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.