Thursday, October 14, 2004

100 years ago: The debate raged on about the Lord Mayor of York's comment that it was possible to bring up a family on 17s a week. The latest letter, in answer to "Anti-Humbug" supporting the Lord Mayor, was from somebody surprised that "any right-minded person should be found to uphold the view that a family of six persons can be well-nourished and clothed on 17s a week". Perhaps, he continued, the Lord Mayor thought soup made from lentils or a herring good support for a man to do a hard day's work on. He couldn't see how else rent, fire, light, boots, and clothes were got out of 17s a week. "It is not living, it is only dragging on in misery, and is a disgrace to anyone to pay a married man so small a wage." No wonder our workhouses, asylums, and prisons were so full, finished the writer, "One Who Knows". A swift response from the editor himself was printed below the letter, saying: "We are surprised that our correspondent disparages lentils as an article of diet. There is testimony that is it both wholesome and nourishing, as well as economical. Many people who are well able to afford meat prefer lentils, which form an excellent food without any meat. It will also cause some surprise that herrings should be regarded with contempt by any one speaking on behalf of the working classes."

50 years ago: Two tiny Australian bush babies would soon be in the public eye in York. They had just arrived at a pet shop in Micklegate, and when they had become accustomed to their new home would be appearing in the window, but they would not be for sale, for the owner was keeping them in the hope that they would breed. They measured about ten inches from nose to the tip of their six inch-long tail and were extremely agile, and were expected to be quite an attraction.

25 years ago: At York University's Societies Mart, when societies vie for members among the new first year students, a group of women's libbers ripped down a computer print-out picture of a naked woman put up by the Computer Society. A spokesperson told columnist Pressman afterwards: "It may have been a computer which printed it, but you can bet it was a man doing the programming."

Updated: 15:56 Wednesday, October 13, 2004