A long time ago I wrote a piece entitled ‘the religious round’, based on the period of my youth when I was completely incensed by the behaviour of our vicar. At that time my mother forced me to go to church on Sunday, she didn’t care what the religion was, as long as it was a religion. My mates joined me in my search to find some religion that fulfilled my ideas of fairness. The first one we went to was the Salvation Army; the four of us were greeted with enthusiasm, probably because we were an unusual contribution to the day’s proceedings. They seated us in the front row, in front of a brass band, and you can imagine the joy that the four of us had listening to the band and watching them play.

Of course we all knew about the Salvation Army, every Sunday there would be a small group of them going from road to road, in the most horrendous weather, playing and singing hymns we all knew. They would be there for 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour, then either move further down the road, or go to another. These people were and still are dedicated, selfless, and generally in the lower income group, practising what they preach. During WW2 they could be found in every port, on many railway stations, and in towns close to encampments. We were on convoy, on a quick turnaround basis; shore leave was minimal, but after a few pints, we drifted along to the Sally Ann Canteen for a meal, totally different from what we were used to on board ship. These canteens across the country were a source of comfort and warmth, if only for a brief period, and most servicemen were grateful to those who gave up their time to keep these places open.

Even in this throwaway and one-time affluent world, it is interesting that the Sally Ann is still functioning in the way it did, supported by similar people. Every Christmas we get the appeal for toys for the underprivileged children, and the work they do in cardboard city is unbelievable. Religion per se seems to be on the backburner, and it is unsurprising when so much mayhem is laid at its door. The Salvation Army is the least pretentious of all the religions, and from my irreligious standpoint, I feel it to be the one that portrays in every way, the basis of its own teaching.

I have already written and I believe that the young today are short-changed. I want to widen that to include the way they are, and we were, taught. This business of homework, which I believe to be totally unnecessary, and taking up valuable time of the children and the parents, who are obviously struggling because the parents have forgotten or never needed to know what the children are doing, and the children are not so well taught that they have to do more at home at night. It is my experience that those destined for university, unless they are particularly brilliant, will go into first year where all the things they learned at the school, and require for the degree is revised in much more detail and breadth than they ever got at school. Homework is often a waste of time because the child is totally befuddled and the parents can’t help him so both are frustrated, and put under pressure. These children are sitting at home when they should be having fun and exercise on some playing field, either under supervision in this wicked world, or as we were, free as a bird. Children and university students are taught more than they may ever need in subsequent life. How is it that other form of teaching such as technical schools, universities, and work experience-type instruction doesn’t seem to need homework is a necessity, rather than choice? Yet many children are required to have additional teaching by a private tutor, to reach the standards that are required. This shows a lack of supervision of the standard of teaching, yet most children can tell you which are the good teachers, the poor teachers, and those totally incompetent.

In the real world, what we in the dark ages learned at school broadened our outlook in many ways, but little of it affected what we would require once we were in a job. It was at that point that the real education started. I believe that the education that I received gave me a more interesting take on the world about me, and I worry that these tight educational selections that the children have to make and are so influential, not only on their job prospects, but on their appreciation of the world they live in, when in fact it has reduced the breadth of vision, and I suspect in most cases taught them to a standard that is not required other than as a yardstick of their ability.

Modern cars
Yesterday, because Sophie and I need help, we had visits from eight people before lunchtime. Each one of these people had their own car. In consequence of this on a weekly basis, I find I am subconsciously researching the complaints of motorists concerning the electrics of their cars, and the number of complaints made concerning the fact that once the computerised system within a modern car breaks down, the repairers appear nonplussed, and the car is off the road for weeks at a time, time and again, is ememse. The interesting thing about this is that the people who are complaining don’t want all these clever add-ons that are now part of the electrical system, and yearn for the good old simple ways.

The cult of the celebrities
I know I have spoken of this before, how the media are obsessed with the doings and the wrong doings of the people they call celebrities, but who are all really actors and actresses with minor roles in many cases, but considerable exposure. Why I’m writing now is because of the fore of the Michael Jackson saga, and in particular the way he died. As you know my age, you will realise that when he was at his prime, I was too old to be a fan, but I was aware that this young man, with his incredible physique and energy, was unusual, and I could understand why he was popular for those who enjoy that type of music. What I find particularly obnoxious is this media frenzy concerning the way he died, purely for gain rather than the possibility of a crime. Anyone who has been on painkillers for months or even years, for whatever reason, and approved by a physician, would find it easy to build up a collection of potent drugs, along with the written admonitions of the side-effects, and the effects of the combination of the drugs. No matter how careful a doctor is, and I have found from my own experience that repeat prescriptions are carefully monitored within the surgery system, to ensure that people only get what they’re entitled to. To this collection one can also add alcohol, and the subsequent cocktail, not necessarily administered by a doctor, is lethal. I am at an age when a very large number of friends and acquaintances have died while in severe pain, and I have always concluded that some of them personally administered their own fatal dose. I rest my case.

This morning I was intending to write something entirely different, but when I saw the headlines that the Manchester police had arrested 362 people and are proposing to arrest more, a number of aspects immediately came to mind. The first of course was the problem of holding these people prior to being charged, then the logistical problem of getting them to court, retaining those not bailed, and what is more, in this world of reports, the paperwork involved seems monumental. The fact that this initial raid was so successful will have a knock-on effect across the board, because probably all the senior police officers will not be prepared to allow themselves to be pilloried, if they don’t carry out their own sweeps.

It is alleged, that we in this country have the highest prison population of any. People who appear to know what they’re talking about are constantly criticising this condition, especially in the case of young offenders, in which those sent to prison are in effect swelling the ranks of the seriously criminal. So, if up and down the country, in the bigger conurbations, hundreds of people are going to be brought to trial, not only will general policing suffer for a protracted period, the legal system and the prison system will both be overwhelmed, and at the end of the day chaos will reign because of the high pressure brought to bear on those dealing with the alleged criminals.

What this highlights more than anything, is that there has been negligence prior to this raid, either through lack of forces, or for some other reason. Clearly there has been no sudden and immediate upsurge in criminality to this extent, it has been gradual. Whether I am wrong in my criticism is for those who are not just using basic logic to view the problem, but in-depth of all the parameters. I firmly believe that a serious examination of selected prisons, and selected inmates graded by the quality of the crime and of the period of the sentence, should be carried out by someone unconnected with the prison service or the judicial system, to assess the percentage of people who actually require to be restrained in prison. If the ultimate percentage is low, then remedial solutions must be found. The cost to the Exchequer of retaining a prisoner, which is rising ever higher due to the need for ever more prisons, is so gross that something really needs to be done to justify it. What the future will bring as a result of this raid is anyone’s guess, but somebody high in the scheme of things, must bend his mind seriously to the cause and effect of this raid in the short term and the long.

Yesterday, I talked my elder daughter, who was born in 1945, and consequently whose childhood and early adulthood was in a period still recovering from the effects of WW 2. She raised the matter that she, like I, had had to pull ourselves up by our bootlaces, and this had provided us with a totally different view on life to those more fortunate. Everything we gained we had to work for, which we appreciated not only for our own success, but for their material value The next generation, those born in the late 60s or 70s, were often presented upon their marriage with a house fully furnished, a car, and an exorbitant holiday somewhere abroad. What has also snowballed is the cost of a wedding, and what seemed to be the incumbent prenuptial expenses as well. We no longer go to weddings, but our grandchildren seem to be going to them at an inordinate rate, and the total cost to the guests, of having to fly to the prenuptial party in some other country, having to fly to some castle somewhere, and provide what is considered an appropriate present, to our old eyes is exorbitant.
The increase in the average wealth of the nation, whether real or due to credit, prior to the credit crunch, made expenditure on social graces, and random pleasures, to reach average heights never previously experienced. This had two effects, the first was it put those less well off, into an embarrassing situation where they either had to stump up and make it up in some other way later, or not accept the invitation for whatever it was. The second was that material things and pleasures gained almost without a thought, were not appreciated intrinsically, in the same way as if they had been achieved by hard work and frugality. It arrived at a point where it was taken for granted, and we then achieved the throwaway society, where almost nothing is sacrosanct, but collecting tat from a bygone age, ironically is noteworthy, to the extent that programmes on a daily basis are devoted to it.

If I live long enough I think perhaps I shall see that the credit crunch will bring a little sanity to the way in which people value their possessions, and go for quality rather than brief fashion and style.

I am referring to politics today, where it seems that those who are supposed to be responsible, are being utterly irresponsible on a daily basis, because they are fighting the next election with lies, half-truths and invalid statistics. They have lied, or else not done their homework properly, about the provision of materials in Afghanistan, about the way in which the health service is run; they have been totally negligent with respect to the financial sector, need I go on, the list is endless? The thing that really annoys me is the fact that we seem to have a dual legal system, in which the man in the street can be had up for libel or slander if he makes statements likely to be detrimental, while politicians have no such restrictions on either their statements, written or verbal, and their actions. Those people who were supposed to be monitoring the stock exchange and the operation of the banking system didn’t take their work seriously. A cynic might assume that possibly some of them were more interested in the rise and fall of the value of the pound, through trading, than they were in the future of thousands of people who are now losing their jobs. For whatever reason, no action has been taken against these people. If a builder is found to have flouted the safety regulations, he can be taken to court, and if as a result of an accident he can be sent to jail.

Politicians are disseminating misinformation in order to fool the public into voting for them at the next election, and it would seem that all sides are up to it, or there wouldn’t be so much retraction of proposed government policy. Surely there must be some Parliamentary tool which enables retribution to be meted out to those who have been responsible for this misinformation, which is clearly disrupting some of the most vital services and departments of our government system, and causing public opinion, and our global standing, to be debased. I have always thought that Blair should have been brought to book for the lies he was responsible for repeating, without having taken the advice given at the time.