It gets scarier

The furore surrounding the Savile affair shows no signs of abating. According to the media, some "showbiz" people, contemporaries of Savile, are now running scared that they will be dragged into the mire because of their sexual encounters with, let us call them their fans, which in the case of pop music, probably means adolescent girls, age indeterminate. We are talking about the "Swinging Sixties", the decade when sex suddenly became easy and available, the era of the Pill, no inhibitions, no risk of getting pregnant, no AIDS, just mini skirts and fun and hanging loose. I got married, started a family and was building my career in that decade so I was just an observer, though my eyes regularly popped at the sight of a pelmet miniskirt (up to C level as someone called it). TV pop progammes showed screaming teenagers, mostly but not exclusively girls, going wild for their favourite pop idols. It was not uncommon for discarded panties to be thrown on the stage. I suppose this sort of harmless hysteria reached its apogee in Beatlemania. Now, I would be very surprised if no member of a pop group EVER took advantage of the situation - all that pulchritude, all that adulation, all that easily available sex.
Now, before you get out the tar and feathers or start pushing dog turds through my letterbox, let me say I am not condoning or approving this behaviour, but I am at least trying to understand the fears of those old showbiz guys who are now expecting the copper's knock on their front door any minute. And also, before you get out the tar etc etc, I am not ignoring the genuine victims of genuine sexual abuse. Vulnerable people betrayed by others put in a position of trust over them deserve our total protection, and the law should be brought to bear on those betraying that trust. At the moment, I am just trying to put some perspective into the situation that obtained in the sixties. From a legalistic point of view, it might be helpful to define a "child".

Nasser speech, 1953

Nasser is reporting on a meeting he had with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, who wanted him to make the wearing of the veil compulsory. This was in 1953. Scary to think how different the situation is in Egypt today.

The egoistical pillock: envoi

The evidence is piling up that Jimmy Saville was a dirty old man, and that those employing him turned a blind eye to his groping activities. And now, apart from the enquiries and threats of prosecution, the politicians are muttering about taking away his knighthood. He was Sir Jimmy Saville, in recognition of his services to showbiz, charity work, etc. It seems, then, that he did "abuse minors" (not sure what the words "abuse" and "minors" mean in his case). But I am still distressed at the way everyone from the Prime Minister down is eagerly giving the man a kicking when he's on the canvas. Well, he's more than down: he's dead. Why not go the whole hog and have a mass pissing on his grave? That would surely make the world a better place....

Wisdom for free

That's me, folks!

Silent Autumn

Every day I read on the Cambirds yahoo group about gardens heaving with birdlife. Tits and finches and thrushes everywhere chomping at the feeders and splashing in the baths. And overhead, squadrons of tasties like Siskin and Redpoll and Brambling on their way to somewhere or other.

But the somewhere or other they are on their way to is definitely not my garden. This morning - and this morning is typical - I had one myxied rabbit, one Starling with a funny leg and an ugly cat with attitude.

Birds are not eating me out of house and home, birds are not costing me a fortune. In fact I can't remember an October when my bank balance was so healthy.

I am at my wits' end. Should I keep staring at an empty garden through my binoculars? Or should I just spend my days looking at my unspent money through a loupe?

It will make no difference, I know, but I think I'll go outside and throw something at that bloody cat.

Don't do that!

If you are thinking of going to Kowloon, you should be aware that the only thing you can do in the Park there is to throw things into a litter bin (Sign 11). If you are interpreting the various signs, can you let me know what you find?
My take is  that you are not allowed to
1 take into or use nuclear submarines in the park
2 dispense justice impartially
3 use deodorants on mats or carpets
4 put a collar on your dog
5 release injured birds
6 put out your cigarette by urinating on it
7 leave your wife naked on a bench
8 get pregnant
9 ride a bike without a saddle
10 administer corporal punishment
12 throw luggage at passing cars

Of course I could be wrong: they're an inscrutable lot, the Kowloonigans.

Baying for blood

A dead Disk Jockey, who for decades was very popular and who was renowned for his charitable activities, is now under investigation for alleged sexual abuse of minors, some sixty victims according to latest police information.  I always thought he was an egoistical pillock, and it seems very likely that he would be tempted to take advantage of the adoring teenage girls flocking round him, though whether "sexual abuse" covers everything from a pat on the bottom to a full-blown night of flagrante, I don't know.
What I do know, and find very distasteful, is the sight of the great British public, encouraged by our salacious media,.baying for blood and waiting eagerly for all the prurient details to be published. And of course there is an exhibition of that distasteful trait whereby we take pleasure when the mighty fall, when our idols prove to have feet of clay, when, in other words, they are just like the rest of us.
As to the politicians trying to make capital for themselves by braying moral indignation at every opportunity, they are lucky that they are already so far beneath my contempt that I have no venom left to spit at them.
I am also very uneasy that the DJ, being dead, has no chance to defend himself. One consequence of this is that the media are already treating him as guilty before any evidence has been produced. It really is sickening, and the fact that he was an egoistical pillock should not prevent him from being treated with proper respect and due process of law.

Sara Gazarek & Greg Jasperse perform "Wish You With Me"

Aww!

There's nothing more tedious than grandparents singing the praises of their grandchildren, is there? So anyway:
According to my son, his youngest boy, Alfie, who is four or five (I ought to know but I don't) came into the kitchen the other morning with his little suitcase all packed and announced to the family: "I want to go to see Big Grandad." Dad replied "That could be difficult. We are in New Zealand and Big Grandad is in England."  Alfie stood his ground and repeated his request. A lad who knows what he wants, obviously.