#N30

I work in the private sector. I don’t begrudge what public sector workers earn or the pension benefits that they receive. It shouldn’t be about reducing pensions so that we are all poorly provided for. It should be about improving living standards and pension provision across the board. There are some extremely wealthy people in this country. People in power, the rich got us into this mess. It is down to the rich to get us out of it. They need to dig deep into their pockets.

Knocking the BBC

I don’t like knocking the BBC. It’s something that those on the right are very accomplished at in their uniquely subversive, sinister and destructive way. In my opinion the BBC tries very hard to remain impartial. But I do think that they sensationalise and trivialise the news in a way that lowers standards to a form of LCD* that smacks of blatant dumbing down. They also act as unwitting pawns in the war of oppression waged by the wealthy.

The BBC trivialises

Game shows and reality TV programmes are not news. If you want to know what news is I suggest you watch Al Jazeera. Local news mainly seems to focus on ‘how can we put a local angle on national or international news however tenuous the link?’ or ‘human interest’ stories which are of absolutely no interest to normal human beings.

The BBC sensationalises

I’m going to use this definition of ‘sensationalism’: describes the act of foregoing accuracy or dignity in order to capture headlines or public attention.

It is often quite subtle but the BBC is sensationalist. Instead of just challenging they will use ridiculous angles that are not really there or are straight from the black propaganda machine of the Tory press. Please BBC, challenge in an intelligent way; a way that sticks with facts rather than emotions, a way in which you have thought about how you challenge, rather than taking the easy/lazy option. Please stop treating us like children.

 

*lowest common denominator

Can we ever be free?

Most pseudo-libertarians have a tendency to be either right-wing nutters or canon-fodder shielding and doing the donkey-work for right-wing nutters. They spout off about freedom without really having a sustainable philosophy to perpetuate their vision, if you can call it a vision. Pseudo-libertarianism is an act of irony. They preach a warped dogma that can never be fulfilled. They preach freedom from law; a perverted form of anarchy.

True freedom is not about one group of people having the ‘freedom’ to oppress another group of people. True freedom can only ever be equality. Without equality there is only subjugation.

Can we ever be free without equality?

Absolutely not!

But we need more than just equality of economic and cultural opportunity. We need equality of thought and opinion. We need a vox populi not conditioned or manipulated by a small minority. The Media controls or at the very least sets the agenda for ‘public opinion’. And, whilst The Media is in the hands of a small elitist reactionary minority we will never be free.

Stewart Lee to guest edit R4's Today

It would seem that the clever, astute and very funny comedian Stewart Lee is to guest edit the Today Programme on New Year’s Eve; a date for your diaries folks.

There is no accounting for taste

This morning I decided that I really should get around to ordering tickets for a couple of comedians I wanted to see early next year. If you don’t get in quick I usually find that these things sell out quite quickly. So I dutifully went on line to try and book some tickets. Easy I thought. How wrong I was. The booking office website kept throwing a wobbly. Funny I thought, funny.

I had to go into the city anyway so I thought I’d call in at the box office and book my tickets in person. I’m very pleased to report that I now have tickets for Jon Richardson and Richard Herring who are performing at the Norwich Playhouse next March and next April respectively. The Playhouse has added an extra night for Jon Richardson due to the first one selling out. It would seem that at long last Jon is getting the recognition he rightly deserves. I’ve never seen Richard Herring so I am much looking forward to that.

As I was booking my tickets I learnt why their website had been a problem that morning. It seems as though tickets went on sale for a Michael McIntyre show at the Theatre Royal and the phones and website went into meltdown with, according to the EDP, the tickets selling out in six minutes. Because of this Michael McIntyre is now an even more annoying tit than he was yesterday!

Be careful what you wish for

I hate this particular saying, but like so many wordy irritations it’s found its way into popular usage. Having said that I have realised that it could well be relevant to our current PM “Oi! David Cameron, this ‘Big Society’, be careful what you wish for”.

Tory economics have sown the seeds of a ‘Big Society’. Quite intentionally I’m sure. But if that ‘Big Society’ does come to fruition and flourish it could well manifest itself in a way that no narrow-minded self-centred Tory could have ever imagined.

I think we in the West witnessed the ‘Arab spring’ uprisings and thought that it was something that couldn’t possibly happen here. But I’m now starting to think that it could easily happen here. Yes, it could well take a slightly different form to that of our Arab brethren, but I think it is coming.

In this country so many people are fed up with the lies, cheating, embezzling and double-standards practised by many politicians. Whilst, at the same time they see their own incomes and standard of living plummeting. Unfortunately there are still too many Neanderthals that believe what they are fed by the Tory media about it being all the fault of scroungers and immigrants, which it clearly isn’t. Why do the simple minded always want to assign blame downwards? But a growing number of us with a smattering of intelligence know that it is bonus bulging bankers and assorted other feral financiers that have raped and pillaged the Western world and left so many of its people hungry and destitute. The ‘Occupy’ movement is a shining example of the way to go. Non-violent direct action along with a great big dollop of community-self-help is the recipe that will enable the 99% to succeed. Today’s take-over of the empty UBS building to form The Bank of Ideas is such a wonderful initiative. We can control our destiny. We can break free of these chains that bind us. All it requires is a little imagination.

The coalition isn’t working

To the unemployed person it doesn’t matter what the level of unemployment is as for them it’s 100%. Today’s unemployment figure of 2.62 million people might well fit nicely with the Tory economic model but these are real people, real people that are being denied the right to work. My lady is one of them, a victim of the Tory local government cuts. A large proportion of this unemployment has been created by the government when it didn’t need to be so. There are alternatives we just need a government with some courage and a sense of fairness.

This government is destroying lives. You do wonder how ministers manage to sleep at night. I suppose it’s because they really don’t give a shit!