Saturday, 31 October 2020

How the World Sees the USA. Carnegie Endowment. Christiane Amanpour, Steven Erlanger, and David Rennie, with Aaron David Miller

 

From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace:

"Three veteran foreign correspondents, Christiane Amanpour, Steven Erlanger, and David Rennie, sit down with Aaron David Miller to discuss the United States and its role in world"

Watch the Zoom discussion on YouTube:





Sunday, 11 October 2020

Stolen Antique Garden Urns, West Bay Road, Bridport.

These beautiful, very heavy antique garden urns were stolen from my mother's garden near West Bay, Bridport, Dorset, around twenty-five years ago. I would be interested to find out if anyone recognizes them or can help me trace their whereabouts. Several thieves must have driven up the drive in the middle of the night, emptied out the soil and loaded them onto the back of a small pick-up truck. I was in Australia at the time. I'm still angry!

The first photo was taken in our Somerset garden, the second in West Bay Road, near Bridport.




Saturday, 10 October 2020

The Fly on Mike Pence's Hair. Miroslav Holub, The Fly.

 


If Miroslav were still alive, he might have added another verse to his poem, The Fly (translation George Theiner):


https://modernpoetryintranslation.com/poem/the-fly/


The (same?) fly lands on Mike Pence during the vice-presidential debate:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-54459544






Tuesday, 6 October 2020

Status quo ante. Mojo. Front-door colours. Conservative Party Conference

 

There were three comments made by PM Boris Johnson in his keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference which caught my attention and made me go back to the text to check them:

"We have been through too much frustration and hardship just to settle for the status quo ante".

"I have read a lot of nonsense recently, about how my own bout of Covid has somehow robbed me of my mojo".

"We will fix the long-term problems of this country not by endlessly expanding the power of the state, but by giving power back to the people - the fundamental life-affirming power of home-ownership, the power to decide which colour to paint your front door".

On the last point the PM might be well-advised to discuss the topic with HRH The Duke of Cornwall, since residents of Poundbury are expressly forbidden to decide which colours they can choose to paint their front doors. It is a breach of the stipulations to make external alterations such as painting front doors in anything than in "identical colours" to those originally selected by the Duchy.

https://www.poundburymanco.co.uk/home-alterations/

It is impressive that the PM can use such a wide range of words and registers, from the Latin (status quo ante) , to the  Afro-American "mojo".

What was the status quo ante of his mojo?

Muddy Waters, live, Got my mojo workin':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-APvKTcUW9Y

Stereo version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gNs-29s-0Q&list=RD1gNs-29s-0Q&start_radio=1&t=44







All Mountains, H.D.

 

All Mountains, by H.D.


https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?volume=27&issue=2&page=25


"Give me all mountains...

the unclaimed

bleak

wild stretches

of the mountain side...

give me the islands of the upper air,

all mountains

and the towering mountain trees".





Friday, 2 October 2020