Election UK - Clegg Unique Opportunity

I voted for the Liberal Democrats because they were against the invasion of Iraq and they are in favour of proportional representation. I believe that despite the disappointing election result for the Lib Dems - which is hardly surprising since most electors are afraid that under the undemocratic 'first past the post' system in the UK at present their votes will be wasted. This is because Britain sometimes resembles an elective dictatorship. Clegg uniquely has an opportunity to change this. He must demand, as a quid pro quo of supporting (hopefully Labour under a new leader) that there is an immediate change in the constitution to introduce PR (hopefully STV version). If this requires a referendum, then so be it.

New Media - old demarcations redundant

With the arrival of paperless media, will literature as we know it today disappear? One thing that struck me about Steve Job's presentation of the Apple iPad, was the blurring of lines between text, audio, video, and as yet unidentified forms of communication and art. Things will never be the same again. Forget all this nostalgia pushed by luddites of all ages (some of them amazingly young) about the bullshit feel and smell of books. I am ....(redacted) and a half, and I can tell you that paper books have had their day. They are as extinct as the Sony Walkman, the typewriter and the pay-on-demand Times.

New Play

It's beginning to flow. Amazing what a couple of glasses of Merlot can do...

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is a masterwork. The movie version with Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as Biff is intense, maddening and sad. But then you don't need me to tell you that, d0 you?

New Play

I'm writing a play on the 'Crime & Punishment' theme, based in Dublin. The Birkbeck tutor says I should also take a look at Sophocles' Oedipus and and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. So long as I don't take too long on the research; it's got to be done by 19th April. I've done it (April 2). Yeah, I can see his point, now...

Weather eye out for Weather men

'You don't need a weatherman to say which way the wind blows' Bob Dylan.

Like everyone else round here, I'd forgotten what winter was like. It came back with a jolt this time. Should have known that when the Met Office forecast a 'mild winter' after the 'barbecue summer', we were in for Arctic conditions. After bankers and politicians, they must surely be the most discredited profession. Jerome K Jerome said it one hundred and fifty odd years ago in Three men in a Boat. The weathermen or weather people have undertaken not to make long-term forecasts in future - or at least not to broadcast them. As something of a sailor for yonks, I must say that I 'm not impressed with the accuracy of their short-term ones either, despite the huge investment in so-called 'supercomputers'.

New Collection of Short Stories

Writer friend tells me that this is a great collection of short stories. Only available in the States at present.

Open University Graduation

Degree ceremony (BA (Hons) Lit 2.1) Dublin - sometime in April. Spending money I haven't got that much of, these days. Still, it's a new experience and I'm already well ensconced in the MA, and I might enrol in a PhD next. Mind you, I did Business Studies in the Seventies - that was a degree in everything but name.