Throw in a nasty word, or dump a cat in a bin

The art of . . . BEING CRUEL

IT would be nice to think there could one day exist a world without cruelty. It’s just so unnecessary. To purposely hurt or upset other people is to display human nature in its lowest form.

If you say or do cruel things, you’re not a nice person. It’s wrong to take pleasure in someone else’s distress. Unless, of course, it’s a traffic warden who’s getting attacked by a poodle.

Children can be particularly cruel. There was some shocking bullying that went on in my school days.

People picked on the chubby kid, the fat kid, the freckly kids and the one with glasses. I look back now and think I was unfortunate to end up being all four.

In adulthood, too, I’ve been subjected to cruel jibes. But I suppose I knew what she was like when I married her and you have to take the rough with the smooth don’t you?

I remember when I set off trying to get a job in radio, my broad Oldham accent proved to be a stumbling block.

I rang up one station for feedback after failing in yet another job application. “Number one,” said the station boss, “I don’t know how you expect to work in radio with a voice like that.” He said, “Number two…” I said, “One will do thanks. I’m happy with one.”

Sometimes parents can be cruel, taking advantage of the sweet innocence of their offspring and sometimes it’s hard to resist.

A woman at work told me she sent her kids to bed on Christmas Eve and told them if they got up and saw Father Christmas then he’d take all their presents back!

Then there are those dads who tell their kids that the ice cream van is playing music because it’s run out of ice cream. Usually I then say, “Maybe next time kids, maybe next time.”

But while cruelty to people is frowned upon, in this country it’s cruelty to animals which really gets us in a frenzy.

The uproar recently when a woman dropped a cat in the bin is testament to that. People were so outraged that many were intent on inflicting some cruelty on the woman in question.

I actually saw something along those lines myself recently. I looked out of my window and saw three lads playing football with a hedgehog.

What is the world coming to? I was about to call the RSPCA when I realised that the hedgehog was two-nil up.