Where has the reasonable man on the Clapham Omnibus gone?

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:54:00 GMT

I admit I have a Victor Meldrew gene in me. On occasions I am accused, quite erroneously in my opinion, of being a grumpy old man. However I have become increasingly incensed by the media approach to most news.

I push politics to one side but not without saying that I saw the best political cartoon ever in the Times at the time of the US Election. It showed a voter with his ballot paper confronted with two boxes in which to put it. One was marked Not Romney and the other Not Obama. This seems to be the way of the world!

Everyone of political persuasion including the media can tell me what they, and by implication what I, do not want. Any lone individual that actually tries to hold a banner above the parapet with a constructive idea is immediately shot down. Critical pundits that never have to take a decision abound. I believe there to be more of them than lawyers. It is so easy and fashionable to pontificate and criticise that there are very few doers or leaders any more.

News journalists are some of the worst culprits. Rather than reporting the facts they now wish to make the news. Investigative journalism is good at exposing wrong. Why this translates into getting two experts at either end of the spectrum to shoot down every idea is something I simply do not understand. Many radio shows in particular seem to set out to be controversial and attract extremists.

A phrase always springs to my mind “Two contrasting ideas are not necessarily mutually exclusive”. Both can, and should, exist. It may be desirable for more healthcare but we do have to live within our means. Protesters in Greece, Spain and Portugal may all want more but where do they imagine the money comes from? Society seems to be full of demands, wants and rights:- what happened to contribution and responsibility?

An old mentor once advised that I should always put myself in the other person’s shoes and look at the problem from their perspective. “If you screw them you will only do it once and they will be looking at the first opportunity to screw you back”, was his parting shot.

The self-righteousness with which everyone crusades is not attractive. It means that Mr Reasonable dare not show his face. Self destruction in the name of right is becoming a global pattern. I hold no flag for either side in the following examples but they demonstrate well how compassion or morals are not on the agenda.

We abused the banking system by borrowing more and more and living beyond our means; and now not just individuals but whole countries are suffering. Materialism was the name of the game. We did not complain then about the bankers and the money they made available. Today, Bankers are vilified as the cause of all evil. It is true to say most are not bad people but honest workers. It is only a small handful at the very top that had egos with only views and time for their next bonus.

Our country is in a terrible financial state but our politicians are not big enough to work together and find good solutions. It is very plain to me that we have to live within our means but many public sector industries do not think it is fair that we all share the pain. I was shocked to see that Public Sector workers are still today getting higher wage increases than the Private Sector. How can anyone think that those earning over £50K need child allowance or that millionaires need winter fuel allowance? Where is Mr Reasonable? There are poor and there are needy but lets also admit that there are too many wanting handouts without any real requirement for them.

When I see Ciaran, a young guy suffering from cerebral palsy, riding a bike to raise funds for Children in Need on The One Show I know how lucky I am and how much more I can give. One of his colleagues Darren also 17, is partially sighted but I have never seen him without a smile on his face. When I see retiring bankers and civil servants on six figure pensions, my heart goes out to the young guys and girls on their rickshaw raising funds, not for their own needs but to help others.

Crimes against children must be investigated but not by persecuting individuals based on Twitter. There appear to be far too many individuals who want to posture on band wagons. This applies to celebrities and politicians who seen to abuse modern technology the most.

I admire most the unsung heroes who daily help others in so many different ways and seek no publicity as a result. The work they do is reward enough. If every now and again we all applied the reasonable man test to our own behaviour we might see others in a new light.

Last night I watched a DIY SOS Special for Children in Need. Over 300 volunteers helped rebuild a Day Centre and Play Ground for special needs children and their families. It was a stunning project and will change lives for hundreds of people. At the end of the show the host related a story when he asked a local builder, who had given several thousand pounds to the project by way of his staff and materials, “Why did you give so much?”. His reply was quite sublime “I drive by here quite regularly and I will think every time that I helped build that”.

So go on! - take a ride on the Clapham Omnibus and try seeing the world as that Reasonable Man. You might surprise yourself and more importantly others as well.

Every Dog has his Day.

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:53:00 GMT

I have not seen one of those black and white silent comedy films for years, but all my youth came rushing back to me as I sat with beer in hand in a field in Wimborne.

A Series 1 Club Rally always has a certain dignity and formality. This is not a criticism of its members but more a reflection on the organisation of serried ranks of vehicles and the elder statesman position of the Series 1 Land Rover. As some friends and customers sat with me in relaxed mood with the sun setting I heard the first cry of ‘Ben’ echoing around the campsite.

Now imagine if you can, sitting at the top of a hill looking down an avenue with vehicles and tents beautifully parked to left and right. The precision of a military encampment springs to mind.

As I looked up, about 10 meters in front of me, a rather splendid canine entered stage left between a caravan and a tent at a leisurely trot and then exited stage right behind an 80 inch Rag Top. He was followed at a brisk pace by a bearded gentleman (those that are regular readers of the blog or attend shows will know that most Land Rover owners sport beards). It was at this point that I deduced that Ben was the dog as shouts of ‘Here Boy’ were increasing in volume and intensity.

A few seconds later Ben appeared 20 meters away from stage right and disappeared behind a Forward Control stage left. He was now followed, at a greater distance, by two men breathing a little heavily.

A short while later Ben appeared at the bottom of the hill, stopped mid avenue looked back, waited and then trotted off again. On this occasion he was now followed by two men and a younger lad. None of them appeared to be travelling quite as easily as Ben with his long loping stride.

You can clearly see a pattern emerging as Ben went from left to right and right to left, zig-zagging across the camp site. The pursuing pack increased in numbers with each pass - men and boys, fathers and sons, young and old (one was even on a bicycle). This scenario was repeated for about 20 minutes and looked like a chase from the Keystone cops. If only we had the Benny Hill theme music! The dog never seemed to break sweat and often stopped to let some of the humans catch up. The ‘Huntsman’ by contrast began to slow and show signs of fatigue as they ran from one side of the camp site to the other. At one stage we had groups of people running in both directions!

The Series One Club has always put on good events and from our Royal Box position, with beer in hand, this was one of their best entertainment packages!

We had a young Norweigan lad on our stand at the time who kept asking questions about what was going on as each pass from left and right was executed. I took a deep breath and explained, ‘The British are often seen as strange by other Europeans. We have great traditions and these are engrained in us since our childhood. At primary school we all played a game called ‘Bull Dog’ in the play ground and this is how we played it. I have just never seen it played with a Labrador before!’

I can confirm that there was a happy ending eventually - the humans gave up and as soon as the dog realised he had won he returned to his tent. At the time of writing I also believe no humans were hurt and most are now fully recovered from a series of minor cuts and strains. One may still be under medical attention due to exhaustion but he is expected to make a full recovery.

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Where has the reasonable man on the Clapham Omnibus gone?

Every Dog has his Day.