Keep The Aspidistra Flying - By Hossylass

It looks like we will, after all, have to keep the aspidistra flying and continue to hope that society will charitably provide the finances that society resists paying for under compulsion.

What that basically means is that the poor will continue to give a disproportionately larger amount of both their incomes and their disposable incomes than the rich to charitable causes.

And as charitable causes go there are many. Most of them are honourable, many are heart-breaking, and a significant few are downright dishonest.

But assuming that the givers are aware of the final destination of their hard earned cash, and then the choice to give is theirs. Paying tax is not their choice, it’s part of a social contract. The givers (or the bludgeoned, depending on how you feel) in the main accept that taxes, like death, are unavoidable.

But some don’t. Yeah, you know who you are. The huge corporations worth billions, with vast turnovers that pay a paltry 6% tax.

The people at the top, who earn so much that it is but a game to them, to be richer than their mates, and  to avoid as much tax as possible.

The footballers who manage to pay only 4% tax, on salaries that are almost beyond the ken of the normal working man. The normal working man that incidentally pays their wages, turning up every Saturday, standing in the rain and eating a pie, that if it hasn’t been made in Wigan or St. Helens, is probably gristle wrapped in trans fatty acids and sawdust.

Yes Wigan, football and tax have a lot to answer for, which may be why the Orwell judges chose to pick Rangers Tax something or other to win the Orwell Prize for blogging. Now the blog may be brilliant, it may be the most socio-politically accurate portrayal of Britain today.

I’ll never know though, because on the seven times I tried to read it, I fell asleep. This may be due to my condition, it may be a very good reason to not have me as a judge, it may be that I think Rangers are a bit poo and if they can’t sort out their finances and their midfield then that’s their problem. 

It may be that I have had much more fun on the piss with Celtic fans. 

Yep, it may be that I am disengaged by the title of the blog.

I was however engaged by the three northern lasses who put up blogs that really did feel Orwellian.

Wiggy’s blog gives the law as people want to read it, full of reason, explanation and common sense, and not too many long words. Did I feel patronised? Did I shites. I felt engaged, intrigued and wanted to read through the night.

I struggled to understand Lisa’s blog at first, until I eventually found the bits I should have been reading. Then I was hooked. I was hooked by the fact that Lisa just blogs how it is. She never feels the need to write in a stuffy, pretentious fashion.  I laughed with her as she laughed at herself, and railed with her when she railed at the world. Thanks to Orwell I had an enjoyable few hours in some-one else’s world. Thanks to Lisa for sharing.

As a disabled person Kaliya’s blog is pretty much essential reading, more so if you have a condition that is rare, odd or generally unbelieved. This increases tenfold if you have the same condition as Kaliya, and goes a bit quantum if you bought a car off her. Guess which boxes I tick.

But regarding Orwell, Kaliya also ticks all the boxes. She takes her own particular circumstances and relates them, comparing her small picture to the very big picture.  And Kaliya has the capability of seeing some very big pictures. That’s because her eyes are positioned very far apart.  Or because she sees things as they really are.

And that is what all three of these bloggers have. Really wide apart eyes. They really see things as they are, a bit like that book “The Lies We tell Children”. Adults are told lies too, misinformed, pushed into beliefs that have no foundation.

The economy is not the fault of the little people, nor the disabled, nor immigrants nor the unemployed. It’s not single parents, or drunks or drug addicts. It’s the fault of the world banking system, the financiers and the greed that infests their lives.

The cuts will hurt millions and save millions. Sadly its billions that are needed, the billions that are tucked away in off-shore banks, the billions unpaid in tax. The country would not have to cut a single penny if the billions that are stashed away in tax avoidance were paid.

And because those billions are stashed away, Kaliya will still have to try and raise the funds for her much needed power-chair from the little people. Ironically the Orwell Prize money would have meant she could have bought it. This week. In the colour that she wants.

We shall instead have to keep the aspidistra flying in the way of fundraising, and thank the Orwell Prize and the three doughty northern lasses for allowing us not just to peer myopically into their worlds, but understand that we are all essentially part of that big picture.

(Note: None of the bloggers have, to my knowledge, anything other than perfectly placed eyes. Apologies to those who may feel offended, especially those who are offended on behalf of others – for you I am really sorry.)