Modern problems.

I read recently that Randy Newman had written a song about Donald Trump, all about the size of certain part of his anatomy. In the end he decided not to include this scurrilous song in his latest album as he felt that things were already being stirred up enough without his adding to the mix. Maybe he didn't want to be the target of a vindictive tweet!

The writer of the news item felt obliged to point out that this was not the first time that Randy Newman had written songs of that nature:
"Newman is perhaps now best known for his heartwarming songs in Pixar movies such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc, but his career has often featured pointed, socially conscious songwriting. His 1974 album Good Old Boys contained Rednecks, which dealt with racial bigotry and tension between northern and southern US states, while Kingfish celebrated egalitarian Democrat politician Huey Long. His 1988 song It's Money that Matters, meanwhile, lamented both poverty and consumerism, while 1972’s Political Science was a scathingly sarcastic ode to American imperialism."

And there I was, completely unaware that Randy Newman had written songs for children's films. This is how people end up with totally different perceptions of singers and writers. When Rufus Wainwright sang Hallelujah for the film Shrek loads of people assumed it was HIS song, never having heard of Leonard Cohen. It's a funny old world!

We were out looking for something interesting on DVD to watch on the computer. Apart from overpriced films we have no real interest in watching, we found the selection in various shops here very disappointing. There seems to be less stuff available than there was maybe sixth months ago. We decided it might be something to do with people streaming material or watching films and series on Netflix or similar. We cannot do that here as we don't have internet in the flat.

But just as people seem to have stopped buying music CDs, now DVDs are perhaps becoming a thing of the past as well. And I found myself wondering what do people do who don't have computers or internet at all. There are still some such people around. Do they only ever watch the television programmes that are directly broadcast? If so, how do they not go crazy with frustration and boredom? A diet of reality shows and competitions must stunt the brain.

As it is, we have successfully missed the great hit of the year, Love Island, which has been described as having cheered up the British Nation, including apparently some of our politicians in recent weeks.

Shouldn't politicians be studying policy, not watching nonsense on TV?