AllConsuming.org.uk

The report out today from Cambridge University on the state of primary education makes dismal reading.  Kids are under too much pressure, too early in their life. Schools are being dictated to and managed by central government.  The question is why? The government have been suckered into the politics of global competition; the human equivalent of the arms race. Other countries are churning out brighter and better kids so we have better out perform them.  The race to win a greater share of the market then trickles down.  From the nation fighting for its place every children and student has to fight for theirs.  Its school against school, university and university, parent against parent, teacher against teacher.  To win in this competitive system children have to go to the right primary, feeder junior, secondary and then university.  They are tested and sorted at every stage.  Along the way the rich get them tutored – the best school is never enough. This arms race of learning for earning has to stop.

I was at the cinema yesterday with my son Joe (witching Zombieland if you must know – he is 18 and I am 15.  And it was great fun with a brilliant cameo by Bill Murray. Damn the global entertainment industry seducing me into falsely enjoying myself).  Anyway they showed this advert for Chivas Regal. You can watch it here.  Its amazing stuff.  Sounds like its an advert for Ghandi or Mandela but its for blended whisky. How on earth are we to compete with that?

I’ve been watching the X Factor.  For the uninitiated who have something better to do with their Saturday evening i.e. a life it’s the ITV talent show judged by the zeitgeist figure of Simon Cowell. I watch with and for the kids – natch – I’m much too serious a person to be seen dead watching it for my own pleasure. But it’s easy to get swept up in. I can’t pretend I don’t enjoy it. It’s got human interest, drama and occasionally some talent.  It’s the tale of ordinary folk doing well or badly and it makes for great TV.

But of course its about selling a dream of fame and fortune.  Every kid wants to be a star.  Some of them can’t sing a note and are distraught and outraged at their rejection. After all you are nothing if you are not famous. X Factor is the epitome of a turbo-consuming society. It seduces us, eats up the space for any alternative and kids us we can all have it all.  The planet burns and poor get poorer but if you can be the next Girls Aloud then why not.

Two sub heads struck me in the press this weekend.  Both were in the Observers Music Monthly which I look forward to eagerly. The Sport and Food monthlies do little or me. The Women’s Monthly is better; good for over the top fashion and the article on the couples who have split up and why. Any way back to the sub-heads.  The first was in a Spandau Ballet feature. SB were the first stand out cool band I remember. Although they were for one wet Sunday afternoon watching the Janet Street-Porter youff show which exposed me to the new romantics for the first time.  Thrilling. At least until Tony Hadley revealed himself as a fat, Tory crooner.  The quote from the Spands was “kids have always spent what they have in haircuts, not on books by Karl Marx”.  Too right. And what a soppy haircut Karl had anyway. Consumer Capitalism 1, Communism 0.

The second quote was from a review of the Flaming Lips new album Embryonic which read “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to choose”. Blimey I wish I’d thought of that rather than just read it. Post materialism 2, turbo-consumerism 1.

I like the Music Monthly because at the back is a digest, with star ratings, of the best albums of the month.  It helps me feel I’m not missing out and still getting the best sounds. But the problem is there is just too much to keep up with. At the moment I’m really enjoying a ‘best of’ CD by the Jayhawks.  I mean listening to it like I used to listen to Joy Division when I was 17.  Playing it again and again. Well sort of. But I’ve got the Arctic Monkeys too and there isn’t the time.  And the reviews say I should get Monsters of Folk – but if I buy it I wont really get round to listening to that either.  Then there are the books and DVDs. There is just too much stuff. Charlie Brooker writes about it here.  I read the first para but there isn’t time to read the rest.

PS; I’ve not been blogging much. Was at the Labour conference getting ‘disappointed’ according to the New Statesman. I promise to do better as I enjoy this. Tomorrow I’m gonna write about X factor.  Promise.