AMY WINEHOUSE DEAD : WHO ?

I read that a so-called singer named Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her home in London. Ms Winehouse, aged 27, had apparently 'struggled with drink and drug addiction' and had spent time in recent months undergoing rehabilitation.

Whether or not Ms Winehouse could sing is a matter for debate; that her lifestyle as portrayed in the press was pretty foul seems beyond dispute. That she was someone who made a substantial amount of money but, through ignorance or stupidity, wasted her life is indisputable.

She is not the first so-called 'star' to have ended her days in such fashion and she will not be the last. The difference between her and some of those who have preceded her, most notably the truly great Billie Holiday, is that they had shown real talent. Ms Winehouse will have been forgotten, completely, within a decade, if not much sooner.

LUCIAN FREUD ; RIP

The death of Lucian Freud at the age of 88 is, without doubt, an event to be noted.

This grandson of the psycho-analyst, Sigmund Freud, was a man who had gained enormous regard during his lifetime and, no doubt, the value of his art will multiply now it is known that there can be no more. I have to admit that I am no art connoisseur and I find Freud's paintings a little unsettling, to say the least. Nonetheless, I also find his art somewhat compelling and realistic; his subjects are portrayed in all their gory detail, no warts or wrinkles omitted.

I wouldn't want to hang any of his pictures on my walls but I think I can see why others would pay serious money to do so on theirs. The man was an artist of genuine ability and talent and his works will survive the test of time, far more so than some of the abstract nonsense of other so-called artistic greats.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU OLD DEVIL !

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, is 90 today. Seeing the occasional television coverage of events which he attends, it's hard to believe that he's now quite so ancient; both he and the Queen toddle around without support and many ordinary elderly folk must wonder how they do it. No walking sticks, zimmer frames or mobility scooters for them.

Whatever the secret, and one suspects it's down to receiving the finest medical monitoring and care available anywhere on the earth, the Prince has certainly became a bit of a national treasure. His tendency to make inappropriate remarks comes across as a rather endearing quality that marks him out as both an ordinary man and someone who shares the views of other ordinary folk. Remarks about 'slanty-eyed Chinese' may have caused a stir amongst the intelligensia but went down well with the public; asking Scottish Tory leader, Annabel Goldie whether she was wearing tartan knickers showed a devilish side of his nature that must have drawn many a titter down the local pub, while his apparent 'chatting-up' of Pippa Middleton at the recent royal wedding must have made many young men intensely jealous. He's also shown himself to be a no-nonsense man who doesn't believe in beating about the bush and has little time for the namby-pamby side of life.

The Prince has supported his wife, the Queen, for decades and despite his occasional impolitic moments hasn't done a bad job. Given a choice between him and his tree-hugging son, I know which one I'd choose.

WHAT IS 'POSH' ?

Listening to the 'Today' programme on Radio 4 this morning, I happened upon a piece that purported to be a discussion about the discrimination suffered by 'Posh' people.

The proponent was suggesting that 'Posh' people are a minority who now experience discrimination to such an extent that they try to hide, and even to deny, their 'poshness'. He cited the reluctance of David Cameron to talk openly and with pride about his background and schooling at Eton. He also cited an instance from some television programme on which a woman received a round of applause from the audience after loudly stating 'I hate posh blokes'.

His opponent immediately turned the discussion to one about the rich who rule our society; he equated 'poshness' with privilege, wealth and power, and no one did anything to disabuse him. Unsurprisingly, John Humphries, the presenter, simply chuckled in his usual annoying manner and left no one in any doubt as to where his sympathies lay.

It seems to me that everyone involved in the radio discussion completely missed the point. These days, anyone with a reasonable education and background, who dresses and speaks relatively well, is deemed to be 'Posh'; as such, they are pigeon-holed by those who see themselves as 'ordinary blokes' and may well be vilified to some degree. However, this 'poshness' has nothing to do with people being privileged, rich or powerful; it is simply a matter of education and familial influence.

Because I speak reasonably well and know a range of long words, I've been nicknamed 'Posh John' in my local pub. Partly, this is a mechanism to distinguish me from several other Johns who drink in the establishment, but it's also a mark of discrimination. The person who invented the acronym doesn't like me; he sees me as being 'posh' and equates this with privilege and wealth, of which he is envious. That I am far from privileged and far less wealthy than his family appears to have escaped him. He settles arguements with his fists, I write letters and use the law - this he sees as further evidence that I'm to be despised as not being like 'ordinary blokes'.

Much of our media is dominated by privileged and wealthy people who eschew their origins and deny their innate 'poshness' in order to make themselves acceptable to the uneducated masses who comprise their audiences. There is no doubt that being 'posh' is not only out of favour it is positively despised, but this is, in a way, the consequence of a failed education system. It is a result of the inverted snobbery of those who didn't go to the best school, didn't get any GCSEs and didn't go to university; it's the attitude of those who believe the only real work is manual work and that office workers and management are the enemy.

My dictionary defines 'Posh' as being 'smart, elegant or fashionable' and also as 'upper-class or genteel'; it does not mention privilege or wealth. I'm certainly not 'upper-class' and I don't think anyone would call me genteel. I've never been fashionable, and elegant isn't an adjective I'd use about myself, but possibly I might sometimes be considered 'smart', in the presentational sense. Do I feel discriminated against ? Possibly, on occasion. Does this worry me ? No.

DANISH FOOD GESTAPO SPREAD THEIR WINGS.

I have just read with some astonishment that the Danish government has banned the sale of 'Marmite'. Reading further, I see that this is not the only foodstuff to have been banned in that country.

I'm sure there are many who, like me, find 'Marmite' to be utterly disgusting and will rejoice at the product's demise, albeit in only one pretty insignificant nation. However, the list of other banned substances, and the reasoning behind the bans, leaves me bewildered; the Australian counterpart to 'Marmite', 'Vegemite', 'Ovaltine', 'Horlicks', 'Farley's Rusks', 'Rice Krispies' and 'Shreddies' plus who knows what other harmless products. The Danish food Gestapo apparently dislikes foodstuffs that have added vitamins or minerals and Danish food safety laws require such items to be banned from sale unless specific approval is given; all of these products have fallen foul of this lunacy.

It would seem that either the Danes know something about food safety that has so far escaped the rest of the world, or that they're a nation terrified of its own shadow. Given the list of banned products, I know which I suspect it is. 

OBAMA NOT THE ONLY IRISHMAN

Unlikely though it may seem at first glance, Barack Obama has apparently achieved that aim of most recent US Presidents and found himself an Irish forebear. One of his great-great-great grandfathers supposedly came from the village of Moneygall in County Offaly and Obama will undoubtedly squeeze every ounce of electoral benefit out of this fact.

To put a little perspective on this, we each have 32 great-great-great grandparents so Obama can claim to be about 3% Irish, though the way that heredity works, it could actually be significantly more, or less, than this. However much Irish ancestry he has, it is a strange fact of history that the Irish seem to have infiltrated every part of the world and there are far more people who claim Irish ancestry abroad than there have ever been Irish in Ireland.

For my own 'piece of the Blarney', I can outdo the President by some distance. While my mother's family were from continental Europe, my father's had large chunks of Irish in it with the probability being that I have 10 Irish great-great-great grandparents, though not having the resources of a President, it may be hard to prove. Fortunately, as I see it, my ancestors were from Limerick and Cork, so there's not much chance that I share any traceable links with the President though his researchers are welcome to look for one if they like.

THE FOOTBALLER, THE M.P., AND A FARCE.

A Member of Parliament that very few of us had ever heard of, yesterday took it upon himself to abuse his position by using 'Parliamentary Privilege' to name the footballer at the centre of the recent inane twittering about his extra-marital activities.

The MP in question, a LibDem named John Hemming, apparently has some sort of reputation for being a bit of a maverick in such matters and took this opportunity to grab a piece of the limelight for himself. Although he was admonished by the Speaker, his actions seem to be immune from any legal process, even though he clearly broke the injunction issued by the courts.

I have no time for the idiot footballer, nor for the ludicrous laws that have allowed the issuing of so-called 'superjunctions', but I also have no time for the likes of Mr Hemming. Whatever his personal views on the matter, his naming of the footballer in a public place was a clear breach of privilege; it was entirely unnecessary and simply his way of attracting attention to himself. That the name of the subject was already known to thousands, or perhaps even millions, of people makes no difference; a court with appropriate jurisdiction had issued an order and, it should have been complied with until lifted. By acting as he did, Mr Hemming has brought discredit on both himself and Parliament.

The advent of services such as 'Twitter' clearly has the potential to make a mockery of any law that attempts to invoke a right to privacy, particulary when the rich or famous are involved. At the same time, it is a sad reflection on the nature of our society that so many of us seem to be so interested in the salacious, but largely irrelevant, activities of 'celebrities', most of whom have very little to offer the world.

It seems clear that there will have to be changes to the law but what these will be has yet to be revealed. Whilst it cannot be right that the likes of Fred Goodwin, and others in positions of trust and authority, can hide their misdemeanours under a cloak of legal anonymity, the footballer's actions are in a different league. He has no power or authority, other than that gifted to him by his adoring supporters - why should anyone really care whom, or what, he sleeps with ? It makes no difference to the world what he does or with whom, while Fred Goodwin's actions may well have impacted on his disastrous management of a major financial institution.

No one has come out of this sorry mess with any credit. The law has been shown to be ridiculous and unenforceable; the footballer has been shown to be anything but the loving family man he'd no doubt like his supporters to see him as; Mr Hemming has shown himself to be a self-serving egotist and Parliament appears to be impotent to do anthing about any of it. Worst of all, millions of ordinary people seem to be fascinated by the bedroom antics of a footballer, but then they're probably the same morons who sit glued to 'Eastenders', Coronation Street', 'Big Brother' and all the mindless 'reality' shows that bestride our television screens these days like the lilliputian colossuses that they are.

What a farce.