michaelgcasey cartoons made with words: Michael Casey News Editor

Michael Casey News Editor ©

Michael Casey

As you know I love my News, it forms a chattering cement that binds us, if I steal a line from The Butcher The Baker and The Undertaker. I used to watch the News with my dad when he came home from the Steel Works, The District Iron and Steel Brasshouse Lane Smethwick.

He’s curse the “bastards” as he had his dinner on the back of a broken down barn chair as he sat in his armchair. “Did they sweat?” he’d ask as vacuous people spoke on tv. 400 degrees was what dad was used to, as he verbally lashed them and gave them the 3rd degree, as pretty people sung like the 3 Degrees. Dad was very clever, his teacher even said “one day Casey, you will hang”, but in 1930s Ireland you went to work at 14, and dad became a Blacksmith.

Though dad was so proud of his own 3 Degrees, Oxford, Cambridge and Birmingham, those were the Universities the kids went to, so those vacuous people on tv could kiss his arse. Yes, I’m the “failure” with 1,535,000 Words over 18 books and 30 years of writing after my University 20 years of BBC Radio 4 listening. But I know I was loved, in fact I was the “pet” out of the 6 children. So News and dad went together, and yes I’ll direct you to read Padre Pio and Me again, it’s on the site somewhere.

Which brings me to today’s talk, Michael Casey News Editor, I follow the news, and when tinnitus keeps me away, often, I go on my phone and read the lastest Trump saga. How can somebody so corrupting have become President. He is as guilty as Hell on many fronts, but the corruption of power has overtaken the GOP, this is not me speaking as a liberal, it’s just so tragically true. Having to pay back 2million stolen from a Vets Charity, a judge said this not me. Leaking military plans before the Iran hit, so some made money in military stocks. These are just 2 items, I won’t go one, just hit Trump on your phone, and read 5 items on the news from various news outlets. It is all so sad and tragic, the Presidency has become a mafia like ponsi scheme, this is how the world views Trumpland. One last item before I move on, we read a blackmail item, 25% on your cars Europe if you don’t back me. A bully is a bully is a bully, whereas USA used to be a beacon of Hope, now its a dime store, all because nobody has the balls to stand up and remove him.

History is another big thing of mine and as kid I stayed up all night when Nixon was ousted, so I was so tired when I went to school. Now I’m really moving on. Would I have Harry and Megan in the news, I’d try and avoid it. In the DM online there is acres of stuff about them, and nonentities, such as a 1/2 sister all try and make money out of their connections. This is really sad and tragic. It was obvious Megan would not stay, just as now that Harry has had the lid lifted via his wife, he looks back in horror. Just walk behind your mum’s coffin in the street. This was a mistake then, no matter what great tv it made then. I just hope he can find peace for himself and his new family, though the omens …

Now what would I put in a radio news report, and radio is better than tv, the pictures do get in the way of the facts. Also if you watch/listen to the same news item, the radio version always has more power. Try it for yourselves and you’ll agree with me. I’d put a music item in, as music is the greatest thing ever, I don’t need to watch Stuart Copeland’s new show on the BBC to know this. So as news editor I’d have a 2 min slot for a music item, more if I were allowed. A piece of music is like a touch, a kiss, a pat of comfort on the back, or even full on sex. But you’d need more than 2 mins on the radio for it. Yes you are ahead of me, a news report with a quickie in the middle, that would be mind blowing.

Speaking of sport, as I was listening to the radio in bed today, as I caught up with my Tinnitus lack of sleep there was a wonderful Cricket report, I’m not a cricket man. Cricket is confusing, when you are out you go in, when you are in you go out. And everybody is playing with their balls which they rub so much the colour comes off the ball and stains their whites red. Anyway ask an American to explain it to you, he’ll cry. So this reporter, he must have been BBC the way he explained the match was like listening to poetry, whoever he is I hope he never has a sticky whicket, and if he does I hope it gets better and does not leave a red stain on his whites. So I’d have eloquent reporters poetically describe whatever sport there was. A thing to note though, on TV a reporter must know when not to speak and let the pictures speak for themselves. Bad sports reporting is terrible, its totally inarticulate, like the unedited version of Trump that we never see. An Australian reporter was interviewed and said she was horrified by Trump, because he was almost in his dotage, repeating himself, you only get the edited version on Fox.

There is always a fun item, to lift people out of the dumps now that all the Christmas alcohol has been finished. Yes I’d insert a short piece of my own, if you are guest editor on BBC Radio 4’s Today it’s too good an opportunity to miss. So I’d read out my LinkedIn Profile piece, perfect for those going Job Hunting this New Year, and yes you an all find it on my sites.

There is also a tradition of Thought for Today, a semi religious piece, so again I’d write or free running speak my own opinion. So here’s my Faith Piece. God Loves ALL of US, that’s the fat silver haired writer in shades from Birmingham England, or anybody just as smelly, just as fragrant, just as fat, just as thin, just as clever, just as ignorant. God will have anybody, you don’t have to be worthy, he’ll go out looking for the good the bad and the ugly. He wants everybody, he doesn’t care what you eat or how you eat it or when you eat it. Or even what day of the week you pray. He is your Father, your sister, your brother, your mother. Curse or Pray often, just keep on talking to him. And if you can’t pray he’ll be the shadow on the wall, he’ll seep though the shadows, he’ll be that grain on sand that sticks to your feet. He’ll be there to greet you at the end of the road, for he shares your pain, your love. He just wants all the pieces of the jigsaw to return to him, for without all of the pieces he is incomplete, for in the end Love is Everything, every single piece of a heart, and when the end comes all of us are with all of him. United in Love.

Well I hope that’s good enough for all of you believers of every sort, the XYZ of Faith, Faith is a liquid so it finds its own level, and when joined there is only one God. So I think I’ll finish for now. This has been Michael Casey News Editor, if I can have a New Year’s wish. Then Trump goes, Pence takes over with Mitt Romney as VP. Then Pence is forced to resign too, and so Romney gets to be President. Though that would be out of this world, which reminds me Romney looks like Captain Pike in Star Trek Discovery, so switch off this radio and watch Star Trek, which is where I started 50 years ago.