21/10/2015

From comedian & Writer Paul Kerensa:

It’s fair to say I’m a Back To The Future fan. I’ve done Edinburgh Fringe comedy shows about the movie, and if you can’t tell from the outfit, I’m doing one tonight. Because after three decades, it’s finally here: the day the future becomes the present. In 1985, Marty, Doc and Jennifer flew in their Delorean to October 21st 2015, and today they’ve landed.

So Great Scot, I’m in sci-fi heaven today – pondering where are those things the film promised us. I’ve got my hoverboard (although it doesn’t hover), we don’t have flying cars, but we do have similar things called planes, and we’re not so technically advanced yet to have 4 fax machines in each house, so the film got that wrong. Then there are things they failed to predict: hand-dryers you dip your hands in; Smartphones that heat your home...... Daniel O’Donnell ousted from a Saturday night competitive dance-off... No one could have predicted these key historical landmarks.

But then no one could have predicted much of our current state. Britain today could not have been foreseen: people of almost every nation and faith live here, and it’s changing constantly. This year’s Faith in the World Week on Radio 2 is all about that. A few days ago before a stand-up gig I found myself in Liverpool’s Bold Street, one of our most multicultural places, with more cuisines than countries I could name. The vibe was wonderful, the tastebuds spoilt for choice. It’s a result of Britain, like Back To The Future’s town Hill Valley, being “a nice place to live” – and whether migration is for political, economic or military reasons, I believe the best we can do is be human, be open, and maybe try to love our new neighbours as ourselves, however hard that may be.

Spanning the faiths, we can consider words from Gandhi, who said, “The future depends on what you do today,” and Mother Teresa: “Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come, we only have today. Let us begin.” But I’ll leave the last word to Back To The Future’s Doc, “Your future hasn’t been written yet, so make it a good one, all of you.”