The One and Only Good Thing to Come Out of the Eighties
It is that unfathomable brilliance of the human spirit which manages to surface regardless of the scale of calamity that surrounds it, which ensures that even in the darkest days it will find some brilliant light of hope.
In this way did Live Aid come to be.
Possibly the most universally emotional moment of the Twentieth Century, when for the first time, mistrusting the power of the politicians, people took it upon themselves to reorder their priorities.
What divine grace, what magical power, gripped Sir Bob Geldof in those halcyon days, when he stood up and called to his side the finest men and women in the land to produce that anthem of compassion, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" This was the moment when good Christian values and care in the community became one and the same thing.
They might not have known it, but those pop stars were doing the work of God.
As our leaders were burying themselves in a slime ball of depraved political initiatives, which tossed millions onto the dole and caused more young lads to commit suicide than at any other time, the common man came to the rescue.
Oh, if such magnificence were available to us today.
If our cultural heroes now could be so brave.
What wouldn't I give to see Simon Cowell bring the X-Factor final to a juddering halt by jumping on the stage, grabbing the mike, looking straight into camera and showing how much he cared.
"Put your hands in your pockets and send us your money now!!" Bob barked at the camera, and we all did.
Oh praise, Sir Bob, you were one of a kind.
The sight of a disheveled, sleepless Geldof fighting for the starving African babies on prime time TV, followed by the trance like procession of the true pop heroes of the day, real musicians who did it for love, for the joy, for the pure untramelling of talent, singing tearfully to the largest live TV audience ever known, is a sight that I will take with me to the grave.
This it was, this fine display of people power, which unleashed the liberating force, which shattered the shackles of Mandela, which tore down the Berlin Wall, which thawed the Cold War.
For a moment, I really think they feared us, those ivory towered money men.
For once, they stood up and listened.
Will we ever see such courage again? Bob is old and grey now, but he had his moment of glory.
And that is all it takes.
One moment of splendour to negate many lifetimes of skulduggery.
The Eighties were worth it, if only for that.
In this way did Live Aid come to be.
Possibly the most universally emotional moment of the Twentieth Century, when for the first time, mistrusting the power of the politicians, people took it upon themselves to reorder their priorities.
What divine grace, what magical power, gripped Sir Bob Geldof in those halcyon days, when he stood up and called to his side the finest men and women in the land to produce that anthem of compassion, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" This was the moment when good Christian values and care in the community became one and the same thing.
They might not have known it, but those pop stars were doing the work of God.
As our leaders were burying themselves in a slime ball of depraved political initiatives, which tossed millions onto the dole and caused more young lads to commit suicide than at any other time, the common man came to the rescue.
Oh, if such magnificence were available to us today.
If our cultural heroes now could be so brave.
What wouldn't I give to see Simon Cowell bring the X-Factor final to a juddering halt by jumping on the stage, grabbing the mike, looking straight into camera and showing how much he cared.
"Put your hands in your pockets and send us your money now!!" Bob barked at the camera, and we all did.
Oh praise, Sir Bob, you were one of a kind.
The sight of a disheveled, sleepless Geldof fighting for the starving African babies on prime time TV, followed by the trance like procession of the true pop heroes of the day, real musicians who did it for love, for the joy, for the pure untramelling of talent, singing tearfully to the largest live TV audience ever known, is a sight that I will take with me to the grave.
This it was, this fine display of people power, which unleashed the liberating force, which shattered the shackles of Mandela, which tore down the Berlin Wall, which thawed the Cold War.
For a moment, I really think they feared us, those ivory towered money men.
For once, they stood up and listened.
Will we ever see such courage again? Bob is old and grey now, but he had his moment of glory.
And that is all it takes.
One moment of splendour to negate many lifetimes of skulduggery.
The Eighties were worth it, if only for that.
