This blogging routine is definitely something one has to grow into. I hope to turn some of my more interesting entries (assuming there are any) into full-length articles in the future, possibly for a website or who knows a magazine. For now, however, blogging is just a good way of pouring my ideas and feelings out on paper (so to speak).

That's particularly useful for me because my girlfriend generally isn't very interested when I rant about the present state of football or the Commonwealth, or whatever else - in fact it can drive her kind of mad. Hopefully, there are some people out there who have already taken a look at this blog with interest and if you're one of them then thank you so much for taking a few precious minutes to read the words of a total stranger!

 

The problem with blogging, as I understand it, is not letting one's feelings dominate the agenda too much. You've got to put some of yourself into it, naturally, yet be universal and impartial at the same time. Somewhere between saying something relevant and not sounding pretentious is the problem. It's a real tightrope.

I've got a few busy weeks ahead of me at university, writing assignments and finishing my dissertation, but I'll find time where I can to write a couple of blogs. For example, I sense one brewing about the imminent Oscar awards - don't get me started on Streep (who's going to win by the way). And if anything else comes up in the world, those of you who want to know will find out what I think pretty soon. Thanks again.

The Empire Crumbles

First Scotland, then the Falkland Islands - what's next, Gibraltar? Britain's resolve to keep what's left of its empire is clearly being tested at the moment. When the Queen dies, Australia will probably declare a republic (unless Charles abdicates for the popular William, which isn't likely) and then other Commonwealth countries will follow suit.

And I suppose that's fair. As an Englishman, I wouldn't want the face of a foreign head of state on MY banknotes either thank-you-very-much, so why should Australians have to put up with it? If right is on our side in the current debate over the Faulklands' sovereignty (and I believe it is), if all people have the right to self-determination, then Scotland should definitely have their referendum on independence. David Cameron's argument is that Scotland would suffer immensely should they break from the U.K, but it's really a matter of our prestige.

Scotland will have the North Sea oil and gas (which we've failed to dry up entirely over the past 40 years), an NHS, and a generally sound infrastructure thanks to Britain to ensure they won't sink down to the level of, say, Bulgaria economically (apologies to any Bulgarians reading this). They'll suffer a bit, sure - their students will probably start paying tuition fees for instance - but on the whole they'll do fine and good luck to them.

The real problem is the rest of the UK. Cut by a third in size, our economy will suffer greatly, as will our presence on the world stage. What will happen to Trident? What about the national debt? The questions are endless, and that's why this will be kicked around for decades before anything definite happens. Alex Salmond, although he's a very capable man, may not even live to see Scottish independence.

As for the Falklands, I find Argentina's moaning rather hilarious. I've never seen such an obvious propaganda campaign designed to win support for a PM since Thatcher won the Falklands conflict. Britain has not been provocative in any way. William's deployment there is purely ceremonial (as is the entire Royal Family), and the warship we've sent there is merely replacing an older one. It's Argentina that has upped the ante recently by blocking Falklands ships from their ports etc. Even if Britain was 'militarising the conflict', we have every reason to. There is sort of a precedence for Argentina invading, after all... 

But I don't think Cameron's prepared to lose the Falklands or Scotland any time soon - not on his watch. Britain has been in decline as a power for decades, and that would be the final nail in the coffin.

Youngsters

I was having my bi-weekly swim tonight when about 12 kids decided to get in with me. Now, I was a young boy not so long ago (thankfully) and God knows I must have caused a few raised eyebrows among the elder swimmers as I sailed merrily around on my foam float. But I KNOW that even at the age of 10 I had enough respect to make sure I wasn't impeding the other swimmers while having my fun. My upbringing made sure of that. This lot tonight, however, were swearing quite loudly while doing some sort of ring a ring o' roses thing together right in the middle of the pool, and one or two of them must have easily been in their early teens so this was no small obstacle to get around. The lifeguards tried to tell them off, of course, but they were ignored and everyone else in the pool (there were about four of us) just avoided them. Who wants to get verbally abused or their car window smashed over whether they can swim in a straight line? I read over that last bit and am slightly disappointed with myself, because it's so easy to think the worst of young people, but one can't help it on nights like this. The older I get, the more right wing I become. Is this what getting old feels like - constantly despairing of and fearing the next generation? But then, I know many 'reformed' people who were total idiots at secondary school and something (mostly getting married and having a kid) put them on track again. So there's always hope.

The problem with fooball

I'm just reading about the Chelsea fans booing Rio Ferdinand yesterday for no reason other than that he's the brother of the player John Terry allegedly racially abused. The Liverpool fans disgracefully did this to Patrice Evra as well just last weekend for being the victim of Luis Suarez's abuse. Now, I don't mean to slag off football fans - the ones loyal (or crazy?) enough to go along to every game, spend their hard-earned money and put up with the freezing cold and, quite often, rubbish football (in the case of Liverpool this season anyway) - because without them the clubs wouldn't exist. Banter is a fantastic part of the game and opposition players have been booed from the dawn of time. However, where I and most rational people draw the line is when loyalty to your club trumps all notions of right or wrong. For too many fans, that their team wins at the weekend is all that matters - everything else is secondary, including their sense of decency. Both sets of supporters (Liverpool and Chelsea) should take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror before the next game and ask themselves whether this is what they really want to be.

A Fresh Start

Only two years ago, I promised myself that I wouldn't do a couple of things. I wouldn't buy a smartphone, I thought, because they're expensive and consume all your time. I wouldn't join Twitter because it's just full of people who really think others are interested in how well they slept, what they ate for breakfast, how cool they think Lady Gaga is, and so on. I didn't think any of these things would be important anyway to my desired career - being a primary school teacher - in fact, you can get fired as a teacher for even having a Facebook account these days. Alas, only this week has my application to get on a PGCE course been rejected. I'm not giving up on teaching altogether, but the more I think about it, the happier I am that they turned me down, because, as happy as I think I'd have been in a classroom, it wouldn't have compared to how writing makes me feel. Maybe you can only understand this if you're a writer yourself, but there's something thrilling about reading your own stuff, whether it's a blog like this, a particularly smooth phrase you've used, or rushing to the news stand at university to read your own film review in the student paper (as often I have done). It's a very selfish thrill, something self-centred, but what's wrong with that in a brief life?

I know I had something genuine to offer future generations of school children, but that's gone for now. However, I think I can make myself happy and (if I'm lucky) some other people in the world happy, by writing things that truly interest to them. And I have such wide interests that I'm bound to speak to someone out there. Among other things, I am an avid sports fan (football and tennis mostly), a well-travelled young man (and soon to be even more so), someone who follows politics and the news, a film fanatic, a lover of art and music (mostly oldies and classical), and an admirer of some of the finer things in life. The lamp on my desk which I'm seeing by now is similar to the cool green ones in the library Morgan Freemon walks around in Se7en - that sort of finer thing. I give this list as a way of introducing myself to anyone out there reading this, but I realise that's a frivolous hope: getting to really know someone is hard, maybe impossible, and even if it is possible it takes a long, long time. But in aid of eventually being a writer, I want to use this blog to comment on a range of issues (current and general) that strike me as ones that I feel I can add my unique perspective to. This is all leading somewhere - hopefully being a writer for a newspaper or magazine in the future - but if not, it will make me happy anyway.

So, despite promising myself that I wouldn't be, I am the proud owner of a Samsung Galaxy S (and the Samsung Note looks nice too), a new member of the Twitterati, and I've launched into the Blogosphere. Just seven years ago, where was Facebook, HD TV, 3D films, and the iPhone? Time's moving so quick it's scary, and those of us who want to need to keep up, especially if we want to be writers like I do. In another seven years, who knows where we'll be, but I'm pretty sure we'll be living even more online than we do now (unless there's a backlash and things like letter writing become cool again, which would be refreshing), but that's not such a bad thing in moderation. The Internet, as do we all, has such capacity for good.

If you've read this far (and I know it's been a bit long-winded), then maybe you'll be interested in reading some more in the future. Feel free to return to get my perspective on a few things. I look forward to us journeying together through the strange but mostly wonderful world we live in.

Best Wishes,
Mark Graham