An Ideal Husband

An Ideal Husband

So how should we regard the delectable Mrs Chevely, with her arch looks and glittering Lamia gown  so wonderfully nuanced by Ms Bond?  Lord Goring has no doubt.   ‘She looks like a woman with a past, doesn’t she?   Most pretty women do.  But there is a fashion in pasts just as there is a fashion in frocks.  Perhaps Mrs Chevely’s past is merely a slightly décolleté one, but they are extremely popular nowadays.’     So is she a clever but dangerous woman who lacks any scruples to get what she wants, an... Read more »

Et tu, Vincent; the unkindest cut of all!

Et tu, Vincent; the unkindest cut of all!

Cuts will hit poor 10 times harder than rich – report.   This was the headline in this morning Guardian.  Well, of course they will!  It’s common sense, if the government makes cuts in public spending, it's the poor,  many of whom are single parents and pensioners, who will suffer most.  They'll suffer most because... Read more »

The averted face of care

The averted face of care

The carers leave notes for each other on the wall above the work surface in her kitchen.  The one this morning read,  ‘If the district nurse or any member of the family ask you to help them move Doris, you must say NO!’  I went through to the bedroom.  Mum was... Read more »

A political love-in!

They’ve done it.  The marriage took place in the rose garden., the sun was shining, the birds were singing.  They were a couple, finishing each others’ sentences, joking with each other, touching each other, singing from the same hymn sheet.  All differences had been resolved.  They had pledged their loyalty... Read more »

The party’s over; it’s time to call it a day …….

It always ends in tears.  Gordon Brown had been at the top of British Politics for 20 years and now he’s gone.  Not only did he resign as Prime Minister, he ruled himself as leader of The Labour Party and said he would step down as MP.  Suddenly people are... Read more »

Bush and Blair; a hubristic ‘folie a deux’.

They were made for each other,  weren’t they?  Not so much a marriage made in heaven as an accident waiting to happen.  There was George W. Bush, the rich privileged son of a previous senator and president, the playboy, the drunkard, the ne’er-do-well, who went into politics by default.  He was... Read more »

Concensus and Coalition. Would a hung parliament be such a bad thing?

‘Nobody wants a hung parliament.  Politicians of different convictions would never come to a decision.  It would lead to paralysis.  It would destroy confidence in the economy just at the time we are recovering.’   At least this is what Labour and the Conservatives think.  Well, they would, wouldn’t they?  They’ve... Read more »

When the orchestra is mad, who can be sane?

Tom Stoppard is of my generation.  Although, of course, I never knew him personally,  he has been part of my growing up.  I took Marion to see ‘Jumpers’ in the nineteen seventies.  It was the play that I remember best.  I still have the script somewhere.  It inspired a love... Read more »