Good News, Duncan, and Little Venice.

First of all, we have probably all heard the very good news from Mali, where finally Soumi (Soumaila Cisse, three time Presidential Candidate) has been released from captivity where he has languished since last March, when he was kidnapped by Jihadists in the region of Nianfounke. At the same time Sophie Petronin, a French aid worker kidnapped in Gao in 2016 was also released. This was accomplished by the new interim government, showing some muscle. It did cost them in the region of 100 Jihadi prisoners in the exchange however... these have now been let lose in the North once more, and can be expected to cause further mayhem...

Other good Mali news includes the lifting of sanctions against Mali by the neighbouring ECOWAS countries who have recognized the fact that the Junta leaders have conformed to demands:  there is now a civilian interim  president, Bah Ndaw, while the coup leader Assimi Goita has contented himself with a second position as the vice-president. In addition, the transition will take 18 months rather than the 3 years first proposed.

And moving on to Europe and other matters altogether, I was most intrigued to read in the Guardian yesterday morning that a large treasure of homo-erotic drawings by Duncan Grant have been handed over  to the  Charleston Trust. These drawings were supposedly kept under a bed for decades, out of view because of their 'private nature'. The picture below illustrates one of the drawings shown in the Guardian. There was also another, which involved four men- it was more explicit in that it showed erections.  It was quite a beautiful drawing in its composition, but it was very  difficult and intriguing to try and understand what was going on...

And this morning I read the same story in Svenska Dagbladet, which is my Swedish daily. I giggled a little, and was surprised that they had decided, coyly, to represent the drawings only by  a picture of three pillows! Presumably illustrating the fact that they were supposed to have been hidden under a bed... I mean, when I looked into it I found that even the Daily Mail had been able to show something of the drawings- albeit the top part of the men only...

 Now I decided to check back to what had been in the Guardian yesterday, and found, to my chagrin, that the athletic and intriguing orgy had been removed. So even the Guardian had been the victim of some censorship it appears...

I have always loved Duncan Grant's work  and I am the lucky owner of this  small drawing below. 

And meanwhile autumn is painting its warmth in the brilliance of the trees while the temperature is sinking elsewhere and  blue skies are infrequent...

I keep walking, and walking....