Friday 24 February 2012

You Gotta Get A Gimmick

Calm down, don't panic - I know I don't usually reach down from the comfort of my hilltop retreat on Friday mornings but today I had the urge to touch someone in that special way.

Let me begin by stating my admiration for the professionalism and sacrifice of Marie Colvin, the greatest war correspondent of her generation and a great loss to the world of truth, especially uncomfortable truth.

The death of a genuine world class journalist comes in the same week that Rupert Mudrock (I know what I wrote) launches The Sun on Sunday. Well, I didn't read the weekly editions so I guess I won't be rushing out to buy this down market rag full of gossip and breasts.

I have heard it said that we need as many newspapers as possible because 'information is the oxygen of democracy' (Cristina Odone -  BBC Question Time 23/2/12). To be honest, I think I would rather be short of breath than read The Sun.

I suppose that Mudrock is trying to re-brand after all the bad press his papers have been getting but perhaps he needs to think outside the box or perhaps he needs to think inside a box...do we have a box?

People say that you need an edge these days, you need that USP if you are going to get ahead but maybe you don't have to be different, you just have to be better than the rest?

Perhaps that is why Marie Colvin was so respected, because she strove to be the best and provide the best independent news of what was really happening in the world.




What else has been in the news this week? Tesco employing slave labour, Adele getting cut off in her prime, Frank Carson dies, the Health Bill still causing major headaches for the government, Obama sings the blues, Whitney's funeral, Lord Carey rallying the righteous to oppose gay marriage...just some of the stories that caught my eye.

I cannot let a story about Tesco pass by without comment...if I understand the story correctly, young people on jobseekers allowance are being offered work experience at Tesco (and other places) where they also get paid expenses and learn valuable social skills like talking to people, getting up in the morning and having a work ethic. Sadly at Tesco they are not taught to brush their teeth or wash.

I also understand that 50% of those who have taken this opportunity have gone on to get full time work.

Sounds like a terrible idea and I think we should boycott Tesco!!!

Some of the companies involved are already pulling out because of negative news coverage so I would ask those who are against a scheme that seems to work, what's their big idea? What do they suggest will engender a work ethic in young people who see no benefit in working when you can get benefit for not working?

To compare it to slavery also seems a little preposterous, I don't think slaves actually went home at night I think their employers kept them chained up in the back yard somewhere. Are Tesco keeping teenagers in the cold storage overnight?


Poor old Frank Carson, a man renowned for his timing decides to die on the day when someone more interesting and famous also lost their life. He may have been dead funny but like so many other great comedians, he won't be as funny, dead.

Didn't watch the Brit Awards, don't care if Adele couldn't finish her speech, especially if it was in that awful accented common manner that she uses.  Did go and see The King's Speech at the theatre and that was magnificent.

Didn't watch Whitney's funeral but I did get a call saying that one of my funerals was so well received that the Royal British Legion want to use it as a talking point when dealing with ex-military personnel.

When I started out as funeral celebrant I followed the rule book quite closely but as I grew more confident in my ability I threw the rule book away and just started to be me...and isn't that the greatest gimmick of all?

OK, well Friday awaits and there is plenty to do...one final message to a very avid reader in Mountain View, California - who are you?

There are no secrets in this cyber world, I can stalk all of you with my tracking device.

Mountain View sounds like a place I would love, so dear Mountain View reader, please get in touch with me here on the Hill.













Sunday 19 February 2012

Every Day A Little Death

Good morning and welcome - sorry to say that the Guru has his serious head on this morning.

The death of Whitney Houston has been very widely reported in the media all this week, likewise the arrangements for her funeral which was shown around the world.

I listened to some worthy soul on the news complaining how a funeral being broadcast in such a manner is offensive but just this week I conducted a funeral for a young man which was webcast live so that those who could not attend in person were still able to feel part of the event.

We should embrace modern media and technology and make it work for us, not be scared of it.

The death of Whitney Houston kicked off many debates in which the recent demise of the likes of Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson were recalled, the recurring theme being the tragedy of an early death due to the vicissitudes of their lives. There was also a great deal of talk about addiction.

During the course of this week I have had cause to consider all of these points when one of my Twitter followers posted that they had no sympathy for Whitney - "she brought it on herself".

The correspondent went on to say they had "no time for people with addictions" as they "care nothing but for themselves". Of course we do not know if Ms. Houston's death was caused by addiction but her story does lead one to think that this might be a possible contributing factor.

Sadly there are some who become addicts through totally selfish behaviour, but there are equally some who become addicts for other reasons.

Let us consider a young man who served his country in the Army. Here is a man who was regularly faced with many incidents that we would be hard pressed to think about. Not only did he have to think about them, he had to deal with them. The death of close friends, the mayhem of war, life and death decisions being made and then having to live with the consequences.

I don't think that there is any surprise that the young man might turn to drink in order to drown his sorrows, that drinking himself into a stupor was just a way of escaping the images in his head.

What is a surprise is that upon leaving the Army any support system he had was taken away and he was left abandoned in our world. As a nation we shout about our pride for our servicemen and women -  but that pride doesn't stretch to supporting them much after they leave.

We should all be ashamed that a young man who did his job for his country, who served his military and political masters without question, should be abandoned to his fate in such a way.

I think the Army could do more and I don't discount that personal responsibility is part of the answer but to not be able to access any support through the NHS due to various constraints and bureaucracies seems very unfair.

Of course the reason I know all these facts is that I conducted his funeral. He was 38 and he leaves behind a family who are still numb with the shock and angry, very angry, that no one was there to listen to the cries for help from their son, husband, brother and father.

I don't suppose for one moment that this was an isolated case, I would guess there are many others who are living through a similar hell but when they fall by the wayside there probably will not be a news team and a camera crew on hand to film every sad part of the funeral.  Their names will not be added to the list of Houston, Jackson, Winehouse and Co.

Do we only honour and remember the famous addicts then?