Merry Christmas!

Silent Sunday

Para- Para- Paradise ...

For whom the bell tolls...

No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

(John Dunne)

To my dear uncle who left us today. Our world won't be the same without you.

Twenty Years Without Freddie

It has already been twenty years. Twenty years since Freddie died. Twenty years without him just trying to imagine what that great singer and composer could have still composed and sung. I saw them at the MTV Europe Music Awards, all that remains of the Queen, and listened to Adam Lambert performing Freddie’s classic hits "Thes Sow Must Go On", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions". He was brave and courageous. But when you listen to a good singer, you also realize who is really the best.

What consoles me about Freddie is that he was loved almost immediately and a lot. And he is still loved and will always be. No artist will ever be so memorable as Freddie Mercury with the Queen. Theirs was the first music video in history, Bohemian Rhapsody.Theirs was the most memorable performance at Live Aid.Theirs was the most memorable and irreverent closing act ever at a concert: Freddie with his red cape while the band played "God Save the Queen".

Midnight in Paris

A lot of us go about our lives wishing that things were different. Many people become so used to the lives they are leading that they end up being easily bored after a while and dream of living in the past, especially since the world seems to be getting worse and worse. 'Midnight in Paris' -written and directed by Woody Allen - deals with themes of nostalgia and what makes us want more out of life. Woody Allen opens the film with beautiful shots of Paris, showing us that this is a place we should be if we're not already there. Paris is more than a great holiday spot, it's an escape from the world and is a nice, classy environment where very little goes wrong.

As per his usual, Woody Allen provides one more couple at the apex of marriage and finds conflict in that universal clash between security and passion. Hollywood screenwriter and wannabe novel writer Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) with his fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams) have accompanied her parents to Paris and the excursion shows up their differences in a most prickly manner. She's all about shopping for expensive items, while he wants to take midnight walks in the rain. Indeed, he loves Paris so much he wants to move there, an idea she rejects like he's completely crazy. Meanwhile, she becomes impressed by a conceited, know-it-all professor (Martin Sheen), who precludes every pontification with "if I'm not mistaken," the satire being that his enlightenments are usually untrue. One evening at midnight, dismayed by the way his life is taking, Gil wanders off around Paris and ends up being lost. As he sits down to pull himself together, an antique car drives up and…

Revealing any more would be a cruel deprivation of your pleasure taken by the amazing grace of the film's fluid, elegant surprises. The crisp pace, firm cutting and old-fashioned invisible style leave you longing for more as the movie flies by in 94 minutes of enchanting pleasure, what they always meant when they used to say "movie magic”.

Enough to say that Gil learns a lot more about himself and what he can do to improve his writing and his life in the process of his nostalgic psychological journey.

The film is very charming and Woody Allen's writing is just as clever and witty as it's always been. This is definitely one of the best films he's made in a while, and it's a beautifully shot and unique film with strong performances. Owen Wilson impresses me and every minute movement reminds me of Woody Allen and in particular revokes one of his greatest achievements in Annie Hall. Although it gives the impression of a rather light film, it also makes us look inside ourselves and think about why we so often yearn to venture backwards instead of forwards.

Silent Sunday

Children in Need 2011

Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well being of children and families.
It can affect every area of a child's development - social, educational and personal.

In 2010, the wealth of Britain's one thousand richest people rose to £395 billion. And yet, in the fifth wealthiest country in the world, the United Kingdom, it is estimated that 3.8 million of children live in poverty NOW. An incredibly shocking figure. Whilst we are squeezing our brains to think whether is better to get an ipod touch or an xbox for our children for Christmas there is a huge number of kids somewhere who do not know if and when will have their next meal.

So please stop and think about this for a minute and, if you can, save the money for a couple of lattes and donate to Children in Need on 03457 332233 or go to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/donate

Bye bye Silvio, good riddance!

(RESIGNED - The Italian crowd celebrating in front of the Italian Parliament)


Silvio Berlusconi resigned as prime minister tonight at 21.43 after the Italian Parliament approved on a package of austerity measures. His "reign" (government) lasted 1284 days.

Demonstrators chanting "resign, resign, resign" had gathered outside parliament and Berlusconi's car was pelted with coins as it drove to the presidential palace.

This is the end of an era. Let's hope it's the start of a new positive one. Let's hope that Italy can make it. Let's hope that something will really changes in the future both for Italy and Europe. Whatever happens now it will take a long time. And the Italian people, after tonight's brief euforic moments, will start complaining again, they will easily get fed up with the interim government, then with the auterity measures and then with the new permanent governement (whenever this is going to happen). I hope I'm wrong.

In the meanwhile, le roi est "mort", vive l'Italie!

Fatal Colours, Towton 1461

“The red rose and the white are on his face, the fatal colours of our striving houses" (from Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part 3)

How many times I have driven up the A1M and the taken the turn-off to York oblivious to the nearby site of Towton and its significance? This year is the 550th anniversary of the ferocious Battle of Towton, the largest and longest battle of the Wars of the Roses which Shakespeare depicts in Act 2 of Henry VI Part 3. It took place on Palm Sunday 29th March 1461 in a blizzard and lasted for about ten hours; it was probably the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. Contemporary accounts, including a letter written by Edward IV to his mother, Cecily Neville, the day after the battle, put the losses at 28,000. And with the Yorkists victory against the Lancastrian force it settled the first Wars of the Roses in favour of Edward IV, at the time only 18 years old.

This brutal battle is well handled in George Goodwin’s book ‘Fatal Colours’. And thanks to him I have discovered a very important piece of history that contributes once more to my Plantagenet’s jigsaw, that’s currently my latest historical passion after the Tudors. Goodwin's book is a careful examination of the events at Towton but also creates the backdrop of fifteenth-century England. From the death of Henry V, with his baby son's inheritance first of England, then of France, he chronicles the vicissitudes of the 100 Years War abroad and the vicious in-fighting at home. He brilliantly describes a decade of breakdown of both king and kingdom, as increasingly embittered factions struggle for supremacy that could only be secured after the carnage of Towton.

A very enjoyable read that unfortunately was a bit spoilt for me by the clichéd depiction of Richard of Gloucester (later III) as a scheming and evil duke and subsequently monarch who not only murdered his young nephews in the Tower but also personally killed the crazy Henry VI. I think this is an accusation too far that, according to my knowledge and sources of information, has no historical evidence.



(George Goodwin talks about the Battle of Towton on BBC Look North)

11.11.11

What are your plans for tomorrow? Did you know that it will be the 11 / 11 / 11? In the calendar this curious combination of numbers occurs once every hundred years, and according to the oriental numerology it will be a very lucky date, that’s why many couples, especially in India, have chosen this date to celebrate their wedding.

But it is not considered lucky all over the world; in the Western medieval symbolism, for example, the number 11, going beyond the 10 Commandments, would be the number of sin.

Should we believe this? Of course not, because in the same Christian tradition the number 11 can take a completely different meaning; it is the number of the Apostles that remained faithful to Jesus after Judas' betrayal, but also the number of ships that accompanied St. Ursula to Cologne in her battle against Evil.

Superstition, however, is limitless and so, just look around a bit on the Internet and you’ll discover that the imminent arrival of 11/11/11 has sparked the imagination of many people around the world and led to over 194 millions web pages devoted to this subject.

Whether you believe in "the magic of number 11" or not, try this little “experiment” with your friends. It’s very simple. Add up the last two digits of your year of birth (for example "74" if you were born in 1974) with the number of completed years (or to be completed) during 2011. You will find that the result is always "111" ("74" + "37" in my example).What’s the trick? Actually, there is no trick; 111 is the result of a sequence of simple additions and subtractions:our year of birth - 1900 + of our current age = 111

Obviously next year the same formula will result in 112!

18 years ago...

(when he was one ...)

... my little baby boy was just born and I knew form the first moment I saw his little face that he would have been the love of my live. Although he is now officially an adult, he will be always my baby. Very soppy, but true. Happy Birthday, my dear son!

Sunday but not silent today

This may look like a hurricane on a Caribbean island but unfortunately it’s Genoa, a lovely port city in the Italian Riviera, where at least seven people were killed as flash floods tore through its centre last Friday, a week after torrential rain battered nearby coastal areas. There have always been floods but it is shocking that people still have to die because of them in 2011 when technology seem is so advanced and bad weather conditions should be forecast and measures taken to avoid these disasters. As I have mentioned before, in spire of all our might and arrogance, we are still powerless against the fury of nature.

(Photos from Primocanale)

Haunted York

York is said to be the most haunted city in the world with a total of 504 recorded hauntings according to the Ghost Research Foundation International. I have lived 17 years in this historical wonderful city and I have never seen a ghost myself. So Last Monday I decided to go on a ghost guided tour for the first. To be honest, I wanted to know more about the ghosts of
York but I also wanted to escape the never-ending knocks at the door for the usual Halloween "trick or treat"!

Unfortunately I was not the only one to have this idea on Halloween night as the many ghost tours, walks and trails of York seemed to be fully booked! York has around four million visitors a year, and there are plenty of people competing to show them the ghosts of the city. One of the best and oldest is the Original Ghost Walk, where you will hear some of the most famous tales of ancient betrayal and persecution. Here are just a few…

York is apparently still haunted by 2,000 year-old ghosts: the lost Roman Legion. An apprentice plumber installing a heating system in the cellars of the Treasurer's House, spotted the ghosts in 1953. He heard a horn in the distance, and then a disheveled Roman soldier on a horse emerged from the brick wall. This soldier was followed by others, all looking dejected, carrying swords and spears. They appeared to be walking on their knees, but really an old Roman road is located fifteen inches below the cellar, so the ghosts could have been walking on their own familiar road, on their way to the Minster.

Near Treasurer’s House and in a building attached to St William’s College, a ghostly child, who starved to death after her parents died from the plague, appears to haunt the upper parts of the house and is said to scream and bang against this small windows in search of help.

The story goes that several orphans died in the nearby Industrial Ragged School during the 1800's, due to the negligence of the alcoholic schoolmaster; now, on cold nights, people have reported walking by the arch only to feel a small child take them by the hand... Childish giggling and terrible screaming has also been reported.

Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was executed for treason in York: as a staunch Catholic he had plotted against the Protestant Elizabeth I. He was beheaded in 1572, and his head stuck on a large spike on Micklegate Bar as a warning to anyone else with similar ideas. There it remained for many years until eventually recovered and buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity church in Goodramgate. The body of the Earl has been seen on many a night staggering through The Shambles, where his body was buried, searching for his mislaid head.

A load of horror tales or do phantoms and ghouls really lurk in the city of York? Just come and visit York to find out for yourself...

Silent Sunday

(Like mother like daughter!)

Curtain down on Spooks

So that’s it. BBC1's long running spy drama has come to a close and it is hard to believe it is almost ten years since it all began; so many characters have come and gone; many in less than pleasant ways. Surprisingly the departure of the lead character hasn't led to a drastic change in the feel of the programme, although over the years the centre of attention has drifted towards MI5 Chief Harry Pearce and slightly away from a front line officer; although they were always important enough for the viewer to care about… when an MI5 character was killed off it was almost always somebody the viewer had got to know well for many episodes. The creators made it clear from very early on that nobody was safe when one of the two apparently major characters was brutally murdered in the second ever episode… usually fomenting several complaints. Over the years the team has taken on a variety of threats including Islamic terrorists, fascists, Russians, Chinese and even supposedly friendly Americans! Whoever the team took on in a given episode, you knew things would get exciting and the threat wouldn't be stopped till the last minute… cliché I know but it works! It wasn’t all action though; there was plenty of politicking and back-room work to keep the viewer thinking.

And now it’s all over. Yesterday’s last episode drew a curtain over the series in the most dramatic way. Heart-broken about the final scenes, I am somehow relieved that I’ve sobbed over Spooks for the last time. With Harry Pierce back at his desk, top button fastened, emotions contained, Britain is safe now. For a moment it all looked like it might be so different. That Harry and Ruth might run off to their cottage by the sea and live simply and happily ever after. And like many Spooks fans, I almost wanted it to finish on that note – except really, that wouldn't have been right, it wouldn’t have been Spooks. The Tom Quinn’s cameo was the cherry on the cake but that was not enough to cheer me up. I will really miss the programme. I will even miss my predicted sobbing over the years. And I still hope that the BBC will change their minds at some point and make more episodes.

Silent Sunday ...late again!

Steve Jobs. R.I.P. Already a legend.

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011

People vs. Banks

Unbelievable, they're doing it again. Our governments are giving even more taxpayer money to banks!

Absolutely, we need to bailout Greece to save Greece, and save Europe. But the current bailout makes us the taxpayers pay back banks for 90% of their foolish investments. Greek people don't get a cent, and we give a ton of money to rich bankers. And even worse: about 30% of our money will go to speculators who will make a massive profit from gambling on a bailout!

How on earth did our governments write a bailout plan that floods banks and speculators with our money and leaves Greece with nothing? The answer: they actually asked bankers to write the agreement. Our finance ministers are deciding on this plan in days -- let's send them and our parliaments a massive call to go back to the drawing board, and bailout Greece, not the banks:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_people_vs_banks/?vl

Silent Sunday

Tartuffe

I confess to not having read Molière since my secondary school, and I know I’d have liked it much better if we’d had the Northumberland Theatre Company’s adaptation to study instead of the original. Not sure what was going to expect me yesterday evening in the little theatre/old fashion cinema house in the small town next to my village, I entered the venue prepared to be surprised. And I really was. Positively.

Tartuffe is a hilarious and outrageous classic. He is a roguish imposter who worms his way into the orderly household of prosperous yet naive merchant Orgon. He sets out to marry the daughter, seduce the wife, imprison Orgon and get his hands on the family fortune.



NTC give Tartuffe’s exposure of hypocrisy a daft, no-nonsense, north of England feel, fused with the physicality of Commedia dell’Arte and flooded with a sunshine that really warms.
The ensemble of seven actors is continuously involved as eavesdroppers and gossips when they’re not whisking off a mask to revert to a major part. Synchronised moves, gestures and responses give a corporate feel of everyone being in this together

The play descends almost into farce in the second half, with trousers round ankles and spies under tables. The pace is faster too with all the plot complexities out of the way, galloping to a triumphant climax. It was a very entertaining night out in a community venue, all the more reason to question the loss of NTC’s entire Arts Council funding from next April. I really hope they survive.

Silent Sunday

I have to admit, I was fairly surprised to see how this two hours’ film achieved what many TV miniseries just barely managed - the element of belief! Mia Wasikowska is just perfect as Jane Eyre! Age appropriate, she is believable as the innocent eighteen year old governess who has seen little of the world, but emulates the courage, conviction and righteousness of greater and more experienced women. Michael Fassbender did what no previous actor filling the shoes of Edward Rochester could do - make him pitiable and yet so adorable and charming!

In this version of Jane Eyre you actually see the difference between Jane and Rochester - physical, intellectual, social, and emotional - and the two lead actors do a convincing job of making us see why these two unlikely lovers should fall in love, and their ultimate reconciliation echoes the truth of that love which surmounted those difficulties, made them aware of their faults, brought them together as equals, and promised a happy future life.

I was delighted to see that minor characters were not overlooked, and were given their proper share of importance. Amelia Clarkson plays a very convincing Jane Eyre as a child and a special mention should go to Judi Dench as Alice Fairfax, whose terrific performance threatens to overshadow the two leads.

Every detail in this film pertaining to the era in which the story takes place has been meticulously observed. From sets to costumes to background score – it is excellent! Even Thornfield appears alive and enigmatic! Some Bronte’s purists would probably detest the movie for everything that makes it superior to other adaptations, but with Bronte’s, you either hate or love them passionately. I fall into the latter category with regard to this film.

Slipped disc?

I’m in agony. Since I’ve come back from Italy I have experience back pain but since last Sunday it got worse. I actually felt my back going and I was stuck while loading the dishwasher. My GP thinks it's a 'slipped disc'. Although this term is commonly used, this type of injury is more accurately described by the terms 'prolapsed disc' or 'herniated disc'. The back pain from this type of injury is caused when the disc bulges or ruptures and the internal material presses on a nerve or the spinal cord, I do not know how the doctor managed to diagnose that without any scans, unless he's got x-ray vision, but I suppose I have to trust him for the moment as the symptoms seem correct. I’ve been prescribed anti-inflammatory tablets, painkillers and referred to the Backpain Clinic at the hospital. But in the meanwhile the pain is excruciating and I can hardly, walk, sit or even sleep. How much I do hate aging!

50 years of Amnesty International

"Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will find the news that somewhere in the world someone is imprisoned, tortured or killed because his/her opinions or religion are unacceptable to his/her government." So began an article published on May 28, 1961 on the London newspaper The Observer, written by the London lawyer Peter Benenson after hearing that two Portuguese students had been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for raising their glasses in a toast to freedom. "The newspaper readers feel a sickening sense of impotence. But if these feelings of disgust all over the world could be united into a common action, something effective could be done. "

Started with this article and based on the campaign for forgotten prisoners that followed, Amnesty International was created in 1961.

Since then and for all these 50 years, many campaigns have followed, for the forgotten prisoners, against the death penalty, to the more current " I demand dignity." There are many actions, and many results obtained in half a century of work.

Hundreds of thousands of people have found freedom, or have had their lives saved thanks to an appeal. Several international standards, such as the UN Optional Protocol on Child Soldiers and the Convention on Enforced Disappearances have been developed with the help of Amnesty International. Amnesty International’s mobilization has opened the way for establishing the International Criminal Court.

Years of intense campaigns, together with prestigious allies, have prompted the UN to commit to a treaty regulating the arms trade, to prevent falling into the hands of regimes that violate human rights. While country after country, the world decided to put an end to executions, Amnesty International has been the focus of the coalition that convinced the UN to approve a global moratorium on the death penalty.

Together with the campaigns, including many mobilizations, from world tour Human Rights Now! in 1988, with artists like Peter Gabriel, Sting and Bruce Springsteen to Palamnesty set up by the Italian Section in 1998 opposite the headquarters of the UN Diplomatic Conference on the International Criminal Court.

However, words such as poverty, insecurity, deprivation, exclusion, discrimination, violence, torture, death penalty, arbitrary detention, unfair trials are still current. Until they become obsolete words, Amnesty International will continue to call on governments to respect human rights, to end the violations.

Silent Sunday ...abroad

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Behind the Scenes at The Museum

As most of you who ‘read’ my ramblings here already know, Kate Atkinson is my favourite contemporary English novelist. From the moment I started reading the first pages of one of her books, I felt she had something profound to say about life and people’s views. I read Behind The Scenes At The Museum a few years ago but I decided to read it again in the last couple of weeks, as I thought that now after a few more years spent in this beautiful city of York, I could get a deeper meaning of the story. And I was right as I have enjoyed this second time more than the first. In this novel, Kate Atkinson has created one of the most original first person narrators of recent years. Her character, Ruby Lennox, is at once witty, fragile, sad, and sassy. Ruby's sharp eye for detail, and the way in which she brings alive the interior and exterior fabric of her life through her voice, engages us with its immediacy.

The novel begins with Ruby's conception in 1951, charts her exit from the warmth and safety of her mother's body, and her arrival into a very strange and alienating world. Her family is eccentric but engaging, living above the pet shop in York that they own and run. Her parents, Bunty and George, are well meaning, but have cracks in their psyches that play themselves out through interactions with their children. Ruby is not an only child: her older sisters Patricia and Gillian are her constant companions, as bizarre as their parents. The novel takes us through the early part of Ruby's life, constructing a magical world where the strangest events seem inevitable and manageable. Increasingly Ruby becomes aware that there is something about her family that she is not being told and, in a brilliantly realized moment of revelation, Kate Atkinson allows Ruby to discover what that secret is, then we watch her come to terms with it.

The past is a strong presence here. Kate Atkinson tells much of the quirky family history through separate chapters called "Footnotes", which take us back to pre-Ruby days, and they do much to explain why her family is as it is, and why Ruby develops as she does.

This novel is never predictable, constantly delighting by the way that Ruby's world-weary sardonic view of adults is wittily expressed. The independence of the voice here is powerful and new. Kate has found a way to express the young Ruby's viewpoint without sacrificing the older Ruby's knowledge. This achievement means that even within the grimmest passages of the novel there lurks a longing for the past, and an irrepressible need to find the humor and humanity in every situation. In the narrative, for example, Ruby's parents let her down in many ways, but they are never less than loved, and the older Ruby never lets us forget that fact.

The vigor and passion of this book comes from the language and the forcefulness of its life-affirming voice. At no time do we think that Ruby's life is easy, yet her resilience and refusal to be miserable carries us on with her. The novel begins with Ruby declaring "I exist!" and ends with the words "I am Ruby Lennox." The pages in between the two statements justify the second completely. By the time we reach it, we know exactly who Ruby Lennox is, and we feel reluctant to leave her. This is a mark of Kate Atkinson's success: she has made us love her character.

Silent Sunday

The Last Day of School

My daughter’s last day of primary school was really exhausting and very emotional too. I had expected to be like this but I did not foresee this sense loss I’m feeling at the moment. The girls and boys were brilliant during their leavers’ assembly, remembering the old times, the first day of school seven years ago, the funny moments, the important ones and above their affection for one another. For me it was just like a minute a go, for them it is already two thirds of their lives.
And although I understand that my little baby girl is not really that “little” any more (actually she is taller than me now!) and that she is mature enough and ready to go on to secondary school, I do not feel ready to “let her go”. The 'big' new school does not intimidate her but it frightens me. She won’t be alone there, but I won’t be around the corner if she needs me. She won’t be in her small cosy school any more... And she is already slipping away from me…I’m selfish, I know…but I love her...

Silent Monday ...

...because I'm always late for Silent Sunday but I like posting photos anyway....

How the World sparkles with Twitter and Flickr

The effect is the same as in those photos taken from the space where you see the night lights of cities, which draw a merciless confrontation between the economically advanced countries and the rest of the world. This is the graphic design made by Eric Fisher who shows how the messages posted on Twitter and all the photos uploaded to Flickr are distributed on the Planet. Or rather, they are actually are concentrated in Europe and in the United States. By analyzing the geographical origin of the updates and placing a blue dot for tweets and an orange for your photos (white is where there are both), the geography of the world evolves as shown in these breathtaking photos.

(Photos taken from la Repubblica)

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday (late!)

Italian Spring

(Congratulations to all of Italy!)

They/we are calling it the Italian Spring. After Silvio Berlusconi's long years in power, the Italian electorate rose up and said they had enough, overturning laws passed by his government to revive nuclear energy, privatize the water supply and help him avoid prosecution.

The Italian government tried everything possible to delay, compromise and negate the possibility of Italian people expressing dissent. It wasted €300m preventing a high turnout at the ballot for a referendum on three crucial issues. It even passed a decree in the hope of nullifying one of the referendum's counts. In addition, it attempted to prevent adequate television cover of the ballot. Yet the referendum held on 12-13th June succeeded. The result constitutes another huge setback for Silvio Berlusconi's government, after the May local election where even Milan, Berlusconi's home city – rejected his party's candidate for mayor.

Italians were called to the ballot box to give their verdict on three crucial government policies: first we had the opportunity to reject the (in)famous "legitimate impediment’, the law that gave Berlusconi automatic immunity from trial proceedings. Second, we had the chance to stop another controversial reform brought in by Berlusconi's government: water privatisation. And last but not least, we were able to vote against Berlusconi's energy policy, which goes against the current European trend in proposing the construction of nuclear plants in high-risk seismic Italy.

And Italians have spoken. We said no to the current government's most controversial policies. We said no to an undemocratic law that placed the prime minister above the law and prevented him from ever coming to trial. We said no to water privatisation and, again, no to nuclear energy.

And for the first time in many years I am very proud of my country. Forza Italia! (And this is not intended as a pun!)

Burlesque

So, all of my friends shrieked in horror when asked to accompany me to the movie Burlesque. With all this silly snobbery around me, I opted to wait for the DVD, but now I regret not having seen it at the cinema.

BURLESQUE, written and directed by Steve Antin, is a terrific cinematic definition of what the word 'burlesque' means: 'a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. The word derives from the Italian burlesco, which itself derives from the Italian burla - a joke, ridicule or mockery.' This is a riot of color and good fun and sassy production numbers à la Bob Fosse. The story is predictable and silly and the script borders on mediocre, but with the talent of the cast, none of that matters!





Ali (Christine Aguilera) flees Iowa in hopes of a career in show biz and happens into a Sunset Strip Burlesque House run by 'still not down' Tess (Cher) who knows her business is failing, despite the solid help from her gay assistant Sean (Stanley Tucci) and the warnings of her ex- husband/partner Vince. Tess has problems with some of her lip-synching cast, namely Nikki (Kristen Bell), and is being hounded to sell her club to the wealthy boyfriend of Nikki - Marcus (Eric Dane). Ali observes, wants to be in the show, but is offered the job of waitress in the club by bartender/songwriter Jack (Cam Gigandet), a guy so kind that he shares his little flat with her. Ali is persistent and when given a chance to audition she gets into the cast. Her trump card is that she is such a terrific singer that she converts the club away from lip-synching into a full-blown song and dance place. Romance of course flutters in as do other little side funny episodes, but the main attractions are the glitzy stage numbers by a surprisingly fine Christina Aguilera and by Cher herself. It is all very corny and very wonderful entertainment. Definitely worth an evening's pleasure.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday