Go, Sally, Go

I see Sally Berkow has hired Carter Ruck to fight her corner against Lord McAlpine. Good. That's excellent news. 

Did she libel him? She contends she didn't. What she did (and what many of us did in the madness of the moment) was point to a very large grey thing that was squatting in the middle of the room snuffling up peanuts with its long prehensile nose and ask, "Is that an elephant I see before me?"

The BBC and ITV were among those who asked that question but they both crumbled as soon as Lord M hiccoughed in their direction- which means it's left to a private individual (who doesn't have a large pot of other people's money to draw on to appease him) to test the matter in court.  Cheer her on, people, She's doing it for all of us who want the Internet to be about something other than "liking" Justin Bieber. 

Clear: Nicola Barker

An essay about the illusionist David Blaine wrapped up in a fictional narrative that feels- deceptively- like a Rom-Com, Clear is a delicious soupcon that isn't quite as light and flaky as first appears. Barker likes employing male protagonists- and does them very well. If they ever make the movie (they won't) I want this one to be played by a younger version of Martin Freeman. 

Weather Report

Today it's raining and the temperature is a few degrees above freezing. Up in the hills it's a lot colder and the water is freezing on the roads and cars are sliding about. 

The McAlpine Effect

Type "Tory paedos" or "Tory child abusers" into Google and nothing comes up that's more recent than November. This is down to the McAlpine effect. He's scared the media away. Lord M may be innocent (he must be; he's told us so) but there are a number of highly placed chaps who aren't and who are currently sheltering behind him and his litigiousness. This is one reason (perhaps the main one) why I want to see his business  gone over properly in a court of law. 

P.S. Yes, I know the Tories don't have a monopoly on child abuse. It's just that they were the ones in the frame when the McAlpine boot came thundering down. For the record the number of Labour activists, advisers and councillors who have been convicted of paedophile offences is absolutely staggering. The Lib Dems, of course, are the party of the late Cyril Smith...

Nearly Lucid

In a dream I had last night I came to a place where the path divided and thought, "If this were a dream (which obviously it's not) there would be a stone circle at the end of the right hand fork..."