When Boris Johnson led yesterday’s 5pm Downing Street televised Covid Press Conference it was the 34th time he had done so in the past year.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has led another 37 of them.
Slaphead Donnelly cowers behind his PR team rarely venturing out in front of the cameras while Mehole and the Leak let Nphet catch all the flak.
But rarely live on TV where they can be robustly challenged.
The Government campaign to keep the proles under the thumb and in the dark has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Janet, dreams of an alternate universe
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your bodylove what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
Wild Geese
just felt like starting the day with something positive
Lilly
Lovely, thanks J.
Micko
Very nice indeed Janet. Thanks
Maybe we should all try to get in first with a positive message, before all hell breaks loose ;)
Lilly
Do you remember Thought for the Day on the radio? I’d forgotten about it til now, they must have stopped doing it at some stage.
Micko
No, i don’t remember it. Sounds like a nice idea
Lush
No it’s still there.
BBC radio 4, at around 7.45 am Irish time.
alickdouglas
+1, thanks Janet
Lush
That was most welcome change.
See?
Alternative career as a motivational speaker/TED talker beckons.
Janet, chatty mammy
:)
ian-oG
Bravo Janet, lovely piece there.
Definitely made me smile here, thank you!
Picture of the great grandfather and his great grandson eating carrots on the front of The Examiner is a great pic.
Papi
+1
Slightly Bemused
And meanwhile, having read the wonderful words of a friend, you can roll over under the covers and tuck in for another hour!
Thank you, Janet. Hope the little one is doing well :-)
Janet, chatty mammy
the words of Mary Oliver, a friend sent me this when I was leaving Paris and I read it many times on the boat back
Gabby
@ Janet
Ecclesiastes 1:5 is bang on target:
4.One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.
5.The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again,
6.Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits.
7.All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again.
Janet, chatty mammy
there are some poetic gems in that bundle of letters
Fergalito
Lovely, just lovely.
Thanks for sharing :-)
scottser
a perfect thought for this absolute stunner of a day.
thanks j, you’re such a tonic :)
Donald McCarthy
There are lovely things and lovely places and lovely people but mostly this planet is a steaming vat of poo ripe for extinction. Hope is the enemy of grief but entitlement and vanity convinces us we are special, outside the physical and chemical laws governing the universe.Sorry for vibe-harshing but really, we’re all grown-ups here and we can surely handle another more urgent truth.
scottser
grown ups know when to shut up and keep it to themselves, donald.
Donald McCarthy
So in the time of extinction, you believe grown-ups should not be calling attention to the lazy distractions offered by narcissistic bull-poo posturings?
Fergalito
It’s still possible to hold two or more mutually exclusive thoughts in one’s head.
Clampers Outside
Enough of the “we’re all going to die” hysterics, thanks.
Clampers Outside
Lovely Janet :)
Lilly
One thing I’ll miss about lockdown is Tomorrow Tonight.
Formerly known as @ireland.com
The Critic – it looks like the Ivory Coast wants to be liberated.
Don’t worry though, Enda Kenny will do a Darkness into Light for ‘mental health’ again.
Because a walk is a good as a funding.
Anti Bots
Good man Goo. Every single time the Guards are mentioned you have to jump. You’re like a cuckoo clock at noon. Who do you call when you get robbed – the RUC or your comrades?
benblack
@ Niall Murphy
Looking forward to your blasphemous comic contribution tomorrow.
Can you do Muhammad next? There’s no law against it.
Didn’t think so – I wonder why not?
Very bad taste and should be removed.
Rosette of Sirius
The panel depicts Gabriel and given he pops up in the Quran too, it’s a one size fits all (snigger) gag.
So g’way away with yer ‘but, but, but the Muslims’ bullplop.
benblack
Now that’s bull.
“One size fits all”
Such bravery.
Rosette of Sirius
On yer knees, Ben, and take it…..
benblack
That’s not the point, Rosette, and you know it.
scottser
that’s our ben, always looking for a row where there isn’t one to be had.
benblack
I’ve made my point.
scottser
poorly, as usual..
Rosette of Sirius
And ignorantly. The boul Gabriel is as much a part of Islam as Christianity. So to draw Mohammed into this is pathetically stupid amongst other things.
benblack
I thought I was looking for a row, not making a poorly made point.
Make up your mind.
benblack
@Rosette
Then the setting for the prayer would have been on a mat and not a bed.
Ignorance?
f_lawless
What about this thought experiment- if the main character in the cartoon strip had been female, would it unanimously be deemed offensive?
As this video puts it “sexual assault of men as comedy is so ubiquitous and so normalised that you may not have noticed it”
…it would have made the tale of the ‘immaculate conception’ a bit more credible…
Nigel
Have to be honest, that was my first reaction, then I thought too much about how after the shock punchline the guy might be delighted, or he might just say no and the angel shrug and fly away, or that the lack of consent at the centre of the biblical story is what provides the rather horrific implication of what is often a very dark comic strip. If the latter, then the strip is literally doing what you suggest in your first sentence – flipping the gender of the original biblical story. It’s funny because Gabriel’s going to have gay sex, but it’s like the biblical story, so consent isn’t an issue, so it’s going to be rape, but the reason you think that is because maybe an entire religion was built around a rape, or around a story that amounts to a rape, so if that’s the joke, the implications are kind of all-round, um, uncomfortable. Anyway, maybe then there’s more going on here than just laughing at male sexual assault – C&H often uses humour with undertones of outright horror, so, hmm…
benblack
No.
C&H don’t do Muhammad jokes.
I wonder why not?
They must have an actual bricks and mortar office somewhere.
Ghost of Yep
@ Nigel
Hahaha I find it hilarious how much time you spent analysing a cartoon and how you clearly spent far less on the Climate Action Bill. I’d say never change but I don’t think you can. Even when presented with proof of your delusions. Enjoy the sun.
Nigel
Well, a stupid cartoon doesn’t stress me out with fear and anxiety the way the grim spectacle of the tiny Green Davids trying to get something effective and worthwhile past the FF/FG Goliath of depraved environmental indifference and then getting roasted and mauled for it does, but you cope with things the best you can, right?
benblack
Hardly worthy of a David and Goliath comparison.
Balaam’s error would be more accurate.
Ghost of Yep
It won’t be effective so is not worthwhile. It disregards other current policies and flatters to deceive on the whole. Message over meaning. If you truly believe this is worth how the Greens have behaved in government so far then I feel you’re being willfully blind.
You know David won right? This is not a stone thrown just a half hearted whisper in the ear after Goliath takes a break from running roughshod over most everyone else. That’s why the big bad Goliath is more than willing to have them sit on the shoulder.
If it gives you hope. Fine. Just don’t be upset others don’t buy into the delusion.
Nigel
How the Greens behaved? The dysfunction propogates if you think the Greens are the problem.
‘If it gives you hope.’
Kinda reading past the text there.
Junkface
What I mainly got from that video is that American comedians and comedy writers cannot resist a male rape joke. Its tired and lazy on their behalf, unless they are bringing some new angle to it, but they never do. I had not realised that they shoved it into so many movies! Jaysus.
That cartoon is from 2010 – fairly tame, but probably contributed to a building outrage.
Charlie Hebdo happened in 2015.
Anything after that?
johnny
..this time last year i was packing up after a backcountry ski trip in Yosemite,we spent few days in Mammoth catching up with friends,either there r LAX i caught covid,headed back NY lit up and have smoked a lot great weed,new music,books,films…quite bit Lana late at nite.
NY is back open and about ready to be lit,LA shortly,vac’s available at the corner drug store 24/7,for those who want them.
Lana del Ray dropped Yosemite this morning off her new album Chemtrails Over The Country Club .
(we back baby:)
Charger Salmons Jab Jibber-Jabber™
When Boris Johnson led yesterday’s 5pm Downing Street televised Covid Press Conference it was the 34th time he had done so in the past year.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has led another 37 of them.
Slaphead Donnelly cowers behind his PR team rarely venturing out in front of the cameras while Mehole and the Leak let Nphet catch all the flak.
But rarely live on TV where they can be robustly challenged.
The Government campaign to keep the proles under the thumb and in the dark has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your kneesfor a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your bodylove what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
Wild Geese
just felt like starting the day with something positive
Lovely, thanks J.
Very nice indeed Janet. Thanks
Maybe we should all try to get in first with a positive message, before all hell breaks loose ;)
Do you remember Thought for the Day on the radio? I’d forgotten about it til now, they must have stopped doing it at some stage.
No, i don’t remember it. Sounds like a nice idea
No it’s still there.
BBC radio 4, at around 7.45 am Irish time.
+1, thanks Janet
That was most welcome change.
See?
Alternative career as a motivational speaker/TED talker beckons.
:)
Bravo Janet, lovely piece there.
Definitely made me smile here, thank you!
Picture of the great grandfather and his great grandson eating carrots on the front of The Examiner is a great pic.
+1
And meanwhile, having read the wonderful words of a friend, you can roll over under the covers and tuck in for another hour!
Thank you, Janet. Hope the little one is doing well :-)
the words of Mary Oliver, a friend sent me this when I was leaving Paris and I read it many times on the boat back
@ Janet
Ecclesiastes 1:5 is bang on target:
4.One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.
5.The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again,
6.Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits.
7.All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again.
there are some poetic gems in that bundle of letters
Lovely, just lovely.
Thanks for sharing :-)
a perfect thought for this absolute stunner of a day.
thanks j, you’re such a tonic :)
There are lovely things and lovely places and lovely people but mostly this planet is a steaming vat of poo ripe for extinction. Hope is the enemy of grief but entitlement and vanity convinces us we are special, outside the physical and chemical laws governing the universe.Sorry for vibe-harshing but really, we’re all grown-ups here and we can surely handle another more urgent truth.
grown ups know when to shut up and keep it to themselves, donald.
So in the time of extinction, you believe grown-ups should not be calling attention to the lazy distractions offered by narcissistic bull-poo posturings?
It’s still possible to hold two or more mutually exclusive thoughts in one’s head.
Enough of the “we’re all going to die” hysterics, thanks.
Lovely Janet :)
One thing I’ll miss about lockdown is Tomorrow Tonight.
The Critic – it looks like the Ivory Coast wants to be liberated.
FGs jackbooters now turn their attention to hospital staff. Give these little boyos in blue an inch and there they are throwing their weight around.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/central-mental-hospital-management-allege-garda%C3%AD-assaulted-three-staff-1.4518359
Disgraceful there are not enough beds.
Don’t worry though, Enda Kenny will do a Darkness into Light for ‘mental health’ again.
Because a walk is a good as a funding.
Good man Goo. Every single time the Guards are mentioned you have to jump. You’re like a cuckoo clock at noon. Who do you call when you get robbed – the RUC or your comrades?
@ Niall Murphy
Looking forward to your blasphemous comic contribution tomorrow.
Can you do Muhammad next? There’s no law against it.
Didn’t think so – I wonder why not?
Very bad taste and should be removed.
The panel depicts Gabriel and given he pops up in the Quran too, it’s a one size fits all (snigger) gag.
So g’way away with yer ‘but, but, but the Muslims’ bullplop.
Now that’s bull.
“One size fits all”
Such bravery.
On yer knees, Ben, and take it…..
That’s not the point, Rosette, and you know it.
that’s our ben, always looking for a row where there isn’t one to be had.
I’ve made my point.
poorly, as usual..
And ignorantly. The boul Gabriel is as much a part of Islam as Christianity. So to draw Mohammed into this is pathetically stupid amongst other things.
I thought I was looking for a row, not making a poorly made point.
Make up your mind.
@Rosette
Then the setting for the prayer would have been on a mat and not a bed.
Ignorance?
What about this thought experiment- if the main character in the cartoon strip had been female, would it unanimously be deemed offensive?
As this video puts it “sexual assault of men as comedy is so ubiquitous and so normalised that you may not have noticed it”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc6QxD2_yQw
…it would have made the tale of the ‘immaculate conception’ a bit more credible…
Have to be honest, that was my first reaction, then I thought too much about how after the shock punchline the guy might be delighted, or he might just say no and the angel shrug and fly away, or that the lack of consent at the centre of the biblical story is what provides the rather horrific implication of what is often a very dark comic strip. If the latter, then the strip is literally doing what you suggest in your first sentence – flipping the gender of the original biblical story. It’s funny because Gabriel’s going to have gay sex, but it’s like the biblical story, so consent isn’t an issue, so it’s going to be rape, but the reason you think that is because maybe an entire religion was built around a rape, or around a story that amounts to a rape, so if that’s the joke, the implications are kind of all-round, um, uncomfortable. Anyway, maybe then there’s more going on here than just laughing at male sexual assault – C&H often uses humour with undertones of outright horror, so, hmm…
No.
C&H don’t do Muhammad jokes.
I wonder why not?
They must have an actual bricks and mortar office somewhere.
@ Nigel
Hahaha I find it hilarious how much time you spent analysing a cartoon and how you clearly spent far less on the Climate Action Bill. I’d say never change but I don’t think you can. Even when presented with proof of your delusions. Enjoy the sun.
Well, a stupid cartoon doesn’t stress me out with fear and anxiety the way the grim spectacle of the tiny Green Davids trying to get something effective and worthwhile past the FF/FG Goliath of depraved environmental indifference and then getting roasted and mauled for it does, but you cope with things the best you can, right?
Hardly worthy of a David and Goliath comparison.
Balaam’s error would be more accurate.
It won’t be effective so is not worthwhile. It disregards other current policies and flatters to deceive on the whole. Message over meaning. If you truly believe this is worth how the Greens have behaved in government so far then I feel you’re being willfully blind.
You know David won right? This is not a stone thrown just a half hearted whisper in the ear after Goliath takes a break from running roughshod over most everyone else. That’s why the big bad Goliath is more than willing to have them sit on the shoulder.
If it gives you hope. Fine. Just don’t be upset others don’t buy into the delusion.
How the Greens behaved? The dysfunction propogates if you think the Greens are the problem.
‘If it gives you hope.’
Kinda reading past the text there.
What I mainly got from that video is that American comedians and comedy writers cannot resist a male rape joke. Its tired and lazy on their behalf, unless they are bringing some new angle to it, but they never do. I had not realised that they shoved it into so many movies! Jaysus.
C&H slag off Islam too.
https://explosm.net/comics/2168/
That cartoon is from 2010 – fairly tame, but probably contributed to a building outrage.
Charlie Hebdo happened in 2015.
Anything after that?
..this time last year i was packing up after a backcountry ski trip in Yosemite,we spent few days in Mammoth catching up with friends,either there r LAX i caught covid,headed back NY lit up and have smoked a lot great weed,new music,books,films…quite bit Lana late at nite.
NY is back open and about ready to be lit,LA shortly,vac’s available at the corner drug store 24/7,for those who want them.
Lana del Ray dropped Yosemite this morning off her new album Chemtrails Over The Country Club .
(we back baby:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEt5owHwVD0
Excellent piece on Ireland’s very own cancel culture.
It’s about Kevin Myers.
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2021/cancelled-irish-style/
Thanks for that.
My only complaint is that it is too short.
Burning Heresies is a great read – very satisfying.