2387 President reelected, Free Thinking mistakes and Romanzo Criminale Ends

I commenced to write this at is 8.20 on November 7^th, 2012 a day on which the forces of reaction, bigotry, racism and ultra conservatism was given a bloody nose in the United States in that President Obama was re-elected for a second term of four years mainly because the new voters, many of Latino origin are Democratic. He also did well with female voters incensed by comments and positions taken by Romney and other Republicans during the election period.

This will not see the end of the reaction, bigotry, racism and ultra conservatism and being what it is in the United States of polarization, geographical, religious and ethnic but it should help contain the Tea party movement and force the Republican Party to abandon its hard opposition to social welfare reforms and social welfare development if it wishes to win the Presidency in the future. I am also enjoying the sense of defeat being experienced by the awful Fox Channel and by Rupert Murdoch.

The ongoing battleground will be the economy, the need to reduce the deficit and create more jobs. The miracle of the Obama Victory is that as here in the UK with an extraordinary high level of unemployment, declining real incomes that a significant victory was gained in the electoral college and that he also achieved an overall majority in the total electoral vote. There was some good knock outs of Republican extremists in the elections to the Senate and House of Representatives although the balance of power remains such that if the Republicans chose as they have in the past and will continue to do, they will want to negotiate a high price for any budget and do their best to frustrate any increases in taxation and borrowings to pay for any social welfare development. The threat to universal medial care without ginormous insurance costs has been averted.

Governor Romney is a professional politician whose supporters fought a bitter campaign and he amended what he said according to his audience and his failure will be greeted by people of humanity and good conscience all over the world with the risk of violent intervention overseas reduced as the USA continues to maintain the largest military force the world has seen and which significantly reduces the level unemployment and fuels a capitalist economy. With the removal of the global communist threat and the use of acts of terror by Muslim extremism there is no justification for the maintenance of such an army except in terms of the jobs and capitalist profits. In his speech of thanks to his supporters Romney demonstrated his lack of vision or understanding of the world outside of the USA and his remarks about the UK and Olympics Games alienated any prospect of maintaining the special relationship so I for one sigh with relief and say good riddance.

However it also has to be said that President Obama failed to deliver what he promised during his first term of office, in part because of the economic situation and the tactics of the opposition. He made a great speech after Romney conceded but I groaned with disgust when he pandered to the white males and Racist America proclaiming the nation as the greatest and when he also argued is their army. It is pure unadulterated and dangerous racism to present a nation as the best in the world with echoes of Stalin, Hitler and other demagogues. I can understand and accept that in part he was attempting to offer some succour to the extremists to prevent them taking to backwoods to plan a terrorist revolution. The speech was nevertheless exceptional reminiscent of when he won the Democratic nomination but this time he tempered the rhetoric with a strong dose of realism about the economic and political difficulties which his administration now faced. He appealed directly to the people in a way to subvert and bypass the political strongarmers of the right. What I find interesting is that even allowing for the extent to which he built up a successful organisation across the land and within key states he was able to command sufficient support from the growing middle aged proportion of the population, who can usually be expected to become more conservative and less radial as they age. The last word will go to the people of the state of Florida which Obama may well have taken but even several days late there is no result declared such is the closeness of the voting and the number of ballot sectors to be double checked.

On Monday Night I listened to Michael Ignatieff in his Free Thinking contribution in association with Newcastle University Insights series of Public Lectures on the subject of Them and Us Enemies and Adversaries in Politics. Mr Ignatieff is a Canadian who contributed to Radio 3 for several years before returning to Canada and becoming a professional Politician and Leader of the Liberal Democrats. He experienced as a vicious hate campaign against him as part of the Republic Party initiated against President Obama. As someone intervened after he presented his thesis there was something touchingly naive and aspirational about his perspective on the political process.

I accept that there is a considerable difference between one party and outright dictatorship governments on one hand where there is no freedom of speech or right to political opposition where those who oppose are treated as enemies to be prevented from holding any public position, to be tortured and eliminated if they pose any kind of threat, and the tactics of character assassination, and vote rigging which goes on in most if not all democracies. I also know it is usually only a minority who unable to win an argument turn to foul means to retain or get power. However the proposition that reality democratic politics can turn on rational discussions about the evidence for the need for change or a different approach is dangerous as well as naive. Why should the devil always have the best tunes? I remain a believer that ends never justifies the means and that those who use the sword have a greater chance of dying by the sword than those who keep the peace, although the reality does not always bear this out. However there are rights and wrongs in politics, there is the acceptable and unacceptable and battles do need to be fought and won was well as dangerous opponents defeated.

The second major event of the week from my perspective is the response of David Cameron and Home Secretary May to the issue raised by Tom Watson at PMQ’s about the involvement of a Tory politician with influence at Number 10 involved in crimes against children who were placed at a former Approved School in Wales in the 1970’s and later and which became the subject of two inquiries the Waterhouse judicial Public Inquiry and the Jillings Inquiry into activities in North Wales which was never published because the Insurance company for the local authority warned that Members could become liable for any damages if the report was published. Less than ten individuals were charged and even fewer were convicted yet is it reported that over 1000 statements were taken from young people and the Waterhouse Inquiry did not look at allegations where offences were not committed in Homes or Foster Homes.

A row emerged before the weekend after Paul Schofield on the Today Show attempted to alert the Prime Minister of the names being banded about on the Internet after only a few minutes Google type search, I followed suit and came across one Blog which included pictures of young men bound and gagged together with a long list of well known and else well known names from the political parties covering a wide range of situations and locations. One of those believed to have been included in the list given to the Prime Minister and who appeared on the Blog I noted has now announced he is taking appropriate legal action to protect his position. The former young man who was substantially abuse within his family and then when in care has now explained that the name he mentioned was given to him by a police man who he had provided a folder of photos which had been taken from where they were stored by the member of staff who had taken them. He has now cleared that having seen the photo of the Tory grandee this was not one of the men involved and apologised to the individual and his family. I also understand that rthe Newsnight programme still recovering from not having broadcast the programme on Jimmy Saville a year ago is reported to have intimated or directly disclosed that the person named by the victim who is the force behind recent developments. The BBC Director General will not survive this one.

We are therefore back to the Leveson situation where there is growing concern that the Coalition will be forced not to implement any measure which requires statutory underpinning. The Labour Party is committed to supporting Leveson recommendations while the position of the Coalition remains uncertain. Not withstanding the damage to individuals by being falsely accused there remains many issues which like Hillsborough reveals a failure of authorities which was deliberate and orchestrated for good as well as bad reasons. The Head of the new crime agency is leading an investigation into how the police handled the original investigation as there is also is also a separate look at the Waterhouse Investigation and I assume the unpublished Jillings report and conclusions.

Responding to approach of Mr Scholfield the Prime Minister handled what could have been a difficult situation in exemplary fashion warning that there was a danger of a witch hunt directed toward gay men and women in general. He was right to make the point and the situation is complicated by the fact of sexual relations between consenting males was only reduced from eighteen to sixteen years in 2000 and from 21 to 18 in 1994, however before 1967 any relations of this nature was illegal and men were often sent to prison especially if there was a considerable difference in ages. For heterosexuals until 1875 the age of consent for boys and girls was only 12 when it was raised to 13 and then in 1885 to 16 where it has remained since.

The problem therefore is that between 1967 and 2000 many gay men may have crossed the line with those above 16 but under 21. While some allowance needs to be made now for those who broke the law in the past this does not apply to those who went knowingly with boys aged 15 years and younger. The key issue is also one of consent.

The question of the power of state and the behaviour of the powerful and the linking between the state and criminal organisations and other organisations is one aspect of the engaging 22 episode Romanzo Criminale which came to an end in a double episode this week.

The series has been shown on the Arts Channel this year and is loosely based on the actual gang of young men who came to power through the trafficking of Drugs in Rome after they had kidnapped a senior man who was killed by those paid to look after him and after the ransom had been paid and collected. The kidnap saw the coming together of the two gangs who then used the ransom money to invest in drugs which they distributed through networks on the basis of equal shares and being consulted although the effective Leader became the Libanese the previous head of one gang, with Freddo the head of the other is closest associate and Dandi the third always on his own and looking out for himself before the others.

The gang members had grown up together and in both series there are flashbacks to their past relationship. The series begins with the only surviving members of the gangs with the nickname Bufalo, now an old man being abused by the new generation of gangsters showing him no respect and the series ends with his opening fire on his abusers and the dying in a shoot out with the police.

The series is designed to show that the gang destroyed itself over time but were helped by outside criminal forces that were in league with the Italian Secret Services, politicians and even Papacy through the bank it used and the Secret Society in Italy known as P2, a Masonic type of body. Just as in World War 2 when the USA government and military had done deals with Mafia bosses for help in retaking of Italy from the Fascists, elements in the Catholic Church joined forces with all those opposed to Communism.

The first series ended with the death of Libanese shot by two individuals on a motorbike and much of the second series is concerned with who shot the leader and why, as well as the succession between Freddo, who had until that point decided to leave the gang and crime and go elsewhere with his live in girl friend of two years Roberta who had been the girl friend of his younger brother, both of whom had no idea about his criminal activities before they were disclosed. Freddo is torn with guilt that his decision was a factor leading to the assassination of il Libanese

With the death of Libanese Freddo decides not only to stay but his relationship with Roberta ends because he could only see imprisonment and or a violent fate for himself. In the first series Dandi had grown apart from the rest of the gang because of his attempted cultured lifestyle and his relationship with Patricia, a high class whore who he wants for himself and opens a brothel for her to manage so she is able to keep up the lifestyle to which she has become accustomed without needing clients.

Dandi is also approached by the Mafia who see him as a better front man than Libanese and with their aim of managing the drug trade and other organised crime in Rome at arm’s length. They are instrumental in advising on the need for legitimate businesses which individual members of the gang take up as well as in investing their surplus income through an agent. The gang operate a casino at which they squander a proportion of their huge profits. On character under pressure from his wife and father in law over stretches with the purchasing of a supermarket and other enterprises and ends up losing almost everything after a failed insurance fraud after burning down the store and having to borrow from Dandi to pay off bank loans.,

The group are supplied drugs by the Comorra, the Mafia like organisation based on Naples and the surrounding area. They also had to deal with a group, The Sardinians, led by Sardo(!) who had distributed drugs to a sector of Rome and wanted to take over the rest of Rome controlled by the gang. There was bad blood from the outset and during the first series the gang confronted Sardo, humiliated him and drove him into exile. . The group also had their own Mr Fixit lawyer and a special secure place for the their armoury of weapons which was in the basement of a government building controlled by a security guard who they paid.

Separately in relation to the Montalbano books and TV series I have attempted to understand the complex multi layered police system in Italy where one particular feature is the ability to hold people for long periods in custody without bring them to trial. Individually and collectively the gang are arrested, held in prison but then released as the authorities fail to make charges stick, or because of the corruption and high level political influences

In this series there is one Inspector of similar standing to Montalbano, Commissario Sculoja, and a faithful assistant rather like Fazio. who early on connect the new gang to the kidnapping and to the development of the distribution of drugs throughout Rome without being able to gain the evidence or when the evidence is gained able to make it stick.

The Inspector has two weaknesses in terms of carrying out his job effectively, he has a revolutionary communist inclined sister who he protects and eventually get her out of the country and new life to save her from long term imprisonment. He is therefore branded a Communist lover by his colleagues and viewed with suspicion by those prepared to do anything to prevent a communist led government in Italy.

He also becomes sexually passionate about Patrizia and she sensing his desires uses it for her protection without giving him the kind of information which would destroy Dandi and the rest of the gang.

At one point the Inspector decides to put pressure on Il Freddo by arresting his brother who has turned to hard drugs and eventually persuades the young man to wear a wire to trap his brother rather than return to jail where there has been evidence that his life is under threat. When Freddo discovers this treachery he refuses to have any further contact with his younger brother.

The secret authorities decided that it would be helpful to put the blame for the death of Libanese on two brothers (Gemito) and Freddo knifes one to death but the other initially escapes in a shoot out which also involves the police. Dandi who is responsible for the getaway car funks it and drives away on his own create a bitter enemy from one of the two others who manages to escape. Eventually he confronts Dandi after Freddo refused to intervene but Dandi gains the upper hand and the man is also captured and put on trial. One of the criminals avoided long sentences was to plead insanity which gets them to a hospital from which they are cured and released after a couple of years. Freddo buys a helpful psychiatrist for his man but he is murdered on the orders of the Mafia before he can give the necessary testimony so both members of the gang are sentenced to a score of years for the attempted murder and wounding of police officers. The surviving brother is also assassinated when the authorities do not want the truth of the killings to come to the attention of the gang.

Commissario Sculoja decides that progress can be made through a raid and the arrests of Patrizia for her brothel. The raid uncovers the secret service filming a politician for blackmail. Unfortunately the politician is able to get the girl involved to change her story and say that she arranged the film at the request of the client which meant it remains his property and cannot used in evidence. This leaves Patrizia in the frame and when the Mafia advise Dandi to drop her and get an appropriate women he does not visit her in jail.

The death of il Libanese and the decision of il Freddo to leave the gang creates a situation of uncertainty among the remaining members who begin to look to their own interests as well as others as well as provoking take over interest from others. Sardo the leader of the Sardinians returns determined to settle his score with Dandi and il Freddo and take control of the whole of Rome and not just their sector. He creates a situation where Dandi is captured and persuaded that the solution is to kill Freddo who he persuades to attend a meeting. He devises a plan with the help of the rest of the gang that results in the death of Sardo and his men and Freddo is indebted to him.

Freddo is then captured by the Comorra who supplied Sardo and the Roman group with Cocaine, doubling their take. They want to know who killed Sardo and give Dandi a timed ultimatum. He again save Il Freddo by offering instead the man who actually killed Libanese, arranged by the Mafia as part of their helping Dandi to become the King of Rome. They say they will leave to him how he deals with Freddo. Dandi does not disclose to the rest of the gang that the knows the Gemito brothers did not kill Libanese. However the information comes to the Inspector after Patrizia is incensed at being abandoned in prison by Dandi and faces charges of brothels keeping. The Inspector decides this will serves no useful purpose and frees her. She rewards him by taking him to her bed and revealing the gun store.

Unfortunately the security guard who initially identifies the gang members is leaned on and withdraws his evidence. The gang appear to escape again however one of the weapons is identified as being that used in an assassination elsewhere and in the death of Libanese, The police therefore know that the weapon could not have been put back by the brothers blamed for the death and was the responsibility of someone else with access to the store. This is the man who is sacrificed by Dandi to free Il Freddo.

Freddo then finds that his rejected brother had been sold a bad doze of drugs and is in hospital in a coma so he wants to know who is responsible and then finds out the drugs were not those sold by the gang which reveals that someone is selling additional drugs from another source. He makes the mistake of going for someone who is the weakest of a trio led by one of the Buffoni brothers who he kills which is accepted by Dandy but not by the other brother.

The man who was beaten gives up the gang to the authorities and there is a great trial with much behind the scene fixing by Dandi with his Mafia connections and buying of judges

Freddo who is defended by his former girl friend in relation to the murder of the first Gemito brother is nevertheless convicted but arranges to be given a serious illness which gets him to hospital and from which he is able to escape when he recovers and goes abroad but without the girl friend who elects to stay. He has discovered that Dandi knew that the Gemito brothers had not killed Libanese and appreciates that the man has become the new king of Rome.

Dandi also walks free via the Mafia and bribing of judges and those working within the prison. He announces he can bring one of the others out with him and leaves this for them to settle, However although one wins a lottery it is another who is found not guilty and released. Dandi also does a deal with the already convicted gang member in relation to the Gemito attempted killing and wounding of police officers and who threatened to kill him for abandoning them at the scene of the crime. Dandi fixes for this man to move to a psychiatric hospital from which he is discharged a couple of years later.

The third man of the trio double crossing the rest of the gang turns out to be their investment manager but he survives promising to make Dandi even richer and returning all the additional profit which he had obtained

Dandi was upset that Patrizia had left Rome and tracks her down via her gay friend and assistant to running a small flower shop. At first is looks as she resists a return but then decides she wants the life that he and provide and returns. They get married without inviting the gang although Dandi invites the police inspector and then presents him with a piece of their wedding cake. The Inspector is shattered by the development and attempts to kill Dandi who decides the man will live but had him beaten up to the extent that he is disabled for life. He loses his position and is moved to job in customs immigration.

There is a passage of time of at least a decade and Dandi has become a very wealthy man to an extent he is paying for the restoration of a church but when the priest refuses to allow him to build a tomb within the church he arranges for the priest to be moved to Africa as a missionary. When he married Patrizia he insisted that her gay friend gets out of her life and it is the inspector who lets her know that the man is dying in hospital, not stated but appears to be from Aids. Patrizia arrives too late to say goodbye and in retaliation she destroys Dandi’s new purchase of collection of Ming vases worth more than the cost of his large well furnished home. He hits her and then orders the maid to pack up the pieces and return them to the seller claiming they were broken in transit and demanding the money back.

The Buffoni brother is released from prison and assisted by one of him others they go for Dandi and seek revenge on Freddo by killing his young brother. They are killed in turn.

Freddo determines to return to Rome but before he does so he is visited by the Police Inspector who has been alerted and tries to strike a deal in which Freddo can return without having to serve the remainder of his sentence on the basis he gives up Dandi. He declines set on revenge on his own terms.

This is the point to introduce someone I think with the name of Donetella orso something similar although I have been unable to find a record of her as a charcater despite the fact that she appears throughout the second series. She starts as a minor drug dealer within gang but for services rendered she is rewarded and made up to controlling the district previously operated by Libanese alienating the rest of the gang, in part because she is a woman and not of part of the original group but mainly because under the original agreement they feel they should all share in from Lebanese’s former territory. The price of using the gang to take out Sardo and gain his territory is that Freddo has to drop the girl and although he offers her the management of his territory she departs in a huff

When the gun store is discovered and the gang are all arrested on the witness statement of the security guard Dandi uses Donnetella to put the frightners on him through his young son so that the man withdraws his evidence. She is now recognised by Dandi and reinstated within the gang and is given as a present to Freddo when he is rescued from the Comorra. It is Donnetella who arranges for Freddo to be given the illness which gets him into hospital and out of the country and it is the young woman who advises him of the death of his younger brother and for his return to Rome. They have had a torrid sexual relationship and there is also the possibility she had is also used by Dandi who appears to control what she does.

It is now that she and Patrizia join forces with the help of the dwindling group’s financial man. They have all their grievances against Dandi. First Dand is assassinated during a visit to antique and fine art shops in the capital. Freddo had discovered that his former girl friend is happy with a child, presumably also happily married and he does not make contact after observing her in the park with her child. He makes contact with the Inspector after dealing with the killer of his brother. However he is also assassinated before he can meet with the former Inspector. It is Donnetella and Patrizia who are part of the new order of power and with everyone else killed in one situation or another it leaves only Bufalo, and as stated he dies in a shoot out with the police.

There is one other twist. The conclusion occurs at the time of the coming down of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism in the former Iron Curtain countries in Europe. The consequence us that those in the Secret Services, the Justice system and in politics need to shift their focus. The man who thwarted the inspector at every turn now approaches him with the offer of preparing him as his successor, someone with principles and in tune with the times. At first the Inspector is horrified but with the deaths of Dandi and Freddo and the elimination of the gang with the exception at that point of Bufalo he accept the invitation. We the audience are left to speculate about the possible relationship with the widow Patrizia and what that will mean for his ethical and principled approaching to policing.

2386 Montalbano and Downton Abbey on Sunday Nov 4th 2012 and only a little Artman work

The latest episodes of Montalbano, the Potter’s Field, ranks among the best if not the best although I was confused during the performance because of the inclusion of a scene taken directly from the Snack Thief. In the Snack Thief Salvo goes to stay at a restaurant Inn for a few days avoiding visiting the hospital where his father is dying. There he meets an academic teacher of philosophy who like him insists on eating in silence so they can enjoy the meal which includes pasta with crab meat and a sublime second dish which in the book they consider the various herbs and other contents as a miracle. They talk of the background of the chef who reveals he was a petty criminal who was visited by the Virgin Mary. There is an important conversation between Salvo and the Academic about their tendency to run away from unpleasantness.

In the Potter Field, the deputy Mimi is being a pain in the backside driving Catarella, the front desk man and series clown, to tears, and annoying everyone at the station to an extent that Fazio, the faithful and trusted Inspector assistant reveals to Salvo that they have considered making a formal complaint via their Federation. Salvo speculates that Mimi is having an affair because one point his wife Beba chastises the Inspector for keeping the Inspector out at all hours at night and Salvo covers for the what he believes is the errant husband by apologising for his actions.

The episode begins similarly to the last with Salvo having a nightmare while the rain teams down outside. On this occasion the nightmare consists of a mafia politician insisting that Montalbano takes a job in the new government is forming and Catarella comes in and says he will shoot Salvo if he agreed to the request and both men then start to shoot the Inspector at which point he wakes up because Catarella is at the door, Montalbano having switched off his phone.

They drive to what is a very muddy place where the rain appears to have brought to the surface a body which has disappeared again by the time Salvo arrives to join his deputy and Fazio who have been sheltering from the rain. Catarella, who has already slipped down an embankment, discovers the body when he slips again into a small clump of shrubs. To say body is not strictly accurate because the bag contains thirty body parts and the face and finger tips have been obliterated to make identification as difficult as possible. The death is believed to have occurred by a single shot to the head about two months before.

On the journey Catarella rehearses his part in a passion play as Judas. Thirty pieces of silver... Get the connection!!!!!! And alter Salvo watches Catarella in his performance and again as with his taking on board electronic communication and coming top of the class he is excellent in his performance and draws applause, Italian style for the watch crowd. Catarella is his own worst enemy, something which I know all too well.

A beautiful young wife arrives at the station insisting seductively for the help of Montalbano to locate her husband, a ships officer from whom she has had no contact and where she has received a postcard which arouses her suspicions because the handwriting is different from others previously received. She is flirtatious to an extent which concerns Fazio knowing the propensity of his boss to get involved with beautiful young women while conducting a long distant relationship with his long term woman friend Livia who lives and works in Genoa

Before the visit from the officer’s wife Salvo received a report from a passer by of witnessing what appeared to be an attempt to hit a run the same young woman. He has only got a couple of the letters of the car index but later after seeing the same vehicle he notes down the index and provides this to Salvo.

The young woman explains that because of the brevity of her husband’s stays ashore they have rented a small apartment by the docks so they can spend all the time together. At first Salvo dismisses the woman’s concern suggesting that her husband has run off with someone but the woman shows him an intimate and passionate letter. Having been given the key to the apartment Salvo arranges for the local police to visit and they report indications different from what the wife has stated. They fax pictures which show that two people had been drinking beer, the place is in a mess and the man’s trousers, those which he was supposed to be wearing when he left to board his ship are still in the flat. Moreover the shipping line confirms the husband never arrived for the journey. The evidence appears to confirm that the man in the Potters Field is the husband and the woman goes into mourning.

She innocently reveals something which Salvo and the team have already found out that that the husband was a ward of a Crime Family. The anti Mafia squad have received an anonymous letter claiming that the boss of the Family, a very old man who has a good relationship with Salvo in that he is willing to help to prevent further violence as the end of his life approaches, was personally responsible for the death of the missing man because of some slight. However when the anti mafia squad investigate they find that the boss has been in a coma and is dying. Salvo visits and a lieutenant reveals that the man is concerned about the allegation given that several decades before he had believed that an agent in Columbia was a traitor and had him executed chopping up the body in thirty pieces as a warning to others. Finding that he was wrong he had “adopted” the boy, providing for his education which had led him to become an officer in the merchant navy, and he married in Columbia and settled in Sicily with the financial help of the family but where the man was not involved in any aspect of the criminal businesses.

Oddly some cocaine powder was found in a shoe box at the flat. When Salvo visits the flat he finds a neighbour who has antipathy to anyone from the republican government as she is a monarchist which Salvo also pretends so she he talks to him in a way she has not talked to others disclosing that she had found a syringe half full of blood in the waste bin which when Salvo checks is spotless clean but looks red rusty at the base. There are traces of dried blood in the shower which tests confirm are those of dead man and missing husband. Amazingly it takes time for Salvo to find out that the bins have an inner film against rusting and the marks are also of dried blood the same as found inside the flat.

When Salvo then finds that the index number of the car seen to have attempted to hit and run the young wife now widow is that of his Deputy Mimi, he is able to piece the mystery together and begins to acquaint Fazio with his understanding and plan. The final piece is to arrange for a letter to be sent in an older woman’s handwriting, he gets his housekeeper to write out in her hand a letter in effect demanding money because the writer has the syringe and the letter is posted from where the flat is located so the trap is sprung,

I had worked out the core plot very early on when despite what the young woman said about the relationship with her husband, Fazio reported that there was very little contact between the two because the man was constantly at sea and the implications was that she found ways to be entertained in the meantime with the latest the local butcher although there appeared to have been a cooling off over the past two months when she appeared to have moved on to someone else. Salvo takes a look at the butcher to confirm his suspicion that that she had decided to get the butcher to kill her husband and try and frame the Mafia boss because she disliked the new sexual interests of her husband, no doubt because of his experiences in foreign shores. She had lured the husband to the butcher’s shop where he had been shot in the head and then his body chopped up in the same way as his father having learned about the death from her husband and the association with the Crime Family. She had taken a syringe of his blood together with his trousers to the flat together with the cocaine to make it look as if the husband had returned there, met someone and been killed. She had made the mistake of throwing away the syringe in the trash can. In order to complete the perfect crime she had sent the anonymous letter and then set about meeting and seducing Mimi known for his weakness and which was why she had also asked Mimi to take charge of the investigation and why he had become so upset when Salvo took the case on after first saying he would leave it to his deputy.

This is where the humanity and loyalty to his colleagues comes to the fore. First he gives Mimi control of the case much to the horror of Fazio before going off for his visit to the gourmet restaurant hotel. Then on the day he plans to arrest the widow and murdering conspirator butcher he gets Fazio to ensure that Mimi is kept busy out of the way. When he calls Mimi into his office to say he has arrested the woman with her lover and she has confessed, Mimi collapses realising that his world of home and work is about to collapse not realising that Salvo has been organising things in such a way that nothing of his own involvement in the cover up or Mimi’s indiscretions will come to the fore. The episode ends with Mimi giving Salvo a great hug as he goes off on a holiday with his wife and son.

　

Before waking on Sunday morning November 4^th I had decided to stay home because all the BBC Free Thinking Programmes that I would have experienced if I had stayed on Saturday or attended on the Sunday at the Sage are to be broadcast over the coming two weeks. I also decided to watch the Newcastle at Liverpool game on 3D TV in the comfort of home where I could turn off if things went badly rather than view in Newcastle with others after the final programme for which I had booked tickets.

I was up in good time for the Andrew Marr Show but my interest was engaged with items on the Huffington Post. Newsnight is engaged in a further programme about the Waterhouse Inquiry in North Wales some twenty years ago which featured allegation of sex abuse involving a North Wales Approved School and which was restricted to abuse in the home rather like the Hillsborough case but where one complainant alleged he had been taken to a hotel to be abused including by a well known Tory part of the Thatcher government and which is the allegation which Labour.

By coincidence I came across my copy of the Waterhouse Inquiry yesterday when collecting more papers for processing as part of the Artman 101 project and which interacted with allegations made to me by someone investigating the same subject in the North East. My only surprise is that it has taken the Jimmy Saville revelations to begin the process of finding the truth about allegations and rumours put to me more than twenty years ago and which now go back over a fifty year period. It is of interest that David Dimbleby is alleged to have expressed concerned about the breadth of the Witch hunt now going on at the BBC.

In contrast the Welsh Assembly is setting up its investigation as is David Cameron in relation to the Tory Party where he is reported to wanting to be kept closely informed of developments. He is separately under fire with the release of some of the email between him and Brooks and Coulson, allegedly made to the Leveson Inquiry but not published and where the Labour Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister Chris Bryant has been pressing Cameron for their release and posing questions to the Speaker about the PM’s refusal to give clear answers and presumably to agree to release the communications.

I did not enjoy Newcastle Game against Liverpool where the home side appeared determined to gain their second home win of the season and should have done so. However against the run of play there was great move as the first half ended and Cabaye struck a goal which had Wayne Rooney Tweeting his appreciation. I missed the equaliser and then Newcastle had a player sent off fro the intent of committing a foul although the foul was not committed which seemed hard. Both sides had the opportunity win the game but failed. Later I watched the two of the games in the first round of the FA Cup which included one upset and with two games cancelled because of the bad weather down south.

There was an amazing item in the Antiques Road show which I only saw part off from one of the Pacific Items and use originally to cave in he heads of enemies this was a long hand carved item which a daughter and her friend brought in for her father and which the expert said was unique and the best example he had ever seen if placed on one of the great auction houses in Paris or New York he thought would fetch £30000 plus.

The third season of Downton Abbey came to end with pleasantries all round so I am not sure where to begin.

The former kitchen housemaid who became pregnant by a visiting officer recuperating and who walked away and who then gave up her child to the paternal grandparents after prostituting herself to survive agreed to look at the replies to the adverts placed without her knowing by the Dowager via one of her daughters who is supporting the decision for the young woman to write a regular column. The maid likes one of the replies which is too close to where the grand parents live. I forget who went to visit the grandparents but the grand mothers arrives to say she had her husband have no objection tot he move which will enable her to keep in contact with her son posing as his former nanny and where the decision to tell the truth will come later after he has settled and put her past life behind her.

His lordship is still hostile to the pace and nature of the change proposed by the official heir Matthew and the Catholic son in law now widower who has become the land steward or manager for Matthew. The man shows his basic common sense when he tells his Lordship that they need his skills and experience with the tenants and the tradition which they lack and this bring his Lordship round when the young man agrees to play in the cricket match after taking some lessons from Matthew. He also makes her ladyship happy when declaring that he would like to remain in the household so that his son can be brought up in the environment and he can participate in his growing up.

The family are asked to look after an eighteen year relative who manages to get back to London when the unmarried daughter goes to see the editor accompanied by Mathew on a visit in relation to the future of the estate. The girl is found out to be having an affair with a married man and Mathew agrees not to disclose the visit to her parents if she agrees to return quietly to the estate. She is subsequently sent off to Scotland although I anticipate we shall see more of her in a future series.

The would be journalist has written an article about the plight of the returning soldiers and I suspect the next series storyline will see her involved with the Suffragette movement. The editor pays compliments and asks her to dinner where fortunately she is already committed to a family meal at the London House, She arranges for a background check only to find that he is married and therefore she cannot write for him further. He explains that is wife has been committed to an asylum and according to current law he is unable to obtain a divorce which also raises possible future storyline.

Mathew and his wife are concerned about her failure to become pregnant He thinks it is him but she reveals she had has a small operation in secret which should solve the problem so all is well on that front.

The main story is however what to do about Thomas now that Bates has returned and he has been caught approaching the latest footman who unintentionally appeared encourage him to make advances. He wants to let the matter drop when Thomas is allowed to leave quietly with references but the dreadful lady’s maid to her ladyship and once in cahoots with him persuades the new man to insist that Thomas leaves without references or he will tell the police. It is Bates who persuades Thomas to reveal something on the woman which will enable him to force her to persuade the course of action to be dropped. He invites her to tea, makes the demand and whispers to her “her ladyship’s soap” something which Bates and his wife do not understand but the audience of the first series do. However when this works it is the other footman who calls in the police because it Thomas who has been dropping him in it from time to time. His Lordship has to persuade the young man to say he was mistaken when the police call at the cricket match to take Thomas off. Technically the new job places Thomas over Bates in the Understairs pecking order which Bates and his wife realises are something of a disaster and storing up trouble for the future series and also perhaps the Christmas special. What is interesting is the Housekeeper and his Lordship are sanguine about Thomas being a homosexual with his Lordship commenting about life at Eton Only the Butler is horrified by all that he is learning.

2385 Radio 3 at the Sage and Newcastle Walkabout 4th November 2012

Saturday November 3^rd 2012 will not be remembered as the day itself but because of events that occurred, a BBC radio broadcast at the Sage Gateshead, a Newcastle Walkabout in warm afternoon sunshine and the most engaging of the Montalbano episodes throughout the two series this year.

The day commenced with uncertainty about what I should take with me and how long I would remain out. I had debated baking a baguette for salami and olives for lunches as I had only a few minutes between two planned events at midday. I decided against taking a bag with me although did put a small umbrella in my coat together with the ticket information and a notebook. I also failed to provide myself with as much time as appropriate after deciding on a little Wii exercise of some 15 minutes as it felt cold and indeed I had to zip up the double layered black Winter’s coat. I must make sure I have a woolly hat to hand.

It was just before 10.30 when I arrived at the Gateshead Metro Interchange station and I lost several minutes trying to find out the bus and stand for the Sage missing one and with close to 20 minutes for the next bus, twice the advertised every ten minutes painted on the side of some of the buses I decided to walk, a good decision. I went passed the new shopping development being created on the Get Carter Car park site and then the old Town Hall building which was used for the Tyneside Film Theatre while that was we being extended and refurbished, and then across a succession of pedestrian crossings to get to the entrance of the concert halls.

Since my last visit to the Sage there has been a major change with the ending of the splendid music listening library and Internet centre provided by Gateshead Leisure. This is now a second cafeteria restaurant. There has also been a major switching around with the ticket office outside Hall 2 and a shop outside Hall one. The cafeteria and the Brassiere are where they were. I had time for a coffee at £1.50 after collecting my tickets from the special BBC Free Thinking weekend desk. There was a separate bookstall related to the weekend speakers as well as a couple of screens showing one of the events already in progress. I had started the journey frustrated because I had brought a notebook but left a pen and was horrified at being asked to £2 for a Sage product, later when I purchased a pack of six pens for 99 pence at Rymans I found I had left the notebook at the Sage and ended up writing the notes on the way home on the back of the leaflet info about the event I had experienced.

The first recording of the morning was by Charlotte Blease a new Generation thinker providing a fifteen minute talk about the real nature of General Practice and medical diagnosis in general. She identified that there were a number of problems including those symptoms identified could match more than one problem and that the diagnostician was dependent to a great extent on what the patient was able to explain. My own experience is that without keeping records it is often difficult to remember when a change was noted or that a change occurs in such a way to suggest it needs to be reported or is considered part of the aging process or other natural imbalances which occur from time to time.

The talk was not an attack on medical practice being made but an attempt to place medical diagnosis in perspective. A current example is that even with a proven screening technique such as for breast cancer which is estimated to save 3000 to 4000 lives a year, for every one individual prescribed treatment a number were found not to have required it because what was detected did not lead to a malignant tumour yet without early detection women died unnecessarily.

There was no time for a comfort break between this talk and the first two major events with a panel approach to Rewriting History which was undertaken recently by Andrew Marr with his series on the history of human kind and which he reminded was part of a legacy with Bronowski The Ascent of Man. James Burke’s Connection and a series on Civilization which concentrated on the European cultures in the days of early Television. Anthony Beever is a leading military Historian who is completing or has completed a history of World War II from the World perspective which could argue that the World War commenced prior to 1939 with the Japanese attack and colonization of China. One memorable point made was that for 200 years Japan closed its borders and concentrated on it own development in terms of feeding its people and political and social government playing no part in the rest of the world, trading, politics, economics and this strengthened and led to self sufficiency. The third speaker Maria Misra was a Modern Historian whose primary subject was India while the chair for the session Rana Mitter background was Chinese History. What struck and a point briefly made later in the discussion is that the study of human kind is not the same as the study of the earth planet and that environmental changes, a la Hurricane superstorm Sandy can have more devastating consequences than the great wars, earthquakes, famines and floods etc against national and civil wars.

My point and one not made in the discussion is that given the potential mismatch between resources and population growth it can be argue that major disasters and wars are a way of stopping the population becoming too great for the planet‘s resources to sustain and that war also has proved to be a period of innovation and the rebuilding also becomes a time for economic growth as happened post second world war in Japan and Germany in particular.

Marr said that his work was leading up to the choice facing mankind was blowing themselves up or destroying the planet environmentally, or working towards the conquest of space and the unlimited possibilities and opportunities of that but also the threats given that the overwhelming populations of the Americas was destroyed by the importing of old world illnesses rather than through aggressive conquest. He said he was optimistic. I am not remembering the Ice Age and what happened to the indigenous Americans and is happening to the Africans.

I had to leave the discussion briefly when I knew I was going to have coughing fit so went out of some bottled water at an outrageous £1.60. Does anyone learn from History? Is there anything to learn? Karl Marx attempted to predict from selected historical events and circumstances while Hitler was enamoured by the ability of the British go control their empire was so few troops.

There was only 20 minutes before needing to queue for a good seat for the second discussion on Is Social Mobility overrated? There as time for a comfort visit and some sea salt and black pepper crisps 90p bring the total expenditure for the three events only £6.25 (I bought a ham and Cheese baguette from the Quayside Greggs on my walkabout),

The panel this time included the Guardian Polly Toynbee whose background includes the creator of Toynbee Hall in the East end of London always left of centre and currently President of the British Humanist Society and Treasurer of the Fabian Society. Lawrence Goldman is an Oxford Historian. The two other speakers were an obnoxious management consultant originally from New Zealand and a rational and practical woman from the North East who represented all types of schools in the region.

This was the least successful of the three events I attended. The problem was the vastly different perspectives, personalities and lifestyles on the panel looking at the problem from both of the telescope. On one hand the management consultant appeared to believe that individuals should be left to cope with their nature and nurture without state intervention and everything should be privatised and that it was in the natural order of things to be poor and the rich and for some people to move or down according to the decisions taken and the time and circumstances of their lives, while Toynbee appeared to believe that everyone should be able to achieve the best from their innate and acquired activities and the state should intervene to ensure an equality of opportunity.

I thought a better construction to the programme would have been to consider the extent which we are a class ridden society and its consequences or an examination of the obstacles to providing an equality of opportunity. The basic of living will always be food, warmth and shelter with work part of it and income associated with work a major factor. Education is good in itself but is usually associated with furthering opportunity while the arts and culture are and expression of what people feel about their lives and their society. Do I really want to encourage people to make more money that they need and then misuse their power or become aggressive and violent and social mobility is usually associated with people getting power and wealth to do what they want without regard to their obligations and duties to each other their families neighbourhood and communities.

The discussion on the day appeared to fix on Education while the current big issue is employment where capitalism and international capitalism are the governing factors together with the problem of allowing hordes in from European countries to come and work the jobs on low pay, mainly service and also other manual this creating an inter generational underclass. The third is shelter was not touched in the discussion.

　

I then had two hours before the fourth session and the decision then to queue for the Kate Addie session in the early evening. The sun was shining brightly and when I went outside it was warm so I walked down the various flights of steps to the Quayside and across the Millennium Bridge looking for sandwich as by then I was famished and along the on the opposite bank there was a Greggs where for £2.25 I enjoyed the ham and cheese baguette. I then made way up Dean Street where on the left a discrete blanked ground flood just disclosed the Blue Velvet which the Internet revealed an expensive drinks Gentleman‘s Club. Later I passed Sinners close to the Gate which appears to be an expensive an expensive bar favoured by students and which shows that names can mislead.

Back in Dean Street I noted that the Marco Polo, a favoured Italian with early evening pasta/pizza meal deals about ten years ago, has had an up market make over with a pan attractive and stylist front and a new side entrance. I do not remember a central staircase or use of the top floor but as it is a several years since visiting I cannot be certain of the extent of the changes inside. I cross over to the Bigg Market where another Italian haunt with offered a three course happy hour meal for £5 possibly £6 but no more and is now a Greek restaurant. In a side alleyway I discovered Grey’s Club; a night club which according to the Newcastle Chronicle was closed for a month for a half a million make over with a large bar area as well as cubicles for couple and small groups.

It was on this walkabout that I also spotted a barber with reasonable pricing and few customers so I stopped for a cut at £6.50 plus 50p tip. On the way to the Gate to see what football was showing I passed the entrance to Idols where on match days young women tout young men for this well known bar with a reputation for cleavage showing bar maids, and bouncers with a reputation to stand no nonsense? I had a look in the Gate where Swansea’s game was showing in the bar at the far end close to the entrance to the Casino and Newcastle at Liverpool was being advertised for Sunday Tea Time. I then crossed over to Dagenham’s in the Eldon square extension in search for an inexpensive biro pen (as mentioned purchased at Rymans in pack of 6 for 99p) when I noted some interesting CD and DVD pack including four on the 40,50,60’s newsreels plus one Musical Halls. I also had a look in the Apple store which was crowded l with people using the equipment but not a price in sight.

There was still time to catch a bus back to the Quayside but as the evening commenced to draw in and the temperature drop I changed my mind and went home to an evening meal of Pizza and grapes.

I was not in a mood or condition to complete the exercise knowing that having only 15 minuets earlier but sufficient to keep up the overall average of 30 mins a day. In the evening I watched Strictly Come Dancing while doing some 101 Artman work and then Merlin. I was looking forward to Montalbano which I started but soon found that I was dozing off and decided to go to bed and leave for the morning. No sooner was I in bed that a firework display kicked off somewhere close and could I then get back to sleep? I was down again at around 11.30 staying until 2 am but had a good sleep including four hour period from four until eight. It was a good decision to leave the Montalbano which proved the best of the 15 episodes to date and I will buy the book when it becomes available but also try and explain why tomorrow.

2384 Artman 101 day 2nd Nov 2012, Jonathan and Charlotte and two films separated by 60 years

I had to decide whether to write as I am doing or finish the processing of another thirty completed Artman 102 sets tonight. It was 22.25 on November 2^nd 2012 when I commenced to write. The day had passed well although I had thought I would be visiting Newcastle in the afternoon and perhaps evening as the first part of a weekend of programmes organised by the BBC Radio three channel at the Sage Concert halls, Gateshead in a weekend with the title Free Thinking. The programmes are mainly broadcast at 10 pm so the majority are to be recorded, edited and then broadcast over the next three weeks. I discovered that the two performances today were intended for young adults. The performances are free but unreserved with seating or standing depending on the time of arrival. I therefore missed the opportunity to queue for the appearance of Mary Robinson, former President of Eire and whose programme was going out later in the evening.

While I wrote these notes I listened to Smooth Classics on Classic FM as background. I considered baking a baguette for lunch today as well as undertaking the washing up. In the event I did the washing up and put off the baguette bake.

The Artman work has involved cards received for Christmas, birthdays and other events received over the past forty years and kept. There are more for recent years which I have put somewhere and need to find before this part of the project can be completed.

I am a few days away from a visit to the Consultant re Sleep Apnoea and although I reached a 30 day average of 7.5 hours it has remained over 7 at 7.3 which I need to keep up for the visit and 1.5 hours more a night than the last visit four months ago. I also completed the 10 day of Wii activity whereas I thought this had been reached yesterday. The outcome is that I am averaging over 30 mins a day and continue to look forward to session to the extent that I will attempt to undertake before going out tomorrow morning.

I watched a documentary at 9pm about Jonathan and Charlotte the sixteen and seventeen years olds who came second in the Britain’s Got Talent competition last year won by the performing Dog! Jonathan is a trained classical tenor with the potential to become a major opera star if he goes into serious and prolonged training. The programme featured him being assessed by the man who worked with Pavarotti on a visit to Italy and also the singer behind from Pop Star to Opera Singer who is now based in Paris as well as making an appearance in a show at Monte Carlo.

The reality is while the novelty of them appearing on the show and having great audience exposure, being young and ill matched pair in terms of appearances they need to plan for separate lives together the young woman as a performer in musicals and Jonathan as a major opera talent. He suffered from bullying and nerves at school was a depressed young man which accounts for over eating and his size. Charlotte is normal as part of a household with a brother and two young sisters whose parents appear to have their feat firmly on the ground. I cannot see the duo lasting beyond this album perhaps another., Their first only reach the top five in the classical list and while a meeting with their management talked in terms of a major tour of sixteen dates what I have seen so far indicates only half a dozen concerts spread over ten days and none north of Birmingham which is a great disappointment. I subsequent learned that Mr Cowell has organised a launch of their record in the USA and Canada which could significantly change what I have aid especially he extends further to the Southern Continent and these promotions involves media tours and concerts,

I watched two films on TV. The first Haywire required close attention to grasp the plot as it intermeshed the present time with the past. A young martial arts assassin works for the government as part of an independent group and participates in what is alleged to be the freeing of a hostage held by a group in Barcelona. The task appears to go well and she returns to her home for R and R only to be immediately contacted and asked to play the wife for a couple days in Dublin assisting an MI6 agent. Although the task appears to go well she senses something is wrong and discovers that her partner has made it look as if she has killed the man he has come to eliminate leaving evidence of her alleged crime. In the hotel the partner attempts to kill her but she reverses the tables as kills him. When she answers his phone it is her boss (played by Ewan McGregor) asking if the task has been completed She goes on the run, contacts her father in the United States who used to something in the service/or government saying she is coming to see him and is in trouble.

Back in the United States she agrees to a meeting with her boss only to find he has sent another of the party in Barcelona to bring her back by force or kill her. They fight and she manages to get away with the help of a nineteen year old in the diner and his new car. On the way out of the state she decides to explain to the young man who is she and what has happened so that he can report this to the police authorities regardless of whether she is able to make it to where she going and get other help to protect herself

They are captured after a deer crashes into their vehicle in chase through a snow covered woodland track. She attempts to persuade the law men not to attend the meeting or contact the government agency that contracted her team or get reinforcements. They ignore her advice and are killed but before she and her companion are also killed in their separate vehicles she escapes shooting some of the attackers before getting away in one of the police vehicles and freeing the young man. Later she arranges for him to be reimbursed with a new car.

She makes contact with Michael Douglas the government agent who contracted her boss and does a deal using herself as bait at the home of her father. She survives the attack but her boss also gets away. She tracks him and leaves him to drown trapped in a rock on the foreshore after he ahs admitted that he betrayed her for money and that in Barcelona they were in fact getting hold of the kidnapped man to be handed over to someone else played by Antonio Banderas who had then organised the Dublin venture intended to get rid of her as the witness and culprit for their double dealings. She then traces Banderas on holiday with his wife in Majorca. The film ends when he sees the girl and says shit, appreciating that his scheme failed and he too must die. She has been offered a salaried job with the USA Government black opps team led by Douglas.

The second film Apache is unusual Western for the time period (1954) because it viewed the experience of the indigenous American from their perspective. In this instance the remaining Apache Warrior Massai played by Burt Lancaster who refuses to accept reservation living after the defeat of Geromino goes on a walkabout returning in the hope of marrying the new chief’s daughter Nalinle (Jean Peters) who has agreed to be transported with his people to Florida. He has brought corn seed by which the tribe he visited are able to sustain a living and which he sees as an alternative to leaving their lands. When the new chief betrays Massai he thinks the daughter is also implicated but her father has trussed her up so she cannot warn the warrior.

He escapes and takes his vengeance in a one person successful war, cutting communications, blowing things up and generally making life difficult for the acquiescent local army chief who gives in to the government men. A young Charles Bronson is in the film although I did not recognise him at the time of watching

Eventually he captures the daughter and treats her badly pushing her to the limits as a means of getting back at her father and testing the forces against him. She eventually persuades him of her sincerity and they become man and wife, “a woman’s role is to cook sew and bear children” she says. And when pregnant he elects to settle down, especially after she raids the local store for corn and clothing. This alerts the government men who ring out the army and for a moment it looks as if Massai is to have the fate he has given himself of choosing the time and place to die the warrior. Just when he is injured and about to be captured he is hears the cry of his first born and leaves the safety of the cornfield (Maize) and it is agreed that the war is over and it appears is will be allowed to stay and become a farmer.

2383 Nov 1st 2012 sees a good Artman 101 workday and the film the Electric Horseman

The first day of November 2012 was an active day spoiled by eating lots of the chocs from last night abortive Halloween. I am now in control of the Sleep Apnoea Treatment and completed 10 successive days of Wii Fit plus exercise, still not getting the average of 30 mins but getting closer and also hitting the 265 calorie mark so that I begin to contemplate moving up to 300 after this weekend. However given these two achievements and moving into Artman 101 activity I must reflect on getting the weight down and the reasons why I cannot sustain the effort. It requires decidedness and the same determination and I suggest reflects a lack of confidence in being able to achieve the objectives.

In addition to finishing and completing the recording process of another 45 sets also sorted most of the loose papers into a number of sub piles with the personal history mementos back in the filing cabinet but in some order for further use when I am satisfied that all the associated papers have been located and which will involved going through all the various boxes and folders and other storage containers before completing.

I have a box of papers relating to professional and managerial activities in the past which will go up tomorrow to place on the single bed in the main storage room containing the majority of the records to be processed so that I can add when I find the main items. I also discovered a quantity of materials related to my birth and care mothers which I will process tomorrow as I would be surprised if there is more material to uncover having undertaken what I thought was all the available records in the past and which fill two of a four drawer filing cabinets. There is also a miscellaneous box to go upstairs and a couple of other small piles in the room ready for process.

Since first couple of years I have had these bursts of 101 project activity but this time the intention is to continue active work unless I substantially complete the project which is likely to take a further 12 to 24 months.

I watched the greater part of the Electric Horseman which in many respects foreshadows the Horse Whisperer one of thee best of several first class films starring Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy, The Sting, The Great Gatsby, Three Days of Condor, The War We were, The Candidate, All The President’s Men, Brubacker, A Bridge too Far, Out of Africa, Havana, Indecent proposal, Up Close and Personal) He is active politically supporting environmental candidates of either USA major political parties and created the Sundance Film Festival. He has been married twice and has several children and grand children. In others words an all round likeable person on and off the screen by fellow liberals and socialists.

In the Electric Horseman he plays a former Westerner who now in his forties has sold out to a major corporation promoting their product using a thoroughbred horse. When he discovers the animal is being drugged and ill treated he determined to free the creature into the wild. Jane Fonda is a city TV journalist who travels wherever there is a good story and devises a means to engage his interests and travel with him as outlaws alleging stealing a camping trailer while giving messages to her employers where he will release the horse in some secret valley where he knows there is still a wild group.... Do they still exist I wonder? When the corporation realise that the news story is increasing sales they do a join em if they cant beat em and go to the release point with the camera crew only to find Redford is taking the girl across country, when the camper breaks down to another valley ninety miles away. Understandably the two develop a relationship although the nature of this is never fully revealed.

There is a good moment when the horse is released to the wild with the assumption that he will fit in but no happy after for the couple. Redford goes off hitching travel, broke and in search for the free and anonymous life he lived before fame although it is difficult to believe this is possible even in the USA given that Fonda is instantly recognisable regardless of the isolated store she uses to pass on a message. She is tempted to go with him but going back to file her story and then off to Paris on another assignment are lures which she is not prepared to give up. An enjoyable couple of hours but not likely to remembered.

In the evening I also watched Questions time after the News and then most of This Week and earlier Haunted where the story is getting better and more interesting although there is no one with any redeeming qualities as apart from MI6 people in the background everyone else appears ruthless operatives working for an International security firm murdering innocent people who get in the way, unscrupulous murdering and torturing business people with their separate force of torturing murderers and you common every day criminal thugs doing some of the leg work.

Local Member of Parliament older brother of Labour Leader Ed, David, was on Question time last night with Jerry Springer and the former chairman of Republican abroad, a formidable female Colleen Graffy, Kwasi Kwarteng The Tory Black MP who went to Eton and the wonderful always consistent and worth listening with attention Shami Chakarbarti the head of Liberty who posed all the right questions which needed to be asked about the future of Europe and are place in it. The case for and against Obama being given a second term was well made by members of the panel and in the audience. For some unexplained reason David Dimbleby avoided interventions from audience members. On This week Tess Jowell, Michael P and Andrew N all agreed that none fo the main parties will never put an in or out referendum to the Electorate which will add hundreds of thousands more votes to UKIP.

2382 Artman 101 work day 31st October 2012 and significant news

My notes for 31^st October were lost as I stayed up too long and messed up yesterday’s note eventually going to bed before midnight

It was good day with respect to my myopic world in that I completed the recording of 46 completed 101 projects sets all classified as creative although predominantly historical and which included triplicate copies and where I also went through almost two filing cabinet drawers of miscellaneous loose papers, cards and other mementoes of the past. I will continue this work shortly.

It was Halloween. I have reservations about this Americanisation of our culture but it has become a major event in the lives of the young people with much dressing up and face painting, masks etc on the whole organised by responsible parents who to encourage and protect. Unfortunately the weather did not play its part and continuous rain meant that only parents armed with umbrellas decided not to disappoint the children. Only about a quarter of the usual callers arrived including one group of three with parent in car at around 10.30 after the rained had stopped but also after I had locked up and turned the hallway lights off.

The weather was one of three important subjects covered by the news as in the USA while the rescue operations continue in some areas there was a move to begin the recovery concentrating on getting the power and transport underway although it could take weeks to restore in some areas. The death toll has risen to sixty about the same as in the Caribbean but could well be higher as properties are inspected and some cleared. While Obama who visited the devastation with a Republican Governor of New Jersey with mutual praise and for the official at every level and the first responders and did his cause no end of good it is unlikely to prove a decisive factor in the Presidential election in a week’s time which remains too close to call and will depend on the Electoral college rather than the total percentage votes cast.

The other event was domestic and could have major implications in that some 50 Tory Members joined with Labour in a motion demanding a reduction in the UK contribution to the EEC rather than negotiating for an inflation only budget instead of the 10% being requested. Failure to get any appropriate change could mean Cameron exercising the veto which in effect results in inflation at 2% increase in due course. The impact of this revolt will affect party discipline on issues which the rebels do not like in the months to come creating major problem for Cameron sandwiched between Coalition commitments, his rebels and the Labour Opposition.

The third event was the publication of a working party chaired by Michael Heseltine which argues for a government led planning strategy for the manufacturing and industrial as well as financial sectors rather than leaving to the free interplay of the market. He also called for the reallocation of huge resources from central government to the regions and unitary local authorities and calling for a major reshaping of the structures. No hope oft eh Tories adopting but Labour might. Now there’s a thought!

I watched several news broadcasts throughout the day including CNN and Fox, most of Politics to day and PMQ’s and most of Newsnight.

I was going to watch the Chelsea V Man U on SKY 3 D but changed my mind and started to watch the remake of Straw Dogs and then knowing the story said why am I doing this and switch over to watch the penultimate episode of Dallas which I enjoyed greatly and consider the latest series one of the best in fact.

Completed another good day of exercise with two 10 min jogs, the boxing and ski jumps all going well. The steps and football still have not mastered.