Westie's Christmas Message, 2015
Hi there Everyone!
Well it's that 'Jingle Bells and Mistletoe' time again - although CAPNews reckons that this year, Santa's 'Ho ho ho' -ing might well be sounding a tad hallow at times!
2015 has been a bit of a mixed year. Plenty on the plus side - particularly on the home front with numerous Brits coming to the fore in a variety of fields, from Tim Peake stepping out into the cosmos and British tennis returning from it, by winning (for the first time in 79 years) the Davis Cup, to the British Film Industry continuing to show the world that it is not just Hollywood that can produce Blockbuster films - with the latest Star Wars and Bond extravaganzas being prime examples, once again breaking box office records.
On the tennis front, recognition for the Davis Cup achievement justifiably went to the whole of the British team and Andy Murray, when they were both duly honoured in the BBC's annual Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) awards. While it is normally inappropriate to pick out an individual performance in a team success, special recognition must surely be given to Andy Murray for his immense contribution to British tennis overall, and this recent win in particular. He has duly earned the acclaim as being Britain's greatest tennis player ever. Congratulations to him.
During this year's SPOTY awards football took a slightly lower profile than usual, possibly due as much to the scandals and murky revelations that have been engulfing (throughout the year) the main association FIFA, that controls World football. Corruption has been exposed throughout the entire organisation from at the very top Sepp Blatter, and percolating down through virtually the entire framework.
Suspicions have been rife for a number of years of massive corruption and bribes and it looks as though those responsible are finally being brought to book. Football followers throughout the world will be watching, with no little interest, what ultimately transpires - it is not an exaggeration to say that prison cells may yet await the main perpetrators, if indeed wrong-doing is eventually proven!
Medical science continues its advances, bettering the lives of many with conditions like cystic fibrosis and various degenerative diseases, while at the same time discovering a protein that can help boost the body's own immune system. Prevention has always been recognised as being better than cure - now maybe the body will be able to start sorting itself out! Certainly with technology also now being able to regenerate blood cells, it must give greater hope to many with conditions for which, in the past, there has been only limited treatment!
The country held an election in the early part of the year which - against all the pollster's forecasts - returned the Tories to power for another term, with an increased, indeed overall, majority, and left the Scottish Nationalists as the third biggest party in Parliament! Certainly a feather in the cap for Nicola Sturgeon - Scotland's new Brave Heart!
To ensure she didn't get above her station and begin thinking of royal status for herself, should the Scots eventually succeed in their quest for independence, William and Kate added another to the line of accession, and so pushed everyone down another notch! As usually happens with a royal birth, Princess Charlotte's arrival raised the nation's spirits and sent the press and the paparazzi into a frenzy.
The English among Her Majesty's peoples needed something to lift them, as the rest of the British population had all the bragging rights - which they duly took full advantage of! - following England's totally abysmal performance in the Rugby World Cup. Being the host nation, they were expected to do well. In the event, none of the home nations made it past the quarter finals, albeit Scotland and Wales both made reasonable fists of their attempts. In the end mind the best team in the tournament (namely the All Blacks) deservedly won.
If a new order of things hasn't yet quite worked for Nicola and her compatriots north of the Border, her lot is certainly fairing better than that of the certain 'Special One', namely Jose Mourinho. After leading Chelsea to the Premiership title last year, we suspect few (and certainly not the Special One himself) would ever have anticipated such a rapid fall from grace.
However as in many things in life, one man's meat is frequently another's poison - and football is no different. While Chelsea are this season wallowing in the relegation zone, Leicester City who have frequently had to fight a similar battle, are 'as we speak' sitting proudly atop of the pile as current leaders of the Premiership - and definitely as potential Champions, even if there is still some way to go. CAPNews says to the people of Leicester, congratulations to your team and enjoy the moment!
Were anyone/being/thing to arrive on this planet, from way beyond where Tim Peake will be enjoying his Christmas dinner this year, they/it could well be forgiven for wondering what, in heaven's name (assuming that 'they' understand about Him and the after life!) we are doing with it, and given what they see going on, would 'they' really want to stay here!
Because quite frankly, CAPNews thinks that as things currently stand, we 'ain't making much of a fist of it!'
If one side cannot get peacefully, what they want (ideologically or materially) - and that seems frequently to be the case - then they just revert to taking a more war-like approach, which is then (horror of horrors!) usually justified by some mis-guided and (indeed) distorted theoretical and theological philosophy!
Divide the world up and it is no longer an East - West split - although that is still there, even if (frighteningly) it appears to be widening despite the supposed warming in the detente over the recent years! - but now those peoples in the middle and on the fringes, are also wanting in!
And now, many of those 'wannabees' also have weapons, with which they can do those with whom they disagree - and indeed anyone else who may just be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time - a real serious amount of damage! Ironically, frequently with weaponry produced and even supplied by, the very powers that the dissidents are attempting to either overthrow or join!
If it wasn't quite so desperately serious it might be called a 'funny old world'!
Not really quite so funny of course - but then, there might also be an argument (for thinking, if not necessarily saying!) that if the 'beings' on this planet are capable of carrying out such barbarous atrocities against one another - in the name of whatever 'cause' - then just maybe, the time might have come to let them blast themselves to oblivion, and then the whole thing can start all over again!
Now there's a thought to provoke!
CAPNews, naturally, takes no side either way, except to say that even if the cup is half empty - and indeed may be corrupt to the core - there is always the 'other half' which has a sunnier side, out of which, like all the best old Hollywood westerns, the 'Good Guy' will come - at invariably the eleventh hour - riding into town (always on his white charger) and prevail against all the odds!
Roy Rogers always won the fight, got the girl and sent everyone home happy! It may only have been in the films, but at least there was always a brighter tomorrow, which can't be bad! And even if that might not be overly convincing, at least it is a happier note on which to move on!
Enough of this doom and gloom, it is only right to at least try and redress the balance some more, because despite the terrorist mayhem and sabre rattling by all sorts of unhappy peoples, and the seemingly increasing number of incidents of natural disaster, from earthquakes and hurricanes, and those two opposing phenomenon of drought and flooding which equally, all cause such dreadful human suffering, the world's governing bodies are at last finally, coming together!
While it may not have been a great year - peace-wise - the recent meeting in Paris to address the issue of 'global warming' ensured that it ended on something of a high. If it results in the world tackling the issue, by addressing (and maybe going some way towards solving) the problem, it could turn out to be one of the most significant events, not just of this year, but in the world's history, since man first realised just how useful the wheel was!
Oddly enough as we prepare for Christmas, when normally we are beginning to wrap up - and even anticipating the possibility of a 'white festival' - nature has sent us a message! When was the last time the UK (arguably) enjoyed temperatures in the mid-teens as we approach the winter solstice? Even the daffodils are blooming in some places and confused birds are beginning to nest - nature is sending us a gentler message. We ignore it perhaps, at our peril!
It is somewhat ironic that the 'Climate Change' conference took place in the very same city that was being attacked, only a matter of weeks earlier, by some of those very same peoples who would seek to destroy the freedom and democracy, which we all hold so dear!
Whatever the beliefs of such perpetrators of aggression, it seems pretty clear to CAPNews, that those endeavouring to save the planet, are the ones 'on the white chargers'!
Develop and survive, over destruction! Whatever one feels about the current status quo, if there are issues that one disagrees with, far better to attempt to change and improve the situation(s), rather than just eradicate them.
In a way maybe, a similar philosophy might be applied next year with regard to the UK's referendum on its' continued membership of the European Union.
While there may be (some) things that many of us would not totally agree with, in respect to our relationship with our European brothers, surely if we are to bring about changes to that Union, then possibly, they might be easier to do so from the inside - looking out! - rather than from the outside - looking in!
My, that almost amounts to a political statement - and CAPNews certainly has no desire to enter into that debate, one way or the other.
So, on that note, it is a good time to close.
CAPNews wishes you all, a joyful and glorious Christmas, and an exceedingly Merry New Year - leading into a happy and healthy 2016, which will bring you all, everything you wish for yourselves, your own and your World.
May your God go with you.
Cheers for now!
Read the 2014 missive here