Saturday night I went to see Hannah Peel and Tubular Brass. Very good indeed. The sounds were oddly affecting, I think because my teens were soaked in brass and synths, playing tenor horn in the City of Derby Youth Brass Band and attending the Tangerine Dream gigs that seemed to plague the Assembly Rooms.
I think I mostly made this up out of my own head. Which is why it's two very slight observations bolted together.
The best outcome is this idea from Henry, which is absolutely brilliant and necessary:
I went to a talk at the Almeida last night (I know!). The event description (as captured in the Google search cache) was "Have politicians lost the art of persuasion? in association with the New Statesman...A speech can inspire crowds, set out a vision – and change hearts and minds. But in the era of Trump's tweets and social media soundbites, is there a place for great oratory? "
It was interesting. Lots of good thoughts about good speeches. But the question I've been burning to understand for years didn't get discussed.
Why are politicians the last people on earth to do speeches?
(Apart from, I guess, actors)
Everyone else in the world does presentations. They combine a powerful thing (spoken words) with other powerful things (written words and images). Politicians don't. I've never understood it.
Interestingly, there was a screen on stage to play an introductory video. It wasn't used for anything else but the powerful effect of a screen was evident. I'm not saying it's always a good thing, but it's undoubtedly a powerful communicative tool and I don't understand why politicians never use it.
Putting this here to remember a day
I'm putting this here because I'll need it one day. For a presentation. Or to remind me what 2018 was like.
I misread this and now I can't get 'disintegration ops' out of my head.
Job title of the future.