In all of my years I have been just about the singularly most unsuccessful gambler in living memory. I barely ever bet these days bar the occasional football flutter on match day. I used to do The Derby, The Grand National and The Cheltenham Gold Cup, but never won a single bean ever. I've bet on FA Cup finals and NEVER even got the result right , let alone the scoreline, or the first scorer.
I am a loser. Never follow one of my bets.
However I did vote for Concorde in the Great British Design Icon awards, and just for once I voted for the winner. Deservedly so in my opinion and as stated in my previous post on the subject I dobt there is anything else in Britain to beat this in terms of design and style, in fact I'd argue that is true for the whole world. What a shame we couldn't even keep just one flying and let the state fund it in the same way we fund monuments to people and listed buildings. A case for listed inventions perhaps?
On a completely different note, last night I watched "The Plot Against Harold Wilson" on BBC2 which was a fabulous documentary/drama mix based on the findings of two journalists Roger Courtier and Barrie Penrose. The whole premise of the programme was based on the plotting of several leading traditional "establishment" figures with the Civil Service, the military (headed by Lord Mountbatten) and politics to mastermind a miltary coup to overthrow Wilsons' Labour government. It included taped clips from Wilson's loyal aide, Marcia Williams (now Lady Falkender) as well as the man himself. It was a frightening portrait of the fragility of democracy and how easily it can be undermined by "authority" and "establishment". These fools actually believed that society was in freefall because of the liberal views of the time, alongside the power of unions ability to strike for fairer terms and conditions. Although there is no doubt the Unions exercised their power foolishly in the end, and ultimately expedited Thatchers rise to power, the fact remains that many of our freedoms we take for granted today were formed by Wilson's liberal regime. For me the most frightening event was when Heathrow Airport was marshalled by the Army and armed police under the auspices of a perceived terrorist threat....ring any bells? It transpires that this was merely an exercise for the "establishment" to show their muscle and put a warning shot across the Wilson bows and a pre-cursor to what they could mobilise, should they wish to. Mountbatten and some upper crust tosspot called Major Alexander Greenwood even had a speech prepared for The Queen which pleaded for us "proles" to back the armed forces. This was a truly incredible story of where the power really lay in Britain during this time, and I'm not convinced things are that different today. It could never happen here could it, but by God it nearly did. And when you think about it, as a society we have become a bunch of spineless sheep, willing to lay down and let governments of any colour or poltical leaning undermine our rights, our freedoms , our liberties under the weight and application of new "laws". In France and other European countries they would be outraged at the level of new legislation being bought in under the auspices of "the war against terror" and poxy "respect" initiatives , whereas our celebrity obsessed, Sun reading, apathetic society just lies down quietly and allows itself to be shafted up the proverbial arse.
A coup could happen here, it just wouldn't because frankly in such a supine and passive society there's simply no need.
Later, CitizenJack
No comments:
Post a Comment