Month: January 2022

A shameful date

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There was no interference

It was a news report this morning that suggested a song with refrain to Auld Lang Syne:

So then the police spoke this way:
We do not investigate
Historic breaches of the law
Regulations that you know.

There has been no interference
No political pressure
The choice is theirs, and theirs alone
As you heard from you know who.

An independent investigation
Then had to take place
We wait for its report to come
Before we judge the case.

There has been no interference
No political pressure
The choice is theirs, and theirs alone
As you heard from you know who.

Just as the report is about to come,
To be published as you know
The police begin to investigate
To start their enquiry.		There has been no interference
No political pressure
The choice is theirs, and theirs alone
As you heard from you know who.

Now the report cannot be seen
In full as it might have been
For that you know might prejudice
The police enquiry.

There has been no interference
No political pressure
The choice is theirs, and theirs alone
As you heard from you know who.

We must await the police report
On these most serious things
Our own report will silent be
On all but trivia.

There has been no interference
No political pressure
The choice is theirs, and theirs alone
As you heard from you know who.
©Credits:
Noteworthy Composer for scoring and producing the midi file
Melody Assistant by Myriad Software for producing the mp3
Virtual Singer for singing
Powerpoint for producing the mp4
BBC for reporting the new content that inspired the song with refrain
Tradition for remembering the music
Wikipedia for providing a low resolution image of Test Card C

Copyright notices:
The background image is believed to be a screenshot of what may be a copyrighted television programme which would then be © Copyright BBC & BREMA (British Radio and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association). It is further believed that the use of this low-resolution screenshot for illustration of its purpose, to demonstrate good quality, reliable reception without interference qualifies as fair use. This resolution of the image of Test Card C does not substantially affect the benefits, which belong to the copyright holder, and can be considered a fair use.
The words are © Copyright Stuart Moffatt 2022. Commercial use is expressly prohibited but otherwise they are hereby made freely available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence modified to exclude permission for commercial use. This exclusion may not be overridden.
☺With apologies in advance for errors of syntax, orthography and grammar which may be found embedded in this document whether arising from oversight, incorrect application of language packs or generally any other misadventure; and in general for any offence given inadvertently or inappropriately or both taken or not taken by those whose sensibilities, whether grammatical, orthographical, moral or simply personable, have been offended whether, not or if you have not incorrectly misunderstood the content, intent, meaning and purpose of this article, and to those whose copyrights may have been inadvertently or wantonly infringed, but never as to cause damage the copy holder’s rights, and, if you have managed to read this far, for any errors or omissions whether wilful, unintended, innocent or deliberate in the content of this polemic, and with thanks to you who have made it thus far for your patience.

A Striking Image

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Sometimes Coco’s posts are far too wordy, so he thought he would keep it simple today. See, there are already far too many words!

Explanations of art work flow quite readily from artists these days, Coco supposes in part it is because the art cannot speak for itself, but Coco hopes that what he presents here requires no explanation and that you will all fully understand it. It is, with a little thought such as you might give to a cryptic crossword, completely self explanatory. Coco had noticed that the BBC had presented some striking pictures from around the world today, so he thought to present you with a striking picture also. He was going to give it a name but that is entirely unnecessary, it shall be left simply with the adjective that has already been provided.

© Stuart Moffatt 2022

Resolving

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Spero meliora?

Thinking about the new year, Coco had been locked in a discussion with a linguistical friend, who could turn your Latin homework into better Latin than ever Pliny’s grandson would have even dreamed he could write, trying to find a better expression of ‘Spero meliora’ than is offered either by Google translate or by the owners of the motto. It seemed to Coco to be far too weak to be a good motto, though Coco had no doubt that to the literate Roman it carried much more weight that Micawber’s ‘Something will turn up’, which is all the poor English language can muster. Coco had hoped for better. ‘Semper ad Meliora’ is hardly an improvement, though ‘Semper meliora’ may be closer to that for which Coco had hoped. It was inevitable that Coco should come out of the discussion with a turnip nose, as in cauliflower ear, of which Coco had learned from the Third Programme’s heir at about 1845 this evening¹. Beware if you have such a thing lest when you use tobacco and blow smoke from it the fire wardens are not called out!

So what is the outcome of this, this is a new year, but we bring into the new year all that the old year has left with us, and no amount of resolution will change that – Brecht later in the evening², as a Marxist criticising Marx, said for all his agreement with the economic theory that Marx had failed to take into account human nature – but there is One who has not failed to take into account human nature and has given us not only a resolution but the power to change: ‘I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.’ If he has taken hold of me that I may take hold of the prize, then surely we can know that we shall take hold of it.

So in this new year, it does not matter whether we say it in Latin or in English, it is the doing that matters: let us all press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

    1. BBC Words and Music 2 January 2022 quoting an extended version of Samuel French Acting Edition of Bernhardt/Hamlet pages 89-90
    2. Brecht: The Mother here and elsewhere.
    3. The nose: