Looking back

It’s the end of the year. Time to have a brief look back over the past 12 months. Today a look at things that have been in the news, although I don’t think this is going to contain particularly politically astute insight.

Way back at the beginning of the year, there was the travesty that was Celebrity Big Brother with the delights of George Galloway in a leotard - an image that will forever be impressed on my mind. I believe we have the joy of a whole new series of Big Brother in January. Of course, that wasn’t the only reality show, there was “I’m a celebrity…”, “X -factor”, “Strictly Come Dancing”, “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” and that ice skating one, which could have led to a celebrity losing a digit, or worse, if it had all gone cruelly wrong. Never let it be said that British television just rehashes the same old formula.

There was also the tale of the poor old whale who took a wrong turn up the River Thames - quite some wrong turn at that. It was probably using one of those SatNav systems that direct people the wrong way up one way streets or off the edge of a cliff and people blindly follow the directions even if it directs them hundreds of miles out of their way. A salutary tale for us all of what can happen if you don‘t know how to read a map. I think there is a New Year’s resolution in that for some people.

In the world of music we were treated to the European institution known as the Eurovision Song Contest, which was won by the Finnish entry Lordi, who looked remarkably like a character from Star Trek. Now if that isn’t a lesson in how seriously we should consider the states that accede to the European Union, I don’t know what is. If we are allowed to inter-breed with such people then imagine what future generations will look like.

In the world of politics we were treated to the Conservatives encouraging us to “hug a hoodie”, which whilst well intentioned could well have led to many people having their pockets picked and therefore assisted the Tories in claiming that crime has risen under Labour. Very clever. Rather more recently, I am still coming to terms with that story about Lembit Opik and the Cheeky Girl. Mind you the Liberal Democrats haven’t had a sex scandal for a few months so it was about time that something else hit the headlines.

One of the funniest moments of the year was when BBC News 24 interviewed the wrong person. A chap called Guy Goma had turned up for a job interview and somehow got mistaken for an expert guest and the next thing he knew he was on live television being asked questions about music downloads. The funniest bit in the clip is the moment when he realises that he is not actually in a job interview but that those cameras are entirely real and you see an expression go across his face that shows he realises he has to come up with an answer for an on air interview (follow that link for the video). After all that, he didn’t get the job anyway. They probably didn’t believe his excuse when he turned up late for the interview.