I read the news today, oh boy!

The Sunday Times is out today, with the bit about Witchfest in it. It could have been so much worse.

At Witchfest, some of us were a bit bemused by the Geddes-Wards’ talk on fairies. Or faeries, rather. In Scottish folklore, you see, fairies are not the sort of creatures you want taking any interest in you, and you certainly wouldn’t go inviting them into, well, any space where you were. However, I can now see the great usefulness of having that sort of talk: you get a man, a woman, and two kids, all in crushed velvet, etc., and you clearly have a much more photogenic scene than anything involving a big, beardy guy with a staff. I feel like someone just turned up with the “get out of jail free” cards.

The article itself is not too bad, although at no point am I accurately quoted. Some stuff attributed to me I did say, but it has been edited in such a way that the meaning is more or less altered. I did not mention Harry fucking Potter! On the other hand, I was not so worried about what the reporter would write as what the editor and sub-editor would get up to.

Yep, they fucked us. Well, me, anyway. The intro paragraph has a fairly sarcastic ring to it, but what made me yelp was the Inside box on the front page of the Ecosse section. It says: Witch doctor: A former medic is one of Scotland’s top wizards.

Oh, fucking fuck fuckity-fuck FUCK!

(Do I need to mention that I heard no one use the word wizard all day? That I told them I would not even use the word witch to describe myself? That I made no claims to being the top anything?)

The basic text, as I say, is not too bad, but it suffers from the usual thing of a reporter who does not actually know the subject trying to get it right, and not quite doing it. I have never seen any newspaper report about anything I knew about which did not suffer from the same thing, so I guess this counts as a reasonably fair article. It certainly lacks one annoying feature which used to be a staple of such reports: the balancing comment from a member of a mainstream religion (or, a load of bigoted bollocks from the more extreme clergy of the Church of Scotland).

From a different perspective, Thor and Clutha both get mentioned, as does Óðinn (who will no doubt be pleased), so that in itself is good.

Peace?

There is, apparently, a meme doing the rounds where people are wishing for peace. fjm says that she cannot join in because, An unjust peace is no peace at all, and that’s all the Middle East has seen for sixty years.

I think she is right, both morally and practically (an unjust peace would merely sow the seeds of futre conflict). She suggests that we wish instead for justice. I am not sure about that, although I applaud the sentiment.

I am wary of wishing justice upon anyone, or any group. One of my gods — not that I have a lot of contact with him — is Týr, who is closely associated with justice. (He is also a warrior god, but one who is often seen as being motivated by a desire for justice.) Those who have had some contact with him often say that one should be wary of approaching him and asking for justice, because justice is precisely what you will get. It seems to me that true justice in the Middle East would be a terrible thing.

Possibly it is the best that one might wish for; certainly, I look at the Middle East and it seems to be a place where a just peace will never come, and the carnage will go on indefinitely. Despair... I can’t think of any other reaction that fits. I am no longer even angry at some of the deeds, or words, or specious justifications of brutal actions... It is a morass of hatred and oppression.

I can understand the desire to see an end to the conflicts there. But to just wish for peace...

I cannot help but recall the words attributed by Tacitus to Galgacus: “They make it a desert and call it peace.” I can see that being the outcome in that area. Perhaps wishing for justice would be a better option, at that.

No wonder they brew it in Bavaria

OK. I am a little bit unsober. Must be lack of food, heat plus a little beer, because I haven't had much to drink. We were both feeling a bit flat (we had thought of going out to the River Festival, but the trains are off here today), and rhionnach had been a busy bee, so we went out for a walk and ended up in the Clockwork.

The Clockwork is not as good as it was: it still is one of the best pubs in the city. They had Budvar Dark on tap, which suited rhionnach, and I experimented with a couple of bottles of the German beers. They had some Rauchbier, which I had not sampled. Wow! Smoky flavour: it makes you long for bratwurst and sauerkraut.

Now, back for some food (linguine alla putanesca) and some chilling out.

Before that, though, I should say that subsequent to my last post I realised what we should be wishing rather than peace: frith.

Frith sort of means peace, but it is a positive peace, not simply the absence of strife: it is the peace where there is justice, where there is the rule of law, where the weak are protected, where the community is whole and healthy. Now that I could wish for anyone.