Update: Note to self – don’t blog drunk…

Listening to the first night of the Proms, as I just have been, I can’t help but struggle to think of a single non-European civilisation that has come up with anything to rival the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony for sheer glorious beauty. Yes, massively eurocentric, and yes, potentially culturally elitist. But that doesn’t stop my entirely subjective judgement from having some merit, surely?

(Of course, the fourth movement of the Beethoven’s ninth is largely known as the Ode to Joy, and that’s the official anthem of the European Union – but that’s not why I like it. In fact, the bastardisation that is the EU anthem is, I’d say, pretty much sacrilege – much like shortened versions of Shakespeare, Reader’s Digest editions, the modern English “translations” of Chaucer, and the Christopher Reeve-starring remake of Rear Window. Best ignored in the hope that it does away and never. comes. back.)

Oh, and yes, I will return to proper politics at some point, honest…