The youth... wasted?

They say that the youth is wasted on the young. This implies that, should the more mature generations had their time again then they would spend it more wisely.

But what is wisely spent youth? And why are the older generations trying to hi-jack it and ruin it for all of us?

I use 'us' very flippantly as someone under 25, but I no longer really class myself as the 'yoof', and yet it still peeves me to see older people clinging on to the fragile rock face that is 'yoof culture'.

For example the BBC are running a story at the minute that the Arctic Monkeys have become a integral part of UK politics since the start of this conference season. Their reason? Because, embarrassingly, Ming Campbell misjudged the fact that his party has one of the highest student followings to mean he had to be 'down wit da kids' and know about this band.

And why not? the Monkeys (of the Arctic kind, not the ones he remembers) are symbolic, in a way, of the young voters he clearly wants and needs. They began on MySpace, they are almost offensively youthful and they are cool.

But the sad thing is that he is not the first and will no doubt ever be the last politician to latch on to the 'latest' musical or cool, hip offering of the day. But why do they do it? Is it for the 'kids'? Hell no, if the kids were that easily swayed then more of them would be voting.

No, it is for the parents, to show that Ming, and all the others that are planning on mentioning the Arctic Monkey and their ilk in their upcoming speeches, can really provide understanding for the offspring of the voters.

And who can really blame the politicians for trying? After all, they want to show an army of shifting voters that they care for the kids.

Well for a start I can. I don't really get worked up over much but when I see people commenting on things that are in no way relevant to their area of expertise. It irritates me.

It looks as false as it is.

So the youth may be wasted on the young, but for Pete's sake if you are going to comment on it, DON'T unless you know what you are talking about. The young famously never listen, and these days the young are vocal to a wider and more influential audience through social mediums.

After all if you are going to waste your time trying to relate to a group of people who don't want you relating to them, but want to see you doing your job properly. Then surely that means that not only youth is wasted, but political life is wasted on the politicians too?

Top Five You Tube

Right - been bad again, truly a poor blogging effort. Oh well, consider it a sabbatical; I have gone out to learn things and taken some time off to do so and now I return with more to say.

But I am not going to dazzle you all with my charm, wit and new found learning just yet. Instead I shall continue a meme started by Jon on the LEWIS 360 blog.

So here are my top five YouTube videos:

1. Wishmaster - The Misheard Lyrics
2. Bush Sunday Bloody Sunday
3. The Exorcist in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies
4. Spaced - Unspoken Telepathy
5. The Llama Song!

Looking at this I do tend to verge towards the sublimely ridiculous. There are so many other good YouTubes, but five is my limit. To be honest with you YouTube is good but if you enjoy distractions then you should check out Albino Black Sheep, Jib Jib, Weebl and Bob, Zefrank and ifilm.com

These are my favourites from those sites:

1. Mashed Taters
2. Kenya
3. Zefrank - Ugly MySpace
4. This Land
5. Mr T's Rap

And that is that I will be back tomorrow - I promise! All that is left to do is to nominate so Jeffrey, Owen, Stephen, the Girlz and Jill - TAG! You're it!

These blog tour days are yours and mine...

Paull is off following his bliss (although after all the Brit abuse he still wants to come and sample our 'warm' beer). I haven't commented on this properly yet because I was horrifically jealous! But now I can swallow my bile and wish him well.

I adore travelling, it truly is a bug. And when I say travelling I don't mean a holiday, I mean really travelling.

Remember that feeling when you were off sick from school, but you weren't that sick? There was the feeling that anything was possible and no one would know because they were all at school. It is a lot like that, although you can share it and you have money to actually do something and you are somewhere new and shiny... Just believe me it is good, OK?

I am a big believer in Gap years. For the uninitiated, Gap years are literally the year out you can take between school and uni. You travel, you grow, you learn, you explore.

But this thing with Paull got me thinking. If the 'Gap year' is the gap between school and Uni then what stops us having a series of smaller gaps, and what if the gaps contained things that we learned from? Every new thing we experience, we learn and then we can revel in the freedom of our new found knowledge.

So while I would love to visit Karel, I have done my Gap year and am currently embarking on something which will shape me just as much as my year out did, possibly more. And that makes every day a bit of a 'Gap day'; full of learning, achievement and exploring. And suddenly I don't feel too bad.

Caribbean would be nice though...

Here I go again...

There are no excuses, it has been too long, I throw myself on the mercy of the blogosphere - deal with me as you will.

During my extended absence (sorry) I have been thinking of what to write, this obviously gets harder the longer you leave it. I have even got close to posting twice during my time away (sorry). But when push came to shove I couldn't press the publish button.

You see, there is a certain level of pressure at this stage in the game or at least you could perceive there to be pressure. The fear sets in if you don't post for a while. Will people still be reading? Will they never comment again?

But the biggest fear that comes from starting again; will I win them back? Will I be unable to remind the readers why they read in the first place?

So this is why I wasn't able to hit the publish button. There is a need for redemption and a comeback post should dispel any concerns in the reader that you have in some way lost it.

Your first post back need to be searingly funny, wildly academic, intrinsically philosophical and relentlessly innovative. The pressure can be immense.

Or you could just get back in the saddle, apologise and ramble on about comebacks, and remember that the only person that the blog has to matter to is yourself. The choice is yours.