The Show Must Go On

2013 is here.

And I was wondering what we could expect.

The answer, depressingly, is 'more of the same'.

Bankers will continue to record higher profits and they will award themselves bigger bonuses. Politicians will continue to disappoint. Courts will spew out ever stupider sentences. There will be more expense scandals because one axiom remains true: give a man (or woman) access to public money and they will help themselves. Or, they will find newer, more ridiculous ways to waste it.

Television shows will get worse. More faux 'celebrities' will be foisted upon us. It will be yet another Tsunami of Twats this year. It gets worse every year and the public, those shallow, shallow people, will lap it up. And why not? In the 'real' world, politicians lie, doctors hurt people, the clergy interferes with little kids, policemen steal, and scientists publish whatever shite they are told to, in order to pay their mortgages. It is far, far safer to disbelieve all those who we previously had an ounce of respect for. Better to sit glued to TOWIE and pretend that all is well. Better to phone in your support of the non-entities in talent shows, or watch celebrities in a jungle or on a dance floor or locked up in a TV house.

Although they are called reality shows, they are anything but. Life is mostly stage-managed, and these shows certainly are. But we don't like being told that. The truth really does hurt. It hurts to think about it, and it hurts to find out you are no more than a pawn in the game of life. No. Reality bites. We delude ourselves. Intentionally.

The average human being makes 4,334 decisions every single day. One decision most people make is NOT to find out more, not to dig deeper, not to find out what is real and what is fake. Some decide to remain in whatever reality is the most comfortable for them. Most decide that the path of least resistance is a fine choice.

Reality is learning that you live in a deception. That deception involves trotting to the polls once every Preston Guild to elect the least worst numpty on a staggeringly short list.

Reality is learning that those who run the nation are not those you voted for but a shifty, shiftless lot who steer these newbies, these wannabe 'lawmakers'. The civil servants (now there's a misnomer for you) who are neither civil nor servile, who direct, who shape, who drive and who compel the MPs (who they view as 'transients) to do their bidding. The mandarins in Whitehall are ever present. They are unelected, yet they run the place as if it were their own. They are constant. The security services (MI5/MI6), the politically driven ACPO, and a thousand other departments keep us steered towards whatever it is they see as Britain's future. They conspire, these agents, to keep us terrified, to keep us observed, to keep us complacent, so that we pay our taxes without complaint. So that we toe the line.

Reality is understanding, and accepting, that the UK operates a two-tier law system. If you doubt that, look up Lord Ahmed, the Labour peer who was sentenced to 12 weeks for dangerous driving in which Martyn Gombar died. Ahmed served one night in HMP Marshgate and the next morning he was driven to Moorlands Open Prison where he served a further 15 days. Contrast that with the London rioter gaoled for 16 months for stealing a bottle of water.

Reality is knowing that we have been locked into a bitter marriage with the European Union for exactly 40 years today and that most of those in the Westminster/Whitehall bubble will fight tooth & nail to keep us in that deteriorating relationship. Cameron, he of the 'cast-iron' promise, will, this month, set out his vision for Europe. He will lie to our faces by saying we must look at the relationship and tweak the nature of our membership of Le Club Stupide but essentially, we will not be permitted to divorce the chav we married.

Some think we should celebrate. I'll let this image speak for me:

Reality is understanding that we are a wealthy nation. Having traveled extensively to third world countries I know the difference between real poverty and the perceived notion of poverty we delude ourselves with here. Not many people starve to death here. There is a system in place to help those in shitty circumstances and we (taxpayers) chip in for that safety net. Emergency housing is made available, emergency payments can be made, and medical help is on tap. All of these things are, inevitably, abused, but that is a fact of life. If you have a home, with electricity and running water, you are in a remarkably good position. Billions around the world have no such luxury.

Reality is understanding that if you are a taxpayer, you are being robbed, every month, to pay for an incredible range of crap. In 2012 we learnt that most working people will be parted from 73% of their income either directly or indirectly, to support a succession of out-of-touch and inept governments. They only have one tool in the box: the hammer. And as someone infinitely more wise than I once said. "If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail". Tax and ban. The watchwords of every government for decades now. And that 73% still isn't enough. They will take more. And more. And more.

Reality is understanding your place in the world, and redefining it. You have no idea quite how powerful you are. I tried to explain this before in a piece called The Hierarchy and it is still widely read to this day. I would urge you to re-read it and act accordingly. The crap doesn't stop, in fact it gets a little more intense, but government agents do back off when they know that know what you aren't supposed to know.

Why not use 2013 to remind the government that YOU are in charge? That YOU will decide how much you pay in unlawful taxes? That YOU will decide which of the 60,000 laws and 140,000 EU regulations you will obey?

YOU need to be an agent of change.

Because sure as eggs are eggs, if things don't change, they will stay the same.

CR.