Is Rubberman Losing it?

I know it is unworthy. I know it is kicking a man when he is down. My benefit of a good catholic education is thereby cast away but I could not prevent myself thinking the unthinkable. The FT headlined a story:-

Cameron argues more women in the boardroom would lead to curb on pay.
(FT Weekend Front Page 29/10/11)

Now was he suggesting that women on top would be more responsible or was he suggesting that the ladies could be had for less?

Oh dear, mixed messages! It is only a matter of time before the WI comes after you Dave. Look what happened to Tony Blair. Do you really want to stand in front of a polite audience of women, mums and grans, generating gigawatts of righteous indignation. I think we might see more damp patches than those under the arms.

Pie not in the sky?

A late advertisement from the folks at Thriving Too, pie to live for.
As the man said - times may be tough but pie is always good.
I'm a steak and kidney pud man but I do like the idea, especially the slow politics.

According to the post on PieLab for 26 October a Mr J Swift has stated, allegedly, that

Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.

Perhaps our great leaders, our great helmspersons, the suns in our hearts, should take note.
I think a certain Gauleiter by the name of Eric von Pickles may have broken a few pie-crusts in his time!

I am also reminded of Raspberry Pi.

We should declare next year the international year of the pie. After all, there's not much else likely to be going on. I shall get our lobbying arm, PizzaPie in the Sky (incorporated in the Cayenne Island, Double Blind Trust no. 666) to approach Mr Moon forthwith!

Autumn

A child's excitement
Crayfish in the bucket
Another on the line

Mother frets at only two
With an eye to the pot
A friendly parting

Wood remains to be cleared
A dinosaur smiles
Across the river

The cock miscrows the hour
An October sun
Is at its highest in the sky

Warmth flows into
My drug thinned blood
I am the noonday devil

I am the Lord of the Flies
Butterflies and dragonflies attend
I turn to the village in peace

What news of
Banker's bailouts and
Dictators in the desert?

Ooops

Now that's what I call erosion.

Economics and Religion

I was traveling in a bus on a dusty road in Cuba with a bunch of lefties on the one hand and a pack of Christians on the other. (Don't ask!) We were giving voice as they say to while away the time. Trouble. There was a definite grudge fest in the selection of canciones. Banda roja (or possibly rioja in my case) and arias with liberdad and solidaridad were alternating with songs of praise. I could see this culminating in a Bellini like tradgedy. I decided to provide the Monagues and Capulets with a rendition of that Glasgow classic:- Jesus puts his money in the Glasgow Savings Bank - Jesus Saves! It was an exito; a light tenor and being large and unsightly did the trick.
I think the next one up was Nessum Dorma. If you don't know it I'm sure Mr U Tube will provide some examples for you. I believe a chap called Pavarotti had a bit of success with it a while ago. Never did find out what happened to him.

Which is a long way round to the nice little Banx cartoon which I saw in the FT yesterday.
Man, in duffle coat and beard with placard which bears the words:-

JESUS SAVES SPENDS

Happy Birthday

A recent celebration reminds me of the fact that I was born too poor to have a middle name, while some people had THREE names.
Your man has caused me to laugh uproariously on public transport, getting some quare looks I can tell you. He has infested my head with voices of the brother's brother and the plain people of Ireland, amongst some I could mention. I've come out in boils as big as Fin McCools elbow at the mere hint of another entry in the catechism of cliche by some gobshite politician in these hard times. (Careful now you're getting overexcited ...Ed)

Definitely a part of my life and I'm glad of it.

Sad he was such a bugger for the bottle and a pint of plain. Still, we all have our little weaknesses!

Hare

I was persuaded to read The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal even after listening to extracts on the wireless! (We retired types live such busy lives.) The website link gives pictures of the netsuke. The book was a delight, the pictures are a delight, I am, as you can imagine, delighted.

There will be those who criticise - is it a history, is it biography, is it a fiction, is it a dog with 3 legs? De Waal was concerned about writing ... 'too thin a story'. (p15 in the Vintage paperback) I was certainly happy with the heft of it. His subsequent comments about making things provided an excuse to read The Wrench by Primo Levi, I'm glad I did.

If you don't find something you like

I apologise for showing a snap of this painting without being able to give an attribution.
I will, of course, correct that if someone could....



The snap is mine and I couldn't resist the message...


Responses may be printed (only if I say so ...Ed.)

Too Good to Miss

Simon Hoggart in the Grauniad managed to slip in Theresa May's pussy, and there was a snap of the leopardskin shoes. So far so no 'Cat Woman'. Let me be the first!

Equality

An interesting presentation by Richard Wilkinson on material drawn the book The Spirit Level which he co-authored with Kate Pickett. Lots of good stuff about the link between a relative measure of inequality (the ratio of top to bottom incomes) and various measures of health, happiness, well being and social cohesion in developed economies. And since you asked the more unequal by this measure a society is the greater the problems and measures of the problems. Oh, possibly suicide may be a problem that runs counter to this. Good empirical stuff. See the Equality Trust and its publications. As you can imagine, lots of people want to pick a fight over it. Well they would. wouldn't they.

Heard a bit about tick boxes recently in connection with tax matters. Wilkinson had a nice idea to put forward. A tick box, optional, on tax returns to indicate people and companies would allow information to become a matter of public record. Nice one. We could start, of course, with the disclosure as a matter of public record, the ratio of tax paid to income. Voluntary, to begin with and qualifications in full, 'my dog ate the major part of my income last year'!

Riotous Behaviour in Church

An article in the LRB, -Runagately Rogue by Tobias Gregory (Vol. 33 No. 16 · 25 August 2011 page 30) - a review of
The Plain Man’s Pathways to Heaven: Kinds of Christianity in Post-Reformation England, 1570-1640 by Christopher Haigh,
caught my eye. Much to inform and amuse even an old atheist like myself. Also, a way into the life, times and words of the 'plain people of England '
I particularly enjoyed the litany of misdemeanors below,

drunkenness, brawling, gossiping, vomiting, scoffing at the minister, pissing in another man’s hat (Leigh, Essex, 1627),

Can't quite see it in the local congregation, not enough men for one thing. Though as I do not attend I could be doing them a great disservice, until the next funeral!

The implication in the quote, of course, is that there would be no offence in relief in ones own headgear; long sermons in those days!

Some of my best friends are trees

Apologies if I have mentioned this before.


Not all trees are green and fluffy, some are rough and dry but provide much - shade and olives!

However, the more traditional tree huggers may prefer this selection from the Grauniad.