Spitalfields
A new clothes shop has opened up on East Street in Brighton with an interesting store front crammed full of old fashioned sowing machines. The name of the shop is Allsaints Spitalfields harking back to the days when the Spitalfields area of east London was famous for tailoring.
sky falling in
It has been said that the tone of this blog site is somewhat negative. Can it be true that our leaders are all complete vermin? Is the world really going to the dogs?
A photograph has come into our hands which may show that the situation is worse than had been anticipated. The photo appears to show that supports have been erected along Brighton beach to stop the sky falling in.
It is not clear whether the construction in Brighton are precautionary or whether the sky has already started to sag. No evidence has yet been obtained to show whether the potential collapse is related to global warming or the latest period of cold weather.
You read it here first folks.
British coins
What’s on the flip side of a British coin? Come on, quickly. What on the back of a 20p?
You don’t know? I’m not surprised. It used to be that the design of coins was part of a nation’s culture. Not anymore. The Royal Mint seem to have a different design every year. I noticed recently that the latest design is sort of off centre, appearing as if the manufacturing apparatus has gone berserk. How very impressive. No doubt a young thrusting designer. No doubt they won an award. I fully expect that New Labour are planning to allow advertising on coins. Tesco 2p pieces. Replace the Queen’s head with a Louis Vuitton logo.
However, I’d like to know how we’re supposed to differentiate real coins from forgeries when we can’t remember what is supposed to be on the bloody things. Mind you, with the current rate of “quantitate easing” I guess Sterling will be worthless pretty soon anyway.
tea party
The following is an article from our Massachusetts corespondent.
Much has been made in the international press about the recent vote in the state of Massachusetts that killed the Democratic supermajority in the United States Senate. It certainly was a big story. As a Massachusetts resident, I can tell you that I’ve never seen my polling station so crowded. And this is just one year after Democrat Barack Obama swept in with huge popular support in my state. What happened?
To answer that, I must strive to impress upon you the impatience of the American people. Having been saved from the brink of a second Great Depression by our government, they are nevertheless unwilling to sit tight until the economy completes its recovery. They are looking for someone to be mad at and government is a convenient scapegoat.
With unemployment levels appearing to be entrenched at 10%, and underemployment a chronic reality, people are finding it harder to pay their bills and the anger they feel over their fall from fortune has them latching onto something to fight. Remember the Boston Tea Party? I thought you might. Well, there are many here in the U.S. who will put forth the misguided proposition that we have again fallen under the thumb of a monarchy that no longer represents them. Perhaps you have heard of a new phenomenon called the “Tea Bag Movement” that has formed to protest government spending and taxation. What the initiates of this movement fail to recognize is that government is not the root of their problems.
I believe that public outrage over this issue is woefully misplaced. Pulling back the veil, one discovers that the teabagger uprising originated as carefully constructed campaign for an agenda that in fact cares nothing about the middle class. This campaign has been funded by big business interests that have learned how to direct public anger at government rather than where I believe it should truly be focused, which is the unprecedented, gross abuses of power from certain segments of our unregulated business sector. This business sector, with tools like Roger Ailes and his conservative media empire, has become expert at targeting primal human instincts that are easy to exploit. They’ve been able to deflect from the truth and support this deflection with an around the clock cycle of talking heads targeting public the anger. The more they snarl and scream that government is the problem, the more they inflame their underinformed troops. What they won’t report is that the downturn in the economy was not caused by government spending but by unprecedented and unchecked corporate greed.
As the owner of two businesses that exist to make money, I believe in capitalism. But, there has been too much power concentrated into too few corporations in the past decade, and this has led to a downward spiral in the standard of living for the middle and working class. Business is the entity that cuts jobs when it consolidates with other businesses. Business is the entity that continually ships our jobs overseas. Business is the entity that rewards incompetent management with obscene bonuses. Business is the entity in the form of military contractors like Halliburton that squanders our tax dollars in the most corrupt way imaginable with zero accountability for the tax payer to scrutinize. Banks took advantage of us, gleefully, until their ponzi scheme was exposed and fell apart. Our government then had no choice but to grit its teeth and bail the banks out because not doing so would have thrown us into another Great Depression. It looks like we’ve avoided that fate. Unemployment is still a problem, but unemployment is a lagging economic indicator. It’s always the last thing to recover.
In the meantime, life does not stand still. And I believe that government does its best to provide the essentials in an imperfect world with multiple stakeholders and multiple priorities. As imperfect as it may be, government exists to serve people over profit. It’s designed to provide checks and balances. What I call upon government to do is to take that charge seriously. It must address the problem of business consolidations, unchecked power and the nefarious ease in shaping public opinion that has resulted.
- Talking Bollocks, Massachusetts
b2 living accomodation module
This is the seventh in our series of reports from David Goulden working for The British Antarctic Survey. In this report Dave gives us an idea of the clothing required to work in the antarctic.
We have been hampered by strong winds and drifting snow more days than not in the last 2 weeks.
The wind does not have to be that strong but once it starts to pick up the snow you lose visibility and wind tails start to form. Because of this we have be working on base maintenance which has not been that interesting!
On the social front we celebrated Burns Night this weekend with haggis, poetry and highland games. A selection of Rabbie Burns poems were recited. One about a mouse, one concerning his girlfriend Anna, one concerning toothache and one about crofting. The four readers very bravely added their own unique style to each poem to the extent that Rabbie Burns was thought to be a pirate….
The highland games consisted of caber tossing, welly boot wanging, shackle throwing and the ubiquitous Tug of War! Victor Ludorium was, predictably, one of the RSA Morrisons team with the BAS guys competing but rarely challenging. The temperature dropped down to minus 11 during the evening and the sun came out and it was a beautiful night.
The following Sunday we headed to the coast for a spot of ice climbing. More of that in a later correspondence. During the last week we had to complete our Antarctic employment pool form which registers our interest in future work for BAS and our clothing feedback form. The clothing issued by BAS is constantly reviewed. The clothing consists of the following:
Common gear worn around the BAS buildings after work tends to be shorts, base layer and flip flops/crocs. The buildings are kept at approx 20 degrees and so is fairly warm. No overalls or boots are allowed in the dining room or lounge. The Bar opens at 1930 hrs for your allotted 2 cans and our meal times start from 0630 for breakfast, smoko at 1030,lunch at 1300hrs and afternoon smoko at 1630. Our days end at 1830 hrs apart from Saturdays where we have afternoon scrub out. We are allocated a job form 1530 to 1630 hrs which could be scrubbing out the ovens and hobs or cleaning the boot room or Toilets etc. The tasks are varied each week and help ensure the base is kept clean.
The copper pipework in the WC and showers is polished to a brilliant shine each week and looks very smart. I think this is a tradition perhaps left over from the Navy .
In the next few days we hope to have a visit around the construction site. They are now 4 weeks before the first Construction team leaves – the target is to clad the remaining 4 modules before the winter season.
- David Goulden, Halley Research Station, Antarctica
12/01 Antarctic Report 6 – deadmen timbers and russian catering
30/12 Antarctic Report 5 – prime movers, melt tank and cricket
22/12 Antarctic Report 4 – quiet week at 75 degrees south
15/12 Antarctic Report 3 – Mech boys, adventuring and the flow
08/12 Antarctic Report 2 – Penguins, balloons, stuffing and apple sauce
06/12 Antarctic Report 1 – Nunatacs, Blue Ice and 4 beers on Saturday night
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
Today I attended a rally in Trafalgar Square with the title I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist. The idea is to protest the abuse by the police of anti-terror legislation. Specifically it is to protest the fact that police continue to harass individuals who are lawfully taking photographs in public spaces.
The Chief Constable, Head of ACPO Media Advisory Group, Andrew Trotter OBE QPM has written to ACPO Chief Constables stating: “Section 44 gives officers no specific powers in relation to photography and there is no provision in law for the confiscation of equipment or the destruction of images, either digital or on film.”
The rally was pretty low key. There seemed to be no centre or organising force, it was just a lot of photographers gathered together in one place taking photographs of each other. Now and then a little vortex would run through the crowd as something appeared to be happening and all cameras would turn to face the supposed centre of the disturbance. I myself was lucky enough to be at the centre of one such vortex as two police officers attempted to stop a girl with a bicycle. The rumour was that she had been cycling on the pavement and when the police officers attempted to hold her bike there were irritated cries from the assembled photographers. The police officers in question seemed, to me, to have faint smiles on their faces and I wonder whether they were merely toying with the crowd.
Police - Stop!
There were all sorts of photographers, the earnest and the joyful, the outraged and the tourist. There were all sorts of cameras, pocket digitals, 35 mm Nikormats, vast telephoto lenses, Leicas and strange twin lens contraptions. Sadly there were very few police.
The Socialist Workers were there of course (yawn). Aren’t, they everywhere? Also I was handed a leaflet banging on about the U.S. government being responsible for the 9/11.
More seriously there was a small demonstration against the current Iranian regime. Two women gave very emotional and fervent speeches begging for the support of the British people. I think that the Left in Britain and America understand the ignominious involvement of our countries in Iran and this leaves us loath to criticise the current Iranian regime. This is a mistake. While we, in the UK, are protesting that police are trying to stop us taking pictures Iranian are protesting that their government tortures and kills innocent people. We should support them. A good start to appreciating the dreadfulness of this regime would be to read Persepolis by Marjane Satrap.
Iran Solidarity
i’m a photographer, not a terrorist
’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!
And here’s a fantastic vid.
There is an interesting article on the H+ Magazine web site on Jan 15th about life like robots. The thrust of the argument is that humans are attracted to life like things. Like Teddy bears and cars with headlights like eyes and whatnot. But when the objects become too true to life we are revolted because it causes some kind of dissonance. We think it is life like but it seems wrong. Like people with disfigured faces. They link to this very unsettling youtube vid of a four legged robot built for the U.S. army to carry stuff.
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Britain declines while her elite connives
Tags: British Empire, budget deficit, defence budget, demise of Great Britain, democracy, finance industry, funding the military, Germany, Gordon Brown, Great Power, had out chips, hyper-commercialisation, lump of labour fallacy, Military spending, North Sea oil, path to power, pension, professional politicians, war in Afghanistan, World Power
Who do we call?
Military spending has emerged in the media with Gordon Brown TALKING BOLLOCKS claiming he didn’t withhold funds from the military in the run up to the war in Afghanistan. With a massive budget deficit and the widely acknowledged need for drastic cuts both parties are tip toeing around the defence budget trying to pretend it will not be touched. The government have already delayed two aircraft carriers; will they now decommission Trident?
I sometimes wonder if we are witnessing the final demise of Great Britain as a “World Power”. Theoretically the UK won the second world war, coming through with it’s empire intact. On paper Britain was still a Great Power. In reality we were up to our necks in debt to the U.S. and the people of the Empire were understandably in no mood to tolerate a continuation of British rule. The empire dissolved.
In the 1960s North Sea oil was discovered and helped support our inefficient industry for a while. But consider this: While Britain took economic advantage of North Sea oil and it’s economy prospered Germany and France did not do so bad either yet they did not have oil. North Sea Oil is due to run out in the next few years and where will that leave the British economy? In 2008 around 46% of British tax came from finance. The finance industry has now collapsed so where does that leave the British economy? I stress again that Germany has maintained a broadly comparable economy without North Sea oil, without a bloated finance sector and without hyper-commercialisation.
I suggest that with a massive budget deficit, with an un-winable war in Afghanistan to pay for, with very little industrial capability to offer the wold, Great Britain is about to have the rug pulled out from beneath it. We’ve had out chips!
Labour supporters used to say that increasing levels of global competition was merely a race to the bottom. The Tories scoffed that, on the contrary, competition would bring the standards enjoyed by the West to the rest of the world. Tell me, how is your pension doing? Has your company closed it’s non-contributory pension yet? If not, when was the last time the subject was raised. And how’s your job? Do you still have a permanent 9 to 5 job? Do you still get double time on Sundays? I suggest that you don’t. I suggest that many readers will now be part time and even be required to work at weekends at standard rate.
The one thing that the UK does have that developing nations do not have to the same extent is an established and solid democracy and the rule of law. Yet even this is under attack with new laws preventing photography of the police and a ruling party made of visionless power hungary “managers”.
Just this week Gordon Brown defended the link between MPs and their constituencies when debating the electoral system yet the New Labour cabinet is packed full of professional politicians who merely used work for the constituency as a convenient path to power. These men without vision, these people who believe in nothing, these arch manipulators have merely studied politics and the media, worked as assistants to incumbents cabinet members and then been parachuted into Labour safe seats. Check out the wikipedia entries for David Milliband and Douglas Alexander to name just two. The British elite have fined tuned a way of bypassing democracy and they should hang their heads in shame.
So, to summarise:
And finally, it’s raining again!
Oh, maybe it isn’t that bad. The British people aren’t badly educated and the “lump of labour fallacy” means that a growing Chinese middle class will want all the commercialised palaver that we possess. The British do understand democracy and we can work hard when we have to. Arguably, we are best when we’re up against it. Hopefully, in a couple of months, we will throw out this groups of bastards who have taken control of Downing Street and we can make a fresh start.
Ask me again when the weather warms up.