In which I am puzzled by cufflinks

Posted by Tania Kindersley.

The day started wild with sun, and then turned into darkness and rain and buffeting winds. The Pigeon and I took one look and said: no, thank you. So I made some watercress soup instead.

There are things in the world, I keep thinking, that I can now contemplate and write about. I keep thinking: I must have something useful to say about Dr Liam Fox and the spike in inflation and why no one will rein in the lobbyists. But it turns out that my brain has undergone one of those special Dr Evil scientific wipes that you see in futuristic thrillers. Nothing there. I think: if I sit very still, will cognitive function return?

Actually, the only thing I have really taken in about the whole Fox debacle is that apparently the erstwhile Secretary of Defence wore Union Flag cufflinks, and that this was something the Prime Minister would not do (according to my newspaper) even for a joke. This, in the eyes of some observers, makes Dr Fox more patriotic than Mr Cameron. Even allowing for the whole last refuge of a scoundrel thing, and Forster’s enduring I would rather have the guts to betray my country line, and accepting for the sake of argument that high patriotism is an unalloyed good: can you really tell from cufflinks? And I love that this is reported in a newspaper of record with some solemnity.

The awful thing is: I think I’m going to be puzzling over the cufflink thing for the rest of the day.

I am rather fond of my country, although I know this to be slightly irrational, but I never understand the thing of showing it. Do you remember that moment when all American politicians had to wear little flag brooches? There was a frightful fuss when Barack Obama neglected to put one on, at a debate or something, and all the cross Foxy people said oh, it's because he's a secret Kenyan Muslim who hates America. All because of a tiny brooch. They don't seem to wear them any more, as if someone sent out a secret memo saying: it's all right, you may now admire America without interpreting it through the medium of jewellery.

Well, that's all I've got for you, I'm afraid. I feel a bit battered and anti-climactic today. I suppose I've been getting up with deadline adrenaline for so long that I feel the lack of it as a bit of a shock. I have a vague, plaintive feeling, the old What's it all about, Alfie question. I'll eat the watercress soup and butch up and make a bit more sense tomorrow.

 

Today's pictures, a little random autumnal mash-up, with added sheep:

Moody black and white Pigeon:

Hill, from slightly different angle than usual: