2552 Daily Notes Dec 2013 Sam Bailey V Susan Boyle after day writing on Borgen and Montalbano

Sunday 14^th December 013 was a blank at first to me only four days later until I remembered it had been Borgen and a Montalbano’s world day, Demark and Sicily indeed worlds apart, watching again the final two episodes of Borgen and completing the writing as well discovering I was unable to view again the last two episodes of Montalbano although I had some notes somewhere and finished reading the 12^th book that I had purchased together earlier in the year,

Lunch was chicken although it was not ready until after 2pm before it was roasted with vegetables. Later the remains were broken up for a stir fry and a curry. In the evening without salad which I have gone off fancying I enjoyed some freshly boiled pasta with a packet sauce mixed in some chopped salami. I have stopped exercise and weighing given the two pressures one from the present the greater priority and one from the past when I assumed I had done all it was possible for me to do in 2003.

My ability to do anything which involved concentrated reflection and attention was also affected by attempting to keep in touch with the Test match in Australia during the night with the third Test commencing at around 2.30am.

The political battle lines for the next General Election have been drawn between Labour and the Tories over the economy. Positive figures on economic growth and future forecasts with reductions in levels of unemployment have buoyed up the Coalition on the rightness of their attack on the pubic sector and stimulation of the private. However this has been achieved by the creation of zero hour contracts and part time employment in general thus reducing individual and family incomes while the cost of living rises. Labour is therefore concentration on the rise in the cost of living and the lowering of incomes in real terms. Given that the banks squandered around £3000 in the average family income it appears the Government decided that the majority should meet this in terms of lower living standards. There is a great sense of injustice about this.

In the evening I did watch part of the results show for Strictly and then skipped through most of the second X factor final show except for the two performances of Sam and the other contestant where the gulf between them widened especially with the respective renditions of the chosen first single released and home for Christmas number one. The performance of the other contestant was passable while that of Sam was extraordinary with a depth of emotion and vocal of outstanding world wide ability. I am surprised that she gained more than a million votes of support and had the two female panel members in tears with Sharon Osborn speechless with emotion and Gary and Louis in awe and unqualified admiration., Later she had been the audience choice in eight of the ten weeks of live performances and with Luke, who only came third topping twice.

In the past couple of weeks I have seen two documentaries about the Britain’s got Talent older success story Susan Boyle with the second programme on ITV the more interesting. Over a year ago he decided she as ready to go on tour although her manager remainder apprehensive given her high anxiety level. The big change occurred because she had received a psychological and psychiatric(?) assessment which discovered that she had nor been brain damaged at birth as she had been led to believe but had an autistic range and this had led to a reappraisal of performance preparation, relaxation and other actions to combat panic attacks and excessive nervousness and fear of failure as well as disappointing those who had come to see her. In this she was aided by the artistic/performance coach supporter director for want of a better description, a comparatively young man who appeared to fully understand Susan.

She commenced with a performance run through before a small invited audience, before undertaken several shows in Scotland where the home audience was expected to give her unconditional support should problems arise. In the event the mini tour was a great success in two ways. She sang the score and more of numbers in 90 to 100 mins show with interval but she anyway had the audience sympathetic empathetic and willing her to succeed. There was then a big leap to test her ability to performance to an even larger audience flying to the USA and Texas in a 17000 plus sweater stadium. She had arrived and a comprehensive UK tour was then planned followed by an International one. It is one of the amazing entertainment stories of my time.

2551 Daily Notes Dec 2013 on a visit to St James and evening TV

A great foreboding has descended but did not prevent appreciating my visit to St James Park on Saturday 13^th December to watch Newcastle play Norwich in the Premiership from the vantage point of an excellent seat in the Platinum Club area of the min stand. I set off in good time using the Metro train from South Shields and exiting at the Lord Grey Monument and where the following week Robson of Hexmonwick visited the descendents at the home of the former Prime Minister whose family created the Earl Grey tea, although from which they never gained money although these days they do have an Earl Grey Tea Room attached to their home with the woodland to sea and the gardens open to the public most of the year .

I made my way to the Granger market to buy .2 bags of winkles for £1.50 and where the young Asian couple before me purchased a tray of king prawns for £26 pounds

The Platinum Club at St James runs the whole length of the main stand comprising several bars and food counters, betting and tables with comfortable chairs facing several dozen screens watching the mid day match where Man City were beating Arsenal by 6 goals to 3. There were few vacant seats available but I managed to move a chair against a wall to see the game and to read the free programme which is now part of the ticket price which cost £38 and is a reduction from what is used be although individual tickets are graded accorded the quality of the opposition. I arrived after eating lunch at home although after the Granger market purchase I did stop for a coffee at the Macdonalds close to the market on the way there also checking out the cost of notebooks and pens at W H Smith where the cheapest are tucked away on the first floor with the premium selection on the ground.

I made my way into the stand for my stand regretting I had not brought my head covering and gloves but the weather was not too bad to spoil enjoyment. The seats are padded and have arm rests compared to those in other stands and my view was to the left of the centre circle and midway in the three four level stand with the lower level also have club facilities, and above the boxes and the upper tier in the Gods called level 7 The new VIP entrance has lifts and opens to area before the Platinum club lounges but I am not sure if this can be used by club members.

It was a proverbial game of two halves with Newcastle dominant in the first half as Norwich altered their system and nothing went right for them Newcastle had some poor linesmen decision with the one on our side of field reluctant to put up his fag and the other rising at every opportunity which worked against Newcastle and in favour of Norwich where there was a question mark about the equalizing goal. However in fairness to Norwich they played well close to the table position throughout the second half. A tremendous shot hit a goal upright and bounced out while at the other end Remy missed an open goal from a few yards out.

The draw was a fair result on the day as manager was given the Manger’s award for the Month and the goal keeper that for the player. They remain 6^th in the table behind Liverpool but there is now a gap 3 points with the 5^th placed team Liverpool, 4 fifth from Everton in eth and 4 Man City an 6 Chelsea in second. Despite the defeat Arsenal remain at the top on 35 points.

I found it difficult chose which of the five remaining participants in Strictly Come dancing should go out at the semi final stage but agree with the position on Sunday that the remaining man had to depart leaving four very good dancers although if there is justice the final two will be Abbey the wife of the footballer Peter Crouch who plays for Stoke and are playing Man City in a blizzard this evening and Natalie from Coronation street.

The programme was followed by the X Factor Final with three candidates to be become two for the sing off on Sunday. There is an element of padding in having the two shows back to back but I always enjoy the visits to the home towns which is also a way of gauging the local popularity. The most surprising successful contestant has been young Luke from the South West with a distinctive voice and a great personality who on the night was the best of the three. The other young man from Scotland is only 17 and has a good voice but at 17 his ability to deliver a song with meaning and emotion is still a long way ahead. The surprise is that it was he and not Luke that got the votes to contest the final with Sam, wife and mother, former cruise ship singer and prison officer who is an outstanding singer with a great range and ability to communicate with any audience any kind of song With the phone lines open from the end of the programme adding those already given in my view the outcome was no longer in doubt.

I also kept an eye on the test in Australia where England looked doomed.

2550 Borgen ends

It is Saturday 14^th December 2013 and the last day of the series Borgen, I am going at lunch time to Newcastle to purchase winkles for tea and then Newcastle play Southampton from the expensive vantage point of a Platinum Club, returning for Strictly Come Dancing semi final and the X Factor final weekend, Now England are struggling to survive changed conditions in Australia who managed 380 odd runs first innings and England in reply 118 for 2 after Carberry played on and Root’s dismissal was confirmed by the third umpire where clearly the electronic evidence would not have given him out although the decision had to stand as the on field umpire had given the player out after an after thought reaction

I missed the last episode of Borgen because I had not noticed that the recording had failed and left it too late to rerecord. I was able to establish that the former Prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg had been diagnosed with pre cancerous condition and required radio therapy.

The 7^th episode of the third series starts with the consultant pressing Birgitte to tell her family what is happening, but she insists that she must continue alone and goes from the hospital direct home where her son has delayed going school because of a cycle puncture and her daughter has a late start on Mondays. Birgitte then goes to the office where staff are concerned at the way she appears to be neglecting her duties during the crucial stage when the new party is attempting to establish itself as a political force and in the public mind at a time of crisis because of the International economic crisis,

The governing party is attempting to establish in effect a government of national unity but on their terms and when Birgitte responds to an invitation to meet she is told terms which include abandoning all environmental measures for three quarters of the next decade. She leaves immediately and is seen approaching the notorious leader of the Freedom Party who dismisses her approach reminding that while she had only three seats he now has 45. Birgitte still hiding her condition from her family and political colleagues making excuses and the consultant continues to press her to involve others as she admits she is not sleeping much at night perhaps four or five hours and then feeling tired during the day. She says she needs medication to keep her going for 15 to 16 hours a day after she is caught asleep by her daughter on the very day that the government announces he has called a general election, something which the politicians and TV 1 news station realise he has been planning for months. Birgitte has slept through almost a day of messaging after saying she would be late in because of a dental appointment,

The public broadcasting station TV 1 is also caught out by the General Election announcement where the situation between News head Torben and news editor Pia is tense as she seeks clarification of the nature of their relationship. She has been in love with him for sometime and he responded sexually without thinking of the implications in terms of either her or his wife and family. He has demonstrated a cautious sitting on the fence streak, some would say a cowardly one, in the past, or the Quaker approach of wear thou sword until thou cans’t.

Torben’s immediate boss wants them to win the election in terms of the competition from TV2 but they get off to a bad start as the governing party had immediately arranged for a head to head with the main opposition party the Labour Party trying to turn the General Election into a presidential one sidelining the other parties although Kruse and the New Democrats have done a pre election deal with the governing party which Bent argues will harm them in election.

The consequence is instead of having their previously all party leader debate on the first evening they have to settle for one with the deputies and the main leaders debate the following evening.

We learn that relations between Birgitte’s press director Katrine and Kasper have improved with sharing their child’s care and Katrine almost insists that he has the care for the fist 24 hours after the election announcement and on the evening show it looks as if Torben has a new partner than Kasper. His hair is growing back from the time where he had to shave his head after their son had taken scissors to it when he felt asleep when playing with him. The TV1 team has the brain wave of using GPS to follow what the party leaders are doing 24 hours a day and contact Katrine before dawn to seek her cooperation which will obviously have implications for Birgitte.

The election will be about the economy and the best way to respond to the crisis so Birgitte suggests they turn for help to man they had to abandon because of his previous community party background and Russian links. He has a research programme under way but offers a couple of hours before the evening’s debate. Birgitte recognises they are under funded with less than 1 million Kr in the kitty and will need at least another million which is still insignificant given that the government part is said to have around 45 million and has already booked space in the main news papers. They only have 15 new candidates approved and need at least fifteen to twenty more in order to become a political force and hopefully become part of a governing coalition again.

Because she is tired Birgitte does not prepare as well as she should for the TV debate and this shows in performance when the opposition parties agree she should take the lead on economic questions and emphasise the need to keep the environmental “green” approach. Katrine is fed up because of the refusal to participate on the in the 24 hour coverage with a journalist always on hand 9 in order to protect her position, but after the TV debate fiasco Birgitte realises she has to change her approach, especially after her daughter complains that she had become distant again. The following morning Birgitte makes breakfast and sits the two down and explains she has not been going to gym but for radiation therapy emphasising that the position is pre cancerous but they are on top of the situation but she is feeling very tired. The episode ends as she takes the children with her for the next hospital session.

The eighth episode could have been the last given the momentous events that take place in the course of the hour, or at least the last episode of a season. Birgitte decides that in addition to telling her children she must also advise the party leadership and Katrine arranged for a lead reporter from TV 2 network to interview Birgitte in the office, explain what has happened but that she does no wish to make her illness the issue. There is a great response with lots of flowers at her home including from her ex husband but she says she wants to keep Jeremy at a distance not being able to cope with what is likely to be his reactions. However she finds him at her home one evening saying he is in love with her and has arranged to be there during the days ahead to help.

Despite knowing the predicament she has been in The Moderate party, her old party led by Kruse has been doing a deal with the Labour Party and the Greens, of a new Opposition Manifesto Our Demark which does not mention them because they have not signed up and which does not include issue with which the New Democrats have a different viewpoint with the Moderates. However Birgitte decides that they have to go along with the situation or face becoming spent force before the election takes place and thy concentrate on defining policies which separate them. However during a debate between Birgitte and Kruse about the differences between the two parties Kruse appears to have prior knowledge of the decision to promote wind farms something he has always voted against but now says his party supports their expansion. This indicates that one of three people, ruling out Katrine and Bent have done a deal with Kruse in return for providing information on all their meetings, their tactics and policy programme developments. The approach is to provide of three possible traitors with a false addition and the policy selected by Kruse will reveal the traitor and to everyone’s surprise and disappointment in turns out to be Nete who had regard Birgitte as her heroine and hd been shock by the failure in the fist leaders debate when Birgitte gets the figures hopeless wrong unsure if the police figures are in millions or billions. She has returned to the Moderates from which she originally defected. With Birgitte positive abut her physical health, with the public aware as well as her family and party about why she had been underperforming the position was a positive one.

The last two programmes last night living up to my anticipation and contained some good twists.

At a personal level Torben‘s wife, works out he has been involved with more than a one night stand which he tries to pretend happened when he arrives home in the very early hours and she reveals that when he had been away on a training/conference she had tries o contact him and the office knew nothing of such an event. He is forced to admit that he has had an affairs and that it was with Pia his news editor. That it is with someone with someone with he is working all and every day makes the situation even more unbearable and she insists he must sack the woman or not return home.

He tells Pia he is moving her to documentaries because they are in need of someone with her experience. However with the team horrified this is happening just before the election he realises this is unfair and changes his mind. When his wife finds out she insists he hands over the keys and sleeps at the office. There is a sense later when his wife bring the bys who are missing him of a couple of hours and they go for a walk along the river bank for a meal the boys want a meal comment about the river bus on which has never been and which runs past his office. Hanne comforts Pia about the relationship when she confesses the extent of her affection.

However Torben has what in some respects is a greater challenge to deal with as the creative management boss has decided that they must compete with TV2 in turning the election coverage into a game show dividing the parties into blue and red,, left and right changing the way the debates are presented and planning an outrageous series of changes for the General Election day results programme. Torben rebels before the final debate and is summarily dismissed and leaves the building, goes n the ferry and then arranges to meet his wife for a meal and begs he to take him back and for to return home with her.

In the meantime Pia and his number to have rebelled that the non journalist boss is going to have a hand in the election night coverage and is calling the shots about the way the programme is going to be conducted. Torben is reinstated at leads for Election night and although he insists on going home with his wife she agrees that he should do the programme first. She is their to greet him with the programme ends and Pia is seen being led away by Hanne one of casualties of the series with Torben admitting he had been wrong to respond. The boss tell Torben it was great fun as he departs the building and Torben’s riposte is to suggest that the time he wants fun he should go the to the funfare.

The economist former candidate who is brought back to assist Birgitte by Latrine commences an affair which they both enjoy as Kasper continues to play his part in caring from their son and Katrine also attempts to come to terms with the fact that her new lover is not only twenty years her senior but a late teens son and daughter. They appear cool about their father’s relationship although curious. Katrine finds this situation uncomfortable and at one point make her escape which the father is cooking her breakfast prior to meeting with the rest of the family. At the end of the programme Katrine changes her mind and calls at the man’s home and later is seen enjoying breakfast with the family.

Birgitte’s occasional lover Jeremy also learns of her illness via the media lath given that does not speak Danish is interesting. I also earn that he was never a CEO but an International architect who designed the building in Asia where the international company where she was a board member had built. which their relationship feel even more contrived and designed to bring in even more English speak audience. Her has very little to do in the third season but appear normal, grown up and coping with her mother’s lifestyle remarkably well. Son Magnus get a better part as he becomes anxious about the health of his mother fearing the worst even though she assures she had been given all clear and will go back to see the doc in nine months time. Then when she feels a new lump understandable panic especially as there is delay before she can see the consultant who explains it not more the acculturation of fluid relate to her treatment an which he releases with a syringe and whalah everything is hunky dory again. And hat of the future of her Jeremy who declares his love and has rearranged his globe trotting schedule to be with her. He remains unconvincing throughout.

The main political issue in the ninth episode of the town is how to differentiate themselves from the Moderate party especially after the damage cause by the Nete betrayal which enabled Kruse to switch policies to attack his political craft always just ahead to take their wind.

Birgitte decided to adopt a high risk strategy according to Bent and some of her closest colleagues when choosing to break from the centre left coalition against the ruling party and to attack Kruse know his ability to lose his tamper which he holds together in their first confrontation as she tears up the manifesto.

Being Kruse he launches an aggressive smear campaign using every previous allegation against her. It is Kasper, where I am not clear how is now earning a living missing that 6^th episode, who offers to provide he ammunition discovering that he has covered up a drink driving incident in which he lied ( sounds familiar!) but Birgitte refuses to sink to his level and wants to concentrate on policy differences. However she changes her mind after a journalist door stops her daughter who is understandably upset and she gives the green light Katrine. However at the last moment Katrine also has an attack of conscience after Bent and also the Economics Guru raise their eyebrows. Birgitte is grateful for the second thoughts.

Meanwhile the guru has been using his best students to go through economic programme of tax cuts and expenditure propose by the Moderates under Kruse to find the evidence and does so in time for the last leaders debate and where to avoid what happens before he takes Birgitte through the figures.

The outcome is that the party gains 13 seats in the middle to become key player in the attempts to gain the kind of stable coalition required to see the country through the economic crisis. This is crammed into the first 24 hours although is usually the case negotiates can sometimes continue for weeks until the a last agreement can be established, In this instance the variation are difficult to follow with at one point the left prepared to do a deal with the extreme right The freedom party where the deputy, the woman who seduced number two to Torben to so he will nit be hard on her when they interview has toppled their leader who was against participation in government. He wanted heir party to give expression to view of the common man, the educated, those alienated by the multilateral changes to Danish Society brought about by the widened EEC. An outrageous character their remained something likeable about him despite his outrageous explosions of views and he is seen leaving the parliament building toppled. The deal offered to Birgitte for the leader of the Moderates who is also under fire from his number two and the news later to the right is that Birgitte should become the prime Minister again.

It is something she seriously considers but the final twist she offers the premiership to the existing man on condition he agrees to various concession and her taking the post of Foreign Secretary thus avoiding the inevitable conflict domestic policy. Whether this is a positive or negative development in relation to her lover travelling lover must remain speculation as wall as the impact on children.

2549 The Track of Sand my 12th and final Monalbano book by Camilleri

The Track of Sand, my 12^th and final read of a Montalbano police detective story by Andrea Camilleri of the books purchased earlier in the year, and the only one in hard cover, was enjoyable and impressive.

Problems with eye sight and lack of sharpness in his general perception of life have begun to undermine his self confidence and is creative ability to connect seemingly random events and experiences into a whole is deserting him. Moreover the one relationship where he could share his love of food in silence, the process of solving crime and his bed has broken down, so that in this book the only contact with Livia is by phone ending in argument.

The story begin with a sight which understandably makes him question the line between waking dream and reality which he has sometimes experience when what happens in real life mirrors after a fashion something his subconscious has projected into the waking dawn. There was the time when he saw Caterella dying and then more recently with the opening of a coffin found on a deserted beach which I shall come to later.

In this instance has a dream about a horse and then sees one on its side in the sand along the beach from his home and upon investigation the creature is not just dead but has been badly beaten to death. However by the time he has arranged for the appropriate authorities to deal with poor creature it has disappeared an all that is left are tracks of a vehicle the sand, a hand drawn cart. There is therefore no crime to be investigated and later when he learns that a horse has been stolen this is dealt with by another district.

Rachele, a beautiful creature, this time of the human female variety which also crosses his pathway has to come to race in an a charity raising private event staged on a course on a private state of another horse racing owner and where the missing animal had been quartered for the event. She is staying with none other than his sophisticated and modern female friend Ingrid. The race is being run by someone Salvo recognises as one of the richest men in Sicily.

Salvo explains that the horse was not kidnapped as such because it is dead so when Rachele asks to see her thoroughbred he also has to reveal that carcass has also disappeared and queries as if in the Godfather, someone has made him an offer she has previously refused, She declares this has often been the situation but not in relation to her horses and where she has accepted some and refused others. Nor is she concerned it has been the act of her husband as we are introduced into another situation where the relationship is close but a not a sexual one or at least she is the kind of modern woman who does not regard marriage as an end to relationships which other men. She has no idea why anyone would want to do such a thing, and indeed as the story unfolds she is super accurate in this. Super by the way is name given to horse, an English thoroughbred.

Ingrid contacts and they agree to meet at his house to enjoy what housekeeper Adelina has prepared, usually more than adequate for two people although he sometimes consumes the food in the entirety on his own. Later in the story he eats a salad made of baby octopus big enough for four people with some giant langoustine dressed only in olive oil, lemon, salt and black pepper After the meal he had notices a boat night fishing closer than usual and this lead him to recount the adventure he had as boy night fishing and then eating some of fish fresh cooked on a beach fire. On arrival home this night he finds Ingrid in an agitated state as she had seen two men come from his home.

Ingrid stayed the night after both had become drunk on whisky sharing the one bed but in no condition or intention for anything further to occur. What were the intruders after as having checked money drawn from the bank was still in envelop in a bed side drawer but just before on his way to the office he had returned, confirming that his fathers watch had been taken.

They then discover that one the horses of Lo Duca had also been taken with the two animals in similar appearance and therefore the thieves had the two because of similarity but which had been killed and where was the other animal? Salvo wonders why all the horses were not taken at the same time. Ingrid rings to invite Salvo to attend the charity race being held the following afternoon and where she would be now riding one of the other horses available.

On the day of the races Ingrid who comes to collect him enquires if he brought money with him as everyone attending will bet on a horse with the money going to charity and the female rider on the winning animal will give those who backed a kiss The sum of money expected was between one and two thousand Euro’s and Salvo had only a hundred on him but also his cheque book, an obligatory thing to have during one period in life but few people use cheques let alone carry cheque books these days.

There were three hundred or so guests dressed in riding clothes, top hats and tails an in a rainbow of other garb which amused and puzzled Salvo greatly confirming all his prejudices about the people participating and how out of water he had become. He is introduced to people and their host announces that 600000 euros had been raised which given the wealthy of those present was not the staggering sum one might have expected. He was even less impressed when guest managed to consume the contents of two tables of antipasti before Salvo could participate and then disappear in a rush, more of an avalanche of the ravenous when a gong sounded the start of a sit down meal

During a discussion with the host Salvo is pointed in the direction of a disgruntled former member of staff. Ingrid was at table reserved for Salvo and Rachele but then departed leaving to join an old flame at another table and Salvo was quick to work out that this had all been prearranged so that he would find himself eventually alone with the desirable race winner after she had despatched her other companion. The food was as awful as it looked, even worse. Rachelle leas towards the stables where there is a large iron gate serving no purpose drawn also on the book cover.

There in a stable stall Rachele orders Salvo to mount her and he remembers the waking dream before the discovering of the dead horse on the beach. Afterwards Salvo felt he had be used and sense of shame something which women more generally will have experienced, some more frequently than others admittedly so it was good, it can be argued, for one male to experience, although in the sense of unjust that Salvo was the victim. When thy returned to the table, the dinner was over/ some guest already departed and the tables commenced to be cleared. Ingrid was waiting to drive him home commenting that he had straw all over him.

His home had been broken into but this time there was message, an unexpected one as the watch of his father was back in place. The message was clear, we want something that you have, rather than we have come to rob you of a valuable. The following morning he was woken by the scream of the housekeeper as she discovered that the house and been turned over and it would take more that one session to get it back to good order. Salvo muses that the house must have been under surveillance. The thinking back to the office that the burglaries may be something to do with the trial of Mafia figure. One of the two sons of the housekeeper, both minor criminals contacts to say he has made inquiries and no one from his circle was involved and who would consider it stupid to attempt to thieve from the home of a well known policeman. It was therefore the wok of an outside circuit but he could not say if this was higher circuit suggested by the Inspector. Salvo also had the impression that the home was being watched and worked out the watch was coming from the fishing boat too close to shore and sets up a surveillance team while he goes on a trip to view an area of temples which has become an established tourist attract action but keeping in contact.

Two men had come ashore from the boat half an hour after he had left the property. When an attempt had been made to intercept there had been an exchange of fire and one of the men and been shot but only wondered so that the other had helped him to a vehicle which was waiting and they had sped off. This was not the end of the matter and he commenced to receive threatening phone calls. His thoughts was still on the forthcoming trial of the Mafia man and the file of paper was provided for him to examine. His enquiries appears to lead to a connection the killing of one horse and the disappearance of the other as the man suggested to be behind the atrocity who was dismissed as been taken on by the mafia family involved in the Licco trial and his wife was providing the alibi as being the mistress of the accused and with him at the time of the matter with which he was being tried. Having been asked to join the Family he uses his new position to take revenge on his former employer.

It was at the point in the story that he goes with Rachele to a restaurant situated within a few minutes of the sea and they decide to try all the 15 antipastos available on the menu shrimps, langoustine, flying squid, smoked tuna, fried balls of nunnatu, morsels of squid affucati, tiny fried squid, and cuttlefish tossed in salad with orange slices and celery, cappers wrapped in anchovies, sea urchins, mussels, clams, octopus morsels, a strascinale, sardines a beccafico, and swordfish carpaccio. This reminds when a taxi was taken from the centre of Athens to the port of was Piraeus to what appeared on the outside a closed and deserted grocers shop which had been advertised in a book on Athens published by the Times.

About to go away and look for transport back an elder had come to the door and invited us , sat us down at table which was covered in a paper cloth brought a bottle of win and then over the next couple of hours brought a constant flow of small dishes , some or so more all of which I tried so that when retuning back to the hotel I was sick. However I had enjoyed the event and the food which despite distant memory of nearly fifty years ago had a remarkable similarity to the list presented by the Inspector for his meal with Rachele. In the instance of the meal at the port I have the receipt somewhere but again from memory I believe the total cost came to 12/6.

Unsurprising Salvo and his companion only had room for salad which at best was lettuce and tomatoes, although I have been offered just lettuce or just tomato, but here Salvo suggests olives black and green, celery, carrots and capers and anything else the Chef selected although in saying he would join Rachele in the salad as she had no room he appears to create a substantial dish. The purpose of the meal was to enable her to explain her behaviour on the visit to the horse race. She said that this was kind of back to front relationship skipping out all the usual preliminaries and where afterwards she either wanted no contact or reference or wanted to do everything to keep the person close to her as a lover or as a friend which was the latter situation although she understood the geographical and occupational distance the two. She also had considered mentioning something about what happened to her horse, although as he was no longer involved she had decided doing this. She had met the vet involved at the stable when going to church and he said he did not understand why they had taken the horse of the owner who was riddle with sickness and was to have been put down and not taken horse that Rachele had won the race with. Having discussed this with Lo Duca she had concluded that it was her horse they wanted to kill and not his which had been taken because they looked `alike but this had already been considered at the station and the unanswered question remained why had the other horse had not turned up.

The next development is the discovery of a body in the middle of now here and the pantomime in which the pathologist makes a performance of into answering the basic questions and winding up Salvo about the causes and timing of the death. In this instance he is eventually able to confirm that the man was shot by someone other than the person/person who had brought him to this spot. The man is traced as none other than the missing husband and former groom to the Lo Duca stables and when the bullet is checked it is of time from a gun used by the force. It is evident that this was in the unofficial surveillance at the home of the Inspector. In order to protect his office the Inspector is able to make a switch which enables him to convince the widow that her husband has been killed despite the agreement not to harm him if she testified in court. Now the alibi could be exploded and the mafia man convicted.

The case looked over until Adelina his housekeeper returned his trousers from the cleaners and the horseshoe they had found in the pocket and which he had taken from beside the animal and since forgotten about. It was a plain horseshoe as one might expect. However after talking with Rachele again she had said that her animal had horseshoes with the family crest . He worked out that this was they had come to search house and this was what the men had been after because while it remained in his possession it remedied the disappearance of the carcass useless. His call to Rachele enabled him to understand hat had happened and clever ruse plus the capture of the other man involved in the breaking in at his home provided the evidence required. Lo Duca had been requested to provide his best horse by the mafia for you in the private illegal racing that took place on the Island and elsewhere in Italy but the problem was that the animal was terminally ill. So he had sized on the opportunity of the arrival of the look a like horse to replace his own but which had broken out before it be killed and carcass disappeared. It had been killed on the beach and the carcass removed only to find that one of tell tale horse shoes was missing.

When later that evening Rachel and Ingrid arrived for a mal brining with them a cassata he decided they will eat before breaking the news that in fact Super was alive.

Although I have the notes made for season 9, season three here in the UK of the last two of the four episodes, the recordings are no longer available on the I player and were deleted from the Sky box so I have decided postponing the writing up until they are replayed, or the books are translated into English if they were teleplays.

2548 Borgen continues season three as Christmas and New Year approaches

I am going to try and be ruthless with myself and have drawn up a plan for my time between now and end of the first week in January given that I shall be away for twelve days over Christmas and New Year in two trips one involving the car and the other the train. In addition I have also two outings to football, one possibly two to the cinema could be three if I also go to see Falstaff from the Met and one day in search of a suit although I might wait until the sales.

I will finish writing about Borgen and Montalbano in depth and make a brief lists of those matters I would have written about and may still do later if I am not required to become in matters from by former life. Of the remaining days before Christmas there are Christmas cards and letters and preparations for travel. Not time to consult the Don’t panic manual again, but today I have not played a computer game. I went off and had a very good exercise session for 45 mins achieving higher ratings as a professional tennis player beating a team rated higher, improving the bowling and golf and wining by 12.6 in two rounds of baseball before the mercy rule was applied and then having an excellent power bowling session scoring 512 and gaining a silver medal. However I got my age sports age only down to 36.

Programmes which I appreciated recently include one on Doris Lessing and adult content of music tapes, two programmes on the life and work of Susan Boyle. The series the Tunnel which comes an end next week, the latest episodes of Boardwalk Empire and Master of Sex, also Blue Bloods with the Blacklist concluded for its first season. I watched part of the Royal command performance skipping some acts. These to be added to the relays and other films outstanding, some from a year ago and as are some TV series.

First four more episodes of Borgen in which I understand are its final season and which lived up to my expectation as the new political Party in Denmark experiences all the problems of an instant mass movement created from all those who feel outside the existing political party framework wanting to join in. The guardian TV critic regards it as a flaw that former Prime Minister Bergitte Nyborg embarks on the enterprise in such an amateurish way forgetting that although Party leaders she was comparatively inexperienced to take on the role in the first instance and was unable to keep her marriage going and to avoid major problems with her children, especially the daughter. In part as with marriage and parenting there is no tried and tested formula about creating a new political party. I do however agree that given the importance of the bacon and pork industry to Demark it was surprising that the former Prime Minister had to educated about the reality of what went on. The third series has in fact become a vehicle to discuss topics of controversy and importance to Danish society and here in the UK we need to view the programme from the Danish perspective although the inclusion of an English speaking, Scottish lover could be viewed as attempting to respond to the great reception the programme has received in the UK and other English speaking countries.

In the third episode of the new season 13000 people have rushed to support the new party and dozens crowd into the office wanting to make a contribution and this is regarded great to its leader, the former prime Minister Birgitte Nyborg her media adviser, the former public broadcasting TV 1 station news front woman and journalist Katrine and her three Members in Parliament two from her former party The Moderates Jon and Nete together with one from the New Right whose name I have not remembered.

The situation reminded of the first Committee 100 meeting I attended with Michael Randle previously of the Direct Action Committee in the chair, Ralph Scheonman who was Bertrand Russell’s. Commissar and a mixture of anarchists, communists, labourites and liberals, traditional pacifists, new age practitioners of Satyagrapha(non violent resistance) and where I was one, libertarians and collectivists with the attraction of commune just coming back in fashion, Catholics and Anglo Catholics, Jews and the C of E, Non conformists and atheists,, heterosexuals, lesbians, homosexuals and bisexuals, as well as I assumed those reporting to the security services if not members of the security forces, in London the USA and Moscow. The idea that we would reach agreement on anything was ludicrous but that we eventually did in terms of the form of demonstration was remarkable, although even we slimmed down the planning group to around 30 we were bitterly divided between those who wanted revolution or saw the activities of committee as potentially leading to revolution

(I must get Wikipedia to include my name and adjust their article on the Committee 100 which has several inaccuracies as well as write up more about the reality of my experience of the Direct Action Committee.)

In the instance of Borgen there is a Christian who wants the new Party to support limitations on abolition with Birgitte having to say that her party would never adopt a position where a woman did not have control of her body in this respect and where another new activist wanted her to read a 450 page theoretical economic work which when she got down to it had state control nationalization of almost everything as its conclusion.

Jon a sitting member in the parliament was concerned about the lack of finances and arranged for her meet a Banker who wanted to give one million Krone and after an alcoholic lunch where he has chosen the menu he increases the donation to 1.5 million claiming that he is supporting and does not want anything. Birgitte accepts starts to spend on their HQ and offers free coffee to the activists. Jon then arrange for her to meet some with agricultural interests but at this point she realises there is no such thing as a free lunch after finding that the view of the banker are being incorporated into aspects of the draft financial policy statement.

Birgitte blows the whistle on her self and after getting a 100000 Kr loan from her husband and using her own resources she pays back the quarter of million already spent and concentrates on setting membership rate of 300 Kr some say too much others too little so she settled as this sounds the best compromises and then invites everyone to leave except the founder members declaring that one they have agreed their platform on the various issues then it is for the supporters to decide if it is a party for them to join or not. The issue of what they stand for and political expediency to get stabilised and recognised is the subject of the next two programmes and I going to jump form the fourth to fifth programme for this purposes.

The leader of one of the opposition parties approaches her to support a proposed new piece of legislation which will make all forms of prostitution illegal in Denmark after the plight of slave trafficked women comes to national media attention. If she agrees the combined vote with force the Act on the Government who are opposed to blanket change in a situation where it is not a crime to sell sex and those in brothels who pay taxes are in a grey area with their receptionists and accountants can be liable to prosecution unless they can show an income separate from the sex trade

At first Birgitte is enthusiastic in signing as way of gaining public and political acceptance but the new right former member wants her to be cautious and establish the facts, and then Katrine who is favour of the order gradually come round after meeting a sex worker union leader representing a couple of thousand out of the thousands estimated to be involved in the sex trade. Birgitte refusal to sign the draft legislation is criticised by the other Parties involved and her nemesis’s the former Labour Party leader through his newspaper and other media interests and they begin to lose members. The Sex Worker leader agrees to attend a public hearing where is the lone voice explaining that there are those who enjoy the work, are not forced into it through poverty, partner pressure etc and feels humiliated and raped by the viscous and cruel assertions made against her and use of false statistical information.

Birgitte with Katrine help is able to provide that one of the charity help agencies has grossly exaggerated figures in order to gain a 40% increase in government financial aid and slowly the position changes and the Government agrees to introduced legislation which will improve the present situation without introducing a blanket ban.

There is a meeting between the new line up of parties where the ruling party is represented by the Minister of Justice, Birgitte makes attempts to negotiate conditions for supporting the government approach which includes a special anti trafficking task force to deal with the issue which has attracted media attention and public support, but after presenting an excellent case for legalising brothels of brothels with sex worker represented listened to towards the end of meeting the meeting the government decides that the change would be politically acceptable but some progress had been made

In the fourth episode Jeremy, the English speaking CEO at the International company where Birgitte was on the Board. is poisoned when eating pork at a fashionable restaurant with him throwing up over Birgitte going viral on You Tube and leading to yet another vitriolic attack from the former Labour leader. He is in fact allergic to the antibiotics given to the pig which has clearly been slaughtered and used without sufficient time for the medication to have cleared the system. With the help of the brother of Katrine who pig farms Birgitte learns the nature of the industry in Demark when the quantity of Danish bacon produced has become more important than quality with the commercial animals factory farmed and hundreds of thousands of piglets slaughtered because they do not measure up to commercial requirements. (I have eaten suckling pig twice during a visit to the capital of Majorca.)

The brother does not eat this produce himself because of concerns and instead uses animals which he rears in the open at the back. Katrine promises not to reveal the source of the info being used but he becomes understandable and angry when Birgitte mentions his involvement in a TV interview albeit in way which does not directly identify except to his neighbouring pig farmers and where he says he does not want to speak to his sister again. Because the leader of the extreme party, the Freedom party also pig farms and is incensed by the sentimentality that he shows how they clip the tail of the little piglets soon after birth which causes uproar and eventually they are able to use his emotional intervention when they learn that he has been warned about his methods. The intervention in this issues gets them recognised as a new party,

I failed to record the sixth programme which centres on a new recruit as prospective member who a communist and had visits to the Russian embassy where 80% used to be KGB. The other part of the story concerns the visit Birgitte makes to the hospital are having problems one hand and Jeremy noticing that she has not been eating and as been losing weight. In the previous episode he finally gets to meet her children in the process of making them a bread and butter pudding B BTOH TAKE TO HIM ALTHOUGH SON Magnus had previously expressed anxiety given his close relationship with his father, Philip former husband has help out by taking the children when he arrives for a short stay between visits on his continuous world wide taking position. Interesting when asked he admits to paying for sex on a couple of occasions on his travels which shocks Birgitte when first revealed. However she reveals to Katrine that one female European Minister confided she rented young men on her travels as she had no time for an ongoing relationship. Philip on the other hand says he has never done. This seems to influence Birgitte towards him.

Although Katrine no longer works for the TV station the father of her child, Kasper does although his role at the station is lifted the ongoing issue is the role of the news station head Torben who has to contend with a new boss representing the interest of the Board, a young man with contemporary about management and creativity. He uses a room with odd shaped chairs and chalk boards and encourages Torben to think outside the box. He makes demands and threatens and at first Torben gives in. He fires an economist because her realistic message does not fit in the positive message which the managers wants to carte. He describes the woman as a Pakistani prophet of doom. He is told he must present the sacking to the team has his idea and he repeats the description to the horror of the team. He then has to face a complaint from staff about his language which only add to the criticism of his boss.

Later he stands his ground in front of his colleagues earning their respect but getting in effect a final warning and later still the manager appears to climb down over a belief that the midday news should be cut. He had already agreed that the evening news should have content aims just at women and the later news at men. There had been indications that the news Editor Pia was attracted to him and his stand had changed attraction into reveal her interest which at fist he considers and then holds back, married with family. Later he responds and haring a noise they assume it was a cleaner but his manager reveals that he has been a witnessed and begins to use to this get his way. Torben‘s wife has visited the station to express concern that he has been spending so much time at the station he has been missing out the attending the school activities of his children

The main emotional story of these episodes concerns Katrine who finds her feelings for Kasper have grown stronger when she sees him asleep with their child, However when visiting his flat to bring medication she had previously forgotten she finds a bra by the bed and realising that Kasper has a girl friend although later he admits he has been seeing a number of women. She reacts by reducing the agreed contact he has with his son. He threatens to go back to court.

Katrine presses for an explanation about why walked out on their living together and he explains that he could not cope wither her role as a mother and as wife. He adds however that their son is the most important thing in his life and he could not think of anyone else he would have wanted to be the boy’s mother which makes her feel good about herself once again.

The episode on prostitution and the talk with sex worker leader has helped her to work through her own feeling about love and sex and she invites in from the station Torben’s boss who had refused on their date. He has called round with the lame excuse of being in the area. The scene closes when it is evident they are gang to have sex. The new balance in her life leads to reconciliation with her mother who reveals to eh daughter something she has never talk anyone before, that when her first born son with under a year of age she had an affair with a neighbour, something she had not told her husband and reveals this because she understands some of the issues which mothers can experience when they begin to cope with the realities the different roles they are expected to maintain.

There is one area where I did find myself sharing some of the criticism the Guardian TV journalist and this is the relationship with Jeremy although in instance it was the fact that Birgitte had accept the roles on major companies. I would have expected her to have been offered and taken a different kind of role, especially after her success as the negotiator of peace between the two sides in the African state. A role within Europe , or the United Nations, some aid organisation would have also seemed more likely for the character that had developed, or the extent to which she appeared to have walked away from political matters and her previous own political/ having said this one feature of smaller parties is the tendency for them to split as one personality with their visions finds difficult to be subordinate with another of a different vision although the public the difference may not appear significant. Such difference exist within parties where factions an division can be just as strong but can usually be contained, although doing so in the contemporary world of 24 hours TV is even more difficult than previously.

I have been able find out that the main story of the episode which did not record and I failed to realise this when I could have recorded again. It is evident that Birgitte did visit her CP and this led to hospital and the diagnosis. She has not disclosed to her ex husband or children and was viewed isolated and alone in hospital learning to face the news.