Missive #348

From the author of the ever-popular Flashman novels, a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations. In between writing Flashman novels, George MacDonald Fraser spent thirty years as an “incurably star struck” screenwriter, working with the likes of Steve McQueen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cubby Broccoli, Burt Lancaster, Federico Fellini and Oliver Reed. Now he shares his recollections of those encounters, providing a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes.In my opinion, the best parts of this book are those where he writes what he thinks. Those that are star struck may enjoy what he has to say about his screenwriting days. I think you will like this book. Far from starry-eyed where Tony Blair & Co are concerned, he looks back also to the Britain of his youth and castigates those responsible for its decline to “a Third World country ! misruled by a typical Third World government, corrupt, incompetent and undemocratic”. Controversial, witty and revealing — or “curmudgeonly”, “reactionary”, “undiluted spleen”, according to the critics — The Light’s on at Signpost has struck a chord with a great section of the public. Perhaps, as one reader suggests, it should be “hidden beneath the floorboards, before the Politically-Correct Thought Police come hammering at the door, demanding to confiscate any copies”. — Book promo @ goodreads.com

That Political Correctness should have become acceptable in Britain is a glaring symptom of the country’s decline. For America&hellip well, a country that could tolerate Clinton in the White House and Edward Kennedy in public view will buy anything, as P. T. Barnum observed, and the transatlantic tendency to embrace the latest craze is one of their more endearing traits, but for Britain to swallow—or at least to accept at the prompting of its media and supposed intelligentsia—the most pernicious doctrine to threaten the world since communism and fascism, with both of which it has much in common… that truly beggars belief. But it’s here, in all its deceitful wickedness, and it’s a brave soul who will dare to lift two fingers in its direction.

Speculation… that a hundred years from now the United States will have split into three‐a Hispanic and Asiatic state in the West and Southwest, a black state in the Southeast, and a white state in the North, including Canada. Another possibility: that the Southwest will have gone back to Mexico. Americans will scoff at this as crazy. It is the habit of great countries of imperial pretensions to take the future for granted, as the Romans no doubt did in Trajan’s day, and as Britons, with a few farsighted exceptions, did at Victoria’s jubilees, and Americans do now. They envisage their country going on forever, one and indivisible, more or less as it is now—or if not forever, at least into the age of Captain Kirk, who is a reflection of America, so that’s all right.

We did no walks on Sunday. It was raining lightly when we stepped out in the morning so it was back inside we went. Then for the rest of the morning there were off and on showers with a very brief period of sun in the afternoon. Then more rain during the night.

That left my walking routes very muddy come Monday morning so we did a potty walk along NM-12. It was a good thing that I chose to do that because soon after we were back in Desperado it started raining again. The forecast was expecting Monday to be a rinse and repeat of Sunday and that is what we got. Not a lot of rain but more than enough to get us wet. It was also not very warm with the high for Sunday being 69°F with most of the day in the 50s. Might it be an early winter or just a sample of what is to come?