Reading Test 03

|Part 1|

The politics of pessimism

Newspaper headlines and TV or radio news bulletins would have us believe erroneously that a new age has come upon us, the Age of Cassandra. People are being assailed not just with contemporary doom, or past gloom, but with prophecies of disasters about to befall. The dawn of the new millennium has now passed; the earth is still intact, and the fin de siècle Jeremiahs have now gone off to configure a new date for the apocalypse.

It can, I believe, be said with some certainty that the doom-mongers will never run out of business. Human nature has an inclination for pessimism and anxiety, with each age hav­ing its demagogues, foretelling doom or dragging it in their wake. But what makes the modern age so different is that the catastrophes are more “in your face”, Their assault on our senses is relentless. Whether it be sub-conscious or not, this is a situation not lost on politicians. They play upon people’s propensity for unease, turning it into a very effective political tool.

Deluding the general public
All too often, when politicians want to change the status quo, they take advantage of peo­ple’s fears of the unknown and their uncertainties about the future. For example, details about a new policy may be leaked to the press. Of course, the worst case scenario is pre­sented in all its depressing detail. When the general public reacts in horror, the government appears to cave in. And then accepting some of the suggestions from their critics, ministers water down their proposals. This allows the government to get what It wants, while at the same time fooling the public into believing that they have got one over on the government. Or even that they have some say in the making of policy.

There are several principles at play here. And both are rather simple: unsettle people and then play on their fears; and second, people must be given an opportunity to make a con­tribution, however insignificant, in a given situation; otherwise, they become dissatisfied, not fearful or anxious.

A similar ruse, at a local level, will further illustrate how easily people’s base fears are ex­ploited. A common practice is to give people a number of options, say in a housing devel­opment, ranging from no change to radical transformation of an area. The aim is to persuade people to agree significant modifications, which may involve disruption to their lives, and possibly extra expenditure. The individuals, fearful of the worst possible outcome, plump for the middle course. And this, incidentally, is invariably the option favoured by the authorities. Everything is achieved under the guise of market research, but it is obviously a blatant exercise in the manipulation of people’s fears.

Fear and survival

Fear and anxieties about the future affect us still. People are wracked with self-doubt and low self-esteem. In the struggle to exist and advance in life, a seemingly endless string, of obstacles is encountered, so many, in fact, that any accomplishment seems surprising. liven when people do succeed they are still nagged by uncertainty.

Not surprisingly, feelings like doubt, fear, anxiety and pessimism are usually associated with failure. Yet, if properly harnessed, they are the driving force behind success, the very engines of genius.

if things turn out well for a long time, there is a further anxiety: that of constantly waiting for something to go wrong. People then find themselves propitiating the gods: not walking on lines on the pavements, performing rituals before public performances, wearing particu­lar clothes and colours so that they can blame the ritual not themselves when things go wrong,

But surely the real terror cornea when success continues uninterrupted for such a long period of time that we forget what failure is like!

We crave for and are fed a daily diet of anxiety, Horror films and disaster movies have an increasing appeal. Nostradamus pops his head up now and again. And other would-be prophets make a brief appearance, predicting the demise of human kind. Perhaps, this is all just a vestige of the hardships of early man – our attempt to recreate the struggles of a past age, as it’s becomes more and more comfortable.

Mankind cannot live by contentment alone. And so, a world awash with anxieties and pessimism has been created. Being optimistic is you struggle. Hut survival dictates that mankind remain ever sanguine.

|Part 2|

Caveat Scriptor

Let the would-be writer beware! Anyone foolhardy enough to embark on a career as a writer—whether it be an academic treatise, a novel, or even an article – should first read this!

People think that writing as a profession is glamorous; that it is just about sitting down and churning out words on a page, or more likely these days on a computer screen. If only it were! So what exactly does writing a book entail? Being a writer is about managing a galaxy of contradictory feelings: elation, despair, hope, frustration, satisfaction and depression—and not all separately! Of course, it also involves carrying out detailed research: first to establish whether there is a market for the planned publication, and second what should be the content of the book. Sometimes, however, instinct takes the place of market research and the contents are dictated not by plans and exhaustive research, but by experience and knowledge.

Once the publication has been embarked upon, there is a long period of turmoil as the text takes shape. A first draft is rarely the final text of the book. Nearly all books are the result of countless hours of altering and re-ordering chunks of text and deleting the superfluous bits. While some people might think that with new technology the checking and editing process is sped up, the experienced writer would hardly agree. Unfortunately, advanced technology now allows the writer the luxury of countless editings; a temptation many writers find hard to resist. So a passage, endlessly re-worked may end up nothing remotely like the original, and completely out of place when compared with the rest of the text.

After the trauma of self-editing and looking for howlers, it is time to show the text to other people, friends perhaps, for appraisal. At this stage, it is not wise to send it off to a literary agent or direct to publishers, as it may need further fine-tuning of which the author is unaware. Once an agent has been approached and has rejected a draft publication, it is difficult to go and ask for the re-vamped text to be considered again. It also helps, at this stage, to offer a synopsis of the book, if it is a novel, or an outline if it is a textbook. This acts as a guide for the author, and a general reference for friends and later for agents.

Although it is tempting to send the draft to every possible agent at one time, it is probably unwise. Some agents may reject the publication out of hand, but others may proffer some invaluable advice, for example about content or the direction to be taken. Information such as this may be of use in finally being given a contract by an agent or publisher.

The lucky few taken on by publishers or agents, then have their books subjected to a number of readers, whose job it is to vet a book: deciding whether it is worth publishing and whether the text as it stands is acceptable or not. After a book has finally been accepted by a publisher, one of the greatest difficulties for the writer lies in taking on board the publisher’s alterations to the text. Whilst the overall story and thrust of the book may be acceptable, it will probably have to conform to an in-house style, as regards language, spelling and punctuation. More seriously, the integrity of the text may be challenged, and this may require radical re-drafting which is usually unpalatable to the author. A book’s creation period is complex and unnerving, but the publisher’s reworkings and text amputations can also be a tortuous process.

For many writers, the most painful period comes when the text has been accepted, and the writer is waiting for it to be put together for the printer. By this stage, it is not uncommon for the writer to be thoroughly sick of the text.

Abandon writing? Nonsense. Once smitten, it is not easy to escape the compulsion to create and write, despite the roller-coaster ride of contradictory emotions.

|Part 3|

Leisure time

A. A raft of forecasts has been made in the recent decade, predicting the decline in the number of working hours coupled with a consequent increase in leisure time. It was estimated that the leisure revolution would take place by the turn of the last cent my with hours devoted to work railing to 25-30 per week, This reduction hits failed to materialise, but the revolu­tion has, nonetheless, arrived.

B. Over the past 30 to 41 years, spending on leisure has witnessed a strong increase, Accord­ing to the annual family expenditure survey published in 1935 by the Office for National Statistics, the average household in the United Kingdom spent more on leisure than food, housing and transport for the very first time, and the trend is also set to continue up­wards well into the present century.

C. The survey, based on a sample of 6,500 households showed, that the days are long gone when the average family struggled to buy basic foods. As recently as 1969, family spending on food was approximately one third compared to 17% now. Twelve years later, there was a noticeable shift towards leisure with the percentage of household spending on leisure increasing to 9%, and that on food declining to 26%.

D. The average household income in the UK in 1999 was £460 per week before tax, and average spending was £352.20. Of the latter sum, £59.70 was spent on leisure and £58.90 on food. On holidays alone, family expenditure was 6%, while in 1969 the proportion spent on holidays was just 2%. And whereas the richest 10% lashed out 20% of their income in 1999 on leisure, the poorest spent 12%.

E. Among the professional and managerial classes, working hours have increased and, overall in the economy, record numbers of people are in employment. As people work more, the appetite for leisure activities has grown to compensate for the greater stress in life. The past 5 years alone have seen the leisure business expand by 25% with a change in emphasis to short domestic weekend breaks and long-haul short breaks to exotic destinations in place of long holidays. In the future, it is expected that people will jump from one leisure activity to another in complexes catering for everyone’s needs with gyms, cinemas, cafes, restaurants, bars and internet facilities all under one roof. The leisure complexes of today will expand to house all the leisure facilities required for the leisure age.

F. Other factors fueling demand for leisure activities are rising prosperity, increasing longevity and a more active elderly population. Hence, at the forefront of leisure spending are not just young or professional classes. The 1999 family expenditure survey showed that the 64 to 75-year-old group spend a higher proportion of their income on leisure than any other age group. The strength of the “grey pound” now means that elderly people are able to command more respect and, thus, attention in the leisure market.

G. And the future? It is anticipated that, in the years to come, leisure spending will account for between a third to a half of all household spending. Whilst it is difficult to give exact figures, the leisure industry will certainly experience a long period of sustained growth. Working hours are not expected to decrease, partly because the 24-hour society will need to be serviced; and secondly, because more people will be needed to keep the service/leisure industries running.

H. In the coming decades, the pace of change will accelerate, generating greater wealth at a faster rate than ever before. Surveys show that this is already happening in many parts of Europe. The south-east of England, for example, is now supposedly the richest area in the EEC. The “leisure pound” is one of the driving forces behind this surge. But, sadly, it does not look as if we will have the long leisure hours that we had all been promised.