Mary Robinson is one of the best reasons for being a republican. Why? Because she is an example of the calibre of person that can be head of state if the selection process is non-political. As Irish president and later as the UN high commisioner for human rights her record is outstanding. Now if only there were more like her…
I can’t do this play justice. It is one of the most gory things I have ever seen - makes American Psycho (yes even the book) and Reservoir Dogs seem like Disney.
The Guardian’s critic, Michael Billington, summed it up when he said the play made Titus Andronicus, “look like the proverbial vicarage tea party.”
But it is also one of the funniest, most passionate and affecting pieces of theatre I have seen.
It is about a mad INLA terrorist (so mad that the IRA rejected him) whose cat is killed back home. When he hears (that the cat is ‘poorly’ - they are too afraid to tell him it’s dead) he comes back home, and ends up seeking revenge for its murder.
This play is written from a black, black place. It is an ‘angry young man’ play that screams with frustration.
I’m not going to even try to describe the action - there is an excellent review from Michael Billington here that does that, the best advice I can give is to see it if you have the chance.
Just don’t eat first.
Guardian Unlimited | Crossword | Cryptic Crossword No. 22575
Q: A simple, but not basic, language of Indonesia
A: Java
I have been having a go at the Telegraph’s Cryptic Crosswords, and I found this site which gives a clue as to how to approach them.
Dad, who is an incurable boatbuilder, just sent me this site, which discusses the boat designs of ‘Swallows and Amazons’, one of my favourite books.
I have had ‘comfort books’ at various times - books that I pick up and re-read over a single sitting and enjoy for their innocence and as a kind of stress relief - not that I get stressed very often.
In my first few years of Uni I would re-read S&A every year. I had all of them, and I would pick up my favourites and spend an afternoon on Lake Windermere or on the Norfolk Broads.
A highlight of the Chamber Singer’s last visit to the UK was a day boat trip on the Norfolk broads - I don’t think anyone quite realised how moving I found that day, and espescially the moment when in the early evening on a remote part of the broads, a beautiful gaff-rigged clinker built skiff came around the corner and tacked past us.
A few years ago now I gave my well-thumbed and browning copies away to a friend of mine who had a growing family - I hope they will appreciate them as much as I did.
Maintaining a journal is one way of mitigating or coping with the effects of Alzheimers, according to this article.
Salon.com Technology | The new gilded age and its discontents
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz talks about the corporate looting spree and Bush’s woeful mismanagement of the economy.
BBC - Radio3 - Playlist - Sunday Feature - John Tusa Interviews
An interesting interview with Tom Stoppard.
Technology Review - The Conservation Bomb
“There will be 10 billion people on Earth by 2100 and all of them can live comfortably if advances in energy-saving technology continue.”
I remember reading a good non-fiction book by Poul Andersen on this about 10 years ago - why luddism is not the solution to the world’s problems, and why we have reason to be optimistic.
Newsday.com - In the Killing Fields
“However confounded and twitchy we’ve become, looking over our shoulders in fear of ambush by the lunatics of one idea and the kamikazes of Kingdom Come, we should never forget the worst thing about the century just passed: What we knew of war in 1900 was that 85 percent of its casualties would be warriors themselves - and only 15 percent civilians. But according to the latest United Nations figures, by the end of the 20th century, that ratio had pretty much reversed itself. More than 80 percent of the damage is collateral. Which, of course, is insane.”
