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Jack is back and we are plunged straight into “a situation”. A new series of 24 and Jack Bauer, like the rest of the working population, finds the joys of retirement constantly eluding him. In our case, this is because of debts and shrinking pensions, for Jack it is due to dying deep throats showing up at his door, followed by exploding helicopters and a planned assassination of the leader of a nuclear-armed “Mid-East” nation. Let us call it Pakiran.
The return of 24 coincides with the Government upgrading the terror threat in Britain from “substantial” to “severe”. There's jihadist chatter, the latest straight-to-video release from Osama bin Laden and a 24-style twist that the terrorist may not be a “mid-East” male but a blonde babe. All that embracing of the burka was a ruse.
It is fashionable to roll one's eyes over Government warnings but I believe this one. We may have tired of the War on Terror but al Qaeda certainly hasn't. It doesn't and shouldn't make a difference to our behaviour — but I am nevertheless anxious for loved ones at Canary Wharf or Westminster or on the Tube.
The public are invited to side with the Dick Cheney view of terror or with the more nuanced President Obama approach. Cheney's bellicose honesty has some resonance: “We are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren't, it makes us less safe.”
Denial is what slows down Jack Bauer, who could otherwise knock plots on the head in one hour rather than 24. The police insist on getting involved, human-rights lawyers pussyfoot around, politicians worry about the optics. What actually works is lone operatives, quick thinking and some roughing up.
At the moment we are in paradoxical times. We talk of political solutions and financial deals with former enemies such as the Taliban yet we remain under urgent threat from terrorism. Do we talk to terrorists or bomb them?
President Obama, who should have been the model for the 24 President had the script writers not miscalculated the presidential election campaign and given the role to a woman, is intellectually supple enough to embrace a contradictory approach. He talks quietly but is not peaceable. There has been a surge of missile strikes from drones in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
What he desperately needs is a spectacular result. The trouble with the response to September 11 is that it became all-embracing and open-ended. The target was everyone and no one. As Donald Rumsfeld said of Osama bin Laden: “He's alive or he's dead. He's in Afghanistan or somewhere else.”
Finding Bin Laden might not solve terrorism but it would provide the narrative President Obama needs. It would give us a cracking final episode to 24.
Respect to the full-time wife
Two small businesses in my area of London are struggling. One is a deli, the other a beauty salon. The problem for both is the lack of local non-working wives. The charming, hard-working Indian beauty therapist finds her clients can only do evenings and weekends. It is hard to make a profit from those hours, and her overheads are high.
As a new series of Mad Men begins, let's pay tribute to the commercial contribution of the full-time wife. We have forgotten the art of great hair, of an ability to play tennis, of gentle non-networking conversation and of a fragrant presence in the home.
The disappearance of the full-time wife has also hit recorded delivery messengers, cold callers, charities and builders needing access. Every mum at home now seems to have her own sideline. Mumsnet is not really a female co-operative but a political lobby group, aware of the monetary value of its franchise. Mad Men women only seek dominion in the home — but there it is absolute.
Living dolls grow up too
The feminist writer Natasha Walter laments the shallow aspirations of young women in her new book, Living Dolls. She is disappointed that girls want to express themselves through their looks rather than, say, training to be Red Arrow pilots.
It is an economic opportunity and a trap for writers to universalise their own situations. I did a quick check of Walter's age. Yup, she's turned 40. So she is adopting the classic middle-aged mother position: “You can't go out looking like that.” Girls want romantic love and are fascinated/infatuated by their physical selves. They grow out of it. In time they too will be like Natasha, and me, impatient that the young don't appreciate reading and gardening.
Why London is a creatives hub
At an arts lunch yesterday, I sat next to a leading Parisian-born architect. He was a star student in the Latin Quarter, before working in New York and London, and winning awards everywhere. When he returned to Paris, none of his work since graduation was recognised. He said he loved London because you could participate and make your mark on it. Paris would not let you touch it. A true city is a living, breathing thing, not a museum.
Reader views (1)
Obama is part of the problem. Hence why his incredibly low (and becoming lower still) popularity decline. Some argue that Obama is not only complacent on this issue, but complicit. It is a worrying state for the United States, and an even more worrying state for the world at large.
Unfortunately the leftists of the world are so busy treading on eggshells for the sake of political correctness that they allow the national security and safety to suffer as a result.
Obama is not going to last another term. But will his appeasement of the enemy subject us to another terrorist attack in the meantime? It remains to be seen.
- Angelica, London, U.K, 27/01/2010 22:22
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