PORTOBELLO REFLECTIONS DEC 20th 2021

 

 

Tucker Carlson/Corbyn and the new Fifth Column

When British citizens were murdered on British soil by Putin’s hit squads it was the far left, from Corbyn and the Stop the War[sic] crowd usual suspects, that came out to exonerate and/or offer apologia for Putin. In the US it has been the far right, from Tucker Carlson and the Trump supporters who have functioned as Putin’s fifth column. Not since the Molotov Ribbentrop pact has the right and far left embraced each other so tightly.

At the heart of this love in has been the hideous 19th century/Cold War concept of ‘spheres of influence,’ which with respect to Putin’s Russia the far left have embraced with a passion that would make Bismarck blush. Of course, this is a doctrine very much at home in the right, from the Monroe doctrine to the present small states forced to bend to the will of their larger neighbours. The interests of these citizens of these states must be ignored and sublimated in the interests of, e.g. Chile in 1973, US national interests. For the far left to embrace such a doctrine is not new, Stalin’s fellow travellers in the 1940’s bent over backwards to support Soviet hegemony from Poland to Bulgaria.

And here we are again, those who rightly condemned US interference in Central and South America, see no hypocrisy in defending the right of Putin to dictate the foreign policy of his neighbours such as Georgia or Ukraine. Hands of Cuba…Ukraine not so much.

Which brings us back to Tucker Carlson. This vile little man has one virtue that Corbyn lacks, consistency. He is quite happy for the US to undermine neighbouring states if in the US national interest and consequently has no objection to Putin exercising the same ‘right.’

Why did it Take so Long?

Being venal, cowardly, inconsistent, puerile, mendacious, and in the pocket of malign actors has never been a barrier to being elected to high office, what is new is the discovery that one doesn’t even need to exert any energy concealing the fact. The public will do all the heavy lifting in covering for you. At worst this can only take the form of the old lie, ‘they’re all the same.’ Well, North Shropshire has indicated that Boris Johnson has reached the point when his shrug of the shoulders bonhomie no longer cuts it, that people are finally growing tired of laughing off his mendacity and corruption. Why did it take so long?

How Strange the Change From Major to Minor

My knowledge of the technical side of producing music would struggle to fill the back of a postage stamp. This is, of course, hardly a bar to my enjoyment of music. There is one mystery that seems wholly magical, and that is the emotional impact of a change in the music affected by, and this is produced literally by Ella Fitzgerald, ‘how strange the change from major to minor.’ 

The Cocteau Twins produce this effect multiple times in a song Cherry-coloured Funk, as does Artie Shaw toward the end of his magnificent instrumental rendition of These Foolish Things, sudden surge of melancholy and a burst of romantic desire is produced in me by this simple shift.

Like much about art I don’t understand why this shift it has this impact on me and don’t really care, I am just glad that it does.


Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t
Read more

LONDON BELONGS TO ME PART ONE

Image
. I. I have lived in London now just over thirty years, having moved here on 4 th July 1983 . I don’t know how long you normally have to wait to claim squatter’s rights but thirty years seems a good enough period to me. The glory of London is its parks and open spaces, you are rarely ever far away from a London park, common or heath. I am within fifteen minutes walk of Kensington Gardens or Holland Park , much closer to several smaller areas with grass and flowers and benches on which to sit, all maintained by Kensington and Chelsea council who also still believe in the value of trees. Those who would see what they call ‘the state’ shrink rarely mention such items in their calculations. What does it cost to maintain a tree? Too much by far for the likes of those right wing think tanks whom and I fear the phrase is soon likely to break under the strain under which it is now being placed, know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Holland Park is one of t
Read more