On Saturday our friend Richard Headicar made an impassioned plea on behalf of the arts and in particular cuts by the BBC which includes threats to the future of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. "It's an absolute disgrace," he told me.
The dumbing down of the arts is something that also concerns me considerably. The arts are the first thing that suffer in a recession or when things aren't going how, shall we say, quite the way the Government wants them to go. Although of course the Government would be the first to deny that they are attacking the arts. They will tell you how many millions they are ploughing into the arts. That's basically their answer to any criticism they face whether it be in the arts' field or any other field.
Those of us interested in art, music, etc of course know different which takes me onto local radio and television which no longer stands for localism.
OK I've been on this crusade before but this time I'll use the words of my old journalist mate Keith Skipper in his regular column in the Eastern Daily Press Newspaper.
Skip was talking about Radio Norfolk. Here are some of his words.
He refers to the BBC's "shameful desecration of the local radio network."
He also refers to the BBC's "preening, patronising and prevaricating," which tends to smother what he deemed to be a "fundamental approval to authentic local values."
Whilst the BBC is going regional rather than local, there are still plenty of us trying to keep journalism local.
My e magazine is very local and two miles up the road we have the Wymondham Magazine. Throughout Norfolk there are local publications, parish magazines, talking newspapers and much more, all working hard to keep localism local.
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It is a stealthy creature stealing up on us and catching us unawares.
I talk of Christmas and now that it's December I can mention the word.
Very shortly I will be in panic mode as time marches on and realise cards haven't been sent or delivered, presents haven't been purchased, food hasn't been bought and much more. By Christmas Eve I am usually a walking mess of indecision.
We have made a definite decision this year to cut down the number of cards we send. Every year we just take the address book and send to the same people, year after year after year. People we have otherwise no contact with through the year.
So we are intending to slim down.
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Yesterday I popped along to Park Farm Hotel for a craft fair, not being able to make that at the primary school on Saturday.
The heavy rain and cold were not conducive to sales of any kind and I felt sorry for the stalls outside in small tents but which weren't attracting a great deal of attention for obvious reasons.
I now feel I'm craft faired out if there is such an expression. Later in the day I went to a very successful Christingle service at the Methodist Church. There were over 100 people there, many of them youngsters. I took my camera but it's very difficult to take photos with so many people around. I was much more successful and useful in putting the tables away at the end.