Hands up

We went to an event on assassinations in international politics today. Fascinating stuff. It has a long history of course and to some extent it is tied into national character. The Americans do it but pretend they don’t. The Russians do it badly then lie. The Israelis do it quite openly and shrug their shoulders about it. And the Brits don’t do it because they have James Bond, and that’s quite enough thank you. 8/10

Personally I think discreditation is probably the weapon of choice. Kill someone you make them a martyr, assassinate their character and they are forever on the back foot.

By the way this is not a photoshop job - they really had an image of Bond, James Bond up on the big screen behind the presenters.

TSM went to see David Lamy and asked a question about anti-semitism in the Labour Party, the answer to which got tweeted on the festival official titter feed. She got approached by several people after the event itself congratulating her and even got a hug from one of them.

I went to The History of British Art which was very good although the presenter was highly strung and lacked any presence. Learned a lot about Hogarth and the gritty nature of him and his peers. 7/10.

TSM had another event so I went to the co-op and then we came home for slightly burned offerings for supper, and a phone call from Big Brother who was the bearer of happy news about nuptials in the family. Gave me a warm feeling inside. Couldn’t happen to two nicer people.

Looking forward to a good nights sleep now. My this intellectual endeavour is exhausting...