When Fascists Were Real And Used To Torture People
"A theatre, a literature, an artistic expression that does not speak for its own time has no relevance." Dario Fo (1926-2016)

I have been away. Not literally ‘away’ away (apart from a brief jaunt to Lombardy and Ticino) but distracted by life events and the necessity for earning a living.
Also, there was a bereavement. Yes, the Queen, obviously, but also a personal loss which knocked the stuffing out of me. Here’s the management summary — I learned about the death of an ex-lover by chancing upon his obituary in a national newspaper. That was tough. I don’t recommend it. Mind you, I don’t recommend quarreling with someone so badly they don’t tell you they’re dying, either. And it’s even worse when you realise they were trying to tell you they were dying but you refused to give them airtime…
So, I was in the doldrums, creatively speaking. And, oh, the heat…
But then, a few days ago, those lovely people at Substack emailed to say that it had been three months since I’d last posted a newsletter — and did I kn…