Rough Men Stand Ready to Do Violence …

… so that people like actor Rupert Everett can denigrate them using the luxury of the freedom that they and their predecessors have given us.

I somehow missed the original piece in the Sunday Telegraph, and it’s only Everett’s weasily “apology” that drew my attention to the ridiculous remarks.

According to Everett soldiers are

“… always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now!

“… The whole point of being in the Army is going to war and getting yourself blown up. That and p—ing on prisoners.”

On the suggestion that soldiers are motivated by a sense of duty:

“No, you do it because you are a nasty, jammy —t and you want to p— on everyone. That’s what drew you to the Army and that’s what they pay you for. They pay you to tie up prisoners and attach electrodes to their nipples and testicles and p— on them.”

Whatever the “apology”, he has clearly revealed that he is of the sort of base opinion that comes from too long spent inside the liberal left bubble, where the contempt for those who give the orders is extended to those who carry them out. Of course, some will compare that to the “Nuremburg defence” – which would be about right, if you are the sort who compares Blair and Bush (neither of whom, I would admit, are without sin) to Hitler and genuinely believes it.

Next thing you know, he’ll be coming out with some uber-luvvie claptrap about how tough is the life of a thespian.

Oh, here it is …

So he was never curious about testing his courage on the battlefield? “You can do that on stage.” Without bullets? “Oh, but there are! Critics can kill.” Hardly the same. “It is the same! Exactly the same!”

The greatest irony, though, was in one sentence earlier in the interview, when Everett says:

“Now what do you get in the Army? Bad helmets and Basra. Your guns don’t work and everyone hates you when you come back.”

And where do you think that contempt for the armed forces comes from? Could it be the sort of idiots who think it’s fair game to attack the rough men under whose protection we sleep peaceably in our beds?

FreakWatch

We must be getting into Summer: BBC’s Springwatch and C4’s Big Brother are now in full swing.

So, you can watch a collection of various oddities of nature using a combination of hidden cameras and expert analysis all for your entertainment.

Or you can switch over to the BBC and see SpringWatch.

I’m Sorry We Haven’t a Humph

So, as the traffic warden of time slaps a ticket on the four-wheel-drive of fate, deaf to the protests of the stroppy motorist of history … we say farewell to Humphrey Lyttleton.

I’m not a big jazz follower, but have long enjoyed Humph’s work on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. Indeed, only on Monday Jon Naismith, the producer of ISIHAC, emailed the mailing list with the news both of the postponement of the next series following Humph’s admission into hospital, but also with the optimistic news that “Humph is otherwise fine and in very good spirits.” Sadly it was not to be.

RIP Humph.

And you thought Eurovision was only an annual event

Croydonian has picked up on an instance of a bunch of Balkan states voting one of their number onto the Security Council of the UN.

So here’s an interesting comparison: voting in Eurovision and at the UN. One involves an unashamed display of national herd behaviour and back-scratching in a vote on something of falsely inflated importance (though which we still have to pay for regardless) but which has virtually no weight or significance in the outside world.

The other is an international song contest.

(Boom boom.)

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

In the last few days Channel 4 has been running teasers for the new Aaron Sorkin production “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”. Sorkin was, of course, the man behind The West Wing and so WW anoraks like myself were looking forward to seeing what he could do in this fresh setting.

 

Sadly, it seems NBC weren’t so impressed and have cancelled the show after only one series. Is this why it has taken so long to find its way onto UK screens, when it was supposed to be here earlier this year? Anyway, it seems Sorkin fans over here will have to treat Studio 60 as a serialised movie rather than the start of another West Wing style saga – assuming it is actually any good.

Global warming - so what?

It’s been a couple of years since the last one, and sure enough tomorrow sees the latest western liberal self-hate fest – this time it’s called Live Earth. Lots of showbiz types will demonstrate their concern for the environment on various stages around the globe. Presumably they will all travel to their respective venues by bicycle, sailing ship and their own two feet only, to avoid any charges of hypocrisy.

Sorry if I sound cynical, but I had to get that out of the way first. Let me now explain my take on environmental policy:

The New Statesman

I don’t think it was the lack of Rik Mayall (understudy Mike Sherman doing a good job in his place), but the stage production doesn’t seem to have the sharpness of the original series, and it is not alone in demonstrating how most Blair-era satire is already showing its age, with tired references to “war for oil” and New-vs-Old Labour observations. The dialogue, though, had clearly been updated for this week’s events. Some of the humour was more slapstick, but it got plenty of laughs nonetheless. Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran have a well earned reputation in British comedy and drama, and one can’t be expected to like everything they’ve produced, so this is all merely IMHO.

Interesting, though, was something I read in the programme. Documenting Marks’ & Gran’s career, reference was made to their appearance at the MacTaggart lectures at the Edinburgh Television Festival in August 1997, where they laid into the BBC and “demolished the case for the licence fee”. I had missed the coverage at the time, but what they proposed was replacing the compulsory pay-up-or-go-to-prison licence fee with a voluntary subscription of £10 a month.

Bob Phillis, deputy director-general of the BBC, replied at the time, “just think of the millions who can’t afford a licence fee of £120 a year”. OK, I’m thinking … but bear in mind I’m not too worried about those who can’t afford the Sky subscription either (at least, not about their limited choice of TV channels). Remember, we’re not talking about access to A&E treatment or the Fire Brigade here.

The following week Marks’ & Gran’s BBC parking privileges were removed.

The good work of the people at Biased BBC hadn’t yet begun in 1997, but I’m sure they might have had something to say about it.