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As he passed through the fair at Athens , casting his eyes over the variety of shops and stalls , Socrates (1) was heard to exclaim ,
“So many things are here that I do not want.” What would he have made of the ever-expanding plethora of goods and services on offer
in the modern bazaar ? They bear witness to the discovery by Business that no item or activity is superfluous to requirements and many people out
there can be persuaded that they must have them. Televisions , washing machines , refrigerators , electric mixers and toasters became available
to our parents , via hire-purchase agreements , for the first time sixty years ago. It was a time when economists optimistically predicted a future
in which people would be faced with the problem of how to occupy the increased leisure time which science and compound interest would have won for
them - perhaps in learning to live wisely. What came to pass instead was the Leisure Industry , in which there was no room to acquire wisdom unless
it was paid for. Among the people eager to exploit the expanding consumer society , market research became vital. Attitude measurement , opinion
sampling and consumer profiling were the keys to commercial success. Hence the ubiquitous ‘feedback’ throughout the Service World of a free-market
future. So too did the hire-purchase concept transmute into those 12-month (or longer) contracts demanded by internet providers and the suppliers
of all mobile phone networks , as by those catering to devotees of the ‘active lifestyle’ in Fitness and Leisure Centres.
Ah yes , that Energise Leisure Centre , with its implicit assumption that the unexercised life is not worth living. Next time you arrive for your
weekly swim , pause outside the room full of people on stationary bicyles and rowing machines , expensive bottles of water by their sides , as they sweat
and strain with the bulging eyes of galley slaves. Remark next doors’ equally stressed expressions , where weights are lifted with gruntings suggestive of
interrogation by the Gestapo. Here in the temple of Fitness Provision , bodies come to be flattered and second-guessed in the hope that self-love will
continue to thrive. Female devotees emerge en route to the Range-Rover in pastel-coloured leisurewear (formerly known as tracksuits) , already posting
their visit on Facebook. “Just worked out at The Elysium. Feeling great , guys.” Social media have rendered reticence obsolete. For every modern Descartes ,
they post therefore they are. Male or female , rich or poor – they're all dupes of a corporate work-ethic seeping into the contemporary concept of leisure
as an opportunity for self-development.
Monday , Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday , Friday , the days roll on as the months go sliding by. Rising , commuting , pointing , clicking , toadying ,
copying , lunching , pasting , downloading , upgrading , an hour’s exercise in The Elysium , home for some microwaving and then sleeping …. to which we can
add , Saturdays to Waitrose or Aldi as the case may be , loading up a trolley with next week’s provender. Then comes Sunday , no longer the day of rest. It’s
the Leisure centre for Mr. and Mrs. Prudent (“Just an apple juice for me”) or the back-street gym for Sharon and Clive , whose following hours will be spent
in the Chained Bull pub around the corner. In my youth , the essence of typical English hobbies was how little they cost - stamp-collecting , pottering about
in your garden , pigeon-fancying , train-spotting , crossword puzzles. For the brisker world of Business-and-nothing-but-Business , this could never do. Who
can now deny the automatic cash dispenser , where we wait in line before inserting our debit card for the wherewithal to finance further consumption of our
once-free time ? You’ve got to do something with it. Barbarians , who have been at the gates since the first fortified settlement appeared , are now the R
;anti–social elements” smashing bottles and emptying litter bins on the streets outside Gastropubs full of responsible citizens watching Rugby
Cup games on Big Sky T.V. screens , pints of cask ale slopping over their fists as they scream at the flickering images of thick–set men in shorts
behaving like bulldozers.
Wig.
(1) Socrates the 5th century B.C. Greek philosopher , not to be
confused with the chain-smoking Brazilian captain of the team that won the World Cup in 1982.
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