Art and civilisation

Its comforting to see that the arts are so respected . Especially the visual arts,my favourite medium .And indeed one where I am but an insignificant , minor , unrecognised but persevering practitioner in .
Our great leader Mr Blair himself was seen having a photo shot with some paintings by one of our all time greatest painters : Turner .


Mr Blair , two days ago posed with his enormous grin in front of this powerfully atmospheric sea scape in London's Tate Gallery and was quoted to have said in support of arts that they serve the purpose of :' ....Enriching peoples lives and their communities '.

Very comforting . The fact that somebody appreciates a great work of art makes one have an affinity with the other's finer judgement and transcendent leanings to the higher sensibilities ......

Again this morning as I read my favourite propaganda sheet ; the Guardian , I read about another man who judging by the painting on his wall was an art lover .
Yes this man : Terrence George Adams , reportedly leader of the most
feared gang of criminals in the country was jailed for seven years yesterday for a charge of laundering one million pounds . This apparently being the tip of the iceberg. According to the report , Adams was a ruthless criminal whose fortune was in millions supporting a lavish lifestyle for himself and his family . Police bugging devices have recordings of him graphically boasting about the removal of one his enemy's knee caps: 'His knee cap came right out there....all white ,Dan , all bone and white ..'


So this Criminal waved a salute to his wife and went down into custody yesterday
whilst the case on him gets bigger , hopefully his sentence gets longer on other charges so that he can rot whilst his fortunes wither or pay for his costly court case . Yes ,well maybe he can start some kind of art appreciation society in prison or something like that .

So two powerful men , both lovers of art , this is a sign post to some kind of higher human evolution surely ? But no .

Power , however transient is what both devils have had and used with violent consequences .

The major difference is that Blair has what some sociologists call 'legitimate power' and Adams the 'illegitimate '.
Ultimately it is the same thing as we do not have a society led by politicians that use this power morally or legally in certain cases.

Hopefully the other bigger fish or an art lover may one day be brought to justice and we can have a growing art lovers' movement down there in the cells , it will definitely be a civilising force ,maybe we could call this new movement: 'Bully ism'.