Friday 21 January 2022

The Junior Bakeoff and a cause for Hope. by Anne Booth

 I am going to a wedding tomorrow and  have to get up at 4.30 am to get there, and have just remembered, before bed, that I have this blog post to write, so I  will just make a few points.


At the moment, the way that this government is behaving is not edifying, to say the least. Prime Minister's Questions is an embarrassment with al the loud jeering and laughter and bad manners,  it is so hard to trust what is being said by those in charge,  or some influential people in the media, and easy to feel despairing at the amount of misinformation there is about. We have a country where too many of the children we write for are living in poverty, living in unsuitable homes, are hungry. Many go to state schools where the most basic mitigations for health still have not been put in place, so too many classrooms still don't have windows that can open, or air monitoring. Too many children are catching Covid and dealing with Long Covid.



HOWEVER


in the tradition of deliberately looking for good things, I would like to encourage you to watch Junior Bakeoff on Channel 4. You can watch it on Catchup. I think all politicians should be made to watch it. I think everyone in the whole country should be made to watch it. 


It has all the lovely cakes and bakes there are on Bakeoff , but all the contestants are children, and they are just gorgeous. They are all incredibly lovable, talented, hard working, creative, kind and funny, and  so optimistic. The judges are expert, and encouraging, and truthful but not brutal, and Harry Hill, the presenter, makes the children and the judges laugh and is just so warm and funny. The children are competing, but they never sabotage or run each other down - there are no dirty tricks, no booing and jeering. They just get on with their tasks, they practice and practice and try to improve, and they encourage each other. They frequently lend each other a hand.  They are happy when they win, and they do not gloat.  They are a delight.


It gives me Hope that these kind, hard working, talented children are in the world. Nobody is demanding to win as a birthright, everybody is trying their best. They are disarmingly honest.


So let us not despair. The younger generation is full of goodness. And even our generation has wonderful people in it. Let us amplify the good and keep our masks on against the bad, and hope that the government learns from the Junior Bakeoff contestants and their work ethic, talent, morals and values. And as adults, let's not let our young people down, and do all we can to make sure the government doesn't.


And I must go to bed, as I have a long journey to go on, but for a very happy event. 





2 comments:

Andrew Preston said...

Well, they do edit out the bits where little Gertie has to be restrained from shoving Tommy's head into the oven alongside the buns.

Reminded me of an experience elsewhere....

"Gavin and Stacey on BBC3 this evening. Only watching as other channels a bit quiet. Half way in I realised it was an episode I did some work on .. The Pub Quiz scene.
February 2007. A pub in Barry. Two of the other extras actually owned the place. The couple who managed the pub for them had suddenly upped and done a runner, so renting it out to the film company was handy extra money. Not the best day for actor James Corden. Seemed rather surly all afternoon. A slight disagreement between him and the director about how to do a particular scene. Then Matthew Horne accidently spilt some beer on him. Big sulks.... ".

It does seem to be chaos up in that there Westminster.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.