Ok, so this is where I either show myself up to be a complete ignoramus - yes, already done on previous posts, I can read your mind. God, you're so predictable!! - or the fountain of all knowledge and the one with the finger firmly on the pulse.

The Olympics.

Or more specifically, the Olympics in Beijing. And, if I can be even more specific, the Olympics in Beijing and the situation in Tibet.

Everywhere the torch has gone, there's been protests here and protests there about the situation in Tibet. Something to do with infringements on people's human rights and the such.

Now, maybe my points come from the side of ignorance, as I'm not fully in the picture of all the minute details, so comments following this post that may appear may shoot down my argument in flames - or at least on the face of it - but just because I'm not a leading talker on the issues of Tibet doesn't make me any less qualified to express an opinion - thankyou to all those brave men who fought and died (or survived) so that I could - or make it any less worthy. So here goes.........

The bit that confuses me is what the big issue is all about it. If you look at any country outside the 'developed' world, you could shout loudly the same arguments with equal justification. I'm not saying those arguments are wrong. I'm not saying that the way China is handling Tibet is right and just. (Nor, must I add, am I saying it is wrong, as I said previously, I am not well studied in this particular subject).

But those people who jump on a 'trendy' band wagon, where are your protestations about gay rights in the middle east? Where are your protestations about the plight of the farmers in Mozambique? Where are your protestations about the situation of many around the world who are suffering at the hands of 'cruel' dictators? Where are your protestations against religions which allow honour killings and the complete disrespect of women?

And what about the human rights of the elderly in this country who are being mugged and sexually abused in their own homes by scrotes who break in for the easy pickings of a frail old dear's pension? Or even the treatment they receive when they move into 'care'?

I would like to bet that the majority of people who are moaning about the situation in Tibet are the same people who stand up and defend the perpetrators of crimes against the old and frail in this country - yes, ENGLAND - because of their upbringing or social standing. The same people who buy FAIRTRADE because it makes them feel better about their relative wealth compared to a farmer who earns 50p a week for harvesting coffee when they earn £1000 a week for being a social worker or teacher or health care professional. What they conveniently - or stupidly, you may choose the former, me very definitely the latter - forget is that 50p a week (that is a figure from the top of my head, but the actual figure is immaterial in the context of this argument) can buy a standard of living similar to what the trendy bandwagon jumper gets here. It may not be measured in plasma TVs or 2 cars in the drive or foreign holidays to far flung places, cashing in on that country's cheaper way of living to get 2 weeks in the sun all inclusive for less than a grand, but nonetheless, it is a decent wage in their country of origin. But no, as trendy do good band wagon jumpers we wish to bastardise a country and its economic status by paying farmers more than doctors or solicitors. And then, after flooding these riches into a country, bemoan the fact that they now have McDonalds and Pizza Express and the like, which take away the GENUINENESS of the place and the authenticity of the country (which translates into ruining their holiday). What did you expect?

See, and I'm on a proper rant now, but as a nation, we seem absolutely obsessed with apologising for the things we did decades and centuries ago. We seem to want to put right every body else's wrongs and dismiss or forget our own, putting other countries interests before our own, and I don't understand it.

I would help anyone I could, no matter what where who or when, but I wouldn't come round and do your washing with my last scoop of powder and leave my clothes dirty and smelling. If all my washing was done, fair enough, you're welcome to the powder, but if not.........

So, bringing it back to Tibet, there may well be bad things happening there, or these things may be being blown out of proportion, I don't know, and really I aint too bothered. And why? Because there are too many issues here that the trendies and the sheep should be worried about and challenging. The imminent introduction of nuclear power stations, the plight of the elderly, the plight of other people in care, the rising cost of living, the service men representing our country without the proper equipment which is leading to them losing their lives, the lack of control we have against crime and violence, the number of young girls getting pregnant below the age of consent, the obsession thanks to the media force feeding of all things celebrity and cosmetic surgery............... there are loads of things that we could, nay SHOULD, be getting angry about, instead of worrying about other people in other places.

Their plight may be bad, but why is the welfare of a Tibetan deemed as more important and 'worthy' than the old person in care, who may well have been a part of the war effort, being abused as you read this in the town that you live in? Or the child being beaten because its parent lost money at the bookies?

I may not be spouting a trendy view - God forbid that I may spout something politically correct!! - but one that I think many people may well be thinking right now. But where are the people who have a mouthpiece - aside from this little corner of the web - and why aren't they shouting out loud about this?

Cue the abuse and intellectual reasonings.........................