Society

People, politics, tech, money, sport, work and entertainment all intertwine to make up today’s ever-changing, crazy, delightful and frustrating society. The majority of my second-hand-views are about life within our society and, with a left-of-centre stance, there’s bound to be something here that gets your goat. When it does, buy a bundle of tibs, donate one to my charity of choice, Stay Close to Neve, and get it off your chest with a retort – better out than in. Have fun, be good and keep at ‘em.

it’s the real thing

Carl - November 24, 2010

In doing my research for the ‘rule Britannia’ piece below (you research this rubbish? – ed) I came across a fascinating interview with rapper, ex-hustler and multi-millionaire, Jay-Z. Through his 14 years dealing on the streets I certainly feel he has something of an intimate knowledge of crack and cocaine and I thought I’d share his thoughts with you, verbatim. Most interestingly, he never touched the stuff himself and says there was a strict code among successful hustlers and often quotes the line from Al Pacino’s Scarface: don’t get high on your own supply. “Cocaine wasn’t new and neither was selling it. But crackheads were different. They got no respect. They were former neighbours, ‘aunts & uncles’, but once they […]

rule britannia

Carl - November 22, 2010

When you’re next filling in a form and you come to the address bit just pause for a second and reflect on which country do you actually live in. Is it going to be England, the United Kingdom, Britain or Great Britain, or even God forbid, Europe? To still be using ‘Great’ before ‘Britain’ can at times appear an outdated anachronism in the extreme. In the days of our gloriously aggressive all-conquering empire past it was undoubtedly deserved and would strike fear into the hearts of the few remaining countries we hadn’t yet invaded. But in this day and age is it deserved or warranted? Hell yeah! Contrary to how it may feel at certain times, Britain remains a great […]

for richer, for poorer

Carl - November 17, 2010

Though it was only announced yesterday I’m already sick to the back-teeth of the impending royal wedding. It’s not that I don’t wish the happy couple the best and all that malarkey as I do, it’s just that I’ve absolutely no interest whatsoever in the detail. The ring, the dress, the venue, the date, the service, the guests, the honeymoon, the blah, blah, blah, blah. But whilst you won’t be hearing any of this on these pages rest assured you’ll be hearing it through every other media source, whether you like it or not. The media’s obsession with all things royal continues unabated and the level of drivel they have reported in even the last 24 hours stupefies me. Currently […]

gis a job

Carl - November 16, 2010

I’ve often been told I’m quite a well-balanced kind of chap…in that I have a chip on both shoulders! One of those chips is undeniably my unswerving belief that I am working class and I remain working class. Consequently, many of you out there would expect me to be up in arms over Ian Duncan Smith’s work related welfare reforms where he’s going to force the unemployed to do unpaid work and if they fail to comply they’ll, ultimately, lose their benefit pay-outs. Well you’d be wrong. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s what I’m reading these days or maybe I’m watching too many Jeremy Kyle shows for my own good but for whatever the reason I’m pretty much all out […]

one rule for one

Carl - November 14, 2010

Regular readers will already know this Government’s current doyen Sir Peter Green and I are not the best of friends. Not content with extracting obscene tax-efficient (aka tax-avoidance) dividends ‘to his family’ he’s now been caught with his hands in the company pension pot. Upwards of 24,000 workers at Bhs have received a warning letter notifying that that, because of a £148m shortfall in the pension fund, they may not receive their full pensions. Now, I accept that’s nothing new in today’s day and age but if Sir Philip had made one or two more disciplined and less self-centred decisions then this would not be the case. In 2003, he took the (then) unusual step of extracting £214m in a […]

one a day, every day

Carl - November 10, 2010

The other day I came across the best bits of The Lost Diaries by the parodist Craig Brown and I’ve got to share one or two with you: 10 August 2002, Paul Burrell – Until now, I have said little about my relationship with Her Majesty, but the truth must now outweigh the need for me to protect her little secrets. Her majesty was a lovely lady. She thought the world of me. She would often call on her nights off. I got used to that tell-tale knock on the door. She would drum out the opening bars of the national Anthem with her clenched fist. That way, I knew it was her. I’d open the door and there she’d […]

tories have it right

Carl - November 2, 2010

Yep, you heard that correctly and I have to say that they’ve got it exactly spot-on with regards to the elderly within our society. Broadly speaking, the cuts have left the OAPs untouched (other than obviously being the predominant receiver of a significantly diminished health service) and they will continue to enjoy the winter fuel allowance, free bus travel and, provided they’re over 75, a free TV licence, even though these benefits cost the rest of us almost £3.7bn a year. And who in their right mind would resent them these token offerings for a lifetime’s tax contribution? The mean and stingy can be heard arguing that, as just 14% of pensioners are now in the bottom fifth of income […]

driven to distraction

Carl - October 29, 2010

I have used my mobile whilst driving. There, it’s out. I try not to, but yes, guilty as charged, your honour. But of course any calls I may have taken were all absolutely essential, probably relating to national security or some such, and I HAD to take them. Unlike everyone else who is just gassing to their pals about what to wear at the party tomorrow. The modern car has a list of distractions as long as your arm, all designed to make driving feel like sitting in the comfort of your living room. Drivers are now totally isolated and we’ve made cars extensions of our homes. They’re comfy, heater on, iPod playing, sat-nav sounding, noise controlled little boxes and […]

what’s it all about

Carl - October 27, 2010

…Alfie! A freeze in the basic and 30-hour working tax credit. A 10% reduction in claimable childcare costs. A freeze in the savings credit element of pension credit. A rise in the state pension age to 66. 60% off the budget for building affordable homes. Higher rents for social housing tenants. Massive uncertainty within the Public Sector both in terms of service provision and job security. A 15% reduction in daylight hours and rainwater to be rationed at source from 2012. OK, I made the last two up but you get the general picture that pain and grief is on the way in bucketfuls. But how do I know? If redundancy were imminent, or I was on incapacity benefit, or […]

pass the hanky

Carl - October 25, 2010

I’ve mixed feelings about The X Factor. I know I shouldn’t watch it, let alone enjoy it, but I do. Yep, I realise it’s low-brow, lowest common-denominator, car-crash TV that manipulates me wildly into believing it’s not all a huge set-up but I just can’t help myself. Come 7.30pm on any given Saturday I’m there salivating like a Pavlovian experiment, tuned in and ready to tuck in with, it would seem, most of the country. There’s no doubt the programme is cunningly crafted to create tension, drama and suspense and it can become thrillingly addictive. But I have one nagging doubt and it won’t go away. I worry that we are creating a generation that expects fame and fortune, success […]