The Next Big Thing

1st April huh? And much of the stuff we’ve woken up to today is beyond a joke. As the fabric of this septic isle goes to further rack and ruin in the misguided hijacking of the term "efficiency" – all that remains to be considered is really, how far can too far go.

 

Austerity is here to stay. Or so it seems. Not as catchy as “rock’n’roll” is it? I’m pretty sure that any ditty about it won’t warrant a gazillion hits on youtube. So yeah, here we are. A bunch of folks experienced a White Easter. That’s not some kind of racial stereotyping, merely a statement of fact. Temperatures are below seasonal average but the people are hot under the collar. Blighty – and all of the rest of Europe has been sold down the river while the financially rich get richer and the rest of us get right royally humped. As perceived efficiencies is met – actual services disappear. The Police and Fire Departments have become single forces as of today, the wee man only knows what kind of mess will ensue through that premise.

Perhaps they’ll be controlled via scripts from offshore call centres? Not nearly as ludicrous a possibility as it seems in the pursuit of the almighty buck. The alleged “government” can collectively go and take a something that rhymes with that at themselves. Is there no end to the humiliation? Of course, another war or some big catastrophe might really play into their hands. We’re all potential cannon fodder while divide and conquer as a concept is rolled out across the western world. Barry Maguire’s estate may be up for a dollar or three if he lands the theme song. It’s an ill wind... as you know.

I went to see a film called The Happy Lands yesterday. It’s about the 1926 Miners Strike that ran for some months beyond the General Strike and how it affected an area of Fife in particular. It was subtitled because some of that dialect has been found to be a tad difficult to “unnerstaun’” even in the central belt. But the message is that nothing much has changed. The wearing down process may have morphed and multiplied but the essence is the same. I almost never went. It was verging too much on the dreaded costume drama for me but it really works. It’s part documentary – mostly dramatisation – and indeed the localisation was of particular interest. Recent events here have placed emphasis on the concept of family. And how it is far more important than money or trappings.

As families and communities fracture because of greed and kow-towing, it seems to me that we’re all in danger of going under in the pursuit of some creep and his or its bottom line.  Often dressed up as progress, change for change’s sake is seldom improvement. It’s a power trip. Evangelisation takes on many forms and I’m not impressed with bullies, blowhards or combinations thereof. It’s all seemingly out of control. Way so.

Anyway, enough of my blather, this thing is 36 years old today and I mean to attempt and post something every day until I head for Stockholm at the end of the month.

 

Let’s see what happens to this supposed “college try”.