Manx Bard Bradley Chambers returns for his second monthly column, featuring his poem ‘The Marketing Man’.

It seems to me that some people are so desperate to believe in something, they’ll believe in almost anything.

It’s hard to know what to believe. What’s good seems bad. What is right seems wrong. Things that seemed simple now seem complicated and it’s not easy to see the way ahead.

Yeats’ famous poem has the line, ‘Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold’. Everything that we hold dear, seems uncertain somehow.

There are some very strange and dangerous people in positions of power. I should probably point out that I am thinking globally - we aren’t so badly served here in this island.

I don’t envy politicians. They are in an unwinnable position. We should be kinder to them and to civil servants too. I truly believe that. They aren’t easy positions to have.

Maybe you don’t agree, but I can only tell you what I know. Good governance and trying to effect positive change are not easy things to achieve and the obstacles are immense. It’s easy to criticise. Being cruel is simple. You have to be tough to be kind.

Kindness seems to be in short supply though. Everything always seems to be someone else’s fault. It’s easy to blame and it’s easy to kick out, usually downwards.

It’s a theme, don’t you think? Doing the easy thing all the time. All I see in the news is blame. The outsider is always to blame – after all, that’s the easy answer.

The information we consume is always constructed for a purpose, and that can be a good purpose or a less good one.

How much do we question the message and the messenger? I think that we should ask many more questions and never stop asking them. That is how we learn and how we grow. If we stop doing that, we are in real danger. Thing’s fall apart. At least they do if we aren’t careful.

Marketing and communications are not bad in themselves but the Marketing Man in my poem is not on your side. He has an agenda. Don’t trust him.

The Marketing Man

He’s a marketing man, he knows,

of Comms and PR

of human relations

in organisations

speaking truth unto nations

on radio stations.

He has,

entirely transferable skills.

He employs,

unconventional razzmatazz

the right line to throw in

to get under your skin

looking for a quick win

he could sell a pin

to a porcupine.

He knows of product and price

of sugar and spice

promoting his brand

with sleight of hand.

He’s incredibly tanned,

influencing demand

more than you can afford.

He’s quality assured.

He is a man of merchandise

he throws in

with assured certainty,

an obligation-free,

money-back

guarantee

with no questions asked.