The Bitch - and Xmas!
by: Michael Knell
Well darlings,
Bah! Humbug! It's that time of year again - it's Christmas! This is the time when it seems everybody must spread their cheer. As we fight our way through the throngs of shoppers pushing, shoving, standing on each other's toes and fighting tooth and nail for the very last item on the shelf to the strains of Slade's Merry Xmas Everybody, a sound amplified to distortion as it attempts to squeeze out of the store's 'not made for this' speakers for the umpteenth time, and we thrust forward our hot and now positively drooping credit cards in an attempt to secure yet another present that should we not get it the world would end - we are reminded by Datamonitor that Britons are the most indebted consumers in Europe.
We are not up to our eyes in debt - we've long passed that stage for now apparently we cannot even see that our recent outstanding unsecured debt has, on average, soared by a staggering 41%. Where people in Italy, again on average, owe just £742 each we lead the field at a massive £3,034 each - and that's according to figures that were calculated before this annual big spend - but do we care? You bet your life we don't! Have another one! Merry Xmas!
And what of the revelations by the man from the Pru? One in five of our pensioners is anxious or depressed by their lack of finances, with 2% of them admitting to having considered suicide as an answer to their problems. Nearly one in five of every wrinkly you may pass in the street is having to scrape by on less than £5,000 a year, with 60% of them admitting that they've had to curb their spending during the past six months and "do without". Of the retired, 17% have returned to work - with 30% of these proud people claiming it was "because they enjoyed it", but with 23% perhaps being more honest in saying that they needed the additional income. This is Britain in the twenty-first century. These are our society's values - but do we care? You bet your life we don't! Have another one! Merry Xmas!
A report by the Australian Conservation Foundation entitled "The Hidden Cost of Christmas" has calculated the environmental impact of spending on books, clothes, alcohol, electrical appliances and sweets for them during the festive season. It is undoubtedly even more relevant here. Gifts like DVD players and coffee makers generated 780,000 tonnes of greenhouse pollution last year - even before they were unwrapped. A third of that was down to fuel consumption during production. Fuel - remember, that stuff that's becoming scarce?
Last Christmas the Australians spent A$1.5 billion (£634 million) on clothes. Clothes, the report tells us, which required more than half a million hectares (1.2 million acres) of land to produce, and for every A$30 (£10) box of chocolates or sweets that the Australians bought there were 20kg (44 pounds) of natural materials and 940 litres (207 gallons) of water consumed in its production. And they used even more water, enough to fill 42,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, in the production of their Christmas drinks last December. Water, the stuff over which it has been predicted the next World War will one day be fought. All those valuable resources are being used up, and at such a frightening rate, by a country with only one third of the population of Britain. Our figures must surely be at least three times greater than theirs - but do we care? You bet your life we don't! Have another one! Merry Xmas!
Doctors are becoming alarmed at the increasing number of children, some as young as seven, suffering from the effects of drug or alcohol abuse. Apparently 85% said the youngsters had ready access to drugs, and 95% to alcohol. Of the 500 doctors surveyed for Channel 4's More4 News 41% reported seeing a rising number of children and teenagers with drug and drink problems. The most common age-group with problems is the 14 to16-year-olds - not good news when more than half of the doctors (56%) claimed there was not enough support available in their area to tackle the problem. Nigel Williams, the Children's Commissioner for Northern Ireland, is reported as saying: "The most important thing is that the Government start by looking at their existing response and ask why it is not working?" Christmas is undoubtedly a time when this problem is likely to escalate, and the new twenty-four-seven licensing hours will be doing nothing to help alleviate it - but do we care? You bet your lif!
e we don't! Have another one! Merry Xmas!
And in Blackpool all those people who earn their living through tourism, and from visitors to the town like those that attend the political conferences, are likely to be in for a very bleak time next year, and in the coming years. The news that the Tories have finished with their week-long conferences in Blackpool, preferring to hold two weekend mini-conferences in cities such as Newcastle and Bath in order to make it easier for young working people to attend instead of just the "fanatics" and retired people, when coupled with the knowledge that Labour now much prefer using Manchester whilst the Lib-Dems have already stated they will not return to the resort in the foreseeable future, has come as a blow to a town that thrives almost solely on the people visiting it. But, as if you thought all that wasn't bad enough, I'm afraid there's even worse news to come for the resort next year. I'm not at liberty to divulge what I know, but I'm sure the bad news must even now be spread!
ing through the grapevines - if it's not already become common knowledge.
But for now perhaps we should only remember it's Christmas time again, it's the anniversary of the horrific tsunami that brought so much death and destruction, and which saw the start of a record-breaking year of natural disasters, all with their own mass deaths and destruction, and all around the globe. There were more earthquakes, more hurricanes, and more severe weather than ever before recorded, and 2005 has gone down as the warmest year on record (overall) for the planet with the Arctic ice forming less, and later than ever before known (more than a month later than usual) with the prospect of polar bear extinction in the near future as we're told the poor beasts will either starve or drown. And the experts are warning that this could just be the beginning of some really nasty times to come.
All in all, we in Britain have a lot to be thankful for - so far we have been spared the notable natural disasters. And so I think we perhaps should be grateful that it is Christmas time once more - a time when often we couldn't care less about anything else, a time when we will have another one - or three, or maybe more, and a time when we do wish each other A Very Merry Xmas! However, a conscience can be a terrible thing - let's all of us first look around to see if we can do anything for those who are less fortunate than we are before we let our hair down. Next year may be bad enough for us all - I'm sure none of us need the added burden of a guilty conscience.
Once done, let us all: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!"
The next "The Bitch!" column is projected for week-ending January 7th 2006 and so, whether or not you do actually celebrate the Xmas Season, I wish you all a happy, a healthy, and a peaceful time. May the New Year bring you everything that you desire.
See you all next year, folks... Have a good one!
"The Bitch!" 17/12/05.
If you are feeling lonely or depressed this Christmas there is always the SMARITANS
http://www.samaritans.org.uk/ - they are there to help you.
About The Author
Michael Knell
"The Bitch!" column may be freely re-produced on any web site but only in its entirety and with the linked acknowledgement that "The Bitch!" writes for AstaBGay at
http://www.astabgay.com attached to the article. On past form this column can sometimes be extremely controversial therefore it must be accepted as a condition that AstaBGay shall not be held liable for any losses or damages incurred by those who choose to reproduce these articles on their web sites.
The Bitch! regrets that because of the sheer volume of e-mails received it is often impossible to reply to them all. However, they are appreciated, and all do get read.
source:
http://www.articlecity.com
