2007 and all that

So, how was it for you?
In common with every newspaper and blogger in the world, with a few notable exceptions, I thought I'd have a wee look back on my highs and lows of the past year and maybe look ahead to whatever 2008 may throw at us.
Musically, the juggernaut of shite vomited (is this medically possible?)up by the likes of X Factor rumbles on. Ruining the once quite exciting prospect of waiting to discover what would be the Christmas No.1, something which has long since been over taken by whatever Simon Cowell says it is. The last time I was really excited about the Christmas Chart-Topper was back in the days of The Mike Flowers Pops. Sadly that year it was popular children's entertainer Michael Jackson who took the crown. Of course, it was the lovely Kevin Greening who championed Mr Flowers all those years ago. Of whom I will write at a later date. For now, Cheers Kevley.
Other lows in the world of music came in the relentless dumbing down of BBC6Music. Once an oasis of quality, now just a pale imitation of it's earlier self. That plays Oasis. What was once innovative and experimental, is now a rest home for former Xfm presenters and at times a playlist not out of place at Radio One. It is possible that I'm a bit miffed that Andrew Collins has gone and Gideon Coe has been shunted. And Phill Jupitus has also gone from Breakfast. Is nothing sacred.
Still on the plus side, Radiohead released their most accessible and upbeat album in a long time. Initially only via their website, but now on retro-compatible formats such as cd and vinyl. Go on, treat yourself. For myself, my musical year seems to have been taken over by digging out old favourites, and now my i-Pod is jam packed with Ultravox, Everything But the Girl (before they discovered dance music) Prefab Sprout, The Cure and The Smiths.
Book wise, I seem to have fallen out of love with novels. Either that or I've been reading some old tut. I do still enjoy reading, but these days I'm happy to spend my time with autobiographies and some of the post-"Round Ireland with a Fridge" type of books are still worth a look. Although, strangely, I've been quite impressed with Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves book on comedy and jokes. I posted earlier about Gordon Brown and his book on Courage, I still recommend it, but you might want to give Alastair Campbell's Diaries a bit of a body swerve. They could, and indeed should have been more exciting. But there was too much self censorship in those pages. I'll bet Malcolm Tucker wouldn't have wimped out in a similar way.
Television has had it's moments too. I won't go on again about it, much, but Doctor Who managed to produced some truly outstanding drama in the episodes Blink, Family of Blood and Human Nature. The "scandal" surrounding competition phone-ins never went away, with the upshot being...well pretty much as you were really. The BBC self flagellated, but re-introduced phone in competitions, ITV and Channels 4 and five looked a bit shamefaced for a couple of days but soon got back to whoring their soul, and the newspapers, with their own agendas, lapped it up. 2008 will be pretty much the same.
The sublime Life on Mars finished, but will be back, Back, BACK ish as Ashes to Ashes later this year. BBC Sunday nights were enlivened by Cranford and Stephen Fry did the business over on ITV as a slightly darker "Doc Martin" type. Doc Martin on the other hand, although a ratings hit, looked tired and past it's prime. Panorama gave us the extraordinary sight of a Scientologist not being the most flaky person in a room, thanks to incredible Shouty Man. John Sweeney. However, in his defence, if it had been me, given the circumstances, I'd have decked the Scientologist chap many hours earlier and then proceeded to dance on his twitching bones. It is possible I have some issues when smug and bullying representatives of religious cults are involved. UKtvG2 suddenly became "Dave", although as yet, no-one called Dave has changed his name to UKtvG2. Unless of course, you know better...Cyril.
Politically it was a year of change. Scotland now has, nominally, a Nationalist Government, run by Alex the Moon faced Gimp. This probably came about, not just by the mistrust in Labour but by the local difficulties experienced by The Scottish Socialists, who managed to tear themselves to shreds, lose any seats, and goodwill they may have had and had a wee bit of bother with the News of the World too. Round 2 of Sheridan versus News International is looming, and I'm not sure if my favoured outcome is possible. Surely both sides can't lose?
The evil that is David Cameron continues to weave it's malodorous spell on the country, and there seems to be no sign of his career being de-railed anytime soon. What is the power he has over the media? And indeed in voters in general. John Sweeney and myself should go round and shout at him. Isn't it time the rumours about Carlton, and their former employees were substantiated? It's not that I genuinely believe David Cameron is a Satan worshipping, bestialitist horse botherer with a vociferous appetite for cocaine, I just want to hear him deny it on Andrew Marr's Sunday Morning programme on BBC1.
Labour on the other hand quite brilliantly managed to eradicate any good will left to them. Even after the long goodbye from "Tone". Crisis after crisis, sloppy handling of PMQs and dithering of the highest order-again-from Gordon Brown has more than helped the Tories get back into the forefront of British politics. There appears to be no way back for Labour at the moment. And given the betrayal of trust demonstrated by the Party since 1997, it's hardly surprising.
The Lib-Dems finally got round to knifing their leader, again, and as I know very little of Nick Clegg, I'm going to say very little about them. It's what they're used to really. All I will say is that I still think they would be in a better position had they not dumped Charlie Kennedy. It is possible he had a drink problem, but only if judged by UK standards. He's from Fort William. By those standards he's a big girly lightweight.
On a more personal note, 2007 was the year I stopped buying a regular newspaper. I realised that all the bits from The Guardian I actually read were available for free on the GU website, and the bits I didn't read contributed to a large pile of waste paper. I've started to take a closer look at my health following my visit to hospital. With luck, the only thing about me jaundiced in 2008 will be my view of world. Sadly, thanks to spending too many weeks in hotels, followed by Christmas and New Year, my diet has left a lot to be desired in recent weeks, but I'll be back on track soon. Really must stop eating so much butter. And sugar.
I've changed jobs, but much as I'm enjoying my new work, I don't think it'll last, I want, indeed need some adventures this year. Maybe this'll be the year I step off into the void with my eyes shut. It's been a long time since I last did that. The Tories were in power then. It's good to step out of the comfort zone.
So what do I hope 2008 will bring?
I'd like to get my life back on track really. I've been bumbling about far too much recently. I've become weary of my own company. I'm tired of going on holiday on my own, and I'm tired of waking up at 3am on my own too. There is a section, Parenthesis, in Julian Barnes 1989 work "A History of the World in 10 and a half Chapters" I always seem to come back to, which sums up most of those late night insecurities and feelings. It's not the lightest bit of reading in the world but... Sorry, I digress.
I hope things are different this year. I hope I'm different this year.
Maybe it's time to say "Yes" a bit more.
Actually, there's no maybe about it.
Anyhoo, enough looking back at 2007, let's see what 2008 has to offer.
Soupy Twist.