No. Actually it's not good. It's shit.

This country is inhabited by a bunch of angry motherfuckers who hide inside their cars hating everyone and everything, and this individualism is causing/allowing the creation of a friggin' police state. Now no one can stand up and say "Excuse me, but don't I pay National Insurance and Road Tax, so what exactly is this M6 Toll, Congestion Charge and superbug ridden health service?" without getting road-raged to death by the pukingly cynical Ms. Purves mentality (from within the safety of her panic-room BMW).

You should listen to Bob and and his publicity machine a little more (he uses harmless friggin' pop stars not the actually unpleasant corrupted wheels of spin that are so familiar to our government and politicians) - take the selling of Live8 tickets on eBay. Bob says "Take 'em down", eBay say "We're a money driven bunch of corporates with no morals hiding behind some bullshit about not wanting to inflict on the freedom of our customers". Bob says "Everyone. . . let eBay know how you feel" - people fuck up the auctions. Result? eBay takes them down. Lesson learned? There is morality left in this great land - I was touched and delighted.

I'm still wearing my non-environmentally-friendly-Make-Poverty-History-poxy-trendy-white-wristband, because all the Geldof/pop star spin aside I believe in something, I believe in trying, I still believe in democracy and I don't believe in George Bush, Red Ken, ID cards, satellite tracking road tax et al. Brad Pitt might look like a tosser gobbing off up there, but look again at the African situation. Picture your starving self holding your starving child and watching them die in your helpless arm, then say "Oh fuck them, I'm so cool, that Geldof's a twat and who the fuck does Chris Martin think he is? . . . George Bush? and anyway, I've got a new 3 series with 23" alloys, so you can all get out of my fucking way . . . BEEP BEEP"

Sorry, but this was one anti Make Poverty History/Live8/Bothering-to-stand-up-and-dare-to-open-your-possibly-underqualified-mouth-for-something-that's-right post too far.

Now destroy me.
 

You make some good points. I should have explained more why I thought this article was good, but I didn't have time, so I just stuck it up with a very bald comment, which was open to misinterpretation.

The reason I thought it was - to some extent - a good article was because it highlighted the "what the hell are our politicians doing these days?" point, which is close to my heart, but which I have difficulty adequately explaining. I have a strange feeling that politicians shouldn't be swanning around with the elite of of the entertainment world and the corporate world, hoping that some of the glory will rub off. They should be making real decisions, representing the ordinary people who elected them, challenging the elite and running the damn country, which is their job. What Purves is trying to say is, what the hell have we come to when politicians' jobs fall to rock stars?

Live8, great, let's raise awareness and try to do something. I agree dude. But by the same token, I always instinctively baulk when media luvvies start telling me what to do. I couldn't even get a damn ticket for Live8 - cos I'm not a member of the new ruling class of this country that got invited to the Gold Circle and I wasn't one of the lucky insignificant peons that was selected to press his nose up against the glass and watch the Gold Circle boys having fun at a free concert in Hyde Park.

Call me cynical, but if you told all those people who sat in the Gold Circle, got pissed on free booze, took some pills and texted in to add their names to the fucking petition that they'd just agreed to 10% extra on their income tax for the benefit of Africa and they'd probably have a fucking cardiac arrest.

Doesn't take away from what Geldof is trying to do though. Fair play to him.

Just a load of probably incoherent stream of consciousness reaction to your post dude... it's been a stressful day, eh?

Be safe.