A Modest Proposal, with profuse apologies to Jonathan Swift
“A modest proposal for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the public”
The Irish problem could be solved, there’s quite a simple cure,
By dining on the offspring of the nation’s poor.
Oven-ready babies could be sold when weaned,
They’d fetch a fortune so I‘m told; ten shillings maybe more.
Ja well.
Members may well have read my comments about the standard of journalism in my local read. It’s awful, it’s been awful for years and unfortunately it’s going to be awful for many years to come.
This is a scan of the main story on the back page of today’s E.P.Herald.
Thankfully I only buy the thing for the DT cryptic crossword.
Mark Ogden, the apparent writer of this garbage is of course a Daily Telegraph journalist, in fact the article is credited to “© Daily Telegraph” (full scan of article here)
I wonder how Mr Ogden feels about this?
For the record it was Spain who won 4-2 on penalties to send Portugal packing.
I’m sure that members remember my post on The Spear painting which caused so much controversy down here.
In summary the gallery and artist were taken to court by the governing ANC party claiming that President Zuma’s right to dignity under the constitution was infringed. The gallery and artist countered with an individual’s right to freedom of expression. The case was heard, the bench (3 judges) decided that more time was needed than the single day initially set aside (they want 3 days) and that’s where we are, I have no idea for when it’s been rescheduled (if at all.) Perhaps that’s the last we’ll here of it.
In the meantime our Publications Control Board (that’s the people who set age restrictions on movies and suchlike) have decided to slap a 16 age restriction on the painting, causing angst amongst the art fraternity who insist that nudity as an art form shouldn’t be subject to such decisions. Which left me wondering what the clowns would do if Michelangelo’s David ever visited these shores as part of a world exhibition?
Enough of that, as you can imagine the painting has been the subject of numerous e-mails and jokes, I thought that I’d share some of them, first, as a reminder here’s the original… Continue reading “The Spear revisited”
Hee hee, my Sunday read informs me that our public broadcaster has refused to flight Nando’s new anti-xenophobic ad! Yes, the word ‘anti’ is not a typo or mistake. (Report here ‘SABC chickens out on Nando’s ad’)
I think it’s quite funny……
🙂
After work today I rang the company which had promised to deliver the raised beds – they had said the beds would be delivered in to them on Thursday and then out to me either on Thursday or Friday. And before they delivered them they’d ring.
I heard nothing yesterday or today. So at 4:30 pm I called. They said they had already been delivered to me. The driver had signed them off. I said they hadn’t. Several telephone calls later they had telephoned the driver who said yes he’d delivered them, and left them behind the Maestro.
“I don’t have a Maestro. And there’s been no one in.”
“Oh.”
“And you had promised to telephone me to arrange delivery.”
“Let me check up for you.”
Another couple of telephone calls later (something about confused tickets) someone dared to say they couldn’t deliver them until Wednesday. In my best Cybil Fawlty voice I told them that was no good at all. That I have a man coming to help me in the garden tomorrow at 10 am as they’d promised me the raised beds by Friday at the latest, and how on earth could I turn around and tell him there’s nothing to do?
They have promised me the raised beds by 11 am. We shall see.Any hoo, Christina would have been proud of me.
So two things have gone wrong today – the first being an incident in the little fridge in the utility where we keep a few drinks and the insulin. I went to check that the bubbly for tonight’s little party on the green had been safely secured in there.
When I opened the door I discovered that the entire contents of the fridge had been sprayed with a dark brown substance that had subsequently frozen in place. Crunchy little crystals of Diet-Pepsi.
Of course I was running late for work, but had to do something with the mess… which meant I half did something, and left the rest for later.
All day I have had my fingers crossed that there wouldn’t be another ‘thing’ prior to our party-on-the-green. A very large black cloud has been threatening on and off since about three.
As I drove through a local village a couple of evenings ago I saw a table set up in a front garden festooned with bunting.
I stopped to investigate. A scarecrow type figure, all ready for the Jubilee Weekend. Continue reading “Tea party, anyone?”
The garden is swimming with insects. In the evening a cloud of tiny midges shimmers in a cloud, back-lit by the late sun and then the Blanford Fly is out and about, nipping ankles at dusk. Once the lights have come on in the house the May bugs start battering the windows and moths seek warmth.
The local felines are edging around one another. Pippi was terribly offended when a rather high-maintenance fluff-ball entered our house without an invite earlier on today. Fluff ball was soon shooed away. The night before we had heard fighting, but Pippi came home injury free, so we assume she either stood up for herself or kept out of the action.
The rooks are raucous, shouting and demanding as they fly over head. Blackbirds are bold as they scuttle along the ground. There’s a tit’s nest in our porch, but not in the tit-box I carefully put up. And no occupants, to date in the house martins nest and the swift boxes either.
In the field behind us there’s a horse which whinnies enthusiastically much of the evening. But I don’t know enough ‘horse’ to know whether it’s joy, frustration or just high spirits. No-one seems to be concerned however, so I assume all is OK Continue reading “Sitting on the fence”
The Yellow Book Scheme is a very British thing it seems to me. The premise being to
open your garden and invite folk in, sell tea, cake and cuttings, then give the takings to charity.
The charities they support are close to my heart and I love going around gardens, especially those gardens which are on a scale that I can relate to my own small patch. I’m always on the look out for ideas that I may be able to translate for my own use.
Yesterday afternoon we walked around a collection of gardens which had opened together, in one little community. It was a true ‘village affair’ – with the village hall open for tea and cakes, and 7 gardens open. It was warm and there was a breeze – a quintessential English afternoon, just like you may see in ‘Midsomer Murders.’
The village topology is very different from ours, even though it is only a few miles away. Our village is flat: not a contour in sight. The village we explored yesterday is steep and has a river running through it.
To my mind it was a bargain – £5 a head, plus a little for the tea later on.
Early summer border
This chap won first prize
for just lying about and sleeping. Continue reading “How to spend a Sunday afternoon”
Ha ha, check out 1:06
Boadicea's Chariot 
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