Category Archives: Crazy World

Food Waste

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A recent report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation revealed that worldwide approximately 33% of all food is wasted at a cost of £500 billion.

Those are staggering figures when taking into account the fact that nearly one billion humans are classified as starving. Put another way that’s approximately three time the population of the USA or eighteen times that of the UK.

Food wastage occurs in many forms from supermarkets rejecting malformed (but perfectly edible) fruit and vegetables to spoilt Westerners overfilling their plates and gorging themselves at all-you-can-eat buffets before discarding half the contents of their plates into the rubbish bin.

Those who govern us don’t appear to have any bright ideas on how to solve the problem but in the case of supermarket waste the rules regarding size and shape of vegetables need to be urgently reviewed.

As for the rest of us a little more restraint might be a good idea.

Football Unmuzzled

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Evidently the grandmother of Luis Suarez, the disgraced Uruguayan footballer expelled from the world cup for biting an opponent for the third time in his career, complained that her grandson had been thrown out  “like a dog”.

Her comment is perfectly apposite; if her grandson behaves like a dog he can have no complaints if he is then treated like one.

Short of muzzling Suarez, or forcing him to wear one of those lampshade things that dogs wear to prevent them from self-harming, the football authorities had no choice but to throw him out of the competition.

That said, I’m in the camp of those who feel sorry for the guy; sorry that his supreme talent is blemished by what is clearly some sort of psychological problem. I hope he receives the help he needs.

 

Happy?

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Over the last few months or so a craze has been sweeping social media sites where people, irrespective of age, nationality or sex, have posted footage of themselves joyfully singing and dancing along to the smash hit “Happy” by the American singer Pharrell Williams.

This song, as its name implies, is a celebration of the good things in life. It does exactly what it says on the packet and as well as being a catchy, cheerful little ditty it is one of the best-selling songs of the last year or so..

The video footage accompanying the release of the song inspired what can only be called a phenomenon as people the world over compete to show their happiness and exuberance whilst cavorting along to the song in a huge variety of locations.

The whole thing is no more than an innocent display of harmless fun, except in the view of the easy going and tolerant Iranian government which last week arrested and locked up six of its citizens for daring to join in that fun and enjoy themselves.

As this blog has stated on more than one occasion, how lucky we are to live in the West. Islam fundamentalism, freedom and fun for all? I don’t think so.

Please Sir!

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Last week, it was claimed by a leading academic that the terms “Sir” and “Miss” are both depressing and sexist  and in addition addressing a female teacher as “Miss” gives her lower status than her male counterparts.

Really? I would have thought that both titles are a sign of respect for the teachers and are necessary to help create an attitude of discipline in the classroom enabling pupils to work hard, acquire knowledge and prepare for life in the adult world.

As for the term “Miss” being sexist, that’s absurd. It may well be a long time since I was at school but I certainly don’t remember having any less respect for my female teachers simply because they were addressed differently than male teachers. There may have been  more fear of male teachers because they could throw a piece of chalk harder and could cuff you round the back of the head more painfully but that was probably the only difference!

This is just more politically correct nonsense from the same sort of people who refer to a chairman as a “chair” because the word “chair” doesn’t offend or exclude women. I’ve often wondered, do these “chair” lovers still refer to people as human or merely hu? What a crazy world we live in!

Communication Breakdown

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Joseph Priestley, the 18th century historian, theologian and philosopher (among other things!), once said “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate”.

Nearly three hundred years on, we live in an age where at the press of a smartphone button we can communicate with virtually anybody anywhere in the world. We can send a text to the other side of the planet in seconds and via social media can, in an instant, post a video greeting to friends and family wherever they may be.

It could be argued that with all these means of communication we are actually communicating more rather than less but Priestley’s comment is deeper and more significant than that. We may well be able to communicate in an instant at the touch of an electronic button but this is an age where fewer and fewer people correspond face to face. People begin relationships online and often end them the same way. A job can be lost by email and marriage can be ended by text.

Is that communication? Well yes, of course it is but is that what we human beings, the most sociable and communicative animals on the planet, really want?

Priestley was right then and he’s right now. This is an age where more is less.

 

A Christian Country?

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Last weekend, our Prime Minister was in trouble for daring to refer to the United Kingdom as a “Christian country”. A number of public figures were so upset that they signed a petition denouncing such an outrageous statement, no doubt concerned about offending the non-Christians living in the UK.

What is wrong with us, if we are not a “Christian country” then what are we? I appreciate that there are many non-believers in this country and plenty of citizens who have different religious beliefs. Good, it shows that we are a fair and tolerant society embracing many varied beliefs and cultures.

The fact remains however that this country was built on Christianity, the Queen is the head of the Church of England and both Parliament and the Judiciary were founded on Christian beliefs. I’m not in the least bit religious but I recognise how important Christianity has been to our development and culture.

Yes, it’s true that Christianity is in decline in the sense that fewer and fewer people attend church regularly but that doesn’t mean that we lack Christian principles. We struggle enough with our sense of identity and the fact that our society is still largely run on Christian values and morals is surely to our benefit.

How can anybody be offended by what David Cameron said? I’m afraid that the reaction to his comment is just another example of the trendy political correctness that is choking the life out of this country and it should be dismissed as such.

Bad Hair Day

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Earlier this week an enterprising London hairdresser offended  the North Korean Embassy by daring to insult their illustrious leader Kim Jong-un.  In an advertisement to drum up business the hairdresser, Mo Nabbach, placed a poster in his shop window featuring a photograph of North Korea’s fun-loving and happy-go-lucky leader known as much for his strange hairstyle (now compulsory for all male North Korean students!) as for his crazy politics.  Beneath the photograph a caption announced, “Bad Hair Day? 15% off all cuts through the month of April”!

Evidently, the Embassy dispatched some stern besuited officials, clearly unused to British humour, let alone freedom of speech,  to the shop demanding that the poster be taken down claiming that it was disrespectful to their glorious leader. I have no idea what threats were made to the owner; perhaps they threatened to casserole the shop’s labrador (Lab-au-vin is quite a delicacy in Pyongyang so I understand) but anyway, it did the trick and the poster was duly removed.

 It was then put back up when supportive customers reminded the owner that the United Kingdom, unlike North Korea, is a free and democratic country where the only likelihood of a politician such as Kim Jong-un gaining power would be as leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party. How lucky we are to live in the West.

Misinformation

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A few years ago our government urged us to stop driving petrol driven cars and instead to go for diesel. We were told that diesel is more eco-friendly than petrol, is better for our health, is more efficient, more economical and overall is much better for the planet. Interestingly it’s also more expensive – I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

We were told this week that, actually, the experts got it wrong and diesel is not only bad for the planet it’s bad for human health and, in fact, the particles emitted by diesel engines can prove to be fatal.

This kind of thing happens a lot, particularly with foodstuffs. We are told that we should avoid certain types of food whilst embracing others and then a couple of years later they change their minds. We are told we shouldn’t eat sugar then we should. Alcohol is bad for us but then we are told that it can be beneficial to our health. Certain fats are good then they’re not. Margarine is better than butter, then it’s not and on it goes.

The logical conclusion to all of this is that we can’t believe half the things we are told by those in authority and, since they don’t know what they are talking about we should just go ahead and drive what we want, consume what we want and live our lives the way we see fit based on our own judgement, experience and common sense.

No Right to Success

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It seems to me that three factors determine the attainment of success; talent, hard work and luck. Of those, the latter is probably the most important for no matter how skilful or hard working you are, if lady luck isn’t on your side then you’re going nowhere.

The trouble with luck, unlike talent and hard work, is that nobody has an exclusive right to her favours, she cannot be controlled and, unlike the other two, is fickle and capricious. She can easily take away that which she once gave so freely.

It must be difficult and quite humbling, after spending years at the top of the tree, to suddenly find that your success and good fortune have disappeared and you are now sharing a branch with lesser mortals.

That, I’m afraid is life, it happens and you have to get on with it, work hard, use your talent and hope that lady luck once more smiles your way.

A thought that the fans of the country’s largest football club would do well to digest as the rest of us bid them a sincere welcome to the real world!

Waste of Time

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Earlier this week it was announced that 2.5 million young adults have skills that are not being used because they are either unemployed or they are working in jobs for which they are overqualified. Part of the reason for this is that there are too many youngsters chasing the same jobs but also because many of them possess completely useless degrees mostly obtained in the new universities created by Blair’s New Labour Government at the turn of the century.

The idea of lowering standards so that more and more schoolkids could attend university and obtain a degree has now been proven to be the complete waste of students’ time and effort (and taxpayers money) that many experts warned of back in the late 1990’s. What is the point of obtaining a degree that cannot possibly lead to useful employment, such as a Staffordshire University degree in Sports, Media and Culture which evidently includes a study of David Beckham and his lifestyle? And what is the point of studying for a degree where there simply aren’t enough jobs to go round, for example, a Law degree?

 We now have a chronic shortage of electricians, joiners, plumbers and other tradesmen because school kids were given unrealistic expectations by the liberal clowns who taught them instead of encouraging them to spend their time training for something that could actually lead to a job.  

It’s far better to earn a wage clearing out drains than to sit at home beneath your nicely framed degree in 1960s Pop Music whilst awaiting your next welfare handout. Nobody thought to tell the kids that though, did they?