Page One in the new Harry Potter book... obvious Bush reference....

[Darkhawk32]

"It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without leaving the slightest trace of meaning behind. He was waiting for a call from the President of a far distant country, and between wondering when the WRETCHED man would telephone, and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a very long, tiring, and difficult week, there was not much space in his head for anything else."


I laughed hard when I read that. Wretched man indeed!

[tmooses]

1. Expect a boycott from the religious right.

[bunny planet]

6. Please, they've already advocated burning the Harry Potter books.

They are the word of the devil after all.:evilgrin:

[xxqqqzme]

2. fine description

altho I'd add 'little' after wretched.

[RagAss]

4. Ah yes....

It is an ample explanation of the Pope's recent diatribes....

[clydefrand]

3. Love it. Makes me want to go out and buy all of those books

and read them. I've never read one and have only seen one movie, which I enjoyed. I've been hearing all the hype about Rowling and these books and am thinking seriously of buying them. Do you think I can find them in used paperback stores?

[Darkhawk32]

5. I'm sure you can pick them up somewhere online for dirt cheap... n/t

[Coventina]

7. I'm sure you can. I've picked up the first three all pretty cheap.

Just FYI:

If you are not familiar with the books, keep in mind that each one builds on the previous. The first one may seem trivial or frivolous or whatever. But the books mature as Harry does. He's only 11 in the first one. The story arc REALLY takes off in book 3. So don't be discouraged from reading them if the first one doesn't really "grab" you.

[longship]

11. Actually, you won't regret that.

There are reasons why the books are so popular.

My cousin (80+ years old) turned me on to them by buying me the first book as a birthday present a few years ago. I've been hooked since. Rowling's universe is ever so tightly woven. Each novel breaks new ground in the further fleshing out of that universe. Character development is super. Try out the first one and you'll see for yourself. I think you'll have a very nice summer, because you'll have to read them all, then.

[MountainLaurel]

8. Actually

The closest comparison is probably Churchill or Roosevelt. There's a great deal of thought that the HP books are based on 1930s Germany, as Hitler came to power with the silent support of the Western powers. Fudge here is no doubt waiting for the muggle British PM to call, since the violence in the magical world has crossed over into the muggle realm.

[Darkhawk32]

9. That's true, but I don't think "wretched man" refers to FDR, do you???

And with the timing of this book's publishing....

[MountainLaurel]

14. As it turns out

Fudge is apparently patterned on Neville Chamberlain, who had a very antagonistic relationship with Churchill, who is more like Dumbledore -- trying to warn the world of dangers to come.

Here's the link to the whole article:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006971

[Book Lover]

10. Invisotext correction

The PM is waiting for Fudge to "call" using the Floo Network

I think the term "wretched" is more to outline the PM's aggrivation at his stressful week than to intimate anything about the currect pResident.

[donheld]

12. Praise be to J K Rawlings

Now we know what side she's on.

[Lisa]

13. I burst out laughing when I read that ...

It's not too hard to figure out which country the aforementioned leader must be from.

1) Several time zones away. (So it's not the President of France, Russia, etc.)

2) Not from Australia, New Zealand, or Japan. (They have Prime Ministers.)

3) There's an international pecking order -- my guess is that the government leader of the UK would call first, and not wait for the president of Brazil, say, to phone at any old time of the day or night. Even if it's a Commonwealth matter, and the British PM was asked to help by the president of Zimbabwe or Botswana -- it would have to be a big issue for him to be on call that late.

4) So it's probably someone from the G8 -- not just that, but someone who's powerful enough to make the British PM wait around. An earlier poster mentioned that the PM is likely upset about previous events that week, and taking it out on the unnamed President. But upon re-reading that section, it seems to me that at least part of that irritation is due to the fact that the "wretched man" is making the PM stay up past his bedtime, rather than having the consideration to call during UK business hours. It's obviously not an ultra-urgent issue or he would have called sooner. So the PM has to be on standby for something which he knows isn't of the utmost importance -- because it's convenient for the other guy. As the leader of the British government, that's got to rankle a bit.

Only one possible suspect, when one considers the geographical and political factors noted above. Midnight in London would correspond to after supper in Washington DC (or a bit earlier in Crawford)? For some time now, British writers have pointed out that the US often views Britain as secondary in geopolitics, and either forgetting to share information or deciding that they don't need to know (see LeCarre's Smiley novels).

I have to add that, regarding the current situation, it would be just like Bush to do that (he wouldn't need wizard interference to make him conveniently "forget" to call poor ol' Tony).

If my memory is correct (don't have a Pensieve around to check!), the White House-approved movie "DC 9/11" featured Bush talking to Blair at around 1 AM, British time.


p.s.

There are also some hints later on in the book, that Harry (and the author) are perturbed by the PR-conscious response of the new Minister of Magic to the "war" with Voldemort -- and in particular, how they're handling the arrests.

She does take a swipe at the "ignorance is bliss" approach of the previous Minister, so it's not as if she's being totally uncritical of the government's handling of security threats in previous years.