Archive for December, 2020
Glyndebourne: No ordinary summer
Each summer, audiences flock for world-class opera to the Glyndebourne Festival, founded in 1934 by Lord John Christie. The festival didn’t take place during the Second World War, but started again in 1946. Then came 2020, the pandemic and lockdown. Let’s hope 2021 will see the Festival return!
In a newly released behind-the-scenes documentary the spirit and determination are revealed that ensured the show could go on.
This documentary is available to view on the website of Glyndebourne, and on YouTube until midday on Monday 4 January.
Despite the current lockdown, Glyndebourne is feeling optimistic that the Festival 2021 will go ahead in its full format from May until August. But so far no booking dates have been published.
A Message of Love and Hope
“Regardless of gender, race or background,” the Queen said in her Christmas speech 2020, “each one of us is special and equal”.
The Queen described Christianity as “my inner light”. In an age of declining church attendance, when even clerics sometimes feel nervous about articulating their beliefs in public, the Queen’s broadcast offers a refreshingly straightforward expression of belief – and the humanist values that underscore all religions, speaking to those who have no faith at all.
The story of the Good Samaritan, said Her Majesty, was an instructive example of someone who showed “care and respect” to anyone who needs it, regardless of background.
She interpreted the New Testament parable, where a Jew was rescued by someone from Samaria although their communities were at odds, as a biblical endorsement of diversity; “Good Samaritans have emerged across society showing care and respect for all, regardless of gender, race or background, reminding us that each one of us is special and equal in the eyes of God.”
At Christmas Her Majesty again compared the struggle against coronavirus with the sacrifices of warfare. Her message included a film of herself in Westminster Abbey paying a socially-distanced tribute at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior to mark the centenary of his burial.
“In the United Kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and I am so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit.”
The Queen repeatedly emphasised hope. “Even on the darkest nights, there is hope in the new dawn,” she said, seated in front of a brightly lit tree. Let the light of Christmas — the spirit of selflessness, love and above all hope — guide us in the times ahead.”
She specifically linked that hope with scientists, a clear signal of praise to the inventors of vaccines to fight the virus. Florence Nightingale’s lamp, she said, was kept shining by frontline services “supported by the amazing achievements of modern science — and we owe them a debt of gratitude”.
One of the main topics if this year’s Christmas address to the nation was diversity.
The London Olympic Games of 2012 are fondly recalled as showing Britain at its most generous and welcoming, and for the ethnic diversity of its athletes. But since then, Brexit has shown a different, less likable attitude of the country and caused a rift that runs through British society.
Therefore the diversity of the British society was was a theme aptly chosen.
Britain has changed markedly in the 68 years of the Queen’s reign. Among the reasons that she commands popular respect, even in an age when habits of deference have long since been eclipsed, is that she is attuned to the way Britain and the Commonwealth are in reality rather than in myth. That awareness helps to bind the nation amid the adversity wreaked by the global pandemic.
In a year of immense hardship the Queen’s message has emphasised the cohesion of British society. It is not a mere platitude but a source of wisdom and encouragement, reinforced by the knowledge that she has seen much in her long reign.
Links:
The Queen guides us through dark times
http://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/460/reader/reader.html?social#!preferred/0/package/460/pub/460/page/63/article/117188
Merry Christmas
V-Day and D-Day
Last days have been a V(accine)-Day for many Brits like 98 year old veteran BOB SULLIVAN who was injected with the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. And Christmas Eve should become a D(eal)-Day at last, avoiding the nightmare of a no-deal Brexit in a last minute agreement!
(from The Telegraph)BORIS JOHNSON was poised to announce a Brexit deal today that will keep trade with the EU free of tariffs and quotas, in what he will claim as a significant coup for the UK.
Confirmation of a deal is expected today after 24 hours of intensive one-to-one telephone negotiations between the Prime Minister and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.
That’s a Christmas present for the people of Europe and the UK!
That’s what Boris Johnson said after the deal was concluded: “We have taken back control of our laws and destiny”, but he also stated that Britain will always remain allies, supporters and friends of Europe. Johnson said he believed the agreement “will be the basis of a happy and successful and stable partnership with our friends in the EU for years to come.”
In a recorded Christmas message for the nation, Mr Johnson joked that he had a “present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy, post-Christmas lunch moment”.
Picking up a copy of the 500-page document, he added: “The oven-ready deal was just the starter. This is the feast – full of fish, by the way.”
President of the European Commission URSULA VON DER LEYEN said: “We have finally found an agreement. It was a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it.
“It is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides.”
London in Tier Four at Christmas
Large parts of south-east England changed to tier 4
All current tier three areas across London and south-east England have moved into tier four restrictions.
The areas affected are:
- Greater London (all 32 boroughs and the City of London)
- Kent
- Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes)
- Berkshire
- Surrey (excluding Waverley)
- Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth
- Rother and Hastings
- Bedfordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring)
- Peterborough
What are the new restrictions in tier four?
The restrictions are similar to the last national lockdown in England, in November. They include:
- Residents should stay at home, unless they have a ‘reasonable excuse’ such as work or education
- All non-essential retail will have to close, along with hairdressers, nail bars, and indoor entertainment venues
- Gyms and indoor swimming pools, indoor sports courts and dance studios must close
- No-one in tier four will be allowed to join Christmas Day bubbles in tiers one to three
- You cannot meet other people indoors, unless you live with them or they are part of your support bubble
- People should not leave tier four areas or travel abroad, except in limited circumstances (including work and education)
- Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are not allowed except in exceptional circumstances
What are you allowed to do in tier four?
Some activities are still allowed under tier four restrictions. They include:
- People can meet one other person from another household in an open public space (but must be on their own)
- Buying things at shops (which are still open) such as food and medicine
- Support bubbles remain unaffected, as do the exemptions for separated parents and their children
- Outdoor pools, playgrounds, sports courts, golf courses and horse riding centres can stay open
- Leaving home for education, training, childcare and for medical appointments and emergencies
- Communal religious worship
The measures imposed on London and parts of the south east will be formally reviewed on 30 December.
London plunged into toughest tier
More than 11 million people will tonight be plunged into the harshest tier of Covid restrictions. From midnight, London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will enter Tier 3, meaning pubs, restaurants and theatres must close.
Theatres will have to close, just days after they reopened, and football fans expecting to go to Premier League matches in London will be turned away.
Christmas shoppers have been told to avoid going into London from lower tier areas and even those living there should “minimise travel unless it is necessary”.
Win at Leeds Brings West Ham Back to Fifth
“The Moyesiah is on the rise,” The Telegraph wrote after yet another Hammers win which lifted them up the table to fifth. Though David Moyes is unlikely to ever make the Fifa shortlist for the world’s best coach – as Leeds’ Marcelo Bielsa did on the day of this game – he really deserves praise for his team’s newfound steel, fulfilling a promise he gave when he came back to London one year ago to replace Pellegrini last December to save the Hammers from relegation for a second time:
The Scot said that he refused to consider surviving Premier League relegation a “success” and insisted that in the long term his ambitions sat far higher than that. The manager wanted a cultural reset – away from the view he had of West Ham when he was at Everton, namely of a “flaky, inconsistent” side.
That was a view, he said, that was reinforced by one of his earliest memories from the first time he was appointed manager in November 2017, when Watford were his first opponents. “My biggest memory from that night was Marko [Arnautovic] coming off with a sore finger,” said the Scot. “I thought ‘my goodness, what is this I have got here?’. It was my perception [that West Ham were soft] and a lot of managers would still see it that way. It is something we need to change. We have to alter that culture.”
After a summer transfer window which didn’t make the Hammers fans happy with attacking prospect Grady Diangana leaving and seemingly only full back Vladimir Coufal coming in, David Moyes was promised a tough season, but he has really done a very good job so far!
Moyes, at the final whistle at Leeds, was engulfed in a huddle with captain Declan Rice screaming: “Come on.” The Hammers’ points tally is all the more impressive given they have had a tough start to the campaign, and had felt some injustice. West Ham celebrated an impressive and hugely deserved victory over Leeds – overcoming yet another VAR controversy.
The match at Elland Road was an outstanding, thrilling, end-to-end match. West Ham was the better team and their win, coming from behind after having conceded from a controversial retaken penalty in the seventh minute of the game, was well deserved. Their goals came from set pieces: Tomáš Souček levelled with a towering header from a corner midway through the opening period, before the visitors turned the screw in the final quarter and were eventually rewarded with Angelo Ogbonna’s winner when the full back headed in a free kick from Cresswell ten minutes from the end.
Supporters will be back
West Ham‘s Saturday afternoon kick-off against Manchester United will mark the return of supporters to the London Stadium after a nine-month absence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. And Arsenal will welcome back their fans for the first time since their game against West Ham in March in a Europa League tie vs. Rapid Vienna on Thursday.
The Hammers are looking forward to having the support of 2,000 fans inside London Stadium, where West Ham are going for a third straight home Premier League win over the Red Devils. The game presents the Hammers with a chance to close the gap on the leaders to a single point, after their move up to fifth with last Monday‘s win over Aston Villa.
Happy Saturday to expect for the Irons! Their goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski hailed the decision to let fans back into the Stadium:
“Hopefully the situation will keep improving and we will see more of them, so I’m very happy and our fans are very happy as well, so it should be a good afternoon when we’re going to play against a really good team, so that’s something special. Hopefully everything will go well.”
West Ham up to 5th
West Ham climbed up the Premier League table with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa courtesy to goals from Angelo Ogbonna and Jarrod Bowen.
Aston Villa had more opportunities throughout the game at the London Stadium, but missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out by VAR in injury time.
The Hammers scored early in every half, but it was Aston Villa that had much more possession and shots on goal.
Fortune smiled on the Hammers in this game, although credit must be given to manager David Moyes who made a half-time change that proved to be crucial as Said Benrahma set up Jarrod Bowen for what proved to be the winner that cancelled out Jack Grealish’s equaliser just 28 seconds after the restart.
Moyes did not care too much whether it was good luck or good judgment, as West Ham are now up to fifth place. “It was a really difficult game for us,” he said, “And thankfully, we got three points after the many different incidents.“
West Ham’s next game is against Manchester United on Saturday at home, Villa will play Wolves away. The Hammers have two more points than Villa, but with a game in hand.
“You’ll lose the lead over us before the turn of the year,” my friend Alfred who supports Villa said. I don’t think so, West Ham is on a fine run! Who of us is wrong will have to buy a beer when we meet again. Bet accepted!
EXTRA TIME 
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