James' Journal.

If music be the sound of death... play on.

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:00:02 GMT

Okay everyone, this is my last entry here, so if you'd like to add my new journal I suggest you do it now before you become lazy like me, and I'm gone forever. knockoutapathy. I was going to add you all tonight, but I just dont have time. I have to get to this house which is somewhere in Withington, and I'm nervous I'll never find it, and the buses are going to be about £47 a packet and AARGH [/stress].

I'll try to try not to be epic in this. I tried last year and failed miserably. Of course last year I got in and wrote the entry at 5am. I'm part of the opinion that we shouldnt make such a big deal of the new year, because you can change yourself all year round. But if you choose it as a new beginning, thats also good.

As always, this year has gone faster than the last. It's been a good and bad year. Whilst academically, and otherwise, I still achieved nothing, the main positive thing that sticks out is how much more integrated I now feel in the music scene. Quite sad that the best part of the year is based around a website eh? Ah well, its not the first time, that's our generation I suppose. It's been, frankly, a shit year for my love life, for different reasons. I did things I regret, and I'm not just saying that as a token statement (so, sorry). It's not like I lived the slaggish rock 'n' roll lifestyle in its place either, incase anyone was wondering. But like I said, tomorrow wont be that different from today, time marches on. I've feel I've learnt a lot and grown after another 12 months, NO thanks to any of the colleges I've attended. And well. This is probably best saved for the new journal.

Next year I'm going to do something important to me instead of all this fucking shit. Maybe more than one thing ey?

Anyway, its quite blatent who this year belongs to.

If you listen to anything vaguely alternative (the modern day term for "good"), you probably owe this fella something.

Rest In Peace John, we already miss you.

Hope you all had or are about to have a good evening, depending on where you are on this little green globe.

For a girl who dreams of John Cusack, she's got a lot of Satanists and lumberjacks.

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 18:52:51 GMT

That's right, I'm breaking out this picture again. 2 weeks ago I sold a copy of civilised_fury's zine [Closed Caption] to my manager. I had forgotten that within its hallowed pages, lay a photocopy of the above photo...

So I got suspended, and just today went in for a discpline thing, only to find it wasn't the real disciplinary, and I have to wait to be phoned, again. It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been under a typically scathing piece of writing of mine about education. This bit caught Blockbusters attention:

...Preparing you for your early adult years in particular, in mundane part time jobs where you're meant to actually believe that the job you're doing is going to get you more than perhaps a thank you, so you'd best work hard (the truth of course being, that there is no point doing anything other than the complete minimum in a mundane job which holds no interest for you, you arent going anywhere in that company, trust me).

I was asked if this was my opinion to working in Blockbuster, and I could hardly say yes or no, so I said "its my wider world view."

Their own policy says "No politics, no bull" (their customers span from daft communist to total fascist I imagine - 20 million customers in Great Britain alone don't you know). So I broke some rules (misuse of equipment, misuse of time, their PUBLICATION POLICY for fucks sake! It's a little fanzine!), if I was so bad I wouldn't have kept the job for 6 months. Now, admittedly, you lot have had the luck of reading about my "scheming", though I don't write about it much anymore, because its boring (and I realised stealing Nestlé was probably counterproductive). They must know they employ anti-capitalists or their ilk in a company that large, they should be prepared to be slagged off, why do they have to be fuckwits about it? Who gives a fuck if that's my view of your shitty corporation, I'm working for you aren't I? You won didn't you? 70% of Britons hate their jobs - that's bullshit, and I cant believe more people think this is the only way society can function - be miserable. I got suspended pay, but I'm annoyed because I've missed all that bank/holiday money. Thought I might get to do my extra pay shift tomorrow, but no.

The whole ordeal has just left me wanting to quit even more than before.

I heard some seminally poppy rap song on the radio the other night with lyrics questioning our binge drinking culture, which I'm glad someone apparently mainstream-ish is writing about. Nevertheless, the remaining 31 hours of this year will be mostly spent in a blitz trying to forget all the stuff on my plate at the moment. I'll probably fit in an entry tomorrow.

</center>

One more day to stare into space. One more day in this boring place, blank expression on your face. Drink your coffee, complex aftertaste. One more day trapped in a room. One more day of nothing new, surrounded by more of the same, Are they as bored as you? Are they angry too? The campus, the womb, is serene. The city surrounds in its machine. The world nullifies as it surrounds. Don’t you wanna burn it down? One more night in inter-zone. One more night you’re all alone. One more empty conversation, theories and devastation. One more night to share a bed, afraid to talk, you fuck instead. But what goes on inside her head? Anything? Everything?

My thoughts exactly.

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 04:02:28 GMT

Great news everyone!
I assume of course you all remember Jamie Tandy? The square-headed fucknut who shared a year group with us? He kicked a football and made a lot of ridiculous comments. As you may recall, he played football for Man City youth team or some such useless shite. Well, check this out:

"MANCHESTER (Reuters) - Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton has been fined six weeks' wages for poking a lit cigar in the eye of a trainee during a row at the club's Christmas Party.
Barton, 22, was found guilty of gross misconduct by a City disciplinary hearing following the incident on Sunday with Jamie Tandy. Wardle said he and manager Kevin Keegan felt badly let down by the episode which left Tandy with an eye injury. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Tandy, 20, had attempted to set fire to Barton's fancy dress costume, said reports which City declined to confirm officially." (from Reuters Sports News)

This has made my fucking Christmas! It's added that much needed element of farce which should and must prevail!

Merry Everyone!!

Pete.

"We weren't nice boys, we were evil fucking bastards. And we still are."

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 21:15:39 GMT

"Thank you for your order!"

7 Seconds | The Crew
Alkaline Trio | Goddamnit
Appleseed Cast | Low Level Owl Volume 1
Bad Religion | 80-85
Bad Religion | The Empire Strikes First
Beecher | Resention is a Big Word
Comeback Kid | Turn It Around
Converge | You Fail Me
I Against I | Headcleaner
J Church | Nostalgic for Nothing
Jimmy Eat World | Futures (Enhanced)
Pennywise | Home Movies
Reggie and the Full Effect | Greatest Hits '84-'87
Saves the Day | Through Being Cool
Sonic Boom Six | Sounds to Consume
Strike Anywhere | Change is a Sound
Various Artists | Rock Against Bush Vol. 2

That would be a "Happy Christmas to me."

Please note!:

powerswitch - Remember that peak oil business? Well I decided it was about time I made practical use of Livejournal and made a community. I plan to promote this a LOT over time so hopefully I can keep the word spreading and the news up-to-date.

knockoutapathy - This is my new journal and there's absolutely nothing on it. Add it please because I won't be posting here come January!

Now in usual ramshackle entry style, I'm going down the local punk rock disco.

When it comes to you, I step on cracks.

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 05:46:15 GMT

Bomb Ibiza: The venue is mint, it's on this street where all the buildings are built into the arches under the train tracks, so they have curved ceilings. It used to be a big indie club but has since gone into obscurity (not surprising, many people had never even heard of it). You can tell, its definitely got that Madchester/Britpop cool to it. Posters all over, plain brick and iron walls, it looks like a bog standard factory from the outside. And a fucking balcony!

Looks like we did alright for a turn out as well...

The only thing wrong with it is the sound system. We couldn't put the volume up too far or it cut off to protect the speakers, and the place needs more speakers, because its a lot less encouraging to dance. Every CD sounded different. On the uphand, the delectable Alex came all the way up to do the raffle draw, I'm getting more comfortable just being left to DJ by myself for an hour, and I sold 4 or 5 'zines (cheer simmo).

I like Japanese films. I always notice the long takes, long pauses without music, with no sound at all sometimes. Like cut scenes in games. The ones marketed here also tend to be FUCKING MENTAL.

I bought a pre-owned Kids Near Water EP a few days ago. The first one. I got it because I instantly recognised the cover. It reminds me of being 15, and being in Dave's room and wondering what all this stuff was he listened to. Of course that reminded me of batterred copied tapes that I still own and play to death, and getting stoned on the old train tracks, and all nighters in his living room. I looked up to him, I suppose I still do, but not in the same way. He can be a fuckwit in his ways, but he's always seemed cool to me. I keep meaning to phone him. Whenever I mention him in here I get all soppy. It must seem like I fancy him.

The City With Two Faces.

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 13:29:06 GMT

We are so dependent on "just in time" deliveries that a strike by hauliers could halt factories, offices, shops, pubs, hospitals and waste collections, and bring Britain to a standstill within days.

Research will this week cast doubt on the economy's ability to cope with a repeat of the lorry drivers' strike of 1979 or the fuel crisis of 2000 - though the retail industry contests this view.

To mark National Truck Week, a study calculated shops would introduce food rationing within three days of an all-out stoppage. And without deliveries, scores of companies would go bust in a week.

Heriot Watt University's logistics research centre found that retailers were keeping smaller stocks than ever because of pressure on storage space. Shops rotated stock seven times a year in 1986, but 10.5 times in 2001. The average tonne of freight travels 57 miles by road, compared with 21 miles in 1953.

Alan McKinnon, who wrote the report, said: "Although people don't like lorries, we are totally dependent on them. Without them, our standard of living would collapse within a few days."

Within 48 hours of a strike, many hospitals would have to cancel all but essential operations because of difficulty in obtaining linen and catering supplies. After three days, city centre pubs would run out of beer, and, by the fourth petrol pumps would run dry. By the end of a week half of Britain's 24m cars would be off the road. Manufacturers, construction firms and retailers would begin laying off workers to cope with a cashflow squeeze.

A spokesman for the Freight Transport Association said: "This is the way life works these days. There is, quite rightly, an emphasis among businesses on lean operations and stripping out inventory."

Steve Hounsham of the environmental pressure group Transport 2000 said the economy had become "shockingly dependent" on road traffic. He said: "Everything is being kept on huge warehouses on the motorways. We'd like to see a greater degree of localisation, so we don't have to move things so far."

David Southwell of the British Retail Consortium, said: "The idea that after three days the country would resort to rationing is wrong. We've seen temporary disruption before and dealt with it - this is a panic-mongering suggestion."

THE END OF SUBURBIA:

Previews:

Clip #1 - "The Beginning of The End" - "A living arrangement that has no future."

Clip #2 - "The Blackout of 2003" - "If that [the blackout] wasn't a fire drill for how important energy actually is.. People didn't get it.. I don't think we learned a thing from it."

Clip #3 - "The War That Will Not End in Our Lifetimes" - "Afghanistan and Iraq are the two opening engagements in what are bound to be a long series of wars and international contests over the remaining oil in the world."

My current music seems like a metaphor for our generation and what's coming up.

Freedom of espresso.

Sun, 28 Nov 2004 15:15:09 GMT

"See The Apprentice Finale Live In NYC, Compliments Of Pepsi Edge

You've seen 'em get fired. Now win a chance to see who gets hired live at The Apprentice season finale in New York City! And 100 fans will win a limited edition replica of the Pepsi EDGE bottle featured on Thanksgiving night. Log on to pepsiedge.com to enter now!"

AMAGAD a strangely shaped bottle of coke DAT WAS ON TEEVEE! Well thanks for the email Pepsi Cola Company, I'll sure go to bed tonight masturbating like its going out of style.

I did a review of the Suicide Machines gig on Friday but I may refrain from posting it.
But a word of advice young David: it's not a case of "it being a gig" when you're (or some of your friends who may be invading my journal) throwing yourselves around and pissing off everyone stood near you. I don't know if you think that's "punk" or something but I'm sure you're a nice bloke and have just got the wrong idea. I know you were all pissed but making everyone think you're a knob is not something that's going to help you in the future. I don't hate you, just goddamn chill. It was nice to meet you.

I didn't do anything for Buy Nothing Day, because I couldn't find statto. Although I did avoid the public transport issue... by not going home.

I'm entirely against the smoking ban. If people are so concerned about passive smoke then why are they going out and getting DRUNK? But more to the point, you get polluted every single day by all the shit in the air, so I would say fag smoke is a small worry. So lets ban cars first, and factories.
"But driving actually serves a purpose, smoking is pointless."
If people didn't enjoy smoking, if people didn't enjoy getting high off tobacco, there wouldn't be millions of people addicted to it, regardless of whether a large percentage of them want to give up. So now you're dictating what someone else finds enjoyable? And who are you to ban something someone else enjoys? Who is anyone to dictate what is "pointless" when everything except food is pointless? Oh, it's for their own good? Man, you are some funny sounding "liberals".
Fair enough if you dont want smoke blown around when you're eating. But 20,000 pubs are expected to shut down their kitchens to avoid having to kick out smokers. And if this goes through you know there's going to be a load of pointless brawling over what classifies as "prepared food".
I can't stand the way everyone looks down on smokers like they're some kind of health saint. At the same time as the "should all pubs be open 24 hours?" debate is going on.

I see this as on a par with debating whether to ban alcohol in restaraunts (like smoking in pubs/clubs, secondary activity to going) because of the occasional person overturning a table or punching a waiter. I dont need to tell you how well any restrictions like that would go over in this drenched country.

No regrets concerning.. you?

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 07:03:35 GMT

I'm in one of those moods tonight where I wanted to post some lyrics, but since none are really standing out to me I'll leave it (note: they would be silly emotional lyrics hinting at a shallow level of melancholy). A silly pop-punk band from Dundee called Not Your Saviour came close, but they have no lyrics on their website, so its their loss. (edit: No Standards are a pretty rubbish Manchester "punk" band, I do apologise for the mix up).

I bought some CD's from Roadkill on Friday with cycovisionary, they are as follows:

Strung Out - An American Paradox
Black Flag - Damaged
Braid - MovieMusic Vol.1
Lagwagon - Hoss
17 Stitches - Closer Than You Think
Kerrang Search & Destroy Volume 1: The History of Punk (bad, but not as bad as you'd expect - it was free for gods sake, bar a donation to the charity elephant)

Today was the second Ska Bar, Captain Hotknives was hilarious, but for me a bit of a blah day overall, I just wasn't in the mood (note the distinct lack of ska above).

It's been a busy few days in the big murky world of relationships... I'm feeling better than I did earlier. And thats as vague as I'm going to be.

I have to be up in 2 hours. Silly essays.

In light of people being ashamed of "their" countries.

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 03:14:34 GMT

MEMORANDUM

TO: The Citizens of the United States of America
RE: Revocation of your Independence

In the light of your failure to elect a proper President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy much. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium". Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour', skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise". You will learn that the suffix 'burgh is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to respell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary". Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed". There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary then you won't have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as "US English". We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize".

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to Cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents. Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles. While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon". If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters. British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly? or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football". There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full Kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005. You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders" which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 97.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. "Merde" is French for "Shit". You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called "Indecisive Day".

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't even French; they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps". Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all, it is lager. From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer", and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager". The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Piss", with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Piss". This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From December 1st the UK will harmonise petrol (or "Gasoline" as you will be permitted to keep calling it until April 1st 2005) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon - get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your cooperation.

We know you Brits suffer from a national Napoleon complex, no doubt exacerbated by your crippling penis/power envy and delusions of past grandeur, so we see the humor (not humour) in your charming little "revocation."

We want to help you poor little Brits, though, just as we have countless times in the last 100 years, so to honor (not honour) Mental Health Awareness Week, which recently passed, we'll try to bring you all back to reality. And we'll do it gently, without emphasizing (not emphasising) the ass-kicking you took in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Dear citizens of the UK,

1. You have a queen. In fact, you have an entire royal family, all unelected, that dedicates itself to living in splendor (not splendour)on the national dole and bringing as much embarrassment as possible to an already embarrassed population. (The 1.5% of Britons who aren't obsessed with the national comedy should begin reading "The Mirror," "The Sun," or any of the numerous tabloid "newspapers" that feature nude women on page three to help with the public "edification." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

We understand it helps you to consider yourselves as more enlightened, sophisticated and civilized (not civilised) than we Yanks, but any country that continues to worship the House of Windsor is not allowed to give lectures about democracy. Look up hypocrisy.

2. You are no longer an empire. We know it's easier to imagine yourselves as you once were, bringing civilization to the world's savages and propping up a morally bankrupt society by exploiting the resources of others, but that ship has sailed. That entire fleet has sailed and sunk. We understand admitting this obvious fact to yourselves, much less to the world, would bring down your carefully constructed house of psychological cards, but we refuse to enable you any longer. Look up theft. Then look up delusional.

So we must be frank: You no longer matter. At all. Not even a little.

In light of your total irrelevance, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council. Look up irrelevance. Any country that has not been able to provide for even it's own security over the last 200 years, much less the security of the world, is no longer allowed to pretend to have power. (Please pass this letter to France on your way out of the Security Council chambers.)

Effective today, the entire British diplomatic corps and all branches of the military will quit their charade of power and importance and return to employment, with the rest of the British population, as drunks, heroine addicts and soccer (not football) hooligans.

3. Pursuant to the previous point, English will henceforth be spoken with a proper American accent, the only one that matters anymore.

4. Your national anthem will be changed from "God Save the Queen" to "God Save the Yanks, Who Continue to Save Our Worthless Asses, Though We Don't Know Why."

5. You will begin acting like big boys, and declare war yourself on Canada and France if you don't like their teasing. Despite your misguided notions, we can't fight all of your battles for you.

6. All British car manufacturers will immediately be taken over by American companies. As has been proven by Ford's takeover of Jaguar, it is the only way to make them reliable. (Sounds a lot like the British people, doesn't it?)

7. Similar to the previous point about democracy, any country that considers chips, crisps, beer, and steak and kidney pie to be fine cuisine shall no longer be allowed to criticize (not critisise)the food of other countries. Speaking of beer, you will be required to understand that the two types of beer are not lager and beer, but lager and ale. They are distinguished by the types of yeasts and the brewing methods used. You will also be required to learn that lagers, invented by the Germans and perfected by the Czechs, are best served cold.

8. Please tell us how Benny Hill ever got a television show. It's been driving us crazy. Also please explain the Spice Girls.

Treasury ministers from countries around the world will be with you shortly to ensure the reacquisition of the resources you have stolen from them (backdated centuries).

Your cooperation is appreciated, but far from necessary.

"The thing is, that whole sorry list of accusations would only bother me if I fostered a strong sense of completley irrational patriotism. Which is the very trait that has turned their country into a greedy, paranoid, war-mongering global menace.

And they say they don't understand irony."

I can see the comedy in this, and I know anyone of either country who's willing to read my journal will too. Though I think the Monarchy is something of a bigger joke in the world than American football.

I get a jolt of nationalism everytime I type programme with 14 extra letters on the end. Really. It's not good for humanity.

There's nothing wrong with differing culture, culture itself doesn't foster division. I would rather accept that we all have differences and embrace it. How else would we have made bad parodies of one another, as above, for so many decades? Also, I know people living in other countries love watching us banter back and forth, like a cock war, spy-vs-spy, Hitler-Stalin relationship, smug in the knowledge that where they live (Canada New Zealand Australia Ireland Europe Asia, in fact anywhere else in the universe) is collectively slightly amused by such self important bullshit.

By the way, I love the US. It interests me greatly and I can't think of anything to do with it's culture that wouldn't provide a talking point. So many things have come from that particular mass of land (people and things people have produced) that have made my life a lot more enjoyable. I only wish as many British people were willing to admit that as the number of USians who will gladly admit Britain interests them.

"Patriotism is the notion that a country is somehow better because you were born in it."

About time I posted this.

Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:35:34 GMT

http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/images/stories/animoil.swf

Some independent scientists are predicting that "Peak Oil" will come at about 2007 - much sooner than "official" estimates of 2037.

The oil extracted after this point is going to be more expensive to get out of the ground, furthur driving up the price.

The price of oil is due to skyrocket, and more than it has done recently. Soon supply will start to be less than demand.

Look around you. Perhaps make a list of everything that wasn't:

-Made using oil
-Transported to your home using petrol
-Grown using oil run tractors
-Packaged with plastics
-Made with machines running on fossil fuels

It will be a very short list.

For every 1 calorie of food we eat, 10 calories of oil are burned.

When the price of oil goes up, what do you think will happen to the price of food?
And everything else?

The time to act is now. Global Warming is not the only threat here.

The mild oil depression of the 1970's is nothing. This will be forseeably permanent.

Massive worldwide death, and a time that will radically alter human existance.

We can't avoid this, but we can make it a lot less disastrous.

Please watch this flash, it explains it better, and is where I got all this information: http://www.powerswitch.org.uk/portal/images/stories/animoil.swf

And go to http://www.powerswitch.org.uk to help.

Old enough to see Joy Division, shame he found the idea of touring the US so bad he hung himself.

Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:10:19 GMT

So picture the scene.

Blockbuster, Altrincham, South Manchester, 9:55pm, Saturday. I'm just about to lock the door when Hazee walks up to it.

"Waaiiii, you're coming to 5th Ave."
"Waaiii, am I fuck going to 5th Ave."
"Waaiii, you bloody well are."
"Alright."

We leather it down to my house, I get changed. Go back to his, he ponces around making his hair look fancy and putting on a nice shirt. We drink 6 shots of Uzo. We jump on the tram and rejoice at victory over ticket inspectors. Spend ages at a cash machine. By the time we walk to 5th Ave its approaching midnight. We find Gary and Luke. They've just had 20 shots each in the gay village. We dance, and drink, and screw, because there's nothing else to do. Until 3am. We get a taxi and get some proper knob driver, who charges us extortionately, up front, and then refuses to drop us off in more than one place. We reminisce, then go 4 separate ways.

I wake up very late on Sunday. I dont know how I'm going to sleep tonight, considering I have to be up at 9 like every Monday. I inevitably stay up late, then eventually, all night, talking to craziecat amongst other things.

I start walking to English class. I'm trying to think of a suitably witty and destroying comeback to say to the 40-something woman in my class who likes to think herself something of a class comedian, and makes hilarious jokes about my "constant lateness". I know something along the lines of "Are you older than me? Then act like it." will suffice, and I feel like a line about her being just like all the idiots I went to school with will go right over most of the room, probably because it applies to them too.

I walk towards my English room (maybe 3 minutes late?) and push open the door. Empty. I walk up the entire corridor where all my lessons are. No old folk here. I think I walk right past Zara. How odd, she was one of the idiots I went to school with. I walk back down to the canteen to see if anyone is around. No one is, so I decide to go back to the room and look for a note before giving up.

I walk into the room. Not a scrap of paper on the tables. I walk into the middle of the four walls, and then it hits me.

Man Uni visit. You DENSE TWAT.

I get down on one knee and let out a semi-loud "shit." I wasn't planning on going on the visit, but I wish I'd remembered this earlier.

So I walk back out of the college and home. There seem to be a lot of people taking a dislike to my shirt today, I get stares from a couple of uglies. You know, I know from experience that coming from a poor family doesn't give you an excuse to be a dickhead, besides, your trainers clearly cost more than my entire kit-up. Like every day, I look at the long stream of cars going both ways on the relatively thin, lengthy road near my house, and wonder, how on Earth can you stop an addiction this bad?

I come in my front door, having half planned this ridiculous journal entry. My mum's not happy. My brother's just announced he's dropping out of college. Oh, joy, she'll be in a bad Nazi mood today. Eventually I get told "you might as well drop out of that college as well, if you're not going to put in 100%". Yep. Not this time.

Now I'm going to go and watch One For The Road, and see how long it is until I fall asleep. Ta.

Kill The President

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 23:13:51 GMT

This is absurd - http://www.needlenose.com/win04/vote2.htm

"This is as an important election as there has been in the past fifty years. Registration of brand new voters is at an all-time high and the turn-out is expected to set records. Much is at stake -from the national economy, to the healthcare system, to the energy situation. The war in Iraq was ill-advised and has turned into the incredible mess that many predicted it would. The next president will probably have the opportunity to fill several upcoming vacancies on the Supreme Court, where a majority of the justices are over 65 and Rehnquist is ill with cancer."

A lot of what I write you'll probably have heard before, or will find plain patronising.

I know that every single person that reads this doesn't see the candidates in black and white, and is well aware that John Kerry is far from a shining sword for justice.

Like they tell you an hour before an exam when you first creak open your book, if you don't know it now you never will. So, if anyone is, I'd advise you to not worry today. Perhaps you shouldn't even think about it.

Also, don't let the polls get to you. They arent a great indication of the present situation. For example here's one that looks different to the others:

Released: October 30, 2004
Election 2004 Reuters/Zogby Daily Tracking Poll: Kerry Moves in Front; Kerry 47%, Bush 46%, News Reuters/Zogby Poll Reveals

President Bush lost one point and his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry, held steady at 47%, according to a new Reuters/Zogby daily tracking poll. The poll data this evening has leaners factored into the overall results. The telephone poll of 1209 likely voters was conducted from Wednesday through Friday (October 27-29, 2004). The margin of error is +/- 2.9 percentage points.

This is very important - we are not toppling a Roman-esque Emporer here. Whichever way the election goes, this must be remembered. I have a feeling November 3rd (assuming its over at some point in that day - a repeat of 2000 would leave far too much for the international community to look into) will leave me feeling rejuvinated (though Bush losing is obviously more likely to encourage that).

Bush said "terrorism is more than one person", and he's right - it's not, as I previously said, Judgement Day.

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 14:23:05 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3955289.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3955369.stm

:(

This finished 15 minutes ago so I officially have the worst timing ever, but its interesting.

Sat, 23 Oct 2004 16:45:53 GMT

Dear all,

Here are the final details for the event on Saturday. Feel free to circulate. If you have received this email from mikebrady@babymilkaction.org and do not wish to receive future alerts, please reply with 'delete' as the subject.

---
Nestlé to be exposed by gathering of human rights campaigners in Edinburgh

Announcement: 23 October event - free entry

Teviot House, Bristo Square, Edinburgh. 12:30 exhibition. 13:00 start.

Nestlé, the world's largest food company, is to be exposed for malpractice including aggressive marketing of baby foods, trade union busting, environmental destruction and exploitation of suppliers as experts present evidence at a public meeting in Edinburgh, 23 October, 13:00 - 17:30. The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), celebrating 25 years of campaigning to protect infants and their families, will present monitoring results gathered in 69 countries, which show Nestlé continues to be the worst of the baby food companies in pushing artificial feeding over breastfeeding. While Nestlé is the target of a 20-country boycott for this malpractice, there are other concerns about its activities, which experts will expose. Mark Ballard MSP, will introduce an international panel. Workshops will focus on exposing the malpractice highlighted in the presentations and an adjoining exhibition and promoting the boycott of Nestlé (including of the Nestlé Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Representatives of the corporate-free Tap Water Awards for outstanding artists at the Edinburgh Fringe will take part and there will be an interlude for entertainment.

The Brazilian Citizens' Movement for Water will explain its involvement in winning a legal action against Nestlé over the environmental destruction caused by Nestlé Perrier's water bottling operation in the historic spa town of São Lourenço. Despite promising the judge and a hearing in the House of Representatives that it would close down its operations this month, Nestlé has increased the volume it is pumping, which has already damaged medicinal springs in the town's water park.

The Colombia Solidarity Campaign will describe how trade unionists have been targeted by paramilitary death squads after being labelled as enemies of the company and "personae non gratae" by Nestlé Colombia executives.

Together with coffee growers' organisations in producing countries, Oxfam International is running a campaign attempting to persuade governments, multilaterals and coffee roasters, including Nestlé, to pay a decent wage to suppliers and will present information about this.

Campaigners will discuss strategies for taking action against Nestlé malpractice. The meeting is being conducted jointly with Simpol-UK, which is developing policies for holding corporations to account in the Simultaneous Policy, and Edinburgh University People and Planet group.

The meetings arise from a similar gathering in Nestlé's home town of Vevey, Switzerland, in June 2004, hosted by the Berne Declaration, Attac-Switzerland and Greenpeace Switzerland where Attac-Switzerland launched a book exposing the 'Nestlé empire'.

For further information contact: Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Coordinator, Baby Milk Action, 23 St. Andrew's Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AX. Tel: 01223 464420. Mobile: 07986 736179. Email: mikebrady@babymilkaction.org

Notes:

A Similar workshop was held at the European Social Forum (ESF) on 16 October. The meeting in Edinburgh will take place at Teviot Row House, Bristo Square (click here for a map).

Click here to download a flier/poster for the Edinburgh event. (dunno what happened in their email here)

Programme:

* 12:30 - Arrivals and exhibition

* 13:00 - Opening session: the baby milk campaign and Nestlé boycott

* 14:00 - Other concerns about Nestlé (Chair Mark Ballard MSP)

* 15:00 - Break (there is a café where refreshments can be purchased)
Sign up to working groups

* 15:30 - Working groups on:
* The Nestlé boycott (Baby Milk Action and the Tap Water Awards)
* The water campaign (Franklin Fredrick and WDM Scotland)
* The Simultaneous Policy campaign (Simpol-UK)
* Workers and suppliers (Colombia Solidarity Campaign and Oxfam)

* 16:30 - Reports from working groups with a focus on the action we can
take.

* 17:30 - Close.

For further information on the water campaign in Brazil see http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/news/nestle_keep_at_it.htm and Franklin's article in the Simpol-UK newsletter at http://spdev.gn.apc.org/

I'll do a more personal entry soon. Briefly, last weekend omgffswtf (WhatEvil) was here. It was reet grand.

Work now.

Wed, 13 Oct 2004 12:55:49 GMT

Thoughts that just came to me following my last post.

That's why love is so important. It's the one, one thing that can't be taken away from us. The warmongers, the bosses, the exploiters, the haters, the profiteers. You can numb such an emotion but you cant stop it. You can kill someones wife but that love is still there, and it shows itself later in strive for change, in all the demonstraters, the aid workers, the workers unions, the non-profit community groups for victims of violence, rape and drugs, the dads who demand equal rights, and everyone who's ever taken a stand against something that they deemed unfair. It's the one thing we all have in common, because at the end of the day.. we are all just people.

"You can kill the protester but you can't kill the protest."

Love IS a protest. It's MY protest. So that other people might get the chance to feel it.

zirafah played some part in inspiring this.

I suppose I'm just sick of hate.
I apologise for the recent whimsicalness in this journal that may or may not have given you a brain infection.

Stay with me tonight.

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 02:42:43 GMT

"Well, I
Don't wanna be no soldier mama
I don't wanna die" - John Lennon.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

I watched something earlier.. People say, myself included, that art isnt real.. it evokes emotion.. later the emotion is gone.. how is that real? Music is a drug, they say. It's an illusion. It's a lie. Perhaps its all just chemicals. I'm thinking it's not. Maybe in the long run, that's true.. but for that moment, for whatever those minutes are, its as real as anything else we're capable of feeling. You're on top of the world and everything in the world is perfect. Idealistically, I'd like to think.. it's a hold over until we find what we're looking for. What if we never find it? If we did, life would be boring. For humans, love is as near as we're going to get. What's the point if we dont have all those "high" moments in between? Love seems to be the only reason we are here. Maybe love is what it's all about.

I probably haven't listened to this CD since I was 16. It's striking just the right chord right now. How did I pick it out and know it was going to? Maybe "I Can Only Disappoint U" is just a song. Nevertheless I feel pretty good at the moment. I feel relaxed and it's brought me back from the anti-euphoria I was feeling earlier.. ah well, I've made enough non-sense for this post.

"How can I feel love if I just don't know how to feel?"

A simple song of sympathy is how it started, honestly.

Thu, 07 Oct 2004 22:00:54 GMT

Bomb Ibiza was ace.

I met Liam outside the BBC and we followed our noses to The Retro Bar. Being the good supporters we are, Em and I paid for the gig even though we had free entry. I broke my non drinking pledge by 7:15. Bollocks in hell. Harijan were on first, I've never known what the big deal was with them but they were impressive. I thought Skankt were gonna be on first since almost nobody seems to have heard of them, but no, they were on 3rd. Above the two bands who have toured Manchester to death. Okay? Then Tim left before we played his remixes. Hur Hur, whoops.

Minons Of Jeffrey were lacking one of their singers but he rushed in from work to do the last third of the set. Rock n roll. Then Skankt came on.. totally unspecial. The singer looked like he'd seen and copied David Beckham's mohawk, gone out and bought a "punk" shirt from Topman, and decided to start a band. So what I'm saying is he was a bit too good looking for his own good. But anyway, the music wasnt bad enough to indicate that but I was waiting for them to finish.

I had a wee jig to Catch It Kebabs, then went upstairs to make sure our kid got in alright. The spanners were pretending to be really strict on over 18's because it was becoming a club night, but I saw no IDing going on. Stuart and Aidie of course showed up really late and my mobile wasnt working for some tossbagging reason so I stood in the rain later to find he had a perfectly fine fake ID. BRILL.

The gig finished about half ten, and by 11 there were a good 100 people there. Nobody could understand it, we didn't know where these people had come from. Moving to the town centre obviously made a big difference (moving it 5 days beforehand no less). Well they quickly started to make off - to get the trams I presume - thankfully so there was enough room to move.

Some of the setlist, I dont think this is bad going from memory.

Lightyear - Positive Outlook
Lightyear - Bomb Ibiza
Capdown - Faith No More
Filaments - Bastard Coppers (original faster version)
Mad Caddies - Road Rash
Mad Caddies - All American Badass
Smoke Like A Fish - Siren
Midnight Crazies - Crack Up
Shootin' Goon - Back Again
Catch 22 - Dont know but for once it WASN'T Keaseby Nights
Flogging Molly - What's Left Of The Flag
Less Than Jake - History Of A Boring Town
Common Rider - Classics Of Love
Operation Ivy - Sound System
Operation Ivy - Knowledge
Rancid - 1998
Howards Alias - Last Lung
Adequate 7 - Gotta Stay Focused
Adequate 7 - Everybody Hates
Sublime - Santeria
Sonic Boom Six VS The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Mighty Mighty Boom
Capdown VS Black Eyed Peas - Pound For the Peas
NOFX
Captain Everything!
Rebelation
Farse
The Propaghumbis
Choking Victim
Antimaniax
No Comply
The Slackers
Catch-It Kebabs
Aquabats
Sonic Boom Six
Dancehall Crashers
RX Bandits
King Prawn
Streetlight Manifesto
Voodoo Glow Skulls
Bad Manners

The atmosphere was just great from the get-go, people kept coming up with slips of paper for requests and saying how great it was and should be every week. I made a rather nice analogy of how when you filter society of cunts, the remains are these kind of people. There was half an hour of old ska played which I barely recognised but damn it made a good change. And of course Jess's "grindpop" set - that means she played some generic Epipunk and some weird shit.

Yes, the ska kids loved it! What the fuck is going on with this bloke on the far right?

He looks predatory.

Hopefully I should get some better photos later...

We finished on Knowledge by Operation Ivy, it went down really well. By that point there were a couple of doxen people left, all on the dancefloor, and I abandoned the booth to dance to it. By 2:10 the owner was shouting at us to stop hanging around, what an idiot, we just got him 4 hours of bar money for nothing in return. Dick. Then me and the boy got a really cheap taxi home.

Inside the mind of the average Englishman:

I still don't think we should really bomb Ibiza.

There is no liberal bias and no conservative bias, there is a corporate one.

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 22:20:09 GMT

http://www.democracynow.org/static/IMIATOW.shtml

There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal the other day about the difference between CNN and CNN International, two different networks owned by the same company. And they talked about the difference on that day, the day that the statue was pulled down. On CNN, all day we watched that statue pull down and went back up and pulled down again. On CNN International they also showed the statue pulled down but it was a split screen and on half the screen they showed the casualties of war and on the other half they showed the statue pull down. Now I'm not talking about the difference between CNN and Al Jazeera. I'm talking about the difference between CNN and CNN International. It means that that company knows exactly what it's doing. What they provide for domestic consumption and what they provide to the rest of the world. Now think about what the rest of the world sees and what we see here in the United States.

"Where are the pictures of casualties in the U.S. media"?
"well some of them are tasteless".
"well, war is tasteless".

I talked about how Al Jazerra shows all these casualties pictures and a journalist came up to me afterwards from Berlin and said, "It's not just Al Jazeera that's showing these. All over Europe we see them day and night. It's just here in the United States that you don't see them".

I really do think that if for one week in the United States we saw the true face of war, we saw people's limbs sheered off, we saw the kids blown apart, for one week war would be eradicated. Instead what we see in the U.S. media and it's just quite astounding, it's the video war game. [emphasis mine]

We now have people like Wesley Clarke, General Wesley Clarke on the payroll of CNN who is questioning their embedded reporter on the front line. He is questioning the reporter and the reporter is saying "Yes sir, No Sir". Why is it if they have these retired generals on the payroll, they don't have peace activists and peace leaders also on the payroll? So let's have the same number of reporters embedded with Iraqi families, let's have reporters embedded in the peace movement all over the world, and maybe then we'll get some accurate picture of what's going on.

And Peter Jennings was interviewing Chris Cuomo who is a reporter for ABC and he was out on the street, where we were, Times Square, thousands of people in the freezing rain who had come out to protest the war. They had all sorts of signs that were sopping wet and people were trying to keep the umbrellas up and the police charged a part of the crowd. Jennings said to Cuomo "what are they doing out there, what are they saying?" And he said, "well they have these signs that say no blood for oil but when you ask them what that means they seem very confused. I don't think they know why they're out here." I guess they got caught in a traffic jam. Why not have Peter Jennings, instead of asking someone who clearly doesn't understand why they're out there, invite one of them into the studio? And have a discussion like he does with the generals.

Why don't they also put doctors on the payroll. That way you can have the general talking about the bomb that Lockheed Martin made and the kind of plane that drops it and whether it was precision guided or not. And then you can have the doctor talking about the effect of the bomb. Not for or against the war, just how a cluster bomb enters your skin and what it means when your foot is blown off, if you're lucky and you're not killed. So why not have doctors and generals at least. But this is just to show how low the media has gone.

You have not only Fox, but MSNBC and NBC, yes owned by General Electric, one of the major nuclear weapons manufacturers in the world. [!!!! Emphasis fucking mine!] MSNBC and NBC as well as Fox titling their coverage taking the name of what the pentagon calls the invasion of Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom. So that's what the pentagon does and you expect that, they research the most effective propagandistic name to call their operation. But for the media to name their coverage what the pentagon calls it. Everyday seeing Operation Iraqi Freedom you have to ask, if this were state media how would it be any different?

FAIR [Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting] did a study. In the week leading up to General Colin Powell going to the security council to make his case for the invasion and the week afterwards, this was the period where more than half of the people in this country were opposed to an invasion. They did a study of CBS evening news, NBC nightly news, ABC evening news and the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. The four major newscasts. Two weeks. 393 interviews on war. 3 were anti-war voices. 3 of almost 400 and that included PBS. [emphasis mine] This has to be changed. It has to be challenged.

They have to provide the diversity of opinion that fully expresses the debate and the anguish and the discussions that are going on all over this country. That is media serving a democratic society. [emphasis mine]

With regards to a building of journalists that The Pentagon shelled in Iraq, killing them - And Victoria Clark is put on saying that "they should know Baghdad is dangerous and they should not be there". I believe that's the role of reporters to go to where the silence is, to bring us the voices of people who are at Ground Zero. Now it's one thing if they were killed by others but they were killed by Victoria Clark's own troops and she never apologized.

Clear-Channel is the very Bush-connected company that went from owning 47 radio stations to 1400 in no time at all. As the FCC and Michael Powell son of General Colin Powell who heads it are in the process of deregulating the media and so we have seen this explosion of ownership, except I would say a concentration of ownership, owning 1400 radio stations in the country. They are sponsoring pro-war rallies and they are saying that music that is critical of war cannot be played and their pushing other kinds of songs and they're saying no political speech aloud. [emphasis mine]

Our mission is to make dissent commonplace in America so you're not surprised when you're at work, someone walks over to the water cooler and makes a comment and someone isn't shocked and says, "what's that all about?" but that it comes out of the finest tradition that built this country. People engaged in dissent. Dissent is what makes this country healthy. And the media has to fight for that and we have to fight for an independent media.

The UK media fairs no better -
Greasing up to power - A US comedian brings us closer to the truth than the BBC. Most of our journalists fail us.

The Cardiff study, for example, shows that 86% of the broadcast news reports that mentioned weapons of mass destruction during the invasion of Iraq "suggested Iraq had such weapons", while "only 14% raised doubts about their existence or possible use". The claim by British and US forces that Iraq had fired illegal Scud missiles into Kuwait was reported 27 times on British news programmes. It was questioned on just four occasions: once by Sky and three times by Channel 4 News. The BBC even managed to embellish the story: its correspondent Ben Brown suggested that the non-existent Scuds might have been loaded with chemical or biological warheads. Both the BBC (Ben Brown again) and ITN reported that British commanders had "confirmed" the phantom uprising in Basra on March 25. Though there was no evidence to support either position, there were twice as many reports claiming that the Iraqi people favoured the invasion as reports claiming that they opposed it. "Overall, considerably more time was given to the original [untrue] stories than to any subsequent retractions," the researchers found. [emphasis mine]

The Glasgow study shows that BBC and ITN news reports are biased in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians. Almost three times as much coverage is given to each Israeli death as to each Palestinian death. Killings by Palestinians are routinely described as "atrocities" and "murders", while Palestinians deliberately shot by Israeli soldiers have been reported as "caught in the crossfire". In the period the researchers studied, Israeli spokespeople were given twice as much time to speak as Palestinians. Both BBC and ITN reports have described the West Bank as part of Israel. By failing to explain that the Palestinians are living under military occupation, following the illegal seizure of their land, correspondents routinely reduce the conflict to an inexplicable "cycle of violence". Even this cycle is presented as being driven by the Palestinians: the Israelis are reported as "responding" or "retaliating" to Palestinian attacks; violence by the Palestinians is seldom explained as a response to attacks by Israelis. Both networks regularly claim that the US government is seeking peace in the region (ITN has described it as "even-handed") while omitting to mention that it is supplying some $3bn a year of military aid to Israel.

The BBC emerges very badly from these studies. The Cardiff report shows that it used US and British government sources more often than the other broadcasting networks, and used independent sources, such as the Red Cross, less often than the others. It gave the least coverage to Iraqi casualties, and was the least likely to report Iraqi unhappiness about the invasion. A separate study by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of news networks in five different countries showed that the BBC offered the least airtime of any broadcaster to opponents of the war: just 2% of its coverage. (Even ABC news in the United States gave them 7%) [emphasis mine]. Channel 4 News, by contrast, does well: it seems to be the only British network that has sought to provide a balanced account of these conflicts.

So why does this happen? Why do broadcasters (and newspapers) that have a reputation for balance, impartiality and even liberal bias side with the powerful? Analytical and investigative reporting has given way to breathless descriptions of troop movements and military technology. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this leaves the audience without the faintest idea of what's happening.

While you are rewarded for flattery, you are punished for courage. The US, British and Israeli governments can make life very difficult for media organisations that upset them, as the BBC found during the Gilligan affair. The Palestinians and the people of Iraq have much less lobbying power. The media are terrified of upsetting the Israeli government, for fear of being branded anti-semitic.

I love George Monbiot.

ATTENTION EVERYONE WHO DID NOT READ BEHIND THE CUT, THERE IS NON POLITICAL SHITE RIGHT HERE.

A couple of weeks ago I had to write a short 500 word essay on either "the biggest influence in my life" or "the pros and cons of being a mature student". Given that, as I've since found, I am the only 19 year old on my course, leading to the amusing tip-toeing of the way everyone refers to teenagers, the second option seemed illogical.

"By far the factor that I feel has had the biggest impact on how I feel about life is music. Humanities oldest artform is heard everywhere you go and can be applied to every moment of life. Even times when silence seems the best way to fit the mood, it means music has been taken into account – the fact that records have been known to have silent tracks and large empty gaps signifies the power of music or lack thereof.

Punk music in particular has very much shaped the way I’ve grown up to be. I think there’s a definite link between music fans and feeling the need to improve the world, and I think that works both ways. Art by its nature is liberal and humanitarian, because some of the best art strives to convey a message to improve situations. Art also often comes from suffering. Music is also one of the few universals. It can bond people, and help overcome differences. It can be used to convey a message to any person of any culture, race or nationality. People have been dancing to tribal beats for thousands of years."

The last 3 paragraphs were more a personal musical history account and frankly I feel a bit silly posting them. I like what I wrote above though.

This Revelation Records Sampler is fucking great.

Do not hate the media, become the media (or at least realise what they are doing to you when you watch it).

Lately I've been wishing I was braindead.

Wed, 29 Sep 2004 22:39:15 GMT

Well, I finally went to Satans on a Tuesday. What a shit night. Can't really blame the music to be fair. That free bar is death, I was rough as a badgers arse today, I crawled into college but had to come home (missing the fun world of Britains industrial revolution). Why are so many people slags. Fuck em.

I was walking home yesterday and this lorry knocked over a traffic light near my housing estate. Nice going, titface.

I have new hair. Photo from The Overdraught last night. From other angles it looks less silly than this.

Apologies to everyone who prefferred the messy canopy of the past 8 months.

The Beastie Boys have a date for the arena in December. It sold out in one day. Not impressed. But its 25 quid I'll save, though I'd like to see them.

So here's some drama. First of all, at work, at least half the workforce dislikes working with me, I hear through the grapevine. Haha. Go to hell. But even more hilarious: on Saturday, Mark, the manager, phones in sick, so me and Vicky are alone at the busiest part of the week. Fine with me. Apparently £100 was missing at the end of the day (I swear I didn't take it - though I have a feeling I may have left money aside at some point to do a cash drop, I might be wrong though). On Monday, Mark, mid-shift, just walks out of the shop. WALKED OUT. No-ones heard from him since. If he gets to keep his job back it will take the piss.

Perhaps Blair heard my rant from a few weeks ago, or at least part of it. Climate change: "no one nation alone can resolve it. It has no definable boundaries. Short of international action commonly agreed and commonly followed through, it is hard even for a large country to make a difference on its own." A very pleasant thing to read, he certainly talks the talk. It is, like his half apology over the war, and the fox hunting ban, an attempt to get youth voters back after the bad press of the past 2 years. But I don't care if it brings about some fucking essential changes.

Yes, that is right. I will be doing that DJing I mentioned ages ago. Em and I. I am shitting it slightly. But it's going to be free, and rammed most likely as its a new year. So, wish me luck. By the way I no way advocate the bombing of 'Crasher kids, we've had that debate more times than I care to think about.

I just realised the banner doesn't have the location on it. DUUUUH!

Last night an iPod read my mind.

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 04:07:32 GMT

I sit here and wonder why most of my updates happen between midnight and the early hours of the morning. I wonder if there's anything redeeming about being such a musical obsessive. It's not a good thing. I feel the need to be creative, to alter a pair of trainers, to change the way I look, change my journal layout, I feel so lazy.

Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the UK's mobile phone chargers is wasted energy? Only 5% is actually used to charge phones, the rest is used when the charger is plugged into the wall but not switched off at the socket. That's over 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided if we all just unplugged our chargers after use - the equivalent of almost 500 football pitches worth of forest every year.

If it were to apply to anyone here, something like this would be a great present on such an occasion.

"You'll remember how successful was Country Joe and the Fish's "Vietnam Rag" (1970) ("Be the first one on your block to get your son home in a box!") in putting an end to America's first great foreign adventure of modern times. Also, how Robert Wyatts's cover of Elvis Costello's anti-Falklands war song Shipbuilding inspired the Great British public to kick out Margaret Thatcher at the 1983 general election.

Once we accept that art changes nothing in the objective world of work, war and wages, we can recognise agit-pop's modest but precious contribution to the secret, undeniable worlds of the mass mood and the inner life. The greatest revolutions, someone said, don't blow society up, but leave it's institutions intact, yet emptied of truth. That's the kind of revolution that the best political popular music has had a hand in. It might not be the real thing, but it's better than nothing. A little, anyway."

- Kenneth Wright, writing for Product Magazine, in his article "Say You Want A Revolution?"

Is journalism a total waste of time? How arrogant is it to assume anyone wants to know your opinion? I'm questioning these things. An awful lot of people write things, and its mostly thankless work. I cant write like the people whose articles I read. Sometimes I dont even understand them. I've said it before, but grasp of language is an amazing asset. I want to watch Max with John Cusack. Politics + Art = Power.

Punk is an absolute waste of time, it encourages people to have an excuse to say fuck everything, because everything is shit.

I want to just smash a room up.

Coffee. Cigarette. Crossword. Elastica album. Cult films. Charity shops. Livejournals. Scraps of paper taken from £1.99 notebooks. Depression. Fucked hair. Revolution. Dressing gowns. Dentists. Traffic jams. Wallets. Photographs. PR Charity. Activists. Generic art. Air travel. Feeling overwhelmed. Peace. Love. Thoughts. Toasters. Lightbulbs. Dregs. Pickpockets. Tripods. Videos. Suicide. Baffledness. Quiet darkness. Owls. Mango trees. Apathy. Underwear. Beds. Corner shops. Caves. Bears. Students. Pencils. The written word. Evolution. The passing of time. History. Fields. Sun. Strangers you'll never forget. Baseball caps. Piers. Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Scottish political magazines. Trainspotting. Heroin. Windows. Glass. Pancakes. Newspapers. String. Shoes. Wiggling toes. Breaths on a cold evening. Hugs. Green. Logs. Bohemians. Poetry. Cardigans. Regionalism. Marble. Sense.

I just didnt know how to end that. I could have written that list forever. For once, analysing why I wrote that is the last thing I want to do.

Keep It Solid Steel.

Sat, 18 Sep 2004 05:46:54 GMT

Went to Jillys for the first time in a month last night. It was great to see so many people out, lots of the scumbags back for uni. Thought I'd have a better time than I did though, I'll never understand some people.

Today before I went home I had the sudden urge to buy some non-punk affiliated records (probably due to talking to Em for like 4 hours about Roadkill/Bomb Ibiza/The Toasters gig). Having seen an advert in the days Independent (I didnt buy it) and being the impressionable 19 year old white hetero male that I am, I went to Picadilly Records and got Mr Scruff's new mix album and Keep It Unreal (I should have gotten that ages ago shouldnt I!). I also got a Nightmares On Wax disc and some compilation called "Music Is Better: Volume One, Manchester Vs Helsinki". It's electronic artists, but I havent heard of any of them. It was mixed in Manchester but I dont know if it means the bands are all Finnish or half or what.

I can't believe people think my hairs grown so much since I last saw them... tossers:

(this is from last night, despite what the date says)

I do NOT look like FUCKING Pat Sharpe.

Though there is a documentary presently in at work called "The Mullet" - people think about this too much.

Descendents
Cool To Be You
2004
Fat Wreck Chords

It’s time once again to marvel at the aceness of the pencilled interpretation of Milo Aukerman on a Descendents release. After an excruciating 8 years, the Los Angeles punk legends have released a riff-rammed full length in Cool To Be You.

The song writing is split almost evenly between 3 of the members, bar guitarist Stephen Egerton. The band has never in their 25 years claimed to be about politics, and it would be a tragedy if they were. Instead they stick to their usual areas of expertise: Girls, high school, and things that suck (like stupid people). If you aren’t familiar with The Descendents, don’t be mistaken; this is no group of whiny floppy-haired fucksticks. Songs like “One More Day”, “Maddie” and “Anchor Grill” are as tuneful as ever – but they’re not quite as fast paced as previous Descendents love songs. There’s no stinkers here, but Aukerman’s classic voice is put to best use on the title track, “ ‘Merican” (the song Green Day SHOULD have written) and “Blast Off”. The familiarly titled “Mass Nerder” is arguably a little weak in comparison as the trademark fast and simple song (though it fails to be under 40 seconds). “Dry Spell” is the usual brilliant super-melodic album-ender.

The Descendents have had more line up changes and have broken up more times than you’d think a band could survive. Hopefully, this time, they won’t split up after they have rounded up yet another generation of eager new fans with this amazing record.

5/5

James Lamont.

Built From Scratch
Swin.Point.Five
2004
White label

The vision has become familiar for many of us. A plastic sleeve, a white piece of paper with a photocopied black drawing of some kind on it, and a CD-R – hand-written artist and title written on the CD optional. Whilst its annoying that snobby music collectors complain about the ease with which bands can release CD’s these days, given the advantages of computers, it has left some frankly terrible demo’s floating around. Well thankfully “Swin.Point.Five” doesn’t fall into this category.

They may share initials with Bowling For Soup, but don’t hold that against them. Far from being “Punk Rock 101”, Built From Scratch sound like they have done just that – made their own sound using influences, not cookie-cutter copies of generic US style pop-punk bands. The 4 track demo starts with the upbeat winter noise of “Messed Up”, which does the difficult task of sounding like anxious melodic pop without coming across as whiny attentionseeking gobshite. “GFY” and “Thirty-Two Blew Out” continue with fast paced head bopping skate-pop. “Dot Cotton”, as you might guess from the title, is obviously about having sex with the old biddy from Eastenders. It’s funny. Once. Otherwise it feels like it’s somewhat tagged on at the end. But credit to a band that endorses lycra and the Bob Monkhouse Memorial fund!

You can hear the songs from the demo at http://www.purevolume.com/builtfromscratch, find out more about the band at www.builtfromscratch.net and have a look at the gigs section for upcoming gigs in Manchester, Stockport and Norwich.

3/5

James Lamont.

The Filaments
…What’s Next
2004
Household Name Records

Poised only to gain on the attention they’ve received in the past 18 months, The Filaments release this perfectly timed album which puts them in the spotlight as one of Britains most interesting underground punk bands.

Alongside other up-and-comers like Freaks Union and BloodMuthaFucker Filamoamers brothers Yo! (The Foamers to you and me), The Filaments are putting British balls back into our ska. Some would say the current wave of 77 style bands are incredibly one-dimensional like those of the original movement. Whether you think that’s a debate worth having, bands such as The Filaments are making boots stomp across the land. Their trombone-tinged songs about nationalism, Corporatism, drug decriminalisation and “Bastard Coppers” (as one-dimensional as punk comes, but so damn catchy) may be simple, but straight to the point on how absurd some of the things that happen in our world are. “B.P.C” is the amazingly tuneful show of beer-fuelled punk solidarity. The Essex 6-piece’s first full-length feels like a complete package from the machinery start up of “Sick Joke” to the proudly confident system destroyer shown in ending track “The Farce”. There’s even a good dub track in the middle to break it all up. Sadly there is no “Hiroshima” style intensely pissed-off track, but that might have broken the flow of the disc.

Like all HHN releases, this album claims to be Carbon neutral (http://www.futureforests.com). Evidently “What’s Next” is a big question, and the idealism contained on the CD might be just the reassurance we all need.

4/5

James Lamont.

(yes I know the trombonist left, bah).

What is it good for...

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 03:33:10 GMT

Fuck you Tony Blair, you are a warmongering, privatising, lying piece of shit. Fuck the fact that you sent over ten thousand soldiers into Iraq, for NOTHING. Fuck the fact that you wouldnt allow them to even be adequately equipped. Fuck the fact that a large percentage of your own government were completely dubious or against the very idea of war. Fuck the fact that on the eve of the war, your OWN foreign secretary said he had a bad feeling about it, and your saying "we're too far in now.". Fuck your inability to listen to what the majority of the country said, and have the balls to stand by it like the leaders of Spain and other coalition members that have since pulled out of the war. Fuck that you refuse to pull out - I mean, what the hell is your plan? Are you taking the whole world down with your ship? Fuck that even attempting to leave such a cheaply run war will result in mass bloodshed for everyone involved. I cant believe 10% of my parents taxes go towards this BULLSHIT. When you talk of compassion, is this what you think? 40,000 dead people? When we elected you because of your "family values", is this what we elected you for? CHILDREN WITH THEIR ARMS BLOWN OFF AND DEAD PARENTS? 3 years ago when you said we had to eradicate evil from our world, is this how you intended to do it? Do you not consider torture photos, rape, and compliance with a stupidly fascist administration evil in any way? Fuck that I havent heard you say a word on the Sudan crisis, where over a million people have lost their homes, and over 50,000 people are DEAD, despite the fact that humanitarian aid was one of the main reaons we went to Iraq. Fuck that you allow David Blunket to pass draconian strangleholds over asylum seekers, cutting their legal aid, cutting their right to a TRANSLATOR when pleading their case. Is that what you meant by compassion? Fuck that if they do get asylum status, they usually have to re-do their degree, or get a job running a chip shop, a kebab shop, or one of those "paki newsagents". Fuck this continued allowance of US atomic weaponry and spying bases to be on our land despite the so called "war on terror". Fuck that you have passed absurd education fees, meaning masses of people like my own family, might not be able to afford University. Is this what your family values are? Fuck that your government scrapped a half complete transport system for Manchester in favour of chasing the Olympics and furthur fostered a regional social divide, both in our minds and in our pockets. Fuck that you are taking absolutely no leadership on the Kyoto Protocol and global warming for fear of upsetting Washington. Fuck that our nurses, teachers and firefighters are protesting insufficient pay and you arent giving their unions room to move. Fuck that you brought money into our politics on such an absurd scale in comparison to before with your party donations. Fuck all your holidays to Greece with your children whilst other peoples children are on holiday in Basra. Fuck the insane waiting lists that have grown in your 7 years for the health service for incredibly basic operations - which of course are no problem, AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO GO PRIVATE.

It makes me sick that you were supposed to be an alternative. It makes me sick that after almost 20 years of Conservative destruction, you were supposed to be a new hope. Sticking "New" in front of the party name, that was one of the cleverest forms of false advertising ever devised. Like things were actually going to change, like your cabinet was really going to do something about the horrible unfair wealth distribution and class system we've ALWAYS had.

Who is going to be our alternative to you? I wish I knew.

And fuck the fact that despite all this, you wont even apologise. Nevertheless, most of us want you to.

Dear James Lamont

If you have already made a donation to this appeal, then thank you very much for making the 'Just say sorry, Tony' campaign possible.

If you have not yet made a gift, then I hope you will consider my request today.

As you may know, we are lobbying for Tony Blair to use his conference speech to 'Just Say Sorry' for involving Britain in the US-led invasion of Iraq under false justifications.

'Just Say Sorry, Tony' is not just about an apology. The campaign is about our Prime Minister recognising that he misled the country and as a result further undermined trust in democratic politics.

The final report of the Iraq Survey Group, to be published within the next two weeks, will conclude that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the US-UK invasion.

A personal apology is the first step in making Mr Blair accountable for his actions to the British and Iraqi people. 'Just Say Sorry' gives ordinary people who remain angry about Iraq a clear opportunity to send a reminder to the Prime Minister that they have not forgotten.

It is fantastic that we have managed to raise sufficient funds to print the Just Say Sorry postcards that are so important to this campaign, but now we need to ensure that we can cover the costs of distributing them where they will have the greatest impact.

£25.29 from you will help us place 1,000 postcards in The Independent on Sunday.

You can make a donation quickly and easily at:
http://www.owos.info/make_a_donation/donate.php

Please send an online donation now, so we can deluge Tony Blair with postcards. Alternatively, please send a cheque to: Our World Our Say, FREEPOST, LON15893, London SE24 0BR

Thank you in advance for whatever you can give and for your ongoing support of Our World Our Say.

Yours sincerely,

Dame Anita Roddick
On behalf of Our World Our Say

"Thank you to all those who have already supported our forthcoming Just Say Sorry campaign. We have already raised enough to cover the costs of printing 200,000 postcards. Now we need your help so that as many people as possible can have their say. £25.29 from you will help us place 1,000 postcards in The Independent on Sunday. After just one week, we have raised £9,300. Can you help us with this critical campaign?"

I'll show you around this old alphabet town.

Tue, 07 Sep 2004 12:37:05 GMT

It's funny how such different scenes can make you feel nostalgic in such different ways, when they're only twelve hours apart. Last night I was sitting at the metro stop waiting for a tram. Everywhere just seemed really quiet. It sounds really sentimental and frankly inaccurate, but I had this vision of looking across the platform and seeing a friend, or at least someone, that I went to school or sixth form with. I suddenly felt far too old to be living here. It wasn't the feeling that I wished I was in University like half the people I went to school with, it was just that feeling you get sometimes when you wish that time wouldn't move on.

I tell you what, I wouldnt mind being back in school sometimes. Before I became a massive academic failure. Seems like a lifetime ago.

The other time was just this morning, with the sun shining (I blame the weather and the season on these stupid emotions we get). It was kindof a similar feeling, but it felt good. We humans are so fickle.

I'm just waiting to hear back from college, as it happens. They start really late, the 20th of September - goes to show the quality of education we're talking here. Yes, that. Anyone who read my journal last summer will know I held a great deal of hope for my National Diploma at Stockport. This year I hold no such hope. Not only because the college is about 100 times easier to get into, but because last year felt like something I really thought might be the right direction. It wasn't, and now it feels more like I'm just trying yet another thing to see if I can find some direction. It doesn't bother me, I mean at least I'm doing something and not sodding around like I have done since June. It just doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore. Education is important. But it doesnt seem to me like it should be the central thing in my life, as they always try to make you percieve it. I'm building my knowledge of how the world works, I'm building a reputation as a journalist and a part of the music scene should I ever choose to take any of those paths. I do have things going for me, I dont feel worthless just because I have almost no qualifications to show for the last 3 years. Not that there's anything major really filling in that void, other than generally enjoying living - but think about it, which is more important?

Maybe this time next year I'll be in university, working my arse off, eating these words. I don't care if I am. If I'm there next year at least I'll know I've found something I want to do. I refuse to go just because its the next stage of the plan. Like I said, its not a life or death decision and shouldn't be for anybody.

My brother apologised for kicking me. After two days or so, granted, but he did. Hah, hes going to the same college. Doing a football teaching course, ey? As long as he's happy. BUT he gets paid for it. Me, having always lived in the same house as him, and having done 4 years of college, has never been paid, and now wont be because me is too old. I'm getting him to pay me back now, goddamnit (£40 is his bill).

They're hiring at The Music Box. But they want bar staff for Thursday Friday and Saturday night. Bollocks in hell to that.

You know what's pathetic? Only around a month ago did I find out I'm a quarter Irish. Well it never really got mentioned that my grandad was 100% Irish, I wasn't surprised to find there was some in me. Apparently he hated the Irish. Obviously he couldn't afford to get very far, Irelands like a stones throw away. And obviously it didnt go so fantasically because he got drafted on the first day of the second world war because he was 21! Haha. What am I saying, how very anti-war of me. Fucking mining town.

Sun, 05 Sep 2004 00:28:35 GMT

TEN STEPS TO A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE - OILCRASH.COM

Including:

The Case for Nuclear Power
For years now we hear of the "Renaissance of Nuclear Power". But market shares of nuclear power are dwindling — and where are the advantages? The high costs of nuclear power have not disappeared since the sixties and seventies. Even the pro-nuclear Bush Administration admits that the costs of nuclear energy exceed those of wind energy, for example.

Hydrogen: Another Bush Policy Smokescreen
Biofuels are traditional hot topics, but battery cars and compressed air cars deserve a closer look than hydrogen. If renewable electricity from solar, wind or hydro is available from a 90%-efficient intercontinental power grid, and air tank or battery losses (loading-unloading) are in the range of 20 percent, and recuperative braking is applied, an overall car efficiency of 50 percent or more appears attainable — a great leap from today’s gas guzzlers or from hydrogen car’s “well-to-wheel” or “power-plant-to-wheel” efficiency in the range of 9 to 22 percent.

Ten Necessary Steps for Sustainable Energy

The Switch from "Chemical Fuels" to "Physical Fuels"

Fig. 17 sea depths in Northern and Baltic sea

The potential of wind power is indeed enormous: All the electricity consumed by the former European Union (EU-15) could be produced, with two 5 MW turbines positioned per km2, in an offshore area of 200 km x 200 km, shown by the polygon in the left half of Figure 17 around the so called Dogger Bank, an extensive flat sandbank between England on the west and Denmark on the east, with a depth between 18 and 40 m only. For stability of supply one will of course avoid putting all these turbines in one place; a more decentralized location strategy with variety of renewable sources will be more practical.

Recently, wind power enjoyed dramatic cost reductions. In many locations the generation cost of electricity from new wind power plants are lower than those of new coal or nuclear-fueled plants of equivalent-capacity. Compared with natural gas-fueled plants, European wind power installations deliver energy at equal cost. In the US the cost advantage for wind is even greater.
The economics of wind power are remarkable: investment costs of fairly less than 1euro/watt, short building times (2-20 weeks), winter and summer production peaks (depending on location), global availability, no emissions, no fuels and disposal costs, low maintenance requirements and steadily falling generation costs thanks to increasingly efficient installations and mass production. Wind power is fully immune to oil and gas price fluctuations. Wind hedging is gaining in importance on the US power market because natural gas, the widely preferred power plant fuel supply, is declining and experiencing alarming price rises and fluctuations.

Fig. 19: Potential annual electricity production of wind turbines
in Europe and ist neighbourhood in full load hours [FLH] per year

Maps of European wind conditions reveal that the continent’s present electric power consumption could be supplied 100-fold with onshore installations alone; offshore installations add enormous additional capacity. Denmark, Germany, and Great Britain are eagerly developing these technologies for delivering clean, inexhaustible electric power that is inexpensive after the initial investment is amortized. The full replacement of conventional electric energy by renewable-source energy is possible, promising lower costs than today’s fossil-fuel derived power, not to speak of energy from new nuclear facilities.

Thu, 02 Sep 2004 01:07:38 GMT

Hmm. Brother gave me a concussion earlier. Fucked up. Stamped on my head. Fuckin.. for some reason I wanted a record of this but I dont know what I wanted to say. Stupid fuck up, fucked up his GCSE's, did worse than I did, which was NOT what should have happened.

The little BASTARD. There is no need for violence in this world of ours! Our ma was just trying to talk to the little work shy twat about his future, considering he has a college interview tomorrow.

I have no reason for writing this, its worse than trying to write a drunk entry. I still cant really remember what the fucks going on.

x.