Nerd Church

Well, it's that time of the week again - that time when I get all philosolical (philosophical) and sermon-y and give you all something with a bit of moral grit and gristle to chew over for the rest of the week. (Yes, I've just had coffee - and a very nice chocolate cupcake with gooey cream on top - so I'm in a bit of an unusual mood.)



church image courtesy of debspoons at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This week, I've been thinking of politics and all that jazz (I know, I know, but stick with me - for a little while at least,) and realising that politics at the moment is all about the extremes. I don't mean extremism - that's a bit different. I just mean that, here in the UK at least, the middle ground is beginning to feel less and less occupied. Instead, people are firmly left or firmly right. Most ordinary people are veering to the left, whereas the NIMBYs and the Tory heirs are so far on the right they can probably see their ancestor, Attila, coming around the corner.

So, do desperate times call for desperate measures? If you live in Panem, then probably they do. But the UK at the moment is beginning to feel more like Dickens' world than dystopia - and maybe that's worse, because no cataclysmic event has caused this, it simply is. Maybe The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling demonstrates the way we are now the best - and maybe that's why so many people (particularly critics) disliked it - it's never a pleasant experience to have the mirror show an ugly reflection. And The Casual Vacancy holds up that reflection and then shows the whole damn world our shame. Because let's face it, if you live in a small UK town or village, you know at least some of the people that Rowling describes; we've all met people like that - and hope that we aren't like that.