Markets #GE2015

I photographed the local market in Wednesbury this week. Do you suppose all the goods on sale were British? Me neither. We live in a global market now and everything seems to have a price. I have been helping students with their writing and one has graduated and got a job in Shanghai, she asked my advice this week.

Maybe that is all we’re good for now, teaching and advising, we don’t make as many thing as we used to. The luxury cars like Rolls Royce and Jaguar are still made here, but the cheap crap for the masses is imported from slave labour countries. This suits the rich, they get their luxury homes, cars and Burberry jumpers and the rest of us get crap. Even the middle classes have less discretionary income than they used to have and their children have no chance of affording a home. Will the people revolt against this tendency to demonize the poor and pander to the rich in next month’s general election. Will the aspiring middle classes still vote Tory and ignore the HS2 line that they intend to run through the middle of their scenic village? It will be a close thing with minority parties gaining some power and maybe the balance of power. There is talk of a coalition between Labour and the SNP. Do they really understand business and the need to create wealth? Maybe a lower income is a price worth paying for a tolerant society and a caring NHS?

Solo Oil #investments was my post yesterday. Of course the discovery of oil at Horse Hill could have an effect on the economy. The environmentalists have attacked it. They drive cars, jet off on foreign holidays twice a year and then campaign to keep oil in the ground. Where do they think the petrol their cars run on comes from?

Markets and shops #thrifty was my usual thrifty post on a Thursday. With rising prices and cuts in benefits, more people will feel the need to be thrifty and frugal.

Tipton canal boat gathering #photography was my usual photography post on a Wednesday and featured a lot of canal and narrowboat pictures.

Tipton narrow-boat gathering #photography was a similar post with an assortment of images on Tuesday.

Perceptions #life #art was my Monday post. We all perceive things differently. Our perceptions of things around us are based on our education and experiences and isn’t objective. One man’s aesthetic meat is another man’s poison.

Heritage, art and culture #Blackcountry was my Easter Sunday ramble through the darker passages of my mind. My Sunday rambles are a little opinionated; they used to be funny. I don’t have a lot to laugh about at the moment, but we have some good weather coming so I might cheer up. It was nice this week, the wind dropped and the sun came out; which sent pollution levels soaring. Can’t win can we? That is the price we pay for industry that produces the new cars, the Iphones and the aircraft we fly in when we take exotic holidays. What? You don’t have a new car, an Iphone or take exotic holidays? That’s bad luck, you need to aspire to be like Cameron, Osborne and Johnson. The Bullingdon Boys  have never had it so good…

Can you imagine the lords and ladies of Downton Abbey telling the butler and the maids to aspire to be like them? They are more likely to tell them to ‘know their place’. When it comes to knowing one’s place, where do doctors, nurses and teachers come in the scheme of aristocratic things? I suppose they are mere ‘tradesmen’ and should use the back door.

I saw on TV that Johnny Depp is related to the queen. I believe that, they’re all pirates…  They’ve plundered the world’s riches for a millennia.

That’s it for today. Who will you vote for in General Election 2015? If you live in Chipping Norton, don’t forget to doff your cap as you go into the polling station.

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