The Cat's Playlist

1. Johnny Cash ~ San Quentin

One of his prison albums from the late 60s. I bought this recently along with the Folsom Prison CD.

 

2. Johnny Cash ~ The Sun Years

Surprisingly good, and at �5 for 50 songs, a bargain. I've been deleting the syrupy sounding tracks from my MP3 player, but the other 30 songs are strong enough to make this set of recordings a classic.

 

3. Morrissey ~ Ringleader of the Tormenters

It's a grower. As good as any of Mozza's other solo efforts, and better than most.

 

4. David Bowie ~ Buddha of suburbia

It's a soundtrack album from the television series of the same name, and also its a proper Bowie album, and a good one at that. I just won it on an ebay auction - for 20 squid.

 

5. Colorblind James Experience ~ John Peel Session

Another ebay win. I should have bought this years ago, but didn;t. Anyway - now I have it on vinyl. Four tracks on the record, each one great in its own way. I'm bidding for the first album now. I saw the (late) Colorblind James back in the late 80s. Twice. Once performing the first album, then back again for the second album (which I do have).

 

6.  Sheffield Shanty ~ Monkey Swallows The Universe

A song brimming with wist.

http://www.soundsxp.com/2701.shtml

 

7. Complete Monkees

Another bargain. It contains everything the Monkees ever recorded, it says here. Hardly a duff track on it.

 

8. Beyond Nashville

This is a compilation album containing country and country inspired tracks that accentuate the dark side of existence.

 

9. Elvis Costello ~ Delivery Man

I can't get enough of this album. Listened to it again this morning. It might be Costello's best album.

 

10. Gary numan ~ Telekon

The album Numan made at the peak of his powers. I have the expanded version which includes I Die: You Die and We are Glass. I'll be seeing this performed live in December.

Not a shred of truth

According to an item by GAVIN ESLER on the Newsnight BLOG yesterday that survey which said most of us �fail to shred documents we put in our dustbins, leaving us open to identity fraud�was carried out for ... a company making shredding machines.�
�Why is it so few of the newspapers - or the BBC for that matter - have seen fit to mention that the survey might result in a sales boost for the people who paid for it.

I'm an Extremist

In this age of bland "centre" politics anyone on the left is an extremist. If you read Chomsky and reject permitted politics (which is basically support for the status quo in various different forms) then you're an extremist.

I'm an extremist, Blair and all the snivelling little cunts who run around carrying out your twisted little plan to bring about a new age of darkness, fear and superstition.

Now the government want us to spy on muslims and report extremism to the authorities. Muslims today - the rest of us tomorrow - if we don't stand up and reject this now. How long before a new Gestapo is created? How long before we all live in fear of a new labour SS? How long before the muslims, the gays and the "extremists" are shipped off and never seen again?

I reject the status quo. I reject this new plunge into fascism. I reject all political parties.

So I repeat - I'm an extremist - go on - report me.

wing NUT brigade

Alright. Well I was going to let this go, but a little research has made me change my mind.

Someone who call him/herself Pliny the younger wrote this comment on my Blog,

"That comes to 600 people a day. Think someone might have noticed all those bodies piling up in the street if these numbers were accurate?
Another example of nonsense being accepted as fact,"

in reply to yesterday's entry about the death figures for Iraq. So I put my reply - and you can see it as a comment under yesterday's entry. Then I checked out Pliny's website.

wing NUT brigade

"I am Pliny the Younger, and I own this web page. I teach Humanities in Kansas, and consider myself to be slightly to the right of Ronald Reagan. As the days go on, I and the other members of the Brigade will add to these pages, and will hopefully enlighten all that come across these pages to the truth that exists."
"This web page is dedicated to exposing the hypocrisy of the Left. Whether they are in the media, government, politics, or in the blogosphere, the The Wing Nut Brigade will shine the light of truth and understanding upon their nefarious words and deeds.
"We hope to be a clarion of truth in the heart of “red” America, as we battle the forces of evil in “blue” America. We shall not stop until we become the Wing Nut Division. All hail!"

That's some mission! Only trouble is if you go and look at the website - it appears that the NUTS have failed "to shine the light of truth and understanding upon" anything. Apart from the bits I quote above, there's nothing on the website. "As the days go on, I and the other members of the Brigade will add to these pages". Yeah? Go on then. I can;t wait to see what right wing idiot toss passes for "humanities" in Kansas.

The Iraqi Dead

655,000 dead.

 

 

Of course Bush denies it, but on what basis? I have no idea.

The Independent is very good today, with a long article about the reality of living in Baghdad, by Patrick Cockburn. I'm particularly shocked by the manner that US troops have been wacking Iraqis just on the offchance that they may be suicide bombers.

 

The Iraqi police general in charge of the serious crimes squad was shot throught the head by an American soldier who mistook him for a suicide bomber.

 

President Jalal Talabani's head of protocol was in hospital with broken limbs after his car was rammed by a US Humvee.

 

These are just the high-ranking vicitms. I suspect that thousands have been shot in this casual manner by US troops since the war ended and the occupation began.

GRRRRR

BBC London just ran a trail for its Q&A program with Peter Hendy, head of Transport for London. And prominent in the trail is the sound of a bicycle bell and a woman shouting "hey! That's a red light". So we can see how that program is going to go then? Some cunt's gonna phone up and compain about cyclists jumping red lights and then no cyclist will be able to make a valid point at any point during this program.

 

I've written to Hendy - he had to apologise for insensitive remarks he made about cyclists the day he started his job!

 

I might phone up and ask what he's going to do about buses and motorists who run red lights, ignore rights of way, break the speed limit and park on the pavement; especially the ones who seem to target cyclists in some sort of personal vendetta.

North Korea

Why do all the news reports keep saying that North Korea "claims" to have tested a nuclear weapon. Don;t we know? Considering all the seismolgy equipment round the globe, I'm surprised we can't confirm whether a nuclear weapon was exploded in North Korea, or not.

 

Lurid diagrams in the Independent today showing the potential range of NK's new weapon. It's a bit irrelevent discussing this isn;t it? NK know that if they use it it'll be reciprocated a hundred times over, and NK will cease to exist. But it sertainly gives them some security against being attacked by their neighbours.

 

Or by America.

 

I'm not sure how much more unsafe this makes the world, if at all. After all Israel and Pakistan have nukes, as do many of the former Soviet Union nations, some of which are incredibly unstable or corrupt.

 

Our politicians are talking of taking action - but what action can we take? I believe we should do exactly what we did when France let one off in the South Pacific a few years back. Absolutely sweet fuck all. France went against international opinion when they carried out their last series of tests in the south Pacific. But our governments did not issue sanctions or threaten "action".

 

I laughed incredulously listening to the radio last night. Some toffee nosed twat representing the UK government said he couldn;t understand why NK needed nuclear power as South Korea had offered to supply all NK's energy needs. Ah - so that's why the war in the Middle East isn;t about oil then. We were perfectly happy to have our energy supplied by Arab countries weren't we? We're OK about buying gas from China and allowing Russia to own its own energy sources aren;t we? Beacause at no point do we think that our enemies (rivals?) might use their advantage as leverage to make us do things they want us to do.

 

No the US, europe, Russia and China are enganged in a huge game of chess to gain control of the global energy network at the moment. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were just a small part of this. The gradual corruption, underming democracy and supporting tyrants, in the former USSR is another.

 

We wouldn;t accept the position we demand that NK put themselves in, so why should they? We have nuclear weapons, so why shouldn;t they? We are autonomous and run our countries our own way without external interference, so why shouldn;t they?

 

It's a flaw of the nuclear proliferation treaty that the so-called recognised nuclear powers seem not to have any intention of disarming. We cling onto our nuclear capability while lecturing others about why it would be so dangerous if they had the bomb. I wouldn;t listen to such hypocracy, why should North Korea, or Iran?  

 

Jack Straw is a Tosser

We already knew this of course. But now he's said something so astoundingly stupid and insensitive that this fact must be beyond dispute.

 

But was it stupid or was it timed to further stoke up tension?

 

I can;t answer this question. But either this government are incompentent blundering fools, or there's a  secret agenda here. Not that secret in my opinion either. It's a bit like the 70s and 80s when authorities seemed determined to stoke up racial hatred for their own political agenda.

 

Over a day later Straw still hasn;t backed down or apologised.

No Ball Games

Wreck of the Old 97

The weather!

It's bollox and has been most of the week. I don;t mind rain, but I do when its the sort that makes you sodden through in about a minute.

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S makes a flying visit today, so I'm going to Camberwell to meet her later. And I guess I'd better clear the fridge of all the perishables from over a week ago, that have definitely gone off by now.

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Watched Sopranos last night. Last night's was the best yet. Vito is fleeing for his life after it became generally known that he is gay. Tony's all for forgiveness, but his weakness may not be acceptable to the captains. The general view is Vito needs whacking.

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I haven't been getting any mail this week. I stopped to ask the postman about it this morning - he said they've lost the fob that opens the communal door, and that means they can't get in to deliver. Bloody hell. I'm short of two Screen Select DVDs, a Colourblind James Experience LP, a David Bowie CD, and other stuff too!

It'll mean an early trip to Bromley tomorrow morning. I can probably fit in a visit to Waitrose, and photograph a stink-pipe too.

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I updated the stink-pipe web site earlier today - see link on right hand panel. I also updated a document me and S are working from so we can identify stink pipes and connect them with their locations.

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Tony Blair appeared on Blue Peter the other day. Even the kids were giving him a hard time! Wanker! I read the other day that Blair wants to bring in a law that forces cyclists to ring their bell whenever they see a pedestrian. In London that'll be all the time. My finger will be knackered. I'll have to design a device that rings the bell using an electric motor driven by a dynamo.

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My cactus has gone wierd and grown multiple rabbit ears. I have no idea why, or if it's in any way normal for this to happen:

BEFORE

AFTER

Warsaw "seems to breed melancholy"

S took me to task the other day for writing here that she described Warsaw as a shit-hole. Actually she expressed herself far more eloquently than that, although she did say "shithole".

"Warsaw is the worst place that I have ever visited; it is populated by humourless sour faced tossers, the town is a shithole - I reckon the Germans did them a favour when they levelled it - fuck knows why anyone bothered reconstructing the place.

No wonder anyone with a spark fucks off out of it asap."

"Anyway, with luck I'll be getting a train out of here v. early tomrrow morning."

"The place has a sense of, let's not say faded glory, rather decaying dogshit; it's riddled with concrete cancer architecture, dissatified political graffitto and a level of drunkeness that I find depressing (looking into one of the wall to wall bars* today I saw someone geniunely smashing their head on the table while the other solitary drinkers continued to gaze morosely at their pints poured from cheap cans**

*read flyblown shithole playing dire 80's eastern european electronica while pasty faced acned men & boys drink themselves to death in their own personal hell bubble - I least when I'm hellbound I invite everyone else to come along for the ride/spectacle.

**Yup, go in the wrong sort of bar and ask for a beer and you're given a lukewarm can and a glass - pour it yourself - even the hostesses on the hellsville express can't be bothered."

I hope that puts the record straight.

Jimmie Dale Gilmour and Flatlanders

http://www.jimmiegilmore.com/

 

the collaboration with Mudhoney looks intriguing

...and they pissed on your rug!

I managed to upload all of S's photos from her East European jaunt, onto the internet. It took a while - the computer crashed after 5 hours, and still about 30 pictures remained stubbornly on the laptop's C drive.

So I tried again last night and succeeded. Had to do housework, those cats don't half make a mess. They will spread grains of cat-litter all over the house if left alone for a few days. They carry it clenched in their little paws. The bastards!

Bromley council can;t be arsed collecting my recycling, and I have no nearby facilities. I tend to keep it till there's a massive pile, and when I've got the car, I stick it in the boot ready for whenever I happen to drive by some facilities. There's a recycling bin at S's place - so I usually dump it there. Right now though, the car's in Oxford, and I took S's recycling at the weekend, which added to what I had already is now quite a pile. There's no way I can carry it on my bike - or even walk with it to the nearest facilities. I could however post it to the council - each item individually, with postage to be paid on receipt by the council. They must have a freepost address for something - I'll could use that.

The Thames was a fantastic colour this morning - a deep sea-green blue. But I couldn't be arsed taking pictures.

New Anti-terrorist device seen in East London

These pictures were taken by S in Lithuania, in a place nicknamed Stalin Land. They've bought up loads of Soviet era statues and placed them around a park.

And as always - click on the picture for a larger version:

Elvis Costello

I've just been listening to "The Scarlet Tide" by EC, from the 'Delivery man' CD. It never fails to move me.

 

It must be over a year since I bought this CD; since I put it on my MP3 in its entirety earlier this year, I haven;t got fed up with a single track. There are those who say EC has lost it, and doesn;t make records like he used to. These people obviously haven;t listened to Delivery Man. It's a superb album, as good as anything he's ever done, and better than most of it.

 

That said - I've had "North" for nearly two years, and apart from a couple of tracks, feel completely intimidated by it. It's a difficult album, but by no means poor. It marks EC's incredible growth as a musician since he first emerged in the mid 70s.

 

Phil Jupitus on 6Music this morning said he'd put his entire EC collection on his MP3 player - and I'm sorely tempted - it amounts to 760 songs - 36 hours worth played back to back. What a 36 hours that would be. Hmmmm...I've got a day off work on Thursday.

Happy Birthday to this Blog

I've been doing this Blog for two years now.

Hoorah!

er...

A drive back to London on Sunday - same intermittent rain all the way - meaning I couldn;t relax on the wipers front.

We had a family outing in the afternoon - to a Wetherspoons pub in Petts Wood. We thought it would be reasonable food and quite cheap.

Unfortunately this was without factoring in the shit, lazy Chav staff working there. They got the order wrong - mixing up my double burger with S.'s cheese and bacon burger, so she got a double cheese and bacon, and I got a normal one. K. got a chicken salad instead of the veggie salad I ordered. We'd already noticed no salt in condiments available, and really dirty cutlery. So we complained about all this.

They failed to apologise for any of this, made excuses. Then we got the food back, they'd just scraped the food off the plate and gave us back the same shit with the extra burger swapped round and the chips now cold. Still no apology.

The burgers didn;t look cooked - the buns weren't toasted - the chips were white and cold.

We asked for our money back and walked out.

It was only when we went to Orpington and ordered the same meal that I saw how my dinner was supposed to look - and taste. It was compeltely different. The burgers looked like they'd been grilled - they were a pleasing dark colour. So were the chips. and we got the relish that was supposed to come with the meal.

And K got her veggie salad this time.

So we'll have to send in a complaint about this. Those lazy bastards need to be told to start doing their job - or get sacked.

On the way into work this morning I saw a Recumbent tandem being ridden by a couple. That'll sort out the balancing problems me and S. had the other week riding a trad tandem.

um...

I slept on the floor - and it was quite comfortable. In the morning it was sunny, theny it pissed down, then it was sunny.

 

This went on all morning till the afternoon - after we'd left for the city centre on our bikes - and then it pissed down permanently.

 

We managed to get to a pub for a cheap lunch, a bit of charity shop shopping, and a tour ropund S.s Central Oxford campus.

 

It was impossible to do anything very interesting cos of the weather, so we opted for an eveing in the local noodle bar, and drinks back at home. Both of slept early that night.

er...

Long stressful drive to Oxford on friday. Long because of gridlocked traffic in Camberwell, Kennington, Vauxhall, Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch.

 

And I nearly lost our bikes on the way...the cycle carrier straps came loose, and I was lucky to discover it in time.

 

And it rained. Not proper rain, but on-off-on-off heavy bloody rain, which required full on wipers, then nothing - then full-on wipers again.

 

And S. was extremely annoyed at my lateness.

well...

It appears that changes are appearing v - e - r - y    s - l - o - w - l - y

 

 

something's wrong.

This blog site isn't updating my edits.

 

 

So this probably won;t appear until the problem is fixed.

 

Spangled

S. had a mild crisis the other night which left me with about 2 hours sleep. Now, over a day later I'm still spangled.

I've lost my work keys too, which is causing me a fair amount of inconvenience.

Anyway - S. is up in Oxford - studying - and I'm visiting tomorrow. It means I've got to seriously get my shit together tomorrow, in terms of laundry, housework, finding all the things I've lost, packing the car with things that s wants in Oxford, etc.

war on terror the board-game

http://www.waronterrortheboardgame.com/

weird Christian Bush conspiracy site

http://www.cuttingedge.org/News/n1598.cfm

Who Killed Kennedy?

I've never considered myself to be a conspiracy theorist, so until recently I've kind of skated around this issue. I've always been aware that conspiracy theories existed, but I never knew much beyond the "Magic Bullet" theory, and the discrepencies and contradictions in the records surrounding Oswald.

I'd been reading a lot of crap from the Garrison investigation in 1967, I guess because of that Stone movie. But that's pretty much a major red-herring, and a load of bullshit.

When I started writing my own history of the USA I had it in the back of mind that I'd either not really deal with it, or pick a few theories of the shelf, including the official story, and offer them up for the reader to decide themselves. But eveytime I come up against the Kennedy murder, it just seems inadequate, and I feel like I'm avoiding the issue.

I now feel that JFK's death, and the truth surrounding his murder, is crucial to understanding that whole period. after all JFK wasn;t the only prominent figure who was bumped off at the height of his powers.

I'm very impressed with Summers' book, "The Kennedy Conspiracy". It examines the evidence in minute detail. It isn;t the only book I've read on the subject, but so far it is the best.

Oswald was clearly working for US intelligence. He wasn't the scumbag traitor that the establishment want us to believe he was. He probably didn;t have time to commit the assassination, as he wasn;t quite in the right place at the right time, and no-one can definitively place him on the sixth floor of the book depositary at the moment Kennedy was shot. He was also not that good a shot. Yet he ran up the stairs to the sixth floor, assembled his gun, aimed fired and hit twice, then ran back downstairs quickly enough to be witnessed by a cop all in the space of a few minutes, and not a bit out of breath or flustered,looking nonchalant enough so that the cop who saw him didn't consider him at all suspicious.

50 odd people thought a shot or shots had come from the grassy knoll. Some saw the shooter. a photo appears to show a head in the right place. Others saw a man fleeing from the grassy knoll. The accoustic evidence proves with 90% certainty that some of the shots came from the grassy knoll. JFK's injuries were such that they could only have been caused by a gunshot from the front, ie, the grassy knoll. Witnesses, including ones with combat experience, were sure that at least two shooters were firing - and from different directions.

Then comes the doctored and disappeared evidence, the lies, the pressure put on witnesses to lie, and the lack of a proper inquiry.

For me its bang to rights - Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy. One powerful enough to fake evidence, pull files, forge official documents, etc. Now I only have to work out who was in that conspiracy.

Anyway - the upshot is that I'm rapidly working towards a theory that I'm happy to include in my book - not a conspiraloon theory, nor the standard history version which is clearly inadequate.

after counting to ten

I've calmed down.

 

After I left U75 because I couldn't stand dealing with the feeble minded, they've started coming onto my PERSONAL Blog and telling me what I can and can't say. Free speech is something that most U75ers  hate - either cos they're stalinist "socialists" or because they're little neo-con robots who believe the only right the working class should have is to work 50 hours a week, and be bloody grateful for it. Otherwise Daddy's company just won't be able to get the staff.

 

I finally got round to buying the new Moz album, and as S is away in a former Soviet bloc country, I'm driving around in the car. That means loud stereo. I've loaded Stereolab, Bowie, The Tears, Moz and an Indie compilation in the CD player, and was playing it LOUD this morning. Moz is well on form with this new one, and I wish I'd bought it before.

 

Just had to help S buy a ticket to get out of Warsaw - they didn't take her card. She's been really negative about the place, calling it a shit-hole among other things.

 

Went to the Thames Festival yesterday - no pictures...

 

Reading Anthony Summers' The Kennedy conspiracy...

 

Watched 13 - Tzameti (2005) last night - I rated it with 5 stars on Screen Select - that's what I call a thriller, not that Hollywood shit we get fed with over here.

 

 

Some Urban 75 wanker has posted a feeble comment

http://porgythecat.blogspot.com/2006/09/letter-i-sent-to-schnews.html#comments

 

The morons who post on Urban 75 seem to be brainwashed and thick. Too thick to realise that people may exist outside of their internet personas. I used to be a regular poster on Urban 75 until one day I woke up and realised I was wasting my time arguing with a bunch of middle class tosspots that I'd rather just ignore.

 

Come on you thick twat - identify yourself!

 

Anyway - I repeat my point - that your comment only serves to reinforce. Urban 75 and that ginger-haired Welsh wanker who runs the whole show, seem intent on associating themselves with events that are "cool". However when I've started critical mass related threads on U75 a run of posts were posted saying er...sorry, can't make it cos of work/ a trendy gig/ can't be arsed/ got no bike/ can't ride a bike/ I'll be wankered on drugs.

 

And I've seen very sporadic and occasional attendence of Critical Mass by regular U75ers.

 

Tangela Tricoli

I just heard this woman singing on the Danny Baker show. Hilariously terrible.

Apparently she provided inspiration for Lisa Kudrow's character, Phoebe, in the TV sitcom "Friends" and the song "Smelly Cat" featured in the alleged sit-com is based on "Stinky Poodle".

go here too

Cycle helmets may raise risk of accidents

by Alexandra Topping
Tuesday September 12 2006
The Guardian

Wearing a cycle helmet could be hazardous for your health, according to research from the University of Bath. The study of 2,500 overtaking motorists in Salisbury and Bristol found that drivers get 8cm closer to cyclists wearing helmets because they are seen as more experienced.

Female cyclists are also given more room. Traffic psychologist Ian Walker used a bicycle fitted with an ultrasonic distance sensor to record data. Dr Walker, whose research is to be published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, was struck twice during the experiment.

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

Five Years

OK so its Monday again. I'm wrecked already. There's been a lot of sackings on the project I'm involved with in the last two weeks, and apparently there's more to come. I'm about to step sideways into a different job. The whole project is nose-diving and I want out.

We went to Brick Lane festival yesterday and looked at some art (not very good), and ate some curry (tasty). We didn;t eat on Brick Lane which is a bit poor these days, but in a restaurant a couple of streets away that S knew about. I'm not going to publicise it as the queue is long enough already.

The Dials were kind enough to send me a few tracks that they'd recorded. I've stuck them on my mp3 player, and have been listening to them for about a week now. The four tracks are quite varied in styles, with country, psychedlia, soul, and acid jazz all thrown into the mix. three of the tracks are particularly catchy pop songs; the other is a ballad. I've recently put 60 tracks by the Monkees on the MP3 player too, and for a second I thought a couple of the Dials tracks were Monkees tracks, till I checked the screen. I mean that as a complement, of course.

I've got my bike back - it only cost me �12 - at Edwardes, Camberwell. I was a bit shocked to see Wharf Cycles had gone.

It's the anniversary of "911" today - I put reggae on and danced through the minutes silence as a sign of complete disrespect to the United States.

I'm aware that thousands of innocents died in that attack, but they are a tiny percentage of the innocents that have died brutally and needlessly since America decided it needed an empire. It's time we started considering the hundreds of thousands that have been killed by the terrorists in the White House over the last 60 years.

A letter I sent to SchNews

In a recent issue of SchNews you quoted the critical mass web address as Urban75. This is incorrect. The actual address is http://www.criticalmasslondon.org.uk/

I'm not aware that anyone from Urban 75 is involved with critical mass - or even takes part on a regular basis. Urban 75 are a self-serving group of middle class t**ts and do not need any more publicity than they have already.

I hope you can find space in your next issue to print the correct address for critical mass.

thanks,

The Cat

Bikeless

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/press-centre/press-releases/press-releases-content.asp?prID=877

 

I went to this event on sunday with the family. It wasn;t bad. Me and S got to ride a tandem. We were a bit wobbly.

 

I'm bikeless for a couple of days; my wheel is being fixed in camberwell. I do get to read more when I'm on public transport. I'm reading Anthony Summers' "Secret Life of Edgar Hoover". Summers makes the claim that Hoover - as well as being a complete bastard all his life, and blackmailed everyone to keep his job - he was a transvestite, and had been in a long-term gay relationship with another FBI employee. I haven;t got to the really good bits yet.

 

My MP3 player is full of Americana at the moment. I put on 60 Johnny Cash tracks, a funk cd compiled by James Brown, and a southern blues compilation. Put that with the Wilco double cd, the 50 track country compilation, & Elvis Costello's "Delivery Man".  

Bugger!

Yesterday wasn;t a good day. After only three hours sleep, with a hangover, and depressed, I was expected to turn up at work, organise 4 teams and their paperwork, write an audit report, and cover for a colleague who has gone on leave. No chance!

 

I could barely cope and barely did the bare minumum I could get away with. Therefore no report, and a little of the other two jobs I had to do.

 

On the way home - with two heavy panniers I managed to break two spokes on my back wheel. That left my back wheel buckled, though I could still ride it. I had to ride carefully though, with quite a heavy load I was concerned about breaking the wheel so much that it became beyond repair.

 

I went home via Greenwich so I could buy food for my cats. I get this dried stuff - Hill's Maintenance diet. The few times I've dared feed them anything different I end up with an ill cat - except fresh or tinned fish of course - but I can;t afford for them to eat too much of that.

 

Once I was carrying the cat food, then my load was 5kg more than before, so I ended up walking a large part of the way home just to be safe. Got home at 8:30.

 

I made a large chllie con veggie carne, put on something more comfortable, put my feet up, and fell alseep to Futurama series 3 on DVD.

Gary Numan to perform Telekon in entirety!

I've only seen Numan once this year already - pretty much doing only tracks from his new album. Now he's touring doing only tracks from my favourite Numan album, Telekon. I'm quite excited about this now. "TELEKON MINI TOUR (News date: Jul 27)

I think most people will have heard some rumours or comments about this by now. For quite some time I have been concerned about those fans, most of whom have been with me for many, many years, that would like to see more older songs played live. As you are aware, my own desires have been to play less older stuff as each new album comes along, especially since '94 when things got much heavier and darker. I have struggled to come up with a solution. One that enables me to continue to play predominantly newer material at the shows and yet doesn't seem to be ignoring the wishes of those people that are a, not as interested in the newer stuff or b, do like the newer stuff but would still like to hear more older songs. So this is my first attempt at trying to do something that is some kind of a solution. In December we will play four shows where we only play songs from the Telekon album and it's associated singles and B-Sides. If this 'Classic Album' idea works I might do it again but playing songs from different 'old' albums each time. I intend to play the songs pretty much as they were originally recorded, so not massively reworked as I usually do when playing older songs. This, I hope, will give those fans exactly what they want, without me having to dilute the current album tours and shows with too many older songs. For me, knowing that these are special shows for a particular part of my fan base is also something that I can be comfortable with. As you know I hate nostalgia with a passion but this is a compromise that I can live with and enjoy. The shows will be at: Dec 5. NOTTINGHAM. Rock City Dec 6. GLASGOW. QMU Dec 7. MANCHESTER. Academy Dec 9. LONDON. The Forum The tickets will be available on this site, at the venue, and at other outlets which I will let you know about as soon as things are set up. Hopefully that will be before I fly to America on sunday. This idea working or not, and whether it ever happens again, is entirely down to how many fans want it and are prepared to come along. I really hope enough people are interested. " - from Numan's website.

Budgieman!

Dr Syn Day

A year ago - we said we'd go back to Dymchurch - I wanted to see the entire town dressing up and playing out the events surrounding the Dr Syn legend.




A battle was recreated on the beach - the army and the navy versus smugglers and pirates.




girls and women in big dresses...









and seagulls

The Dials - tour dates

http://www.thedials.co.uk/

21st September 2006
The Pressure Point, Brighton

22nd September 2006
The Jericho Tavern, Oxford

23rd September 2006
Bath Place Community Centre, Leamington Spa

28th September 2006
The Red Roaster Cafe, 1D St James Street, Brighton.

2nd December 2006
The Cockroach Club, Peterborough

What no more London gigs? I was hoping to see them again soon. Still I might just be able to see them in Oxford. S. had an interview for a course up there today, and I reckon she's probably in. In which case I'll be in Oxford a fair amount.

As for the Dials - go see them - they're very good live, if you like that Tarantino/ surf / blues / country crossover sort of thing.

these pictures look old - the one above is of my Dad and sister, and the little dog was called Scamp. It must have been taken around 1980, despite my Dad looking like he's walked out of 1973.


Here he is again, asleep after running round like a mad thing for hours. You can also see most of the cat - Whiskey.



This isn't so old - although it is still Scamp. Taken around 1987/ 88 - You can see my sister's two dogs - in my parents' garden - and they still live here now.

Dr Syn Festival

The plan for our Bank Holiday is this - drive down to Dymchurch in the early hours of Monday morning, grab a parking space, go watch the reenactment of the Doctor Syn legend:

Synweekend/

Stop At Red - Misguided Idiots

I want to have a quick few words about this bunch of eejits

 

http://www.stopatred.org/

 

What do they think they can achieve? So people who stop at red lights are pledging to continue to stop at red lights. And people who don;t will continue to be RLJs (red light jumpers).

 

I treat some red lights as advisory when I cycle. the ones where not stopping has a nil effect on other road users, and nil risk for me. Others, there's a risk of hitting peds, and if peds are about, I stop and stay stopped until its safe to move on. And on major junctions where I have to cross the flow of traffic to get to the exit I need, then I definitely take no chances.

 

There's a real argument here that traffic lights are designed for the needs of motor vehicles and/or the need to protect pedestrians from motor vehicles. So why do traffic lights apply in exactly the same way to cyclists as they do to cars, lorries, motorbikes and buses?

 

In many cases the law could say cyclists proceed through red light if safe to do so. Recklessly racing through a crowd of pedestrians, or against traffic crossing the junction can remain just as illegal as it is now.

 

That's why Stop At Red are so wrong. Instead of wringing our hands and looking concerned about the criticisms we receive from other road users - and lets face it, these complaints are nearly always red-herring arguments which indicate a deep prejudice undeneath - we should be declaring the need to change the law to one more appropriate for cyclists.

 

Are Stop At Red going to campaign for lawful motoring. Probably not. So who is. Motorists? Well, that's clearly not happening. So why should we be the only suckers working within an unworkable set of laws?

Two Way Stretch

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054417/

 

I've got a Screen Select account, which means I pay them about 15 squid and they send me an unlimited number of DVDs every month.

 

The latest two I received were Lost In La Mancha - I can't wait to see this with S. - and "Two Way Stretch". If you don;t know this film, then it's an early Peter Sellers comedy, befroe he hit Hollywood. Peter Sellers was excellent, plenty of genuine laughs, and unbeliveable to see how different the world looked less than 50 years ago.

 

Only the ending was a bit crap. Instead of the crims getting away with the diamonds they lose them in some pretty bizarre and out of keeping with the film plot twist. Cribbins had to climb on the roof of a train to evade the police, even though they had the perfect aliby of being in prison at the time of the robbery, and while climbing back down dropped the diamonds off the train. They all end up dressed as Arabs trying to steal the diamonds back of the Sheikh. Ludicrous!

Empty days

The stress of work, and the fact that I need to put a good extra couple of hours in today, means I drove in to work. Am I letting the [cycling] side down? I don't think so. For me it just proves that the average cyclist like me is normal human being, not some "tree hugging freak", lycra lout, terrorist on two wheels, cycling psychopath etc. Actually I am someone who uses the most appropriate form of transport on any given day or circumstances. I could have cycled today, but I chose not to. Instead I was out in a VW Golf with a sticker on the back that says "Give Cyclists Room".

I feel really self conscious among the muslims out here these days. When I see them looking at me what are they thinking? Do they think I fear them, hate them? I am actually thinking I hope they don;t hate me for what my country is doing.

In the midst of all this whipping up of race and religious hatred, new rights-destroying legislation, bombing of Lebanon, our continued occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, Heart FM seems to have hit on the debate that matters. They're asking the question, the big question, the question we all need to ask ourselves. what do you prefer, crunchy or smooth peanut butter, or both equally?

FFS!

Disappearing News

I'm reminded of  story that featured quite prominently in BBC bulletins on August 9th, the day of the dastardly plot being disrupted. There was this story of a "security breach" on a plane at one of the London airports. A smartly dressed man, in a suit, carrying a brief case, had got on board a plane I think that had just been emptied of passengers. He claimed he'd left something on the plane. He smashed the glass to use an emergency handle to gain entry to the cabin. The police were called and he was removed.

 

The police immediately denioed this was a security breach but didn't elaborate. The third time this story appeared in a bulletin, about 6 pm, an airline spokesperson was interviewed saying as far as thye were concerned this was a breach of security and wanted to know what the police were talking about. Then the story disappeared entirely. I haven't been able to find mention of this in any of the papers on-line, or in the printed version of the Indie. Nor has any mention of this story appeared in any news bulletin since, as far as I know.

 

I get the impresssion that the man in question wasn't just some common or garden member of the public, and this story has been killed by the authorities. So what was this fecker up to? And what do the police know? I've no idea.

Bomb Plot Trial

Judge Timothy Workman set the date for the trial as September 4, at the Old Bailey

Tanvir Hussain
"The first man to be remanded was Tanvir Hussain, 25, who was said to have no fixed abode.
He is charged with one offence of conspiracy to murder contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977. The second charge alleges that, on diverse days between January 1 this year and August 10, with the intention of committing acts of terrorism, he engaged in conduct to "give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices on to aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board".
The defendant appeared in court wearing a white T-shirt and grey sweatpants. He had close-cropped dark hair and a beard and spoke only to confirm his identity." Guardian
"Umar Islam, 28, who gave his address in court as London E15, Arafat Waheed Khan, 25, from Walthamstow, east London and Ahmed Abdullah Ali, also 25 and from Walthamstow, were also remanded in custody to appear before the Old Bailey on September 4.
The three appeared in the dock together dressed in white T-shirts and grey jogging bottoms and remained impassive throughout their brief appearance." Guardian

"The other four men who are due to be charged in court with conspiracy to murder are: Assad Ali Sarwar, 26, from High Wycombe; Adam Khatib, 19, from Walthamstow; Ibrahim Savant, 25, from Walthamstow and Waheed Zaman, 22, from Walthamstow.
The other three suspects were charged with other terrorism offences. One, a 17-year-old male, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with possessing items useful for terrorism.
Two others have been charged with failing to tell the police about what they are alleged to have known about terrorism. They are Cossar Ali, 23, who has a seven-month-old baby and who is married to suspect Ahmed Abdullah Ali, and Mehran Hussain." Guardian

"A further 11 people remain in custody; police have until tomorrow to present charges or request an extension to the time they can be held without charge.
ICM poll for the Guardian today revealed that 72% of people questioned think government foreign policy has made Britain more of a target for terrorists and only 1% of voters believe it has made Britain safer." guardian

The charges brought are Mickey Mouse charges designed to force the defendents to prove their own innocence. The conspiracy laws are an anomaly in British Law. It is a sure sign that the polcie have no evidence whatsoever, and are hoping that these young people end up incriminating themselves in their defence.

This trial will be a sham, with a nice safe judge to make sure the verdict goes the right way. I can't wait to see the "evidence".

The anti-Muslim backlashed has been kick-started by the government:

Amar Ashraf, a pilot, was ordered off his plane yesterday to be interviewed by armed police because he had a muslim sounding name. He was forced to go home to Wales and pay £800 for an alternative flight two days later.

Azar Iqbal was removed from a plane from Manchester to Atlanta last Thursday, seperated from his family, and held for questioning by US officials, eventually deported back to the UK.

Two British women complained about a bearded Muslim on a flight from Spain - even though the man had passed security twice.

Dr Ahmed Farooq, a radiologist and a muslim, was escorted off a flight from Winnipeg in Denver last week after reciting prayers that were regarded as suspicious by the other passengers.

The new Prevention of Terrorism bill

And a reminder to myself to look at this

Places to Stick Signs

I can see it might be a bit of a problem for the Highways authorities. They need to stick a sign up, but haven't got room to put it. Can't put it on the road, it would inconvenience the motorists. Can't block the pavement - there'd be complaints. Ah! But there's always the cycle lane. No-one uses that do they? Especially the contra-flow ones that bypass busy roads in the City. The only people who will compain are cyclists, and everyone hates them anyway.

The Dials

I went and saw a band called the Dials a few weeks ago. They were supporting the Mekons who I'd liked back in the '80s. I think time has left the Mekons beind a bit. They helped to reabilitate country and folk back in the days when Elvis Costello risked an early end to his career by making a Country & Western album, and country generally was slated as cheesey, outdated, for old men. It was even before Johnny Cash was considered to be remotely cool. These days of course, country rules. At least it does if you're male and over about 25, under 45. Everyone now knows Johnny Cash is a great artist, cool, and about as rock'n'roll as you can be. We have bands like Wilco and Steve Earle who easily stand astride both the rock and country camps. Country elements form parts of many rock songs these days. It will leave most people wondering what's so special about the Mekons. They're a northern English band who play country quite badly, but with spirit. To be honest I was a bit surprised that their musicianship hadn't moved on at all, not an inch. Still, I'm glad I saw them.

S. didn't like The Mekons; she took a personal dislike to them after they nattered all the way through the support (The Dials) and gave her dirty looks when she complained. This ambivalence was reinforced when the band announced they were playing Urban75's Offline event in Brixton the following day, to an audience of trendy uptight tossers. Andy, who came with us, wasn't too impressed either. I had a history with the band, and even though I admit they weren't great - they never were technically - it was the spirit, the ragedness, and the fact that they were daring to take Indie where Indie, at first, really didn't want to go, and after it had gone, came back.

The Dials however, went down a storm. I thought they were excellent, and so did S. Mark Lamarr's been promoting them quite a bit lately, and there's a debut album in the pipeline. They're a Brighton band whose sound is very Tarantino-esque in places. I'd describe it as surfer country blues, jazzy too in places. They freely admit they steal from everywhere. My kind of band.

The Luminaire too was an experience - a very little venue, the smallest I've ever been to, probably slightly smaller than the cellar bar in Thames Polytechnic, where I sued to frequent back in the mid-80s.

http://www.thedials.co.uk/index.jsp

I might buy the ep.

"Terror Plot" update

I just got this from the BBC. I'll be interested to read more.

 

"Eleven people have been charged in connection with an alleged terror plot to
blow up transatlantic airliners. More soon.

For more details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news "

Music

This MP3 player is a feckin' godsend to me. It may be my AS, but I find it very difficult to make music decisions at times, ie, choosing what I want to listen to. The MP3 player takes the decision making out of my hands. I've got 200 odd fave tunes, and the rest is made up of new albums, classics, and downloaded stuff.

 

At the moment I've got a jazz section on there - loads of Count Basie early stuff, big band style - and plenty of old style, 30s jazz. And about a dozen tracks from John Coltrane.

 

I've also got Van Morrisson's 'Contractual Obligation' on there - very funny - and downloadable for free. Recommended.

 

Plus, Elvis Costello's Delivery Man, Wilco's double album, two CDs by Polyphonic Spree, the last Pulp CD, a soul section, a funk section, a reggae section, Viva Hate by Morrissey, about 50 alternative country tracks, and a whole Steve Earle album.

 

The only problem is the long winded method I have to use to put tracks on it. I don;t have much memory on my laptop so I have to rip each track first, and then move it into my player. Takes forever. I'm holding out for a bigger laptop so I can stick all my music on there.

The Real Terrorists

I was reading the Independent on Friday and checked up on the latest regarding 24 (now 23) arrested for an alleged bomb plot on August 9th / 10th (crap memory).

I was pretty sure that nothing would turn up in the investigation and that all 23 would be released without charge, or with very minor charges brought. Last week there were bulletins on the BBC that claimed that a "bomb making kit" had been found and martyr videos on computers.

Reading the articles in the Indie quite closely I discovered that both these bits of news came from "unconfirmed police source" and the story about the martyr video was "believed" to originate from American Intelligence source.

Sounds a bit vague to me. Sounds a bit like, its not true but we're gonna put it about in the press for a while, both to stoke up public fears, prop up this fictitious bomb plot for a while, secure court permission to hold these innocent young people for a bit longer.

I worry now that they're going to end up being extradited to America.

And then a story that was really depressing. A plane load of the scummiest English chavs - flying back on a Monarch airline plane, from malaga in Spain - decided they didn;t want two Indian blokes on the plane with them. They played up enough to get these two innocent men arrested. They were eventually released with no charge. I'd have arrested every motherfucking one of those English twats until the plane was fit to take off.

And I would have charged them! What with? I'd have found something. Hijacking a plane might have been a good one.

So who are the real terorrists? I'm reading "Trail of the Octopus" at the moment. This book tells the story of a DIA agent fleeing for his life to Sweden because of what he knew about Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie in 1988. It appears that our governments are so involved in running, supplying, training, and doing business with para-military groups in the Middle East that there is a very grey area dividing what we call "intelligence operations" and "terrorist operations". The other thing that has been highlighted for me is how much the intelligence organisations manipluate what appears in the press. How many journalists work for the DIA, CIA, MI5, MI6? How many newspaper owners work for these organisations? How many spook generated stories end up in our headlines? After Lockerbie, the US and UK managed to persuade the whole world to believe a politically convenient story they'd concocted completely at odds with the reality. No the press is joining in with framing 23 innocent muslims in the UK, and don;t forget the one in Pakistan who was arrested two days earlier. He's probably being tortured, and the UK doesn't seem particuarly keen to intevervene.

I'm too tired to think of a Title for this...

The week has just ended, i make it about 13 minutes past midnight, and the weekend is here. My work phone hasn't rung today so I assume that nothing went wrong. I'm exhausted. Last Friday S. kept me awake all night. Not what you might think, but I remember being really pissed off at 6 am and getting out of bed, drinking coffee, and falling asleep on the sofa to "Stoned" on DVD.
I took Tuesday off, but wasn't really capable of doing much. Slept in, went to pub and had breakfast - S. paid - went to laundrette. And then I took today off too. Got to the library, did a bit of shopping, watched "Sopranos" on DVD.
Haven;t had a drink for two days. I overdid it on Wednesday night when S stayed at my place. Ultimately I hope it improves my sleeping pattern, and causes me to lose weight. I might be able to save a little bit of cash too.
The cat's snoring beside me. He's been attention seeking all day, but finally ran out of energy.
Anyway - that's enough shit from me today.

floating bike

I saw this today. I wasn't surprised to see that an Indian man had come up with this extremely useful device. I could use it instead of the Woolwich Ferry, although I'm pretty sure it wouldn't save me any time. Or I could ride up the Lee Navigation on it. Still not sure it would help me much, although I still love the idea.

http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=502

Ken's U-turn

First the good news:

"One week (and many complaints) after announcing his plans to force cyclists in London to have number plates, Ken Livingstone has shelved the idea. He agreed with CTC's concerns over the prohibitive cost of such a scheme and now wants to launch a 'Share the road' campaign which will encourage all road users to obey traffic regulations and advise them of the penalties for not doing so."

now the bizarre news

Cyclist fined for riding on the road
"A UK cyclist has been fined £100 with £200 costs for riding on the road and obstructing traffic. The Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) reported that member Daniel Cadden was cycling fast downhill on a single-lane approach to a roundabout when he was stopped by police who believed that the position he had taken in the centre of his lane was forcing cars to cross the solid white line in the centre of the road illegally in order to overtake."

So who's breaking the law here then? Can I use as a defence that cars driving without due care and attention forced me to cycle illegally on the pavement? Probably not. I'm fucking appalled!

"CTC Director, Kevin Mayne, said, "The police at the scene said that Daniel
should have been cycling well over to the left - effectively in the gutter -
but the judge felt that Daniel should have crossed three lanes of busy
traffic and used a segregated cycle track to save fractions of seconds off
the journey times of a few motorists. CTC continues to fight a re-draft of
the Highway Code, which proposes cyclists 'should use cycle paths where
provided', in order to tackle the attitude, held by many people in the
judiciary, police and public alike, that cyclists should be out of the way
of motorists."

So it's true cyclists are about to be banned from using the roads we fucking pay for in our taxes. What makes it worse is that the cycling facilities we're expected to use are treated with such contempt by everyone else. I tried to use a contra-flow lane this morning, just north of Tower Bridge, and someone's put a fecking great sign warning of problems in the Blackwall Tunnel right across it. I had to cycle on the pedestrian bit.

Then at Leyton, there were about 20 lorries and other vehicle parked in the contra flow lane. I had to stop an on-coming lorry in order to make my way along the road. The driver didn't like it either.

I only hope that this cyclist can win on appeal.

terror raid - the list of those abducted by police:

British "Terror" Raids in august 2006

Those arrested:

Ahmed, Smith

Abdula Ahmed Ali

Cossor Ali

Shazad Khuram Ali

Nabeel Hussain

Tanvir Hussain

Umair Hussain

Umar Islam

Waseem Kayani

Assan Abdullah Khan

Waheed Arafat Khan

Osman Adam Khatib

Abdul Muneem Patel

Tayib Rauf

Muhammed Usman Saddique

Sarwar, Amjad

Assad Sarwar

Ibrahim Savant

Amin Asmin Tariq;

Shamin Mohammed Uddin

Waheed, Abdul

Waheed Zaman

These are the arrests that led to the ridiculous charade last week, that left thousands of people's holidays cocked up, and now 24 people arrested for being muslims.
I'd be surprised if any of these did anything remotely illegal - in the terrorism sense anyway. Although I'm sure the police could invent a few irrelevent charges for a few of them - "looking funny at a police officer" or "wearing muslim dress and attending a mosque
The original "intelligence" seems to have come from one of the British suspect'sbrother who was almost certainly tortured by police in Pakistan and forced to finger a load of innocent people he knew back in England.

Notepad Invaders

http://www2.b3ta.com/notepadinvaders/

The Daily Mail Agrees With Ken's Bonkers Scheme

The fact that the Daily Mail agrees with Ken Livingstone shows how out of step with reality he really is.

DailyMailandKen'sBonkerscheme

At the moment I still see children cycling - that will end once this sceme is brought in. No more borrowing other people's bikes. It'll be an open door for police harrassment of cyclists. Even law abiding registered bikes may be stopped to show their papers.

Ken says that there'll be no change for law-abiding cyclists. Apart from 600 squid a year to regster my family's bikes. The stopping and searching we'll be subjected to to make this sceme work. The stupid and inappropriate, rather large number plate I'm going to have to rivet to my bike!!

What happens when people come from outside London to cycle? They're going to have to register their bikes beforehand. More likely, no-one will bother, and cycling in the capital will die out.

I'm going to sabotage the leg of the Tour De France in London next year - the leg that Ken was so supportive of - if this scheme is to go ahead. If I can't cycle I don't agree that Ken can have a high-profile event that seems to imply his support of cycling.

His cycling ads need to be subvertised too.

Mayor's Bonkers Cycle Scheme

I got this yesterday - regarding Ken Livingstone's frankly bonkers idea to register cyclists in London.

If you wish to write to express your views on compulsory registration you can do so by sending an email to: mayor@london.gov.uk <mailto:mayor@london.gov.uk>

LCC Press Release
Cycle registration could halt cycle growth in London*
An unworkable scheme to register cycles in London and fit them with
number plates could bring the welcome growth in London cycling to a
sharp halt.
The scheme was proposed by Ken Livingstone, Mayor London. Speaking on the radio. Livingstone said he was considering a Private Bill in Parliament that would require registration of cycles and their owners, and for bikes to display a registration plate that could be monitored by cameras.
The London Cycling Campaign has written to Ken Livingstone expressing its dismay at the proposal which could undo efforts by the Mayor, Transport for London and organisations like the London Cycling Campaign to reduce congestion and pollution in the capital by promoting
sustainable transport.
Registration will be costly, complex and bureaucratic. It will also be a cost barrier for those considering taking up cycling, especially those on low incomes. Simon Brammer LCC?s director said ?There is no doubt that cycle licensing or registration in London would deter many
occasional cyclists and those who are considering taking up cycling. In particular it would have an impact on those who may be unable to afford the cost of a license. A better way to encourage safe and considerate cycling is cycle confidence training in line with National Standards.?
LCC has been pleased to see the capital benefiting from the recent increases in cycling. There is less traffic congestion, less pollution and less traffic noise as more people enjoy the health advantages of walking and cycling. Cycling training, not a costly licensing scheme, is the way forward.


From the Department of Transport
"The question of a registration and tax system for cyclists is often raised and the Department has examined this. We have concluded that it would be impossible since it would require a licensing similar to that for motorists. As there are in excess of 20 million bicycles in Great
Britain and many change hands through second hand sales, keeping track of this would be extremely difficult and expensive. The fee for any registration system could not be very large since it would need to relate to that payable for the smallest motor cycle - around £15.00 per
annum. We have therefore concluded that a registration scheme would be too expensive to establish and run since the costs of its administration would far outweigh the revenue received. It would also place an additional enforcement burden on the police. Moreover it would be difficult to impose a road tax on cyclists since they do not cause pollution and impose very little wear and tear on the roads particularly at a time when the Government is encouraging cycling?

*London Assembly** **Green Party Group*
news release
Friday, July 28, 2006
Bike registration ?impractical, costly and bureaucratic? says Mayor?s green adviser
Responding to the Mayor of London?s call for a bike registration scheme, Jenny Jones a Green Party member of the London Assembly said:
"If the London Mayor wants to stop the growth of cycling in London then a bike registration scheme will do it over-night. It is a completely impractical, costly and bureaucratic measure which will give the police a fairly pointless and thankless task, trying to chase bikes without
paperwork. We need to encourage casual cyclists to become regular cyclists by making it easier to cycle, rather than more difficult. We need more cycle training, rather than form filling. If we want cyclists off the pavement, then give them safer roads and more cycle lanes."
"I'm all in favour of changing the culture of both cycling and driving in London, which is why we got the Mayor to agree to a major campaign called 'Share the Road', which aims to promote mutual respect between all road users.?* *


The number of cycles owned in Britain is similar to the number of cars ? over 20million. So the cost of a registration scheme would be similar to that required for car licensing. To cover its costs, people would have to pay £150-£200 for every cycle owned, including children?s bikes. This would be a massive deterrent to people taking up cycling or going out just for the occasional bike ride. Yet these are exactly the people who we want to encourage to cycle more, if we are to tackle congestion, obesity, air pollution and climate change.

something funny's going on

that entry below was written and sent a week ago. It just arrived.

Scorchio!

It's fecking hot here. I'm pouring sweat just sitting at my desk. No air conditioning you see.

There's quite a lot of pressure coming with this project I'm working on at moment, so far from winding down in the heat, i'm working harder than ever before, and struggling.

Saw a band last night with a friend - a country band called The Hacienda Brothers. I met them afterwards, bought a CD from Hank, and got three of them to autograph the CD.

S. uploaded my Lambeth Country Show pictures from over a week ago. I cam away with all boxes on my wish list filled. I bought a Venus Flytrap for £7.50 - which is sitting in my kitchen window; a gallon of cider for £11 which I drank at the weekend; two obscure American books, one about native Americans, and another about girl gangs in movies.

Brockwell Park

I've restarted work on my book; picked up the 1946 to 1974 section to work on it. I reckon I've had some insights from that McNamara documentary which I saw over the weekend.

I've also started looking into the UK's secret service - I'm putting together a history and trying to keep an account of what is currently going on. Brown allies are systematically being smeared, sacked or forced to resign just as Blair is trying to wriggle out of his alledged promise to hand power over to his former political ally.

It'll be interesting if Blair manages to stay loyal to Israel now that its fairly obvious war crimes are being committed. If Blair does stay loyal - considering that he was manouvred into power by Zionist backers, it's quite likely he'll have little choice in the matter - then it should be the final nail in the coffin of Blair's political career.

We can all hope, anyway.