It took me a long time to get the latest Flashplayer downloaded, not an uncommon problem I gather from other people’s blogs. And how I succeeded I still don’t know. So, sorry, no advice to be found here.
I needed it to be able to access BBC iPlayer, which has now become my main source of TV programmes. In fact, I’ve noticed that my considerable leisure time is not squandered on television anything like it used to be. Apart from the odd football or rugby match, and news programmes (which I usually switch off in disgust halfway through) I watch very little live. I have to admit I’m the sort of sad character who will sit and watch a whole Parliamentary debate.
Next July and August will obviously be spent following the Ashes ball by ball. I resent having to pay Sky for that privilege, but I mustn’t let self-interest influence my views on the freedom of the market, must I?
A series I’ve been keen to follow is The Devil’s Whore, a drama set in the English Civil War. Partly because it was written by the man who created Our Friends in the North ten years ago, co-starring Daniel Craig, now of James Bond fame; and partly because I wanted to see how it portrayed my flawed hero, Oliver Cromwell.
Ho-hum is my verdict.
Incidentally, although ‘The Devil’s Whore’ is a nickname given to the heroine of the plays, it is also what Martin Luther called Reason, one attitude at least that he shared with the Pope.
She might be a whore to you, Herr Luther, but I married her.
World War II: Behind Closed Doors has been fascinating. Excruciatingly honest interviews with war criminals and victims, new military footage (possibly enhanced by CGI) and dramatised scenes of the diplomatic manoeuvrings, which despite one reviewer, who called them intrusive, I find to be the heart of the series.
If nothing else, they turn it into ‘The Uncle Joe Show’, which I feel World War II to have been.
It’s sad to see an increasingly weak Churchill, sidelined by Roosevelt and Stalin, protesting to no avail against the imperialism of Russia. Sad to see Britain, which went to war for Poland and suffered so much in consequence, emerging into a bankrupt peace having failed to preserve her. Was Roosevelt obtuse, or was he playing his game of appeasement?
Stalin, of course, always knew his goal, and had no qualms about how he achieved it. His cynical, ruthless vision is as terrifying and admirable as that of a shark, and just as inhuman.
Watching the actor portray him I was often reminded of newsreel I’ve seen of Saddam Hussein. There is that same calmness and quietness of demeanour, the same menacing watchfulness, the same wariness of all around in case the wrong thing is said, or even thought.
Absolutely chilling. I must obviously practise more.
I needed it to be able to access BBC iPlayer, which has now become my main source of TV programmes. In fact, I’ve noticed that my considerable leisure time is not squandered on television anything like it used to be. Apart from the odd football or rugby match, and news programmes (which I usually switch off in disgust halfway through) I watch very little live. I have to admit I’m the sort of sad character who will sit and watch a whole Parliamentary debate.
Next July and August will obviously be spent following the Ashes ball by ball. I resent having to pay Sky for that privilege, but I mustn’t let self-interest influence my views on the freedom of the market, must I?
A series I’ve been keen to follow is The Devil’s Whore, a drama set in the English Civil War. Partly because it was written by the man who created Our Friends in the North ten years ago, co-starring Daniel Craig, now of James Bond fame; and partly because I wanted to see how it portrayed my flawed hero, Oliver Cromwell.
Ho-hum is my verdict.
Incidentally, although ‘The Devil’s Whore’ is a nickname given to the heroine of the plays, it is also what Martin Luther called Reason, one attitude at least that he shared with the Pope.
She might be a whore to you, Herr Luther, but I married her.
World War II: Behind Closed Doors has been fascinating. Excruciatingly honest interviews with war criminals and victims, new military footage (possibly enhanced by CGI) and dramatised scenes of the diplomatic manoeuvrings, which despite one reviewer, who called them intrusive, I find to be the heart of the series.
If nothing else, they turn it into ‘The Uncle Joe Show’, which I feel World War II to have been.
It’s sad to see an increasingly weak Churchill, sidelined by Roosevelt and Stalin, protesting to no avail against the imperialism of Russia. Sad to see Britain, which went to war for Poland and suffered so much in consequence, emerging into a bankrupt peace having failed to preserve her. Was Roosevelt obtuse, or was he playing his game of appeasement?
Stalin, of course, always knew his goal, and had no qualms about how he achieved it. His cynical, ruthless vision is as terrifying and admirable as that of a shark, and just as inhuman.
Watching the actor portray him I was often reminded of newsreel I’ve seen of Saddam Hussein. There is that same calmness and quietness of demeanour, the same menacing watchfulness, the same wariness of all around in case the wrong thing is said, or even thought.
Absolutely chilling. I must obviously practise more.
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