2006
was also the period of peak Lib Dem MP numbers and by-election results. This reflects a time when both Conservative and Labour
parties were weak and the Lib Dems forged a USP for themselves by opposing the
Iraq War and Tuition fees. With the Conservative revival that started with
David Cameron's election in late 2005 the Lib Dems already began to struggle,
as they did in the Commons in the 2010 election well before the meltdown this
May.
This poses an opportunity for Lib Dem councillors now. Starting
from a low base they are well placed to benefit from an electorate sick of
current councils who have been in post for years, and seeking to 'cast the
rascals out'. Some evidence for optimism comes as well in the form of council
by-elections since May. 34 council by-elections since the general where the
Lib Dems put up a candidate before have seen an average increase in vote share
of 5%, and over all by-elections since May the Lib Dems have made a net gain of
11 seats. The question is what can be the Lib Dem’s unique selling point for
next May? Local pavement (literally) issues? Credible opposition to the
Tories
(unlike Labour’s hard-leftism)? Or something else?
The big factor that complicates this is the recent
rise of UKIP particularly, and also the Greens. UKIP now
have over 500 councillors from almost none in 2010, and the Greens have posted
much smaller gains. In some places like Solihull multiple Lib Dem councillors
have defected to the Greens losing a block of experienced councillors and
campaigners. Local elections work on a 4 year cycle e.g. the 2016 elections
follow on from 2012. UKIP's success in local elections began in 2013 with a big
increase in their support that year, so it's likely it will continue in 2016 (the
4th year of the cycle), risking squeezing out the Lib Dems in more areas. No
longer can the Lib Dems rely on being the only opposition to the Tories in
rural areas and the only opposition to Labour in the cities.
The state of the Tory/Labour battle in England is more
uncertain. Nobody knows whether something will come along to blow the
government off course by next May, nor do we know what effect Jeremy Corbyn's
election will have by next year for good or ill. But, the Lib Dems are still
easily Britain's 3rd largest party in local government. The party has about
three times as many councillors as the Greens and UKIP combined, with a higher
profile, more manpower, and seemingly at the moment a fairer wind behind them.
The English councils seem the Lib Dems' best chance to see some genuine gains
next May, which would be a big morale boost across England, and give real
substance to hope of further gains in coming years.
Scotland
Scotland has been a heartland for the Liberal Democrats
dating back to when they were the Whigs before the 1850's. In recent years party has actually
been less popular in Scotland than England (19% vs 24% in 2010) but has been
much more effective at turning that into seats in both Westminster and
Holyrood. Sadly that is no more. Lib Dem MPs and MSPs combined have gone from
27 in 2010 to 6 now. Any recovery will be an uphill battle primarily against
the SNP. The sheer scale of SNP wave is incredible, easily topping
50% in polls for 2016 so far and even 60% in some. Certainly at this rate
the SNP vote share will be up from 2011. The SNP wave may be topped up even
further by people voting SNP in constituencies but voting Green on the
Lists, thus effectively manipulating the system into maximising pro-Independence
representation even more, making progress harder still.
Even a relatively respectable increase in the number of Lib
Dem votes may not be enough to maintain crucial vote share. The Scottish
Conservatives in May 2015 actually increased their vote by 22,000 but still
suffered a small fall in percentage share. Turnout in the 2011 Holyrood
elections was 50%; given what happened at the referendum and the general election it seems pretty likely turnout will rise sharply in 2016, increasing the
number of votes needed to even stand still. Vote share in Lib Dem held seats in
Scotland actually held up well in May 2015, with some of the lowest falls
across Britain, though it did no good in retaining constituencies on the
mainland. On one hand this gives a good platform to attempt to maintain votes
into 2016, on the other hand it risks being a mirage, as there is no incentive
for Unionist tactical votes on the crucial list vote this time round.
It is hard to see what Scottish Lib Dems can do. They're currently polling
around their 2011 support and they have the same problem as Labour: voters
convinced by Independence have little reason to stay Lib Dem when that issue is
so important to them. This is unless they can carve out a distinctive niche on
particularly LD issues (like civil rights and the failure of Police Scotland)
and make that of comparable importance to some voters. The LDs are
now very much Scotland's 4th party in size, whether on councils, Westminster
(votes) or in Holyrood, which raises the problem again of gaining a voice in a
crowded media environment. They need to carve out a distinct voice that is
opposed to both the SNP and Labour.
In 2011 the party elected 2 constituency MSPs in Shetlands and Orkney, and a single list MSP in each of 'Mid Scotland and Fife', 'North East Scotland' and 'South Scotland'. The good news is total annihilation isn't going to happen. Even if Shetlands and/or Orkney constituencies fall continued Lib Dem strength in the Highlands and Islands (the only region the Lib Dems polled a respectable 3rd in 2011) should see List MSPs elected there to compensate.
It is impossible to forecast what will happen to the other 3
list MSPs due to the vagaries of the AMS system. They all polled 5-7% of
the vote in 2011 and if they can maintain vote share they have a good chance of
hanging on but are severely threatened by the rise of the
Scottish Greens competing for those bottom list seats, further increases in
the SNP share above them, and even a possible modest Tory revival.
On the other hand gains are possible. If the Lib Dems can focus liberal or unionist anti-SNP votes in particular constituencies, probably most likely in the South of Scotland or Lothian (given the May 2015 results), they have a chance to pick up one or two seats. There is also a significant chance of gaining a Lothian list seat after the sad passing of Margo McDonald, who held it as an Independent. Realistically though, given current polling, sadly the most likely scenario is a small further loss. I would say the Scottish Lib Dems are most likely to return somewhere from 3-6 MSPs.
Wales
In Wales the Lib Dems face the same problem as in Scotland
but with a different face. Labour, weighed down by a Welsh government that performing poorly on the NHS and Education, will probably still top the poll but
lose ground, as they did in 2015. UKIP and the Welsh Tories are on the rise
though. Particularly, the last Welsh elections pre-date the UKIP surge and they
gave a strong performance in Wales in 2015, driving Plaid Cymru and the Lib
Dems into 4th and 5th place on votes. This surge has yet to show any signs of faltering in opinion
polls despite UKIP nationally being in a rut. A poll from late
June put them on 14%, very close to their May result and three times what they
polled in 2011. If UKIP can maintain support at these levels through to next
May they will gain 8-ish seats on the Lists.
This is a huge threat to the Lib Dems due to the effective
electoral threshold that operates in a 4 seat region. Welsh Assembly Lib
Dems were remarkably unaffected in 2011, losing only 1 seat out of 6. This was
due to hanging on to the bottom list seat in each of four
Welsh regions. If the Conservatives, Labour and Plaid Cymru broadly maintain
their vote share, and UKIP dramatically increase theirs, as suggested by
opinion polls, then they may replace the Lib Dems in each region on the bottom
seat of those lists. This is what happened to the Lib Dems in the European
elections last year. Their vote share halved but they lost 90% of their seats
because instead of taking the bottom seat in each region they were squeezed our of almost every region except the very largest.
Nor is there much better news from the constituencies.
Opinion polls put the Lib Dems on about
their 2011 vote. Given the 2015 result there seems little chance of reclaiming the
constituency in Montgomeryshire, though the closeness of the Cardiff Central
result in 2011 does gives some hope there. This somewhat gloomy prognosis is
supported by academic models from Cardiff University that are predicting
the Lib Dems losing most of their List seats.
The same logic raises worries even about the
survival of Kirsty Williams in Brecon. In 2011 after the loss of the
Montgomeryshire Westminster seat the Assembly seat was also lost on a big swing
to the Tories. The Brecon and Radnorshire Westminster seat was one of the
surprise losses in May and the Tories will be fighting hard to take the
Assembly seat as well. Kirsty Williams does still have a 10% majority though,
even after seeing it halved in 2011, and a relatively high profile as Welsh Lib
Dem leader. I believe the odds are good that she will survive but there is
certainly a risk.
Credit and Thanks to www.leftfootforward.org for the Image.
Friday 25 September 2015
The Refugee Crisis and the Holocaust - How not to learn the lessons of History.
I am a big fan of learning the lessons of History. Without
understanding the past our understanding of the present will always risk being superficial.
However, amid the chaos and confusion that has been exploding across Europe due to the refugee crisis some people have not got the idea quite right. The problem comes when people pick out entirely superficial
resemblances to historic tragedies when much larger problems are raging around.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants are struggling across the continent, and there is massive confusion among official bodies in about what they were meant to do with the tide of people.
The BBC reports in one Czech town migrants "had
numbers written on their skin with felt-tip pen". The police thought the
"priority in dealing with the 200 migrants at Breclav railway station
[...] was identifying them and trying to keep family members together. This was
a difficult task when many had no documents and did not speak English; hence
the numbers in felt-tip pen on their arms."
But many news outlets were outraged because
somebody felt this vaguely visually resembled something that was done during
the Holocaust: the tattooing of prisoners at Auschwitz, the largest
Concentration/Death camp. This is one of the most trivial historical comparisons I've
ever seen. The Czech authorities were faced with a situation that was crowded,
noisy, confused, dealing with large numbers of people with no ID papers and
with whom they probably didn't share a language: whether Czech, English or
Syrian Arabic, and so they resorted to felt tip pen. And no, they didn't "stamp" it, they wrote it. The difference is quite clear.
Of all the things that are a problem with the refugee crisis,
the EU response (and even the Czech response) this is really not one of them. Even on a surface level the resemblance is not that close.
Auschwitz prisoners were tattooed on the arm or chest and some of these tattoos
are still visible on survivors 70 years later. The refugees had a number
written on their hand in felt tip, which they could rub or wash off in a few
minutes. It's hard to know where to start with the other important
differences between the planned mass murder of millions of people and a temporary
measure to organise a small group of migrants in a Czech train station. It feels like no-one should need to say that but apparently
we do. Seemingly news outlets would rather officials cared less about what they
were doing to help people, and care more about
whether their actions bore a totally superficial resemblance to tiny parts of a vast historic crime.
This summer was very hot in Poland, reaching 100F
(or 38C) and so the Auschwitz memorial museum set up mist sprays to cool
visitors cueing for long periods in direct sunshine. Apparently though, this caused complaints that they resembled the gas chambers used to kill hundreds of thousands of people there. Actually, I say complaints, but every article I've seen on this
repeats exactly the same complaint from one tourist. Again, though, that same article has then been copied
and pasted into many online news outlets until it popped up on my computer.
It's hard to know where to even start. Firstly, the museum
had an entirely legitimate health and safety reason for putting the mist
showers up. Secondly, again, the resemblance is entirely superficial and
frankly vague. I can do no better than quote the Auschwitz museum trust's own
words from their Facebook page, in which they sound frankly bemused by the whole
thing.
"And one more thing. It is really hard for us to comment
on some suggested historical references since the mist sprinkles do not look
like showers and the fake showers installed by Germans inside some of the gas
chambers were not used to deliver gas into them."
That means that some of the gas chambers were disguised as shower blocks to
avoid panic and resistance among the victims and to encourage them to strip
before being murdered. The shower-heads in the blocks were never used though. Anyway, how anyone could confuse an old fashioned concrete building with fake
shower-heads inside with an outdoor mist sprinkler is beyond me. Also, I can't help but feel the complaint is bizarre because
surely you're meant to feel uncomfortable when visiting Auschwitz? You're meant
to be reminded of the gas chambers? It is unclear whether the person thought
the idea of people not being too hot was insulting to victims, or was too
light-hearted or what.
"Officials in the German town of Schwerte have made
plans to place some 20 refugees in barracks which were once part of the
infamous Buchenwald concentration camp. The 'pragmatic solution' to provide
shelter has sparked criticism, German media reported."
The wave of refugees entering Germany this summer has
strained local resources and available accommodation. So one town has decided
to use vacant buildings that were once barracks for guards of a sub-camp of Buchenwald, one of the Nazi concentration camps. This genuine attempt to help in a time of major demand and limited
resources is apparently not good enough for some people.
"the decision has sparked criticism among the country's
activist groups, with many calling the plan "questionable" and
"insensitive."
It's not clear who it is insensitive to: not the migrants
who will have somewhere decent to stay, not the victims of the camp who almost
certainly couldn't care less even if they knew. And as for 'questionable', that
has to be the weakest criticism known to man, to be reached for by politicians
and activists when they have nothing to actually say. I would hope that almost
everything is 'questionable', except perhaps the fact the sky is blue (and even then one may ask, why).
The activists do not seem to be making any alternative
suggestion of where the refugees should be housed. And I shudder to think what they would have
said when for years after 1945 many of the camps were used to house the millions
of refugees and displaced persons who flooded Europe at that time, in some
places for years afterwards. In times of great need you do what you can with
limited resources to help people.
And finally my last Holocaust related example of people
missing a major issue and clinging on to the completely superficial and
irrelevant. Migrants and asylum seekers are commonly kept in camps for
periods of time while they are being processed, especially when large numbers
appear at once. And particularly in this current crisis large numbers have been
travelling by train across Europe.
Which will be sad news for anyone who has ever taken the
train to Butlins, or Centre Parcs, or a festival of any kind.
Now, it shouldn't need to be said, but to avoid confusion, I'm not saying that the European response to the refugee crisis has been
perfect. But I am saying of all the things wrong with it this isn't one. It's like people's minds are just trying to cling
onto something, anything, so they latch onto the surface level visual resemblance to
something terrible that once happened.
Maybe I'm over-reacting to a few daft news articles and twitter comments. But I saw all these
examples within literally a couple of days, and I wasn't going looking for
them. For a brief period it seemed like we were entirely losing our
critical faculties. Hopefully it was just a one-off fluke of social media. But most people spend understandably little time in their day
thinking about complex global problems. This kind of total trivia just chews
up that valuable time and distracts people from actually considering what is
really important about these crises, and makes them think these are the kind
of issues that they should be concentrating on.
The whole model of 24 hour online news media is
partly to blame. We have actually
reached a point where there is too much 'commentary' . There are so many news sites that have to be constantly filled with a stream of 'articles'
that it just encourages sites to put up any old rubbish with a title that might
get a few clicks. It's staggeringly lazy. Each of these
'stories' could be found pretty much word for word identical on many, dozens,
scores, perhaps hundreds even of different online news 'platforms', presumably
just copied and pasted from Reuters or Associated Press or whoever actually
originally wrote the piece. There's no creativity or intelligence or effort
involved whatsoever, and once you become aware it's incredible how much of even
respectable newspapers and media channel's content is just lazily copied and
pasted in this way without any thought of the quality of the 'story'. Even
when it's not just copied and pasted from somewhere else the need to constantly
update with new content leads to attempts to generate stories left, right and
centre where frankly none exist.
More generally, some in our society seem to think you show what a good person you are by finding things that
nobody else has thought to be outraged by and getting really angry and pissed
off about them. And the more obscure the
thing is you've found to get outraged about the better. That just shows you
care more than the other people who haven't noticed that offence or
'insensitivity' enough to be screaming into their computer screens. Any idea that taking a pompous position of personal moral superiority is itself bad, or that
people might make innocent mistakes that deserve some benefit of the doubt, or
might just be doing the best they can in difficult circumstances, seems to be
get lost.
I imagine the format of many online media, whether short blogs,
twitter, facebook, tumblr or whatever, adds to this: difficult to present a
nuanced view that understands both sides, easy to scream outrage and bile.
Neither do I think this helps get more good done. Often it just makes the
world an angrier, shoutier place and distracts people from doing any good, rather
than attempting to appear good. As well as quite possibly making us all more
miserable and stressed, apart from that small number who seem to actively enjoy
having someone to yell at.
I understand the irony of criticising people for criticising
people over trivial issues instead of focussing on what's important
when this itself is not exactly vastly important. And I am sorry for
that, we are all trapped in the same hell. In fact, I don't want to criticise any individuals in particular because there's no
point. I just want to encourage greater consideration about what really
are the serious issues, common sense, and the occasional benefit of the doubt. That would make the world a less angry place while actually seeing
more genuine understanding of complicated historical issues, and more good done in the long-term.
When there is genuine, serious injustice and suffering, people need to raise a voice, even an angry voice.
But we would be better able to hear that voice if it wasn't drowned out by a
constant, screeching tidal wave of trivialities.
Update
There appears to have been another outbreak of this nonsense in Britain itself. This time linked to help for asylum seekers. While, as always, there are genuine questions to be asked to improve our treatment of those in need, people squawking about Nazis are not helping. This article covers my point admirably:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/12120009/Red-doors-and-wristbands-Another-day-another-comparison-to-Nazi-Germany.html
Update
There appears to have been another outbreak of this nonsense in Britain itself. This time linked to help for asylum seekers. While, as always, there are genuine questions to be asked to improve our treatment of those in need, people squawking about Nazis are not helping. This article covers my point admirably:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/12120009/Red-doors-and-wristbands-Another-day-another-comparison-to-Nazi-Germany.html
Labels:
History,
Holocaust,
Media,
Politics,
Remembrance
Monday 24 August 2015
Labour Hame - Could Jeremy Corbyn repeat the SNP’s success in England?
The lovely folks at 'Labour Hame', a Scottish Labour website, have published my article on whether Jeremy Corbyn could repeat the SNP's success across Britain.
Jeremy Corbyn fans repeatedly claim that SNP success was due to their anti-austerity stance, and if anti-austerity could produce a landslide in Scotland it could in England and Wales. I look at exactly why the SNP annihilated Labour in the General Election. Basically I emphasise that May 2015 this was the end of a decade of the SNP steadily kicking in Scottish Labour and that 2015 was just the final stage of this process. A process that was given an almighty push by the referendum but also included better leadership, tighter organisation, and lucky circumstances.
The very fact it was a complex process makes it unlikely Corbyn will be able to repeat the job in England. Anyway, here's the full article:
http://labourhame.com/could-jeremy-corbyn-repeat-the-snps-success-in-england/
Jeremy Corbyn fans repeatedly claim that SNP success was due to their anti-austerity stance, and if anti-austerity could produce a landslide in Scotland it could in England and Wales. I look at exactly why the SNP annihilated Labour in the General Election. Basically I emphasise that May 2015 this was the end of a decade of the SNP steadily kicking in Scottish Labour and that 2015 was just the final stage of this process. A process that was given an almighty push by the referendum but also included better leadership, tighter organisation, and lucky circumstances.
The very fact it was a complex process makes it unlikely Corbyn will be able to repeat the job in England. Anyway, here's the full article:
http://labourhame.com/could-jeremy-corbyn-repeat-the-snps-success-in-england/
Labels:
My Articles Elsewhere,
Politics
Friday 14 August 2015
I wrote to my MP about fighting ISIL
This morning I finally got round to doing something I had meant to do for a while: I wrote to my MP to encourage him to lobby the government to do whatever it could to oppose ISIL (/ISIS/Daesh/Islamic State) militarily or peacefully. Please write to you own MP or other representative and donate to a charity supporting innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria. If you want to feel free to borrow my words as the basis for your own letter or email.
"Dear Mr Pawsey,
"Dear Mr Pawsey,
I am writing to you as my MP because I have just read an
article detailing how ISIL are formally organising slavery as part of their
so-called 'state', and particularly the sex slavery of Yazidi women and girls,
including the rape of children. Nobody doubts these facts. These Nazis-in-robes
are without doubt carrying out the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Syrian and
Iraqi Christians and Yazidis with the utmost imaginable brutality and horror,
as well as the deadly persecution of homosexuals and other minorities. The
comparisons to the Holocaust are unavoidable, only the relative disorganisation
and poverty of ISIL stop them being a threat to tens of millions rather than
tens of thousands.
It seems utterly clear that there can be no diplomatic or
political solution to ISIL, as they are a fanatical death-cult with no aims
beyond the total subjugation and murder of anyone who is not an extremist Wahhabi
Sunni. I know that Britain is weary after Labour's appalling failed
intervention in Iraq, and the sense that every-time we intervene in these areas
it merely produces some worse horror. But I do not think there can be any worse
horror that ISIL: we already have genocide, mass organised sex slavery
including the rape of children, and ethnic cleansing. It cannot get any worse.
And I feel that when we invaded and occupied Iraq we became, to some degree,
continuingly responsible for what happens to the people there. We cannot stand
by while another Srebrenica, another Rwanda, occurs not so far away, if there
is anything more we can to stop it. What is the point of sending plane-loads of
our school-children all the way to Auschwitz in Poland to learn the lessons of
that dark time if we do not do everything in our power to stop it happening on
this very day on the borders of Europe? Northern Iraq in 2015 is not so much
farther away than Poland must have seemed in 1942. I think of the Yazidi women
raped and held as slaves, and I think of my mother and my wife and the young
women who are my friends and family . . .
I am not an expert in the military or in international aid,
so I do not know exactly what can be done.
But I beg you to do whatever you can as an MP to support and encourage
the Government do to whatever it can in Iraq or Syria. Whether that is
militarily or or in terms of peaceful aid and support, whether to destroy ISIL
directly or to help those groups there who are already fighting it, and to give
what material help we can to all those threatened by death, slavery, or being
forced to flee their ancient homeland.
Kind Regards,
Stephen Wigmore"
Friday 7 August 2015
Populations of Middle Earth - Lothlorien
A kind correspondent (Glen Klugkist of South Africa) pointed out that in my articles on the populations of Middle Earth at the time of Lord of the Rings I had missed out the magical realm of Lothlorien: home of Galadriel and Celeborn, and "the heart of Elvendom on Earth".
I reproduce our thoughts on this below: basically we agreed that the population of Lothlorien would be similar to that of the northern Elven kingdom of Mirkwood.
I reproduce our thoughts on this below: basically we agreed that the population of Lothlorien would be similar to that of the northern Elven kingdom of Mirkwood.
"Hi Stephen
I do not know if I missed an article of yours on Lothlorien, but would like to ask your view on its population:
In one of your articles you estimate the population of Thranduil's kingdom in Northern Mirkwood at the time of the War of the Ring, at roughly 30 000 Elves, if I understand correctly.
Do you think Lorien fell into the same population category, seeing that it was also a woodland realm?
My own first estimate for Lothlorien was in the region of 17 000 to 20 000 Elves, but looking at the surface area of Lothlorien and the fact that Galadriel's forces seemed to have total control of the entire forest from its borders inward, I revisited my estimate and came to new but still very rough estimate for Lothlorien's population of 36 000 - 40 000 Elves. Do you think thats way off?"
Kind Regards,
Glen Kuglist"
"Dear Glen,
I'm ashamed to say that I seem to have missed Lothlorien out of my estimates. I covered Eriador and The southern lands, and then the lands of the Hobbit, but Lothlorien is the one sizeable population that doesn't fall into any of these categories.
I would concur that the best guess for Lothlorien's population would be around the 30,000 that I estimated for Thrandruil's realm. It has a very similar history and role in Lord of the Rings. Both are recorded as having sent out 'Armies', in both the 2nd Age to the War of the Last Alliance and right up to and including the War of the Ring.
We can tell Lothlorien's size quite easily, it is about 30 miles by 50 miles (thanks as always to the Atlas of Middle Earth by Karen Fonstad). We can't make any comparison in that regard to Thrandruil's kingdom because it was never clear what area the Elves controlled or inhabited in northern Mirkwood. We know of one significant town or 'city' for both (Caras Galadhon and the Elven King's Halls) and a reasonable degree of organisation.
It seems Rhovanion 'kingdoms' were very low population compared to Gondor or Rohan. But still given Lothlorien's ability to maintain their borders against threats from both Mirkwood and Moria (even given the power of Galadriel's ring), and even to send out armies to invade Dol Guldor, I don't think a population of much less than 30,000 is credible. To give a range I would estimate 20,000-30,000 Elves.
We can't be more precise than that I fear.
Kind Regards,
Stephen Wigmore"
Labels:
Tolkien
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