Don Your Way column: Are 'snowflakes' offended by everything in Doncaster these days?

A few years back, an amusing tome called Is It Just Me, Or Is Everything S***? hit the UK best-seller charts.
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It was a humorous A-Z collection of short, snappy paragraphs poking fun at the aspects of modern life we all love to hate.

Looking at its entry on Amazon to refresh my memory, it described itself as 'the encyclopaedia of modern life' and among the things it got its claws into were topics such as Tony Blair, chick lit, Keane, IKEA, loyalty cards, bling and Richard Curtis (which dates it somewhat).

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It made me realise how my dog-eared copy has sat there for 15 years and more importantly, we're surely in need of an update?

Has the modern world turned us into a generation of snowflakes, Darren Burke asks.Has the modern world turned us into a generation of snowflakes, Darren Burke asks.
Has the modern world turned us into a generation of snowflakes, Darren Burke asks.
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There's plenty to grumble about in this day and age - and some of it very much Doncaster specific too.

I could come up with several volumes on the things that irk me about everyday life, but limitations of space and time prevent me from doing that, but hey, we'll have a quick run through some of the worst offenders.

Here, in no particular order, are just a few of the gripes about 2010s living that get my goat.

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People who faff at cash machines, self-service checkouts (unexpected item in the bagging area!), inspirational quotes on Facebook, people who spell the St Leger 'Ledger,' autorcorrect on your phone (no-one has ever wanted to use the word ducking), Netflix recommendations, people not believing you've never seen Game of Thrones, Brexit (sneaked that one in), reality TV contestants on mainstream shows that you don't even know and anything and everything being bad for you/the environment.

That's not to say I don't take some of these matters seriously. Of course I do. But at the same time, I can have a laugh and/or grumble about them too.

It's doubtful in this day and age that the 'Is It Just Me..." book would make it to print.

There'd be an outcry over free speech, offending 'snowflakes' and all the rest. In short, someone, somewhere would be offended by one of the tongue in cheek entries and the entire book would have to be pulped.

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It's true. Many people these days too seem overly sensitive to the world around us.

You only have to look at Facebook or Twitter and the polarising views on the dreaded B word which has dominated everyone's lives for the last three years.

Believe it or not, its only seven years since the nation was united and swelling with pride over the London Olympics when it seemed we could conquer the world.

A few short years down the line and everyone's so deeply divided and entrenched and at each other's throats that the chances of a moment like that ever happening again any time soon seem the stuff of magic fairies.

So Is Everything Still S*** in 2019?

Sadly, it seems so.