…..another year older, a new one just begun…
Anyway, I hope you all had a pleasant and peaceful holiday. For me, it’s back to work – well, I never really stopped, thats what it’s like, working from home – and I’m getting on with some of the backlog of Elfin Diary work, Astrological Association Diary work, astrological reports. So, naturally, I’m sat here faffing with my blog.
One of the side-effects of my medication is intermittent insommnia – some nights I’m snoring for Britain all night long, other nights I can’t sleep for hours. Those nights, I tend to sit downstairs watching the news channels. A pretty depressing occupation these last few nights.
We get the CNN channel, and the contrast between the American and British/European reporting of the disaster has been instructive. Here, the reports concentrate on what it means for the people directly affected, both locals and tourists; there have been interviews and stories focussing on individuals, but overwhelmingly the broadcasters have tried to show us the broad picture of the tragedy. And, conspicuously, politicians have been blessedly absent from the screens.
But over on CNN the focus is reversed. Story after story, interview after interview, with US survivors – interrupted by the occasional long-shot of devastation and interspersed with shots of US relief planes taking off (often the same shots repeated over and and over). And politicians by the dozen – Colin Powell formally signing the book of condolence at the Thai embassy, surrounded by reporters and cameras and TV lights; other politicians giving news conferences announcing how much US aid is being given; hourly announcements about how Jeb Bush and Colin Powell will be flying to Thailand to assess the situation (no mention of how much they and their entourage will be wasting on a flight that could be bringing in relief supplies); some fat bastard saying how the US should be putting much more money into relief aid in the region to stop Al-Quaeda turning all those orphans and displaced people into anti-American terrorists.
Oh, and I caught the CEO of the world’s biggest pharmacutical company, Pfizer, announcing that his company will be donating $10 million to the relief fund. What a nice gesture. Of course, the most pressing need in that region, for weeks to come, will be antibiotics and medicines; I wonder – who do you suppose will be selling them?
Happy blooming New Year to you all.