it's a golden beautiful morning (but a little cold out).

a film about karen dalton is coming. there is a guardian article to herald it. 

'plaintive, earthy, insinuating, real.'

it's a golden beautiful morning (but a little cold out). 

horsmouth's electricity and gas company (one of those fly-by-night ecological ones) have sent him an email saying they will not be collapsing anytime soon (a likely story) and so not to worry and to keep paying. meanwhile every motorist with a car is besieging every garage in the hopes that there will be petrol (the better to facilitate idling while waiting in a queue for petrol). 

of course all this is really an effect of just-in-time where everything is produced and distributed to meet demand with the barest minimum of stock at any point in the value producing chain. this maximises profit (but it is not very resilient - as we are now discovering in many fields). 

interestingly the government are telling the people queuing for petrol that there is no crisis, that there would be no crisis if they just stopped acting mental and behaved normally, effectively (as sten pointed out) gaslighting  the nation. 

horsemouth has his doubts about gaslighting as an electoral strategy but hey all the opposition can manage at their conference  is to attempt to push andy mcdonald, the shadow secretary of state for employment rights, out on stage to say that no labour will not be calling for a £15 an hour minimum wage (one that would lift people out of poverty). jonathan ashworth (shadow health secretary and 'deep throat'  - the man who thinks tories are his friends, and phones them up to badmouth his current leader when it suits him (and yet still remarkably keeps his job)) is prepared to offer us £10 an hour (and maybe more if we are good).  

andy mcdonald refuses to do it and resigns. good on him. 

jonathan (somewhat disloyally horsemouth thinks) remarks that he has served under 3 labour leaders now. horsemouth is always impressed by the exceptional warmth of his self-regard (but he does not share it). 

it's a little cold out (and not too warm in to be honest). now begins the yearly game of how cold does it have to get before ian (a scot) and sten (a fake scot) will consent to horsemouth (someone from a land where coal is plentiful) turning on the heating. horsemouth (wearing his other hat(s) as eco-warrior and electricity and gas monitor) also wants to delay turning on the heating (the better not to have to pay for it and thus also save the planet). 

meanwhile vast ships prowl the oceans landing to disgorge giant containers full of crap (manufactured at great carbon expense and distributed at great carbon expense) ultimately destined to be forgotten and left to gather dust in some nook of people's houses (or traded in some kind of pseudo-economy). giant steel wind power towers arrive from vietnam to 'de-carbonise' this economy (as if that were possible).

a rare white stag has been shot dead by police after running through merseyside streets

now horsemouth can see that you wouldn't want such a creature roaming about the city (a danger to petrol queues and such like) but he doesn't believe it was necessary to shoot it. he is reminded of the stork that visited 10 downing street (perching on the door and heralding the fall of dave cameron) and the london whale. the heralds from the natural world come. they come into the cities. they come close to look us in the face.  

today horsemouth will either go to check on someone or write something he has promised he will write.