I can't actually understand where it all went wrong with this country, was it destined to happen no matter what government we had or is just "not-so-new" labour making a mockery of our taxes?
Answers on a postcard
Sunday 26 April 2009
Wednesday 25 March 2009
Jade Goody
Let me start off by saying I wouldn't wish what she went through on my worst enemy, and my heartfelt and sincere sympathy goes to her sons, 3 and 5 years old, who now have to live without their mother. Heartbreaking.
I do however, find headlines such as "Our Jade" and, pick of the bunch, "The Princess of Essex" a little too tongue in cheek for my liking because I feel that they are so exaggerated that it's embarrassing for the people who felt the need to write them. Princess of Essex? Seriously? This girl was as thick as two short planks, racist and naive, a loud mouthed tube who the nation loved to laugh at and/or be disgusted by, and yet, when she has to undergo a brutal, debilitating illness that takes her young life, suddenly the whole country thinks she's a national treasure? Well I'm sorry but no way no how. David Cameron should have scoffed in the faces of whoever it was who quoted him as saying she was an "inspiration to all young women out there"- was he being sarcastic there? She must inspire all the Vicky Pollard wannabes to crave fame at any cost and be completely susceptible to manipulation by publicity "guru's" such as Max "Mercenary Genius" Clifford.
I think it's fair to say I never liked Jade, or what she represented as piece of Broken Britain, but she did gain my respect somewhat with her cervical cancer campaign to get the screening age lowered. I hope it's successful and she is allowed that little legacy as testament to all she went through in her short life.
However, it was after this that some people dared to suggest that she could be compared to a "Diana from the wrong side of the tracks"! Say what? Now Jade Goody was many things but she was never another Princess Diana. I draw no similarities at all, but I do think it interesting that Diana died as a direct result of the Press following her every move, whereas Jade died HOPING the press would be following her every move and paying good money to do so.
So who are going to follow the coffin in the 21 car cavalcade that has been arranged for her funeral? Surely only the likes of royalty ever need that many cars to fill with mourners? I was thinking they could have a new reality t.v show called "how much did YOU love Jade?" and get random members of the public to perform like ignorant idiots to deem which one wanted to be at the funeral most? No? Just as well, because I imagine that those 21 cars will be full of utter losers trying to gain column inches for themselves simply by being there. I feel bad for her husband Jack also because he has to mourn not with family but with a bunch of strangers, most of whom never met let alone liked his short-lived bride!
In summary, the whole nation's "grief" shows us much more about the curse of Celebrity on our social structure as it does about a poor Essex girl who found fame and fortune but alas all that she ever dreamed of couldn't keep her alive one minute longer than if she'd still been poor and unknown.
It makes me sad. :(
I do however, find headlines such as "Our Jade" and, pick of the bunch, "The Princess of Essex" a little too tongue in cheek for my liking because I feel that they are so exaggerated that it's embarrassing for the people who felt the need to write them. Princess of Essex? Seriously? This girl was as thick as two short planks, racist and naive, a loud mouthed tube who the nation loved to laugh at and/or be disgusted by, and yet, when she has to undergo a brutal, debilitating illness that takes her young life, suddenly the whole country thinks she's a national treasure? Well I'm sorry but no way no how. David Cameron should have scoffed in the faces of whoever it was who quoted him as saying she was an "inspiration to all young women out there"- was he being sarcastic there? She must inspire all the Vicky Pollard wannabes to crave fame at any cost and be completely susceptible to manipulation by publicity "guru's" such as Max "Mercenary Genius" Clifford.
I think it's fair to say I never liked Jade, or what she represented as piece of Broken Britain, but she did gain my respect somewhat with her cervical cancer campaign to get the screening age lowered. I hope it's successful and she is allowed that little legacy as testament to all she went through in her short life.
However, it was after this that some people dared to suggest that she could be compared to a "Diana from the wrong side of the tracks"! Say what? Now Jade Goody was many things but she was never another Princess Diana. I draw no similarities at all, but I do think it interesting that Diana died as a direct result of the Press following her every move, whereas Jade died HOPING the press would be following her every move and paying good money to do so.
So who are going to follow the coffin in the 21 car cavalcade that has been arranged for her funeral? Surely only the likes of royalty ever need that many cars to fill with mourners? I was thinking they could have a new reality t.v show called "how much did YOU love Jade?" and get random members of the public to perform like ignorant idiots to deem which one wanted to be at the funeral most? No? Just as well, because I imagine that those 21 cars will be full of utter losers trying to gain column inches for themselves simply by being there. I feel bad for her husband Jack also because he has to mourn not with family but with a bunch of strangers, most of whom never met let alone liked his short-lived bride!
In summary, the whole nation's "grief" shows us much more about the curse of Celebrity on our social structure as it does about a poor Essex girl who found fame and fortune but alas all that she ever dreamed of couldn't keep her alive one minute longer than if she'd still been poor and unknown.
It makes me sad. :(
Wednesday 21 January 2009
The New President
Okay, first things first, I'm not slating Barack Obama, he seems a nice bloke, but I do have a few concerns over his election and now his forthcoming term in Office.
Firstly, the headlines proclaiming him as a Saviour of America are very annoying. He may well be a very charismatic, gifted orator, but it will take nothing short of an absolute miracle to get America and the rest of the worlds Economies out of the mess they have been allowed to get into, not to mention the two wars they continue to fight.
Yes, he could save them BILLIONS of dollars by pulling US troops out of Iraq, but he has already said in pre-election interviews and debates that he personally feels another troop SURGE is needed in Afghanistan, so where there will be a saving, there will be another loss.
Secondly, all the people who said his election was a victory for democracy, was it really? I'm sorry but you can't hide the fact that there were more black people who voted than in any other time in their history (there was another black candidate before Obama, I can't remember his name, he did not gain many votes) so you cannot say that in many of the so-called "Swing" states this didn't influence the result? Come on. Yes, people voted in their millions, but people who otherwise wouldn't have bothered voting for a Democrat WHITE senator put their considerable weight behind a BLACK senator.
It was a result of a feeling of oppression that clearly still runs very deep in the African American psyche that they felt they had to vote now or lose their chance of a black president for another 4 years minimum. The fact that they got a candidate who was both Eloquent and Charming was a bonus. I honestly think that he could have had half his charisma and still been elected.
He was also helped, let's not forget, by the low-level his opponents set him. John McCain, an all-round decent bloke but ageing faster than the speed of sound and his inept-but-loveable sidekick Sarah Palin, who truly it appears, was the result of putting lipstick on a pig and a pitbull and then letting them mate. She was, to put it mildly, horrendous. As a politician she lacked experience, as a person she lacked charm, and as a candidate for the vice-presidency she lacked overall appeal.
McCain would have had a fighting chance with nearly anyone else. Democrat cynics rightly (for once) I feel picked up on the fact that she was picked almost solely because they wanted the feminist vote. Poor timing given that in a straight sprint there will always be more racists than misoginists!
Again, he wasn't exactly replacing Abraham Lincoln either, it was George W Bush Jnr. OFFICIALLY the most denounced and hated president of all time by many accounts, and officially with the title of Lowest EVER approval ratings for a president leaving office. Then there was the itch factor, the fact that a republican had been in office for 8 years, so many people will just have fancied a change and voted democrat whether it was Barack Obama in the hot seat or not.
All that aside, I very honestly have to wish him well for us forthcoming presidency, really I do.
I hope I'm proved majestically wrong and that his term will be remembered as one of new hope and promise, where old mistakes were righted and new policies greeted with cries of approval from all around. But I feel I will not be reading this is 4 years and thinking I was completely mistaken, because I think there is far too much pressure being put on President Obama's shoulders right from the start, stirring though his Inaugural speech may have been.
JK
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