martin wheeler

Granny tax… snoopers’ charter… £ 50,000 debt to get a degree…
Picture says it all, really, doesn’t it ?

Well, the programme went out this morning as planned. Contrary to some of my expectations (engendered principally by the style of the pre-broadcast publicity blurb on the BBC site), I found it well-presented, and entertaining, as well as (slightly) provocative.
Sort of like my own style of stirring; but very much more gentle; much less manic.
So no problems there. (Although my shock at the sudden-ness of the “whodunnit” question is abundantly clear when listening to the recording.) But from the reporter’s point of view, what a missed opportunity to really put the boots into the perceived public image of this community !

Nevertheless, I believe that certain comments about the programme on private facebook pages are edging towards the incandescent; and I’ve received personal (unflattering) e-mails about it myself, in private. Maybe Jolyon Jenkins has yet to learn that you stir the Glastonbury pot at your peril — it doesn’t matter what you say, or even how you say it — someone is going to feel aggrieved, and get up in arms about it. (Goes with the territory, sad to say.)

And for those who missed it, the programme is available for the next 6 days on i-player, at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f65w9

Well, it looks as if I may have boo-booed on my comments about Jolyon Jenkins’ programme on Wednesday — apparently it IS about the various ‘religious’ practices in town, after all.

Witchcraft in particular.

I look forward with great glee to the town’s reaction to being labelled : “Witchcraft Central”.
[ see : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f65w9 ]

Wish now I could remember what I’d said about witches.

I note from my current copy of the Radio Times that next week — Wednesday, April 4th, at 11 am — BBC Radio 4 is to broadcast a programme on the vandalism suffered some time ago by the Wyriall Hill version [planted 1952] of the town’s well-known Jerusalem thorn.

The reporter/producer is Jolyon Jenkins, who interviewed me, along with my wife, some time ago — purportedly for a programme on the various faiths in the town. (My wife has an interest in these differing faiths, and published a report on them on her website a few years ago.) Only at the end of a fairly long interview was the question suddenly and brutally raised of the thorn; and : “whodunnit”.

As I haven’t a clue (and frankly, am not really interested anyway), I wasn’t able to help at all. I’m really sad about this, because I’m actually very creative in my own cynical and satirical little way. If only I’d been given more time to prepare and think about it, I could have really expanded my thoughts on this subject — in a proper Glastonbury manner, of course. From attack by aliens, through religious bigots (both local and imported), to precursors of the end of world predicted by the Mayan calendar. The possibilities are limitless.

Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to. I now realize that what Jenkins really wanted for his programme was some definite finger-pointing from local residents — preferably at local residents (there’s nothing like a small rural community for salacious gossip, is there) — which of course, he didn’t get, as I wouldn’t have a clue where to point to start with.

Sigh.

And as we haven’t been informed of the broadcast by either the producer or the Beeb, we’re assuming that none of our input has been used in the programme, anyway.

Following this week’s truly unbelievably unnecessary scenes of chaos and panic on petrol-station forecourts in the UK, as the general public responded to equally unbelievably stupid (and totally irresponsible) comments from leading members of the government, perhaps the country’s electorate should pause awhile and consider this : the lightweight political retards at the helm who caused this week’s scenes of panic are the self-same people who have their fingers on Britain’s nuclear button.
In a very twitchy and volatile world.

Scared now ?

You bloody should be.

The fact that I have just run out of petrol for the family vehicle (which of course I need to go shopping in, now that towns even as small as Glastonbury are totally dependent on local out-of-town supermarkets) — and that co-incidentally, I also need to fill a small (5-litre) jerrycan to enable me to use the lawn-mower to mow the lawn during this spell of fine weather — would not, normally, drive me to fits of desperation and rage.
No; I would just pop down to the nearest forecourt, fill up, pay, and leave. Simples.

But this evening, I find to my horror, ALL my local petrol outlets are closed; barricaded; and deserted. (This is small-town, rural Somerset, remember.) Why ?
Because we, as a nation, have made the utterly inexcusable mistake of electing politically woefully inexperienced, public-school educated arseholes to positions of national power and importance. The sort of upper-class arseholes for whom it is just another high-spirited jolly jape to send the whole country spinning into a state of unnecessary panic-driven crisis, as they play games with the media — presumably to “show” the unions who’s top-dog; who has the most clout; who can promote the most civic and social disorder and strife.
Either that, or they really are totally clueless about the positions of power they’re in, and have no ability whatsoever to judge the possible results of their public statements.

Whatever the case, the net result of what they’ve done is simply to demonstrate very publicly what utterly incompetent political lightweights they really are when it comes to assuming responsibility for running a country the size and social complexity of the UK.
We should rid ourselves of them at the earliest possible opportunity.
By whatever means.

As part of the current ‘Bird’ exhibition, I am exhibiting at the Blue Cedar Art Café Gallery in Glastonbury.

The exhibition runs from today (Feb. 4th) until March 29th; entry is free.

It is becoming increasingly clear that this century’s wars will be fought, unlike those of the last century, not between nation states, but between opposing ideological camps. Muslims against non-muslims; filthy greedy stinking-rich predatory capitalists against those who not only feel, but who genuinely are, financially oppressed; etc.
So it is with no surprise at all that we learn that tomorrow (January 18th) is to be a day of global protest against those who would control the internet for purely financial gain.
[see : http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_anti-SOPA_blackout]
Traditional ideas on copyright felt the first cold draught of a terminal chill in the 1950s, with the advent of the Xerox copier. Today, not only print, but film, sound and any kind of visual imagery which can be rendered in digital form have to be totally re-thought in terms of their revenue-generating capability for their authors or producers.
Perhaps the outdated concept of copyright, like that of the nature of capitalism, now needs to be totally re-cast to fit snugly in with the changing realities of the modern technogical world.

As Glastonbury demonstrates luke-warm solidarity with the global ‘Occupy’ movement, and a group of travellers/squatters hi-jack the name of the movement as they move into Avalon Plastic’s old premises, perhaps it is time to remind ourselves of the basics behind the movement – perhaps nowhere better expressed than here :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/06/naomi-wolf-occupy-movement