The Elgin Marbles

It is not really a very good time for prime minister Mr David Cameron, with the embarrassment at Eastleigh on Thursday with the burgeoning UK Independence Party beating the Conservatives into third place.

How anyone in Eastleigh could have voted for the useless, corrupt and pathetic Liberal Democrats is beyond my imagination, but that as they say is democracy - i.e. what we have to put up with from our brilliant fellow-subjects.

Anyway Cameron has redeemed himself a little in my eyes upon my discovering that he does not intend that the Elgin Marbles (now known by the politically-correct as "The Parthenon Marbles") be returned.  Good.

Does it annoy any of you that names and pronunciations are constantly changed?

So to make myself clear:

"Mumbai" is Bombay

"Myanmar" is Burma

"Innuits" are Eskimos - or more properly Esquimaux

"Romania" is Roumania - that's how my Roumanian ex-girlfriend spelled it.

And Kenya is pronounced "Keenya" as I was taught

I can just about stand "Tanzania" and Zimbabwe, but they are horrible names.

Until the next time

A War Crime - Lest We Forget

My profound apologies: I am ten days late in marking an appalling anniversary, the 68th, of the criminal devastation of Dresden, once known as "The Florence of the North" by RAF Bomber Command and later by the US 8th Air Force.

I wrote at length about this disgusting affair three years ago, so I do not propose to add further material now except to state that I intend as long as I am able, to mark successive anniversaries as they come round.

Today is however, the 68th anniversary of the fire-storm bombing of Pforzheim, a watch-making and jewellery centre in which 20% of the civilian population - 17,000 persons - were murdered.

I do not intend in any way to belittle the courage and bravery of the Allied bomber crews in the second world war, but somehow I doubt I shall visit the elaborate memorial that was recently opened.  I do think that the statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris should be removed and destroyed, and also that of Portal - if there is one.

Until the next time

Horse-Shit?

There's a big fuss at present about horse-meat.

Rightly so if it has been sold as beef, mutton, pork &c. by bent meat processors and suppliers, and there is a slim chance that some of the horses that provided the meat may have been treated with a drug that is apt to disagree with humans.

Actually, I suspect that the English are more upset about the fact that it is horse - I have no reason for thinking this but I suspect that it is the case, and it is an ideal subject for the tabloid press to "get their teeth into"!

Nothing wrong with horse-meat; in France I ate it raw (Cheval Tartare) and very good it was too.

Until the next time

He Deserves Everything He Gets

The New York Times is generous enough to send me items of "breaking news."  I have just received an item concerning Jesse L. Jackson Junior who is charged in connexion with dubious election expenses:

U.S. Files Charges Against Jesse L. Jackson Jr. in Campaign Funds Case

The Justice Department filed fraud and conspiracy charges on Friday against former Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., saying that he used about $750,000 in campaign money for personal expenses that included a Michael Jackson fedora and cashmere capes.

The 10-page document filed in federal court by prosecutors in Washington offered details of Mr. Jackson’s use of campaign money. He has agreed to plead guilty to the charges, although a date for him to accept the plea deal before a judge has not yet been set.

Mr. Jackson’s wife, Sandra Stevens, was also charged with one count of filing false tax returns.

Anyone who would buy a "Michael Jackson Fedora" deserves a longish stretch in "The Big House" in my opinion! 

$750,000?  Crikey! That would pay even for a Michael Jackson-style funeral!

Until the next time.

48 Minutes

To go until the end of this horrible day.

14th February, like that other awful American import Halloween is becoming ever more irritating.

Smash those plastic hearts.

Until the next time

Bloody St Valentine's Day II

Cartoon from Private Eye

A year ago, I wrote a piece on this accursed day; "Bloody St Valentine's Day."
[Circumstances oblige me to post this a day early].

Returning to things we have done in the pits of depression and despair often prompts remorse, or regret; not this time however.

I stand by every word I wrote and whilst naturally the pain is no longer as sharp as it was a year ago, it is ever-present - as are the feelings that caused it.

Meanwhile, today the BBC has a seasonal piece on the subject of love.  It includes the following:

"Standing in love, though, is the capacity to be with someone and be free with someone. It too feels good [i.e. as romantic love], though for difference reasons. It can allow more subtle qualities to come to the fore, such as commitment and generosity, honesty and openness. It welcomes life."

Yeah, well, this was what I was promised - indeed what we promised to each other - what 'we' were supposed to be working towards.  So that was a load of bollocks wasn't it?

Until the next time