I was watching Broadchurch last night on ITV.
The actress with the free-roaming accent was discussing the intimate details of the rape with the actress playing the traumatised victim. They were in a quiet cafe, seated in unnaturally close proximity to the only other occupied table.
I was still worrying about the wisdom of that when the actress with the free-roaming accent said to the actress playing the traumatised rape victim (who happened to be wearing no makeup whatsoever and sporting a severe grade 2 haircut) “You’re doing really well - you managed to get dressed, do your hair and make-up…. and meet me here”.
I don’t know how the actress with the roaming accent, at once deeply Yorkshire and generic Westcountry, could have kept a straight face when delivering those lines, but deliver them she did. In fact I think I did detect a fleeting smirk.
Poor Olivia Colman looked rough, and David Tennant looked like David Tennant , and unless things look up, I’m out.
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| The Netherland is having an identity crisis |
Anyway, I turned on Newsnight halfway through, just in time to catch Gabriel Gatehouse’s report from Amsterdam, “where he grew up”.
Perhaps something imbibed in young Gabriel’s childhood accounts for his forthright disapproval of the racists and bigots who support Geert Wilders.
Did you know that the Dutch used to be the most liberal people in the world? If not, you do now.
However, Geert Wilders has put a stop to all that, Gabriel Gatehouse finds. Now they’re a bunch of racists. The good people who once railed against antisemitism, fascism and anti-drug laws - the most tolerant people in the world - have suddenly, for no discernible reason other than the hypnotic charms of Machiavelli Geert Wilders, turned all racist and Islamophobic. Can you believe that?
It’s inexplicable, and Gabriel Gatehouse is baffled and perplexed. What has happened to the famous Dutch tolerance and liberalism? The famous Values, the freedom for all minority religions to practice as is their wont?
He consults the hippies of Amsterdam. We tolerated the Jews, so why can’t we tolerate the Muslims? asks Gabriel, in despair.
Does the Netherlands still want to be a place that’s open and inclusive?
You might well be tolerant of both the chickens and the fox; until you put them in the same pen. Why, it’s as almost as though Gabriel Gatehouse thinks Islam is the religion of peace.
Evan… Even more inexplicable.
Evan Davis has obviously come straight to the studio from his cardboard mattress and hasn’t had time for a wash and a shave. He’s in a slightly hysterical mood. He can’t contain his mirth when interviewing two Trump supporters, black siblings known as “Diamond and Silk.”
The more the sisters contradicted him and accused him of disseminating fake news, the more Evan emoted abject disbelief. Haw can anyone, especially black people, take Donald Trump seriously let alone vote for him? wondered Evan.
“You must know that he lied about how many people were at the inauguration, Everyone could see that it (the crowd) wasn’t as big as Obama’s …” he sniggered.
“We were there. There were thousands upon thousands upon thousands….we saw it with our own eyes!”
“That’s right!” said Perky or Pinky.
“I think it was easier to see from the camera positions at the top,” said Evan, gesticulating, “and you really could see that there were more people there under Obama than there were under Trump!”
“Why are you debating me with this question, because the inauguration is over?” asked the sister, at last changing tack.
“I’m just asking cos you obviously love the guy…..When he just says something that is just stupid, what do you think? I mean do you think that’s just Donald talking?” said Evan’, his voice rising with incredulity.
“Wait a minute. My president never says anything that’s stupid” said sister one, waving her pen. “You see, that’s what’s wrong with you left people. You all always want to be so politically correct. Well, he’s not politically correct, he’s honest and we love him for his honesty.”
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| That's what's wrong with you left people |
“Everyone makes mistakes, and it would be very odd if Donald Trump didn’t make mistakes and I’m just wondering if you can think of anything —- can you think of anything he’s done, that was a mistake? Cos if you can’t it probably just tells us that you’re … you know… you’re just big fans and you’re just on his side come what may”
“We trust his judgement and that’s why we voted for him and not a politician”.
“Do you two ever disagree with each other on anything?”
“We agree to disagree, when we have a disagreement.”
“That’s right.”
And Evan, amused in defeat, bruised but not broken, limped off to face another night staring at the stars with his dog, his sleeping bag and his cans of paint-stripper.
Is that what’s wrong with left people? They’re just on the left, come what may?
