the killing 1+2

Moira and I have just finished watching the Bafta award-winning “The Killing 1” (via Hannah+Fee’s boxset - albeit out of order, as I’d already watched the second season on the BBC!). With 20 one hour(?) episodes , it felt like a mammoth undertaking – but quite brilliant and very well worth it. If you haven’t previously come across the series, it’s about Danish detective Sarah Lund, wonderfully played by Sofie Grabol, as she and her colleagues try to track down the killer of a 19 year-old student who is found raped and brutally murdered. Full of political intrigue, struggling family situations, false leads and an obsessive detective!
Absolutely compelling.
PS: from the television series, one gets the impression that Denmark must be a very ecological nation – it seems that that they hardly ever turn lights on! The entire series seems to have been shot in the gloomiest of light (police invariably search properties without flicking the light switches!). Moira spent much of the time pleading with the characters to “turn on the lights!”… but, of course, they never did.
PPS: Having now watched the complete “West Wing” series, “Borgen” and now “The Killing”, I’m now left with that empty/mourning feeling as far as TV is concerned… suggestions please?

remember, we’re all in this together (episode 27)…

I’m not an economist or a politician (what a surprise). Although I ran a “successful” architectural practice for nearly 30 years, I probably have a somewhat naïve approach when it comes to finance (and understanding finance). I think I’ve probably inherited a rather Victorian attitude when it comes to work/remuneration and take exception to what I regard to excess or greed. I think the recent Occupy protest movements were a powerful expression of this (“we are the 99%”) - against the growing income inequality and wealth distribution between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
I was therefore depressed to read a report in yesterday’s Guardian that the AVERAGE pay for the 24,000 bankers working for BarCap (Barclays Capital investment Bank) was just a paltry £200,000 last year (and that the average bonus for these poor workers was down 30% to a mere £64,000). Somewhat predictably, Barclays Bank chief Bob Diamond (note: he’s currently refusing to disclose his own bonus from last year – speculation puts it anything from £3-10million!) has been quick to defend the situation, saying that it was important to "celebrate rewards for success or then we won't have an economy". Of course! It seems that, despite receiving biggest taxpayer-funded bailout in history, nothing much has changed in the banking world.
I think the time has come for us to switch our own bank current account from one of the big banks - according to Ethical Consumer magazine, ours has an “ethiscore” of just 1.5 out of 20 (note: if you thought that was bad, the same magazine gives Barclays an “ethiscore” of 0.5 out of 20!) - to a more “ethical” bank (eg. Co-operative 13/20, Triodos 15.5/20 or Charity Bank 16/20?).
The Occupy Wall Street movement in the USA encouraged more than 40,000 people to switch their bank accounts last November. Next month, Move Your Money launches a similar campaign here in the UK (under the catchphrase “bank on something better”).
Perhaps it’s time for us all to switch our money?
PS: It’s not just bankers, obviously. Here in Bristol, there’s a move by the Taxpayers Alliance to cut the salary of Bristol City Council’s chief executive from £190,000 to £150,000 to "bring it in line" with similar posts.

PPS: click on the image to enlarge!

hockney+grayson perry

Moira+I have just returned from a couple of days in London, seeing the Hockney and Grayson Perry exhibitions. We had a lovely time.
The “David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture” exhibition at the Royal Academy (until 9 April) essentially concentrates on his landscape paintings of East Yorkshire. Vivid, crude, colourful, naïve, sensitive, inspiring, quick, overwhelming, ambitious, captivating, changing, productive, repetitive, rhythm, beguiling, beautiful, massive, fresh, spellbinding, pleasurable and inventive. In truth, for me, this is not exactly the Hockney stuff that I absolutely adore, but it DOES provide an amazing artistic experience and, for many, it will encourage and inspire people to “learn to look” at things in a new, fresh way. Not to be missed!
Grayson Perry’s “Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman” exhibition at the British Museum (extended until 26 February) combines his own work with work he has selected from the British Museum’s collection. I enjoyed the way his teddy bear Alan Measles cropped up in various pieces (although perhaps rather too many pieces?) and I particularly loved his decorated ceramics. For me, the highlights were his iron sculptures of male and female pilgrims (with their overwhelming load of sewing machines, guns, handbags, petrol cans, mobile phone necklaces, radios and babies). It’s essentially a show of wonderful things and it truly is quite wonderful. Fascinating, entertaining and inspiring.

gail+steve birthday festival

My birthday celebrations started last Thursday afternoon, when Iris+Rosa (+Ruth+Stu) insisted on having a small tea party. Before we polished off the muffins, the chocolate brownies and the lemon drizzle cake (made by Stu’s fair hands), Iris organised some of pre-party snacks in the shape of lollipop sweets and Cheerios (originally, I understand that we were meant to be having “Love Heart” sweets, but there weren’t any at home so she felt Cheerios would make a good substitute!). Bless her.
Great friend Gail and I celebrate our birthdays just three days apart (but she's a good deal younger!) and, largely thanks to Gail, our birthdays seem now to have become annual birthday festivals!
We’ve just returned from a brilliant weekend in Devon – staying with Gail+Ian (and also joined by lovely friends Ken+Debby)(and also meeting up with yet more lovely friends Mags+Jez and Sam+Jackie). As you might imagine, it’s been a weekend dominated by food and drink (plus walks, lots of chat and plenty of laughter)… lunches (yesterday at the impressive River Cottage Canteen, Plymouth), brunches (today at the excellent Beachhouse hut , South Milton Sands) and brilliant suppers (at Gail+Ian’s).
A very special, magical birthday festival!

PS: oh yes, there was also the little matter of a Scotland/England rugby match…
Photo: the “gang” at the River Cottage Canteen (Moira, Jackie, Gail, Ken, Ian, Jez [blocking Debby!], Sam+Mags) – yes, I accept that we do all look very serious, but I assure you that this was purely for the photo!

cost of democracy?

I was listening to the BBC World Service the other night, as you do…
They were talking about Mitt Romney’s victory in the Florida primary. The pundit in the studio was asked what was required to win elections and she responded that you needed a) to spend enough on advertising and b) to have an effective negative campaign against key opponents. She went on to explain that Romney’s advertising in Florida had amounted to something like $18million dollars.
I just couldn’t believe my ears!
Just a few moments later, I was well and truly shaken from my “slumbers” when one of the other studio guests pointed out that he understood that the Democrats were likely to be able raise $1BILLION for Barack Obama’s “Re-election Fighting Fund”!!
Surely, I’d misheard?
Well, I decided to try to check this out.
According to a report from Reuters (last August), this year’s US elections will be the most expensive ever, with a total price tag of $6billion or even more, “fuelled by millions of dollars in unrestricted donations as Republicans and Democrats vie for control of the White House, Congress and state governments”.
I’ll type out the figure again: Yes, $6BILLION. Just staggering!
In the UK, overall general election expenditure is far, far less than in the USA - yes, I accept that we’re a tiny nation by comparison. Apparently, in 2009, the figure was just over £30million (it was just over £40million in 2005). Even these levels seem pretty ridiculous to me!
Somewhat pathetically, perhaps, I’m one of those naive people who feel that elections should be about “level playing fields” and that people’s votes shouldn’t be dependent on advertising and/or private funding. Having said that, I absolutely accept that, in this country for example, it would be awful if the BNP were “given” the same election funding as the main parties!
No doubt people will tell me that all these vast sums actually go to pay party workers, advertising companies and the like. But, it seems to me that at a time when individuals are suffering in terms of unemployment and financial cut-backs and when money is being taken away from education, health, welfare, environment etc etc, don’t the amounts spent on elections seem embarrassing, excessive and unjustifiable?
PS: It’s JUST possible that the USA/UK figures I’ve quoted are not strictly comparable… but, even if that’s right, I’m sure the numbers will be VERY large!

villa sign new defender before transfer deadline…

With their 2-3 defeat by Arsenal in the FA Cup, Villa’s season is now well and truly over (apart from the battle to avoid relegation!).
The Villa’s defence seems incapable of keeping clean sheets these days.
But worry not, help is at hand.
In an astute move, with only hours to go before the transfer deadline, Villa have signed Dan Buckley (see photo), a promising young defender – who has already been tipped to play for England!
If only, (although they should keep an eye on him for the future!)…
When Alice+Dave got married, I gave them a junior Villa shirt for one of their future offspring (in the knowledge that Dave would insist on them becoming ManU supporters!). Alice has just sent me these photographs of Dan wearing the aforementioned shirt… the rest, as they say, will be history!!
Photo: Dan Buckley, ace defender.
PS: When A+D got married, David Beckham had just left ManU and so I speculated that, at some stage in the future, the Villa would snap him up (hence the number 23 shirt and the “Becks” name!).

january books

A Visit from the Goon Squad (Jennifer Egan): I finished this book on the first day of the new year. It seemed like the perfect book for this time of year – a time for reflection and looking forward (and especially, for me, following retirement and also after catching up with some old friends fairly recently – either “in the flesh”, as it were, or via FB). It’s a book about memory and friendship, life stories, opportunities lost and gained and about interconnection. It took me a little time to get into the book, but I was gradually won over. I ended up loving it – it’s an absolutely charming book (literally).
Free Radical: A Memoir (Vince Cable): I generally admire Cable; he seems to be an “honest” politician and a decent bloke. In the book, as well as politics, he talks touchingly about his family – especially the death of his first wife from cancer in 1998. Over perhaps the past four years, he has become the “holy grail of economic comment” (as the Guardian once described him). The book provides frank accounts of his life (including his time working in India and with Shell) – but I was struck by the number of poor decisions he consistently seems to have made throughout his life (especially when it came to trying to get himself elected as an MP!). He is pretty scathing about Gordon Brown’s performance as PM and also about George Osborne (“I have never rated George’s understanding of financial and economic matters”) – although he does acknowledge the latter to be a “political operator of some substance”. Inevitably, there is a hint of “I told you so” in the concluding chapter (essentially referring to the “stormy waters” of the global economic crisis) – although I haven’t been desperately impressed by his performance as Business Secretary in the current coalition!
Freedom (Jonathan Franzen): I thought this was a brilliant novel. It’s a (very long book) about a marriage (and contemporary American life?) - about its joys, frustrations and disappointments. But it’s far more than that. It’s about pride, jealousy, resentment, politics, big business, greed, ecology, sex, honesty, inadequacy, relationships, society, education, risk, delight, truth, compromise, falsehood, lifestyle… I could go on! It’s funny, it’s scathing, it’s poignant and, in my view, it’s a book you NEED to read (it’s VERY readable)! I now definitely want to read Franzen’s highly-acclaimed “The Corrections”.
The Tyrannicide Brief (Geoffrey Robertson): Due to the peculiarities of the fast-tracked “Remove” stream at my grammar school, I was sadly forced to give up History at the end of my first year of secondary education(!). As a result, my knowledge of 17th century British history is sadly lacking. This book, by eminent human-rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, tells the story of the little-known John Cooke - the lawyer who essentially “sent Charles I to the scaffold”. It’s an absolutely fascinating and impassioned story of a landmark prosecution based on the King’s “tyranny” (depriving his subjects of their civil rights and mass murder on a vast scale). Robertson argues that Cooke has been widely misrepresented by history. When Charles's son was restored to the throne, soon after the death of Cromwell, his father's trial was seen as an act of treason and his legal execution as murder. Cooke's prosecution for these crimes was duly rigged and Charles II attended the disembowelling of Cooke, still alive after he had been part-hanged and castrated. A brilliant book.
A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway): “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast”. I really enjoyed this short set of memoirs written by Hemingway (completed in 1960) about his time as a young writer living in Paris in the 1920s. It’s an evocative, often funny, sometimes rather cruel, account of his daily routines, his lack of funds and the people he met (including F Scott Fitzgerald, Ford Madox Ford, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Hilaire Belloc and Gertrude Stein) in the bars and cafes of the city. His descriptions are quite brilliant and the pieces about FSF, in particular, very amusing.