The Media And Christmas

The Media: An Internet Opportunity?

Special-interest commercial intrusion on political affairs, and thereby the basis of democracy, is everywhere very apparent. To counter this, I've seen proposals for government control of expenditure on political party promotion and the like, especially as elections near, but nothing that strikes me as remotely practical. That in itself doesn't concern me. What does is how an individual can be enabled to form a reasoned opinion on the basis of good information when virtually all media are subjected to commercial pressure.

When I was young The Times was pointed out to me as a source of uncommented reporting, neutral information in that sense. It would print what was said/written elsewhere verbatim, separating that explicitly from any comment. Nowadays all the press has to be regarded simply as an arm of the commercial and personal (press barons') PR industry. True, exactly what has been said in the UK parliament can be discovered via Hansard but I know of no other verbatim sources, giving both what has been said/written and the context.

All this leads me to wonder whether there exists an opportunity for some community-spirited internet entrepreneur. In another life I would have loved to take this up but the means and capabilities are now well beyond me. However the internet has shown the power of public-spirited people collectively in the form of free and publicly available excellent software which manages to sustain itself economically. Could a site offering verbatim news do the same? If such a site were available it would render an incalculably important service to democracy, all the more so in a post-truth world.

Praise For The Irrational

Somewhat in spite of the forgoing I believe that the irrational can play an important role in people's lives. Like many others no doubt I have an irrational/ unconditional love for my children. I have just learned that, all being well, I should become a grandfather next year and my love for that child as yet unknown will be similarly unconditional and irrational. And so, I believe, it should be. This need for the irrational has been with me all my life. Having spent virtually all of my working life in a field that requires, at the technical level, extreme logical rigour, I felt this need even before having children. The focus of it has been, and still is, the football club I support, Chelsea. The team is doing well at the moment but I have always known with absolute certainty, however the team was doing, that if it lost a match the only possible explanation was that the referee had been paid off or that the Fates had somehow conspired to produce this otherwise inexplicable eventuality.

Christmas

Christmas is coming, which always evokes for me memories of the 1960's cynical song by Tom Lehrer. But it's not really like that. Before I had kids Christmas was always something of an epicurean event for me: food, wine, friends and family. From the time I had kids, Christmas was all about the kids, their excitement, their reactions and enjoyment until they outgrew it. Since then it has been rather low-key, an excuse to spend a bit more than usual on food and wine and, hopefully, a day or two socialising with good friends. So it will be this year. There is little difference between being in France or England other than the that the French don't do Christmas cards, which means acquiring them from England one way or another for those of my friends and family who don't have the internet or to whom I want to send a card anyway. It should be an enjoyable time but, I find, for maximum enjoyment kids are necessary. Christmas has never had religious connotations for me; it's my pagan mid-winter festival.

Despite that I'll be singing carols as usual, at the local retirement home and outside the Bar du Pont, for all those brave enough to listen, with all the musical expertise I gathered on the terraces of Chelsea football club abusing the referee and opposing teams. Happily there are other members of the “choir” who have a greater ability with music (what's the word for that: does musicacy exist? if not, it should). As I've noted in previous years, carol singing is not a tradition in this part of France but one introduced recently by English and ex-Alsatian residents here. And the villagers have taken to it, especially as the Bar du Pont makes and serves mulled wine for the event. And kids galore come to join in.