(1152) Happy almost afternoon, people. (1318)
19. Mark W
18. This Prevent lot are crims of course
17. SW has a bit of form himself by the way
This is from Nick Dixon’s substack … interview with Steven Wolfe:
16. London town
15. Dear oh dear
… I’d heard about it of course:
(0919) Getting a good sleep in is vital, so is the right food … so is this: (0931)
14. Seems St Greta was swatted
13. Still on the topic of Oz
12. Is this what Australia’s been reduced to?
We haven’t gone on many walks lately. Too wet! And all this rain has meant very little gardening for Beloved!
We had a good time with some visitors. We drove up to Brimham Rocks, which is quite a way from here, but it worked out really well. It was a lovely place and the sun shone enough to have a picnic. Beloved, of course, wanted to climb the rocks. Aarrgghh!
However, after a few climbs, he decided that that would do him for the day so I was much relieved. I took an accidentally-good photo. Well, good-ish. Of one of the rocks and discovered it had rather a pleasant tree growing out of it and looked quite nice.
(0517)(0623)
4. Mention was made below of yoof
… I also made oblique reference to it in the review of that Christie novel 80. Much of my working life was spent training yoof … I keep a weather eye out for how it’s shaping up today … there are some green shoots for sure but the majority have still not woken up. Call this next bit allegorical or an example, whatever:
That’s one of the “kids” writing there. We don’t tend to deep dive with “our own” on the whole but maybe we should:
Classic case of what’s being done to yoof, and parents are always last to know, as kids keep things from them … didn’t we? But still, parents and others see signs. One NHS/Tavistock “Mengele” only was unsure whether to do it to her … she escaped. How many did not? And what of roba-tion on demand?
Steve included today: “When kids start to rebel against this, you know you’ve won.” Yes. But only if adults’ antennae are switched on, only if perceived as non-threatening … only if seeming to care, non-creepily. I’m thinking JK Rowling, though she has that pagan past. Still, it’s coming out about it all now and there are older pundits (female) championing the kids, supported by many male pundits on our side of politics from our keyboards … I don’t think males should get more involved on these things.
3. DAD at 1070
Pentecôte; Veni Sancte Spiritus:
a) Nearly 100 km on foot between Paris and Chartres for the 19,000 pilgrims.
b) Beef bourguignon, coq au vin, ratatouille, quiche Lorraine… Are these staples of French gastronomy doomed to disappear from our plates?
c) It is 10 years when the majority of the French were saying, “I am Charley”.
2. Steve at 1070
1. AnonCon is in list three in the Brolls
He does not so much do posts as a monologue, so it requires scrolling down. Part of his analysis of LA is:
Weeeeelllll … maybe. We’re all going to analyse and hopefully you’ll post, Redacted might be non-cryptic enough to be able to read in plain. Me? I keep coming back to two things … military tactics on our part, turning up the heat on Newsom and clowns, the Demonrats themselves …
… or in an apocalyptic analysis, he Da Anti-C (remembering that that guy gives off very Nioziist vibes … see Mark Matis at Jstack) …
… or in a halfway analysis, it’s as AnonCon puts it.
(1559) The slow move towards evening after an easy afternoon.
16. An inaccessible novel for its time
What often happens with me late afternoons/early evenings is that I find myself, Steve’s last NOWP posted and with no plans by me to post any more that day, able to lie down, phone switched off, and rest after a day’s blogging … then either snooze or explore for upcoming posts.
Trouble is … sometimes I find something … but how to post? This “till close of play” format does not lend itself to long posts … they’re better standalone, the long ones, and I’m too weary anyway to go through all that again with dusk falling.
With that left unresolved, let’s plunge in regardless.
I was looking at Agatha Christie Best to Worst mystery novel lists and one billed as her 80th, to coincide with her age, with many strikes against it before it even started, was Passenger to Frankfurt. To fend off criticism, she just said it was a fantasy … and let it go at that. The intro was commented on this way:
“There is also an author’s introduction on the writing of the story, which concludes, “This story is in essence a fantasy. It pretends to be nothing more. But most of the things that happen in it are happening, or giving promise of happening in the world of today. It is not an impossible story – it is only a fantastic one.”” (Wiki)
Trouble is, again … it’s no fantasy in 2025, but it was bound not to find a ready audience/readership/reception in 1970. Under the Wiki heading “Literary significance and reception”, the typical critics used to her clever mysteries and bemoaning her loss of writing ability closer to the end … loss of vocabulary, repetition and so on … were generally quick to dismiss. Some saw it as a refreshing departure, unusual … it was certainly unusual for her, though it returned to one of her themes … the state of the world and of youth.
It’s no fantasy in the sense of Steve’s latest four links, IYE’s (hope he’s feeling better) deep dives, Redacted’s, Mark Matis’s, mine … many others who are uncovering all sorts, esp. what this deep state actually is. I have a feeling Christie stumbled on some of this at high level dinners, functions but how on earth to print it, let alone put it in a novel as a theme or plot?
Then we get to the stage today, where there are vastly more people more receptive to these crazy ideas of ours than, say, in 1970 when it was published.
No one reading it, except for a select few, would have had any idea what she was banging on about … that select few knew exactly whom she was accusing … and thus she had to disguise it as “semi-fiction” … weaving in some of her cloak and dagger, as in a novel, whilst inventing scenarios which were not directly referencing real events, but were redolent of them. How could she put in the Welfs for example?
So the story, along with her typical devices and hobbyhorses, plus no real tale of reality to dare use, remained in a sort of limbo, easily dismissed. Don’t forget her age in this.
15. Steve and war room
14. How to prevent Prevent?
13. We may have had it already
… let’s have it again:
12. The criminals in charge
(1430) Afternoon all. (1430)
11. Moosh corner
10. As they are wont to do of course
9. Rolf Norfolk on PMQs
“The PM’s rough manners and disregard for relevance have worsened.
Jesse Norman MP (Con) raised a point of order at the end of the session, asking the Speaker ‘Could you give us some guidance on whether you may be able to control answers when they are wildly inappropriate?’
The instance Norman cited was when Badenoch asked Starmer about the two-child benefit cap and instead was slapped with a reference to the Kremlin because they appreciated her admission that the Ukraine conflict was a ‘proxy war’ with Russia. (Make that ‘poxy’: not just despicable but contagious and deadly dangerous.)”
Two episodes of Jeeves and Wooster and of course, the ones on offer are two of the weakest, from near the end. This review continues below, after the YT.
There are issues with the four series. One reviewer said Berty hammed it up too much in series one but thereafter improved. Hmmmm. Another reviewer said:
Definitely watch the Season 1 of this brilliant series & then say goodby. The joie de vivre of this daffy, cheerful satire on the 1920s British upper crust sparkles throughout the first season which appears to have had a very great deal of effort put into it. Sadly the production then coasted on that effort, cookie-cutter creating following episodes & changing important secondary character actors willy-nilly, totally cutting the legs out from under the series as a whole. The two leads are always a joy to watch but the sparkle that illuminated the series as a whole is just not there after Season 1.
My attitude is a mix of both reviews … whilst there was still sufficient material to keep it relatively Wodehousy into series three, when Ferdinand Fairfax took over the direction, the taking of liberties had begun … anything the BBC touches eventually goes ga ga land … perfect example being Doctor Who, with sick sexuality intruding, plus Wokery … they can’t help themselves, these people … and in one episode, Jeeves goes transvestite … meant to be very funny, ha ha, but it wasn’t to me.
But not completely. One Woke luvvy was outraged by the blackface episodes, yet they were far more of the time than rainbow politics which the modern writers simply cannot leave off, even for a few moments. In the final episode of the last (fourth) series, it had just gone farce and slapstick … modern writers simply cannot write imho … at least can’t hold a candle to Wodehouse. For a start, being ideologues, they lack subtlety … they attempt it but it’s not unlike Starmer and Rayner attempting to write a comedy.
And overplayed, one dimensional in the acting. Stoker and Spode are blackguards through and through, Stiffy and the other women are incapable of anything but rapacity … except for Madeleine who occasionally shows some humanity. For a short while. Perhaps that’s expecting a bit too much.
As for the two leads … they did not initially wish to take the roles … but understood no others were better fitted. The music? Excellent. The settings? Excellent. So much was good along the way.
JH: Back to the first instalment … a few more pics of their dangerous idyll … tornadoes, tides, crocs … but everyday something new happening.
