The Cult of Celebrity
Dear reader, you may have noticed that I have a counter at the bottom of this page. Most people know that this will give some statistical information on the the visitors that arrive at the blog, including what searches they have used to get here. I find if I mention certain celebrity writers such as Zadie Smith, Ian McEwen, Martin Amis, Jordan - well maybe not - but we'll see - and Jeffrey Archer - sorry he's not a writer; he's a storyteller - according to himself, just like Aesop...in your dreams, Jeff - I get a lot of 'hits' . Still, you see what I'm getting at: it's not the media that should be blamed, or the papparazi for the phenomenon of celebrity, it's the general pubic. Bet I get a load of old wankers - jerk offs - for that last misspelling! Much as I detest Murdoch and his ilk, they are only filling the gap - Oh matron! nudge, nudge,wink, wink - that the reader craves.

People outside America like me find it very hard to understand how the American people can elect someone like George W Bush. He appears to us to be a bigoted, dim-witted redneck.

I recently found myself idly channel-surfing TV in Britain. I landed on a 'reality' show called Celebrity Big Brother. Some older middle-aged American called Dirk who was in the 70's show The A Team was explaining that he supports Bush. He came from Montana and was one of the 'majority of Americans' who lived in small towns. He didn't relate to the folks who lived in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or any of the other big cities. He seemed to be talking about a mythic 1950's lifestyle of 'My Three Sons' or 'The Lucille Ball Show'. It that what the Bush support is like? If so, they really need to wake up and realise the damage they are doing to the world with their militaristic and environmental devastation.

Isn't ignorance bliss?