Bubblehammerblog

The fuss over the resignation of Ruth Padel as Oxford's professor of poetry isanother example of cultural enfeeblement. As I understand it, Ruth Padel is claiming to have passed on to journalists her concerns about Derek Walcott so as to spare Oxford University the embarrassment of a possible headline in the press such as Sex Beast Poet Gets Chair.

This seems reasonable enough under the circumstances, and it could be argued that a Roderick Padel would not have been called upon to resign for doing the same thing. What bothers me though is the way that the world of poetry is exposed and presented as the faintly ludicrous concern of a close circle of privileged academics and touchy downbeat intellectuals. 'One is left with no enthusiasm for the whole thing', a disappointed literary chap pronounced. Queyt.

Surely, Fellow Creatures, poetic productivity is a crucial indicator of social wellbeing. Without poetry and song we have no bearings in the universe. I guess the current problem is that poetry often deals with notions such as death and despair, futility, ecstatic union with the divine, intense emotion, madness, the nature of love, emptiness, pain and loss, beholding the signs of Allah, heralding a newly made world to the toiling masses, considering toads or my cat Geoffrey, howling at folly and injustice, sailing to Byzantium, rotting corpses, the exquisite properties of soap, drunken boats, visions and portents. People are too busy now, and simply have no time for this kind of thing. And anyway, it could be upsetting, and send you a bit funny.

Which newsclip would you rather hear when you turn on your radio in the morning? :

Salford now has a burgeoning finacial services sector that has become an engine of growth and development for the whole region.

or

Salford has now been overrun by poets and artists, and performance venues are struggling to meet an ever increasing demand. The pressure on accommodation has become so acute that the City Council is appealing to the government for funds to relocate the overflow to the Lake District.

Seriously. Which?

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I can't raise much enthusiasm for the furore over MPs expenses. It seems people are saying they're angry about it, but it's just boring and almost routine. My former comrade Peter Hitchens, who many years ago used to share with me a pitch outside Belsize Park tube station, where we flogged copies of the much missed Worker's Fist, made a good point in his piece in the Mail on Sunday. You have to marvel, he points out, at the sheer chutzpah of David Cameron, and the skill of the Tory spinners. Cameron and his fragrant wife share a personal fortune of around £40 million, yet see fit to claim £30 thousand expenses to have servants clear the wisteria from the garden of one of their extensive properties. Luckily, some other Tories had made claims for daft extravagances, like moats and duck condominions, so Cameron's claim seems reasonable and fair.

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