Armchair critics

There's a lot of criticism in the press and the social media every day about the way in which the Covid19 crisis is being handled in the UK. If criticism has a positive purpose in pointing towards policy adjustments which will improve the situation, then that is all to the good. 

 

But a lot of criticism is not like that. We have to accept that this pandemic is a new situation where those in office are grappling with the unknown. We in our armchairs cannot know what it is like to carry the immensely heavy burden of decision-making in a rapidly evolving situation. When critics condemn the mistakes made up till now by politicians and their advisors, they are most likely benefitting by the fact that mistakes and errors of judgement are always easier to spot with hindsight. Hindsight is a luxury which should not be abused, especially if it only serves to make the public more anxious and worried by reading about the incompetence, carelessness or unwisdom of their leaders. Different experts have differing opinions about how the crisis has been managed. Some are likely to have been more right than others - but it's far easier to assess with hindsight who was right in the past, than it is to know with certainty who will be right with their advice about future policy.

So it is counterproductive to condemn those who made poor decisions in the past, if all it achieves is to generate worry and uncertainty about the competence of our present leaders and advisers. For better or worse we voted our leaders into office, quite recently, and we can't change that in the short run. For better or worse we have scientific and medical advisors who have been regarded as experts in their field, and we cannot know whether the situation would be improved or harmed if they were replaced. So if we feel like being armchair critics, let us beware of raising anxiety levels, which simply adds fuel to the crisis.

HOW TO BE SAFE

In this extraordinary time when the media feed us with daily stories of sickness and death throughout the world, it's all too easy to feel insecure and worried.  The risks for some are particularly heavy, especially for those who work on the front line for the NHS and its equivalents worldwide.  From a practical point of view no-one is safe.

But come with me to have a look at four stories which tell of the ultimate and only source of safety. The coronavirus is by no means the first plague to have threatened mankind.

(1)  The Ten Plagues. We've all heard the story of the ten plagues in Egypt, culminating in the pivotal event in the history of the Jews - the Exodus. Who was safe when the final plague did away with the eldest son in every Egyptian family,  and ultimately when the whole of Pharaoh's army perished in the Red Sea?  The only safe families were those who, because of their belief in God, obeyed strict instructions. The angel of death passed over them (hence the expression 'The Passover') and later the whole tribe passed over the dried-up bed of the Red Sea to safety.

(2) David and Goliath.  When David, a young lad, offered to take up the challenge of the Philistines and fight their giant soldier Goliath in a duel, King Saul said "You can't possibly do it!"  "But I can" said David. 

"One day when I was watching my father's sheep, a lion grabbed a lamb and I went after it and struck the lion and he dropped the lamb. Then he came after me but I caught him by his beard and killed him. Another time I killed a bear with my hands. And I'll do the same to this wicked giant, for he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who saved me from the jaws of the lion and the bear will save me from the sword of the giant."   

We know how the story ended. But where did David's confidence come from? How did he know he would be safe, when the odds were stacked so heavily against him?  The answer stares at us from what David said. He knew he could trust in God.  It 's interesting to reflect that David had spent years as a shepherd in wild land, learning his skills. During that time he cannot have known that those very skills would one day be used to change the destiny of his nation.

(3) The furnace.  The Jews were in exile in Babylon. Three friends of Daniel, named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow down to worship a statue of the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. As a penalty of this refusal they were threatened with death by burning.  Their respectful but firm response in instructive: "We won't do it! If you throw us into the furnace, our God is able to save us, and He will. But even if He doesn't, we will not worship your gods, sir, nor bow to your gold statue."  
 

Who is the fourth person? Read the bible story to find out.

 The furnace was heated up to such a temperature that it killed the nearby soldiers on duty. The three men were flung into the furnace but escaped unscathed.  Again, it's clear why they were safe. Even in those days, perhaps before there was any clear understanding of an afterlife, these men were confident enough in their God to know that one way or another they would be safe. And they were. (And, in the course of time Nebuchadnezzar himself, the greatest emperor of his time, became a believer in God, realising that his own power was as nothing compared to the power of God).

(4) The Lion's den.   Nebuchadnezzar eventually knew the truth, but his successors didn't.  Daniel lived on into old age (probably he was 80 by now) in exile in Babylon, and those who hated believers in God concocted a scheme to have Daniel done away with. Daniel always regularly prayed to God, so they persuaded the king, Darius,  to make a law that for 30 days, anyone who prayed to anyone other than the king would be thrown into a den of lions.   

Inevitably Daniel  was caught and sentenced to this gory punishment. We know what happened. Daniel was as safe in the lions' pit as he would have been anywhere else.  This was such a stunning outcome that Darius, like his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar, became a believer in God.

(5) I'd like to round off this quartet of stories about where safety lies,  by returning to David, who found himself in 'lockdown' when he was fleeing from Saul, and again later in life when he was fleeing from Absalom. Many of his writings express his feelings whilst in great danger. But those dangers never caused him to abandon his faith in God. In Psalm 61 he looked for safety under God's protection. He said

"Lead me to the rock which is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent for ever, and take refuge in the shelter of your wings."

There are four word-pictures in this about God's protection -  

a rock: rugged strength and stability; 
  
a tower - purpose-built protection;  

a tent - in David's time the tent, or tabernacle was the house of God; 

wings - the sort of shelter which a mother hen gives to her chicks.

(6) I don’t want to be misunderstood. Inevitably the dreadful coronavirus will continue to afflict and in some cases kill thousands of people worldwide, whether they trust in God or not. But the astounding promise of Jesus that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"  gives us a security which no-one else can give. Centuries before Jesus uttered these words, those heroes of the Old Testament somehow had an inner conviction of where true safety lay.

(1) Exodus 8-14

(2) 1 Samuel 17

(3) Daniel 3

(4) Daniel 6.  (…and in this story a prophetic prayer made by Solomon 466 years earlier was fulfilled - see 1 Kings 8.^{30, 46-50)}

(5) Psalm 61.^2-4

(6) John 3.¹⁶

The Neston horse-drawn tramway

(All pictures and maps can be enlarged if you click on them)

Many years ago, stone was mined at Spring Quarry - immediately underneath the present MoD buildings - and transported to Corsham Station on a horse-drawn tramway. (All the stone extraction in Corsham was from 'quarries' even though they were underground).

Stone wharf at Corsham Station

The tramway crossed from Greenhill into Spring Lane, before curving off to the loading bays to the West of Spring Lane.

In 1988, when the quarry in Park Lane was a stone museum, they held an open day and laid a stretch of track to demonstrate the use of the tramway. 

Then in 2024 two stone waggons were renovated by the members of the Brunel Shed in Potley, and placed near the A4 in Pickwick: 

 

 

Everything has now disappeared, though I managed to photograph some of the old rail from the track, now being used as a washing line pole in a Greenhill garden - only 20 yards or so from where the tramway used to run.

Two more pictures supplied to me from the collections of Derek Hawkins and Julian Carosi: 
 

The tramway in Spring Lane, Neston, where it curved off to the loading bays

 

At the corner of Potley Lane - tramway visible on the left

 Another tramway also led to the wharf at Corsham Station by crossing Potley Bridge. The track led down to the wharf at the right of the picture.  Potley Bridge is a Grade II listed building, as it dates from the pioneering stage of railway development and is a rare example of an early flying arch bridge constructed to a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

 

In the following map I have superimposed roughly the layout of roads in the area to show where the underground quarry workings are in relation to the surface. (Click on the map to enlarge it)

The following reproductions are from a quarry map dated 1900…..