That was the year that was (the Age of Stupid goes on)

And whoosh, there goes another year. Similar to last year, I had been planning a satirical post on which to finish 2021. It centred on the current British Cabinet, led by the Greased Albino Piglet, in conversation with members of the National German Socialist Workers’ Party circa 1932. The “joke”, such as it would’ve been, was to have the various equivalent members discussing the [Migrant][Jewish] question and complaining that Europe was being overrun with [Migrants][Jews], which then moved on to a debate about whether [Migrants][Jews] had any intrinsic value to the European economy, and if some kind of “final solution” could be found to the problem of Europe and Britain being “swamped” with [Migrants][Jews].

But to be effective, satire must ultimately be funny. And when I sketched out what each character would say, I realised the similarities were too close to be in any way amusing. Thus, bereft of humour, the satire collapsed. Besides which, Nazism may be the easiest, but is in fact the wrong, comparator. For that, we should look to Putin’s Russia, which the UK resembles more every day.

Then, Time magazine in the US chose the poster boy for the Age of Stupid as its “Person of the Year”, and I reached the point of believing that satire did in fact die this year. May whatever gods exist forever bless the Age of Stupid.

But that’s enough of the politics. Remember folks, there is always hope. Let’s just try to stay safe and healthy; and, if possible, sane. Who knows, maybe the pendulum might even swing back far enough so that satire will have a role once again in 2022?

Anyway, if you’ll forgive me a bit of navel-gazing, I want to share with you that 2021 has seen my books gaining more and more readers, and as I mentioned in last week’s post, I’m grateful for every one of you. This year ends tonight with over 2,000 kindle/paperback sales and almost 1.2 million KENP pages read, for an approximate total of just under 6,000 readers in 2021. And, I’m afraid, all that sort of thing is going to do is ensure I write and publish more books. So there

To end, here are a few pictures of my Christmas present that Eldest Daughter found for me, made by a local young artisan: two delightfully hand-sculptured, scented candles that I think are too beautiful ever to light, and which smell as divine as they look. Happy New Year and see you in 2022!