May 2010 Archives

I don't suffer fools gladly. Who does? Who amongst us covets the companionship of cretins? When you've got time to spare, are you likely to waste it in the company of idiots, and then be pleased to have done so? No-one does this deliberately.

It's an unlikely and unlikeable idiom to begin with. The very fact that you're suffering suggests that it's not an experience you'll be enjoying. It's a uniquely English phrase I suspect, one that obfuscates the obvious meaning for the purposes of politeness. Perhaps the true meaning of being someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly is that you're actually a bit of an arse. Not only do you not suffer fools gladly, you possibly don't welcome the company of many others at all.

Why should we? As Sartre famously said: "Hell is other people", and being French I guess he should know. Of course what he actually said was "L'enfer, c'est les autres", which is almost the same but in a different language. Like the fools idiom we can probably distort the original meaning to make it fit our own interpretation, but only because too few people in this country would be able to translate it. We're mostly all fools in that respect.

I've always loved the nuances of the language; it's a great shame that we don't use our given tongue effectively. In 2010 we are increasingly monosyllabic and the vagaries of text and twitter make us abbreviate rather than use English at its most beautiful. We shouldn't be expected to understand the French if we can barely translate the English.

I once read Norman Mailer, it was a phase I was going through, he commented that it was a miracle that any of us could understand each other given the variety and complexity of the human mind and the flexibility of the language. I've probably paraphrased that into nonsense, but it struck a chord at the time.

I often find myself trying to pare down my writing into an easily explicable form. It's not easy, as I frequently forget that the bulk of those who might read it may have no concept of the references that I might draw upon. Does this lead us to 'dumb down' in the aim of finding the widest possible audience or do we continue to plough a narrow path and hope to appeal to the limited numbers of others who are on our wavelength?

Maybe the fools have a point, they probably don't care. Ignorance is bliss they say, and for once they may be right.

I went to see The Godfathers last week. I know. You don't know who they are, I've had to explain their existence and repertoire to almost everyone I've spoken to about this gig. It's nothing new to me; I'm used to being an 'enthusiastic supporter' of bands of whom no-one else seems to know anything at all.

I didn't previously mind when it was local or unsigned bands I was championing, being ahead of the curve was an ambition back then, but The Godfathers signed to one of the World's biggest labels - they released singles which probably even made the chart.

Perhaps it was just a bit too long ago. Judging by the shockingly small crowd at the Academy 3 it obviously was. I consider it, therefore, my duty to re-educate you all - and as a recent reader complained about the lack of videos I can easily satiate that desire (with the help of YouTube).

Or at least I thought I could, except Sony/BMG don't allow their videos to be embedded in blogs. You'll just have to look here, why? Cause I said so:

Is it over yet, or has it only just begun? Did we make any decisions or have they yet to come?

I was trying to explain the election campaign to an exiled Brit, now living in New York. He'd helped out on the Obama campaign which seemed exciting to me; whereas ours only became interesting once we'd finished voting. Ours was like a beauty pageant where you don't fancy any of the contestants much. Indeed it was hard to find any redeeming features.

Not that I think politics should be reduced to the level of a Broad Street 'meet market' bar. It's hardly as if I'm wandering around thinking 'phwoar, look at the fiscal policies on that' or 'Jesus, they look like they'd give the deficit a good seeing to'.

I'd like to have the brainpower to contemplate the deficit but my mind is occupied by micro-economics. Like whether the companies who engage my services will consider that the current climate makes me unaffordable, or will the NHS be capable of coping with my impending illnesses?

Closer to home my son wants £2 for his recently departed tooth. He argues that because it's a 'big one' the value should be twice the norm. I tell him that this is a financial decision for the tooth fairy. 'There is no tooth fairy' he tells me. 'It's you & mum'.
'Have you ever seen us take the teeth, or place the money?' I ask. He has not. 'Then you can't say it doesn't exist'.

If I apply this slightly twisted logic, then I cannot deny the existence of a coalition Government. I may not have seen it before, but that doesn't mean it can't exist. I can only hope they do a decent job because Aaron's just lost another molar and I need to finance these losses.

It's Friday 7th May, the morning after the night before. I was surprised to find that this is the seventh election I have been eligible to vote in, and the first in which it is becoming more interesting as the hours click by. As a result it seems appropriate to record my thoughts over the period of the day. I had been doing this via Twitter but 140 characters don't really cut it.

06.20 Awake to a hung parliament and no great surprises, Conservatives about 50 seats ahead of Labour.

08.40 The BBC is on Nick Clegg's train from Sheffield to London. Clegg isn't saying much and I'm annoyed with him as this seems to me to be the perfect opportunity for him to claim the result as a clear mandate for proportional representation. The total votes the Lib Dems polled is a million short of Labour but in terms of share their seats in the House are so many less. Perhaps he's biding his time.

The footage reminds me of a story I heard this week regarding Cameron & Brown's recent train journeys. I was reliably informed that Cameron travelled first class but when being filmed/photographed he removed the white 'seat-protectors' which say 'first class' on them so it would appear that he was travelling standard. Those of us 'in the know' would be aware that the seats are a different colour, so this was a failure. Brown, meanwhile, did travel in the standard carriage but it was blocked out for him and his staff who may have received a first class service from the crew.