Today is National Poetry Day, for which the theme is Dreams. You can read my previous NPD posts for 2004, 2005 and 2006.

With election preparations in full swing, I’ve not had much time to blog and have a growing backlog of posts to write (a backblog?). I’ve also only had a few minutes to spare to write my annual piece de resistance, which, as today is also International Bloggers’ Day for Burma, is on that subject – and quite short.

How do you solve a problem like Myanmar?

How can the West get real traction
Against a long-lived autocracy?
Diplomacy or military action?
Sanctions: buy none, get one free?

Should the UN be interventionist,
Demand the Junta cease and desist?
Will Russia’s and China’s reticence see
The prolonged house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi?

Whatever action we could be taking
Let’s at least be in favour of making
The UK Government’s commitment firmer
To democratic rule in a new, free Burma

Jonathan at Liberal England has been blogging valiantly throughout the summer about the BBC’s Summer of British Film season. This week the genre is horror films, kicked off at the weekend with an excellent documentary on BBC Two. In addition to the films mentioned in Jonathan’s post, selected cinemas put on limited showing of what is arguably the best British horror film of them all: The Wicker Man. So Mr Nimbos and I pottered along to the Trocadero last night to watch it.

A tale of pagan worship, sexual repression and a missing child, it’s a dark film, but not without its share of light touches: Edward Woodward’s Sergeant Howie, dumfounded as the denizens of the Green Man Inn spontaneously sing about the buxom daughter of the landlord; Christopher Lee in a dress; a schoolteacher explaining the symbolism of the maypole. Woodward’s portrayal of the pious Howie faced with temptation and debauchery is a masterpiece – although that doesn’t stop Lee stealing scenes when he appears. There is satire of religion generally and of Christianity in particular, as Howie is challenged to explain why his faith is more well-founded than the islanders’. The climax, the swaying and contrapuntal song counterpointing the shocking action, is both bleak and unpleasantly upbeat, leaving entirely unresolved the question of whether the islanders’ beliefs turn out to be correct – a definitively British finale.

For fans of The League of Gentlemen (the TV series, not the film), there are some very recognisable moments. Oh, and Britt Ekland prances around naked. Did I forget to mention that?

On Wednesday on was a panellist on Up Front, internet TV station 18 Doughty Street’s daily half-hour news discussion show. It was my first time on the programme – having previously been on other Doughty Street shows – and my first time on with Conservative presenter Donal Blaney.

You can watch it in the 18DS archive here.

Last week saw the untimely deaths from cancer of two men who contributed significantly to British life, albeit in completely different ways.

Tim Garden – Air Marshal Lord Garden – was the Liberal Democrats’ defence spokesperson in the House of Lords, and his distinguished service in the RAF and at the Ministry of Defence gave real credibility to the party on defence issues. In 2004, the same year he became a life peer, Tim contributed his knowledge to the BBC series Crisis Command, acting as one of the contestants’ expert advisers. I met him once, briefly, in a packed lift at party conference in Harrogate. Sadly, I didn’t engage him in deep conversation about the threat of terrorism in the modern world or post-Cold War international relations; rather, we shared a joke about the maximum number of people the lift claimed to be able to carry.

Tim’s contributions as a member of the House of Lords were invaluable, both to the party and to the country, and he will be greatly missed. Fellow LibDem blogger Jonathan Fryer has written Tim’s obituary for The Guardian, and there are tributes in the comments on Lib Dem Voice.

Tony Wilson, the entrepreneur, TV and radio presenter, Ha&ccdeil;ienda manager, founder of Factory Records and journalist labelled Mr Manchester, died last Friday. Immortalised by Steve Coogan in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, Wilson was a genuine character whose promotion of bands – and of Manchester itself – contributed to the success (give or take some dubious business decisions) of acts like Joy Division and the Happy Mondays. His most significant cultural impact may have been in the late 80s and early 90s, but he continued to pop up on radio, film and television and his death is a sad loss.

There is an obituary on the BBC website. YouTube has various clips (including Tony Wilson Meets God from 24HPP). Here’s a section from the 2002 Granada Documentary That Tony Wilson: