First, an apology for my unwarranted absence for so long. It was due to a combination of effects, really. The unbelievably good weather which will have all the UK HAFs (Hot Air Fanatics) sweating with excitement at the thought that we have an example of global warming. Needless to say, one glance at a weather map of Europe will show that all we really have is a slight shift of normal weather patterns northwards so that England basks whilst Marbella (where two dear friends have just gone for some sun - hee, hee, hee!) remains damp and cloudy. Anyway, a certain amount of sunny inertia combined with strict orders from the 'Memsahib' concerning the garden, plus the fact that the Churchyard grass was reaching toward the top of the bell tower, has kept me away from the keyboard.
And yet ... and yet ... there was, as the more perceptive of you might have guessed, something more that kept me from tapping out my somewhat pedestrian thoughts. My last two posts give the clue. "I have of late - but wherefor I know not - lost all my mirth". Actually I do know, or at least suspect the cause. In particular, it was the disgraceful, humiliating behaviour of those captured sailors and marines; in general, it was the dismal but deadly accurate words in the lyric provided by Barry which sums up much of what I feel. There can be no doubt that a general, pervading feeling of angst and despair settled upon me. Everywhere I look there are second-raters, spivs, charlatans and poltroons, not just in everyday life, but in positions of power and influence. I look for comfort in our history which contains many examples of similar periods of useless frivolity which eventually were superseded by episodes of historic greatness. Alas, today, I see no sign of any potential anywhere in our public life for anything other than further and accelerating decline.
It is no comfort to me that being born in 1939 the earlier years of my life were some of the most glorious in our history. That dimly remembered time only rubs salt in the festering wound of the decline and fall of all that was the very best of Britain. I look in vain for some sign, any sign, that that the next generation can see the swamp that is sucking them down. As many of you know, I have a fair number of younger 'Brits' who comment here quite regularly. Mostly they are joyful in their nihilism, happy as they spit on all the conventions that will make life worth living, and cannot wait to rush toward the tyranny that awaits them, for they forget that nature, and politics, abhors a vacuum, and the vacuity of their soft, spoiled petulance invites destruction. Alas, the fact that I will not be around to see it happen is of no comfort.
Lest you think me unduly pessimistic, today, a young man was jailed for 4 months for cruelty to the Pit Bull Terriers he bred for fighting, but four foul slags (I use the word deliberately) were given suspended sentences for filming their toddlers who they encouraged to hit each other in the face as they screamed abuse at one nappy-wearing child who didn't want to fight! I almost wish the Muslims would take over!
I too welcome our new Muslim overlords, David.
It's about time someone beheaded some sense into us.
Posted by: Flying Rodent | Saturday, 21 April 2007 at 11:19
'Ratty', that might well come under the heading of 'Famous Last Words'!
Posted by: David Duff | Sunday, 22 April 2007 at 08:59