This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/21/theresa-may-can-flee-the-uk-but-remainers-will-have-to-take-solace-in-the-proms
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Theresa May can flee the UK, but remainers will have to take solace in the Proms | Theresa May can flee the UK, but remainers will have to take solace in the Proms |
| (6 months later) | |
| The prime minister must be fed up after recent events, although appointing Michael Gove to environment will have made her chuckle | |
| Contact author | |
| Fri 21 Jul 2017 16.12 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 19.44 GMT | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| Monday | Monday |
| To celebrate the start of the Proms, I bought a soundbar to go with the TV. Predictably, this led to several hours of torment as I struggled to connect it. The only instructions that came with the speaker gave little away other than “Plug in and play”. There were few clues about what to plug in where, and it was only by trial and error and a bit of tape to hold an optical cable in its socket that I got the thing up and running. But once connected, all was forgiven as the sound added a depth I didn’t realise I had missed. It’s the best £80 I’ve spent in a long time. Even third-rate crime dramas that I would normally doze through began to sound like Hollywood epics. The highlight, though, has been Igor Levit’s performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, which was just spellbinding. He was also wearing a lapel badge of the EU flag and when he came to give his encore, he played an arrangement of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – the official hymn of the EU. The remainers’ resistance continues in the Albert Hall. Catch it on iPlayer. | To celebrate the start of the Proms, I bought a soundbar to go with the TV. Predictably, this led to several hours of torment as I struggled to connect it. The only instructions that came with the speaker gave little away other than “Plug in and play”. There were few clues about what to plug in where, and it was only by trial and error and a bit of tape to hold an optical cable in its socket that I got the thing up and running. But once connected, all was forgiven as the sound added a depth I didn’t realise I had missed. It’s the best £80 I’ve spent in a long time. Even third-rate crime dramas that I would normally doze through began to sound like Hollywood epics. The highlight, though, has been Igor Levit’s performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, which was just spellbinding. He was also wearing a lapel badge of the EU flag and when he came to give his encore, he played an arrangement of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy – the official hymn of the EU. The remainers’ resistance continues in the Albert Hall. Catch it on iPlayer. |
| Tuesday | Tuesday |
| The Twitter account of Dan Hannan, the Eurosceptic Conservative MEP, has proved to be an unexpected delight, thanks to some observant followers. First Dan tweeted “And then, suddenly, the dandelions. Ah, the sweet sounds of summer and the sun” from a walk in the English countryside, along with a photo of said dandelions. Only it turned out he had uploaded a picture someone had taken in Germany. Undeterred, Dan went for another walk. “15 miles up and down over Hampshire’s sloping fields, pausing for a pie @vinehannington. God, I love England in May” he tweeted, along with another photo. This time one taken years previously in Wales, also by someone else. There are only two possible explanations. Either Dan hasn’t yet learned to use the camera function on his phone, and was reluctantly forced to use photos with the closest resemblance to the marvels he had witnessed. Or Dan never leaves home and just goes on a series of imaginary walks to keep himself amused. | The Twitter account of Dan Hannan, the Eurosceptic Conservative MEP, has proved to be an unexpected delight, thanks to some observant followers. First Dan tweeted “And then, suddenly, the dandelions. Ah, the sweet sounds of summer and the sun” from a walk in the English countryside, along with a photo of said dandelions. Only it turned out he had uploaded a picture someone had taken in Germany. Undeterred, Dan went for another walk. “15 miles up and down over Hampshire’s sloping fields, pausing for a pie @vinehannington. God, I love England in May” he tweeted, along with another photo. This time one taken years previously in Wales, also by someone else. There are only two possible explanations. Either Dan hasn’t yet learned to use the camera function on his phone, and was reluctantly forced to use photos with the closest resemblance to the marvels he had witnessed. Or Dan never leaves home and just goes on a series of imaginary walks to keep himself amused. |
| Wednesday | Wednesday |
| Given that on many stages almost nothing of any interest happens until the final seconds, you’d have thought that the Tour de France would make crap TV. But over the past 10 years, as the coverage has improved, I’ve found myself increasingly gripped. Mostly I’m in awe of anyone who can cycle at high speed for five hours before rounding off the day by riding for 10 km up a mountain. And then do the same thing the day after, and the day after that, for three weeks. My own cycling days came to an end 10 years ago when I came to the conclusion that I was a danger to myself and other road users because I used to treat every journey into work as a personal time trial. Since then, with my knees useless, I’ve had to get by exercising on the cross trainer for up to an hour at a time. I see it as an expression of my personal existential futility. Lots of effort to remain in exactly the same place. Still, it works for me. | Given that on many stages almost nothing of any interest happens until the final seconds, you’d have thought that the Tour de France would make crap TV. But over the past 10 years, as the coverage has improved, I’ve found myself increasingly gripped. Mostly I’m in awe of anyone who can cycle at high speed for five hours before rounding off the day by riding for 10 km up a mountain. And then do the same thing the day after, and the day after that, for three weeks. My own cycling days came to an end 10 years ago when I came to the conclusion that I was a danger to myself and other road users because I used to treat every journey into work as a personal time trial. Since then, with my knees useless, I’ve had to get by exercising on the cross trainer for up to an hour at a time. I see it as an expression of my personal existential futility. Lots of effort to remain in exactly the same place. Still, it works for me. |
| Thursday | Thursday |
| Theresa May is to become the first prime minister to take a three-week summer holiday since Tony Blair skipped off to Barbados in 2003. She could probably use the break, given how the last few months have panned out for her. At least when she is off walking in north Italy and Switzerland, she can switch off her phone and get away from all the members of her cabinet who are plotting to take her job. The last straw may well have been a phone call she got from David Cameron earlier in the week, urging her to stay on as prime minister for the sake of both the country and the unity of the Conservative party. This was some cheek from Dave. During the referendum campaign he repeatedly insisted that he would stay on as prime minister to steer the UK through the Brexit process, were the country to vote to leave the EU. Within hours of the result, he announced he was standing down and would be leaving someone else to clear up the mess he had created. He can talk the talk, but … | Theresa May is to become the first prime minister to take a three-week summer holiday since Tony Blair skipped off to Barbados in 2003. She could probably use the break, given how the last few months have panned out for her. At least when she is off walking in north Italy and Switzerland, she can switch off her phone and get away from all the members of her cabinet who are plotting to take her job. The last straw may well have been a phone call she got from David Cameron earlier in the week, urging her to stay on as prime minister for the sake of both the country and the unity of the Conservative party. This was some cheek from Dave. During the referendum campaign he repeatedly insisted that he would stay on as prime minister to steer the UK through the Brexit process, were the country to vote to leave the EU. Within hours of the result, he announced he was standing down and would be leaving someone else to clear up the mess he had created. He can talk the talk, but … |
| Friday | Friday |
| There has been a conspiracy theory doing the rounds that Michael Gove was only appointed to the cabinet after the last election because Rupert Murdoch – Mikey is a Times columnist – leant on Theresa May and told her that if she wanted him to call the dogs off after her appalling campaign, then she would have to be nice to his boy. Personally, I saw his appointment rather differently. A sign of an all-too-often hidden sense of humour in the prime minister. Look at it this way. Who in the Tory party is less suited to being environment minister – other than Andrea Leadsom, who held the job before him – than Mikey? He is a man who is profoundly uncomfortable anywhere other than inside the M25. A man who thinks the only point of the countryside is as a place for Londoners to have second homes. So who better than the man who knows nothing about agriculture to be given the task of explaining to farmers that, contrary to what he had said in the EU referendum campaign, they will be worse off after Brexit after all? It must be enough to put a rare smile on Theresa’s lips. | There has been a conspiracy theory doing the rounds that Michael Gove was only appointed to the cabinet after the last election because Rupert Murdoch – Mikey is a Times columnist – leant on Theresa May and told her that if she wanted him to call the dogs off after her appalling campaign, then she would have to be nice to his boy. Personally, I saw his appointment rather differently. A sign of an all-too-often hidden sense of humour in the prime minister. Look at it this way. Who in the Tory party is less suited to being environment minister – other than Andrea Leadsom, who held the job before him – than Mikey? He is a man who is profoundly uncomfortable anywhere other than inside the M25. A man who thinks the only point of the countryside is as a place for Londoners to have second homes. So who better than the man who knows nothing about agriculture to be given the task of explaining to farmers that, contrary to what he had said in the EU referendum campaign, they will be worse off after Brexit after all? It must be enough to put a rare smile on Theresa’s lips. |
| Digested week digested: The clock is still ticking | Digested week digested: The clock is still ticking |
| UK news | |
| Digested week | |
| Proms | |
| Theresa May | |
| Michael Gove | |
| Tour de France | |
| David Cameron | |
| comment | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |