Morphine TV

I have long thought people immerse themselves in such shows partly for entertainment value but more as a way to escape the sheer drudgery and horror of our screwed up little world. Depressingly, humankind has learnt zero from the past and, if anything, hurtles into ever nastier and destructive scenarios that can only harm both people and planet. We are a pathetic and rather despicable species to shame the natural world, but I take comfort in knowing that there are many good and kind people around and those who are determined to fight against the status quo. This does give me a tiny seed of hope for future generations.

All the same, how do we shake most of humanity from its Lethe like slumber? When will people realise that in order to create a better world, we need to stop being seduced by the absurd and distracting noise doled out as ‘news’ each day and wise up to what is unfortunately really happening in the world, news which is often buried at the bottom of the food pile. Perhaps no one cares any more. A journalist friend in London, a huge Strictly fan as it happens, told me to lighten up. Better to enjoy life even if we’re all going to be fried in a nuclear war than dwell on it all. What can we do about it, anyway? The elite and corrupt politicians with fur-lined bunkers will decide our fate and we, the worker bees, will have no choice but to take our bitter pill. I thought about it, and perhaps she’s right. As the adage goes, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow, who knows.

Petition Plight for Starmer

I wonder sometimes if Keir Starmer wakes up in the night sweating and screaming after another terrible nightmare, turning to his long -suffering wife and asking if it’s all true, that he really is still the PM of the UK. In just five months he’s managed to turn most of the UK electorate against him, even erstwhile loyal Labour supporters. The farmers and pensioners loathe him, small businesses and large corporations are close to despising him, and anyone who believes in free speech and British values. Young people and the sick are going to detest him soon too as he intends to force them out of benefits and into any kind of work.

Unsurprisingly, he’s garnered more than three million signatures on a petition demanding he step down and another general election be held. He’s arguably the most unpopular PM in modern history (and that’s saying something). Amusingly, on X, someone jubilantly informed Elon Musk that in a recent poll Britons said they much preferred Musk to Starmer. His response? The bar was set pretty low to start with. Ouch.

The nephew of a good friend in the UK is a youngish Labour MP – I won’t mention his name as he’s got more than enough haters and trolls on his back already – but the poor chap is being advised by the police due to anger he’s facing from constituents and unknowns. Many are furious and sinister trolls who are actually following him and his loved ones. I’ve suggested to my chum that he cut out surgeries in case of real physical danger but he’s valiantly carrying on. Enraged members of the electorate might see Starmer as their enemy but will likely target his foot soldiers instead as a means to get to him. I for one would never want to be an MP. The pay is pretty lousy, no one likes you and everyone wants to shout at you. And you might face very real physical violence. Frankly, it must be worse than wearing a hair shirt every day.

Jaguar’s Ratner moment

There are countless ways to destroy a brand, but few can forget the devastating moment in 1991 when Gerald Ratner, CEO of mega jewellery business, Ratners, gave a speech at the Royal Albert hall in front of 6,000 corporates, politicians and press, in which he described one of his products as ‘total crap.’ The man had 25,000 employees and 2,500 shops and in one careless moment, allowed a bad gag to founder his business. Customers left in droves, and it never recovered.

So, those with long memories will have cringed to hear CEO of Jaguar, Rawdon Glover, state that the company wanted a different audience from the old people who usually bought its cars. Jaguar was instead hoping to attract young people to buy its new electric cars (approx. value £100,000, so a mere snip to you and me) in the future. Glover created a new ad that to my mind was a cross between the surreal landscape of the Teletubbies and a particularly scary psychedelic drug trip. A group of weird looking, brightly hued people of indeterminate gender gyrated around with large hammers and other gimmickry to give the Jaguar message of ‘Delete ordinary.’ A more appropriate message might now be ‘Delete sales’ because having deeply offended its core audience of ‘old’ and rich men, Jaguar will no doubt now see its sales plummet and Mr Glover will probably be invited to find new pastures.

As for these so-called impressionable young things he thinks will flock to buy Jaguar cars, I very much doubt any would be uncool enough to view such a hackneyed, predictable and woefully woke ad that didn’t even include an image of a Jaguar car. The media has made mincemeat of the dire campaign and really, can you blame it?