Sitcom of the Week: Peep Show

Given my newfound fondness for watching TV through any medium other than actually useing a real television, it could only be a matter of time before I discoved one of Channel 4 on demand's special features - the archive. That's right, unlike boring old BBC iPlayer, 4oD allows me to download programmes from years before. As you can imagine, i'm up to my neck in old Dispatches and other Doc's that i've downloaded but am yet to actually watch.
Another programme that has made my acquaintance is Peep Show, a Channel 4 sitcom that has been going for several years apparently. It's got that lovely David Mitchell in it - often seen on panel games such as QI and HIGNFY. In Peep Show he plays a character called Mark Corrigan, someone I can very much identify with. The BBC has described this character thus:

"As Mark Corrigan, David reached out to all those middle-aged men in a twentysomething's body, who believe drugs are boring and systems are necessary if society is to function at all."

If only we had more people like myself and Mark Corrigan. I have often thought that making peace with the establishment is an important part of maturity and despise much of 'popular culture' - an oxymoron in itself. To my fellow twenty-somethings who wouldn't agree, well, you can stick two fingers up to "the system" as much as you like, but being rude doesn't pay the bills.

Are all cultures equal?

No

That's the short answer. The question comes up often enough, or the topic is raised. It has become oh so trendy in recent decades to label the cultural practices of far away lands as 'different but equal' to our own.

I don't know where this particular piece of loony left dogma comes from, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the culture of the self-hating westerner. After all, anyone growing up in modern day Britian knows that to be European is nothing to be proud of. Ok, so Europe may be the birthplace of democracy, freedom, civil liberties and humanism. It may be responsible for the greatest scientific and technological discoveries in history. It may also be the place where some of the worlds best artwork and literature was produced, but never mind all that. As any so-called intellectual will tell you, collective European culture is no more superior to that of tribal people living in mud huts and worshiping the sun.

This is the one part of New Age bollocks I tolerate least. It has given us one of the prime reasons behind the fragmentation of the British state - Multiculturalism. In general, multiculturalism is based on the premise that all cultures are equally 'good' and that all should be celebrated. This I won't stand for. Western Parliamentary democracy is so much superior to Islamic theocracy. Civil liberties and respect for the human being is far more intelligent than stone age 'Holy scriptures'. The great classical muscians are without doubt infinately better than the tribal drumming of darkest Africa.

So the next time someone tells me I should be more open minded about a society which still practices ritual slaughter, 'traditional' herbal medicine, or the genital mutilation of it's own children; my first instinct will be to tell them to piss off. Secondly, i will point out that as a European, I am heir to the greatest culture to have ever existed on Earth and that it is not chauvanistic or 'rascist' to remain true to that fact. Queen Victoria once declared that she wanted Britain to 'civilise the world'

If only we'd finished that job.

Cultures are not all equal - some are just better.

"The summers seemed to last forever"

Apparently the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested that the traditional long summer holiday be cut, since apparently "pupils' reading and maths abilities regressed because the summer break was too long."

Um.... whats wrong with getting the little sods to read over the summer??

Am I missing something here? When i was in school, 6 weeks off was a joy, it enabled me to devour countless books. Every trip to the library i'd load up with 7 or 8 thick hardbacks, then spend hours of the day just reading, the more liberal 'bed time' over the holidays meant i'd stay up till gone 11pm (!) trying to finish 'just one more chapter'.

Now call me an intellectual snob (I see it as a compliment), but i believe that anyone who chooses not to read for pleasure, or believes that reading is 'boring' deserves to be thick.