암살자의 행위
amsaljaui haeng-wi
The Korean translation of my history of assassination Assassins' Deeds (published in the UK by Reaktion Books) is out!
Now for some proof reading.
암살자의 행위
amsaljaui haeng-wi
The Korean translation of my history of assassination Assassins' Deeds (published in the UK by Reaktion Books) is out!
Now for some proof reading.
Dear Vladimir,
I’m sorry about the
delay in getting the trade war with the EU underway, but now we’re motoring. I’m
as keen as you are to destroy the EU. I know perfectly well how embarrassing it
is to have neighbours who are more prosperous, more efficient and more
democratic.
Of course I am aware
that without your money, bots, lies, dirty tricks, etc. I would never have got my
job, but you have to understand I’m in a very tight corner. Even some of the
foolish people who voted for Brexit have begun to see through my lies! So, apologies once again that it has taken so long.
And I appreciate you
invading Ukraine so the mendacious right wing press and my stupid MPs could
trot out the line about: ‘We can’t change prime minister! There’s a war on!’
And I can understand
that you’re cross about me sending weapons to Ukraine, but you have to see it
from my point of view. This has got to look good! If too many people start to
think I am in your pay and in your pocket, the outlook for me could be really bleak.
Onwards and upwards!
Your friend in the FUK (Former United Kingdom)
1. We will defend democracy in Ukraine, but not in the UK
obviously, where anyone who does not bow down to worship the Great God Brexit
and the heroic achievements of Chairman Johnson HAD BETTER WATCH OUT.
2. We appreciate that a lot of you can’t afford to eat or
put the lights on, but don’t worry. We will be delivering you a whole pile of
BREXIT BENEFITS (details to be announced in due course).
3. We will use the OPPORTUNITIES OF BREXIT, which makes our
economy smaller, to make our economy bigger.
We accept NO RESPONSIBILITY for any policies that may prove
defective.
Is this all right, Vladimir?
Boris Johnson’s Conservative ‘government’.
Here are the shipwrecks of the Coronation and the Ramillies, how pilfering of gunpowder led to the Amphion blowing up. The great fires of Tiverton and the blaze that destroyed Exeter's Theatre Royal, the Blitz in Plymouth and the Lynmouth floods. More about all of them in my book A Disastrous History of Britain.
You can hear the interview here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bmmdxj
Proust Lu. Here I am reading Marcel Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu in French - an excerpt from Albertine Disparue, sometimes known as La Fugitive. Honoured to be involved in Véronique Aubouy's wonderful project. 'Beautiful bedroom, great reading' says a comment in Polish. A French comment says my reading has only 'a touch of Britishness'. I'm very flattered.
Credit to skill and patience of cameraperson, Lee Banting.
Véronique allocated me a couple of pages of La Fugitive, sometimes called Albertine Disparue, the sixth of the seven novels that make up the work. Proust is not the simplest French - often very long sentences - and reading it aloud called for fierce concentration. I needed a lie down afterwards.
I'd first read A la Recherche when I was in my twenties, which was some time ago.
By the time it's finished, Proust Lu will probably run for about 180 hours.
The 145 hours completed so far was shown at the Médiathèque de la Ciotat, not far from Marseille, in December. Here's an interview with Véronique Aubouy:
https://www.lapresse.ca/arts/litterature/2021-08-16/proust-en-180-heures.php
I do not say this lightly or often. In my opinion, Anna Burns' novel Milkman is a masterpiece. Its shunning of proper names gives it a universality as it tells the story of a young woman's life caught up in the turmoil of a violent political struggle.
It's written in Joycean, though more accessible, stream-of-consciousness style. I listened to the audiobook, read by the author herself, and found it a completely compulsive listen.
How the Black Death killed nearly half the clergy in parts of Devon, how the authorities in Exeter took the right approach to cholera even though no one knew what was causing it, and how one Devon medical officer warned women that low-cut tops and thin stockings were spreading Spanish flu.
You and hear it here -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bf7sld
And learn more from my book A Disastrous History of Britain https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disastrous-History-Britain-Chronicles-Plague/dp/075093865X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=WCY5DXBCGGAD&keywords=a+disastrous+history+of+britain&qid=1642507048&sprefix=a+disastrous+history+of+britain%2Caps%2C209&sr=8-3
'That's some catch, that Brexit catch', said Yossarian admiringly.
'So hit me with it again. So everyone knows this Brexit is crazy, right? But the MPs say they can't do nothing because the referendum was binding, right?'
'So some guys go to the judge and they say: "Hey judge, not only is Brexit crazy, but the referendum was bent." And the judge, he says: "Sure it was bent. It was bent as a nine dollar bill, but I can't do nothing because the referendum wasn't binding."'
'So Brexit is crazy, but the MPs can't do nothing cos the referendum was binding, and the judges can't do nothing cos it wasn't binding.'
'Man, that's some catch. That's some catch.'