A few days ago, after a largely sleepless night, during which I experienced a very weird ‘teatime of the soul’, so to speak, I wound up thinking long and hard about stopping blogging altogether.
It seems a peculiarly modern, shallow and vapid pursuit, in some respects. And then there’s the issue of sharing too much of yourself with complete strangers, some of whom will be, tragically, evil internet ne’erdowells. Indeed, I’m barraged daily by far more crap from this latter category than I am genuine interest in or interaction with my blogging content.
So from the point of view of energy investments and general safety, online and otherwise, I’m profoundly doubting the worth of blogging. I’m even worried that the only things that genuinely keeps me doing it are habit, and – worse – possible addiction!
Anyway, there is another less gloomy side. And that’s the simple pleasures of what is in effect an online diary. One thing I might well do… no, make that will do… is go over the blog(s), at some point, and tidy them up, from an internet security perspective.
Well… what the absolute feck was that!? Just heard a very long supersonic jet or rocket type rumble in the skies overhead. And it’s coming back…
The main episode seemed to go on for ages, maybe five, or even 10-15 minutes. Oddly and disconcertingly long. Not just a simple fighter jet flyover type deal. And it seemed to get closer, move away, get closer, move away, return… it was really quite alarming!
It sounded like what I imagine an incoming nuclear missile might sound like, or a huge jumbo jet, heading for an unscheduled crash landing!
The set of the 2005 War Of The Worlds movie jet crash scene.
It was so scary I got dressed – I was still in bed – and went outside, with a mind to try and film a bit. But my iPhone memory was full, so I wasn’t able to do so… dammit! I noticed our neighbour was also outside, looking worriedly skywards.
I googled ‘just now roaring in the skies overhead march cambs’, and a gov.uk/MOD low-flying complaints website came up, top of the search results.
There was a tel. number, which I rang, only to be told ‘nobody home, please email’! So I emailed. And I await a reply. This isn’t the first time this has happened recently. But it was the loudest, longest, and most discombobulating!
It’s the sort of evil apocalyptic sound that I imagine would precede nuclear annihilation. And it makes one think, would that be it!? No warning!? A terrible ‘tearing the heavens in twain’ roaring, and then either evaporation type obliteration, or poss’ much worse? Very scary!
UPDATE: I got a reply to my email…
Thank you for your e mail regarding aircraft noise on 8 September 2022 in the March area.
I have checked our records for the date and time you quoted, however, this does not indicate any military jets operating at low level in the area. The disturbance on this occasion may be attributable to military aircraft operating at medium or high level, which for fast jets can range between 2,000 to 30,000+ feet Above Ground Level.
I can advise that some military aircraft activity does take place over the sea, but weather conditions are not always suitable and due to its flat and featureless nature the sea does not always provide the realistic environment necessary for aircrew essential training needs.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) takes its responsibility to the public very seriously indeed and would prefer not to cause any disturbance to those on the ground. Unfortunately, there are no uninhabited areas of the UK large enough to cater for essential training needs. I hope you will understand that the MoD would be failing in its duty if it did not ensure that aircrew were fully competent in a wide range of flying skills and tactics before they deployed on operations.
I apologise for any concern caused on this occasion.
Regards, Sarah Hodgkinson
Low Flying Complaints & Enquiries Unit, SWK-lowflying@mod.gov.uk
Well… that was a typical government response: opaque and ultimately more confusing than illuminating!
What would the sound be just prior to this?
Whilst looking for images for this post I found this, an article on sound used as a weapon, in which the author of the article, (?), says, of fighter jets flying overhead, “their unnatural volume and the coarse noise of their engines triggered a palpable and overpowering sense of unease and distress.” Too damn right!
And then I found this, a more local/recent piece, in which they discuss exactly what I was thinking about:
“The sight and sound of heavy bombers and fighter jets in the skies above the UK have taken on an extra resonance following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Urkaine. Military training flights regularly take place but conflicts and tensions mean more attention than normal is being taken of these RAF and USAF missions.
Across the country, people have been reporting planes such as B52 bombers and F-35B and F-16 fighter jets. Bases being used include RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk and RAF Marham in Norfolk.”
And since first posting this, I’ve heard similar sounds on numerous occasions. Although as yet none quite as long, loud, and frankly terrifying, as those that prompted this post. Strange and scary times
Ok, I love Steve Bell. I think his art is superb, and I think his political satire is and has long been very prescient. Both funny and cuttingly near the bone. Might it cause offence? Of course. And so it should.
Is this image – cropped above, in full below – the same as Nazi imagery of Jews? Personally I really don’t think so. Is the core point of it to demonise Patel on ethnic/racial grounds? Of course not!
I will admit that it’s a long way from surprising, re the stink it kicked up. And it’s no surprise to hear that it’s those on the right, including religious folk, invoking ‘hate crime’ censorship of a left wing view they dislike.
Broader context: Patel and Johnson are ‘bullish’.
Indoctrinated hordes of right wingers, of all ethnicities, might believe Jeremy Corbyn is a 50/50 blend of Stalin and Hitler. And that’s the kind of ludicrous fantasy propaganda modern satire ought to be able to help fight.
It’ll mostly be people willing to believe in that weaponising of ‘anti-semitism’, in what very clearly was a character assassination witch-hunt, which aimed at – and succeeded in – smearing a very anti-racist man* as the very thing he so frequently campaigned against, who are getting so upset by Bell’s cartoon.
Gillray’s fabulous talent served the British establishment.And was used to mock the French Revolution.
But, rather ironically, one of the greatest of all English print cartoon satirists, Gillray, was actually – for the most part – paid to produce satire that served the ruling Tory elite.
Bell’s homage to Gillray’s ‘Plum Pudding in Danger’.And his risqué reworking of Gillray’s ‘Fashionable Contrasts’
Bell has tipped his metaphorical tile to his antecedent and occasional inspiration, Gillray, sometimes reworking his imagery. I won’t say reworking ‘his ideas’, as usually Gillray, unlike Bell – the roles of artists have evolved! – was for the most part drawing to order, for his Tory patrons. And, just like modern Tories, Gillray’s paymasters abandoned him, after his years of sterling service, to poverty and insanity in the end.
One big C and one little C.Bell lampoons the downfall of two Cs.
It seems, in a way that has echoes of Clarkson getting sacked by the BBC – not remotely similar in many ways, and yet… – that the Guardian, like the BBC, is willing to lose a ‘long-term asset’ in order to ‘move with the times’. Whether either decision was primarily based on ethical concerns or not… who knows? But in our venal times one tends to be sceptical!
Who is really playing the populist racist card, Patel or Bell?
In the above ‘Female Enoch’ cartoon, Bell nicely captures a far more odious, real and deep rooted form of racism, as practiced by a woman ‘of colour’ in power. Just because she’s female, and of non-white ethnicity, doesn’t absolve her from the possibilities of racism, or even sexism, or indeed any -ism.
Indeed, as Spitting Image lampoon, in one (or more) of their recent satirical episodes, having members of ‘out groups’ or traditionally discriminated against ‘minority groups’ in positions of power, can help the ruling elite camouflage their oppression of the groups these favoured individuals appear to belong to.
Thatcher did precious little for women’s rights, aside from the mere fact of being a woman in a traditionally male role. And to take the idea further, into the kind of fascist mud-slinging some on the right have the temerity to invoke, the Nazi’s loved to use favoured individuals from their victimised out-groups’ to lord it over the oppressed masses, infamously using fellow Jews as concentration camp Kapos.
I fear Patel and her Tory ilk, not for her ethnicity, but for the self-serving moral vacuum that’s where a human heart or conscience ought to be, far more than Steve Bell, who I don’t believe to be racist.
Would those attacking Bell’s satire approve of his being gunned down by an offended Hindu fundamentalist? And say he deserved such a fate? I don’t think such a thing is as likely as an equivalent scenario involving an enraged Muslim, in response to an image such as that below:
I’m with art critic Waldemar Januszczak, who tweeted thus in response to news of the Guardian not renewing Bell’s contract: ‘I worked with Steve Bell when I was at The Guardian. He was and is an evil genius. Anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to get rid of Steve Bell is a pitiful thinker. Pitiful.’ Amen to that.
Bell himself has said that his non-renewal at The Grauniad is, as far as he’s aware/concerned, due to economics, not ‘effin’ Patel’… or words to that effect!
* I’m no Corbynista, and I don’t claim he’s a paragon of perfection. l
Teresa and I watched this very slick biopic tonight (or, more strictly speaking, yesterday evening. We really enjoyed it.
It seems popular with Amazon Prime viewers as well, rated at 4&1/2 stars. That’s the platform we watched it on. I note that numerous film critics are quite critical, calling it a ‘cookie cutter’ type affair.
I k in box of get where such critiques are coming from. And yes, the balancing act of retelling a real life story with the affiliated danger dangers of sugar-coated hagiography are a very real problem in this f
Anyway, without going into any great depth. Here are a few thoughts. Yea, we see the usual beautification of characters. Aretha and ex-pimp hubby #1, Ted White, are particularly glammed up. The role of religion in the story is fascinating.
Jennifer Hudson is great as Aretha, albeit admittedly too conventionally pretty. It’s interesting to note that this was Franklin clan sanctioned movie, and Aretha herself effectively cast Hudson in the role!
Hudson with Aretha.
Forrest Whitaker is great as her Pops, the Rev C L Franklin. And the whole cast Aquitaine themselves admirably. The evocation of Jerry Wexler and his Muscle Shoals crew is very well done.
The movie fares admirably in the ‘Hollywood vs History’ stakes, ticking a lot of the factual boxes. But ultimately it is a kind of love-letter, and not a scholarly fact finding mission.
To me Aretha is pop. And I’ve never been massively into pop. This film, as reverent and cornball as at times it might be, helps me appreciate Aretha as both a person and an artist, so for this alone I think it’s hit to be considered – for me at any rate – a success.
And, with typical irony, her 1972 gospel album, itself the subject of a film, which the record moguls feared would be too niche, confounded the experts gloomy forecasts, and wound up being her biggest seller!
Ok, this isn’t a five star ‘classic’, perhaps. But it is a solid well made telling of a popular story. And a suitable celebration of a great talent, that’ll almost certainly encourage a whole new generation to check out this diva’s fabulous musical legacy.
What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare? No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows: No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night: No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance: No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began? A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
I was made aware of both poet and poem by a guest public gardener, and their garden, on BBC TV’s terrific Gardener’s World.
I’m trying out a tiny little MP3 player, as part of my ongoing participation in the Amazon Vine product review program. It’s an X16, and at present I’m struggling to learn how best to import music such that I can browse it easily.
I had one before, and couldn’t get the thing to work at all! So they – the supplier/manufacturer – sent me another. Both are now working. But at present I can only dump MP3s on the SD card, meaning they’re not grouped by album, or artist, or anything.
I’m trying out a tiny little MP3 player, as part of my ongoing participation in the Amazon Vine product review program. It’s an X16, and at present I’m struggling to learn how best to import music such that I can browse it easily.
The tiny X16 MP3 player.
I had one before, and couldn’t get the thing to work at all! So they – the supplier/manufacturer – sent me another. Both are now working. But at present I can only dump MP3s on the SD card, meaning they’re not grouped by album, or artist, or anything.
It’s 4.42am whenI start typing this. Just awakened from crazy kaleidoscopic maelstrom of dreams! Votz it all abite, Ulfric!?
Some of the dream stuff is simple and clear: wanting family – parents specifically – to come to one’s aid in difficult times. But the ‘nuclear family’ as it once was went up in a toxic mushroom cloud decades ago. And the radioactive fallout is still blighting life!
Anyway, now that conscious modes have shifted, it’s a quick trip doon the wooden hill, and across the plane of Liv Ingroom, to pee, and to wonder where Chester, our cat is. Hope he’s ok?
After weeks of drought and many days of crazy heatwave, the weather app – and various intrusive newsfeeds – are warning of heavy rain, thunder, and poss’ flash floods. With the ground baked solid, rain water might just run off… crazy times!
Note the baked dry ‘grass’ (!?) path.
I wonder if, re the precipitation, would it be wise, and a potential contraceptive precaution, or solution, to take a fork to the garden?
Teresa wants us to get Chester a neck tag. And it might be wise (if that horse hasn’t already bolted?). Has he also got fleas? Found a solitary flea yesterday, in the home.
Crazy dreams earlier! Fading fast. Got the fans back on. Need them on almost constantly! It’s still soo goddamn hot, close and muggy!
This weird, weird part of the night biz’, puts me in mind to read the recently acquired Why We Sleep (or, sometimes more to the point, why we don’t sleep!). Must read!
Must start reading this!
Teresa’s back to work today. And she’s going to have to travel by bus, as she can’t afford the train indeed, despite me being stony broke, I’ve had to loan her money for travel (a normal monthly occurrence!). That means more time on pubic transport.
We really ought to nationalise so much of our infrastructure; transport, utilities. Capitalism just ain’t working! Except for the billionaires.
Teresa’s doing like I did… off for a middle of the night pee! She just got back into bed, and… Boom!!! Her alarm just went! It’s now 5.10 am. That’s a bit bloody early!!!
I’ve glistened to this album (it’s like normal listening, only better) several times a day since discovering it. And when I bought the CD, probably about a week ago now, the Amazon purchase came with a free download/stream option.
But there’s a sense of satisfaction, for me at any rate, in owning a hard copy of the music I love. For one thing there’s all the packaging, and artwork, and sometimes liner notes. Anyway, it’s off to bed(fordshire) with a decent pair of headphones to bathe in the rainbow…
Many (most/all?) of the images from Ul de Rico’s book are used on this spread!There’s something a touch psychedelic in all this.For me this is unquestionably the most beautiful artwork. Sublime!And that’s the lot… pretty amazing!
As you can see, having the physical object to enjoy, as well as the sounds – these latter being the main attraction, naturally – is quite something.
More musical fabulousness from Japan’s Masayoshi Takanaka. Track one, Oh Tengo Suerte, is also the first track on All Of Me. A number I love so much I want to get both of those albums!
A little later…
Well… Holy guacamole! Just listened to the entire album, in one pass. And my goodness, it’s amazing! First off the range is very wide. It’s all tinged with a ‘70s fusion vibe. And being predominantly instrumental, there’s a definite jazz aspect.
But it’s also all over the map in many ways. Perhaps the single best example of this is the pretty bonkers final piece, which starts and finishes with layered vocal harmonies and barely audible acoustic guitar, before barreling off into a Japanese prog-fusion wonderland both very like some kind of CTI thing, but also unlike anything else.
The musicianship is absolutely stunning. Unsurprisingly Takanaka is the star, on prominent display here. But, everything, the percussion, the drumming, the keys (other stuff: vocals, strings, horn solos, whatever), and very notably the bass, are all stunning.
