Scrapbook: Week 37

September 9-15, 2023

SATURDAY 9 Jonathan Freedland’s lengthy praise of Joe Biden has a valedictory tone verging on obituary.

📌 The escaped Wandsworth jailbird, 21, has been recaptured. He was nabbed while cycling along a canal towpath in West London and did not resist arrest. Whether he was actually a dangerous criminal threat we will likely never know. His four days of freedom, however, have thrown the justice system into an ever deepening swamp of awkward questions.

SUNDAY 10 In a very convoluted way a big story in the Observer “reveals” that Rishi has sneakily slashed by 20% the budget for special educational needs.

📌 At a meeting of our allotments committee it was agreed that we stop trying to make our own compost and buy it instead.

📌 At an Unthanks all-day takeover of the Barbican the afternoon set threw up something new to me. The pianist both played chords and melodies to accompany the singing but also at times reached deep inside the grand piano and plucked the strings.

📌 Andrew Rawnsley reckons it would be a big mistake for the Conservatives to campaign next year’s general election on the issue of immigration. They’ve broken too many promises and failed badly at the ones they tried to keep (small boats, Rwanda), he says. It would be worrying if they took Rawnsley’s advice because the only other issue they might major on is one of the many culture wars they’ve already tried to start, and that could get very ugly indeed.

MONDAY 11 Reflecting on the Unthanks evening performance last night, what seemed obvious is that sisters Rachel and Becky are now at the centre of a mammoth production enterprise. On stage were 11 musicians, four men and seven women. The production values were beyond comprehension for a simple folk outfit. The lighting was theatrical, the compositions heavily orchestrated. At times the clog-dancing sisters looked quite lost in it all.

📌 My wife is constantly disgusted at my attempts to create the perfect savoury porridge. Today I made one with red onions, chorizo and leftover pork sausage. Yum.

📌 Fascinating exposure in the New Statesman of the crookedness of the British tax system, the bottom line being that most of Britain’s working population is taxed at a higher rate than Rishi Sunak.

TUESDAY 12 Rooting through my Google files I found some junk from decades ago. A lot of it went straight in the bin but a mountain of memos still stands before me. I’m thinking of making the clearance a one-year project, a bit like learning French on Duolingo.

📌 Among the junk found in the long-forgotten cloud storage I have have been rooting through was my first ever blog post, which was an instructional piece on building a small arts & crafts table from wood found discarded on the street. The table I made referenced the work of one of my favourite American furniture makers, Gustav Stickley. And the photograph I found buried deep in the folds of the cloud was shot on a background of William Morris wallpaper, which was a nice touch.

WEDNESDAY 13 Sadiq Khan’s future as Mayor of London is in doubt. He’s in disagreement with his party over his stance on emissions and clean air. And he faces competition from Jeremy Corbyn, who is threatening to stand against him at the next mayoral election, which will be decided using the discredited FPTP (First Past The Post) voting system.

📌 Fascinating podcast from Tortoise about the mysterious Charlotte Owen, a 30-year-old Westminster hangabout who Boris made a Baroness. The Tortoise journalist states early on in the podcast that her interest in Owen was not about what she did to get a seat in the House of Lords but what she didn’t do.

📌 The New Statesman is running a poll on the question, “Can Labour be radical without spending more money?” This follows Angela Rayner’s speech about workers’ rights and levelling up. As I write, the totals are NO=67%, YES=33%.

📌 Quite excited to be starting a stitchwork interpretation of Marge’s collage of her grandson Max dressed a gangster for his school play. Might watch Bugsy Malone for inspiration.

THURSDAY 14 For Headway’s Babyshoes writing group I penned a 100-word story with the title Northern Soul.

When they first met Martin couldn’t take his eyes off Heidi’s left breast. Right there, on her T-shirt was a logo, a clenched black fist in a circle ringed with the words NORTHERN SOUL KEEPING THE FAITH. Heidi said she was a fan. Wigan Casino, etc. Martin tried to look interested. No way could he tell her the last album he bought was Frampton Comes Alive. He noticed the clenched fist was a right hand. Martin was left-handed. He’d played violin at school. His fingers were nimble. That’s how a few hours later he found out Heidi was a 34b.

📌 James told us that as a child his sister had a spinally deformed chicken called Hairgrip.

📌 To the Barbican for Angelheaded Hipster, a documentary about Marc Bolan featuring celebrity acts performing Bolan songs or, in the case of David Bowie, doing a hilarious Bolan impression. Outstanding moment was Nick Cave singing Cosmic Dancer. My wife told me later that this coming Saturday is Bolan’s “deathiversary”. My sister will probably be one of the lunatic celebrants as she once dragged the entire family to London from Liverpool to momentarily look at the alleged home of Marc Bolan in Maida Vale.

FRIDAY 15 We wanted to take the 55 bus all the way to its destination in Walthamstow, have a look around the market and try to remember some of the places we knew when we first got together 35 years ago. It was heartening to see that the old places have been rejuvenated. The high streets of Hackney and Waltham Forest are vibrant and busy, Walthamstow market likewise. My wife says it has the reputation for being the longest street market in Europe. The far end is a paradise of fabric shops and haberdashers, all with very good prices.

📌 Started a new map stitchwork, a miniature of London’s hidden rivers.

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