“He kicked at the dying log on the hearth, and sent a fountain of sparks up the chimney. The child threw a dry leaf and saw it shrivel, and Young Gerard stirred the white ash and blew up the embers, and held a fan of bracken to them, till the fire ran up its veins like life in the veins of a man, and the frond that had already lived and died became a gleaming spirit, and then it too fell in ashes among the ash. Then Young Gerard took a handful of twigs and branches, and began to build upon the ash a castle of many sorts of wood, and the child helped him, laying hazel on his beech and fir upon his oak; and often before their turret was quite reared a spark would catch at the dry fringes on the fir, or the brown oak-leaves, and one twig or another would vanish from the castle.
‘How quickly wood burns,’ said the child.
‘That’s the lovely part of it,’ said Young Gerard, ‘the fire is always changing and doing different things with it.’
And they watched the fire together, and smelled its smoke, that had as many smells as there were sorts of wood. Sometimes it was like roast coffee, and sometimes like roast chestnuts, and sometimes like incense. And they saw the lichen on old stumps crinkle into golden ferns, or fire run up a dead tail of creeper in a red S, and vanish in mid-air like an Indian boy climbing a rope, or crawl right through the middle of a birch-twig, making hieroglyphics that glowed and faded between the gray scales of the bark. And then suddenly it caught the whole scaffolding of their castle, and blazed up through the fir and oak and spiny thorns and dead leaves, and the bits of old bark all over blue-gray-green rot, and the young sprigs almost budding, and hissing with sap. And for one moment they saw all the skeleton and soul of the castle without its body, before it fell in.”
— Eleanor Farjeon (1921)
“Was it really going to happen? Couldn’t the mother of parliaments bring the nation to its senses? […] Surely the Greeks had a word for it, choosing to act in one’s own very worst interests? Yes, they did. It was akrasia”.
“‘Why are you doing this? Why, to what end, are you tearing your nation apart? Why are you inflicting these demands on your best friends and pretending we’re your enemies? Why?’ […] Because. Because that’s what we’re doing. Because that’s what we believe in. Because that’s what we said we’d do. Because that’s what people said they wanted. Because I’ve come to the rescue. Because. That, ultimately, was the only answer: because.”
From the already published THE COCKROACH by Ian McEwan
[On Wednesday, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom suggested the PM was gearing up to bypass legal obstacles to a no-deal Brexit by sending one letter requesting an extension and, in the same instance, submitting a second memo telling European leaders he does not want one.
Asked on ITV’s Peston programme whether the idea of sending two letters to the EU was a possible loophole, Ms Leadsom replied: “Absolutely.”]
Breaking News: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar agree they can “see a pathway to a possible deal” after talks, Downing Street says.
Last Balcony: Essex Serpents and Pier’s Echo 
Michael GOVE has just mentioned Operation Kingfisher while visiting N.I.
John Bolton, aka Mr Pastry, says we are at the head of the queue after Brexit. But the queue for what?
Fragments of things, not the gestalt, I guess.
It has been proposed that Harriet Harman and Ken Clarke should head a National Unity Government.
Yesterday’s ‘blistering’ 30 days war announced between Angela and Boris.
Coe’s Middle England and above mentioned here: https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/an-american-story-christopher-priest/#comment-16738
Prorogering the nation –
“He kicked at the dying log on the hearth, and sent a fountain of sparks up the chimney. The child threw a dry leaf and saw it shrivel, and Young Gerard stirred the white ash and blew up the embers, and held a fan of bracken to them, till the fire ran up its veins like life in the veins of a man, and the frond that had already lived and died became a gleaming spirit, and then it too fell in ashes among the ash. Then Young Gerard took a handful of twigs and branches, and began to build upon the ash a castle of many sorts of wood, and the child helped him, laying hazel on his beech and fir upon his oak; and often before their turret was quite reared a spark would catch at the dry fringes on the fir, or the brown oak-leaves, and one twig or another would vanish from the castle.
‘How quickly wood burns,’ said the child.
‘That’s the lovely part of it,’ said Young Gerard, ‘the fire is always changing and doing different things with it.’
And they watched the fire together, and smelled its smoke, that had as many smells as there were sorts of wood. Sometimes it was like roast coffee, and sometimes like roast chestnuts, and sometimes like incense. And they saw the lichen on old stumps crinkle into golden ferns, or fire run up a dead tail of creeper in a red S, and vanish in mid-air like an Indian boy climbing a rope, or crawl right through the middle of a birch-twig, making hieroglyphics that glowed and faded between the gray scales of the bark. And then suddenly it caught the whole scaffolding of their castle, and blazed up through the fir and oak and spiny thorns and dead leaves, and the bits of old bark all over blue-gray-green rot, and the young sprigs almost budding, and hissing with sap. And for one moment they saw all the skeleton and soul of the castle without its body, before it fell in.”
— Eleanor Farjeon (1921)
Today, BoJo lost his Mojo and his BroJo, and nearly died in a ditch.
My review of QUICHOTTE by Salman Rushdie here: https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/quichotte-salman-rushdie/#comment-16849 (Chapter 4)
Amber, Red, Black
A journalist asked our prime minister whether he lied to the Queen.
And the Speaker spoke of him as a bank robber.
David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved ‘appallingly’
Yellowhammer = Orwell Mayhem
Boris is prorogued by the Supreme Court
That photo was taken a week or so ago with the hand of a lady about the same age as Lady Hale.
It was all a “blank sheet of paper” — Lady Hale
Boris humbugged in Parliamentary debate that left a rotten taste in my mouth.
New deal proposed by Boris today to solve the Irish backstop.
Cross-referenced this serial column with McEwan’s The Cockroach: https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/the-cockroach-ian-mcewan/#comment-17025
“Was it really going to happen? Couldn’t the mother of parliaments bring the nation to its senses? […] Surely the Greeks had a word for it, choosing to act in one’s own very worst interests? Yes, they did. It was akrasia”.
“‘Why are you doing this? Why, to what end, are you tearing your nation apart? Why are you inflicting these demands on your best friends and pretending we’re your enemies? Why?’ […] Because. Because that’s what we’re doing. Because that’s what we believe in. Because that’s what we said we’d do. Because that’s what people said they wanted. Because I’ve come to the rescue. Because. That, ultimately, was the only answer: because.”
From the already published THE COCKROACH by Ian McEwan
[On Wednesday, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom suggested the PM was gearing up to bypass legal obstacles to a no-deal Brexit by sending one letter requesting an extension and, in the same instance, submitting a second memo telling European leaders he does not want one.
Asked on ITV’s Peston programme whether the idea of sending two letters to the EU was a possible loophole, Ms Leadsom replied: “Absolutely.”]
Breaking News: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar agree they can “see a pathway to a possible deal” after talks, Downing Street says.
I must admit to forgetting about this thread until today. We are now into a General Election syndrome with climax day on 12 December. Don’t go there!