As each day dawns the situation for planet Britain gets more and more dire - Calamity Brown is presiding over a country that is going to the dogs. Poverty stalks the streets, violence sneaks up behind poverty and stabs it in the ribs, then Violence gets a right old kicking from Recession who was hiding in the shadows.
Not only that but according to the Guardian today - our native blackbird is on the endangered list. This muse to Kate Bush and singer of tuneless songs in the evenings is apparently heading the way of dodos and mastodons. Or is it? The headline would have you believe that the blackbirds future is already in jeopardy, but the story itself suggests that extrapolation is the main problem here - a worry-wort scientist concludes that because the blackbird is a bit like another bird (the song thrush) that is already endangered, it must be on the road to hell too. Hmm. Well. Maybe.
Is it just me or is that an extrapolation too far? And even if we should be looking out for potential problems, don't you think that predicting the demise of the dear old blackbird on the front page is a tad premature?
I suspect that the Guardian is now in the business of looking for (and of course finding) bad news. And thus the gloom is growing - even though for the most part life is pretty much as it was 6 months ago.
I admit that petrol is more expensive and that no body is buying houses (and that the price of Pot Noodles has gone through the roof) but it's really not that bad yet is it? We're not living in a Steinbeck-ian depression yet are we - Manchester isn't opening soup kitchens just yet.
I dislike calls for 'good' news - but I suspect that the continual blah, blah, blah of bad news is not helpful to the country's national spirit so, give it a rest!
2008-06-11 @ 17:30