Regular readers will know, because not only do I not hide the fact I positively boast of it, that I am a regular listener to TOOOORKSPOOOORT radio. I write it thus because it is usually growled out by a man with a deep voice speaking estuary English. You can actually listen in if you follow the link I have provided and click on the appropriate area. Should you do so you will rapidly learn everything you need to know about 'footie' - and wished you didn't know! However, unlike listening to the BBC 'news' programmes you will not find yourself shouting obscenities at the radio as it sails across the room having been hurled by you. Instead, you can listen to the nail-spitting diatribes of disaffected fans as they lay into this, that or the other owner/manager/coach/centre forward-down-to-goalkeeper/referee (delete as necessary). The fact that you, personally, do not give a stuff about any of it actually leads to a sort of inner serenity, rather like those Buddhist nuts who sit around, cross-legged with fingertip to thumb tip, humming. You cease to worry about all those despicable Euro-apparatchiks, our 'not-fit-for-purpose' government, the fact that the greatest defender of freedom in the world is slowly but surely going down the toilet and the looming presence of several trillion disciplined Chinese. All you worry about is the state of Wayne Rooney's hairpiece!
However, I have noticed during their commercial breaks a very worrying factor indicative of our worsening economic plight, and that is the increasing number of adverts from the 'Shylocks', by which I mean, those companies offering short-term loans to the hard-up. Now I know from personal experience what it is like to be hard-up. The knowledge that bills must be met and the desperation because of the absence of money to pay them. My mum, a working, single mother bringing up a child after the war, certainly knew all about it as I was dimly aware as a youngster. I married and became a father whilst I was a private soldier in the army and, to make matters worse, when I transferred from the Paras I lost £2.12.6 a week in jump money which was about a quarter of my pay! After the army I began my somewhat 'harum-scarum' career (don't laugh!) in which things were frequently very tight. So, I know what families are going through today and how in sheer desperation they are likely to fall into the hands of the 'Shylocks'. I am not suggesting that these companies are crooked or overly harsh because lending to unsecured creditors is the riskiest business in the world and they need high interest rates and charges to make it pay. However, I would urge anyone approaching that predicament to seek good independent advice first before borrowing. Better by far to cut, and cut deep, into your style of living rather than fall into the hands of the loan sharks.
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