A rant

I see myself in many ways as a typical male. (At least in build).  A 1/2 inch less than 6ft in height and if I hold my stomach in a somewhat normal physique. I also have size 44 (10 in US measurement) feet.  Pray do tell then how it is possible that I can walk into 3 different shoe shops and get the following responses when I seek out a pair of size 10 shoes that they have on display?

Shop 1. ''Sorry Sir, those shoes are on sale and we only have size 11-13 left''

Shop 2. ''That's the last pair we have sir '' (they were size 8)

Shop 3. '' We don't have your size sir  ''

I have never seen my future in being a stock expert for any retailer but there is obviously a crying need for one. It's also sexist. Have you ever seen a woman walk out of a shoe shop empty handed ? I can't even spend 55 quid of my hard earned.

Speaking of hard earned. My heart goes out to the many people in London who have lost their livelihoods and homes to the idiots who have been rioting over the past few days. Every so called '' expert '' has the solution. I'm no expert but here is my 10 pence worth.

My suggestion is this, and it runs pretty close to my views on Western foreign policy. Rather than spend millions fighting the consequences, spend a few million on discovering why it is that you are having to defend yourself in the first place. God knows how much the USA for examples spends on defence each year. (One second, I will find out.... $663.8 billion for the year ending in 2010.) I'm reckoning if they spent less than 1/10th of that on discovering the reasons why it is the Islamic world dislikes them so much then that defence budget would be slashed. 

So too the problem of rioters in London. Let's not blame so much the kids looting and thieving but rather look at the reasons for their discontent. You come from a 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation social security family. Your parents have never worked. You are socio economically challenged and are a racial minority. You have left school early and have no job prospects. It's summer and if you were going to school you have 2 months to kill before it's resumption. Social clubs and youth centres have closed down due to governmental attempts to balance the budget. However most importantly to mind is that their idols are not community, parental or religious leaders but rather the people they worship are over paid, poorly behaved,  football stars whose preachings and behaviour advocate the consumption of all things materialistic which only serves to magnify the gap between the ''haves'' and ''have nots''. Strive to live the bling regardless of the consequences of your pursuit in achieving such, seems to be the message. Rather than wheel out another political figure or person in authority who no kid respects get some of these ''idols'' to earn their keep and get them out in front of the public and the young. Along the way perhaps also address the issue of how much these chumps are getting paid to kick a football and the knock on effect it has on widening the gap between the people who play the game and those that support it. The highest earning football star in the UK earns £225,000 AFTER taxes per WEEK. Your average income earner makes £18,359 after tax in a YEAR which means it will take 12.2 years for them to earn what Carlos Tevez earns in a week. Yet these ''idols'' have no respect for authority on or off the pitch and you only have to look at the way they abuse referees to witness that. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XoURT5ugpI&feature=related

Don't tell me there is not something fundamentally wrong with that picture and the example it sets to the thousands watching and who idolise these prats. And let's not just single out football players. What of the rap stars whose messages are often anti authority, or the thousands of video games that promote destruction and lawlessness ? 

Most importantly though is that in this era of political correctness we spend far too much time telling the next generation what their rights are and not nearly enough time telling them what their responsibilities are. 

You have a right to earn hundreds of thousands pounds for your football skills but you also have a responsibility that comes with it. Transgress the responsibility then lose the right.

You have a right to protest. For sure. However you also have a responsibility to do it in a civil manner with respect to others livelihoods and property.  Transgress the responsibility then lose the right.

If the people who are idolised and that society promotes to a podium don't set the example how can we expect their supporters to?