If this were to be the everlasting LUCRESLONDON post, then, and only spoken 'if', then I'd want it to be uplifting and not…whatever state the world is/was in. Actually, I don't mind Boris. Though I find his 'elk' somewhat contemptuous. Brexit is a disaster, in mine opinion. There you go… Haven't read Boris' Churchill book. Almost turned up at your NYC book launch! Aren't we both lucky THAT never happened:) Only in New York! Oh, and btw- I have been a Brit citizen since, somewhere 2004. The process took so long..I forget..a bit like entering the UK under Covid and waiting in line for 8 hours. Like some half-dead creature in the chimney being legitimized. Then all the blood runs out…. Though all of this 'cause Angelina Jolie's Churchill painting sale. So methinks I get $1,000: cause the guy who consulted the guy consulted the cat who consulted the rat who consulted the pheasant under the bed……..ahhhh keept it Ang…you clearly need it. We have Picassos, Braques, Chagalls, and all that…:_
Immediately I thought of that great BBC ratings series Fake or Fortune and proving their Churchill was real. And after all that research (which is what made/makes that series so indelible) that the 'go to' Churchill expert still wasn't quite convinced. [Speaking as a detective: sure the old gal could have been bribed when she spake that Churchill gave her artist husband cigars in return for tubes of paint, as he had run out on that little corner opposite their art shop] Well. that BBC series puts him in very good company with the most formidable 'judges' of art in the world. And what that series proves beyond any doubt (in mine own pond) is that these experts have a lot of reputation to lose. German master faker Beltracci admitted in an interview how stupid/careless he was using retrospective pigments such as Titanium white in the 'fake' that 'done him in'. He probably would have got his Venetian palazzo if it were't for such carelessness. Suffice to say: art like life is a very messy business. Don't give up life. Don't give up art. But maybe…. "the art of making art…" ....
Trying' to wrap up on a happy note Ricky Gervais. But as you well know that is so far from easy. I couldn't watch more than one or two eps at a time of The Office. So depressingly funny! And what was that episode, can't remember the characters when one girl was off to America and was it Merchant's character said, well if things don't work out you'll always have a job here. I just cried! Even more so now I know what America is like! And now we have Met police handcuffing and arresting women in a peaceful vigil for Sarah Everard, abducted and murdered by a police officer! What world are we living in? And now this report just in:
Can't imagine Met Police chief Cressida Dick condones this. But where does the buck stop? The Menezes case was unequivocally outrageous if one looks carefully at the details. A highly trained firearms officer basically blasting away in a close proximity underground carriage when all that was needed was one shot. Let alone…And no-one can blame the British tax-payers who pay police wages asking: has anything been learnt over the years? That's not an unfair question. American police have a problem too. I overheard some cops talking after the George Floyd riots, "and we just have to take it and do nothing". There are always two sides. And PACE areas in London where basically human rights of free movement are suspended so as police can stop and search without any provocation. That happened to me. Absolutely no cause/reason. Handcuffed and carted away at 5am. My only crime, to put out recycling, go for a walk, and have an empty tote bag under my shoulder before going into the West End for a Yoga class. And 15seconds from my doorstep. What if I had a dog? I don't forgive. Nor should anyone else in that situation. What forgiveness could there possibly be for the trauma that follows. Buddhism is fine so long as shit doesn't fly your way. Then the world is a different place. As it is most probably for those arrested at that vigil. "Rioters,' you have got to be kidding. But violence begets violence.
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