I'm curious as to what you find interesting in this article.  I find it very
interesting myself, but I imagine for different reasons.
Nancy


Date sent:              Wed, 18 Sep 2002 00:16:56 EDT
Send reply to:          "T. S. Eliot Discussion forum." <[log in to unmask]>
From:                   Kate Troy <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: OT: Stacking the iraq deck and More Doom and Gloom
To:                     [log in to unmask]

Peter, I found your article most interesting, as I did this one, which was
taken from the same paper and edition as yours.


More doom than bloom



<A HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Alan Taylor</A>'s
diary



MARTIN Amis is a contrary fellow. Not only has he been twitting old
chums and former commies like Christopher Hitchens, he's upset prize-
winning horticulturalists in Aberdeen with his withering description of the
city as 'an epicentre of gloom' and 'one of the darkest places imaginable'.
Blooming heck!Apparently Amis is using Aberdeen -- without its
permission -- in a forthcoming novel, even though he's never set foot in the
place. In the old days his picture would have appeared instantly in the
urinal of the Paramount bar in Bon Accord Street, where gents could
splash to their hearts' content against images of Rangers games, the 1966
World Cup final and David Beckham. Alas, the Paramount has drifted
upmarket -- it has leather sofas these days -- and no longer offers this
valuable social service. What's the world coming to?There's no disgrace
like Home WHETHER Amis will succeed in his quest to produce the Great
Aberdonian Novel remains to be seen. Personally I doubt it, since it will
take more talent than even he possesses to capture the pungent glories of
the Doric.Perhaps, too, he is unaware of 69 Things To Do With A Dead
Princess, published in March, by Stewart Home, the admirably disgraceful
London writer who left the mugging capital a couple of years ago to settle
in Aberdeen. Home is an admirable cove who makes an art of pursuing
feuds and wears a badge with the legend Will Self Is Stupid, which I
heartily endorse. He also claims he once distributed fake Booker Prize
dinner invitations to down-and-outs, promising free booze, in the hope of
causing mayhem when the derelicts tried to crash the do.Among his many
inventions is the Necrocard, which sanctions complete strangers to
experiment sexually with peoples' bodies after their death. It may be
overstating the case to say that Home is a renaissance man, but I do not
believe so. Who but he, for instance, would open his novel in Union Street,
that once-wonderful boulevard which today makes even Princes Street
look classy?Though not oblivious to Aberdeen's grim side, Home has a
message for Amis and his ilk. 'If Brighton was San Francisco on the south
coast,' he writes, 'then Aberdeen was Los Angeles on the North Sea.' If
that doesn't please the horticulturalists, heaven knows what will. The
northern bites of old Aberdeen