Having awoken from a good sleep at 10.30 pm, I worked during the darkness until around 4am then slept for no more than two hours and was at my desk around 6 am, As nine o’clock approaches I will shortly get myself dressed and ready for going out into the cold, to the bank, and for bread. It has rained but there is some sunshine in between while fluffs of cloud. I delayed putting out the environmental box because of the earlier rain but hearing the sound of one of the two vehicles used to collect the rubbish I decide to put the box out. It is Winter’s cold.
During the dark hours I watched Saturday’s episode of (young) Merlin, about the power of faith and righteousness to overcome fear and defeat an enemy against overwhelming odds. And then at seven there was film I had been waiting to see again for sometime. The Angel wore red, based on the Bruce Marshall novel A Fair Bride
Claude Cunningham Bruce Marshall was a Scotsman who served in both World Wars, invalided out in 1920 as a Lieutenant, after losing one leg and went on to become a prolific published author with some fifty fiction and non fiction works.
From the information available his story merits a work in its own right. At the age of only 17 years after attending the Edinburgh Academy he commenced to read classics at St Andrews, but something happened which led him to convert to Catholicism and to join the British Army. One account states that he joined the Highland Light Infantry as a Private and only then was trained as an officer, commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers, which suggest a change in regiments arising from the change in religion.
In the latter stages of the war in France he was badly injured and it is said saved only through courageous German medical orderlies who went to collect him under intense shelling. He was taken prisoner and lost a leg because of poor treatment and the wound is said to have given him much pain in later life.
He returned to his studies, gaining a degree and then an MA and went onto become a qualified accountant, working for the well known firm of Peat Marwick at the Paris Office for 14 years until the fall of France in 1940. Shortly after moving to France he married Mary Pearson Clark then aged 20, he was 29 and they had one daughter, who subsequent married and has three children.
Thus far he life followed the patterns of many surviving officers of the War to end all Wars, Recovering sufficiently from the experience, to complete an education, then study for a career, marry, start a family and work hard at one job, This was not enough and he wrote what appears to be continuously producing novels and other works at the rate of one a year.
Returning to England with his family before the arrival of Germans into Paris he rejoined the army at the age 41 and was first sent to pay corps because of his work as an accountant but then was transferred to the Special Operations Executive in London , and his ability to speak French and his knowledge of Paris and France made him invaluable to the British Intelligence service. When the War in Europe ended he was appointed to the Allied Control Commission for Austria with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel dealing with displaced persons. He went on to live until the age of 88 retiring for the last twenty years to the South of France. His wife also died that year.
I have seen the made in Black and White film the Angel Wore Red several times because of its theme of faith and the power of religious symbols whether they are authentic or not. The film is set in Spain during the Civil war when the Communists and others of the left had formed the government and General Franco was making his bid for power having crossed over from Morocco into Spain near Gibraltar.
Both sides behaved like savages, murdering civilians and prisoners usually in the name of liberty for the poor or with the Blessings of a Catholic God. The Communists ruthlessly murdered priests and nuns, destroying churches and their records. It was the behaviour of both sides which heralded the practice of using non combatants as shields and the terrorising and displacement of non combatants. There are times when I am tempted to curse all religions and all ideologies but hold my tongue knowing it is the behaviour of individuals who rise to power to power, often at local levels who commit the worse atrocities and that out of such situations there can also be acts of great courage and self sacrifice.
The book and the film of the Angel Wore Red underlines these points very well. It is the story of one Catholic city where the only response of the Bishop to the worsening situation as Franco moves through Spain and his planes bomb the city under the control of the revolutionaries, is to order that women attending services must not show their elbows or their knees. It is the basic problem of the Catholic church to this day, unable to translate its historical, and admittedly at times dubious ideology into an effective system which a population can identify with. The decision, for example, that priests should not marry and remain celibate was taken by the church long after the death of their founder because of the need to have individuals whose sole interest was their faith and that of their parishioners, although I do not those if those involved an appreciations of the problems this would create among those unable to maintain their all consuming beliefs when the faith had become every day for everyone else and was not being put to the test.
However the greatest challenge was to priests whose training was to turn the other cheek, accept the bestiality of men and pray for the redemption of the souls of their persecutors, when such men turned on women and children. How do you cope with those who support your church bombing women, old men and children? How do you support those who deny not just Catholicism but any form of God but who yet have also risen up to stop the persecution and exploitation of the majority by those who interest is only self interest?
This has become the dilemma of the central character of this story played by Dirk Bogard, who is convincing in the role to a degree. The problem with Dirk Bogard is that he always found it difficult to be anything other than Dirk Bogard and I never felt that he was able to communicate great belief and great heterosexual passion. I suspect the book will convey more deeply the torment of the priest as he wrestled with his faith, his obedience to church and his awareness of the plight of the people failed by their church and their government and forced to chose between fascism of the right and fascism of the left.
The making of the order about covering elbows and knees is the last straw for Dirk Bogard, the priest whose sympathies are with the oppressed people and who have come to believe that the inherent conservatism of the church has led the nation into civil war. He leaves the church at that moment, dressed in a black suit, and takes shelter in the same place as Ava Gardiner, a nightclub hostess, fearful for her life as bombs drop on an unprotected population. She reacts to his kindness, quickly converting this into a stronger feeling as she senses he is a man not like other men. That he give his attention to a woman who has become a sexual object in the sex industry of the day, serves the purpose of the writer and film maker but is also reveals the problems all priests face of coming to terms with their own sexuality in a faith which requires celibacy. Usually there is the strength of their faith to withstand such temptation, but what if belief in ones church has wavered?
At this point. The ruling junta decide to blame the priests and the church for the air attack and counter revolution, and set the sympathisers to wreck the Cathedral and take the priests prisoners. Some are killed at the time of the riot while others are taken prisoner and tortured before being killed because of the need to find the whereabouts of a phial of alleged sacred blood. The power of such relics is not easily understood by those without a faith or who have understandable reacted to the knowledge that most relics are fakes were manufactured by the church to raise funds during the middle ages.
On a trip to Northern Spain I once visited the mountainous area of Montserrat and its Benedictine Abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat, arriving in time for the daily performance of the male choir and veneration of the Black Madonna, a statue of Mary which young and not so young wives like to touch because it is claimed that doing so could make childless couples fertile. The daily service is a well orchestrated piece of theatre designed to keep the flow of tourists and pilgrims to support an important religious community with a proven tradition of tolerance and defiant independence.
Because of location in mountains over 4000 feet above sea level routes are few and difficult yet the monastery became a refuge for artists, politicians, scholars and students fleeing from the rule of Franco. The Monastery is also said to be the location of the Holy Grail of the Arthurian legend.
In the film after the sacking of the church and the disappearance of the holy object, the priest charged with taking it to safety, hides it in the church and hides himself from would be captors hoping to await the arrival of Franco. The authorities become aware that he and Dirk Bogard are missing and they know the area where Dirk was last seen and commence a detailed search. Aware that he has become a wanted man Dirk take refuge in a sleazy nightclub and is taken to a booth by one young women when he spots Ava Gardiner soliciting custom in the main bar area and calls her to the booth, just as the authorities commence a search for papers and she realises who he is and takes him via the back door to her room in a nearby waving to those blockading the roadway who assume she is taking another punter home for the night. Dirk gives himself up when the house to house search arrives.
A one eyed American newsman, he reason for the one eye is not explained, played by Joseph Cotton, of the Third Man film fame realises that Dirk offers a good story and keeps an eye on him and advises the local commander of his potential value in persuading the people that the relic is worthless and should have no place in their lives.
For a brief period of time Dirk and Ava find happiness together despite the hostile and threatening circumstances, but then he is recognised and approached in the street by the frightened and, starving priest charged with a task he cannot fulfil of saving the relic. Dirk behaves as once did Peter denying and rejecting, but also telling Ava what has happened, so she decides to take the man food unaware she is being followed and this leads to his capture and torture and to her own capture and threatened torture because the authorities believe she may have been told the whereabouts of the icon.
Dirk agrees to hear the confession of the priest, who shows him his hands with fingernails removed and tells of the suffering and deaths of the other priest refusing to divulge the whereabouts of the relic, because to do so would be interpreted as a denial of their true faith.
This the moment when Dirk agrees to the mission of saving the relic, not because he believes in its intrinsic power, or he regained his faith, but because of the continuing faith and courage of his former colleagues. I was reminded of the impact upon Charles Ryder at the end of Brideshead Revisited when he is visits the Chapel before the Normandy landings and comments that the light is not just the symbol of religious faith and commitment, but of freedom and hope for everyone.
Then the High Command orders that all the prisoners, some two hundred should be taken south to be used as a shield for the troops at the front line and this includes Dirk and Ava just as she was about to be tortured for further information. They travel south to the front line and experience the mowing down of the lines of men, women and children fleeing in both directions .
Then as they wait to be taken into the front line as a human shield and group of Franco’s men break into village where they are staying under the cover of darkness and take their escorts prisoner, subsequently executing them. Ava is hit by a stray bullet, and dying attempts to reach Dirk, losing the relic as she falls into the dust. . Far from this advance by Franco’s army being the salvation of the hostages and captives the local commanded orders that the men be killed because he has not time to test their story and he cannot risk what is in effect two companies of fighters for the enemy being set free. Dirk explains about the relic to the officer left in charge and the officer is sympathetic and demands the relic to be produced.
A priest in uniform working with the Fascists pleads that the captured men have the right to confession and that the executions should not be carried out until everyone has had opportunity to seek forgiveness. The body of Ava and then relic is found and this is sufficient to convince that the truth has been told and that these were hostages. The final scene is that of Dirk taking the coffin of Ava back to her hill village and family for burial, and of him placing the relic at the village shrine. She has found redemption for her sins in a meaningful way, The position of the priest is left ambiguous.
I decided to do some work, play some games against the computer so that it was approaching midday before I went out for bread and the bank, managing to evade the sudden downfalls in between short period of sunshine. I had wrapped up really well so progress was slow and it started to rain again fortunately for only a few minutes and there was a store doorway to hand to the rescue.
I paid in the two cheques and asked about an up-to-date statement as I could not see an indoor statement or cash machine, as is the position at the Sunderland city branch, and was directed to those outside in the rain. However the assistant was then not too busy to try and sell me household insurance. If I did not know the hassle involved in changing banks I would have done so immediately.
At he supermarket I found that Mama Mia DVD’s had gone on sale at £7 and everyone was buying one, well an exaggeration, but I did overhear an assistant saying they were flying out of the store and the person before me and after had bought one as well. It was raining again so I bought a salmon sandwich and eat the first half while waiting for the squall to end. Then the rain stopped so I made my way home and quickly as I could leaving the second half. Approaching my home from the other side of the street I heard my surname called and it was he postman with a box of four energy saving bulbs from British Gas. I had bought two loaves of bread for freezing, converting the loaves into two slice packs. I has also bought two small bottles of olives stuffed with anchovies which I decanted into the olive jar, a Christmas present from last year. I finished the sandwich, made a cuppa soup and also eat a tin can of rice pudding and then relaxed and wrote a little before the Special pre Christmas budget statement.
Alistair Darling is perhaps the least engaging Chancellor of the Exchequer of the past fifty years although this has nothing to do with his work or policies but this time his laboured and calm presentation of the Government‘s position met with ridicule and hostile taunts from a well prepared opposition revealing that whatever was said the decision had been to go on all out verbal attack as everything else had so far failed to reverse the political tide now swinging firmly behind the government.
It is said that the value of Peter Mandelson to the government has been his ability to know what best to do at times of crisis or when the way ahead is complex and the temptation is to do nothing and wait and see how events turn out. The problem, of people of creative leadership is that they have to get it right all the time. Peter is said to have done that, and he was the maker of his own downfall twice. George Osborn is said to have been made in same mould and to have been hand picked and supported by Opposition Leader David Cameron for the same purpose. Whereas Tony Blair had the self confidence to sack his friend twice from the Cabinet, David appears to have failed to act when George mishandled his meeting with Mandelson and the Russian in Greece this summer and should have gone then brought back a heavy weight like Ken Clark
Yesterday we were shown George Osborn mark two revealing his ambition to become Tory Leader if Cameron fails at the next General Election and while he rallied the Tory back benchers he deserved the contempt which was shown by Alistair Darling for his bravura performance which not only did not fool the political astute but will have done great damage to the future of the Tory over the coming two years. The party has been taken over by a would be Mandelson, but clone he is not. He got it wrong and badly wrong. The financial establishment wanted a solid government response which concentrated on the long term but also provide a series of relief’s to lessen the impact of the recession on business and on the public without alienating the other economies and the financial institutions.
The Chancellor did this by an increase in government borrowing but only a small proportion of that given to maintain capitalism. As I understand the approach of the Tory Party it is to basically do nothing and let the economic downturn take its course unless efficiency savings can be made to public expenditure
A proportion of these funds said to be around £20 billion involves a number of measures to assist small and medium sized businesses. Affecting the majority of individuals are measures aimed at maintaining purchasing by the public. The ten pence income rate is in effect re-established. There is a thirteen month reduction in VAT of two and a half percent which is unlikely to have significant effect but it will help business. People in receipt of state pension will receive a one off Christmas bonus of £60. So with the extra in fuel payment and the ten pence and other give always, This works out around £400-£450 for me over the present and next financial year. The basic state pension rises by £5 a week from January rather than April. These and others measures will be paid for by an increase in half a percent of national insurance contributions for those with incomes over £20000 and 5% additional income tax for those with incomes of over £150000 a year. There are various measures to help house buyers and existing mortgage payers as well as additional expenditure on social housing. There are measure to help families and those on low incomes as well as to help those made redundant. The first response of the London market was exceptional showing a 10% gain on the day the largest ever although this was as much in response to Wall Street as the City response to the Chancellor’s statement and is unlikely to be sustained over the week. If it is then the Conservative strategy is destroyed in the same week it is presented. The man who came out of the debate with enhanced credit was shadow Liberal Democratic financial spokesman Vince Cable. His response met with praise from the Chancellor for its integrity although he disagreed with some of analysis and its major conclusions.
I could not resist a first view of the Mama Mia DVD and will take a further look tomorrow. The film is pure joy and confirmed my reaction at the cinema. It will be interesting to see how the British and American Academies respond to what the population here in UK regard as the film of the year buy more than a mile to date and just was it is needed at the time of recession.
I had intended to watch the late night advance episode of Spooks until discovering was a two hour special before the 7th series of 24 hours and it was a good tale except there is a female new President, they got that wrong. As usual with this series, there is skulduggery at the highest level of state and business and Jack is unappreciated and in the trouble.
During the dark hours I watched Saturday’s episode of (young) Merlin, about the power of faith and righteousness to overcome fear and defeat an enemy against overwhelming odds. And then at seven there was film I had been waiting to see again for sometime. The Angel wore red, based on the Bruce Marshall novel A Fair Bride
Claude Cunningham Bruce Marshall was a Scotsman who served in both World Wars, invalided out in 1920 as a Lieutenant, after losing one leg and went on to become a prolific published author with some fifty fiction and non fiction works.
From the information available his story merits a work in its own right. At the age of only 17 years after attending the Edinburgh Academy he commenced to read classics at St Andrews, but something happened which led him to convert to Catholicism and to join the British Army. One account states that he joined the Highland Light Infantry as a Private and only then was trained as an officer, commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers, which suggest a change in regiments arising from the change in religion.
In the latter stages of the war in France he was badly injured and it is said saved only through courageous German medical orderlies who went to collect him under intense shelling. He was taken prisoner and lost a leg because of poor treatment and the wound is said to have given him much pain in later life.
He returned to his studies, gaining a degree and then an MA and went onto become a qualified accountant, working for the well known firm of Peat Marwick at the Paris Office for 14 years until the fall of France in 1940. Shortly after moving to France he married Mary Pearson Clark then aged 20, he was 29 and they had one daughter, who subsequent married and has three children.
Thus far he life followed the patterns of many surviving officers of the War to end all Wars, Recovering sufficiently from the experience, to complete an education, then study for a career, marry, start a family and work hard at one job, This was not enough and he wrote what appears to be continuously producing novels and other works at the rate of one a year.
Returning to England with his family before the arrival of Germans into Paris he rejoined the army at the age 41 and was first sent to pay corps because of his work as an accountant but then was transferred to the Special Operations Executive in London , and his ability to speak French and his knowledge of Paris and France made him invaluable to the British Intelligence service. When the War in Europe ended he was appointed to the Allied Control Commission for Austria with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel dealing with displaced persons. He went on to live until the age of 88 retiring for the last twenty years to the South of France. His wife also died that year.
I have seen the made in Black and White film the Angel Wore Red several times because of its theme of faith and the power of religious symbols whether they are authentic or not. The film is set in Spain during the Civil war when the Communists and others of the left had formed the government and General Franco was making his bid for power having crossed over from Morocco into Spain near Gibraltar.
Both sides behaved like savages, murdering civilians and prisoners usually in the name of liberty for the poor or with the Blessings of a Catholic God. The Communists ruthlessly murdered priests and nuns, destroying churches and their records. It was the behaviour of both sides which heralded the practice of using non combatants as shields and the terrorising and displacement of non combatants. There are times when I am tempted to curse all religions and all ideologies but hold my tongue knowing it is the behaviour of individuals who rise to power to power, often at local levels who commit the worse atrocities and that out of such situations there can also be acts of great courage and self sacrifice.
The book and the film of the Angel Wore Red underlines these points very well. It is the story of one Catholic city where the only response of the Bishop to the worsening situation as Franco moves through Spain and his planes bomb the city under the control of the revolutionaries, is to order that women attending services must not show their elbows or their knees. It is the basic problem of the Catholic church to this day, unable to translate its historical, and admittedly at times dubious ideology into an effective system which a population can identify with. The decision, for example, that priests should not marry and remain celibate was taken by the church long after the death of their founder because of the need to have individuals whose sole interest was their faith and that of their parishioners, although I do not those if those involved an appreciations of the problems this would create among those unable to maintain their all consuming beliefs when the faith had become every day for everyone else and was not being put to the test.
However the greatest challenge was to priests whose training was to turn the other cheek, accept the bestiality of men and pray for the redemption of the souls of their persecutors, when such men turned on women and children. How do you cope with those who support your church bombing women, old men and children? How do you support those who deny not just Catholicism but any form of God but who yet have also risen up to stop the persecution and exploitation of the majority by those who interest is only self interest?
This has become the dilemma of the central character of this story played by Dirk Bogard, who is convincing in the role to a degree. The problem with Dirk Bogard is that he always found it difficult to be anything other than Dirk Bogard and I never felt that he was able to communicate great belief and great heterosexual passion. I suspect the book will convey more deeply the torment of the priest as he wrestled with his faith, his obedience to church and his awareness of the plight of the people failed by their church and their government and forced to chose between fascism of the right and fascism of the left.
The making of the order about covering elbows and knees is the last straw for Dirk Bogard, the priest whose sympathies are with the oppressed people and who have come to believe that the inherent conservatism of the church has led the nation into civil war. He leaves the church at that moment, dressed in a black suit, and takes shelter in the same place as Ava Gardiner, a nightclub hostess, fearful for her life as bombs drop on an unprotected population. She reacts to his kindness, quickly converting this into a stronger feeling as she senses he is a man not like other men. That he give his attention to a woman who has become a sexual object in the sex industry of the day, serves the purpose of the writer and film maker but is also reveals the problems all priests face of coming to terms with their own sexuality in a faith which requires celibacy. Usually there is the strength of their faith to withstand such temptation, but what if belief in ones church has wavered?
At this point. The ruling junta decide to blame the priests and the church for the air attack and counter revolution, and set the sympathisers to wreck the Cathedral and take the priests prisoners. Some are killed at the time of the riot while others are taken prisoner and tortured before being killed because of the need to find the whereabouts of a phial of alleged sacred blood. The power of such relics is not easily understood by those without a faith or who have understandable reacted to the knowledge that most relics are fakes were manufactured by the church to raise funds during the middle ages.
On a trip to Northern Spain I once visited the mountainous area of Montserrat and its Benedictine Abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat, arriving in time for the daily performance of the male choir and veneration of the Black Madonna, a statue of Mary which young and not so young wives like to touch because it is claimed that doing so could make childless couples fertile. The daily service is a well orchestrated piece of theatre designed to keep the flow of tourists and pilgrims to support an important religious community with a proven tradition of tolerance and defiant independence.
Because of location in mountains over 4000 feet above sea level routes are few and difficult yet the monastery became a refuge for artists, politicians, scholars and students fleeing from the rule of Franco. The Monastery is also said to be the location of the Holy Grail of the Arthurian legend.
In the film after the sacking of the church and the disappearance of the holy object, the priest charged with taking it to safety, hides it in the church and hides himself from would be captors hoping to await the arrival of Franco. The authorities become aware that he and Dirk Bogard are missing and they know the area where Dirk was last seen and commence a detailed search. Aware that he has become a wanted man Dirk take refuge in a sleazy nightclub and is taken to a booth by one young women when he spots Ava Gardiner soliciting custom in the main bar area and calls her to the booth, just as the authorities commence a search for papers and she realises who he is and takes him via the back door to her room in a nearby waving to those blockading the roadway who assume she is taking another punter home for the night. Dirk gives himself up when the house to house search arrives.
A one eyed American newsman, he reason for the one eye is not explained, played by Joseph Cotton, of the Third Man film fame realises that Dirk offers a good story and keeps an eye on him and advises the local commander of his potential value in persuading the people that the relic is worthless and should have no place in their lives.
For a brief period of time Dirk and Ava find happiness together despite the hostile and threatening circumstances, but then he is recognised and approached in the street by the frightened and, starving priest charged with a task he cannot fulfil of saving the relic. Dirk behaves as once did Peter denying and rejecting, but also telling Ava what has happened, so she decides to take the man food unaware she is being followed and this leads to his capture and torture and to her own capture and threatened torture because the authorities believe she may have been told the whereabouts of the icon.
Dirk agrees to hear the confession of the priest, who shows him his hands with fingernails removed and tells of the suffering and deaths of the other priest refusing to divulge the whereabouts of the relic, because to do so would be interpreted as a denial of their true faith.
This the moment when Dirk agrees to the mission of saving the relic, not because he believes in its intrinsic power, or he regained his faith, but because of the continuing faith and courage of his former colleagues. I was reminded of the impact upon Charles Ryder at the end of Brideshead Revisited when he is visits the Chapel before the Normandy landings and comments that the light is not just the symbol of religious faith and commitment, but of freedom and hope for everyone.
Then the High Command orders that all the prisoners, some two hundred should be taken south to be used as a shield for the troops at the front line and this includes Dirk and Ava just as she was about to be tortured for further information. They travel south to the front line and experience the mowing down of the lines of men, women and children fleeing in both directions .
Then as they wait to be taken into the front line as a human shield and group of Franco’s men break into village where they are staying under the cover of darkness and take their escorts prisoner, subsequently executing them. Ava is hit by a stray bullet, and dying attempts to reach Dirk, losing the relic as she falls into the dust. . Far from this advance by Franco’s army being the salvation of the hostages and captives the local commanded orders that the men be killed because he has not time to test their story and he cannot risk what is in effect two companies of fighters for the enemy being set free. Dirk explains about the relic to the officer left in charge and the officer is sympathetic and demands the relic to be produced.
A priest in uniform working with the Fascists pleads that the captured men have the right to confession and that the executions should not be carried out until everyone has had opportunity to seek forgiveness. The body of Ava and then relic is found and this is sufficient to convince that the truth has been told and that these were hostages. The final scene is that of Dirk taking the coffin of Ava back to her hill village and family for burial, and of him placing the relic at the village shrine. She has found redemption for her sins in a meaningful way, The position of the priest is left ambiguous.
I decided to do some work, play some games against the computer so that it was approaching midday before I went out for bread and the bank, managing to evade the sudden downfalls in between short period of sunshine. I had wrapped up really well so progress was slow and it started to rain again fortunately for only a few minutes and there was a store doorway to hand to the rescue.
I paid in the two cheques and asked about an up-to-date statement as I could not see an indoor statement or cash machine, as is the position at the Sunderland city branch, and was directed to those outside in the rain. However the assistant was then not too busy to try and sell me household insurance. If I did not know the hassle involved in changing banks I would have done so immediately.
At he supermarket I found that Mama Mia DVD’s had gone on sale at £7 and everyone was buying one, well an exaggeration, but I did overhear an assistant saying they were flying out of the store and the person before me and after had bought one as well. It was raining again so I bought a salmon sandwich and eat the first half while waiting for the squall to end. Then the rain stopped so I made my way home and quickly as I could leaving the second half. Approaching my home from the other side of the street I heard my surname called and it was he postman with a box of four energy saving bulbs from British Gas. I had bought two loaves of bread for freezing, converting the loaves into two slice packs. I has also bought two small bottles of olives stuffed with anchovies which I decanted into the olive jar, a Christmas present from last year. I finished the sandwich, made a cuppa soup and also eat a tin can of rice pudding and then relaxed and wrote a little before the Special pre Christmas budget statement.
Alistair Darling is perhaps the least engaging Chancellor of the Exchequer of the past fifty years although this has nothing to do with his work or policies but this time his laboured and calm presentation of the Government‘s position met with ridicule and hostile taunts from a well prepared opposition revealing that whatever was said the decision had been to go on all out verbal attack as everything else had so far failed to reverse the political tide now swinging firmly behind the government.
It is said that the value of Peter Mandelson to the government has been his ability to know what best to do at times of crisis or when the way ahead is complex and the temptation is to do nothing and wait and see how events turn out. The problem, of people of creative leadership is that they have to get it right all the time. Peter is said to have done that, and he was the maker of his own downfall twice. George Osborn is said to have been made in same mould and to have been hand picked and supported by Opposition Leader David Cameron for the same purpose. Whereas Tony Blair had the self confidence to sack his friend twice from the Cabinet, David appears to have failed to act when George mishandled his meeting with Mandelson and the Russian in Greece this summer and should have gone then brought back a heavy weight like Ken Clark
Yesterday we were shown George Osborn mark two revealing his ambition to become Tory Leader if Cameron fails at the next General Election and while he rallied the Tory back benchers he deserved the contempt which was shown by Alistair Darling for his bravura performance which not only did not fool the political astute but will have done great damage to the future of the Tory over the coming two years. The party has been taken over by a would be Mandelson, but clone he is not. He got it wrong and badly wrong. The financial establishment wanted a solid government response which concentrated on the long term but also provide a series of relief’s to lessen the impact of the recession on business and on the public without alienating the other economies and the financial institutions.
The Chancellor did this by an increase in government borrowing but only a small proportion of that given to maintain capitalism. As I understand the approach of the Tory Party it is to basically do nothing and let the economic downturn take its course unless efficiency savings can be made to public expenditure
A proportion of these funds said to be around £20 billion involves a number of measures to assist small and medium sized businesses. Affecting the majority of individuals are measures aimed at maintaining purchasing by the public. The ten pence income rate is in effect re-established. There is a thirteen month reduction in VAT of two and a half percent which is unlikely to have significant effect but it will help business. People in receipt of state pension will receive a one off Christmas bonus of £60. So with the extra in fuel payment and the ten pence and other give always, This works out around £400-£450 for me over the present and next financial year. The basic state pension rises by £5 a week from January rather than April. These and others measures will be paid for by an increase in half a percent of national insurance contributions for those with incomes over £20000 and 5% additional income tax for those with incomes of over £150000 a year. There are various measures to help house buyers and existing mortgage payers as well as additional expenditure on social housing. There are measure to help families and those on low incomes as well as to help those made redundant. The first response of the London market was exceptional showing a 10% gain on the day the largest ever although this was as much in response to Wall Street as the City response to the Chancellor’s statement and is unlikely to be sustained over the week. If it is then the Conservative strategy is destroyed in the same week it is presented. The man who came out of the debate with enhanced credit was shadow Liberal Democratic financial spokesman Vince Cable. His response met with praise from the Chancellor for its integrity although he disagreed with some of analysis and its major conclusions.
I could not resist a first view of the Mama Mia DVD and will take a further look tomorrow. The film is pure joy and confirmed my reaction at the cinema. It will be interesting to see how the British and American Academies respond to what the population here in UK regard as the film of the year buy more than a mile to date and just was it is needed at the time of recession.
I had intended to watch the late night advance episode of Spooks until discovering was a two hour special before the 7th series of 24 hours and it was a good tale except there is a female new President, they got that wrong. As usual with this series, there is skulduggery at the highest level of state and business and Jack is unappreciated and in the trouble.
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