Great Uncle Bulgaria

Starmer-Smith

Clearly something of a minority view here but I still think Russia will get most of what it wants in the end. The west has stuck together thus far and supplied Ukraine with arms etc but this war is at the bottom of much of the economic misery piling up in the rest of the world atm and I don't think it will be too long before some politicians begin to argue that the billions going towards flattening whatever buildings are still standing in southern and eastern Ukraine would be far better spent on the NHS/alleviating poverty here etc and pressure is put on Zelensky to do a deal that will give the Russians most of their ill-gotten gains. The extra hundreds of thousands Putin called up a couple of weeks ago will increase their numerical advantage and help stem the current run of Ukrainian gains and I see no sign that Putin is vulnerable internally. Time is Putin's friend (and I don't mean our friend from Brighton).

115 years, 4 days 11/12/2027

Congrats Rover and Out. chuffed with 3rd, got no hope of ever getting on the rostrum in a deadpool...

About 10-12 years after everyone else, The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime by Mark Haddon. This won a lot of awards and there is now a stage version in London.As the literati amongst you no doubt know already, it's about a boy with an unspecified condition, but presumed to be autism or aspergers (although Haddon has denied the latter), who is the narrator. It may be that, having two close family members with mental health issues, I have used up my tolerance of 'abnormal' behaviour, particularly when it's carried out by a boy in a novel. There is some humour at the outset and you think you might be in for something along the lines of 'Young Sheldon' (as in Big Bang Theory spin off), but as events get more depressing my enjoyment waned accordingly. The rubicon was crossed about 3/4 of the way through when he detailed his favourite dream, in which 99.9% of the population dies, including his family, so he can inherit the house. I know the book won awards, mostly I suspect for promoting the autistic standpoint rather than any particular literary merit, but I read most books to be entertained and I confess I found him annoying. Bonus review - several months ago I read The colour of Bee Larkham's murder. by Sarah Harris. Unlike the abnormally behaved teenage boy investigating a murder (as in Haddon's book), this is about another afflicted (this time with faceblindness, not to mention autism and OCD) teenage boy, investigating a murder (!). Having read this before the Haddon book, I had not appreciated what a shameless rip off the Harris book is. This protagonist is even more annoying than Haddon's and the book is even duller. The Haddon is worth reading (once) if only to see what the fuss was about, don't bother with the Harris.

Two years after everyone else, Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Big fan of house of games and like Osman generally, but have to say this would not have sold in its thousands if it didnt have his name on the front cover.. It's not dreadful and thee are a few nice turns of phrase, but the plot is weak and the book much longer than it needed to be. Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy by (producer/arranger) Tony Visconti, who worked with a lot of big names in the late 60s through to the 90s, most notably the two names in the title. Bolan is painted as a narcissist with less talent than his own estimation would suggest, The 'still living' (at the time of writing, 2007)' Bowie by contrast, benefits from having Visconti positioning himself further and further up his rectum as the book progresses (partly, I unkindly surmised, as he was still a potential source of income at that time and had been Visconti;s most lucrative client for much of his career). Bowie's character remains largely elusive. The book itself is interesting until the last few chapters but Visconti himself comes over as a bit of an arse, doing drink and drugs while condemning others who do likewise and being unfaithful to each of his wives- the second of whom was the angelic-voiced Mary Hopkin (a guilty pleasure of mine, despite being the late 60s equivalent of an X factor winner) and the third being May Pang (who made a career out of the fact that she lured John Lennon out of Yoko's bed into her own for a year or so in the 1970s), who Visconti marries having impregnated her following a drunken shag at a party. None of is wives' personalities are discussed either. Worth a read.

The musician (guitarist in Slade) Alan Williams lead singer in the Rubettes (or these days lead singer in The Rubettes featuring Alan Williams, there are 2 competing versions of the Band)

1. Mike Batt 2. Sally Geeson 3. Sally Carr 4. Melanie Safka 5. Eve Graham 6, Lyn Paul 7. Agnetha Faltskog 8. Annifrid Lyngstad 9 Julie Driscoll 10, Louise Jameson 11. Lalla Ward 12. Clodagh Rogers 13. Mary Hopkin 14, Sandie Shaw 15. Judy Geeson 16. Caroline Monro 17. Luan Peters 18. Queen Camilla 19. Princess Anne 20. Fiona Richmond 21. Tony Burrows 22. Colin Blunstone 23. Chris Spedding 24, Placido Domingo 25. Alan Williams 26. John Richardson (Rubette) 27. Mick Clarke 28. Bill Hurd 29. Ray Stiles 30, Rob Davis 31. Mike Hugg 32. Tom McGuinness 33. Hugh Grundy 34. Mick Jagger 35, Noddy Holder 36, Dave Hill 37. Jim Lea 38. Suzi Quatro 39. Susan George 40. Britt Ekland 41. Ole Olsen 42. Neil Warnock 43. Roy Hodgson 44. Kiki Dee 45. Francoise Pascal 46. Bob Geldof 47. Jan Francis 48 Jan Leeming 49. Christine McVie 50. Kevin Keegan

Having been the first to call it for Truss in the poll do I win a prize or get in the HoF? Thought not...

He was born on the same day as GGUB.

Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell. I have read quite a few of this type of book (often billed as psychological twisty thrillers but basically domestic dramas) as undemanding holiday reads. The sector is dominated by a bunch of middle aged female authors, many of them ex-journalists, most of whom rave about their competitors' work on each others' dustjackets. The central character is always a needy female with emotional baggage who falls for an apparently perfect man, who to no one's surprose turns out not to be. While this is fairly well-written, what was 'going on' was blindingly obvious from about a third of the way in, which took all the jeopardy out of it Recommended only if you haven't read many of these before.

Middle England, by Jonathan Coe. I had read the same author's the Rotters Club (featuring some of these characters) a few years ago, but had forgotten about doing so - even if the long descriptions of Birmingham and unlovely bits of the west midlands seemed vaguely familiar - until there was an explicit mention of it towards the end. This is a guided tour of the events in the UK from 2010 - 2018 - Riots, Olympics, Referendum, Aftermath of Brexit etc. Unfortunately Coe's own political views and slender characterisation cloud the 'story,' such as it is. Everyone who voted leave is old, racist, bigoted etc while everyone under 50 is liberal, tolerant, voted Remain and (supposedly) sympathetic. Even as someone unsympathetic to Brexit I found this both preachy and lazy. The main female character, with whom we are presumably supposed to sympathize, is selfish and annoying and the fact that she didn't go through with the final act of her planned one night stand/act of infidelity with the handsome Frenchman didn't redeem her in my eyes at all. The pages where she , having given up on her 'safe' husband, decides to throw herself at the former again, only to be rebuffed by his explanation that he now has a wife and child, were the high point of the book. The privileged teenager with the rich family but ultra left wing views was so impossibly annoying I assume she is supposed to be funny, but isn't. The mid-fifty somethings are all dull and no surprise that I had forgotten all their doings and undoings from the previous book. Dull and - for a professed comic novel - rarely funny. I have been on a run of Costa-winning novels. It's not as bad as Ali Smith's 'How to be both', which I hated, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Can't see my list in masterlist on p1, but this is the list I PMd you on 29/7. Sadly I had ONJ at N.... David Attenborough Bob Barker Clem Cattini (drummer in Wombles and Tornados) Dion DiMucci (sang 'the wanderer') Ed Ames Frank Field Mikhail Gorbachev Douglas Hurd Ion Iliescu Jack Jones (singer) Kiri te Kanawa ( opera singer) Tom Lehrer Pete Murray (DJ) Olivia Newton-John Ove Fundin (5 x world speedway champion) Leslie Phillips Eve Queler (US conductor) Ruggero Raimondi (opera singer) Renata Scotto (opera singer) Tony Thorpe (ex Rubettes) Uri Geller Valerie Masterson (opera singer) Barbara Walters Xi Xi Yoko Ono Milos Zeman

metoo. 6 down.

Congrats Reptile