All about money

+A book review (Hidden Portraits: The Untold Stories of Six Women Who Loved Picasso, Sue Roe, Faber and Faber) in this week’s New Statesman has clarified for me why I feel and indeed might be justified in disliking Picasso’s work. It is suggested that Pablo was a ‘total shit,’ in other words a fully formed misogynist. His treatment of women was despicable in life as well as, I would argue in his art. His depiction of women might be open to interpretation, which is to say in some great (usually male) minds he allegedly somehow captured the essence of womanhood, that he probed further than any other into female character. To which I say: bollocks. Picasso’s art and in his own words, and certainly his actions denigrated the status and the very being of women, and his muses were as dispensable as Kleenex tissues. Hopefully the time will soon arrive when his oeuvre will be re-assessed and it will no longer be a matter of pride to possess one of his execrable scribbles. Such a re-assessment is long overdue and hopefully Hidden Portraits will start the process. His sole claim to fame is his celebrity status and vice-versa. For the record I don’t particularly rate Guernica either. Oh dear.
 
+I feel I am lacking something, that somehow I am serially inadequate. Every month I receive emails (e.g. from Money Saving Expert) updating me on my credit score. Since I have no intention of borrowing money or applying for a new credit card my credit score is somewhat redundant, but it has somehow become an avatar of one’s self-worth in the all-important personal credibility stakes.  In the social engineering world of today’s China this would definitely be more than a matter of passing interest. My result, to affirm, is ‘Good..’ It’s a bit like an Ofsted verdict. Good is Good but why am I not ‘Outstanding?’ I pay everything off fully every month. I deserve better than this. There’s not much to be done about it. Even ‘Good’ qualifies me to apply for zillions of credit cards, but given how often one reads about the free-for-all dishing out of plastic credit I suspect if my credit rating was ‘Poor’ I’d still get a new card. What the hell, if I keep failing to spend more I may be marked down for not supporting the government’s growth agenda. Perhaps we should now be looking more towards China to see where the technology is inevitably leading us. Money and our use of it is the key to controlling society after all.
 
+The Telegraph reports:

‘Ed Miliband has sunk an extra £2.7bn into Sizewell C after EDF slashed its stake in the nuclear power project. The Energy Secretary said the additional money would boost energy security, jobs and the race for net zero. However, anti-Sizewell campaigners questioned the wisdom of pouring billions into a project that the Government has still not taken a final decision to build. UK taxpayers have so far spent a total of £8bn on the nuclear power station. The latest cash is thought to be aimed at building confidence in the project, potentially attracting other investors as EDF steps back. The French energy giant recently reduced its stake from 24pc to 16pc amid pressure from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to cut back on risky overseas commitments. EDF was told it should instead focus on making a success of multibillion-euro projects at home, ensuring they were profitable and built on time.’
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Fancy that—Macron thinks this might be a ‘risky investment?’ We’ve already spent £8billion on it? And now it needs getting on for another £3billion? The phrase ‘too big to fail’ comes to mind, but Sizewell C presents too many hard-hat photo opps for pols who like to present themselves as getting things done. And the rotating door between the nuclear industry and government will be spinning so fast it could in itself provide for half of our electricity needs. On top of this monumental waste of money we will also be sinking a fortune into the as yet untested ‘small modular reactors’ promised by several companies, including Rolls Royce. Well, I suppose if they’re good enough nuclear subs they’re good enough for the rest of us.