My mate Murdo is rightfully very proud of his young son.
He has been telling me how well he has been doing in primary two, and the prizes he is winning.
I was really chuffed that he’s doing so well at age six. I remember that it was at that age that I decided on my career ,and that I was never going to give up until I achieved it. So, I asked him: “Has wee Murdo decided what he wants to be when he grows up?”
He smiled and nodded: “Yes, he wants to be a binman.” A binman? To say I was amazed was an understatement. Unusual ambition, I thought. Big Murdo explained: “The wee man thinks that binmen only have to work every second Tuesday.”
Ambition is a wonderful driving force that can push us to really great things. It doesn’t matter how low down the ladder we are now; if we are ambitious, we can find the drive from somewhere to push ourselves up that ladder to be very high up.
Don’t listen to the doubters. There will always be some negative person trying to put you off. Try, try, and try again. Unfortunately, my own ambition to be an astronaut at age six didn’t quite get off the ground.
What is ambition? Many have tried to explain it, but I think Elvis got it bang on. “Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.”
Spice Up Your Life – and your letters
Also racing down that highway were the Spice Girls. Five young ladies, they had it back in the 1990s. Maybe one was not so focused. She was Michelle, and was replaced by my own favourite, Emma Bunton.
They worked so very hard to push themselves, rehearsing and practising for most of 1994, until someone important began to think they really had something. And what a sensation they were. They took the country by storm with Spice Up Your Life and the anthem for ambitious people everywhere, Wannabe, with the lyric: “So, tell me what you want”.
Posh, Scary, Baby, Ginger, and Sporty. They had it all. They had us all.
I remember so well my wee nephew, Ian, age five, turning all shy when his father suggested that he fancied the Spice Girls. He blushed and ran off behind the sofa. I felt my own cheeks warming, too, and I thought I should maybe join wee Ian, using the upholstery to hide our embarrassment.
Now, the Royal Mail – not the beleaguered Post Office, with a track record of treating its most loyal sub-postmasters dreadfully by prosecuting them – has decided the Spice Girls really, really are worth commemorating. They’re bringing out a new range of stamps, dropping the usual royal silhouette and, instead, imprinting a Spice Girl on each one.
Now, I’ll be able to kiss Baby Spice, lick the other side of her face and post a letter – all at the same time. Sorry, Your Majesty. That’s what I want, what I really, really want.
The Spice Girls’ ambition and their war cry of “girl power” was formidable. They didn’t take no for an answer when some songs bombed. They just picked themselves up, shook themselves down and started all over again. That’s a lyric right there.
Hey, Mel B. I see that you’ve been saying there will be big news about the five of you in the next few weeks. A new album? A big tour? Probably. In any case, I think I have the lyrics for your comeback song here.
The British honours system is broken
The former head of the Post Office also really, really wanted a CBE, so she shook herself down and tried to start all over again. She got the gong, but there may be troubles ahead. I can’t stop now.
We all know the British honours system is broken when it allows here today, gone tomorrow prime ministers to just hand awards to any dodgy mates with whatever badges can be bestowed on them.
Now we are reminded that the head of the Post Office was awarded a CBE many years after it became public knowledge that there were serious allegations that sub-postmasters had been wrongly convicted.
I don’t remember a single MP rising to object to the Queen decorating the ambitious lady. Who nominated her? Oh, what’s the point? How often have we heard they’re all in it together?
The message is clear. Be honest, and don’t let others drag you down. Stay focused. Don’t let anyone put you off doing what you want to do.
For instance, everyone told Beethoven he had no future in music because he was deaf. Did he listen?
Iain Maciver is a former broadcaster and news reporter from the Outer Hebrides
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