But it is quite easy to understand the reluctance especially of religious people to integrate too closely in a materialist society obsessed by money
Posted in General on 30. Aug, 2010
But it is quite easy to understand the reluctance, especially of religious people, to integrate too closely in a materialist society obsessed by money, possessions, food, sex and drugs, pounding rock music, Big Brother, lying politicians, The Sun newspaper and so on.It is not just a matter of failure to integrate. I can’t think of any other public figure who has ventured to raise this question. Politicians from Tony Blair downwards – or upwards if you prefer – talk about our way of life, our western values, even our civilisation, as things of which we are proud and which we expect people from other traditions to accept and adapt to.No one much likes to define too carefully what this wonderful civilisation of ours stands for. Or, if they do, they merely stress positive things, such as the freedoms that women have here in the UK, compared with in Islamic countries.Integration is called for. His comments on the situation here at home have gone largely unnoticed.Described as “a committed Christian”, the general is concerned about what he calls “the moral and spiritual vacuum” in this country and the effect this has on Muslims. Alastair Campbell appears at the Labour Party conference as bold as brass, as if the death of Dr Kelly had never happened.
Piers Morgan, also forced to resign as editor of the Daily Mirror over various irregularities, is invited on the BBC’s Question Time to pontificate on the issues of the day.Why should such men bother with what the press says about them when it makes not a jot of difference to their career prospects?We should all salute this brave generalComments from the army chief, General Sir Richard Dannatt, on the situation in Iraq have received massive coverage. David Blunkett, who was twice forced to resign from the Home Office, has been paid £400,000 for his memoirs and, according to reports, confidently entertains a hope of getting back into the Cabinet under Gordon Brown. But nowadays the most damning things can be printed about politicians with little apparent effect.John Prescott, every bit as sexually active as Profumo, remains the Deputy Prime Minister. So what’s the point of suing?In the days when the late John Profumo, for example, sued for libel, the penalty for being convicted of lying to the House of Commons was public disgrace followed by resignation and subsequent oblivion. But then libel is not what it was – a terrible threat to editors – but a thriving business from which a very small number of lawyers have made a very large sum of money.
It could be said that the imprisonment of high-profile litigants such as Jeffrey Archer and Jonathan Aitken (both convicted of perjury in libel actions) has acted as a powerful deterrent.Another reason for the decline in libel is the fact that public men are no longer particularly damaged by what the papers say about them.
It has never been easy to interpret what judges are talking about. But a decision by the Law Lords this week appeared to suggest that a newspaper can now defend a libel action by maintaining that it had acted in the public interest, even if what it said turned out not to be true
The ruling comes too late for some of us. We need to drop the decorum, and start cooking food worth sitting down for.jemima.lewis virgin . Children should be encouraged to gnaw on bones, mop up juices, lick their fingers.
Burping should be (as it already is in more enlightened parts of the world) regarded as a compliment to the chef. Food should not be treated as something alarming or shameful, to be touched only with sterile implements. No one will tick you off for putting your elbows on the table, or scrutinise you while you wrestle with a 22-piece cutlery arrangement.If the British are to be lured back to the dining table – and the evidence suggests that families who eat together are both healthier and happier – it needs to be a place of merriment, and of greed. I remember writhing with annoyance at being told that it was rude to sing at the table. Whoever invented such a random rule? When was singing at the table such a common problem that it had to be prescribed against?One of the reasons for the continuing popularity of fast-food restaurants (McDonald’s this week reported a 5.8 per cent rise in worldwide sales, with British outlets doing particularly brisk business) is that they provide a haven from these pointless rules At McDonald’s, eating with your hands is obligatory.