Elections

Today we have elections for local councils and the European Parliament. The Government has tried to boost the turn-out by experimenting with a postal vote in certain areas. Our area- the North West- was added to the experiment late in the day, with the result that lots of mistakes have been made; ballot papers were posted to the wrong areas and some ballots never got posted at all.

There have also been accusations of vote rigging. Party agents have been knocking on doors in Pakistani and Bangladeshi areas and offering to "help" illiterate residents fill in their papers. There's even a story been reported about an employer who threatened to sack his workers unless they voted Labour.

Like many others, I'm treating the whole thing as a referendum on the War in Iraq.

Bainting and Boetry

'I hate bainting and boetry too! neither the one nor the other ever did any good!' George II 

I hate bainting. I went to an exhibition at the local art gallery a couple of days back and it was full of the stuff. Mainly landscape baintings- pretty pictures in the pastoral and sublime modes that went out of date with Constable and Turner.

And as for boetry- don't get me started!  I review it. People need to be told that putting the names of shiny things- like rainbows, crystals and the moon- in a piece of writing does not ipso facto make it poetic.

The mistake is to go after Beauty. Beauty is always stale. It repesents last year's consensus.  Go after Truth instead.

Bah!

P.S.  O.K.  I know I'm misapplying the quote from George II.  I just find it so delicious. He wasn't complaining about bad art. He was complaining  about a  painting by Hogarth- a goodish painting- because he didn't like its politics.