1 M®sc The Proceedings of the South Place Ethical Society Vol. 104 No. 11 £1.50 December, 1999 Portmeirion - a vision of an ideal environment for living? (See article on page 3) THE WORK OF CLOUGH WILLIAMS ELLIS ii,br Russell 3 ANIMALS OCCUPY ZOO Leslie Jones 6 THE IDEA OF AN ETHICS OF BELIEF M.A.B. Degenhardt 9 DOCTOR ASSISTED DYING - LEGALLY INEVITABLE? Dr. Michael Irwin 13 SELF REALISATION AS A MEMBER OF SOCIETY Christopher Bratcher 17 VIEWPOINTS: P Vlachos, M. Lined, B. Smoker, E. Stockton, D. Rooum, R.G. Silson, C. Ormell, T.F. Evans 20 ETHICAL SOCIETY EVENTS 24 SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. Tel: 0171 242 8034 Fax: 0171 242 8036 website: www.ethicalsoc.org.uk email: [email protected] Officers Chairman of the GC: Diane Murray Vice Chairman: John Rayner Hon. Rep of the GC:Don Liversedge Registrar: Terry Mullins Editor, Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac SPES Staff Administrative Secretary to the Society: Marina Ingham 0171 242 8034 Librarian/Programme Coordinator: Jennifer Jeynes. Tel: 0171 242 8037 Operations Manager: Frances Hanlon. Tel: 0171 242 8033 Lettings Manager: Peter Vlachos.For Hall bookings: Tel: 0171 242 8032 Treasurer: Vacancy Would anyone wishing to volunteer for this post, please contact the Admin. Secretary New Members Lilly Lewy, London NW9; Julia Westall, Bromley, Kent INTERNATIONAL ESSAY CONTEST On the 10th anniversary of almost universal adoption of the convention on the rights of child, the International Ilumanist and Ethical Union is launching a global essay competition on religion and children's rights. General category One Prize of £200. Youth category (applies to those born on, or after, 1 Jan. 1974) One Prize of £100. Essays must be previously unpublished and reach IHEU by 15 March 2000. International Humanist and Ethical Union 47 Theobald's Road London WO X 8SP, United Kingdom Tel +44 207 831 4817, Fax + 44 207 404 8641, E Mail: [email protected] SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Registered Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are: the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in relevant fields. We invite to membership all those who reject supernatural creeds and find themselves in sympathy with our views. At Conway Hall there are opportunities for participation in cultural activities including discussions, lectures, concerts and socials. The Sunday Evening Chamber Music Concerts founded in 1887 are renowned. We have a library on subjects of humanist concern. All members receive the Society's journal, Ethical Record, eleven times a year. Funerals and Memorial Meetings may be arranged. Please apply to the Admin. Secretary for membership, £18 p.a. Concessions £12 p.a. (Over 65, unwaged or full time student). 2 Ethical Record, December, 1999 THE WORK OF CLOUGH WILLIAMS ELLIS Ivor Russell, Chairman of the Rationalist Press Association Illustrated Lecture to the Ethical Society, 17 October 1999 'The Human race has through the ages and here and there, thrown up unique and entirely exceptional individuals, who might almost be examples of a greatly improved race of humans that might yet evolve; though the quality of humanity would seem unlikely to improve significantly except to a geological time scale, if at all'. Thus wrote Sir Clough Williams Ellis - the great architect, landscape architect, gardener, planner, developer, conservationist, soldier, author, lecturer and activist - in 1978 just before his death at the age of 94. It is an extract from an article entitled 'Last thoughts on God' which appeared in the April 1978 issue of the NewHumanist. Clough died an atheist and all his life had cheerfully and openly avowed his lack of the faith proclaimed by his ancestors. He knew that his qualities and talents were, if not unique, so uncommon as to set him apart from the mass of his fellows. With this realisation went a dedication to certain principles and practices which gave him a mission to demonstrate to the world the errors of its ways. This patrician did more to improve the potential for human well-being and happiness than comes the lot of most people who set out to order our lives. He did it with wit, grace, polemic, persuasion or satire as the occasion demanded but always tried to ease his opponents out of their prejudices or attitudes rather than bludgeon them with authority. There is, however, outside specialist circles, a widespread failure to appreciate the merit of Clough's principles and practices and even when they are appreciated it is often at a superficial level which has the effect of minimising his worth or trivialising his achievement. Clough Williams Ellis was born on 28 May 1893 in Northamptonshire. By the time he was 16 he was already absorbing the architectural delights to be found in rural England and beginning to enjoy the civilised life in London to be found in the privileged society open to him. He largely taught himself the history of his art, discovering in himself an inborn instinct for Architecture. It gave him from an early age the conviction that he knew best, mainly justified by his life's work in my view. He began working for clients in 1905 and won his first major commission in 1912 - Llangoed Hall and Estate Buildings on the River Wye. The First World War interrupted his progress and he willingly joined the armed forces. He graduated into the Tank Corps. He was commissioned to write the war history of the Tank Corps which he did with his wife Amabel, the first of three books he wrote with her professional assistance. She was a Strachey who maintained her family's traditional involvement in literature and politics, writing over 40 books. The experiences of the 1914-18 war enlarged his existing hopes for the future of England. In an article for the Manchester Guardian he wrote: Anyone who cares for England must be interested in national planning, the provision of a comprehensive co-ordinated and compulsory development and conservation scheme for the country as a whole, urban and rural, public and private. The economic case for an orderly and far sightedly managed national estate is so overwhelming that one really need not speak of national pride or the need for beauty. Ethical Record, December, 1999 3 The Return of Greed and Corruption He was to be disappointed, for with peace came the return of the old influences: greed, corruption, lack of will and weak government. It was as though the bullets and bombs had been in vain. He picked up the threads of his practice which flourished. He became increasingly aware that to make an impact which would give voice to his concern, he would need to have control. Without control no vision could be realised or dream fulfilled. He would at least with control set an example. As the 1920s developed, he saw the birth of ribbon development - the spread of London like tentacles grasping the countryside. In 1928 he wrote England and the Octopus, an angry polemic against mean building, heedless development and the exploitation of the populace by individuals or organisations for self-interest or temporary profit. It is a book still relevant over 70 years later. Meantime Clough had fallen in love with Portofino in Italy and vowed to build by his own efforts a beautiful place hopefully of equal merit. Hence his search for a site culminating in the discovery of a suitable one in the grounds of his ancestral home in North Wales. Here he could begin to practice what he preached. • Portmeirion Portmeirion, as he named it, took 50 years to build and has become world-famous. In my opinion what makes it special is a combination of factors; the shape and size of the site, the buildings introduced into the landscape, the preservation of the natural features plus the introduction of new planting, the addition of gardening features the colours introduced in a Wales hitherto lacking in colour, the introduction of sculpture and follies to add delight, and last but not least the absence of traffic and litter within the whole complex. From it you can enter a large wooded area now being enhanced as a superb garden to the North and drop down the south facing slope to the start of it all, the hotel developed from an original house. It has lessons to be learnt about how to build, lessons that are still relevant and which render much of the comment about Portmeirion still being advanced by the medial trivial and uncomprehending. Because Clough fell in love with an Italian masterpiece, his desire to build a masterpiece of his own does not mean that his design has to result from or be based on or copy his Italian original. The description of Portmeirion as 'Italianate' is overdone and risks an under-evaluation of Clough's achievement. People think 'Oh this is like Italy' and can fail to appreciate that Portmeirion is much more Clough than Italy. Legend will insist that Clough modelled Portmeirion on Portofino but it is a false legend as Clough himself states in his final book of autobiography Round the World in Ninety Years. Why do I think it important to try to correct this false legend? It is because as in every walk of life truth matters and accuracy is necessary because of the benefits accuracy can bring. The following observations do not depend on knowledge of th ings Ital ian. Firstly the site. It is roughly a saucer shaped depression in the hillside above the coastline.