WATCHING.
There is no excuse. Let us start
with the really nasty stuff. In Sydney, Australia, an Iranian
extremist held nearly a score of people hostage in a cafe, finally
killing two of them before he was put down by commandos. And in
Peshawar, Pakistan, Taliban terror pedlars murdered 132 pupils and
close on a dozen staff in a savage attack on a school: the mad
bastards then blew themselves to smithereens. Such acts of violence,
for whatever twisted reason, are inexcusable and serve only to
confirm what a complete waste of space these hate merchants are. Why
we continue to meddle abroad is beyond me anyway, unless it is just
for the oil.
In my last blog
post.
I failed to mention (put it down to age) a nasty incident that
befell Independent columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown on a London bus
some weeks ago. It seems she was spat upon and called a “bloody
paki” by a woman who was moving down the aisle to leave the
vehicle. The woman was a stranger to her. Apparently none of the
other passengers objected: too shocked, frightened, or apathetic
perhaps? Or just silently relieved it had not happened to them? As if
to lend weight to this abhorrent attack on an innocent citizen, there
later came the spectacle of Black Friday (another daft import from
America), a day when irresponsible department stores opened their
cut-price doors to cut-throat hordes of shoppers who went mental for
50% off new television sets and not-to-be-missed mobiles.
It was
graceless mayhem. Thousands went for it and, as usual, the greediest
bullies came off best.
What the hell's happening? There was a time
when we locked up head cases in asylums; now we mutely encourage
their boorish lunacy. I think it started with
clowns in union-jack-bedecked waistcoats indulging in vile, drunken behaviour abroad: it has since grown to encompass home and away and both sexes
and all age groups, drunk or sober. I'm not sorry I'm old, but I fear for our
grandchildren: what sort of future faces them? One can only hope
that, growing up with it, they will simply regard a mannerless
existence as the norm; rather like my generation has compliantly come
to accept foul-mouthed comedians as vaguely acceptable. (Yeah, I
think Mrs. Brown's Boys is a hoot, too. Can't believe the effin' and blindin' belongs on Have I Got News For You, though.) As the comedian Arthur
English used to say: “Open the cage!”
THE DETECTIVES.
Cop these
in 2015.
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Foyle's War will be back on ITV on 4th
January, Broadchurch will return to ITV on 5th
January and Father Brown is coming back to BBC1 in a ten part series also starting on Monday 5th
January.
More next time.
REST OF THE TELE.
The usual Christmas. Loads
of repeats: an interesting festive series of University Challenge (in
which people who have made it in the media, after obtaining
university degrees in everything but the media, competed to show how
misuse of a decent education matters not); a plethora of old films
(the majority of which I saw when they were first screened) and
'celebrity' (most of whom I did not know from Adam) game shows where
the contestants do it for charity. There was also an absolute forest
of Victoria Wood.
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More next time.
I hope your Christmas was all you
hoped it might be and less expensive than you anticipated. May your
New Year be free of lying politicians, ill health, religious zealots
and anybody who is introduced on television as 'an expert.'
A HAPPY
AND PROSPEROUS 2015!
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