I am not going to say it, I'll tell you this now. Already I see people sending "Happy Xmas" messages to other people's facebook walls. STOP! It isn't Xmas yet! It is annoying! Although in the household I am in at the moment you would have the right to be confused. We are breaking with tradition and having our Xmas dinner today on the eve. This is out of sympathy for my Mum who unfortunately has a night shift on Xmas, and thus would rather avoid all of the stress/anger and finally joy that the dinner preparation brings before attending to patients. It suits me because it seems to extend the Xmas experience. Dinner today and presents tomorrow. That suits me fine.
I am quite thoughtful at this juncture. Likely because in many ways, 2012 promises to be a year of positive change for me. First and foremost I have made the radical decision to take evening classes that will tutor in how to write a novel. Those of you who know me well may have had a curious feeling of deja vu, and you would be forgiven for doing so. I have been yapping on about doing that for a while, and have barely started before abandoning the project. That was unfortunate but at the time was for the best, my last project in many ways was a reflection of the sort of person I was nearly 2 years ago. Disatisfied would sum it up. And in some ways angry. But I can say with a smile that I am simply not that person anymore. And so my ideas about what to write have changed and settled on a different project. I don't want to go on about it, I would prefer that anyone who is interested would ask me privately about the novel. It is basically an anti-Twilight book, that is the only clue you are getting.
The other positive change that will take place is myself and my dearest girlfriend moving in together. We have now been together for just over 2 years, and I can say with no exageration that she has changed my life (for the better in case you are wondering). I mentioned before that I am not the same person I was 2 years ago, much happier, and she has played a big part in this change. This will be an adventure for both of us. We are both are own people and more than a little odd, but I am sure we will settle down in our new place before too long. Wherever that may be. So long as it is devoid of crooked/crazy landlords, money grabbing agencies, leaking walls, leaking ceilings, dodgy electrics, junkies and other obstacles to a setttled homelife in Bristol that have plagued both of us over the years. I am greatly looking forward to it. The other positive change in 2012 again I will have to ask people to contact me privately about, if they are curious to know. Sorry about the mystery but I have seen people say too much online before and endanger their current circumstances. Rest assured that everything is alright, no one will be hurt. And this is definitely something I am looking forward to. In many ways I should have done it a long time before, but I am pleased that it will happen soon. Better late than never.
As ever I have watched 2011 from a political angle with a keen eye. It has been a very busy year indeed. Evil doer deaths have gone up: Colonel Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong Il as a late entry. There have also been some rather sad ones as regards talented individuals as well, including but not exclusively the actor Pete Posthelwaite. The UK Coalition government between my party the Liberals and the Conservatives is battered but holding. Riots sadly broke out in majory cities of this country, a very sad incidence which I am sure most of us will learn the wrong lessons from. Mark my words interested politicians, the putrid press and the moronic sections of the public will look at Egypt and suggest that we should have police as skull-cracking as theirs. But I could write a book about how stupid the public can be.
The so called Arab Spring has been a real object of fascination for me. In many ways my interest in current affairs stemmed from my fascination with the Middle East, which for better or worse caught my attention in the 9/11 period. I learned from that horrific event, as good as anything to be salvaged from that terrible day one could say. Since learning about the region I have long looked at the various kingdoms and autocratic regimes in the region, hoping that one day the people would cry out for freedom. In a true case of the lesson of 'be careful what you wish for it might come true', it in many ways has. Gaddafi in his arrogance tried to mow down his people with machine gun fire when they expressed their displeasure at him, he departed in an ugly way to be sure, but at least he won't harm anyone. In Tunisia a graduate reduced to selling vegetables set himself on fire in public, setting off a chain of evens that pushed out the thug-in-chief Ben Ali out of power, and has subsequently lead to free elections. Egypt is still in a state of flux. And in a more bloody way, so is Syria. These are exciting times to be sure. I will watch them with great interest.
And so we come from the Middle East back to the UK. I have often expressed my exasperation at my countrymen as well as those who lead them. This year has been one of moral shocks that have hit us to the core. And what have we learned? Very little. 'Why is this?' one wonders. A part of the reason is I feel because we as a people refuse to seriously look ourselves in the mirror and face our society's contradictions. What we do is as much of a cause of these contradictions as what our politicians do. And on that subject we have in some ways sadly become more cynical and conformist when it comes to suggestions of forcing positive change.
Our press in one way or another is largely rotten. No broadsheet barely bothers to disguise it's partisan bias. Tabloids are for the most part putrid piles of garbage that feed lies, hate, superstition, fuel our mstrustful nature and our addiction to learning about other people's misery. Our addiction to learning about other people's intimate private lives pushed the papers we made powerful to rise to new levels of unethical behaviour. The phone hacking scandal was awful, but it or something like it will be sure to happen again. Why? Because the cause is still there. WE are the cause. We made the News of the World powerful and we could see as it died it's death, its filth hasn't really died, it has taken on many other forms. Dreck like the Sun and other similar dregs of the press have taken up the News' refugee readership. And thus the circle of life continues.
There has been a lot of fury aimed at the bankers in our country. Some of this is encouraging, others not. Smouldering public anger and resentment is a powerful force that can either be constructive for destructive, too often the later. It is the former if it directed constructively. Members of the last regime are shamelessly stoking this anger. This is ultimately a move that will reap short term benefits for them but will bring terrible long term detriment to all of us. Let us get a few things straight, incompetence and greed that exists within some of the banking community lead to the crash. They should deservedly be punished and ostracised. Bob Diamond lives in a dreamworld. And Fred Goodwin (I will not acknowledge his title) is a walking disaster. But that does not mean that all of their rivals should punished for the bad behaviour commited by a few. That isn't justice. That is revenge, so I say no to the Robin Hood Tax. Immoral behaviour is not restricted to the rich, nor is self delusion.
And self delusion takes me nicely to the monarchy. Now tomorrow afternoon I am sure many people will take the time out to listen to the Queen deliver her message. No doubt she will touch on a theme which will be aimed to resonate with people which she deems lower than her, that is you, myself and everyone else. A lovely propaganda broadcast, a sweet and well spoken elderly lady instead of some dictator with a beard. You can question the bankers, you can take a dump on the press and you can make politicians sound like burglers. But one thing that is always frowned upon in this country is speaking the ill of the Queen and the royals at large. You can't talk about their priviliged access to our government, their publicly maintained large estates, their publicly salaried staff, their corrupt behaviour or their special position in the eyes of the law.
Einstein was right, nationalism in many ways is a plague on mankind. More like Alzheimers on mankind I say. We forget simple facts and who we are. And who we are is a slightly cantankerous but proud people who have survived various upheavals and 2 world wars only to call ourselves democratic, and yet keep the priviliged and undemocratic black heart of our society mantained the same as it ever was. And even further, be pleased that it is still there. Because they do good! They give money for sure, but don't many Britain's? Are they above the law? Oh they are nice to foriegners abroad and bring in tourists. The former is a stupid reason, the later is irrelevant. I would hope we are all fine representatives to our country when we go abroad. Versailles is devoid of inbreds (other than perhaps some tourists) and makes far more money than Buckingham Palace.
Protecting these so called blue bloods is a disgrace to our integrity, our democratic way of life and us as a people. I will be happy to rain on their parade during next year's Jubilee, the Queen may think she rules over her subjects but she does not rule me! And I for one am not afraid to tell her. She is a historical hangover, WE are the people. And we do not need her where she is, either she gets in line with the rest of us or she earns our scorn, by pretending she is better than us. Kate and Wills disgraced this country by making London a police state when they got married, and confined us Republicans into the furthest random corner of London, surrounded by police. This time we will be marching, and if peaceful protesting is an arrestable offence, then I guess I will soon have something interesting to put on my CV before too long!
This country is great, and we make it great. Merry Xmas. I am off to fetch my grandma for Xmas dinner.
