Random Thoughts- Some Of Them Cheerful

[poliphilo]

Ailz thinks we can live on £150 per month. I think that's pretty steep, but I like a challenge.

At least we don't have to worry about flooding- because we're so high up- though it seems like most other places do. How many flood warnings were issued yesterday? Over a hundred, I think. This new climate of ours- whether caused by global warming or not- is taking some getting used to.

We bought a couple of halogen heaters. One for the living room, one for the kitchen. Apparently they cost about a penny an hour to run.

Sarah Palin is an ignorant woman. I read a report that, as mayor of Wasilia, she wanted to ban Twelfth Night from the local library. Can that really be true? I don't like the thought of her becoming empress of the world.

The scum rises to the top. Pakistan has just acquired a guy notorious for graft as its Prime Minister. I say "acquired" because no-one elected him. He was appointed by the ruling party.

Mind you, no-one elected our Prime Minister either. He too was appointed by the ruling party. Matthew Parris- a columnist I respect- came right out and called him the worst Prime Minister in British History. Is that really the case? What about Anthony Eden?

I watched Longford the other night. Longford was the do-gooding aristo who tried to get parole for Myra Hindley- the most notorious British murderer of the 20th century.  It was a play about identity. Was Longford a saint or a fool or a bumbling egotist? And who on earth was Myra Hindley? Her partner, the clever psychopath Ian Brady, had her down as a "classic hysteric"- a person who becomes whatever their interlocutor wants them to be- a Zelig- a shapeshifter. We're all a bit like that- but are we enough like that to murder children? This is a question we'd rather not deal with- which is why we start shouting and stamping and waving our arms about whenever her name is raised.

Jim Broadbent was Longford, Samantha Morton was Hindley, Andy Serkis was Brady. What a lot of good actors we have in this country at the moment!

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw Twelfth Night mentioned on some blog or other. I've been trying to find out which books she had in mind, and no-one seems to have a list. In a way it doesn't matter. Censorship is censorship, no matter how worthy or unworthy its target.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know about that. There's "this doesn't belong in the children's section, let's put it in the adult section" kind of censorship, which isn't so bad in my book. But in any case, irrespective of what Sarah Palin may originally have thought about censorship in her town's library, the fact is that she didn't actually try to get anything censored.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

No, I believe she made enquiries- and then backed off.

[(Anonymous)]

That's correct: she made inquiries, but didn't pursue it. She also did not advocate for adding creationism to the curriculum in Alaska schools and she supports the teaching of contraception as well as abstinence.