BUREAUCRACY

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
With Thursday Thirteen items of news and views
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

I’m disgusted with the ‘efficiency’ of most modern bureaucracies. The
more efficient and centralized they are, the more they fail to deliver
to the local. Administration should be geared to back up the frontline,
not dictate to them. Efficiency is actually about making a system run
smoothly, which usually means it isn’t people-centred.

The inevitable result is a
disenfranchised population.

Efficiency is also about running to its optimum, most cost effective
way. Nowadays this makes it machine-like and doesn’t cater for the
unexpected. This is why systems so easily overload today. The
‘efficient’ is actually inefficient. One major problem here is that a
bureaucracy caters for an ideology alone. It may not seem to be the
case, but a totalitarian system is not total, and never has been. If it
was, a totalitarian system could not operate at all. As long as you
don’t question the ideology, dictators usually leave you alone. Today’s
bureaucracies are edging towards totalitarianism as they are geared
purely for globalised consumerism. Think different and you are so
easily marginalized. Such totalitarianism will always appear when the
bureaucracy is geared to a single system, for whilst such a system
needs a fanatical centre, it grows and survives because of the little
people in bureaucracies. They naturally slide into propping up the
system. This is why a totalitarian system can take over a country so
easily. And if you think it isn’t happening today, just note the speed
and totality of the political correctness brigade, trashing everything
traditional, just as globalised consumerism requires. A true bureaucracy
should always be as small as possible, non-ideological, and there to
serve the people through a myriad of organizations of every type. But
instead, today’s bureaucracies have perfected subtle totalitarianism
with the onward march of little dictators in jack-slippers.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: All-you-can-drink
bar offers could be banned to stop
binge drinking. Better idea than rise in price.
This hits sensible drinkers.

BRIT NEWS: The massive takeover bid of Cadbury by
Kraft is more evidence that we don’t live in a capitalist
economy, but a new imperialism.

WORLD NEWS: I see the Democrats have had a shock with a
Republican win in Massachusetts. Interesting to see if this is a protest
or trend.

BRIT NEWS: Governor of Bank of England says economy needs ‘long
period of healing’. Polite way of saying the economy is in terminal
decline.

BRIT NEWS: Labour seems to be focusing on class for the
coming election. Strange how it was dumped so easily
during their days in power.

MONEY NEWS: So moves are afoot to limit the size
of banks. The problem isn’t govt regulation or
not, but moral regulation – from inside.

BRIT NEWS: Police to get spy drones? I’ve no
problem with targeted spying, but general
spying’s a move towards unfreedom,
no matter how useful.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday
Sunday Scribblings

BLOWING THE CURVE

Life’s a graph, curves up or down,
Got a choice – smile or frown,
Feed from experience and much, much more,
Those damn curves you can’t ignore,
Especially when they’re reflected – groan,
Mirror shows diet really blown

CULTURE CATCHER

Fiction: Life won’t leave me alone. It creeps up on me, always. I think
I’m doing fine – escaping – then suddenly, slam! It’s there, in my face
– in my mind. And then it rebounds inside my head – swirling.
Connecting … I became a recluse, but that didn’t work. Stop the
impulses, I thought – get away from life. But then I thought about
what I’d done, what others had done. I tried meditation – empty the
mind. But afterwards it began again. I began reading books –
watching films – to distract myself, but they fanned responses and
that swirling began again – inside – and I had even more ideas. They
just won’t stop! Such is the lot of the Story Man.

THE CHAIR

No decisions from the chair,
No matter how long I stare,
It’s not so difficult to work it out,
The committee should have clout,
But it really has no power at all,
Minutes meagre, hardly recall,
Almost as if the Chair’s half there,
Nothing but spin – how long I stare

FLASH 55 – GOING MAD

Fiction: It was frustrating. Her husband just wasn’t what she’d hoped
for. She’d tried to drive him mental to get rid of him – to an
‘institution’, or even suicide – but it didn’t work! Infact, pretty soon
He was driving HER mental. She couldn’t understand it. As for him, his
wife just wasn’t what he’d hoped for …

LONG GONE FRIENDS

Afterlife in my head,
Memories of loved ones long ago dead,
No longer grieve, we have to move on,
But always listen to their song,
Kindred spirits, so very true,
Beacons of wisdom to guide you through

MILESTONE

Walked the road mile upon mile,
Occasionally I rest a while,
Reach a milestone, take a rest,
Think about past things that were the best,
Then I realise I’ve reached a goal,
But still I cannot feel totally whole,
Life’s not done – no time to talk,
Spy the next milestone, begin to walk

BIG BIZ: Most shareholders in firms
now are pension & mortgage funds – in
other words us. Do we get a say? No, Big Biz
does as it likes.

TV WATCH: I watched the UK National TV Awards. I
used to like them but now they’re in the massive 02 Arena
with screaming crowd. Draining.

NATO FOOLS: Nato believes new Taliban tactics could mean violence
can be halted. Afghanistan has never been tamed and never will. Get
real.

TV WATCH: BBC to ‘refresh’ drama output. Rumour is Spooks is
going. No mention of Doctor Who, though. They wouldn’t
dare. Would they?

A THOUGHT: We all want an easier life, but the
reality is, if like got easier we’d just get
bored. And that can be tiring in itself.

LAST WORD: A bureaucracy should
exist to serve, not rule. When
the balance shifts, watch
out, your freedom is
about to disappear.

© Anthony North, January 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

ASTRONAUTS

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
With Thursday Thirteen items of news and views
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

The problem with space exploration to date is it isn’t really
exploration at all. We cling to the upper atmosphere or send
unmanned probes. Indeed, the only real effort – the Moon
landings – was a Cold War game of one-upmanship.

A primary reason for this is that
it is all government backed.

History shows governments make terrible explorers. Exploration is done
by business enterprise. Sadly our present business ethic is ignoring its
traditional function and grounding us in pointless consumerism. Maybe
it’s because of a lack of guts – after all, the next frontier of
exploration is a little scary – but they are ignoring the ultimate
element of humanity – our curiosity. Indeed, I’ve often called us Homo
Curious. Other than this, I think we need a new ethic – a new Big
Story – to truly continue our destiny of exploration to the planets and
stars. And the time is now right. For instance, one thing that is clear
is that no one country can afford true space exploration. To do it, we
would have to come together in cooperation as a species. We are
presently learning how to cooperate globally through action on the
environment, terrorism, etc. This needs to be nurtured, for it is the
way of existence to communicate with others of your kind – and our
planet is feeling lonely. Indeed, the central element of technological
advancement has been to increase our ability to communicate. Is our
past technology merely a number of stages towards cosmic
communication and exploration? To view ourselves and our history in
this way could provide the impulse we need to break into space,
which is, I’m sure, our primary destiny. Indeed, such enterprise and
cooperation could be the element we need to find peace within our
collective selves and break the cycle of conflict. And until we do this
we’re a pointless species stuck in Big Biz consumerism.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

BRIT NEWS: One in 5 of
Brit infantry unfit for war. It’s
what happens when you send an army
to war without proper manpower or
equipment.

EDUCATION: Savings demanded by UK govt on
universities now rises to £2.5b. The days of phoney
degrees and high student numbers are over.

WORLD NEWS: Why does it take so long to get rescue & aid to
disasters like Haiti. We have permanent national services. Why not
global?

BRIT NEWS: Army Chief says we need a new way of fighting wars due
to present challenges. Yes, but we always need to be ready for any
type.

WORLD NEWS: Google to pull out of China? Too much blocking &
hacking there. Is China showing again it’s not ready for the
civilised world?

BRIT NEWS: Doctors, lawyers, etc, still too elitist, says
review. The poor not getting a career. Ultimate
failure of ‘poor helping’ Labour.

BRIT NEWS: Think tank says it will take
several years to recover from
Recession. I think longer -
is the system in a slow
but terminal decline?

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday
Sunday Scribblings

GHOST OF SUNNY DAYS

I remember days of heat and light,
Yet long ago, now out of sight,
Presently in nature’s weathered corpse,
Climate angry, out of sorts,
Trees as skeletons of former self,
No leaves to turn, no budding wealth,
Landscape beautiful in white veiled death,
Wind bringing soul song, chant bereft,
Yet sun appears, lick’s nature’s wounds,
Says: hold on now, I’ll be back soon

THE DIAMOND

Fiction: I did it to test human gullibility. A curse, you see, is in the
mind. Only if you really believe will it work. I fooled them into thinking
it really was THE cursed diamond, and looked forward to all the
mistakes and accidents that were bound to occur. And you can
imagine my surprise when nothing happened. Curse it, I thought as I
retrieved the diamond. Mindst you, as I lie here in my hospital bed, I
was even more surprised by the appearance of the car that ran me
over when I left.

SILLY POEM IN STRANGE LANGUAGE

Omg said: will you follow me?
Lol so much I almost pee,
Start writing poem full of waffle,
Remembered second line – must not rofl;
Then revelation came in a tweet,
Feelings inside imho sweet,
Allows people to cope with what comes next,
They say it can be better than text

FLASH 55 – THE SURVIVOR

Fiction: It was a fight to the death. Afterwards I ran from the scene.
Yet, realizing my mistake, I returned and tried to explain my actions
but they simply ignored me. It was when I saw my opponent animated
that the shock set in. Then I realized – saw MY corpse on the floor. I
had lost.

FINAL DEAL

Sign up now to this online iDeal,
We promise no hassle – we know how you feel,
Just a simple measure is all we need,
Reasonable prices – we’re not into greed,
Beaten the competition, no matter how stiff,
When it’s done, it’s buried – get the drift?
And no, it doesn’t teeter as it’s lowered down,
A new way to put loved ones deep in the ground

YES YES

Oui, it spelt as the question’s asked,
Ja, it repeats, the spirits tasked,
To contact us at our will,
Or maybe its hysteria we fulfil;
Regardless which, it’s here to say,
The paranormal on display,
Bringing ghosts to our front room,
Fingers on planchette – watch it zoom

TONY’S DIARY: I’ve finally got
digital TV and not one of the extra
channels interest me. Is it a digital revolution
or Digital Devolution?

BRIT VIEW: A ‘virtue’ of Gordon Brown is his clear view
of what society is? This is why he’s a bad leader. Philosophers
become dictators.

WEATHER: So the thaw has come to the UK – at last. One thing I miss
is the beauty of a snowy, frosty morning. Those whites were amazing.

A THOUGHT: If you’re aiming for an ideal, you’ll be disappointed. Life
is about compromise. Once you understand that, it can be
great.

MOVIE WATCH: Watched Easy Rider. First time in
decades. It only really came alive with Jack
Nicholson. Seems to say freedom is
misery.

A THOUGHT: We should always remember
the past and learn from it. Problem
is, too many take the angst
along for the ride. Always
a mistake.

© Anthony North, January 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

ZANY

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
With Thursday Thirteen items of news and views
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

Modern society has a problem with eccentricity. It doesn’t seem to
fit any more. Today we have to be ordered, like cogs in a machine.
The problem with this is real genius has always gone hand in hand
with eccentricity.

Maybe that’s why our culture
is so sterile today.

And without the stimulus the genius used to provide, sterile order
leaves us without meaning. Could this be why so many seem to have
problems today, with drugs, crime and depression? It all seems insane
to me. But of course, eccentricity and insanity are closely allied and
have a purpose. Today a schizophrenic is simply mad. Yet just look at
the old style shaman, hearing voices, orchestrating hysterical ritual.
Maybe schizophrenia itself used to have purpose, providing culture
and wellbeing in a tribe. Madness, you see, has always been devised
by the knowledge structure in order to alienate types of behaviour
deemed inappropriate – such as the genius of the eccentric to stir up
culture and stimulate us above normal social control. This gives us a
hint of what may lie behind madness, for while society may like this
form of order, the inner person does not. Hence, in order to survive
the strictures of society we all create a social mask, an outside
persona which people think is the real you. When in reality the real
you is a cauldron of inner turmoil as you fail to feel totally as one with
your society. The social self – the mask – drives us mad, with
psychological problems arising because of its conformity. Maybe we
need to realize this and, for true psychological health, be allowed to
vent our need for deviance now and again – just as the hysterical
shaman allowed.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

TONY’S DIARY: Getting bored of
my book writing now, so I’ve decided
to go back to some current affairs. Hope
I don’t get bored of this.

WORLD NEWS: Have you noticed interest beginning
in Horn of Africa again? Why do I think it’s a campaign
to justify future intervention?

BRIT NEWS: Ex-Minister says Labour has no vitality. True, &
what is expected with a leader who wasn’t elected and has no
popular mandate.

HEALTH NEWS: Euro health boss says swine flu pandemic was profit
induced. Can believe that. And who will believe the danger next time?

TECH NEWS: Oxford scientist says health stigma stops nuclear
power option being explored. Good. Nothing is safe from
Sod’s Law. Too risky.

EDUCATION: Study suggests modern teens have
vocabulary of only 800 words. Text message
blamed. And many of them still can’t be
understood.

BRIT NEWS: Lib Dem leader says the
politics of plenty is over. Wow!
That is Hot news! Where’s
he been for the last
year, I wonder?

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday
Sunday Scribblings

CHAOS

I look to the future, cannot see,
Too much chaos, my destiny,
Life goes on, I see the way,
Follow a path, try not to stray,
Things add up, my future clear,
Grasping order, outcome near,
But life’s a fractal, delusional display,
As soon as it’s clear, it goes away

KONG KING

Fiction: It’s like this. The monkeys didn’t realize just what they were
doing when they moved out of their natural area. They should have
realized when they found the giant footprints, but no, they were
curious. Eventually the man appeared, towering above them – and a
giant hand swept down and took up the female. They gave chase,
and when they caught up, there was a mammoth battle, and
eventually, through guile, they brought him down. Tying him up, they
dragged him back to show the rest what they had found. But the man
was not to be subdued for long. He broke free. Another mammoth
struggle followed and the man was eventually driven up a tree. Hurling
stones at him, he finally fell to his death … The writer finished the
synopsis and looked up to the movie producer. The orang utan shook
his head. Said: ‘No, it’s just too silly.’

OH, HERCULES

Hercules, a question: why are you here?
Elite sundered society has nothing to fear,
Myths are dead, fertile froth gone,
Now drawing from science’s enthusiastic song;
Don’t raise that professor quite so high,
His students throwing stones up to your thigh,
Your times are too simple, we’ve shouldered more,
Taken the brunt of society’s flaw;
That’s why we cry all night long,
Inane culture, our soul has gone

FLASH 55 – BREAKOUT

Sci Fi: The guard ship manoeuvred into position, knowing it would
eventually come to this. The galactic criminals had been isolated on
the prison planet a long time ago, but knowing their ingenuity, it was
obvious that, as generation followed generation, they’d work out how
to breakout. And as they passed the Moon, the guard ship fired.

GOING TO ZEAL

I think I’ll go to planet Zeal,
Yes, a holiday does appeal,
Atoms splashed in the particular Jolt,
Reconstructed at the halt,
Instantaneous down the Ribbon Road,
Wormholes connecting from my abode,
No need, now, for boredom or sorrow,
Wonder where I’ll go tomorrow

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Remember a time so long ago,
Before the Sun’s punishing glow,
Before the gas wouldn’t let heat out,
Leaving us in shelters – our last redoubt?
Remember a time so long ago,
When we screamed – politician’s said:’no’,
Once we reverred our ancestors great,
Now we weep, think only of hate

FILM WATCH: Recently
been watching loads of 1950s
Sci Fi. As with most of this genre,
it reflects contemporary mind – paranoia
of invasion.

TIME WATCH: Is it Two Thousand & Ten or Twenty
Ten? The latter, obviously. Why confusion? I blame Kubrick
& Clarke. Media DOES affect us.

TONY’S DIARY: Catch it. Bin it. Kill it. Just had a cold. Impossible.
Typical bureaucrat-think, working only on paper – Until it’s smudged.

THE WEATHER: Is the Big Freeze over for UK? After coldest period for
30 yrs, a thaw is setting in. Or has weather developed sense of humour.

MEDIA VIEW: So Chris Evans has now replaced Sir Terry
Wogan on Radio 2. I’m trying to see any similarity.
How dare Sir Terry get old.

A THOUGHT: There’s two types of dreams
– the big one which keeps you
aspiring & series of small
ones towards it. In
balance life works.

© Anthony North, January 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

YOU

ABC Wednesday & more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

BLOGGER BARD

What is ‘you’? I say this as opposed to ‘who are you’ because as a
personality it may not be down to you. It is all to do with what an
‘individual’ is and is not. The idea of individuality is quite recent for
most of us.

It is most likely a spin-off of social
evolutionary processes.

It requires the time to think that you ARE individual. Hence, it will arise
at such time that you are no longer preoccupied with survival. In this
sense it came down the classes. The old God-Kings can be said to be
first to not have to worry about survival, so were the first to
appreciate their individuality. As technology advanced, so, too, the
numbers able to be individuals, descending down the aristocracy, the
middleclass, and finally the working class. Of course, in a mass
consumer society this is important. You need to express yourself
individually to be a good consumer. Indeed, throughout history trade
has occurred to expand the numbers of individuals. In this sense,
individuality is a consumer device. This does, of course, suggest that
individuality is a concept rather than an absolute. We don’t like to
think in this way, but it could be true. We’re back to what is ‘you’?
Well, ‘you’ is shaped by many things outside of you. Ancestry,
culture, environment and society all shape who you are. Then there
are instinctual drives. Now, we’re said not to be controlled by these
any more. We’re no longer just animals. But is this really the case, or
have such drives merely adapted to our evolving species? We all
express emotions of various kinds, but whilst the reason for such
expression may be personal, the emotion itself is universal throughout
the species. Jung identified universal archetypal character types
which we all express. So these, too, seem to be of the species. As I
see it, individuality is really an amalgam of outside influences, shaped
into ‘you’ by your experiences, certainly, but a cauldron of outside
impulses nonetheless. Don’t get me wrong. Individuality is good, but
maybe not as absolute as we think. We should bear this in mind when
we say individuality is everything. It may give us a new understanding
of community and togetherness.

Eye On the World
Essays on everything from science
to religion, politics to crime

WORLD NEWS: There is anger
here after China executed a Brit with
mental health problems for drug running. I
don’t usually comment on another country’s affairs
other than America. I do this as nearly everything America
does impacts directly on my life, so I will speak. And I think China is
becoming the same. Supposedly set to be a major world power, we
MUST speak about their human rights, otherwise their influence may
become the norm.

CELEB NEWS: It’s been a good week for Yorkshire and Trekkies alike.
Following the New Year Honours, arise Sir Patrick Stewart. Picard
would be proud. Significantly, there’s hardly anything for
politicians this year. They wouldn’t dare after the
expenses scandal. Unlike many, I like the
British honours system. Yes, it can
be manipulated, but overall I
think it good to have a
non-financial reward
for excellence.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
ReadWritePoem – Friday Flash 55
Three Word Wednesday

INDURATE BOY

Born into crime, no way to resist,
Didn’t want to do it, but couldn’t desist,
Peers and family and one and all,
Culture of violence, answer the call,
And then you’ve got to be harder than them,
If not, they’ll surely try to condemn,
Finish you off, take you out of the game,
So be hard – confirm your malicious fame

THE MORTICIAN

Fiction: I’ve always considered my work an artform. As a mortician, to
prepare a body for the everlasting is such a joy. Of course, so often it
is an impossible challenge. The very aged, those of a terminal illness –
so much degraded; so difficult to make it right – yet to find before me
such a beautiful woman – and my hope to make her more beautiful,
now, than she had been in life. Yet, such a rush – so little time to
work my magic before they come for me – and the sadness that in
producing such eternal art, I had to kill her.

WHAT A CRIME

Habitual I am in how I commit,
Giddy the feeling when I score a hit,
Fritter control in having my fun,
Love the essence of what I’ve done,
Disloyal to any form of control,
Yet such a debacle makes me whole,
Converting words to poetic form,
Whodunit? They!! Celebration the norm

FLASH 55 – STALKED

Fiction: I’d never seen a corpse before, but there it was, and I
thought: this is my worst experience. But it wasn’t. You can’t have
such an experience without an effect – for days following it was as if
it was there behind me. And thus it stayed until the day I stopped the
policeman and confessed.

RATS

Nibble and gnaw, scurry around,
Can’t believe what they’ve found,
Epic numbers, causing pain,
Let’s face it, it’s quite a drain,
Never far away from them,
Often it feels like we’re hemmed;
Infestation of society,
Pickpockets, muggers, burglary

© Anthony North, January 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel