Page Eight

What do you do when you start watching a movie and, early on, you are pretty sure you have seen it before?

I had that experience last night with a film called Page Eight. I had thought it was a new one but it turns out it's a 2011 film. Although it has the feeling of the 1980s.

It's an all British affair, written and directed by David Hare. If you think of classic British - particularly English - male actors, who do you think of? Bill Nighy - yep, he's here. Michael Gambon - yep, he's here too. Also Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Felicity Jones, Saskia Reeves, Holly Aird. I suppose not quite Brit A listers by a good B+ team.

It's described by Mr Wiki as a "thriller" but that's just wrong. There are no thrills. It's about espionage and politics and how they interact but it proceeds at a comfortable pace, Bill Nighy in the lead doing his bumbling, stumbling, flawed but loveable Englishman and a direction style of a series of set piece episodes as though in a stage play. Which, considering Hare's career, isn't surprising. At one point he seems not to have got the hang of television: in a meeting, Nighy says "have you read page eight?" and it's obvious the others haven't, so the camera pans to the printed page and someone's finger follows the words along. Maybe it's an attempt at self-deprecating cinematic humour that I missed.

The film moves through a sequence of espionage memes such as American black sites, Israeli West Bank atrocities, thoughtful spy doesn't trust his political masters so goes rogue, spy steals classified documents and threatens to leak them to the press; none of them treated in any detail - perhaps because this isn't a ten episode TV series. It's very undemanding with a just about plausible plot - it's clear from about the fifth minute who are the bad guys - and no action of the kind you would expect in an espionage thriller; no guns, no confrontations. It's John La Carré without the depth, done and dusted in less than two hours.

I'm not really selling this well, am I? But the thing is, despite my sneering pomposity, I enjoyed the company of the people in this film and the facile and relaxed style. I subsequently discovered it's the first of a series called The Worricker Trilogy [Johnny Worricker is Nighy's character]. I have put the follow up films Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield onto my Netflix watch list.

If you want a warm, cuddly movie to watch for an hour and three quarters, on the couch with your loved one, some wine and popcorn, and you don't want to have to think too hard or follow a complicated plot, this could be for you!

Oh and did it turn out I had seen it before? I'm not actually sure but I think not; that feeling was triggered by one scene where Bill Nighy and Rachel Weisz meet. Looking back, it's a scene you could see in any Bill Nighy film, so probably not.

Wind

I was driving through the Cornish countryside yesterday and saw a number of these wind turbines.

 

I know plenty of people consider them ugly. But not me. I find them things of great beauty - slim, elegant, minimalist and purposeful. I guess that's how I'd like to be remembered one day. Although the chances of anyone remembering me as slim are ... well, slim.

When they process across the fields in formation

I can see that they might be considered threatening, like triffids

or clone troopers

But how can you not like this peaceful scene?

According to https://globalwindday.org/ "Onshore wind is now the cheapest form of new power generation in most of Europe, and offshore wind is not far behind with costs having fallen over 60% in 3 years. And it’s getting easier and cheaper to integrate wind power in the energy system. As a local resource, wind also means much less money spent on fossil fuel imports. And of course it means less CO2 – and cleaner air – in our cities.".

Global Wind Day 2021 is on 15 June.

Spring cheer

Thank you St Austell Town Council for bringing some spring cheer to our lockdown emergence lives.

And to Cornwall Council's Austell Project for looking after the local fauna. 

"to drive forward positive change to make St Austell and its hinterland a great place to live, work and play. Proud of who we are"

Ninety

My dear pal Tony is 90 today. I got him a 10 year old Islay single malt, which I hope will sustain him for another ten years so that he gets a telegram from.... the monarch. I'm hedging my bets on who the monarch will be or even if we still have one by then.

I don't know whether the telegram is still a thing or whether it's an email, WhatsApp message or tweet. In ten years' time it could be an android representation of the monarch knocking at your door. If there are such things as doors then; we might all be living in one vast open-plan universe.

Tony shares his birthday

with an illustrious populace, including Joseph Pulitzer, Omar Sharif, Vincent Kompany (of whom he definitely will not have heard), William Booth, Charles Hallé, Mandy Moore and heavy metal guitarist Mike Mushok. The only people actually born on the same day as Tony that I could discover were René Follet, William Wingfield, Gérald Forton. I have no idea who they are - do you expect me to do all the work for you?

Three Sisters Playing Chess

The Game of Chess (Portrait of the artist's sisters playing chess) is a painting by Sofonisba Anguissola from 1555. Anguissola was 23 years old when she painted it.

It looks like a bit of a mismatch. I think the confident-looking elder sister (Lucia) is about to declare 'Check', maybe even 'Checkmate'. And the youngest (Europe) looks a bit of a mischief - she might tip the board over if her favourite sister (the stern-looking Minerva) is about to lose. Minerva's King looks a bit exposed and it's possible Lucia has captured the Black Queen and has it in her hand.

It looks like Minerva has her hand raised - is that a concession of defeat?

The painting is in the National Museum in Poznan, Poland. I hope nobody makes it into a jigsaw puzzle.

Mother Carey's Chickens

Mother Carey's Chickens is a phrase I learned today from a dear friend. Tony is a long-retired Royal Navy officer and apparently these words are (or at least were) much used by mariners. They refer to storm petrels, which are small birds - a little larger than a sparrow - common in the world's oceans, migrating to warmer climes in the southern/northern winters. There are 24 species of storm petrel.

Mother Carey is supposed to have been some kind of supernatural figure, definitely of a seafaring ilk. Here's John Masefield's take on her:

She's the mother o' the wrecks, 'n' the mother

Of all big winds as blows;

She's up to some deviltry or other

When it storms, or sleets, or snows;

The noise of the wind's her screamin',

'I'm arter a plump, young, fine,

Brass-buttoned, beefy-ribbed young seam'n

So as me 'n' my mate kin dine.'

This painting by the late 19th century Dutch bird illustrator Johannes Gerardus Keulemans.

Philip Carteret, Commander of his Majesty’s Sloop the Swallow noted this in his diary of 18 April 1767:

we saw also a great many pintado birds, of nearly the same size, which are prettily spotted with black and white, and constantly on the wing, though they frequently appear as if they were walking upon the water, like the peterels, to which sailors have given the name of Mother Carey’s chickens

Mr Wiki tells me that "Storm Petrels' presence in rough weather at sea has led to various mariners' superstitions, and by analogy, to its use as a symbol by revolutionary and anarchist groups."

Not sure that this, by the band Alive 'N Kickin', is either of those. However, Stormy Petrel (formerly known as Virus) is the Anarchist Communist Group’s theoretical journal. Whatever a theoretical journal is. The latest issue claims to be a "bumper 60 pages of revolutionary anarchist communist thought and ideas". It contains the following: 

• Building Resilient Communities: The Challenges of Organising Locally
• Community Activism in South Essex
• Mutual Aid during the Pandemic
• Charity or Solidarity?
• Covid Mutual Aid: A Revolutionary Critique
• ACORN – no mighty oak!
• Anarchist Communists, anti-fascism and Anti-Fascism
• Women: Working and Organising
• What is Anarchist Communism? (excerpt from Brian Morris’s forthcoming book)
• Poll Tax Rebellion – Danny Burns
• Book Reviews – Putting the poll tax rebellion in perspective
• We Fight Fascists: The 43 Group and Their Forgotten Battle for Post-War Britain
• Class Power on Zero Hours
• McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality

Frankly that doesn't sound very anarchic to me but each to their own. I couldn't find out how many members they have but I declined to join their mailing list. Dunno why I'm publicising them really. It's as long way from John Masefield.