Shrek and child abduction.

This is about the Madeleine Mc Cann furore, of the abduction being publicised before Shrek three.

I don't think it was at all necessary. Apparently the advert was given a rating of U, which I don't concur with. The difference between a video dealing with child abduction and Shrek is that abduction represents an actual threat to the child, whereas Shrek operates at a vague remove from reality, as a safe way for children to experience scary situations. Children are exposed to enough without being exposed to this as well.

That, and I don't think that Madeleine McCann needs any more publication, she has permeated every section of society recently. She is in newspapers, on television and in shop windows. We don't need constant awareness of her plight forced to the forefront of our minds, and I'm tempted to say that it might be some sort of scam to make us more thankful for what we have, that we don't have a child that is god-knows where.

The national grief-mongering is simply disgraceful. I like to think of myself as left-wing, but I am reminded of 1984 when I hear of some events surrounding it; a child of ten in my sister's class sold ribbons at a wedding to make money for the McCann appeal. This reeks of sanctimony and smugness, of an emotional competing- my child is more sensitive than yours- when in fact, it is merely that one child is out to grasp a fragment of fame that comes with the emotional pornography so readily distributed in daily papers. The Diana debacle also reeks of whining; she is dead. Let's all get on with it instead of this yearly catharsis that blights my summer. And if we must have some sort of morbid festival, why on earth not for someone truly deserving, such as Mother Teresa, instead of a woman who was pretty and possibly kind? Nobody knows what Diana was like behind closed doors except her family, and it should fall to them to mourn her as they choose instead of the whimpering handed out in chunks to the whole nation. Britain is becoming disgustingly emotional.

I feel that I have done enough whining, and I acknowledge the irony of this post being a diatribe, and a catharsis in itself, whinging about other's whinging. So let us speak of happier things. I have been offered both work experience and a job interview today, both of which bode well. I managed to stay under my calorie count, and off sugar for today, which are wonderful and make me feel less spotty and slightly less bloated already. Britain, though terribly hand-wringing, is far more tolerant of racial and sexual ambiguity than previously. More people are entering higher education. I am headed for a 2.1 degree, possibly a first. I am healthy, touch wood, as is my family, touch wood. I have got a set of friends, a few sets, that I completely adore.