400 years ago the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays was published. The well off could buy a copy of this most important and impressive volume for Ā£1 from a bookshop inĀ St Paul’s Churchyard.
The First Folio published versions of 18 plays that had been published individually, and another 18 that had never been published. Two of his actor friends put this together, with patrons and the assistance of those who owned the copyrights. It is one of the great works of publishing, ranking alongside the bible in English for the influence it had on our language and history. In more modern editions it has become a worldwide fount of great stories, memorable characters and superb writing. So many of our common phrases can be traced back to Shakespeare’s lines.
Shakespeare’s work has been important in my life. One of theĀ best things in my education was the first year of my English A level studies. We were told to read widely for that year, leaving the set texts for the second . We had to write an essay every week on a different Shakespeare play for a period. It was a revelation. The plays showed what literary genius could achieve Ā as I struggled to improve my writing style. If you want to write well, read well.
I have been to see many productions of plays from his repertoire. Some have impressed and some have undermined the brilliance of the writing with crude impositions by the Director. One of the most extraordinary was a production of Henry VIII in the Church at Stratford. They acted in the spaces between the pews promenade style. The costumes were lifelike based on famous portraits of the characters. You felt you were so close to one of England’s most fearsome Kings and his courtiers.Theatre can bring the past to life.
Shakespeare has a lot to say about the gaining and exercising of political power. The power crazed Macbeth murders his way to the crown egged on by his demonic wife. We are asked if the devil can speak true and reminded that false face must hide what false heart doth know. The fool in Lear is full of good advice. You should let go thy hold when a great wheel runs down a hill lest it break your neck by continuing to follow it. Many MPs move away from powerful figures when they are on the downward slope. He tells Lear he should not have been old until he was wise, surveying the damage that the succession to his throne has brought on Lear himself.
Most cutting of all was John of Gaunt’s criticism of Richard II. “That England that was wont to conquer others, hath made a shameful conquest of itself”. How many Brexiteers with no wish to conquer others felt the second half of that shaft, that the UKĀ Ā had surrendered powers foolishly. Giving away his kingdom to daughters who were meant to be allies Ā proved disastrous for Lear.
The history plays are so well written that they have had considerable influence on how history sees the late medieval civil wars and the personalities of the Kings and their main rivals. What shines through it for me is the hero, England.Ā “This scepter’d isle…this other Eden..this fortress made by Nature for herself…This happy breed of men.. This earth, this realm, this England”. Whatever bad, weak and ill advised Kings might do to their country its underlying strengths, its rich landscape and farms, its freedom loving people, its sense of right somehow survive and carry it through to a better future.
Some of that future arrived in Shakespeare’s day as London thrived and expanded and as English culture lived through a golden era of plays, poems, music and paintings. The way Henry V cast off the waywardĀ pursuits of his youth gives us a shining example of great kingship, improved by having the common touch from his tavern experiences.Ā The Merry Wives of Windsor is a wonderful romp which shows how the middle classes could puncture the unacceptableĀ demands of a knight of the realm claiming to be close to the court , trying to exploit his status.
I will leave the last words to Puck who delighted audiences of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare’s vision of a fairy that could travel round the world inĀ 4o minutes was anĀ excitingĀ fancy. The fastest they could do their early circumnavigations was the pace of a sailing boat, remarkable though those new achievements were in a shrinking world. Puck had in mind the people as well as the politicians when he famously quipped “Lord what fools these mortals be.” WeĀ need to prove him wrong.
November 13, 2023
Good morning.
Today, given the liberal mindset of some, William Shakespeare and his work would probably be considered outdated, far-right and even racist, such is the world we are living in now.
Not forgetting the fact that he did pen the play, Othello.
November 13, 2023
So your party rids itself of the last prominent leaver with an ardent remainer Cameron back in cabinet!! There is absolutely no reason to vote Tory whatsoever. The illusion is now completely over. Sunak should have May back as Home Secretary then Cameronās treacherous cabinet is back.
November 13, 2023
So another tory has been chased from office for saying what the majority think.
Fishy really is trying to lose the next election.
November 13, 2023
Well you can’t have any tories in the ‘new new labour party’ …can yeah
November 13, 2023
‘liberal mindset’ – how can anyone oppose Shakespeare in his brilliant treatment of Cordelia in King Lear. The best example of unconditional, Christian love created in any work of art I’ve ever come across. The guy was a genius not just in his poetic abilities but also in his scope (British Patriotism. Dark Night of the Soul / Despair. Christian Love. Humour. Creating Extraordinary Personalities, Heroes and Villains. The Mystical / The Soul / The Heavenly. Etc).
November 13, 2023
And the sheer JOY / FUN / EXCITEMENT / IMAGINATION of Shakespeare:
‘Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslipās bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the batās back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough’
November 13, 2023
Meanwhile we have a reshuffle. Braverman out. āCall me Daveā back, via the House of Lords. Just waiting for Nick Clegg to appear in Downing Street.
Not sure of any Shakespearean reference. A completely bloodless Remainer takeover.
November 13, 2023
Shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy ?
November 13, 2023
Sadly JR, Puck has the last word. Mortals often donāt have the courage to see what is too painful to acknowledge. The results of their own failures. So Mrs Thatcher, whose greatest failure was to not secure the succession, wrote that āshe had to believe Major would be a good PMā. I cite Mrs T because the Lady was not short of intellect or courage. Where does that leave the rest of us?
Parliaments in my lifetime shy away from the results of the destruction they have allowed āforeign Princesā to wreck on England, binding the people who are no longer allowed to fight for England, as the State claims the sole rights to violence.
What I find most remarkable about Shakespeare is that he had the courage to look and see and then record the sad weakness of man. He would not be surprised by anything which is, because truly, āthere is nothing new under the sunā.
November 13, 2023
Mrs Thatcher’s greatest failure was to appoint John Major (who failed his maths O level and nearly all of the others) as Chancellor. Then even let him john the ERM against sensible advice from her economic advisor and many others and let him tax over from her. She also closed many Grammar Schools fell for the mad net zero religion, buried use further into the EU, stick with the NHS insanity, failed to cut the state sector down to size and cut taxes sufficiently… Still she was far better than the sorry mess or MPs we had a the Cenotaph. Blair, Brown, Cameron, May, Boris, Truss (never given a chance) and Sunak and of course the next on Starmer.
November 13, 2023
Ā£1 then was about two month pay it seems. But they did have no income tax until 1803. Even then it was only over Ā£200 (worth about Ā£230K in labour costs today) and taxed at only 10 per cent. Today Income tax and NI takes 40%+ off people starting at only about Ā£12K PA.
November 13, 2023
So Suella Braverman has been sacked it is reported. Always dangerous to tell the truth in politics. The job is one where endless lying with a straight face is expected. Only a few notable exceptions like JR to this rule.
Saying things like the lockdowns did net harm, the vaccines did far more harm than good (especially for the health young), the government is far too large, taxes far too much and spends much of it doing huge harm, Sunak as Chancellor plus the BoE under him caused the recent large inflation and huge economic damageā¦
Look at poor old Andrew Bridgen, endlessly attacked & actually kicked out of the party just for telling the plain and simple truth.
November 13, 2023
Are they really bringing back Cast Iron, abandon ship, low tax at heart (but never in practice), pusher of climate alarmism Dave Cameron and appointing the satirically named dope James Cleverly?
Cameron (and the whole of the civil service) totally failed to prepare for the rather likely leave outcome of the referendum vote. Generals have been shot for rather less negligence. Then, having promised to stay on and deliver the leave letter the next day he abandoned ship like a spoiled child and went off to assist with the Greensill scandal.
November 13, 2023
Andrew Brigden has no proper business experience. Another Tory we can do without out (like most of them – most of them are lawyers or journalists or worked in some minor business role for a few years).
We need Tories with proper business experience. Who have put together a proper business plan. Set up their own company. The risks involved in that. The planning. The strategy. Budgeting. Creativity in branding and putting everything together. Have over-seen some highly-skilled employees. And exported a highly quality brand abroad. And proper business leader experience. Something like that (Andrew Brigden comes nothing close to that. What is his experience exactly to speak with the authority he does?).
Although I object to Lord Heseltine’s views on Europe at least the guy had proper business experience.
(Not forgetting how GREAT Brexit is in theory, without in PRACTISE a 1. A strong leader 2. Plan 3. The finances to pay for it – then things are not going to work out very well. That’s just common sense. And something that you’d know if you’d set up and run your own successful business).
November 13, 2023
Tobias Ellwood doing his best to defend Sunak and his actions on Suella but it is an impossible task. Sunak must go no one on either side of the party want the dire āCast Ironā abandon ship, political fraudster Cameron back?
November 13, 2023
LL,
Five posts in a row. I wondered what had happened to you. No posts from you for a couple of days.
November 14, 2023
–Lifelogic,
Your description of Mr Cameron made me š as do the words of Shakespeare. Thank you and our gracious host – cheer is much in need. Indeed, words which circle my mind of late : –
“there’s rue For you; and here’s some for me: we may call it Herb-grace o’ Sundays: O you must wear your rue with A difference.”
November 13, 2023
Yes, I think Mrs. T’s problem was that she could not believe she could ever be replaced. My father. probably some 70 years ago, used to recite a poem (most of which I cannot now remember) about people who think they are indispensable. It went along the lines ‘put your hands in a bucket of water, take them out and see what impression you have left’. She did of course leave a lot of impressions, some good, some bad, referred to even to this day, but most don’t unless it is bad. Who remembers anything about Edward Heath except his disastrous policies and selling out to European overlords. Churchill is another exception. Certainly today’s pygmies are in the bucket of water style.
November 13, 2023
So does Cameron still think most Tory voters and members are “fruitcakes”, “loonies” and “closet racists”.
He refused to apologise. His return was welcomed by Theresa (net zero insanity) May – just to confirm how insane the decision is.
Vote Tory, but we do still think you are “fruitcakes”, “loonies” and “closet racists” should be a good way to win votes. Is Sunak trying to beat Majorās post (ERM fiasco) burying of the party for 4 plus terms and 100 MPs at best?
November 13, 2023
One of the most brilliant collaborations on Shakespeare, joining two art forms, was that between Sir Laurence Olivier and composer Sir William Walton on the films of Henry V, Richard III and Hamlet and music for plays including As You Like It. Henry V was made in 1943 and seen as a clarion call for wartime Britain. We could do with something like it today.
Unfortunately Walton didnāt make a suite of the film music for Henry V, but recorded excerpts, and some of the original music has been lost. Sir Neville Marriner and Christopher Plummer conceived the idea of re-structuring the music as a piece for speaker, orchestra and chorus and it was put together by Christopher Palmer and released on Chandos in 1990. it is intensely moving.
Apparently Lt Olivier, Royal Navy, was a nerve wracking pilot, taking risks, breaking rules and orders. He crashed several aircraft. After completing Henry V, Olivier was invited to help re-establish the Old Vic. Their Lordships agreed to release him from the Service with, as Olivier put it, āa speediness and lack of reluctance which was positively hurtfulā.
November 13, 2023
Olivier’s Richard III is incredible. Even Salvador Dali was intrigued and there is a fab photo of him painting Olivier as Richard III.
November 13, 2023
Even Shakespeare can’t escape the cancer of woke poison. No longer can you enjoy England’s greatest playwright without some form of perverse diversity undermining the integrity and originality of his compositions
Exposing the destructive nature of political power and its subtle use of violence are Shakespeare’s greatest contribution to English history
November 13, 2023
Why is it that those in power so often seek out a bigger stage on which to act out their follies?
November 13, 2023
My son and a grandson recently went to a production at the Globe. Made bizarre by ridiculous woke diversity.
If that is going to be typical I won’t bother.
November 13, 2023
I recall studying Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet and Henry V at school. I remember being bored senseless by the arcane – and, therefore, impossible to understand – English.
Are there such a things as books containing a Shakespeare play with Shakespeareās text on the left page and his words and meaning in modern English (with a plot explanation) on the facing page? If there is, Iād love to buy them as, clearly, I have missed something.
November 13, 2023
MW,
Being bored senseless by set texts was a memorable part of school life. You were stuck with them for a year and had to sit exams about them. Sir Walter Scott brings back such memories, as does āWuthering Heightsā. Euripides āIphigenia in Taurisā was a big yawn too.
November 13, 2023
Better surely watched as plays or listened to rather than read – rather easier to follow when spoken and acted.
November 13, 2023
Though I am sure there are such books or explanatory notes. Or read on a kindle where you can look up (instantly on the device) any words you do not follow.
November 13, 2023
Mike
I had the same views as you until a new English Literature teacher bought it to life with passion, feeling, and explanation. But then good passionate teachers on any subject tend to make that subject interesting.
November 13, 2023
I agree with your assessment that Shakespeare is boring, its only the school english teachers and BBC drama actors that applaud him while 99% of the population donāt
November 13, 2023
Really?
Since 1960, there have been publications and productions of Hamlet in more than 75 languages
These languages even include Klingon, Esperanto, and Interlingua. Other popular plays in translation include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare’s works overall have been translated into more than 100 languages.
From 2005 to 2014, there have been seven professional productions of Shakespeare and Shakespearean adaptations in Arabic.
Romeo and Juliet has been performed in 24 countries in the last ten years
The WSB lists the following countries across five continents: US, UK, Germany, Korea, France, Canada, Italy, Japan, Australia, Austria, Poland, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Belgium, Estonia, Czech Republic, Israel, Spain, Ukraine, Cuba, Mexico, and Romania.
The play has been performed in multiple languages, including English, German, Spanish, Korean, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Dutch, Estonian, Czech, Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Romanian.
https://www.britishcouncil.org
November 13, 2023
Am I in the 1% of the population? I doubt it when year after year it was a race to get tickets for Shakespeare in the Abbey (ie the Reading Abbey ruins, organised by the Reading Progress Theatre) or for going (a couple of times) with sixth-form students to either the London Globe or the RSC theatre in Stratford, or with the family to one of the open air Shakespeare plays at one or the other National Trust properties.
I agree that sometimes reading WSās plays can be difficult but most of them are a delight to be seen, specially in summer with a plate of strawberries and a glass of champagne.
November 13, 2023
I also don’t like Shakespeare and even though I do go to the theatre sometimes I wouldn’t pay to see a Shakespeare play. Indeed the very term ‘Shakespearian actor’ shows his characters are difficult to play effectively whereas a good playwright makes playing his characters easy for actors. Yes, Shakespeare has some notable paragraphs but his plays are often too fantastical for my liking. Performances of them don’t mentally arouse me.
His language is an unfortunate problem. Whereas there is no difficulty in modern people understanding Victorian language (Dickens, the Bronte sisters etc.,) as it is little different to modern English and at the other end nobody would think of putting on a production of Geoffrey Chaucer without modernising his ancient English (as the language has changed so much since his time) Shakespeare falls between these two stools with language that is very dated but not so dated as to be modernised.
Right-wing though I am, I much prefer some plays by Bertolt Brecht (Mother Courage; The Good Person Of Szechuan) that highlight moral tensions or indeed Euripides’ plays.
Anyhow professed adoration of Shakespeare is another consensus view I dissent from.
November 13, 2023
Oscar Wilde …now there’s a playwright
November 13, 2023
The standard editions have the text of the play at the top of the page and explanations of any difficult points underneath. That is what you need.
November 13, 2023
Well..Iāve never come across a teacher or lecturer who didnāt go through the text line by line explaining the meaning of strange phrases, references and words etc.
In other words translating it.
And it is so fascinating!
You need a proper coach.
And a vocab book for you to note down what you learn.
November 13, 2023
There is. It’s called Shakespeare Made Easy; it is has the original text on the left hand page and the modern version on the right hand page.
November 13, 2023
Promoting āRight Wing Viewsā on a Monday morning (sarc). Oh, how Society, the noisy part of Society wants to be the ones to dictate our future.
This weekend reminded us that there was a time without labels, without pocket holing and without assumed entitlement, without discrimination brought about by diversity and inclusion – just humans pulling in the same direction
November 13, 2023
Shakespeare, as far as I knew was always part of everyday life.
People often quoted him, choosing verses appropriate to the situation.
My mother loved to randomly recite various chunks of it.
When up at Oxford my uncle was often in a Shakespeare play ( OUDS?) and there were many old photos to prove it. Wonderful costumes and make up. The family always trooped off from Tring to watch him.
My grandmother had apparently, as a young plump girl entertained the troops (1914/18 in Tring) with her Puck. She brought the house down ( so the story went) when she got to the bit about putting a girdle around the earth in 40 mins.
For many summers Pendley Manor put on a Shakespeare play in the open air. Uncle and father often had parts.And youād see the local grocer etc strutting their stuff.
Sadly, for me, the dreadful ruination of productions with modern costume.and other wokeries has destroyed a lot of the charm. Soon the words will probably be changed.
No more local players. Little interest in theatre,..too keen on alien-culture noisy āfestivalsā and over noisy fireworks and ear-splitting music. All brought to us by truly horrible philistine govt.s.
Total betrayal of our heritage and culture.
November 13, 2023
Are young people all going a bit deaf? As a maths, physics, electronics chap now engineer/businessman I recently went to watch Oppenheimer at a cinema in London (I had time to kill and needed a bit of a rest between meeting. I had to walk out as just far too loud & with endless music in the background over the speech, this wherever I chose to sit. Rather expensive too. Not impressed by the short bit I watcher either.
Far better and cheaper to read about itā¦ Richard Rhodes, Prof. Serber, Dick Feynman etc.
November 13, 2023
Yes apparently having this music blasted into their ears does damage. I canāt stand public cinemas anymore either. Far too loud!
November 14, 2023
I really think you have a point!
Hadnāt thought of that.
For about two summers now we have been subjected to music played more loudly than I have ever heard before. One day it will come from across the road. Another day from behind the house, always so loud it is audible across several streets. Canāt escape it with all acoustic windows shut tight.
As you say, deafness is prob the cause! Loud music in cars, cinemas, earphones, mobile phones, Drs refusal to syringe properly. Maybe also a variety of environmental, dietary and medicinal ototoxins?
Good thinking!
November 14, 2023
I went deaf in upper frequencies whe I went to a concert with brass instruments blaring and amplified so loud that it was loud in the toilets down a corridor. I complained to the ‘sound man’ and was thrown out for shouting. I attended the hospital for a deafness test after experiencing tinnitus for a week and was told that a lot of young people are going deaf. I am still deaf. I later met a rock guitarist who played big concerts and asked him if they went deaf while playing to the deaf audience. He told me that they wear ear plugs when performing. I tried putting wet tissues in my ears at the cinema but then I couldn’t hear the dialogue.
November 13, 2023
A lovely late Spring afternoon.
A seminar with a lecturer who knew Shakespeare inside out explaining the meaning of every word, every line.
No one was traumatised.
Life used to be wonderful and fun and meaningful.
And now lookā¦
November 13, 2023
Such fine words, but as a low born forger of fine English steel- i find it more disturbing than word that I can no longer forge a high carbon
Sword of home produced steel for the defence of my country because the fools in the Governance of the state have given that skill to our enemies .
I Weep!
November 14, 2023
I was speaking about a sane world.
The one I miss.
With ref to the subject of the article above.
But yes, weāve been sold down the river.
Abused and betrayed.
November 13, 2023
You donāt sound āEverhopefulā.
November 14, 2023
Iām not.
Seriously thinking about a change to Neverā¦.Not at allā¦ or Given up.
I really didnāt think that things would get this bad!
November 14, 2023
And its all self inflicedt by design
November 13, 2023
Challengingly worded language, history, patriotism, rampant masculinity: you can see why woke educators don’t want to teach Shakespeare. It’s already a serious problem in the US, and now we find that some universities in Britain are putting ‘trigger warnings’ on his plays because they are thought to be too fragile to cope with them otherwise. Shakespeare has for centuries been a central part of our culture, and therefore a target for those who want to disrupt our culture.
November 13, 2023
I got the complete works of Shakespeare as a first form prize at my grammar school. It is not something I really read though. The plays are best seen on a stage rather than read or studied as a set text.
The school took us to various productions including the cinema versions others refer to. A memorable one was at Stratford – the āexit pursued by a bearā play.
More recently the Rose theatre at Kingston had a set of Shakespeare plays where the actors wander up and down the aisles and the action is not confined to the stage.
I also went to the new Globe theatre to see Midsummer Nights Dream. I was stood up as a āgroundlingā. However, it would have been more authentic if they audience were heckling and talking among themselves.
You are right about directors ruining plays. They do the same to operas.They get bored and decide to set the action in a more modern period. The result is sets that look like a 1960sā car park and soldiers that are part of some imagined fascist army. Directors are often routinely and deservedly booed when they come onstage at end of a production.
November 13, 2023
State education has trouble teaching children standard English, let alone the English of Shakespeare. Whilst he has much to teach, if those listening can’t (or don’t want to) understand, the lessons go unheeded.
Sir John says “Whatever bad, weak and ill advised Kings might do to their country its underlying strengths, its rich landscape and farms, its freedom loving people, its sense of right somehow survive and carry it through to a better future.”
Our rulers are destroying our rich landscape with wind turbines, solar “farms” and in the near future massive pylons in a mad attempt, we’re told, to change the weather. Our farmers are being paid not to grow food, but to re-wild productive land. Our freedom loving people are being crushed by authoritarian bullies, who we now know will move swiftly into tyrannical mode at the flick of a switch called “a virus.” Our sense of right has been destroyed by political correctness, “woke” and (as Suella Braverman correctly stated) a partisan police and justice system which lets left-wing activists and Muslim “protesters” off very lightly indeed whilst coming down hard on any from the white working class or who have conservative backgrounds and who don’t conform to the “woke agenda.”
And then there’s this “āThis scepterād isleā¦this other Eden..this fortress made by Nature for herselfā¦This happy breed of men.. This earth, this realm, this Englandā.
The fortress was dismantled by an Establishment which decided to impose mass immigration and multi-multiculturalism on the happy breed of men and then dismantled the borders.
The consequences of all their actions were seen on the streets of London at the weekend. The happy breed is no more ….. the mortal fools in the Establishment destroyed it.
November 13, 2023
OK, I’ll go with that.
I and many others no longer cling to the skirts of those with high political power for it has brought us only dismay.
We have lost faith already in the political elite, for they no longer serve us…..What are we to do?
Would Shakespear have us bring down the unruly mob that infests the political swamp, or is there a more subtle way to get back our future?
November 13, 2023
I wonder how many of the migrants that Braverman’s organisation have allowed to swamp this country have read Shakespeare. Or the estimated 2.5 million illegal immigrants who have been provided with false papers, passports, NI numbers, NHS numbers etc by the criminal element operating here. While our boys in blue are working from home, using their new powers to trawl through the nation’s bank accounts, looking for people who have too much money. Or at their stations, doing their paperwork.
November 13, 2023
Ā£1 not a bad investment (after all the inflation Sunak (and the various governments have given us) and the books increased rarity) they are now worth circa Ā£20 million it seems.
November 13, 2023
As far as I am aware Shakespeare never had to contemplate an alien invasion to our Sceptred Isle or its result, as witnessed on our streets last weekend. I am sure he could have waxed lyrical over the shooting of a succession of messengers. Perhaps he would have seen them as a forest of masts, not revealing the content below till they ran ashore. He would have no shortage of material from our perfidious and mendacious political class and their scribes.
November 15, 2023
Really? W.Shakespeare 1564-1616, the Invincible Armada 1588 when WS was in London part of the Lord Chamberlainās Men.
November 13, 2023
Wonder what Shakespeare would make of this ‘isle’ now?
November 13, 2023
Off topic
It seems Professor Patrick Minford is also trying to get the government to change track . Heās written to government this weekend, with a sharp warning that the U.K. is about to drown in oceans of of public debt unless growth is restored by tax cuts and deregulation. It appears that David Jones, a former Cabinet Minister, believes there is still time to put things right. I donāt know if you are aware of it.
The article is In TCW.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/cut-taxes-or-drown-in-debt-warns-thatcher-economist/
His report is here as a link from within the article https://centreforbrexitpolicy.org.uk/publications/what-should-be-done-in-the-autumn-statement/
November 13, 2023
In other news, Iāve just heard Suella Braverman has been sacked. In my opinion that is a huge mistakeā¦..from the extraordinary number of reader comments on the msm newspapers this weekend, the public believe her to be one of a very few true conservatives.
November 13, 2023
Much entertainment probably reached only small audiences in Shakespeareās time.
His coverage might have been equivalent to that of the BBCās in the 1950s.
November 13, 2023
oh dear the home secretary sacked
in the dying days of a failing metro elite government
after a weekend of working class white blokes being arrested while other demographics committing far more serious offences in front of the police were all allowed to go home freely
the country has lost the plot
November 14, 2023
Agree
November 13, 2023
“Suella Braverman has been sacked by Rishi Sunak”. what weak waster this PM is. Trying to deflect āALL HIS FAILINGSā on others, this anti-UK, anti-Democracy, anti-Freedoms & Free speech, has to go and GO! Now.
He is the single problem the County faces, he is destroying the Country, he is destroying the Conservative Party and a Conservative view of Government. Enough is enough, the Conservative Party & CCHQ has given us by deception this fraudulent PM.
I am not particularly a Braverman fan, but do support Democracy, Freedom and the Conservative way of doing things. This Government is none of those things – it has to go.
November 13, 2023
A No10 source said: āSuella has gone because the Prime Minister wants a united team to deliver the changes this country needs for the long term.ā
Anyone that believes that is not a Conservative, big or small ‘c’. Joining a sinking ship to give the guy at the helm another scapegoat is suicide. He doesnāt know what āuniteā means when he seeks to destroy the very fabric of the UK top to bottom. Or does he mean the Cabinet should for loyalties sake all join the Unite Trade Union?
November 13, 2023
“David Cameron is being offered role by Rishi Sunak” Joke of the day – so far. How low and weak can this guy get and still stay in office?
November 13, 2023
David Cameron – supported the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union along with Caroline Lucas, Lord Mandelson, Damian Green and many others of the extreme left that hate the idea of the UK’s existence.
Rishi Sunak is creating further factions with his support of the Socialist WEF and having a primary left remain leaning Cabinet that has demonstrated clearly it is anti the UK
If you are Conservative you are considered the hard right by the PM, the BBC , the Guardian and the collective āBlobā that governs this Country
November 13, 2023
If that truns out to be true Sunak has just confirmed he will bypass democracy and put unelected lefties in position to shore up his never ending failings. What a disaster he has given the UK, utter destruction
November 13, 2023
It’s not David Cameron but Lynton Crosby, his polling adviser that the Conservatives could really do with. The most sensible thing David Cameron did was follow the advice and gear his policies for years to the advice of Lynton Crosby.
November 13, 2023
And in other news the Home Secretary gone confirming what we knew, namely Sunak is weak and Cameron who told us āliesā about the effects of Brexit then ran away when we didnāt agree with him, now being invited back. Another entitled coward.
This Tory administration is truly a s***t show.
November 13, 2023
They only have to listen and abide to the wishes of the tory members
November 13, 2023
Unfortunate that the present Conservative government with its civil service seems to consist of traitors, ready and willing to surrender England to the most horrible of people.
November 13, 2023
So the spolit brat has been seen walking to No 10. As my wife just said perhaps Sunak spoke to him yesterday saying ‘would you pop round to No 10 for a coffee and cake?’
November 13, 2023
Sunak building his ‘A-Team’ for oppostion …..Cameron is safe, now in the Lords for life
November 13, 2023
SJR.
You need to let go of the wheel going downhill to the next election, where a Home Secretary can be dismissed by the knaves in your party for telling the truth and there is talk of bringing back the rejected establishment ultimate unelected globalist EU sucking WEF fan who caused the Libyan disaster resulting in the refugee crisis and 300 jihardis marching every day in London.
November 13, 2023
It is oft said, within the family, that I was possibly the best third witch, and messenger, of my generation in the Scottish play. Those were the days.
November 13, 2023
Sadly, we are proving Puck right.
The latest “re-shuffle” (a thinly-veiled attempt to make it look as though Sunak is not sacking Braverman, just part of normal activities) shows that the mob win again. The eponymous Braverman stood up to Sunak’s weak government and “told it like it is” – and was sacked for it.
Perhaps the most concerning thing in this story is that No10 tell a minister what they can write about their own work. The extent to which we are receiving “edited highlights” is deeply concerning.
I hope Braverman has a plan – and has plenty to say from the back benches.
November 13, 2023
I hope she walks to Reform
November 13, 2023
So the pit bull press and the allegedly neutral political commentators have got their way. Suella Braverman sacked as Home Secretary. Doubtless Shakespeare would have had something pithy to say about that. Only a week or two ago the non-affiliated Baroness Claire Fox called out on ‘Politics Live’ the reluctance to highlight Islamic extremism and grooming of girls. Can’t say it as it is !
November 13, 2023
I can scarcely believe it.
Sunak has sacked Suella. I really didnāt think heād do it. Was it the article?
And yesterday talk of a āsnap electionā!!
How about Lord Frost
Is Cameron really going to do the job? Would he have to be made a Lord?
Tragedy.
What would Shakespeare have said?
November 13, 2023
Oh..Mr Cleverly
Ohā¦
November 13, 2023
Whilst not taking away any of the greatness of Shakespeareās works I have not believed that they were written by William Shakespeare from Stratford-Upon-Avon ever since I watched a BBC programme on the subject back in the late ā60s or early ā70s. This gentleman could never have received the education, the knowledge, the European and court experiences or the necessary intellectual interaction with peers to be able to write all the material.
The programme thought a more likely candidate was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, who had a ceremonial position at court which involved shaking a spear.
November 14, 2023
De Vere died in 1603, before many of Shakespeare’s most famous plays were produced.
November 13, 2023
Well, well, well. What about quoting the verses 18 to 27 of this Richard II scepterād isle?
November 13, 2023
Suella Braverman has been sacked, what a surprise
November 13, 2023
Thank you for that very interesting essay. There is not much that is timeless, but Shakespeare’s writing comes pretty near it.
And now I see that Suella Braverman has joined the distinguished list of politicians who have been sacked for telling the truth; I wonder what Shakespeare would have made of that?
November 13, 2023
“They acted in the spaces between the pews promenade style”
Might be a good idea for PMQs ?
November 13, 2023
‘[England’s] freedom loving people’
Back then, a man could move between countries without paperwork yet England’s people remained freedom loving.āImmigration today sees many arrive from cultures who do not share our freedoms and they resist integration, retaining their culture and not letting it be diluted with ours.āMany move to the same area, not forming a small ‘Chinatown’ or ‘Latin quarter’ but filling a large city.āThe original population lose their community and move out; they might think they don’t have much choice.
High immigration, not due to a short snap of war but steady and continual, combined with the differing birthrates of natives and immigrants is changing our mix of people.āDominic Frisby used the Department of Education’s January ’21 school census figures in his ‘What the UK Population Will Look Like In 2035’ article.āHe points out the mix of ‘white British’ versus ‘minority ethnic’ in primary schools over time.āI’ll leave his article to give the interesting detail.āIn ’02 it was 85% to 15%.ā’06 was 80% to 20%.ā’21 was 65% to 34% with 1% unclassified.
Frisby looks at the ups and downs of this.āBoth exist.āHe notes ‘They are all erosions of long-standing Western European traditions’.āIt’s a thoughtful read by a father of mixed-race children.āI assume he points that out to pre-empt the cries of ‘Racist!’.
November 13, 2023
Deary me Conservative party may as well hold its own wake.
Reshuffle of madness.
November 13, 2023
….and this is Sunaks dream team for next year general election (did he take instruction from the EU & WEF)
November 13, 2023
‘If you want to write well, read well.’
This is true.āI think the ‘weigh the clay’ theory also applies.āThe half of a pottery class who knew their degree grade was based purely on the weight of the clay they modelled over the term were more skilled by then than the other half graded traditionally on quality.āBy not finessing over every detail of what would only ever be an immature model but quickly moving onto the next, they got the practice in.āThey did the ‘reps’.
Many good writers often have a journalistic background or copyrighting.āEarning a crust from churning out endless material to a deadline.
November 13, 2023
David Cameron appointed next foreign secretary, with seat in House of Lords?
The unelected goes to the House of Lunnies
November 13, 2023
The unelected goes to the House of Lefties to make the Tories look more left of Labour than they already are. No sitting Conservative MP is worthy of a position in this left wing coalition called the Cabinet.
If there are any Conservative MPās in Parliament, have they submitted their lette
November 13, 2023
I remember a school visit to see a film of Hamlet. Sylvia Syms played Ophelia. 40 15 year old boys all walked out of that cinema in love with her. Apart, I guess, from the one or two who were gay.
November 13, 2023
Today’s Cabinet reshuffle is proof positive that the Establishment is terrified that its Uni-Party CONsensus might be shattered at the next General Election.
You can vote for Red-Green WEF; Blue-Green WEF; or Yellow-Green WEF.
Real Conservatives to be excluded from Parliament by the FPTP electoral system
November 13, 2023
āAll the worldās a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts ā¦
Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everythingā.
As you like it.
November 13, 2023
” Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry Look ” words that Sunak has to bear in mind now that Cameron is back !.
November 13, 2023
Looks like a modern day farce is being enacted at No 10 this morning.
The so called Boss has sacked a Home Secretary who was not frightened to speak her mind and the truth, and has now employed an ex Prime Minister who surrendered his position, as his Foreign Secretary, who has been elected by no one !
Democratic Politics has now gone so far downhill, not just in this Country, but around World.
November 13, 2023
Bringing back Cameron is an act of desperation. Avoiding appointing anyone who could be a threat?
Keeping Hunt as Chancellor is probably the worst news though. Hunt has confirmed what we all knew – that he knows nothing about economics.
Sunak seems to have given up – does he have his residences set up in the USA and/or India? After all, his wife’s non-dom status required a declaration that she intended to return to “her own country” (normally the country of her father’s birth).
Tories are sleep-walking, as if they’ve decided to abandon the country to Labour. No letters to Brady? Would he even allow the membership a vote this time – or does that create too much danger of… shock, horror… someone right of centre in No 10?
I bet Braverman will be writing to Brady.
November 13, 2023
Some sources suggesting that it’s not an act of desperation, but that Sunak has always been a stooge for a Cameron remainer plot (they suggest evidence is the messages between Sunak and Cameron that emerged in the covid enquiry where Sunak seemed to be playing a rather subservient role not fitted to his position as PM talking to someone not even in parliament).
November 13, 2023
David Cameron – are you insane Rishi?
I just give up!!!
November 13, 2023
Another Brexiteer bites the dust and Cameron returns what more proof that the usurper in No. 10 plans to continue to surrender powers foolishly? One by one they fall on their swords and no one dares to stand up to replace them. Sadly this country has fallen to the enemy within with the electorate either too complacent or too foolish to see whatās happening to this once-great country. The UK is a real-life Shakespearian tragedy
November 14, 2023
More Chekhovian, I would say.
November 13, 2023
Doubt he would have been able to pen what happens in today’s real life such as David Cameron walking up Downing St.
November 13, 2023
The 13th November, the day of the great leap to the left
Its that bad that Sunak has appointed Grant Shapps as Prime Minister & Theresa May returns as Home Secretary
November 13, 2023
that might happen in a week or two!
November 13, 2023
Is it a Shakespearian tragedy or a Whiehall
( theater) farce. For sure it is two fingers up to democracy, a board game the conservatives play with complete disdain for those they expect to support them electorally. I would be more impressed if Rishi had appointed someone like George Soros to the treasury. David Cameron is a nice enough chap but having departed the field at a time that near history has proved critical, is he returning to make Brexit easier or harder.
Suella said it as it is, and will be sorely missed.
I do not see any of this mornings theater changing the perception of the conservatives out here where it matters.
November 13, 2023
Shakespeare is brilliant ’cause he addresses things in the public sphere like the importance of patriotism and family values etc.
But he can also go off in the opposite direction, in the private sphere of the individual and his imagination and beautiful soul – and foreshadowing heavenly bliss. Like in arguably his greatest poetic words ever written and I’d argue in any language):
‘Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open, and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.’
And from a Christian POV, we are like the monstrous, lustful Caliban when we turn away from divine grace – but when we turn towards divine grace, then BLISS! (And not just bliss for the individual but for the nation too!).
November 13, 2023
But Shakespeare didn’t have to contend with the madness of the EU, UN WEF, Climate Change or Wokeness
November 14, 2023
Hi. Personally, I LOVE the era we live in!
Sure, I hate all the stuff you mention here (not people – I don’t hate anyone but what they do). But I love:
1) That we can fly in a plane (I had the most amazing time travelling around Vietnam on motorbike years ago would haven’t have been able to do in Shake’s day!)
2) That Catholics (and Protestants) now see s-x (and seduction) as sacred and to be enjoyed (in marriage) as opposed to Shake’s day when so many were suspect of s-x – and for procreation only.
3) The Western Lonesome Dove (my fav book ever!). And films like Where Eagle’s Dare! (So cinema!). Photography. Lawrence of Arabia (the life and film). Dentists. Good healthcare. Loos / good sewage. Good education. That you no longer get beaten for picking your nose in class or something. Winston Churchill. That you can go onto the internet and research stuff like Jung’s masculine archetypes and shadow work and brilliant stuff like that. In fact, all the stuff you can learn from the internet (amazing). Our knowledge and experience of the beautiful animal world (from TV, the internet and able to explore these places). Surfing (waves).
The list is huge. I am thrilled to be alive in this era. It’s a question of using our sense of adventure and imagination as well as willing to be able to challenge others (and oneself) to squeeze the most out of this beautiful life and world we’re in – overall (we choose what kind of life we want!).
Best
November 14, 2023
Also, King Lear, Macbeth and others show us how AWFUL life could be at Shakespeare’s time. How truly awful people could be (I did King Lear for A’ Level – and loved it. But also found it depressing too to a degree. How awful people can be to each other. Thankfully we also studied The Tempest which was a breath of fresh air to our imagination – and soul!).
November 14, 2023
(Oh – and in Shakespeare’s day they didn’t have Wimbledon and London as it is today which is a beautiful city can you can walk through without having sh-t poured over you from a bucket … And which you can never get bored of – being in London now on and off for 24 years and never get tired of it. Just soooo many reasons why such a great time to be alive today. Including the spiritual world which is infinite. And spiritual means infinite things including that you can look at a tree in London somewhere and stare at it for about an hour, without getting bored, as it has a spiritual dimension to it that is infinite in scope. I used to stare at trees – and foxes – even buildings – for ages during Covid in London .. whilst only watching 10 hours of TV in two years: the brilliant 1995 BBC production of Pride & Prejudice that you wouldn’t have been able to do in Shakespeare’s Day!).
November 13, 2023
Shakespeare was the most subtle and broad minded of writers, with a vast understanding of the frailty and foolishness of mankind. He never seems to me to judge his frail human beings.
November 13, 2023
On the subject of today’s reshuffle, I wonder whether it is more to do with getting Cleverly out of the FO. I may be wrong but it seemed to me he was full square behind Israel in a straight, honourable, soldierly way. Now Biden is wobbling and Macron has already jumped. Where they “lead”, Sunak is bound to follow.
It is indeed shocking that the Downing St squits have allowed themselves to be manipulated by a lying weasel of a left wing graduate policeman into sacking the Home Secretary. Boris would not have acquiesced.
November 13, 2023
A point in Cameron’s favour is tha he overruled the ECHR – on prisoners’ votes.
November 13, 2023
And he told the Party to “ditch the green crap.” I wonder if he’ll be repeating that. It’s the only thing he got right.
November 13, 2023
“Boris would not have acquiesced”.The Covid inquiry suggests otherwise.
November 13, 2023
All the same villains tried to get Dame Priti sacked and he held out. It was the same with Cummings.
November 13, 2023
And he would never have let them purge Raab either.
November 13, 2023
Also – ” He forever turneth his back ” – another Shakesperean reminder .
November 13, 2023
”New Shakespearian Plot”
As a boss youād never reemploy your old boss as your subordinate as theyād undermine everything you do ā¦.unless heād always been the boss and you were just a figurehead
November 13, 2023
You tell us this today of all days! š
November 13, 2023
Today a Prime Minister who got the role by default from an electorate of less than 400 has appointed an unelected former PM to a senior role in a way that means he can’t be questioned at the dispatch box in the Commons and for which we will all pay the bill.
Isn’t British democracy wonderful.
November 13, 2023
@Peter+Parsons +1 – Not a single Conservative MP is upto the Job according to the ‘weak’ man, so lets again bypass democracy.
November 13, 2023
@ Peter+Parsons – Dave can be questioned at the dispatch box in the ‘Lords or even at the bar of the House.
And yes, it is wonderful because it is not an inflexible, never changing set of rules fashioned in a different age (the blighted Americans!) but adaptable and providing for the possible when needed.
Recall also the H. Wilson appointed Frank Cousins to the cabinet in 1964 and it was not until the following January that he entered Parliament.
November 13, 2023
It doesn’t feel right, but heyho we’ve got another Lord
November 13, 2023
@PP; In don’t recall Liz Truss gaining a mandate either, yet she appointed Cabinets, as did Boris Johnson back in July 2019, don’t recall you objecting back then. Should all new PMs, on entering office, have to hold a general election, after all that’s the only mandate that counts, not what Party members think…
“Isnāt British democracy wonderful.”
It is, just so long as its not your nose put out of place!
November 13, 2023
@Jerry, they should all have had to call a General Election, as should have Gordon Brown.
November 14, 2023
@PP; An interesting proposition, clearly ill thought out; for example, would John Major have won such a GE in late 1990, in fact would Johnson have won a majority in mid 2019, what if a Party wins a majority but their leader losses their own seat, a new leader with unknown polices having to rerun the GE within a week or two (and who governs the country in the mean time).
No, the UK elects a governing Party, not a President…
November 14, 2023
Jerry, that’s no less likely to happen to an incumbent PM who’s already served a full 5 year parliamentary term. If that’s an issue, it’s just as much an issue under the current system.
We have had far too many PMs by coronation (Brown, May, Sunak) or by winning a party leadership election (Johnson, Truss). In the last 30 years, the only 2 who got the job via winning a GE were Blair and Cameron.
November 13, 2023
Concur
November 13, 2023
It seems highly questionable for Sunak to appoint someone who is not in parliament – not an MP and not a Lord.
Even if the intention is to appoint him to the HoL, that takes time (and in theory, his confirmation is not certain, possibly even uncertain in practice in view of the Greensill Capital lobbying scandal)…
And in the meantime… if Cameron starts operating as Foreign Minister, that seems to ride roughshod over the rules?
November 13, 2023
@XY; Cameron had been made a Baron, thus had a seat in the Lords, BEFORE he was appointed Foreign Secretary, even if it was a contrived announcement, so no problems on that account, and surely what was good enough for Mrs Thatcher in 1979, making Lord Carrington Foreign Sec. or is there one rule for those you approve of and another for those you don’t. Nor are Carrington & Cameron the only Lords who have served in a Cabinet, such positions were quite common, indeed for a short time wasn’t Sir Alec Douglas-Home technically PM whilst still in the Lords, or without a seat, necessitating a prolonged summer recess until 12 Nov. 1963?
As for scandals, pick your scandal, troll any number of current or former MP’s; in other words know when to rock the boat and when to stay perfectly still, otherwise you might find more that your intended victim in the water…
November 14, 2023
XY, A very questionable statement. Many countries put non elected people in their governments (USA, France in particular). Even in the UK the Commission for Smart Government proposed in 2020 to give the PM the ability āto bring talent from the outsideā. Right now, it is done with a fudge by putting such people in the HoL while calling them to the Cabinet. But why should an expert on health, education, business, defence, culture (or whatever) matters be elected in a constituency to be considered worth of a ministerial position? More often than not, the UK has Ministers largely ignorant of the Department to which they are made responsible who take months before being up to speed with their brief. Is that really conducive to good government?
November 13, 2023
Cameron as Foreign Secretary šš¤£ – Lord what fools these mortals be.
November 13, 2023
Anybody who has ever been on drugs, especially Class A drugs which is a criminal offence I believe, should be barred from standing for election or from being appointed to the HoL and assuming high office.
Clutching at straws for something positive, at least Cameron might know the difference between the Baltic and the Black Sea and have a clue where Crimea is.
November 13, 2023
Of course he did not know what āMagna Cartaā meant when asked on TV in the USA! Maybe a bad powder dayā¦
November 13, 2023
A message that there’s obviously not enough talent in the elected section of the not a conservative parliamentary party. A failed lying political leader with zero credibility, pro-EU, Blair and hard left socialist candidate. Is Osbrown his next appointment? Oh Louise, please!
November 13, 2023
@Lynn Atkinson +1
Fool us once shame on you, fool us twice shame on us
November 13, 2023
Never forget this is the man who promised to remove us from the EU the reneged on that. Souod be Welch Secretary, more to the point
November 13, 2023
+many
November 13, 2023
‘Cameron is back’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as ‘Winston is back’ (Admiralty signal to the entire Fleet 4th September 1939).
November 13, 2023
LA – I heard BLIAR is to be installed as a Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Gaza!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Globalists one and all.
November 13, 2023
@Lynn Atkinson; “what fools these mortals be”
Well perhaps, and the Tory party does have form after all, didn’t Theresa May appoint someone called Boris Johnson to the post as Foreign Sec. in July 2016, don’t recall you complaining then though… š
November 13, 2023
the bullshit was nothing like as obvious nor tedious.
November 13, 2023
Nobody was more against Boris Johnson being appointed to any office at all than I. He is a one world globalist, a narcissist and a thoroughly unstable man. A lifelong Remainer who, like any Narc, will do anything to promote himself, including pretending to be a Brexiteer because he only had to outshine Farage on that wing – easily accomplished.
November 13, 2023
Look it up. I complained! Johnson is an actor and a bad one.
November 14, 2023
@Lynn Atkinson; So you did not support Boris Johnson when he said “Get Brexit Done”, didn’t vote for him nor his policies in Dec. 2019, nor show any other support, even tacitly. Fair enough!
As for pretending to be Brexiteers, you mean like UKIP, hence why Farage announced, before even a single vote had been counted on the UK mainland, the referendum lost, or why no Brexiteers in the Tory party seemed to have plan for a post Leave result, other than suggestions of “oven-ready” deals that could only have been BRINO.
In my opinion very few politicos actually wanted to leave the EU, they just wanted to scare the EC, in the same way as the eurosceptic national election results in Hungary, Poland, Italy etc have, to try force a change of course within EU politics. Why would Farage, as you suggest, someone with a very similar personality to Johnson, want to give up his Stage.
November 13, 2023
Cameron is a bunburyist ā heās a brexiter in town and a reminer in the country
November 13, 2023
His is NOTHING of a Brexiteer. He just fooled us. Watch him – he lied to us and could not believe he had fooled us. Maybe thatās when he decided that we could be discounted in all respects.
November 13, 2023
Out of 350 conservative MPs I canāt believe that they couldnāt find just one with the right skills to become the Foreign Secretary
November 13, 2023
You can’t believe?
November 14, 2023
Ha Ha
November 14, 2023
@gullen cullen; Trouble is, Johnson ousted far to many otherwise highly skilled and experienced politicos at the 2019 general election simply because they would not agree to his demand that all candidates had to sing from the Johnson pro-Brexit carol sheet. Not saying there are no highly skilled and experienced politicos left, but the PM can only appoint those who want to do such a demanding job at the FCDO.
November 14, 2023
Every MP would bite the hand off the PM, to be offered the post of Foreign Secretary
November 15, 2023
@glen cullen; Indeed I cede that, clearly, but nor is it good to bite the hand that feeds you! Ambition has killed more careers than its made.
Any MP chosen has to be capable of such a job, one were experience counts, not just being a backbench MP for 4 years, little or no previous departmental record etc. The PM also need to appoint a Team player, not risk letting loose cannon free on the world stage…
November 13, 2023
From Guido
“Pollsters will be looking forward to working out what people make of Rishiās reshuffle. In the meantime, YouGov polled Brits on a potential Cameron return as Foreign Secretary back in 2018 when hacks brought up the potential move. 53% opposed the move, 39% were strongly opposed. 22% thought it would be a good idea. Probably no sea change since thenā¦
This year 47% of people said Cameron was a bad PM compared to 22% who thought he was good. When asked in October, 36% said Sunak is worse than Cameron was ā 16% said heās been better. We will have to wait to see whether this shifts Labourās 21-point leadā¦”
The Tories the Conservative Party the destruction is nearing completion – Democracy dismissed, the economy trashed
November 13, 2023
And now Cameron is back
You will not publish this either
Revealing all we already knew
November 13, 2023
The world of politics can often seem like a dramatic stage play, with twists and turns that keep us on the edge of our seats. The recent changes in the UK government’s Home Secretary position have certainly been no exception. While we may not have Shakespeare himself here to write a tragedy or a comedy about the situation, there are certainly some interesting parallels that can be drawn by people much better read than I.
One of the key themes in Shakespeare’s plays is the idea of power and how it is wielded, we know the Prime Minister delivered the blow but is he the power behind the decision? The Home Secretary is a position of great power and responsibility, with the task of keeping communities safe and secure. However, as we have seen, this power can be easily taken away, with one individual being sacked and replaced by another.
Another theme that Shakespeare often explored is the idea of loyalty and betrayal. The sudden changes in the Home Secretary position could certainly be seen as a form of betrayal, with one individual being replaced by another who may have very different ideas and loyalties. Wouldnāt one have expected an experienced ex-Foreign Secretary to take up the reins, I guess āweāll have to take upon the mystery of thingsā.
At the heart of all of this is the question of what it means to be a leader. Is it simply a matter of holding onto power and doing whatever it takes to keep it? Or is there more to leadership than that? These are questions that have been asked for centuries, and ones that are just as relevant today as they were in Shakespeare’s time.
Overall, the recent changes in the Home Secretary position are a reminder of the complexities and drama that can arise in the world of politics. While we may not have a Shakespearean play to help us make sense of it all, perhaps we can learn something from his timeless insights into power, loyalty, and leadership.
November 13, 2023
If you cannot understand my argument, and declare “It’s Greek to me”, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger; if your wish is farther to the thought; if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool’s paradise -why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then – to give the devil his due – if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a door-nail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then – by Jove! O Lord!
Bernard Levin
November 13, 2023
Plagiarized
I’m so excited…..
Who is it going to be? The New Labour party wearing red rosettes or the New Labour party wearing blue rosettes? I can hardly wait to find out.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/20/poll-tracker-general-election-conservative-labour/
You might as well bring back Teresa May while youāre at it Sunak.
Sorry W.S. no one received the message
November 13, 2023
I must admit that I went to a secondary modern school – left at 14 3/4 — Shakespear nor any classics came into the agenda.
November 13, 2023
Dear Sir John,
Thank you for this much-needed uplift. Sadly, the last time I heard anything from John of Gaunt’s speech was an offensive parody promoted by a globalist bank. This morning, your post reminded me of the classical masks of Tragedy and Comedy. I chose to laugh.
November 13, 2023
Having voted Conservative in every GE since 1970, I will not do so again. It’s the Reform Party for me, maybe you could make a move Sir John?
November 13, 2023
āThis scepterād isleā¦this other Eden..this fortress made by Nature for herselfā¦This happy breed of men.. This earth, this realm, this Englandā.
Before the BBC became the sort of organisation and propagandist that it now is, it produced a truly great series of audio cassettes and CDs with a beautifully narrated story of our England, for which I now weep.
What I can say is that anyone interested in how this nation became its once great self before what it has degenerated into could do far worse than listen to the BBC production of “This Sceptered Isle”. I don’t know if it is still available but I retain my discs…..
November 13, 2023
Joy! Home Secretary Cleverly says āwe must stop the boatsā. Suella was “absolutely determined” in that and, as predicted a good while ago, so seems to be her successor. Yet still they come and will come!
November 13, 2023
I can hear them laughing, in France
November 14, 2023
650 yesterday. For a life of “free everything” courtesy of British taxpayers. It disgusts me beyond expression.
November 13, 2023
Asking David Cameron to return as Foreign Secretary was an interesting and slightly brave but inspired choice.
It encourages us to consider those who have followed him into the highest office and, frankly, all of them, including the current incumbent, do not come out of it well. He was always a very good representative of the UK abroad.
Cameron and I differed greatly over Brexit but I thought it ill-advised, and somewhat cowardly when he resigned the next day and lumbered us with disaster that was Teresa May’s premiership. He should have stayed on and established a Brexit negotiation group consisting of Brexiteers before bowing out.
Now he is back, he is in the best role for him, as long as he is fully signed up to making the best of Brexit and the new opportunities it presents. He can certainly hit the ground running. However, is he signed up to fully support the Rwanda policy which, after Wednesday, might well require us to leave the ECHR. Does even Sunak have the guts to do that in order to deliver his promise over the boats ?
As for the rest of the reshuffle, if Suella had to go, James Cleverly was probably the best person available for the job. To demote Steve Barclay was unnecessary and unwise as he had stood firm against the Health Unions who will believe and boast that they have taken his scalp.
November 13, 2023
‘Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial’
November 13, 2023
Oh joy, another Home Secretary declaring that heāll stop the boats
November 13, 2023
and at that most of the country just yawned.
November 13, 2023
Shakespeare stands so far above all others writing in English that the padding out of English syllabuses with other writers by examination boards is wholly unjustified, especially when the authors have to be put into a context to justify their inclusion at all.
November 13, 2023
He paints moral values from different stances with ariel type commentaries.At a young age I watched Pat Routledge at the library theatre in Manchester in ‘As you like it’ .The play introduced feminism to us school girls at an early age.I was thrilled by ‘A winters Tale’ talking about jealousy and duplicity and of course broke my heart over Lear.Brenda Blethyn played a very effective Cordelia on a tape recording which I listened to again and again for my A level.I prefer her as a Shakespearean actress.
The language is so compressed and colorful making study a fascinating read.New words which are compounded stop any drooling text and convey many meanings in a phrase .
November 13, 2023
Can’t believe that Cameron is back given he jumped ship after promising to abide by the people ‘s vote for Brexit. After folk defying his doom-laden Ā£multi million pamphlet forecasting a Brexit disaster of epic biblical proportions he is now hoping we have all forgotten. How deluded can be or Rishi who was his protege shaped in his own mould and with groupthink baggage to boot ( or not to boot, that is the question…).
“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles….” Will Shakespeare .
November 13, 2023
So we’ve had the Bad news today, was there any Good news?
November 14, 2023
Esther McVey made minister without portfolio ā¦.now thatās got to be good for a laugh