How does society deal with a juvenile delinquent? An “abandoned boy?”
In the case of “James X,” written and performed by the astonishing Gerard Mannix Flynn, at the age of eleven he was sentenced into Ireland’s industrial school system, run by congregations of nuns and brothers. On his way to the first, St. Joseph’s Industrial School in Letterfrack, he was orally raped in the car by a brother, and sodomized by another once he arrived. From there, a succession of schools followed, then prison, and the abuse never stopped: physical, sexual, mental. No matter how many times James X complained, nothing was ever done.
The Culture Project, Gabriel Byrne (who also directed) and Liam Neeson are to be commended for bringing to New York a brave, wrenching theatrical experience. Byrne has been very candid about his own abuse at the hands of a priest, and how he tried to come to terms with it included a very public letter of apology written for TheIrish Times in the 1980’s, which was met with a thunderous silence.
Finally, times have changed, with hundreds of victims coming forward and telling their stories, blame being apportioned, and amends being made by the Catholic Church. These are small steps, but in the right direction.
“James X” is the pseudonym on his file, for confidentiality, when he testifies before the Report of the Commission to inquire into Child Abuse. Now a middle-aged man, James X sits outside the room waiting, nervous, jittery. For most of the 85 minute play, Flynn goes at a clip, and puts on quite a stream-of-consciousness, rolling on the ground, sometimes funny, animated song and dance account of his life. No sexual abuse is mentioned until, just before the end, Flynn confesses his “show” was a lie. The lie he “invented to make his life tolerable.”
Flynn reads his statement. He reads out the litany of his sexual abuse, the physical abuse that landed him in the hospital for an operation, his incarceration in the prison for the criminally insane. He was betrayed by the system, and tells the tribunal, “You said you would cherish us and take care of us. And you didn’t. This is your file, not mine. It is your shame. And I’m handing it back.”
© ONE Magazine 2011
Published on 13 December, 2011 8:34 PM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso Tags: Brave, Gabriel Byrne, Ireland, JAMES X, Male sexual Abuse, New York City, Teh Culture Project, The Irish Times
23 (L-R): Jared Culverhouse as Frank Ballard (sitting), Jake Silbermann as Johnny Ballard (standing), Beth Wittig as Becky and Malcolm Madera as Ned Ballard - photo: Paul Gagnon
Midway through world premier of “Derby Day” by Samuel Brett Williams in the 42nd Street Clurman Theater, I wrote in my notebook, “The waitress will get the winning ticket.” And she did.
The deserving waitress in question, Becky, played by the brilliant Beth Wittig, not only wins, she steals the show out from under the three volatile male characters. Becky is the only one not trapped, who knows who she is, who has any dignity. read more —>
Published on 13 December, 2011 8:20 PM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, Theatrespace Tags: Clurman Theater, Derby Day, review, Samuel Brett Williams, Theater, Theatre
Mike Daisey in The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, running at The Public Theater NYC. photo: Joan Marcus
There has been much press about Mike Daisey’s one-man show, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” down at The Public Theater on Lafayette Street in the Village. Much of it is good (a rave in The NY Times, and a three-week extension); bad (a rather poisonous, anonymous blurb in The New Yorker); and unwanted (Daisey has received both hate mail and death threats, apparently for his unwillingness to participate in the post-mortem deification of Steve Jobs).
But the anonymous blurb in The New Yorker interests me most, not because the writer was too much of a coward to sign his or her name to the objection, read more —>
Published on 15 November, 2011 11:13 AM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, Theatrespace Tags: Agony, Apple Computer, arts, Ecstasy, Mike Daisey, New York Times, NY Public Theatre, Steve Jobs, The New Yorker, Theater, Theatre
GAMING LIFE
“the black idea of winning”
–Bertolt Brecht
there is no contest
no opponent
no side to take
no stakes to risk
no prize to win
no victory to hope
only moments to kill
& longing to live
Mary Folliet NYC 2011
Published on 15 November, 2011 10:47 AM.
Filed under: author - Mary Folliet, POETSPACE Tags: Brecht, Folliet, Gaming, Life, NO, Prize
'Family' by Jule_Berlin/Flickr
Family Visits
by Alexander Morrissey
I am just back from visits. My son and partner were up today and it was good. I had been looking forward to it for two weeks.
We were talking about what changes both of us have made since becoming parents. My partner seems to have made loads of changes but when she asked me what I have changed, I couldn’t think of anything. Then I thought about it and realised that I have in fact: stopped taking drugs, started attending courses to manage my anger and I have really improved my attitude.
I said to my partner that although I have changed these things there is still a long way to go. I said that I realise there are always things that go the wrong way in life and things don’t happen as you would like. I believe that you have to be strong and face these situations head on, rather than jumping over them or just pushing them to the side. If you tackle the issues you can overcome them.
This is all we talked about through the visit. My son was smiling and having him on my lap brought a tear to my eye. I was so happy yet so sad at the same time as I knew I had to leave them.
read more —>
Published on 27 October, 2011 3:31 PM.
Filed under: author - Polmont Young Offenders Tags: Family, love, politics, Polmont, prison, Visits, young offenders
Less than halfway through “Kaddish” (or “The Key in the Window”), a version of Allen Ginsburg’s poem at The New York Theater Workshop in the East Village, I had to put my pen down, so mesmerized was I by Donnie Mather’s extraordinary performance. That “Kaddish,” which was not only performed but also adapted by Mather himself, coincided with the Jewish holiday of Roshashana was total luck, according to Director Kim Weild, and opening night ended September while ushering in the melancholy of autumn. A perfect backdrop for “Kaddish.” read more —>
Published on 5 October, 2011 10:21 PM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, ONE BLOGS: Lisa Del Rosso, Theatrespace Tags: 2011, Allen Ginsberg, East Village, Ginsberg, Kaddish, Mather, NY Theater
LINING UP FOR FALL
fall lineups galore
fashion, fiction, Broadway, art
fall back time hour saved
back to school, work, home routines
rousing us to our fixed fate
—Mary Folliet, NYC Autumn 2011
Published on 22 September, 2011 3:22 PM.
Filed under: author - Mary Folliet, POETSPACE Tags: 2011, Autumn, Fall, Poetry
And So We Begin
By Bash Wallace
Today was a gainful day. I left my cell and walked the enclosed pathway to my creative writing class. This pathway, referred to as the route, is six feet wide however us, the prisoners, are restricted to two feet of this, making out walk more like a march. In single file and all sporting short back and sides we resemble soldiers and I suppose in a way, we are. Street Soldiers. read more —>
Published on 15 September, 2011 5:31 PM.
Filed under: author - Polmont Young Offenders Tags: gaol, Polmont, prison, Scotland, young offenders
“Tape,” by Stephen Belber is playing at the June Havoc Theatre on 36th Street in mid-town Manhattan. “Tape” is a pitch-perfect study of the perpetual adolescence of the American male. I am not sure if there is a European male equivalent or even one a European will understand, other than the Scottish writer J. M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” and the “I won’t grow up” syndrome it inspired. read more —>
Published on 13 September, 2011 2:36 PM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, ONE BLOGS: Lisa Del Rosso, Theatrespace Tags: Don DiPaolo, high school, Humana Festival, J.M. Barrie, June Havoc Theatre, man's world, Neil Holland, Stephen Belber, Therese Plaehn
When the last world war ended in 1945, Europe was gutted, short of all the means of maintaining a normal existence, except that, pre-war, the lower classes had rarely shared normality as the middle-classes knew it. Suddenly there was an equality of diet, dull but not unhealthy, a shortage of clothing, houses and all luxuries, but a general sharing of what there was, and only the rich, taxed to the hill, really complained. Anything was better than war and that had ended. At the same time there was a flowering of high culture. Concerts were packed. So was opera and ballet, new literature was eagerly discussed, art exhibitions were full, and the BBC had started the Third Programme, which enabled everyone to hear on the radio good music, interesting and educational discussions and talks for a small license fee, and generally there was an interest in education, the higher levels of which had become available to all who could pass exams. read more —>
Published on 1 September, 2011 11:44 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: artificial intelligence, arts, Beckett, capitalism, celebrity, education, high culture, new voices, revolution, Schonberg and Britten, welfare state
We are living through an age without shame, when corruption is endemic throughout society from the highest elected officials down through the guardians of our laws to those who want a little more of the desirable possessions of life, whether they have much or little. The Murdoch scandal has exposed the lies and cover-ups, the bribes to keep quiet, police attempts to stop the Guardian’s investigations, Cameron’s weak brushing over Coulson’s reassurances that he had known nothing, which even a loyal dog would not believe, while offering no “second chance” to misguided but deprived youth that finally revolted against a society that offered it nothing while removing whatever hope had been there when we had a welfare state. read more —>
Published on 17 August, 2011 12:03 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: austerity, bankers, Cameron, depression, Murdoch, Obama, Tea-Party, unemployment, welfare state
Modern communication technology is effecting events that is involving the forgotten segment of society internationally in a way that no-one foresaw. And that segment is the youth of today, not only the teenagers and early twenty year-olds, but also those younger ones who have to share all the miseries of hard times and the indifference of the affluent middle-age bourgeoisie. The rich get richer and not only do the poor get poorer, but they get far more numerous. And the speed of communication, through all the electronic media, together with the universal spread of mobile phones – nothing is easier to steal – is bringing that generation together internationally as never before. read more —>
Published on 10 August, 2011 1:49 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: Arab Spring, greed, revolution, youth
At the Atlantic II, in New York”s Chelsea, three plays ran in rep this summer, produced by the 25 year-old company PTP (Potomac Theatre Project, from Middlebury College, Vt.)/NYC. Three playwrights: Steven Dykes, Neil Bell, both Americans, and Howard Barker, English. Running in rep, while usual for many theatre companies in the UK and regionally here in the US, it is not done so much in New York City. read more —>
Published on 9 August, 2011 12:23 PM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, ONE BLOGS: Lisa Del Rosso, Theatrespace
The unfolding of the Murdoch saga brings surprise after surprise, and the whole evil empire shows signs of eventual collapse. How can a press mogul wield so much power that a supposedly democratic country like Great Britain, run by a three hundred year-old party system, can come to believe, at least as far as its leading politicians are concerned, that an election cannot be won without his support?
read more —>
Published on 14 July, 2011 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: corruption, Murdoch, phone hacking, press mogul
Historians will have such a wealth of material to deal with then they come to writing up the first decades of the twenty-first century, that may well drown under it. Around the world there is deepening depression unbelievably incompetent government and administration of industry. This of, natural resources (all dwindling fast) and all social institutions, with widespread corruption that is not even disguised, and a culture of greed, tyranny, and power-lust that is demolishing all the products of civilised rule-of-law, individual and group rights, and decency that it has taken centuries to establish. read more —>
Published on 7 July, 2011 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: education, humanity, Karl Marx, unemployment
There is much current discussion about the reform of the House Of Lords and whether it should be elected or not. It should be elected, but not by the general public that periodically elects one set of mediocrities after another, including some corrupt enough to claim large fictional expenses to add to their already over-sufficient salaries. A new set of Lords (and they do not necessarily have to be titled) should consist of four groups, numbering about a hundred in all and required to be there every day. read more —>
Published on 30 June, 2011 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: academics, House Of Lords, professions, reform
My first encounter with a member of the ‘Pack’ known as ‘Scat’ was on the street, last Thursday, when I noticed a thin young man walking ahead of me wearing an outfit similar to a bumble bee: bright yellow and black. On the back of his jacket was the company name emblazoned for all to see. He pranced with pride down the street, chatting vigorously with his mates – all of whom carried themselves with an infectiously high spirits one would expect on the pavements of a performing arts festival, as opposed to the loathsome air of Hollywoodania put on by so many these days. I took notice, imagining the group to be some odd mix between the American 1940s TV show ‘The Little Rascals’ and characters from an older John Waters movie. read more —>
Published on 25 March, 2011 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE-9 • Mar 2010 • History Repeating
The Sky is falling! No, It’s just the I.Q. of television content.
read more —>
Published on 23 March, 2011 5:50 PM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE BLOGS: Martin Belk Tags: BBC, Christopher and His Kind, Isherwood, Matt Smith
The Future of Property Among most tribal societies private property does not exist, other than a few utensils and weapons. Everything belongs to the tribe or the group or the society to which the group belong. With the growth of civilisation and national identity much private property developed, with wars and conquest create classes that owned property, land, houses and other things. read more —>
Published on 17 February, 2011 7:17 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
History…Today…And Human Destiny How much can one say in a few words? There are certain historical dates: 1914, 1917, 1939, 1945, 1989—and 2011 looks as if it will be another one—that has been fixed in historical memory. Recorded history, other than the mythical texts that try to explain the reason for the presence of intelligent life in the universe, go back not much more than the 3000 years and the events recorded are best known through the literature of great poetry, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, down to Beckett in our own time.
read more —>
Published on 17 February, 2011 7:17 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
The last century could hardly have been more eventful, although we have become too accustomed to some of its better moments. 1911 was a high point for Edwardinian optimism, the hey-day of expressionism in painting and the European arts, especially music. Der Rosenkavallier, perhaps the most popular opera of the 20th century, emerged that year, Picasso was already famous, much great literature was appearing or being written, while history was getting ready to plunge the world into a catastrophic world war. read more —>
Published on 17 February, 2011 7:16 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
Dickens was referring to the depth of the French Revolution, but the words are very apposite to 2011, not only in Britain, but nearly everywhere. This will be a year of revolution in many places, to chaotic trouble in most other places and to decline, suffering and misery almost everywhere else. read more —>
Published on 1 February, 2011 6:01 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: Britain, Calder, collapse, Dickens, economy, education, government, John
The President of the United States gave a major news conference yesterday. The same President who controls the fate of US and British forces in Afghanistan, as well as a large part of the world economy. The number of viewers online was just over 450.
The US spin-machines of infotainment chose to focus on the looney in Florida who wants to barbeque Korans, and kept their spew foaming about how Obama faces a ‘blowout’ in Novermber mid-term elections. The UK, even the publicly funded BBC, continued the farce called blow – reporting the earth-shattering Koran story.
read more —>
Published on 11 September, 2010 5:30 PM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE BLOGS: Martin Belk Tags: Camille, culture, Debbie Harry, Gaga, Lady, media, Paglia
The Grumpy Chef: Cook Like a Kid! Mason Douglas
Good god…being a chef can be boring at times… It’s not the hours or the getting changed 8 times a day or even the laborious meetings with officious officials from the FSA. (Damn killjoys banned unpasteurised foodstuffs and are proceeding to bring down the culinary elite by forcing us to microwave and to cook things “well done” the bastards…).
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 3:02 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
I love cities. Being in a place where my surroundings constantly buzz and I have little to no idea of what could happen next. So far, this drive took me from a small village in Scotland to its biggest city, Glasgow. And then to study in the city that they say never sleeps, New York. Now, having explored Paris and Prague, and visited friends in London, this time — Berlin.
Hello Berlin!
–Jonathan Pryce
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 3:01 AM.
Filed under: author - Jonathan Pryce, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
ONE 10 prison states of mind contributions from Polmont Young Offender’s Institution Writers
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 3:00 AM.
Filed under: author - Polmont Young Offenders, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
At the upscale New York City restaurant where I work as a waiter, the Rail consists of six tables with roomy armchairs across from six booths lined up along a wall of windows facing a side street near Central Park.
New York Notes: Sirloin Senator — Watching Tables & Keeping Tabs
–Mark Lawitz
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 1:00 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Learn how to write a screenplay for the low price of only $299.99! — or at least that’s what the Hollywood establishment would like you to believe. As an aspiring screenwriter, my email overflows every single day with offers and claims from various ‘pros’ pitching their latest book or workshop: Learn the Syd Field Method! Experience the Robert McKee Way! You too can sell your first screenplay for $750,000! Three Act Structure, Twelve Stages of Story Development, Twenty-Two Steps to Become a Master Storyteller – and so on. Apparently, you’ll need to be in tip-top shape to mount the thousands of steps required for success, and have a superb financial plan to manage the millions of dollars that will soon be rolling in.
Hollywood Notes: inside the gilded cage
–Cheryl Compton
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:57 AM.
Filed under: author - Cheryl Compton, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
In the summer of 1978, a telephone call from Rosalie Gomes, an editor at the English-language Paris newspaper, Paris Metro, was to lead to an out of the blue bizarre correspondence with a young woman. The newspaper had received a letter from an American woman who was an inmate in the Women’s Prison in Rennes, about three hours southwest of Paris. From New York City, Jill Diamond had no family or friends in France and Rosalie, who was a friend of mine, thought that I was a possible candidate to befriend the woman. I readily agreed, took Jill’s address and wrote an immediate letter to her. Little did I suspect when I posted this letter that I had opened the door to a two-year deeply intense and passionate correspondence.
Paris Notes: inside the Women’s Prison
–Jim Haynes
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:56 AM.
Filed under: author - Jim Haynes, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
It was utter coincidence that while the immigration debate began raging anew in the US media and tighter restrictions along the US-Mexican border were being called for, I visited Mexico in June for the first time.
Mexico Notes
–Geraldine Sweeney
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:55 AM.
Filed under: author - Geraldine Sweeney, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Edinburgh Notes: Reflections on Gaza
Flotilla Day, 31 May 2010
–Charlie Graham
Remember the Boxes for Bosnia? When you were at school, or sending your kids to school during the recent times of war in the former Yugoslavia? You’d send the young ones off with a box and you’d think they’d get there. Let’s go back to Aramana.
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:54 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Peace in La Paz
During the week I recently spent in El Salvador, the only time I felt truly clean was the day we went to the beach at La Paz (Spanish for peace). The poverty and violence of the city ebbed away as we watched a small fishing boat come ashore at sunset with its day’s catch. These men were very happy. This is the El Salvador the tourists see.
Notes From El Salvador
–Anna Graham
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:53 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
In 1811, by municipal decree, Manhattan Island, between 14th and 155th Streets, was cordoned off into a carefully plotted rectilinear street grid — avenues run north and south, streets east and west.
The first New World city to adopt such a plan, New York was ripe for commercial expansion north from the oldest settlements at its southern end, where the burgeoning maritime and trade economy was poised to rocket the metropolis into the Industrial Age. This street plan also made it almost impossible for adventurous adolescents to get lost, at least geographically, which I happily discovered in the autumn of my 16th year.
Central Park Notes
–John Moore
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:52 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
On the eve of my public conversation with the Premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally, as part of a Sydney Writers Festival event on the topic of Forgiveness, I felt nervous but prepared. It would be my first time moderating panels at the Festival, now the third-largest in the world behind the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Hay Festival. My usual way of alleviating nerves was to prepare thoroughly. But as the event showed all of those involved, you can’t prepare for the unexpected.
Sydney Notes from the Writers Festival
–Virginia Lloyd
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:51 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
The Sense of an Ending
–MSP Christopher Harvie
I.
I have been grateful over the past few years for the hospitality of the Guardian’s ‘CommentisFree’, until its self-editing system was changed and new-style gatekeepers made it clear that freedom stopped around Watford Gap: not just my contributions but anything from too-far-north of London would not be welcomed. I wrote to other Guardian illuminati, but in Germany they say ‘Keine Antwort ist auch eine Antwort.’ – ‘No answer is also an answer.’ The terms of the New CiF dialogue were all too clear: liberty for vox metropolis, let the rest twitter in the wings.
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:50 AM.
Filed under: author - Christopher Harvie MSP, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
This is Mine: ‘ME-2’ (moi aussi)
–Martin Belk
Glasgow, May 2010
I get frustrated, searching for ways to outwit, outsmart, outfox the ubiquitous ad campaigns for booze, drugs, soulless Pop music, computer games and mobile phones that too often possess the minds of the new ‘ME-2’ generation.
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:49 AM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Four-Year Stretch: Reflections of a 21st Century Graduate
–Peter Simpson
You may ask yourself, ‘How do I work this?’…
You may ask yourself, ‘Where does that highway lead to?’…
And you may ask yourself ‘My God, what have I done?’
—Talking Heads, 1981
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:48 AM.
Filed under: author - Peter Simpson, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
On May 17, 2010, the justices of the US Supreme Court, in a miraculous decision, barred life terms for young offenders who haven’t committed murder. Miraculous because the current court leans decidedly to the right, and also because we in the US are very good at locking up and throwing away the key, rather than figuring out what to do with ex-convicts once they are released. In short, what we do is next to nothing, (apart from a train fare and a ride to the station) and “rehabilitation” has become a curse word, as well as perceived as a financial drain.
Prisons inside and out
– Lisa Del Rosso
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:45 AM.
Filed under: author - Lisa Del Rosso, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Bebelplatz
We huddle, peer through
the pane of glass at our feet
pebbled with raindrops
as a large man crouches down
with a folded tissue, gently
wipes them away
revealing more to us
than bare shelves
and missing books.
read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:43 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, author - Martin Belk, author - Mary Folliet, ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind, Poetspace-10
1. Where are you from? 2. Where are you now?
3. By way of? 4. Would you do it all again?
5. Describe your last memory of leaving what you consider ‘home’ or where you’re from.
6. What’s your profession?
disclaimer: We wanted a quick survey not a research project — photos quality from the ‘net so there. And
we can’t help more boys answered than girls. That’s the situation, but enjoy the stories. read more —>
Published on 23 August, 2010 12:00 AM.
Filed under: ONE-10 • Aug 2010 • Prison States of Mind
Someone in the West Coast of Scotland is reading the wrong web sites. As if a visit by the Pope might not be divisive enough, somebody, with the best of intentions, has invited none other than Ex-New York City Mayor Rudolf Giuliani to address the Scottish Council for Development and Industry’s International Awards dinner on 19 November 2010. I’d like to remind the powers-that-invite something my grandmother taught me years ago: Good intentions pave the road to hell. And, if anyone thinks Rudy’s ideas will do anything positive for Scotland and/or Glasgow, get ready for a lot of division, fire, and brimstone. I’m an expat New Yorker, I was forced to endure King G’s iron fist.
read more —>
Published on 22 August, 2010 3:29 PM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE BLOGS: Martin Belk Tags: corruption, Giuliani, New York, Scotland
At last a little truth and reality is beginning to emerge from a long period where politicans have treated those who elect them as fools to be gulled with lies and impossible promises, while always careful to feather their own nests. For decades they have become increasingly ignorant and philistine, caring for little other than being leected and living an easy, privileged life. Never having learned much history, treating economics as doctrinal religion and with no general culture or interest in knowledge, they have become the worst body of parliamentary rulers for centuries. At least the new coalition is telling us that our descent into debt and chaos must be regulated as far as possible. It is only thinking of those with enough income to survive a period of increasing austerity, ignoring the plight of those without jobs or even a legal right to live here, and giving no thought to the strong possibility of revolution because that is not part of the British tradition. read more —>
Published on 30 June, 2010 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
The UK election is over. The bombast is past. Now, not only Britain, but most of the world is facing a future that will become ever more difficult even in the richer countries, and catastrophic in the poorer. While politicians, most of whom are profoundly ignorant about the realities of the world and the period they live in, will will continue to make statements about ‘recovery’, ‘back to propserity’, etc. — thinking people and the few public voices that are honest as well as aware will have to come to terms with the single choice that lies before us: either accept a long regime of austerity, that will include rationing of the essential things we need to live, or, sink into a new dark age where hunger, thirst, famine, anarchy and tribal warfare will be the norm. read more —>
Published on 19 May, 2010 1:18 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: 2010, anarchy, Calder, Clegg, economy, election, government, hunger, John, Malthus, tax, UK
Politics have always been corrupt, although there have been corrupt, although there have been historical periods when a few individuals have brought up the moral and intellectual tone. One think of Burke, Disraeli, Parnell, Nye Bevan and a few others, often defying their party to say what had to be said. It is the party system that is corrupt and always will be, because all that matters there, is automatic unquestioning obedience to the leader who can distribute patronage, favours, wealth and promotion to eminence and fame. read more —>
Published on 3 May, 2010 12:00 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
Every so often a book comes along of such importance that everyone who cares about the world we live in, and the state of modern society as it affects our lives and well-being, should read. Such a one is ‘Freefall’ by the Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who prior to becoming an academic was Chief Economist at the World Bank. read more —>
Published on 23 April, 2010 11:15 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: Freefall, Joseph Stiglitz, review
I thought of Nora Jones tonight as I sat in the audience for Rufus Wainwright’s Glasgow show: a lot of people love her, flock to see her, but I’m not entirely sure why. That’s not to suggest the attention is not well-deserved, but to characterize — if Norah Jones were a whispering soothsayer, Rufus Wainwright is the shamanic voice of a cello. But I don’t entirely get either, yet.
read more —>
Published on 16 April, 2010 7:47 AM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE BLOGS: Martin Belk Tags: 15 April 2010, Glasgow, Rufus, Wainwright
The newspapers for several weeks now have been full of stories about the abuse of children. On the one hand there have been all the scandals about the Catholic church, paedophile priests and bishopal cover-ups, on the other of children killed or damaged by terrible parents, guardians or authorities that should have been alert and active instead of turning a blind eye to whatever got in the way of being well-paid for doing as little as possible, and, in the wider world, there are tribal massacres, suicide bombings and terrorist acts that effect all ages at random, and in abundance. read more —>
Published on 6 April, 2010 10:27 PM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday Tags: Economic policy, Elections, Manifesto
This is not a good time to be making prophecies. What will happen on the 6th of May is very uncertain, but it seems likely, given the general disgust with the greed, corruption, mismanagement and attempts to cover up bad behaviour, common to at least the two major parties, that the poll will be low, probably the lowest since the franchise was universalised, and that reform of our electoral system must then come at last. Here are some suggestions for that reform. read more —>
Published on 30 March, 2010 12:31 AM.
Filed under: author - John Calder, ONE BLOGS: John Calder, Man for Monday
Someone in the West Coast of Scotland is reading the wrong web sites. As if a visit by the Pope might not be divisive enough, somebody, with the best of intentions, has invited none other than Ex-New York City Mayor Rudolf Giuliani to address the Scottish Council for Development and Industry’s International Awards dinner on 19 November 2010. I’d like to remind the powers-that-invite something my grandmother taught me years ago: Good intentions pave the road to hell. read more —>
Published on 25 March, 2010 4:14 PM.
Filed under: author - Martin Belk, ONE-9 • Mar 2010 • History Repeating
45 and a Half Miles
by Edward Neville
Published on 25 March, 2010 4:04 PM.
Filed under: ONE-9 • Mar 2010 • History Repeating, Theatrespace
