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Banksy and George Melly
Read more: Banksy and George MellyThere is much debate about Banksy in the Art World. In today’s Guardian, the critic Jonathon Jones gives a somewhat sniffy and disparaging account of Banksy’s work and its place in the territory that the apparatchiks of high art assume for themselves. He mentions the fact that young people rated Banksy third in the list… Know More
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Tony Blair: the last days
Read more: Tony Blair: the last daysSo, the guitar and all the other bits of glitz are leaving Number Ten. Greyer, no wiser, and underlining his status as a populist Prime Minister, Tony exchanged his last major PM photo-calls and sound bytes with Arnie Schwarzenegger. No doubt they discussed their respective roles in the Terminator films and how closely life has… Know More
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Brasyl
Read more: BrasylOn a lighter but much happier note, I”d like to recommend a book to all readers of this blog! Brasyl is science fiction and high literature and contains pleasing explorations of quantum physics, parallel universes, many selves and three narrative timelines. Ian MacDonald should be revered here because, as in his last book, Rivers of… Know More
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Is the Pope a Catholic?
Read more: Is the Pope a Catholic?No more than Tony Blair, apparently. Our almost late Prime Minister has been genuflecting in public and then private for maybe thirty years. Why didn’t he make it a public talking point? After all he does that with most things, doesn’t he? Actually, no. I remember now. He uses every means to conceal, selectively promote,… Know More
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The operation was a success but the patient died…
Read more: The operation was a success but the patient died…The chances of becoming more diseased in UK hospitals has increased, according to hospital self-assessments released today. MRSA and its fearsome ilk propagate virulently, in unwashed corners of wards, equipment and hands. Why? It goes like this. Once, hygiene was recognised as the major combatant against diseases spreading. Bugs could be, literally, washed down the… Know More
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Simone Signoret: Smoker
Read more: Simone Signoret: SmokerI was struck by a photograph of Simone Signoret by Jane Bown in the Observer this morning. She reminded me of my Auntie Eva at a particular point in her life. Signoret is smoking. She is not smoking in a post-modern way. The cigarette is planted sternly between her lips, firm, part of her face.… Know More
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Four legs good, two legs better
Read more: Four legs good, two legs betterWatching a satirical programme the other night about Britain’s new anti-terror and public order laws brought home to me how insidiously they creep into the legislation. It is as if the Government is trying to validate the whole premise of George Orwell’s 1984, voted this week as the book that best sums up the last… Know More
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Invasion of the body snatchers
Read more: Invasion of the body snatchersIn the first decades of my lifespan people listened to the wireless and went to films. Also, they read books. Certainly they gazed at art. And then they became enraptured by the early days of television. Even at that point, it did not change much. What? Oh, sorry! The distance. The distance was that palpable membrane… Know More
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Are you playing my Toon?
Read more: Are you playing my Toon?It is with mixed feelings I hear that the team I have supported for some fifty five years has become the fetish-object of a billionaire. They run pro and con like this: Pros Freddy Shepherd will sink, like the R101, below our radar for ever with his personal greed, appalling acumen, crude sensibilities and continual… Know More
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Sunday Punk
Read more: Sunday PunkSundays for me follow a pattern established through the years – at least when I am in England. In France (two weeks each month) I buy the Observer (if available). Here, I take the Sunday Times as well, probably under some misguided notion that my objectivity is increased by placing the acetate of the Right… Know More