This is the age of the slogan, the soundbite, the snappy phrase in place of considered argument. Thought is dying; reason’s gone critical. In bookshops and magazine racks we’re told only what we want to hear: we’re told it in neat, bullet-pointed affirmations of our own worth.

No more. This is the fightback. The resuscitation. This is the slogan as explainer of the world. One a day for a year. Three hundred and sixty five phrases, soundbites and bullet points with which to make sense of the way things are now and point to how things could be tomorrow. Read them and weep.


Tuesday

12. The devil has all the best tunes

Well before Elvis swivelled his hips and sparked a thousand vinyl bonfires, the devil was laying claim to the most exciting, thrilling, immediate music. How far back do you want to go? Robert Johnson selling his soul at the crossroads in the 1920s in exchange for fame as the greatest blues guitarist of his day? How about Mozart? The 18th century composer was whispered to have dark inspirations – and in Don Giovanni created a terrifying masterpiece too visceral for divine origins. A few thousand years before him, classical images of the Greek God Pan – he of the panpipes – later morphed into what we now recognise as Satan. The devil really does have the best tunes – and, it would seem, has done for at least 2,500 years. Good Christian men and women should accordingly eschew all such pleasures, just in case. A life without music may be grey and flat, emotionless and pallid and without warmth or humanity... but it’s necessary if you want to stay pure. Because life, after all, is not about pleasure, is it?
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