Of tankies, trots and another life ...

Years ago I used to be involved in politics. This weekend Dr B made a brief sortie back into part of that world and found himself back in the thick of Trotskyite, Maoist and Stalinist interpretations of Eastern Europe and the changes 20 years on. It's funny how easy it is to fall back into the old language and to delight in the terminology. It also brings a different kind of literature into the house and I'm looking forward to reading James Buchan's article on Impasse in Iran in the latest New Left Review.
Of all the things I miss living in France rather than in the country of my birth politics would be quite high up there along with pubs. I'm just not as viscerally involved in French political life.
However, one of my lecturers at college said when he heard I was going into the church "oh so you are going in to politics after all". Of course the politics in the church are often quite a bit nastier than party politics.
Anyway this household is neither maoist nor trotty and certainly not tanky. I suppose we're a strange brand of ecumenical calvinist-benjamites. However for now bed calls. The central heating has still not been repaired and the only way to keep warm is under the duvet.