For our Classic Movies Christmas Special, Endeavour and I discuss the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol and the legendary It’s A Wonderful Life.
As stated in the stream, I shall now be ‘‘endeavouring’’ to wish at least ten strangers a Merry Christmas as I take my annual internet detox. That said, I will be returning for my yearly stream with Millennial Woes for Millenniyule.
Looking back on 2024, I must admit that the great geopolitical, social, or economic calamity I fretted over never arrived. It was the year of Zero Seats and the end (for now) of the Tories, Israeli rampages across the Middle East, race riots in England, and the advent of the newly alienated demographic in the farmers. Trump was victorious, and populism appears to be triumphant in America, with Elon Musk now appearing to ascend to a sort of Classic Liberal George Soros. My Centrist Caesars essay from November 2022 seems to be largely vindicated.
The primary trend I see emerging as we leave 2024 is a cohesive block of influencers with massive platforms attempting to shut out or "Crowd out" those of us who do not fit neatly into a well-oiled and controlled populist machine. A consolidation of the new narrative centre, which, while being an improvement on the lunacy of the ‘‘Woke’’ will be fortifying to their right, and they have the resources to do so. Still, the threat of censorship is not what it once was, and as these new great titans battle it out in the mainstream, I expect spaces such as this corner of the internet to be left in relative peace. It’d also be a bonus if the Russia/Ukraine war came to an end, one way or another so that we stop being threatened with nuclear war every week.
That said, I’d like to wish everyone who frequents my Substack a Merry Christmas, especially the wonderful paying subscribers who make it all possible.
Merry Christmas, and the best of health to you all.
I just had a marathon Christmas film session with my two Zoomer sons; we started with the Muppets Christmas Carol then Why the Grinch Stole Christmas followed by Scrooged and topped off with It's a Wonderful Life. We lost the younger son after the Grinch but it was my eldest's reaction to It's a Wonderful Life that warmed my cockles. He was genuinely shocked at the world we're given a window into and what a functioning, high trust society actually looks like. I'm hoping that's the genesis of a new family Christmas tradition.
Merry Christmas Morgoth and fellow subscribers.
My favourite of 2024 was the nomenclature “Bomalians” entering our vernacular.
Have a good one . All the best.