And Now For Something Completely Familiar

Escaping the news for a few minutes recently I googled Monty Python to read about how their farewell concerts at the O2 centre in London had gone down. Then, curious to see if it would still amuse, desiring a distraction, I watched the dead parrot sketch on YouTube.

It hasn’t changed, still very hilarious.  Just as I did forty years ago I found myself laughing out loud – a dead Norwegian Blue parrot pining for the fjords does that for me.  It felt nostalgic watching the inquisition team hop on a double-decker bus, back when there were still conductors and London was still England.  Could comedy of that caliber ever emerge again? I wondered. Their parodying of  the traditional English comedic obsession with innuendo never descends into obscenity (by today’s standards), expletives are deliberate, yet – by today’s standards –  rare, political content doesn’t exist at all: all situations are absurd, everyone is equally ridiculous; no-one mentions The Conflict.  It was a short reprieve.

Then I came back to real life and reviewed the latest headlines which deliver the kick in the gut, the break in the heart. Perhaps there will be a ceasefire soon? I pray.

But then, bang on cue, lest we felt safe the missiles of hate were over, waiting in the wings, bursts in  the UNHRC frothing delightedly at the mouth about the possibility Israel has committed war crimes.  They have elected a probe to prove it – no surprise there.

In Israel we always expect the Spanish Inquisition