Difficult to say what is the biggest news item today. Is it the plane crash costing around 150 lives or the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson from 'Top Gear? I notice another contender is causing tears, screams and outrage in that a member of a group called 'One Direction' has walked out and wee girls are throwing themselves out of windows everywhere because of this. For myself I tire of the delays in dealing with Clarkson, who has gone too far once to often, and sacking was the only step possible. The information regarding this plane crash in the Alps is as always limited and I am not willing to read acres of space telling me how relatives are in tears. That is neither offering information nor necessary. Let people grieve alone I say.
Clarkson was good in that he often said what many think but are not in a position to say so. The PC lobby shuts the mouth of freedom far too easily, Jeremy cut through this. He did go too far and there are those who say that lamping a producer because his dinner was not ready is a step too far and sacking was the result. The singer, if he is a 'singer' concerns me not. Such groups are there to sell to wee girls, not to produce music. I suspect like most of this kind their offerings would be covers of others songs. Real musicians, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison and Joe Cocker and many others wrote and sang their own works usually. They had something to say unlike the 'Bubblegum Music' still on offer today.
What's that about ageing...?
Scots they say are the most friendly and open people, Londoners the most miserable. At least according to a psychological survey just published. According to whoever runs this thing where you live affects your personality, gosh I never thought that!
Of course where you live affects you, the history of the place, going back thousands of years, the environment in which you live, hill, seaside, plain etc, all have an effect on you and those brought up there. How could it be otherwise? I could have told them how grumpy Londoners can be after 20 years of it, and it has always been thus, and Scots are of course happy, jolly always keen to be friendly type of people, and don't you forget it pal!
However I sometimes wonder about psychologists. Once upon a time it was the popular thing to study, then it was media studies as the money was better, I suspect the chattering classes are into gender studies today. Rarely do such folks study something useful, like History!
Some degree of psychology is a requirement, to attempt to understand humans is a good thing, however all to often some crazy studies appear with little practical or positive effect and such as that are published in the press. This long study has only told us what we already know, was it worth it?
