"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives" - John Lennon

It seems only a couple of months ago that I described the contenders to be leader of the Tory party, and therefore prime minister, as headbangers. It would seem that I was too kind to the winner.

We finished the battle of Moys (1st run through) which resulted in the Austrians not completely winning as such. There also wasn't much buy-in from the others to my hypothesis that they had been fighting with one hand tied behind their back due to the way that Piquet works. It was pointed out that they had been just as much undone by some brutal dice rolls in the first fifteen minutes or so, which had rather chopped the legs off their attack on the redoubt. And I have to say, that certainly happened. Reference was also made to the foolish commander of the Austrian right having advanced his light troops to harass the Prussians before the rest of the Austrian army had started to move, resulting in their prompt destruction. Reluctantly I have to admit that also happened. In any event we agreed that next week will see the battle of Moys (2nd run through). Will my theory be vindicated?

 This blog has experienced a not unusual pre-election hiatus, followed by a not unusual election result. A more self-aware chap than your bloggist might conclude that his input wasn't adding a great deal of value. I must also take the blame for the terrible weather. Two weeks ago I bought a pressure washer and it has rained every day since. 

"Won't you take these sunken eyes and learn to see"

However, spring is here, rain or no rain. The young blackbird above flew headlong into the glass of my study window and then sat on the windowsill glaring at me as if it was my fault. Eventually his mother lured him back to the nest with a beakful of meal worms. Given that I had provided the food in the first place, I rather think the youngster could have looked less resentful.

 During the last few months I have found that many of the things I enjoyed doing pre-plague aren't anything like as good when one tries to do them online. I appreciate that comment will be misinterpreted in some quarters, so let me be clear that I am talking about opera, theatre, live music etc. However, one thing that seems to work rather well is the giving of talks, and I have watched quite a few now, on subjects such as how the myth of Prometheus has influenced culture, The Beatles and the Sixties Art Scene, and Crusader Arms and Armour from Africa and Asia; and very good they have all been.

The last item on that list was the first of the winter series of lectures from the Royal Armouries, a series which under other circumstances I would have attended many of in person. That's obviously an option for me because I live in Leeds, but their new practice of streaming them means not only that I don't have to get off my arse any more, but that others who are not based in West Yorkshire can see them as easily as me, either live or after the event. A recording of the recent one about 'genuine' Crusader armour and weapons sold to the unwary by Victorian dealers (and they may be fakes, but it's a very interesting story) can already be found here on their YouTube channel. The next two are on the subjects of 'Plug Bayonets' and ' The Development of Gunpowder Weapons in Medieval England', either or both of which may be of interest to either or both of my readers. The lectures are given by staff at the Royal Armouries, so they know their stuff, and are free, which now I think about it was what attracted me in the first place.

Details and a link via which to book can be found on the Royal Armouries website. Presumably future recorded lectures will appear on the YouTube channel, which anyway contains all sorts of fascinating stuff.

I am very sorry to read of the death of Kenny Lynch, who was born in the same place as me; which unfortunately was Stepney rather than Barbados.




Back in the 1980s the Labour Party was supported by Red Wedge, a loose collection of hip and happening musicians. The constituency in which I was a member wasn't a high enough target to be graced by them, but we were offered a visit from Kenny Lynch. Sadly I couldn't persuade the agent to accept. As well as singing and acting, Lynch wrote and co-wrote a number of songs for others.




He was, as you will no doubt read in the obituaries, the first artist to record a cover of a Lennon-McCartney song and the connection continued when he appeared on the sleeve photograph for 'Band on the Run'.




The photograph - which also contains a disgraced former Liberal MP - was shot in Osterley Park, another place in London in which I have lived; although, when I think about it, the list of places that I have lived is almost as long as the list of disgraced former Liberal MPs.

Our morally reprehensible Prime Minister has returned to a martial frame of reference by choosing to describe the act of parliament that mandates his actions vis a vis the EU as the "Surrender Act". It seems like a fairly ineffective political ploy to me as all those who view the EU as an enemy are pretty much in his camp anyway. One question is why so significant a minority are prepared to see things in those terms.

Noel Coward's 1947 play 'Peace in our Time' is based in an alternative world where the Nazis, having achieved air superiority, have successfully invaded Britain at the end of 1940. In one scene there is a discussion about whether it would have been better if the Battle of Britain had been won.

Alma: It might have been better for America and the rest of the world, but it would not have been better for us.

Fred: Why not?

Alma: Because we should have got lazy again, and blown out with our own glory. We should have been bombed and blitzed and we should have stood up under it - an example to the whole civilised world - and that would have finished us.

Maybe unsurprisingly the play was not a success with audiences. In that 1947 run it featured Kenneth More (*), whose portrayal of Douglas Bader some years later was how the British public really wanted and expected to see themselves.




The Battle of Britain was pivotal for the world because it meant that victory over Hitler could come from the West as well as the East.  But an important point lost in all the myths is not that it was a turning point for the UK, but that it wasn't. In fact it enabled things to carry on here much as they had done before despite massive changes in the rest of the world. Many of those who voted in the referendum were actually expressing a desire to live in the country they grew up in; one full of white people who had won the war. They, naturally enough, can't, and given that they are unlikely to change their minds, all the rest of us can do is wait for them to die; unfortunately they seem intent on taking us with them.



* It also featured Bernard Lee (who later on, as 'M', was part of a different fantasy in which the UK was still a significant player in world events), Dandi Nichols (who, as Else Garnett, had to put up with what that generation of British people have always actually been like) and Dora Bryan (whose wish for a Beatle for Christmas looks positively reasonable in hindsight). Let's finish with her, and at least have a smile:

Georges Perec famously once wrote an entire novel without using the letter 'e'. This blog is composed on a laptop which is best described as being 'well old' and is currently suffering certain technical problems in typing the letter which comes between 'r' and 't' in the alphabet. The proofreading regime has been stepped up (which is, as you would expect, a euphemism for introduced in the first place), but pleae excue the occaional lape.

Perec belonged to the Oulipo group of writers and mathematicians. Fellow member, the late American author Harry Mathews, once described the group as "relatively uninterested in literature that purports to describe the 'real' world or that even pretends to be the product of sincere feeling". Long term readers of this blog - and bizarrely those appear to be the only type that there are - will perhaps recognise a resonance.

Poetry has recently made a comeback blogwise (and full apologies to everyone, especially the poet, for your bloggist's rather free-form translation from the Serbo-Croat yesterday; a much better translation can be found here) so I give you 'La Vie', a sonnet by Oulipo member Jacques Roubaud, which on this occasion I have left in the original French:


While we are on the subject, this coming weekend sees the only non-imaginary 29th day of the month in this pataphysical year and o let' end with ome Beatle:

Recent disruption of domestic infrastructure and routine has been at a level which rather reminds me of a few years ago when I didn't have anywhere to live at all, so nothing much constructive has been achieved. In fact the only vaguely hobby related thing that I can find to write about is that having had my shower entirely removed in an effort to track down the leak I am in danger of smelling like one of those wargames show attendees that we all know and don't love.

I did manage to get to the cinema - sitting well away from other patrons - to see the re-released 'Concert for George', which event I assume is related to the fact that he would have been seventy five this year. I'd never seen it before, thoroughly enjoyed it, and was rather taken aback to see Eric Clapton come across as warm and human for once. It was also poignant to see those themselves no longer with us such as Tom Petty, Billy Preston and Ravi Shankar, although I could probably have coped with less Monty Python.

Here's Uncle Ringo, as George's son endearingly described him:

I have been to see some prog rock. Heavy, guitar based prog rock rather than synthesisers, mellotrons and silvery capes, but prog rock nonetheless: long, strangely structured songs whose pompous lyrics were intoned not particularly melodically against a background of unnecessarily complex time signatures. I loved it; it was just like the old days.

The specific culprit was Martin Barre, long time guitarist in Jethro Tull, which band's catalogue was drawn on extensively. In addition they played a number of songs from Barre's solo recordings; plus a Beatles double in, perhaps surprisingly, 'Eleanor Rigby' and Abbey Road's indisputably prog track 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'; and also the least bluesy cover of Robert Johnson's Crossroads that I think I've ever heard. They were, as my companion for the evening observed, a remarkably tight band and did what they did extremely well, which probably wasn't unrelated to the fact that they seemed to be having a blast.

Highlight of the evening was the final encore, Aqualung. Here's the Tull doing it complete with Barre's famous guitar solo:



And here's some poetry from Lennon and McCartney:

I have been to see Ben Waters. He is an exponent of the boogie-woogie piano (he was the entertainment at Jools Holland's wedding if that puts him into context), and I confess I was feeling a certain trepidation at the thought of sitting through two hours' worth of eight to the bar and walking blues bass lines, accompanied no doubt by out of time handclapping from the audience. I was however, more than pleasantly surprised, because Waters mixed up the musical styles with plenty of rock & roll, plus some less expected covers such as the Kinks, the Beatles and ABBA. On top of which he was an amusing and entertaining raconteur. I was aware that he had connections with the Rolling Stones and he had several anecdotes about the various band members; although to be honest if you can't make something funny out of material like Jagger and Richards then you're in the wrong business.

He also told a number of stories about his mentor, the man who, himself steeped in the traditions, passed on the tricks of this particular piano style (and incidentally taught Waters very well because I had a good view of the keys and his hands were an absolute blur as he played). Given that this is a type of music that originated in New Orleans a century and more ago you can imagine the sort of mental image I had as he spoke. All of which proves that one should never jump to conclusions because the chap in question turned out to hail from Ilkley, and furthermore was sitting in the audience. Thus it was that a sprightly Yorkshire pensioner took to the stage, banged out a few numbers and regaled the audience with his own yarns about playing with Fats Domino, Dr John and the like; although sadly not Professor Longhair, perhaps that would have been too much to ask for. It's a funny old world.

One expectation that wasn't dashed - the audience clapped completely out of time all the way through.

We need some music at this point. Here's something from Fats Domino that speaks to me for some reason:

German 7.7cm

British 18pdr

It has been drawn to my attention that in my last blog posting I merely listed the boardgames that I played rather than describing them and giving readers the benefit of my much sought after opinion. I shall rectify that immediately. I didn't like Phase 10 terribly much whereas I did like Tikal a lot. The former is a proprietary version of a Rummy variant (a brief trip to the mighty Wikipedia reveals it to be Liverpool Rummy) in the same way that Uno is simply a publisher's version of Twizzle. It passed the time, but one would have to be very bored - probably in a tent in the rain - to play all ten phases. It also seemed odd to me that the later phases are easier to get that the earlier ones. Shome mishtake shurely?

Not content with having spent Sunday evening in the pub playing board games, I headed on Monday evening to the pub to, well, play board games. It was a different pub though, so that's acceptable. There was a slight delay to proceedings when it was found that the Victoria had double booked the Leeds Meeples with Belle de Jour no less.

Dr Magnanti

There was a brief period of confusion followed by a regrouping in Veritas and then down to it. I played a couple of games of Fluxx, Ticket to Ride, Guillotine and finished off with Bohnanza. I'd never played any of them before except for Guillotine and adopted my usual approach of trying out doomed strategies, primarily of course in order to steepen the learning curve. This was especially true of Ticket To Ride where I completely failed to appreciate that the rewards for completing sections of track were non-linear. I did complete more routes than everyone else though; so a small moral victory I think.

These people are instantly recognisable and need no introduction

It was my first time at the Meeples and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone was very nice and very welcoming despite me being the oldest one there by a good twenty years.