Wednesday 24th April. I joined the Extinction Rebellion at the Marble Arch corner of Hyde Park. They have been there since 15th April. The atmosphere was very good and the protest has been peaceful. I joined Drum Master Tom Morley who with his customary style led a group in exuberant drumming at the corners of the ER encampment. And I after joined those supporting the ‘arrestables’ – those taking the protest further by disobeying police instructions to vacate the road where they had set up tents. Though arrested no one appeared to be harmed. I’m happy and grateful for all the people who are doing this as it’s clear that most of us don’t really understand the gravity of the situation. If we did we would, as Greta Thunberg says, panic .. and transform our societies, systems and ourselves.
Related FB Posts.
Glenn Greenwald’s position on the Trump collusion story is one that I entirely agree with. Donald Trump is a horrible individual but there is no evidence that he colluded with the Russians to win the presidency or that he is serving Russian interests because the Russians hold compromising information on him. Cenk Uygur held the view that there was collusion but is backing away from that now that the Muller investigation has found no evidence of such collusion. Cenk continues to hold the view that there are past and present ties between Trump and Russian oligarchs that could influence Trump’s decision making. When Greenwald points out that Trump has taken actions that are very hostile towards Russia, Cenk points to meetings between Trump and Putin whose content Trump has refused to publish and suggests that Trump does not know what will harm Russia unless Putin makes it explicit to him. This is clearly absurd. and it genuinely puzzles me that intelligent people like Cenk Uyger can maintain absurdities and continue to endorse narratives that have no grounding in evidence and are even contradicted by evidence and argument.
Mozart will never seem old.
On Monday evening we saw the musical ‘Hair’ at the New Wimbledon Theatre. I liked the energy of the cast. The dancing was fine and there were the two songs – Age of Aquarius and Good Morning Starshine – but it seemed so dated, and the nudity moment, presumably shocking once, seemed twee and irrelevant.