Names

Names acquire significance; but the significance can change. The leftie podcast that I follow have had a giggle about a story in The Daily Telegraph that not a single child last year was registered with the name 'Keir'. Keir Hardie was an honourable man, a true working-class hero, working in a coal mine at 10 years old and first leader of the parliamentary Labour party 40 years later. He didn't shrink from expressing unpopular views if he believed they were right: pacifism, conscientious objection to the first world war, the enfranchisement of women, decolonisation of India, desegregation of South Africa. If you wanted inspiring stories to tell your child about his name, it's not a bad choice, but I suppose people think it is now eclipsed by less uplifting associations and personal qualities

Our daughter and s-i-l named their cat after Jeremy Corbyn. He in turn (Corbyn, not the cat) now needs a name for a new political party. He and Zarah Sultana are getting criticism from impatient journalists for failing to deliver a media-friendly, slickly-branded launch, with a name they can mock in headlines. A working title of 'Your Party' has them all confused. Good

One of our grandsons is named after an author who wrote about the humanity of eccentric characters with empathy and understanding. That's not a bad hope to offer a child. The other is named after a significant mountain; he already has an air of stillness and a steady gaze - and a solid physique - that suit his name. Good choices

I've written about this handsome house - and it's former life as a 'madhouse' - before, but it only appeared as a distant view. A separate home in the same historic building (extra) has leaned in to the history and called itself 'Bedlam'. The word now has a somewhat jocular meaning, but the London hospital has a dark past, notorious for treatment much worse than the relatively benign nature of this establishment in its day. The house sign has faded and lost the cheerful colours it began with. I hope that is not significant