THE MIDDLE EAST.
Ever wonder? Seen those
television shots of underground tunnels housing ISIL - ISIS - Daesh
(whatever) fighters - terrorists - nutters (whatever)?
Seen those
bombed to buggery buildings wherein lived women - children -
collateral damage (whatever)?
Ever wonder whether, every bit as much
as twisted religious teaching, big power bullying has done nothing
but escalate fanatical hatred over there?
Ever question whether
raining bombs down willy-nilly can possibly bring an end to it all?
Ever ask why the hell we keep sticking our noses in?
No? Ah
well...
HOME.
Promises promises. So a government that was not going
to allow fracking below protected sites has now agreed to said
fracking.
Another U-turn? Another promise broken?
Well, no, the
drilling will have to begin outside the sites and can then
insidiously encroach below them.
Does that sound like political
flimflam to you?
No? Ah well...
What flood defences? Here we go
again.
God knows how much is supposed to have been spent on improving
flood defences in Cumbria over the last six years but it hasn't had
much effect, has it?
Right now the poor devils suffering from that
disastrous flooding of the past few weeks must be asking: what flood
defences?
It might take a ludicrously simplistic mindset, but
wouldn't we be better served pouring money into flood-proofing
places like Cockermouth than in pouring bombs down on foreign
countries with whom we are not officially at war?
No? Ah
well...
BOOKS.
Finished reading No
Time for Goodbye
by Linwood Barclay (my thanks go to Viv, for putting me onto it) and
was inordinately pleased when I again guessed, very early on, who the
'surprise' villain was.
Also read Hogfather,
Terry
Pratchett's 20th
Discworld novel and a glorious send up on the subject of Christmas. I
chose to read it, quite by chance, at exactly the right time of year,
which was an added bonus. HO.HO.HO.
TELEVISION.
Clear out time again.
Nurse Jackie, played by lovely Edie Falco (above), was a drug addict,
two-timer, liar, thief and, at her best, a superb nurse. Her story,
sad to say, has just ended in the only permissible way a story like
hers could end. Presumably she won't be back.
Dr. Who, played by
Peter Capaldi (who I like), has taken his leave again. I did not much
enjoy the last series, have no idea where he might land next time
and, sad to say, no longer care.
But he will be back.
Grimm, played
by David Giuntoli, has shoved off on half term holiday taking the
rest of the likeable cast and their make-up artists with him.
They'll
be back.
The Walking Dead, headed by Andrew Lincoln, also tend to
disappear for short breaks, usually when a mainline character has
fallen prey to lurching scriptwriters dressed in rags.
Occasionally
this viewer disappears, too, but that is only when he loses patience
with the strangulated cacophony of approaching zombies.
Who made that
bloody soundtrack?
What?
Oh, they'll be back (in one form or
another).
THE FESTIVE SEASON.
Lor, don't it come round quick!
Half
our Festive gear is still unpacked.
But a week away from Christmas Eve.
My Leader has
done what she can in the card writing and present wrapping line.
I
have contributed only by taking it to the local post office, which is
now in the Spar shop up the road.
I'm sure many nice people will have
been missed in the controlled panic that inevitably surrounds us
every Yuletide, so I take this opportunity to bid
A HAPPY AND
PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS
from Mo and I and the cat Shadow to all who read
these words, be they: Google Staff, Government Snoopers, Net Browsing
Insomniacs - or simply
Cheerful Regulars.
GODBLESSYERWUNANALL!
