McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters of all time. I have read so many books about the early days of the Beatles that I feel I know the history of his early years backwards. I have been on the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour in Liverpool three times and been inside both McCartney and John Lennon's boyhood homes. I have been down the Cavern Club more times than I care to remember including one New Year's Eve when we were crammed in to hear the Cavern Club Beatles reproduce the sound of the Fab Four through the years (remember those days when we could go to gigs and be close to other human beings?).
On that evening we emerged from the Cavern around 12.30 am, having seen in the New Year, to the sound of what we thought were fireworks. Nothing unusual about that at New Year, but I thought it strange that there were just bangs and no air displays. We found out later it was cars exploding in a car park after one of them had caught fire and produced a domino effect. Thankfully our hotel was in the opposite direction. The next day we drove back to Norfolk on New Year's Day in under five hours including a toilet stop.
Last night on the BBC, McCartney was interviewed by actor Idris Elba. Everyone who interviews Macca seems to be in awe of him which is understandable as he has been a national icon for well over 50 years which Elba was at pains to point out.
So what new did I learn from the interview? - absolutely nothing. Actually that's not true. I learnt about condensed milk, I learnt that McCartney could spell the word phlegm from an early age and I learnt that he can say Jacob the Raven is the cheekiest bird I have ever met in Spanish!
McCartney is the master of coming over as a genuinely nice guy (which I am convinced he is) whilst giving absolutely nothing away. I know quite a lot about McCartney and the Beatles and so learnt nothing from this interview of froth. Anybody wanting to learn something about the man for the first time would also have gained nothing.
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Like millions I watched the final of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday night. We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that ultimately this is a reality entertainment show. So I have no idea why it is included in a national news bulletin as though it has some bearing on our lives. Maybe we do need some glitz at the moment but let's keep it in perspective.
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Yesterday morning, I stayed in bed until almost 8.30 am which is very late for me. I think it was a case of waking at the normal time and thinking "what's the point of getting up?"
Of course that feeling only lasted for a few minutes before I got up to get on with my day, but I can understand why so many people feel so low at virtually having Christmas cancelled.
I was speaking to a teacher yesterday who is angry: "It's ok for us to spend our weeks with thousands of children in close proximity but now we can't even meet with our families at Christmas," they said.
And the thought that teachers will be expected to administer mass Covid tests is just ridiculous. They are teachers not bloody medics. They do a remarkable job and many of them are on their knees with exhaustion.
My great sadness is that I have two grandchildren. They are eight and five years of age. We are fortunate that they live just two miles away but that two miles feels like 200 this year as we have been able to spend so little time with them. They are growing up fast and I feel I am missing out on precious times with them that can never be regained.
Like so many people I tend to shout at and blame the Government. The passive voice in me says "well what could they have done different? It's not their fault that there is a world virus." But the other more aggressive part of me accuses them of mis-management, stupidity, an uncaring attitude and a total lack of proper communication. There is a word I use to describe most of them which I won't repeat here. Let's just say it was a word used many years ago by a newspaper editor to describe her staff and which got her sacked.
One of the people that really gets my back up is Health Secretary Matt Hancock. On the Andrew Marr show yesterday morning Hancock admitted he was talking rubbish when he announced the virus was under control. He still trotted out the nonsense about "there being light at the end of the tunnel" (tell that to people who will be on their own this Christmas). Then he said it is the job of the police to stop people travelling. I would like to ask Hancock how he intends doing that. Are we going to have roadblocks on all the main roads? I think not.
As human beings we are social creatures. To tell us to wave to people from afar as the Archbishop of Canterbury has said is a nonsense. You can go to church over Christmas if it's open but you have to wear masks, you have to social distance, you can't sing and at the end you can't socialise with people you know. No thanks I'll be staying at home.
Having said that, let's have a month long total lockdown for January with people only going out for essential shopping. Let's see what effect that has on the virus.