Actually, a lot has happened over the past two days. But before I get to that, a political story:

After a week where Jeremy Corbyn was constantly getting slammed by the media, now it is Prime Minister David Cameron’s turn. It all began when, Lord Ashcroft, a big Cameron supporter who was supposedly pissed off when he wasn’t appointed to anything when Cameron won the election the first time, just released a memoir, which states that when Cameron was in Oxford and trying to join an exclusive eating club, he went through a hazing ritual involving a pig’s head and his penis. It is already known as “pig-gate” and has led to things like the photo to the right. Cameron is a sort of non-Mormon Romney. Rich and out of touch. The story may not be true, but it sounds like it could be one of those things that happens with rich, elite types at Oxford, something like Skull and Bones rituals at Yale involving the Bushes. I’m not sure it even makes sense for Cameron to deny it. I think he is hoping that it just blows over.

My cousin Sarah is visiting London, with her two nieces, Hallie and Charlotte,  Hallie’s fiance and one of their friends. At the same time, Alex’s high school, Band and Portland friend Philippe is staying with us for tow nights before starting a tour of England. (He is a singer-songwriter, with a real American/Johnny Cash sort of sound, which goes over great here.) On Monday night we all went to dinner at Tramshed a, beef and chicken place in Shoreditch in an old power station for the trams. The food is good and the atmosphere is great, but the restaurant’s biggest claim to fame is a Damien Hirst artwork–a pickled cow and chicken in a tank that dominates the space. See the photo.

I met Sarah et al. for drinks today in Mayfair, after walking around by myself checking out expensive galleries and finding the Ai Wei Wei exhibit (but too late to go in so I’ll have to go back). I also went to the Royal Institution, which was started in 1799 by the leading scientists of the day to promote scientific knowledge. I went to the auditorium where famous countless important scientific lectures were held about the nature of electricity and the discovery of chemical elements, etc.. They still have them and the Christmas one is very famous and sells out.

On Wednesday, I’m going to see “Hamlet” with Benedict Cumberbatch, thanks to Charlotte, who has an extra ticket, while Judie goes to a payments conference in Surrey. Tonight, we just saw “Mr. Foote’s Other Leg”, a play based on the true story of Samuel Foote, an actor/comedian in London in the 1700s, who at one point has an accident which leads to the amputation of his leg, but continues to perform, using his lack of a leg for humor. It starred Simon Russell Beale and a mind-bogglingly great cast. It really was a marvelous play. In the 1700s, under the King’s law, only the two royally designated companies were allowed to put on plays and all new plays had to be reviewed by the Lord Chamberlain. Foote got around this by inviting the public to his “tea parties” and charging for the tea but not the performance and then improvising the performances so that there was no script to review. He would do things like put on “Othello” as a comedy. He was friends with Ben Franklin and Prince George (later George III) and there is a whole sub-plot involving scientific lectures. A bit of a love letter to the theater, it was funny and sad and thought-provoking. And Kevin Whately, who played Inspector Lewis in the “Mystery” series was in the audience for an added little thrill. The performance was at the Hampstead Theater, which is a small theater in Swiss Cottage, which is near St. John’s Wood. It seems to be one of those theaters that produces things that move on to the West End, kind of like New York Theater Workshop or the Public Theater. I’m thinking that we should subscribe.