Each [Wo]man's Death Diminishes Me*

The Photograph above is of Margaret Thatcher leaving Downing Street for the last 
time after resigning as Prime Minister, 28th November 1990

Its been a funny old day. Had to be up early and looking tidy because a friend who is also an electrician came to rewire the house. So appearing intelligent first thing on a Monday morning after a week of driving all around the South of England to be with Youngest Daughter who was giving birth to Youngest Granddaughter was a bit of a strain. And then when said electrician cut his head open on our garage door, I couldn't find the first aid kit which was still packed away in one of the many bags which had travelled with us to Somerset the week before last - when we were with Middle Son and Eldest Grandson - and this was a bit of a panic.... The blood drips along the hall on the new wooden flooring was an interesting contrast to the unfinished decor.

However the tenor of the day changed just before lunch when the news broke that Lady Thatcher had died. Two thoughts raced through my mind in quick succession - 'Can I get it onto Twitter before anyone else?' [No - on my timeline @PoliticalScrapbook beat me, just] and 'this is going to mean days of media frenzy basically sanctifying Maggie'. And that has started already.

I am always sad to hear of a passing into the next world, sad for the family and friends left behind. I don't think I could ever imagine saying that I felt glad someone had died*. But  a passing does not mean that the deceased automatically becomes a Saint. Nor does it mean that if one did not like the person in this life, one has to like them now. Yet it seems as if since the news of Lady Thatcher's passing was announced it has become de rigeur to say only nice things about her life and career. She did some remarkable things including first British woman Prime Minister and longest serving Prime Minister in the 20th century. Politically she had many friends and admirers and many political opposers and even enemies. Many would applaud her premiership, others like me would view it as the beginning of a decline in the living standards of the working classes and the strength of the Welfare State from which the country still desperately needs to recover.

I don't need to rehearse all the actions of Prime Minister Thatcher which I deplored. That will be done by many over the next few days, just as many will say why they think she was a good PM. But the electorate and the media have a short memory. I remember how the Conservative party hounded her out of Downing Street when they thought she was no longer a good bet to win them the next election. More than a few are probably singing a different song tonight, now that she is gone for good. I hope she sleeps gently in the next life but sadly am afraid that when she realises how badly her actions spoilt the lives of so many, she may not.

And finally, when Margaret Thatcher stood on the steps of Downing Street and mis- quoted the prayer of Saint Francis of Assissi at the beginning of her first term in Downing Street, I wish she had said and meant the words in the English Version of the Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

The Heading of this blog is taken from:

*No Man Is An Island

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. 

John Donne

Social Networking and other low places! [with apologies to Paul O'Grady]

This blog is a bit of a personal rant so apologies in advance. I really dislike when someone feels it is permissible to criticise [without invitation] one's taste and activities!

I like Facebook! I am not ashamed to say so although many people seem to think that -like watching soaps or reading thrillers - Facebook and other social network sites are too 'low culture' to admit to any participation!

So Facebook... I really love it. I can - within the space of a couple of hours -'meet' various friends and discuss all sorts of different subjects. Just the other day I spent quite a time discussing H.G. Wells with a friend who lives about 250 miles away. Later I had a very long political discussion regarding disability rights with another friend living in the opposite end of England to me. Over then to a friend in America who has just bought an antique chair and sent me a picture of the restoration process. Then I saw the picture of a friend's new baby and finished with a 'family chat' with my cousin. All without having to dress up or leave the house! Lazy? Perhaps but my brain was stimulated, I could coo at the baby and I would never have got to America and back in time for tea and also have been able to do some writing in the meantime! I also belong to various organisations on FB, including political, charitable and social. All good so far.

There is another side to all this, and I don't really like to play the personal card but here goes. I am unable to leave the house without a companion due to my neuro problems so our trips out - which luckily are often - usually have a purpose and I don't 'dilly dally' as I used to and don't get the time to gossip with strangers in shops or in the street - which I used to love! So my gossiping time is fulfilled as well!

Of course there are down sides - as in any walk of life. I know of instances when families/friends have fallen out due to personal details etc being revealed to all and sundry - but then that can happen in the real world as well as the virtual. Although officially children are not supposed to use - for instance - Facebook, too many parents do let their children participate which may not always be suitable. And of course nothing beats the lovely feeling as when last night an old friend I had not seen for years rang the door bell and over many cups of tea we talked for hours.....

I love Twitter too. I 'follow' and am 'followed by' many journos and politicos and in fact generally use them for my news sources. When something big is 'going down' [like today's student demos] often someone will be tweeting away from the spot - and sometimes supplying pictures too.

I used to teach and lecture, amongst other subjects English Literature was one of my specialities. But here again, there is too often a terrible intellectual snobbery that surrounds this subject [like so many 'Art' subjects], I often think in an attempt to turn it into a mystique which excludes others. In fact I was listening to a radio programme a couple of weeks ago in which an eminent playwright, novelist, critic and lecturer lambasted any adults who read the Harry Potter books and/or Tolkien's works. No doubt there will be some who will agree with him - fair enough and those like me who disagree - again fair enough. But surely it is better to keep ones views to oneself [not that I am!] rather than upset lots of those who are happily enjoying something different and not harming anyone in the process. For the record I love Tolkien and Harry Potter - in different ways! And at the moment I am reading a 19thC novel and a 20thC 'whodunit'.

Soap operas - well actually I don't really follow them apart from Radio 4's The Archers, which I always maintain is not really a drama but real life! [I remember the night Grace Archer died but I really was very, very young...] But if someone is a soap opera fan - so what. There are a lot of things on TV and the cinema I don't like but I do like lots of things which others probably dislike. They are not going to change my viewing habits anymore than I wish to change theirs.

What I have attempted to say here is that no-one should feel they have to justify their tastes although the old 'high brow versus low brow' argument will always continue across all the artistic forms. It took the championship of John Ruskin to make the Pre-Raphaelites become popular after all and someone turned down the Beatles before they got a recording contract. Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads were thought revolutionary when published. Enjoy what you enjoy, try something new occasionally but do not waste time with something you think you ought to like but don't just because someone has told you 'it is better for you'!


Don't waste time trying to find Elizannie on Facebook or Twitter. She is there but under a pseudonym. Occasionally kind friends advertise her blogs - for which she is most grateful....




The picture of the The Archers cast [2006] above courtesy of guardian.co.uk

What We Did On Our Holidays

I am lucky to live within distance of the sea, although some might think that the Thames Estuary is not so alluring as the Bristol Channel. However both have their charm and history and I love both.

The pace of life is more frenetic the nearer one gets to London and not having access to Twitter whilst away means that I have missed out on a lot of political gossip. So I did not know the latest about Boris Johnson's alleged 'love child' and really its not that interesting. However I have heard enough radio news bulletins to hear that the ConDem government seems to be trying to faster and faster bury their election promises! One idea was about less prison places [I seem to remember a Tory poster suggesting that Gordon Brown had released too many prisoners too soon - was that only three months ago?] and Vince Cable [who - prior to the General Election - I had thought reasonably sensible. But there again that was when the LibDems had little chance of gaining power on their own so he could promise what he liked. Now reality has hit and I suppose he must please his Tory paymasters] was heard too propounding his ideas for a 'Graduate Tax'. Oh dear - there has been enough comment on this and I particularly like that of David Lammy in the Gruniad:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/16/education-liberal-conservative-coalition

My own comment is that - back when rocks were soft - I was taught in school that if one worked hard in school and managed to achieve a university education, this would in turn lead to one gaining a better job/career and thus a higher wage/salary. Obviously one would then pay more in tax then a lower paid worker and this tax would pay back for the university education more than sufficiently over one's working life. This seemes an eminently sensible system and personally I cannot see any reason to change it. Certainly in my own case I would never have had the career I did without a university degree.

For all those who had hoped for a postcard of 'What We Did On Our Holidays' I am going to be mean and show you instead the cover of the fabulous album by folk heroes Fairport Convention. Great thing about blogging - I can be as didactic as I like about what I think everyone should be enjoying in the form of books and music......

Major housework and political thought recordings do not mix. I wish I had realised this earlier in life and then I would have had more excuse for undertaking the latter and ignoring the former. However sometimes real life catches up and keeps one away from the keyboard.

The 'race' for the Labour party leadership continues. I hope it does not turn into a slanging match but all the ingredients are there, whomever does not survive the first 'hurdle' there will no doubt be accusations hurled around regarding race, gender, faith, sexual orientation etc. Actually it does seem unfair that MPs can select 'out' as it were candidates for whom the membership of the party might like to vote. But looked at from the other side it probably would be unfair for the membership to 'impose' a leader on MPs under whom they really did not want to serve! Plus the affiliated unions' membership also have a vote but need not necessarily be party members. My head spins....

Discovered half way through the day I am wearing my t-shirt inside out. Perhaps I am reverting to student days when that meant one could get two days wear out of one article of clothing. Or - as my grandmother would have said - it may just mean I am going to be lucky. Not worked so far as I have deleted by accident someone's request on my [rather inactive] twitter account who wanted to follow me [I haven't that many followers that I can feel sanguine about this] and had a migraine. Oh well.I was going to add that at least I haven't seen anyone today but at that moment the UPS delivery arrived and I had to sign for it. Of course I felt impelled to point out that my t-shirt was on inside out and the courier said he hadn't noticed and laughed like mad and so did I before I shut the door feeling a complete fool.

Speaking of twitter - from which I got most of my news today as it doesn't seem to involve the 'spin' in delivery that the news stations seem to use and I trust those individuals who I 'follow' - I found an old 'acquaintance' on there. You will notice the inverted commas. As far as I know I am talking to empty cyber space with this blog which is fine as it is good practice. This 'acquaintance' writes the most boring blog in the world [which I try to remember when I am tempted to digress too much] and I don't read because of the fury engendered when he re-writes truth to enhance himself. I found on twitter he can be as boring and untruthful in 140 words as he can in a full page blog! There is another lesson there.