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.
Booze
The man on the radio is talking about binge drinking in the UK and the mumblings in the political establishment is in favour of “banning cheap alcohol”. God knows how they plan to achieve this – I think I’ve heard arguments to stop super markets doing cheap offers.
As I have pointed out before, New Labour has embraced hyper-commercialism as it’s core ideology and subsequently perceive that their only lever for affecting alcohol consumption is price. Since the commercial revolution which engulfed the UK under first Thatcher and now Brown, controls have been removed from all aspects of commerce. We are now bombarded with advertising everywhere we go and everywhere we look. The emphasis on terming everyone a “customer” is key as it means that success is determined by achieving a sale.
In Britain and America we, rightly, tend to look very much askance at any type of social engineering and this includes government advertising exhorting us to some worthy goal. But this is odd as we do not even notice when large corporations attempt social engineering and this is exactly what is achieved by large marketing campaigns.
Our society is undergoing social engineering but the engineering is not devised by a national government with goals such as social cohesion or community responsibility. The goal of those that control social engineering is simple: Profit.
So while the government attempts social change by squeezing in a few sound bytes on a news program, the alcohol companies are able to keep up a relentless campaign which targets kids and tells them alcohol is stylish, alcohol is fun, alcohol is cool.
I saw a bit of video on The Sun web site which underlines the ubiquity of this message. The video was of a drunken reveller desecrating a war memorial. The story in the sun was full of outrage but the video had a little advertisement tacked on the front and the advertisement was for cider!
Prior to the commercial revolution, restrictions existed on the sale of alcohol. In my youth one could only buy booze at a pub or off license and the off licenses was generally part of the pub. I think it is understandable that we can now buy booze in super markets but this means little metro super markets in the centre of town too. Walking along Western Road in Brighton there are a string of little grocer shops which also sell alcohol and there is at least one which appears to do very little business in anything but alcohol and I suspect that the dodgy looking vegetables are just there for show.
Deliberate targeting of youth by the alcohol industry also plays a part in increased consumption with fruit flavoured vodka based drinks and high strength lagers. Another factor related to greater alcohol consumption is that the owners of pubs and bars have strived to make them more “efficient”. In our commercialised society efficient means that they generate as much money as possible and this means selling as much booze as possible. To achieve this the environment in pubs and bars has been modified in a number of ways. For example there is little room to sit down and the music has been turned up so that one must shout to be heard. I have been in pubs like this myself and when nobody can talk we just resort to drinking. Why do we stay in the pub? A good question. I guess it is that a majority of the people present have fallen for the marketing that a noisy uncomfortable bar is the place to be.
I am not arguing for draconian laws to curb alcohol. I like to drink myself. What I am criticising is the government’s lack of understanding and imagination when tacking the problem. I am criticising, once again, New Labour’s obsession with the market and commercialism. I am criticising New Labour inability to affect anything because of their obsequious relationship with bis business. I am criticising the fact that New Labour are now so scared of business that they dare not make any change that would affect someone in a pin striped suit. If New Labour had been in power in 1833 the Slavery Abolition Act would never have been passed because the slave owners would have whinged that their profits would be affected.
Before the government looks at the price of alcohol they should look at Targeting, Advertising, Drinking environment and Availability (TADA).
Moving the booze away from the fruit and veg would be social engineering
Brighton Copper
I travelled back from London to Brighton last night, catching the 11:14pm from London Bridge. As we travelled the snow began to fall and the train slowed to a crawl. As we crept along the driver announced that we would soon be in the tunnel and then we would be home free. Emerging from the station Brighton was quiet and white and beautiful. The copper standing chatting was a nice contrast to the screaming policeman I’d seen earlier on the underground.
Walking down Queen’s Road, a handful of taxis skidded around and the Quadrant pub looked very good. I walked along Western Road where a huddle of people stood waiting for a bus that would never come. Then down to the sea front where people were building giant snow men on Hove Lawns.
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Bikes at station
The Quadrant
Snow
The Meeting Place
Hove Prom
Footprints
on the way home
On the corner by the The Wagon and Horses and The Mash Tun I stood and waited for a cab then realised I could do with a pint. Mrs Fitzherbert’s had stopped serving so I went to The Mash Tun. This is not a pub usually frequent. A bit young for the likes of me I’m afraid but needs must when the devil drives. The bar was clear and I obtained a plastic pint glass of Guinness.
As I stood supping, I looked around me and was pleased with what I saw. A lot of people in their 20s. Some dressed up but most not. Two people dancing on a table, another couple dancing by the bar. A pretty chilled out time of the evening. Not packed. I liked it. I have often liked the idea of a pub to stop off for a nightcap before going home and this was just right.
I finished my pint, flagged a cab and went home.
It crossed my mind that there are not many towns where you can get a drink at 1am. Not in England anyway.
Western Road and North Street
They’ve been rejigging the road where Western Road meets North Street opposite Churchill Square in Brighton. They’ve opened up a bit of space for pedestrians as they round the corner and opened up the space for vehicle even more.
The trend in Brighton seems to be to fence in the pedestrians as much as possible and this is starting to bug me. It’s the same in the marina by the multi storey car park. The impetus seems to be to prevent pedestrians from crossing except on the crossings when the lights are green. I’m sure some self satisfied safety nerd is congratulating himself at the council but he should not be.
West Street and North Street
The effect is to crush everyone together so that we are forever queuing behind someone else. And if I want to cross from one corner to another I am forced to travel about four times the distance as I walk around the bloody railings. This would not be so bad if there were just one set of these railings but just 20 yards further down at the corner of West Street and North Street there are another set.
The attitude of Brighton council seems to be that vehicles come first and people second. We should check out some Scandi countries where they are starting to remove all “street furniture’ including traffic lights. This forces cars to travel slowly as pedestrians are free to wonder in front of them.
It’s better than being channeled around like cattle which seems to be what Brighton council have in mind for us.
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Wine Merchants go bust but estate agents doing very nicely
Tags: bloody estate agents, bottle of plonk, brighton, Church Road, estate agent, Hove, money for old rope, off license, percentage based commission, private parking space, professionals, property prices, recession, super markets, Tesco Metro, Western Road, wine merchant
What do we expect if we buy everything at Tesco?
At least three off licenses and wine merchants have closed on Western Road/Church Road in Hove recently. I guess we only have ourselves to blame for shopping in super markets. I used to enjoy getting a vid from the local DVD rental shop and then choosing a bottle of plonk but now I am forced to queue up at the Tesco Metro behind people buying sandwiches or pasties or washing powder.
The news covered the fact that the recession had hit wine merchants but estate agents still seem to be thriving. Western Road/Church Road seems to have just as many estate agents. This is not surprising as, though property prices may have dropped around 10%, they are still up as much as 300% on ten years ago. As the general public are stupid enough to pay estate agents a percentage based commission their income must have sky-rocketed too. The estate agents in Church Road seem to think that the pavement outside their shops is a private parking space for their Jags and Porches. Nothing like rubbing it in!
Cut backs? - Not bloody likely!
It seems to me that whenever one deals with large sums of money one finds that the “professionals” involved demand a percentage based fee. Whether you are investing in funds or buying a property the professionals want a piece of it. When you are forking out 300,000 for a property the addition of another £4,500 can be easily overlooked but I see no reason why the estate agent should earn more merely because the property prices have increased. It seems to me that the estate agent business is money for old rope. Ask yourself: What do estate agents do? They keep a list of properties. They stick pictures in their windows. They maintain a web site. They keep your keys and show people around your house. And for that they can demand 2%. That is outrageous.