I have been doing several things. Firstly I managed to find the episodes of Gormenghast on F/B. It was released in 2000, so not so long ago. A pretty good production given all the backdrops and the acting was superb and conveyed the vileness of Steerpike beautifully. Celia Imrie played the magnificent head of state, with her roomful of white cats and Titus himself has yet to prove his character.
I have always seen Gormenghast Castle as the functioning government we have. The strict adherence to ritual, the foolishness of becoming a Lord or Lady. The downfall of the two sisters who wished for all the glories of coaches and servants and then their death by starvation has always haunted me. A strong cast played the various strands very well but the evilness of Steerpike as he plots the death of the people he doesn't like is wickedly good.
A fairytale or fantasy you might well call it but the personality of the author, Mervyn Peake shines there. But, did a certain madness lie at the bottom of his strange caricatures that he drew so fluidly. He is definitely a 'forgotten' person in the world of art.
Peake's health deteriorated through the 1960s and he suffered from dementia and Lewy's Body and he was given electroconvulsive therapy, which I believe today is never used, anyway he died in 1968 at the age of 57 years.
I am also listening to George Orwell's Wigan Pier. This has been brought on because the 'wandering Turnip' has done a whole series on the Northern towns and had carried the book around with him in Wigan. He has a name, and now you will see why he uses turnip in his title, it is David Burnip.
He is damn good at what he does, media presentation seems to be falling into the hands of many independent producers who use Youtube as their vehicle of bringing their work to public view.
He is looking at the demise of the high street in many of our Northern towns, and London and the South as well. Some would see it as catastrophic but we all have to agree that old ways have to be turned into new ways. All those comfortable little shops we were so used to have vanished under the enormous pressure of very high business tax and rental, it is just not worth it. But what we see are rows of empty boarded up shops on many high streets. It is not because the retail business has left us, you can still buy stuff on line, it is the endless expenses of running the shops that has brought about this demise.
Of course one could cite an easy answer to the problem, turn all those shops and empty brown spaces into housing but it needs money and where is that to come from? Well answering the question, it has been promised by the late government £208 million* to be precise at the beginning of this year, it will be interesting to see what it has been used on.
It is almost as if we are going back to Victorian times, the space between the poor and the rich is widening at a fast rate. Today for instance, we haven't got any crackers, none in the shops. So online my daughter thumbing through found a box for £700. Now who is going to buy that? the answer is simple there are plenty of mugs out there willing to do it. Money sloshes around elsewhere, for instance did you see the Assad's garage? At least 50 high end cars stashed away.
I think I shall stop there, Ben is supposed to be cooking the tea and there is certain disruptions amongst the three!
*That promise of course could have easily been broken by the conservatives, so much white wash but what of the Labour party well according to this BBC article Manchester is still going to receive £100 million.
Wigan Pier is a book of two halves - the first is brilliant and timeless ; the second somewhat polemical and dated now
ReplyDeleteAbove comment from mark at Bikeshed!
ReplyDeleteI have also read Rebecca Solnit's book - Orwell's Roses, which is an interesting look at how he lived. He was also a man who grew roses and vegetables and sold eggs. It is good to defend one's thoughts and writings, even though you may be wrong Mark;)
DeleteWigan Pier! So long since I have read that one. I reread 1984 a while ago as some had written a book from Julia’s perspective and I wanted to refresh my memory of 1984. Too many books to read.
ReplyDeleteAgree with you about going back to Victorian times. Have to love the right wing bashing on about the mess Starmer has made. They have only been in power for six months but seem to be responsible for the housing shortage, state of the NHS, teaching, roads etc etc.
Never mind all will be good when the string and stable genius Trump takes power.
Well Traveller I would put both Trump and Musk in one of the many roomed Gormenghast Castle. They are fantasists who will eventually fall by the roadside. There are more of us than they are of them anyway. But seriously as Tasker says, it is terrible that children have no beds, when we are the 7th? richest country in the world.
DeleteThe inequality appalls me. Children in Leeds and Sheffield without beds to sleep in.
ReplyDeleteIn this instance Tasker it isn't just governments who are unable to act and do something about it. Though there are many good people who try to alleviate the poverty of no food or anything else for part of the population, I think it is the rest of the population that looks away. And reads the tripe in the papers.
DeleteYes, look (we?) away whilst taking the bribes of low taxes and under-priced goods and services. My son said that The Simpsons illustrates it: 1990s man, not very bright, easy job in a power station, can support 3 children, a stay-at-home wife, and a good detached house. His living standards would be very different now.
DeleteSorry - "we?" should be before "look".
DeleteI suppose we should recognise, though, that the nation did not used to support so many one-parent families which is where many of the problems are.
Society has changed of course. The rigid rules that my generation faced of not having babies before marriage has gone away. The argument of course now is that homing single mothers is difficult but, as we know, it was seen in an earlier decade as getting social housing by young single females. Funnily enough, this problem of making people work is being picked up by the Labour government now as they question money's paid out to people who cannot work because of sickness. It is a moral minefield!
DeleteCelia Imrie is talented, isn't she? And I am glad she is still getting roles, even after 70.
ReplyDeleteShe can be so good Hels in whatever she does.
DeleteI believe a form of ECT is still used, obviously with great care and medical expertise.
ReplyDeleteThe gap between the rich and the poor is growing here, New Zealand, Canada, US and Britain. I am not sure about Europe. When the gap reaches a certain point, that's when the poor rebel, and when white people rebel, those who aren't will become targets.
Yes Andrews, it all goes round and then comes round again. I suppose you could put some of the problem to over population and the movement of people around the world.
DeleteYou paint a striking but sad picture. Where are those Christmas apparitions when you need them?
ReplyDeleteWell Scrooge got the message and became kinder, so perhaps we should wait to see what is happening. Though nagging quietly all the way for a better world.
DeleteWas there really a plan to turn the empty shops etc into housing? Apart requiring a great deal of money, was there major opposition to the plan?
ReplyDeleteOh Hels that is an impossible question. I have watched several videos on 'the death of the high street'. And I did not realise that the owners of all these retail spaces are not interested in development. The only thing is that if they hang onto the land for long enough, the price will go up and up.
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