Is The Recession Too Bright?

As I was walking back to my house through a former council estate the mind turns to the thoughts of what kind of people you share the area with, who are they? what do they do for a living? and in this present day how is the recession affecting them?

The recession is big news, it is the one cause of everything (It seems) and the one talking point of both national and global newspapers, however unlike previously it seems that it's use or terms have been discredited from marketing to the News is the recession too flash?

Marketing "Disaster"
The flash news, the use of the VAT cut, and the general advertising of "recession busting" prices are all common in our marketing world today. They tend to be flimsy to say the least, following the Guardian's exposure on several companies offering "recession busting" prices at remarkably higher rates than they were 4 months previously casts a mockery of what is a serious and damaging time for many people.

Another company that likes to use political point scoring is the Trago Mills, the "UKIP supporting" owner of Trago seems to use advertising in a remarkably black and white way. The boast of cuts that put the VAT cut to shame, it's a typical use of terrible market conditions to sell your cheap tat.

"News Flash"
The News is another area which seeks to put flash before substance, this recession appears to be far softer, far more casual to the viewer than previous. The graphs, the dreaded "BBC Red Arrow" all purposefully serve a comical rather than worrying sign. Queues outside Job Centres are manipulated to serve a purpose, it's like this "the figures don't hit home so here is some jobless whelks outside queuing, Well how very British is that". Ironically the BBC has yet to revisit that Job centre in Lecister or they feel that one visit to see the great unwashed was enough, as it's the same picture every time jobless figures shoot up.

One man on the news who seems to suit this current crisis is the man that matters Mr Darling, a rather dour and quiet man whose voice has the remarkable quality of being even more calming than Mozart or a pleasant group of chirping birds on a summers evening. But the news, or as it is now "THE NEWS" seems to have terrifyingly changed into some spin off of The Day Today, I await with anxious excitement the currency cat.

"Finally Britain"
Does the country taken this recession seriously? yes sure alot of us have suffered and continue to, I myself haven't been able to get a job, you may have been saving at a reduced rate, but seriously have you queued at a Job centre, or had a red arrow swipe at your feet.

This recession is worrying, as Todays report by "Save The Children" suggests the basic foods have shot up in price, would you recieve this information through the advertsing of brands? No this is the hidden facts of the Recession, these facts hit the poorest harder while they shoot below the radar if it's a busy news day.

Time for facts not for flash in 2009

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel: St Piran and the "Evil" EU

Having lived in the region for several months, I felt it was about time I wrote an article on Cornwall. I have no complaints about Cornwall in general and many Cornish I do meet are welcoming and do have very valid points (Such as lack of housing, lack of Business and yes lack of Services) and I back these.

However the continuous nodding of anything patriotic and nationalist, which usually disguises tinges of racism annoy me. Take the campaign for the Cornwall to be recognised as a separate state. Very well lets also make Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria separate self governing states, let's devolve England into just a load of mini states. I don't argue about the very idea of creating a local authority that governs the area and controls many local services, however 90% of Cornwall voted against such a authority and prefer to remain in even locally governed wards, which I believe just isolates rather than collects people.

This council also at the moment is also a joke, run like a joke always scores low and as the audit commission reported "has failed to adequately improve", so why keep the county council going as a failure? The problem lies, like most things in Cornwall's want and desire to keep things exactly how they are.

"St Piran debate"

St Piran the patriot state of Cornwall, a man who apparently brought Tin to the region, as opposed to the geographical nature of the area I suppose?

Well the Liberal Democrats of the area (Populist Statements for Populist Voters) deem that St Piran day be made a Holiday in Cornwall, why you may ask? Well those nasty EU people or foreigners as most people would call them, want to steal our language (Cornish language, the same one on every sign in this county and spoke by about all of 10 people) and declare it DEAD. HOW DISGRACEFUL

The word dead is used by a BBC report, Impartiality, Non? The EU declared the language as being used by very little, a further report suggests only 300 people know the language, but this doesn't stop Cornwall, oh no they are so proud of the language like their symbol they are in a FURY.

"Tin Mines"

Back to the Tin mines and this is the funniest complaint of the lot. Cornwall seems mightily proud of it's entire Tin mine industry, and rightly so just like the Welsh should be of Coal mines. But the industry of mass Tin production died out decades ago, and unlike the Coal strikes of the 80's it died out through lack of people wanting to work underground and financial constraints, rather than forced closure which Coal suffered.

Yet they bang on the drum (Tin presumably) continuously for Tin Mines and Miners to remain at the central heart of a Cornish Future, not the mines themselves but the symbolism of the industry. By showing and remembering Tin Mines I believe this keeps Cornwall and it's heritage very much alive, but it is not in the future of Cornwall anymore and to keep it central like it still is a bustling industry is foolish and makes a mockery of present day business in Cornwall.

"Cornish vs EU"
However the biggest concern for Cornish people is the EU, yeah it's remarkable isn't it. I was used to the disgust the word "EU" created down south, yet the EU are the fault of everything in Cornwall and the fixer of none and occasionally they have a point.

After all the EU have declared the "Cornish Language" as dead, which it is but never say this out loud, and secondary Fishing quota's are the last Bastille for many Cornish people. Though the Quotas are well thought out and probably much needed I can see how this affects the last proper mass industry of Cornwall.

But...

The EU have created mass investment into the area, which a report suggested has allowed Cornwall to be largely unaffected as the recession started to take hold. However this kind of report is largely ignored and if reported usually is at the bottom of a much wider story. Investment is at the heart of funding for of Cornwall and has especially been used in education and key in unlocking potential schemes. Cornwall needs the young more than ever, it cannot remain a viable county if it argues always for the past and never for the future.

In 1999 the EU gave Cornwall £350 million to breathe new life into it's economy, the average a individual pays into the EU is about a pound a week, it's money well spent and it's needed in Cornwall. The figure for the next 6 years which started in 2007 was higher at £415 Million pounds, this will go on creating new sustainable, affordable housing, unlocking innovation and potential and creating industry and growth.

So next time Trago Mills filters another advert with a piece on how the EU is destroying Britain and especially Cornwall, you have true facts and true figures in which to argue against. The EU isn't perfect, national government isn't perfect but what political system in the thousands of years of politics has there been?

This is not an argument against the Tories, Liberal Democrats or Labour this is an argument that says Cornwall is best served by looking to the future and remembering the past, instead of looking to the past and ignoring the future.