A review of “Born A Crime”, the childhood memoir of Trevor Noah
September 10th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
I have been a massive fan of South African born Trevor Noah since in 2015 he took over the hosting of “The Daily Show”, an American satirical look at current affairs that I view religiously. This memoir covers the first two decades of his life before he became a professional comedian and it is written in a wonderfully conversational style through a series of stories that range from the hilarious (such as his childhood excretion in his grandmother’s Soweto home and his mother throwing him out of a car) to the tragic (notably his adolescent experience of physical abuse from his step-father and the shooting of his mother by that same man).
Noah’s mother Patrica Nombuyiselo Noah is black and Xhosa while his father Robert is white Swiss/German. At the time of his birth in Johannesburg, inter-racial sex was illegal in South Africa under the terms of the Immorality Act 1927 which explains the title of the book and why he could not be seen in public with either of his parents. In fact, Noah is light-skinned and, under the apartheid regime, was classed as coloured. Many blacks – including his grandmother – treated him as white, while most whites regarded him as black. Some coloureds hated him because of his blackness, while others hated him because of his whiteness. So he was bullied all the time and, as the constant outsider, he struggled with his sense of identity.
On his own admission, Noah was a hyperactive child who loved fire and knives – as well as books and computers – and he was often in trouble at both home and school. He finished his education at 17 and, as an adolescent, he was a low-crime hustler in a black ownship who only learned to settle down when he found himself spending a week in a police jail. His memoir brings home vividly the cruel and unjust nature of apartheid as well as some of its absurdities (Chinese were classified as black but Japanese were labelled as white). His life was one of real poverty and deprivation, with the regular risk of violence, but his saving grace was a devoted mother who was full of aspirarion and (tough) love for him.
Noah’s special background means that he is multi-lingual, speaking English as his first language plus Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Afrikaans and German. This skill helped him navigate some of the complexities of inter-racial life in post-apartheid South Afica and it has made him a marvellous mimic which explains how he can deploy so many accents in “The Daily Show”.
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When a general election is actually held, could Labour win it?
September 9th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Most recent polls do not look good for Labour with Conservative leads of between 10% (Opinium) – 14% (YouGov). But there are many variables to consider and a major one is timing.
ComRes has done a survey looking at voting intention before and after 31 October on the assumption that, before that date, there is still a prospect of the UK being out of the European Union by Halloween but, after that date, the UK is still in the EU and Boris Johnson has been shown to have failed to keep his promise.
In the first scenario, the Conservatives have a (narrow) lead of 3% but, in the second scenario, Labour has a (equally narrow) lead of 2%. So the timing of the election is likely to be critical and you can see why the Opposition parties do not want an election until it is clear that Boris has failed to meet his objective of the UK leaving the EU by 31 October with or without a deal.
BUT: there are so many other pondorables to take into account:
Will there be more resignations from the Government and the Conservative Party in Parliament?
Can Labour sort out its policy on Brexit? Will it really seek to negotiate a better deal and then campaign against it in a second referendum?
Will Boris Johnson manage to fight an effective ‘people vs the parliament’ campaign?
Will Jeremy Corbyn again prove to be a better election campaigner than parliamentary performer?
Will tactical voting – between Conservative and Brexit party voters and between Labour and Lib Dem voters – have a significant impact?
Will non-Brexit issues – such as the Tory’ spending splurge or Labour’s renationalisation plans – have an impact?
In short, the outcome of the election is still very uncertain and it’s going to be a febrile and frenetic few months in British politics.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (4)
A (very) brief history of the River Thames
September 7th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
For the last five months, I’ve lived in a flat in a block which is less than one minute’s walk from the River Thames as it snakes its way through central London. So I see the river every day and, throughout the day and night, it changes level and character considerably because of the tides. An article in the “Guardian” newspaper explains the situation:
The name of the longest river flowing entirely in England may derive from “tamasa”, a Sanskrit word meaning “dark water”.
The Thames has always been brown, and will remain so even if one day it is entirely free of pollution. The brown waters are caused by eight-metre tides that scour its muddy estuary. They are the source of much of its biodiversity: allowing plankton to survive which feed off nutrients in the water column and provide food for fish.
Sixty years ago, however, the Thames was toxic. “The tidal reaches of the Thames constitute a badly managed open sewer,” the Guardian reported in 1959. “No oxygen is to be found in it for several miles above and below London Bridge.”
In 1957 the Natural History Museum declared the Thames to be biologically dead. The Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette’s brilliant sewer system, which saved London from the “great stink” of 1858, had been damaged during the second world war. Parts had fallen into disrepair. Heavy industry used the Thames as its free waste disposal service.
Not everyone was outraged. The Guardian reported in 1959 that a member of the House of Lords opined that cleaning the river was unnecessary: rivers were “natural channels for the disposal of waste” and allowing them to break up our waste gave them “something to do”.
Repairs to the sewers and tighter regulations, including to reduce fertilisers and pesticides from farmland draining into rivers, gradually cleaned up the Thames, as did broader economic changes. The decline of Thames-side industry removed pollution; toxic metals have reduced since 2000, helped by the switch to digital photography, which has reduced the photographic industry’s silver pollution.
A time-traveller from the 1950s visiting the hides at the London Wetland Centre (created from disused reservoirs in Barnes) would scarcely believe the great white egrets, kingfishers, hobbies and dragonflies that are testimony to a new, enriched urban ecosystem.
The Thames is more wildlife-friendly than it was, but it is not perfect. Salmon were reintroduced to the Thames, but this scheme seems to have failed. The inner Thames is too busy and noisy with boats for dolphins or porpoises to thrive (seals do not hunt using sound and so are more able to survive alongside water traffic).
A species as rare as a tiger still snakes through the capital – the endangered European eel – but it is in drastic decline. Like London’s citizens, the future prospects for this and many Thames species depend on the world beyond it.
Posted in Environment, My life & thoughts | Comments (4)
Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside …
September 5th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
… and today I’m off for a day trip to Brighton before summer is completely over.
Of course, here in Britain, you’re never too far from the sea. But how far from the idea is the furthest location and where is that?
The answers are 70 miles and the delightfully named Coton in the Elms – as explained here.
Posted in British current affairs, Environment | Comments (0)
A review of the art house film “The Souvenir”
September 3rd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Art house films always have limited appeal and, even though this one had rave reviews from critics, some people walked out of the screening that I attended of this British work written and directed by Joanna Hogg. It is terribly slow and exceedingly opaque, yet oddly compelling, and it certainly provokes thought and discussion. It tells the story of early 1980s film student Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), aged 25 and posh but unbelievably naïve, and her toxic relationship with the older and enigmatic Anthony (Tom Burke) who apparently works at the Foreign Office.
The acting is superb, so it is astonishing that it is Byrne’s first role, and much of this acting is very naturalistic with Byrne as the central character being told to improvise everything. Also the composition and cinematography are frequently very striking and the use of music sometimes haunting. The main problem is the narrative. The relationship seems utterly unlikely and yet this is clearly an autobiographically-inspired drama and Hogg gave the leads her diaries and letters from this period of her life.
For Hogg, this is an intensely personal film. Julie’s mother is played by Tilda Swinton who has been a friend of Hogg since they were both 10 and Byrne is both Swinton’s daughter and Hogg’s goddaughter.
The title of the film is a reference to a painting of that name by Fragonard which hangs in London”s Wallace Collection, but there is only one scene featuring the painting and later a verbal reference to the gallery. At the very end of the credits, it is revealed that there will be a Part II and I understand that this has already been shot. At one point, Anthony tells Julie: “You’re lost and you’ll always be lost”. I think that this was the reaction of some viewers to the film itself, but I’ll be back for Part II and hoping that Julie finds herself.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
If a week is a long time in politics, this week could be one of the most extraordinary you’ll ever know
September 2nd, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson once noted that a week is a long time in politics. But even he never experienced the kind of week that lies ahead of us in the British parliamentary scene. It is going to be constitutionally fascinating and politically turbulent and historically seismic.
As the “Guardian” summary puts it:
Monday:
A meeting due to take place between Boris Johnson and former Conservative cabinet ministers including Philip Hammond and David Gauke, was cancelled on Sunday night. Hammond declined a one-to-one meeting, calling it “discourteous” to cancel on the group. Parliament still in recess.
Tuesday:
MPs officially return to Westminster, though in practice many are likely to arrive on Monday.
It will be the first opportunity for the Speaker, John Bercow, to give his response from the chair on the decision to prorogue parliament, a move he has described as a constitutional outrage.
The first step for rebel MPs in trying to stop a no-deal Brexit is likely to be a request for an emergency debate under standing order 24, which Bercow is likely to grant. In order for MPs to seize control of the Commons order paper – the parliamentary timetable for the week ahead – they will need to use the time to table a business motion and be permitted to do so by the Speaker.
If rebels can win the vote on the business motion, they can use the time to table a new short bill which will order the prime minister to seek an extension to article 50 to prevent no deal. It is still unclear how long that extension will be and how MPs can ensure Johnson will actually request a meaningful extension.
Legal efforts to stop the prorogation of parliament will also get under way in Edinburgh, where the court will consider one of three legal challenges.
Wednesday:
The chancellor, Sajid Javid, is set to present his spending review to parliament – though this will very much depend on how radically MPs have changed the order paper. It will also be Johnson’s first prime minister’s questions.
The day is likely to be used to clear all the Commons stages for a bill mandating an extension of Article 50.
Thursday:
The high court in London is due to consider another judicial review of Johnson’s plans to prorogue parliament, led by the anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller with other litigants including the former prime minister John Major and the Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson.
It is unclear if the rebels’ bill will have cleared the Commons by Thursday but there is a belief that it would be better to ensure it has reached the House of Lords as soon as possible because unlike in the House of Commons, peers can attempt to filibuster the bill with a huge number of wrecking amendments which must all be heard.
Friday-Monday:
Parliament is not due to sit on Friday or at the weekend but peers could table a motion to sit through the weekend and get through all of the potentially disruptive amendments.
Johnson has reserved the right to prorogue parliament as early as Monday and if the bill fails to pass before parliament is suspended, the bill will fall. If the bill passes, rebels believe that the government cannot obstruct the Queen from giving royal assent so it becomes law.
The situation if the bill passes is then highly volatile – it is possible Johnson could opt to call an early general election.
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
Mamma mia! How can one understand Italian politics?
August 31st, 2019 by Roger Darlington
The General Election of 4 March 2018 produced a complex result and negotiations to form a new government – Italy’s 66th government since the Second World War – eventually took almost three months.
The new governing alliance was an unlikely combination of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), which has most of its support in the south, and the far-Right League, which has most of its support in the north. Once they agreed to form a government together, they nominated as President of the Council (or Prime Minister) a virtually unknown law professor Giuseppe Conte who is a member of the Five Star Movement but had no experience whatsoever of political office.
However, in a matter of days, he resigned because the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella refused to accept his nomination as Finance Minister of a critic of Italy’s membership of the Eurozone. Mattarella then appoined Carlo Cottarelli, a former official at the International Monetary Fund, as interim Prime Minister pending another general election. However, a few days later the coalition parties backed down on the nomination of Finance Minister and Mattarella accepted a government led by Conte.
Then, this month, the League pulled out of the coalition and planned a vote of no confidence in Giuseppe Conte which it expected to lead to a general election. Instead, Conte resigned, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) managed to agree a new coalition with the centre-left Democratic Party, and Conte was reappointed head of the new government. So now there is a 67th Italian government since the Second World War; its composition is as unlikely as the previous government; and it remains to be seen whether it lasts any longer and achieves any more.
For more information, read my short guide to the Italian political system.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
A review of the Spanish film “Pain And Glory”
August 30th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Described as the third part of an “unplanned trilogy” which began with “Law Of Desire” (1987) and continued through “Bad Education” (2004), it is not necessary to have seen the earlier films (I haven’t) to enjoy the final part of this triptych written and directed by the Spanish Pedro Almodóvar, but it helps if you’re comfortable with subtitles (there is a lot of dialogue) and, if you’ve savoured any of his previous movies (I have), you’ll be ready for his wonderful use of colour (starting this time with the opening credits) and recurrent themes of his homosexuality and his relation to his mother.
In this semi-autobiographical work, film-maker Salvador Mallo, brilliantly represented by Antonio Banderas at his best, faces a whole variety of physical and psychological challenges which are preventing him from writing or directing again and his recourse to heroin (rarely has a mainstream movie showed so much chasing of the dragon) is not helping, although it is facilitating a series of flash-backs to his childhood when his mother – played by the delightful Penélope Cruz – is a powerful influence.
In this accomplished and engaging story, there is a lot of pain – both of body and mind – before the glory of reunion and redemption with a clever reveal in the final scene.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
A review of the novel “Fear Of Dying” by Erica Jong
August 29th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
American author Erica Jong wrote the mega best-selling novel “Fear Of Flying” in 1973 and the non-fiction “Fear Of Fifty” in 1994 and now she comes up with her 11th novel “Fear Of Dying” which was published in 2015. Although a novel, it is clearly inspired by the author’s loss of her two aged parents and the experience of her fourth marriage.
The narrator – like Jong, a New Yorker and Jewish – is Vanessa Wonderman, a television actor who is now aged 60 and married to a rich man of 80 for 15 years. In the course of the year described in the story, there is much going on in her life: both her elderly parents are close to death, even her dog has a terminal condition, her husband is about to suffer a near-death experience, and her daughter is pregnant. This elegantly written and witty work explains how she navigates such challenges, in doing so addressing some major issues of life and death.
In spite of everything else that is going on in her life, Vanessa signs up to a sex site on the Internet. Why? “I was too edgy, too curious, too afraid of dying” and “I am in a rage against age”.
On life, she insists: “There is no substitute for touch. To be alive is to crave it.” On illness, she observes: “You can go from the country of the well to the country of the sick in a split second.” On death, she opines: “We all secretly believe in our own immortality. Since we cannot imagine the loss of individual consciousness, we cannot possibly imagine death.”
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A review of the new Tarantino movie “Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood”
August 28th, 2019 by Roger Darlington
Quentin Tarrantino’s ninth movie – while much lauded – is not my favourite (I think that would be “Kill Bill”), but it is classic material from the idiosyncratic director with all his usual quirks and playfulness that so delight us fans of his. A recurrent theme of his work is his wish to revisist and even rewrite history and here we are in Los Angeles in 1969 when in the real world members of the Charles Manson cult murdered actress Sharon Tate but in Tarantino’s reel world anything is possible.
We are introduced to television actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo di Caprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) and one of the many delights of the film is the brilliant acting by both, most especially di Caprio, in a wonderful portrayal of male friendship. Of course, both have worked with Tarantino before: di Caprio in “Django Unchained” and Pitt in “Inglourious Basterds”.
Only at the end do these characters meet the under-written Stone (Margot Robbie). The movie has righly been described as a homage to American television and cinema of the late 1960s and there are numerous allusions to actual screen works of the time or versions of them, most notably a TV series called “Bounty Law” which could be seen as representing “Rawhide”. Perhaps the best sequences of the film are Rick’s conversation with and then acting opposite a female child actor.
As so often with Tarantino’s work, this is a long film (161 minutes) and, for much of it, a slow (at times too languid) build-up of character and situation before the pace quickens and the finale is explosive and deadly.
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