On the demise of great song-writers … and of CDs and DVDs. A bit of music nostalgia.

And now Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88, another of the great poetic songwriters gone. Here’s a link to an article about his genius.

Back in 2018 a group of artists performed a concert of Joni Mitchell songs as a tribute for her 75th birthday. (The only non-Joni song was “Our House”, written by Graham Nash for and about Joni Mitchell.) Brandi Carlisle helped Kris Kristofferson perform Joni’s “I could drink a case of you”. Musically still wonderful but visibly confused at times. Music seemed to keep him going though. 

And now he’s gone to join Hank Williams and Leonard Cohen in the Tower of Song. But we have his albums! As we have many of the other greats.

According to this article by Tim Dowling, the CD is a thing of the past. Like vinyl, CDs are now only bought by obsessive music collectors. He writes about music in cars, looking back at the days when car “radios” were equipped with cassette players (I used to have to rewind a Carly Simon cassette again and again for Granddaughter Number One, then only 4 or 5 years old, so she good listen to “Itsy, bitsy, spider” as we drove along), later replaced by CD players. Now even in-car CD players have gone it seems. Goodness, I learnt much of my Italian listening to Michel Thomas CDs as I commuted to work. 

Tim Dowling used to select CDs to take with them when the family went on holiday, CDs in a special case with plastic wallets for each CD. I remember having one of those. We still have a few old cassettes kicking around of compliations of songs Phil would put together for when we went on family camping holidays. Driving to the south coast singing our heads off. As a consequence our offspring have a good knowledge of golden 

The son of an old friend of ours assures me that rap artists produce songs as poetic as did the great but rapidly diminishing singer-songwriters of my youth. I don’t believe him or, at any rate, I don’t agree with him. But perhaps I am prejudiced (the rhythm puts me off) or simply old-fashioned. 

Our daughter doesn’t have a CD player in her car, nor in her house as far as I am aware. I do know that she doesn’t have a DVD player. She has turned down offers of loans of DVDs of films or box sets, on the grounds that they don’t have the necessary equipment to play them. Everything is streamed and downloaded. But I think she is perhaps missing some classic films.She has playlists on her phone for when we go on road trips: silly songs for the small children, stories, music that the grown-ups might enjoy, including lots of artists I would otherwise be unaware of.  

Earlier I said that CDs are only bought nowadays by obsessives. I would like to amend that to “obsessives and Phil and me”. We still purchase CDs - after all, artists have put some thought into their compilation - and  DVDs for that matter, mostly of concerts as we too watch drama series online. Modern times!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Names. Invitations to be friends. Confused seasons. And ideas of war.

What’s in a name? Facebook is always throwing at me photos of “people I might know”, ie people I might want to request as friends. Even if I recognise the person it doesn’t mean I want to be swopping Facebook posts with them. But the majority are people I have never heard of, presumably friends of friends of friends. One of the latest has the wonderful name of Jesus Risueño, or Smiling Jesus! If you gave that name to a character in a novel, people would say it lacked verisimilitude, or that you were seeking comic/ironic effect, which is what I tend to think about the mean character in “Io non ho paura”, Felice Natale - aka Happy Christmas! 

Yesterday we had frost! One of the neighbours commented to me that we seem to have skipped autumn and gone straight into winter. It’s not really quite that bad but it’s getting on that way. Today is marginally less cold and so far - mid afternoon - it’s been quite bright and sunny.

We still seem to be finding as many ways as possible of destroying the planet. Well, not me personally. I recycle just about everything and try not to overuse the world’s resources. But some parties are intent on starting as many wars as possible. 

Something I read this morning suggests that the concept of all-out-war needs reviewing. It no longer necessarily means tanks rolling into a country, boots on the ground and troops lined up to beat and shoot each other to pieces. It’s a more distant affair - just fire bombs and missiles into whoever is considered to be your enemy.

I suppose it was inevitable. Once man invented projectile weapons of one kind or another, it was bound to go on from there. 

Here’s a picture of the consequences of such actions: 

A woman stands among the items she has salvaged from the damaged Unrwa relief agency building in Gaza City, 12 July 2024.

Time to do a Candide and concentrate on cultivating my garden … or in my case, putting together family meals in the kitchen. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Remembering Dame Maggie Smith. Silly headlines. Would-be derring-do! Statistics. And singers.

 So Maggie Smith has died. On yesterday’s news broadcasts masses of actors and actors expressed their dismay. You could hear the tears in their voices. It was as if they queued up to tell the world about their good fortune at have worked with that Dame. 

This morning Michael Palin wrote: I rate our work together as some of the happiest times of my life. I shall mourn her passing most sadly, but remember her most gladly.

For me she’ll always be Miss Jean Brodie, in her prime!

Here’s a headline that made us smile: 

CHINA MAY BE USING THE SEA TO HIDE ITS SUBMARINES

No comment! 

Boris Johnson is about to unleash his book, “Unleashed”, on the world. The Daily Mail has apparently been publishing extracts, which I have not read, I hasten to say. I suppose some people will buy it. According to reports on the extracts, it seems he seriously considered military action agains the Netherlands during the covid crisis.

“Boris Johnson considered an “aquatic raid” on a Dutch warehouse to seize Covid vaccines during the height of the pandemic, he has revealed in his memoirs.

The former prime minister discussed plans with senior military officials in March 2021, according to an extract from his forthcoming book, Unleashed, published in the Daily Mail.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was, at the time, at the heart of a cross-Channel row over exports, and Johnson believed the EU was treating the UK “with malice”.”

It seems he regarded the vaccine as “legally ours” and therefore we had the right to charge in and get it. A bit of derring-do!

However, “The deputy chief of the defence staff, Lt Gen Doug Chalmers, told the prime minister the plan was “certainly feasible” and would involve using rigid inflatable boats to navigate Dutch canals.

“They would then rendezvous at the target; enter; secure the hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports,” Johnson wrote.

However, Chalmers told Johnson it would be difficult to carry out the mission undetected, meaning the UK would “have to explain why we are effectively invading a longstanding Nato ally”.

There you go!

Some people, it seems, never grow out of playing games. Maybe he was serious or maybe he was just “codding on”, which is a new-to-me expression for joking or teasing. But somehow it seems typical of a prime minister who enjoyed dressing up and driving buses and fork-lift trucks! I bet he would have led the raid himself, given half a chance! 

I have gone on quite frequently about the silliness of teaching small children the names of parts of speech, when the time could better be used reading them stories and encouraging their imagination. Here’s a cartoon from Calvin and Hobbs on that subject:

I read some statistics this morning that suggested that “if American women were denied the vote, Donald Trump would be restored to the White House in a landslide. Similarly, if men were removed from the franchise, Kamal Harris would be swept into the Oval Office in an even bigger earthquake.”

“An NBC poll this week found men favour Trump over Harris by 12 points, 52% to 40%. Among women, Harris leads Trump by 21 points: 58% to 37%.”

I must say I’m surprised that any women might consider voting for Trump but there’s no accounting for taste. 

With Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris, maybe Swifties registered to vote will be influenced towards Democrats. 

On the subject of singers influencing politics, here’s a link to a song by Stevie Nicks in protest against the restriction of abortion rights in so many states of the USA.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Running in the cold. Talking about children’s reading. Libraries. Bad behaviour. And protestors.,

 It was cold when I went out running this morning. The weathermen had warned us that a drop in temperature was coming but it was still something of a shock to the system. Mind you, judging by one of those things Facebook does where they send you memories - this day in such and such a year - there seem to have been years when we have had frost in the early mornings at this time of year. So I suppose I should be thankful that it didn’t rain on me.

My phone rang as I was on my way home: my daughter. Was I at home? she wanted to know. Could she drop in for a coffee and a catch-up? She’s been a bit busy lately and we don’t seem to have had a proper natter. So she went for a bit of stomp round while I showered and then we had coffee and toast - a family breakfast. 

One thing we talked about was children’s books and the importance of libraries, especially for those children whose families have few books or indeed no books at home. She has moved her class library into a corner alcove, making it a special place that the children in her class really appreciate. Here’s a link to yet another article about the imprtance of libraries. 

Libraries will only exist for as long as we borrow from them. Consider it your civic duty | Jodi Wilson | The Guardian

The writer tells of her experience of libraries in Australia, but much of what she says applies to the UK as well. I’m not sure that writers receive royalties in the Uk when their books are borrowed from libraries as she says they do in Australia but it sounds like an excellent idea. This is certainly true: 

“In a world as noisy as ours, we need the quiet space of libraries for solace and safety. They are community hubs that serve whoever walks through the door but they also foster hope – in the power of words and in the people who write and read them.”

Keep on using your library. Use it or lose it! 

We also talked about children’s comics, how the likes of the Dandy and the Beano encouraged generations of children to improve their reading skills. Do children still enjoy Dennis the Menace? 

And Desperate Dan with his favourite food, cow pie with the horns poking through the pie crust? 

I see lots of Disney-related magazines for children in shops but not those weekly comics we used to read. Actually, in my case, I only got to read them when we helped out at church jumble sales as my father disapproved of their silliness and had us read sensible comics like the Swift and the Eagle. Those were the days. 

I came across this article about behaviour in schools in Italy. Here’s an extract:

“Middle school and high school pupils who score five or less out of 10 on conduct will fail the year and face having to repeat it even if their academic standard is up to par. High school students who only score six on conduct will have to do a civic education test. Marks in behaviour will also greatly influence the sitting of the crucial maturità school-leaving exam.

Giuseppe Valditara, the education minister in Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government, said: “The grades-for-conduct reform restores the importance of individual responsibility, makes respect of people and public goods central and restores the authoritativeness of teachers.” Meloni has previously said the change would “bring back respect” in schools.”

Does being made to repeat a year improve things, academically or behaviour-wise? I wonder. Does naming and shaming work? 

Here’s something else. This was on yesterday evening’s Facebook post from a friend of mine

"A group of Jewish and Palestinian protesters are being arrested after blocking a street near the UN in New York City where the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the general assembly.

At least 25 people from Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestinian Youth Movement have been arrested so far.

This is the first of several actions planned today, with protesters calling for Netanyahu to be arrested and for an end of US support – military, fuel and diplomatic – for Israel as the death toll in Gaza and Lebanon continues to rise."

Guardian update 14:39)

Goodness! Heaven forfend that they upset anyone! 

We live in troubled times.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Children. Rioters. Arresting rioters. Oh! And spiders!

Years ago a friend of ours used to maintain that children are basically selfish, even inherently evil beings who need to be socialised. At the other extreme there are those who maintain that all children are innocent. The truth is probably somewhere between the two. The matter is confused because in our society we have a tendency, especially in the media, to refer to anyone under 18 as a child. Legally this is no doubt so but socially young people of 15 or 16 upwards are no longer children. They certainly believe hey are quite grown up. And they are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Let’s make it plain and refer to them as adolescents.

Reports about the riots that took place after the death of children, small girls, at a dance activity in Southport this summer ask “why did children take part in the English riots?” Lawyers defending the adolescents say they joined in “to fit in”, wanting “to belong to something”. One of these was 16, admitting to joining in riots on Bolton and hurling a rock towards riot police from the steps of Bolton’s cenotaph. 

His solicitor said his political views were “generally nonexistent”. His parents said he was not racist and had a mixed-race sibling, as if that somehow absolved him. So did he join in because his mates were doing so? He knew he was doing something wrong because he covered his face with a black mask. And surely in the personal and social education lessons thatvschools now have to offer such questions should have been explored. A lot of young people join in protest groups because they believe in a cause; they aren’t all political blank sheets. Here’s a link to an article about this. 

Not all protests end in riots but it seems that increasingly they end in arrests. In the USA this certainly appears to be the case and I read that this is more and more the result of pressure from the people being protested against:-

“Fossil fuel lobbyists coordinated with lawmakers behind the scenes and across state lines to push and shape laws that are escalating a crackdown on peaceful protests against oil and gas expansion, a new Guardian investigation reveals.

Records obtained by the Guardian show that lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies were key architects of anti-protest laws that increase penalties and could lead to non-violent environmental and climate activists being imprisoned up to 10 years.

Emails between fossil fuel lobbyists and lawmakers in Utah, West Virginia, Idaho and Ohio suggest a nationwide strategy to deter people frustrated by government failure to tackle the climate crisis from peacefully disrupting the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure by enacting tough laws with lengthy jail sentences.” 

Here’s a link to the rest of that article. 

That’s the USA but I get the impression that similar repression is on the cards here too. 

This morning I was very strong and resisted the temptation to send this headline to Granddaughters Number One and Two: 

Great news, everybody! We’re about to be over-run by giant spiders.

It would have been a cruel act to remind them that it’s spider season when they both have a fir of the heebie-jeebies whenever a spider of any size is around.  

Nell Frizzell writes:

“As a child, I was as terrified of spiders as I am today by droughts and unfiled tax returns. I would watch in amazed horror as my country-born mother picked up arachnids the size and heft of dogs and calmly threw them out the window. There were whole cupboards I refused to open for fear of spiders. Once, after accidentally walking into a web during a game of hide and seek, I actually vomited at the thought of a spider being close to my skin (they found me quite quickly after that).”

That sounds so much like my granddaughters, the smaller ones as well. Nell Frizzell grew out of it, living independently and realising that spiders are actually useful. She signs off with:

“So spiders and I are fine. Just don’t ask about slugs.”

Yes! I can fully understand that!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

Wider protests at the disappearing lids. Recognising the famous. Blessings. And continued conflict.

Just recently I commented on the how annoying it is that products such as hummus and various ‘dips’ no longer come in pots with lids but with annoying cellophane covers - difficult to remove when you put the stuff on the dining table but quite likely to be pierced by some other product in your shopping bag! Who eats a whole pot of such stuff in one sitting? I wondered. How do you store the leftover without it spilling in your fridge?

It seems I am not alone in my disgruntlement. Here is a headline from today’s Telegraph newspaper:

“The great hummus revolt: We want the lids back on, say shoppers.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s change packaging to cut down on single use plastics.”

I didn’t read the article. I only ever skim the headlines online as the Telegraph requires a subscription.

As I skim the news online I often copy the link to article which might be of interest again later, sometimes just as a reminder to myself to get indignant or amused about whatever topic came up. I looked back this morning at one I had saved about someone called Jeremy King, apparently an A-list restaurateur, whatever that means, wondering why I had saved the link. He talks to his interviewer, among other things, about famous people visiting his restaurant. It was the final paragraph that had amused me: 

“One day at the Wolseley, I was chuffed because at two separate tables there were Nobel prizewinners. I went down to the kitchen and I was pleasantly surprised when a chef said how fantastic it was ‘to have them both in at the same time…’ I said ‘Wow, that’s great I’m so pleased you have noticed them.’ There was a short pause and the chef said ‘Yes I can’t wait to get home to tell the wife that both Ant and Dec were in tonight.’”

Well, I suppose some people do find the annoying Ant and Dec impressive!

In between watching drama series on TV we have watched a video of The Highwaymen - Willie Nelson, Johny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Some great songs. One thing that struck me as they finished with a cry of “God bless you” was the easy relationship that American performers have with God. It’s not just performers either  but also politicians. “God bless America” trips off their tongue in a way that “God bless the UK” does not trip off ours. 

Did Keir Starmer finish his conference speech with a ‘God bless you all’? I don’t know as I haven’t listened to it, but somehow I doubt it. We sing *God save our gracious king” (when we remember it’s no longer ‘God save our gracious  queen) and we have collective worship in schools but we don’t seem to go round blessing groups such as audiences. I wonder why there is that difference. Maybe it’s the British stiff upper lip that makes even believers a little embarrassed to talk about it in public. 

Mind you, I seem to remember comedian Dave Allen finishing each of his shows with “May your God go with you”. But maybe that was the Irish in him!

As Lebanon seems to be getting the same treatment as Gaza, I wonder whose idea it was to warn people to leave their homes so they could be bombed, and then target the roads those refugees travel along. We live in disturbing times. And here are a couple of images, possibly Banksy or maybe Banksy-inspired:

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.