{Writing Fiction}[4th April 1970]

[Redbook1:139][19700404:2350a]{Writing Fiction}[4th April 1970]

 

Saturday 4th April 11.50pm [continued]

 

            This novel I am writing: I hope it comes off.  I hope even that is worth publishing.  Sometimes I am fascinated by it; sometimes, reading back, I am appalled by my own naivety and juvenility.  But as a means of expression and sublimation, it means more to me in the writing than it can ever do in the reading.  It is a book to be written rather than to be read.

 

            Or is this just another way of saying that I am bad at putting my ideas across?

 

            I don't think so....

 

[PostedBlogger31012013]

{Barriers of Knowledge}[4th April 1970]

[Redbook1:138][19700404:2350]{Barriers of Knowledge}[4th April 1970]

Saturday 4th April 11.50pm

            One of the most important tasks will be to break down the barriers dividing the Sciences, especially – vitally -- the sciences involving humanity as variable individuals -- psychology, the arts, language, history, sociology, economics....

[PostedBlogger30012013]

{Superman}[4th April 1970]

[Redbook1:138A][19700404:0000]{Superman}[4th April 1970]

4.4.70.

                                                          Superman

                                    Bargains!  Bargains!  Ours are Greater

                                    Ten pence Off In Every Pound!

                                    For your Wants we Aim To Cater

                                    -- Just Walk In and Wander Round!

                                    Please yourself -- no obligation

                                    (Meat is Cut and Blouses Slashed!)

                                    We have Goods from Every Nation

                                    (Pants are Down and Records Smashed!)

                                    Everywhere our Superbargains

                                    Catch your eye and tease your mind

                                    (She, who sees ahead thus far, gains

                                    Thus on He, who lags behind).

                                    Beans – a ninepence tin for eightpence

                                    -- Buy Two-forty, save a Pound

                                    -- Red Hair Ribbon, save a ha’pence

                                    -- Buy Now, Save, and Shop Around!

                                    Knicks and Knacks and Bits and Pieces,

Pile on Frill and Furbelow,

Smooth the dents, conceal the creases,

Paint the dirt, On with the Show!

Things you didn’t think you needed

Things which now you know you do

Things to make you – while you’re bleeded

-- Be a super, Superyou!

                            ----

                                    Processed food for processed people.

                                    Serve yourself for greedy child.

                                    Pay at desk for pay in courtroom.

                                    Mass supply for mass demand.

[PostedBlogger29012013]

{Armaments and the Man}[2nd April 1970]

[Redbook1:138][19700402:0000]{Armaments and the Man}[2nd April 1970]

Thursday 2nd April 1970.

                        It does seem to me that one of the many reasons for the Americans' general failure in recent years to succeed in battle i.e. in Vietnam, as compared to the relative success of the British forces in, for example, Borneo and Malaysia, is that the American serviceman has become an operator of machinery, whereas the British serviceman remains its controller.  In case this is not quite clear, it means that the American soldier relies on his machinery to do the dirty work for him -- and is disappointed if it doesn't -- whereas the British soldier is prepared to tell his machinery how to assist him in detail on the basis of his own judgement of such details, and to carry on by himself is the machinery does not live up to his expectations.  This is partly declared policy of the British Army -- or has been -- but it is also part of the penalty, on the other side of the coin, for technologically advanced and wealthy nations with many overseas commitments.

[PostedBlogger28012013]

{Fox-hunting [continued]}[24th March 1970]

[Redbook1:135-137][19700324:0000b]{Fox-hunting [continued]}[24th March 1970]

Thursday 19^th March 1970.

[continued]

 The real trouble lies in our instinctive identification with victims.  This is one of the things which I believe still gives this nation the right to be called "Great"; but it has its drawbacks.  A picture of a child being torn to pieces is not the same as a picture of a fox being torn to pieces; anyone who believes that it is will find himself on scientifically and therefore ethically very doubtful ground.  It is significant that the animals whose plight arouses such a furore all have large eyes -- like humans.

            Personally, I dislike unnecessary cruelty to animals, not least because I think it may harm the person responsible.  On the other hand, it may well sublimate his more vicious tendencies instead of feeding them -- that depends on the individual.  I do not think you will make people love animals by banning the hunting sports.  The hunting instinct exists in all men, and is near the surface in many; there is little difference in motive between the keener members of a fox hunt and the leaders of a terrorist teenage city gang, but I infinitely prefer the results of the former.  You cannot change mankind’s deeply rooted characteristics overnight, not even by education, though you may conceal them; but above all you will not change them by bare legislation.  Like the oversize parcel, if you wrap it up tight at one end it will bulge out somewhere else -- in violence, in private and public life.  Of course I am not saying that this is the only reason for urban violence; there are plenty of other possible ones: the territorial instinct and the frustrations caused by advertising among others.  But most stem from the basic hunting, owning, thrusting aggressive instinct in Man.

[end]

[PostedBlogger27012013]

{Fox-hunting [continued]}[24th March 1970]

[Redbook1:135-137][19700324:0000a]{Fox-hunting [continued]}[24th March 1970]

Thursday 19^th March 1970.

[continued]

            As to the moment of killing itself: there are several ways of killing animals, one at least of which must be used to control the population of pests like foxes.  Traps are slow and painful, however little the foxes’ ability to feel pain; in relative terms, if time and degree of pain mean anything to  a fox -- and one must assume that time at least does -- the trap is relatively unkind.  Gas is not the humane killer it seems: it is instructive that while more furore is raised over hunting and shooting animals than gassing them, the use of gas and other chemical poisons in warfare is regarded as far more odious than the use of guns, jets and other hunting devices.* Like traps, gas is dangerous for humans in the area also.  Shooting is slow in inexperienced hands, but for that very reason it has its own code of behaviour to try to ascertain that animals are wounded as little as possible and when they are, they must be hunted down if possible.  I have yet to hear of a fox which was caught by hounds and survived, wounded or otherwise; death under those circumstances, though unpleasant to watch, is the nearest to being reliably instantaneous of all of the methods.  The fox has no reason to believe he will die or be hurt if he is caught -- he runs from alarms by instinct.  He is only caught once; the more times he gets away with it, the less logical reason he has for being frightened the next time (although I doubt whether that makes any real difference).

*We prefer guns and jets in warfare because they give the victim a chance, although that increases his fright; we prefer gas etc for foxes because it gives no chance for the fox to become frightened. 

[continues]

[PostedBlogger26012013]

{Fox-hunting}[24th March 1970]

[Redbook1:135-137][19700324:0000]{Fox-hunting}[24th March 1970]

Thursday 19^th March 1970.

            The fox is not rational, he is instinctive.  When he is chased, he feels insecure, and he feels the need to get away just as he does from any noise or alarm.  He does not feel fear of death, as a human would, because he has not sufficient imagination to show him what will happen if he is caught.  Of this I am as near as no matter certain.  He fears being caught in itself, and this he fears whenever he is alarmed by anything.  I doubt whether there are greater and lesser degrees of fear for a fox: he is either asleep, or wary, or alerted to danger, or running from danger.  He may continue to run after he would like to stop, but he will not push himself past the point of utter exhaustion, like a human does, through fear of death: he will only do so because he is still being alarmed, and the alarm will be no greater when he is exhausted than when he started running.  His discomfort will grow the further he runs, just as a human's would, but there the resemblance ends: for first, as is well known and proven to those who live in the country, his ability to feel pain is lower than ours -- far lower; and secondly, he is designed for this sort of work -- running, I mean.  To put it crudely, he is in far better condition than we are, and he is designed more for field-work and less for brain-power than we.

[continues]

[PostedBlogger25012013]

{Dogged}[19th March 1970]

[Redbook1:134][19700319:1830a]{Dogged}[19th March 1970]

Thursday 19^th March 1970

6.30pm

            I finish my job with the Trust Co. tomorrow.  Thank God!  Talk about soul-wearing, I am being bored to death.  The jobs are just too difficult to do without thinking at all (so I could think about something else) but not difficult enough to occupy my whole mind and be satisfying for that reason.

[PostedBlogger24012013]

{Wobble}[19th March 1970]

[Redbook1:134][19700319:1830]{Wobble}[19th March 1970]

Thursday 19^th March 1970

6.30pm

            When I first heard about the “sponsored wobble" I was intrigued....  I thought it meant something quite different, something I should be only too pleased to sponsor.

[PostedBlogger23012013]

[Saturday's Children][18th March 1970]

[Redbook1:134A][19700318:0000][Saturday's Children][18th March 1970]

Saturday's Children (Draft IV)

18.3.70

Saturday gave them a twin-ended key,

                                    And a coffin (with padded inside);

                                    On Sunday he asked for a nominal fee,

                                    And quieted their easy-lulled pride;

                                    On Monday he stated that life should be free

                                    -- Took over from those who still tried;

                                    On Tuesday he issued a loyal decree,

                                    And patted their heads when they cried;

                                    On Wednesday he answered a popular plea

                                    -- Their freedom to hinder denied;

                                    On Thursday he captured the few who said: "Flee!”

                                    And laughed at the ones who said: "Hide!";

                                    On Friday he ordered them all to agree,

                                    And he sorted them out when they lied;

                                                And thus, on the next day, they died.

[PostedBlogger22012013]

{Artistic Vanity}[18th March 1970]

[Redbook1:133-134][19700318:2245c]{Artistic Vanity}[18th March 1970]

Wednesday 18th March 1970

10.45pm

[continued]

            There is a tendency among a certain kind of creative artist to become conceited in the sense that although he recognises that he is not necessarily the best person of all people, he assumes that he is the best person that he could possibly be.  It follows from this that everything in his life, however horrible as an experience, was the best thing that could have happened to him because it contributed to the production of this best possible result.  It does not occur to him that if things had turned out differently his genius might have been greater; he can only conceive of genius greater than his own at having been inherited (unfair, and so not his fault).  He knows that his own particular genius is statistically unique, so he gives every minute detail of difference in his upbringing a totally unwarranted emphasis and importance, in an effort to explain -- or possibly to accentuate -- his own genius.

[PostedBlogger21012013]

{National Adolescence}[18th March 1970]

[Redbook1:133][19700318:2245b]{National Adolescence}[18th March 1970]

Wednesday 18th March 1970

10.45pm

[continued]

            The relationship between a recently liberated colony and her former mother-country is very like that between a teenager and his parents: Everything I do well is the product of my own initiative, but anything that goes wrong is entirely due to your grasping and wholly unsympathetic influence.

[PostedBlogger20012013]

{Release}[18th March 1970]

[Redbook1:133][19700318:2245a]{Release}[18th March 1970]

Wednesday 18th March 1970

10.45pm

[continued]

            But oh my child, what will you think of me

            When you attain release, if then you see?

[PostedBlogger19012013]

{Sane or Insane}[18th March 1970]

[Redbook1:133][19700318:2245]{Sane or Insane}[18th March 1970]

Wednesday 18th March 1970

10.45pm

            One of the most dangerous of all possible men is he who is utterly sane in public but totally unbalanced within his own mind.

[PostedBlogger18012013]

{The Cricket}[16th March 1970]

[Redbook1:133][19700316:2030]{The Cricket}[16th March 1970]

Monday 16th March 1970

8.30 pm

            The world is full of Critics who

            Have failed to write,

                                    And so... Review.

[PostedBlogger17012013]

{The Global View}[15th March 1970]

[Redbook1:132][19700315:1230]{The Global View}[15th March 1970]

Sunday 15th March 1970,

12.30 pm

            You do not need to be an astronaut to see the whole world at once.

[PostedBlogger16012013]

{The Younger Generation}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:132][19700314:2330f]{The Younger Generation}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

(L)       Although it is the extreme part of my generation which makes the news -- as always -- what is really fascinating to speculate on is whether the "great majority" will absorb enough of the more extreme mannerisms to change their way of life significantly into middle age.  If this does not happen, then most of the "new leaders" will have accomplished little or nothing at this superficial level.  Attitudes and ways of thought, of course, are another story altogether....  To make the majority adopt the better of these, i.e. the kindlier, would be an achievement indeed.  It has been tried before!

[PostedBlogger15012013]

{Hungary}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:131-132][19700314:2330e]{Hungary}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

            I hope we are not going to see a second Czechoslovakia -- even, God forbid, a second Hungary -- in Hungary.  I sense vague political liberalisation stirrings.  Will they continue?  For Hungary's sake, I hope they do not until the Russian satellites can combine to wrest some degree of political independence from the mother-country.

[PostedBlogger14012013]

{Moderation and Extremism}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:131][19700314:2330d]{Moderation and Extremism}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

            (The following are expanded from my first “sketch” sheet*: those marked “(L)” in brackets.)

(L)       Man naturally inclines towards “moderate” views -- which is one of the reasons why they are called “moderate”.  Any extreme political organisation imposed by force will eventually tend to be pushed by the people towards more “moderate” leanings -- quirks of environment and e.g. foreign influence apart.  Fear of power at the other extreme does tend to prolong and even increase extremism, however.

*[or, subsequently, from subsequent notes]

[PostedBlogger13012013]

{Fiction}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:131][19700314:2330c]{Fiction}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

            My so-called ‘novel’ is in the first rewrite.  It is great to write but depressingly juvenile to read.  Still, I shall never be perfect -- in my own eyes; which is at once a consolation and a cause for further depression.

[PostedBlogger12012013]

{Going Down}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:131][19700314:2330b]{Going Down}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

            Recently I have moved down to the basement, which is marvellous: spacious, independent, out of the way of the family.  Already S has made it a place of refuge, which I don't mind as yet; in fact I am glad she has, for her sake and mine.

[PostedBlogger11012013]

{Method}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:130-131][19700314:2330a]{Method}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm [continued]

            I have recently taken to putting ideas for expansion in this book into a separate sheet (if I get them while too busy elsewhere); thus it becomes a little formal and loses some of the vitality of inspiration, but on the other hand I lose less overall.  However it must not become a drag; it will have to be selective.

            I am burdened with intermittent biros.

[PostedBlogger10012013]

{Albania against the World}[14th March 1970]

[Redbook1:130][19700314:2330]{Albania against the World}[14th March 1970]

Saturday 14th March 1970

11.30 pm

B, who I think works with W.H.O., is said to have told this story: at a meeting of member countries, the delegate for Albania rose to his feet and and made a long and somewhat pompous speech in the course of which he stated that together, the populations of his country and of the peoples Republic of China comprised more than half the total population of the world.

            And not one of those delegates dared to laugh.

[PostedBlogger09012013]

{Home}[27th February 1970]

[Redbook1:130][19700227:1145b]{Home}[27th February 1970]

 Friday 27th February 11.45 pm [continued]

Home is not where you hang your hat; home is where you hang your head.

[PostedBlogger08012013]

{A Book}[27th February 1970]

[Redbook1:130][19700227:1145a]{A Book}[27th February 1970]

 Friday 27th February 11.45 pm [continued]

A book is not something that is written; it is a thing which is read.

[PostedBlogger07012013]

{Relative Poverty}[27th February 1970]

[Redbook1:129][19700227:1145]{Relative Poverty}[27th February 1970]

 Friday 27th February 11.45 pm

(Original) Note on a piece of jotting paper from my pocket:

“Idea: The amount of misery caused by a fall in income may be greater the higher the original income.”

Just at the moment, however, I am too tired to think this out!

[PostedBlogger06012013]

{Russia and Europe}[26th February 1970]

[Redbook1:129][19700226:2030]{Russia and Europe}[26th February 1970]

 Thursday 26th February 8.30 pm

            It occurs to me that a politically united Western Europe would worry the Russians far more than the present situation, and might increase the likelihood of Russian attack -- to dispose of the new power before it was fully formed.

[PostedBlogger06for05012013]

{Marital Troubles}[23rd February 1970]

[Redbook1:129][19700223:2220]{Marital Troubles}[23rd February 1970]

 Monday 23rd February 1970.  10.20 p.m.

            Which would you rather have, father -- insolence or fear?  The choice is mine, but I would know your views on this matter before I decide.  But I fear that you would consider such a question non-existent -- and you would be right in a sense, for in your present mood you would accept neither.

            How much disturbance can come from the words "crummy bitch"?  -- not just to her to whom they were aimed, but to her children standing round.  Thank God only I was there.

[PostedBlogger04012013]

{Sentencing [continued]}[21st February 1970]

[Redbook1:127-128][19700221:1820a]{Sentencing [continued]}[21st February 1970]

 6.30 p.m. [continued]

            The distinction here is between those criminals who are capable of reforming themselves and those who are incapable -- a difficult point to decide in court on a first offence, but it becomes more apparent later.

            Prison governors are not qualified to decide on remission -- only to recommend their point of view.  The courts, not the Home Office, should carry the individual case through.

            The systems could be intermingled to allow for changes between them if necessary.

            The mini-recorders would not in fact be listened to throughout, but it would be publicised that they could be i.e. no moment is private.  They would involve the bearer in a form of social ostracism, or at least straining [sic].  They would also be used in [the case of] “cured” and released “incapables” -- for extra security.

            The system of recorders would have to be watched very carefully to ensure it was only used when necessary.

            In addition, short prison sentences would still be used where appropriate: to stop someone doing something within a certain limit of time, to enforce “let the punishment fit the crime” methods.

            For juveniles, psychiatric and environmental help is even more important, though basically the same methods would be applied.

            Ridicule is a useful weapon for conditioning purposes (conditioning meaning, in this context, punishment).  Under certain circumstances, where the criminal had not got the sympathy of a section of the public, the stocks could be used to good effect – not  for physical pain but simply (a) to humiliate the criminal, (b) to show the public who he was, and (c) to encourage others.  They would be outside a police station and under guard.  I am not certain that this should be used except in very singular cases of local trouble-makers with many acquaintances but few supporters.  Tomatoes etc would not be allowed; insults would, for a limited period.  The stocks would be under shelter.  They would not be used where the result would be to make a martyr or figurehead.

            Very young children, e.g. six to ten [years old] would be treated like juveniles -- but limited corporal punishment might be useful in this case, by trained and reliable experts.

           

            [PostedBlogger03012013]

{Sentencing}[21st February 1970]

[Redbook1:126-128][19700221:1820]{Sentencing}[21st February 1970]

 6.30 p.m.

            (1) We cannot allow criminals of an anti-social or anti-property nature to live unencumbered in our society.

            (2) We cannot watch them closely enough without using police state methods which are as yet unacceptable to the leaders of our society -- although it is conceivable that miniaturisation could produce tiny recorders fitted to the person of criminals for a certain length of time which would be deterrent enough in themselves, if they were foolproof, and would reduce the likelihood of similar recurrences by sane people.

            (3) We should not punish people who are sick (i.e. insane) -- not in the long term.  It will only work with a few on the threshold (i.e. [through] discouragement) and is not really worth it.  If they can be neither cured nor punished nor allowed to rejoin humanity, there is nothing for it but to set up special colonies – not prisons, but almost totally enclosed.  They will usually be for life -- with incurable cases -- and will probably be feared by ordinary criminals (who are not likely to go into them anyway).  Release involves a new trial in courts -- not just personal recommendation.

            Criminals who are not insane, merely immoral or positively and actively and intentionally anti-social, would have these miniature recorders implanted in them for a set period of time.  They would also be given help to rehabilitate themselves in society.  These recorders are not an easy option at all -- they would in many ways be worse than prison.  They are a method for future, however, and would be processed by computer every week or so.  They would, of course, be sealed.

            Until these recorders are developed, prison will have to do -- but it is suggested that a prison sentence should automatically involve probation for a proportional period afterwards (at least 50%) (Proportion rising itself with length of sentence.).

            Present sentences should not be altered except by retrial by the level of court which gave the final sentence.

            For crimes of neglect -- negative, passive and unintentional or uncomprehending, but antisocial -- the perpetrators could be taken to see the results, i.e. dangerous driving [sic] should visit busy hospital casualty ward (Law Society idea).

[continued]

[PostedBlogger02012013]

{The future of Communism}[21st February 1970]

[Redbook1:125-126][19700221:1820]{The future of Communism}[21st February 1970]

 6.20 p.m.

            I think that the Russian totalitarianism will not last more than another fifty or so years.  This is a guess, of course; but I am quite certain that the people of Russia will eventually reject the system, whether suddenly or gradually, as it loses the impetus of youth and sinks into the decline and stagnation of old age.

[PostedBlogger01012013]