Corrupt Government in the UK, surely not....

 https://twitter.com/i/status/1451521864136859668

 

Confluence.

Blair Atholl, where the Rivers Tilt and Garry meet.

We came home over two days, I'm not so keen on ten hour drives these days. And we stopped for the night at the Atholl Arms, a very traditional Scottish hotel; despite some reservations on making the booking its actually rather good, we'll certainly go back.

The dining room, how much more Scots could it be?

Locally brewed beer, good, traditional type menu, ok for veggies. Blazing fires, plenty of places to sit and talk.

And of course, our country being a small one, we bumped into folk who know folk we know. That nearly always happens. So we had a good chat in the bar. 

Louise had booked a visit to Blair Atholl castle for the morn, as we only need to get to the boat for about six. I'd been there once before. Good job I suggested we go in the house, as it rained a bit. The history included the usual tragedies, brother set against brother in war, early deaths, sorrow; but the opulence and priviledge is over-whelming (let alone the weaponery). It is the home of the only remaining private army in Europe, ceremonial these days; its ok, we're not about to come swarming over the border with our claymores and dirks, although some of you south might welcome that, a fine way to see the Tories off, if not at all democratic.

This picture is interesting, a friend of the family painted at a time when Highland dress was illegal, both the subject and the unknown artist were taking a fair risk. Its a political statement.
 

There is a room for Katherine M. Ramsay, who married the 8th Duke and was the first Scottish woman to become an MP, a Tory of course. However, she went on an interesting political journey, having initially opposed suffrage she later changed her tune - "Towards the end of this decade the Duchess of Atholl began to make a political journey that would see her dumped by her own party, called a communist and, in 1938, fight Chamberlain and the Conservative Central office as an independent in a by-election. Some of the milestones on the journey saw her meet Sylvia Pankhurst and other Suffragettes on a sisterly basis, campaign against poverty, oppose appeasement of Hitler and the abandonment of Czechoslovakia, and become a supporter of the republican cause during the Spanish Civil War. She was one of very few Conservatives to oppose the government policy of non-intervention in relation to Spain." (From http://madeinperth.org/kitty-atholl/ ). 

As I've mentioned before, we're currently watching the Blair Brown BBC series. It strikes me thatTony Blair was perhaps never wholeheartedly Labour, wholeheartedly Tony, for sure. I found Clare Short's contribution to the discussion about the Iraq invasion insightful, but frustrating. Why did she, Robin Cook and Brown not weild their power to stop it? There were plenty of other powerful allies. Some mistaken loyalty implied Brown. Blair is like Kitty Atholl, except he turned against the people and decency, whilst KMR realised she need to stand up for the people, despite her priviledge, she stood for what she believed was right and as a result let go of power and position.

The grounds are full of huge trees and worth a visit. But we ran out of time and had to head north for the boat.

Don't be weird, it bothers me.

There's this thing that when you're walking on the hill, people, who you do not know, have never met, and most probably (and sometimes, hopefully) will never meet again, say, "Hello."

It's generally accepted that the polite thing to do is say, "Hello." back. And then all is well with the world.

I'm not a great fan of this practice, but, it's convention, and on the whole I'll go along with it though rarely, if ever, instigate it.

Today, exceptionally, something somewhat different occurred. We'd kind of come to a halt, the four of us. I was looking for a photo, L & L were looking for a spot for selfies, C was having a breather and looking after the hound. The hound was doggily occupied. L & L called me over to assist with the photos, not selfies as it turned out. As I headed towards them, on the windy ridge. I had to pass another walker, one of a couple who had been steadfastly approaching us on converging route. "Hello," the person says, hood up, baffled against the wind. "Hello," I reply, fairly unenthusiastically, I was on a mission. And then weirdly, the person stops, turns around and stridently voices, "Hello!". Tempting as it was, restraint became the better of me, and "Fuck off," did not pass my lips, although it may have been subvocalised. Surely, that was weird?

"Baa!" These humans, what are they like?

Repeating the story I was admonished for my thoughts but, really? 

Yesterday, on another walk someone when passing said, "Alright?" In a tone that seemed to expect an answer. That also felt fairly odd. I will assign all this to post-lockdown-and-Covid-complications-syndrome, but hey, people, I don't know you, and you would have no expectations if we were in the middle of Dundee, for example, indeed you would be considered weird for saying. So, WTF.

Later today, we were in a nearby village, full of soup and tea and on the last leg. An elderly person was approaching and as she past she made comment about the weather. I'd pretty much expected her to say something, and we replied, sympathysing with the change and the cold. All of that was just expected, friendly, normal, and perfectly comfortable. The differences are subtle, subtle but important.

I guess, I'm left wondering about the state of mind of those folk, but I won't dwell on that.

Ash.

Bridge over the Swale.

Blair/Brown.

Times I lived through. I remember where I was (driving the car back from Thorne and Hatfield Moors having tried to hear Nightingale in Yorkshire) on that night, 1 May1997. We were so full of hope. No doubt the Blair/Brown strategy was the right one to get elected, and what is the point of a political party that cannot gain power?

This is good TV and an excellent watch, recommended. Insightful, as the cracks appear and Blair gradually goes off the rails (first by privatising bits of the NHS and then by making war). And why wouldn't the left turn on you? The programme intimates that Blair was never really committed to the Labour party in the first place, well that's my reading of it. And then there is the question of ego... surfacing and resurfacing repeatedly.

Picture BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09x62yp

Warbeth.

 A cross-over post, photography at Warbeth. Pen EL5 with 17mm lens. Processing with Photoscape X. A few more images here - https://literateherringthisway.blogspot.com/2021/10/warbeth.html

 

Mark Steel's WTFIGO?

 Essential listening.....

https://play.acast.com/s/what-the-fuck-is-going-on-with-mark-steel/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-mark-steel-episode-16

Martyn Bennett.

Funny how you bump into things, and conversely how things pass me by. 

As I have mentioned previously ( https://literateherringthisway.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-lost-pig-and-other-tales.html ) Louise is fond of BBC Alba and quite often watches it. I wandered into the living room the other evening having been on the phone for a while to find her watching a fascinating documentary about the mental health of musicians. During the programme the Scottish musician Greg Lawson was interviewed and he was shown conducting the Grit Orchestra.

https://www.thegritorchestra.com/

 

The music sounded interesting. A bit of research led me to Martyn Bennett's original album Grit, which I promptly purchased from Bandcamp - https://martynbennett.bandcamp.com/releases

 If you've never heard this, or the earlier Bothy Culture album check them out (both available on Spotify).

The Martyn Bennett Trust "...was set up to be a space and forum for people who feel inspired by Martyn, as a musician, and also as a person with a remarkable and unique outlook on music, his own cultural background, and on the times we live in. The MBT aims to reflect Martyn’s vision of music through supporting performances, commissions, new recordings and educational projects. In setting up the MBT, we thought about Martyn’s characteristics as a musician and as a person, and how we could reflect these in the projects we run and the events we hold. Among these characteristics are freedom, innovation and creativity, boldness, honesty, grit, breaking through boundaries, brilliant musicianship and a deep connection to Scottish culture(s) with a real appreciation of the cultures of others, especially those that are marginalised and threatened."

(From the Martyn Bennett Trust website - http://www.martynbennett.com/MBT.html ) - more music and much information about Martyn and the Trust is available there.

Two films and a BBC series.

 Only The Animals or seules les betes, is a thriller interweaving the lives of the six protaganists, it's well worth watching and is available on Netflix. The Guardian review is here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/28/only-the-animals-review-dominik-moll-denis-menochet-laure-calamyThe film explores, amongst other things, aspects of 21st century sexual behaviour, lonliness, lust and loss in an intelligent, sometimes macabre manner. It is well worth your time, entertaining as well as thoughtful.

A WHITE, WHITE DAY has similarities, set in a similarly isolated community with harsh climate, there is a death also. But although this film also touches on human sexual behaviour it is more about grief and coming to terms with loss. It is a harder watch, interestingly filmed, I love the opening 10 minutes or so, but annoyingly, for me, suspends reality beyond my tolerance. Culturally, I'm fascinated by the prospect of Icelandic children growing up watching some seriously dubious TV, this cannot be real, can it? The Sight and Sound review is here - https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/white-white-day-review-grief-mist and the film is available free on BBC iPlayer.

Suspending reality is stock in trade for the Line of Duty crew and their new outing, Vigil, is similarly full of nonesense. There are some strong female roles and it is well performed, clearly no expense was spared in its production but it is pure tosh. If you accept from the beginning that it is fantasy then I guess it's watchable, but for me I've already wasted three hours of my life on this, no more. I have noticed with some BBC drama that people of colour are often portrayed as victims, incompetent or thoroughly bad. In the past I've made this point to the BBC (Silent Witness), their response "it's drama" is not acceptable but they will defend the indefensible, especially when they've spent a pile of dosh on it. This series is not as blatant, but subtle racism sits there (perhaps the black skipper will be the hero in the end but I somehow doubt it).