Blah Blah Flowers

2009-11-01T11:33:00.002Z

It may be a coincidence but the Evening Standard doesn't seem to have published anything by Nirpal Dhaliwal since it went free. One of the last things, so far, he wrote for them is this column, and I can't tell if he's joking or sincere...

Evening Standard: Honesty puts my ex-wife in a league of her own
-August 5, 2009

MY ex-wife, Liz Jones, has a new book out this week, The Exmoor Files: How I Lost a Husband and Found Rural Bliss. In it she gives her version of our marital break-up two years ago, which she documented in her newspaper columns, and her experience of moving to the country afterwards.

It was excruciating to have my dirty linen aired like that but I'd been an appallingly unfaithful husband and to some extent felt it was her prerogative to badmouth me in public. Like the mistakes I made in my marriage, it was an experience I never want to repeat.

I now look back on Liz's work and am awed by the phenomenon she created. She turned the genre of confessional journalism almost into an art form and made a name for herself in the process. Detailing the intimacies of her private and emotional life with brutal frankness, her columns had a pace, turn of phrase and expectancy that any novelist would be proud of.

Uncomfortable as it was to be her subject, I could never fault the quality of her writing.

Others disagree. Last Sunday, one magazine published a disdainful interview describing her as looking "a bit mad", implying that her writing stemmed from a mental disorder.

When we were married, I sometimes called Liz mad too. I now acknowledge that she is, in fact, a genius, a brilliantly effective writer who can provoke 130,000 comments to a newspaper with a single article about her anorexic relationship with food.

Some dismiss her work because much of it focuses on herself, but the same is true of many journalists, diarists, even novelists. And how many other writers have tapped the public nerve so powerfully and consistently? Though her columns concentrated on our marriage, they recorded a unique moment in the history of women as they finally flood through the cracks in glass ceilings in unprecedented numbers. Liz articulated the anxieties of a successful woman who out-earned her husband and sacrificed motherhood for her career yet still felt pressured to conform to idealised notions of beauty and achieve the mythical state of "having it all". Her success reflects the increasing feminisation of our culture, in which women's interests in relationships and domestic life compete equally for attention with male concerns.

On topics such as multiculturalism, female empowerment and the neuroses of consumer society, other columnists pontificate loftily without insight. Liz, however, took readers on a unique journey through the reality of these issues via the nitty-gritty of her mixed-race marriage to a less accomplished younger man me. Her columns were compulsive reading.

Other writers have boosted their careers by penning what poses as the highly confessional while omitting detail to spare themselves ridicule, such as the fact that a husband's affair was actually with another man, or publicising the trauma of giving birth to a sickly child without admitting that booze and fags were enjoyed throughout the pregnancy.

It is Liz's merciless honesty that put her in a league of her own and I readily acknowledge it, even when the honesty hurt me. Like that other great columnist, Julie Burchill, she provokes adoration and hatred for daring to unveil the darker side of the female psyche. Julie confessed she felt nothing for her first child, while Liz admitted that she feels superior to others simply for being thinner.

Like her readers, Liz's critics are overwhelmingly women. But however strange they think she is, they can't deny that she has pioneered new limits for journalism and has the sort of hold on the public imagination particularly of women that most writers can only dream of.

Of course, Nirpal does not mention that he lacks Liz's 'merciless honesty', that he not only called her 'mad' but also 'fatty' and that he still calls her for money.

2009-10-13T06:10:00.003Z

The Spectator, of all magazines, is reporting that the Guardian has been prevented from reporting on a question asked in Parliament, including who asked it, who will answer it, who injuncted the Guardian and why. Never mind, other people not yet having had proceedings taken out against them seem to think it's Carter-Ruck, a collection of lawyers that, as regular Private Eye readers will know, make Wolfram and Hart look like fucking Aslan.

The article reports this as being their best guess at being the offending question.

From Parliament.uk, “Questions for Oral or Written Answer beginning on Tuesday 13 October 2009″

(292409)
61
N Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme): To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.

And here is the Guardian article on that Minton report. So yeah, Carter-Ruck seem to have managed to stop a newspaper reporting on business in Government about press freedoms to report when big companies massively fuck-up and then try to hide the evidence. Let everyone know, yeah?

These injunctions-which-include-you-not-being-allowed-to-tell-people-that-there's-an-injunction-against-you are worrying, even if they tend not to work on the Internet. Andrew Marr, the BBC journo, has one which is apparently about him fathering a child with a journalist he had an affair with.

2009-10-11T09:22:00.003Z

Posting this on behalf of others, so I am not one of the 'we', though I know some of them and support all of them:

London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th

We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183

The description of the event reads:

"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"

A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.

These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".

In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.

To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.

In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.

Please spread this open letter widely.

Roz Kaveney has more information here and Aunty Sarah here.

2009-10-09T20:10:00.003Z

It worries me to be seen to agree with conservatives so instead I will simply say "It is my intention to bring peace to the whole world. Can I have my Nobel Peace Prize now?"

2009-10-03T09:54:00.001Z

Lily Allen has been saying some very silly things about piracy recently. Dan Bull has a response. [via Bloggerheads]

2009-10-02T05:23:00.000Z

Johann Hari gets it spot on: If we care about the BBC, we must fight to defend it.

2009-09-30T09:08:00.002Z

I am a gadfly flapping around in the wind of public opinion or somewhat, so needed Kate Harding to remind me that Roman Polanski drug-raped a child and was then a fugitive from justice for thirty years, not a victim of cruel and unusual prejudice. She presents some especially inglorious highlights from the 'OMG!!1! Will no-one think of the poor persecuted rich artist who has been able to get on with his career in Europe' crowd. She points to Joan Shore at HuffPo who, in what I hope is a satirical piece, says that while she doesn't mind about the Swiss Banks holding on to all that looted Nazi gold what she can't stand is their police seizing a rapist. A surprising number of film directors and producers seem to share this view, including Henning Molfenter, who is quoted as saying "There is no way I'd go to Switzerland now. You can't watch films knowing Roman Polanski is sitting in a cell 5km away". Then there is Whoopi Goldberg, who doesn't think nonconsensual sex with a minor is rape. Bernard-Henri Lévy manages to sum up the issue in the pompous manner we all love the French for, We ask the Swiss courts to free him immediately and not to turn this ingenious filmmaker into a martyr of a politico-legal imbroglio that is unworthy of two democracies like Switzerland and the United States. Good sense, as well as honor, require it. Yep, it's dishonourable to pursue a felon for a crime they pleaded guilty to. Fortunately not everyone on HuffPo wants to give a pass to artists.

There's more from Kate Harding here.

If you like that sort of thing, there's a Facebook group here.

Solidarity with Serbian LGBT Demo

2009-09-26T18:25:00.002Z

Solidarity with Serbian LGBT Demo
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Text Adventure Pop Songs

2009-09-22T18:15:00.003Z

I'm not sure if I've invented a meme or rediscovered an old one, but pop music in the style of those old text-driven adventure games. Ok Go!

Common People by Pulp.

>LEAVE GREECE

She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge

>GET PLANE TO HEATHROW
>GET TRAIN TO LONDON
>GET TUBE TO HOLBORN
>EXIT TUBE STATION
>N
>ENTER Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
>ENROL ON SCULPTURE COURSE

She studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College

>LOOK
>EXAMINE TALL AND POOR LOOKING MAN

That's where I caught her eye

>SAY TO MAN "MY DAD HAS LOTS OF MONEY"

She told me that her Dad was loaded
I said "In that case I'll have rum and coca-cola

>SAY TO MAN "FINE"

She said "fine"

>WAIT
>WAIT
>WAIT

And then in 30 seconds time she said

>BEGIN CLASS TOURISM

"I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people do
I want to sleep with common people
I want to sleep with common people like you"

>WAIT

Well what else could I do?
I said "I'll see what I can do"

>LEAVE Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
>S
>ENTER Sainsburys

I took her to a supermarket

>SAY TO MAN "WHY ARE WE HERE?"

I don't know why
but I had to start it somewhere
so it started there
I said "pretend you've got no money"

>LAUGH

but she just laughed

>SAY TO MAN "Oh YOU'RE SO FUNNY"

and said "oh you're so funny"
I said "Yeah
Well I can't see anyone else smiling in here
Are you sure
you want to live like common people
you want to see whatever common people see
you want to sleep with common people
you want to sleep with common people like me?"

>SAY TO MAN "PARDON?"

But she didn't understand

>SMILE
>GET HIS HAND

she just smiled and held my hand

>BUY A COPY OF LOOT
>EXAMINE LOOT
>ARRANGE VIEWING OF PROPERTIES ABOVE SHOPS WITH LOW WEEKLY RENT
>ARRANGE TENANCY CONTRACT FOR PROPERTY

Rent a flat above a shop

>VISIT HAIRDRESSERS
>HAVE HAIR CUT
>VISIT JOB CENTRE
>SIGN ON JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE

Cut your hair and get a job

>VISIT NEWSAGENTS
>BUY CIGARETTES
>SMOKE CIGARETTES
>VISIT POOL HALL
>PLAY POOL

Smoke some fags and play some pool

>DROP THE LETTER 'H' FROM SPEECH
>MIS-SPELL WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS

Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right

>GO TO BED

'cos when you're laid in bed at night

>EXAMINE WALLS

watching roaches climb the wall

>CONSIDER PHONING FATHER

if you called your dad he could stop it all
yeah
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
and then dance and drink and screw
because there's nothing else to do

>VISIT PUB IN A WORKING CLASS AREA
>SING

Sing along with the common people
Sing along and it might just get you through

>LAUGH

Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along although they're laughing at you

>DO SOMETHING STUPID

and the stupid things that you do

>THINK 'POOR IS COOL'

because you think that poor is cool
Like a dog lying in a corner
they will bite you and never warn you
Look out
they'll tear your insides out

>VISIT A&E DEPARTMENT
>ASK NURSE FOR TREATMENT FOR BITES
>ASK NURSE FOR RABIES SHOT

'cos everybody hates a tourist
especially one who thinks

>LAUGH AT A&E
>GO TO WORK
>LAUGH
>GO TO FLAT
>LAUGH
>GO TO POOL HALL
>LAUGH
>LEAVE HURRIEDLY

it's all such a laugh

>GO TO FLAT
>PREPARE BATH

yeah and the chip stains and grease

>WASH OFF CHIP STAINS
>WASH OFF GREASE

will come out in the bath

>UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH NO MEANING OR CONTROL AND WITH NOWHERE LEFT TO GO
(fail)
>UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH NO MEANING OR CONTROL AND WITH NOWHERE LEFT TO GO
(fail)
>UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH NO MEANING OR CONTROL AND WITH NOWHERE LEFT TO GO
(fail)
>UNDERSTAND HOW IT FEELS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH NO MEANING OR CONTROL AND WITH NOWHERE LEFT TO GO
(fail)

You will never understand
how it feels to live your life
with no meaning or control
and with nowhere left to go

>GIVE UP
>BE AMAZED AT HOW WONDERFUL THE WORKING CLASS PEOPLE ARE

You are amazed that they exist
and they burn so bright
whilst you can only wonder why

>BUY A COPY OF LOOT
>EXAMINE LOOT
>ARRANGE VIEWING OF DIFFERENT PROPERTIES ABOVE SHOPS WITH LOW WEEKLY RENT
>ARRANGE TENANCY CONTRACT FOR A NEW PROPERTY

Rent a flat above a shop

>VISIT HAIRDRESSERS
>HAVE ANOTHER HAIR CUT
>VISIT JOB CENTRE
>SIGN ON JOB SEEKERS
>LISTEN AS IT'S EXPLAINED THAT SIGNING ON TO JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE TWICE IS 'FRAUD'
>APOLOGISE

Cut your hair and get a job

>VISIT NEWSAGENTS
>BUY CIGARETTES
>SMOKE CIGARETTES
>VISIT POOL HALL
>PLAY POOL

Smoke some fags and play some pool

>DROP THE LETTER 'H' FROM SPEECH
>MIS-SPELL WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS

Pretend you never went to school
But still you'll never get it right

>GO TO BED

'cos when you're laid in bed at night

>EXAMINE WALLS

watching roaches climb the wall

>CONSIDER PHONING FATHER

if you called your dad he could stop it all
yeah
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do whatever common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
and then dance and drink and screw
'because there's nothing else to do
I want to live with common people like you.....

>STOP CLASS TOURISM

2009-09-21T19:43:00.000Z

It is race.

Crane Park Nature Reserve

2009-09-13T19:34:00.005Z

Crane Park Nature Reserve
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Crane Park Nature Reserve

2009-09-13T19:34:00.004Z

Crane Park Nature Reserve
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-09-05T08:42:00.002Z

Some humour for Saturday morning. Keith Olberman goes after Glenn Beck and it's hilarious.

And there's more.

2009-09-04T11:57:00.001Z

2009-09-04T11:04:00.004Z

I'm interested in this report from the New York Times that Conservative parents in Houston don't want President Obama to give a speech at their children's school, not so much for that , I tend to think these kind of nuts have always existed and that, possibly goosed by Karl Rove during the Shrubya years, mainstream media will quite happily give vastly disproportionate mention to Conservative craziness to fill column space (have the Birthers gone away yet?). But what caught my eye was this:

"The thing that concerned me most about it was it seemed like a direct channel from the president of the United States into the classroom, to my child," said Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland, Tex., who said he would keep his three children home.

"I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement."

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this fear of infection a purely right-wing thing? Left-wingers will barrack or ignore or walk out on someone they disagree with, I can see opponents of Shrubya pulling their kids because they don't want them used in a poster moment for the war, or because they don't believe Shrubya won the election in 2000 or so on, but I don't think we've ever heard them say "Little Britney went to hear George W. Bush and now she believes that God is telling her to invade next door to liberate their puppy and toys".

So is this exactly the same impulse which one's political culture educates them to react in a specific way? I'm not saying that everyone who is a Conservative reacts like this and all left-wingers behave the opposite, I'm talking about what might just be small groups on either side and I'm probably trying to speak of groups too small to really statistically matter.

2009-08-30T09:25:00.002Z

Scientific American has an article on the evolutionary history of depression, as the article states, although depression isn't just a problem for the young, surely by now we would have evolved our way away from such problems if they were just brain malfunctions.

So what could be so useful about depression? Depressed people often think intensely about their problems. These thoughts are called ruminations; they are persistent and depressed people have difficulty thinking about anything else. Numerous studies have also shown that this thinking style is often highly analytical. They dwell on a complex problem, breaking it down into smaller components, which are considered one at a time.

This analytical style of thought, of course, can be very productive. Each component is not as difficult, so the problem becomes more tractable. Indeed, when you are faced with a difficult problem, such as a math problem, feeling depressed is often a useful response that may help you analyze and solve it. For instance, in some of our research, we have found evidence that people who get more depressed while they are working on complex problems in an intelligence test tend to score higher on the test.

The snarky side of me suggests that the article is arguing that all mathematicians should immediately be put in mental hospitals before they slit their wrists and that all those scientists who said that quantum theory was 'mindblowing' weren't talking in metaphor. But then six or seven years ago, when I was less of the happy bunny you see before you today, I found writing a lot easier than I do today and that a big mental Iron Curtain of a block has been raised as I developed techniques to either deal with or avoid bouts with the Black Dog. Seeing as Winter is a more difficult time for me I have been pondering doing the opposite of what I do normally and actually follow the habits that tended to lead to depression and see whether it actually has a corresponding increase in my creativity once more. I'm not saying 'great depression is necessary for great art', more like 'a little moodiness is necessary to write piddling little stories'.

Fuck PETA Part #1305

2009-08-25T18:51:00.002Z

PETA calls all overweight people 'whales'. Seriously, this makes me want to go out and hunt foxes. To break their legs and watch them die slow, agonising deaths. While wringing the necks of baby chickens. Before smearing myself all over with duck liver pate. I mean, why don't PETA just put out a press statement saying 'Dear World, we all think you're arseholes' and then slit their throats so their astral forms can go join the vegetarian spaceship? I can only assume that PETA are actually a huge prank being played on the world by Chris Morris. Oh sure, he says he's making a movie, but who really knows what he's up to?

London Mela 2009, I'm Going to Marry That Girl

2009-08-18T06:33:00.002Z

London Mela 2009, I'm Going to Marry That Girl
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

London Mela 2009, Joga and Parichay

2009-08-18T06:32:00.002Z

London Mela 2009, Joga and Parichay
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

London Mela 2009

2009-08-18T06:31:00.005Z

London Mela 2009
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

London Mela 2009

2009-08-18T06:31:00.004Z

London Mela 2009
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-08-13T17:00:00.002Z

I don't think there's much point saying anything about the whole health plan nonsense in America because it does seem that everyone against it is a dick. I'm sorry, it's not particularly incisive political commentary but I've yet to see anyone open their mouth or put key to keyboard against it who has not them proceeded to prove themselves to be an arse of the highest district. In the meantime, Stephen Hawking, ha ha ha!

2009-08-09T09:18:00.002Z

The Daily Mail produce one of their typical hatchet jobs on Harriet Harman for daring to suggest something should be done to try and stop domestic violence against women and Liberal Conspiracy retort with what is probably the best response so far. Mailwatch goes into the detail of the Mail report.

Mail: The Government claims that violence against women is costing Britain an astonishing £40billion. It has emerged they are carrying out five separate reviews into the causes and how women can be better protected. This is despite evidence showing that boys and young men are more than twice as likely to fall victim to violence, and that young women are becoming increasingly aggressive.

Mailwatch: The Mail is trying to destroy the feminist arguement by shouting that boys are a bigger victim than girls and Harriet is just looking after the girls. But just like any comparison, it needs to be like for like and this is not it. Boys and men are victims of domestic violence too, but not in the same numbers as women. It would be good if boys as victims were included in this report too, they may well be, but to try and beat Harman with the feminist stick by making incompatible comparisons between these two levels of victims is wrong.

A quarter of all violent assaults in England and Wales are carried out by women, and it is the most common reason for females to be arrested, recently overtaking theft and handling stolen goods.

So three quarters of all violent assaults are carried out by men.

Liberal Conspiracy: The plans are being rolled out despite evidence showing that boys and young men are more than twice as likely to fall victim to violence, and that it is in fact young women who are becoming increasingly mean: a staggering 25% of all violent assaults in England and Wales are carried out by vicious ladette women, and it is the most common reason for females to be arrested.

The other 75% of violent assaults are thought to be carried out by transvestites and gays, not men.

2009-08-07T20:03:00.002Z

ID cards haven't been issued yet and already they can be cloned in under a quarter of an hour.

Not Safe For Work, Not Safe For Sanity

2009-08-02T08:57:00.002Z

Have you ever wanted to see portraits of a naked President Obama riding a unicorn while fighting with Stalin, the Russian Bear and Newt Gingrich (I think) while Gregory House and Ugly Betty look on? You have? Weirdo.

2009-08-02T07:27:00.002Z

This article is classic Liz Jones, even though it's being written by someone else. There is just that indefinable something about her that, as the details of her sad life are laid out before us once again, just as we start to feel sorry for her there is some hateful detail that derails the whole process. She does it to herself, she does, and that's what really hurts... She has a clutch of emotional issues which, when turned inwards, help sustain her as an anorexic, low self-esteem and a feeling that she is unlovable. But they are also projected outwards into how she views everyone so that there's no real understanding or empathy when she hurts other people (such as calling her sister an 'alcoholic'). If the cliché for comedians is that they are crying inside then the cliché for Liz Jones is that she writes about beauty and beautiful things because inside she's aware of her own ugliness.

2009-07-25T09:26:00.002Z

The Race to the Clouds is an annual event where drivers must drive up over 4700 feet of the Pikes Peak mountain in Colorado. Near the bottom the road is regular tarmac, as things get higher, not so much. Even if you don't care much for cars, you'll still find this amazing.

[via Autopia]

2009-07-24T05:57:00.002Z

Bloomsbury Press put a white girl on the cover of a book about a black girl because 'black covers don't sell'. Is anyone else flashing back to the NME and Melody Maker explaining that they never put black artists and groups on the front cover because that would supposedly automatically drop their sales by tens of thousands each time they did it?

Wall, 'Seizure' by Roger Hiorns

2009-07-23T20:18:00.002Z

Wall, 'Seizure' by Roger Hiorns, Harper Road Newington
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Artangel are reopening Roger Hiorns 'Seizure' in Newington. It was originally open before Christmas so at least now as you queue for three hours to see it the weather will be warm and you can try for heatstroke instead of frostbite.

I must say I wasn't that impressed when I went to see it, not least because Hiorns copper sulphate solution budget ran out after doing what was probably the bedroom and the bathroom leaving the large main room and kitchen untouched, also that the rooms had been emptied of furniture before all this so visitors were looking at crystals growing on bare walls. Sure it's pretty and you have to admire the process but it was somewhat underwhelming and I doubt time has added much to the charm.

Telstar

2009-07-22T20:32:00.002Z

Joe Meek Plaque
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

The second entry into the terribly exclusive canon of 'films about dead gay men with four letter surnames that begin with 'M' and end with 'K'', Telstar seemed to vanish from the cinemas surprisingly quickly for a film that had posters up in the underground. Still, the Prince Charles had one showing this weekend and I found out just in time, popped along and got a ticket for only four pounds, which is what they charge all non-members. I'd been there before, years ago, for 'Jeremy Hardy Versus the Israeli Army' but for ticket prices like that, I must pay more attention to them in future. Support independent cinemas!

'Telstar' is the story of the productive and final few years of the life of Joe Meek, a talented but unstable record producer from the middle of the last century. From the flat over a shop that he converted into a recording studio he produced songs that would become genre classics, only to finish it all bankrupt, paranoid, depressed and with a shotgun bullet through the back of the skull.

'Telstar' starts with about twenty-five minutes that is comedy gold as we see the chaos Meek already lives in, and ends with forty-five harrowing minutes as we see his total mental collapse, fuelled by drugs, the homophobic era he lives in, bad luck and his galloping ego pushing away almost everyone who could have saved him. However, it would be charitable to say the script is uneven and badly paced, through the first half of the film we have several flash-forwards towards what happens near the end, at the end we have some flash-backs towards some events in his childhood, both are unnecessary and disrupt the flow, especially the flash-backs as they are just an illustration of something Joe describes earlier in the film about a childhood encounter with phosphorous. I know biographical films have always chosen to concentrate on some key point in their subject's life but 'Telstar' never really gives much of a suggestion that Joe Meek didn't just magically appear on the Holloway Road in his early Thirties. Interestingly, despite the fact that the script keeps Meek in his studio for the bulk of the film no effort is made to suggest a claustrophobia to this, sure people throw things about every now and then but it generally seems a pleasant environment even when Joe is trying to summon the devil or is smashing and burning all his possessions. However, without those closest to Meek available to give their opinions of the man and those still going (like Chas from Chas and Dave) unlikely to be favourable, an endeavour like this is bound to be more writer's guesswork than grounded in verifiable fact.

The strength of the film, and boy is it really a strength, is the performances. Everyone is superb. Con O'Neill as Meek is wonderful and has to be, his performance rounds out a character that, on paper, doesn't have much depth. His performance sends him right round the block, sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying, loving, casually-cruel, bloated with self-importance, racked by self-doubt. As a gay man before homosexuality was decriminalised he has the de rigeur arrest for public indecency which seems to end up with a gang of young men waiting outside his flat to throw abuse at him and anyone connected with him with no apparent attempt made to do anything about them. Some of the criticisms about 'Milk' was that the film whitewashes Harvey's sex life so as to try not to lose the sympathy of monogamous straight people who might be turned off by the truth of his lifestyle. British queer films back to 'Prick Up Your Ears' have tended to be a little bit more honest and we have Meek sloping off to Hampstead Heath (about two miles up the road for anyone unfamiliar with North London geography) and cottaging in the capital's public conveniences. His one apparently serious relationship is with Heinz Burt, played by JJ Feild.

Burt is the main comic relief of the film, apparently willing to be seduced and cosseted by Meek, Burt isn't the sharpest tool in the box and ends up following the same career trajectory as Meek, only quicker due to his lack of talent and able to jump off before reaching the tragic end. Feild plays him as a cockney spiv of the type that should be able to talk without moving their mouth. Blind to his lack of talents Meek puts a lot of his time and money into trying to make Burt a star in order to win his love, when it doesn't work it has to be the fault of everyone including Meek, not Burt. At an early gig Burt has a tin of beans emptied over him and doesn't have the wit to realise that his attacker, a teddy boy, has a knife, so his bandmates have to ridicule him in order to save his life and defuse the situation. He then lashes out at them because he doesn't understand the danger he was in.

James Corden and Ralf Little through in admirable turns as the long-suffering Tornados, session musicians for Joe and backing band for Burt. Little played Peter Hook in '24 Hour Party People' and plays another guitarist, Chas Hodges, though I don't know what it says about him that he's only willing to walk out on Meek after he's lost it to the point that he uses a gun to try and threaten the performance he wants out of artists. Tom Burke plays the tragic Geoff Goddard, a painfully shy man who loves Meek from the moment they meet but is never appreciated by Joe who is far more obsessed with Burt. Often unable to meet the gaze of other characters Goddard tries to give Meek a gift to celebrate eighteen months of 'their professional relationship', only to have Meek toss it aside carelessly and break it in seconds. The film positions him as being the person most responsible for transferring a demo tape of Meek's tuneless humming into what would be their biggest hit, 'Telstar', but the film then takes such a confused gallop through Meek's professional life it's hard to see what Goddard hangs around for, other than to be a verbal punching bag.

Rounding off, Kevin Spacey manages a performance as Meek's financial partner, Major Banks, that despite being a fusty old traditionalist, avoids becoming a parody. He hangs in long after common sense would dictate to bail on Meek and is genuinely disappointed that Meek is determined to follow a path that can only lead to self-destruction. Pam Ferris as Meek's very long suffering landlady Mrs Shenton tries her best but when the script requires her to do little more than complain about the noise and that the rent is late she is wasted, and by the end that becomes true in more ways than one.

So the film is certainly worth seeing, though desperately uneven. To it's credit it's not about a self-destructive gay man, it's about a self-destructive man who just happened to be gay. How close it is to the truth is probably impossible to tell, but Con O'Neill gives such a performance it doesn't matter, and it's worth recommending it on that alone.

Terraces and Transmitter

2009-07-12T19:04:00.002Z

Terraces and Transmitter
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Sphinxes, Crystal Palace

2009-07-12T19:03:00.002Z

Sphinxes, Crystal Palace
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Silly Men in Sensible Shocker

2009-07-08T22:38:00.004Z

The non-dead bits of Monty Python have decided to put everything up, for free, on YouTube, in the hopes that it will encourage people to buy their DVDs. I already have my DVDs, bought from Amazon Germany because they were massively cheaper and in bigger bulk and still in English from Europe than bought in the UK. But this is the sensible way to go about it and it will be worth watching, if this encourages fresh sales of Monty Python merch. If nothing else, John Cleese has got all that alimony to pay...

The Monty Python YouTube Channel. Seems to have some rare-ish stuff, like the Cleese/Palin Amnesty 'Dead Parrot Sketch'.

Neurons of the Night, What Sweet Music They Make!

2009-07-08T18:12:00.002Z

In Douglas Adam's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency one of the characters was a computer programmer that had developed a program to turn company financial reports into music. Now philosopher Dan Lloyd has developed a computer program to turn brain scans into sound, healthy brains produce quite standard melodies, the brains of people with diagnosed mental conditions goes a bit Cage or Stockhausen-y.

Maharabeg Mary

2009-07-06T17:52:00.005Z

Maharabeg Mary
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Klimt Caves

2009-07-06T17:52:00.004Z

Klimt Caves
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Bilingual Street Sign

2009-07-06T17:50:00.005Z

Bilingual Street Sign
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Old Weir Bridge, Killarney National Park

2009-07-06T17:50:00.004Z

Old Weir Bridge, Killarney National Park
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

The Old Killarney Crow

2009-07-06T17:49:00.005Z

The Old Killarney Crow
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

The Valley Below

2009-07-06T17:49:00.004Z

The Valley Below
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-07-06T11:08:00.003Z

I'm back from a great family holiday in the West of Ireland. I'm uploading photos to Flickr right now. In the meantime, AVERT's table of the various ages of consent for hetero/homo sex around the world. [via Dr Petra Boynton's blog.]

2009-06-26T09:28:00.002Z

And in the future they will always ask, "where were you when you heard Michael Jackson died?" and I'll admit that I was in the university paper-shop, looking for a paper. I saw all the pictures on the covers of the newspapers, about what happened. I was shocked. Appalled. That the newspapers would, to a rag, take such a negative view of a singer that just tried to shine a little light, who just wanted to give people a glimpse of a different world.

That's Jarvis Cocker of course. Michael Jackson, even in 1996, was yesterdecade's news. If the Brits wanted to give Michael Jackson a made-up award because they wanted him to perform there, fine. He'd done an album that was nothing special but he wanted to perform and, who cares, why not? But even in a business not known for good taste, to have loads of children and people in religious costume look to him like he was some sort of messiah, without any sense of irony, that was when he was finished, and the following thirteen years have been little more than a long death rattle. What was especially amusing was that the next day all the newspapers had a go at Jarvis as a child-trampling thug. The next day they got with the program as they realised that they had misjudged public opinion which was firmly behind the Jarv. Jackson's last act in life was to propel Pulp to the stardom they achieved in the nineties, one of Britpop's biggest acts.

2009-06-25T21:19:00.001Z

Oh Mr Deity I've missed you!

2009-06-23T06:08:00.002Z

I've been thinking for a while of doing a special Nirpal Dhaliwal Watch 'where are they now', just because Liz Jones is still writing crap in the Mail and I can't believe that her ex-husband that she got divorced from so that she no longer need be married to him has actually grown a braincell so must still be being stupid somewhere. Maybe.

Anyway, to tide you over, Liz Jones continues her quest to tell the world how she is no longer married to ex-husband Nirpal Dhaliwal who she is divorced and completely separated from with this article on people who discuss their failing marriages and slag off their partners online. It's worth it for her impressive lack of self-awareness especially when she says things like

...Yet I still wonder why someone is compelled to give so much of themselves to strangers in cyberspace.

(That's Nirpal Dhaliwal Watch, in case you forgot) Liz Jones has a point, why give so much of yourself to strangers in cyberspace where, if you write a column for a newspaper you can make them pay for the privilege?

I think that, instead of a site telling you how to arm yourself both in emotional and legal terms, there should be a site which makes sure you actually want to get married in the first place.

Or translated, 'I wish there was something that had stopped me marrying Nirpal as I'm incapable of evaluating evidence and have a history of judgement predicated towards self-harm because I believe I'm fundamentally worthless and need to be punished'.

how can posting heartbreaking messages like this bring anyone any peace?

And this is why I had to stop doing Nirpal Dhaliwal Watch.

'Shrooms

2009-06-21T20:37:00.005Z

'Shrooms
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Waiting for the Train to Normandy

2009-06-21T20:37:00.004Z

Waiting for the Train to Normandy
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

It's the Hendon Pageant, which apparently happens each year but which I've somehow managed never to hear of before. I think it involves the RAF Museum in Grahame Park. There were D-Day celebrations, it is that all important sixty-five year anniversary after all, and as it's part, Colindale tube station was decked out with sandbags, taped windows and a few re-enacters walking around. Apparently. I turned up just as things were packing up.,

2009-06-17T06:40:00.000Z

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to enact legislation to change English libel law which has for too long been used to stifle free expression.

De Panne

2009-06-15T19:17:00.002Z

De Panne
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

De Panne

2009-06-15T19:16:00.002Z

De Panne
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-06-09T08:57:00.002Z

I'm looking forward to the new run of Detective Comics, in which Batwoman takes over while Batman deals with a case of being dead (this being comics he'll get better in a few months time). I plan to actually buy the comics, as opposed to downloading them as I do with most of what else I read (although with Jeph Loeb, which I read just for his Ed Wood quality, I still feel that I should receive an apology afterwards for wasting my time, if not my cash). I'm a little concerned with this article, in which writer Greg Rucka claims that when the character was announced several years ago then pretty much didn't show up in comics that was all because of naughty newspapers misinterpreting press releases, leaving DC high and dry (not mentioning the cancelled Devin Grayson series). Not so much for that but for a couple of quotes that caught my eye.

Batwoman is the highest profile queer character in mainstream, genre fiction ever. As a lesbian, she’s possibly an easier sell to the still mainly straight, white, male comic readers. "If I have to PT Barnum you a bit to get you into the tent then it might be worth it. But then the flip side is if somebody is going to open up these pages hoping for some hot girl-on-girl action then they will be sorely disappointed."

which seems mostly positive, and

"Batman is a demon, he’s a gargoyle. And I wanted Kate to be more seductive and consequently I would think more likely to take people by surprise... Their reaction to Kate is, yes, surprise and alarm, fear. But the way I see it is she’s more like a succubus when she wants information. She will coax it out of you, tease it out of you...."

which seems less so. Those ole' feminine wiles again. I guess the proof will be in the pudding.

2009-06-09T07:52:00.002Z

After the less than happy news yesterday the Guardian have canvassed some historians for their views on how worried the United Kingdom should be about voting fascists in to power. The general consensus seems to be not to be too worried about this country at the present time (though Eric Hobsbawm is concerned about the collapse of the left) but that there's a lot to watch out for in Europe.

2009-06-08T10:56:00.002Z

I seem to be arguing with fascists on-line this morning. In more cheerful news, trying to check in on fundamentalist wackos Christian Voice, I get a 404. I haven't looked at their site for a while so I don't know how long this has been like this. Founder and complete membership of CV Stephen Green is supposed to be paying money to the BBC for wasting their, and indeed, the country's time, maybe he's run out of pennies.

2009-06-07T18:55:00.004Z

In April, we learnt that Innocent Smoothies had fallen to the Dark Side of the Force by doing a deal with Coca Cola. Innocent now have a competition to design their bottle labels for them. Of course they aren't going to put out a label admitting their collusion with a company that benefits from union busting activities in South America or the creation of drought conditions in areas of India that have supported farms for centuries, but that shouldn't stop people so minded from writing competition entries about this or their other activities should it?

2009-06-04T12:50:00.002Z

The use of the English libel laws to silence critical discussion of medical practice and scientific evidence discourages debate, denies the public access to the full picture and encourages use of the courts to silence critics. The British Chiropractic Association has sued Simon Singh for libel. The scientific community would have preferred that it had defended its position about chiropractic through an open discussion in the medical literature or mainstream media.

Today Simon Singh announces that he is applying to appeal the judge's recent pre-trial ruling in this case, in conjunction with the launch of this support campaign to defend the right of the pubic to read the views of scientists and writers.

Join the campaign! In a statement published today, over 100 people from the worlds of science, journalism, publishing, comedy, literature and law have joined together to express support for Simon and call for an urgent review of English law of libel. Please help us with this campaign, sign the statement and tell everyone you know to sign it.

2009-06-04T07:38:00.002Z

"Three thing taught me conservative love, Jesus, Ronald Reagan plus Atlas Shrugged"

2009-06-03T17:48:00.002Z

Hilarious.

They've also knocked up a website too, where they continue to play the game to the hilt.

YOU NEED ME TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO.

2009-05-31T09:50:00.002Z

Go here and download The Harvey Girls's free EP An Uncloudy Day. LISTEN. You won't regret it as it's between 4 and 4.07 times better than whatever crap you were listening to. [via Fluxblog]

READ. Sleeping with the NME: how the British music press picked up a dose of the crap. The public get the music press that no public could deserve. Though in their defence the gig was up in the late-nineties when the Britpop boom ended, tipping the control away from a music press that could chose who to write about to the PR companies who could now say whether the press could have access to their rosters or not depending on what they wrote. [via Warren Ellis]

Maximum Bogusity, Man.

2009-05-31T08:29:00.000Z

Nick Cohen: Why are they trying to gag a top British science writer?. The British Chiropractic Association and the English legal system= MONUMENTAL FAIL.

Jack of Kent is said to be the place to be for up to the minute information on this.

Chiropractic? Bogus. Utterly, utterly bogus. Do pass it on will you?

2009-05-27T17:43:00.003Z

Ooh, one of my photos is in the Grauniad! I only took it originally for the Monty Python plaque. Still, it makes a change from odd pictures turning up on Wikipedia pages...

2009-05-22T05:22:00.003Z

In the continuing MP expenses scandal we've had them either apologise or look confused at the idea that they've done anything wrong. Now retiring MP Anthony Steen. member of Parliament for the constituency of fatcatlandshire has decided to try a new tactic, stick two fingers up and claim that MPs have a right to steal the public's money and if they think that's bad they're just jealous.

I think I have behaved impeccably. I have done nothing criminal. And you know what it's about? Jealousy. I have got a very, very large house..." A very, very large house in the country. "We have a wretched Government here that has completely mucked up the system and caused the resignation of me and many others, because it was this Government that introduced the Freedom of Information Act and it is this Government that insisted on the things which caught me on the wrong foot." Damn this Government for passing a law that has enabled me and my colleagues to be caught out being venal! That's not how it works! "What right does the public have to interfere in my private life? None. Do you know what this reminds me of? An episode of Coronation Street. This is a kangaroo court."

This is the gift that keeps on giving.

His outburst embarrassed Tory chiefs, who fear that continuing disclosures about wealthy MPs apparently milking the expenses system has undermined attempts to modernise the party's image. They warned him to stay silent in future – or become the first Tory to be stripped of the party whip over the expenses scandal.

Within hours he had issued an abject apology, saying: "I was so deeply upset with the situation, which resulted in me overreacting. I am sorry that in the heat of the moment I said inappropriate things... about the Freedom of Information Act, which I entirely support."

So, still not apologising for stealing money from the public then.

2009-05-13T15:14:00.001Z

Daniel Craig gallery. Especially: Num.

2009-05-12T14:05:00.001Z

A transsexual from Nottinghamshire has warned she will end her life if she is refused hormone treatment on the NHS.

Debbie Davies, from Rainworth, is seven days into a hunger strike, and said she cannot afford to fund her treatment. Ms Davies, who was born as Richard in 1966, has been living as a woman for the past 18 months. Nottinghamshire County PCT has urged Debbie to stop the hunger strike and is currently reviewing its policy for patients who want to change gender.

Oh, BBC? You're missing a word from that first sentence.

"Badgers? We don' Need no Steenkin' Badgers!"

2009-05-12T05:52:00.001Z

Fair and Balanced as Ever.

2009-05-05T06:30:00.000Z

[via Why, That's Delightful!]

News International, Inciting Murder and Paedophile Attacks Again

2009-05-03T08:48:00.002Z

I'm not well-inclined towards Gary Glitter, his behaviour since his fall from grace would suggest he's fairly unrepentant about being a paedophile but when he's got News International following him around what likelihood is there of him changing? He's fled the country once after all. This article, like a lot of the drivel put out by the spawn of Murdoch, is difficult to justify journalistically.

Parents should study our pictures well. For the child abuser - who is on the sex offenders register - is still a constant danger and threat to innocent kids.

Yes, parents who live in Brighton, Birmingham, Cardiff or Newcastle need to be informed about this London-based paedophile. And what evil, paedophilic things has he been doing?

* LEERING at pretty young waitresses.
* EXPLOITING his hearing problem to get them leaning in close.
* ATTEMPTING to pick up young women on the street.
* STAGGERING home drunk and trying to lure young people up to his flat.

So, behaving like most blokes you see out on the street then. Of course, the NotW has no proof that Glitter has been after any children, the best they can manage is

He left the shop alongside two young Asian girls - one in white socks and school uniform the other clutching a cuddly toy.

But they are clearly nothing to do with him, on such evidence almost everyone in the world is a paedophile. Their insistence that evil Glitter has disguised himself as Rolf Harris, complete with a photo of Rolf so you can compare and contrast, is the only amusing part of the story.

But this is all unjustifiable plop of the worst kind. Paedophiles are to NotW what the MMR vaccine is to the Daily Mail, an excuse for the worst kind of non-stories ignoring all the research that children are most often abused by family members. Best case reading? News International want a reader who happens to live where Glitter lives now to kill him. Worse case, Glitter goes underground with no reason not to start attacking children. The NotW openly appeals for murder. Is this how our media should really work?

Giraffe, ZSL London Zoo, Regents Park

2009-05-03T08:47:00.002Z

Giraffe, ZSL London Zoo, Regents Park
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Otters Awaiting Feeding, ZSL London Zoo, Regents Park

2009-05-03T08:46:00.002Z

Otter Awaiting Feeding, ZSL London Zoo, Regents Park
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-04-30T10:43:00.002Z

The World Without Technology. Or perhaps, slightly more accurately, 'The History of Technology (Guest-Starring The World Without Technology as an Encore)'. A fascinating essay that's well worth a read.

2009-04-30T08:23:00.004Z

I talked on Sunday about not believing the media about the 'swine flu' epidemic because they were wrong about 'avian flu'. Ben Goldacre says that's wrong but understandable.

All people have done is raise the possibility of things really kicking off, and they are right to do so, but we don't have brilliantly accurate information... Someone has said 120 million could die. Well I suppose they could: I'm sure it was done on the back of an envelope, by guessing how many would be infected, and what proportion would die, but I don't think anyone's pretending otherwise... By Tuesday, pundit-seekers from the media were suddenly contacting me, a massive nobody, to say that swine flu is all nonsense and hype... I assumed they were adhering, robotically, to the "balance" template... [he said] "Yeah, but you know, it could be like Sars and bird flu, they didn't materialise, they were hype." Simon Jenkins suggested the same thing. It's not true, I said. They were risks, risks that didn't materialise, but they were still risks. That's what a risk is. I've never been hit by a car, but it's not idiotic to think about it. Simon Jenkins won't be right if nobody dies, he'll be lucky, like the rest of us.

New Scientist have an expert analysis which seems hopeful at the moment but also reminds us that there just hasn't been sufficient time for detailed analysing to be done yet.

2009-04-29T17:23:00.002Z

Derailing for Dummies: A simple, step-by-step guide to derailing awkward conversations by dismissing and trivialising your opponent's perspective and experience.

[via Questioning Transphobia.]

2009-04-28T14:00:00.004Z

Following on from here I've found, thanks to Skepchick, another mickeytaking video, presenting The Darwin Finches!

They've also linked to Slacktivist who has explained that when a Christian complains that two men marrying breaks his or her freedom you can just point out that Fred Phelps has not been arrested for his outrageous anti-humanity and so win the argument.

The Internet Have Broke me Agains!

2009-04-28T07:05:00.002Z

Go to Rich Johnson's Lying in the Gutters column for the 27th of April 2009, then scroll down a quarter of the page to the item 'Devil Woman'. It's Barack Obama as Conan, fighting an elephant being ridden by a barbarian Sarah Palin. This is apparently from an upcoming comic series. I have not yet worked out whether I think this is the BESTEST thing ever or the WORSTEST.

Charlie Brooker on The Wire

2009-04-27T21:38:00.002Z

2009-04-27T21:16:00.002Z

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to resign.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to declassify scientology as a reglion. I think ze possibly means religion.

2009-04-27T12:32:00.002Z

Following on from what I said yesterday about 'swine flu' scares, xkcd has their take.

News

2009-04-26T11:14:00.000Z

I don't know if, like me, you were disappointed when the giant Flupocalypse of 2003 didn't wipe out all the life on the planet that had worked out how to get the fire out of the rocks. We weren't prepared, we didn't have enough vaccines, Osama Bin Laden was working out how to teach ducks with a cough to hijack planes, and yet, we survived, we go on, and we wonder whether Joss Whedon will ever make another TV show that goes beyond a series. But don't worry, just because Avian Bird Flu didn't get us, those dirty birds have teamed up with pigs and, it would seem, Mexicans? to give us a new killer virus to worry about. This does lead to the interesting question: Has Michelle Malkin already reached the maximum that she can hate Mexicans or will this enable her to take her racism to new heights? We'll wait and see.

The comments on this article are typical of the great minds of the world vomiting forth into the electro-ether.

I strongly feel that children and elderly people will be at risk from this killer flu the most.

Harpreet, Stafford.

Everyone seems to have decided to ignore the second page of the article, where it says:

Avian flu, which has killed 250 people since 2003

Look at that. The media went batshit-mental back then, convincing us we were all going to die and, like the MMR vaccine scare, it turned out not to be the case. Two hundred and fifty people? That's nothing. Somali pirates have killed more than that, and they bankrupt themselves in millet seed for their parrots. So I see no reason for keeping on keeping on and not worry that we're going to all be killed until, perhaps, people start falling ill?

These medical sounding scares based on absolutely no evidence are one of the many reasons why I don't bother to pay for news any more.

Meanwhile Tory MP Nadine Dorries sues someone over something. Nadine Dorries is a fairly obscure MP only well known to followers of the Westminster soap opera that is the House of Commons for her Sarah Palin-like ability to seize and repeat the stupid in any subject that gets her interest. She's normally pretty quiet between bouts of conservative Christian sponsored attempts to get the date by which a woman can have an abortion put back to eight months before her own birth. I'm not sure if she can successfully sue someone over suggesting to someone else that they spread a rumour she had an affair if they don't do it, even if the only reason they didn't might be because they were revealed to be thinking about it, but her primary reason for this bout of legal action is presumably to keep it in the news as long as possible in the lead up to the next general election. Of course, one doesn't need to tell lies in order to recognise them...

The Sindy has more positive news, namely that the BNP is as equally messed up a party as the proper political groups full of burned-out members who are just bitter and more likely to fight with one another than the vast majority of people who they think shouldn't be in the country. Less comforting is the comments, in which it seems that a cadre of BNP supporters have taken up residence, you might need the Independent Livejournal thread if you want to see them though, they have a tendency to keep vanishing from the 'proper' website.

2009-04-25T06:04:00.003Z

Canadian Scientists from Canadia have discovered fossilised evidence of a prehistoric ancestor to the seals of today, an animal that walked on feet. [via Pharyngula] Big deal, we've seen these kind of animals for years now.

Julie Bindel on What Makes Men and Women!

2009-04-24T18:05:00.004Z

I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl! [via As Above]

I'll be here making cheap-shots all weekend. Enjoy the tofu veal.

Three Funny Videos

2009-04-22T07:57:00.005Z

We should remember that only two of them are intentionally amusing.

First there was:

Then there was:

Best yet:

A Gaythering Storm from Jane Lynch

[via Feministing.]

UPDATE: Heh, someone's snapped up that domain name: Giant Gay Repellent Umbrella.

Westminster Palace Clock-Tower From Saint James's Park

2009-04-18T20:45:00.002Z

Westminster Palace Clock-Tower From Saint James's Park
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

I love the Spring. I especially love it when the weather is good enough so I can go out and enjoy it.

Royal Horticultural Hall Interior Ceiling

2009-04-18T20:43:00.002Z

Royal Horticultural Hall Interior Ceiling
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Sarah Palin- The Gift That Keeps on Giving.

2009-04-18T20:31:00.003Z

Vetting for what might be the second most important post in the United States.

A.B. Culvahouse, a powerful Washington lawyer and former counsel to President Reagan, told an audience of Republican lawyers that for McCain, selecting a vice president came down to three questions: Why do you want to be vice president? Are you prepared to use nuclear weapons? And the CIA has identified Osama bin Laden, but if you take the shot there will be multiple civilian casualties. Do you take the shot?

"She knocked those questions out of the park," he said at an event held at the National Press Club by the Republican National Lawyers Association. "We came away impressed."

Even now, it's still worrying to think such morons nearly took control of the most powerful country on the planet. Thank their goodness they chose hope over stupidity.

2009-04-15T15:52:00.002Z

Originally uploaded by bobster1985

From the Queer Flickr set. [via Coilhouse]

Meanwhile, in Woot City...

2009-04-15T07:39:00.001Z

The Phonogram blog is back up. Mmmm, fermented pixie ichor.

Police Attacking Public Again

2009-04-15T07:24:00.002Z

Innocent Smoothies: All Aboard the FAIL Train

2009-04-14T19:36:00.003Z

If you've been following Internet trends then you'll know that before the thing about Amazon celebrating 'dead guy on stick' day by hiding all the queer stuff before Jehova comes round the thing was about Innocent Smoothies deciding that goodwill and customer loyalty doesn't mean nothing in a recession and selling thirty percent of their soul to Coca-Cola. They've been very open about it, and if you email them you too can get the largely pro forma response that they send to everyone.

Geordie Monkey has most of the relevent points here, including Mark Thomas's response.

I also wrote to them, got the standard response, replied criticising the standard response and asking about the research they claimed they did that told them that it was all right to sell out to Coke (although being all ex-advertisers they... (and you can all work out the humorous joke based on the double meaning of Coke for yourselves)) and was told:

I was an idiot and made a dumb and inappropriate refrence to 'people that write books' about coke (I think in just one email) which I regret, have apologised for, and will certainly not write again...

In terms of due diligence, I spoke to leading members in the ngo sector, consulted with independent CSR representatives and yes, read up on coke's side of the story at www.cokefacts.com.

I didn't press the point which I sort of regret now of asking exactly which NGOs they talked to (it'll be useful to know what NGOs if any support Coke) but it just goes to show, when money is at stake, people accept their prejudices over alternate viewpoints. After all, why pay attention to what people who do research and write books say?

So yes, another disappointed ex-Innocent customer signing in here...

London Transport Museum

2009-04-10T19:09:00.002Z

London Transport Museum
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Stephenson Horse Tram, London Transport Museum

2009-04-10T19:08:00.002Z

Stephenson Horse Tram, London Transport Museum
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

Metropolitan Railway Steam Locomotive, London Transport Museum

2009-04-10T19:07:00.002Z

Metropolitan Railway Steam Locomotive, London Transport Museum
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-04-09T06:02:00.001Z

Christina Patterson, presumably desperate to fill out her column for a week, launches a vile and unprovoked attack on NHS nurses for their all being huge overweight trolls in the Indy.

I'm sitting reading a book when a gargantuan creature comes lumbering over, and marches me to what might or might not be a scaffold. After a few adjustments... the creature nods.

The creature is, of course, a nurse and yes, my BMI is OK. Hers, however, is not. But we are not here to measure her BMI...

Other normal-sized friends have been told by giant doctors that they are fat... Because it is surreal, I'm afraid, to be lectured on your weight by someone whose mass of accumulated adipose tissue is considerably greater than yours.

No one expects nurses to look like supermodels, or lap dancers, or air hostesses, or even like anything that might ever have inspired an erotic fantasy... but you don't expect them all to look like Hattie Jacques either. And at least Hattie Jacques knew how to smile. You might, however, reasonably expect the custodians of the nation's health not to look as though they were about to consume the GDP of Iceland in medication for diabetes, and you might expect the custodians of the nation's health to at least have glanced at some of the leaflets on obesity they so lugubriously hand out.

Between this, their hysterical about-face on the legalisation of Cannabis and their continued employment of Deborah 'immigrant homosexuals follow me around to have gay sex in front of my children' Orr it does seem this once great paper is now slowly trying to position itself as the broadsheet Daily Mail.

2009-04-07T18:22:00.002Z

It appears the police have killed another innocent member of the public. Brace yourselves for another few coats of whitewash...

2009-04-06T06:26:00.002Z

I've never found Judge Dredd that interesting of a character seeing as he's pretty much defined as a sci-fi Dirty Harry who actively refuses any attempts to make him even two dimensional. Any story involving him that I pick up makes even a Jeph Loeb story look like War and Peace or Proust by comparison. Still, D'Israeli has written about different artists and how they've drawn MegaCity One, the home of Dredd, down the years. Worth reading even if you don't like comics.

2009-04-02T20:29:00.001Z

Bonnington Square Pleasure Garden

2009-04-02T05:54:00.002Z

Bonnington Square Pleasure Garden
Originally uploaded by Loz Flowers

2009-03-31T05:39:00.002Z

Jade Goody is set to be commemorated with a statue near her childhood home. Council chiefs have been bombarded with demands that the Big Brother star be honoured. And their wish is likely to be granted in recognition of efforts the dying mum-of-two, 27, made to encourage young women to be screened for cervical cancer.

Which is not what the local papers were saying last week. What's especially amusing is that what was the first thing Jade did when she got a bit of fame and money? Move away from Bermondsey. Let's hope that Southwark Council run slowly enough on this that Jade's celebrity half-life fades away.

YouTube Loses The Plot

2009-03-30T20:35:00.003Z

To complain to youtube follow this link;
YouTube complaints (needs a YouTube account)

Scroll to the very bottom and click on "new issue"

Select "suspended account" from the options and express your opinion.

The mediafire link to download the video is;
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4d77967b07dff9ac8c9e7c56ba37815f99433de67f37e9e4.

2009-03-29T11:04:00.000Z

Body Art meets wallpaper.

Did I Already Post This?

2009-03-29T09:35:00.000Z

Latest study on déjà vu.

2009-03-24T20:09:00.001Z

I hate comics.

Who Owns The Music Future?

2009-03-15T09:07:00.004Z

Although, as usual, The Times is coming late to a party that's been going for a while now, Why Spotify may spell the end of ownership does highlight my fear that record labels will encourage the development and dominance of services like Spotify and Last.fm as a means of them holding complete control over the public's access to the point where I'd have to pay money if I want to hear any music at all ever. I would hope such a scenario would not come to pass but then they do all they can to try and stop file transfer despite the fact it encourages people to buy music legitimately after they've had an easy hassle-free way to hear it. Or maybe that's just me.