Sunday, March 13, 2011

Entertainment

Watching "The Pallisers", a 1974 BBC drama.  I'm not sure how we missed it when it was on TV, but it's very enjoyable, following the story of three generations of an aristocratic family in Victorian times.  The acting is superb, and the plot involves arranged marriages, doomed love affairs, and affairs of a political nature as several characters are members of her Majesty's Government.  I get so caught up in it that I forget I'm watching a show.  There are 26 episodes and we're up to episode 13.  New characters are introduced as the story unfolds so there's never a dull moment.

Another good book......

.....reading "A Journey" by Tony Blair.  An account of his political life.  I was a bit disappointed in the first few chapters, he seems to be speaking in generalities and cliches and the text is a bit disjointed and rather like a women's magazine style at times.  But later as he continues to where his party is elected and he becomes Prime Minister and is writing about actual events, then the story picks up and becomes really interesting.  He speaks about the political background of events like the Northern Ireland peace treaty, Kosovo, and the war in Iraq, and his reasons for the decisions that he made.  He made me rethink my views on the war in Iraq, the decision to go to war wasn't made hastily and his reasons were good ones.  We don't know what would have happened if Saddam Hussein had been left in power, he was responsible for many deaths.  His view that the desire for freedom is not only a western value but in the heart of every human being is one that I share.