April: The Month Stuff Happened

Well, I suppose April 2013 will be written in quite a few history books over the years. Some might say that it hasn't exactly been a slow news month. This month has seen my Godson turn 1, the upgrading of our Broadband package and me getting a few articles published in a local newspaper. As important as these things are to me, they are not events that are going to make it into the history books.

One of the most devastating stories was the Boston bombs on the 15th of April. The tragic scenes were shared around the world within minutes, and thanks to the Internet, I had pictures filling up my Twitter feed. I love being on Twitter to watch stories like this develop, however, it is never long before people start making inappropriate jokes and flexing their Photoshop skills. Things inevitably begin to turn ugly, and soon you can't believe anything. As someone else rather eloquently put it:

Twitter does its best work in the first five minutes after a disaster, and its worst in the twelve hours after that.
— Matt Roller (@rolldiggity) April 15, 2013

The bombs went off during the Boston Marathon at the finish line, which killed three people and injuring over 260. There were many tragic stories, such as the 8-year-old boy who lost his life, and the shocking amount of amputations that have happened. I heard two separate stories of girls losing legs, who loved to dance; it's always the people that use their legs that lose their legs, isn't it?

That particular news story was fast developing as it remained the tops news story all week. We watched as New York police launched their investigations, quickly releasing CCTV images of their suspects, whilst putting the city into lockdown. We then began to find out the background of the brothers, and how they went to America in search of a better life. The story arch kept creating tension as one them was shot dead after a carjacking gone wrong. It then resulted in a disappointing climax where the last remaining suspect hid in a boat while officers used it for target practice.

The whole affair up until this point was sad and depressing, but I think a sour taste was left in the mouth when the brash Americanism showed through, as they celebrated one of the suspects being brought to justice. They took to the streets chanting 'U.S.A!' again and again in front of television news crews. I thought that incredibly disrespectful to the people who lost their lives, and their families. American's can be ugly creatures at times.

However, I say that in the full knowledge that this month Margaret Thatcher died, and a lot of people were unnecessarily disrespectful of her and her family. People seemed to forget that she was actually a real person, with real children and grandchildren. As much I do not agree with the celebrations of her death in the mining communities, it is perfectly understandable. What I did not understand were people who were not even foetuses in the 1980's, celebrating in the streets and making comments on social media about being pleased she had died.

It was just the usual people who like to troll about the Internet, spreading hate for no other reason than boredom. They have no interest in actually getting involved in a political debate however, they just want people to respect them because they can copy a joke they heard on Mock the Week once.

Truthfully, I don't know a huge amount her policies, but I know enough to form cohesive arguments. I believe she wasn't as bad as everyone makes out. She won us the Falklands for a start. She changed the country into what we live in today, and as much as they were largely hated, no Government has attempted to change things on such a large scale since. Do you think David Cameron will get a funeral like hers? No.

Before she came into power, Britain had three-day weeks, where non-essential businesses were only allowed to open for three days a week, in an attempt to conserve electricity. She came in, and gave us the shopping habits we enjoy today. Do you like popping into the high-street on a Saturday morning? Well, who do you think you have to thank for that? However, I will not overlook the fact she made thousands of people jobless by closing the mines. But, where would coal mining fit into society today? Do we not love the digital age we live in now? The only issue is that in 50 years time, there won't be many people left to tell stories of being forced to work in the pits at the age of 15.

Thatcher was not the only death that British people were mourning this month. JLS announced that they will have one last hurrah before they go their separate ways after 5 years in the public eye as a band. Obviously, album sales were in decline since people had forgotten about their time on The X Factor. Now, they need a few years away from showbiz, so they can reunite and enjoy the success that Take That had when they returned. OR, maybe I'm just being overly cynical.

Another mourning is the passing of Ben Elton's ability to write funny. April 2013 saw him return to television with a BBC 1 sitcom entitled The Wright Way. It had some of the same cast from The Thin Blue Line; a funny sitcom he wrote in the 1990's. It had potential, with it being almost identical, but with it being set in a Health & Safety department of a local council, instead of a police station.

So what did he do so wrong? Everything. In the opening episode, he exploited every sitcom cliché. It looked ironic. It looked like he had done it on purpose, as a master class on how to not write funny. Then, about half way through when David Haig was drying his trousers under a toilet hand-dryer, it hits you that he is serious. His characters were so cartoon-like as well. He took the stereotype of every age-range, and displayed them shamelessly for us all to 'laugh' at. Twitter's reaction was not kind.

Ben Elton has lost it, and is now writing comedy that competes with Mrs Brown's Boys. The final scenes where David Haig's character accidentally gives a woman he likes some sexy underwear instead of an expensive scarf, a glaringly obvious twist, was painful to watch. It may as well have had a close up of his face taking a big sigh, accompanied with the classic 'misfortunate trumpet' sound.

So, there you have it. April 2013. The month that is already being catalogued in the history books as one of the most eventful.