AS promised, here are the scripts for the other three ´Thought for Today´ slots I did for BBC Radio Merseyside´s Breakfast show from 15 to 19 October 2007.

ON TRUE ART ... AND PHONEY ART
In an era when we are bombarded by strident images everwhere, the genuine artist has to struggle to get us to notice his or her vision.
But if things go to plan today (19 October 2007), the spotlight will have fallen on the work of the four artists shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize – one of the most talked about awards for the visual arts in Europe.

The trouble is, of course, it is often talked about for the wrong reasons ... because people like to scoff at what modern artists have created.
We all remember the furore caused when Tracey Emin won the prize with her unmade bed -complete with dirty sheets and empty booze bottles.
Not many folk were impressed when Damien Hirst triumphed with his dead cow and calf, pickled and put on display.
Now four artists have been shortlisted for the prize, which for the first time is being hosted outside of London - at Tate Liverpool no less.
The artists are Zarina Bhimji, Nathan Coley, Mike Nelson and Mark Wallinger. I intend to visit the special exhibition of their work before rushing to judgement.
I feel It´s too easy to be critical of modern art, and I would not want to be critical of an individual artist’s motivation - if that motivation is purely to create art as such ... and not merely to service the needs of advertisers.
It has been said that advertising is actually a sinful waste of creative resources, because it hijacks humankind’s noble ability to create grace-filled beauty and uses it for ignoble purposes -
namely to sell something for commercial gain and to spread the tentacles of consumer addiction every further.
That is not true art. It is phoney art. So we should, as someone far wittier than me has suggested, call it "phart".

ON THE SERIOUS SIDE OF HUMOUR
It’s interesting to me that the words ´humour´ and ´human´ are so similar sounding.
The similarity is appropriate, because having a sense of humour is surely one of the hallmark qualities of being human.
Animals don’t have a sense of humour – as far as we know – but most people do. Particularly in Liverpool – which is famous for its wit and its native comedians.
In one sense, humour is no laughing matter. It serious stuff. Very important to us.
We can tell humour is important to us, because if we feel moved to say something demeaning about someone we will often say: "He has no sense of humour."
We are implying that that person is not a fully-rounded human being – because he can’t take a joke.
Of course, what is actually the case is the person that we find stuffy or boring or "humourless", really just has a sense of humour that´s different to our own.
Interestingly, in a British context, we enjoy taking the mickey out of people by ridiculing their shortcomings or perceived character defects.
Many people quite enjoy bitching about their friends, colleagues, bosses etc. It is not the most morally neutral for of humour, but it can be terrific good fun, and it can cause us to snigger and giggle, which are tremendously warm, life-enhancing human qualities.
Constant bitchiness and cruel jibes can, however, be very hurtful.
It is a question of the motives behind the bitching and mickey-taking. If those come from affection or love the humorous jibes are harmless. If they are based on hatred and cruelty they are not.
On the whole, most of us could do with a little less bitching in our lives, and a whole lot more loving.

ON WHY JOHN LENNON WAS WRONG
John Lennon famously invited us to ´Imagine there’s no countries … and no religion too´.
Apart from the dodgy grammar, there is something else I don’t like about those two short lines – and that’s the sentiments expressed.
Frankly, I can think of nothing worse than a world lacking nations and religious faith.
Though it might be considered old-fashioned to say this, nations are a fundamental part of our human identity.
And historically they’ve provided the framework within which culture has flourished.
Without religion, a human is prone to place the Self at the centre of life, which is very dangerous.
In the developed West, particularly, people are increasingly chasing selfish pleasure - and in so doing losing out on community, family and solidarity with others.
In the song Imagine, John Lennon asks us to envisage a society where the ´very things that define us as human are missing, such as religion, and nations and possessions.
He intended the song, I’m sure, to be an anthem for love and peace, and most people accept it as such.
But I’m afraid I don’t. At the poetry group, The Bards of New Brighton, I recently read my poem Imagine Revisited – which contends that what Lennon’s song actually encourages is an eternal, inhuman fantasyland.
The poem usually provokes strong reactions, both pro- and anti-. Here is a small selection from it ..
Imagine there’s no religion .. that means no point to life
No force that built the western lands
No joy, no culture, no strife
No way of telling when things are wrong
No wit, no wisdom, no sacred song
No running mascara, no panda eyes
No satirical sniggers, no cunning lies
No richness to life … for dreamers like John
When all that makes us human … is gone.

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