2016 — 26 June: Sunday
If Glenda Jackson is now 80, how old does that make me? She's to play King Lear? Really? (Link.)
If "running around like headless chickens"...
... doesn't describe the current febrile activity of our mendacious political and punditry classes, then I'm not sure what does. Almost worth it for the entertainment1 value. Unfunnily enough, when that delightful chap Farage spoke two weeks ago about how a "52:48" vote would definitely mean "unfinished business" he no doubt expected to be on the "48" side of that ratio. I wonder if his opinion has changed?
37% of the electorate...
... said they want the UK to "Exit" the EU. One might think the framers of our splendid constitution would have required at least a majority opinion to trigger such a large-scale upheaval. But what do I know? After all, our present democratic guvmint "got in" on an even smaller share of those same worthy, well-informed subjects, did they not?
Could it be that nobody wrote the rules down anywhere? That would be a bit silly, as foolish oversights go. Even by "Untied" Kingdom standards.
Some people are now saying...
... they only voted "Leave" to register an anti-Establishment and/or anti-elite "protest", with no apparent clue what a "Leave" decision meant. Voting, alas, is a game for grown-ups. And a binary yes/no referendum is not the arena for such games. All difficult problems produce a nasty outbreak of charlatans and snake-oil merchants with easy, quick answers — but sadly, those answers are all wrong. I would say "follow the money", but that seems to have evaporated.
Perhaps this little spat...
... will help stiffen the resolve of those across the Pond currently facing the possibility of what seems an unwise choice for their next President? The UK seems about to demonstrate what actually happens after a populist uprising gets its turn at the steering wheel. That should help "concentrate the mind", though it's a pity the UK is the one left dangling at the end of the rope, of course.
Frying pan?
I'd like you to say "hello" to Fire!
I was in Monaco only last, erm, July 1969. It was horribly hot and sticky.
I'm sure...
... one or more of these will help to distract me from Brexit's continuing aftershocks...
"A Bigger Splash" is directed by the EU chap who made "I am Love" and written by the EU chap who wrote "La Piscine" yonks ago (perhaps even when I was in Monaco). "Trumbo" revisits a truly shameful episode in Hollywood's pretty shabby history. (Well-documented in Bernard Gordon's fascinating 1999 book "Hollywood Exile", by the way.) And the Altman film? Well, it's by Altman! What more do you want?
While I will admit...
... I laughed, particularly at the very end of this 'sketch'... my laugh was hollow. And, BTW, neither major party got my vote at the last election. (Link.)
And then there's this little gem:
But there seems to be no immediate legal means out of the stalemate. It is entirely up to the departing member state to trigger article 50, by issuing formal notification of intention to leave: no one, in Brussels, Berlin or Paris, can force it to. But equally, there is nothing in article 50 that obliges the EU to open talks — including the informal talks the Brexit leaders want — before formal notification has been made.
Talk about colossal blunder!