Peu de chance

+There’s many things to miss in this Covid lockdown, and perhaps one of the things I miss most are my little trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges and occasionally Copenhagen. All cities with art galleries that I particularly enjoy, all the more so when you can feel a sense of familiarity borne out of maybe only one visit a year. Old friends as it were. It’s clearly not quite the same thing but at least the BBC I-player has filled some of the gap since so far as Paris goes I’ve been going there practically every night, binge watching Spiral. I don’t know if anything comes close to this in current Anglo-Saxon crime thriller TV, I confess I’ve never watched Line of Duty. Indeed, it is probably the case that the last Brit crime TV I regularly watched was Z-Cars and Dixon Of Dock Green. Perhaps that experience developed an aversion in me. So the exploits of Ch. Insp. Laure Berthaud, Inspectors Tintin and Gilou, Judge Roban and totally amoral lawyer Ms. Karlsson, and all the rest, with Paris streets in the background has sufficient exotica to keep me entertained. The other important feature of this is that with subtitles I feel I’m able to keep up with the dialogue even if the sound recording sometimes might be dicky (and it doesn't help not to speak French). And now I can tell when the subtitlers drop repetitive ‘merdes!’ (etc., etc.) I imagine there wouldn’t be enough space at the bottom of the screen to capture all the expletives.
 
+The BBC has not responded to my request that they substantiate the claim made in one of their news bulletins that Boris Johnson ‘nearly died’ of Covid. I take their silence to mean they can’t defend the statement. But they could still prove me wrong, although I’m not holding my breath.
 
+Following China’s initiative, I am wondering if there are any other countries that could sanction ‘Sir’ Iain Duncan-Smith, the obnoxious pillock who once, briefly led the Tory Party? Could he for example be banned from visiting or living in the UK? Given his concern for human rights, he could be exiled to one of Pritti Fatal’s new island asylum seeker detention centres—to keep an eye on the UK’s abuse of human rights, of course. Peu de chance!