November 03 Newsletter

What a roller coaster of a month this has been: more saucy revelations from the palace, a UK visit by Dubya, and a velvet revolution in Georgia.

Palace Pictures: Of course here in the UK we were not allowed to print, or broadcast any of the lurid details of this month’s royal disclosures– all we were allowed to know was that it involved hanky panky between a prince and a “member” of his staff, that a duke was reduced to tuning into a pre-war wireless while presumably still waiting for his new ipod order to come through, and a queen ate her bread and honey from Tupperware containers. A hasty rewrite and remix of Sing A Song of Sixpence is called for, methinks.   I had a very jolly lunch with Matthew Kelly during which we toyed with various royal scenarios, most being completely inappropriate for such a tasteful website as this one. Besides which I want to keep my head firmly on my shoulders.

Matthew has recently returned to his core career of acting in a big West End hit production of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I saw this production while it was touring the provinces. He has had great reviews and won a prestigious acting award last week. His hidden acting talent seems to come as a great surprise to a lot of his audience who presumed he was merely a great TV showbiz host. I am so pleased and proud of him. He has proven to be a man of a great deal of inner strength, handling his recent difficulties of unfounded and hurtful allegations with dignity and discretion. Did you see him on Frank Skinner’s TV show? Brilliant! And great for Frank to have broadcast the whole interaction without editing.

Anyway, Matthew and I continued our on-going dialogue on fame and celebrity, the benefits and the pitfalls, a subject that fascinates us both. Not sure where this is going but perhaps one day it will turn into something tangible that can be shared with everyone.

Misunderstanding: Of course when George Bush in his Texan oil baron drawl refers to “terrists”, this sounds to the American ear to be “terrorists”. Unfortunately to the English ear it sounds like “tourists”. A lot is subsequently lost in translation. On this side of the pond most of us are hearing that he wants to wipe out tourism – can’t be good for those flagging transatlantic ticket sales. Perhaps this explains why the American Army mistook so many British soldiers for the enemy.

The Scarlet Arsenal:– we seek it here, we seek it there

First it was WMD’s, chemical and biological, that the Iraqi Army could launch within 45 minutes

Then it was chemical and biological weapons they could launch

Then it was chemical and biological weapons hidden, somewhere.

Then it was chemical and biological factories.

Then it was plans to acquire the ingredients.

Now apparently we are looking for evidence that they were thinking about it.

Power and the People: This month tens of thousands of people in Britain gave up work, school and business for a day, risking losing money, being reprimanded, fired or punished for truancy, to join a march in London stating that they did not want to be involved in the war on Iraq and that they did not welcome George Bush here as a hero. I don’t know what kind of crazy PR effect he was after but it all went sadly wrong for him. He must have been the most unwelcome State visitor since the Japanese emperor Hirohito, who also visited the Queen.  Bush was so unpopular that he had to be protected from meeting any “ordinary” British citizens. At the last minute Tony and Cherie managed to conjure up some vetted locals in their country home for a staged meeting which didn’t fool anybody. It’s OK George; we are genuine peace lovers here. We won’t hurt you - although peoples’ opinions might dent your self-righteous views!

Both Bush and Blair had the gall to say that this was a great example of freedom of speech; true democracy in action. I know we are not a repressed regime but democracy is so much more than being allowed to voice your opinion. It is being heard by leaders. It is action being taken to represent these views. It is having social and political systems that the people can trust to truly represent them.

Such a low percentage of people vote in Britain, it would seem they have no faith in the system or the leaders who support it. Blair is at best the majority leader of a minority.

As for Bush, the rest of the world is aware of the circumstances within which he was able to take power in the States, we need only take a look at its effect on free trade in our global steel industries. We know he does not represent the majority of American citizens. That is why so many people are still fond of America. It is the Bush administration’s policies that are so deeply unpopular and abhorrent to the rest of the world.

 

Georgia On My Mind: And then there was Georgia. How uplifting to see people truly being able to govern themselves. Dancing and celebrating in the streets in the spirit of true democracy. And not one drop of blood shed to achieve this end. This follows the Velvet Revolutions in Poland and in Berlin when the Wall came down. There is a lot to be learned here.

Oh How The Mighty Fall: As Bush was toppled Saddam-style in the streets of London, in a TV documentary about John F. Kennedy’s life and death, they proved conclusively that there was no conspiracy, and that he was indeed killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is difficult to believe that someone so inconsequential killed one of the greatest Icons of the 21st century. But then again, Archimedes was killed en passant by a common soldier, whilst he was making arithmetic calculations in the sand.

 All change: I hope you have been noticing the changes and updates happening all over the site. I particularly like the sound bites of the new French and Italian CD’s. So cute – thanks Will.  Have you listened to them yet? The French and Italian discographies are also nearly complete. If you have any sleeves or info that will fill in the gaps please send them. Over the next few months we are collating Spanish and German material. If you have anything – sleeves, photos, news clips, TV footage, memorabilia of any kind from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain or South America – please let us know. We do not require originals so do not worry you can hang on to your treasures.