Friday, August 10, 2007

Relationships




There is an Ozzie advert that I stare glumly at whilst hurtling deep underground from my work to my cubicle . It is headed up ......“Relationships” ,and with antipodean mateyness it goes on.”...well that got rid of the blokes so lets have chat about hair products “ .But why shouldn’t men think about relationships too ? .Women usually mean sexual- relationships, which for them is ‘horse and carriage’ .For men its more ‘beast and burden’, so I `m going to range a little more widely.

I came up with the quote on my blog header, slightly amended, from Don Quixote. Don Quixote could not live without his companion Sancho Panza, the long suffering and earthy servant that follows his masters tragicomic progress with glum despair .Quixote is spiritual , romantic , tall , aristocratic , deluded , fragile visionary. Sancho Panza is short, stouter, realistic earthy and sardonic.Is there a template for here for a succesful relationship?

Iain Dale suggested that Cameron needs a Willie ,as in his Willie Whitelaw ,to communicate with the Party ,and he suggested Willie Hague .He is recalling the success of Prescott as a sounding board for the Labour Party .I`m not sure.They are in many ways too alike, both lifetime politicians, smooth performers and Westminster animals. Boris Johnson, for all that he too similiar socially, would have been better. He is the hero’s companion, funny , flawed and loveable and he could have made Cameron’s discipline less grating

Diving deep into the Jungian race psychi ,mysterious archetypes roam in their pure form. Generally they would shrivel in the light but they can be detected in comics . My favorite comic was 'The X Men'. The heart of the X men was the love triangle between Cyclops, Wolverine and Miss Marvel ( later Phoenix ). I have pictured them above. Cyclops is tall visual and cerebral, he is the leader and it has a price , his glasses, controlling the terrifying power in his eyes are his mythic identity. Wolverine is short and animalistic, he smells truth, and his powers are chiefly invulnerability which matches his indomitable spirit , Cyclops has problems controlling the Wolverine`s ferocity but in this realtionship lies the well spring of the team`s spirit .They are the Apollonian and the Dionysian principles expressed in narrative .

The elements recombine eternally. Every Othello wants to play Iago ,sensing the incompleteness of the Moor without his nemesis. Othello is noble, simple and strong and the fragility of his world can be destroyed by something as tiny as a handkerchief. In the famous scene when Iago pours poison into Othello’s happiness Othello almost begs him to do it ...

“By heaven, he echoes me,
As if there were some monster in his thought
Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something:
I heard thee say even now, thou likedst not that,
When Cassio left my wife: what didst not like?”




The high and low churches of men are always present . Holmes the visionary cocaine taking musician,and Watson, a Doctor with corporeal common sense . Morecambe laughing at the hysterical pretension of the Ernie’s “Play wot I wrote “. Gowers elegance versus Botham’s belligerence. Between men and women this notion of “The Other half” has never been more beautifully expressed than by Donne in his celebrated exploration of the platonic. Souls existing eternally in love and crying out to each other from their temporary bodily home . This is the sacred moment of realisation...

“As, 'twixt two equal armies, Fate
Suspends uncertain victory,
Our souls—which to advance their state,
Were gone out—hung 'twixt her and me.

And whilst our souls negotiate there,
We like sepulchral statues lay ;
All day, the same our postures were,
And we said nothing, all the day.”...


Conservatives have many political and doctrinal dualities to resolve. Public Sector and private ,for example. Why are we paying 98p into a public sector pension for every pound we pay ,into our own . Can we afford the £500 billion of liabilities sitting in this mess. How do we retain tradition and yet be new and hopeful. How do we value freedom and yet care for others. Conservatives wrestle with these problems of balance as if they were in a relationship .It is an attempt to express the whole man or woman publicly. In these dark days when Marxist half-men hack at our souls daily ,I like to think of the eternal hero’s Cyclops and Wolverine watching over us from deep within our tribal dream.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

My favourite comic hero is Clark Kent, the tall skinny geek with specs who transforms himself into Superman to save the world. What a gorgeous bloke!

Yet what a dangerous stereotype that is. One glance at Broon and it's clear that's who he really believes himself to be. Yet he's really the evil Joker. Whereas Superman was perfect, Broon is just perfectly evil.

Will Superman save us from evil Broon? Nope, we have to do it ourselves. So we'd better get started then, hadn't we?

Auntie Flo'

Anonymous said...

N -

Quite.

And let us not forget Star Trek - the id of Scotty, all passionate emotions; the superego of Spock, all cool ratiocination; and the ego of Kirk, the negotiating balance of the other two.

Anonymous said...

Iain Dale suggested Cameron needs a Willie ,as in his Willie Whitelaw ,to communicate with the Party ,and he suggested Willie Hague .He remembers the successful way Prescott was able to be a grass roots sounding board for Blair...Boris Johnson for all that he too alike socially would have been better. He is the hero’s companion, funny , flawed and loveable and he could have made Cameron’s discipline less grating


Perfect choice, n, Boris would be a superb communicator and grass roots sounding board for Cameron. His wonderful charismatic humour, disarming honesty and lovable imperfect self make Boris a much loved one of us. What a jewel he is. He has that unique ability to humanise the Conservatives just by being himself.

Yet why shouldn't Cameron break the mould and have, say, two. or even three, communicators? I'd like to see our hero Boris plus one or two others - real working class heroes, one male, one female - on Cameron's team, sounding out and communicating with our grass roots.

Auntie Flo'

Newmania said...

I like your Clark Kent Flo...you are more on the Wolverine side of things today,...


Lud ..yes that was based on Jeckyl and Hyde the best exemplar of a dual man I suppose

Newmania said...

Camerion wont have Boris because ofnthe Bullingdon connection Flo that why he is running for Mayor

Anonymous said...

On the subject of communication, newmania, earlier I posted a question to a Disability Rights Commission live debate with Commander Rod Jarman of the Metropolitan Police Service, who leads the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme.

His responsibilities include Stop and Search, young people and volunteers. He is also the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead for mental health and disability.

My question concerned the abuse of deaf people and our civil liberty increasing levels of technological policing and surveillance methods:


"How will Cdr Jarman overcome the disadvantage which increasing levels of technological policing and surveillance create for members of the deaf and hearing impaired community? Speaking surveillance cameras are a major concern in this respect."

"Imagine if you were a deaf person who cannot hear - and some of us cannot speak, or speak indistinctly - how would you respond to a speaking camera shouting at you and a crowd of people standing around watching and maybe laughing at you when you don't know what on earth's going on? Deaf people don't wear labels, we look like everyone else."

"My deaf and hearing impaired friends and I now avoid visiting our local town centre because we are not able to hear or understand instructions from these cameras. They are effectively turning parts of our towns into no go areas for the deaf community."

"Most deaf people have experienced abuse from people who misunderstand our signing, our inability to hear and the inability of some of us to speak.
It seems to me that these cameras are another form of this abuse."


As I anticipated, and as always, my question hasn't been selected and it won't be - the discussion, as always, is focussed on very mildly expressed queries on very safe topics about :

low confidence in the police among people with mental health problems
communication with disabled people who cannot use the phone
Why ACPO has Portfolios for Race, Faith Issues, Sexual Orientation, and Gender yet not disability
Why do Home Office have targets for the recruitment of black and minority ethnic people yet not for those with disabilities

I wonder why I bother reading the DRC stuff since it seems only to recognise token issues, nulab's flavour of the month issues, and refuses to engage in real debate.

Auntie Flo'

Anonymous said...

Newmania said...

Camerion wont have Boris because ofnthe Bullingdon connection Flo that why he is running for Mayor


There's only one way to deal with the Bullingdon thing, instead of his obvious cringing embarrassment about this, in my view Cameron should EMBRACE IT and turn it into a positive advantage.

His response should be, yes, it was a horrendous fault in my character to do that in my youth, what a b*ast*rd I was, but if you must have a fault - and we all must - what a great fault to have!

Because it's enabled me to reach adulthood with insider's understanding and experience of what needs to be done to control the sort of b*ast*rds that I used to be.

I know, as we all know, that most of our rebellious and apparently psychotic young people will eventually become boring old farts and PC addicts just like the rest of us. In the mean time, as PM, I will get the crazed products of their hormonal surplus under control.

Auntie Flo'

Anonymous said...

Woops, Correction:

My question concerned the abuse of deaf people and our civil liberties BY increasing levels of technological policing and surveillance methods

Auntie Flo'

Stan Bull said...

Yep, we have have many political and doctrinal dualities to resolve.
A failure by the conservatives in the 1980s (perhaps before) to win the cultural argument has led to the creation of a powerful leftwing establishment who were successful at altering the cultural undepinnings of conservatism. The conservatives only ever won the economics argument but were only ever viewed as bad tasting medicine. We smashed the Trade Unions but forgot to drain the other socialist swamps - eg. in state education and the BBC.
The Conservatives have improved their image amongst liberals thanks to DC but at the price of alienating their core electorate. At the same time, we are seeing that a large swathe of alienated anti-Blairite/anti-war Labour voters are returning home to Gordo after a protracted flirt with the Lib Dems.
To win the next election we need around 43% of the vote - a bigger swing than any party has achieved in any general elections since 1950; bigger even than New Labour achieved in 1997 and twice the swing Margaret Thatcher managed in 1979. It looks nigh impossible to me...I am beginning to think that we're fucked.

Anonymous said...

Stan said:

The Conservatives have improved their image amongst liberals thanks to DC but at the price of alienating their core electorate.



I'm a former Liberal who much prefers Boris and newmania's style of communication to DCs, so I don't see how you work that one out.


Stan also said:

At the same time, we are seeing that a large swathe of alienated anti-Blairite/anti-war Labour voters are returning home to Gordo after a protracted flirt with the Lib Dems.


Not in my experience and I'm a Stop The War supporter. The anti-war lobby have either joined Respect or refuse to vote. Just a small proportion have switched their votes to the Lib Dems.

It's not just Iraq that STOP The War object to, they strongly oppose the war in Afghanistan, so even Broon's plan to win them back by begining to pull our troops out of Iraq from the end of the year will not win their votes.

Auntie Flo'

Electro-Kevin said...

I liked William Hague. Perhaps his time came a little too early for him.

David Cameron needs some solid policies and direction. He also needs to be talking about immigration (sorry to keep banging on about it) - this is the single most important issue facing us.

I am bothered that if Brown does call an early election (before the economic downturn) the Tories will be done for and this time it will be for good.

Old BE said...

I don't think you need worry about an election before the meltdown - it's started already.

The bubble has burst we are in for a rough ride.

Newmania said...

We smashed the Trade Unions but forgot to drain the other socialist swamps - eg. in state education and the BBC.



That is the emotional history of this country and your summary is devastating . The thing is "Stan" I know mistakes have been made but I still believe in the rightness of Conservatism and the gooodnes of it.I will never turn my back on it .I`m probably unrealistic ....

Newmania said...

The bubble has burst we are in for a rough ride.

Oh man up Ed ! Rough ride? Compared to having a child and a wife and no income ? Balls and that is what the right need more of.

Its nothing :nothing at all

Newmania said...

and this time it will be for good.


I fear the same thing , but he won`t ever have me in his employ . NOT EVER

Newmania said...

Flo , do you ever come to London , I would love to meet you , I have admired your writing for two years now and the more I read the more I like what you say.

STAN - That swing thing is nonsense. Major was 15% behind and won. Where do you get this from ?You are a defeatist.

What is the matter? A jitter at the Polls and its like a load if women? Am I the only one here that has ever had a fight ? What do you do blub for a month or get up and get on with it?

THE LATTER

Newmania said...

I cannot believe this nonsense.What is the matter "Stan"?

The country is not lost yet.

Jenny! said...

Am I the only one distracted by Wolverine and Cyclopes being so hot!

Old BE said...

Confused.

Newmania said...

What I mean is that it is not going to be a rough ride by any reasonable estimation , ie compared to the slings and arrows of life ( as in this case happened to me ). Its an opportunity...and I may have been pissed at the time of writing ...ahem ....sorry

Newmania said...

Am I the only one distracted by Wolverine and Cyclopes being so hot!

6:02 PM


Now you know how I feel about your blog Jenny. I think it was your descriptuion of sex in your school uniform that may have turned my head

Anonymous said...

newmania said:

Balls and that is what the right need more of.

Its nothing :nothing at all


Totally agree, newmania. And thanks for your kind words. I don't get much time to visit London these days, but will let you know if I'm going to be in the Islington area. Though you're moving away soon aren't you?

Ed, Stan and EK, you've got me in fits of laughter here. For goodness sake cheer up or I'll send matron round with a dose of syrup of figs :)

What are you lot moaning about? Do you realise that my former party has NEVER won an election in my life time? Never. Yet did I ever give up? Not ever.

We are the country that suffered terrible deprivation during WW2 yet rose again to beat the Germans. The Sots Mafia are a piece of p*ss by comparison.

Auntie Flo'

Anonymous said...

Well, not until they threw away my faith with the most appalling betrayals.

Auntie Flo'

Newmania said...

Quite Flo whats right is right and whilst I am all for political reality I do not blanche if noone agrees with me

Newmania said...

David Cameron needs some solid policies and direction. He also needs to be talking about immigration (sorry to keep banging on about it) - this is the single most important issue facing us.

EK I agree but talking about it doesn`t work poltically. there is a wierd thing ,and I am typical in that that I loathe the rates of immigration but I do suspect those who say so.


Its a complex thing a person

Stan Bull said...

Oh, I am certain all the anti-Blairite Labour people are shifting in droves to Respect. I expect we'll see a vast influx of Respect MPs into the House of Commons at the next general election. Dream on. Lib Dem support is withering away- most of it will go home to Labour and some (perhaps) to our side. If it doesn't we will be in difficulty...

Not so much an immigration crisis, more of an invasion,many would say. But Cameron is acutely and rightly sensitive to the power of the socialist swamps I referred to earlier- eg. in the BBC,etc and how they will perceive and critique the matter if DC tacks rightwards suddenly. Dave's dammned if he does, damned if he doesn't ...

Newmania said...

"Stan" and the inverted commas are staying there I know excatly what you mean

Newmania said...

rose again to beat the Germans. The Scots Mafia are a piece of p*ss by comparison......

Up and at `em Flo!! I thknk Stan has rteally put his finger on the problem though . Everyhting Cameron has done comes from studies showing the same plcies in a Conservative mouth were far less popular and the make up of the swing seats .

These intangibles are the deciding factor . I can only say Cameron is doing the right thing and if it takes two elections we are at least on he right track

Old BE said...

Christ alive I only said we are in for a recession - I didn't say the sky was going to fall in!

My point was that we have got so used to this facade of prosperity that any kind of downturn will seem painful and that will surely swing opinions against Prudence Brown.

I think you all read far too much into what I said!

Newmania said...

probably Ed and I think that is quite true its alwatys relative poverty that is important

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