This week I have been bemused about stuff I have read in the news or watched on the telly; competition and conflict are the themes of this post as well as my disbelief that some of this nonsense actually takes place.
First up; pensioners fighting in ASDA’s Biggleswade car park over a disabled parking space! This story is frankly depressing. A sixty four year old ended up dying as a result of an altercation with a sixty five year old. What were these chaps thinking?
Brian Holmes of Sandy who’d just been given the all clear for cancer died as a result of head injuries gained through a ‘parking rage’ incident at a supermarket!
His 65 year old attacker, a bloke called Alan Watts, will no doubt get a custodial sentence for manslaughter. He’ll get to spend his retirement behind bars and away from everything that is important to him.
It doesn’t even matter who started it, or who provoked who - it’s just a shocking waste of life over something so bloody trivial!
And Dad – if you read this, promise me you’ll let fellow shoppers park wherever they damn well like next time you go to Sainsbury!
On to the next stupid subject – Marmite! A TV advertisement from the brand has been the subject of numerous complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority. The advert is brilliant if you ask me, bang on brand and humorous – its premise; neglected Marmite jars being rescued from abusive homes by a team of investigators and subsequently rehomed. Complainants are getting on their high horses because they think the advert is offensive and belittles the work of the RSPCA or child protection services.
Once again I find myself dismayed! The complainants need to get out a bit more often or take up yoga!
The only thing I can think of to justify this backlash is some kind of belated social conscience event i.e. people feeling horrified/guilty about the murder of Daniel Pelka by his vile mother and stepfather - and directing their anger at Marmite. No need though, the terribly sad Pelka case belittled the work of social services in a way that Marmite couldn’t ever get anywhere near.
Still from the brand’s perspective, the ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ promise was well and truly delivered! The creatives will no doubt be delighted! In fact the whole thing is so ridiculous that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that Marmite had actually written the complaints to the ASA to generate the bonkers coverage!
The third observation from this week comes thanks to a TV programme I happened to catch by accident called something like “Allotment Wars”. In this truly awful ‘reality’ documentary a bunch of north eastern allotment holders are recorded bitching about, and back-stabbing, their fellow plot holders – subjects included plot sabotage, plot eviction, competitive one-upmanship, hostage taking and shed envy. I watched this programme with disbelief and then with anger. I turned it off in the end because I couldn’t justify listening to these narrow-minded morons anymore – honestly these people appealed less than the knobbly vegetables that they were growing! I hope they were ashamed of themselves when they watched the programme!
Finally, and because I can only grumble for so long, the conflict of Top Gear versus Das Auto (both programmes aired on BBC Two on Sunday 4th August). The final episode of this run of Top Gear episodes ended with Clarkson/May/Hammond celebrating the current British motor manufacturing industry. It was uplifting stuff too (although I didn’t see a single Vauxhall and Ellesmere Port is still building the Astra - can anyone enlighten me on this?).
Top Gear was immediately followed by the Dominic Sandbrook documentary ‘Das Auto’ whereby the German car industry was celebrated along with the destruction it brought down upon the Brits.
The fact was that both programmes made for compelling viewing - both were well made and fascinating.
Jeremy Clarkson subsequently got all stressed about the scheduling and the seemingly conflicting messages. My view, both programmes were accurate (one current, one historic) and both well worth the investment of an hour. If you missed either, get on the BBC iplayer and catch up.
In this instance, at least the ‘conflict’ with points of view could be presented with a lower case ‘c’.
And from an alphabetical perspective that’s as good a placed to end as any ‘C’ is for conflict, competition, Clarkson, cars, car park, cancer, custody, complaints, carrots, cabbages and the colour crimson. These news items have certainly made me see red - life is too short and too precious for the kind of crap above!
Fortunately ‘C’ is also for calm, common sense, choice, consideration, courtesy, collaboration and celebration.
I know what I am choosing!
Ciao
Home
Blog Home
Blog Library
First up; pensioners fighting in ASDA’s Biggleswade car park over a disabled parking space! This story is frankly depressing. A sixty four year old ended up dying as a result of an altercation with a sixty five year old. What were these chaps thinking?
Brian Holmes of Sandy who’d just been given the all clear for cancer died as a result of head injuries gained through a ‘parking rage’ incident at a supermarket!
His 65 year old attacker, a bloke called Alan Watts, will no doubt get a custodial sentence for manslaughter. He’ll get to spend his retirement behind bars and away from everything that is important to him.
It doesn’t even matter who started it, or who provoked who - it’s just a shocking waste of life over something so bloody trivial!
And Dad – if you read this, promise me you’ll let fellow shoppers park wherever they damn well like next time you go to Sainsbury!
On to the next stupid subject – Marmite! A TV advertisement from the brand has been the subject of numerous complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority. The advert is brilliant if you ask me, bang on brand and humorous – its premise; neglected Marmite jars being rescued from abusive homes by a team of investigators and subsequently rehomed. Complainants are getting on their high horses because they think the advert is offensive and belittles the work of the RSPCA or child protection services.
Once again I find myself dismayed! The complainants need to get out a bit more often or take up yoga!
The only thing I can think of to justify this backlash is some kind of belated social conscience event i.e. people feeling horrified/guilty about the murder of Daniel Pelka by his vile mother and stepfather - and directing their anger at Marmite. No need though, the terribly sad Pelka case belittled the work of social services in a way that Marmite couldn’t ever get anywhere near.
Still from the brand’s perspective, the ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ promise was well and truly delivered! The creatives will no doubt be delighted! In fact the whole thing is so ridiculous that I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that Marmite had actually written the complaints to the ASA to generate the bonkers coverage!
The third observation from this week comes thanks to a TV programme I happened to catch by accident called something like “Allotment Wars”. In this truly awful ‘reality’ documentary a bunch of north eastern allotment holders are recorded bitching about, and back-stabbing, their fellow plot holders – subjects included plot sabotage, plot eviction, competitive one-upmanship, hostage taking and shed envy. I watched this programme with disbelief and then with anger. I turned it off in the end because I couldn’t justify listening to these narrow-minded morons anymore – honestly these people appealed less than the knobbly vegetables that they were growing! I hope they were ashamed of themselves when they watched the programme!
Finally, and because I can only grumble for so long, the conflict of Top Gear versus Das Auto (both programmes aired on BBC Two on Sunday 4th August). The final episode of this run of Top Gear episodes ended with Clarkson/May/Hammond celebrating the current British motor manufacturing industry. It was uplifting stuff too (although I didn’t see a single Vauxhall and Ellesmere Port is still building the Astra - can anyone enlighten me on this?).
Top Gear was immediately followed by the Dominic Sandbrook documentary ‘Das Auto’ whereby the German car industry was celebrated along with the destruction it brought down upon the Brits.
The fact was that both programmes made for compelling viewing - both were well made and fascinating.
Jeremy Clarkson subsequently got all stressed about the scheduling and the seemingly conflicting messages. My view, both programmes were accurate (one current, one historic) and both well worth the investment of an hour. If you missed either, get on the BBC iplayer and catch up.
In this instance, at least the ‘conflict’ with points of view could be presented with a lower case ‘c’.
And from an alphabetical perspective that’s as good a placed to end as any ‘C’ is for conflict, competition, Clarkson, cars, car park, cancer, custody, complaints, carrots, cabbages and the colour crimson. These news items have certainly made me see red - life is too short and too precious for the kind of crap above!
Fortunately ‘C’ is also for calm, common sense, choice, consideration, courtesy, collaboration and celebration.
I know what I am choosing!
Ciao
Home
Blog Home
Blog Library
RSS Feed
