One thing that I have learnt on this artistic journey is many times you travel more in hope than expectation. Just recently it feels like the hope is evaporating – not sure what is happening.
As the second world war saying goes – keep calm and just bugger on or something like that.
Every now and then I feel it is good just to see what things were like in the past, as far as my creative eye was concerned. These are from 2008/2009 and have been remastered to my 2015 tastes.
One of the joys of sketching is that there really is no pressure to make things anything other than, well, a sketch. A bit of light relief.
At the outset I want to make one thing very very clear. I have no idea what happened to make the BBC senior management suspend Jeremy Clarkson. I have read endless speculation and seen too many people ready to jump to one conclusion or another. We have an online petition with a billion signatures want him to be reinstated whilst much of the Guardian readership wanting his head. (Both of these are overblown by several magnitudes but in this online instant world that does seem to be what happens) Some papers are using this as yet another attack on the BBC for, well I’m not really sure, but they don’t like the BBC so anything will do.
So what do I think? If he did assault another member of staff, no matter how senior, then he should be sacked it really is that simple. However, on a more personal level I think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to kill off Top Gear anyway as the whole thing is now becoming very stale. Many of the challenges are either rehashes of previous challenges whilst others just too preposterous, an example of this is the recent Hammond stuck up a mountain rescue challenge. I know it is a bit of fun but they seem to have lost their freshness. Even the ‘star in a reasonably priced car’ is becoming just another vehicle for Hollywood to come along and plug a new film. In fact the only time these things come alive is when the F1 drivers come along and try and beat each other – Daniel Riccardo’s joy at beating Lewis Hamilton was priceless. However, besides this it is just the same thing again and again.
So Mr Clarkson if you did hit a fellow member of staff then you must go. If not you should go anyway and do something new as Top gear really has run its course
One of the joys of being me is that when it is beautiful spring day I can get out and go for a walk. Perhaps it is my inner hippy but there really are more important things than money.
They really do like staircases in Liverpool. The one on the left is from the Museum of Liverpool and the one on the right is from the recently refurbished Central Library. The library, by the way, appeared to be a much better use of public money than the new central library at Birmingham which appears to be a bit of a white elephant.
In the afternoon we went onto the marvelously and proudly Victorian Lady Lever museum at Port Sunlight. It is quite amazing (too many superfluous adjectives? Perhaps) just how much money can be made out of soap.
Has anyone in the last 100 years or so actually spent time with the Mona Lisa in the Louvre? I have never visited the museum so I can’t say what it is like for real but for what people have stood in front of the painting have told me or from what I have read it is not a pleasant experience. The Mona Lisa, after all, is probably the most famous painting in the world and so it will always be very very popular and so very few people indeed get the chance to examine it for anything other the briefest of moments before being hassled along. So who really knows what the painting look like?
The only reason I ask this is because I spent quite some time with a copy of the painting at the Walker’s Gallery in Liverpool yesterday. Was this the real painting? Of course not but, according to the blurb, it is considered to be a close approximation of the original and so probably I, and anyone else who might take the time to sit and contemplate the Liverpool painting, have a better feel for the original than the millions of visitors who file past the painting each year. Is this valid? Not sure but it is a thought that came to me as I sat there yesterday with the Hans Holbein (studio of) painting of Henry 8th glowing over my shoulder.
Just got back from a day out at Liverpool and the Wirral…plenty of art of the highest standard.
Excessive Pride or Self Confidence…now which politician does that remind you of? I know this is a bit of a silly question as the list could be along and distinguished(?) but the one politician, for me, who embodies this more than any one else is Alex Salmond. He is widely accepted as one of the most nimble footed politician around and it is also seems widely accepted that he will be in Westminster after the May election. One is definitely true, the second well we’ll see.
So Mr Salmond has been making a big noise, what else, about how the SNP will be ruling the roost come the next parliament as they will have the power to effectively veto any policy they don’t like. This assumes that the SNP will get anything like the seats that they are predicted to do so, which includes Mr Salmond gaining a long term Lib Dem. seat. It also assumes that the Labour party want to play ball with the SNP which I think might be a harder thing to do than Mr Salmond thinks. After all there are a large number of north of England Labour MPs who look at the advantages given to Scotland and might think enough is enough. Equally, there is the problem of Labour in Scotland and the need to differentiate themselves especially with the 2016 Holyrood elections coming up. In short Alex Salmond may be in for something of a surprise once the dust has settled from the next election.
Which, I guess, is why the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is playing things much more calmly. Instead of banging around about how the SNP will be a major force at Westminster she is carefully laying out the ground for some form of Alliance/Coalition of the left of centre parties who might wish to support the Labour minority government. Again she is aware that she has a second election to win after the one in May so needs to position the SNP in such a way as to make the most of what might fall out of the Westminster election.
So which view will prevail come May? Well I suspect this will be effected not by the Conservative, Labour or SNP vote but rather the Lib Dem. vote. If this stands the test in enough of their seats then all this shouting and boasting of Alex Salmond will be for nothing because they probably would be another rerun of the current government and Alex Salmond would not have been elected to Westminster. Now that would be hubris.
Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk
