The Bobby Bush Tape

My first thought was, "How can anybody be surprised?"

Trump hasn't been living in retirement, he hasn't come from nowhere, he's spent much of his life surrounded by recording devices.  I'm less surprised by the Bobby Bush tape than I am that we haven't been inundated with such things. It's never been a secret that Trump is that kind of guy.

His party's establishment didn't want him. They knew that sooner or later something like this would emerge. I'm thinking that the Republican grandees who are disowning him now must be doing it with a mixture of despair and relief. They were waiting for this to happen and now the waiting is over.

Trump has said he won't withdraw- but when politicians say they won't do a thing it's usually because they're on the brink of doing it. He's going to be under enormous pressure right now. If his name is still on the ballot in 30 days time it'll be a testimony to the quite extraordinary thickness of his hide.

A Field In England

I've never understood why we don't make more movies about the English Civil War. That period has everything; it's like the Wild West, but with even better clothes- including the best hats ever. I suppose expense has something to do with it.

Ben Wheatley's movie gets round the money problem with a screenplay requiring five men and a field. Just five men- no extras. Just a field- not a house in sight.

It's a magical field. On the other side of the hedge there's a battle going on. On this side, well, it's hardly safe but at least there aren't any cannon balls whizzing about.

What transpires is sort of befuddled. Mushrooms are eaten, unpleasant magic is performed, violence happens, wheel-lock pistols are discharged, considerable damage is done to the human anatomy, visions are seen, dead men walk again. It's deeply English- as if a bunch of Shakespeare's low-life characters were issued with one of Prospero's books and a whole lot of guns...