NEWSFLASH!!
I've resurrected my old SAM BRADY of the ORACLE column as a blog. Check it out ...
http://sambradyoracle.blogspot.com/
THE world's in a fair old pickle and no mistake.
All the greatest minds have had their say on the financial crisis, the global panic and pervasive feeling that we're about to enter a new Dark Age. Including me!
The money markets might be settling down - or they might not. It's too early to tell, but the world's economy is certainly sliding into recession and maybe depression.
Part of me, actually, thinks it's good that the economy's collapsing - because we are all surely fed up with buying too much junk.
To keep the world's economy going we have to buy loads of rubbish - processed food, consumer durables, motor cars, computer bits and bobs, replica sports togs, and - in the case of women - billions of tonnes of cosmetic gunk.
Whole research departments exist within the nasty brigands of international capitalism to design and build obsolescence into products - so we will keep on buying crap new lines.
For the same reason the capitalists deliberately design product incompatibility into parts and accessories. Have you ever tried to buy a spare charger for your mobile phone, for instance? How come they vary so much between models and even between successive generations of models? And how come they cost so much? It's madness.
This is no way to live. It means we are constantly letting things rot in the fridge, because we buy too much; it means we must keep on de-cluttering our houses, because we buy too much.
And we work too much. Yes, millions of people, certainly in Britain, toil and spin for cruelly overlong working hours and get very stressed and bitter as a consequence - especially in office jobs, where there are endless meetings to endure, plus much bullying and spiteful office politics.
Is our system of work, capitalist production and mass consumption making us happy, generally? Yeah, thought you might think that!
Just who IS happy these days? Are the workers, who toil and struggle to pay mortgages and rent while having little time for relaxation and family life?
And those people who exist on State benefits, in constant fear of benefits review and being forced into low-paid jobs, are they happy?
Is Britain, generally speaking, a happy country? Well, of course it isn't!
There is surely a better system of distributing useful work around while reducing consumer addiction and giving everyone time for relaxation, family life and philosophising about life.
And that latter aspect, the benefit of philosophising about life, and having the time and space to do so, is something we have forgotten. That's a great shame. There can be no happiness without personal philosophising about life and the glorious mysteries involved in being human and mortal.
Whatever. We are currently unhappy. Have been for some considerable time. We are worried. Really, really worried.
If any further proof were needed on this score, the Bards of New Brighton, meeting last Monday, reflected the new fin de siècle feelings of world-weariness and despair. That's fitting I suppose, since poets and artists were at the forefront of the original fin de siècle .
One after the other our Bards gave lyrical form to the angst that hovers above the world. Some of their poems were most eloquent, to be sure, but I do urge them to try out some different, more uplifting material the next time we meet. Let's have some poems that offer a smidgeon of hope for the future. A prize from me for the most optimistic poem or song next time!
Meanwhile, in a possibly ill-judged attempt to lift the mood at Monday might's meeting I closed the session by singing The Red Flag defiantly, or at least the first verse and chorus, which I could remember, as follows...
"The people's flag is deepest red
It shrouded oft our martyred dead.
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold
Their heart's blood dyed to ev'ry fold.
Then raise the scarlet standard high!
Beneath its folds, we'll live and die!
Though cowards scoff and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here!"
It's funny, but just about the only songs I can remember from my childhood are "The Red Flag" and "Faith of My Fathers". Oh, and also the hymn that begins "Immaculate Mary, Our Hearts Are On Fire!"
Consequently, it's a bit of a party trick of mine to sing those - especially when drink has been taken.
Anyway, the Bards will meet again at the Magazine pub, New Brighton, on Monday 10 November, starting at 8pm.
Be there - or be square.
WELL done Peter Kay for satirising the appalling rash of TV talent shows so effectively with "Britain's Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice" on C4 last Sunday.
It could be argued that X Factor, Strictly and all those cheesey musical theatre and battling choir shows were themselves glorious parodies.
But actually, what the mainstream "talent" shows do is much more cynical - they trade on the dumbing down of the British public and then manipulate the viewers to make money out of them through rip-off phone voting.
Peter Kay's spoof winning entrant, a transexual balladeer from Northern Ireland, called Geraldine, was a hoot.
Apart from being entertaining, Kay's show might also have shamed people who've been taking the talent shows too seriously into seeing them for what they are - moronic garbage.
I wish I was still writing my old Sam Brady TV review column for the ITV's teletext pages - because I'd be singing Peter's praises across the nation.
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New Brighton Newbie wrote...
Aye it was a bit doom and gloom at the bards this week, still some really good material though.
I think everyone is a bit depressed at the moment, my other half just found out her office might be moving offshore, all my mates seem to have job security worries at the moment, and at work it seems 4 of our clients have gone bust this week alone owing us thousands - and they are solicitors. You know things are bad when solicitors are going bust!
Have a look at my scathing review of modern TV over on my own blog under "100 Worst TV Shows". I think we are singing from the same hymn sheet. If you were still doing the Sam Brady column, wouldn't it be depressing with so little good tv to write about?
I wish I'd see the Peter Kay thing, sounds like it was a laugh!
I've always wanted to write comedy, so I'm going to have a go in time for next month's Bards. If I don't find any inspiration I'll just have to fall back on politics again!
REGAN REPLIES: Everyone says you are a funny guy, so we'll enjoy laughing at you at the Bards. Oh, heck, I didn't quite mean it like that!
Posted by: New Brighton Newbie | October 15, 2008 10:18 PM