Bothered?

Yesterday morning, on the radio, i heard a piece about how the current economic problems are affecting different people in the UK. A cross section of the community were asked about their own personal circumstances in these increasingly difficult times.

As we all are no doubt aware, especially here in the UK, this week has brought even worse news. The continuing concerns about the Euro currency and how that might affect us. The statement from the Governor of the Bank of England, saying that even he doesn't know what's going to happen and that things are pretty grim. As if we needed to be told that.
And then the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, gave a statement in Parliament saying that things are worse then he thought they'd be and that the end is not in sight yet.
It was also announced that the state pension age is going to raise to 68 and, of course, we had the public sector strikes, over personal pensions.
So, not a good week!

During the course of that radio discussion two teenage girls, aged 17 and 18, were interviewed. When asked what they thought about George Osborne's statement this week and how it might affect them, they both admitted that they hadn't known who he was. One of them had even asked the other if he might be related to Sharon Osbourne, the wife of Ozzy!

While this produced some laughter amongst the other participants, it does pose a rather serious question. If, at this time of world wide economic crisis, two teenage girls don't even know the name of, arguably, the second most important politician in the UK. What hope is there?

I'm not blaming these particular teenage girls for their lack of knowledge, as i know that they are far from alone here. I have a 17 year old daughter myself and i have a feeling she wouldn't know who George Osborne was either.

Politics, even in these testing times, holds no interest for the young. In fact, politics seem to hold little interest for a fair proportion of the UK population, regardless of their age.
This situation is quite probably replicated across the world.

This apparent apathy about politics, especially amongst the young, is a big worry. After all, these are the people who will be voting for the first time at the next general election. They are the people who should be providing us with our next generation of politicians, both locally and nationally.

So, why this apathy?

I'm sure that some of it can be put down to those old favourites, "what can i do about anything anyway?", "my vote doesn't count?", "they are all as bad as each other" and "politicians don't care about people like me anyway, so why bother?"
Those concerns are age old ones and are still as relevant as they've always been. But, i'm sure that things are worse now than they used to be.

Politicans are now, more than ever, distrusted and seen as being hugely out of touch with the people that they govern. You only have to look at the recent scandal here in the UK about MP's expenses claims to see that.
The current UK goverment is run by multi-millionaires, from public schools, who insist that, "everybody is in this together", when it is patently obvious that they are not.

Money has also become a bigger factor in whether somebody can get elected in the first place in many, if not all countries. Running for office, or running a political party is a costly business and this has taken its toll and excluded many from being able to put their names onto the ballot paper in the first place. It also raises the potential for corruption and favours for those who donate, in the future.

Of course, the recent financial crisis and the bailing out of the banks has had a serious effect on the lack of confidence in politicians. The fact that the banks have been seen to have got away with their bad practices, seemingly, scott free and at the expense of the rest of us (the 99%) has hardly helped.
And then there is that small matter of those very same bankers still being allowed to pick up their large bonuses, while the politicians wring their hands and do nothing. Even though "we", the people, own a large proportion of many of those same banks, after rescuing them.
When were you last rewarded for doing a bad job? Exactly....

Another aspect is that all the mainstream political parties all seem pretty much the same. There really doesn't seem to be much to choose between any of them. The fact that we in the UK have a coalition government at the moment just reinforces that.
All the parties seem to be trying to appeal to the same voters. They have forgotten, or chosen to forget, the rest of us. All we ever hear about is "Middle England", whatever that means.

All of the above does mean that it is hardly surprising that the youth of today find politics unappealing. They feel angry, or at least see the anger of their parents. But, they also feel that they can do nothing about it. Except maybe riot, or occupy a small part of a city.

Politics used to be a worthy profession and one that many people aspired to. Thankfully, there are still some who, fortunately, try to carry that on. But, it is now a profession which has been tainted forever. People now seem to be attracted to it for all the wrong reasons, or are just not attracted to it at all.

I don't deny that being a politician is not an easy life, regardless of what some may think. It is hard work, if done properly and the increasing public scrutiny and constant media pressure can't be easy to bear. But, that is partly the result of that public distrust and past misdemeanours.

But, i do wonder if another reason politics has lost its shine over recent years and is not now such a valued career path, is because of the rise of the celebrity? After all, celebrities command more column inches in today's newspapers than many politicians, or world leaders.

Politicans themselves can often now be seen as celebrities. They've increasingly started to appear on reality shows and tv panel game shows. This usually happens towards the end of the particular persons political career i know, but....

So, if even the politicians see celebrity as a future career path, is it any wonder that the youth of today feel the same way and can't be bothered to find out, or care who is actually governing them?

Worrying, isn't it?

So, what can be done about this?
Personally, i can't see things changing any time soon. Well, not until the whole political set up changes. Or, until a completely new political party comes along to shake the foundations of the current system.
Until that time, we will be left with the same levels of distrust and dissatisfaction, with our politicians, that we have now.

Vive la revolution!

Vlogging Without A Safety Net

I've finally got around to uploading this video, after recording it over a month ago!

From Despair To Where?

A bit of a rant about the state of the music industry, the media generally & the direction that it' seems to be taking.
And i know who is to blame!

An Iron Age hill fort vlog.
Recorded near the top of Mt Caburn, near Lewes, Sussex.

News?

I have noticed recently, what is for me anyway, a disturbing trend.

I have always liked to try & keep up with the latest happenings in the world of news & current affairs. But, that is becoming increasingly difficult. It appears that all anyone wants to concentrate on & talk about these days, are trivial stories & celebrity/entertainment gossip.

My usual way of getting my daily dose of news is via the BBC.
That may be via their website. My home page is actually the BBC news site & also by watching the BBC news bulletins.
I am an avid viewer of their 6 'o' clock bulletin for example, during the week anyway (by the way, does anyone, apart from me, call them bulletins any more?)

The BBC has always been held in high regard for their news reporting & rightly so.
But, what i have noticed over recent months, is an increasing emphasis on & drift towards the trivial.
For example, on one 6 'o' clock bulletin last week, there were "news" items on Tiger Woods mother in law being taken to hospital & the upcoming X-Factor Final. Now, for me at least, that is not what i call news.

I saw another great example, just today, on the BBC news website. Admittedly it was under the Entertainment section. But the main headline was "Millions to watch X-Factor Final"
Now to me that is not news, but more information, or even just plain promotion. The same kind of reporting has been used to "promote" BBC reality TV shows, especially Strictly Come Dancing.

"News" is usually defined as "a report of a recent event"., or something very similar.
Now i do realise that telling the public of an upcoming event can be newsworthy.
For example, the recent coverage of, what was then, the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Change Summit.
But, even then, the reporting is more conjecture & guesswork, than real hard factual news.

This whole problem is part of a general dumbing down of news.
We are all presumed to be gagging for more & more celebrity gossip & trivial news items. Whilst this may be true for a part of the population, the rest of us want to hear what is really happening in the world at large. That is becoming increasingly harder to do.
There are plenty of TV shows & magazines that report & even specialise in the reporting of celebrity gossip & the best if luck to them i say. At least if i buy one of those magazines, or watch one of those TV programs, i know what to expect.
But, i don't wish to be subjected to that kind of reporting whilst watching, what is supposed to be a serious TV news bulletin.

Another problem, i believe, is the emergence of 24 hour TV news channels.
These 24 hour news channels obviously need something to report & talk about, to fill their shows. So, they've found that the celebrity angle is a good one to go down.
There is always some celebrity who is doing something that might be considered newsworthy by someone.
It is also cheap programming. They can just cut & paste something from one of the celebrity gossip magazines that are so prevelant. Or even from the tabloid press, who also seem to revel in that kind of "news".

Whilst i concede that my views may well be in the minority & that i might also be accused of being old fashioned. I do feel that this issue is having a wider effect.
Children are growing up without being exposed to what i would call "real" news.
Those world events & stories that i grew up seeing on the TV news bulletins, are just not reported so widely nowadays. The result of this is that those children & a great many adults too, are not learning about the world as i did.
Ask a child today to find Iraq, or Afghanistan on a map & i doubt that they could do it.

Whether we like it , or not, world events affect us all & events during the past decade have illustrated that to great effect.
Celebrity & entertainment events will never have that same impact.

We would do well to remember that in the future.

I Remember.

Why not tell your own story?

Entertainment? & Other Charitable Thoughts

I was checking the TV schedules earlier, to see if there might be something worth watching this evening. When i happened to notice the following programme, "7 Days On The Breadline". It turns out to be a programme where so called "celebrities" try to live "on the breadline" for a whole 7 days. The idea, presumably, is to show how the other half live, or try to live.

Whilst i can see that by using celebrities, the programme might highlight an important social issue. For me, this is just the latest in a long line of recent TV programmes pretending to outrage us. But, really using outrage as entertainment. Personally, i see no entertainment value in social deprivation.
Also, if the TV company really wanted to highlight a real issue. Why not concentrate on the families themselves, instead of having to drag celebrities into the mix?
Do they really think that we take more notice of an issue, or are more outraged about something, just because a celebrity has to live it for 7 days?

I'm beginning to think that they do. After all, why are celebrities often dispatched to far flung parts of the world to highlight a certain issue & often in the name of the United Nations, a Government, or a well known charity organisation.

I suppose i can see why this happens now. After all, think of all the money raised by Band Aid & Live Aid in the mid 1980's. For me anyway, that seems to have been the real start of all this.
And, yes, i bought the records, watched the concerts & donated money, just like the rest of us.
So, is this all Bob Geldof's fault? I wonder what he makes of the current situation & whether he ever envisaged this happening?

Maybe this is just another indication of the weird world of celebrity culture that we now live in? We seem to need a celebrity to tell us something before we will either listen to it, or take any notice of it.
I'm sure the particualr charity, or organisation involved aren't very worried as long as the money rolls in. And you can't blame them for that i guess?

After all, this is really just advertising, but on a grander scale isn't it? And, as we all know, advertising works.
They wouldn't waste all that money on it otherwise, now would they?

(By the way. This blog post has ended up being completely different to the one i intended to write. It was ever thus)