Brexit
burlesque
is a hit
WHITHER Brexit? Who knows? But a film currently on circuit (Gateway) could almost be a burlesque of the Brexit process as an 18th century British queen dithers and chops and changes over a military campaign in Europe and as the courtiers and parliamentarians duck and dive.
In The Favourite, Theresa May is played by Olivia Colman, who is actually playing Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs. Theresa, er Queen Anne, is actually under the thumb of Kate Winslet, playing Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, who is really running the show. (Could this be Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Haunted Victorian Pencil and Brexiteer-in-chief, in drag?).
But Sarah is eventually replaced in the Queen's affections by Emma Stone, playing Abigail Hill – the Favourite – who is in touch with those in the parliamentary opposition. Could she be one of those milksop Remainers, also in drag?
Quite apart from the Brexit analogy, this is a most vivid movie that has picked up several awards and already made millions at the box office world-wide. It has considerable sexual raunchiness and a most pungent dialogue. Those 18th century aristocrats didn't mince their words.
It also gives an insight to courtly life in those days. The courtiers' idea of a good booze-up was for the fellows to get plastered then strip starkers and throw tomatoes at one another.
Hilarious! Hey, the 18th century was quite fun.
And – Brexit again – that plump fellow prancing about starkers and protecting his genitalia from the whizzing tomatoes reminds one very much of Boris Johnson.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A DRAMATIC police chase in Florida – this 14-year-old girl wanted to visit her boyfriend but she lacked transport, according to Huffington Post.
So she phoned a pizza parlour, ordered two and had them sent to the house next door. She kept watch from some bushes then, when the driver arrived and went in to deliver the pizzas, she dashed out from her hiding place and jumped into the delivery van. The key was still in the ignition and off she went.
But her driving was somewhat erratic, attracting the attention of a police patrol car. The chase was on, all over town, eventually directed by a police helicopter overhead.
The girl was forced to a halt about 10km away, arrested and taken before a juvenile court.
When the delivery vehicle was returned to the pizza parlour, the two surplus pizzas were given in gratitude to the two arresting officers.
Munch, munch! A policeman's lot can be a happy one.
Tailpiece
A PORTLY bishop in full ceremonial robes is being driven past a rural railway station in England. He spots an admiral in naval uniform standing outside. The two were at school together. They have always been rivals. They never miss the opportunity to chip at each other. The bishop orders his driver to stop and he gets out.
He hails the admiral. "I say, porter, when is the next train to London?"
"Madam," the admiral replies. "Ten minutes. But in your advanced condition of child-bearing, you should not be travelling by rail."
Last word
I loathe the expression "What makes him tick." It is the American mind, looking for simple and singular solution, that uses the foolish expression. A person not only ticks, he also chimes and strikes the hour, falls and breaks and has to be put together again, and sometimes stops like an electric clock in a thunderstorm.
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