Born today: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), George Gershwin (1898-1937), Bryan Ferry (1945), Andrea Dworkin (1946), Michael Ballack (1976) and Serena Williams (1981).
Today is the European Day of Languages.
26 September 2009
Daily Chat 26/09/09
Born today: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), George Gershwin (1898-1937), Bryan Ferry (1945), Andrea Dworkin (1946), Michael Ballack (1976) and Serena Williams (1981).
Today is the European Day of Languages.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDFN84kgc5E&feature=player_embedded#t=27
ReplyDeleteBlimey, BW - don't you ever sleep?
ReplyDeleteAnyone read the Prescott interview in the Indie this morning?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/stop-going-on-about-womens-rights-prescott-tells-harman-1793485.html
And while I'm bigging up the Indie ..
ReplyDeletePhotos of the treasure found in Staffordshire. Really fascinating find, amazing workmanship plus the intrigue of who they belonged to & how they came to lie under a field in Staffs ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/golden-hoard-sheds-light-on-dark-ages-1792915.html?action=Popup&ino=1
MsC
ReplyDeleteArchaeologists all over the country are salivating over this. Its an enormous hoard and It'll be fascinating to see how it's interpreted - what light it sheds.
Don't think I can manage the Prescott article until I've had a brew. Suppose I should get up.
My cousin studied Archaeology at university. I told her there was no future in it but she proved me wrong. She ended up marrying a property developer.
ReplyDeleteOff out for a fry up. And back in time for India v Pakistan.
Don't start the Dworkin discussion without me...
Dworkin?
ReplyDeleteListen, I've just backed off the human rights / religion thread to preserve my sanity - I don't need to do Dworkin this fine morning as well, do I?
# I don't need to do Dworking this fine morning as well, do I?
ReplyDeleteNo to sunny Saturday dworking on the UT!
Someone on Cif last night linked to this piece by Johann Hari in the Indy about the dear old Queen Mum. It's a wonderful piece of invective.
ReplyDeletebolshevikrot
Loved it Hank - especially this bit
ReplyDeleteShe even insisted that it was a legitimate use of public funds to maintain a full-time "Ascot office", whose job was to do nothing but keep a register of members of the Royal Enclosure and send them entry vouchers.
and
Our beaming Queen Mum was Alf Garnett in a tiara.
All true too.
83 full-time staff, sheff, including three chauffeurs. What does a footman actually do, and how does he differ from a butler, or indeed a valet? And what's the correct way to pronounce "valet"?
ReplyDeleteShe'd have been better off sacking one of the footmen and replacing him with a dental hygienist, in my ever so humble opinion.
Hank
ReplyDelete83 staff does seem a tad excessive.
There is a hierarchy amongst the servant class. Butler is at the top - very dignified position and will deal with visitors and manage the rest of the staff. A footman will stand about, open doors, ride on carriages, carry trays of drinks, possibly wait at table etc. A valet is a personal servant who will take care of intimate things - in Charles's case for example , he will put the toothpaste on the brush.
I understand the old girl like to surround herself with gay men - but it could be a filthy rumour.
PS: the 't' at the end of valet is silent.
ReplyDelete@sheff - It's all very confusing.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum grew up in a single parent family, her and her brother never met their Dad or even knew his name. When my Gran died a few years ago, one of her sisters told my Mum that my Gran had been "in service" as nanny to the kids of a Baron in Chelsea. They had an affair which lasted 20 years and spawned two kids, and he put her out to grass in a nice little place in Kent in the end.
My Mum was happy to fill in the gaps about her own identity, and even happier to know that she was the daughter of a peer of the realm.
I just thought it stank that this twat had basically taken advantage of a pretty young servant who was 30 years younger than him, and never cared enough about her to get to know the kids they had together.
And it didn't do my Mum any favours. Emotionally distant to say the least...
Hank - Your Gran's case sounds quite unusual - normally they would just fuck their servants as they pleased then sack them when they got pregnant - pack them off without a reference.
ReplyDeleteI had an emotionally cold Ma so I can empathise with that. I think my Ma's problems stemmed from the war mainly, although there were events earlier in her life that contributed too.
To be honest too much thinking about the aristocracy/royalty brings out the Madame Defarge in me and I start dreaming about tumbrils, guillotines and knitting. Although I'd be happy with a bog standard firing squad.
Tumbrils, guillotines and knitting, sheff? Bollix to that. I've got aristocratic pedigree, a blue bloodline. I'm probably posher than Cameron. Talking of whom...
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece in the Mirror today where they reprinted the famous Bullingdon Club pic. They said that the copyright owner had withdrawn the photo from circulation but they had printed it nevertheless. How can you withdraw something from publication when it's widely available on tinternet?
And on a wholly different tangent, what do we think of Marina's new look? I'm not a fan, personally. I preferred the black shirted ice maiden look.
Sorry, Maz, I know you'll be looking in here, and it's probably not the time and place, but I won't be returning your calls anymore, toots xx
So our major class warrior has blue blood...in which he revels. Who'd a thunk it. :-)) Do you have aspirations for Bullingdon membership?
ReplyDeleteI think the new Marina looks a bit pinched. Prefer the old snap myself. Perhaps working for the Graun is wearing her down.
Yep, more Tony Benn than Dennis Skinner, me, sheff.
ReplyDeleteI'm very concerned about Marina, tbh. She's changed her profile photo twice in the last two months. And her eyes seem to get bigger every time. She's either suffering from astigmatism or she needs to lay off the E's.
Yep, more Tony Benn than Dennis Skinner, me
ReplyDeleteBoth good men though Hank.
Legends both, sheff. Would wipe the floor with the swivel-eyed marketing wankstains that pass for Labour leaders these days.
ReplyDeleteI would join you doing it. Where is everyone tonight? All out on the razz I suppose.
ReplyDeleteMust retire to my pit before I corbel over. Night Hank.
I'm hanging around for a bit for Bitterweed...
ReplyDeleteNight, sheff x
Yeah, Mazza's new head shot makes her look like a frightened adolescent, if you ask me. The comments on her piece sure got scary fast. If it weren't 7 pages in and batshit crazy, I'd have said something like:
ReplyDeleteWhat does the average American think of the 'Special Relationship'? The average American doesn't. If you pressed them to give an opinion, they'd say that Britain (well, England, since most Americans think that England and Britain are interchangeable terms) is our closest ally. But they would quickly point out that they don't think that you're sufficiently grateful to us for saving your butts from the Krauts, twice.
Hello all. Just got in - a bit worse for wear - am really NOT supposed to drink with ME but just loves a glass of red. And Midnight Express is just starting on channel four. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteLove this film - used to watch it all the time in Greece in the 'workers' bar and get freaked out about if it ever happened to us... even though it was Greece not Turkey and none of us had the balls to be running drugs!
Nite Hank and Sheff. x
And goodnight Montana. x
ReplyDeleteHank,
ReplyDeleteI've often thought that the royals employ gays because they can't get the eunuchs. Don't want to run the risk of contaminating the bloodline.
Dry day so off to bed to get it over with.
'night,... milord.
@princess - Midnight Express - bliss? Great film, but gruelling.
ReplyDelete@montana - yeh but you still care about us really. How many of us comment on the NYT website? PrezzieD is testament to the esteem you colonials still have for the fatherland (-;
Colin - "don't want to run the risk of contaminating the bloodline..." - you don't buy into the theory that Prince Hal is the son of Hewitt then? Or that MI5 arranged the Paris "accident" because Di was carrying a little Muslim wannabe?
ReplyDeleteNight, colin. No need for the formalities btw. I'm happy to be addressed as "your Grace".
Crap. Lost my comment.
ReplyDelete@Hank -- actually, most Americans do harbour a bit of Anglophilia in some form or another. We adore the hell out of you guys. Just the way most owners love their pets.
You're trolling on your own website, Montana, shame on you. And what self-respecting septic would spell "harbour" with a "u"? Tsk.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, big news today, apart from Bolton sneaking a win at Birmingham, is the revelation that Iran has been developing a nuclear weapon facility in a secret underground base. I was gutted that the Guardian didn't make a Hank Scorpio reference.
Yeah - I think I remembered it through beer soaked nostalgia, Hank (sorry - your Grace), from working and living in Greece. We used to watch it most saturday afternoons to keep us on the straight and narrow but had forgotten how upsetting it is. Just got to hanged cat bit and had to turn it over.
ReplyDeleteBliss is gone now so need to watch something light, might put Peep Show on as that is always a chuckle.
'We adore the hell out of you...just as most owners love their pets'. Brilliant, I love it!
Nite again all.
Yeah, I'm growing quite fond of Tamir Cohen, but slightly troubled at Elmander's invisibility. October's still going to be one very ugly month for us, though.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Graun thinks you're aiding Iran and didn't want to give you the oxygen of publicity.
Peep Show. I might do that in a bit, too (thank fuck for YouTube). Super Hans reminds me of someone I used to know.