The Songstone

Many years ago I was in the State of Paraná, Brazil, listening to the roar of the greatest (by volume) waterfall in the world. The Chilean girl I was with giggled at the name and explained that, in Santiago, this was a way of saying 'useless'. Jair Bolsonaro seems certain to be elected President of Brazil later this month on a ticket of shooting blacks. Balls O' Na doesn't quite put it that way, of course, but that's what it amounts to. Balls O' Blood won't be going out there himself to do the shooting, naturally: young Brazilian worker boys will be paid to take the bullets while he and his generals sit in Rio sipping cachaça , counting the reais and chortling. Well, so what? If the people of Brazil want to shoot their blacks, or at least have them shot, what can one do but grimace and turn to the sports pages? The idea of sending in the gunboats to try to instill a bit of civilization into the Savage World is not only unfashionable but too expensive...

In response to Hadley Freeman It was just silly things at first: staring at me Staring at Hadley would be silly and certainly a sign of poor taste.   But more than a teacher should give to a student, which is any number from one upwards. I wonder what gives Hadley such absolute moral authority on this subject. Apart from being an immensely privileged woman with a soapbox who wants things to whine about I worried about him. Sure she did. I bet she lay awake at night full of pious concern. He didn’t feel bad now, because he didn’t feel bad then. Why should he? He wanted a date, didn't get one and moved on. Pity Hadley can't, whiiiiiiiiine. #MeToo movement that was supposed to change gender relations for ever. By criminalizing, or at least hounding out, anyone who does not share WCTU morality. Nice. In 2016, he was acquitted of four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking, relating to three women. Yes, acquitted. But never mind, eh? God forbid an ...

Good morning, I am writing this from steamy Cebu city, the Queen of the South and the oldest city in the Philippines. I often come here for a few days break because, although it's just as hot as South China, the beaches are better and the girls are friendlier.   'The girls are friendlier'? If ur looking for love that's fine ur life I just want to say ur nearly 50 and fat soooooooooooooooooooooo good luck - u can always find a blind girl. I have a question: was I a mistake? Due to u and mum having uhhhhh a sleep after u got divorced. Mum's a bit vague.   You were definitely not an accident (launches into long explanation).  Anyway, here's a poem I wrote after you arrived: The Gift The night before you pushed and struggled out I slept on the ground, ice and snow about That was Art's path; I shivered coldly My belly empty, sod and soul solely But then you came, your hair was fine Brightness eyes, beautiful son of mine! I never knew before what life meant...

Carrie Gracie and the missing moolah. Well done, Ms Gracie: a storming campaign. £@300K!? And then, in a gushing flourish, she gives away the lot to charity! The genius of the haute bourgeoisie in manufacturing cultural hegemony... That millions of workers, for whom £30 quid extra might help pay the licence fee this month, should care about this Regency farce... Yet they do, cheer or grumble as disposed, and fail to see the payday's been ponced from their pittance.

Yesterday I was 50. To 'celebrate' I am laying my oeuvre on an unready world. You may purchase a copy here . Alternatively the ebook here . If I know you and believe you have sufficient intellectual and amoral heft to sup my ambrosia, I may send you a copy gratis. This supposes of course that I have an address for you. If not, you can buy your own, yer skinflints.

Du Fu ( 杜甫) 712 – 770 - also to be found here : with thanks to Mish. Returning every day from court, I pawn spring clothes. The river sees my drunken mien; my boozing debts mount up all over town. Men do not often live three score and ten. The butterflies go deep into the flowers, the dragonflies on wing among the drops, the passing time is always rushing hours; no time to know you: separation stops. 朝回日日典春衣 每日江頭盡醉歸 酒債尋常行處有 人生七十古來稀 穿花蛺蝶深深見 點水蜻蜓款款飛 傳語風光共流轉 暫時相賞莫相違