Is it Boris?
Oh No! Its Trump.
So alike.
Trump and Boris: so look alike
June 12, 2019
June 9, 2019
The Guardian
The Guardian Newspaper – why I read it
As child in WW2 I was introduced to the Guardian at home because the only paper available from the local newsagent Was The Manchester Guardian; may be because we lived in Congleton not more than 25 miles from Manchester.
Anyway, the Guardian stuck to me and I have read it ever since. Even when I was abroad as a consultant there was the Guardian Weekly on the newsstand or failing that I could get it by post; the postal version used to be printed on very thin but durable paper; lovely!
I still get the Guardian Weekly posted to me even though I am back in Scotland.
And I cheat, I read the Guardian online daily, for which I feel honour bound to pay a quarterly subscription.
For those who do not know the background and the Policy of the (Manchester) Guardian just get a flavour by reading Katharine Viner’s (the editor) history at
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/16/a-mission-for-journalism-in-a-time-of-crisis
June 7, 2019
The Magic Flute – an Opera for Our Time?
If Beethoven is the greatest all round composer; Mozart is THE greatest composer of Opera. Of course, Puccini has his moments, particularly in Tosca and La Bohème but Mozart is at times funny with it even in Don Giovani.
On Thursday we went to see Scottish Opera’s performance of the Magic Flute directed by Thomas Allen. Mozart’s music is enchanting and here was under conductor Tobias Ringborg. Sitting on the front row of the stalls with Ringborg just a metre away I got all his facial expressions singing pointedly to the orchestra and urging them on not only with his baton but more so with his body language. It’s great sitting on the front as I can watch all the music being played. I have learned a lot on the sounds each instrument makes and how the nominally the same instrument varies from one to another – the double base is a good example, and the horn is continually evolving.
OK, the singing was excellent as was the theatricals, singers have long since sung on the spot and are taught to act their parts. And I have no idea how the complicated set is readily ported to six theatre across the UK, 4 being in Scotland. Allen has incorporated his background of the Glasgow shipyards where he was brought up into the set.
The singing is in English, but we still have the sub-titles which I like as they help my deafness.
The libretto is nominally around the Masonic Ritual, but it is in tune with the problems of UK politics emphasising the need to work together and opposes the attempted dominance of the Queen of the Night – the Brexiteers such as Johnson.
For those who wish to get a feel of this performance go to
June 6, 2019
The Only Man in any Semblance of Conrol in Westminster
John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, has said it is “blindingly obvious” that the new Conservative prime minister will not be able to suspend parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit.
Macron and Trump
Macron or Trump – World Leaders
On looks: I know who I would turn to
Macron and Trump at Colleville-sur-Mer
June 5, 2019
Britain must not turn its back on the world made possible by D-day
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/05/britain-d-day-commemoration-trump-brexit-war
I cannot emphasise more clearly Kettle’s message
My primary school lessons were paused to hear a live broadcast from the landing on the D Day morning.
75 years in Europe without a major war. Brexit is at best an anachronism.
June 1, 2019
McCain v Trump
Scathing but Correct – The Scotsman Editorial Saturday 1st June 2019
‘During this time, Trump avoided conscription several times because he was a student and once because of a “bone spur” in his foot. However, in 2015, Trump had the temerity to say McCain was “not a war hero” because he was captured, saying “I like people who weren’t captured”. …In contrast, at a 2008 presidential election rally, McCain defended Barack Obama after one of his own supporters claimed the Democrat was untrustworthy and an “Arab”. “No ma’am … he’s a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as President,” McCain said as the crowd voiced their surprise.’
‘In a parallel universe, The Scotsman would have been pleased to welcome President John McCain and it is his ethos, not Trump’s, that our politicians should embrace’
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