Monday Miscellany

Monday and so many things are going on that I can't make up my mind what to post about - so I'll just ramble randomly about a few of the things which have caught my attention.  Morris dancers, let's start with them.  Apparently Morris Dancing is on the decline.  Which can only be good news, surely.  The media have advanced several theories to explain its decline, with The Guardian claiming that it is down to a shortage of 'irons' - the bits of metal they have on the soles of their shoes so that they can make that clicking noise when they prance about with their sticks and silly hats.  This, in turn, is down to the declining number of blacksmiths in the UK, who, apparently, are the only people capable of manufacturing these 'irons'.  Personally, I think that's a load of old bollocks.  I'm not convinced.  Surely tap-dancing shoes would produce the same effect and, as far as I'm aware, there is no shortage of those.  The explanation advanced on TV sounds more convincing - that the number of venues, particularly pubs, are declining.  However, they are wrong when they claim that the lack of pub venues is the result of increasing pub closures.  No, it is down to the fact that increasing numbers of pub-goers are fed up with having an evening out ruined by a bunch of pillocks with bells and sticks prancing around the public bar.

I've had the misfortune to have been in a pub when it was invaded by a bunch of Morris Dancers.  It was Hell, I can tell you.  I was with a group of friends trying to celebrate my birthday when these bastards turned up - we were forced into a side room in order to get some peace and be able to talk.  Getting a drink from the bar became a hazardous operation, as you had to time it so as to avoid the flailing handkerchiefs and silly hats.  Trust me, Morris Dancers, like folk musicians, are a sure way to ruin a night at the pub.  Moreover, if, like me, you are old enough to remember seeing the Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story The Deamons back in the early seventies, then you'll know that Morris Dancers really can't be trusted. We must keep our pubs free of such evil.  OK, so that's Morris Dancers dealt with, what next?  Oh yes, Stuart Hall.  Or 'Sex Attacker Stuart Hall' as we apparently must call him.  Certainly, that's what the BBC News website and digital text headlines have been labelling him since he was sentenced this morning.  Presumably to divert attention from the fact that he was, until fairly recently, a BBC employee.  I love the way that the media always seek to define people in the news by a single aspect of their character: 'sex attacker', 'wife beater', 'former nude priest', 'serial killer' - you get the idea. 

It all helps to reinforce the dangerous idea that criminals and deviants are somehow extraordinary and that their criminal or sexual proclivities constitute their entire characters.  Whereas, in reality, they are just like the rest of us - most sex offenders are otherwise perfectly respectable citizens.  You can't rely on an outward veneer od respectability as a guide to character, as the media would have you believe.  So, what else has caught my attention lately?  Oh yes, the establishment's attempts to fight back following the 'Prism' revelation in The Guardian.  According to various US Congressmen, that whistleblower is a 'traitor' and in the pay of the Chinese and has damaged US security.  Apparently, the Boston Bombings could have been prevented by this programme.  Except that they weren't, of course.  This claim really does highlight the utter bullshit being spoken by those trying to defend the indefensible,  The fact is that Prism was running before, during and after the bombings in Boston, yet failed to identify the bombers as potential terrorists.  Like I said, utter bullshit.  One last thing before I wrap this up - it happened again, when I posted a new story last week Google News once again re-listed for a few days a whole slew of older stories from the same category, giving a mild boost to my traffic.  Well, that's all for now.  Just need to think of a topic for tomorrow...