highs and lows
Even a miserable old curmudgeon like myself has to admit that 013 was always going to struggle to live up to the excess of the 012; what with the likes of the Olympics and Queen’s Jubilee, it was always going to wilt in the shadow of its predecessor. Having said that, we gave it our best and became a nation which stalked a baby. In fact, it was the year we stalked a non-baby and then a foetus, before the eventual arrival of a baby. A baby boy no less. It was quite something seeing beloved royal-reporter, Nicholas Witchell, making breaking-news out of ‘no news’. Beloved by all but those he reports upon. “Is it because I is ginga?”
2013 was also the year Andy Murray stopped sobbing and finally won Wimbledon. I suspect it had more to do with him employing the terrifying Ivan Lendl as his coach than he’s ever going to let on. I suspect I’d be in with a chance with Ivan the Terrifying as my coach; you’d be just too afraid to incur his wrath by doing anything else. Sadly, this success did not warrant his award of Sports Personality of the Year. Again. It’s in the title, silly. Personality. However, the fact that he was training somewhere nice & hot and refused to come back to collect it personally was priceless. Even Martina Navratilova’s valiant attempts to liven the debacle by getting his team/entourage on screen fell flat.
Comedy showed itself to be the new politic of 2013. We’ve been treated to Russell Brand guest-editing various edgy political magazines before he felt the need to really connect with the people, or perhaps felt the need to really, really draw attention to himself. Again. In a rare moment of self-aggrandisement he called for revolution. But more so because he probably thinks he’d look good in some quasi Che Guevara cum ‘Wolfie Smith’ fatigues as opposed to the fact that it usually involves murder, mayhem, anarchy and despair. Not to mention a bit of rape and pillage on the side. Our Russell probably thinks it involves hanging out with John Lennon. Cue the glasses and the re-establishment of the Tooting Liberation Front.
Which kinda brings me round to what our Russ is truly all about, narcissism: 2013 was the year of the selfie. This, if you don’t already know, involves taking photographs of yourself on your own mobile phone, whilst undertaking supremely boring things of little (or no) interest to anyone but yourself. Looking at yourself (and most-likely being bored) is the new looking at others. Mind, looking at who else hit the news in 2013 – Twerking Miley, Wriggling Rihanna and Gurning Harry Styles, maybe I should take to selfies like we all took a baby boy to our collective hearts! Goodnight and God bless us, one and all.
