Let's hear more of the bagpipes (From Oxford Mail)

Let's hear more of the bagpipes

2:22pm Wednesday 9th January 2008

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The hostile attacks on buskers, particularly bagpipe players (Oxford Mail, January 3), is mean-spirited and discordant.

Why on earth do the business people in Cornmarket Street, Oxford, find great music so unpleasant?

It is nonsense to assert that such splendidly virile music prevents concentration.

As a self-employed mason engraving memorials, I found mine enhanced by listening to a tape while I worked. It was spiritually uplifting.

Our materialistic society is obsessed with business. Rampant commercialism dominates lives.

Slick advertising means that people are often buying unnecessary goods.

They then spend long hours making extra money seldom enjoyed. Is there nothing beyond this ridiculous rat race?

Wordsworth is so relevant today. "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers. Little we see in Nature that is ours."

Everyday existence on the streets is often banal, with dreary routines.

The buskers' playing inspires, lifting us above the sordid scheme of things.

A great philosopher truly said: "Without music, life would be a mistake."

GRAHAM BUTLER Banbury Road Bicester

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