I am sat, with a generously proportioned slice of cake, a warm cup of tea and a copy of The Times. It is cold outside and I have just got back in. There can be no more accurate a measure of the simple pleasures of life.
In personal news my sister arrived last night with five(!) of her friends, all intent on crashing in her room because they couldn't get transport. Well in actual fact one of them probably couldn't find transport so another decided to stay with her, then the friend who she was going to escort to the station didn't want to go on her own so she stayed. Ok so that may not be true but it wouldn't surprise me :)
It was mad, the kitchen was filled with girls although to their absolute credit they did not, as is my friends' wont, clean out the fridge. They just went upstairs and texted each other from across the room, at least I presume so as they are rarely seen without a phone in their hands.
The snapshot today is a picture of the shoes as they piled up and obscured the front door. They are all the same style. Quite astonishing to have 6 girls all wearing almost exactly the same type of shoe (in this instance those puffy skater shoes) given that they are so insistent upon never wearing the same outfit as another.
Reading through the internet forums I frequent, I reached a thread on tuition fees. Now as this forum is almost entirely populated by people younger than myself I wasn't terribly surprised to see people bitching about the Higher Education Act. However the one thing that I gleaned from it was something I had suspected for a long time. They don't get it.
Literally they have no bloody clue what the act entails. They know not of the £16,000 barrier, the 25 year cut off, the very small payback ratio or the increased government grants for poorer students. All they know is what is told to them by the mob and opportunistic Conservatives: "it's bad for students", "more money", "poor students should go home now". Some idiot even speaking about all the money they have to shell out "up front" when the whole frikkin' bill abolishes up front fees. I don't mind intelligent debate on matter of policy but this is not an intelligent debate on a matter of policy.
Thank heavens the bill passed.
Any why oh why does this generation suddenly think everything's a marching matter. I refer here to one forum poster who noted that if he had a mob with him he'd go and march on the capital. I will be frank, no matter what you thought about the war on Iraq the marches through London cheapened what was the finest example of non violent protest to grow out of the Western Democratic system.
The marches of Martin Luther King were conducted almost entirely in silence. Ghandi barely spoke a word. Nowadays to have a march it seems absolutely necessary to bang drums, blow whistles, shout out marching themes, wave ridiculously loudly coloured and sensationalist placards and generally behave like a parading collective of football fans celebrating a victory.
Another thing I despair about is the constant personal attacks my generation level at Tony Blair "He's a sniveling git", "what a twat" etc. Firstly the people who offer them, I am glad to say are those who know nothing of his policy. Those who disapprove of his social welfare agenda can generally debate things intelligently. The problem is we have a celebrity Prime Minister and as a result he is subject to all the rules of celebrity and in this country that means Tall Poppy Syndrome.
TPS is the blood sport of the people of England, they build people up so they can tear them down from a greater height. It's done with all celebrities and Mr Blair, who's 1997 campaign effectively elevated him to such a status makes him an obvious target. Personal attacks against celebrities never require justification and neither, it would seem do they have such a requirement to be leveled at Mr Blair. Say what you will about his policies and I will listen, but as soon as you start throwing insults at him personally it is a clear signal that you aren't capable of adult debate.
I've in the past called Michael Howard "an utterly unpleasant politician", in fact it was almost yesterday and that is the height of the vitriol I can summon against the man. No matter how incredibly poor his history has been as a Home secretary and now a party leader I will not stoop to say "what a slimy bastard" or such because the moment I do I'm letting something other than his policies and actions influence my opinion of him.
Then someone said and I quote "Looks like Blair's gonna get away with the whole Hutton Inquiry thing as well."
What on earth?! "Get away with" the Hutton Report?! He was found entirely innocent of any unscrupulous or underhand dealings. What utter idiocy, its like saying "oh that bloke who was found innocent by a court... He got away with the murder"!
I despair. I really do. It's always been incredibly 'uncool' to like the government but you're never prepared for such a foolhardy sentiment it when you meet it.
Oh and I'd like to quote something from the Financial Times, previously quoted by Andrew Sullivan.
"Criticising the conduct of US and British policy towards Iraq is legitimate, as is disquiet about the effectiveness of the two countries' intelligence operations. But impugning the honourable motives of those who sought to defend their countries, by dealing with a threat they believed they could not ignore, is not." - The Financial Times
Later
John