Why Is Education Like Voting?

because even as knowledge might be power
the further it spreads the less rewarding it gets,
and the greatest gain will always be
where they are in their greatest quantity.  

The Pizza Effect

is the name for how much an idea changes
as it changes location, as long as the ingredients
remain the same. What gets a thing accepted
is a lack of discernment because of reduced choice.

My Last Christmas Card Of 2015

Even as it arrived late it added a certain frosty cheer to the celebrations.

Turning Boredom With The World Into Bad Science

One of the more depressing phrases
in the English language is the journalese
of 'A study finds....  ' near the start
of what purports to be a news item.
It means that the newspaper
(insert your choice of Press here)
has lost interest in what is actually happening,
and to tickle our jaded palates
has sent one of its lesser reporters
to find a science story the paper can inflate
the hoped for result of with false headlines.
Leaving the research as a-work-in-progress
which won't be compete for a long time to come. 

Blacking Up

Domestic politics is the pot telling the kettle
that the kettle is blacker than the pot
without providing the proof to black it up.

Thought For The New Year Sales

Because organization will always beat disorganization and crime never loses in the long run, mostly it changes the law to give itself cover, as the present public debate about tax evasion/avoidance proves.

Titles And Talents

We have to be a jacks of many trades
to make modern life work for us,
in ways that we are often shy about counting.
This was even truer for those housewives
whose skills in organizing households
went uncredited by everyone
who was so well kept in the past.

But queens and kings
can rarely do anything
without help from servants.

Even Hypocricy Needs To be Refreshed

When newspapers write
in tones of synthetic outrage
of 'political correctness gone mad',
at some fresh scandal, or scam,
you can be sure it is some old humbug
being critical of Hypocrisy for renewing itself.

Misanthropy

Christmas is so much better
without all those 'old traditions'...

When Brevity Is The Soul Of Humour

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious Persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the Religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2016, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make (name of country) great and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical disability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.

Legal Disclaimer: By accepting this agreement, you are accepting these terms.

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited bylaw, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.

This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting,whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Sincerely, (Name withheld for legal, social and cultural considerations.).

Happiness Through Accidents?

Through sheer consistency
man passes misery onto man
in ways that go beyond measure.
If we accept other peoples weakness
through a reliable knowledge
of our own inconsistencies
would we be happier by accident or intent?

I don't know which it would be,
but it would be an improvement.

My Fifth Christmas Card Of 2015

'Abstracts' by Gerhard Richter.

Political Post Modernism

It seems that there is not one democracy
worthy of the name in any nation state
in the world today. But there is choice
-in 'developed countries', we can choose
which corporate oligarchy fronted by
its own tame puppet politician to vote for.

Narcissim Inc

In the competition to find the country's biggest narcissist
the rules were set at who, through artifice of personality,
could take the least notice of those around around them
without having to acknowledge those they inevitably offended.

Since the biggest narcissists always offer themselves the biggest prizes,
e.g. Donald Trump standing for President on grounds of merit,
the competition standards were impossibly high.

It was soon found that for the award to be accepted
by anyone it had to be renamed as an honour
for charitable works-the better to help those near and dear
to the narcissist of the year to accept the prize
as a modest consolation for mirroring their keeper.

In The Beginning

All was calm and open awareness
until fight and flight broke out
and banished self control to oblivion,
little realizing that by banishing awareness
through the ensuing violence and chaos
they would also create a frozen state.
And in the frozen-ness would rest
the future unconscious of the world.

Putting Scientific Logic Into Politics

Because if there were no logic in Party Politics it would be too clear it is nonsense....

Co-Dependence

We are all shadows fighting ourselves,
and battling each other to the last
-as if those who live longest are best-
whilst waiting for the light behind us
that gives us life to die
 - and take us all with it.

Education Scmeducation, Medication

In my youth, and well away from 'the family home',
one of the pastimes I enjoyed was board games.
Partly because they were put there for us to use
and also because they were a quiet way of engaging
with boys my own age and disposition who were
as maladaptive about competitive sport as I was.
With a family like mine, all chaos and noise
in confined spaces, what I needed above all
was something logical which had clear rules,
the best of which was that the concentration
of other players was as important as my own
if the game, and my life, was to mean anything in future,
if I was to be weaned off the need for anti-psychotic meds
which I had to take stop my mind being shredded by my family.  

Clothes Maketh The Man

I'd love to think that if Heaven is real
then everyone present there will wear pyjamas.
Perhaps those who were best behaved in this life
will have dressing gowns too. We will all lounge
about the way we did at home, in our former lives.
Such clothing denotes a suitably Heavenly sense
of ease about time, and a well being in the space that we inhabit,
where we don't have to work at dressing ourselves to impress other people.

Self-Incentivized

The most aggressive in this life are the most self incentivized
-they will always grab the most, and the motivation of those with less drive,
and an apparently weaker will to keep their peace, is to bear witness
to where greed replaced need more than any of us thought it could.

.

Coming To A Cinema Nowhere Near You Soon

Join the jollity as a French man, a German, a Pole and a Slovenian ruin each others Christmas day and ruin your life forever with their terribly long winded jokes with no punchlines about the sadness of life now,  the difficulties of the past, and the horrors of the future.....    

Good Timing

The difficulty of being a scapegoat
is that whilst they might know
that their exit will be permanent
they never know when to take their leave. 

Keeping Cold Callers Entertained

Caller: “Thank you. May I ask which age bracket you fall into?”

Me: “50-60, but I’ve been told I’m not likely to make it into the next bracket.”

Caller: “Oh. Can I ask, are you married?”

Me: “I was married. Up until two weeks ago. My wife left me for my best friend, Malcolm.”

Caller: “Do you own your own home?”

Me: “I did. But my wife wants me out. Her and Malcolm are moving in on Tuesday week.”

Caller: “Do you own a car?”

Me: “Repossessed. Couldn’t pay. I own a bike. I say, ‘own’. It’s Malcolm’s
 – he’s going to want it back any time soon, I suppose.”

Caller: “Any pets?”

Me: “A cat. Wilf.”

Caller: “Pet insurance?”

Me: “No need. I’m looking at Wilf’s freshly dug grave. Dug it myself two days ago. Rest in peace, Wilf.”

Caller: (pause). “Have you had an accident in the past three months that wasn’t your fault?”

Me: “Yes. No.”

Caller: “What type of accident was it, please?”

Me: “It was my own fault, actually. No one to blame. I lost my left leg just below the knee.
I’m having a new fitting tomorrow morning.”

Caller: “Okay, well, that concludes all of the questions I have for you today.”

Me: “Do you have to go? I can answer more questions if you like. I haven’t spoken to a soul in three days.”

Caller: “Thank you for co-operation...”

Me: “Please don’t leave...    "

My Fourth Christmas Card Of 2015

'Flow' by Gerhard Richter.

Weather Envy

I never understood why people went on holiday
-for many years I was too poor to think.
My life was about enduring cheapness.
My travels were on short bus journeys
or hitching local lifts. I made many 'friends'
temporarily with generous people who had drove
when I could not. But now I get it. I surely do,
when others wander abroad from colder climes
to warmer places they are inspired by Weather Envy.

The Politics Of Trauma

We call it 'Politics' when we petrify
the suffering of The Worthy Few from the past
into a drive to transform present day society,
and to this add the paradox of our countries rich
trading with 'our enemies' whilst the popular press
proclaim the nation's hatreds in lurid headlines.

But patriotic anger always burns out
-reinventing itself as anger and exhaustion
and we surprise ourselves with the novelty
of how we create a new 'unworthy poor'.

My Third Christmas Card Of 2015

'The Soft Machine' by Gerhart Richter

A Prayer Of Humility

I thank thee Lord I am not a fundamentalist.
I thank thee that I don't know The Holy Book
of my country from back to front, and back again.
I thank thee that for not knowing such material
there is little I can quote to hide my insecurities.
I thank thee Lord that I cannot become defensive
via theologically illiteracy for being self-miseducated.
I thank thee that for having few excuses to hide behind
I have had to learn to know myself in all my fragilities
and learn it all quite carefully-from the inside. Amen.

Obligations

Humans have many means of exchange
with which to raise each other up
or pull each other down
and the most powerful
of all of them has to be guilt.

On Belief In The Individual

To write about systems and error is surely a tautology?

Urbane Dystopias

The world has never been short of torturers 
and 'the home' is where they endure
the best, to make inevitable the futures
that we least aspire to-or think possible.

My First Christmas Present of 2015

I am sure it was cheap at the price and the giftwrapping was easy.

Joyful All Ye Nations Rise

Join the truimph of the skies

With 'Angelic' host proclaim

"Christ is born in Syria."

Watching The Rolling News

is like listening to several old jokes
being told nearly simultaneously,
all of them being told badly.

To hide the poverty of humour
and the teller having no rythm
s/he constantly pulls the punchline
before it can be told-the better
to make The News seem fresher
-and go on forever......

Most cope with this by turning off the sound,
which make the half digestged reports less distracting,
and more like a midly noisy moving wallpaper,
which is best turned off when there are real people around. 
  

Proof Of Immaturity

Heterosexuals tend to think
that 'homosexuality the problem',
and what they breed is wholesome.
This is partially true, what is absolute
is how much men turn family values
into hierarchies of ownership
driven by their appetite for unease
which is well disguised,
made invisible through 'normality'.

Mistakes

are common enough as part of life.
The best advice is to make our own
and discreetly disown other peoples.