The state of the world. A bit of nostalgia. Fast cars. More nostalgia.

 Here are some odds and ends I collected from social media over the last few days. 

“My generation really believed peace was possible,” Graham Nash posted recently. “It feels silly sometimes, to hope for peace when everything feels hopeless. Still, I hope because hope is an act of resilience these days. I’m going to keep pushing back every damn day. I hope you will too. – G”

Being of the same generation as Mr Nash, I quite agree with him. As we watch the chaos and cruelty and selfishness of the modern world, we often reflect on the optimism that we felt in the 1969s and 1970s, the feeling that the world could only get more tolerant and inclusive and generally better! 

Here’s a cartoon about 35 years of the Big Issue.

There is still a regular Big Issue seller in the centre of Uppermill and very occasionally one outside the Co-op in the centre of Delph! I have a distinct memory of buying a French equivalent to the Big Issue and using it as the basis for a series of lessons with my AS and A Level French classes. Its name completely escapes me and so far Internet searches bring me no joy.

And here’s Ben Jennings cartoon on tech leaders’ outcry over the dangers of AI.

And here is a bit of Spike Milligan to make us smile wryly. 

George Monbiot, in this article about people - no, usually men - driving fast and dangerously, has given me a new bit of terminology: ‘petro-masculinity’ - a violent, misogynistic, climate-denying version of manhood, expressed through an antisocial driving culture.

As he describes cars roaring noisily through the streets of the Welsh town where once he lived, waking his baby daughter from her sleep, I think of the occasional noisy motorbike or fast car we see around here, fortunately not too often and not on a regular basis. Spotting these usually leads to one or other of us commenting, “There goes the local p****ck!”

Amongst other things he describes a different culture of antisocial driving where he now lives in Devon. Middle aged men in “lifted” pickup trucks” or SUVs modify them to be a loud and smoky as possible, to “roll coal” from twin exhaust towers mounted behind the cab, releasing a dense black cloud of soot when the driver hits the “smoke switch. Amazing! You would think that by middle age they might have grown out of it!

Maybe those men spent their youth watching coming of age films set in the USA where young men raced cars down the main street of small town America! Phil and I reflected back to our late teenage years when not enough of our peers had cars to encourage such practices, the climate didn’t encourage that kind of hanging around on the street trying to impress other teenagers, and besides our main streets were too bendy to encourage that kind of racing! 

I wonder what today’s late teens will find to reminisce about in 50 years time.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!