I awake in a daze having not enjoyed dreams which were nevertheless interesting and which in summary were about loss and failure. I try to work through the bleariness if waking by playing games for the first time since Thursday week. Playing chess was not wise as at one point I nearly pressed the clear button which would have irrevocably wiped out the record of 101 if 300 games level one although I played over 1000 game to achieve a statement of the record having achieved 101 previously and then wiped the slate clear. Now I am at a 45 game winning streak out of a further 500 games at level two, having previously achieved 59 winning games in this total. Although I have only achieved a winning percentage of 26% of games of Hearts it is a greater achievement as unlike chess there is no way to rewind and replay a move or moves to avoid a losing high score or unintentionally playing a disastrous card through lack of concentration or a slip of a finger. There is no way of rewinding time with Hearts as there with chess or the film last night of déjà vu, also the first film viewed in over a week. I have recovered sufficiently from the night of my return home to break for breakfast and commencing the washing of clothes, but as it is Sunday and there will be no postman or anyone else calling I delay personal washing and shaving until this first writing has been completed.
The washing of clothes is done and now in the drier, and I have washed myself. During this I commenced to listen to Desert Island Discs with Richard Ingrams the editor and founder of Private Eye the Satirical magazine which developed into exposures and revelations which led to several libel suits and in one instance an attempt at criminal libel by James Goldsmith. He came from what sounded an upper class family going to Shrewsbury school and University college where he shared tutorials with Robin Butler who became Cabinet Secretary. Between school and university he was unique in failing to get an officer appointment when doing his nationals service and this reinforced his anti authority inclination which perhaps were formed through his father who was distant and who he was afraid of and who he failed to ever get to know through his early death. From Shrewsbury he knew William Willie Rushton with whom he co founder Private Eye which at first was just as satirical magazine and he had a role with the Establishment nightclub formed by Peter Cook. He remains chairman of the magazine although passed the editorship to Ian Hislop in 1986 and then founded the Oldie a humorous lifestyle for the older generation. Her had married a family friend Mary Morgan and their daughter became a drug addict and committed suicide in Brighton in 2004. One of their two their two son was born disabled and died at the age of seven. The other is an artist. The couple separated and divorced after thirty years and he is now living with someone 28 years his junior and her ten year old. He is 70. This was all brought out in the programme and he admitted that it once he handed over the editorship that the media turned its attention to his private life and it could be argued that he who lives by the sword dies by it subsequently. Much of what happens in his life appears to related to the conversion of his mother to Catholicism while his father a Protestant was strongly anti Catholic and the four sons were divided with two becoming Catholic and Richard an Anglican, playing the organ at his local church and patronising the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust with then Archbishop of Canterbury. The constant rebel is always full of contradictions.
There was a nasty unchristian edge to Private Eye although this perhaps was more due to Paul Foot who Ingrams let rip along with Aubron Waugh.The news of the day was resignation of the England Cricket Captaincy by Michael Vaughan followed by Paul Collingwood from the one day side in order to concentrate on his batting. It will be interesting to see who is appointed to replace them in what will be a crucial eighteen months for cricket with the Ashes, the World 20 20 cup and other 20 20 developments. Three members of he cabinet came out in support of the Prime Minister including the chancellor, no surprise there, and Harriet Harman, possibly forced to either speak up of get out, or perhaps fearing her position was being threatened with mounting talk of a challenge from local Member of Parliament David Miliband and of a group of ex Ministers coming up with an alternative policy for Labour to follow to mark their difference from the Conservatives. Would Tony come back if asked I wonder? In the evening I experiences a delightful film, one I had wanted to see in theatre and do not remember why I did not, Miss Potter with the amazing Rennie Zellweger who used make up to make herself plain and speaks in a natural English accent. This is a story to take one's maiden aunt or where three generations can sit together to view without any anxiety. I cannot remember if I knew of her books in my childhood. I remember Rupert Bear rather than Peter Rabbit and I quickly moved to Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Sevens. However Beatrix came to sell more books for young children worldwide than any other and made a fortune which she used for a purpose which outshines her books.The film concentrates on her childhood summer holidays in the Lake District although they also visited Scotland appropriate location for a socially interested family of inherited wealth from the industrial revolution rather than birth and land. Her father trained to be lawyer spent most of his time in London clubs while her mother is drawn as the worst king of social snob who attempted to marry off her daughter to a succession of awful young men with means and position.In many respecting Beatrix was the archetypical woman who liberates herself in the most constructive ways by doing what she likes to do and is good at. She learns to draw and create stories, educated at home by a governess she lacks friends while her normal brother is sent to boarding school. Beatrix also kept pets who she turns into friends with the characters of her family and their social circle. It was when moving to the Lake District that the and the family came to know Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who created the National Trust and who is said to have help form Beatrix becoming an active conservationist fearing the Lake District would be given over to development rather than supporting the agriculture based community.The film does not bring out that at the age of 15 her parents appointed her to run their household, a role she continued until she was 30 and put every obstacle in her way regarding education and intellectual pursuits. She recorded everything that happened in journals which were not decoded until twenty years after her death. While she is known for her drawings and stories of animals. through a relative she developed a serious interest in fungi and algae and she attempted to become a student at the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew but was rejected because she was a woman. She wrote a paper on the germination of spores which had to be presented by a male relative because women were barred from the society in question. She did get to lecture at the London School of Economics in later life. This serious scientific interests is overlooked in the film. She achieved fame through the decision of Fredericke Warne and Co to publish a first edition of 8000 copies of the Tale of Peter Rabbit after 250 copies were privately printed, and by the end of the first year 1902 28000 had been sold. The film suggests that the young of three brothers who like Beatrix was discouraged from entering business was given the task of publishing her work without expectation that he or the book would be a success. It is established that they developed a relationship and at the insistence of her parents became secretly engaged but he died before the relationship was announced in society. Beatrix was devastated by his death and having means of her own she decided to buy Hill Top Farm, a working farm, in the village of Sawrey surrounded by mountains and over looking. The film suggests that she moved permanently to the farm but this was not the case and it was several years before this happened when the relationship with local solicitor William Heelis matured. He was older than Beatrix and according to the film had befriended her on her summer visits in childhood. He had become her adviser in buying up land when it became available to ensure it remained agricultural and was not sold for development. It was after the death of parents that she used their money to buy more farms and tracts of land and she and her husband moved with their menagerie of animals into the village at Castle Cottage when she became known for her grumpy temperament. Although she is known as an author of 23 books for children it is the donation through her will of 4000 acres of land 16 square kilometres gulch included 15 farms to the National Trust and which are now within the Lake District National Park. The headquarters' offices of the National Trust in Swindon are named Heelis in her honour. The film has glorious scenes in the Lake District and Barbara Murray as her mother (Beiderbecke tapes) and Ewan McGregor as her ill fated fiancée with Bill Preston as her father and Emily Watson as the sister of the publisher make up a good cast who play to the story rather than themselves.Earlier I had enjoyed Fog Island the 1945 film in which and who having spent five years in jail during which time his wife is murdered invites a group of people to his home to exact revenge on them. The building is mysterious and threatening with secret passages and the villains are numerous who get their just desserts. Up to this point I was enjoying myself and relaxed but not ready for bed so I looked to see what was showing on TV. I enjoyed the sing off for the last place in Last Choir standing. The judges selected the Bath Men's choir and for one I agreed with their decision making this the only traditional choir of the final six.A campaign by Hampshire's Women's Institute to legalise brothels in the UK was the feature of a documentary on Channel four. The two members who were the driving force behind the campaign, with the help of Channel Four visited brothels in Amsterdam, Nevada and New Zealand to work out the form of organisation to suggest to the government should be adopted in the UK. The motive arose from the murder of five young women in Ipswich, someone's daughters and the feeling hat action should be taken to provide a safe environment with appropriate medical and police support and enable the women to take control of their occupation and lives.The issue is not a simple one. There are religious and moral issues although technically being a prostitute is not a criminal activity. Soliciting is, kerb crawling is an operating an establishment as a brothel is. The programme suggested there was something of the order of 20000 mainly young women, some under sixteen years of age earning their income through prostitution with a large number of others involved in aspects of the sex industry. This number is accord with information given to a national committee on which I served considering the implications of HIV for Drug users some twenty years ago. The majority of the women are drug addicts although a percentage of these are made drug addicts by the criminals and their financial backers and eh over the past decade their has been a major influx of young sex slaves from eastern Europe. Theer will be those who like sex and those who participate on a part time basis, but core this is an industry run by criminals where the women are exploited physically and financially and given little or no protection by society. Perhaps only a national organisation a such as the Women's Institute will over a quarter of million traditionally law abiding and family members has the clout to make a difference.I cannot seethe criminals and their financial backers willingly giving up a business where even where it is legal as in Nevada they pocket 50% of incomes and offer no security and working rights. What interested with the selection of interviews with the public shown throughout the programme is the reasonable and practicality of the British people/. I found myself agreeing with every thing said by the two women WI members and also their colleagues who reacted against one nutty idea promoted by Channel 4. They found Amsterdam brothels sleazy and run by criminals and while the Nevada brothels, one of several that have been licensed appeared better on the surface it was evident that this was a male run industry where the ladies accepted the rules and conditions or did not work and where it appeared substantial earnings were made by some individuals, the reality one suspects is somewhat different. The situation as revealed in the programme in New Zealand appeared very different and positive and it occurred that it was the kind of approach which Beatrix Potter would have taken had this issue interested her than conserving the Lake District with the emphasising on quality of furnishings and environment, on condition of service including the provision of contracts, and on medical and physical safety. However what the programme failed to do was to canvass the views of the customers. While the number of customers per day was high by some contributors it is rather like taxis and the endless queues optimistic drivers that now are a regular sight at railway stations and city centres, with everyone focussed on making the money at weekend night. There are contracted services with the pubic sector and specialist services which appear to do well. Take the figures of 20000 and an average of five customers a day that is 100000 a day spending an average of £100. This amounts to over 30 million customers a year and three billion of untaxed turnover. It is this aspect which might appeal to the government as well as the boast to employment figures. There will always be a large chunk of society who will use prostitutes and sex industry services and just as with everything else there will be different levels and different interests and there is no one solution or remedy much favoured by politicians, criminals, entrepreneurs and moralists. Remember the law of unintended consequences,. My take is to wonder if in fact we have got position just about right in that a lot goes on out of the media spotlight and which does not harm to customers and providers and in some instances does some good with the authorities monitoring and taking an relaxed approached but able to step in when required. Of course there will be casualties but my priority would be on educing he number of those liked and maimed on the roads everyday, those who you see beginning to slowly kill themselves smoking at an early, and on the needs of those and their families who are presently dying and being insured in foreign fields so others can enjoy their jollies. It made a good programme and made many a newspaper story, and generated some discussion which is a good things. But legalised brothels is rather like 20 20 games. It is not cricket or English.
The washing of clothes is done and now in the drier, and I have washed myself. During this I commenced to listen to Desert Island Discs with Richard Ingrams the editor and founder of Private Eye the Satirical magazine which developed into exposures and revelations which led to several libel suits and in one instance an attempt at criminal libel by James Goldsmith. He came from what sounded an upper class family going to Shrewsbury school and University college where he shared tutorials with Robin Butler who became Cabinet Secretary. Between school and university he was unique in failing to get an officer appointment when doing his nationals service and this reinforced his anti authority inclination which perhaps were formed through his father who was distant and who he was afraid of and who he failed to ever get to know through his early death. From Shrewsbury he knew William Willie Rushton with whom he co founder Private Eye which at first was just as satirical magazine and he had a role with the Establishment nightclub formed by Peter Cook. He remains chairman of the magazine although passed the editorship to Ian Hislop in 1986 and then founded the Oldie a humorous lifestyle for the older generation. Her had married a family friend Mary Morgan and their daughter became a drug addict and committed suicide in Brighton in 2004. One of their two their two son was born disabled and died at the age of seven. The other is an artist. The couple separated and divorced after thirty years and he is now living with someone 28 years his junior and her ten year old. He is 70. This was all brought out in the programme and he admitted that it once he handed over the editorship that the media turned its attention to his private life and it could be argued that he who lives by the sword dies by it subsequently. Much of what happens in his life appears to related to the conversion of his mother to Catholicism while his father a Protestant was strongly anti Catholic and the four sons were divided with two becoming Catholic and Richard an Anglican, playing the organ at his local church and patronising the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust with then Archbishop of Canterbury. The constant rebel is always full of contradictions.
There was a nasty unchristian edge to Private Eye although this perhaps was more due to Paul Foot who Ingrams let rip along with Aubron Waugh.The news of the day was resignation of the England Cricket Captaincy by Michael Vaughan followed by Paul Collingwood from the one day side in order to concentrate on his batting. It will be interesting to see who is appointed to replace them in what will be a crucial eighteen months for cricket with the Ashes, the World 20 20 cup and other 20 20 developments. Three members of he cabinet came out in support of the Prime Minister including the chancellor, no surprise there, and Harriet Harman, possibly forced to either speak up of get out, or perhaps fearing her position was being threatened with mounting talk of a challenge from local Member of Parliament David Miliband and of a group of ex Ministers coming up with an alternative policy for Labour to follow to mark their difference from the Conservatives. Would Tony come back if asked I wonder? In the evening I experiences a delightful film, one I had wanted to see in theatre and do not remember why I did not, Miss Potter with the amazing Rennie Zellweger who used make up to make herself plain and speaks in a natural English accent. This is a story to take one's maiden aunt or where three generations can sit together to view without any anxiety. I cannot remember if I knew of her books in my childhood. I remember Rupert Bear rather than Peter Rabbit and I quickly moved to Enid Blyton's Famous Five and Sevens. However Beatrix came to sell more books for young children worldwide than any other and made a fortune which she used for a purpose which outshines her books.The film concentrates on her childhood summer holidays in the Lake District although they also visited Scotland appropriate location for a socially interested family of inherited wealth from the industrial revolution rather than birth and land. Her father trained to be lawyer spent most of his time in London clubs while her mother is drawn as the worst king of social snob who attempted to marry off her daughter to a succession of awful young men with means and position.In many respecting Beatrix was the archetypical woman who liberates herself in the most constructive ways by doing what she likes to do and is good at. She learns to draw and create stories, educated at home by a governess she lacks friends while her normal brother is sent to boarding school. Beatrix also kept pets who she turns into friends with the characters of her family and their social circle. It was when moving to the Lake District that the and the family came to know Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who created the National Trust and who is said to have help form Beatrix becoming an active conservationist fearing the Lake District would be given over to development rather than supporting the agriculture based community.The film does not bring out that at the age of 15 her parents appointed her to run their household, a role she continued until she was 30 and put every obstacle in her way regarding education and intellectual pursuits. She recorded everything that happened in journals which were not decoded until twenty years after her death. While she is known for her drawings and stories of animals. through a relative she developed a serious interest in fungi and algae and she attempted to become a student at the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew but was rejected because she was a woman. She wrote a paper on the germination of spores which had to be presented by a male relative because women were barred from the society in question. She did get to lecture at the London School of Economics in later life. This serious scientific interests is overlooked in the film. She achieved fame through the decision of Fredericke Warne and Co to publish a first edition of 8000 copies of the Tale of Peter Rabbit after 250 copies were privately printed, and by the end of the first year 1902 28000 had been sold. The film suggests that the young of three brothers who like Beatrix was discouraged from entering business was given the task of publishing her work without expectation that he or the book would be a success. It is established that they developed a relationship and at the insistence of her parents became secretly engaged but he died before the relationship was announced in society. Beatrix was devastated by his death and having means of her own she decided to buy Hill Top Farm, a working farm, in the village of Sawrey surrounded by mountains and over looking. The film suggests that she moved permanently to the farm but this was not the case and it was several years before this happened when the relationship with local solicitor William Heelis matured. He was older than Beatrix and according to the film had befriended her on her summer visits in childhood. He had become her adviser in buying up land when it became available to ensure it remained agricultural and was not sold for development. It was after the death of parents that she used their money to buy more farms and tracts of land and she and her husband moved with their menagerie of animals into the village at Castle Cottage when she became known for her grumpy temperament. Although she is known as an author of 23 books for children it is the donation through her will of 4000 acres of land 16 square kilometres gulch included 15 farms to the National Trust and which are now within the Lake District National Park. The headquarters' offices of the National Trust in Swindon are named Heelis in her honour. The film has glorious scenes in the Lake District and Barbara Murray as her mother (Beiderbecke tapes) and Ewan McGregor as her ill fated fiancée with Bill Preston as her father and Emily Watson as the sister of the publisher make up a good cast who play to the story rather than themselves.Earlier I had enjoyed Fog Island the 1945 film in which and who having spent five years in jail during which time his wife is murdered invites a group of people to his home to exact revenge on them. The building is mysterious and threatening with secret passages and the villains are numerous who get their just desserts. Up to this point I was enjoying myself and relaxed but not ready for bed so I looked to see what was showing on TV. I enjoyed the sing off for the last place in Last Choir standing. The judges selected the Bath Men's choir and for one I agreed with their decision making this the only traditional choir of the final six.A campaign by Hampshire's Women's Institute to legalise brothels in the UK was the feature of a documentary on Channel four. The two members who were the driving force behind the campaign, with the help of Channel Four visited brothels in Amsterdam, Nevada and New Zealand to work out the form of organisation to suggest to the government should be adopted in the UK. The motive arose from the murder of five young women in Ipswich, someone's daughters and the feeling hat action should be taken to provide a safe environment with appropriate medical and police support and enable the women to take control of their occupation and lives.The issue is not a simple one. There are religious and moral issues although technically being a prostitute is not a criminal activity. Soliciting is, kerb crawling is an operating an establishment as a brothel is. The programme suggested there was something of the order of 20000 mainly young women, some under sixteen years of age earning their income through prostitution with a large number of others involved in aspects of the sex industry. This number is accord with information given to a national committee on which I served considering the implications of HIV for Drug users some twenty years ago. The majority of the women are drug addicts although a percentage of these are made drug addicts by the criminals and their financial backers and eh over the past decade their has been a major influx of young sex slaves from eastern Europe. Theer will be those who like sex and those who participate on a part time basis, but core this is an industry run by criminals where the women are exploited physically and financially and given little or no protection by society. Perhaps only a national organisation a such as the Women's Institute will over a quarter of million traditionally law abiding and family members has the clout to make a difference.I cannot seethe criminals and their financial backers willingly giving up a business where even where it is legal as in Nevada they pocket 50% of incomes and offer no security and working rights. What interested with the selection of interviews with the public shown throughout the programme is the reasonable and practicality of the British people/. I found myself agreeing with every thing said by the two women WI members and also their colleagues who reacted against one nutty idea promoted by Channel 4. They found Amsterdam brothels sleazy and run by criminals and while the Nevada brothels, one of several that have been licensed appeared better on the surface it was evident that this was a male run industry where the ladies accepted the rules and conditions or did not work and where it appeared substantial earnings were made by some individuals, the reality one suspects is somewhat different. The situation as revealed in the programme in New Zealand appeared very different and positive and it occurred that it was the kind of approach which Beatrix Potter would have taken had this issue interested her than conserving the Lake District with the emphasising on quality of furnishings and environment, on condition of service including the provision of contracts, and on medical and physical safety. However what the programme failed to do was to canvass the views of the customers. While the number of customers per day was high by some contributors it is rather like taxis and the endless queues optimistic drivers that now are a regular sight at railway stations and city centres, with everyone focussed on making the money at weekend night. There are contracted services with the pubic sector and specialist services which appear to do well. Take the figures of 20000 and an average of five customers a day that is 100000 a day spending an average of £100. This amounts to over 30 million customers a year and three billion of untaxed turnover. It is this aspect which might appeal to the government as well as the boast to employment figures. There will always be a large chunk of society who will use prostitutes and sex industry services and just as with everything else there will be different levels and different interests and there is no one solution or remedy much favoured by politicians, criminals, entrepreneurs and moralists. Remember the law of unintended consequences,. My take is to wonder if in fact we have got position just about right in that a lot goes on out of the media spotlight and which does not harm to customers and providers and in some instances does some good with the authorities monitoring and taking an relaxed approached but able to step in when required. Of course there will be casualties but my priority would be on educing he number of those liked and maimed on the roads everyday, those who you see beginning to slowly kill themselves smoking at an early, and on the needs of those and their families who are presently dying and being insured in foreign fields so others can enjoy their jollies. It made a good programme and made many a newspaper story, and generated some discussion which is a good things. But legalised brothels is rather like 20 20 games. It is not cricket or English.
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