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Hello again.
I've been away for nearly three weeks, and as I've moved and started a job, I did wonder if this particular form of solipsism was worth continuing. But then I received two encouraging messages (you know who you are), so I figured I may as well carry on.
Reviewing the past three weeks is not going to be simple, so I won't bother. This will be pretty stream-of-consciousness, for which my apologies.
First, why do Liverpool not look convincing? We stumbled past West Ham and Maccabi Haifa, were just awful against Sheffield United and yet deservedly beat Chelsea in the Community Shield. I always get nervous watching Liverpool because there's always the slight fear that they might just throw it away, especially against weaker opposition (which is a really annoying habit they've had as long as I can remember). Chelsea and Man Utd don't do this: when they go ahead, game over. They're a bit like Tiger Woods., who brings to mind Walter Hagen's comment on Bobby Jones: "when the goddam amateur gets to the tee, you guys give up."
Second, what is the precise point of David Cameron?
Third, if you ever volunteer to look after a relative's delinquent cat, make sure that it isn't the fortnight when said relative is having the kitchen replaced. And that said relative has a functioning phoneline.
Fourth, go to Stratford-upon-Avon if you get the chance. I've just seen the Henry VI trilogy, which was outstanding, and not only because Henry was played by a Yalie. Gripping from beginning to end, which is something like ten hours. Shakespeare can be the most quietly revolutionary playwright in English; by the end of Part Three, as chaos sown in Part One is harvested with a vengeance, you long for nothing more than the removal of the corrupt, power-mad, selfish aristocracy ('nobility' is a sick irony by this point).
Harold Pinter once said that he didn't know what his plays were about. If you don't know, mate, why inflict them on the rest of us?
Fifth, go to Hay-on-Wye. Hay is a small town in the middle of the countryside, on the Wales-England border, and for no obviously good reason it's the second-hand book capital of the UK. I picked up a couple I wanted and also stumbled over a book called 'Saddam Defiant' by Richard Butler, who resigned as head of Unscom due to what he described as Iraqi intransigence. In the book (published in 2000), Butler clearly states that he believes Saddam to be in active and successful pursuit of WMD.
More interesting is the result of googling 'richard butler saddam,' as it leads to a contemporary BBC website. The following are quotes from the public cut-and-pasted, with my annotation:
"...if Saddam is not responsible enough to care for his own people, then we must shoulder that responsibility by lifting the sanctions. What Saddam does within his own borders is a matter for the Iraqi people and the Iraqi people only. If the Iraqis are happy living under such a brutal dictator, then that's their lookout" (this man is barking)
"The reality is that Saddam Hussein a leader and should be left alone. It is up to the Iraqis to determine their future with no help from outside."
"Give Iraq food, medicines and full-blown democracy then Saddam will fall" (do some people even think about what they write?)
"Over 1.5 million people have died in Iraq from malnutrition and starvation over the last ten years. This is a direct result of the embargo against Iraq enforced primarily by the US and the UK. This organised and legalised genocide is an atrocity" (this commentator was from San Fransisco).
Not everybody was from California, of course:
"America and the other allied countries should have had the bottle to deal with Saddam at the time of the Gulf War and not embark on this long drawn out sanction process."
"I do agree that Saddam is a threat to the world and his people. However, it does make me wonder what the UN inspection team has been doing for the last 10 years. "
"While sanctions since the war have clearly not prevented Iraq from continuing to rebuild its military capabilities, or to give up its weapons of mass destruction, the suggestion that the West was in some way responsible for the deaths of Iraqi citizens by using sanctions is extremely short-sighted. "
In 2000 there were three terrorist-supporting countries adjacent in the Middle East: Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now there is one.
Sixth, in happier news, I managed to contact BT and reactivate the phoneline in my new flat within 12 hours. Hurrah.
Seventh, I'm feeling quite at home here and have been made to feel very welcome. Watch this space for more on adventures in education.
I've been away for nearly three weeks, and as I've moved and started a job, I did wonder if this particular form of solipsism was worth continuing. But then I received two encouraging messages (you know who you are), so I figured I may as well carry on.
Reviewing the past three weeks is not going to be simple, so I won't bother. This will be pretty stream-of-consciousness, for which my apologies.
First, why do Liverpool not look convincing? We stumbled past West Ham and Maccabi Haifa, were just awful against Sheffield United and yet deservedly beat Chelsea in the Community Shield. I always get nervous watching Liverpool because there's always the slight fear that they might just throw it away, especially against weaker opposition (which is a really annoying habit they've had as long as I can remember). Chelsea and Man Utd don't do this: when they go ahead, game over. They're a bit like Tiger Woods., who brings to mind Walter Hagen's comment on Bobby Jones: "when the goddam amateur gets to the tee, you guys give up."
Second, what is the precise point of David Cameron?
Third, if you ever volunteer to look after a relative's delinquent cat, make sure that it isn't the fortnight when said relative is having the kitchen replaced. And that said relative has a functioning phoneline.
Fourth, go to Stratford-upon-Avon if you get the chance. I've just seen the Henry VI trilogy, which was outstanding, and not only because Henry was played by a Yalie. Gripping from beginning to end, which is something like ten hours. Shakespeare can be the most quietly revolutionary playwright in English; by the end of Part Three, as chaos sown in Part One is harvested with a vengeance, you long for nothing more than the removal of the corrupt, power-mad, selfish aristocracy ('nobility' is a sick irony by this point).
Harold Pinter once said that he didn't know what his plays were about. If you don't know, mate, why inflict them on the rest of us?
Fifth, go to Hay-on-Wye. Hay is a small town in the middle of the countryside, on the Wales-England border, and for no obviously good reason it's the second-hand book capital of the UK. I picked up a couple I wanted and also stumbled over a book called 'Saddam Defiant' by Richard Butler, who resigned as head of Unscom due to what he described as Iraqi intransigence. In the book (published in 2000), Butler clearly states that he believes Saddam to be in active and successful pursuit of WMD.
More interesting is the result of googling 'richard butler saddam,' as it leads to a contemporary BBC website. The following are quotes from the public cut-and-pasted, with my annotation:
"...if Saddam is not responsible enough to care for his own people, then we must shoulder that responsibility by lifting the sanctions. What Saddam does within his own borders is a matter for the Iraqi people and the Iraqi people only. If the Iraqis are happy living under such a brutal dictator, then that's their lookout" (this man is barking)
"The reality is that Saddam Hussein a leader and should be left alone. It is up to the Iraqis to determine their future with no help from outside."
"Give Iraq food, medicines and full-blown democracy then Saddam will fall" (do some people even think about what they write?)
"Over 1.5 million people have died in Iraq from malnutrition and starvation over the last ten years. This is a direct result of the embargo against Iraq enforced primarily by the US and the UK. This organised and legalised genocide is an atrocity" (this commentator was from San Fransisco).
Not everybody was from California, of course:
"America and the other allied countries should have had the bottle to deal with Saddam at the time of the Gulf War and not embark on this long drawn out sanction process."
"I do agree that Saddam is a threat to the world and his people. However, it does make me wonder what the UN inspection team has been doing for the last 10 years. "
"While sanctions since the war have clearly not prevented Iraq from continuing to rebuild its military capabilities, or to give up its weapons of mass destruction, the suggestion that the West was in some way responsible for the deaths of Iraqi citizens by using sanctions is extremely short-sighted. "
In 2000 there were three terrorist-supporting countries adjacent in the Middle East: Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now there is one.
Sixth, in happier news, I managed to contact BT and reactivate the phoneline in my new flat within 12 hours. Hurrah.
Seventh, I'm feeling quite at home here and have been made to feel very welcome. Watch this space for more on adventures in education.
posted by BoB at 11:56 AM
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