Friday 28 September 2012

Ambi-dextrose

Unless there are sound medical reasons for not doing otherwise a wrist watch should only ever be worn on the left wrist. The wearing of a watch on the right wrist is the mark of a complete knobhead! It’s not big, it’s not clever and it doesn’t look cool! There is no rational justification for it.


And, don’t give me any of that ‘left-handed’ shit. Yes I accept for a left-handed person the right-handed world is not always a user-friendly place but there are some things that are just not handed centric. Driving a car is a classic example and wearing a watch most certainly falls into this category.


Not as heinous as wearing a watch on the wrong wrist but equally as plonker-like is the wearing of a watch on the ‘inside or underneath’ of one’s wrist. This I have found to be the territory of anorak types, train-spotters and readers of Terry Pratchett novels. You know, sad gits.


Occasionally the world gets it wrong. Sometimes there is a better, alternate hand way of doing things. Take the computer mouse for instance. Am I the only right-handed person who uses a mouse with their left hand? Why anyone would use a mouse in their right hand is beyond me. So inefficient!


Here endeth this public service announcement.




Tuesday 25 September 2012

Budding lyricists

As spotty teenagers my best friend Neddy and I dreamt of mega-stardom. We were going to take the world by storm and secure our fortunes by writing killer lyrics. Of course it never happened. I’ve spent my life languishing in dead-end jobs that I’ve always hated and he has ended up a vicar for the jolly old CofE. The world lost out.


Why am I telling you this today?
Well, the first song lyric that we wrote was entitled ‘The 25th of September’.
It’s possible that I may still have a copy of the said lyrics somewhere but would be too afraid to go in search of them for fear of what I might find.








Happy birthday Penelope, wherever you are x

Saturday 22 September 2012

Happiness in magazines

What is happiness?

Is it attainable?

The world is full of idiots who see material wealth as the key to happiness. The queues for the latest iPhone prove that.



Money doesn’t buy happiness. I suppose that’s easy for me to say that as I’m a ‘have’. For the ‘have nots’ it’s a harder concept to grasp. And quite rightly so. I’m a firm believer in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in as much as all people require a certain level of comfort to feel happy. Other than that happiness is a state of mind generated by the self and cannot be induced by acquiring wealth.



Happiness comes from within.



Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness” – Zhuangzi

Friday 21 September 2012

War is over...

Today is the International Day of Peace:
“Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.” – United Nations


One day humankind will be advanced enough and civilised enough to realise that war achieves absolutely nothing. The United Nations are there before most states. They recognise that war is futile and have declared this day of peace. Sadly most of the rest of the world don’t seem to be able to grasp that war benefits no one. But that is no reason not to mark this day. I’m a great believer in “from tiny acorns, mighty oaks do grow”. So publicising and marking the International Day of Peace is a positive step. War can be over if we want it. If we really want to eradicate war we can do it. All it needs, and it’s a big all, is the will to change. If people want it peace will break out. I live in hope that good will win through over the misguided.


“Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future” is the theme chosen for this year's observance of the International day of Peace. As the worlds resources start to diminish co-operation and sustainability are the only way forward. Anything else is effectively suicide for humankind.


There are no winners in war. War destroys. War is in no way positive. Support the International Day of Peace in any way you can, even if it is only to make someone else aware of it. Together we can eradicate war.

Wednesday 19 September 2012

If I had a hammer

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”

- Abraham Maslow

Dear Diary Nº 4

Dear Diary, some days I tire of Twitter. Today is one of those days. I think, “what’s the point?”


I suppose DD in essence there is no point. There is no point to anything. We are all just victims of Chaos Theory, cause and effect.


“My brain hurts”



 

Life tag – The Beatles – I'm Down

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Be very, very afraid

I’m always frustrated when people defend not voting or not taking an interest in the political system by claiming that all politicians are the same. I’ve never believed that they are. I am convinced there are some of them driven purely by altruistic political belief and are not just there to line their pockets. I hope I’m right.


Last week’s report on the Hillsborough disaster frightened me probably more than most of the ‘revelations’ of the past few years. It seemed to me that ‘corruption’ in public life had spread further than many imagined in a way that was quite insidious and fascist in nature, and, it started with Thatcher as I’d often suspected. It made me realise that politics is still riddled with vested interest and corruption and it permeates all levels. The ‘Establishment’ rules like it has always ruled. Very often the ‘Establishment’ is made up from a smallish number of families and interlopers, all public school educated and hell bent on preserving the status quo. They fight tooth and nail to keep what they have. They play dirty. Very, very dirty.


Perhaps it is time to just kick everybody out from top to bottom and start all over again?

Friday 14 September 2012

Unity is strength

I’m a member of Unite, the union. As someone whose politics have all his adult life been on the left I’ve struggled off and on with my affection for the trade union movement. No one can deny that we owe them a great debt but I’ve also always held them partly responsible for Thatcherism. In the late 70s and early 80s they played right into the hands of the evil Thatcher and her henchmen. I often think the union movement and the Labour movement in general has never fully owned up to their part in failing to effectively fight the Thatcher Reich. I’m no Blairite but Tony Blair certainly ‘got it’ in terms of understanding the Thatcher rise to power.


I’ve long maintained that the remit of trade unions is far too narrow. I don’t like what Thatcher did to this country but we are where we are. With a continuously crumbling industrial base unions need to branch out into the wider community. I don’t support violence or mixing religion with politics but I do have a slight admiration for the work of Hamas as an organisation not only do they strive for political power but they try to look after the welfare of the people they seek to represent. We still have some semblance of a welfare state despite the debauched excesses of the current Tory government but it might not be too long before organisations do what David Cameron wants and caring people start picking up the pieces of Tory Broken Britain.


My union, Unite, has recently started something called ‘Community Membership’. It’s union membership for those not in work. The idea is to encourage those in the wider community to organise and fight the injustices in our society. It’ll take a lot of hard work to establish something that can challenge the moneyed establishment and counteract the lies of their lackeys in the press, but if enough people get to know about community membership and actually get involved things could change for the better. It’s a big if of course. Getting people to get involved is an uphill struggle. But if an organisation like my union could pull it off the lives of so many people could be transformed for the better.


You can’t fight the establishment on your own!