The green revolution in the UK tumbles on with the launch last Friday of Boris Johnson’s bikes all over the capital. It is an exact copy of Montreal and a smaller version of the French Velíb system that is three times as big and has become one of the dominant features in the last couple of years across Paris. Although not quite rivalling L’Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame or the river Seine in iconic status quite yet. However, with the vast expense and drama of installing close to 5,700 bicycles in 350 docking stations across London to make us more green and eco-friendly in our daily commute, some people are campaigning for the money to have been put to effect in other areas.
Around 200 hundred stickers adorned the new bikes on Friday morning complaining that this was just another PR stunt from the Mayor’s office, just as obvious as Boris and his brother Jo out campaigning with their foppish blonde hair together on the streets of Orpington a week or so ago. There are suggestions that this is just another sign that the Con-Lib coalition is more concerned with public relations than they are with the running of the country.
However, having spent a good week researching the new cycle hire scheme, helpfully sponsored by Barclays to a tune of £50m, recouping a third of the cash splashed by Boris and his buddies at TFL, it should work. Increasingly people will stop using black cabs, buses and the tube for small journeys in and around the centre of London and alleviate the pressure on the system that with the ever-expanding population of the capital is bursting at the seams. More and more people are minding the gap than ever before and London needs to adapt to the population swell. Bikes are the way forward. Go Green.
But...
As a nation we are now cycling to work, our rubbish is separated into recyclables and non-recyclables and that little fair-trade sticker is in the corner of many a chocolate bar or box of tea bags, staring at us as consumers, almost giving us a little pat on the back as we fork out over the odds for our household necessities. That blue and green sticker is the equivalent of a tea grower in Assam thanking us for all our hard work.
Yet, how much of that additional cost gets back to the grower or source? After the supermarket takes their cut (which is substantial), packaging , transport, taxation in and out of the UK and finally fluctuating rates in the prices of cocoa and tea, I bet that grower in Assam still doesn’t enjoy much of the profits.
As he works on his fields, toiling away for our common place amenities with large Indian businesses transporting their goods in massive diesel trucks churning out fumes into the atmosphere, I doubt that little sticker is going to make that much of a difference. The USA, China and Russia all with geographical areas that eclipse our tiny island must laugh at the UK’s overwhelming misconception and delusion at our own importance on the world stage.
Boris – Londoners taking to bikes on their commutes into town everyday is a good thing don’t get me wrong but for us all to genuinely believe that as a city we are making a significant dent in the war against global warming, it’s a farce.
They are sponsored by Barclays bank though to the tune of £50 million. If they halved their profit margins in all countries and successfully lobbied governments to actually change legislation regarding climate change, the use of power plants, fossil fuels etc... Then we might actually be getting somewhere.
Isn’t nice to cycle around London for a change and doesn’t Boris look silly on the front page struggling with his helmet!
Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Austerity Britain
This recession has seemed to last for a very long time now. The incoming Tory government has to make cuts in each public sector in order to balance the books and get the UK out of the hole that it is in and push the country into the green again. A decade or so under new Labour of excessive borrowing and risk taking by hedge fund managers and large investment banks is well and truly over and new legislation is being brought in, in the US as well as the UK, to curb the powers that the financial sector has on the wider economy.
The problem that arises is that the large corporations and big banks prop up the treasury in the UK and for some reason, the media are often reluctant to identify, it is London that bears the burden of keeping the people of Britain in jobs. Socialism in the UK is difficult to put into practice due to the character of the UK economy in the 21st century. With emerging markets like India and China as well as cheap labour markets to exploit, businesses in the regions struggle to record a profit when times are bad and are the first to enforce redundancies.
London is the engine of the ship, running the entire show and as soon as that engine loses power, the extremities lose the energy to operate as they had done. Under the old Labour government, the public sector would pick up the slack caused by a decline in regional private businesses. However, it drains the economy of the entire country and therefore cannot remain sustainable.
Before these cuts were announced by David Cameron and his Tory pals, areas such as Scotland, the North-East and Northern Ireland had the majority of their work forces in the public sectors. With the downfall of Lehmann brothers in good ol’ Uncle Sam’s backyard, the fall of the pound was inevitable and Labour pushed more money into the economy to bailout these sectors and essentially keep them afloat.
With the revelations that senior figures in the Labour government like Lord Mandelson understood towards the end of 2009 that Labour were not going to come close to winning the General Election held in April, there was spiralling spending in order to give the incoming Tories a headache and a half, forcing them to make further public sector cutbacks, thus struggling to avoid the Greek tragedy.
As London tries to keep its own head above water and regain the economic power it had before the down turn, jobs in the regions are like gold dust. Cuts will be made forcing people into the private sectors and a variety of austerity measures will be implemented.
Young graduates looking for that first break are going to be competing with all of the above. Even graduates with good degrees from top universities won’t be getting any jobs on a decent salary in any of the regions any time soon.
Thanks Gordon...Thanks Tony...Thanks 21st century UK Socialism.
The problem that arises is that the large corporations and big banks prop up the treasury in the UK and for some reason, the media are often reluctant to identify, it is London that bears the burden of keeping the people of Britain in jobs. Socialism in the UK is difficult to put into practice due to the character of the UK economy in the 21st century. With emerging markets like India and China as well as cheap labour markets to exploit, businesses in the regions struggle to record a profit when times are bad and are the first to enforce redundancies.
London is the engine of the ship, running the entire show and as soon as that engine loses power, the extremities lose the energy to operate as they had done. Under the old Labour government, the public sector would pick up the slack caused by a decline in regional private businesses. However, it drains the economy of the entire country and therefore cannot remain sustainable.
Before these cuts were announced by David Cameron and his Tory pals, areas such as Scotland, the North-East and Northern Ireland had the majority of their work forces in the public sectors. With the downfall of Lehmann brothers in good ol’ Uncle Sam’s backyard, the fall of the pound was inevitable and Labour pushed more money into the economy to bailout these sectors and essentially keep them afloat.
With the revelations that senior figures in the Labour government like Lord Mandelson understood towards the end of 2009 that Labour were not going to come close to winning the General Election held in April, there was spiralling spending in order to give the incoming Tories a headache and a half, forcing them to make further public sector cutbacks, thus struggling to avoid the Greek tragedy.
As London tries to keep its own head above water and regain the economic power it had before the down turn, jobs in the regions are like gold dust. Cuts will be made forcing people into the private sectors and a variety of austerity measures will be implemented.
Young graduates looking for that first break are going to be competing with all of the above. Even graduates with good degrees from top universities won’t be getting any jobs on a decent salary in any of the regions any time soon.
Thanks Gordon...Thanks Tony...Thanks 21st century UK Socialism.
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
So...have you got a job lined up yet?
Since graduating merely last week the same question keeps on rearing its ugly little head. Repeatedly many of my seniors keep on asking me and my other recent graduates whether or not we have secured work. Permanent, life-changing work that could be the start of long and successful careers. Although I luckily avoided that bullet on receipt of my hearty “well done you are a graduate handshake”, others didn’t prove to be as fortunate.
You could see the question being asked sporadically throughout our graduation ceremony and for each boy or girl their poor faces fell when confronted with the harsh reality put in front of them. There should have been a banner draped across the hall with the words “You are on your own now” emblazoned in red letters across it. As each one smiled politely back and eeked out the familiar words on all recent graduates lips of “No, not yet”, the next step in our lives seemed to be increasingly difficult to take.
All we need now is an index published online with our likelihood of securing employment marked out of one hundred.
The reality of the graduate job market is currently bleak, although the media desperately want to add fuel to the fire. With every article and report pushed at us through television and newspapers, it creates a damaging merry-go round of uncertainty where employers, although perhaps looking to hire, are reluctant to do so because of they feel that others aren’t doing so. Even keen, intelligent and hard working graduates are being overlooked because of the culture of fear that is surging throughout society. Indeed, why hire if you are being told that redundancies are soaring and recent young graduates are not up to scratch?
Although many are looking for jobs straight out of university, there is also a bulk of many young people (my contemporaries) who aren’t keen on thrusting themselves into a profession or workplace that is not really what they want to be doing. There are several other options that people are looking at. Graduates are looking elsewhere and realise that the working life doesn’t have to begin at the tender young ages of 21 or 22 but instead would rather take some time to figure out what their preferred job is before diving head first into interviews.
Why go straight into a career that isn’t necessarily your metier only to change later on the down line or, indeed, never change and wait expectantly for that ever likely mid-life crisis. Each situation isn’t different for every single one of us. People need to understand that pushing graduates into jobs just for the sake of it will not work in the long term.
If I was an employer I would rather some young buck go and find him or herself up a mountain on a skiing season or in South America for a year before applying to work for business. Hiring someone who two months down the line realises that this isn’t the sector for them is not particularly productive on any levels. It is a waste of time and effort to put yourselves out there for brand new graduate Tim for him to turn around and give you the thanks but no thanks.
Stop asking us all if we have a job yet. We are in a recession no-one is hiring and it only compounds the awkward conversation that ensues. If there is a job on the cards, we will let you know pretty soon into any chat, don’t you worry about that.
This generation of graduates needs to crack the code to what we want to do first and then as soon as we have done so, we will happily wax lyrical about it.
You could see the question being asked sporadically throughout our graduation ceremony and for each boy or girl their poor faces fell when confronted with the harsh reality put in front of them. There should have been a banner draped across the hall with the words “You are on your own now” emblazoned in red letters across it. As each one smiled politely back and eeked out the familiar words on all recent graduates lips of “No, not yet”, the next step in our lives seemed to be increasingly difficult to take.
All we need now is an index published online with our likelihood of securing employment marked out of one hundred.
The reality of the graduate job market is currently bleak, although the media desperately want to add fuel to the fire. With every article and report pushed at us through television and newspapers, it creates a damaging merry-go round of uncertainty where employers, although perhaps looking to hire, are reluctant to do so because of they feel that others aren’t doing so. Even keen, intelligent and hard working graduates are being overlooked because of the culture of fear that is surging throughout society. Indeed, why hire if you are being told that redundancies are soaring and recent young graduates are not up to scratch?
Although many are looking for jobs straight out of university, there is also a bulk of many young people (my contemporaries) who aren’t keen on thrusting themselves into a profession or workplace that is not really what they want to be doing. There are several other options that people are looking at. Graduates are looking elsewhere and realise that the working life doesn’t have to begin at the tender young ages of 21 or 22 but instead would rather take some time to figure out what their preferred job is before diving head first into interviews.
Why go straight into a career that isn’t necessarily your metier only to change later on the down line or, indeed, never change and wait expectantly for that ever likely mid-life crisis. Each situation isn’t different for every single one of us. People need to understand that pushing graduates into jobs just for the sake of it will not work in the long term.
If I was an employer I would rather some young buck go and find him or herself up a mountain on a skiing season or in South America for a year before applying to work for business. Hiring someone who two months down the line realises that this isn’t the sector for them is not particularly productive on any levels. It is a waste of time and effort to put yourselves out there for brand new graduate Tim for him to turn around and give you the thanks but no thanks.
Stop asking us all if we have a job yet. We are in a recession no-one is hiring and it only compounds the awkward conversation that ensues. If there is a job on the cards, we will let you know pretty soon into any chat, don’t you worry about that.
This generation of graduates needs to crack the code to what we want to do first and then as soon as we have done so, we will happily wax lyrical about it.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
And now a message from our sponsors
Graduation for many is meant to be a time for everyone to get together and celebrate the end of three or four years of hard work. It is a time for parents to all get together and share stories about their loved ones and embrace the success of their children. It is up there in our lives (for those who partake in uni) with eighteenth birthday celebrations, marriage and the birth of our first little rugrat.
However...
Due to the "current economic climate" and the manner in which universities across the entire United Kingdom are now run and managed, it seems as though the soul and importance of graduation has been lost on the higher echelons of the establishments management. I use the term "management" because even on a day like my recent graduation ceremony, it seems that the opportunity to upsell the university to parents blinded by pride and emotion had not fallen on deaf ears.
It seems as though proud parents + big wallets = marketing opportunity too good to miss out on. I did an arts degree and it was clear to me that kind of algebra was tattooed across the congregation hall.
Now I understand that universities are in a position with unbelievable amounts of financial strain put on them by the government but why go head first at student's graduation ceremonies and blindly shake the charity bucket in their faces. We are all well-educated young people and realise what you are doing, there is no need.
At our recent graduation ceremony, there was a sense of achievement and raptuous appreciation for all the other students on our course who we have sat next to, copied notes off and fretted over deadlines and dissertations for the past three years. It was to be a day of gratitude and fun. It was until the dreaded sales pitch.
The pro-vice chancellor stood tall in front of two hundred recent history graduates and promptly read from the autocue that was pushed out in front of him, like the budget report. Unwaivering he promptly sold Newcastle to us. I say "us" our parents, siblings and family friends who may well no someone who is considering which university to choose. It was a poor man's Glengarry Glen Ross.
10% off a Master's Degree if we chose to do it at Newcastle. The job market is difficult at the moment for us but luckily Newcastle will be there to support us if we join the alumni association for a nominal fee. There are many improvements and announced new buildings for just after we have left - great that'll be useful.
Then the denouement of the piece: we (two hundred odd history graduates and our parents) were told that Newcastle was in the top ten for medicine, architecture and law in the country.
This chap had not read the script. He had misjudged the crowd worse than Tony Hayward speaking at the annual crayfish convention in Louisiana.
Come on people let's put the commission fee aside for a day, wheel away the merchandise table. We are twenty-two year olds, no-one in their right mind is going to buy a baby grow with Newcastle University emblazoned across it.
These are university lecturers, put some thought into it and go for subliminal messaging or something. You have already told us how much cash you have parted with in developing the science departments. Put it into practice.
However...
Due to the "current economic climate" and the manner in which universities across the entire United Kingdom are now run and managed, it seems as though the soul and importance of graduation has been lost on the higher echelons of the establishments management. I use the term "management" because even on a day like my recent graduation ceremony, it seems that the opportunity to upsell the university to parents blinded by pride and emotion had not fallen on deaf ears.
It seems as though proud parents + big wallets = marketing opportunity too good to miss out on. I did an arts degree and it was clear to me that kind of algebra was tattooed across the congregation hall.
Now I understand that universities are in a position with unbelievable amounts of financial strain put on them by the government but why go head first at student's graduation ceremonies and blindly shake the charity bucket in their faces. We are all well-educated young people and realise what you are doing, there is no need.
At our recent graduation ceremony, there was a sense of achievement and raptuous appreciation for all the other students on our course who we have sat next to, copied notes off and fretted over deadlines and dissertations for the past three years. It was to be a day of gratitude and fun. It was until the dreaded sales pitch.
The pro-vice chancellor stood tall in front of two hundred recent history graduates and promptly read from the autocue that was pushed out in front of him, like the budget report. Unwaivering he promptly sold Newcastle to us. I say "us" our parents, siblings and family friends who may well no someone who is considering which university to choose. It was a poor man's Glengarry Glen Ross.
10% off a Master's Degree if we chose to do it at Newcastle. The job market is difficult at the moment for us but luckily Newcastle will be there to support us if we join the alumni association for a nominal fee. There are many improvements and announced new buildings for just after we have left - great that'll be useful.
Then the denouement of the piece: we (two hundred odd history graduates and our parents) were told that Newcastle was in the top ten for medicine, architecture and law in the country.
This chap had not read the script. He had misjudged the crowd worse than Tony Hayward speaking at the annual crayfish convention in Louisiana.
Come on people let's put the commission fee aside for a day, wheel away the merchandise table. We are twenty-two year olds, no-one in their right mind is going to buy a baby grow with Newcastle University emblazoned across it.
These are university lecturers, put some thought into it and go for subliminal messaging or something. You have already told us how much cash you have parted with in developing the science departments. Put it into practice.
Monday, 22 March 2010
If only Icarus wore Gucci loafers
He would have landed on his feet, in style.
There is one thing that we all should be able to do and that's operate through life with a bit of flare, a touch of finesse. Style is permanent there are no two ways about it. Going down in an absolute ball of flames has to be better than walking through life at a snail's pace, meandering through a constant sea of beige whilst drinking hot mugs of Bovril. No, this cannot be the way forward. Don't be a brick in the wall - play with fire, get burned!
Why play down the straight and narrow? What's the point? Everyone thinks that you should shoot straight, keep your head out of the clouds and drive on the lefthand side of the road. The combination of style and substance is one that is always a bit of a tricky conundrum to try and work around but if you put your mind to it there is always a new way to play the game.
Society says to play properly. Rules govern our every movement from when we are at school, to the home structure, through religion and even to a certain extent pushed at us in the media. All the way throughout our lives, we are slapped in the face by all these laws and orders that are enforced on us by antiquated government and hierarchy.
Now let's not get confused between law, rules and ethics. Hell, this is why Tiger Woods is now in such a pickle.
There are times when you will just think that this world can't throw more curve balls at you. At the end of the day, it will never stop being challenging. Unfortunately we are all doomed to go throughout life and struggle against the currents in the sea. As Icarus felt the wind push hard against his wings and he couldn't keep up as he went higher into the sky, closer to the sun. I'm sure it looked fucking cool but the problem was that he was doomed, although looking great doing it.
All the greats who people have remembered didn't end in a sea of peaceful bliss but they have been remembered.
We all come into this world kicking and screaming - why not carry on as you started?
There is one thing that we all should be able to do and that's operate through life with a bit of flare, a touch of finesse. Style is permanent there are no two ways about it. Going down in an absolute ball of flames has to be better than walking through life at a snail's pace, meandering through a constant sea of beige whilst drinking hot mugs of Bovril. No, this cannot be the way forward. Don't be a brick in the wall - play with fire, get burned!
Why play down the straight and narrow? What's the point? Everyone thinks that you should shoot straight, keep your head out of the clouds and drive on the lefthand side of the road. The combination of style and substance is one that is always a bit of a tricky conundrum to try and work around but if you put your mind to it there is always a new way to play the game.
Society says to play properly. Rules govern our every movement from when we are at school, to the home structure, through religion and even to a certain extent pushed at us in the media. All the way throughout our lives, we are slapped in the face by all these laws and orders that are enforced on us by antiquated government and hierarchy.
Now let's not get confused between law, rules and ethics. Hell, this is why Tiger Woods is now in such a pickle.
There are times when you will just think that this world can't throw more curve balls at you. At the end of the day, it will never stop being challenging. Unfortunately we are all doomed to go throughout life and struggle against the currents in the sea. As Icarus felt the wind push hard against his wings and he couldn't keep up as he went higher into the sky, closer to the sun. I'm sure it looked fucking cool but the problem was that he was doomed, although looking great doing it.
All the greats who people have remembered didn't end in a sea of peaceful bliss but they have been remembered.
We all come into this world kicking and screaming - why not carry on as you started?
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Desert Rat
Ploughing through the Gobi desert in your lovelife is never a good thing. We would all rather be simply ploughing, period.
The Gobi is arid, it's hot, dry and all together rude but the worst thing about being stuck in the middle of the desert is there is absolutely no way out for miles around. No train timetables to look at, no cabs just around the corner, nope you're stuck there until one day you keep on trucking and just over the ridge will be some type of civilization. In this analogy I am imagining an old Western cowboy town, where John Wayne would be walking through the streets awkwardly as if he had a pineapple tucked snuggly up his arse. Then as you come round the corner, hopefully you'll be saved by a massive sign with the words tattoed on it "You are now entering Fannybrough. Please drive carefully through our village".
How long until you re-virginise? You know, let's say someone hasn't had nothing more than a cheeky dick flick in the last coupla months, do they then suddenly revert back to the days before A-Levels or if you're from Glasgow, pre 11+. Sorry Glasgow, actually you all can hardly read and will be under about ten feet of snow so you've got bigger problems. Anyways, one digresses on the more trivial aspects of life. Who rights the book on how long is too long?
In the back of each and every one of our minds we all know what is just a purple patch and when it becomes a touch more than that. How do we all know this? Society tells us but not overtly, it's not publicised through the media and it isn't pushed at us all in schools or in textbooks. Then, how do we know what the optimum time is between relationships? Between shags? Between cheeky snogs?
"THEY" tell us. No-one has ever figured out who the these mysterious "THEY" are. Is it the same group who create these crazy urban myths that circulate like if you have sex with a girl ontop then the sperm can't swin upstream and therefore she can't get pregnant or that Prince Harry does coke with a dollar bill because he doesn't want the guilt of doing drugs off of his grand-mother's face. Probably.
With a final sentiment: how long is too long? If I could ask "They" I would. Actually whilst I'm there I might ask them why the Easter Bunny gives everyone oversize eggs from a finely made whicker basker. Surely it should be a chicken?! Where the fuck did the rabbit come from!
The Gobi is arid, it's hot, dry and all together rude but the worst thing about being stuck in the middle of the desert is there is absolutely no way out for miles around. No train timetables to look at, no cabs just around the corner, nope you're stuck there until one day you keep on trucking and just over the ridge will be some type of civilization. In this analogy I am imagining an old Western cowboy town, where John Wayne would be walking through the streets awkwardly as if he had a pineapple tucked snuggly up his arse. Then as you come round the corner, hopefully you'll be saved by a massive sign with the words tattoed on it "You are now entering Fannybrough. Please drive carefully through our village".
How long until you re-virginise? You know, let's say someone hasn't had nothing more than a cheeky dick flick in the last coupla months, do they then suddenly revert back to the days before A-Levels or if you're from Glasgow, pre 11+. Sorry Glasgow, actually you all can hardly read and will be under about ten feet of snow so you've got bigger problems. Anyways, one digresses on the more trivial aspects of life. Who rights the book on how long is too long?
In the back of each and every one of our minds we all know what is just a purple patch and when it becomes a touch more than that. How do we all know this? Society tells us but not overtly, it's not publicised through the media and it isn't pushed at us all in schools or in textbooks. Then, how do we know what the optimum time is between relationships? Between shags? Between cheeky snogs?
"THEY" tell us. No-one has ever figured out who the these mysterious "THEY" are. Is it the same group who create these crazy urban myths that circulate like if you have sex with a girl ontop then the sperm can't swin upstream and therefore she can't get pregnant or that Prince Harry does coke with a dollar bill because he doesn't want the guilt of doing drugs off of his grand-mother's face. Probably.
With a final sentiment: how long is too long? If I could ask "They" I would. Actually whilst I'm there I might ask them why the Easter Bunny gives everyone oversize eggs from a finely made whicker basker. Surely it should be a chicken?! Where the fuck did the rabbit come from!
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Comedy or Tragedy?
Ever wondered whether or not you are simply stuck in a Tragedy or Comedy?
Life is a play to be acted out on the world stage with everyone watching and criticsing. Wondering which way you are going to turn next, enter stage right, will he end up in the final act with the lead damsel in distress wrapped with her legs around his waist or instead lying there on the stage floor having been stabbed by his bestfriends around him? The curtain then draws down across the stage with it's ever resounding finality and the public so enthralled by what they had seen, wonder back off into the busy streets around them, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened and whether or not that has affected them in anyway shape or form. Often in the noughties or the teenies as we are about to enter, the answer is a resounding: NO. Perhaps that's a tragedy in itself.
Tragedy or Comedy: the older I get and the increasing amount of days that whizz past me I wonder.
So let's start with the comedy in this hypothetical, life-changing analogy that no-one will ever read but it would be rude not to contribute to the world just because I assume that no-one could care less. The irony of it all is that it could well be the case that due to pumping out words into the never-ending ethos of the internet, where words don't actually mean anything anymore - it almost renders anything said absolutely useless. Back to the first question: Ironic Comedy or Unequivocal tragedy?
Indeed, as we all walk through the streets and look at the dregs of society trotting through the high streets, listening to the drivel that is pumped out of the nearest HMV or Primark, is there anyone out there who has any idea what it's all about? We are all being fed the same rubbish from music marketing companies, PR film management firms and the worst of all the press releases that through spnsorship now dictate what our newspapers and tv channels produce.
Ergo, the tragedy is that no-one even realises that everyone from Tescos to Habitat, ITV to fucking Simon Cowell (the subject of another blog on the Twenty-first century Maccheavellian prick)are pushing at us what we would should say, think and buy.
The ultimate tragedy is that we will all march to our own inevitable lonely deaths, without ever having made a decision.
Thus, is it comedy that there is someone looking down or up, hell even across laughing at our own naivety or a tragedy that we don't even realise it.
Fuck it could be both. Tragic.
Life is a play to be acted out on the world stage with everyone watching and criticsing. Wondering which way you are going to turn next, enter stage right, will he end up in the final act with the lead damsel in distress wrapped with her legs around his waist or instead lying there on the stage floor having been stabbed by his bestfriends around him? The curtain then draws down across the stage with it's ever resounding finality and the public so enthralled by what they had seen, wonder back off into the busy streets around them, trying to figure out what the fuck just happened and whether or not that has affected them in anyway shape or form. Often in the noughties or the teenies as we are about to enter, the answer is a resounding: NO. Perhaps that's a tragedy in itself.
Tragedy or Comedy: the older I get and the increasing amount of days that whizz past me I wonder.
So let's start with the comedy in this hypothetical, life-changing analogy that no-one will ever read but it would be rude not to contribute to the world just because I assume that no-one could care less. The irony of it all is that it could well be the case that due to pumping out words into the never-ending ethos of the internet, where words don't actually mean anything anymore - it almost renders anything said absolutely useless. Back to the first question: Ironic Comedy or Unequivocal tragedy?
Indeed, as we all walk through the streets and look at the dregs of society trotting through the high streets, listening to the drivel that is pumped out of the nearest HMV or Primark, is there anyone out there who has any idea what it's all about? We are all being fed the same rubbish from music marketing companies, PR film management firms and the worst of all the press releases that through spnsorship now dictate what our newspapers and tv channels produce.
Ergo, the tragedy is that no-one even realises that everyone from Tescos to Habitat, ITV to fucking Simon Cowell (the subject of another blog on the Twenty-first century Maccheavellian prick)are pushing at us what we would should say, think and buy.
The ultimate tragedy is that we will all march to our own inevitable lonely deaths, without ever having made a decision.
Thus, is it comedy that there is someone looking down or up, hell even across laughing at our own naivety or a tragedy that we don't even realise it.
Fuck it could be both. Tragic.
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