Refugees

What a fucked up world we live in. Look around and the two main culprits are politics and religion, and when the two are combined, the effects are catastrophic. Syria, like much of the middle east is a mess, the dragon is eating its own tail while millions of innocent people are suffering and being forced to leave their homes in the hope of finding a better life elsewhere. ISIS lunatics, driven by fundamentalist dogma is destabilising as much territory as it can, and other Islamic organisations are creating mayhem among the poor and dispossessed people of many African countries. Add a result we have myriads of homeless people fleeing for their lives; Muslims running from Muslims by and large, seeking sanctuary in the west, that so many Muslims despise.

In truth these are real human beings and of course they should be given a safe haven, few would argue against that, but of course the world of Islam does itself no favours.  To many in the west, the word terrorist is synonymous with Islam and over the last few decades people have begun to fear or at least distrust the Islamic world and its peoples.

The press love to stir people's emotions and recent events and images of drowned children have been tragic. We hear that these poor people are escaping from war zones and yet, it would seem that the latest wave of refugees have been living in Turkey for three years. There is no war in Turkey at the moment and I wonder why suddenly so many have decided to make a very unsafe break from the safe haven that they were living in. Why have some parents put their children at such risk simply to head for the west?

A huge wave of sympathy is engulfing people and public pressure is sure to win out and more and more of these people will be allowed into various European countries. That must happen and Islam will continue to spread throughout the western world. Populations in the west are shrinking and rather than adopting  the cultures of the host countries, many newcomers prefer to maintain their own cultures, languages and religion.  The intention of Islam to take over the world is becoming a reality and that reality is a scary one.

Provocation

I guess that this is a continuation of my last entry, in that it refers to those who seem to take offence at the slightest of provocations.  Each day we read about bloggers who are being persecuted for their beliefs, or should I say lack of beliefs, for it seems that the victims recently are being attacked because they are atheists. I some parts of this ridiculous world, to run against the tide is seen as a criminal act and the Islamic world in particular likes to murder or torture those that do not believe in what they are told to.  To rail against fundamental Islam is a brave act indeed and I respect those who take a stand and try to expose it for what it is.

On a different but related note, I feel very sorry for those thousands of migrants, leaving their homes because conditions for them are so bad and yet they travel huge distances across Europe in order to get to Calais because they think that England is some sort of paradise. Most of these migrants are from Muslim countries so why do they not make their way to Saudi Arabia or Qatar, where they would probably fit in better?  I do find it strange that people who are fundamentally anti the West, will risk life and limb to head in this direction. They are unlikely to get treated kindly by a Tory government, and the native population seems to become less and less tolerant of people that move in and fail to integrate with the culture that they have struggled so hard to become a part of.

Perhaps I should keep quiet on this issue as I really do not know a great deal about the situation as a whole, though I do feel that there should be a freedom to criticise anything and anyone, even Muslims and women.

Being offended

I don't think that I understand the word offensive. I cannot think of ever being offended in the sense that some people seem to enjoy on a regular basis. I know that there are things that I do not like or disapprove of, but to say that I am offended would have little or no meaning.

There are moves afoot to produce an exhibition of cartoons that some sectors of society may find offensive, and there are others who find the idea of offending others as offensive and so the intention to offend in itself has become a contentious issue. Why is the idea of such an exhibition being held up as an affront? Those who many take offence surely are not dragged screaming and kicking to experience such an exhibition and the majority of us probably don't give a damn one way or the other, so by reacting to the intention, the act itself is being given the oxygen of publicity.

I find it very hard to understand why those that follow religion should be upset when others attack or make fun of their beliefs. Are they so deeply insecure in what they have been told that they are angered at any sort of challenge?  I am a great devotee of the process of evolution, it seems so clear that this is the way that life on earth has come to be. It is supported by overwhelming evidence as well as sound and logical argument and yet the doorstep evangelists who tell me that it is nonsense and that the earth was created a few thousand years ago, do not offend me or even anger me. Please all you fundamentalists mock me all you like, print as many anti atheist cartoons as you like and I will laugh along with you.

If your belief is based on anything other than flimsy dogma passed down the generations, then it should be solid enough to stand up to any counteractivity thrown at it.  If the skin is so thin that you have no tolerance for the beliefs and values of others then your belief is fatuous and worth challenging.

Binge culture

We want it all and we want it now.  Matilda is two and came into the house the other day, her first words being -"I want Peppa Pig - Now."  No Hello granddad, just a demand for what she wanted. Instant gratifications seems to be the norm and I feel uncomfortable with that thought.

I am as guilty as anyone else in some respects, especially when it comes to wine and TV series. There was a time when a bottle of wine would las a couple of days and a series on TV would take weeks to watch and savour. Nowadays one bottle inevitably leads to another and it is very easy to watch multiple episodes of a series at one sitting while imbibing the aforementioned.  A bar of chocolate has a tendency to vanish almost instantly and I can order anything that I want on the internet and get it the next day. Waiting always seemed to enhance the pleasure of so many things and yet now we are not prepared to wait for very much at all. If we are kept waiting we moan and complain, convinced that our own time is far more important than anyone else's.  In all we are becoming spoiled and the next generations are simply going along with it. We cannot blame them for our shortcomings.

Sports day

I just got back from Oscar's sports day.  Restricted to the lower school it was a lovely display of children competing in a totally supportive environment and it was so nice that in every event, all that entered finished even when hopelessly beaten.  I believe that all of the children participated and a good time seemed to be had by all. Only one boy who was squeezed out of first place lay on the ground, writhing in imaginary agony, clearly having watched too much football.

It is a nice end to a school year and this was well organised. Everyone got stickers for their performances and all were cheered on for their efforts but parents grandparents and teachers alike. Oscar now moves from reception into year one and has been separated from many of his immediate friends; time will tell the effects of that move, though his teacher maintains that he has been placed with children that he works best with and that has to be a good thing.

When I was at school, sports day was generally held to be a good day. We could enter for any event that we chose and each event had a standard time or distance that we aimed to reach or better. Should you reach that standard you were awarded a house point and thus it didn't matter too much who won or lost. There were certificates for first three places but reaching the standard was the most important thing.  House points were awarded for all sorts of things during the course of the year, all sporting events counted towards the house, as did debating society, drama groups and public speaking, and at the end of the year a shield was awarded to the house that had accumulated most points during the year. All pretty meaningless in the long run but it did encourage a team ethos and gave the feeling that you could contribute something.

Many schools abandoned the house system along with most things competitive on the grounds that losing is a negative experience.  It can be, Oscar hates losing, but we cannot always be winners and learning that can only be achieved by losing. Parents and schools today seem to reward every form of behaviour and encourage kids towards mediocrity. Exams can be taken over and over again in order to achieve a grade that is acceptable and that in itself makes many exam qualifications pretty meaningless. Some grow up thinking that they are wonderful and that the world is there for the taking. They find that life is not like that and that there is competition for everything in the real world and those that can compete are the ones most likely to succeed.

Participation in sports day is important and learning to lose gracefully is also a life skill. On the other hand it is also important to try hard to succeed and to aim for a high standard in all we do even if we cannot always be number one.

The world is full of ass holes

At the front of the house, stuck away in a corner next to the garage, there is a water butt. The plastic lid was subject to the wind removing it and so I placed a couple of bricks on top to keep it in place. This morning I found the lid and the bricks missing, There was no wind last night and besides, it would be some breeze to lift two housebricks.  Someone stole the plastic lid of my water butt, probably the same person who stole the solar light that illuminated the from steps a while ago.

I can see that a passing drunk might engage in mindless vandalism but to steal two bricks and a plastic lid seems very strange to say the very least. Sometimes I despair of the human race and what it is changing into.

So fortunately I had a spare lid lying around - I don't throw much away, and that fitted perfectly. Sadly I felt the need to screw it in place, thus making it much harder to remove, though I suppose someone will tear it off if they feel the need. I never thought the day would come when I felt the need to protect a water butt.

I know that there are plenty of nice people around but it seems that they are in danger of becoming a minority and so my tendency to avoid people is encouraged once again.

There was a wonderful episode of Hancock's Half hour, when Hancock, tired of society in general becomes a hermit. I think it was called The wild man of the Woods.  Driven to desperate measures by the people that he had dealings with, he abandons society altogether and moves into the wilds of East Cheam.

His peace and quiet is short lived as others see that way of living as being desirable and soon the woods are filled with hermits and before long they have shops and a cinema set up. It seems that it is impossible to get off the bus and we are all being dragged along on the same journey.

My own need to be with people outside my small circle of friends and family, is dwindling as time passes, and although I would not wish to live alone, I wish to steer clear of something that I cannot change.

Star Wars

The latest obsession seems to be Star Wars. Not me I hasten to add, but Oscar, who, at the age of five seems to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things to do with five of the six movies. I am holding back on the Revenge of the Sith as it is rated as a 12 and I have to make some attempt to be a responsible grandparent.  We have watched all of the others together and discussed what he sees as issues at great length over and over again. For someone who talks all the way through the films he seems to be very aware of what goes on and knows all of the main characters including Darth Maul's brother who I didn't even know existed.  He clearly talks a lot about it with his school friends and of course he believes everything that they tell him.  I have tried hard to convince him that there is no Star Wars Ten and that even Star Wars Seven has yet to be released, but he insisted that his mates know the real truth.

Kids have a good  idea of the differences between good and evil, though Oscar seems to distinguish these traits through the colours of the light sabres. Even a broken stick in his imagination becomes a light sabre in his fertile imagination and he will re-enact fights over and over again, mostly choosing the character who wins, whether it be a goodie or a baddie.  It seems that the fighting is the best part for him and the space ships, battle stars and relationships other than enemies, are trivial in comparison.

Of course his sister, who is two, gets sucked in to his fantasy world and goes along with him as well as she is able, even though she has not seen any of the movies.  This is ok as far as it goes but alarmingly the other day she said to her mother - "Mummy, I choose the dark side."  I am now in trouble.

A sense of humour

At the weekend I went to the Hexagon theatre to see a performance by a stand up comedian. This was a first for me and I admit that I enjoyed his show enormously. Milton Jones manages to entertain his audience without resorting to profanities and seemingly avoided being offensive to anyone in particular. Having said that I am sure the there would be people who would have found something offensive in his jokes but it is unlikely that they would have been there in the first place. Most of us will avoid deliberately attending things that we know may be offensive and yet there are those who seek out such experiences and gain great pleasure from complaining.

Comedy is about underlining the ridiculous and of course most things that we take seriously can be seen as ridiculous  when viewed from a different perspective. We all do things that seem ridiculous to others and have all been laughed at. Mostly we brush it off but for some, being laughed at can be a torture, especially when young.

There was a time when comedians could joke about anything and offend anyone and everyone with relative impunity, but those days are long since gone.   Professor Tim Hunt, recently made some pretty poor jokes about women scientists at a convention. They were not funny or even accurate depictions of women but he has paid a huge penalty for his remarks and was forced into resigning from his job.  A career wasted and a life changed dramatically for a few misguided words that were not particularly offensive.

To lampoon Islam in any way shape or form is even more hazardous than the criticism of women. So far no-one. as far as I know has been murdered for mocking women, and yet public challenges to Islam are seen as capital offences and the world seems to have taken this on board and no-one will dare to stand up and highlight the ludicrousness of a cult that is above criticism for fear of being attacked physically.

Marge Simpson had a way with words; she loved Canada because it was "So Bland".  We are in danger of going that way. Blandness offends no-one, it challenges no-one and has nothing much to say. Things unchallenged will continue as they are, which though comfortable for some is not necessarily a good thing.  The world is in danger of levelling out and I think that in itself is pretty dull. No-one should be above criticism, even women and Muslims.

Crop failure

There is quite a lot of the Christian philosophy that I do not disagree with.  One of the fundamental tenets of most religions seems to to be about loving one's neighbour and being tolerant  of other ways of thinking.

History tells a different story however.  Wherever a state is taken over by a religion, the basic message of that religion seems to be overlooked and the reality is that it is all about power and the manipulation of people to do the will of the rich or the powerful.

People, and I include myself in this, complain that the government serves the rich at the expense of the poor. It is a truism that does not alter much whichever political party happens to be elected. Wealth corrupts, and the more we have, the more we want; there never seems to be enough and modern life seems only concerned with the accumulation of things. We are bombarded with commercials that successfully convince us that we do not have enough and so we respond by spending our money on things that we don't really need or even want.

The majority of the populace do not really give a damn about the poor and the incapable unless they happen to fall into their ranks, and so we elect a government that  appeals to the greedy and acquisitive side of human nature that seems to predominate.   There are some who care, but the numbers of poor people will always outrun the capacity of the carers to do anything for them. It is a societal issue and yet there are ways of reducing poverty on a global scale.

Many of the poorest nations are dominated by Roman Catholicism, and as such are unable to exercise free will when it comes to contraception.  So they are overpopulated and become dependent on foreign aid. Thus more people survive and breed and so on. Most poverty is due to overpopulation and this is something that can be controlled.

The churches all seem to pray for an end to poverty and yet in reality, they depend on it for their survival. The Churches are major landowners and are fabulously wealthy, and yet like the rest of us, are not prepared to shed that wealth, choosing instead to sing along with the capitalist songs and increase their wealth whilst bleating their platitudes from the pulpits. If their Jesus ever existed, which is debatable, he would be ashamed of what has sprung from the seeds that he sowed.

The Bridge

I have just finished, well not literally this minute, the Swedish/Danish crime thriller The Bridge. I confess that I have actually seen it before but it is so compelling and the visuals so good. Of course it is subtitled but that doesn't matter. It is a pretty amazing piece of TV and Sofia Helin is just gorgeous.

What prompted me to write about this, is that whilst browsing through Netflix for something to watch, I came across a second series and watched that in a couple of sittings. It was only when I had seen the second series that I realised that I couldn't remember the plot of series one and so, i watched series one again. Now i can't remember too much about series two so should I watch it again? Maybe not as by the time I see the end of it I will have forgotten series one again and so on - groundhog day.

I am the same with books. I can read and enjoy a book and only days later I forget what it was about and sometimes forget whether I have read something or not. Maybe I am just lazy but my memory has never been wonderful and in recent years it is getting worse. I find that writing this blog gets more difficult as I have difficulty remembering what I have already rambled on about.

I do remember some things well. Long term memory is pretty much intact though always there is case for suspecting the accuracy of this memories. We do tend to be pretty selective in some respects and often blank out things that we would rather not recall.

Anyway Sofia Helin, mmmmm, plays a detective with some form of autism. She finds it very hard to relate to others but has a tenacity and single minded approach that makes her a good detective. Her performance is wonderful and so believable as she tries hard to find her place in society. The story line is excellent and like most scandinavian tv, beautifully filmed and edited.

I must watch groundhog day again one of these days.

Book club

Not long ago I joined a book club. It was an attempt on my part to become more sociable,  a skill that seems to be slipping away from me as the years go by.  I find conversation more and more difficult, probably because I have less and less to say.

I missed the first meeting for some reason, maybe because I hadn't read the book, though it seems that doesn't bother some people, who turned up anyway. So anyway having flunked the first meeting, I gritted my teeth and made the effort to go to the next one. I had no idea what to expect, and frankly, my first thought went along the lines of what am I doing here. I felt like I was at the dentists with a room full of strangers waiting for something to happen. There are thirteen of us, enough for a coven, and the first meeting did feel very odd. The chosen book for that one was We are all beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, not something that I would have chosen to read, but as it  happens I did read it and found it reasonably interesting. The meeting though had a weird formality to it, each person in turn giving their own particular opinion and once we had all had a say, that was it, meeting over and the next book chosen.

The next book was The Golden Gate by Vikram Seth. Again a book that I may never have picked up as it is written in verse. However I did read it and found it strangely compelling. So I turned up to the next meeting. Opinions divided between those who loved it and those that didn't get past the first page or two. I tried to broaden the discussion and did have a degree of success though I still know almost nothing of the other members of the group and would be hard pressed to recognise any of them in a crowd. Most of them have been together as a group for quite some time and i am still a newcomer and a old fart at that.

I am not sure that it is helping me to enhance sociability, there is a get together dinner taking place next month and I cannot make that which is a pity but I probably won't be the only one. I will stick with it for a while anyway and if nothing else it gives me a new range of reading material.

The current book is To Kill a Mockingbird and it takes me back to my schooldays and O level English. I am sure that there will be plenty of issues raised in the next discussion - maybe we should take along some old O level papers and see how we do.

Post 678

I didn't realise how many posts I had created until today; 677 pages of randomness with no sense of coherence or even much sense. However it must be serving a purpose of some kind as i am still doing it. I rarely look back at what I have already said and so it is quite likely that I have repeated myself, or have covered the same issues over and over again.  I haven't had an anti religious rant for a while, so maybe I have said all that I need to on that particular issue.

I went to a concert the other night. Rochester is not far away and the sixteen were appearing there in a programme of renaissance Spanish music. Under Sir Harry Christophers, the sixteen are a remarkable  group of performers and the acoustics of the cathedral accentuated the sheer beauty of the music and of the human voice.

The evening reminded me that there are two groups of humans, those that create and those that do not. I know - an arbitrary distinction but never the less a very real one. I admire creators, and I know that I am not one of them. The real creators are those with visions that enable the evolution of the human race, whilst the vast majority of us are dragged along in their wake. The composers, the artists, the scientists, the architects and the engineers are those that make the world a much better place, while the rest of us do little more than produce problems for them to solve.

Fundamentally most of us are pretty useless. We are probably more helpless than our cave dwelling ancestors. I have never produced fire without matches or a lighter, and although I am quite practical, I  could not make the tools that I need to make anything.  Most people have never grown their own food, caught their own fish or hunted an animal. Even presented with an whole animal, most of us would have no idea how to prepare for eating.

Stranded in the wilderness, most of us would not survive. Even finding water fit to drink would be an issue and as for clothing ourselves, well no chance.  As a species we are so reliant upon those that can do things that we cannot and upon a technology that is way beyond our comprehension, and yet the things that are valued pay little homage to what is really important. As a species we have been sucked into the consumerist pursuit of money and it is those that manipulate money that seem to be valued. Bankers and other money launderers create nothing and yet they are sitting in the control seat, determining the direction and speed of our journey into oblivion.

Education is a political football that  has been manipulated and tinkered with for dogmatic ends and any real creativity in schools is being stifled before it has a chance to grow. The arts are being attacked by a government that cannot reason beyond the end of the cheque book, whilst our universities are just another tool of the marketplace.

Those that can create things that are worthwhile are becoming less and less abundant as the Conservative clone army grows and grows.  Already things are getting very bland in so many areas. Modern music is pretty much lacking originality, enabling ancient bands to keep touring, simply because what they have has not been replaced by something better.

The sixteen, and other highly skilled groups of musicians seem to attract an audience with a very narrow age range. I guess it was always thus, but what future is there for quality?

Beating my wife

I love scrabble. Well at least I did until recently. There is a scrabble app on Facebook that has enable me to play with a lot of people, many of whom I have never met. It is a pretty good app in many ways but there are some differences between it and the board game. To begin with it is impossible to cheat, or to accidentally knock the board when you are losing, scattering all the tiles on the floor.  It is also easier in some ways as you have the facility to try out words before you play them and so incorrect words cannot be challenged. As a result, some pretty odd words frequently find themselves onto the board, many of which have little or no everyday use. Of course the permitted word list grows as the language changes, and many new words are added each year - it is quite hard to keep up.

One of the secrets of success is knowing all the two letter combinations that enable the playing of overlapping words and increase your chances of fitting that seven letter word into place. Words like AA, OE, BO, QI, ZO and so on are all valid and the latter two are frequently used.

We used to play with the local vicar and his wife many years ago and adjusted the rules so that bonuses were added for any dirty word. Another variation was that you could play any word you wanted as long as you could come up with a definition that made any sense; you cannot play these fun variations online.

Anyway, it seems that the online version is having issues and I can no longer play on my computer. This is frustrating as I have many games on the go and I seem to be on a good run at the moment. I can get into the game on my iPad but somehow it just isn't the same. We seem to have lost the proper game with the plastic tiles and the ancient board and so we are limited to onscreen versions. This is just as well as online I seem to be able to beat my wife.

Lost and found

I was on the bus the other day, taking my granddaughter into town for lunch. Bus drivers rarely wait for people to sit down, and so I held onto her tightly, not wanter her traumatised by the experience. We found a seat and she loved the journey, probably on the basis that she was not strapped into her seat but able to bounce on granddad.  All went well and we headed int a pub garden ready to order lunch when I discovered that I was without wallet.  Clearly it had fallen out of my pocket whilst attending to Matilda on the bus.

The ramifications of a lost wallet are far reaching and apart for the cash that it contained, there were all of my bank cards, my diving license and other personal items that are hard or expensive to replace.  The first step was of course to get home and cancel all of the bank cards which is not as easy as it sounds, but a necessary step as any dishonest person could easily use credit cards to make online purchases. So that done, I was left with a sick feeling that lasted the rest of the day. I called the bus company and was told to phone back after six, which I did and was told that nothing had been handed in and that I should call back in the morning.

I called back in the morning and was told that a cleaner had handed it in, which was an unexpected and pleasant start to the day. They did say that there was no money in it, which was not surprising but at least my driving license etc would be back. So off we went to the bus depot and claimed my wallet. Having a bus pass in there meant that my photo was an easy identification and I was delighted to get it back. Looking inside everything was there, including the cash which I keep in a not very obvious pocket.

The sound of music

Musical taste is a very personal thing and what sounds wonderful to one person can be quite terrible to another.  I listened to Bradley Wiggins on Desert Island Discs this morning, and although he was mildly interesting, it was clear that his taste in music had almost no overlap with mine. For those who are not familiar with this radio 4 programme, guests are interviewed and asked to select eight discs that they would want to take to a desert Island.  Though I will never be a guest on the programme, I have tried this exercise many times and probably come up with a different list each time.

Some people would like to see classical music forced upon children from a very early age, an interesting notion in theory, but as the vast majority of adults seem to have no interest in classical music, I don't see that it would work in practice.  Music is something that comes to us via our day to day lives and so our tastes grow from our own experiences. For many children today, their musical experiences are more likely to come from video games and Youtube. They do have access to a wealth of material but probably much of what is available will go unexplored.

As I write I am listening to Mahler; something that I never used to enjoy. I had a friend at college who listened to very little else and at the time I could not appreciate what he was obviously enjoying. Over the years I have persevered and now his music is by and large a delight. So yes, tastes can change, even at my advanced age I can still adapt and adjust to new things, though I must say that Rap and Hip Hop leave me cold and uninspired.

There are moves to include the Beatles into the curriculum, GCSE music is to undergo changes in some sort of effort to broaden the experience of our children, but I suspect that they will still manage to find their own likes and dislikes, fashion and peer pressure count for a lot, and then of course there is Simon Cowell and his ilk who and the main drivers of popular music today.

I like to think that my own tastes ate eclectic, but of course they will be very different from those of anyone who chances to read this. On the off chance that one day a grandchild may possibly stumble upon this, then I will include my current eight choices.

1. The Vespers of 1610 by Monteverdi.
2. The Division Bell by Pink Floyd.
3. The Dream of Gerontius by Sir Edward Elgar.
4. Tuesday Afternoon by The Moody Blues
5. Missa Page Lingua by Josquin Des Pres
6. Budapest by Jethro Tull.
7. Missa Papae Marcelli by Palestrina.
8. Dantes Prayer by Loreena McKennit

Where do we go from here?

The immediate outrage and anger seems to have passed if the social media are anything to go by,  and the cabinet reshuffle has been done. More of the same seems to be the order of the day and so we brace ourselves for what is to come. One thing is clear and that is that we have not been told the worst of what they have to inflict upon us. In the last five years most damage was done to those who could least afford it whilst the wealthy gained hugely and offshore bank accounts filled with their ill gotten gains. While this redistribution of funds was going on, the national debt increased as the government continued to borrow; ensuring that their supporters could feather their nests.

Protests over the weekend led to a number of arrests, the violence being blamed on left wing activists, but possibly instigated by disgruntled UKIP supporters. The events were scarcely reported, after all the press tell us what the tory masters want us to hear.

There is a public appeal for a change in the electoral system but this will fall on deaf ears, why would they want to change a system that favours them after all?

So we will grin and bear it, we will tolerate their repressive education policies, their unfair approach to the welfare system and their unshrinking support for the wealth takers, and tax evaders that are really bleeding the country dry.  We will tolerate their continued attempts to fool us into thinking that we are all in this together and lives will go on.

The smug and deplorable tories that threatened to leave the country in the event of a Labour victory will be unconscious of the fact that for most people such a thing would be unthinkable if not impossible, and no doubt a new swathe of MPs will be looking to buy second homes in the capital, uncaring of the fact that millions of people are unable to find the wherewithal to find decent accommodation that they can afford.

Nothing is going to change for the better for most people, but we will be told that everything is ok so that is fine.

A sad day

The British electorate has had its say and the nasty party looks like being in charge for the next five years. Of course they gained around 35% of the vote which suggests that 65% of those that voted do not want them to be there and then there are the others who didn't or couldn't vote. We will have a government that represents the views of a small minority of the population and the interests of even fewer.

Society is sick and getting sicker. It was Thatcher that sowed the seeds of its destruction and her influence has been profound and long lasting. People no longer care about others; self interest is all that matters and the accumulation of wealth seems to be the sole motivation of so many.

Millions of young people cannot afford decent homes while landlords are allowed to charge exorbitant rents for squalid and unacceptable accommodation. This problem is particularly acute in London, and Boris Johnson opposes any move to regulate private rents, suggesting that any move to do so would destroy the city.

Young people have no representation at all, the Tory party being driven by the blue rinse brigade and the media that are in their pockets. Is it any wonder that many people feel utterly disillusioned by this outdated and unfair electoral system.

The Liberal Part has vanished in a puff of apathy, largely due to Clegg aligning them with the tories and renaming on his pre election promises of 2010, so now we have an opposition that has neither Balls nor cohesion. Fortunately UKIP has not taken more seats but their support has grown; clearly the tories are not nasty enough for a large number of voters.

So what now? The ballot box is not giving the population what they need. Something like 70% of the population feel unrepresented and with further attacks on the have nots, the tories are fermenting an underclass of dissidents that they will need to control. I fear for the future.

Les Revenants

It has been a while since I put finger to keyboard. Well actually that is a lie, I put fingers to keyboard quite a lot most days of the week, so what I meant was all about context.  Writing this blog is a little like shouting into the wind; it can be cathartic but in the end, no-one pays attention and so it is easy to give up.
We are of course heading towards a general election and all the horses are lined up, displaying their promises and everyone knows that all is just a façade and that very little will change once all the hoo ha is over and done with.   The public has little by way of choice, the nasty party has been in charge for five years and has presided over a relentless attack on this who can least defend themselves, whilst allowing their financial backers to fill their bank accounts. Despite efforts by their media friends, many people now see this as a bad thing and are edging away from the Tories but it is a sign of the times that they are drifting even further to the right and are backing the even nastier  UKIP.
UKIP is fundamentally an evolved BNP which in turn evolved from the skinhead movement if the seventies and eighties, and yet they are becoming a significant player in this most disturbing lead up to the May election.
The Liberal Democrats have shown their true colours or absence of colours and might well be heading for deserved extinction. We can only hope that will be the case.
Labour support is gaining a little ground but they are dependent on the support of other minor parties, who, if Labour should defeat Cameron and his old Etonians, will hold the balance of power. It is a possibility that our next government will be steered from the back seat by the militant Scots or Irish.
The Greens have no real credibility, and like most small parties will promise everything, knowing that they will not have to deliver, and they like all of the other unelectables simply divide the votes and make it more likely that there will be no majority government.
So who do we vote for?  I really do not have a clue and yet I will exercise my democratic right, if I remember to, and put my cross somewhere. I live in an area where a goat in a blue ribbon would be elected and so my vote will be as meaningless as so many millions will be. People like Russell Brand urge others not to vote, but where does that leave us?  The extremists will always vote and but opting out we simply and passively let them have their way.
The system as it stands is not working and it has to be time for some real and radical changes in the way that we elect a government. Party politics is so divisive and maybe a thing of the past. Let us dispense with it and elect independent candidates on the basis of their abilities rather than their political colours.

Reasons to hate December

I am definitely not a fan of this time of the year and have been trying to rationalise my antipathy. It hasn't been difficult, but rather than ranting I thought I'd simply list some of the immediate and obvious things that came to mind, in no particular order.

1. Dead leaves. They are everywhere and form a slippery mush all over the pavements. I sweep them up and minutes later the little buggers are back. Trees should be made to shed them all at once so we can get it all over and done with.

2. Stupid decorations.  It seems that everyone has watched the National Lampoons Family Christmas, and missed the irony.  Just think how much energy could be saved if there was a blanket ban on this nonsense. Flashing multicoloured LEDs have no meaning whatsoever and only serve to remind us that it is dark.

3. Dark days and darker nights.

4. Acquisitiveness gone crazy. The shops fill with garbage that people feel obliged to buy in order to make it Christmas.  It is just one day for goodness sake, and the majority of the population have no belief in the myth that inspired it, choosing instead to propagate the alternative fat man myth.

5. Christmas hypocrisy.  The number of people that go to church on christmas eve - just because it is traditional. Genital mutilation is traditional in some countries, that doesn't make it right.

6. Pantomimes.  These are intrinsically bad; actors that died years ago are dragged out to perform badly written shows in front of audiences that are brought up on X factor, Strictly come dancing and other bad shows, in the hope of rekindling careers that never shone in the first place.

7. Politicians. Seeing their own careers coming to an end, politicians of all parties attempt to rally some sort of misplaced christmas spirit.

8. Drunks.  Office parties abound and the pavements become cluttered with vomit and bottles as well as those incapable of walking. Getting drunk has become a lifestyle rather than an accident of over exuberance.

9. The weather.  It is cold and wet and bloody miserable, unless it snows, then of course everything comes to a grinding halt and it is just cold and miserable.

10. The year ends. This is seen as something to celebrate, and for some reason people think that the new year will be different from this one, and in a good way. They thought the same thing last year.

I take this opportunity to wish my reader a happy christmas and a prosperous new year  in the full knowledge that whatever I say cannot possibly make one iota of difference. (What is an iota anyway?)

Hell revisited

For some people, Hell or Hades is a real place, it lies beneath out feet and is a place where unbelievers or wrongdoers are sent to face an eternity of torture and damnation. Of course those same people would claim to be tolerant and filled with forgiveness and smugly confident that it is a place only for others.

Hell is an invention, a conception so diabolically evil, (no pun intended), that it could only have been devised by minds fundamentally warped and desperate to bring others into line and to accept their ways of thinking. The same minds conceived heaven; a place where the simpering goody goodies can kowtow to their master and spend eternity being humble and grateful that they are not in hell. On the surface of things it sounds better than the alternative but eternity is a bloody long time.

In reality, Hell is with us all of the time and it can take many forms. For Jean Paul Sartre, hell was other people, and by and large he got it right. There are so many situations where the presence of other people is a punishment. A crowded bus of train, finds you in close contact with strangers, all of whom would rather be somewhere else than have their own space invaded by all sorts. Being surrounded by the great unwashed, inhaling their emissions and sharing all their bugs is bad enough, but having to interact with some of them can be a torture in itself.

For me, glimpses of hell can be found in reality TV.  Any programme devised to make the masses believe that they matter should be declared as immoral and illegal, and yet these outpourings of mediocrity are sucked up each week by millions, enabling their organisers to become extremely wealthy.

Hell can be the agonies of depression, it can be a raging toothache or a terminal disease. It can be a tragedy or a break up of a relationship, it can be war or starvation or even a really bad sunburn, and sometimes it can be a 24 hour exposure to spiderman. It can be whatever you choose it to be, but please don't try to tell me that it is a place that I will be going just because I do not believe in fairy tales.