Ersatz TLS discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Weekly TLS
>
What are we reading? 9/10/2023
AB76 wrote: "following every second of the news, amazed its hardly been mentioned here,xcept by me of course"Here's a piece by David Shulman in NYRB Daily.
https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/1...
But there is much to say about how Israel allowed this massacre to happen, and about who bears responsibility for it. An entire conceptual system that has dominated Israeli thinking, and also government policy, for the last several decades has been exposed, repeatedly, as dangerous and delusional. You cannot lock up two and a half million people for years in an open-air ghetto, with minimal necessities for survival, and expect them to remain docile. But at the heart of the present crisis lies an even deeper moral failure. In effect, the state of Israel has drifted remorselessly (in two senses of that adverb) toward hara-kiri.
I just started reading Shulman's review of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy in the latest NYRB, which gruelingly describes that "open-air ghetto, with minimal necessities for survival".
Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "following every second of the news, amazed its hardly been mentioned here,xcept by me of course"Here's a piece by David Shulman in NYRB Daily.
https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/10..."
I sometimes wonder if I am remembering things correctly. This has led me on a chase to confirm or deny. It's been my thought that, first, religion and stuff done in the name of religion (any religion) means a complete turn-off for me. So I'm back at what did the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran have to do with the current conflict in Israel today? I found this timeline which, more or less confirms my thoughts that the Brits didn't like it when Mossadegh nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and got Kermit Roosevelt (OSS/CIA) to instigate unrest that led to Mossadegh 's dismissal . . .
Here's a timeline from the NYT - https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytim...
In the end it seems that there are no clean hands.
I've run out of hold space at the library, so when I have room, I am going to put All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror on hold.
If any here know of a balanced book about this time in Iran and if this history has roots in Iran today along with Iran's enmity towards Israel, please post it here. Thanks.
Bill wrote: "AB76 wrote: "following every second of the news, amazed its hardly been mentioned here,xcept by me of course"Here's a piece by David Shulman in NYRB Daily.
https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/10..."
Gaza and its huge population remains one of the worst humanitarian situations decade after decade. When Ariel Sharon pulled Israeli citizens out i remember the fury of the very small number of Israelis who lived within the Gaza area and personally concluding it was probably a wise move by the wily old fox.
Over a decade later and it has simply stagnated, without a proper state to run it, relying on the UN and other funds, while Hamas exploit their own people at every opportunity. Israel has obviously played a huge role in this and i dont know where this is going now.
day 6 of covid here...been very mild but stubborn, still testing positive and dry-mouth and stuffy nose main symtpmsnot much reading in last 48 hrs, didnt feel enthusiastic at all, which has suprised me
AB76 wrote: "day 6 of covid here...been very mild but stubborn, still testing positive and dry-mouth and stuffy nose main symtpmsnot much reading in last 48 hrs, didnt feel enthusiastic at all, which has supr..."
It took me about 12 days to test negative again, even though I felt fine again after 9.
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "day 6 of covid here...been very mild but stubborn, still testing positive and dry-mouth and stuffy nose main symtpmsnot much reading in last 48 hrs, didnt feel enthusiastic at all, w..."
my dad in same boat....still positive on day 12 but feeling fine
giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "CCCubbon wrote: "Alan wrote: "Hi everyone, and thanks for the shout-out. My reading has lately become a little scattered (I was reading several books a..."Graves' Claudius the God (which I just finished re-reading) is good, too.
AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "If anyone is following the happenings in Israel here's an OP-ED from today's Washington Post (gift link) - https://wapo.st/45r6gFG"following every second of the news, amazed its hardly..."
We are sending carrier groups to the Middle East. Why? They can do nothing without the cooperation of Israel and Egypt, which have military power far superior to Hamas. Perhaps Washington just wanted to look as if it was doing something....
Last autumn i found among a collection of Orwell essays from my parents bookshelf, the complete notes of his diaries written as he was researching The Road to Wigan Pier. It was maybe 65 pages of fascinating insights into depression era England in the 1930s and took in a lot of the midlands, not just Wigan. Thought provoking and intelligent, i had never read it before and only discovered it via the essay collectionCurrently i am reading the companion piece to 1930s english industrial observation English Journeyby JB Priestley, to be precise the second half of that book, i left it half way through in Nov 2019, for reasons i cant remember.
Priestley is in The Potteries and describes a bleak area where men are probably happier to live there in work, than without it. He observes that Arnold Bennett, the celebrated local writer, is not really mentioned in town, unlike many local politicians and signatories. Makes me wonder the reach of writers who now are established as "great", or the reading matter of people in the Stoke area in the 1930s, what was being hired in the libraries etc?Maybe Bennett simply reminded too many of their own unhappy lives, they wanted escapism and potboilers, and why not?
In an effort to distract myself from the terrible events in the Middle East and the unfolding humanitarian disaster which reminds me of some of the sieges in history and the merciless killing of civilians on both sides ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...)am reading The Prey by Yrsa Sigurdardottir the Icelandic writer.
This is a really creepy book, full of mystery by this excellent writer. There are three strands so far, a toddler’s shoe and a missing sister, a search party for a missing group and a naked body under the ice and thirdly strange happenings at the radar station. I have yet to discover a link but all generate one emotion - fear.
Mod
I don't know if others here (who read mysteries) ever listen instead of read. If any do, I recommend Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club mysteries. I am listening to his latest The Last Devil to Die, and it is a real treat. Of course Joyce who is diligent recording in her diary is my favorite.I am also in avoidance when it comes to the Israeli/Hamas conflict. I have no influence and only end up feeling low when I read/hear about the atrocities.
Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "If anyone is following the happenings in Israel here's an OP-ED from today's Washington Post (gift link) - https://wapo.st/45r6gFG"following every second of the news, amaz..."
possibly as a deterrent to iran/hezbollah. a huge carrier with 77 planes sat off the lebanon coast may make them think twice
MK wrote: "I don't know if others here (who read mysteries) ever listen instead of read. If any do, I recommend Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club mysteries. I am listening to his latest [b..."covid and the Gaza crisis means my mood is mixed. having a mild case is a good thing but am bored of having a kind of sensation of covid in the body
AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "If anyone is following the happenings in Israel here's an OP-ED from today's Washington Post (gift link) - https://wapo.st/45r6gFG"following every second of..."
I've not been following it, but if that carrier has USN on its side, it is for show only. I cannot envision the USA enlarging this debacle.
I haven't been keeping up! I had no idea that Stella Rimington wrote spy novels. I just came across the 10th in her Liz Carlyle series; The Moscow Sleepers in the library.I must now read them all in the correct order.
As the former head of M15. she surely knows what she is writing about.?
MK wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "MK wrote: "If anyone is following the happenings in Israel here's an OP-ED from today's Washington Post (gift link) - https://wapo.st/45r6gFG"following ev..."
Israel can handle both mobs of terror-goons, i'm confident about that, so the USA wont probably be needed to incinerate south lebanon.
The bigger issue now is trying to get all the civilians out of Gaza, its important that North Gaza is as empty as possible for Israel to fight Hamas on the ground but with so many people crammed into that awful place, i can see a humanitarian disaster worse than the one already happening in Gaza since 1948 occurring.
Naval evacuations could have been an option but with the numbers to evacuate it would have taken weeks. All women, children and non fighting age men should be allowed to leave, ASAP
i hadnt realised that 2 million now lived in Gaza!
Greenfairy wrote: "I haven't been keeping up! I had no idea that Stella Rimington wrote spy novels. I just came across the 10th in her Liz Carlyle series; The Moscow Sleepers in the library.I must now read them all ..."
Where have you been? I have read them all!
I’ve been away in the UK for a few days and come back here to Vermont to find about a hundred posts! Thank you to Gpfr for the new page, and welcome to Alan. My father, an English teacher, was a great admirer of Conrad. I have a warm memory of a speech he gave many years ago when my sister married her first husband. He was Polish, a political refugee in the early 1970s, and had arrived here speaking barely a word of English. In his speech at the wedding my father turned a very nice compliment by saying how in just a few years my brother-in-law had acquired an impressive command of English, and comparing him to Józef Korzeniowski. (Pause. Silence. General mystification.) You don’t know who he is, do you, says my father. He is one of the greatest masters of the English language, better known to you perhaps by his adopted name, Joseph Conrad. (Laughter and applause.)
When I say "arrived here" I mean arrived in England.
Russell wrote: "I’ve been away in the UK for a few days and come back here to Vermont to find about a hundred posts! Thank you to Gpfr for the new page, and welcome to Alan. My father, an English teacher, was a gr..."great story russell. weather in the uk turned autumnal this morning, around 10c.....first real cool weather we have had since early May
Two podcasts on the Israel attacks from Lawfare (associated with the Brookings Institute).The first is a very moving conversation with an American-Israeli university professor living (I believe) in a suburb of Tel Aviv:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/...
The second is a panel discussion of the situation, its implications, and possible repercussions:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/...
(For those who are curious, the music that leads into and out of this last podcast is from Schumann's Faschingsschwank aus Wien.)
Mod
https://safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com/
Hegel’s Aesthetics – I’ve been looking through these reconstructed lectures (trans. TM Knox, OUP). It’s a very fine work and perfectly readable, if immensely long – 1200 pages arranged in the two thick volumes. They have now had to go back to the library. I’m thinking of getting my own copies, so that I can read them, very slowly, at my leisure.
The first volume considers matters on a conceptual plane – the Idea of Beauty in Art. If a quest for the Ideal sounds rather antiquated (is Beauty even an objective in contemporary art?), his study is full of unexpected angles – e.g. the idea that religion “has pictorial thinking as its form of consciousness” (which I for one would have to ponder). Or the role of chivalry in the Romantic Form of Art. Chivalry implies honour, and “the motif of honour was unknown to ancient classical art.” Thus, in The Iliad, the wrath of Achilles constitutes its moving principle, and the whole course of subsequent events depends on it, “but what we understand by honour, in the modern sense, is not in view here at all.” Achilles feels himself injured only because the share of booty which belongs to him has been taken from him by Agamemnon. Something there to watch for when I read the new translation by Emily Wilson.
In the second volume he looks at the forms of art individually – architecture, sculpture, painting music, poetry, in each case from the ancient Greeks up to the modern Germans. They are full of arresting comments.
For example, on architecture, he contrasts the phallic columns of India with the glinting obelisks of Egypt. He says the former embody the worship of the procreative force in the shape of “the generative organs,” male and female. The latter do not derive their form from organic life. “They were dedicated to the sun-god whose rays they were to catch and represent at the same time.”
On music, one observation, which may have been valid then but has been overtaken since, is surprisingly emphatic:
“The southern languages…especially Italian, leave open a rich field for a varied and more lively rhythm and an outpouring of melody. In this there already lies an essential difference between German and Italian music. The uniform and flat iambic scansion which recurs in so many German songs kills any free and joyous abandon of melody and inhibits any higher flight and variety.”
On sculpture, it seems that stock in the Medici Venus and the Belvedere Apollo was already falling by 1818. Once the objects of “boundless admiration” in the time of Lessing and Winckelmann (and, we might add, General Bonaparte, who looted them both):
“Nowadays, when we have come to know works deeper in expression and more vital and more mature in form, these have become depressed in value and they are ascribed to a later period in which the smoothness of treatment had in view what pleased and was agreeable to the eye and did not adhere any longer to the severe and genuine style.”
Altogether an absorbing set of essays. I think they are likely to be rewarding for the general reader as well as the serious student.
The first volume considers matters on a conceptual plane – the Idea of Beauty in Art. If a quest for the Ideal sounds rather antiquated (is Beauty even an objective in contemporary art?), his study is full of unexpected angles – e.g. the idea that religion “has pictorial thinking as its form of consciousness” (which I for one would have to ponder). Or the role of chivalry in the Romantic Form of Art. Chivalry implies honour, and “the motif of honour was unknown to ancient classical art.” Thus, in The Iliad, the wrath of Achilles constitutes its moving principle, and the whole course of subsequent events depends on it, “but what we understand by honour, in the modern sense, is not in view here at all.” Achilles feels himself injured only because the share of booty which belongs to him has been taken from him by Agamemnon. Something there to watch for when I read the new translation by Emily Wilson.
In the second volume he looks at the forms of art individually – architecture, sculpture, painting music, poetry, in each case from the ancient Greeks up to the modern Germans. They are full of arresting comments.
For example, on architecture, he contrasts the phallic columns of India with the glinting obelisks of Egypt. He says the former embody the worship of the procreative force in the shape of “the generative organs,” male and female. The latter do not derive their form from organic life. “They were dedicated to the sun-god whose rays they were to catch and represent at the same time.”
On music, one observation, which may have been valid then but has been overtaken since, is surprisingly emphatic:
“The southern languages…especially Italian, leave open a rich field for a varied and more lively rhythm and an outpouring of melody. In this there already lies an essential difference between German and Italian music. The uniform and flat iambic scansion which recurs in so many German songs kills any free and joyous abandon of melody and inhibits any higher flight and variety.”
On sculpture, it seems that stock in the Medici Venus and the Belvedere Apollo was already falling by 1818. Once the objects of “boundless admiration” in the time of Lessing and Winckelmann (and, we might add, General Bonaparte, who looted them both):
“Nowadays, when we have come to know works deeper in expression and more vital and more mature in form, these have become depressed in value and they are ascribed to a later period in which the smoothness of treatment had in view what pleased and was agreeable to the eye and did not adhere any longer to the severe and genuine style.”
Altogether an absorbing set of essays. I think they are likely to be rewarding for the general reader as well as the serious student.
Russell wrote: "On music, one observation, which may have been valid then but has been overtaken since, is surprisingly emphatic:“The southern languages…especially Italian, leave open a rich field for a varied and more lively rhythm and an outpouring of melody. In this there already lies an essential difference between German and Italian music. The uniform and flat iambic scansion which recurs in so many German songs kills any free and joyous abandon of melody and inhibits any higher flight and variety.”"
It reminds me that Schopenhauer particularly admired the music of Rossini.
Gpfr wrote: "Splendid photos in Andy's blog making me feel quite jealous. Here's the link if anyone wants to look and doesn't have it:https://safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com/"
Thanks for the link, it was very interesting with some great photos,
Seems I'm not the only one with hip problems. I eventually decided to go private as things are deteriorating and have a date for the op of 8th December. The NHS would be at least next May.
On the reading side I have just finished
Murder Unseen
It was a bit different from the previous ones in the series, as we know early who is the murderer. I would have given it 4 stars except it could have done with some editing iin the first half of the book.
I had a look at Winters in the World and am sure I will enjoy it but couldn't concentrate very well so will have to go back to it. Love seeing the words from Anglo Saxon times that we can still recognise.
I decided to go back to another of the crime genre (surprise) and am now reading
Blood in the Water
It is set in Edinburgh and the first of hers that I've tried. So far so good.
Mod
Yes, I don't remember exactly, but he wrote earlier about long waits too.
Fingers crossed all goes well!
Gpfr wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Seems I'm not the only one with hip problems. ..."Yes, I don't remember exactly, but he wrote earlier about long waits too.
Fingers crossed all goes well!"
Thanks very much.
Gpfr wrote: "Splendid photos in Andy's blog making me feel quite jealous. Here's the link if anyone wants to look and doesn't have it:https://safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com/"
I'm thinking Andy likes cool, as in weather/temperature places. Is that correct?
giveusaclue wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "Splendid photos in Andy's blog making me feel quite jealous. Here's the link if anyone wants to look and doesn't have it:https://safereturndoubtful.tumblr.com/"
Thanks for the link, ..."
The spector of a months long NHS wait makes my Medicare open season (today is the start date) and the grinding of teeth as I have to make sure the few meds I take are covered to some degree - there's always a copay - seem trivial.
On the mystery front - https://time.com/collection/best-myst...
Also a link there for their choices of 100 best mysteries where I'm sure some of us will agree to disagree.
MK wrote: "Also a link there for their choices of 100 best mysteries where I'm sure some of us will agree to disagree."I can't help myself from going through these lists. I've read 20 of the books on it. Most are very good, a few are great, (though I question the "Mystery" classification on some of them) but it also includes two of the worst books I've ever read (the Josephine Tey and Stieg Larsson entries).
The Woman in White
Crime and Punishment
The Turn of the Screw
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Maltese Falcon
Rebecca
A Coffin for Dimitrios
Double Indemnity
In a Lonely Place
The Daughter of Time
Casino Royale
Beast In View
The Quiet American
The Talented Mr. Ripley
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
The Name of the Rose
The Secret History
The Shadow of the Wind
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
I have 16 others unread on my shelves:
The Sympathizer
Gone Girl
Fingersmith
Mystic River
The Silence of the Lambs
The Last Good Kiss
The Shining
Where Are the Children?
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
The Long Goodbye
A Kiss Before Dying
If He Hollers Let Him Go
The Three Coffins
Gaudy Night
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Leavenworth Case
And to anticipate @scarletnoir (Has he, too, quit Ersatz TLS?): WHAT!?! NO Georges Simenon ?!?
I'm finished with Fading victory : the diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki. The Japanese admiral's emotional ups and downs were enlightening-- and depressing. Ugaki saw the consequences of the pact with Germany and Italy early and late-- a collision course with the US and Britain, and little prospect of a detente with the USSR. However, the admiral would repeat the most optimistic-- and unlikely-- reports of sinkings of great numbers of US warships. If so many aircraft carriers were sunk, how did the US Navy continue to support landings?Ukagi's pain at the loss of so many fellow officers in action runs through the diary. The diary editor presents his final decision to ignore Hirohito's surrender broadcast, and order a crew to join him in a last kamikaze attack, is presented in heroic terms-- but other officers of his generation have criticized his decision to order a crew on a suicide run of no military value.
Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "Also a link there for their choices of 100 best mysteries where I'm sure some of us will agree to disagree."I can't help myself from going through these lists. I've read 20 of the book..."
Scarlett would have had a field day yesterday at tne library friends book sale - beaucoup Simenons from seen-better-days paperbacks to several hardbacks. I walked away with 8 PBs for only $4. I have to put a thank you note in their collection box because the money collector told me she had to convince others not to toss the old stuff I like. 3 Stouts, Westlake (great fun expected there), 2 Dave Branstetters, and an Ellis Peters procedural I didn’t have, plus yet another Christie.
Bill wrote: "MK wrote: "Also a link there for their choices of 100 best mysteries where I'm sure some of us will agree to disagree."I can't help myself from going through these lists. I've read 20 of the book..."
Bill, I suggest you add What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_th...
Perhaps it was because I was living in the DC area when the girls (Lyon sisters) disappeared (1975), but I liked that Laura Lippman took the premis and ran with it.
MK wrote: "Bill, I suggest you add What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_th...Perhaps it was because I was living in the DC area when the girls (Lyon sisters) disappeared (1975), but I liked that Laura Lippman took the premis and ran with it."
My local library has a copy - I'll plan to give it a try in the near future.
I know a number here are film buffs, but how about the Blues? Gift article from the Washington Post in hopes someone will buy the CD set and tell me how good it is - then I can use that as an excuse to do the same. https://wapo.st/3M2nKRS
MK wrote: "I know a number here are film buffs, but how about the Blues? Gift article from the Washington Post in hopes someone will buy the CD set and tell me how good it is - then I can use that as an excuse to do the same."
Interesting article about a difficult man. I like listening to Johnson but I’m not sure I want 6 LPs of people singing in their living room or in doorways. I’ll wait, like you, to see what people say.
P.S. Someone said the Stones’ version of “Love in Vain” is better than Johnson’s, and I agree.
Interesting article about a difficult man. I like listening to Johnson but I’m not sure I want 6 LPs of people singing in their living room or in doorways. I’ll wait, like you, to see what people say.
P.S. Someone said the Stones’ version of “Love in Vain” is better than Johnson’s, and I agree.
my covid has had a string in the tail the first 4-5 days were mild but since Saturday i have been very tired and spent most of those days in bed, comfortable and sort of catnapping or just lying there.i am hoping it will fade soon, the whole experience could have been a lot worse but have barely done any reading in last 3 days. the mind feels like soup
MK wrote: "I know a number here are film buffs, but how about the Blues? Gift article from the Washington Post in hopes someone will buy the CD set and tell me how good it is - then I can use that as an excus..."I'm not the audience for this one, but reviews on Amazon look very good; However it seems pretty pricey for a 3CD set; perhaps the price could be justified if the accompanying book is considered.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTL7J2F4?...
Bill wrote: "Russell wrote: "On music, one observation, which may have been valid then but has been overtaken since, is surprisingly emphatic:“
“The southern languages…especially Italian, leave open a rich field for a varied and more lively rhythm and an outpouring of melody. In this there already lies an essential difference between German and Italian music. The uniform and flat iambic scansion which recurs in so many German songs kills any free and joyous abandon of melody and inhibits any higher flight and variety.”"
It reminds me that Schopenhauer particularly admired the music of Rossini."
And detested the philosophy of Hegel!
Russell wrote: "Hegel’s Aesthetics – I’ve been looking through these reconstructed lectures (trans. TM Knox, OUP). It’s a very fine work and perfectly readable, if immensely long – 1200 pages arranged in the two t..."I'm tempted to try this myself, though the length does give me pause - though I probably wouldn't read it all through in one go, I'd more likely break it up and read other books in between - something lighter, or at least different. So far, the best price I've found for a used copy online would cost me around $100 Canadian for the 2 volumes combined, which is also making me think twice.
Berkley wrote: "Russell wrote: "Hegel’s Aesthetics – I’ve been looking through these reconstructed lectures..."
I'm tempted to try this myself, though the length does give me pause ... So far, the best price I've found for a used copy online would cost me around $100 Canadian for the 2 volumes combined, which is also making me think twice.
Yes, me too. I'd like the two hardback volumes, but these seem to come at £160. Ouch.
I'm tempted to try this myself, though the length does give me pause ... So far, the best price I've found for a used copy online would cost me around $100 Canadian for the 2 volumes combined, which is also making me think twice.
Yes, me too. I'd like the two hardback volumes, but these seem to come at £160. Ouch.
(Rather a long note, but I think it’s worth it.)
Through to the end of The Age of Decadence Simon Heffer demonstrates liberal sympathies. While duly even-handed, it is clear that he is, for example, wholly admiring of Gladstone in his efforts to achieve Home Rule for Ireland and in his resistance to imperial expansion. Throughout he deplores the obstructionism of the Tory peers and the rich. Thus on Lloyd George’s budget of 1909 he remarks that in a population of 45 million only 12,000 would be liable to the super-tax (taking tax on their income to a maximum of 7.5%), and only 80,000 would be liable to the land tax (being 20% of the simple increase in value between sales), but that the political clout of these persons was wildly out of proportion to their numbers.
These years were teeming with personality and incident, and he tells many stories with pace and colour. He describes, for example, the career of WT Stead, the founder of tabloid journalism, who seized on the issue of young girls being sold into prostitution. By a series of shocking articles in The Pall Mall Gazette he forced a reluctant legislature to raise the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16, a campaign which for Stead himself ended in prosecution, conviction and jail. As Heffer sharply observes, many in Parliament thought a journalist writing in the public prints about a young girl being raped was more offensive than the rape itself. (Thirty years later, Stead went down with the Titanic.)
One matter to which Heffer keeps returning, and of which I was not properly aware, is the damaging loss of confidence caused by the failures of the Second Boer War. An imperial power, which saw itself as the mightiest and most humane the world had ever seen, struggled for nearly three years to overcome a determined group of mounted farmers, and even then only by resorting to methods of brutality that troubled the conscience. The serene self-assurance of the 1890s turned to apprehension and doubt, even before the great crises of 1910-14.
There is a wealth of material in this book. At over 800 pages, he can afford to spread himself on every issue of substance. He gives us 50-70 pages, for example, on each of: the great constitutional turmoil of 1909-11 over the powers of the House of Lords (in which ultimate victory proved to be, for the Liberals, just the start of their difficulties), the fierce and violent industrial convulsions of 1910-12 (which he attributes fundamentally to a familiar cause, the lurch downwards in the real value of wages at a time when the well-off were enjoying handsome returns), and the origins and growing militancy of the women’s suffrage movement (including, which I had forgotten, its vocal female opponents in the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League). Lesser issues that catch his interest also receive a full treatment, e.g. 20 pages on the London stage and the censorship exercised by the Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s department (a retired bank manager accountable to no one).
This spaciousness allows him to give a strong impression of what it was like in the moment by quoting extensively from speeches, newspapers and letters. And he is well served by his many years as a journalist. It is clearly second nature for him to take a morass of facts and turn them into a story that is both informative and lively. The book is blessedly free of academic jargon.
Heffer returns, finally, to the extreme tensions of the Home Rule Bills in 1913 and 1914, and the arming of the volunteer forces. If the War in Europe had not erupted, and put a halt to all domestic issues, it is hard to see how civil war in Ireland - not riots, civil war - would not have broken out within weeks.
Through to the end of The Age of Decadence Simon Heffer demonstrates liberal sympathies. While duly even-handed, it is clear that he is, for example, wholly admiring of Gladstone in his efforts to achieve Home Rule for Ireland and in his resistance to imperial expansion. Throughout he deplores the obstructionism of the Tory peers and the rich. Thus on Lloyd George’s budget of 1909 he remarks that in a population of 45 million only 12,000 would be liable to the super-tax (taking tax on their income to a maximum of 7.5%), and only 80,000 would be liable to the land tax (being 20% of the simple increase in value between sales), but that the political clout of these persons was wildly out of proportion to their numbers.
These years were teeming with personality and incident, and he tells many stories with pace and colour. He describes, for example, the career of WT Stead, the founder of tabloid journalism, who seized on the issue of young girls being sold into prostitution. By a series of shocking articles in The Pall Mall Gazette he forced a reluctant legislature to raise the age of consent for girls from 13 to 16, a campaign which for Stead himself ended in prosecution, conviction and jail. As Heffer sharply observes, many in Parliament thought a journalist writing in the public prints about a young girl being raped was more offensive than the rape itself. (Thirty years later, Stead went down with the Titanic.)
One matter to which Heffer keeps returning, and of which I was not properly aware, is the damaging loss of confidence caused by the failures of the Second Boer War. An imperial power, which saw itself as the mightiest and most humane the world had ever seen, struggled for nearly three years to overcome a determined group of mounted farmers, and even then only by resorting to methods of brutality that troubled the conscience. The serene self-assurance of the 1890s turned to apprehension and doubt, even before the great crises of 1910-14.
There is a wealth of material in this book. At over 800 pages, he can afford to spread himself on every issue of substance. He gives us 50-70 pages, for example, on each of: the great constitutional turmoil of 1909-11 over the powers of the House of Lords (in which ultimate victory proved to be, for the Liberals, just the start of their difficulties), the fierce and violent industrial convulsions of 1910-12 (which he attributes fundamentally to a familiar cause, the lurch downwards in the real value of wages at a time when the well-off were enjoying handsome returns), and the origins and growing militancy of the women’s suffrage movement (including, which I had forgotten, its vocal female opponents in the Women’s National Anti-Suffrage League). Lesser issues that catch his interest also receive a full treatment, e.g. 20 pages on the London stage and the censorship exercised by the Examiner of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain’s department (a retired bank manager accountable to no one).
This spaciousness allows him to give a strong impression of what it was like in the moment by quoting extensively from speeches, newspapers and letters. And he is well served by his many years as a journalist. It is clearly second nature for him to take a morass of facts and turn them into a story that is both informative and lively. The book is blessedly free of academic jargon.
Heffer returns, finally, to the extreme tensions of the Home Rule Bills in 1913 and 1914, and the arming of the volunteer forces. If the War in Europe had not erupted, and put a halt to all domestic issues, it is hard to see how civil war in Ireland - not riots, civil war - would not have broken out within weeks.
AB76 wrote: "my covid has had a string in the tail the first 4-5 days were mild but since Saturday i have been very tired and spent most of those days in bed, comfortable and sort of catnapping or just lying th..."Just keep taking it easy AB, soup is a good description of the brain fog I felt with it too. Hopefully, you will soon wake up and think "Oh, I'm ok now" like I did.
And the books will still be there!
For the crime novel aficianados here, I have found yet another writer new to me. P. F. Ford. I have just finished reading:
It is set on the coast of south Wales, and starts with a former Detective Sergeant being cajoled into returning to the force by a friend, now Superintendent, to rejoin and help train a team of officers exiled to a small station for something that has gone wrong. (Slough House, but more polite?) On the first day of his and the also exiled D. I. a body is found on the beach. The arrogant men at regional headquarters want to take the case off the "losers" and the losers are determined to prove them wrong. There is a nice twist in the tail too.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading more by him. But must get back to some history as some point!
giveusaclue wrote: "For the crime novel aficianados here, I have found yet another writer new to me. P. F. Ford. I have just finished reading:It is set on the coast of south..."
Thank you for your recommendation. I usually enjoy mysteries in specific (and perhaps recognizable) locations and was able to download the first three for €0,99 so am happy to start on this series.
Diana wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "For the crime novel aficianados here, I have found yet another writer new to me. P. F. Ford. I have just finished reading:It is set o..."
That is great news. I hope you like them. And nice to see you again, how is the arm now?
giveusaclue wrote: "Diana wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "For the crime novel aficianados here, I have found yet another writer new to me. P. F. Ford. I have just finished reading:[bookcover:A Body on the Beach|55451897..."
Thank you. All is well!
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Ersatz TLS
Books mentioned in this topic
Out of the Deep: And Other Supernatural Tales (other topics)Out of the Deep: And Other Supernatural Tales (other topics)
A Body on the Beach (other topics)
A Body on the Beach (other topics)
Harlem Shuffle (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Georges Simenon (other topics)Josephine Tey (other topics)
Stieg Larsson (other topics)
Richard Osman (other topics)
Richard Osman (other topics)
More...
following every second of the news, amazed its hardly..."
Just found FT's reading list. Here's a gift link - https://on.ft.com/3PQQuOz
May have to get out that marvelous book - A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and The Creation of the Modern Middle East but I may take A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East off the shelf first.