EXPECTING THE WORST

 

With the Coronation a matter of days away, we should now be in a cheerfully relaxed frame of mind, stocking up on bubbly, canapés and tasty picnic fare, rehearsing patriotic songs, preparing rousing orations for every generation and keenly anticipating this rare and convivial event, perhaps even composing an ode or a celebratory sonnet. Instead, I have dire forebodings that May will bring us violence and civil conflict at worst and at best a torrent of cynicism and disparagement from deluded politicians, media and overseas enemies of our great country. Prepare for an ugly onslaught!

                       King Charles and the errant Prince Harry

The most immediate threat to the peace of the Coronation comes from Prince Harry (aka The Ginger Whinger), who has kept up a chorus of moans about his family victimhood since disappearing in 2020 to California and deluxe exile. King Charles, typically benignly (but perhaps unwisely) has half-forgiven the prodigal and invited him to come. Harry is bubbling over with malevolence and could easily stage a stunt, say, a noisy walk-out when Camilla is crowned, just to spoil the occasion. I hope the London crowds give him a resounding raspberry and he takes a one-way ticket back to America pronto. What a plonker!

But there will be plenty other crackpots in London on the great day. Anti-monarchical sentiment is strong on the disaffected Left although many mainstream Labour voters are happily loyal. London is ethnically very diverse and support for royalty is a minority stance in several communities. Bomb-making, terrorism and suicide attacks can easily emanate from these elements. In the past, we could depend on the Metropolitan Police and MI5 to keep tabs on resident and arriving troublemakers, but confidence in the abilities of the Met is at a low level at present. Naturally we feel uneasy.

We can be sure that street-agitation will be prominent. Starry-eyed groups like Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop oil and the Liberal Democrats will tie themselves to, glue themselves against or drape themselves over some public monument in their desperate search for relevance and publicity. The sweet sound of rejoicing choral music will be drowned out by the ravings of Diane Abbott and the burbling grand-standing of Ed Davey.

Diane Abbott 

 

                                                                Sir Ed Davey

Others will ignore the Coronation. The SNP is fundamentally republican and is in the midst of an internal civil war, with nose-diving support. Nicola Sturgeon’s bequest to her nation is a party of failure as far as independence is concerned, chaotic finances exuding a stink of corruption, secrecy over its processes and governance and an ugly leading group comprising Humza Yousaf, Stephen Flynn and Ian Blackford bickering among themselves. They shame my native Scotland, eheu.

No doubt the Coronation will elicit patronising comment from the US. It is true that Charles and Camilla are crowned carrying heavy baggage from their pasts, as you might expect with a couple in their mid-70s. But remember that the UK monarchy is mainly ceremonial and has minimal political clout. Contrast that with the Head of State in the USA, the President, who combines the heaviest political duties with substantial ceremonial ones. The US presidential election in 2024 promises to be a dreary re-run of 2020 with an 81-year-old Joe Biden challenged by 77-year-old Donald Trump. Biden is manifestly unfit for office thanks to age and his distracted brain while Donald Trump had a disastrous term and disgraced himself with idiotic conspiracy theories on losing office. Where is the vaunted hidden talent in political America and why have the Republican and Democratic parties allowed themselves to be manoeuvred into this odious corner?  

6 May 2023 will be an auspicious day for the UK. Close our eyes to the tendentious coverage from the BBC and The Guardian, ignore the cat-calls from the disaffected, suffuse ourselves with goodwill towards friends and neighbours and stay faithful to the values of our beloved Britain.

SMD

26.4 23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

SPRING MADNESS

  

It must be something in the air. There is much learned talk of dopamine bubbling about in the blood-stream and the normally dead-pan Serbs have a word for it - Vrbopuc (typically unpronounceable), to describe the changes in nature seen in early April. Anyway, Britain is greatly afflicted and most of the rest of the world too – many people have simply gone potty and we sane ones gaze on bewitched, bothered and bewildered. Let me give you belt and braces examples:

1.       J K Rowling, the highly accomplished creator of Harry Potter, was earlier “cancelled”- i.e. denied any academic or media platform even to speak and defend herself, when she denied trans activist claims for special treatment. She concentrated on the birth sex of trans people and stuck to 2 sexes only. Her ungrateful critics included the film actors her works had made famous, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who could not resist jumping on the “woke” green room bandwagon. Happily, the tide seems to be turning against trans-mania and JKR, who has staunch defenders, is becoming more acceptable in trendy media company (Warner Bros are doing a new series and HBO have relented).  But what an unjust episode!

Radcliffe, JKR, Watson et al

2.       Very little of value comes out of devolved governments and a case in point is Wales, which has just announced that forthwith The Brecon Beacons National Park shall be known as Bannau Brycheiniog – don’t even try to pronounce it. A whole smoke-screen of justification has been erected but fundamentally this is an exercise in Welsh-language fanaticism, imposed without consultation by the Cardiff regime. We know The Brecon Beacons to be a lovely part of rural Wales, much farmed and a training ground for the SAS. I hope the general public give the new name and pompous Mark Drakeford (Lab) the proverbial two fingers.

 

3.       Talk of devolved governments inevitably brings us to Scotland, where the SNP regime has fallen into a rank haggis-stew. The sudden departure of ghastly Nicola Sturgeon seems to have uncovered a trail of financial mismanagement. CEO Peter Murrell, husband of Nicola, was briefly arrested and now Treasurer Colin Beattie has been too. The auditors, Johnston Carmichael, resigned in September 2022, but this was never disclosed. Police are investigating what happened to a fundraising of £600k, meant for an independence campaign. There are questions about the ownership of a £110,000 motor-home, said to be an SNP battle-bus, parked at Murrell’s mother’s house. Nothing is clear and Stalinist opacity reigns supreme. Humza Yousaf, Sturgeon’s successor looks out of his depth, the party is in disarray, which suits the Labour and Conservative opposition in Scotland. The reputation of Scotland, alas, is in the mud thanks to this folly.

 

                             

                                                    Some legacy, Nicola!

 

4.        As usual, Ireland is a forum of madness. In the North, Sunak negotiated some improvements on the Irish Protocol (the botched work of Boris) between the UK and EU. Inevitably, this was not accepted by the idiotic hard-line Unionists of the DUP. So, Stormont does not function and inter-communal tensions are high. Into this mess blunders half-awake Joe Biden, wanting to celebrate the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, but really to flatter the nationalist Irish vote in the US. He utters his usual gaffes and then cavorts around the Irish Republic in a green orgy of sectarian anti-British prejudice. He is not our friend, but his country often is. There is the grim prospect of Biden running again in 2024 against Trump (OMG!). These geriatric gladiators diminish us all – please America, embrace a younger generation!

 

5.       Then our home-country is not in great shape. Strikes besiege us. We want to relax and enjoy The Grand National at Aintree, but some outfit called Animal Rising pretends to care about the welfare of horses and disrupts the race. The racing community is outraged and the luckless highly-strung horses are greatly upset by these exhibitionists (but we selected 3 places!)

 

                          

                                                Grand National saboteurs

 

Even more bizarre, our home-grown terrorists, under the banner Just Stop Oil, attacked the Crucible in Sheffield, dedicated to unpolitical snooker, in a haze of yellow powder.

 

A noisy, moronic intervention

 

Yet, repellent and sad as these scenes are, I do not believe they are remotely representative of the real United Kingdom. At Easter, with my eldest son joining as my gentle minder, I took the train to my home town of Aberdeen, Scotland and later flew back. Everywhere I encountered civility, efficiency and warmth which revived my faith in our people and our future. Our day will dawn!

 

SMD

18.4.23

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

APRIL HORIZONS

 

       APRIL HORIZONS

We emerge this year into what is supposed to be Spring with some bright spots amid the fog of gloom which often seems to envelop our beloved Britain. The first bright spot is the highly successful State Visit of Charles and Camilla to Germany.

King Charles addresses the Bundestag

The King conducted himself with charm and friendly good-humour, Queen Camilla did not put a foot wrong, while the German public was delighted to welcome a British head of state who spoke German with admirable fluency and who could even crack jokes in the language. Okay, we have a heavy weight of brutal history in respect of Germany but the country has been transformed since 1945 and good relations between our two nations is crucial. The “soft diplomacy” exercised by Charles and Camilla is valuable. The noisy detractors of the serious members of the monarchy have been put to flight.

…………………

Another bright spot has been the accession of Britain to the Pacific Treaty (The CPTPP). It is our first major move post-Brexit and it combines the key factors of joining a bloc dedicated to trade liberalisation, with a respect for sovereignty and economic national interest. Rishi Sunak will take much credit but most of the early political work was done by much maligned former Trade Secretary Liz Truss, whose mantra of “more growth” must still resound, and the recent negotiations were headed up by her successor Kemi Badenoch, whose common sense made such a good impression during the Tory leadership elections. The CPTPP is now probably larger economically than the EU and is certainly growing faster. Remainers pooh-pooh its significance but as usual they are quite wrong.

Liz Truss

Kemi Badenoch 

It has been a long time coming, but at last some of the benefits of Brexit are seeping through. Britain has good global connections, which it must exploit. It has to compete against the EU, the US and China economically and, with NATO, is in a proxy war with Russia, unlikely to end soon. Joining the Pacific Treaty is a very positive step.

……………………………

A third bright spot is the chaos within the SNP, which benefits the people of my native Scotland and both the Conservative and Labour causes. The surprise resignation of fanatical Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister, is a huge relief – I suspect her real reasons for going have yet to be revealed. Her administration was incompetent, undemocratic and Stalinist in its secrecy. The leadership election revealed deep divisions, not least issues surrounding Sturgeon’s bizarrely woke Gender Recognition Bill, which Sunak promptly vetoed, thank goodness.

Out - Sturgeon, good riddance

 

                                                         In - “Useless” Humza Yousaf 

The new First Minister is Humza Yousaf, Glaswegian-born of Pakistani parents, who has promised to destroy the Union “by any means possible” and proclaim an independent Scottish Republic – in other words he is another fanatic grand-standing as the continuity torch-bearer of Sturgeonism. He has already shown his political ineptitude by insulting his marginally more intelligent main rival Kate Forbes with an offer of a lowly portfolio. The SNP holds 45 of the 59 Scottish seats in Westminster, opinion polls point to a sharp decline in support, and at an election Labour may recapture about 20 and the Conservatives another 8. They are licking their lips but victories do not come easily and a full-blown bi-partisan Unionist offensive is required, led with convincing panache. The SNP bubble can and must be comprehensively pricked.

……………………….

 

Mind you, Wokery still spreads its dismal tentacles unchallenged. The discredited BBC has caved in to arrogant Gary Lineker and allowed him back after his political burbling, although he may walk anyhow. The BBC will probably tighten its control of freelancers, not before time. It continues to downgrade or suppress news-stories favourable to the Tories and give prominence to every contentious pronouncement from its pet coterie of Lefties. Both the BBC and ITV advertisers try to portray happily inclusive Britain as having a white minority – a total distortion of the truth. We will soon be treated to the Eurovision Song Contest, joy of the BBC, coming from insurrectionary Liverpool this year (the Ukrainian winners last year having more pressing priorities). The British entry is “I wrote a Song” performed by a certain Mae Muller, who is described as a “Left-wing activist”. She announced, when Boris was stricken with Covid in 2020, that Boris does not deserve an NHS bed nor intensive care. This kind of toxic slogan-shouting is music to the ears of many in the BBC and the Liberal Establishment. I frankly award Mae and all her gang Nul Points.

Not for me, Mae

SMD

3.04.23

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD

As I shuffle gingerly down the primrose path of old age, I become easily aerated by the folly of mankind. Of course, all old codgers like me believe the world is rapidly sliding down-hill, but the truth may simply be that our world is sliding away, as inevitably too did the world of our forefathers. While I am a Tory, I believe myself to be an enlightened one, liberal in my social attitudes but firmly conservative in my economic and constitutional principles. I crave for a bright future yet hope against hope that the clock can sometimes be put back on some issues. Like King Canute I try to stem the tides!

                

            King Canute tries in vain to stem the tides

I would like to share with you a few of those matters which sharply collide with my own world-view:

(1)    Attacks on academic freedom. I utterly deplore a university and teaching establishment which defies 3 centuries of liberal tradition and seeks to silence lectures by, say, Jordan Peterson, condemn (i.e. “cancel”) works by J D Rowland and rewrite works by Roald Dahl and even Dr Seuss. These attacks are usually made in the guise of complaints of racism, homophobia or fascism – wholly bogus, twisted and absurd accusations, driven by an extreme political agenda.

 

(2)    Sub-standard UK politicians. We have had a dire run of British politicians recently. I was a devotee of Boris Johnson, who was charismatic, but he lost the plot in his later period, failed to deliver, behaved arrogantly and is now not missed. Revelations from the What’s App messages of Matt Hancock are truly alarming, showing how a power-mad minister can treat the electorate (and scientific fact) with breath-taking contempt. Sunak, Gove, Wallace and Rees-Mogg are more to my taste. Very few Labour members give confidence, while the SNP are beyond parody. Nature abhors a vacuum and all manner of manic oddballs now haunt Westminster, supported by a tainted, unfit for purpose, Civil Service.

 

(3)    The decline of civilisation in the West. The media talk of “culture wars” and while I have long believed Western culture to be infinitely superior to all others, I fear that our defences are being subverted and we have a fight on our hands to repel Russian, Chinese and Asiatic models. Just walk into any UK city centre and you will see feral knife-wielding mobs, drunk and tattooed, revelling in their proletarian ignorance. Their savage music blares out, their TV programmes celebrate gutter ideas and extreme violence. Rampant anarchy can undermine civilisation.

 

Still, a majority of us in the West know better. We know that truth is an absolute and that there is no such thing as “socialist truth”, “Gary Lineker truth” or even “traditional Tory truth”. We know we have intellectual power, that gives us our potency. We can spot many of the media-sponsored lies. We know that democracy works better than authoritarianism, that the Acropolis sculptures are more beautiful than the Benin bronzes and that Mozart out-classes Ravi Shankar. We cherish our values, so build on them, teach them to the world – may we always have the courage to promote and defend them forever!

 

SMD

09.03.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

CIVILITY

Being civil to each other is a fairly simple principle and as a child in nappies one learns to say please, thank you, excuse me, after you, good morning and good night. Even the basic civilities are often neglected nowadays and my clearly enunciated and cheerful Good Morning! to passers-by is commonly answered with a nervous, suspicious grunt or by an eye-rolling silence. This is especially true of crowded Europe where people resent any unsolicited intrusion into their personal space bubble -Americans seem more tolerant and receptive.

Of course, Civility is more than good manners; it is the creation of mutual respect and mutual esteem amid an atmosphere of friendliness. Its qualities are exemplified by those of Chaucer’s Truly Perfect, Gentle Knight. A striking actual historic example comes from Boswell when he engineered, on 15 May, 1776, a social dinner-party at the publisher Dilly involving a meeting between cantankerous High Tory Dr Samuel Johnson and disreputable Radical John Wilkes, attended by a dozen others.

   

                                                                 Dr Samuel Johnson

  

                              John Wilkes                                   

Johnson had not been forewarned and was much put out by the presence of demonised Wilkes and initially skulked in a corner. Persuaded to join the company, Wilkes was solicitous for Johnson’s comforts and carved him some veal to eat. Johnson was flattered by this attention and they soon got into a typical Johnsonian conversation. Someone complained that the best of old England is lost, which goaded Johnson into saying: Sir, it is not so much to be lamented that old England is lost, as that the Scotch have found it. Inevitably, Johnson twitted Boswell good-naturedly about how barren was Scotland. Wilkes, a notorious rake, remarked ironically to Johnson that Boswell was probably wild except when he is with grave, sober, decent people like you and me. Johnson and Wilkes then discussed, as educated 18^th century people would, the merits of ancient writers and the state of contemporary poetry and literature. Boswell was delighted that the occasion had gone well and Johnson admitted he had spent An agreeable day.

This Civility between political opponents derived from the bond of a shared love of classical learning, of modern literature and an ability to converse with wit, humour and ready repartee without any animosity. There are many lessons for us – Nicola Sturgeon in her resignation statement today talks of how polarised opinions have become and of the “brutality” of political debate, with personality analysis   over-coming rational consideration of the issues. There is another more civil way.

Mind you, there is a species of faux-civility, or polite disparagement, often dispensed by statesmen of various hues. Thus the young F E Smith, later Lord Chancellor Birkenhead, clashed as a barrister with several judges:-

Judge: Mr Smith, have you ever heard of a saying by Bacon—the great Bacon—that youth and discretion are ill-wed companions?
Smith: Indeed I have, your Honour; and has your Honour ever heard of a saying by Bacon—the great Bacon—that a much talking Judge is like an ill-tuned cymbal?

Judge: You are extremely offensive, young man!
Smith: As a matter of fact we both are; and the only difference between us is that I am trying to be, and you can't help it.

Judge: What do you suppose I am on the bench for?
Smith: It is not for me, Your Honour, to attempt to fathom the inscrutable workings of Providence   

                                                            Birkenhead by Spy

Churchill himself was not above some polite disparagement. Famously, he mocked a timid Ramsay Macdonald in 1931 recalling that he (Churchill) had been protected by his mother from seeing a fairground freak as a child. I have waited 50 years to see The Boneless Wonder sitting upon the Treasury Bench.

To conduct oneself with Olympian Civility is a high bar to achieve. I have no patience with citizens who talk down their own country, immigrants who criminally abuse its hospitality or media who trade in doom-mongering. Politeness and patriotism are red lines for me. But I acknowledge that our society is far from perfect, that we must always be inclusive, open-minded and democratic;

This above all; to thine ownself be true,

And it must follow as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

 

SMD

15.2.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

LITERARY REFLECTIONS

 

Even for a sedentary and inactive old cove like me, it has not been possible to escape the furore surrounding Spare, the memoir of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, whose romantic wooing of Meghan Markle, the US TV actress, initially entranced the nation. Sadly, the public love affair with the couple sprung a leak when news emerged of trouble upstairs between the Sussexes and the rest of the family but notably with The Queen, Prince Charles (now the King), Queen Consort Camilla, Prince William (now Prince of Wales) and his wife Catherine (popularly known as Kate). This was blamed by some on the petulant nature of Harry and the imperious ways of Meghan. Spare presents Harry’s version of events and his gingery visage has frequented front pages or TV interview studios for perhaps rather too long a time.

                                       All-too-familiar dim Harry with “victim” Meghan

Spare is a strong defence of Harry, notably well-written by his ghost-writer, J R Moehringer, who had already won a Pulitzer Prize. A seductive picture is painted of young sensitive Harry, naturally traumatized by the sudden death of his beloved mother, Diana, struggling to maintain his equilibrium but hounded by a feral mob of paparazzi. He is unacademic and under-schooled but father Charles (“Pa”) and brother William (“Willy”) are generally kind and supportive. He goes through a Hooray Henry phase as a wayward youth until at last taking to the Army and actually seeing active service in Afghanistan. His self-confidence rockets and he starts his royal representative duties, not all of which he enjoys. He meets and falls head over heels for Meghan Markle, the attractive US mixed race actress, and after some family doubts are expressed, they marry at Windsor in princely pomp on 20 May 2018.

I have no doubt that being a member of the royal family comes with many problems and confusions. There are special etiquettes surrounding most events, a certain tradition in carrying them through properly and some awkward and edgy characters with whom to deal. Harry was immersed from childhood in this world and ought to have made sure Meghan was brought up to speed. Both clashed with family members and Court officials and Spare wearily chronicles many an argument, supposed insult and tiff. Like most readers, I am only reminded of how privileged, how luxurious and how extravagant their lives are, compared to that of ordinary citizens. Their whining tone of complaint and childish resentment are tone-deaf and jarring. They decide to flee to Montecito, California, to abandon their UK duties and disloyally to damage the monarchy as much as they can in the process of their money-making. Harry deigns to consider attending his father’s Coronation, provided Meghan is given a complete set of apologies from the family. Don’t hold your breath for that, Sussexes!

Of course, Meghan herself has been largely silent. Harry says he has material for at least another memoir and Meghan has plenty fluency, so we will have to live with the Sussexes for some time, rather like we live with Covid microbes, until they fade into the empty world of forgotten café-celebrities, once pathetically inhabited by their forebears, the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson.

……………………………….

Friday 13 January was a red-letter day for me, as I finally finished reading Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall Trilogy by turning page 875 of the final third part, The Mirror & The Light, following the decline in the fortunes of Thomas Cromwell, loyal henchman of Henry VIII, particularly over the Dissolution of the Monasteries, culminating in his execution in 1540. Mantel describes the Tudor Court in all its vibrancy, brutality and colour, at this turning-point in its relations with Continental Europe.

                                                            Hilary Mantel (1952-2022)

  

 

                                                      Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540)

 

Plus ca change, they may say, but Cromwell struggled with great issues (not bridesmaid’s dresses) yet even the Windsors were more civilized than the Tudors as they produced no figure as monstrous as Henry VIII, despite our Harry’s best efforts!

While the Wolf Hall Trilogy was long, lengthy novels are not really my thing. Over 50 years ago, I tried to read Marcel Proust’s epic novel Remembrance of Things Past in the Scott-Moncrieff translation. It ran to 11 paper-back volumes and I admitted defeat after volume 9. I am a painfully slow reader these days and will survive on the short and pithy from now on. Suggestions welcome!

………………………………………..

The final literary landmark this month was the passing of Paul Johnson, erstwhile editor of the New Statesman and popular historian, at the age of 94. In my Leftie youth I avidly read his magazine, supporting Wilson’s ministries in the 1960’s. Johnson was an observant Catholic all his life and his radicalism began to turn in the 1970s as he became a freelance writer. The trades unions’ ruthlessness during the Grunwick closed-shop dispute of 1977 was the final straw for Johnson and he moved steadily to the Right, to be honoured by Mrs. Thatcher and President G W Bush. His well-researched popular histories were notable and I particularly enjoyed his History of Christianity.   

 

               Polemicist Paul Johnson

The contribution of Catholic writers to English letters is quite striking. The roll of honour would include Charles Moore of The Daily Telegraph, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, G K Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, John Newman and even demonised journalist Piers Morgan. All write in a distinctive and entertaining fashion.

 

SMD

18.01.23

Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2023

AMERICAN MEANDERINGS

I guess it is generation thing, resistant to rational argument, that we now see the urge to emote overwhelm so many in the public eye. Brits of 1940/50s vintage and beyond were inculcated with the merits of the “stiff upper lip”, a certain sang-froid in the face of serious adversity or disappointment – e.g. the death of Nelson, disaster at Dunkirk, test cricket defeat in Australia. We now have the “wobbly lower lip” par excellence – everyone tears up, shoulder-shakes, blubs and sobs at the slightest provocation. I enjoy the Nate and Jeremiah show on HGTV, as the two gay-married presenters work their interior design magic to transform some lucky candidate’s home. Very often there is a hard-luck story attached - a premature death, a messy divorce or a dire misfortune – which sharpens the narrative. Jeremiah is always first to go, his face ashen, his tear-ducts in overdrive as he acknowledges the tribulations of the back-story. Pass the sick-bag, Alice, as Private Eye used to say! 

 

Nate and Jeremiah, House transformers

Worse, this emotive impulse has strayed into the sacred arena of newscasting, not just in the US but also in the BBC. Frankly, the world news has been bad enough, without being augmented by contributions from the messenger. Recently various anchormen/women have creased up at the sorrow of the news they were imparting, and have been reduced to gibbering wrecks – not much use to the viewers. I believe past newscasters – say, Alvar Lidell, Geoffrey Sumner, Moira Stuart or Robert Dougall – would consider emotive distractions of any kind, decidedly unprofessional. So, we advise – get a grip on yourselves, blow your noses and simply give us the news in your usual reassuringly educated tones!

……………………………………………..

The US invented the word “woke” and the US is the home of BLM, so expect the worst. Yet, principled opposition from conservative electors is much in evidence, even if the American Right harbours some decidedly unattractive characters. On the US media we have much the same woke claptrap as we suffer in the UK – every advert or plot involves a black or Indian character often supplemented by a token gay, handicapped or mentally challenged supporter. But the American public would surely not tolerate the abject spinelessness of Police Scotland who, under SNP pressure, recently refused to use the term “paedophile” in a report but instead talked neutrally about MAP (“Minority attracted people”). God help us!

Returning to the world of Woke, I recently sat through a TV showing of Matilda the Musical. The 1996 US original film of Roald Dahl’s Matilda was great fun with Danny DeVito in good form supporting Mara Wilson and Pam Ferris as Miss Trunchbull. Matilda the Musical was made in the UK and was released in October 2022. I thought it was dire, with a tedious new story-line involving Miss Honey (black here, of course) and her acrobatic parents. The school-children were unappealing, the music banal, the lyrics preachy, and the key role of Miss Trunchbull was stridently unfunny as played by woke Emma Thompson, who should have known better. All the comedy had been squeezed out of the original – it felt somehow dourly Stalinist to me. One to avoid!

……………………………………

Much, much better to revel in the goings-on in The White Lotus, a US HBOTV serial about a fictitious hotel chain. The story has had 2 series of 6-7 one-hour-episodes. The first was based in Hawaii (intrigue, betrayal and passion down among the sheltering palms) with high production values. The second series was set in gorgeously sinister Sicily following the fortunes of mainly American visitors, all rich, sex-mad and given to all manner of weird behaviour and nameless vices. We have had infidelity, drug abuse, lesbianism, prostitution, explicit male homosexuality, drunkenness, swindling, theft and murder – all in a rich, spicy, macho American cocktail – compulsive viewing! Names involved in this confection include Jennifer Coolidge (the blowsy manicurist in Legally Blonde), F. Murray Abraham (obsessed Salieri in Amadeus) and Tom Hollander (simpering Reverend Mr. Collins in 2005 Pride and Prejudice). Don’t miss it!

The scandalously lurid White Lotus

As you will have gathered, in my decrepitude I watch far too much TV. By Christmas I had seen lots of World Cup football and I am delighted that Arsenal tops the Premiership, Norrie beat Nadal and England thrashed Pakistan. I played Handel, Bach and Pergolesi, dutifully devout, but the cultural level took a wee dip as an American friend’s father in retirement is a DJ on a DooWop (sic) radio station and I jived happily, if creakily, with her to Sh-Boom and At the Hop. . Keep Rocking!

SMD 

5.01.23

Text copyright © Sidney Donald 2023