FraserWords

I love it when everybody gets involved, so many thank-yous this week for inspiration.

Brother Reg, gazing, as so many of us do, in shock and awe at the unfolding omnishambles of Cameron’s Britain, reminded me of a speech made in 1983 at the height of the reign of the Evil Witch Queen:

“I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.”

The speaker, of course, was Neil Kinnock. With the obedient assistance of the media, Kinnock, who had a brain the size of a planet, a heart to match and a grasp of the long term rather than the 30-second attention span of the average cheque-cashing Thatcherite, was painted as a pompous Welsh windbag, derided, humiliated and defeated. To this day he’s viewed with contempt, maybe for becoming a Euro commissioner.

But read those words again. He was right then. And it will grieve him to reflect that those words are just as relevant today.

In those days the media did what it was jolly well told by the Conservative establishment with no Leveson inquiry to question it. The corruption was near complete and it stank to heaven. The success, too, was near complete, and that is why people still firmly believe Kinnock was a useless Welsh windbag, and Thatcher should be praised for taking on the unions, whose members were all grasping selfish greedy bastards with their eye on the main chance and to hell with everybody else.

But history’s a kind friend, isn’t it? With its aid we can today reflect that Neil Kinnock never took a bankers’ bonus; no trade unionist ever sold off our national assets to the highest bidder; and no member of the National Union of Miners ever gambled with our money and bankrupted an economy.

In fact, guess what? The really damaging grasping selfish greedy bastards with their eye on the main chance and to hell with everybody else were on the other side. Who’d have thought it?

Well, Kinnock, of course, and Scargill, but they were just idiots, weren’t they?

I wonder if history will enable us to inflict on the people who’ve got us into our present position anything like the severity of the punishment meted out to any of our earlier public enemies? Tax havens and  Cotswold villages laid waste of jobs or prosperity for generation after generation, comprehensively ignored… I doubt we’ve come that far yet.

To round off this little conversation, I am indebted once more to Sister WizardWoman’s magical eye for lassoing this little gem:

Thank you for the music

To Crantock this weekend for a wedding blessedly free from meaningless pomp and circumstance and full of good things and good people.

It was full of music too and perhaps my own highlight was the privilege of being in the orchestra for a rare performance of Samuel Feargus Walsh’s Concerto for Air Piano in G Minor With Twiddly Bits, conducted by the composer himself. Clearly the audience were overwhelmed by the experience: I saw many in tears.

I myself was so overcome with emotion that funky stuff was strutted, another rare occurrence and one that often leads to people fleeing dance floors in the manner of innocent Mexican villagers in spaghetti westerns, screaming “Aieeeeeee!”

The composer and conductor also happened to be the bridegroom and my brother-in-law and a great bloke, and to Sam and his gorgeous bride Sal, Brother and Sister of this parish, we send our love and congratulations.

And no thank you for the music

Brother Hamster, as you all know, is full of it: good ideas for this space, I mean.

This tale really hits the spot. Inspiration for all of us driven to distraction dealing with corporations – read and follow the link… yeee haaa!

“A musician named Dave Carroll recently had difficulty with United Airlines. Dave spent over nine months trying to get United to pay for damages caused by baggage handlers to his custom Taylor Guitar. During his final exchange with the United Customer Relations Manager, he stated that he was left with no choice other than to create a music video for YouTube exposing their lack of cooperation. The Manager responded: ‘Good luck with that one, pal.’

“So Dave posted a retaliatory video on YouTube. The video has since received over six million hits. United Airlines contacted the musician and attempted settlement in exchange for pulling the video. Naturally his response was: ‘Good luck with that one, pal.’

“Taylor Guitars sent the musician two new custom guitars in appreciation for the product recognition from the video that has led to a sharp increase in orders.”

Here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Now I am being kidnapped by some Brothers and frogmarched to some cricket for a couple of days. I shall be back among you, thirsty no doubt, on Tuesday.