Mourning a Celebrity is Mourning Nostalgia
When I was driving along the A303 last night, I asked my son his thoughts on what appears to be an increase in the need to publicly grieve on social media after the death of a celebrity. He put me in my place a little bit, saying that if people feel it is right to do so, they can, as everyone is emotionally wired in different ways. Like me, he didn't quite understand it, but respected it all the same. With the power of Google, when we ...
George Michael Departs to Various Tributes!
I watched with great interest, the responses that flooded in after the death at 53, of pop superstar, George Michael. Perhaps the most accurate I saw came from a friend (Stephen Fuller) on Facebook. "It'll probably take the first couple of 'celebrity' deaths of 2017 to make people realise there was really nothing special or unique about 2016". When I told my girlfriend, her response was something along the lines of "oh that's ...
Happy Christmas to Las Patronas!
Earlier this week, my girlfriend suggested that sometimes I get to wrapped up in current affairs that can drag my mood down. I have to be honest and admit that when Trump, Farage, and massacres at Christmas markets are on the agenda, it is a little bit hard to start your day in a positive frame of mind, especially with an obligatory Christmas cold and a mounting list of tasks. However, as the depressing news stories scrolled down my ...
2016 – Year of the Sweeping Generalisation!
2016 has been a year where jumping to insane and irrational conclusions has been all the rage across Britain and indeed it appears, the western world. There appears to be a craving for high impact, aggressive responses to anything that is complex. The recent bout of industrial action is an example in point. Now, I am occasionally at odds with unions in my own business and sometimes they do seem to have too much power. However, without them, ...
What is Populism and Why is it so Powerful?
Behind Brexit, Populism must be one of the most used words of 2016. If you watch TV or follow social media news outlets, you will have heard it several times, sometimes loosely, others sincerely, but it has been there throughout 2016, particularly after the referendum vote in June and the US election in November. I had never really heard the term much before this year, perhaps occasionally from France, courtesy of the Le Pen family, with ...