ACTIVITY BEFORE DEMENTIA.

The Holy Land which I consider to be Israel,  was more interesting than I imagined. The Muslims in Jerusalem who were selling  crosses to Christian tourists made me think, why are there wars?  Then there were very religious Italians singing and praying whilst carrying the cross, The Israeli Police wearing enough makeup to look like the girls behind the make up counter in Harrods were thought provoking.  The only violence I saw was a stone thrown at a car and the UN Peace corps outside The garden of Gethsemane which was a beautifully looked after Olive Grove with colorful flowers. I had not imagined Israel to look like Tuscany, I thought there would be endless lines of barbed wire and I had not pictured the beauty of Galilee and the broken huge synagogue at Capurnaum. The air perfect,  or the serenity of  The mount of Olives which houses the dead. Wherever I looked I was moved by history.
I walked the steps to paradise to try and feel what Jesus could have felt, I placed candles to remember my family and friends that have left the earth. I felt chills up my spine continually,  feeling the souls who had been there in ancient times. I dipped myself in the Holy Water at Galilee. Nothing feels as it once felt.  I had been so stubborn about visiting Israel, not agreeing with its existence. Now I understand that Israel belongs to all of us whatever religion.  Jesus had rock star popularity, rock star appeal.
I see this as I get baptized in the sea of Galilee. I buy little trinkets of water and sand. Reminders of this man are everywhere. He did exist. He was indeed Jesus Christ superstar.

LET's THINK RATHER THAN TALK, JEWS AND MUSLIMS

How stupid of me to have got caught up in the traffic yesterday, as all the roads in London were closed over the Palestinian problem. How stupid just because I fell in love with a coat at Alexander Mcqueen which I had to have. I swore only two weeks ago that I would no longer shop and there I was at it again.

With all the dramas in the world, I am still  thinking about clothes, which let's face it are a profitable but feckless occupation. I justify it to myself as it is "my world" as the Fashion Editor to Los Angeles's most glamorous magazine Genlux.  I justify the need for wonderful clothes, but then I am reminded by my great friend who I shall call "The street Rabbi" that 4,000 children die a day from bad drinking water, it makes an article in Vogue about another  best friend "copying style", slightly trivial, and my passion for a gold embroidered coat ridiculous. As middle aged woman, however pretty, we should be a little more intelligent? Have a little more empathy, and be more politically aware.

JEWISH FAMILY SHARING LOSS

The balance in the Middle East will never be sorted out, if we are not careful. Lest we forget, the Muslims are misunderstood too, not just the Jewish people in this instance. Let's face it we all do misunderstand each other. The Muslims have honour killings, genital mutilation, killing of homosexuals, worldwide poverty in Third World countries. The women are oppressed, and governments are run by dictatorships, Hezbullah hate Hamas. So before we get completely caught up in the story of "The Wall" surrounding Palestine, we should look openly at the problems that exist. Gaza was a paradise, when the Israelis captured it from Eygpt.  Now in the hands of the Palestinians it is a war zone. Each have different priorities.  It is the same with the inner cities of the world, wherever there are Muslims they have a different set of values than the Christians, and whether we like it or not, they are not naturally considerate to other people sharing their living space, yet the Muslims have ritual bathing, so they are not unclean. They are just different.
Hamas is an illegal terrorist group who do nothing for their own people and turn down truces. Let’s open our eyes and see there is an anti semetic wave going on throughout the white middle classes?. Of course the "Wall" should come down, but remember...

Remember all our inherited wealth came from the developing world, in Victorian England.  It is why England is England, with beautiful buildings. It came from slavery, it came from trade with exotic countries, it came from the raiding of antiquities. 
For those of us that like figures there are approximately 63.3 million Christians in England, 3.3 million Muslims and 270,000 Jews. 

 I am still in love with the gold embroidered coat, but I am also aware in my ditzy or not so ditzy way, the dreadful failings, we have as human beings. Should we be proud about them?. Great Britain has allowed foreign arms dealers to  buy houses. and make the deals of the mega rich?   Should we allow these tax exiles, to live without a tax, so that they prop up our property market and economy? London has become the home of the rich escapees, the blood money which in turn sponsors  the art world, the galleries, the music and so on, making it acceptable.  On another note, lest we forget, Jews are leaving Paris in vast numbers, as the bombs explode. 

We should remember the crusades and the damage caused by our religious wars hundreds of years ago. Stalin, Mao and Hitler killed millions of people.

As a Christian, I am fully aware that the Jews were bullied and harassed for thousands of years, tortured and thrown into camps. Any human being would wish that this did not happen. That they did not feel the need for a  Jewish State. The behaviour of others towards them has made them feel the need of a homeland. Who can blame them?. The families before them would have loved to have stayed in their original homes in Russia and Germany, but they were displaced, and the need for a single supposedly safe state became a political necessity. The British at the time thought they had done the right thing I am sure. The English middles classes in their relatively safe country houses will never fully understand what it is like  to arrive in a country with no money, and no understanding of the language, not understanding another countries ways, habits and religion.
 Tel aviv in Israel is lest we forget  a gay centre, whereas in Gaza, Palestine, not very far away it is illegal.  Why are we not marching against the arranged marriages of teenage girls in Hamas controlled Gaza?. Why are we not marching against the killings of homosexuals.

To start again.

The Vogue article is written by a friend in the August issue. I wish she had not felt the necessity to write it, it is horrid about a mutual best friend that we share. I wrote to the girl yesterday and said "What on earth made you write this article?" she wrote back and said "She was inspired by my play" Such petty banter when a girl at this very moment is being chopped up or beaten in another part of the world.  Couldn't Vogue be a little more intelligent than to fall for the aggression of an Editor towards another human being, who like her is just trying to get through life? We should be sisters, we need our friends. It seems very low on my list of priorities, but this is where bullying first starts, and must be addressed. The press like to be unnecessarily unkind and often it starts with the journalist.

MOTHERLESS PALESTINIAN CHILDREN

Why is it necessary to write cattily about anyone? Especially by a best friend of a best friend? My friend is the sort of "perfect" woman, a Bree. When she was young she looked ravishing in Chanel.  Pale Blue of course, or pink. She was the girl who got the flowers from men, she was the girl that was loved and I was very much a second choice.  I could have been jealous, but I never was. I admired her. My friend could make perfect Christmas Puddings, perfect roast Chicken and my ex husband and I loved her, we still do. Which is why in this article I intend to stick up for her.  She is the sort of wife every man would want, perfect hair, perfect children, pretty children, clever children, pretty decorator.  I am happy for her.
This is not the fashion desk of British Vogue, or the war zone correspondent at the Times, but opinion is opinion. The article should not have been written. Copying is a form of flattery. Names, places, clothes. I love sharing, so do not have an ego in this direction. We are all influenced by friends. 
Today my street Rabbi wrote and said the gaza problem was a small problem,  a minor problem for all parties involved.  However as the dead are being buried in cement graves in front and behind the walls, I am sure for the families, this war feels monumental. As does, the two thousand word article about my wonderful pal, as she realizes that she has been torn apart in Hanover Square for a series of very ordinary supposed misdemeanours.

Twenty thousand people marched yesterday with offensive signs against Israel.  However, as I write thousands are being killed in Iraq, Shia versus Sunni. Houses and antiquitites stolen. Families destroyed. Friends torn apart. We must realise that there is a percentage of the population who will be driven by conflict. It is a genetic thing.  

Think about Abramovich, who owns Chelsea Football Club, who is friends with Putin, Russia shot down a plane yesterday as we all know. The bodies of children have been decomposing in the bloody fields of the Ukraine, which for hundreds years have been the killing fields of religious wars, Christians, Muslims alike. Now this was of course was probably a ghastly accident. But it is a chain. There are slaves in this country, there are honour killings, etc etc, in this country. The arms dealers who sell to all sides. We have incredible poverty, why do we not march for that?

Every time you do something cruel, small or large to a friend, the karma will pay you back. As the editor laughs at the torment she has caused, something will happen to her when she least expects it. When I left drama school the head said to me "Amanda, show you shining self and you will get everywhere, but show your bolshy side and you will get nowhere"

In the meantime I fully admit to copying my perfect friend's idea on Chanel jackets, she introduced me to White collars and cuffs, and I still love them after all this time.

The bible says when you are hit you should "Turn the other cheek, but probably the other one  has a bruise on it too. This is the time to do just that, and think about important issues at stake not the petty and unnecessary.  Let’s consider the propaganda we are being fed. Let's try and make a change by starting in our own back yard.

JULIE BURCHILL's VIEWS ON MARILYN MONROE IF SHE HAD LIVED

Marilyn Monroe if she had lived

"LIVE YOUR LIFE, BE FREE"

It is interesting to see how worked up people get over the death of an iconic figures who die young, such as Princess Di, Marilyn Monroe, and Michael Jackson. Yesterday I told my story of Rushka, just to be told, not for any particular comments or amusement, just so that people knew somebody who had seen Michael Jackson in the last week, however biased they may be. No more and no less. Just to have knowledge. Anyway from 8am up until 13.30pm, I was either playing tennis or watching it. I
I woke to a string of messages from a friend called "Ron" about Michael Jackson and the abuse by his entourage.

That I should also watch whoever I exchange money with because that is all they want, also that my entourage will tell me what I want as long as I am giving them cash.
He went on to discuss the politics to Israel, the cruelty of the British, their Aristocracy, to the perils of Nazi Germany, and how wonderful and free New York is, free from clubs, our classist society in England, our blood sports and the killing of tiny birds for the pleasure of the rich.
Of course I agree with nearly all the things my friend was pointing out, any intelligent person would. The view of my friend was that the family, the doctors, the plastic surgeons, the stylists, the sycophantic friends had all enabled Michael Jackson to become the person be became. Of course he is right too. It is difficult when you are being paid by anyone to be objective, if you are truthful, you will lose your job.

I certainly found that to be true. I was in the lucky, and in the privileged position to employ a lot of people. The entourage can kill, they would have killed me if I had continued down that path. I am truly grateful to all the people that worked for me and some I am genuinely fond of, but it was bad for me to be so attached, and beholden to others. I don't like the lack of privacy, the spongers, the inefficiency that surrounds people.
I hated people in my bedroom, the constant stream of hairdressers, make up artists, cleaners. I was lucky to have them in my life, they all worked to hard, and were nearly always polite, and kind, in fact too kind, they did cause problems, usually with newcomers, and with each other. The constant internal bickering left me with gallstones, a quick temper, and an acute sensitivity to being conned and fear of being on my own.
I did listen to my cynical friend, but I had made up my mind myself, I like being on my own, facing my own life, with all its ups and downs. I don't want to have to sack anyone, I don't want to argue, and I want to be light and free. If only Michael Jackson had had the courage to go on his own too. He might have been a lot happier and not lonely. The loneliness of being surrounded by people on the payroll is far less attractive than anyone on the outside can imagine.
Yes you can get your pain relief quickly but it can kill you too. If only he had been allowed to run free as a child, put his hands in earth once more, go fishing, cook, shop for food, shop for clothes, instead of allowing himself to become a human mannequin. We all get old, and plastic surgeons nowadays try their best to make us not look like freaks, but if you go all the time you of course become one, we all grow old and die. Vanity is fun but its just fun. In Hollywood when you grow old you don't go out if you've been a star. You hide. So however rich, famous,poor whatever, go out, see what is happening, take the tube, run with your sons, eat at the local fish and chips.
I knew I was becoming a big madam when I went to Northolt where the private jets fly from and I made a scene when the plane didn't take off on time. I had to stop this, and although it would not be easy I had to take risks, I would be happier, and now for the most parts I am.
A pity that Michael Jackson didn't have some ranting friend who was willing to take the risk with him and criticise. I have already let go of my driver,
and I am nearly free of all encumbrance, and I shall sieve my friends soon too, and thank you "Ron" for being so brutally honest, but I might not ever see you ever again.