September stormy weather. Ash over Etna. Rubble over Gaza. Homelessness. The selfishness of the world.

 It’s one of those windy Sunday September mornings. I woke up to the sound of rain and turned over and had a bit more snoozing time but I hadn’t realised how blustery it was. When I went out later, taking advantage of one of the periods of sunshine between the rain showers, I realised how windy it was and how blustery it mist have been overnight. There were snapped-off small branches all over the paths. 

The blustery night did for my sunflower too, decapitating the poor thing completely. I had been hoping to continue to document its decline photographically and then into an art project I have got underway. The windy weather has put paid to that! 

Elsewhere in the world, Etna is still causing problems for Catania airport. 

• Flights at Catania’s airport will be remain suspended on Sunday due to Mount Etna ash in the region.
• The airport was closed on Saturday amid ongoing volcanic activity, and it has now been confirmed that flights will be suspended until 21:59 GMT on Sunday.

Somehow photos of plumes of ash are never so impressive as photos of lava pouring down the side of the volcano.

Then there is this:

“61m tonnes of rubble: Gaza aid workers face delicate task of clearing ruins concealing up to 10,000 bodies

Removal of war debris, in which lives, memories and unexploded Israeli bombs lie buried, is one of largest clearance operations in modern history.”

How will they ever deal with such a mess. Whole families are under there, many with nobody left to identify them or mourn for them.

“To make things more difficult, the Israeli authorities have banned the necessary equipment from entering Gaza on the grounds that almost any aid that is not food or medicine could be ‘dual use’ and could somehow benefit Hamas.”

Well, that sounds like an excuse if ever ai heard one!

i was reading about an old lady in Madrid who has been evicted from her flat, the flat where she has lived for 71 years. The flat was originally in her father’s name. On his death, the contract transferred to her mother and later to Maricarmen herself. The whole building was bought by a developer and she was offered the chance to buy the apartment for €247,000 (£212,000), not feasible for an old lady on monthly state pension of €1,350. Then they raised her rent from €500 to €1,650 per month. And lawyers found a way of saying the contract in her name was not truly valid! You can see where that was going! 

Lots of people have protested, including the actor Carlos Bardem, brother of the more internationally famous Javier Bardem, and the singer and actor Ana Belén. But it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. 

And now I find myself wondering what the rent would be nowadays for the flat we used to rent in Vigo for €550 a month, if my memory serves me well. No doubt our departure allowed the owner to raise that rent.

Finally, here’s a cartoon reflecting on the selfishness of the modern world.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Blocking the press. Being English. Living in Gaza.

 If you have watched The West Wing, which I have more than once, than you will be familiar with those scenes where CJ talks to the assembled mass of the press corps on Air Force One. Well, how about this?

“The White House has blocked CNN from traveling aboard Air Force One on Saturday, impeding its TV press pool duties in the latest escalation of the administration’s battle with the news media.

CNN had been scheduled to fly with Donald Trump to Tennessee for a college football game, the network said on Friday The White House confirmed CNN’s exclusion when it did not list the network on guidance sent to the press corps regarding Trump’s schedule for Saturday.

CNN’s exclusion from Air Force One was first reported by the Washington Post. The White House did not immediately return the Guardian’s request for comment.

The incident comes a week after Trump, a vocal critic of what he deems the “fake news media”, revoked White House access for CNN, Politico, and MS Now, citing unfavorable reports about his presidency.”

There must be better ways of keeping the media on your side!

Isn’t it odd that so many people go on holidays where they stretch out on the beach and toast themselves to a nice shade of brown, or spend money to lie on a sun-bed and toast themselves? It’s odd because so much importance is so often given to being white. I listened to something about Italians emigrating. The broadcaster said that Northern Italians found it easier to integrate into American society, for example, than Southern Italians. Southern Italians, he said, were considered inferior because they were more swarthy. So here’s a link to an article about some folk thinking you can’t really be English if you’re not white.

Some people might prefer us all to descended from some pure ENGLISH race, which is rather difficult as we are a proper mongrel race having been invaded and taken over by various groups forever! As the writer points out, we might question the Englishness of the king as his father was born in Greece. (MInd you all the various royal families have been intermarrying for so long that they are all related to each other and it must be hard to say what nationality the various members belong to.) And, as the writer also points out, it was easy to say English = White and White = English before we had second- and third (etc)-generation immigrants being English without being white! 

Maybe that’s one reason why so many people are investigating their ancestry. My family should be okay, by the way, as my mother always said that her family could be traced back to Bosworth Field (as in the Battle of …) . It may be true but it never benefitted us in any way! 

Maybe it’s time we stated to be citizens of the world! No more nationalist nonsense! And no more class nonsense!

Here’s a link to another article, this time about the lives of five people living in Gaza and the difficulty of carrying out everyday tasks that we take for granted. When everything in your life os controlled by powerful authorities, something as simple as making a cup of tea is extremely hard. You have limited supplies of gas, which you need for cooking main meals, and so you need to scrabble round for wood to make a fire to boil water for tea. Obtaining enough clean water for the family’s daily needs is a major problem and then you moght not even have tea in the first place. And here we just thoughtlessly pop the kettle on! There is a fundamental unfairness there!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Getting wet. Walking away from Netanyahu. What AI does to us.

 My weather app promised me the slight chance of drizzle when I went out running this morning so I took the risk of leaving my waterproof at home. Silly! It did start to drizzle and then it turned to light rain. I was a bit damp when I got home! One of my nodding acquaintances assured me that it was forecast to brighten up by 11.00. It’s past midday now and it’s not happened yet.

I hear that large numbers of delegates stood up and walked out when Benjamin Netanyahu made his speech at the United Nations Assembly. Quite a lot of people have been demonstrating outside the Assembly, and quite a lot have been arrested, including the actress Susan Sarandon. One of the arrestees tells us this:

“Israel has killed more than 73,000 people in Gaza. It has bombed hospitals, schools, places of worship, fishing boats, and refugee tents. It has collectively starved an entire population as a tool in its genocide.

It has subjected men, women and children to systematic sexual torture and imprisonment. It has threatened to kill people for flying kites, killed more than 1,000 people since its so-called ceasefire, and fired 335 bullets into a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab.

And when it comes to consequences, world leaders offer carefully worded statements that don’t even amount to a slap on the wrist.”

For more of her reasons for protesting, here’s a link to her article.

Amid growing fears that “smart glasses” are being used to film people without their consent, here is Ben Jennings cartoon on smart glasses and AI hacks.

(Smartglasses or smart glassesa re eye or head-worn wearable computers. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to change their optical properties, such as smart sunglasses that are programmed to change tint by electronic means. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that include headphone functionality.)

And here is a link to an article about what AI might be doing to our brains,

Such is the modern world!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Just another Thursday. Activist arrested. AI defended. Cracking down on misinformation.

 Thursday did what Thursday often does and sort of slipped by. I got up and put a load of washing in the washing machine. I went for a run, stopping on the way back to purchase a couple of items in the village. I came home and hung out the washing. I put another load in the washing machine. I showered and eventually organised breakfast. I hung out the second load of washing. Well, that’s most of the morning gone.

Then Granddaughter Number Two arrived. We set the world to rights as I organised food for later in the day and even managed to sit and chat for a while. And suddenly it was time to go and collect the small people from school. Bus services are still disrupted locally, which meant that we had a long walk down Greenfield’s main street to the school and then another longwalk back to the bus stop with two small people in tow. Fortunately I was prepared, with a jam sandwich picnic to give us all energy. 

And finally we had tea, my daughter gave Phil a lift to chess club and then came back for coffee and a chat. And at 8.30 in the evening peace and quiet is restored. Sometime in the next hour and a half Phil will return home and we’ll have a quiet beer together. Thursday evening ritual!

Out in the wider world, I read that the polioce arrested the far-right activist Daniel Thomas after he slashed that dinghy in the Channel. The thirty-seven-year-old is now in custody on suspicion of crimes including criminal damage with intent to endanger life. It must be hard being a far-right activist.

Here’s something about a rather nicer guy. I used to quite like Nick Clegg when he was leader of the Liberal Democrats … until he got into bed with the Conservatives and messed things up. Sir Nicholas Peter Clegg now has a different role in life and is reportedly playing down fears ‘that godlike’ AI could exterminate humanity. He is now busily involved in the tech industry and says many within sector are ‘winding themselves up into a lather’. I suppose it’s inevitable he’ would stand up for AI; formerly the president of global affairs at Meta, it seems he owns more than 917,000 shares in Nscale, a UK-based datacentre, and is a cofounder of the AI startup AMI Labs.

At the UN general assembly PM Andy Burnham promised to crack down on misinformation prior to his meeting with Donald Trump. Here is Ben Jennings’ cartoon on Andy Burnham’s meeting with Donald Trump.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Indian summer? Boats in the Channel. Trouble in the White House press room.

 Yesterday proved to be an excellent day weatherwise, warm and sunny, almost but not quite HOT  - even Granddaughter Number Two who ALWAYS complains when that it’s too hot when the temperature reaches 25° told me that it was a perfect day, ‘what summer should really be like” - but hot enough to dry the washing in the garden.

Today, in seeming contrast, began cooler, dull and damp, deteriorating into a massive downpour when I was talking to the fishmonger at his solitary stall in what used to be Uppermill Market. The downpour didn’t last long and by midday things were shaping up nicely. Maybe the Indian summer is not quite over. But my sunflower is beginning to look a little past its best.

I read yesterday that Danny Tommo, aka far-right activist Daniel Thomas, purchased a boat, with the intention of disrupting rescue boats helping asylum seekers. His boat sank. Karma! 

By the way, why do such people have to give themselves odd names? Do they want to emulate influencers, giving themselves a “handle” to be known by?

Today I read this article about the same Danny Tommo caught on camera slashing a dinghy in the Channel with a knife, while a rescue worker was on board. Fortunately the asylum seekers had already been rescued. I suppose it’s easy for me to comment as we’re a long way from the English Channel but on the whole I think I’d rather have some refugees in my village than the likes of Danny Tommo and the thugs he encourages to protest at the Channel ports.

A friend of mine posted this on social media: 

“BREAKING: OMG. Fox News announces it REFUSES to cover Trump’s events in stunning show of solidarity with CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO after Trump BANS them from the White House Press Pool!

Wow, did not see THIS coming…

In a truly remarkable development, Fox News’ Washington bureau chief Bryan Boughton announced this morning that “This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President."

“This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.” 

This means no press coverage of any White House events, no press coverage of Trump’s trip to the UN, nothing.

All five networks – CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS – are refusing to participate in the press pool, meaning there will be no coverage for any of the affiliate stations across the country. 

This also means the only coverage we will see will come from the White House, essentially creating Trump-regime state media. 

But we know Donald Trump very well at this point, and we know he LOVES the media and he won’t be able to stand knowing that his stupid words and stupid face aren’t being blasted into every TV screen across America. 

We anticipate a very short resolution to this standoff. Trump’s ego will not be able to stand not being on TV for more than six or so hours. 

We hate to hand it to them, but good for Fox News for standing up for the First Amendment and our right to a free press.”

Maybe Donald cut off bus nose to spite his face!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Oversleeping. Odd messages. The cost of live music. Family quarrels. Pests. Rude awakening.

 It’s been a funny sort of day so far. First of all, I switched off my alarm and woke up about an hour later! I think what woke me finally was a series of pings on my phone. One after another came four notifications, all telling me that my AIRBNB verification code was …. a series of four numbers. Each time the code was different. Of course, I haven’t made any AIRBNB bookings. Is somebody somewhere waiting for a code they have not received?

To add to the weirdness, I then had a phone call, purporting to be from the USA, thanking me for using their telephone verification service and trying to give me yet another code! I hung up before thy could fire more numbers at me.

So my day began rather later than planned. I didn’t go for a run. But it’s actually a beautiful day, quite warm and sunny. I shall have to go for a long walk later. 

Further to my comments the other day on Lucy Mangan declaring her disappointment on discovering that Bruce Springsteen wears pyjamas (But does he sleep in them? Or are they just to wander about in over breakfast or to relax in to watch telly?) here is a link to something about the madness of fans. 

Fans are paying thousands of dollars/pounds to get VIP tickets to performances. This gives them the chance to be right at the front, close to the stage. Now, I can appreciate wanting to be close to your much-admired singer or band. The very best concert I ever attended was Leonard Cohen at the Manchester Opera House, which is quite a small venue. Quite by chance we had seats about only four rows from the stage. Absolutely brilliant! But the tickets cost less than £50. Mind you, that was back in 2008. I doubt that tickets even for a small venue are so cheap nowadays! 

However, wonderful as it is to attend live music events, it’s hard to justify the prices of tickets nowadays. They try to justify such prices by saying it compensates for singers and bands losing revenue as sales of CDs have plummeted. Even so, I can think of better things to spend thousands of pounds or dollars on.

It may be that those big spenders are doing the right thing, living for now, enjoying concerts while they can. After all, the political leaders of the world seem to be heading madly towards a possible armageddon!

A friend of mine used a similar argument to justify spending an inordinate amount of money on a walking holiday in the mountains of Canada. And to justify flying hime business class. Spending her children’s inheritance, she said, having helped her various offspring financially through university and later to purchase houses! So now she feels she can treat herself to expensive adventures. 

Fair enough! Maybe there will be no family arguments about inheritance. Family arguments are never good. Just look at what is going on with the Windsors, the Spencers, The Waleses and the Sussexes. Maybe it’s time to stop digging up old grievances and just get on with life.

The Guardian runs a feature they call something like ‘The Pet I’ll Never Forget’, in which people wax sentimental about a long lost family pet. In contrast they also have ‘The Pest I’ll Never Forget’. Here’s a link to one article about someone suffering from rats and a link to another about infestations of mice. I was transported back to my student accommodation in my second year at university. My bedroom was separated from the kitchen by a flimsy partition, which did not quite reach the ceiling. If friends and I had had fish and chips, late in the night I would hear mice scrabbling through the chip papers. If I stood on the table I could look down at them scurrying around the kitchen. All my food was kept in well-sealed tins. Eventually I moved out when I woke to find a cheerful mouse on my pillow!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

A bit of reflective Eurovision nostalgia.

 Here’s a link to an article about why the UK always loses the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Yes, the digital, culture, media and sport committee chair Caroline Dinenage wants MPs to look into why we don’t do better in this competition, especially as we are so good at music of all kinds. Surely there are better and more important things to investigate!

When I was a child, once we acquired a TV set, which wasn’t until I was 11 or 12, we watched the build up to Eurovision every year, all the excitement of choosing the right song and the right candidate. And we got quite excited about the contest itself. Some of the songs were very good. Those were innocent times. There were only two TV channels and even the music programmes were quite refined, with well-dressed David Jacobs in charge of Disc Box Jury.. Top of the Pops and Ready Steady Go were perhaps the most exciting music programmes we saw.

Have we actually won or even done well since Sandie Shaw came top with ‘Puppet on a String’ in 1967 and Cliff Richard came second with Congratulations in 1968? 

I think that what I really liked about Eurovision in my teenage years was the opportunity to hear songs in foreign languages and see how much I could understand. Yes, I was that kind of geeky kid, already obsessed with the languages I was learning at school and quite likely to stay on a bus beyond my stop so that I could eavesdrop if someone was speaking in French or Spanish.

Maybe it’s a generational thing because I seem not to be the only one. I attend an Italian conversation class online. Our teacher refers to us as I Vecchi Amici because all of us are in our seventies. Anyway, one day we were talking about the Festival di San Remo, very important to the Italians, and Gigliola Cinquetti was mentioned. Her song “Non ho l’età’ was the Eurovision winner in 1964. We had an Italian class group memory and every one of us remembered the words to the song! 

In 1968 another young female singer, Massiel, won with ‘La La La’, telling us that ‘Todo en la vida es como una canción’ and pipping Cliff to the post. Originally the Spanish had wanted Joan Manuel Serrat, a singer I later came to really like, to sing the song but he insisted that he wanted to sing it in Catalán. Uh, oh! Regional patriotism was not yet quite approved of and so he was dismissed and they opted for Massiel instead. Maybe it needed the appeal of a young female singer to win the points. 

That year I spent the summer term of the academic year in Murcia, Spain. A Spanish friend used to delight in singing a song about how we should give them back Gibraltar, adapting the words of Cliff’s “Congratulations”.

Nowadays I take no notice of Eurovision. Granddaughters Number One and Number Two keep me apprised of the “good songs”, which mostly don’t appeal to me. Most nations sing in English and it often seems that they just want to be outrageous. Maybe I am soing the contest a disservice.

Some people are now boycotting it because of Israel’s inclusion. Quite when Israel became part of Europe is a mystery in any case!

Isn’t it amazing, how one article about something silly like the governement getting involved in making us fit to win Eurovision could provoke such a lot of nostalgia!?

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!