Balance is everything (as if)

Inspired by a comment on the Breakfast BBC today. A poet from Yorkshire comes along every now and then at the weekend to opine on the newspapers and what stories catch his eye. He is a very smart fellow, great with words and images, typically down to earth. Today he mentioned that he tries to get inside the personality of the people in the news story. What would he do in that situation, what did they feel at that exact moment when their life changed? What about the others, peripheral to the main news - the partners, the parents, the friends? Perhaps this is something that we should do more often, not just for the big stories, even the little ones, fleeting interactions that annoy/amuse/disgust us.

However, and just to jump from the sublime to the ridiculous, there is the continuing story of Rob Ford. I admit now that I am at the point where we should just ignore him, deprive him of the oxygen of publicity. We are collectively doing him no good at all and are arguably dispensing a type of middle-class judgement and punishment. That flinty-eyed, tight lipped, almost sanctimonious approbation we reserve for those who fail to show our preferred sang-froid and restraint. Mr ford has no remaining power, he can do little to affect our daily lives, he is Mayor of Toronto only in the most limited sense, nobody really believes that he can achieve anything or that he can claim to represent the city - other than a few sycophants and his brother. So, I resolve (in a pre-new year resolution) not to read another word on the Ford saga. It is behind me, done.

Leaping on to the subject of judgement, I am amazed by another story unrolling in the UK at the moment - that of Nigella Lawson and her (ex)husband Charles Saatchi. These people are immorally rich - Nigella because of her culinary skills, good looks, and breeding (she is daughter of a former Tory Chancellor, Nigel Lawson - by-the-by, does it not say something about him that he creates a new name especially to have his child named after him? Dougasina anybody?); Saatchi is of the lineage of the (in)famous advertising behemoth with fingers in multiple arty pies (decreeing what is good and valuable in the world of art, amongst other things). It sort of all kicks off with some paparazzi images of Mr S with him hand around the neck of Ms L and obviously all is not sweetness and light chez la couple. Things degenerate from there, as they are apt, and they rapidly end up in court, having accused Ms Lawson's PA's for fraud. The essence of the seedy tale is that the PA's took advantage of the minimal accountancy skills practised by the truly rich to scam some 10's of thousands of pounds for their own benefit (holidays, clothes, stuff). Their defence? Imagine this, if you will, they believed they had carte blanche to buy stuff off the Saatchi cards (multiple ones, of course, who can possibly get by with only one card?) on the understanding that they did not snitch to Mr S on the subject of Ms L's drug use. Essentially, just this side of blackmail, you people (la famille Saatchi in particular, the filthy rich in general) are so corrupt that we are morally excused (if not obligated) to rip you off to our benefit. There is nobody in this story who comes out well, no winners, just losers (and here I especially consider the children - what chance do they have?).

Finally, you will be glad to hear, I will restore the balance. Be happy that you have food on the table, a roof over your head, and are surrounded by people who love you and will always be there to support you if ever things don't work out as you wish. It matters not that you may not have the latest electronic gadget or the latest fashion statement, you have the ability to appreciate beauty of form, sound, or movement wherever it can be found by those who know how to look. If you have health and friends, you are rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Don't worry, be happy. Have a great Christmas my dear reader(s) and I truly hope that 2014 brings you joy.