Richard Dawkinsಪರಿಶೀಲಿಸಿದ ಖಾತೆ

Postmodernism: Hard, profound thoughts best expressed “in prose that is deliberately unclear.” Like air-raid warden who "when bright moonlight seemed to be defeating the spirit of the blackout, exhorted us to wear dark glasses. He, however, was being funny on purpose” PB Medawar.

Listening to audio book: Catherine Nixey’s excellent The Darkening Age, on horrors of early Christian vandalism.  https://amzn.to/2SI9tPV  Read by Lalla Ward.Yes of course I’m biased, but gosh she reads well. Beautiful voice, intelligent comprehension, passionately expressive.

A while ago, I bought a piece of software to back up my hard drive. It’s now superseded by the cloud, so I cancelled my subscription. But now, every single night, I get an error message saying “Back-up failed because subscription cancelled.” I think it’s quite funny.

“Symphony # Five.” Yes but who’s it by? We’re amazingly spoiled for music on the Internet. Such luxury, wonderful music on tap. But have you noticed the reluctance to tell us who composed it? We can read the performer, conductor, Op number, everything except the composer. Why?

Yes of course I turned subtitles off. My point was the anachronism. Verbal anachronisms are harder to spot than visual ones like Moses with a wristwatch. Examples might be a Jane Austen character described as a “caring person.” Or “she needs her personal space”. Other examples?

Watching film of Howard’s End. Wonderful cast including Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, Samuel West, Prunella Scales. For some reason Netflix version came with subtitles. And “Miss” was transcribed as “Ms”. In a film about Edwardian England!

Government announces binding referendum: Free beer on Saturdays & abolition of tax. No plans exist for how to run the country without tax (or pay for the beer). Nevertheless PM pledges to uphold the vote, even if only 51% support it. “It’s the democratic will of the people.”

Yes, Gilbert Harding died in 1960. When John Freeman interviewed him both were alive. No, Evelyn Waugh’s Gilbert Pinfold voices episode (“I’ve seen so few people lately because, did tell you, I went mad”) preceded the interview with Freeman who, indeed, asked him about it.

More John Freeman “Face to Face” interviews. Adlai Stevenson & M-L King impressive as expected. Lord Reith austere & bossy as per reputation. Evelyn Waugh more polite than I expected. Victor Gollancz expansively genial. Gilbert Harding gruffly miserable, wanted to be dead.

Watched John Freeman interviews – those that I judged to be of historic interest. Bertrand Russell predictably fascinating. Edith Sitwell weird. Lord Birkett defended advocacy law, including defending murderers whom he privately believed guilty. He later became Nuremberg judge

In my previous FGM tweet I remembered to forestall the predictable whataboutery. This time there wasn’t enough space. Yes male circumcision is a topic worth discussing but it is a different topic. By all means start your own thread on it. But please stop de-railing this thread.

I think Jung comes across as a very likeable man. Many of John Freeman’s other “Face to Face” interviews are historic, too: Bertrand Russell, Edith Sitwell, Adlai Stevenson, Henry Moore, Augustus John, Evelyn Waugh, Simone Signoret, M-L King, Otto Klemperer, Jomo Kenyatta et al.