Olympics 2012...even the website's against the French

In his press conference, TB spoke of being magnanimous in victory. He judged the mood well for, as London won the bid, everyone around the country paused for a moment and thought "yep we've won but spare a thought for the French".

Of course that might change when everyone remembers why they didn't want it here in the first place but, even in this time of triumph, you would think the London Olympic web-site would be able to demonstrate some of the magnanimity the PM was referring to...but you'd be wrong.

When I tried earlier to click on the 'francais' link it didn't link to a page of French but the same page reloaded in English.

I tried it again later and it said "Service Unavailable".

Honestly, it would be enough to drive some people to misery

Pinter…beyond parody

The latest from everyone's favourite Companion of Honour. From the Times today:


“AT THE National Portrait Gallery party in honour of Lord Weidenfeld on Wednesday.

Harold Pinter: “Hello.”

People: “Hello. How are you?”

Pinter: “I didn’t say ‘how are you’, I said ‘hello’.”

People: “Well, how are you anyway?”

Pinter: “That is the ******* disease of modern society. Everyone wants to know how you are. I just say I’m ******* awful. ******* AWFUL.”

People: “Can we talk about your film script for Sir Michael Caine and Jude Law, then?”

Pinter: “No. Goodbye.”

It can’t have taken long to write those plays.”

(Hat-tip RW)

Better late than never...book meme

I have a very important job and my social life is a whirl (luvvie, darrling). These must be the main reasons why it has taken me so long to do the book meme thing. Thanks to "Bloggers4Labour" for including me in this...(they were running out of people to tag).


1) Total number of books I've owned

Don’t really know. A good few hundred but not more than 500. I’m only 30, I’ve got time to buy a few more…


2) The last book I bought

"The Making of Henry" Howard Jacobson

3) The last book I read

"New York Trilogy" Paul Auster

NY Trilogy is an investigation into the art of storytelling, notions of identity and the very essence of language. Ok, I read that off the back cover. It is an interesting read though. Highly recommended.

4) Five books that mean a lot to me

1. "Human Stain" Phillip Roth

Superb. Its variety, insight and wit make it a compelling read. I’ve gone on to read Portnoy’s Complaint, Sabbath Theater, Our Gang and Plot Against America since but this is the one that started me off. I can’t do it justice by describing it in this plodding fashion…so I won’t!


2. "Marxism and Politics" Ralph Miliband

I am not sure where academia would rank it but I read this book when I was 17 and it shaped the way I thought about politics. I’d only read the Communist Manifesto and Marxism and Politics gave me an introduction to Marx’s (and Marxian) politics which made me want to found out more. Marx has been the biggest influence on my political thinking and this book is pretty much where that all began.

I do remember reading somewhere in Marxism and Politics that the following of a football team, while not inimical to the chances of Socialist revolution, did not help in the realisation of Socialism! I may have paraphrased slightly here (!) but I did think at the time....“I do want to see a Socialist society but I do like football as well”.


3. "Muhammed Ali" David Remnick

Ali is often described as a living icon, transcending the world of sport to become a political and cultural icon as well as a boxing genius. This book matches the breadth of Ali’s influence by examining the political and sporting world prior to the emergence of Ali – touching on the lives of Floyd Patterson (‘the good black heavyweight’) and Sonny Liston (‘the bad black heavyweight’) – and charts Ali’s career up to 1967, looking at the politics of the fight game and of the wider world.


4. "Crime and Punishment" Fyodor Dostoevsky

It’s a classic for a reason. Brilliant.

5. "Atonement" Ian McEwan

Beautifully written. It has its flaws but as this is a ‘books that mean a lot to me’ list I couldn’t leave it out.

So, who to tag now? 5 people…hmm. I have no friends, and everyone seems to have done it already...so at Mr W at Hyperrealandsupercool will have to do. He has the personality of five people (I mean that he's a nice guy not a schizophrenic...).