Archive
More music while I work
Georgia Lee ; Tom Waits, from the album Mule Variations. Not a happy song, but the man’s a genius.
Provocative question of the week
Why are there no black contestants on Pointless? Is it made by the same folk who used to make Midsomer Murders, till they got caught?
Thank you all
Finally, now I have a chance to draw breath after a hectic weekend, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined me in the big tent at the Edinburgh Book Festival last Thursday afternoon, and also to the guy on my right, my friend and chairman, Brian Taylor.
I enjoyed it; hope you did.
Sergio Leone
Truly
I have just seen the idiot of the week on Pointless, a man who thought that Treasure Island was written by Hans Christian Andersen
Emo!!!
“I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.”
That has been voted the funniest joke at this year’s Fringe. Eh? You want funny, try this:
Cumpleanos, Guillem
It’s Bill Clinton’s birthday. Does he look older than me, or younger? Answers please.
For a horse
Thank you BBC for The White Queen, great gripping knights in armour drama. Fiction rather than history, yes, but bloody good, especially the barking mad Margaret Beaufort.
Too bad there can’t be a second series. They’d pretty much run out of Yorkists at the end.
Great
And so farewell, Top of the Lake. Almost two months of mesmerising drama; it got everything right that Twin Peaks got wrong. Its absence will leave a hole in my Sunday evenings.
Dans la merde jusqu’au cou
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23742476
When you’re apologising to the fans after your first game, you are in trouble, no matter who you are.
Beware
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10241770/Barcelona-worst-city-for-holiday-scams.html
This is not news; Barcelona has been this way for ever. Eileen and I were in a taxi last year going past the foot of the Ramblas, when our driver said, unprompted, ‘Un carrer muy peligroso,’ or in English, ‘A very dangerous street.’
Egalitarianism
My non-Facebook friend Kenneth Roy, back to his perceptive best; read it to the end.
Another boycott coming?
It’s no secret that I’m an SNP supporter, and so it shouldn’t be surprising that I am 100% behind the party in its demands that Westminster should legislate to tackle the scourge of payday lenders.
However I have an eye for an anomaly, and find myself sympathising with Alex Salmond, the First Minister, given that he’s a prominent Hearts fan, and their shirt sponsor is . . . Wonga.com.
More music while I work
Come on Eileen – Dexy’s Midnight Runners. I must ask her about that.
Boston soul
In conversation with the lovely and very talented Barbara Nadel this morning, this came up:
If you like the Troggs, and were around at the time of Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, you may enjoy
Undertones
Just checked out the cricket on line. It’s always a mistake to hit a fast bowler on the head, even if he is wearing a helmet. Now Jimmy Anderson will be annoyed.
Far away
Ever heard of Shakhtar Karagandy? Me neither; for all I knew it might have been a Auld Scots phrase for energetic sex, until Celtic were drawn against them in the Champions’ League play-off round.
Karagandy, it seems, is a province in Kazakhstan, and the team plays in the capital, Karaganda, a city not that much smaller than Glasgow, but in a stadium one third the size of Celtic Park. Shakhtar Karagandy managed to lose to Dublin St Patrick’s in last year’s Euro qualifiers, which in theory indicates that Celtic should be favourites, but they’ve beaten a good side to get this far so should not be under-estimated.
Let’s hope the locals are welcoming to any fans prepared to cross five time zones to get there (and there are bound to be some). However the presence of one Paddy Flynn in the Shakhtar Karagandy squad indicates that there should be at least one person who can show them around.
Slippy Banister
How refreshing. This woman is a special kind of idiot. Too bad she’s an Aussie; she’d be great in UKIP, if she stays out of jail.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/08/08/stephanie-banister_n_3724519.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics
More music while I work
Today it’s Slipstream, by Bonnie Raitt. Forty-two years on and she’s still cutting it. Sexuagenarians rule, okay!
Off line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/golf/23595341
You didn’t hit it too straight at Muirfield, Lee.
Quintin Jardine's blog 