I Like Michael Nyman
I’ve never really heard of Michael Nyman before. But he seems like my sort of man according to The Times.
Last November, Michael Nyman found himself unable to speak, play or compose music. This wasn’t writer’s block or some kind of avant-garde art experiment, but something far more serious. During a routine medical operation, Britain’s most scorned and celebrated contemporary composer suffered a minor stroke.
He’s made a complete recovery, as I hope to.
Some though have been cruel to Michael.
In 2008, Nyman received the CBE at Buckingham Palace. The critic and composer Philip Clark delivered a damning verdict in The Times. “The loneliest man in British contemporary music has finally got the acceptance he craves,” he jeered. “Pity it’s not from anybody interested in music.” Ouch.
I sympathise!
Saudi Arabia’s Got Talent
This headline in The Times caught my eye. The first paragraph describes a hit show on TV throughout the Arab world.
Much of the Middle East will grind to a halt tonight as an audience of more than 20 million gathers round television sets across the Arab world for the final of the hit show Million’s Poet.
But the surprise is that one of the five finalists is a housewife with four children from Saudi Arabia, who appears fully vielled in black.
Three weeks ago, she stormed into the penultimate round with a blistering attack on extremist Muslim clerics. Her poem, The Chaos of Fatwas, denounced those who issue hardline religious decrees, comparing them to suicide bombers as “monsters wearing belts”. She attacked the segregation of the sexes maintained by preachers who “prey like a wolf” on those who seek progress and peace.
Her performance won an ovation from the audience and the highest mark of the round from the judges, who praised her courage and honesty. As the scores were announced, she punched the air.
She has received death threats for what she has said, but it would appear that she has certain backing from the King.
The West may blanch at Saudi Arabia’s human rights record but Hilal is full of praise for King Abdullah’s efforts to drag the country forward in the face of the same opposition and bile that she has endured in recent weeks.
Radical clerics were outraged when the kingdom opened its first mixed-gender university last year. Fatwas have been issued calling for those who promote equality of the sexes in education and the workplace to be put to death. Through it all, the elderly king continues to force the pace of change.
I wish Hilal all the luck in the world in the final of the contest.
An Inappropriate Delivery from Waitrose?
Because I can’t drive at the moment, I ordered a load of stuff from Waitrose. There was no problem, but they felt that they’d send me a promotion – A new Hovis loaf!
I suppose I have to be grateful for small mercies.
An Undertaker’s Tea Party
The headline in The Times today compares Prudence’s launch of his campaign to an undertaker’s tea party.
It was a no-frills launch, positively Presbyterian in its austerity. Some said that Gordon Brown and his Cabinet looked just plain grim, like undertakers on a tea break. And it must be said, as they trooped out of the gleaming black door of No 10 at 10.48am, they did look as solemn as a sermon. The only thing sunny was above us, in the sky, on this lovely spring day that was troubled only by a soft breeze.
The launch cost nothing, a price Gordon can afford. The PM spoke through a mike hidden in the lapel of his Sunday best suit. His hair was (suitably) grey and newly cut, as perfect as a bowling lawn. The look of pure concentration on his face as he stood before us, the Cabinet fanned out on each side, looking like the Politburo but not as much fun, was that of a little boy desperately trying to remember his lines.
Certainly, he and his cabinet all look grim in the photo. But then the threat of redundancy affects people like that.
I do think though this article is rather a slur on undertakers. I met a quite few lately and I would never call them grim. Professional and serious, maybe, but then you would expect that.
Mixed Messages on Cancer
A new and authoritative report says that eating five portions of vegetables a day does not protect you from cancer, as much as was thought.
Eating more fruit and vegetables has only a modest effect on protecting against cancer, a study into the link between diet and disease has found.
The study of 500,000 Europeans joins a growing body of evidence undermining the high hopes that pushing “five-a-day” might slash Western cancer rates.
The international team of researchers estimates only around 2.5% of cancers could be averted by increasing intake.
It two and a half percent benefit is worth having, but it’s not great.
Now what is interesting in these findings is that some research has shown that diagnosed coeliacs have a lower risk of cancer than normal. It could be argued that this was due to the fact that coeliacs tend to eat well and generally eat lots of unprocessed meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.
But perhaps we should all adhere to the last two paragraphs of the article.
Yinka Ebo of Cancer Research UK said: “It’s still a good idea to eat your five-a-day but remember that fruits and vegetables are pieces in a much larger lifestyle jigsaw.
“There are many things we can do to lower our chances of developing cancer such as not smoking, keeping a healthy weight, cutting down on alcohol, eating a healthy balanced diet, being physically active and staying safe in the sun.”
I do all of those things. They also supposedly protect you from strokes.
I blame the genes. After all my father and grandfather died before their time and my wife and son both died from cancer at early ages.
Connor Wickham
Keep it quiet, but Connor Wickham is getting better and better!
I have just watched the goals he scored made and scored in Ipswich’s three-one win at Derby. Just watch the clip in this page and you’ll see he’s mentioned all the time.
Note his long throw that nearly results in a second goal. If he can throw like that at just seventeen, is he the next Rory Delap? He might be, but he’s certainly got an amazing all round game.
The Anonymous Widower 