Ersatz TLS discussion

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the new thread.

This week we've been promised (or threatened with?) November weather. At least that sounds like good weather for staying in and reading 😉

Here's wishing you all good books and good reading.

Thanks for this new thread.

The weather has been following us around - after a crap summer in Wales, we left for France on Friday. That day, it was sunny and 24C at home but we had thundershowers and heavy rain most of the way from Newport to Plymouth! Saturday here in Brittany was not bad, but it rained all day yesterday. Today, it's all grey cloud...

I actually finished a book! It was Union Station by David Downing... the eighth in his John Russell series. Russell is a journalist and occasional spy, who in 1953 finds himself in Los Angeles with his German actress partner Effi. McCarthy and HUAC were in full swing, making life uncomfortable for disillusioned former communist Russell... At the same time, Stalin dies and this leaves Russell worried about the possibility that Beria - who had reasons to wish him dead - might succeed him. Such is the background... Russell and Effi travel to Berlin for a film festival, and so it goes.

As always with Downing, we get a well constructed story based around genuine historical events. The writing style is straightforward rather than flashy or beautiful, but it works fine for me in these tales. In addition, the protagonist is a well rounded character who dislikes both Soviet communism and the extreme version of capitalism found in the USA. A genuinely interesting series from which those disinclined to read heavy tomes can learn, incidentally, a good bit of history. In this case - I was unaware that Beria, apart from being responsible for major crimes against humanity, was personally a sexual predator and a rapist and killer of young women... so not only a 'politically' disgusting human being.

scarletnoir wrote: "we left for France on Friday ..."

I hope your knee didn't suffer from the journey.

Lovely cooler feel to last 4-5 days in September, wonderful to see the summer fade fast and it could be quite cool indeed for Sept this week (15c by day, 6c by night). I love it, Sept was becoming a summer month since 2020, nice to see that trend end

Reading going well:
Martha Ostenso Wild Geese (1925)- prairie realism
Mahica Refecas September and the NIght- a modern catalan novel
The Penguin History of Modern Spain and Karl Marx Journalism

scarletnoir wrote: "Thanks for this new thread.

The weather has been following us around - after a crap summer in Wales, we left for France on Friday. That day, it was sunny and 24C at home but we had thundershowers ..."

I think we may have crossed motorways as I was driving up the M5 from south of Bristol in torrential rain an Friday morning. You may well have been driving on the M4 at the same time. Hope the knee is doing better.

Gpfr wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "we left for France on Friday ..."

I hope your knee didn't suffer from the journey."

It seems no worse, thanks!

giveusaclue wrote: "I think we may have crossed motorways as I was driving up the M5 from south of Bristol in torrential rain an Friday morning..."

At least you were travelling towards the better weather that day! We were not best pleased that the boat was delayed by a technical problem, so a 17h journey became 20h... it was Saturday before we got here.

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I think we may have crossed motorways as I was driving up the M5 from south of Bristol in torrential rain an Friday morning..."

At least you were travelling towards the better ..."

Oh no, and that wouldn't help the knee or the blood pressure.

While i totally opposed the Iraq War in 2003, the seizure of Iraqi documents from the modern-ish era of the Baathist Party 1960s -2003 has produced a treasure trove of works on Iraq and Saddam Hussein which use access to extensive primary source information.

I am about to start Compulsion in Religion: Saddam Hussein, Islam, and the Roots of Insurgencies in Iraq which is the third in a series of books using the information gathered from source documents.

The first was a look at the Ba'ath Party and its emergence which i read about five years ago, it uncovered the absurd ramblings but also shrewd intelligence of the dictator as well as exposing unusual situations like the fact Christians staffed the houses of many top diplomats and military men, the secret police had trouble understanding the staff, via bugs placed in the houses, which led Saddam to recruit many christians who spoke Aramaic and other dialects to help the surveillience

The second was a book on the Iran-Iraq War which was fascinating as it exposed western hyprocrasy(the gurning fool Rumsfeld, he of the known unknowns) and the sheer damage the war did to a nation that in 1980 was doing quite well in peacetime

The book i am about to start will look at the political use of religion by Saddam. Leading a secular party, hailing from the minority Sunni tribes of central Iraq, he was careful to keep religion out of much discourse in the 1970s and 80s but slowly he started to use his faith more, as he could see the tide turning accross the Middle East.

AB76 wrote: "While i totally opposed the Iraq War in 2003, the seizure of Iraqi documents from the modern-ish era of the Baathist Party 1960s -2003 has produced a treasure trove of works on Iraq and Saddam Huss..."

I'm a bit cynical about politicians and faith I'm afraid.

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "While i totally opposed the Iraq War in 2003, the seizure of Iraqi documents from the modern-ish era of the Baathist Party 1960s -2003 has produced a treasure trove of works on Iraq an..."

same here..saddam was using faith for his own ends, well secular methods originally, then faith...

AB76 wrote: "Lovely cooler feel to last 4-5 days in September, wonderful to see the summer fade fast and it could be quite cool indeed for Sept this week (15c by day, 6c by night). I love it, Sept was becoming a summer month since 2020, nice to see that trend end

Reading going well:
Martha Ostenso Wild Geese (1925)- prairie realism
Mahica Refecas September and the NIght- a modern catalan novel
The Penguin History of Modern Spain and Karl Marx Journalism"

Have you read or heard of Francisco Casavella? From Barcelona, I haven't found out yet whether he wrote in Catalan as well as Spanish. I came across his name through reading about a film I saw earlier today, Close Your Eyes (Cerrar los Ojos) He wasn't directly connected to this film, but one of the actresses in it (Helena Miquel) was in another movie, The Impossible Language, that was based on one of his novels.

Berkley wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Lovely cooler feel to last 4-5 days in September, wonderful to see the summer fade fast and it could be quite cool indeed for Sept this week (15c by day, 6c by night). I love it, Sept ..."

no, i havent heard of him, thanks Berkley, i will google him now

I have reminded myself this last week that a little information can often go a very long way, and also can be a bit of a handicap. I took 'Square Haunting' by Francesca Wade, down to Devon with me, but have not progressed very far with it. The problem is that I don't find HD, as a poet, very interesting, she seems to spend most of her time in mournful self-pity. Maybe its the style of the book. Its not enough about her life, but rather as if she is a character that is being walked around a board game of her life, which happens to be a London square in Bloomsbury.

I don't know any of her poetry so I don't have that side to illuminate my reading of her life. But mostly it is that she was adored/and rated by Wyndham Lewis, who I do know something of, through my Modernist art studies and his role in promoting Vorticism. An art movement that I am quite happy to leave stranded in the past, with very little to commend it.

I did read somewhere that Lewis was so annoying that he drove some colleagues to hang him upside down from a lamp post. How cruel, I thought, and then read a bit about him, and decided that it was probably well deserved!... So this little bit of knowledge has affected my perception of HD. I think I will try and give it another go, and abandon HD, and move on to the Dorothy L Sayers chapter, which at least ought to have some wit about it...

i'm about almost half way into Wild Geese by Martha Ostenso and its a very accessible and interesting read.

Her prose is clipped, precise and moves quite fast but leaves a lot of depth in its clarity and poise. Never too "busy". Rather than a novel of the prairie, i would say its 30% prairie and 70% a psychological study of a tryannical male and the women in his family. The prarie seasons and customs are vital, the farm work and the isolation but the heart of this novel could be set anywhere.

1920s morals stand as the looming threat in the background, there is malice in the quiet, controlling Caleb Gare, the family patriach, a thoroughly horrible person, pitted against him in a quiet battle so far are his children including the strong willed Judith and a young female schoolteacher

I just found out that it seems this tale of feminism and female spirit was co-written with Ostenso's husband Douglas Durkin, facts which came out after her death.

AB76 wrote: "Lovely cooler feel to last 4-5 days in September, wonderful to see the summer fade fast and it could be quite cool indeed for Sept this week (15c by day, 6c by night). I love it, Sept was becoming ..."

Prairie Realism: Have you seen the short stories "Under the Lion's Paw" and "A Jury of Her Peers"?

I'm about a quarter way into Jonathan Coe's 'Bournville' - so far, so good. I've enjoyed all Coe's books to a greater or lesser extent.

Robert wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Lovely cooler feel to last 4-5 days in September, wonderful to see the summer fade fast and it could be quite cool indeed for Sept this week (15c by day, 6c by night). I love it, Sept ..."

who were they written by?

the G moderators have not published two posts of mine....yet again....the woke mafia!

The Darkest Night

The latest in Barbara Nadel's Çetin Ikmen series set in Istanbul. Sequels of Covid, murder and mayhem ... is the 'Ndrangheta trying to get a foothold in Turkey?

I enjoy this series, I like the character of Ikmen. Although, @scarletnoir, when I recommended the series to you, I forgot the supernatural elements which I know you don't care for 👻

Yesterday, with a visitor to Paris, I went on a boat trip down the Canal St. Martin. Although I know the surroundings of the canal well, I've never been on it before. There are 9 locks, lift and swing bridges, vaults where it goes beneath roads ...
Very enjoyable, alternating between being hot in the sun and freezing cold.

Gpfr wrote: "

Yesterday, with a visitor to Paris, I went on a boat trip down the Canal St. Martin. Although I know the surroundings of the canal well, I've never been on it before. There are 9 locks, lift and ..."


I bet that was fun. It is funny how we often ignore or take for granted the things that are on our doorsteps.

A year or two back I had a walk along the Caen locks in Devizes. Happily walking downhill, forgetting that the walk back would be uphill. There are a lot of locks there!

Gpfr wrote: "

Yesterday, with a visitor to Paris, I went on a boat trip down the Canal St. Martin. Although I know the surroundings of the canal well, I've never been on it before. There are 9 locks, lift and ..."

looks lovely, as a veteran of many lock staircases, 9 sounds ok!

Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a writer lives in, is the only state/system that they know and they believe it to be right, it would explain the ridiculous contortions of the writers in regimes that enforced censorship and control

A bit like the criticisms of the press or tv in the UK, maybe many of these authors felt they were performing the same duties. The one difference i find, through reading about Soviet or East German censorship and its playing with writers is the terrible pressure put on conformists who want to conform, unlike the rebels who would naturally leave the country and escape the straitjacket.

A political equivalent would be Bukharin in the show trials, were the communist stooge became almost earnest in his devotion to the state that was going to kill him and confessed to fictional crimes, almost as a way to conform, yet again.

AB76 wrote: "Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a writer lives in, is the only state/system that ..."

An analogy (?) with state brainwashing?

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a writer lives in, is the only state..."

i guess with brainwashing i would expect intelligent educated writers to see through the truth they are being served up, so less brainwashing than a simple lack of experience with other systems. I have read a lot about East Germany and its writers and one can see how they are sealed in a world that is almost absurd but all they know is absurdity. I compare it too with the Prague Spring in 1968, some of the supposed reformists would barely be seen as anything but communists who wanted to tinker a little with a system they worshipped.

having not lived under the Soviet claw, i cannot vouch for how good and how convincing the propaganda/brainwashing was but i suspect if one never visited the west between 1945 and 1989, you would believe that the socialist world presented by the regime was the best of all worlds.

AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a writer lives i..."

A friend of mine a few decades ago was at a conference where some Russians were in attendance. They couldn't get over how the Brits could sit round a table and openly criticise our government. Seems we take some of our freedoms for granted.
Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing.

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a w..."

yes, the basic freedoms of western democracies can seem like givens and voter apathy in the UK is one of those areas i am always concerned with.

Gpfr wrote: "

Yesterday, with a visitor to Paris, I went on a boat trip down the Canal St. Martin. Although I know the surroundings of the canal well, I've never been on it before...."

Looks lovely. From the opening sentences of Bouvard et Pécuchet, where Flaubert with perfect economy evokes the punishing heat on Boulevard Bourdon, and the inky water of Canal Saint-Martin that runs beside it, I had imagined there were no trees. Are they recent additions, or should I have understood “boulevard” as indicating the presence of trees?

Logger24 wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "the Canal St. Martin."

... the punishing heat on Boulevard Bourdon, and the inky water of Canal Saint-Martin that runs beside it, I had imagined there were no trees...."

The trees are along upper reaches of the canal. It then goes under Bds Jules Ferry and Richard Ferry for quite a long distance (2km if I remember correctly) and comes out after Bastille, then it's the Port de l'Arsenal and this is where Bd Bourdon is, so no trees.

Gpfr wrote: " The Darkest Night

The latest in Barbara Nadel's Çetin Ikmen series set in Istanbul. Sequels of Covid, murder and mayhem ... is the 'Ndrangh..."

I don't like anything supernatural, but in addition I'm afraid that I found Ikmen's personal habits (chain smoking, lack of personal cleanliness) rather disgusting, so I don't anticipate reading any more!

Gpfr wrote: "Yesterday, with a visitor to Paris, I went on a boat trip down the Canal St. Martin..."

I'm pretty sure Maigret had to solve a murder set on that canal, though it may have been another - there are at least three canal-based stories. Simenon and his wife spent a year or two on a narrow boat, travelling around Europe...

I think there were murders on the canal in a French TV series a few years ago, too - maybe 'PJ' or 'Le Crim'.

giveusaclue wrote: "Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing."

I thought you were joking at first - AFAIK, noone has yet threatened the right of the British to exchange opinions over a cup of tea or a pint of beer... but then I began to suspect you were referring to so-called 'cancel culture'. This is undesirable, though if you look at examples of suppression of free speech, you'll find that those on the extreme right appear to believe in free speech for themselves, but not for others. They lack consistency in the matter.

However... the really sinister suppressors of free speech are the very wealthy, who if they get a sniff that their dirty deeds are about to be exposed in the press (or otherwise), attack via ludicrously expensive lawyers using so-called SLAPP lawsuits:

Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits),[1] or strategic litigation against public participation,[2] are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strateg...

This has become a favourite tactic of oligarchs and others in recent years, and unfortunately many unscrupulous British law firms are only too willing to play the game.

AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Further to the discussion on the G with Paul and Tiojo about censorship and self-censorship in literature, i put this question foward, if the state a writer lives i..."

The sprogs partner is Russian. She says that her mother and older half brother still largely believe what the Russian media is telling them. There is no alternative media in Russia. Putin has shut it down, quite effectively. That is how dictatorships work, they control, or banish the alternative voices. She and her younger brother are trying to make a new life outside of Russia. She is afraid, as a journalist, to go back to visit her family in Russia, in case she might be arrested for anti-Russian activities. Only the dissidents are outside of Russian influence, but, basically, it means that you can't stay in Russia, if you disagree with whatever the government policy is... and voice your opinion on it...

I have rescued, and given a new home to these beasties, from a charity shop in Buckingham. They are Egyptian, and they are very good at re-fashioning ancient objects for newer purposes. I remember covering a story, around 2003 or so, where someone in Egypt bought a single innovative wind turbine from Britain. They reverse engineered it, and replicated that turbine, in order to launch wind-power, where suitable, in Egypt, on the cheap... Anyway here are the jackals? dogs?... https://i.postimg.cc/8kxsJ3Mt/IMG-171..., but does anyone know why they have a crocodile, and a frog, or a turtle on their backs? I have found no answers, so far...

It's turtles all the way down... perhaps...

Tam wrote: "IAnyway here are the jackals? dogs?..."


Pharoah dogs I believe. I actually met someone with two of them a few months ago near where I live. They don't seem to have changed much in 3,000 years.

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing."

I thought you were joking at first - AFAIK, noone has yet threatened the right of the British to exchange opinions ove..."

I most certainly wasn't joking Scarlet. I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling got, think of the people who have been deplatformed at universities. Think of the vicious treatment of people who object to men in women's sport.

And if you like, the debanking of individuals if one is straying into politics.

giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing."

I thought you were joking at first - AFAIK, noone has yet threatened the right of the British to e..."

all interesting responses from scarlet, tam and giveus

i think the stance of Navalny may go down as the bravest in the modern history of Putins Russia. Returning almost certainly to be forgotten in the new gulag was one thing but with a very high chance of a strange death, it must be go down as the bravest act of the last decade.

AB76 wrote: ".i think the stance of Navalny may go down as the bravest in the modern history of Putins Russia. Returning almost certainly to be forgotten in the new gulag was one thing but with a very high chance of a strange death, it must be go down as the bravest act of the last decade."

Totally agree AB

When the results of The Lyric Year’s 1912 poetry competition were announced, readers were indignant, most declaring that the poem that was awarded fourth place was by far the best. The winning poet agreed with that assessment and the second-place poet even sent his prize money back. The poem that was awarded fourth place that year was “Renascence,” by 20-year-old Edna St. Vincent Millay.

The Penitent
I had a little Sorrow,
Born of a little Sin,
I found a room all damp with gloom
And shut us all within;
And, "Little Sorrow, weep," said I,
"And, Little Sin, pray God to die,
And I upon the floor will lie
And think how bad I've been!"
Alas for pious planning —
It mattered not a whit!
As far as gloom went in that room,
The lamp might have been lit!
My Little Sorrow would not weep,
My Little Sin would go to sleep —
To save my soul I could not keep
My graceless mind on it!
So up I got in anger,
And took a book I had,
And put a ribbon on my hair
To please a passing lad.
And, "One thing there's no getting by —
I've been a wicked girl," said I;
"But if I can't be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!"

giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing."

I thought you were joking at first - AFAIK, noone has yet threatened the right of the British to e..."

woke can play a damaging role from the left, i agree. look at the moderators on the G....

giveusaclue wrote: "AB76 wrote: ".i think the stance of Navalny may go down as the bravest in the modern history of Putins Russia. Returning almost certainly to be forgotten in the new gulag was one thing but with a v..."

He should be remembered alongside Sakharov.

AB76 wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "Which is dangerous as the recent woke agenda is showing."

I thought you were joking at first - AFAIK, noone has yet threatened the right..."

That is something else we agree on

giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling got, think of the people who have been deplatformed at universities. Think of the vicious treatment of people who object to men in women's sport."

I tend to agree with you in quite a few of those instances... and I've often felt that JK Rowling has been on the right side of the argument, but not always. I treat statements on a case-by-case basis.

For example, I think Rowling - and certainly others - have accused those two boxers at the Olympics of being men, ot 'trans' at the very least... so initially, I thought it right that they should not be there. It turned out that they had always been identified as female from birth, so those who claimed otherwise were simply wrong.

However... it's not as simple as that (wouldn't you know it?). It turns out that we now know:

at some point through the pregnancy some babies’ reproductive organs don’t develop in the way most people's do.
This can be caused by conditions called DSDs: differences in sex development...
Do people with differences of sex development have an unfair advantage in sport? The short answer is that there is not enough data to reach a definitive conclusion..

In other words, until we have data on whether such conditions confer an advantage or not, it's unfair to simply assume that it does... but further research needs to be done. Besides, there are many different 'versions' of DSD so some may confer an advantage, whereas others may not.

In all this, the mental health of the individuals concerned needs to be considered and treated with care and respect:

But they don’t develop female reproductive organs: they don’t have a cervix or a uterus.
These people don’t have periods and they can’t get pregnant. Having sex with males can be difficult.
Discovering you have this kind of genetic mutation can be a shock.
“The most recent woman we diagnosed with having XY chromosomes was 33,” says Claus Højbjerg Gravholt - an endocrinology professor at Aarhus University who spent the past 30 years dealing with DSD.
His patient came to see him because she had no idea why she couldn’t get pregnant.
“We discovered she didn’t have a uterus, so she would never be able to have a baby. She was absolutely devastated.”
Prof Gravholt says the implications that come with questioning one’s gender identity can be destabilising - and he often refers his patients to a psychologist.
“If I showed you her photo, you would say: that’s a woman. She has a female body, she is married to a man. She feels like a female. And that is the case for most of my patients.”

Where do we go next? It's not simple:

“A cheek swab wouldn’t allow you to reach a robust conclusion on someone’s sex and potential advantage in sport,” says Prof Williams.
He argues a comprehensive sex test would have to include these three categories:
1. Genetics (including looking for a Y chromosome and the SRY "make-male" gene).
2. Hormones (including, but not limited to, testosterone).
3. The body’s responsiveness to hormones like testosterone. Some people might have a Y chromosome, but be completely insensitive to testosterone.
He believes this is currently not being done because it’s expensive, it requires people with very specific expertise - and there are ethical concerns about the testing procedure.
“This assessment can be humiliating. It includes measurements of the most intimate parts of anatomy, like the size of your breast and your clitoris, the depth of your voice, the extent of your body hair.”
One thing is certain: this controversy is not going away.
For now, science is not yet able to offer a definitive view on how people with differing chromosomal make-ups should be categorised for the purposes of elite sport. For those who spend their lives trying to make sense of the science, their hope is that this latest row will propel much-needed research.

it's a very interesting and informative article:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl...

scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling got, think of the people who have been deplat..."

Yeah, listen, JK Rowling is wrong period. She has no genetic, biological or endocrinologic support for her stance.

. She's simply devolving into a raving bigot. The modern day Phylllis Schlafly.

Paul wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling got, think of the people ..."

is difficult when people with large social media following opine on complex issues. Musk and Trump are the raving wing of this problem but Rowling doesnt help either, whether the points she is making have any weight or not, she oversteps the mark quite often.

i lament the legions people nowadays whose phone is their only source of knowledge via easily digestable tweets or quick sentences flashed into their minds. Some may do some research or read the article attached, most stick to memes and quick "gotcha" vids about nonsense, with no context.

of course i'm middle aged and out of date, i read newspapers, barely use my smartphone(certainly not for news or information) and like to read a lot around an issue. I have no social media presence at all, except for Goodreads. I just wish or hope that there is a groundswell of collective correction on the horizon, a verifier of the bilge but facts are tricky and not as comfortable as conspiracy theories...

AB76 wrote: "Paul wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling got, think o..."

I think instead that the problem is that everyone is an expert now. 20 years ago, it was acceptable to say "I don't know", now everyone has an opinion and they insist that they did their own research, which oddly all derives from the same single source. It's a social wide lack of shame or fear of consequences that is creating a widening swath of the functionally retarded. JK Rowling can put herself through medical school or a PhD program if she wants to have an opinion on sex determination. Otherwise, she should shut the hell up. I don't tell engineers how to design bridges.

Soon, I expect human longevity to start dropping precipitously in American and European societies due to the spread of stupidity experts

Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Paul wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling..."

good points Paul, it doesnt help when prospective candidates for the presidency follow the same sources (eating pets in springfield!!?)

Paul wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Paul wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "I was referring to cancel culture to an extent, which is not so much to do with the far right. Think of the treatment J. K. Rowling..."

I think instead that the problem is that everyone is an expert now. 20 years ago, it was acceptable to say "I don't know", now everyone has an opinion and they insist that they did their own research..."

Agreed, Paul.

Not sure if anyone here is into Anthony Price but i just started Other Paths to Glory(1974) and have been swept into an intriguing thriller, based around events on the Somme in 1916, i think.

Ostenso's Wild Geese is also enthralling me, although as a lot of the novel is set in high summer, its making me curiously nostalgic for summer 2024 and i'm not a summer lover!