every smith
  • MS: Max Smith's blog
  • History to the Defeated
  • every smith: independent creative consultants
  • Words: Max - a brief bio
  • Sites to see

I don't

29/4/2011

3 Comments

 
"It is not a state occasion ... it is a private wedding and the couple are entitled to invite whoever they want to it."

That's a quote from a St James Palace spokesman to the Sunday Telegraph, which wanted to know why Tony Blair wasn't invited.

Now, I don't blame them for not wanting Blair. But they (the couple, Buckingham Palace, the Foreign Office) can't have it both ways.

If they can invite whomever they want, why did they want to invite the crown prince of Bahrein, the ambassadors of Zimbabwe, Syria, North Korea, not to mention an assortment of other torturers and dictators?

The fact is, this is a state occasion. And these invitees are therefore wholly appropriate. By bringing together Elton John and those who, in their own country, would have him put to death for his sexual proclivities, this "ordinary couple" who wanted an "ordinary wedding" is reminding us of the essential nature of today's monarchy.

It can pretend all it wants. It can dress up the ceremony with the Beckhams, and Guy Ritchie, and Tara someone, and the Butcher of Bucklebury, and all the rest. But it is an institution which relies for its continuing existence on the props provided by vested interests. Its traditions are those of anti-democratic authoritarianism.

Here's what worries me: what we are witnessing - well, not me because I'm not one of the estimated 2 billion people watching - is the reinvigoration of the monarchy in general and the Windsors in particular.

That's unfortunate, to say the least. For once, Martin Amis has it right: if we really care about the "ordinary couple" who "just want to live an ordinary life", the best wedding present we could give is ... a republic.

Today's listening: Shostakovich, The Execution of Stepan Razin.

3 Comments

Living in a poor man's Shangri-La

22/4/2011

1 Comment

 
Phew! That was lucky.

Frank McCourt nearly bought the Sox. And if he had done so, he would have moved us to a piece of the waterfront in South Boston (which he owned of course) and Fenway would be a memory.

Having lost out to Henry, Werner and Lucchino, Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie went after the LA Dodgers, and got it. The LA Dodgers is the franchise that was the Brooklyn Dodgers, the organization which we all love, not least because of Jackie Robinson: number 42. But then in 1958, they migrated to the West Coast, to a purpose-built stadium in Chavaz Ravine and were subsequently bought by the McCourts.

They are now $400 million in debt. And that's long-term debt. The divorcing McCourts used the Dodgers to finance their extravagant lifestyles. And a great organization is in danger of going down as rich people squabble.

"As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport."

Here in the UK, we know only too well about loading a club with debt. Ask Man United fans. And those of us who support Coventry City.

But what's different here, and what distinguishes MLB from the football bosses, is that Commissioner Bud Selig has done something about the problem. He has taken control of "all business and day-to-day operations" at the Dodgers.

The Dodgers organization has already walked out on one set of fans in New York. They were in danger of doing the same again, for very different reasons, in LA.

I'm not a huge fan of Commissioner Selig, but his actions in LA are laudable. And they should be an example for the commissars of English football. (The titles have the same root, but different meanings.)

What Selig seems to have realized, and the UK commissars haven't, is that these clubs are not merely franchises: they are the heart of their communities.

Financial ownership only bestows temporary rights of custody. Real ownership is with the fans.

Go Sox. It could have been us.

Today's listening; Ry Cooder, Chavaz Ravine. Where did you live? Third base, Dodger Stadium.





1 Comment

The Bostonians

18/4/2011

2 Comments

 
Back from Boston on Friday morning to find that nothing has changed.

The so-called royal wedding is still the lead headline with only the very slightest of justification. And the AV versus FPTP debate continues unabated - with, now, Ed Miliband taking to the stage with Vince Cable and Ant Cameron sharing a platform with John Reid. If the devil could cast a net.

But where, you may ask, is Dec Clegg? About whom this is not a referendum, don't forget.

Well, it turns out that he is out there flogging face-to-face meetings for £25k a time. Yeh, really!

Jeez. I can't find my knees.

But, since you ask, Boston was great, thanks. I saw history in the making.

History in the sense that the Sox opened the season with the equal worst record since forever.

My worst record, too.

However, I did see the first win of the season. And I did see the first series win of the season.(Both against the Yankees, which makes them doubly satisfying.)

I also saw some good people. Each visit confirms my belief that Boston is one of the friendliest cities on the planet.

So thanks especially to Rick, whose presence behind the bar (and knowledge of baseball, music and literature) is more than sufficient compensation for schlepping back from Fenway in the cold, after a defeat. And also to a new chum, Tom, who I met up in Kenmore and who was embarking on a wine trip to Europe the day after we met. I hope he is enjoying it as much as I would. (The highlight was two days with Olivier Leflaive in Chassagne-Montrachet!)

So that's Boston and the Bostonians for another year, unless we make the play-offs. Thanks, guys.

Meantime, go Sox!

Today's listening: The Standells, Dirty Water. Now and at 7pm-ish this evening UK time.






2 Comments

A willing suspension of disbelief

1/4/2011

2 Comments

 
It's All Fools' Day, which is an opportunity for the more creative hacks in the media to dream up spurious news stories for the more credulous of their readers.

The exemplars, of course, are the BBC report on the excellent harvest of spaghetti in Switzerland, and The Guardian's famous supplement on the island of Sans Serif.

We shall not see their like again, but this morning, there is a plethora of such spoofs - not all incredible.

The first to catch my eye was a ridiculous story about the worst performing universities charging the full £9,000 a year - despite Dec Clegg's assurances that this would not happen. Honestly, do they expect us to believe that?

Then, there's a very silly piece about the Assistant Commissioner who headed up Scotland Yard's enquiry into phone-hacking by the News of the World enjoying "three lunches and two dinners" with Murdoch's News International during the investigation. As if.

In the business pages, there's a crazy report about the Lloyds Banking Group awarding their new Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio a £10 million pay package. After all the fuss we've had recently about bankers' remuneration? Yeh right.

But the best is surely the absurd invention of yet another judicial gagging order which grants anonymity to a claimant - supposedly a wealthy financier - in a libel case.

Justice, as someone said, must not only be seen to be done; it must be seen to be believed.

Today's listening: Stan Getz. The West Coast cool helps to calm me as I wait eagerly for the first pitch in Texas tonight.
2 Comments
    Picture

    Max Smith

    European writer, radical, retiring restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 60-something (pretty close to 70-something) husband, father, step-father, grandfather and son. Resident in Leamington Spa, England.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Baseball
    Books
    Film
    Food + Drink
    French Letters
    Leamington Letters
    Media
    Music
    People
    Personal
    Politics
    Sport