The Langton Arms

Posted on February 24, 2016 by leslie
The Langton Arms

The Langton Arms

The Langton Arms

An award-winning country pub in the heart of the Dorset countryside

This beautiful, thatched, seventeenth-century pub is reached through a ford running alongside a handsome arched stone bridge and thence through a picture-perfect chocolate-box Dorset village of ancient thatched cottages. The Langton Arms (in Tarrant Monkton, near Blandford Forum) has been a public house for centuries, although the current owners, the Cossins family, have been here for twenty-five years. They own a farm as well, so the pub serves up their own meat in a special grill menu of steaks, burgers, lasagne, faggots and the like (and the meat can also be purchased from their butchery). The standard, swift-changing, menu features a good variety of other meat as well, including local game in season, fish from a small local firm based in Poole and vegetarian dishes – many of the vegetables being grown on site. Continue reading →

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Settling Accounts with Dubya, by Ilana Mercer

Posted on February 22, 2016 by leslie

Bush

Settling Accounts with Dubya, by
Ilana Mercer

Front-runner Trump repudiates Bush doctrine

Making America great again, the theme of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, depends on dispelling the myths and myth-making that made America bad.

Beginning with George W. Bush.

Saint Augustine said: “The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.”

The Republican Party under Bush did the devil’s work. Bar the sainted Ron Paul, not a dog of a Republican lifted his leg in protest of the unjust war on Iraq. Continue reading →

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In Detention

Posted on February 18, 2016 by leslie

HMP Portland, Dorset, former Borstal, credit Wikipedia

In Detention

Bill Hartley goes back to Borstal

The North East of England hasn’t attracted much attention amidst the sex abuse investigations of the past few years. This may be because retired politicians, former field marshals and sundry show biz types prefer the banks of the Thames to the Tyne when seeking a retirement home. However there is an investigation of considerable scale under way which is absorbing significant resources in Durham Police.

For most of the twentieth century the main custodial sentence for young offenders in Great Britain was Borstal Training. This ended in the 1980s with the introduction of the Unified Custodial Sentence. Unified in the sense that two sentences for young people were merged. The other was Detention, which had been introduced in the late 1940s when the government of the day decided that a shorter more vigorous form of custody was required. Its last gasp so to speak was Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw’s ‘short sharp shock’ regime. Continue reading →

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Robo-Rubio, by Ilana Mercer

Posted on February 16, 2016 by leslie
Marco Rubio, by Gage Skidmore

Marco Rubio, by Gage Skidmore

Robo-Rubio, by Ilana Mercer

Fox favourite falters

“Wish fulfillment is “the satisfaction of a desire through an involuntary thought process.” This Freudian term encapsulates the coverage of the riveting 2016 primaries by the Megyn Kelly wing (or coven) of the Murdoch Media.

Yes, a news personality—a showgirl really—is running more of Roger Ailes’ show than she should. And, as Newsmax reports, not everyone in the org is pleased with Kelly’s “Trump-fueled stardom.”

Since the anchoring philosopher in Kelly’s life is Oprah Winfry’s protégé TV pop-psychologist Dr. Phil—the anchor ought to appreciate a psychological idiom that encapsulates her coverage of the New Hampshire primary, in particular, and of Donald Trump in general. Continue reading →

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The Sociology of Sex

Posted on February 14, 2016 by leslie
Eros

Eros

The Sociology of Sex

Mark Wegierski makes some timely suggestions

The critique of contemporary dualism, with the concomitant hope of living a more holistic, balanced life, is an important aspect of the over-all critique of late-modern society. One of the facets of this critique is the triumph, on the one hand, of excessive rationality (as in the economic and technological spheres) and, on the other, of excessive irrationality (for example, in terms of certain elements of personal lifestyle, in the extreme aspects of some contemporary popular music, and in the burgeoning acceptance of various “occult” beliefs). Both these trends seem to increasingly expand at the expense of what was once the rooted ideational center of society. This distinction is similar to Daniel Bell’s perception of a rational, economic sphere of society, which is at odds with the antinomian, cultural sphere, as described in his book on “post-industrial” society, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism. It is also reflected in one of the catchwords of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World: that its denizens should be “adults at work; infants at play”. Continue reading →

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ENDNOTES, February 2016

Posted on February 13, 2016 by leslie
Ben Palmer, Andy Staples Photography

Ben Palmer, Andy Staples Photography

ENDNOTES, February 2016

In this edition: Ben Palmer conducts music of the baroque era * Magnificat by Oliver Tarney * A Western Borderland from EM Records * Dr. Leslie Jones appreciates one of our finest pianists

Thursday 28th January was an important date for conductor, Ben Palmer, and his versatile chamber ensemble, The Orchestra of St. Paul’s. At a concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields (the second such musical event there, arranged by a relatively new independent promoter and sponsor, Edmund Green) Mr. Palmer and his talented, mainly younger musicians gave a polished and inspiring rendition of four important works from the 17th and 18th centuries. The programme consisted of a suite from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (an opera which dates from the end of the 1680s); the first Water Music suite by Handel; Bach’s famous Orchestral Suite No. 3 (famous due to that evergreen baroque favourite, “Air on the G String”); and a Haydn symphony which is not aired very often, the 59th – known as the “Fire”. Continue reading →

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Victoriana – a Cornucopia

Posted on February 8, 2016 by leslie

Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the launching chains of the Great Eastern

Victoriana – a Cornucopia

ANGELA ELLIS-JONES reviews a weighty tome

The Victorian World, ed. Martin Hewitt, Routledge, London 2013, Pb., Reprint edition, ISBN 978-0-415-71298-9, 756pp, £44.99

This is the latest volume in a series of which sixteen other volumes have already appeared on topics such as The Greek World, The Roman World and the Islamic World. Over the course of 40 chapters, mostly of a very high standard, the book ‘brings together scholars from history, literary studies, art history, historical geography, historical sociology, criminology, economics and the history of law, to explore themes central to an understanding of the nature of Victorian society and culture, both in Britain and in the rest of the world’. ‘Victorian’ is interpreted to include the 1900s. Each chapter comes with an extensive bibliography; the hundreds of works referenced will keep the enthusiast for Victoriana going for years. Most of the chapters contain at least one black-and-white illustration of something discussed in the text. Continue reading →

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Time to do Serious, by Ilana Mercer

Posted on February 8, 2016 by leslie
Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz

Time to do Serious, by Ilana Mercer

 Some tactical advice for frontrunner Trump

If Donald J. Trump wishes to lessen the impact of his disappointing second in the Iowa caucuses and walk back the tack he’s taken with Ted Cruz—he must begin to think big and talk big.

Loud in not necessarily big.

Call it triangulation, a concept associated with Bill Clinton’s successful strategies, or call it “the art of the deal”: It’s time for Trump to DO IT.

To this end, Trump must quit the “we don’t win anymore” formulaic rhapsody, and start fleshing out substantive positions. A pragmatist does so by introducing the people he’ll be recruiting to “Make America Great Again.” Continue reading →

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In Defence of Inconsistency

Posted on February 5, 2016 by leslie
Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko

In Defence of Inconsistency

Peter King on a further contradiction of conservatism

We like to think that we are rational and that we act in a consistent manner. If we are conservatives we are consistently conservative and so dislike modern art and architecture. We have an image of what a conservative is, just as we might of any other ideologue. But do we have to be consistent in all things? After all, those of us who oppose change have got used to antibiotics, modern transport and we even communicate to each other through the World Wide Web. No one sees any of this as inconsistent. Continue reading →

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Me-Me Megyn Kelly and the Republican Debate

Posted on February 1, 2016 by leslie
Megyn Kelly

Megyn Kelly

Me-Me Megyn Kelly and the Republican Debate

Ilana Mercer defends Trump’s boycott

The Iowa caucuses are upon us. Every sentient human being who has lived through The Trump Revolution thinks Donald J. Trump, the enfant terrible of establishment politics, will likely win the Republican caucuses, come February 1.

As of January 27, an Iowa Monmouth University Poll places Trump at 30 percent to Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 23 percent, up from 19 percent last month. At 41 percent nationwide, Trump’s lead is double that of Cruz, his closest rival. Continue reading →

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