Preying on older people is a disgraceful way to make money – if you have an aged P then warn them about these people:
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2009/12/so-delices-gourmandises-wheres.html
They sent a relative of ours some unsolicited goods and then charged her for them. I’m pretty sure they can be challenged on legal grounds but the fact that they target the vulnerable, the trusting and the sometimes confused (people like me, lol) makes them utterly despicable. Spread the word on this…
But moving on – with regard to the recent footballing furore we all need to ask ourselves: Am I a Secret Fascist?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22000125
Take our simple quiz and find out:
Do you think the state is more important than the individual?
Do you like huge imposing buildings like this one?
Are you fond of military uniforms?
Have you ever wished you could drive a tank?
Do you think things would be much better if the government just issued regulations on every aspect of life?
If you answered YES to three or more of these questions then you may be a fascist. But don’t despair. Fascism is not necessarily racism – and there’s the rub. Mussolini and his cohorts were definitely fascist but they weren’t specifically racist. They didn’t much care who you were or where you came from so long as you obeyed the state. Which if you think about it, is pretty much how the Romans were. The Nazis, on the other hand, were specifically racist and – it hardly needs saying – anti-semitic, but Mussolini just went along with it for the sake of friendship.
Well, not friendship – but you know what I mean. Just so they could belong to the big boys’ club.
And speaking of history, there has been some excellent historical drama on the BBC of late: apart from the wonderful drama about PG Wodehouse, also accused of having fascist sympathies, the series The Village tells the story of a rural community and in particular one boy, starting before the First World War.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0162bq2/The_Village_Episode_1/
The child actor in it is quite brilliant. Not only that, but they seem to be re-broadcasting ‘I Claudius’, though for some reason they have randomly put episode 3 on iplayer but not episodes 1 and 2. Aaaand, following on from last week’s post about the deceased Richard Griffiths, Mark Lawson was this week interviewing Miriam Margolyes. She’s very entertaining and quite up-front about herself and others: she calls Glenda Jackson a cow and herself fat and ugly:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rr42f/Mark_Lawson_Talks_To…_Miriam_Margolyes/
I just can’t get used to watching Mark Lawson, though. His voice is far too familiar to me from years of listening to him on radio 4 and he’s nothing like I imagined:
A good day yesterday. I am currently tidying the house and learning all my poems by heart because performing them is much better if I don’t have to read.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 
