A Polish wedding party

A bit of excitement in the Grumpy neighbourhood this morning. A stretch limo drew up outside our front door, and it transpired that the Polish plumber and his other half who live somewhere on top of us were taking the plunge. She emerged cutting a striking figure in a dress of some daring, he dapper as could be in a suit apparently cut from the same fabric. This, I must admit, is something I would have consented to even less readily than the stretch limo, but each to their own on their big day. Are Poles particularly drawn to Vegas glitz as a reaction against the hair-shirted communist years?

After photos had been taken they piled in together with the supporting cast, and off they went. I hope they were able to plight their troths amid the splendours of OLEM, and not in the dismal new church down the road (I'm not willing to entertain the possibility that they opted for the registry office).

As we've never exchanged more than the occasional Hello it was all a complete surprise. We seemed to be the only neighbours who were registering it at all. We've left a card on the stairs and perhaps it will break the ice. All the best to them in any case.

Here on the edge of Curmudge all the world is at home. French, Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Africans, Bangladeshis, Chinese, you name it. We come and go on our bikes and in our little silver cars (except for the plumber who has something red and sporty-looking) and we each mind our own business. I've seen the future and it sort of works, but a community it isn't. Pity, really.

From the Nazi-Islamist connection to Holocaust-denying Hamas

Harry's Place is a blog whose praises I can't sing highly enough at present. I have my disagreements with its contributors, but it is an exemplary political blog in that, whilst it knows its mind, it deals in research at least as much as opinion.


While I'm doing my own research on my 'favourite' topic, here are a couple of HP titbits to provide some context for my next Big Post. First, a post on Hamas's official embrace of Holocaust denial tellingly draws on Al Jazeera to expand on what the BBC had to say on the subject, and makes plain UNWRA's wretched failure to stand up to the bigots. And secondly, lest anyone should suppose that Hamas's stance is an aberration, here's one that sheds light on the movement's ideological roots by documenting the Nazi sympathies of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna.


So: what kind of Christian charity is it that would cheerfully legitimize this gang of murderous, intolerant, racist bigots by taking Hamas fellow-travellers into partnership?