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When the Flying Circus has Flown
Steyn On-line ^ | November 16, 2019 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 11/16/2019 4:47:18 PM PST by Twotone

"John was a boy that kept to himself," recalled Mrs Hicks, Reg and Muriel Cleese's next-door neighbor in Totnes in Devon, deploying the formulation traditionally reserved for the landladies of suburban serial killers. "I suppose he was all right with his Cambridge people, but us being country folk he wouldn't say very much. At one time I looked after John for a couple of days and did his bedroom when his parents were away. He was writing something on his desk at the time. Course I didn't look at it, but it was sarcastic sort of stuff about Churchill. I do often wonder what happened to him."

Listening to Mrs Hicks, you appreciate the particular challenge of comedy writing - for who could ever improve on that? Nonetheless, she's not the only one to wonder what's happened to John Cleese. He turned eighty a couple of weeks back, and the jubilations were more muted than one might once have expected. My local PBS station still shows Fawlty Towers as part of its Britcom lineup, but Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, bemoans that Cleese has now turned into Basil Fawlty lui-même. Younger "comics" regret that the a great comedic talent is now the pub bore he played in his youth.

And why would that be? Well, after supporting Brexit, he moved to Nevis in the British West Indies and announced that the imperial metropolis was "not really an English city anymore". Mayor Khan replied that "Londoners know that our diversity is our greatest strength" - although, strong as it is, it doesn't seem much use during a knife attack. During the ensuing Twitterstorm, an opposing Tweeter declared that "I can't stand Englishness..."

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: fawltytowers; johncleese; london; marksteyn; sadiqkhan; unitedkingdom

1 posted on 11/16/2019 4:47:18 PM PST by Twotone
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To: Twotone

“...our diversity is our greatest strength...”

Ah, the award winning never to be outdone complete pile of excrement ever uttered.

Diversity is diversity. In a transistor (with very exacting proportions) it makes the thing work.

In in an engine, just try that with your cylinder measurements.

That statement is why liberals abhor merit.

Or howz about some diversity in some math. Such as 2+2= (insert some totally idiotic idiot math ‘eddikator’ cr*p here - anything but 4). And yes, I’m talkin’ base 10.


2 posted on 11/16/2019 4:55:59 PM PST by Da Coyote (is)
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To: Twotone

“Miss Curtis’s breasts are very agreeable, but they can’t support an entire movie, and this one eventually nosedived down her cleavage to be crushed by the massive bazooms of plot and character. The film was a bust, and ended any lingering Cary Grant ambitions. “


3 posted on 11/16/2019 4:59:32 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Twotone

“Mayor Khan replied that “Londoners know that our diversity is our greatest strength””

Even leftists are not dumb enough to believe that anymore.


4 posted on 11/16/2019 5:10:09 PM PST by SharpRightTurn (Chuck Schumer--giving pond scum everywhere a bad name.)
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To: Twotone

Irony or cognitive dissonance is that despite certain rational things he says, Cleese is an utter lefty lib.


5 posted on 11/16/2019 5:14:08 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: Twotone

Theme to "Monty Python's Flying Circus>

6 posted on 11/16/2019 5:22:16 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
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To: Twotone

London: “not really an English city anymore”

It isn’t.


7 posted on 11/16/2019 5:22:34 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: Da Coyote
“...our diversity is our greatest strength...”

Ah, the award winning never to be outdone complete pile of excrement ever uttered.

Now, diversity might actually be important, if you're trying to cram a whole bunch of people into a "clown car"...

;^)

8 posted on 11/16/2019 5:38:38 PM PST by Who is John Galt? ("He therefore who may resist, must be allowed to strike.")
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To: ifinnegan
In this recent interview Cleese is rabidly anti-Trump. And yet, on a rather fundamental level, Clesse is philosophically aligned to Trump's views when you read Cleese's views of London and the U.K.

I never look to my plumber to mend the electricity, so I'll continue ignoring Tim The Enchanter's political guidance.


9 posted on 11/16/2019 6:14:12 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: Paladin2

What a classic line! The entire section leading up to those sentences is hilarious.


10 posted on 11/16/2019 6:47:45 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Steyn at his BEST!


11 posted on 11/16/2019 7:09:37 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: DoodleBob

“In this recent interview Cleese is rabidly anti-Trump. And yet, on a rather fundamental level, Clesse is philosophically aligned to Trump’s views when you read Cleese’s views of London and the U.K.”

Yes.

That’s what I was talking about.


12 posted on 11/16/2019 10:16:36 PM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: SharpRightTurn

“Even leftists are not dumb enough to believe that anymore.”

To no small degree the Left is emotionally attached to the idea that they were never, ever wrong. Not just themselves personally but to some degree those that influenced them as well.

So believe it or not it is the social-gospel truth to them and they can really never depart from it.

The shrillness of the Left when facing those that continue to disagree with them is in part rooted in this. We are bad because we’ve been correct too many times once they’ve become invested.


13 posted on 11/17/2019 6:25:28 AM PST by Rurudyne (Standupr Philosopher)
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To: ifinnegan

There is still a politically correct schism in the Left.

TERFs are radical feminist who, as one gal recently put it, realize that a woman has female biology and any personality rather than a feminine persona and any biology. To be a TERF a radical feminist has to break with the PC of today and the future.

People like Cleese realize that, to be blunt, Enoch was right. To do so requires such Leftists breaking with decades worth of political correctness.


14 posted on 11/17/2019 6:31:05 AM PST by Rurudyne (Standupr Philosopher)
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To: Twotone
Nevis has excellent race relations, a very well educated population, no sign of political correctness... conscientious lawyers, a relaxed and humorous life style, a deep love of cricket, and a complete lack of knife crime ...and the icing on the cake is that Nevis is not the world centre for Russian dirty money laundering...

I think it's legitimate to prefer one culture to another. For example, I prefer cultures that do not tolerate female genital mutilation. Will this be considered racist by all those who hover, eagerly hoping that someone will offend them?

Who can argue with this?

15 posted on 11/17/2019 6:35:13 AM PST by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.)
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