Happy or Slappy New Year
Posted by P S
01/01/2010
Happy New Year!
There will presumably be a message circulating on behalf of Universal Inc., at some stage, regretting that the last year was so lousy. It will say, probably, that a lot of it was down to the usual suspects, the slaughter of innocents occurring mainly in the usual places, with the usual loud denials; that Universal is working on the political intransigence, the corruption, the fundamentalist insanity of all stripes, that shareholders should ‘show patience’ and ‘hold their nerve’. Have dividends in Universal shares been cut again? ‘We don’t say “cut” – we say “deferred”. And obviously, the directors and senior management, who have worked so tirelessly on your behalf . . . and besides, it’s Christmas, or it was, sometime recently . . .’
At a more local level, Universal spokesmen acknowledge that we continue to suffer the effects of two historical instances of this country’s administration betting too heavily on the wrong horse. Or rather, they pushed nearly all their chips onto one colour. It would be expensive to change course now; and it would require not only political perception but political will – so, regrettably . . .
The first bet, some years ago now, was on the car. It would solve everything, it would keep people happy and quiet, you could sell it as inextricably tied in to individual liberty, self-expression and all the other stuff that rings the bells. Successive administrations kept on digging. The social, economic, medical, cultural and psychological consequences are upstairs, in a room marked ‘DO NOT OPEN’.
The second bet was on the financial services as the engine of the UK economy (and elsewhere, of course). The Thatcher government really kicked this off but New Labour have hugged it to their collective bosom. Bankers as heroes, hedge fund managers as saviours, brokers as rock stars! Give them the keys! The Country will be safe in their hands!
Oh dear.
Of course there’s good news too. For a lot of people. You know who you are.
And there have been some damn good books – and some more coming.
And I’ve nearly finished a project which will release me into a world of reading books that aren’t by or about or closely related to Ford Madox Ford. I never tire of Fordworld, you understand, but a change is good . . .
I can’t shake the conviction that the decade doesn’t finish until next December but never mind. Happy New Decade (possibly minus one).