A toast to The Man Himself

Earlier today it was announced that Iain [M] Banks had died. Whilst it was known that his death was imminent, the news was no less the galling for that.

The Man Himself (TMH), as he was known on the fan forums, was erudite, witty, intelligent and humble. His books were imaginative: exploring the extremes of human nature, love and relationships with a mixture of comedy, pathos and violence. The landscapes of his non-Sci Fi books were often evocative and (for Scots at least) recognisable. His characters were mostly well rounded and complex, reflecting reality rather than being standard tropes. His plots could be epic in scope (The Crow Road) or conceived with clever twists (The Wasp Factory). He was never afraid to play with the form of the novel or return to his favourite themes; familial relationships, religion, socialism and secrets were all recurring features of his work.

I met him once, at a book reading in the Waterstone's at the West End of Princes' Street in Edinburgh. To be honest, I can't remember much about it beyond queuing up to get my books signed - I can't even remember what book he was promoting at the time (I came away with a signed copy of The Business and one of The Bridge for my dad; it may have been for the paperback release of The Business or, perhaps, the hardback publication of one of his 'M' novels...) - but I can remember being incredibly pleased to have "met" him, and to have obtained his signature.

Last October, I was supposed to go to a reading for the launch of The Hydrogen Sonata. Sadly, I ended up double booked. Even more sadly, I will never have the opportunity again. I would like, therefore to propose a toast. 

To Iain [M] Banks, The Man Himself, 1954-2013

Andrew

Sunday Sounds 73 - The Rasmus

Once again I find myself apologising for a lack of recent bloggage... I intend rectifying this in the coming week - I have a reasonably sized list of blog ideas awaiting execution!

Meanwhile, it's Sunday afternoon, so here is a Sound for your earholes: The Rasmus with In The Shadows. Enjoy!

Andrew

Sunday Sounds 72 - Smoke on the Water

This week's Sunday Sound is a track that was released 40 years ago today, in a performance dating to July '73. Telling the story of the fire started by a fan with a flare gun at a Frank Zappa concert in the Montreux Casino during the 1971 Jazz Festival, it's an absolutely classic rock tune, with an instantly recognisable guitar riff. 

Enjoy!

Andrew

Saturday Six 35 - @miss_s_b, Clegg, Royal Mail, Kimi and a Kitty...

Happy Saturday!

It's gorgeous here in Bristol - since you asked - hope you're having a good one wherever you are. But enough of the small talk, here are a selection of blogs and articles to have caught my eye this week. Enjoy!

The Very Wonderful Jennie Rigg blogged some thank-yous following the vote passing the third reading of the  Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill in the House of Commons.

On Wednesday, Nick Clegg gave a speech about the importance of the coalition keeping on to 2015, and chastising those who wished to divert it from its central purpose with continuous speculation about Europe. Andrew Grice in The Independent praises the speech, argues that it should have been made by the Prime Minister as a put down to his internal party critics and his inability to do so indicates the weakness of his position. Prospect also reports on the speech and, whilst being more nuanced in its assessment of the speech and the political landscape, there was no mistake in its interpretation of the central message: "Can the Conservative back benches please button it?"

Next, a letter showing that the Royal Mail can have a sense of humour, even when advising someone that their delivery service is in jeapardy.

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix tomorrow, Kimi Räikkönen has been paying tribute to the late James Hunt whose first Grand Prix was at Monaco, 40 years ago on June 3rd. The race was won by Jackie Stewart, whilst Hunt came ninth in a Hesketh March.

Finally, I'm not sure what I find most amusing about this kittyflix video - the kitty's antics or the Facebook page advertised as being Facebook.com/legoKY. But that's just my puerile mind.*

Andrew

*I tell myself that knowing the word "puerile" comes from the Latin "puer" meaning boy suggests that it isn't as puerile as I make out.**

**I suspect that a vague knowledge of schoolboy Latin is not enough to excuse me from being guilty as charged.

The World at One - What I Would Have Said

At lunchtime I picked up an e-mail from a reporter at Radio 4's World at One looking to call me re a Lib Dem related item on the programme. This piqued my interest but work commitments would have made any contact next to impossible. C'est la Vie...

My instinct was that the report would be on activist reaction to the four Lib Dem MPs who voted against the third reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act and the rather high-profile abstentions of Party President Tim Farron and Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Party, Simon Hughes. Just as with Secret Courts, many activists will have cause to think twice when it comes to campaigning for these MPs.

It transpires, though, that the piece was in response to Clegg's speech this morning in which he defended the coalition and reinforced his intention it should continue to polling day in 2015. Wouldn't it be better to exit now?

I'm aware this blog has had it's disgruntled moments, but they were barking up the wrong tree if they thought my response would have suited their story. Indeed, my response would have been similar to a Bristol Lib Dem colleague - who was told they had had a number of similar replies and his contribution wouldn't be required!

Whilst there's no denying that coalition hasn't worked out as planned - we've failed over various Constitutional Reform and we're still suffering the fall out from the Student Fees debacle (despite the implantation of a far more progressive system) - the country has had stable Government in a period of economic uncertainty.

Whilst a full-blown recovery has remained elusive - and there is more that could be done on the economy - implementing Labour's (post-election) alternative in 2010 would have left us with much higher public spending and debt, higher borrowing costs, a shrinking private sector and any illusion of growth generated through public spending would probably be wearing thin by now.

True, the economy has stagnated and there are many issues to fix - infrastructure investment and capital expenditure should be increased, for example - but when the Eurozone is in it's sixth quarter of recession, Socialist France has entered it's second quarter of recession in four years and economic indicators remain weak around the world, then the government deserves more credit for progress made towards a rebalanced economy than it is getting.

Meanwhile the coalition has made important progress in other areas: reforming the tax system by increasing Capital Gains Tax Rates, reducing Tax Relief allowable through pensions and other schemes, increasing the Personal Allowance, extending Stamp Duty to punitive levels for those using companies to avoid it. Introducing a Single Tier Pension, the legislation for which was in the recent Queen's Speech, will simplify State Pension Provision and erase many of the biases inherent in the current one.

In social areas, too, the Government has made some important decisions - the pupil premium which targets additional spending at schools with pupils in most need of it, extending parental rights by allowing parents to split Maternity/Paternity leave in a way that suits them not tradition. Another key area - and a vital lasting legacy for this Government is Equal Marriage - another step change in moving society forward to a new level of acceptance, tolerance and understanding.

So, whilst the Lib Dems may not have achieved the "Big Wins" of coalition government - we have played our part in ensuring the country had a stable government with progressive input at a time of international economic crisis for which the previous government was ill prepared. We should continue that work right up until polling day.

In the end, the World at One didn't run a feature on the Lib Dem attitude to the coalition... perhaps everyone approached said much the same as I would have done...

Andrew