The British Gazette

Above, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their famous routine, “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” from the 1936 movie, “Follow the Fleet”.

Girls like to dance. There you are! A statement that will be determined to be “sexist” and, horror of horrors, “gender determining”!

The reason for the above statement was the Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan’s comment (upon the latest Brexit developments) that: “speculation doesn’t really help” and politicians needed to “stand back and give those negotiations and discussions the best chance of succeeding”
GOTO: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50025931
More about that anon……

1770, 1793, 1834, 1865, 1906, 1955 (2017)

1770, 1799, 1828, 1857, 1886, 1895 (1959)

Excluding the years in brackets, the upper row of years denote the years of birth of me and my forefathers and the lower row of years denote the years of birth of another different “me” had my forefathers been 29 years of age (the approximate average age of fathers in 1974).

These dates are displayed because there are occasions when I feel I have more in common with the average bloke born in 1895 that the politically correct fellows born much more recently. The years in brackets relate to the present day and the year in which the other “me” would have been 64 – he having to survive the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars first and second!

The YouTube video reminds me of last Saturday evening when at 7:55PM I switched on the TV in order to watch one of my favourite programmes, “Antiques Roadshow” on BBC1. When the image came onto the screen the final moments of another show – which I do not watch – “Strictly Come Dancing” were been screened. The scene that met my eyes were a group of contestants having a group hug (men) and a group kiss (women). What struck me was the extreme effeteness of the men’s costumes. The Buffoon’s words “I’d rather be dead in a ditch” came to mind when the thought of Moi being dressed similarly! This statement will of course incur the instant condemnation of the PC Brigade.

All of which brings me back to Nicky Morgan and the dance floor….

Now, it is never going to be the case that I lead Mrs Jonathan Morgan onto the dance floor. However, there is a lady of my acquaintance – who happens to be a trained dancer – and were she prepared to risk injury from my two left feet – I think it would be a case of one party emulating Ginger Rogers and the other party (Moi) failing utterly in the role of Fred Astaire save for moi’s insistence on wearing the correct rig – white tie and tails.

“Where the Hell is this going?” I hear you shout!

Here: Mrs Morgan’s comment is as much showbiz – as the lyrics (which amount to a fitting satirical commentary of where the nation is at in the Brexit crisis) of the song Rogers and Astaire danced to, viz:
There may be trouble ahead
But while there’s moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let’s face the music and dance
Before the fiddlers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill
And while we still have that chance
Let’s face the music and dance
Soon, we’ll be without the moon
Humming a different tune, and then
There may be teardrops to shed
So while there’s moonlight and music
And love and romance
Let’s face the music and dance, dance
Let’s face the music and dance
The FACTS are these: What we witnessed at Thornton Manor was all part of “un grand coup de théâtre” that the BG has repeatedly drawn the reader’s attention to. The target of “the walk through the trees” was the London Stock Market and the world’s currency exchanges. You see, as the spectacle of a No Deal Brexit approaches the markets will get very jittery. This affects the Irish economy just as much as it does the British!

The FACT is that there are many people who are going to have to face the music when and/or if the Brexit Crisis ends in disaster. Thus the words of the song Rogers and Astaire danced to seem most apposite!