Category: General

>Happy New year, yes yes I know bit late eh? Why new year was two weeks ago. But hey me being me Im late as per usual, & anyhoo as I’ve been told. Better late than never.
So finally got to see a live recording of Radio 4’s `The News Quiz’ last night. Was bloody berilliant. The panel was made up of Susan Calman (very funny lady from Scotland), Sue perkins (very funny lady from North London), Jeremy Hardy (v. funny geezer,who was on form as ever), Henning Wehn (funny german comedian, who learnt english at the Dick Van dyke Scool of cockney english as a 2nd language, you gotta hear that accent 🙂 )& in the chair brilliant as always Sandi Toksvig. Though the tickets are free for this gig.
Gotta tell ya the entertainment is excellent. The broadcast program is approx 30 mins, but the recordings meant we the audience got a great two hours worth of giggles. And yes there is seriously a need for editing, somehow the language of merchant seamen doesnt seem appropriate for Radio Four. 🙂

Now if only I can get tickets for Just a minute, which reminds me, How old is Nicholas parsons? I swear the dude hasnt changed in over 30 yrs.

>Was watching the BBC reporting t’other day on the student protests, wasnt very good really, whilst showing live pictures of police & students in whitehall with a bit of pushing & shoving, the BBC comentator Ben Brown described it as a “running battle”, talk about over hyping it up. Now im not saying that the situation didnt kick off at all, on occassions it did. But pls BBC in these situations please send someone in future who wont get over excited when doing a live second by second account & who will report the facts. I found it interesting how all the reporting concentrated on aggresion as well, considering that most, yes ladies & gentlemen, the higher pecentage of the demonstration was in fact peacefull. it was shamefull that the mainstream media, also had a problem reporting on the aggressiveness of the boys in blue towards demonstrators.
No were no accounts it seems regarding the two incidents whereby disabled journo Jody McIntyre was pulled from his wheelchair by London’s finest (you can see interview with Mcintyre here http://tinyurl.com/2wvr6qf).
There were quite a few incidents that day,the above being only one of them, that were not reported by mainstream media. Now there are many people who dont have access to online media, or dont know where to look for alternative news sources, in fact some I expect cant be bothered to look, hence they get heavily biased information about what is actually happening. The British public are mearly fed on a media diet of sensationalism, ie, attacks on the cenotaph, attacks on royalty, meanwhile the wholesale attack on the people of this country is brushed aside in the name of “austerity measures” & “public safety”. It was a sad day yet again for the way journalists report news events of public interest.

12 year old terrorists in England?
Today it was reported that a 12 year old boy was visited at his school by anti terrorist police without his parents present, for trying to organise an event regarding the closure of his local youth club http://tinyurl.com/2cwzyy9. This article was in the Guardian, which seems to be the only mainstream media that is reporting this today as I type. This to me shows yet again a real feeling of what I call Totalitarian Creeping that is effecting the state of not only this nation but much of our globe. Like those who promote this effect, Governments, Corporations, Religious bodies, we the masses need to go global in our organising of resistance. People in power need balances & checks in order for societies to be viable,civillised & dare I say fair. Totalitarian Creeping is my discription for the insidious way in which those who hold power, gently chip away at the rights of the people that have been capaigned/fought for, it also includes the throwing away of their responsibilities towards the wellbeing of their fellow citizens, finally it introduces state sanction measures to confuse & create fear (real or percieved) amongst the majority in order to enable favour & enrichment to the few. It is dangerous road to travel down & thus even if only in the name of common decency in regards to one another it must be stopped.

>Been ages since I last blogged, kept meaning to but some how never got round to it. Shame on me! So the coalition Government is making a complete arse of Governing in the UK, & Labour sadly couldnt organise a piss up in a Brewery. I never realised that Centurist politics be it left or right Centurists (the 3rd way), was shorthand for “Ways in which lie,cheat your way into fucking up an entire country & fleece its populas, excluding the wealthiest”.

I’d also like to say,how nice to see all the Religious Freaks crawling out of the woodwork worldwide, seeing who can shout the loudest in regards to important things happening on this Earth such as,’who’s sleeping with whome’ `who’s up for stoning` & `its all those securalists, queer, women,{insert whateve} fault’. Lovely!

As you can tell sarcasm is dripping today, & before you say, “its not big & its not clever”
Neither, more importantly is the complete & utter divisionist crap being spouted by the Political & Religious Elites.

I would also lambast the media, however at this moment in time I dont have the energy. (lack of sleep). Will be blogging on some of the issues that have or havnt been in the news of this week, later on.

>The Torture Garden birthday ball. Took place at SEOne, one of London’s largest venues. SEOne is one of a growing number of British clubs requiring punters to produce ID that is then scanned and retained. The Southwark local authority, plans to implement the scheme at clubs across the borough. Data can supposedly be held for a minimum of three years. (see Article Private kinks, public exposure – Kate Bevan. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/may/16/privacy-idcards

WTF!

Its unfortunate that we in the UK are being documented so easily, due to what can only be described by a `paranoid political class’. We have CCTV cameras everywhere, are required to have photo ID for internal UK flights. We can be tracked via Oyster card usage, have numberplate recognition…the list goes on. I for one am sick & tired of hearing..”If youve nothing to hide, Youve nothing to fear”
..isnt that what was claimed in 1930’s germany?.

I personally have nothing to hide

I do however have fears. I have fear or an ever growing police state, whereby it seems one is guilty until proven innocent. I have fear over the ever growing loss of data by firms, civil servants etc. I have fears of the WRONG information being placed onto data bases that can affect the way I am perceived &/or dealt with by authorities be they governmental or private entities.

The mass collection of data, does not make the world a safer place, though im sure it makes your average `jobs worth’ feel more important. The more data out there, the more likely you are to have your identity stolen, your details misused & it also means the more totaleterian the Government…the more your life in regards to your personal sphere or public sphere will be controlled…..

…especially if your not of the political & global corporate class.

>I am thinking we should all send our lovely governments receipts, thus to enable ourselves to live the life of an MP & have some lovely chandeliers installed 🙂
(Also wonders why Queen Liz isnt removing certain Lords their peerages)
I am missing a fun filled few days of debauchery down @ Brighton :(…hopefully A & G are having much fun. I seriously need to sort out a summer schedule & get out & about. Being far to complacent & unorganized….shame on me.

>This article has been pulled by The times apparently, lots going on re: Civil Libbities in the UK this weekend, & the ever creeping intrusion upon us Proles by the current lying government….so like many others im posting this article in order that it stays in the public sphere. Yes its a long read, but its worth it….

Philip Pullman on the Condition of Our United Kingdom

The image of this nation that haunts me most powerfully is that of the sleeping giant Albion in William Blakes prophetic books. Sleep, profound and inveterate slumber: that is the condition of Britain today.

We do not know what is happening to us. In the world outside, great events take place, great figures move and act, great matters unfold, and this nation of Albion murmurs and stirs while malevolent voices whisper in the darkness – the voices of the new laws that are silently strangling the old freedoms the nation still dreams it enjoys.

We are so fast asleep that we dont know who we are any more. Are we English? Scottish? Welsh? British? More than one of them? One but not another? Are we a Christian nation – after all we have an Established Church – or are we something post-Christian? Are we a secular state? Are we a multifaith state? Are we anything we can all agree on and feel proud of?

The new laws whisper:

You dont know who you are

Youre mistaken about yourself

We know better than you do what you consist of, what labels apply to you, which facts about you are important and which are worthless

We do not believe you can be trusted to know these things, so we shall know them for you

And if we take against you, we shall remove from your possession the only proof we shall allow to be recognised

The sleeping nation dreams it has the freedom to speak its mind. It fantasises about making tyrants cringe with the bluff bold vigour of its ancient right to express its opinions in the street. This is what the new laws say about that:

Expressing an opinion is a dangerous activity

Whatever your opinions are, we dont want to hear them

So if you threaten us or our friends with your opinions we shall treat you like the rabble you are

And we do not want to hear you arguing about it

So hold your tongue and forget about protesting

What we want from you is acquiescence

The nation dreams it is a democratic state where the laws were made by freely elected representatives who were answerable to the people. It used to be such a nation once, it dreams, so it must be that nation still. It is a sweet dream.

You are not to be trusted with laws

So we shall put ourselves out of your reach

We shall put ourselves beyond your amendment or abolition

You do not need to argue about any changes we make, or to debate them, or to send your representatives to vote against them

You do not need to hold us to account

You think you will get what you want from an inquiry?

Who do you think you are?

What sort of fools do you think we are?

The nations dreams are troubled, sometimes; dim rumours reach our sleeping ears, rumours that all is not well in the administration of justice; but an ancient spell murmurs through our somnolence, and we remember that the courts are bound to seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and we turn over and sleep soundly again.

And the new laws whisper:

We do not want to hear you talking about truth

Truth is a friend of yours, not a friend of ours

We have a better friend called hearsay, who is a witness we can always rely on

We do not want to hear you talking about innocence

Innocent means guilty of things not yet done

We do not want to hear you talking about the right to silence

You need to be told what silence means: it means guilt

We do not want to hear you talking about justice

Justice is whatever we want to do to you

And nothing else

Are we conscious of being watched, as we sleep? Are we aware of an ever-open eye at the corner of every street, of a watching presence in the very keyboards we type our messages on? The new laws dont mind if we are. They dont think we care about it.

We want to watch you day and night

We think you are abject enough to feel safe when we watch you

We can see you have lost all sense of what is proper to a free people

We can see you have abandoned modesty

Some of our friends have seen to that

They have arranged for you to find modesty contemptible

In a thousand ways they have led you to think that whoever does not want to be watched must have something shameful to hide

We want you to feel that solitude is frightening and unnatural

We want you to feel that being watched is the natural state of things

One of the pleasant fantasies that consoles us in our sleep is that we are a sovereign nation, and safe within our borders. This is what the new laws say about that:

We know who our friends are

And when our friends want to have words with one of you

We shall make it easy for them to take you away to a country where you will learn that you have more fingernails than you need

It will be no use bleating that you know of no offence you have committed under British law

It is for us to know what your offence is

Angering our friends is an offence

It is inconceivable to me that a waking nation in the full consciousness of its freedom would have allowed its government to pass such laws as the Protection from Harassment Act (1997), the Crime and Disorder Act (1998), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000), the Terrorism Act (2000), the Criminal Justice and Police Act (2001), the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (2001), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Extension Act (2002), the Criminal Justice Act (2003), the Extradition Act (2003), the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (2003), the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004), the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2005), the Inquiries Act (2005), the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005), not to mention a host of pending legislation such as the Identity Cards Bill, the Coroners and Justice Bill, and the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill.

Inconceivable.

And those laws say:

Sleep, you stinking cowards

Sweating as you dream of rights and freedoms

Freedom is too hard for you

We shall decide what freedom is

Sleep, you vermin

Sleep, you scum

>The Uk is a strange land. We have no written `constitution’ .
However, we brits do expect a certain ammount of decency… or at least I thought we did. Seem’s our lovely government is carrying on the self indulgent crap of the Thatcher era, Capitalism = consolidation to the few, Power = consolidation to the few (see previous)..Nationalism bad….but we can bail out the private secter ??? Everyone pays tax…oh except the rich….!
So where has all the money gone?…Into the offshore bank accounts of the few. You know, those wankers that said we were all backward, & stupid for wanting our utilities to stay belonging to us. Noooooooooo we must privatise everything..private is good!!!..(baaaahhhh)….So anyhoo,, we sold off all our industries, land, or comon rights…& !!!..oooh feck!!! Oh the joy of finding my taxes & National insurence are now propping up private companies, rather than Hospitals, social housing, social benefits, schools..& oh joy on top of all that….CCTV is so invasive in may as well be up my arse!!!……How did it come to this :((