Monday, October 29, 2007

British Culture

Yet again an international trip brings me a free newspaper, which bangs on about the tidal wave of immigrants flooding the country.

This time its the dilution of British cuture they are concerned about.

Yes, all those old fashioned values such as not being afraid of hard work, having respect for ones family, being a regular church goer, being polite, well spoken and using good grammar, and having a couple too many beers and then driving home - are all being exhibited by immigrants all over the UK right now in a way not seen in England since the halcyon days of the 1950's. In fact many towns and villages have all the appearance of an episode of "Heartbeat" with Slavic cheekbones and a large amount of freshly-plastered walls in every scene...

Good job the native Brits have adopted loutish, slovenley alcopop-fuelled, drunken swearword-laden ranting whilst sitting comatose in front of banal reality TV game shows so enthusiastically - or there's be no counterbalance to keep British Culture firmly where it belongs...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Rising Obseity levels in Britain

Alongside Global Warming giving us all longer drier summers (and floods) and a tidal wave of hard-working, good looking contentious religious-observing East European immigrants, Britain is also "suffering" from a real problem - rising obesity.

However the general conclusion seems not to be that people are getting fatter because they are eating more (how crazy an idea is that????), but that our 20th Century Western lifestyle is fundamentally inimical to maintaining healthy fitness and body-weight levels. And for the health of the nation, things need to change and we all need to live a different lifestyle.

Or, put simply, people aren't working in fields or factories all day, so they need to go to the gym regularly instead.

Now, I'm a member of my local gym, and its very nice. Modern machines, lots of personal trainers on hand to advise, it has a nice bar and restaurant attached, lots of flat-screen TVs that you can watch whilst cycling or jogging on a treadmill. But looking around, it seems to be failing in its mission to help Britain not become a nation of fatties - because everyone in it looks to be slim, fit and healthy !

So, despite all the ingredients being there, something seems to be not working, as fat people aren't going to the gym. I've been giving it some thought, and as coercion and threats don't seem to work, a more customer-centric approach might be worth trying.

How about for starters, moving the bar and restaurant INSIDE the gym itself? Clearly fat people like food and drink, so making it a lot more convenient for them to get hold of whilst they are there would make spending time the gym more appealing.

And the exercise bikes and treadmills could be moved aside and replaced by the front seats of cars, as again obese people are more likely to take a car to the shops rather than cycle or walk - its all about making it more appealing to the fatties.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Immigration in the UK and its effect on schools

Two apparently contradictory facts:

1. Most of the immigrants to the UK are harder working, more contientous and more motivated by success than the indigenous population.

2. Standards in UK schools are slipping under the weight of a landslide of immigrants.

OK - so partly this could just be me reading the Guardian one day, and the Mail the next. But it does seem inconsistent that the type of people who would up sticks and relocate their entire family half way across Europe - or the world - and be prepared to work all the hours in the day, all for the chance of a better life would then sit idly by as their kids throw away this potential life-changing advantage by skiving off lessons and not doing their homework.

So, whats causing the decline in school standards?

Maybe its just that there are increasing numbers of children with foreign names that don't translate and simply sound so funny in English that today's teachers never actually get to the end of each reading of the register without the entire class dissolving into fits of hysterical sniggering and outright laughter?

Sunday, October 07, 2007

England vs Australia, Rugby World Cup

As someone who has absolutely no interest in rugby, I was surprised to even find out the England were playing Australia this weekend.

But disappointed to see that England won.

Don;t get me wrong, I usually support my national team in all sports.

However England losing at rugby* means loads of posh blokes who went to public schools all get very upset and disappointed, and so on balance I feel whenever England lose at rugby - especially to Australia - it is usually "A Good Thing".


(* Union)