OUR GRANDPARENTS’ SHAME

[First let me extend apologies for erratic communication with those of you kind enough to leave comments. I am dancing a nightmare fandango with my broadband and my landline and not even I am brave enough to attempt blogging from a mobile. So I am scribbling this and scurrying off to the nearest coffee emporium. If you are reading this it meant I figured out the process J

Morag is currently working on a project about the proposed changes to our benefit system that would see parents on benefits being made to return to work when their children reach the age of 12. Needless to say there is a huge outcry from the ‘I have made this choice to stay home and take care of my child why should I be penalized for it’ contingent. Followed by the ‘What is the world coming to that society doesn’t care about our children’.

Where do I begin on this one……..

First of all I would suspect that the overwhelming majority of us would like to stay home and raise our children but unfortunately that is not possible for many of us. I happen to be one of those people who believe that you should stay home as long as is humanly possible. Do without the holidays, do without the fancy clothes, and do without whatever you need to do without to provide your child with that love and care that only you can provide in their formative years. I stayed at home until my son was in Year One. It was really difficult and an incredible sacrifice financially – but that is what having children is about – maximum reward for which all sacrifice should be considered minimum. Yes I do realise that many people do not have that choice but I will always argue the point that many parents nowadays just are not willing to give up their luxuries and sometimes that is what needs to happen.

People I have been speaking with in conjunction to this project are trotting the well-worn ‘It’s not worth my while to go to work’. When people say that I feel that proverbial red mist settling over me. Have people totally forgotten the concept of ‘an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay’? Have we become so numbed by Big Brother contestants making millions for fumbling under duvets and footballers being paid £40,000 a week that we lose sight of a normal pay-packet. And living within the means provided by what is in that pay-packet. Can you imagine our grandparents saying ‘Well I can’t live on this so I’ll just stay home’. The shame that would be associated with that kind of behaviour would far outweigh any other consideration. Nowadays our idea of shame is not being able to send our child to school with the latest trainers on their feet and the latest gaming gadget in their pocket. On the weekends they must be in the newest football strip of their club or up at the high street shopping for England.

How did we become a society where so many feel the need to shower our offspring with ‘stuff’ to make up for the really important elements missing from many of their lives such as fathers and self-respect. And for heaven sake let’s not start blaming Maggie Thatcher again………not should we blame the current government. Kids are not in trouble because the government hasn’t given them enough youth centres (see my last posting) – a lot of kids are in trouble because we’re not giving them enough attention. Not the government – it is not their responsibility – us. When you speak with a lot of these parents who complain that they don’t want to go to work so they can spend time with their children you find that they may be present but they are certainly not accounted for. In other words they may be in the house when the child is there but the quality of the time spent is non-existent because they aren’t focussing on the child in the way that most working parents make an effort to because we know our time is limited.

Then there is the matter of setting an example. What does it teach your child when they hear you saying ‘It doesn’t really make sense for me to go to work I’d make more money staying home’. How do they develop a work ethic if that is the sort of example you are setting?

Yes people need help and support. But they also need to learn to help themselves. One of the people I am ‘conversing’ with is an unemployed mother of 4 who is horrified at the thought that she might be made to go to work. ‘I have made the choice to stay home and raise my children and it is society’s responsibility to help me do it’…………then she continued with the logic that she is ‘raising better individuals to strengthen society’ well I’m afraid that’s not what the figures are saying. I have yet to see evidence that single mothers with multiple children who stay home and collect benefits are raising an uber-class of citizens.

And I am saddened by this. I am not totally without heart. But I think it is time for us to insist as a society that if people don’t want to participate in the process of a productive life then they will have to deal with the consequences. Of course we do not want to see children suffering so we have to come up with a way to see that does not happy. And yes there will be help for those really need it but not for those who just want it – heck when I drag myself out of bed in the mornings and go off to do an honest day’s I think how badly I would want it. But then I remember my how disappointed my grandmother would be if I held out my palm, without needing to and my feet hit the floor.

SEI – Addressing the UNICEF Report and the South London Shootings

In a week that has seen yet more shootings of our young people and a damming report placing us at the bottom of the league tables regarding quality of life for our youth I think even the most disinterested among us must realize that it is time for action to be taken. No not action like flinging more money down the hole that is the bottomless pit of our nanny-system. No not action like turning a few dozen armed policeman on the streets. But action that is going to have a solid and proven effect on eradicating the problem.

About seven years ago Morag came across a report on the state of the nation’s youth. Thousands of young people across the country were interviewed on all topics under the sun. One of the main aims of the exercise was to find out what kept kids on the straight and narrow, and what caused them to go off the rails. Was it lack of education, was it lack of funds. Lack of facilities. Lack of a father-figure. Was it living in the country – living in an inner city council estate. What the heck was it that caused a child to decide to pick up a gun or put down a schoolbook. Push a pram instead of a pencil. The people interviewed came from every kind of background in every nook and cranny of the UK and you will never guess what they found…..

Yes there is something that disaffected youth had in common, and for the record disaffection comes in ALL postcodes, all ethnicities, all genders. Just because Arabella and Charlie are away at boarding school doesn’t mean they’re any less disaffected than LaWanda and Jose. The overriding commonality in young people (it’s actually all people but let’s try to stick to today’s topic) who make ‘bad’ decisions is :

LOW SELF-ESTEEM……..

How do we know this? Enter the SEI – Self-Esteem Index. A psychological exercise which measures the following four areas :
[Academic Competence] – measures self-esteem in school, education, academic competence, intelligence, learning, and other scholarly pursuits.
[Family Acceptance] – measures self-esteem at home and within the family unit.
[Peer Popularity] – addresses the quality, importance, and nature of relationships and interactions with individuals outside the family unit.
[Personal Security] – contains statements about an individual’s physical appearance and personal attributes such as distinctive traits of body, character, conduct, temperament, and emotions

The information is then tallied and you are slotted into a scale, which indicates what your attitude towards yourself is and where you feel you fit in the grand scheme of things.

So if we now know that the one thing that kids who make bad decisions have in common is low self-esteem then it seems to make sense that what we really need to do to have a long term solution to the mess we are in is to do our best to ensure that all our young people have higher self-esteem than they do now. You can rest assured that young people with low self-esteem making bad decisions will grow up to be adults with low self-esteem making bad decisions. And at £100,000 per prisoner for construction of new prison places we should do this if for no other reason than fiscal responsibility.

Yes you can spend all your time haranguing kids about ‘don’t take drugs’, ‘don’t hang around with a bad lot’, ‘don’t be promiscuous’, ‘don’t watch porn on the internet’…but trust me, it’s a lot easier when they make those decisions themselves. And there is only one way to do that and that is ensure that they have a solid sense of who they are (whatever their circumstances). Some of our finest citizens have come out of single-parent families in highly-deprived areas so it is NOT impossible. We must stop flinging our hands up and start rolling our sleeves up. Come on people we’ve got to sort this out – it’s costing us on so many, many levels.

Whose responsibility is it to do this? ALL our responsibilities. Here are three things to think about:
1. A recent survey found that over 70% of the media coverage given to young people in this country is negative (People grow into the mirror you hold up in front of them)
2. It was recently noted that calls for help for children in poverty in this country engenders very little to no response yet similar calls for children in Africa will bring in hundreds to thousands of responses. (Is that because we are embarrassed at our short comings as a society so we feel if we don’t look at or acknowledge then it doesn’t exist)
3. I have noticed in my short time blogging that posts that refer to children in the title will usually bring in a substantially lower response.

One of the reasons Morag lives in the UK is because ‘it is a wonderful place in which to raise my child’. I have spent a decade looking rather pityingly at friends from distant shores who say ‘would you ever consider coming back’. Oh no! Trying not to look too smug. It is sooooooooo much better for children here. I wouldn’t even consider living in (fill in the blank for whichever country these well-meaning folk were hailing from). So this week I’ve just put one of those automatic “I am away on holiday please do not leave a message” emails on. Because I know that everyone in my address book from Latvia to Hungary, Holland and Norway – even the Damn Yankees will be sending me ‘soooooo I thought you said………………………dead last out of 21 – behind Hungary and Poland….oh the SHAME!!!!!!!!!

“With the deepest respect…” – Footprints/Schmutzprints

Am I the only person about ready to pull their hair out after this week of media bombardment on climate change? I feel like I have been listening to a group of six-year olds trying to explain human reproduction. Some of it makes sense, they seem to have the vague general idea but yet you just know in your heart that so much of it is way, way off base. And you also know that if they go about ‘solving the problem’ in the way they are describing they stand about as much chance of success as the six year olds who believe’ if you do it standing up you won’t get pregnant’.

First of all what exactly is it that they are trying to accomplish? Fix the world? Turn back the hands of time? Errrrrmmmmmm I don’t think so. Richard Branson is offering $25 million to a scientist who can save the planet. That sanctimonious twit that is David Milliband is flapping about tut-tutting for England. A cleric has said he isn’t flying anywhere for a year (whupp-di-do ) and we’ve been told that if we buy leeks from Llanduono rather than kale from Kenya that it will all be ok.

There are some questions in this world that do not have easy answers. How do you solve poverty? Eradicate racism. Fix the NHS – cut taxes while improving services. How can we make sure all our children get an equal education and our older folks live out their days in comfort and security? And what is under Joan Collins’ wig? Well forget all that for now we all have to get cracking on Saving the Planet. The spinmeisters have been at work overtime and we are all taking notes so we can get au fait with ‘carbon footprints’ ‘green crimes’ ‘carbon dioxide emissions’ and all the other terms to describe what is wrong with the planet and what we as individuals need to change to make it all right.

This is a big problem – I am not denying that. But first we need to use the tried and true method for successful problemsolving:

[Properly Identify What the (HELL) the Problem Is]. And in practical terms. No more ‘we are disrespecting our environment in such a fashion that within 60 years the world will no longer resemble…blah-blah-blah’. A few simple, clear-cut statements geared towards the general public not scientists, marketing gurus and politicians.

[Come Up With Workable Solutions That We All Can Affect]
We have known for many years that we needed to change a lot of our habits. Cut down on packaging. Cut down on rubbish. Recycle. More fuel efficient cars. Alternative energy sources etc.etc.etc. Make the changes practical; cut the issue down into bitesize, practical activities that everyone can do.

[The Solutions Need to Be Fair to All]
“With the deepest respect, the farmers in the villages where I come from don’t have televisions, they don’t have refrigerators, they don’t have even one car, let alone two, they don’t have motorbikes, they’ve never even been to our country’s capital let alone flown all over the world on holiday — so don’t ask those farmers to pick up the cost of environmental problems you in the industrialized West have caused.” This was recently said by a gentleman named John Kanjangaile who represents a Tanzanian group called the Kagera Cooperative Union. And truer words were never spoken.

This entire situation reminds me of the 20-stone woman who decides in March that she needs to be bikini-beeyootiful by June. Years of abusing of resources, disregarding of warnings, ignoring of the facts brought her to that place. But somehow she is expecting that somewhere there is a magic wand and a fairy godmother. Against all odds a wand is going to be waved and all will be well in the kingdom.

$25,000,000 is not going to create a miracle. Neither are most of the other ‘solutions’ being bandied about so far. We have to keep in mind that there are economic repercussions for us turning our back on the farmers of sub-Sahara Africa. Over a million lives will be immediately affected if we do that. We also need to be aware that the facts behind this issue are not always as simple as they might seem. There are instances (apparently) where products from Africa might have a smaller carbon footprint (keep up with the lingo J ) than something that we commercially produce in this country or Europe. So let’s be careful when we are being sensible more than virtuous. In Morag’s opinion there seems to be an awful lot of sanctimonious twaddle being bandied about and maybe we need to get to the bottom of it before jumping on the bandwagon – oh and make sure the bandwagon isn’t a 4 x 4.

Come See Me and Come Live With Me – Behavior Guide for Immigrants

There is an old Jamaican saying ‘Come see me and come live with me are two different things’ which basically translates to ‘aspects of a person that are amusing/interesting/tolerable in small doses can often swiftly become less so when their feet are permanently lodged under your table’. Put that together with the oft delivered admonishment ‘When you go to the houses of other folk don’t make a spectacle of yourself. Behave properly, politely engage in their conversation, eat whatever is put in front of you and whatever you do don’t bring shame on your family’.

Archbishop Sentamu doesn’t always get it right but when he does he can be spot on. He has now urged people coming to live in Britain to ‘adopt and cherish UK values’. Another way of saying ‘when you go to the countries of other folk, don’t make a spectacle of yourself. Behave properly/politely engage etc.etc.’

I come from many distant shores myself but I now reside in the United Kingdom and I expect my behavior to reflect that. I do not expect to dig a pit in my back garden and roast a pig. If someone annoys me I will say ‘now that made me cross’ rather than ‘….. you can kiss a donkey’s……..’ (actually let’s not even go there). It isn’t about denying who you are it is about being respectful of the culture you have decided to foist yourself on.

If you don’t want to learn what the British school system has decided is appropriate to be taught – then don’t come here (and no setting up your own schools is not the answer). If you don’t want to speak the language – then don’t come here (and no us paying for translators when you’ve lived in the country for 15 years is not the answer). If you don’t want to follow the laws – ditto. If you don’t like the religion of the country – oh well……… If you don’t like the politics of the country – mumble quietly like everyone else. But this ‘I want my own schools, I want my own this, I don’t want to do that’ has just got to stop. It is insanity and we all are starting to pay the price for it. Descendants of the original settlers are suffering as are us ‘recent’ arrivals who are more than happy to put milk in our tea and butter on our sandwiches.

One of the things I love about this country is that unlike the Benetton advert aspect of multi-culturalism that one gets in America in the UK there really is genuine interaction. Take it from a brown person who has lived hither and yon until recently we had it skewed very well here. Yes the ‘pack yer bags and go back to whatever tree you swung down from’ brigade would always have something to complain about. As will the ‘you sold our people and now you owe us for eternity’ lot. But in the main it was a nice mix. Wee blondie girls from Cheltenham College wearing bindi’s, a black man leading a prestigious hunt, Mrs. Beale on the bus chatting happily with Mrs.Choudhary. Interaction on the surface and also interaction on a deeper level.

But now we are being ripped apart and all because some folk came and didn’t behave properly. Or as the Archbishop says are not ‘adopting and cherishing UK values’.

Maybe we need to take a page out of the book of the good burghers of Herouxville, Quebec.”We wish to inform these new arrivals that the way of life which they abandoned when they left their countries of origin cannot be recreated here,” They have made it clear that women are allowed to drive, vote, dance, write cheques, dress how they want, work and own property.”Therefore we consider it completely outside these norms to… kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc.” Maybe we need to have something similar here………….

NOTES FROM A NIGHTDRESS

About a week ago Morag was meandering along, minding her own business – well pretty much – when she was reminded once again that there are forces out there just waiting to get you. The past week has been spent in a bit of a daze of snivelling, crying, coughing, clutching of sore ribs and repeating of the litany ‘Oh Lord take me now’. Thank God he knew I didn’t mean it but I must say I don’t remember ever being this sick excluding a time in Mombasa airport that is best left unmentioned. Still not back in fighting form so please excuse the random nature of communiqué. One of the interesting things about being ‘out of it’ is what penetrates your consciousness through the fugue.

FIRST DIBS ON THE EN SUITE – John Reid’s rather bizarre notion that we should send all the naughty people back out into the real world as there is no space for them to stay as a guest of Her Majesty. My first reaction was – no problem, we’ll all just move in with him then! He must have all sorts of protection and security that those of us with regular jobs don’t get. If he thinks that’s the way to solve the issue, okey dokey as long as he plans on making sure me and mine are safe. So I say we all pack an overnight and decamp to his environs. If he wants to put us all in danger then he can damn well protect us. Then today’s story about our child-fiddler, who we’ll keep here indefinitely, made me remember a story I heard in my daze that a really high percentage of people in our prisons are actually foreigners and that if we ‘sent them all back where they come from’ then there would be more room. Now at the risk of sounding a bit too Far Right for comfort – maybe that’s not such a bad idea. I mentioned it to a seriously Leftie friend who started explaining ‘well what about their human rights’ – now correct me if I’m wrong but where were the little girl’s human rights in the scheme of things in this man’s mind when he was fiddling away. Never mind what sort of message does that send out to miscreants from abroad ‘give us your wayward and your deviant…’

AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DEVIL AWAY – How difficult it must be to be of the religious world in this day and age. Do you advertise the church on condom packets or do you stick to the old methods even though they obviously are no longer doing the job. If you take advantage of the new technologies and marketing methods – where do you stop? At one point does it become tacky? Congrats then to the CofE with their new campaign to get people to commit good deeds everyday. I suspect the idea being that when people get the ‘buzz’ of being nice they might just make a habit of it. I think it is a brilliant plan. As a society our morals are in crisis – get people to introduce some sort of moral structure in their lives and the rest will follow. And if you give them the option to participate and choose it will work even better. THEN they will turf up on a Sunday and listen to what is being said and if it is said in a language they can understand we’ve done our job.

DOES ANYONE HERE SPEAK ENGLISH ANYMORE? – When I was in my first flush of youth I wanted nothing more than to live in Paris. I would have left my fancy job and gone to Paris to run a crepes stand. But – I couldn’t speak French, at least not at the appropriate standard. And as the French do have some sense in such matters they do not make a habit of hiring people to deal with the public who errrrm don’t speak French. Why do we not adopt that practice here I wonder? My friend MD*works with social services driving folk from one place to another. Most of the people she drives are non-English speaking. She ferries them from home to doctor’s appointments (while our own older folks are hobbling along on the bus). She ferries the children to school (while our own children are tubing it and bussing it). She tells me stories of going to pick up children from school and a father, driving his own car, coming to drop something off while she ferries the kids – at our expense. While all this is going on – an interpreter has to be present. Even if nothing needs to be said, the rules are such. That is why it was no surprise to hear today (or was it yesterday, sorry) about the millions, upon millions, upon millions that we are spending on translation services. I still do NOT understand why learning English cannot be a requirement for employment. Give jobs ratings to do with public contact – the higher the contact the more the need for functionality in English. Give a proficiency certificate, which must be presented when applying for a job. Maybe I’m just mad that I never ran a crepe stand by the Seine………

I think it’s time to go back to bed now. I’m rambling even more than usual so I must not be as better as I thought L Time for my 436th Maximum Strength Lemsip……….Morag lies weeping (and gagging)………..

The Cripple, The Bleach Cream and The Fat Girl

A Tory activist, John Hawkesworth, has been called on the carpet for an email he has sent describing the local Labour Party chair as ‘the cripple’ and ‘a reptile’. He has been told that his comments were ‘obviously offensive’. He has been ‘rebuked’ and he has ‘accepted that it is inappropriate’. Well that’s that sorted then! He, a grown man, has had his transgressions pointed out to him – his hand slapped and The Naughty Step pointed out to him. I’ll bet he’ll never make that mistake again – now that he knows it’s not nice to refer to people by their physical afflictions or blood temperature. Who are we trying to kid?

Big Brother debacle ends with Jade Goody (who has always been accused of having that appalling condition ‘diarrhoea of the mouth) coming out and saying she was being racist and she was/is really sorry. Should we be upset that while the newspapers were hollering ‘Hang the B***h’ (or close enough) many of them didn’t think to mention that Jade was mixed-race. Yes that doesn’t preclude her from being racist but it ups my platform of More Likely Just an Idiot.

Or should we have been told earlier that one of the reasons the most fragrant Shilpa was accused of that most heinous of crimes’ wanting to be white’ was actually because she was applying bleachcream to her face. Why on earth anyone would do such a thing while being watched by millions is beyond my ken. And let us be clear that Morag is not unfamiliar with the product as she has been asked on fair few occasion ‘you are such a lovely shade do you use bleachcream’ – for the record the answer is no.

Izzum-it is continues………On Friday, in the line of work, I met a girl who has lost almost 11 stone in weight. She stood up in front of a roomful of people and talked about what she used to experience when she was heavy. Strangers would come up to her on the street constantly telling her that she was a disgrace, repulsive, gross and nauseating. Imagine what this feels likes when your issues from food stem from being sexually abused as a child and feeling the need to build a physical barrier to protect yourself from invasion.

In any given day without too much effort in the UK and all the other countries that we all hail from – you will see examples of Race-ism, Sex-ism, Size-ism, Class-ism – and about a million other –isms. In fact the problem is that we have become so used to people passing remarks about others that we barely blink an eye any more. To call someone a cripple is rude, hurtful and cruel. To call someone poppodum would not bother me in the slightest – however being told that I was repulsive because of my size would. As would ‘you just want to be white’ – which I have been told on countless occasions. It’s unpleasant and seriously doesn’t feel very nice. And for the record – I don’t. So whom do we blame for the current state of affairs? Why is it getting worse? How come despite all these Commissions for This That or The Other it’s not getting better?

Possibly because too many of the people ‘in charge’ of what we wash our brains in have a limited agenda. Channel 4 wanted to make money. I had a conversation with a respected tv-producer this morning who said what should have been done was those three girls should have immediately been called into the diary room, hauled up by their bra-straps and read the riot act. But Endemol and CH4 had a dull series that no one was watching, let’s spice it up and it got out of control.

Let’s hope and pray that this bites Ch4 right where they have been needing to be bitten for a long, looooooooooong time now. A lot of their programming is splendid but shows on the benefits and joys of sex with animals, How-to play Russian roulette, the beyond shocking Shameless and the soon to start inexcusable childporn that is Skins needed to be taken off the air. And if this Big Brother debacle does that then it’s all been worth it.

But beware of those who point the finger as well. I read in the paper today ‘someone’ explaining that all this had happened because of a group of young white men at Channel 4 – for the record the last time Morag knew of it the person in charge of BB for CH4 was not young, not male and not white. Those that purport to protect us often have agendas themselves.

So here we are – a world struck by an epidemic of Izzum-it is. Everywhere we turn someone is either doing it to someone or complaining it has been done to them. What do we do? Answers on a postcard……..Morag’s thought?…. ‘do unto others as you would have done unto you’ – it works for me!

The Big Brother Beastlies versus The Bollywood Beauty

One hundred years ago – or so it seems – I sat down to watch Episode One of a new series that was about to begin on Channel 4 called Big Brother. The idea was that it would be social experiment to observe what would happen if you put a group of strangers together in a controlled environment, and a la George Orwell’s 1984 – you watched them 24/7. There is no point in dissecting what has happened since our version of Big Brother started, let’s just say ‘it was a good idea that went awry’.

For various professional reasons too complex to get into right here right now Morag has watched a lot of BB. Then a couple of weeks ago the decision was taken Chez Mindbender that enough was enough. And why? Well for exactly the reasons we are seeing now. I was becoming ashamed.

Watching BB had become a furtive activity involving watching God-awful people being beastly to each other and whipping the nation into a frenzy to do the same. As per usual Racism and Bullying are the words being trotted out by all and sundry – and Morag would bet the farm that the production company is behind a lot of this furore. I was at a business luncheon today with media (as in telly) folk and they were tut-tutting about how the media (as in newspapers et al) were being led on a merry dance by Channel 4 and the production company Endemol. They had a show that no one (in numbers terms) was watching – so they have fanned the embers into a roaring flame and presto they add a couple million viewers overnight. Some of the tabloids are now hellbent on convincing us that India is about to declare war on England over the treatment of their fair maiden – guaranteed ratings will continue to rise through the roofs. And THAT’s the problem.

Let us be clear. There is some SERIOUSLY appalling behaviour going on in there. As one who watched BB for years I can say that there always has been some sort of appalling behaviour going on in there.

But this is different because this is embarrassing. The behaviour of the three lasses in question – and the ‘gentleman caller’ of one of them, is a reflection of a certain segment of UK society and seeing it blown up on screen for The World to see is shameful.

What our English Roses are doing is showing an ignorance, lack of tolerance and downright lack of manners that would put anyone to shame. Yes we don’t know these three. We are not their friends, their parents, their partners but we are their countrymen, and rest assured these girls are quite indicative of the mindset of many of our young people. One of them was Miss England, one of them is rated the 25th most influential person in the country (or so she says), the other is one of our premier popstars. These are whom our youngsters are idolizing and this is where we have to worry. These are the sort of people who are achieving celebrity, money, adoration, and fame. These are whom our boys and girls are emulating. Thick, mean, ignorant and unkind – is this what we want our children to aim for? We have got to reclaim our image from these ‘folk’.

As Shilpa (The Bollywood Beauty) said today “I am representing my country. Is this what today’s UK is? Scary….”

…oh the SHAME !!!

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES – Blair and The Butler

There are those who believe that we must make it our daily duty to yank the choke-chain on any Blair Behaviour we find objectionable. Blair must pay! He must grovel, apologize, prostrate himself and if you listen to some – castrate himself. Morag doesn’t go in for that sort of carryon being more about moving on than banging on. Every now and then the conversation needs to be about the principle not the person so in defence of Mr.Blair and today’s tempest in a teacup…………..

The United Kingdom is known for many things. We have a reputation around the world and are considered by many to be a most caring country. A well-educated country. A country with a deeply developed sense of right and wrong. You can’t beat it for pageantry. Geographically truly a jewelled isle. A populace both diverse and independent…etc.etc.etc. But let’s face it we are also known as being a wee bit frumpy, a wee bit frayed around the edges and more than a wee bit ‘we’ve always done it that way and that way has always worked for us’.

So Mr. Blair is looking for a butler? And about time I say. While the ‘less is more’ attitude towards keeping up appearances might be charming in the shires it is not appropriate for world rulers. Tony Blair doesn’t need a butler – but The Prime Minister of Great Britain most certainly might. I suspect until quite recently it was par for the course.

You go to any banana republic as a visiting dignitary and you will be greeted by a few hundred dancing locals – in full regalia. A couple of animals will have been slaughtered, someone’s written a song and there are fireworks. Sumptuous palaces, grand entertainment, why shouldn’t we keep up with the neighbours. Why do you think Diana was such a hit? Because we finally had someone who added a bit of, God forbid, ‘allure’ to our image.

The office of the Prime Minister – and all that goes with it – is the modern face of our country. It must reflect our status as a powerful, strong and successful nation. Don’t let our penchant for ‘keeping our heads below the parapet’ cause us to fall behind on the world stage. We are losing face in many areas. Some think we blindly only follow America, others feel we blindly only follow our past. Having a Prime Minister whose jumpers come from Matalan might have been all well and good on the ‘keeping it real’ level but if you are trying to cut a figure on the world stage then you need to up your game. It isn’t about “Tony Blair” it was/is about lifting our nation’s image and bringing it inline with the nations we keep company with.

I know this started out as ‘a bit about a butler’, but it really is about a lot more than that and we all know it. We widdle away money in so many ways that we should be concerned with – entertaining Oasis at Chequers and Number 10 having butler is the least of our worries. Tony Blair may or may not want to, but the Prime Minister now has to. In a country addicted to every kind of God-awful makeover programme imaginable why is it so hard to conceive that our political image needs a makeover as well – and fast.

LIVE HONESTLY, EAT SLOWLY and LIE………….

The comedienne Lucille Ball once said the secret of staying young was to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age. I am all for living honestly, already eat annoyingly slowly and have now developed a strategy of counting backwards and avoidance of answering ‘how old are you anyway?’ which covers the lying.

Age and how we perceive and deal with it is actually at the root of many of the biggest issues we face in our society. 1 in 6 of the UK population is 65 or over. The fertility rate is declining, as is the mortality rate. The under-16 population is shrinking, the over 65’s growing steadily. Population soaring right after WWII and in the Swinging 60’s means that by about 2050 there will be over 7 million over-80’s. That might seem too far in the future to worry about but if you think about the fact that by 2011 there will be 12.2 million people of pensionable age you then see why we have to stop ignoring the problem.

It never ceases to amaze me how we blissfully ignore The Third Age in this country. It is as if by pretending it doesn’t exist then it won’t arrive. When I arrived on these shores a-long-while back I made the declaration ‘if ever I leave this country it won’t be because of the weather it will be because of the attitude towards ageing’. This ‘anyone over 29 is fit for the knackers yard’ attitude is really useless.

There is no use saying ‘yes the government treats us badly’ – we treat ourselves badly. How many of us whinge and whine about how old we are? This aches, that hurts, the other doesn’t work as well as it used to. It is considered appropriate to be curmudgeonly – fair enough until you realize that your attitude rules your reality. Your reality rules your health.

We have an enormous group of people in this country with a lot to offer who are being sidelined. 50 year-olds who can’t find a job because they’re considered too old. People in their mid-40’s frightened by computers declaring they’re just too old to learn something new. With that as our reality what hope is there for the over 60’s, 70’s and heaven help us 80s?

So let us take our hats off to the government in Hong Kong who are putting into place a scheme to open up schools in the evenings and give classes to Third Agers. Before you start saying ‘And who is going to pay for this?’ I would say I’d rather money that currently goes towards things like tango lessons for those of us who are too fond of the buns; and sponsored jollies for MPs; to go towards retraining our older population. Their work ethic is usually vastly superior and many of them want to work.

As time goes by and the money from pension funds and government drains away we are going to find ourselves with a population that needs to be maintained but who in truth would prefer to be maintaining themselves. We need to restructure the way we currently do things so that there is more available work for more people who want to work and that those who currently work are able to do so in conditions more amenable to themselves and the lives of their families.

“In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”
Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937)

P.S. Speaking of aging……. Morag has decided to instiute a special Hats Off Award. Each week we will Hat’s Off to someone who has behaved in a spectacular way in the previous week. Sometimes it will be spectacularly inspirational etc. but this week is Spectacularly Silly. The First Weekly Morag’s Hats Off!! Goes to LibDem Lembet Opik for his spectacularly crass performance in Parliament this week. Whilst Morag understands that he is proud (as a man in his late 40’s) of snaring a Cheeky Girl (she in her early 20’s) we think that Westminster is probably not the appropriate place to crow. Take your smugness down to the pub and backslap with your mates – the rest of us do not want to hear about it, it is unseemly. Thank you.

Gordon, Gordon Go Away……

Despite the name Morag isn’t actually Scottish; but while she does have a penchant for most things from North of the Border, she just cannot seem to come to terms with Gordon Brown. The idea of years and years of this man at the helm is making emigrating and getting a job driving a Lord of the Rings tourbus in New Zealand sound awfully appealing.

I don’t know what it is but whatever this man does lately gets my blood boiling. Am I on my own in this?

It strikes me that he is desperate to be PM and will do/say anything to ensure that it happens. That’s fair enough; Morag likes her politicians to be driven. But somehow there seems to be something just a wee bit smug and fingerwagging about his current conduct. He’s like the one kid who immediately pipes up with “Miss Mindbender I told them not to that but they wouldn’t listen…………” when the teacher returns to an out-of-control classroom.

Yes what we have now is an out-of-control government but who has been front and centre all this time but one GB? But all of a sudden ‘It wasn’t me Miss Mindbender, honest!’ Look Gordon no amount of “I’ll give everybody a Ferrari if you all play nice’ is going to work. We are not children and we are not stupid. ‘More power to Parliament and the people…’ a blatant ploy to get the disenfranchised on side.

Mr. Brown is basically saying ‘You come play with us and I promise you too will have power’. Reminds me of those American High School films you see where some mophead stands up and offers the studentbody ‘no homework, no exams and beer in the vending machines’. ‘The state as a servant state (?)’, ‘The government working for the people’. We can see who would have flunked Politicking 101, ‘never underestimate the intelligence of the people you are trying to woo’.

I for one find this blatant pandering offensive. But then again Gordon you would never get my vote any way so I guess you can just carry on as you’re going. In the meanwhile those of us who are interested in a radical change of government need to make it our business to oust this man by whatever means necessary. The hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck-o’meter is working overtime. Sit back and allow him in because ‘there is no other viable alternative’ or ‘our man isn’t ready yet’ and we will rue the day. Tony Blair might not have been everybody’s cup of tea but this one is an altogether different and more dangerous proposition – ignore that fact and we will live to pay the price.