What does?
The feelgood factor surrounding the Olympics/ParaOlympics...It's with a heavy heart i look back to those distant far off days of August when our world was full of laughter and optimism.Folk seemingly strolling around without a care in the world,happy to discuss Mo's latest conquest with strangers on public transport.Cartoon smiles were the order of the day...There was much talk of a nation finally becoming more outward looking,embracing what we see as other nationalities Joie de vivre.Failing to comprehend that people from other lands are as insular and suspicious as us Brits but probably hide it better...Still here we all were at the dawn of a new era of openness and confidence.A very British Glasnost if you like...
It could never last of course.Real life has a habit of tweaking the nose of those that dare to defy the machinations of day to day drudgery.Despite a notable sporting double on American soil of Andy Murray winning the US singles final and the European Ryder cup team grabbing victory from the jaws of defeat real life was waiting to grab us by the nuts...and how.
Those were essentially a last Hurrah on a sporting summer that delighted all Brits---Well apart from a few xenophobe Tory MP's and reactionary pen pushers---Sporty or not.
Since then the news has been unremittingly bad.Much as murderous Hell's Angels firmly closed the book on the freewheeling 60's at the Stones Altamont gig in 1969 so the breaking Jimmy Savile story ended the fun in the UK.It was time to get serious...
For those not au fait with British pop culture Savile was---he died last year aged 85--a 60's DJ,at a time when radio DJ's were huge stars.He also became a massive TV star with a very successful light entertainment progamme called "Jim'll Fix it" in which he granted achievable wishes to children who wrote in.As a by product he also raised about £40 Million pounds for charities.He was basically untouchable,which is how he was able to get away with being a predatory paedophile for all these years without question...
There were plenty of rumours---i myself heard somesuch about 15 years ago---but he had powerful friends for protection if anyone got too close to revealing the truth.So nobody did.Some are saying his crimes are somehow deflected by his charity work,totally missing the point that it was his very charity work that gained him access to the children he abused.I'm an Atheist but in this instance i hope there's a Hell and Sir Jimmy Savile spends eternity with a red hot poker up his jacksey...
Talking of religion; Those lovable scamps The Taliban decided that the might of their bullying ideology was under threat from a 14 year old Pakistani schoolgirl who had the gall to want an education.A basic right you may think.But not to these self righteous bully boys who don't want any women educated lest they point out that their beliefs are pure hokum.
So what did the brave foot soliders of The Taliban do? They shot her in the head then bragged about it.She's 14 and she stood up to these tyrants.Luckily she survived but is still in a critical condition.I am in awe at her bravery.Her name is MalalaYousufzai.Remember that name because hopefully you'll be hearing a lot from her in the future...
Of course we're still in the throes of the longest recession i can recall.From what i can gather all due to international Bankers trying to prove who has the biggest dick---Or was it who IS the biggest dick? I forget now---But what the hell eh? the only people who have to pay for their abject lack of morals and terminal stupidity is us working classes of the world...In the UK we constantly have our government of Tory toffs,along with their Lib Dem sychophants,telling us we have to bear the brunt of this with rising prices,service cuts combined with a barely concealed contempt for the people they're supposed to be serving...All the while they're still taking credit for a successful Olympic Games.Conveniently forgetting it was US,the People, that made it the greatest event Britain has ever held.Not them...
So i finish were i began.The Olympics...However i am not really confident we have taken the spirit of joyfulness to heart.You only have to see some of the abuse dished out to folk on Twitter from random strangers to realise this summer was nothing more than a wonderful aberration...
Sorry to be on a downer.I don't like to end on a sour note so here's what i'm listening to as i write this to cheer everyone up...i hope.
