Comments on: Whose Utopia?

By: Philipa

Philipa — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:54:52 +0000

No it’s not rude, Blue, I’ve thought the same thing myself. The biggest difficulty was not being ‘me’ any more, whatever that was. The upsetting thing was that there was no compensation for that, as there ARE stupid people in the world. If I were a pianist and they’d chopped my hand off I’d have had compensation for that.

By: Blue Eyes

Blue Eyes — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:17:07 +0000

It must be hard, P, to know that you have lost something so important to your lifestyle. If you had been born stupid like so many of our compatriots you would never have known what it was like to have a good memory and intelligence and so you would not be worrying about it… I hope that isn’t rude!

By: Philipa

Philipa — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:24:39 +0000

We used to prize our eccentics. Now, we fear them. What went wrong, and why?

It seems to me that there is a government approved idea of how we should live in quite precise detail. Right down to the contents of our fridge. I find that fearful indeed.

What went wrong? We lost our freedom, our autonomy. Big Brother took over.

By: Philipa

Philipa — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:18:35 +0000

I so envy you, Blue. I lost most of my (considerable) ability to read and hold ideas in my head when I had my accident. I know most don’t understand that (Ellee might as she supports ‘Headway’) but after the accident I would get half way through a sentence and forget what I was saying. People joke about that but it was real and constant for me and utterly horrible. I’m a double graduate and was always quick but I had to re-learn vocabulary. So people would talk to me, normal not difficult conversation and I would have to ask them to remind me what they were talking about. It shattered my confidence, I felt so stupid as people would treat me as such. I still can’t read ‘weighty tomes’ like I used to and would love to read the books of ideas you have. But now I must rely on those whose opinions I value to translate. So thanks for this post and I look forward to the other book review

By: JuliaM

JuliaM — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:28:51 +0000

“…a society where being eccentric is perfectly acceptable…”

We used to prize our eccentics. Now, we fear them. What went wrong, and why?

By: electro-kevin

electro-kevin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:35:50 +0000

“Well despite all the horrible things which have happened in recent decades this is still a bloody good place to live.”

Correct. Having recently been to hot and arid Cyprus – apparently an idyll among expats – I can vouch that nothing can replace greenery, fresh rain and a real British pub.

By: bill quango mp

bill quango mp — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:24:26 +0000

In 2001 the thing that made me seriously enquire about emigration was a doubling of council tax. This plus a pay freeze and no bonuses, doubling of fuel bills which had to be paid from the already taxed salary, took all the savings money, and much of the spending money from the household.
Suddenly the opportunity and the weather in California or New South Wales or Provence looked very appealing.
But we moved far in the UK instead.
Many friends did go aboard. Around 25% have come back since. Divorce, family issues at home, business opportunities, illness. The remainder seem happy enough.
People keep telling me of the wonders of Malta. Really, I fancy Purumph, Nevada.

By: Saul

Saul — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:02:53 +0000

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

That’s the crux of it old chap. You can have all the rules in the world, or none at all. Doesn’t matter we’ll all do as we please or as we no we shouldn’t at somepoint. It’s what we do.