Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…
… is the title of Daniel Finkelstein’s memoir about his family, and his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. It is very powerful and impressive; a real “Lest we forget” must-read.
Still, as Rohan Silva says in his Observer review:
Perhaps the more people that read this brilliant book, the less likely it will be that our liberal society ever disintegrates. But that faith in rationality was what Finkelstein’s grandfather, Alfred, believed in too, and it didn’t change a damned thing.
I see that the US Supreme Court has just struck a blow against LGBTQ+ rights.
By way of contrast, last Wednesday evening, I went along to an event organised by our Local Authority, which essentially asked its LGBTQ+ community: “What can we do better for you all?”
I heard personal stories from members of the community, songs from our local gay choir: Shansons, and was able to contribute ideas for improvement to the local authority for consideration.
I know which society I want to live in – and I’m there now.
Uganda’s President has signed the anti-LGBTQ+ law, which allows the death penalty for homosexual acts and up to 20 years in prison for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”.
An appalling act from an appalling President that will damage the lives of innocent people. The witch-hunts will continue and grow in ferocity.
I’m a couple of months younger than King Charles III. Since I’m not a monarchist, I won’t bother watching the coronation today – I’ll be doing something useful, like working in the garden. I suspect that the glory days of the British monarchy have passed with the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The annual members’ meeting of our local village community council, Heelwegs Belang, was held on the 7th March. I had been a board member for a total of nine years (three terms of three years) and the statutes rule that this is the maximum that I could serve, so I stepped down. The post of secretary has passed to another board member. Although no longer on the board, I remain as their webmaster and the IT department, administering the Microsoft 365 Business system for Heelwegs Belang.
When a board member steps down, it is usual for them to be formally thanked in the members’ meeting and presented with a bunch of flowers and a small gift. So I was expecting this as part of the proceedings of the members’ meeting. What I did not expect was that the Mayor (Burgemeester) of our Local Authority also showed up and thanked me for my work, not only for Heelwegs Belang, but also for my work in bringing the fibre-optic network to the area. He presented me with the obligatory bunch of flowers, but also a wünderkamer – a “cabinet of curiosities” artwork made by a local artist.
I was also pleased that the board did not forget that another member of our community, Jan Geert, had worked with me on the network project, and he was formally thanked by the board that evening for his efforts.
The board presented me with a certificate proclaiming that I was now an Honorary Member of Heelwegs Belang.
Martin had apparently been plotting this together with the other board members for over a year beforehand. I was totally unaware of all this, so it all came as a total and pleasant surprise on the night.
John Major, in this interview with Andrew Marr a few weeks before the Brexit Referendum in 2016, has been proven right in every respect. Brexit has proved a disaster.
There are still a few wise Tories, but unfortunately they ain’t in the shower in power at the moment…
I see that the Financial Times has at last weighed in with a film on the effects (mostly malign) of Brexit on the UK Economy. Well worth watching – but depressing as hell as an example of seeing a country indulging in an act of self-harm…
So Liz Truss has been anointed by a small bunch of elderly, well-off, white men as the next Prime Minister of the UK. The silver lining is that at least the disgraceful Boris Johnson no longer holds that office, after having consummately trashed its reputation.
The citizens of the UK, I fear, cannot afford to breathe a collective sigh of relief with the coming of Truss. If she puts into practice what she has promised with her views on economic policy, we are likely to see things in the UK getting worse, rather than better.
William Davies, in the Guardian, has a good analysis of the flaws in Trussonomics. He appears to hope that Truss will recant, but my fear is that she believes her ideology to the extent that it will not just destroy her, but the country as well. Beware the true believer.
I had read about a new series on Netflix called Heartstopper, the coming-of-age story of a gay teenage boy. It’s based on a webcomic by Alice Oseman.
Martin and I sat down to watch the first episode, and were delighted by it. It’s warm and funny, and shows the joy and angst of teenagers beginning to navigate their way through relationships.
Two things struck me. The first being how “normal” it seemed; Charlie, a 15-year old boy, is out at school, and being gay is not “a statement”, but just part of him, like his hair colour. He’s got a small group of supportive friends, and he’s able to ask an openly-gay teacher for advice.
The other thing was that the very normality was so very different from what I experienced growing up gay, and it made me somewhat sad to think back on how much I had missed out of life as a teenager.
Heartstopper is a little marvel – I hope that it shows some LGBTQ teenagers that they do not need to hate themselves, and that things will get better.
Addendum 27 May 2022: I just found out today that Joe Locke – who plays Charlie in Heartstopper – is another gay Manx lad! More power to your elbow Mr. Locke. You’ve made this old gay Manxman very proud of what you and your fellow actors and crew have achieved with Heartstopper.
A modern-day Anne Frank. Hopefully she will not suffer the same fate.
Fuck Putin and his regime.
I’m currently about halfway through Chris Grey’s magisterial flensing of Brexit in his book: Brexit Unfolded.
He takes us through the events of the five years since the fateful referendum, recording who said what, and whether what was said made any sense, either at the time or since. Disingenuousness, or downright deception, particularly from the Brexiteers, reaches stratospheric levels time and time again.
I remain convinced that leaving the Single Market and ending Freedom of Movement for citizens was a huge mistake, one that began with the fluttering of Cameron’s butterfly wings and his ill-judged referendum, and that has ended with the ongoing catastrophe that is Brexit.
I’ve been following Chris Grey’s Brexit Blog for some time, where he does a weekly analysis of the current events related to Brexit. This book is, in large part, a distillation of the contents of his blog, and is eminently readable, if depressing in its message.
Highly recommended.
Stromae is back with a song celebrating those who keep the world running, but who are never noticed.
Welcome back, Stromae.
An excellent, and chilling, article in The Atlantic by Adrienne LaFrance about the power and dangers of Facebook. Worth reading.
I left Facebook, with absolutely no regrets, over six years ago. One user down, only another 2.9 billion to go…
Are they incompetent, malign, or both?
Acclaimed British cellist has passport cancelled by Home Office
Judging by their past performance: both is probably the closest to the truth.
That’s the title of a documentary about the LGBT+ activist Peter Tatchell, which is now available on Netflix.
It is very good and well worth watching.
I have always liked and admired the strength of Tatchell’s convictions and his willingness to keep on battling against all odds. Seeing the rerun in the documentary of the time of Thatcher’s Britain with AIDS and Section 28 and that awful woman was painful.
It was only the activities of Outrage and people like Peter and Derek Jarman who really got things moving to repeal Section 28. I used to be a member of CHE back in the 1970s, but I always remember that it was the UK’s GLF that galvanised me into becoming a soft activist, doing what I could in my small way.
Peter is rightly celebrated in this film. He’s paid for his actions with his health, but long may he continue to speak truth to power.
Following on from my last post, it would seem that people are beginning to at least consider all the options concerning the origins of Covid-19. A good thing too, however uncomfortable it may be to consider the possibility that it was an accident arising out of virus research being carried out in labs that were only at BSL2 level.
There are four degrees of safety, designated BSL1 to BSL4, with BSL4 being the most restrictive and designed for deadly pathogens like the Ebola virus. From Nicholas Wade’s article:
Before 2020, the rules followed by virologists in China and elsewhere required that experiments with the SARS1 and MERS viruses be conducted in BSL3 conditions. But all other bat coronaviruses could be studied in BSL2, the next level down. BSL2 requires taking fairly minimal safety precautions, such as wearing lab coats and gloves, not sucking up liquids in a pipette, and putting up biohazard warning signs. Yet a gain-of-function experiment conducted in BSL2 might produce an agent more infectious than either SARS1 or MERS. And if it did, then lab workers would stand a high chance of infection, especially if unvaccinated.
Much of Shi’s work on gain-of-function in coronaviruses was performed at the BSL2 safety level, as is stated in her publications and other documents. She has said in an interview with Science magazine that ‘[t]he coronavirus research in our laboratory is conducted in BSL-2 or BSL-3 laboratories.’
The origin of COVID: Did people or nature open Pandora’s box at Wuhan? – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (thebulletin.org)
And so, questions are beginning to be asked…
And so, like many other times over the past year, we’re stuck without a clear answer. The point has been made that, epidemiologically, none of this really matters. Lab or not, the pandemic happened and is still going. But finding its origin would be hugely consequential. A natural origin would absolve any one person, but further confirm that our nature-encircling world is incubating pandemic disease at an unprecedented rate. A lab-leak would tarnish the job of scientific research for a lifetime and prove some of the worst people in the culture war – partially – right. I think I’d prefer the first case, but even more than that, I’d like to know the truth.
Why the ‘lab-leak’ theory of Covid’s origins has gained prominence again | Stephen Buranyi | The Guardian
Absolutely.
That’s the title of a five-part TV series written by Russell T. Davies. Spanning the years 1981 to 1991, and set in London, it charts the impact of the AIDS crisis on a group of friends.
It is, quite simply, a stunning piece of work, a masterpiece. A strong cast, inspired directing, and RTD’s writing combine to give explosions of joy, horror, and homophobia.
Watching it together with Martin brought all those times back to us. The friendships we made, the friends we lost, the callousness of Thatcher’s government, and the homophobia in British society, fanned by the tabloid press.
RTD’s writing draws upon all of this – there are references to the infamous Section 28 legislation, and he puts the word “cesspit” into the mouth of a policeman in one scene that directly references the utterance by the then Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, James Anderton, who said that homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes who had HIV/AIDS were “swirling in a human cesspit of their own making”.
As well as the wider references, RTD has drawn upon his own memories of the friends he knew to create his central characters. The character of Jill Baxter is modelled on his actress friend Jill Nalder, who herself plays the role of Jill Baxter’s mother in the series.
As I say, watching the events unfold brought all the best and the worst of those times flooding back. These days, while HIV/AIDS is not the automatic death sentence that it once was, it is still not something that should be treated casually. I hope that the series will be watched by the younger gay generations to learn something of what we went through and the awakening of our political action.
It struck me that RTD and his team have produced a work that completely fulfils Lord Reith’s directive to the BBC that its programming should “inform, educate and entertain”. The irony is that it ended up, not on the BBC, but on its commercial rival, Channel 4…
This is quite an extraordinary video. Alexei Navalny documents Putin’s elaborate arrangement of shell companies and what the money is being spent on.
Navalny must be a very brave man, deliberately walking into the lion’s den by returning to Russia, and then releasing this video.
I have to say, I am rather impressed by this video of Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Governor, addressing recent events in the USA. I didn’t think he had it in him, but I am happy to stand corrected.
Perhaps the events in the Capitol on the 6th January will prove to be a turning-point, and bring about a return to building democracy instead of tearing it down.
However, I share the fears of Francine Prose when she writes that anyone shocked by the events has ignored a lot of warning signs. As she says:
Throughout the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, as journalists and politicians expressed their stunned astonishment, one couldn’t help wondering: hadn’t they heard about the hundreds of people, some of them armed, who stormed the Michigan state capitol building in April, objecting to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order? Had they forgotten that a young woman was killed during the August 2017 Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, Virginia – a neo-Nazi event that Donald Trump declined to unequivocally condemn? Had their interns not been keeping up with – and informing their bosses about – the popular Twitter feeds and Facebook pages of far-right hate groups and extremist conspiracy theorists? Had no one explained that the Proud Boys’ T-shirt insignia – 6MWE – means “Six Million [Jews] Weren’t Enough”?
Turning a blind eye to the transgressions of Trump and his supporters during the past four years made the events of the 6th January inevitable. That particular horse bolted the stable a long time ago.
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