please empty your brain below
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Well, this is a cheerful start to my day.
Jamesthegill | 23.09.20 - 7:01 a.m. | #
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Hard to disagree.
J | 23.09.20 - 7:08 a.m. | #
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Wow DG. Sobering stuff but superb writing.
THC | 23.09.20 - 7:11 a.m. | #
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An excellent summing up. Thank you.
methers | 23.09.20 - 7:20 a.m. | #
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Unfortunately you're not wrong 🤔
Kevin Too | 23.09.20 - 7:27 a.m. | #
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As if the first day of Autumn isn't reason enough for gloomy anticipation! But, much of that is inarguably true.
Frank F | 23.09.20 - 7:27 a.m. | #
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Am I the only one nostalgic for the days when Tory Party Grandees kept an eye on Prime Ministerial performance?
If embarrassing incompetence was growing, one of their number would be sent with "a pearl-handled revolver" and a resignation would swiftly follow.
RosemaryT | 23.09.20 - 7:29 a.m. | #
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And yet
millions of people have come together to help their neighbour during this time and continue to do so.
As we get older we for some reason become more pessimistic about life - I certainly do and yet around the world we have made huge strides in areas such as reducing infant mortality and raising people out of absolute poverty. Unlike my grandfathers and father I have not been called up to fight in a world war.
Are we the generation that has finally screwed up the world or is there still hope for the future?
arcturus | 23.09.20 - 7:29 a.m. | #
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At least you ended on a positive note!
DavidC | 23.09.20 - 7:32 a.m. | #
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That was extremely well thought out and written,DG ! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Our children and grandchildren will curse us to the seventh generation, if this planet makes it that far. 😥
Jo W | 23.09.20 - 7:32 a.m. | #
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They developed a 'world-beating' track and trae system and ran it like a privatised railway.
Brian | 23.09.20 - 7:39 a.m. | #
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Overall fair enough.
Still Anon | 23.09.20 - 7:52 a.m. | #
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Spot on. Apart from a minor quibble that 2012 was as good as it got, it was all downhill from there...
Steve | 23.09.20 - 8:18 a.m. | #
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One reason we have Boris as PM is that they was no real opposition. Labour had an unpopular leader.
Boris was funny and known from his TV shows. Most of the voters did not know how incompetent he was when Mayor.
Thanks to Boris backing leave ( for his own political gains) and the voting masses following him we now face a grim future outside the EU. I could go on
John | 23.09.20 - 8:19 a.m. | #
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For more uncheerfulness read this article published on 13th March (which was a Friday!)
Bob L-S | 23.09.20 - 8:23 a.m. | #
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Perhaps a sign of my age and political leanings, but I agree with most of that, unfortunately. You could also mention creeping surveillance and authoritarianism, the great sucking machine of unconstrained capitalism exacerbating inequality, and widespread threat of extinction of many species, all of which are undeniable. And if you’d like some more unlikely disaster scenarios, you could add in a nearby supernova or gamma ray burst, a passing black hole, or the LHC accidentally creating a strangelet.
I am waiting for someone to disagree and lay out a vision of alternative facts, sunlit uplands, jam tomorrow, and cakes both had and eaten.
Andrew | 23.09.20 - 8:24 a.m. | #
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I'm not sure if that is perfectly pitched pastiche or heartfelt angst, but whichever, it's absolutely spot-on.
Sarah | Homepage | 23.09.20 - 8:34 a.m. | #
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An excellent summary, DG. Let's hope that small steps we're all capable of can make some difference....
Chris L | 23.09.20 - 8:40 a.m. | #
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I admire your optimism!
Peter | 23.09.20 - 8:42 a.m. | #
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Agree with you, Sarah - I think what’s great about this post is that we’ll never know exactly to what extent DG truly believes these statements himself (though going by his post history, a lot of this does sound to me like heartfelt angst).
Also thinking along some similar lines to you, Andrew. Perhaps what we’re seeing here is the natural progression of the TV and Internet age: a culture focused on entertainment and novelty, where attention is currency and feelings matter more than facts or reasoned debate. No wonder extremes have been taking hold.
I do hold out hope, however, as I’ve read that it takes some time for humans to adapt to new technology. We’re still working out how best to use the tools we have, and maybe what we’re going through is just a part of that process.
Sam | 23.09.20 - 8:44 a.m. | #
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The problem with modern society is that everyone has a voice and it is easier to be destructive instead of constructive, it is easier to whinge rather than to help. Instead of constantly whining about how hard done by you are, concentrate on the good things, help others and improve yourself - your mental health will thank you. Remember that you have more freedom and opportunity than any of your ancestors had, use it, don't waste it in pointless complaining.
Jimbo | 23.09.20 - 8:47 a.m. | #
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DG has written this post in what I call rant style, with strings of sentences linked by commas to make paragraphs. Unfortunately I'm not savvy enough to discern who or what is being parodied.
Ian | 23.09.20 - 9:26 a.m. | #
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At least one thing is going well so far: the overall project to convert Great Britain into Little England.
Keith | 23.09.20 - 9:36 a.m. | #
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Doom and gloom but it all needs to be said. While we don't seem very clever at the moment, humans are very good at reactive behaviour to correct things. I am hopeful that young people will take corrective actions.
Andrew | Homepage | 23.09.20 - 9:41 a.m. | #
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Very well done DG. You mention the possibility of a single solar flare taking out the internet etc. For those of us having to work or exist at home it would be a whole new problem, and we would not be able to discuss it with anyone! The internet generally, and your blog in particular, is the only thing that makes life bearable. I can just remember life before the mobile phone and the development of social media in the electronic age. But that was in the days you could jump in the car and drive to the pub, not wearing a seatbelt and have a chat to as many of your friends as you liked and drive home again. I don't know what we would do now.
Dave | 23.09.20 - 9:51 a.m. | #
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Are you living in my brain??
Simon | Homepage | 23.09.20 - 9:52 a.m. | #
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Thanks DG, you sum up the thoughts of many of us in these depressing days. I had always assumed you were a lockdown zealot following rules to the letter, now I assume I know differently.
davews | 23.09.20 - 10:02 a.m. | #
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My soul needs the opposite of this post tomorrow to recover.
Anon | 23.09.20 - 10:09 a.m. | #
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Still, mustn't grumble...
Graham | 23.09.20 - 10:13 a.m. | #
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Well it was sort of fun reading, made me chuckle. Cathartic I suppose.
RosemaryT I agree, bring back the heavyweights.
We need Denis Healey to say of Boris: "What a silly-billy"... :-)
Joho | Homepage | 23.09.20 - 10:16 a.m. | #
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Spot on.
I think the biggest frustration is that the voices of the little people aren't being listened to.
We sign petitions - if they do get as far as a hearing in the House they're swiftly dispatched without any real consideration.
We protest - the powers that be go ahead anyway and call us "dangerous".
At some point civil unrest will most likely rear its head - it's what happens when all hope is gone and there's nothing left to lose - and I fear we're on a fast track to that.
Cornish Cockney | 23.09.20 - 10:35 a.m. | #
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Spot on.
However, if you’d like hope ... it *IS* coming in the form of the younger generation coming through. Have met many younger brilliant people are working through the ranks as it were, so it IS going to get better.
It’s just that it’s going to get even worse first (like the first three months of next year) before we turn a corner.
Buckle up. The ride’s gonna be bumpy.
Geofftech | 23.09.20 - 10:39 a.m. | #
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In 1963 PG Tips released a series of tea cards 'Wildlife in Danger' which identified 50 species around the world - from insects to whales - perceived as being at imminent risk of extinction. As a 6-year-old I was pretty concerned about it, and have had an interest in nature ever since.
One of my forthcoming tasks will be to seek out that old set of tea cards and look up each of those 50 species to find how many actually been lost.
RogerW | 23.09.20 - 10:56 a.m. | #
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The “sensible” Tory MPs exiled themselves by refusing to accept the result of the Brexit vote.
As Boris is such an admirer of Churchill he should remember what happened to him after victory in 1945.
Kim | 23.09.20 - 11:01 a.m. | #
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You took the words right out of my mouth.
Milo | 23.09.20 - 11:02 a.m. | #
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Re Churchill, I think he already has , that's why he looks so depressed. He's realised his career will be over at the next election so now he can't be arsed. And in the best Roman tradition there lies Govey with his knife poised..
Rick | 23.09.20 - 11:38 a.m. | #
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A curious mixture of things that are specifically wrong with Britain, of which there are plenty, and global problems. If only there was somewhere we could point to as an exemplar. But even Germany, or Norway, with apparently very competent leadership, is having a pretty rough time. And global heating, asteroids, drought, and many of the other clouds on the horizon will affect all humanity, not just our little corner.
Malcolm of Kent | 23.09.20 - 11:42 a.m. | #
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It could be worse.
Michael | 23.09.20 - 11:45 a.m. | #
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My thoughts in my lowest moments, so well expressed. ‘Freewheeling to our doom.’ Thank you for that.
Lorraine | 23.09.20 - 11:55 a.m. | #
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This is, I believe, a DG tabloid-style rant. He backs up serious arguments with facts which are notably missing here. It made me giggle!
Toni | 23.09.20 - 12:03 p.m. | #
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Right, well... Cup of tea anyone?
E1W-er | 23.09.20 - 12:39 p.m. | #
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Government incompetence and an ineffective leader who can be pushed and pulled in any direction by his unelected 'adviser' (who, incidentally, has an agenda, is seriously bad for us all. We lost our democracy some time ago, not that many of you noticed.
B | 23.09.20 - 1:29 p.m. | #
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The last sentence makes me believe that DG was out and about, and read a poem while on the tube (Cicely Herbert, Everything Changes, page 3 here [pdf]. I liked the turnaround with this lump-in-your-throat feeling.
R. | 23.09.20 - 1:55 p.m. | #
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A masterly summary of where we are, if I may say! And so glad that you said describes our mode of transport to hell as being a "handcart" rather than a "handbasket" which never seems to make any sense at all.
Cau1khead | 23.09.20 - 3:42 p.m. | #
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Nuclear apocalypse would make a nice light-hearted change for 2020 I think.
TheNewNo2 | 23.09.20 - 4:14 p.m. | #
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As you say D G we are all being trumped!
Tones | 23.09.20 - 4:40 p.m. | #
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Great post DG.
Unfortunately I think people will be more blase about a 2nd lockdown. All roads led to Dominic Cummimgs after the 1st one. I wonder which prominent politician will be the culprit to undermine the lockdown this time.
Richard | 23.09.20 - 5:17 p.m. | #
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The highway to hell has been re-tarmaced(?) and two extra lanes added.
Ian | 23.09.20 - 6:27 p.m. | #
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Sadly, Trump and Boris get elected because there is no credible opposition anymore, it's heartbreaking.
Most of us care deeply about equality and the climate, but in my view BLM and XR have been infiltrated by destructive, non-negotiating Marxists who would wreak far worse havoc on society.
Darren | 23.09.20 - 8:50 p.m. | #
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Excellent piece DG, thank you.
John DLC | 23.09.20 - 10:56 p.m. | #
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Dave at 9.51am sounds quite downcast, I feel his sadness. Wartime in London was not much fun either at times, and I say that from personal experience – hustled into the cupboard under the stairs when the air-raid sirens wailed; or waking up in the middle of the night to find the bed covered in broken glass when all our windows were blown out. But we got through it somehow. So, chin up, Dave! Life will return to normal eventually.
Great Aunt Annie | 24.09.20 - 7:03 a.m. | #
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A google image search for "hell in a hancart" will return many fine mediaeval and early modern images of devils wheeling people in a wheelbarrow to the fire.
MilesT | 24.09.20 - 1:28 p.m. | #
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Thank you Great Aunt Annie. Your sentiments are appreciated. Cheers!
Dave | 24.09.20 - 7:25 p.m. | #
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