Newsflash

Everyday I open up a couple of sites on my laptop. Obviously the dashboard is one but BBC News is the other. I check my dashboard to see if anyone apart from my ramshackle collection of friends, the loyal Albanian and a few other bloggers have popped over to see if I’ve done anymore posts. Then I check the BBC website to see if anything of note has happened in the world.

I’ve done the news thing ever since I could remember. Even as a small boy I used to wade through one of the weightier newspapers to get abreast of the news and read articles on what people were thinking about from anything like the shortage of oil, political goings on and new ideas for cooking with eggs. I’m not sure why I do this as it has little real impact on the way I lead my life or organise my day.

This morning,for instance I read that India is seeking to limit the amount of text messages one phone can send to another to one hundred texts a day. Lets face it, it is not a hard limit. If I learnt that I was only allowed to consume one million calories a day  it would probably not impact on my meal decisions or curb my lamentable addiction to cheese.

Whatever next I say to myself. Do I send off a brisk letter to the authorities in India suggesting that, whatever the motive, a limit, however generous, may indicate the first signs of censorship, or applaud them for controlling people so they don’t waste so much time telling their friends they have had a gr8t day LOL. BTW I’m not a great fan of text speak but that’s another matter. Do I write and offer them my skills as a curber of enjoyment and free speech. No. I do nothing but read another article.

A large accounting firm is being sued for seven billion dollars by the American government for some auditing failing to do with the housing crash. I mutter a bit and think about how good can any audit  be on a very large concern but once again I don’t actually do anything. I could write to the American authorities telling them that I have some experience as an auditor and would be willing to share my views with them on a gratis basis but a positive response is unlikely.

In short keeping abreast of current affairs has never allowed me to do anything but either mutter in private or bore someone with my opinion till they tell me to shut up but I can’t stop myself doing it.

Sometimes I am attacked by one of those Yoga style programmes on TV which my partner likes to watch. Perhaps you know the kind of thing: an almost offensively fit man or women balances on one finger amidst the mountain scenery while birds twitter nearby and you can hear the whispered commentary of some guru over a gentle soundtrack. I get the feeling that if I blundered into this scene with my urgent news about the possible Indian text famine I might be invited to leave. There’s no pleasing some people. I understand that but I can’t seem to find anyone else who is interested in this information. sometimes I wish I had a cat. They always listen to you