Everlasting Winter

This winter feels like it has lasted forever. Usually people say winter is never over until February is out of the way but this year February came and went, was very cold and now at the end of March we seem firmly entrenched in winter still. Suffering with a severe arthritic condition makes the cold no fun for me at all. I'm reluctant to put the heating on as its so expensive these days but sometimes I just think to hell with the bill and put it on, pain it seems tips the balance over cost when the cold is really biting. I dread to think what large fuel bills families have? In winter my bill usually comes in around £300 quarterly and I avoid using it as much as possible. I layer up clothing wise, even sometimes wear a hat, my apartment being on the top floor seemingly is colder in winter yet hot in summer, ideally I need to look at relocating.

I recall about a decade or so ago gas and electric seemed relatively cheap, stretching my mind back I think my bills came in around £80 for a quarter and it always seemed to be on in winter. How times change and how the fuel companies have been consumed with greed. of course the governments remarks about it yet nothing seems to be done, no surprises really.

These days the gap between rich and poor is becoming ever more apparent. The current government seems determined to purge the poor. Benefits are being slashed whilst living costs rise. It even seems that you see more poor people these days, its evident just by the way they are dressed, added to the fact we seem to have an increasing amount of lower class Eastern Europeans on the streets, if you haven't seen social changes then my guess is that your head must be buried in the sand, you're rich and oblivious to it, or you just choose to ignore it as it doesn't really concern you. The reality today is that the world is a changing place, in fact its been changing quite rapidly for a while now when you stop and take stock of things. I've taken to watching different news channels to get a broader picture of what's happening around the UK and around the world. As for the press? Well most of the British press is odious and predictable. Right wing tabloids often putting spin on stories to divide society even more. 

Despondent? Not really, I just seem to have an increasing awareness to the reality of how things are changing and not for the better. Right now though I want winter to end, for the pain and stiffness in my joints to subside and for rays of sun to shine through. This winter has slowed me down. which of course has slowed my plans down, the claws of the cold weather seemingly place curses on my ambition.

The Cult Of Celebrity

Every time you switch your Tv on these days there is a reality show on, its nothing new, we seemed to have embraced reality programmes with a passion over the last decade or so. I can't deny that I've watched reality shows and enjoyed them in the past but these days I think they are cliché to the extreme. The current crop of shows gracing our screens at the moment has contorted the word 'celebrity', it has changed the meaning to 'someone that may have been on a programme once in the past'. Of course real stars avoid celebrity programmes like the plague, why tarnish a good career? It's the desperado's that we are left with, the ones that will do anything for exposure that could lead to other things or bring a few quid in. Then of course we have to address the fact they are clearly deluded and their overblown self belief is evident.

What I find amusing on celebrity programmes these days, such as celeb big brother or celeb coach trip et al is when the celebs first meet they regularly don't even know who the other is! The reason generally being for that is that they really aren't well known at all. There seems to be a collision on such programmes of celebs that have crashed and burned such as Michael Barrymore meeting celebs (I use the word loosely here) who have been on some minor cable channel decorating rooms or something.

It seems all you have to do these days is appear on a reality tv programme, albeit even once and you have transcended normal everyday life and are now a celebrity. An article that recently amused me was two X-Factor contestants called '2 Shoes' (yes from Essex, where else!) announced after being booted out of the show on the first week that they wanted to do their own chat show. Here lies the problem with the whole cult of celebrity these days, in the fact after minimum exposure people assume they've hit the big time and deserve something without any effort at all. The tragedy is that the world of minor celebrity is a cut-throat one, they have to hustle for such shows to pay their way, however demeaning they might be or you swiftly fall from grace and into debt, I quote Jade Goody for instance who died leaving sizeable debts and other celebs such as the loathsome Kerry Katona that has reported of being in considerable debt before.

What we seem to have these days is the regular circuit celebs, looking at the current crop of celeb programmes it seems to be the ones that have been on Big Brother in the past or as I stated above are fallen stars or minor channel wannabe's.

I guess in the past I used to enjoy such shows to a degree, I never took them seriously they were just something I watched whimsically. I guess the likes of Big Brother started out as something experimental and new but rapidly declined into the same old crap year in, year out. The by-product being people that probably enjoy a 5 mins of fame before lapsing into the unknown abyss and then being unable to come to terms with it.

The bad news is though the media will keep churning it out and of course there is a market for it on tv and the tabloids which is probably the reason I don't read such newspapers any more or watch that much television, unless I want to vent my spleen at such drivel for therapy.

Trouble Ahead?

I popped into my local pub this morning for a coffee and to see if my letter had been published in the area newspaper (see blog below). In no time the staff pointed out an article about a newly formed local wing of the EDL (English Defence League for those reading overseas). The EDL is a right wing nationalist organisation that is gaining some degree of popularity so I guess it was only a matter of time before my sleepy little town had its own collection of motley bigots.

The staff also told me that a shopkeeper in the convenience store on the next road to me had been attacked the previous evening after a group of EDL supporters had been in my local beforehand, what a coincidence! The owners of the shop are probably of Iranian or Turkish origin, or from that part of the world and when I pop in they've always been very polite and helpful, they speak excellent English and the shop is well stocked and set out.

In the local paper the newly formed local EDL are stating the aren't against multiculturalism but don't want sharia law or islam rising within the town. To my knowledge there are virtually almost no Muslims within my small town population wise. Whilst I am no fan of Islam in a religious context I've nothing against people who come from Islamic regions of the world as long as they aren't fanatical about their beliefs. If we have a large group of foreign people within the town then it is East Europeans and though I personally do think there are too many over here again I have nothing against them as people, I just think it is a political issue and past and present governments have let us down on immigration and the numbers let into Britain. I love the fact we are a multicultural nation and we have cultures that have influenced us over generations, after all where would we be without a good curry house or Chinese takeaway?

In the article it mentions an EDL march of some sort in the near future but no date is given, in fact it's all very vague on their part, I wonder why? Perhaps they don't want any opposition when they parade. I hope it remains vague and they never really get organised. Nearly all of the local population here would agree with me and say this sort of thing isn't wanted here and my own view is if you have strong nationalistic views then be legitimate with them and follow a political route with relevant dialogue, not that it really did the British National Party any good in the past election. My own view is that there are problems within society and multiculturalism, especially in some areas of the country and its only recently David Cameron has commented upon this contentious subject. There's nothing wrong in being proud of your country and having opinions especially in these problematic days but lets be quintessentially British here and show that we can be calm and sensible about such matters without resorting to violence and racism, there's positive patriotism and negative and we certainly don't need the latter.

No Surprise

It came as no surprise that a letter I sent to my local paper wasn't published. I suspect they thought it was controversial and didn't want to rock the boat with their christian readership. I certainly didn't pull any punches with it because I wanted to be as direct as possible, so here's the letter below.

'Editor

I write this email in regard to last week’s Newark Advertiser dated 30^th June which had an article on page 32 called ‘Credo’ written by Pastor Carl Meachem of the Newark Evangelical Church.

The article states the church ‘plays a vital role’ but very speedily launches into religious rhetoric and quotations from a book that is ambiguous in factual content at best. I fail to see how any article littered with biblical quotes and comparisons for example ‘the church is the body of Christ’ really conveys to a reader of a ‘news’ paper. Personally in a secular society I do not think we need to see this kind of article within a local publication, should anyone want to read or hear religious ramblings then they can of course go to church.

Mr Meachem closes with the point of ‘around the world we hear of Christianity’s rapid growth’. All I can say to this is that here in Europe it is in fact on the decline as people adopt a more sensible, pragmatic and humanistic way of life. I would also like to mention that people don’t want to hear Mr Meachem’s religious rants in public, I refer to his occasional appearances on the corner of Bridge Street/Market place in which we are force fed words written by ignorant old men long ago. Modern society needs optimism and common sense and not someone wailing to us as we shop that we are ‘doomed sinners’ etc. '

Yours .......

Again in this weeks edition we have more christian fervour and rhetoric, christ is coming back etc, this time by a baptist minister. We have so many different types of believers locally all trying to sell their own take on the bible but none in my view are more odious than the local Jehovah's Witnesses or the fanatical Evangelicals. These are the sort I am vehemently against as they are committed to bringing biblical bullshit to the streets and doorsteps and if they had their way we would all be thrall's to their misguided beliefs.

In closing if you are reading this Pastor Carl Meachem I'd just like to point out to you that its been in the news this week that christian bookshops around the UK are closing rapidly which totally contradicts your claim that christianity is booming once more - religion is hopefully in permanent recession.