Lavengro in Spain

On the rack

Violent women 'stretching police'

Thank you, BBC.

More religious censorship

It's not only Anglicans who get works of art censored. Muslims do it as well. And so do their friends on their behalf.

Freedom of speech and a free press have given way in the United States, and Random House has cancelled publication of a book and returned the rights to the author just six days before the scheduled launch.

The book is The Jewel of Medina (Wikipedia), a novel about Muhammad and his child bride A'isha. What happened is that an academic called Denise Spellberg (Wikipedia) at the University of Texas took it upon herself to 'warn' RH that there night be violence if they published it. The publishers then duly caved in.

Holiday reading

I have just been watching Spanish CNN’s programme about books to read on holiday. In thirty minutes a writer and bookseller came up with:

• A fine edition of La Regenta by Valle-Inclán. A classic of Spanish literature, in a slip case like Folio Society books.
• A book by Alan Bennett about the reading habits of Queen Elizabeth II.
• A new translation of Kipling’s short stories.
• Patrick Leigh Fermor, ‘Walking to Constantinople’. ‘Of particular interest as he passes through Austria just after it became Nazi, as well as his interest in other cultures that he met on the way.’
• Henry James, London.
• Juan Benet, Londres victoriano
• Milena Agus, Mal de Piedras (Spanish title of an Italian novel)
• José Luis Pardo, a book about music that mentions Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles and Kafka
• Stieg Larson, a novel
• Jan Valtin, a novel
• Rafik Schami, a novel, a love story about a Christian and a Muslim in 1960s Damascus

I wonder what British CNN is proposing as summer reading.

A Chinese puzzle

Lucy Fairbrother is one of the people who climbed that lamp post in China. According to the Guardian, her mother claims that her blog has been altered by the Chinese authorities.

The posting, A Short Stay in Tibet, begins with a description of life there and turns into a polemic against China, but appears to have been clumsily changed to read more sympathetically. It reads: "I admit that I have been under much influence of militant Free Tibet organisations back home. What China is doing now, and what China HAS done, are so different, and I am angry with myself for not realising the distinction before now."

...Her mother, Linda, a TV journalist, said: "This certainly sounds unlike anything Lucy would have written. I saw the original and I certainly have no memory of anything like that figuring in it. It doesn't sound like her phraseology. She read classics, she writes beautifully and this doesn't sound at all like her style, quite apart from her sentiments. I would imagine it's been done today. Students for a Free Tibet have in the past had tampering with their own internal emails."

However, according to Margaret Marks (whom I thank for this information):

if the Chinese have altered the weblog, they also managed to alter the Wayback Machine - see here. Very clever, those Chinese.

Free Tibet

Freedom in Tibet would be a very fine thing. Freedom in many places would be a very fine thing. But I am not persuaded that freedom in Tibet will be achieved by handing the place over to a bunch of medievally-minded nationalist monks, however picturesque they may be. 

Nor am I convinced that the antics of a bunch of British egomaniacs climbing a lamp post to tell the foreigners how to behave is useful. One World. One Dream. Free Tibet. Good God! Even in the seventies we had more coherent political views than that.

A response from easyJet

I have described here how my baggage was damaged on an easyJet flight in May and the company ignored my claim for compensation. As I was getting nowhere with them, I went to the Agència Catalana del Consum (Catalan Consumer Protection Agency), which is part of the Government of Catalonia and acted for me with great success when I had huge problems with an ISP called Wanadoo. The system is that you download a form and send it with relevant documentation to the company. If that doesn't work, you get the Agency to act directly for you.

On Friday I sent this claim to easyJet, by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt. I gave them ten days to settle the claim before I referred it to the Consumer Agency. Yesterday (Thursday) I received this:

Ref: EZB080528HAREF

Dear Mr Harvey,

Thank you for your recent communication in respect of the mishandling of your baggage. At the outset, please accept my apologies for the delay in my response.

So that we might finalise your claim could you please forward to me your full postal address, as we do not appear to have this on file.  Please also refer to the above reference number in all future communications.

Thank you for your attention with this matter (sic).

Yours sincerely

Alice Hazel

Baggage Claims Department

I have sent my address, and also my bank details in case they want to make a transfer. We will see what happens.