David Icke

Few names in British pop culture have invoked such deep rooted, almost instinctive, ridicule as David Icke “the man who believes that lizards rule the earth”. A popular TV presenter who first gave light to these ideas on The Terry Wogan Show. Icke states he couldn’t, and to an extent still can’t, walk down the streets without being heckled by passers by but regardless of the incredible amount of media ridicule, David has carried on with his message and has gained a huge world wide audience. I like David Icke.

And on the whole I agree with his less outlandish beliefs; The people at the top of the pyramid control the masses, governments and oppositions are one and the same and we are brain washed by poor television and distracted by bright shiny lights… Not only do I agree with these but I think they are obvious for all to see. The other side to Icke’s beliefs are of  spiritual nature and though I don’t agree with them (as I have my own spiritual beliefs which shall remain private) I would like to take a look at them in the context of the mass ridicule he has faced. What is he saying that means the entire main stream media would turn against him? What atrocities does he preach that means we can humiliate him in the street? Where is his cult Island?…Well, I watched and read a fair bit of his output available on the net out of sheer curiosity alone. I found Icke to be a very interesting and likeable person and what he had to say goes against what you might expect.

The first thing that struck me is that though he believes the human race is utterly oppressed he also believes that the way through oppression is not through violence (as we give them an excuse to build more walls) but through love, compassion and understanding. Other things, like his thoughts on racism,  gender equality, charity and compassion for others were in fact very mainstream, there was no viciousness.
So what in fact are we and the media laughing at? His pie in the sky beliefs about humanity or his spiritual beliefs? Either way it seems a bit out of kilter when you compare it to how our mainstream media and governments run amok. Scandal after scandal breaks (in the last 12 months alone we seen the papers paying police officers, Cameron letting donors influence him and the main Tory funder Lord Ashcroft allegedly selling off big business while still pulling the strings).

Is it all too ironic that David Icke has constantly warned of a Big Brother state and on the day I publish this article I read on the front page that the police are now allowed to monitor almost all my online movements?

In truth it seems the people setting our moral compasses are divulging in their own hypocrisy. A world of tolerance when it suits them, peace, openness and individuality at their leisure at the price of freedom and the cost bearing down on us.

Peace.

 

Vague and veiled.

I’m not totally sure what this blog is going to be about, I’ve had a block but I’ve got a feeling that if I write at least something a new spring of ideas will be set free, how idiotic.

Ah! 

If I may I’d like to quote Socrates before I start “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
Words that seem all the wiser in a world that allows everyone to be pundit via social networking. Within seconds the citizens of the western world can release statements between one hundred & forty characters to thousands of words, each with the choice of fact or fiction or somewhere in between, ‘pending on your own agenda.

It’s a bit like a massive global episode of Question Time; the same issues are constantly brought up, nothing ever gets resolved, everyone is right but they all have different views & there is usually a right winger and a left winger who are more than willing to take the debate somewhere else.

I’m not even going to mention the “Stuck in A&E for 3 hours, would be different if I wasn’t white” or “Religion is for the weak” type posts because we know that these are cretinous statements and could probably be swept aside with any real investigation (but why bother?). The real threat is the thinly veiled & vague intellect that some people seemed to have acquired. We’ve all seen those Facebook debates which go from someone mentioning Iraq to a full blown debate on Abrahamic theology. When in reality no one knows a thing,  we’re all just great at using Google. (A quick thank you to all the conspiracy lovers who keep my blog viewing numbers up by searching for 1984 connections to modern society.)

This is working, I feel good, but also mean spirited.

Actually, I’d better wrap this up.

I wonder what percentage of people that have lived and died have actually been remembered 75 years after their death? I’d say it was fairly low, that’s a guess but it’s seems right to me and if there is an after life I’d assume that they’re not too worried about their bitchy work colleagues so much any more, and if there isn’t an afterlife then it definitely doesn’t matter.
So if this brief existence probably won’t matter to the rest of our kind then where does that leave us? We can make our surroundings better for us and others, we can try to be remembered (not always for good reasons) or we can just take this for what it is… This may sound like a CoE sermon but it’s the truth. If whatever we do doesn’t matter then we may as well try and improve the future and at the very least enjoy it. Fuck status.

10,000 Afgan civilians have died since the start of the war on terror.

Peace!

Salvation

There is a certainty within my being that all is not what it seems. There is no rattle of iron or sores around our wrists and yet we are chained. Slaves to men whose names we do not know, slaves to an agenda we have never seen.

How can we rise up when we cannot even truly empathize for our fellow human beings who have not even the luxury of living a life of pornographic consumerism and distraction, they know not of the flaccid impotence of unknowingly having the power to change it all within an instant.

Yet everyday my soul sores high above my shackled and bowed existence, every day I am freed through art and expression. No matter what is dismantled on a very public stage, behind closed doors people are free through a medium that can never be stopped. The human soul will never be broken, there will always be hope.

 

Professional Wrestling

“To be the man, you gotta beat the man… and I am the man” – Ric Flair (16 time world champion… and The Man)

Right now, you're looking at God... God.

It’s macho, it’s over the top, it’s loud and red necks watch it. My name is Luke Dolan and I love like Professional Wrestling.
“Hey you! Yeah you, asshole! You laughing at my because I like rasslin’? How about I powerslam your sorry behind and drop the elbow from the top rope?!” Actually, no, because these guys are trained professionals and I shouldn’t try this at home.

Professional wrestling is a stadium filler, month after month, thousands of people go to live shows and millions watch on television. The WWF/WWE brand is known world wide and has created house holds names like Hulk Hogan and The Rock. So why is this form of live entertainment snorted at by non believers? Why is it given such a bad name? Not that The Undertaker needs me to defend his art but I’ll give my best shot Mr. Undertaker… actually do you do normal funerals?

Running wild from all the carbs BROTHER!

Also available for cremations

I’m going to tackle the biggest issue most you wet blanket bastards seem to have. Isn’t that stuff fake?!

The outcomes are decided if that what you mean but I don’t really see how being picked up and thrown to the floor by a 7 foot man or jumping off a ladder through a table can really be totally faked, these guys do get hurt. That’s not the issue here. To me this is on par with saying you don’t like films because your life was ruined when you realised Tom Hanks didn’t have learning difficulties or wasn’t a man with aids. It’s an act, yes, but it’s also very entertaining watching Vince McMahon being lulled into a false sense of security by Stone Cold Steve Austin.

OK, so the acting isn’t Tom Hanks quality (or sometimes Rob Schneider quality)  and the competitive element may be fake but the athleticism isn’t. More nights than not these men and women are wrestling in the ring. That takes a serious level of fitness and for those at the top of their game a huge amount of technical proficiency.  The likes of Dynamite Kid, Bret Hart, William Regal & Johnny Saint (three of the four mentioned there are in fact British as British style wrestling is known around the world for it’s technical brilliance. Saint was not a WWF wrestler but was known across the UK in the 70′s for his appearences on World Of Sport) made wrestling a real skill and art. Their kind of work involved strength and acrobatic ability that at it’s best was mesmerizing… If you have a spare 8 minutes then watch this CLASSIC match up between Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask… If you don’t have have 8 minutes but have 4 watch a condensed tribute video with a Journey sound track here.

Not impressed with their technical brilliant? You’re almost a lost cause but there is one more thing… The Rock.

Though The Rock isn’t the only one, he is the guy who sums up my point, you hung to his every word. Whether you believe it or not The Rock is up there with the greats when it comes to public speaking and comedic timing. I don’t have to provide links to make my point because most of you are probably aware that this guy could go. People like Rocky and Stone Cold do electrify and have the ability to excite, skill like that transcends even wrestling. When me and my brother were kids watching WWF on a Saturday morning, even our father would enjoy listening to The Rock.

(For some reason it isn’t letting me post a picture of Bret Hart… Just imagine the coolest dude ever.)

There is also the element of  living vicariously through the wrestlers themselves. Whether it’s sticking it your boss like Stone Cold or CM Punk, making fools of your foes like The Rock, being the bad guy like Mr. Perfect or even being the all American hero like Hulk Hogan or John Cena you are given the chance to support and live be with people through their glories and downfalls… and what’s wrong with that?

Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling event of the year and it’s coming this April, why not take a gamble and give it a watch if you’ve never watched wrestling before. The fireworks and theatrics are hard not to enjoy and you might even end up on a wrestling forum making sure everyone knows Shawn Michaels is a ponce and Bret rulez.

Peace.

 

 

Three changes to improve British politics.

All political power is primarily an illusion. Illusion. Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors, first a thin veil of blue smoke, then a thick cloud that suddenly dissolves into wisps of blue smoke, the mirrors catching it all, bouncing it back and forth.   – Jimmy Breslin

Before I start this article I’m not going to claim that I am anything more than a naive onlooker with an interest in politics who reads the papers and watches the various shows on television… I have also, probably much like the many of you reading this,  felt that not only is there a smoke and mirrors effect going on with politics but also a cloak and dagger situation, a wound is inflicted to the public without knowing who has really dealt the blow. The public doesn’t like politicians… that’s a given but there seems to be real a unease around the world let alone England. So having done a little digging around I’ve concluded that hear are three easy to introduce demands that we, the British public should demand to help improve politics.

Lobbying transparency

Not only did Bell Pottinger boast about it’s ability to manipulate google and wikipeda to drown out negative articles on issues of human rights and child labour for certain countries but they also boasted about their parliament connects to MP’s across the political spectrum as well as David Cameron when helping business clients get their voices heard.

This is worrying.
The NHS reforms that are currently being pushed through regardless of a long list of medical institutions that are dead set against it, high speed rail affecting people’s home lives, Liam Fox taking his friend (who was being financed by a defense company allegedly) to Tel Aviv for private meetings when he was defense minister. These are just a few things that have happened over the course of the past year and we have no real idea who they are coming from, the hearts and minds of our politicians or the pockets of private health organizations, rail companies or arms dealers?

Knowing where our politicians are really coming from would give us a true sense of democracy… for me information on lobbying click here

Abolish party whips

Here is the definition  straight from the horse’s mouth for those who are unaware.

Last night’s welfare reform bill which was voted on in parliament last night is a great example of whips at work as it’s a big one for The Coalition. To make sure it goes through the people in power need to look strong and through the use of whips they make sure the party line is pulled. This seems undemocratic however, we voted for our MPs to look after our interests as their constituents, this may not always agree with the party’s line or in fact the MP themselves personal beliefs… but they are bullied and blackmailed into holding the line for fear they will be banished… sounds like totalitarianism to me. Here’s an article by Peter Bone PM

The freedom of the press

This may seem like a fairly obvious one and you might be inclined to think that this was the case anyway, but as we all saw a year ago, the courts have the right to impose super injunctions which mean that a subject cannot be mentioned or even be implied. When it’s about a footballer having sex with a prostitute… who can really say they care? The real worry is that one day something that actually matters will come forward and the press will not be able to mention it through fear of imprisonment. This needs to be took out of the hands of individual judges and dealt with as a law.

There is only ever going to be one way to instigate change. The people rising up and demanding change in a peaceful manner.

Peace.

Brave New World, 1984 and Our Society

Peace,

Having recently read both Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” & George Orwell’s “1984″ I was not only struck by the sheer beauty and eloquence of which both men were able to put across their ideas but also the similarities with our modern society. It is probably not a surprise to learn that Huxley taught Orwell French at Eton where they became life long friends as well as members of the influential socialist think tank and lobbying group “The Fabian Society” (who’s symbol, rather curiously, is a sheep in wolf’s clothing), who were prominent in the creation of The Labour Party. Without ruining the story for any would be readers I intend on examining the themes that co inside in both books and the links I think they have to modern society.

The centralisation of government

In 1984 we learn that the world is controlled by 3 world super states, all at war with each other and in Brave New World the world is controlled by one government with different points of power, in the case of the book in Western Europe. You might well think, upon seeing the words “centralisation of government” and ideas of one or a few authorities controlling a mass of land that I was about to spout of some conspiracy non-sense. Well, I’m not, I am going to mention Europe however. We have both a European Commission and a European President that were unelected by the people of Europe. Not to mention that we have been countlessly promised referendums on our involvement in the EU and yet these promises have never been delivered. In short we have had laws given to us that have not come from elected members of our parliament, but a large centralised European government.

Excessive Consumerism

Ah yes, my old foe. In fact, 1984′s view consumerism is a slightly more interesting approach, the idea that consuming and manufacturing can be kept on the up and the suppression and deprivation of the people can also be kept equally high through continuous war. We clearly don’t live in a society too aligned to that (though interestingly, I have to go back as far as 1990 to find a time in which Britain was not involved in some sort of conflict during my life time) we can find more parallels of consumerism with Huxley’s book.

Brave New World see the inhabitants of Western Europe obsessed, through conditioning, with new leisure activities, new clothes and new machines. Infact there is a commission set up that looks into all new games and activities and assesses the amount accessories, parts and add-ons that can be bought on purchase and at later dates. Part of their conditioning is the remembering of phrases including “Ending is better than mending” in terms of clothes.

I’m not suggesting we walk around in rags throwing sticks at each other, but when thinking about that point then looking at products like Ben 10, a cartoon that was brought out along with a long range of toys you could throw at your screaming child or from my very own childhood, Pokémon. “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” but to do so you’re going to need to buy two different versions of the same game, I did love Pokémon though…

Just two left and I’ll keep them short!

The oppression of the underclass

In 1984 the main character, Winston, wrote “If there is hope it lies in the proles (underclass)” and then questioning his own logic “but how’d you make them listen?”. Never truer words said, after all the working and underclass are in the majority all over the world, and if we wanted to instil real and positive change we could. In the two books they are controlled through education, conditioning and diversions. They are never quite allowed to see who is pulling the strings and take no interests in it anyway.

In my home town of Birmingham there is a child poverty rate of just over 30%, a third of the people living in the UK’s second biggest city are dealing with poverty. We can see from education figures that the rates of working class people going to higher education are fairly low in comparison to the middle classes and are abhorrently low for the top university places. The recent scandal in the press have shown the media’s readiness to lie to make a decent story, and more often than not are more concerned with celebrity. Lobbying companies work in the dark with politicians and money men pushing for legislation affecting us, while we do not know the source. I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy but it’s certainly not something we should put up with in a one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Finally…

Thought control

Now we’re at the crux of the lunacy and conspiracy! In 1984 constant surveillance by the authorities and brain washed children would ratting out any abnormalities controlled the people and in Brave New World any difference in thought was frowned upon and you were outcast from society if it went any further.

I don’t think a totalitarian society exists to enforce that, but I do think the media is more than willing to crucify anyone who offers different opinion. George Galloway in constantly attacked by media on both sides of the Atlantic. From Fox New’s Bill O’Reilly calling him a communist and accused him off accepting tokens of friendship of Saddam, Channel 4 accusing him of cosying up to Fidel Castro a “dictator” and even the BBC’s Jeremy Paxman, who when Galloway won the Bethnal Green seat as an independent asked him “Are you proud you got rid of one of the few black women in parliament?”.

He is not alone, we have seen the Murdoch empire manipulate us politically as well as slandering and praising celebrities with lies and deceit.

I will leave you with a quote from a letter Huxley sent to Orwell praising him on 1984 and adding his own thoughts…

“Within the next generation I believe that the world’s leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience.”

Peace

Stand up comedy and the line.

Peace.

Shock and outrage have always been elements in live comedy from the likes of free speech advocates & social satirists Lenny Bruce & Bill Hicks to shock comedians like Andrew Dice Clay and somewhere in between that with modern comedians Frankie Boyle and Ricky Gervais who have since taken  the media’s role of comedy Anti-Christs… but is there a line between vulgarity and honesty? Questioning and shocking?

In the 50′s Lenny Bruce was causing a storm in America for his use of bold language and after a run in with the police he returned to the stage with his “filthiest” set yet… but it wasn’t what people thought here is a clip of said gig as portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film “Lenny”

Lenny was making a point with this however, he was pushing the idea that words were not obscene, intent was, the irony of  course was that Lenny was never intending to be obscene, he was just dealing with social barriers.

Dice, was somewhat different, it was late 80′s the line had already been pushed and in packed out venues like Madison Square Garden Dice was telling rude nursery rhymes…

This was mainstream comedy and mainstream comedy has always been a good bar to set societies moral line against. The sets of Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson speak for themselves in terms of the attitudes and beliefs they were mirroring in the 70′s, a misogynistic and slightly racist mindset but in a rather naive way, characteristic of a country dealing with fresh immigration.

It is important to not make generalizations however, I hope people don’t look back at Michael McIntyre’s run as king of prime time and presume we are all ever smiling middle class simpletons and Bill Hicks was of course working away in the 80′s with a cult following around the same time Dice was filling stadiums.

From the days of Lenny Bruce there doesn’t seem to have been much change. The Daily Mail seems to be constantly running articles about the bile and filth that seems to be pouring out of our comedy clubs and out of the mouths of Frankie Boyle, of course who can forget his Jordan joke? But who is the real exploiter of Jordan’s child Frankie or Jordan herself? But who is Frankie Boyle to make quips?

In a simple and rather boring way the answer is society and individuals. Society has deemed Bernard Mannings’ sets to be too dated and are not seen on television with the same nostalgia and glee as The Two Ronnies or Tommy Cooper but it is also down to the individual. Regardless of what conservatives and liberals alike may think about certain comics there is of course a choice, to not pay to watch it live or to turn off the TV, for after all it is only one persons words. In a sense the real joy of stand up comedy is that there is still an art form that still exists where one person with a microphone can cause such shock and manifest thoughts and opinions.

In truth there needs to be someone willing to push barriers and make people think outside of the accepted fences. The likes of Hicks and Bruce were often responsible for next generations ability to say something even more exciting and new. The reasons for shocking alone will usually say something about the beliefs held in society, actually can someone do a set about Sex and the City 2… if that speaks for society then we’re screwed.

I’d just like to bring something up on a personal note however!

I don’t think we should allow ourselves to accept lazy comedy, some of you who follow things like Mock the Week (seriously, how shit has that got?) and Have I got news for you will probably be aware of Eric Pickles, the minister for communities and local government. Considering it’s supposed to be such blazing satire how come whenever he’s mentioned there is a weight joke rather than a joke about the fact that I don’t even know what he’s done while he’s been in government? Also… no matter how many times Russel Howard says “Ninja granny fighting a monkey” it’s not funny, cool or cutting edge, it’s moronic.

Peace!

Twitter @ lukedolan

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; An autobiography.

“John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” is a masterpiece.

The drums are straight, the bass is simple and the keyboards or guitars are just playing chords, you could even say the music was plain and to an extent you’d be right. What isn’t plain is John’s vision and honestly, the searing lyrics mean the music sits perfectly allowing you to take in what John has to say, and, after a few listens you begin to realize that in this case, less is more.

The original draft to this piece featured plenty of dates and facts, feelings against the other Beatles, musicians and all the rest but in truth they don’t need to be known and what does need to be known can be heard in the music.

The pain of his Liverpool upbringing in songs like “Mother”, “Working Class Hero” & “My Mummy’s Dead”.
The venom against establishments, religion and indeed his own band mates in songs like “Well, well, well”, “Isolation” and the particularly scathing “I Found Out” the latter of which opening references George’s move to Eastern religions calling Hare Krishna “Pie in the Sky” as well as the lyric “I’ve seen religion from Jesus to Paul”.
Of course there are also themes of love and hope in the songs “Hold On” and “Love”.

Then, there is “God”.

This deeply moving piece, shows John openly stating his own personal truths, the power in this song is an unbelievable testament to John’s writing ability, if you don’t bother with the album or anything from John Lennon, I ask you to give this song a listen.

“And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people.” – Bill Hicks

David Bowie: The Berlin Trilogy

Seeing as new footage has came out of Bowie live I thought I’d re-post the Bowie article I did for a friend’s website a few years back (with a bit of a revamp) .

Low.Heroes.Lodger

Few musicians are able to achieve the success and fame of an international superstar whilst still maintaining a level of work that is incredibly innovative, highly respected and loved by critics, peers and fans alike. With 25 studio albums and a body of work that has stretched 5 decades David Bowie has transcended genre and become one of the most influential figures of the 20th century whose musical characteristics can still be heard in modern music today.

The 1970′s were Bowie’s most productive and creatively fresh period and in ’74 Bowie released his final Glam-Rock effort “Diamond Dogs” and moved to America where he recorded the 1975 Philadelphia soul album “Young Americans”, featuring a young Luther Van Dross, and in ’76, the deeply dark and moving album “Station to Station”. Bowie went on to describe these years as his darkest as he fought a cocaine addiction and severe depression, “Station to Station” and more specifically “Word on a wing” is seen a desperate cry for help by Bowie himself. He decided to leave America, with punk icon Iggy Pop, for Berlin determined to find a new sound and to get clean from cocaine. The Berlin music scene at the time had been  sparked by the work of Kraftwerk; especially the albums Autobahn and Radio-Activity. West Berlin had become a hive of music pushing the boundaries of electronic music whilst incorporating influences from rock music, avant-garde and the art world. The music made at this time was the beginning of Art Rock, electro, modern ambience and sound scape music and went on to influence New Wave, Post Punk and Industrial music. Perhaps one of the most notable bands to be directly influenced by this period were Joy Division whose original name “Warsaw” was a reference to the David Bowie track “Warszawa” of the album “Low”.

Brian Eno, often wrongly sighted as having produced this album, played a huge role in the series of albums co-writing some of the tracks with Bowie as well as performing on them. Eno of course went on to be a massive influence in his own right within the genres of sound scape, ambience and avant-garde. A constant theme throughout Bowie’s work has been loneliness, isolation and alienation. These themes are magnified in Berlin where the wall serves as a physical manifestation of these feelings, a constant lingering of the soviet union and the oppression of East Berlin, just a couple of hundred yards from the studio. Heroes, Bowie’s most famous song from this period, is a perfect example of this. A bittersweet song about forever being a down and out, a hollow no hoper but finding love, the one thing that can pull Bowie and Berlin out of the its depression. Characteristically the music from these albums would focus less on typical song structures or chords. The movement fed off the avant-garde ideals, placing importance on the overall feel and emotion of the song, a message. These albums pushed the capabilities of electronic instruments, electro music and the modern studio.

These albums are not only masterpieces for historical reasons. Listening to them today still evokes the feelings Bowie himself was feeling. Each album also deals with different aspects of life. “Low” takes on isolation with tracks like “Be my wife” and “A new career in a new town”, with love and a bleak hope in “Heroes” exemplified by the title track and a more outward view in “Lodger” a harsh look at the world and in particular western imperialism with songs like “Red Sails” and “Red Money”… I wonder why he says red…

After the Berlin Trilogy Bowie would realise one more album, the amazing “Scary Monster…” before taking a few years off. In 1983 Bowie released Let’s Dance; a highly successful pop album. This saw Bowie’s career take a popular but critically average turn, a move away from the experimentation which had characterized Bowie and toward a focus on making popular music, a now dated 80′s sound (though the 2000′s saw him return to the Berlin feel with “Heathen”).

Classic albums in history always sound fresh and alive always inspiring a new generation of musicians and music lovers. The Berlin Trilogy was not always met with open minds and was sometimes panned but the years have seen these albums put, rightly so, alongside Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon, The Payback and others as albums that will never age but will be seen with the respect they truly deserve.

Peace

Luke Dolan

Twitter @ lukedolan

What Christmas adverts say about the world marketing wants us to live in.

Peace,

So I decided to start a blog and rather than bore you with my intentions and what you might see in the coming months, I thought I’d just dive in with the shit shoveling (is that a real saying?).

Truth be told, I don’t watch much TV, but if I do it’s to indulge in some real guilty pleasures, and sometimes, venture from the BBC (Heaven forbid, God save the Queen ect.). So here I am, in some comfy slacks, loving the bright colours on a dusty digital channel when the proceedings stop. Why? For three minutes of suggestions on things I might like to buy right away of course. Now don’t get me wrong, dear new reader, I understand that those filthy marketing men fund the channels hosting the shows I secretly love but do these adverts have to be so… shit? Do they have to be set in such an Orwellian hell hole? Do I have to moan about them to vent a little anger from the molten hate building inside me and then ask you to read it?

Yes.

A Happy Consumer

Those fucking great guys at Littlewoods see that Christmas can be a bit of let down sometimes. So they’ve come up with a great idea; buy everyone’s happiness. A good Christmas is a Christmas that leaves you in debt for the rest of the year seriously having to contemplate taking up that second job doing tricks up town and being beaten up by your loving but fair pimp. For the purposes of this blog I’m going to add up everything they suggest buying for your family of ungrateful shit munchers.

£2886. I sat through that advert and meandered through their website toting up the prices. To be fair the biggest expense was the £1000 apple laptop they suggested Granddad might like but still, are they for real? Behind the kids singing and the mothers loving it (actually which school put this production on?!) there is a genuine unease about this whole situation. You, we and everyone else is being told that the only way to truly be happy is spend more money, but it get’s darker.

Celebrity is Everything

Well actually I’m not sure if everyone would consider this ad a turn for the darker, I do.

Ok so let’s ignore the celebrity part for a second. They’re singing about making wishes and having your dreams come true, those dreams are being depicted in these adverts as wealth and gifts, I don’t think I need to say anything else on that strand of thought. I will continue with the song though, it’s this year’s X Factor lot singing it. Of course their dreams have come true, they’re faceless talent-less somebodies now, I think there is something wrong with that though.

In one fell swoop (I thought M&S were the good guys?) we’ve been told that our aspirations should be based on two things. Firstly that objects will make us happy and secondly that we have only truley achieved something when we’re famous. For the record, fame isn’t the issue here, Bowie’s and Lennon’s fame has meant they have touched my soul in an unchangeable way, but these people weren’t famous for wanting to be famous, they had something to say.

Now, dear new reader, put away your pitchforks and torches for I actually enjoy Christmas and to a lesser extent the build up to it. I love seeing family, eating good food and even giving gifts, I love that there is a day where everything stops and people just enjoy life but I fear we have lost that to the idea that Christmas is a day for showing love through possessions. I also fear that British society has totally lost any sense of culture or at least we’re being depicted that way, no one ever receives a book in these adverts (except WHS ones), but that is for another blog I fear.

Peace

Twitter @ lukedolan