Showboat

Over to do some cosmetic arrangements on the old tub, all with the aim of getting some snaps that cast it in a good light. Well, I realised it’s nearly Christmas - that’s when people buy unwanted presents, right? For the loved one in your life, surely? You thought that man or woman had everything - but have they an auld boat?
Then twas to Blackbird for some enjoyable blethers with L&P, hearing all about SE Asia. 
Then to the Cameo to see Weiwei’s Human Flow - about the current refugee crisis. At its best, it was moving and illuminating. And there were also parts of it which were strangely beautiful - many of the aerial shots. But the downside - too long, and then, worse, confused. We have streams of people escaping war and the scenes from Northern Greece had been remarkable; but the wall in Israel and on Mexico’s border with the US was included, why? We could throw in the wall in Belfast or the bloody patchwork of territories in the Balkans with UN checkpoints too. And then… ultimately, it all feels too enormous to fix. 
Keeping it focussed on “our” response to the crisis is complex enough. One person in the film opined that migration was a human right. But if you offered everyone in the world who wanted to come to Europe a ticket here, how many would come? Merkel tried that and suffered the backlash - Macedonia, Hungary.. they all closed their borders, her popularity in Germany slumped, and the AfD has been a major beneficiary. What are the limits? I don’t write this as a debating point, rather to record my own thoughts. 
Tomorrow, I shall discuss how war can be outlawed, and global inequality eradicated.