Thursday 31 July 2008

George Orwell's Diaries



I feel a strong affinity with everything George Orwell and we agree on the best way to make a cup of tea so I was thrilled when I read here that his diaries and more of his works were to be available online here.

There is a wealth of George's wisdom available. The more I read the more I like him and think that he will be relevant forever more. We all know how chillingly prophetic 1984 is because we see it everyday but I also love his observations about food and think they are equally wise; particularly his points (in On The Road To Wigan Pier) that the British waste too much food, need to eat more fresh ingredients and more needs to be done to make sure the poor can afford good quality meat and provisions are as relevant, if not more so, in today's Britain as they were in George's.

On a less serious note I think George has lovely floppy hair in the picture above (courtesy of the George Orwell prize website). This got me to think that if I did approve of cloning, which I definitely do not, but if I did, that George Orwell would have been a wonderful candidate (obviously he would have hated the idea). He is so wonderful and we could have had five wise George's working on improving the country or just making marvellously erudite observations and taking tea.

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