As a once idealistic journalist wannabe 35 years ago, I penned a short interest article on the old household marital battle over the which way the toilet paper come off the roll - over? - or under? That topic is always good eyecatcher for every new generation of ears.
Mr Gage: Unless I missed it, you did not find it worthy of a smack or two that Christmas is on the front burner when Thanksgiving is barely above the horizon? (Yeah I know that's a colonist thing but you've got nothing that's been erased?) OTOH I have a photo taken August 19 of Christmas (No! No! Holiday!) crud in full array at Costco. Perhaps it is I who has been grinched by relentlessly moving mores. All the best, as always.
Two or three Christmas trees? I have noticed as I have aged that our tree get smaller and smaller. When younger we had a very expensive artificial tree. I would set it up at my wifes insistence the day after Thanksgiving. An all day choir. When we left the city of lakes for the country side of lake I sold that "tree" for a 1/10 of what I payed for it. Then it was the, how much tree can we squeeze into the house time. Thank you God for old age. It is now a small tree that can be put up and down in just an hour.
Is there anything more ripe for satire than the status-seeking activities of those who aren't poor but aren't as rich and respected as they feel they should be? Well done, Sir!
Indeed. They say 'satire is almost impossible these days'. Never a better time! The contrast between reality and pretense has seldom glared so brightly. (Not in my lifetime, anyway.)
Some Smart Person observed that, at a certain level, science and magic are indistinguishable. I suggest that we've accomplished the indistinguishability of news and satire.
The chuckles aside, I genuinely have a friend who does 3 Christmas trees. Not for one upmanship, she's just extraordinarily creative and festoons her entire house in all manner of festive draperies for about 6 weeks of the year. She doesn't read the Torygraph.
I totally agree with Graham and the sewer of the current education system...I shudder to think what the future holds.
My son has a science teacher who attends school dressed as a woman (he's a man and has retained his facial hair). He did not explain to the 15 year old working class boys he was teaching how he/she/it wished to be addressed. This teacher is also clearly middle class. No self respecting working class bloke would adopt such an affectation.
Absolutely! Life is too short to deny an ounce of pleasure! I had several glasses of pleasure last night....🥂 I love Christmas, love the giving, the receiving, the feasting and arguing 🤣🤣🤣
Perhaps in the USA that's true, however over here, a "trans kid" has become a status symbol of the loony middle classes, and yeah, the "ladeees" I've met have been young middle class lads....I think it's Gen Z trying to shock 😂🤣
Over here we have this sorta plague that has been dignified by the (faux) erudite moniker "rapid-onset gender dysphoria." (A term that is roundly disparaged by the wokesters.) It is characterized by one (usually) female in a setting discovering -- or being advised by TikTok of -- her inner boyness. Upon observing the attention this action engenders, the first is promptly followed by a cascade of imitators. Not aware of any class-based limitation though -- unfortunately.
When I was in school, the social contagion was anorexia/bulimia. When I was in university, it was self-harm.
Not to diminish the troubles of some, but a lot of the current epidemic is, as you've said, a social contagion. Anything increasing by 5000% (and concentrated amongst particular demographics) is obviously inorganic...
Recently in Ghana, scores of teenaged women suddenly lost the use of their legs. This phenomenon affected village after village. I'll find the article. Fascinating.
Nov 10, 2023·edited Nov 10, 2023Liked by Christopher Gage
As a former Telegraph reader, I still get its endless sales emails with snippets of articles. Thus am I constantly reminded of the sheer vacuity of its 'conservatism' - a rag-tag mixture of things like: whinging about 'the attack on landlords' (meaning: their £100k+ earner readership looking to park their surpluses in property only now get 20% tax relief instead of 40%); a have-it-both-ways mixture of whinging about celebrities and playing at celebrity fandom; and, of course, running for cover when any politician says anything too conservative. (I exempt Allister Heath and Allison Pearson from this assessment as both still turn out decent journalism).
But on a more serious note: the real Peer-Pressure Elephant in Liberalism's Room is the vast academia 'higher education' sheep-dip through which tens of millions of our future professional, mangerial and administrative classes have passed, emerging with its Social Justice catechism literally dripping off them. End of rant.
Yes absolutely. But HOW can that ever be brought back into our hopelessly corrupted academy? That (as someone once said....can't remember who) is the Question.
It cannot. Our allergy to radical change ensures so. Hence my French VISA application. Nothing here for anyone under 45. Sorry to be bleak, mate. It's the majority view amongst the young.
Yes Britain is the most advanced case of Western civilization's decay... although some others are not so far behind. I'm of an age where I can give full reign to my pessimism. Western Liberalism has been a three-century marvel - an exception perhaps to the norm - but now it's day shows strong signs of being done. All civilizations eventually decay; this is how ours does.
Hi Oxford Sour. I’m bored
Where do I purchase MDNA? I think I need it.
Not sure if I already posted this.
I love you Christopher Gage even after I found out you were a Milleniial millennium sp? Whatever. Thanks spell check.
As a once idealistic journalist wannabe 35 years ago, I penned a short interest article on the old household marital battle over the which way the toilet paper come off the roll - over? - or under? That topic is always good eyecatcher for every new generation of ears.
And the result was... under?
Heretic!
correct...found on an original vintage ad for "new" toilet paper.
Mr Gage: Unless I missed it, you did not find it worthy of a smack or two that Christmas is on the front burner when Thanksgiving is barely above the horizon? (Yeah I know that's a colonist thing but you've got nothing that's been erased?) OTOH I have a photo taken August 19 of Christmas (No! No! Holiday!) crud in full array at Costco. Perhaps it is I who has been grinched by relentlessly moving mores. All the best, as always.
Though some try, Thanksgiving is the only import we Brits have successfully repelled!
(If it were beef not Turkey, we'd be all over it, Mr. Jones.)
Two or three Christmas trees? I have noticed as I have aged that our tree get smaller and smaller. When younger we had a very expensive artificial tree. I would set it up at my wifes insistence the day after Thanksgiving. An all day choir. When we left the city of lakes for the country side of lake I sold that "tree" for a 1/10 of what I payed for it. Then it was the, how much tree can we squeeze into the house time. Thank you God for old age. It is now a small tree that can be put up and down in just an hour.
This truly is the golden years.
'An all day choir.'
Hahahahahahahahaha. You're a natural raconteur, Mister McDonald.
Or out of or back into the box in under 5 minutes
In all honesty, it just a small real tree.
Quite a lot of fun, it is.
Very Welsh way of putting it, it is.
Yet you read the telegraph and do the surveys:) so adding to their readership. Enjoyed the article and the comments after👍
Ha. I pay the subscription for Alison Pearson. Worth the sub alone!
Thanks for reading. If you're new here, welcome.
Is there anything more ripe for satire than the status-seeking activities of those who aren't poor but aren't as rich and respected as they feel they should be? Well done, Sir!
Indeed. They say 'satire is almost impossible these days'. Never a better time! The contrast between reality and pretense has seldom glared so brightly. (Not in my lifetime, anyway.)
Some Smart Person observed that, at a certain level, science and magic are indistinguishable. I suggest that we've accomplished the indistinguishability of news and satire.
In some regards, yes. But satire is all about what is said and what is actually done. Almost everything done today contravenes the said!
Quite. The pairs of paired entities are not strictly parallel. (But close enough IMHO.)
"Middle class anxiety farming" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The chuckles aside, I genuinely have a friend who does 3 Christmas trees. Not for one upmanship, she's just extraordinarily creative and festoons her entire house in all manner of festive draperies for about 6 weeks of the year. She doesn't read the Torygraph.
I totally agree with Graham and the sewer of the current education system...I shudder to think what the future holds.
My son has a science teacher who attends school dressed as a woman (he's a man and has retained his facial hair). He did not explain to the 15 year old working class boys he was teaching how he/she/it wished to be addressed. This teacher is also clearly middle class. No self respecting working class bloke would adopt such an affectation.
I'm a devout follower of Dionysus. We, the devout, celebrate on Boxing Day and every day in which the sun rises in the east.
Absolutely! Life is too short to deny an ounce of pleasure! I had several glasses of pleasure last night....🥂 I love Christmas, love the giving, the receiving, the feasting and arguing 🤣🤣🤣
....No self-respecting bloke would adopt such an affectation.
FIFY
Perhaps in the USA that's true, however over here, a "trans kid" has become a status symbol of the loony middle classes, and yeah, the "ladeees" I've met have been young middle class lads....I think it's Gen Z trying to shock 😂🤣
Over here we have this sorta plague that has been dignified by the (faux) erudite moniker "rapid-onset gender dysphoria." (A term that is roundly disparaged by the wokesters.) It is characterized by one (usually) female in a setting discovering -- or being advised by TikTok of -- her inner boyness. Upon observing the attention this action engenders, the first is promptly followed by a cascade of imitators. Not aware of any class-based limitation though -- unfortunately.
When I was in school, the social contagion was anorexia/bulimia. When I was in university, it was self-harm.
Not to diminish the troubles of some, but a lot of the current epidemic is, as you've said, a social contagion. Anything increasing by 5000% (and concentrated amongst particular demographics) is obviously inorganic...
Recently in Ghana, scores of teenaged women suddenly lost the use of their legs. This phenomenon affected village after village. I'll find the article. Fascinating.
As a former Telegraph reader, I still get its endless sales emails with snippets of articles. Thus am I constantly reminded of the sheer vacuity of its 'conservatism' - a rag-tag mixture of things like: whinging about 'the attack on landlords' (meaning: their £100k+ earner readership looking to park their surpluses in property only now get 20% tax relief instead of 40%); a have-it-both-ways mixture of whinging about celebrities and playing at celebrity fandom; and, of course, running for cover when any politician says anything too conservative. (I exempt Allister Heath and Allison Pearson from this assessment as both still turn out decent journalism).
But on a more serious note: the real Peer-Pressure Elephant in Liberalism's Room is the vast academia 'higher education' sheep-dip through which tens of millions of our future professional, mangerial and administrative classes have passed, emerging with its Social Justice catechism literally dripping off them. End of rant.
I pay the sub for Pearson alone.
A part solution is a true liberal education. I am a liberal. These people calling themselves liberals are anything but.
No way Babe. That’s impossible.
You get it . You always got it. That’s not a liberal brain function.
So you are a closet Independent or better yet.. your are your own free thinking person type. Yes. You are.
Yes Please!
Shall I take that as a compliment? Cheers!
Yes absolutely. But HOW can that ever be brought back into our hopelessly corrupted academy? That (as someone once said....can't remember who) is the Question.
It cannot. Our allergy to radical change ensures so. Hence my French VISA application. Nothing here for anyone under 45. Sorry to be bleak, mate. It's the majority view amongst the young.
Yes Britain is the most advanced case of Western civilization's decay... although some others are not so far behind. I'm of an age where I can give full reign to my pessimism. Western Liberalism has been a three-century marvel - an exception perhaps to the norm - but now it's day shows strong signs of being done. All civilizations eventually decay; this is how ours does.
Yes, but they also renew. It runs in cycles. The end of the West has been a thing since Spengler.
Britain itself is a different story. As today's news shows... it's a plaything for the biographical ambitions of overpromoted posh boys.
Absolutely. It's like: "I know what Biggles....let's play Prime Ministers -that'll be SUCH fun!"