I am currently on holiday with my side of the family. During my weekly call with Dean and Sergey, my big brother Henry overheard us discussing this week’s subject, and went on one of his legendary rants. What follows is a toned-down version, with much of the input his.
The people’s game of football is no longer…
When I was but a little boy, my father, who was not on the rich list, far from it, took me and my big brother to football matches. He could just afford to do it. The first match me and my big bro Henry attended was Charton Athletic v Arsenal at the Valley in 1956. I was four-years-old, Henry was 10. My love for Arsenal started there and then, but it didn’t affect Henry, as he went and supported Manchester United instead (what a twat!). Our father would have spent around four shillings for the three of us, around £6.00 in today’s money.
Today, corporate greed is totally ruining this wonderful tradition of parents and children attending games. The wealthy are driven to exploit ordinary people’s interests, hobbies and passions to make themselves even wealthier.
We have been overtaken by the US-led corporate mentality – Screw Your Customers – (SYC indeed!), Screw Your Employees, Screw Every Last Pound out of the business to give your executives bigger financial pricks then the next team’s.
Granted, the players earn fabulous salaries, but they have relatively short careers which can be ended at a moment’s notice by injury. Professional footballers have to work pretty damn hard to retain their levels of fitness and skill, as opposed to the game’s controllers just hanging around boardrooms.
So now, the Football Associations of the world seem to be focused largely on broadcasting rights, so that the ordinary fans, previously the lifeblood of these teams (me and Henry) are now utterly irrelevant. Now, they, we, are being charged through the nose for attending all games, and yet the gate receipts are largely immaterial to the running of the top clubs.
Dad’s £6.00 for three people would now be nearer £180.00. at the Emirates Stadium. This is surely putting the beautiful game beyond the means of the true fans and local community.
Traditions that will die
#1: No more morning papers with coffee
Yes, reading a morning paper and drinking coffee before going to work is almost gone. All paper editions worldwide, from papers to magazines, have been experiencing a significant decrease in circulation. Others survived but have become thinner and slimmer. I haven’t bought magazines for years. However, it was my hobby around 20 or 15 years ago. Buying a glossy travel journal or an excellent quality political magazine like The Economist was fun. Now, it is no more. I have my smartphone, reading news from my selection of Telegram channels. This is my digital tool that killed its paper competitor.
#2: Less formal dress code at offices
I work remotely and don’t care about any dress code at all. Yet, during my rare visits to such places, I see this trend is evident in the offices. I read about it – not in papers – but on my phone – when visiting news websites or watching YouTube. Yes, you must keep your formal dress with a tie and everything if you work in a state agency or a bank. Even there, they have days off from the formal dress rules. Thanks to Meghan Markle dressing experiments, even British Royals occasionally choose a less formal style. Kate has been noticed choosing more contemporary looks, too, compared to the late Queen’s style and even Princess Di.
#3: Smoking real tobacco
I guess, smoking cigarettes and cigars is not in fashion for many years now, and the number of people who smoke is decreasing considerably. According to Macrotrends.net, world smoking rate in 2010 was 27.76% among men and women of 15 and older. In 2020, it was only 22.98%. I didn’t dig deeper into the past, but I am sure that smoking in, say, 1960s, was much more widespread as it was an essential part of lifestyle.
What else? I think land line phones will finally die soon. I mean, we will still have home or corporate phones, but the technology behind it will be wireless communication, not literally cables underground.
Traditions that will die…
During our weekly online meeting, I was telling Roger & Sergey about a holiday I had in the US when I was a young child: Pearl Harbor Day. I assume most young Americans have never heard of it. It’s dead, Jim.
It’s fair to say dinner in the dining room is a tradition that will die. Many new homes in the US no longer even have dining rooms. It’s a room that is only used a few times a year so builders have stopped incorporating them into new projects. That makes sense; I mean why pay an extra twenty thousand for a house with a room that will only be used on Thanksgiving and Christmas? Everybody sits in the living room and streams Netflix. It’s dead, Jim. Oh, that reminds me; the living room is gone too. We have great rooms now: kitchen, living and dining areas.
I bet the Mailman (normally a woman) will be gone soon. This past week the US Postal Service announced they are closing 30,000 post offices. The Internet killed postal services all around the world and it’s been years since I wrote an actual, physical letter. Where I live, they stopped delivering mail about a two years ago. If you think you have a letter you go to the post office. I’ve been a total of three times. It’s a stupid system. I do worry about what will happen to the tens of thousands of employees. They will go from good, high paying jobs to stock at Walmart.
Cooking…. Yeah, you read that right. I guess if you love to cook, you’ll still be able too but robots will be ubiquitous in twenty years. Prices will come way down and their abilities will improve. People like me, which is polite way to say lazy, will just ask for a favorite dish about forty-five minutes before we want to eat. Do you think you would make your own dinner if a mechanical housemate will fix it for you?
If a robot will work in the house, it will also work at work. Most traditional jobs will be gone. This one could be ugly because the Oligarchs will not want to start paying taxes and the people who used to work will no longer have jobs. Elon says he wants to build a billion of his Tesla robots in the next twenty years. I think he will. If you haven’t been watching this space, you need to take a few minutes and visit YouTube. Your job is dead, Jim — go home. The thing that amazes me is, few are talking about this and it will completely transform society. Several robot manufactures will start selling retail next year.
That reminds me, if you scroll down just a little, there’s a comment area at the bottom of this page. Tell us what traditions you think will die; I’ll bet we missed something. We all three read everything you write and that’s a tradition that will not die.