SUDDENLY the world seems very small.
We, its mortal inhabitants, feel jaded by it; whatever’s going on, we’ve seen it all before.
War rages around the planet, as it always has. Among the latest casualties, in the dust of Afghanistan, are three brave young Paras. I pray that God will bless their souls and comfort their families.
Meanwhile, away from the battlefield, the world seems degraded and dysfunctional.
The peoples of the Earth are powerless, beaten and demoralised – ripe for a take-over by a new wave of authoritarianism.
We might accurately call the emerging new authoritarianism Liberal-Fascism – because that, disgustingly and disappointingly, is exactly what’s come creeping out of the wreckage of modern liberalism and Western values.
By the time you read this the Irish will (a) be about to or (b) have already struck a blow against Liberal-Fascism by voting against the repressive EU Constitution.
(I refuse to call it a treaty, because it so clearly ain’t.)
Whatever happens with the vote in Ireland, there is still a big struggle ahead for the peoples of European to wrest back their freedoms and rights of self-determination from arrogant, self-serving politicians with imperial delusions.
So fasten your seatbelts, folks, the going is rough already, and it’s going to get a lot rougher.
Because we are also going to have to cope with: further environmental collapse; an imminent freefall in property values; and, particularly the case of Britain, the high risk of Islamist terror attacks.
With all that to worry about, it would be nice to pretend, as the useless Liverpool City Council and its taxpayer-funded hangers-on do, that all that matters is shopping and ritzy urban redevelopment.
Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not impressed by the Liverpool One shopping complex, with its naff chain stores and its private security army.
And it’s perfectly obvious what will happen over the next few months…
More of the national and international chain stores will jump ship from Church Street and the St John’s shopping centre, leaving the city’s former shopping heart, including Bold Street, to be taken over by pound shops and gaudy emporia filled with cheap crap.
That trend is already underway and it was inevitable after the go-ahead was given to Liverpool One.
Duh! It’s a pattern that’s already been repeated in towns and cities across Britain.
And it’s precisely the reason why the recently announced £100 million make-over for the St John’s centre will be a monumental waste of money.
Honestly, this is the way things are going. Read it here first. Traditional shopping is heading for a steep decline as recession bites and we switch to buying via the internet.
Those who always talk up a fantasy future for Liverpool, with loads of luxury shopping and penthouse living everywhere, do the genuine people of the city (who know the problems and the reality intimately) absolutely no favours at all.
* IN MY NEXT POSTING… Chillin’ in Tallulah’s bar, New Brighton … and why nobody, apart from me and Posh Boots, can appreciate the brilliance of singer-songwriters Roddy Frame and Steve Forbert.
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Sam Alabaster wrote...
Blimey Steve, you climbed on board the libertarian bandwagon even before David Davis. You've clearly got your finger on the pulse .. of deluded idiots everywhere.
REGAN REPLIED: I think you know a thing or two about deluded idiots, Sam.
Posted by: Sam Alabaster | June 15, 2008 8:26 PM