Politics, Religion and Royalty

The three essential things to avoid talking about – even with close friends – are undoubtedly religion, politics and the royalty. Views can become polarised rather quickly, friendships strained or broken. So let me ignore my own advice…

This week see’s a bit of a “perfect storm” (stupid phrase BTW) – politics, religion and royalty all more in the news than ever.

I got my voting papers in for the Scottish Parliament. Keen to ensure I didn’t miss the deadline (though the sealed envelope still waits for posting) I set about the task of ticking three boxes. Favorite MSP…. well that’s easy,  you simply knock off the nut bars and loons and then decide who of the few remaining candidates you loath least. Next favorite party…. equally easy, you simply knock off the nut bars and loons and then decide who of the few remaining parties you loath least.   

Next the Alternative Vote – yip I’d definitely like an alternative to voting – but I couldn’t find an option for apathy, anarchy or revolution. So AV or First Past the Post? Easy in the end – I’ve never liked the idea of condoning a single politician or party so the idea of saying I like theses folk in order of least loathing appeals.  I’d prefer if I didn’t have to say 5 up to 1 though. I’d rather have it numbered 10 up to 5 – lets not give the impression to our politicians that we actually favour their politicing in any meaningful anyway.

So that’s politics out the way – now religion.

Religion in Scotland is tricky (just like any other country) – but in Scotland it’s confused and mixed up with the countries two leading Football Clubs – thats a shame. At a time when we are obliged to consider who governs the country and who will lead us to the promised land of economic recovery our headlines are instead dominated by deep rooted, historical, religous problems. Shameful. This football season has sounded more like a discourse on religious tensions than the reporting of 22 guys (mainly foreigners) chasing a ball to decide which Glasgow based football team will win a football league.  Shameful – count me out. 

So Royalty. A Wedding approaches – best of luck Kate, hope it works out ok for you. Personally I’ll be doing my best to avoid the gooey eyed BBC presenters coo-ing and aw-ing at the pretty couple. But best of luck to the pair of you. And best of luck defending the right of the Monarchy to behave like the Monarchy. I don’t often (in fact never) agree with David Starkey – but I agreed with the first few paragraphs of his Sunday Times piece that I read (before on principle I stopped reading because I started to agree with him). Succession is a male thing – but is coming under pressure to be a matter of equality - a first born girl would be the heir to the throne . That sounds fair enough – but this is the monarchy  - it doesn’t live by any normal behavioural patterns – if it did succession wouldn’t be based on right of birth at all. And then there is the rather crazy notion that the Queen abdicates and Charles steps aside to let William gain the throne. Complete nonsense – this isn’t AV and it isn’t First Past the Post – it’s the monarchy. If the Royal Family were to start opting in or out of the duty imposed on them at birth the institution of monarchy would crumble pretty quickly - and quite understandably I don’t see that being an ambition of any of them any time soon. 

There is though a rather more important Royal question that we tend to hide from – it seems the heir to the throne can’t marry a Roman Catholic. Undoubtedly a question that our Politicians would rather not have to think about, debate or address. Politics, Religion and Royalty - no wonder we tend to avoid talking about them with friends. So lets just tick the ballot papers in secret and wave the Union Jack at the happy couple – it’s a lot simpler.

The corner shop just got bigger – retail trends

The worst retail quarter for some random period. Hardly the most cheering news if your in retail. VAT up, job threats up, inflation up – sales down. Contrast that with what appears to be the ever expanding world of Supermarkets – the thing that we are all supposed to hate because they have undermined the high street.

Our local shops are a shadow of what they used to be, the local butcher with his unhealthy overproteined complexion is long gone and so is the baker. OK the cakes from the baker were typically Scottish, thats whipped double cream tipped onto the top of a bread roll with jam - but at least you could buy a loaf and the occasional strawberry tart in the summer.

But despite the impact the supermarket has made on the high street – we love them. And I have to say that I find myself welcoming the news that (if rumours are true) we are about to have an Asda dropped onto the former site of a nearby MFI. Within a couple of years I’ll be wandering down to the local corner shop to buy a pint of milk and coming back with 6 bottles of Furstenberg, The FT, razorblades, a jar of pickles, the latest DSLR magazine and a 100 grams of smoked cheese. But not with the milk – I’ll have forgotten that in my retail spending frenzy.

It seems that with supermarkets having largely completed the destruction of the high street with out of town supermarkets they are now going in for the kill, suffocating the last businesses that have persevered over the years. But I can’t complain about the impending arrival of Asda – at the moment if I want anything it’s a 10 min car trip to the local Tesco (even I need money from a free to use ATM) – so I can’t complain.

Our remaining local retailers are bound to feel the strain – the mini market and the newsagents being the hardest hit. That’ll leave our local  hairdressers, bookies and the headstone business. Hmmm…. a headstone for the high street, sadly ironic.

So it looks like our local high street is about to get replaced with one large, brash, neon lit, corner shop – that’s a pity but at least I’ll get an FT when I fancy one (though note to Mrs O, I can’t promise to remember the milk).