Welcome to MY world

Ruminating on the state of our printed media and my mind went into the wider arena of the way in which the old accepted standards of British life have changed. We appear to be in a general decline; something akin to 'the lights are going out all over Europe' Things have stopped working. Graphs all go the wrong way. Daily intercourse has coarsened; foul language is heard everywhere. We are subjected to violent images on the television with scenes of war and starvation, casual murder on our streets, yobbo behaviour.

Education we once relied upon to set our children on the path of good citizenship has failed. It has failed in even the basic instruction of the three Rs. Young adults are finishing their education lacking any quality that will make them attractive to any employer. The idea that competition is something distasteful resulted in the concept that everyone must gain something so education was dumbed down, marking was made charitable. At higher levels of schooling, pretensions of scholarship were satisfied by the introduction of degree courses that demanded little of the student.

Our arts have also suffered. A canvas daubed with technicolour paintwork attracts favourable attention. Sculpture often looks like the rejects from a showing of Scrapyard Challenge. The alleged music is akin to grunts heard in a game park by night. Popular dance involves people spinning on their heads whilst classical ballet has given way to interpretations where the performers are likely to be dressed as dossers or the Black Swan is represented as a bestial bugger.

The internet has opened up avenues of swift and easy communication but has also a dark side. Grammar is ignored or perverted. Pride in composition has gone; the almost universal use of 'init' or 'you know what I mean?' has seen to that. Invited responses most often have a LOL reply.

So, who is to blame for this degredation of our culture? The answer must be 'us' We have lost the ability to say NO. Modern youth is nothing if not confrontational and disrespectful. Physical correction has (rightly?) been outlawed and all that is left is reasoning. With youngsters who lack the vocabulary to understand or the comprehension to follow the line of a debate. Any adverse comment is dismissed with scorn. Fifteen year olds know all they need to know to swim in their feral society.

There is another factor. The rise of immigration has brought to our shores large numbers of people who never had a chance to experience our culture anyway. Integration has failed. The tide of political correctness has swamped those who say "If you wish to live here, you must do things our way". Misguided attempts to make things easier for them have allowed them,in the main, to enjoy lower expectations. Their enjoyment of welfare benefits militates against any compulsion to suit themselves for employment in any but the most menial level.

I see no solution. I suspect that the numbers of those who lack the idea of culture have reached a critical level. Any attempt of correction would be as much use as sweeping flood water with a garden rake.

Readers of an advanced age will recall the lady who was always worried about Jim. I find myself afflicted by a similar concern except that I am worried about Dave.

I have already written of my suspicions that they returned to power with inchoate plans; mere bullet points on their scheme for the first 100 days. Now it is beginning to look as if they are quite flat-footed and unable to oppose the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that fly at them on a daily basis.
In the headlines right now is the question of a newspaper that solicited news leads from a private detective who hacked into individuals' mobile phone messages. A police inquiry had led to charges and convictions involving a newspaper employee and a hacker back in 2007. All went quiet until revelations that it was still happening. The story grew slowly like a mushroom in prime compost. A number 10 employee resigned apparently because he had been an executive at the paper. We know from the news today that there is a body of evidence being investigated which may have very serious consequences.

Theresa May had obviously been given homework to complete after her daily electioneering duties. She announced radical changes to the police service quite soon after getting her kitten heels under the government front bench. Even to me as one who has been close to police but not of them, these appeared to be a total dogs dinner. Not just a dinner but one that was only partly digested before being vomited up. I cite this as an example of where the bullet-point was all they had.
But there is more. She - or those responsible for briefing her - should have seen the hacking investigation as a thunder cloud. She should have been all over it like STD on a Club 18-30 holiday. The resignation of Dave's press czar ought to have rung out like a fire alarm bell. Who knows how much better the government's reaction might look with the benefit of 10 minutes in a dark room with him before he surrendered his door pass.

There are other instances of proposals that may well have read well in the manifesto but which went astray when exposed to the public gaze. Despite the severe cuts in public expenditure, Cameron is handing out unbudgeted aid to regimes renowned for its corruption. The cynics will see this as a quid pro for the withdrawal of our troops. That is promised by 'the end of next year'. It is open for Karzai to plead for more or for the new military commander to advise that the place is not ready to stand on its own two feet. We appear to lose about 38 soldiers a year and many more condemned to a living death so an early withdrawal have benefits beyond mere money. The suspicion that Tom, Dick and Harry are being robbed to pay Tomaso, Ricardo and 'arry would seem to be well justified.
We had the 'You fight, I'll talk' episode. Liam Fox is having to defend the Strategic Review as being at the recommendation of the Service Chiefs, He now claims that their advice may have been tainted by their desire to defend their own arm of service. Why did he not know or recognise that at the time? The very first challenge to our reduced forces showed we have trouble effectively pursuing even a limited scope air war.

So, that explains my concern about Dear Dave. I have not even touched upon the NHS - that merits (but will not get from me) a blog of its own. No - enough here about the style.

Yet in the first year of the coalition Mr Cameron's leadership flaws have become all too apparent. He is convinced of the need to cut both the demand for and the supply of the state, but his lack of attention to detail is largely to blame for the government's botched reforms to the NHS and higher education. As Tim Montgom­erie, editor of ConservativeHome, notes on page 32: "Cameron's ministers describe his dismissive wave of the hand whenever a conversation becomes focused on the detail of an initiative."