Our straight talking Lancashire lass takes a sideways look at the daily news.
Reality TV versus reality
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Tomorrow we will see the largest strikes in the public sector since the 1920s. Just to refresh your memories, the 1920s was the uneasy period between two world wars when the UK’s economy was, for the most part, totally ravaged.
Of course poverty is relative – we don’t have the same conditions that people who lived in Wartime Britain faced. But still, George Osbourne’s public spending cuts have been utterly brutal.
Unemployment is set to hit the 3,000,000 mark, public sector salaries have been capped whilst people are expected to work more hours for less.
The age of retirement has been shoved up to 67 years – whilst youth unemployment is at an all time high. Just how are these youngsters meant to get on the career ladder when the elderly cling onto the remaining jobs in order to claim their meagre pensions?
The UK is bound to tumble into a Double Dip recession next year – meaning more job losses - and recovery has been put forward to 2015.
All this is set against the backdrop of MPs expenses and eye-watering bonuses for bankers. It seems that the rich continue to reward themselves whilst the majority bear the brunt of these economic hardships.
As a country, we are facing very real problems. And it’s going to affect all of us.
So it made me laugh today to peruse the gossip magazine rack and see the following headlines:
New splashes with the news that poor pregnant Amanda Holden is 'knackered' and 'always dying for the loo!', whilst Closer reveals that Katie Price 'Never felt safe without Pete' and Lauren’s TOWIE has to 'get to a size 10 to keep Mark!'
And if that wasn’t enough, Star brings us news of 'Cheryl’s Misery' (she’ll be alone at Christmas), 'Marks Crisis' (he’ll never find the right girl) and 'Gemma’s Agony' (she ate too many pies).
This litany of woe surely puts our meagre problems into perspective, doesn’t it!
I found the tide of over-paid non-entities moaning about trivialities almost psychotic – literally every single celeb mag was plastered with the same people moaning about inconsequential stuff. It’s almost as if the magazines were collectively screaming: 'Never mind the economic apocalypse that we’re facing, look! Mark Wright has to choose between Girl A or Girl B! Look away from reality and focus instead on vacuous celebs!'
Don’t get me wrong – I know that gossip mags are supposed to be brain dead – but the contrast today stuck out like a sore thumb.
So whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s strikes, let us spare a thought for Peter Andre and Jordan, Chantelle and Alex Potato Face Reid and the troubles they face. Let’s us think of Mark Wright and Lauren, and all the other Z-listers. For whatever troubles we might face it is nothing compared to what they go through on a daily basis.
