Pimp My Cadence

COMMENT: Rangers FC goes into administration

2012-02-13T17:02:00.005Z

With the ongoing financial worries for many clubs it was, perhaps, thought that the major problems were restricted to the likes of Portsmouth and Darlington. No one, it seems, was prepared for a big club to get into trouble and go into administration, but that's exactly what's happened today.

Rangers has a long and successful history in the Scottish League and many would see them and their fierce rivals Celtic as clubs who were surely safe from financial woes. The past couple of years have, though, been financially problematic for Rangers, despite big crowds and revenue being generated. Today they have announced that they're going into administration. This could save them or it could end with the club going out of business.

Surely, Rangers are too big a club to go bust?

It's time football sorted itself out. The UK can only really sustain 16, maybe 20, fully professional clubs. Players have to play their part and accept that their excessive wage demands are at the heart of many team's worries. And we need a UK league.

A UK league has been discussed many times before and, in all reality, it would be an Anglo-Scottish league, but that could the one saving grace for Rangers.

Alex Salmond won't like this because it shows how fragile many Scottish businesses already are. How many will go to the wall if he manages to win independence?

Personally I'd favour a franchise system for UK football, as in American sports, so that each part of the UK was guaranteed a team. Sure, it bucks with history but a new approach is what is needed. After all, if Rangers go bust, how long til Celtic follow? Liverpool? Manchester United?

Rangers would, in all likelihood, struggle in the English Premier League but the television money might help savd their scalp.

The FA and SFA need to act now to stop the implosion of lots of clubs on dodgy financial footing, or being propped up by one wealthy benefactor who could turn their back on a whim. HMRC would be doing the future of football a lot of favours if they forced some of the clubs with huge tax bills hanging over them out of business. It's time for a professional game fit for the 21st century.

366/44 - Rose

2012-02-13T10:26:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Rose

Flower Duet

Exoteric

BAFTAS 2012: My predictions (and the results...)

2012-02-12T17:23:00.029Z

Best Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(winner: The Artist)

Film Not in the English Language

A Separation

(winner: The Skin I Live In)

Outstanding British Film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(winner: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Director

Hugo - Martin Scorsese

(winner: The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius)

Original Screenplay

Midnight in Paris

(winner: The Artist)

Adapted Screenplay

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(winner: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)

Cinematography

War Horse

(winner: The Artist)

Editing

Hugo

(winner: Senna)

Production Design

The Artist

(winner: Hugo)

Make Up & Hair

My Week with Marilyn

(winner: The Iron Lady)

Costume Design

My Week with Marilyn

(winner: The Artist)

Special Visual Effects

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

(winner: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part Two)

Documentary

Senna

(winner: Senna)

Sound

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(winner: Hugo)

Original Music

The Artist

(winner: The Artist)

Animated Film

Arthur Christmas

(winner: Rango)

Leading Actor

Gary Oldman (George Smiley) - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

(winner: Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) - The Artist)

Leading Actress

Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) – My Week with Marilyn

(winner: Meryl Streep (Margaret Thatcher) - The Iron Lady)

Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh (Sir Laurence Olivier) – My Week with Marilyn

(winner: Christopher Plummer (Hal Fields) - The Beginners)

Supporting Actress

Judi Dench (Dame Sybil Thorndike) – My Week with Marilyn

(winner: Octavia Spencer (Minny Jackson) - The Help)

Rising Star

Eddie Redmayne

(winner: Adam Deacon)

Outstanding Debut

Tyrannosaur

(winner: Tyrannosaur)

Short animation

winner: A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

Short film

winner: Pitch Black Heist - John Maclean and Geraldine O'Flynn

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema

John Hurt

Fellowship of the Academy

Martin Scorsese

366/43 - Galileo thermometer

2012-02-12T15:10:00.002Z

Click here for today's Project 366 posting:

Galileo

Gladiator

Fashionmista

OBITUARY: Whitney Houston (1963-2012)

2012-02-12T09:14:00.005Z

In many ways, few can be surprised that Whitney Houston, the mega singing star of the 1980s and '90s, has died. The last decade or so has been a lesson in how not to manage a career and how not to live, with a very public drug addiction, as well as a troubled and abusive marriage to singer Bobby Brown.

Her fall from grace was immense. She sang some of the most iconic songs of the previous two decades including I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Love Me), I Will Always Love You, Saving All My Love For You and One Moment in Time.

Houston was related to show biz royalty; Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick were cousins, and Aretha Franklin was her Godmother. She grew up singing in a Baptist church in New Jersey, and progressed into a gospel choir. She also learned to play the piano.

It was the mid-80s when she rocketed to stardom topping the charts with hit after hit, and going on huge world tours. many saw her as the female Michael Jackson. Awards followed; she won Grammy awards, Emmy awards, etc. and her debut album was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Definitive 200 list and Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums. St one point she had seven consecutive US number ones, breaking a record previously held by The Beatles and The Bee Gees.

Houston was, arguably, best known for her ballads which were a fantastic vehicle for her hugely powerful voice that provided a soundtrack for a generation that has influenced countless performers and wannabees since.

She was also an actress, most notably in The Bodyguard which met with commercial, but not critical success but which, of course, gave the world her OTT performance of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You (for me one of the worst records ever - her breathing is all over the place).

Houston was due to attend this weekend's Grammy awards. Still an icon to a generation of singers, she had made many guest appearances including on talent shows and there had been several false start comebacks.

She had admitted to crack cocaine use and addictions to alcohol, pills and other drugs. The exact circumstances of her death are yet to be revealed, though it is understood her body was found in a bath in an hotel room in Los Angeles.

A tainted star who lead a tumultuous life that took her from a pinnacle to which few can aspire
to the depths none can ever imagine but with a back catalogue that will live on beyond her.

My favourite Whitney Houston track? It has to be One Moment in Time - the song recorded for the 1988 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.

OPINION: Suarez and Evra's non-handshake

2012-02-11T12:56:00.005Z

After the fuss, the ban, the calls for a line to be drawn under it and for everyone to focus on the football, Luis Suarez, returning for Liverpool today after an 8-match ban following him racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra, opted to not shake hands with Evra before today's match between the two old rivals.

The pre-match handshake is a recent innovation in Premier League games, having been adopted from internationals and the Champions' League. Last weekend, when John Terry and Anton Ferdinand faced each other in a match, the FA told Chelsea and QPR to not shake hands - but that case, with police charges and a court case due n July, is still very much live. The Evra/Suarez issue is, supposedly, over and settled. far from it, it seems.

As he moved along the line, Suarez shook hands with the match officials and then opted to miss Evra out. Evra grabbed for Suarez's hand, but Suarez withdrew it, spurning the offer of peace from Evra. It was a good job the match officials were close otherwise this could have turned even more nasty.

Surely, though, Suarez ungentlemanly conduct should resulted in a booking?

Quite what effect this will have on the game, who knows! By the time most read this, the result will be known, but, clearly, Suarez still feels victimised by the charges and the suspension, even though he was found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Evra. Liverpool's insistence that he should never have been banned, the players wearing provocative t-shirts supporting him a few weeks ago, and Kenny Dalglish's utterances on the matter won't have helped Suarez realise that his racism is unacceptable in society.

Let's hope the match is a good one, but let's hope the FA look at the handshake before and have another little word with Suarez.

366/42 - Fresh Basil

2012-02-11T12:04:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366...

Fresh Basil

Accordion jazz

Catercorner

Breakfast at Fresh Basil

2012-02-11T11:22:00.006Z

I'd recently read good things about Fresh Basil, a deli and eaterie in Belper, and so, without the normal Saturday morning commitments due to it being half term, I decided to go there for breakfast this morning.

Belper is an odd town, at the heart of a World Heritage Site but with a disturbing number of charity shops. It has an independent cinema, The Ritz, two supermarkets, and a rail station that you can almost miss (the rail line, and the station, runs in a cutting through the middle of the town).

Fresh Basil can be found in a lovely building on Strutt Street that used to be depot for horse drawn fire engines. Internally, it is on two floors, with the deli and a few tables and armchairs on the ground floor and additional tale seating upstairs. canvas bags and wicker baskets hang from hooks on a bar across the ceiling to add to the informal and, perhaps, slightly rustic feel.

The deli counter has plenty of meats and cheeses (the vast majority of which are locally sourced) and olives. The Independent listed it in its Top 50 delicatessens in the UK. The eaterie, too, has a menu that is impressive in its range of options with wraps, sandwiches, breakfasts...

Fresh Basil won the award for Best Breakfast in the Derbyshire Food & Drink Awards last year. I had the vegetarian breakfast which comprised vegetarian haggis, grilled halloumi, fried egg, mushrooms, tomato, fried potatoes and toast. All for £5.90 (the same price as the Full English breakfast for meat eaters).

The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and the staff amiable and helpful (they knew many of the "regulars" by name). Sunlight streamed through the windows and Fresh Basil was a place that anyone would want to be, whether for breakfast coffee, a snack..

I have only two criticisms:

1. There was no free public wifi - surely, all cafés/eateries these days should provide free wifi?

2. They don't accept cards for payment under £10 (yes, I understand the reasons but I don't like cash and look forward to a time when all payment is via card)

Having said that, I had a great breakfast and hope it's not too long until I get the chance to return.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fresh Basil
Strutt Street
Belper
DE56 1UN

Website: www.freshbasil.co.uk

OPINION: Time to change the National Anthem

2012-02-10T18:44:00.002Z

Today's ruling that councils cannot have prayers as part of their official business has seen a number of rabid dog loonies defending Christian's "right" to pray when and where they want and bleating on about the oppression of their "faith" (mental illness).

One particular Christian on BBC Radio Five said that if the ruling is applied it would mean that councils wouldn't be able to ever sing the national anthem. Hurrah! Oh wouldn't it be good to get rid of this deeply offensive, divisive dirge which, quite likely, isn't even of British origin (it's more than likely an adaptation of a French folk hymn!).

God save the Queen isn't suitable as the national anthem of a democracy in the 21st century - even if we do carry on paying £200+ million per year to allow the Windsors to be the biggest benefit scroungers in the country.

God save our gracious Quuen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen.
Send her victorious,
Happy and Glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.

What a load of absolute bollocks!

This verse, if you're Scottish things get worse and much more offensive in later verses (it says that "rebellious Scots" should be crushed), isn't a national anthem at all - it's a paean to a fictional superbeing to look after one person. What has that got to do with national identity?

I have no problem with a national anthem - if we HAVE to have nationalities (something I've often questioned), then there's nothing wrong with a song but it should be inclusive, positive and be about the nation, not just the parasite with privileges at the top.

I disagree that our current monarch is "gracious" or "noble" = she is the head of a business which, in order to operate, restricts the freedoms and rights of the vast bulk of the rest of the people who live in the same country, and who is propped up through pointless, outdated titles and baubles and other bribery.

And why do we want her to be "victorious" - I'd rather we lived in a peaceful world, not one that had wars to be won and battles and victories.

And why, even if we wanted a song about the nation's figurehead, should we be praying to a "god" - which god? Why any god at all? The vast majority don't attend church regularly and aren't "religious" in any meaningful way. Although many still put "C of E' on the census or on forms in hospital they are cultural Christians, or social Christians, whose only links to the church are for weddings, funerals, attending the odd Christening and, of course, a carol service at Christmas.

It is time the "national anthem" was abandoned and replaced with something which has words that are inclusive, non-denominational, non-sectarian, positive and, come on, with a good rousing tune.

There are some fantastic national anthem melodies around the world - the French and American ones are particularly rousing, but our one is just snoresville. Maybe we look at other, existing melodies and songs and see if there is something that could be adopted as a new anthem, or maybe we hold a competition for a new anthem.

Whatever we do, we need a new national anthem - and soon!

366/41 - Riber Castle in the Snow

2012-02-10T16:47:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Riber Castle in the Snow

Jean Michel Jarre

Pusillanimous

REVIEW: A Monster in Paris - 3D (U)

2012-02-10T13:00:00.002Z

A Monster in Paris is lovely. It is, on just one viewing, probably my favourite animated movie ever.

The movie is set in Paris in 1910. Emile is a shy movie projectionist, and Raoul, a confident and extrovert inventor. They find themselves joining with Lucille, a cabaret singing star, a mad scientist, and his monkey, who communicates through flash cards, to save the monster, which turns out to be a 7 foot tall harmless flea (who has a divine singing voice and plays guitar), from the city's misguided police chief.

The stylized Paris is gorgeous to look at, and the characterisations brilliant. I thought the use of 3D added to the appeal and didn't seem to be there just as a gimmick - something that can't be said about many other 3D animations.

This is un-Disneyfied animation so we don't have lots of American comedians doing their party piece. Instead, Vanessa Paradis voices Lucille and Sean Lennon provides the voice of Franceour, the flea. Apart from that I have to confess I didn't recognise any names - but I feel this was a plus point.

The movie was origin in French but the English version doesn't look odd in the matching of words to mouths.

Music plays a key role in the movie, and their are plenty of catchy, toe-tapping songs (perhaps, being pedantic, not actually historically accurate given the year the movie is set).

I went with my 10-year old son who had chosen A Monster in Paris over what I had thought would be his choice, Journey 2: the Mysterious Island but he loved it too.

A movie about a 7 foot, singing flea might not seem an obvious choice but, if you can get out with your kids over half term, I'd thoroughly recommend it.

OPINION: Capello's replacement?

2012-02-08T19:44:00.006Z

So who will replace Capello as England football manager?

Mid-season isn't a good time for many candidates.

Harry Redknapp
The popular choice and, only hours earlier, cleared by the courts, but with Spurs riding high in the table will they let him go? In fact, would he he walk out on what could be his greatest season as a lib manager? FA have always rejected part time option but, to end of season, that might be a possibility.

Stuart Pearce
Currently coach of the Under 21 team and do part of the FA set up. Clearly being groomed as a potential future full international manager but is it too soon and does he really have the tactical wherewithal to lead England into the European championships?

Ray Wilkins

Yes, really! Why not?! Very experienced as an England international though known to be tactically rather negative. Didnt have much success as a club manager. A good tactician as a tv pundit but not Mr. Personality. Surely he'd be a safe pair of hands with the media.

Sam Allardyce
"Big Sam" is currently the West Ham manager who are top of the championship and grading for promotion. Would they let him go? Doubtful. Not always popular with fans due to rather basic and physical game.

Steve McClaren
Bizarrely, he's got to be in the reckoning following success in The Netherlands but, surely, his previous stint (and his time as Sven's number two) can never be forgotten.

Gareth Southgate
Er.... NO!

Roy Hodgson
To be honest, I'd forgotten all about him. Hugely experienced and, until his disastrous spell at Liverpool, I would have said a safe pair of hands. If Harry says no....

Who else? A return for Keegan? Go for another foreign manager?

COMMENT: Ken's bigotry will end Miliband's leadership

2012-02-08T17:49:00.001Z

It seems that Ken Livingstone has commuted electoral suicide today and, as a result, handed the role of London mayor to Boris Johnson for four more years.

His gaffe, the latest in a long list of gaffes that have seen him offend many minority groups in the capital and beyond, was to refer to the Conservatives as being riddled with gays.

No, this isn't "PC gone mad" - that popular phrase of the Daily Mail and Daily Express - it is a truly distasteful comment that could have wider repercussions than the position of London mayor for the Labour Party.

Surely Ed Miliband, the ineffective and increasingly disastrous leader of the Labour Party, will be further wounded by the guaranteed loss of London. It was likely that his leadership was going to be challenged after the expected fails in the local elections in May and, quite probably, the only reason a challenge didn't materialise before Christmas was because it would have damaged Ken's mayoral campaign. Without Ken, as is surely the case now, Ed Miliband is cut adrift from any possible success, and the attention his brother, David, has been gaining for recent speeches can't help Ed's situation

Ken probably shouldn't have been given the nod to run as Labour's candidate again after losing the election last time round and various earlier gaffes. This year he'll turn 67 and, without wanting to be ageist, he has lost the plot. I can only assume he was given the chance to recapture the mayorship through a misguided sentimentality - or because nobody else wanted to have the embarrassment of losing to Boris.

Who could Labour parachute in to stand in May? There aren't many options, but, surely, they wouldn't leave it uncontested?

Ken Livingstone was a political hero to many when he was the leader of the GLC, and when he stood up to Margaret Thatcher. It was, somehow, destiny (if you believe in such things) that he became the first Mayor of London when the role was created by Blair's government, but, in recent times, he has increasingly shown himself to be unpredictable, unpleasant and, quite frankly, bigoted human being.

Labour are due some major reorganisation and desperately need to decide where in the political spectrum they sit. This needs to happen without Ken Livingstone or Ed Miliband.

It's time for change. It's time for the Labour Party to remember its socialist roots.

OPINION: 10 years since Gary McKinnon's arrest

2012-02-08T14:49:00.004Z

Today the Gary McKinnon passes its 10th anniversary. 10 years ago he was arrested but he hasn't yet faced court. This is ridiculous and must be resolved quickly for the sake of justice.

Mr. McKinnon is charged with hacking into US defence systems, something which he admits but he claims he was looking for evidence of aliens and UFOs and wasn't there for any other reason. he's now spent 10 years trying, successfully so far, to not be extradited to the USA to face trial.

Since being charged he has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, part of the autistic spectrum, and this has been at the heart of his defence and is regularly referred to by his vociferous support team who, online, often come across more as a baying mob than a reasoned and intelligent group arguing a point of law.

The US authorities claim that not only did McKinnon hack into the systems, he damaged systems, switched off defences and left insulting and xenophobic messages in various places.

McKinnon's defenders, and especially his mother who is the chief spokesperson for his "team", claim that the damage is a lie and that his behaviour, a fixation on finding information beyond what most people would do, is as a result of his Asperger's.

A growing number of those with Asperger's find the McKinnon defence insulting. They say that they know the difference between right and wrong and don't want the syndrome to be used as an excuse for criminal activity.

Then his "team", go on about the evils of the US legal system, how awful prisons in the US are and that the extradition treaty between the US and the UK is unbalanced and unfair. these are, of course, red herrings but, sadly, red herrings that the Little Englander media lap up and, consequentially, this self-confessed criminal gets much more support than might have been expected. Quite how his campaign is taken seriously, when it is founded on so much blatant, and unpleasant, xenophobia and anti-Americanism, is beyond me.

The McKinnon "team" also go on about how awful it is that his maximum penalty could be 70 years or more in jail. On closer examination this isn't true. As with many of the McKinnon "team"'s claims this is a gross exaggeration but, hey, if it were the case maybe he shouldn't have committed the crime in the first place.

They also claim that he was in the UK when he did his crime, so should be tried in the UK. Again, another red herring. The crime, the actual hack, took place in the US, via the Internet, and so it s perfect toy reasonable that he is tried in the USA.

And that is the point, he is avoiding being tried. It's more than likely that, if medical assessment aupport his claims to have Asperger's (of which he was only diagnosed after he had been charged and which many claim looks rather "convenient"), the court will take this not consideration, but why should he be able to avoid trial?

It's time for this to be sorted;It's time for McKinnon to face court; and there is no sensible reason for that day in court not to be in the USA.

He's admitted the crime, though claims exaggeration by the US authorities about damage caused, I hope this is resolved soon and, when found guilty, he is left to rot in a US jail for as long as possible.

OPINION: Just get rid of the Falklands

2012-02-08T14:10:00.003Z

30 years on from the Falklands Conflict, the UK and Argentina are getting hot under the collar again about the desolate rocks in the South Atlantic.

When Margaret Thatcher sent a large task force to the Falkland Islands back in 1982, following Argentina's invasion of the islands and South Georgia, it had more to do with pulling the heart strings of Little Englanders, playing the patriotism card, in order to help her chances of reelection following a bad couple of years in the opinion polls and an economy that was struggling and the deaths of several hundred Argentine sailors, and some (*cue fake tears) British heroes achieved its goal - she was re-elected by a landslide a year later.

Today things are different. I'm sure that Cameron quite fancies the poll boost that a war PM tends to get (Tony Blair can only puzzle as to why his cynical wars backfired) and it would serve as a wonderful distraction from his flatlining economy and other political woes, but now there is a far bigger issue.

Oil and gas fields have been discovered beneath the waters around the islands. It's been long suspected that there was a large amount of oil and gas there, someone just had to find it. So now the battle for the Falklands has another purpose - the pursuit of climate destroying oil.

Because of the Falkland Islands legal status, however, the UK won't benefit from the oil and gas found there. The UK spends millions of pounds each year protecting the islands, including having two warships permanently there, for which the islanders pay nothing, but the monies generated from discovery of oil and gas are the islanders. Every single one of them, men, women and children, could, it seems, become multi-millionaires but the UK won't receive a penny, or peso, of it. We, the UK taxpayers, pay to protect the islands, build them infrastructure, etc. but won't benefit from any oil windfall. How can that be right?

It, of course, makes no sense but raises the question, why do we continue paying out huge amounts of money to protect a set of bleak, inhospitable islands with a tiny population?

In the late 1970s the UK was trying to get rid of the Falklands and, had the Argentine junta not tried to gain popularity by invading the islands, there is every chance the islands would have been given away by the mid-1980s.

I'm all for self-determination but, surely, that is to decide between independence and being ruled over. If the Falkland Islanders can choose who they want to pick up their security bill and not their independence it's like Southampton declaring that they are now a French port.

And it's not as if the Falkland Islands have always been under some sort of British flag. It was only in the 1820s that the UK stole them from Argentina! Hardly a long history.

So what will happen?

The Argentine government have accused the UK of upping the stakes and "militarising" the South Atlantic. The UK say they are simply changing ships (to a much bigger and more armed one) and that William Windsor, second in line to the British throne is there as a routine duty. They'll be lots of huffing and puffing (including, announced this week, the renaming of the Argentine football league as the "Cruiser General Belgrano Premier League") and eventually someone will do something stupid, quite probably for personal electoral gain.

I fear another conflict and the inevitable loss of life. I fear this will increase narrow-minded Little Englanders patriotism and that, if he times it right, an overall election win for David Cameron at the next general election. I fear the British taxpayer will be asked to pay more and more money for islands we don't really want and which it would make more sense to get rid of. And I fear that, with huge amounts of oil and gas being discovered, it will delay the inevitable development of alternative technologies and we'll have more decades of polluting carbon-based fuels.

My solution? Give the Falkland Islands to Argentina - it makes much more sense for them to look after the Malvinas, as they call them, and allow any Falkland Islanders who want to be "British" to settle on UK soil (though I guess they won't do that if there's a chance their snouts can be buried in the oil trough).

MILITARISATION OF THE DALKLANDS? (HUMOUR)

366/39 - Derbyshire Dales

2012-02-08T12:07:00.001Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Derbyshire Dales

Stereophonics

Dilettante

GRAMMAR: Less or fewer?

2012-02-07T17:53:00.001Z

I enjoy watching BBC1's Pointless at tea time but Alexander Armstrong drives me nuts with his incorrect use of 'less' when he should be using 'fewer' - here's some tips to help you remember which to use.

FEWER should be used when the items can be counted.
LESS should be used for general, not coutable, descriptions.

*There was less sand which meant there were fewer grains of sand.
*There were fewer raindrops, so there was less rain.

FEWER is used when referring to things in plural.

*As more people read the news online, people are buying fewer newspapers.
*Fewer than 20 children returned their reply slip on time.

LESS is used if items can't be counted or can't be pluralized.

*I spend less time reading these days.
*I seem to have less money spare at the end of the month.

LESS is also used with numbers that are on their own and with expressions of measurement or time.

*Their relationship lasted less than two years.
*His diet was a great success, he went from 15 stone to less than 11.

So, Mr. Armstrong, the contestants need to score fewer points than the other contestants, not less points!

366/38 - Cinema seat

2012-02-07T16:50:00.002Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Cinema seat

Close Encounters

Alacrity

REVIEW: Martha Marcy May Marlene (15)

2012-02-07T16:35:00.002Z

Martha Marcy May Marlene may not be the snappiest of movie titles I've ever come across, and, I must confess, I had to read it from the wall behind the cashier when buying my ticket, but the movie, a tense, dark, emotional piece of indie cinema, is far more memorable than the title!

Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) runs away from a cult in the Catskills where she has been physically and psychologically abused over a period of about two years, losing all contact with her family. She phones her sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson), who takes her to the lakeside holiday home she rents with her husband, Ted (Hugh Dancy) who is a successful, wealthy and priggish Brit!

It is instantly obvious that Martha is deeply troubled and scarred by her experience at the cult and the abuse dealt out by high sinister Patrick (John Hawkes), a terrifyingly authoritative cult leader who renames all his followers (Martha is renamed "Marcy May").

The action zips back and forth between the present, at the lakeside house, to her time at the cult's farm and gives several moments of ambiguity as a result of the sudden juxtaposition that is occurring in Martha's confused and damaged mind.

The movie is scary and creepy and unsettling and, at times, uncomfortable viewing but, having said that, it is gripping and a riveting watch which has won a number of awards including Best Director for Sean Durkin at the Sundance Festival.

COMMENT: Ian Paisley

2012-02-06T17:24:00.001Z

I often say that all death is sad for someone, but I will struggle to find anything to mourn should Ian Paisley pass away, as expected, in the next few days.

A man of hatred, who made the situation much worse with his evil diatribe and bigotry.

A man who gave himself the title Rev in order to be able to stir the religious divide in Northern Ireland and whose ignorance and inste violent tendencies embarrassed the UK in the European Parliament.

A man, promoted by Cameron to the House of Lords, who is a fundamentalist, creationist loon with an irrational hatred of Roman Catholicism because it doesn't fit with his own dogmatic bigotry. It seems HIS bigotry, including outspoken opposition to gay rights, is good, but the Pope is the anti-Christ.

I am sure Ian Paisley's family will mourn his inevitable passing, but I wonder how many lives his words cost and how much damage his entrenched and moronic views caused to the people of Northern Ireland.

Good riddance, Ian Paisley. Your type will hopefully not be seen again. You are a truly evil and ignorant man.

OPINION: Abu Qatada should not be released

2012-02-06T16:58:00.001Z

The radical Muslim cleric, Abu Qatada, who is accused of posing a grave threat to Britain's national security, will be released within a matter of days after a court granted him bail. This is despite the Home Office arguing he remains a risk to national security.

Qatada has spent six and a half years in prison and his defence team successfully argued that, as there was no sign of an imminent deportation to Jordan, where he is wanted to stand trial for alleged terror offences, his continued imprisonment was unlawful.

The UK won't extradite him unless the Jordanian authorities guarantee that no evidence gained through the use of torture will be used in his trial.

So, Qatada, once described as Osama bin Laden's "right hand man" and with links to many terrorist atrocities, will be released.

Sometimes the law is an ass. This is one such instance.

Qatada clearly shouldn't be let loose. He's far too dangerous for that, and his involvement in major terrorist activity is undeniable. Perhaps, if Jordan isn't a sufficiently civilised country (doesn't the UK sell tgem lots of arms?) international courts need to be used to try and, ultimately, incarcerate this evil man.

It's not just Qatada. Surely the same principle should be applied to all criminals; if they still pose a threat to society, if they are likely to reoffend, they shouldn't be released. Some people are just too evil and should never be released.

Seriously, if the crime is bad enough to warrant a prison sentence, and the authorities consider it more than likely that the crime will be repeated, why should they be allowed out?

I strongly suspect that most incarcerated criminals are repeat offenders and, while the cost of keeping the behind bars would fall on the taxpayer, the cost of further police investigations and court cases, plus the effect on victims of crime, would be reduced.

366/37 - Horse

2012-02-06T15:46:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

A horse

One of the greatest TV themes ever written

and

TWO Words of the Day!!

OPINION: Old woman's father died 60 years ago today

2012-02-06T10:27:00.001Z

Today, much of the British media is going overboard with tributes to the Queen whose accession happened 60 years ago on the death of her father.

So what?

"Old woman's father died 60 years ago today" - that's all the story amounts to.

Liz Windsor is now 85. Again, so what? Lots of people live to that age and beyond even if they don't have the pampered, easy living to which the Windsor dynasty have become accustomed.

It just isn't news and yet BBC News is doing "special reports" every few minutes, it seems.

And then there's the sycophantic and fawning politicians all saying how "wonderful" Mrs. Windsor is and what a "great job" she has done. What job? Beyond wasting vast amounts of tax payers money her role involves very little if worth.

And don't pretend the monarchy brings in tourists! That is one of the biggest myths ever. Is France tourist free? No.

Remembering the death of a lived one should be a private matter. Today Liz Windsor should be having a few quiet thoughts recalling her father.

I dread to think how ridiculous the coverage of the Diamond Jubilee will become in May and June when most of the big celebrations are scheduled.

I may have to hibernate.

COMMENT: It's time to rid ourselves of Fabio Capello

2012-02-06T09:02:00.004Z

Fabio Capello hasn't been the most popular of England football managers, and far from the best, but, with his comments about John Terry and the captaincy he has, it seems, broken his contract with the F.A. and should be sacked immediately.

Fabio Capello has been England manager for 4 years now. He followed in the wake of the lamentable Steve McClaren and so, in comparison, a rotting pig's head would have been able to do a better job.

In his time as manager, which, let's be honest, is really a very part-time job, he's been pocketing a whacking £6 million pounds per year (yes, £6 million part-time, not pro rata) but hasn't found the time to learn English in order to be able to talk to the press or instruct the team without reliance on a translator.

Also in his time, England have qualified for two major tournaments. For a strong footballing nation, qualification should be the default. The team have given many poor performances, struggled to beat mediocre and poor teams and were a disgrace in the 2010 World Cup.

Yesterday, he was interviewed by Italian TV and said he was unhappy that the FA had removed the captaincy from John Terry, who has been charged with racially abusing a fellow player last October.

Hang on a minute, Mr. Capello, in any other workplace if a worker was accused of racially abusing a co-worker he'd be suspended until the matter was resolved. It is an outrage that Terry, a disposable character, has been allowed to hang on to the captaincy so long, and it is,similarly, monstrous that he is still being selected by Chelsea, the tea news playing for when the alleged offence took place.

many will argue that the British legal system means that John Terry is innocent until proven guilty. That is true. Until the case is heard in court we have to assume Terry's innocence and it is the role of the prosecution to prove his guilt in the matter, but in employment law when a serious allegation like this is made a suspension comes into operation.

Capello's support for Terry is bizarre. he selected him as his full-time skipper but had to take away the captain's armband when Terry had, shall we say, issues in his private life that unsettled the England changing room. In his place, Capello appointed known drug cheat Rio Ferdinand, but, as soon as he could here-appointed Terry. Why on earth would you do that? According to reports Terry is as unpopular on terraces as he is with the team.

Capello's contract ends this summer and he's already said he's off after the Euro 2012 championships. It's very likely that he's broken the terms of his contract with a very public criticism of his employers but, even if he hasn't, I think it's time to replace him with a new manager.

Who will the new manager be? Well, the tabloid's favourite, Harry Redk app, would seem as much of a liability as Terry Venables was. He may not be everyone's first choice, but I'd choose Ray Wilkins - calm, experienced and a master tactician.

As for Capello, who cares. he's been very poor. Even if he hasn't breached his contract (I smaintain there's a very good chance he has) the pay off now would be very small. It's time to look to the future.

Ciao bella, Fabio!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Terry's punishment:
http://pimpmycadence.blogspot.com/2012/02/opinion-john-terrys-punishment.html

John Terry's racism charge:
http://pimpmycadence.blogspot.com/2012/02/comment-john-terrys-racism-charge.html

Racism in the UK:
http://pimpmycadence.blogspot.com/2011/12/opnion-racism-in-uk.html

2012 Superbowl Commercials

2012-02-05T15:31:00.000Z

OPINION: John Terry's punishment

2012-02-05T13:31:00.002Z

The fact the maximum penalty John Terry can receive for his race hate I'd a fine of £2,500 highlights a couple of issues which parliament need to address.

1) Race hate crimes need to have more serious punishments. A fine of £2,500 is simply not sufficient.

2) Fines need to be as a percentage of income/worth NOT a flat tariff for everyone. £2,500 is a month's salary for many. For John Terry it is less than a morning's work. This is wrong.

3) Court cases cost a lot and, currently, this is paid by the tax payer. Court costs SHOULD be recouped from the guilty.

4) Any crime which has an anti-social element, as the race hate charges Terry has been accused of, must have a custodial sentence. Anti-social behaviour means you should give up your place in society for a fixes period of time.

5) This isn't Terry's first scrape with the legal system. Clearly his previous punishments were insufficient. Two strikes and you're out, now matter what the crime is.

366/36 - Snowy rooftops

2012-02-05T10:17:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Snowy rooftops

Snow maiden

Super bowel

OPINION: RBS 6 Nations

2012-02-04T16:26:00.003Z

Today sees the start of the 2012 6 Nations tournament. Five weekends of fixtures spread through February and March.

The tournament was founded back in 1883 and has very slowly expanded to its current number of participants. In fact, it's been 12 years since Italy became the 6th nation. It can't be healthy for the sport, or the teams, to keep having the same teams play each other. It's in danger of getting as pointless as international cricket.

After last year's Rugby World Cup, I can't help feeling that too little is being done to expand the global reach of the game, and definitely not enough is being done to strengthen the nations that do play internationally but not at the same standard as the 6 nations teams.

There aren't many things that rugby union can learn from football but I do wonder whether a re-organisation of the European game, along the lines that football does, might benefit everyone.

I suggest that the 6 Nations is scrapped. It serves little purpose other than a cash cow for the national unions. This is wrong because there are other nations, not that much worse than Italy, who miss out.

To replace the 6 Nations I suggest that there is a European championship (like Euro 2012) that is held midway between the World Cup and, in the year before the Euro tournament and the year before the World Cup, there should be a qualifying tournament. No more automatic qualification for the "big" nations.

My suggested format would widen the interest in rugby union, help strengthen the next tier of nations, and keep the big nations on their toes. There'd be a broader range of opponents and fantastic experience for the likes of Romania, Germany, Georgia and Spain.

I fear the 6 Nations has become a pointless parade that is self serving. Change is needed to foster the future of the sport.

COMMENT: National Libraries' Day

2012-02-04T15:18:00.002Z

Today is Narional Libraries' Day in the UK, though you'd be excused if you were unaware of this fact, it's not had a huge amount of publicity - which is odd, given the amount of coverage, twittering, campaigns, etc. that happened last year when cuts to library services were announced.

Public libraries are long overdue an overhaul. They live in a cosy, caring late Victorian age with little sense that the world has changed.

Sure, most have computers and Internet access, many lend CDs and DVDs, some now offee ebooks loans, and there's been various other innovations that have moved libraries slowly forward in time but, really, is the modern public library fit for purpose? And do we get value for money for the amount of tax payers money paid into these institutions?

I'd suggest that the various technological changes are a superficial sheen that mask the fact that, in reality, most public libraries are the same as they have been for over a century.

Let's look at what's on the shelves.

Why should my taxes be used to allow someone to read a Katie Price or Jilly Cooper novel? Why should libraries stock any pulp fiction? Novels are so cheap these days I don't see any justification for libraries paying for copies. Perhaps novels as ebooks - at a fee - makes sense but libraries stocking large amounts of storybooks is just a silly waste of money.

Then there's the net access offered in libraries. Maybe the expense should be put into helping everyone have Internet access at home?

I can see an argument for chikdren's books in libraries, they get through a lot very quickly, but this could, and should, be done via their nursery and school.

The idea of libraries lending CDs and DVDs, an idea which must have seemed revolutionary when it began, is just preposterous in the modern world. Music and video are so easily and cheaply accessible everywhere there can be no justification for libraries to offer them. Librarians may as well just stand behind their counter and burn £10 notes.

I think there is a place for towns and cities to have a library but it needs to be fundamentally different from the wasteful system we currently have.

I'd suggest an Information Hub - that would include Citizen's Advice Bureau, Council Information, a reference library, etc. Scrap the wastefulness, scrap the things that can't be justified or are easily available cheaply, or free, elsewhere and focus on things that make sense.

Libraries are still firmly rooted in the society of beneficial industrialists and where books weren't available so easily and cheaply. Times have changed. It's time that libraries caught up and stopped wasting tax payers' money.

COMMENT: Reforming the NHS

2012-02-04T14:46:00.000Z

I do find it strange that those campaigning for the government to "drop the bill" on NHS reforms are so blinkered in their view of the NHS.

It is fair to say that when the NHS was set up, way back in 1948, that it was the crowning glory of Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government, and one the 1946 Act that set it up, is still one of the greatest and most important pieces of legislation any government has ever passed. It doesn't, however, mean that things shouldn't change or that everything that was in the National Health Service Act was right or perfect - far from it.

Some supporting the. "drop the bill" campaign (a glib, overly simplistic sound bite that is typical if Ed Miliband's knee-jerk, gesture politics) seem so blinkered in their view, or just plain stupid, that they want the NHS left alone. They argue that it is fine as it is. They don't want anything changed.

That point of view is moronic. It doesn't exist in the real world. Only absolute idiots would support it. Sadly, many of those who were elected as Labour MPs in 2010 fit that description perfectly.

The NHS is an enormous monolith of waste, leaking tax payers' money quicker than a jug of water poured through a sieve.

The problem is that in the 64 years since it came into existence, governments of different colours have tinkered with it. Tinkering is no good. Tinkering is for the short-sighted. Tinkering is for the amateur wanting a crowd pleasing quick fix, but it isn't for the careful, thoughtful politician who wants to move the NHS into the 21st century.

And that's the problem. The NHS is still firmly rooted in post-Second World War politics. It is embedded in the Twentieth Century. Sure, the machinery of medicine might have changed beyond recognition, the treatments progressed, survival rates improved, etc. but the organisation and administration of the NHS, and it's excessive waste, remain firmly in 1950's Britain.

The idiots calling for Cameron's government to "drop the bill" are correct, in as much as this bill isn't right - it fails to address many of the fundamental flaws of the NHS - but they fail to offer alternatives that show any awareness of what is needed, and, in the whole, they want to bury their head in the sand, do nothing and keep repeating their meaningless (and somewhat dishonest mantra) that "the NHS is the envy of the world"!

The concept of the NHS is the envy of the world but no sane country would want to adopt this dinosaur which eats money at a ridiculous rate - way beyond what can be justified and way beyond what can be afforded.

The NHS needs to be reformed. Proper reform. Root and branch. No more tinkering. Someone needs to sit down with a blank piece of paper and rethink the NHS. No sacred cows. Nothing off-limits.

Without fundamental change the NHS will die a long, slow death and we will all suffer.

The NHS has been a major national asset, but as the nation's do graphic changes, we need a new NHS that is designed for the next 70 years, not the last 70 years.

If you insist on your meaningless gesture politics of who h "drop the bill " is one of the most inane that's fine, but start thinking about alternatives, because the status quo isn't the solution.

It's 2012, not 1948. The world has changed beyond recognition. The NHS needs to catch up, and quickly.

366/35 - The Crescent, Buxton

2012-02-04T12:45:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 posting:

The Crescent, Buxton

Mozart

Caprice

OPINION: "Foreigners" playing for national teams

2012-02-04T12:32:00.001Z

With the announcement of the Six Nations teams this week, my Twitter timeline had a fair few England supporters decrying the selection of non-English players. This, of course, isn't a new thing; back in the 70s a lot of the England cricket team were born in South Africa or Southern Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then called), and in recent years it has become more common for players in all sorts of sports to change nationality and compete for a new country.

Probably the most infamous example was when Zola Budd, a Soutt African runner, had her papers rushed through to allow her to avoid the sporting boycott her country of birth had placed on it and compete for the UK, a country for which she had little connection or knowledge, but a country who fancied a chance of an extra medal or two at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Of course, in the UK we have the nonsense of a huge number of sportsmen and women having to decide which constituent part (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) they want to represent, and this can come down to the "nationality" of one of their four grandparents. In all sports, if we are to have international teams, the IK should have one national team as the premier elite team, not subdivisions.

We also have the nonsense of someone representing, say, Wales as a schoolboy international but becoming an England full international. Total nonsense.

So, with such a history of people changing nationality, why do some people still have a problem with it? There is, of course, only one possible answer: xenophobia - or, in some cases, racism. Nick Griffin and Nigel Farage would be proud of these Little Englanders and their attitudes to those who don't share the same country of birth, while the rest of have to bite our lips at the blatantly offensive beliefs if these moral Neanderthals.

Personally I find it bizarre that anyone has a loyalty or sense of belonging and kinship to a country that they have inherited purely by an accident of birth. Their mother could have been anywhere when she gave birth to them; nationality is an accident, and to exclude others on grounds of nationality is moronic, at best, and very dangerous, at worst.

The solution is easy, though the loud mouthed and ignorant xenophobes, supported by offensively nationalistic newspapers and an establishment that calls on "national pride" whenever they are at a low ebb. We need to have national teams selected on place of residence and not place of birth or. "legal nationality".

As I said, your place of birth is an accident. However, your place of residence is a choice. I choose to live in the UK, in the same way that Didier Drogba chooses to live in the UK. Sure, I'm unlikely to be chosen to represent any nation at any sport but, if I were, it would be a UK team. Drogba may well have been born in the Côte d'Ivoire but he has chosen to live and work in the UK. If he is to represent any national team it is more logical that he represents the country he has chosen to live in and not the country he moved away from.

Similarly, David Beckham could, at various times in his career, have represented the UK, Spain and the USA - and that way, at least, the GB Olympic team wouldn't have the nonsense of him begging to be selected in the GB Olympic football team in order to help promote Brand Beckham.

Let's stop playing the nationality card. It may have had a place a couple of centuries ago when few travelled around the world, but today nationality by birth is just silly. Nationality by choice is far more sensible, and is a kick in the teeth to all the horrible racists and xenophobes.

366/34 - chocolates

2012-02-03T18:50:00.002Z

Click here for today 's Project 366 posting:

Chocolates

Jupiter

Gradgrind

COMMENT: Top Totty

2012-02-02T19:44:00.001Z

Kate Green, the Labour MP for Stretford and Urmston and shadow Equalities spokesperson, has kicked up a fuss in the Palace of Westminster about a beer being served in the Strangers' Bar (the bar where MPs can take guests).

Green's issue with the beer is that its name and logo (pictured below) are inappropriate in parliament. Apparently she was "disturbed" by the image - I do hope she never goes to the beach - she'd go apoplectic!

She might have had a point. Certainly the name of this prize-winning beer, a true British business success, is a little dodgy and one could claim that the logo of a woman in a bikini top is a bit sexist. It's certainly not the worst beer name or logo I've ever seen but, for a moment, let's give Kate Green the benefit of the doubt.

So she notices the beer on sale, and its logo, and makes a complaint. Fair enough.

But no! NOT fair enough! The Strangers' Bar has been selling Top Totty, with the same logo on the pump, FOR FIVE YEARS!

This raises several questions:

1. Has Kate Green not been in the Strangers' Bar for the past 5 years? Does she NEVER have guests in parliament? If she does, has she NEVER taken them for a drink?

2. Perhaps Kate Green HAS been in the Strangers' Bar but has never gone up to the bar to order or pay for drinks?

3. Maybe Kate Green fails to notice anything around her? In that case, maybe she's not safe to drive? Maybe all her faculties aren't working?

4. She must be aware that her little hissy fit has given Top Totty, and Slater's, the Stafford-based company who brew it, the best publicity they could ever have wanted - in ALL the newspapers, on news bulletins everywhere and without costing them a penny. I do hope it doesn't turn our she has shares in the company!

5. Or maybe there's something else, perhaps more sinister, behind a carefully timed complaint, saved for a special occasion?

Who knows what Kate Green's motivation is. I wonder if it's the start of trouble for Miliband from Harriet Harman's covern - the "female only alternative shadow cabinet"?

Her little tantrum has, of course, worked. The beer has been banned from the Strangers' Bar - the end of five years of sales during which Kate Green was in disturbed until yesterday.

Maybe Kate Green should be offended by Famous Grouse whiskey (on animal rights grounds) or Tia Maria (because it sounds foreign) or India Pale Ale (because she somehow finds it racist) or .... the list could go on.

There is one thing Kate Green could object to... the nearly £10,000 per annum that MPs each get in subsidised food and drink in the bars and restaurants in the Pakace of Westminster. But, oh no, the image of a woman in a bikini top is far more "disturbing" than the financial corruption that MPs still benefit from at tax payers' expense.

I suggest an MP who has failed to notice something for five years is less than competent as a human being and hope the electorate in Stretford and Urmston seriously consider other options at the next election.

366/33 - Hat

2012-02-02T18:43:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 posting:

Hat

Dies Irae

Stiction

Cowboy at the seaside (a film by Simon Hickson)

2012-02-01T19:42:00.000Z

100WCGU: Wednesday

2012-02-01T18:04:00.001Z

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups - Week 29 - Wednesday

Wednesday

by

Robert Steadman

He said it would be done by Thursday.
It wasn't.

He said it would definitely be finished by Friday.
It wasn't.

He said he just needed the weekend.
It would be with me first thing on Monday morning.
I said ok, but was beginning to lose my patience.

Monday arrived and Monday went.
It wasn't done.

He asked for one more chance.
I agreed.

He said it would be complete by Wednesday.
Definitely. Absolutely.
It would be finished by Wednesday.
There was no need to worry any more.

Wednesday arrived.

Wednesday went.

It wasn't completed.

He wasn't good at deadlines.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups - Week 29 - Wednesday

COMMENT: John Terry's racism charge

2012-02-01T16:33:00.001Z

Today John Terry found that the trial for his alleged use of racist insults against Antonio Ferdinand won't take place until 9th July - just over a week after the Euro 2012 Championships have finished.

Terry has pleaded not guilty to making racist comments in a match between Chelsea and QPR last October. Today, in the Magistrates' Court, he pleaded "not guilty".

Now I realise and accept that, as the law stands, John Terry is currently innocent until proved otherwise. Howev, the police have investigated the accusations and the Criwn Prosecution Service have decided, based on that investigatin, that Terry has a case to answer.

Yes, the fact he has a case to answer doesn't stop him being innocent.It just means he has a case to answer.

But, should Terry go to Poland/Ukraine in June to represent England in the Euro 2012 Championships and, if he does go, should he still captain the England team (a position he only regained in March 2011 having been stripped of it a year earlier due to "troubles" in his private life)?

Personally, I think there are many issues that are raised if Terry is selected and goes:

1. What about his relationship with Les Ferdinand (Antonio Ferdinand's brother) who is likely to be in the England squad?

2. What of the FA's "KICK RACISM INTO TOUCH" campaign?

3. Will Terry's mind be on football or his impending court case?

4. Will he have the support of other black players in the squad?

5. What effect will it have on the FA's credibility?

I'm undecided. I strongly support the notion of innocent until proven guilty but I do wonder whether Terry's inclusion in the squad, let alone being captain, raises too many questions. It's not as if he has an unblemished past - there are several incidents in his past that make him an unsuitable ambassador for the country on the international stage.

I suspect the FA will somehow manage to fudge the issue... and hope he picks up a metatarsal injury in April/May that will prevent him going!

TOP 10: Who else should have their honours taken away?

2012-02-01T16:00:00.003Z

Now that Sir Fred Goodwin is just plain Mr. Goodwin, I wondered who else should have their titles and baubles removed.

Here's my personal Top 10.

1: Lord Prescott - after all, it was his government who ignored the signs and failed to act to rein in the bankers that lead to the crisis that we're all now in.

2: Sir David Jason - I just find him irritating beyond belief. Perhaps two good performances in his career (Porterhouse Blue and Poridge) but countless identikit performances in unfunny sitcoms.

3: Sir Jimmy Savile - yes, yes, I know he's dead, but I think his title should be removed posthumously - an irritant with lots of unanswered questions.

4: David Beckham OBE - I have no problem with sportsmen and women receiving honours if it is to honour outstanding achievement like a world record, an Olympic or World winner, something like that. Beckham was over-hyped, over-paid and even managed to soil the Commonwealth Games by wearing a sponsorship logo in the ad free opening ceremony. Awful, awful, human being.

5: Gerald Ronson CBE - one of the Guiness Four. He was jailed in connection with the share-trading scandal but made a CBE in 2012.

6: Denise Coates CBE - founder and chief executive of the online gambling company bet365 - representative of an industry that causes so much hardship and devastation to families across the country off the back of gambling on animal abuse.

7: Lord Ashcroft - who personifies so much of what is wrong with British politics.

8: Sir Elton John - he may have had a long career, but he's had very few No. 1s and, well, let's be honest, his knighthood was a populist move to help the rehabilitation of the Windsors after the death of "that woman".

9: All soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines - should we really honour people who kill and maim civilians?

10: Christopher Preddie OBE - a former drug dealer and gang member.

And there are many, many more.... Ronnie Corbett, Bruce Forsyth, Kelly Holmes, etc.

Who would you remove honours fom?

Why call George Osborne "Gideon "?

2012-02-01T15:02:00.003Z

You hear it and read it all the time; Labour supporters who refer to George Osborne as "Gideon".

Why do they do it?

Isn't it just name calling and bullying?

Ok, ok, George Osborne's birth certificate has him as Gideon but he has, as is his choice, become known as George.

So Gideon is his real name? Yes. But Ed Miliband and Ed Balls are both really named Edward - should we insist that they are always called that? Should Ken Clarke always be Kenneth? Should Maggie Thatcher always be Margaret?

Labour supporters object, quite rightly, to Cameron's name calling and bullying but lose all respect when they call George Osborne Gideon because it is being done to try to make him sound posh, privileged and Tory.

George Osborne wants to be called George. Labour supporters should respect that.

COMMENT: Bully Cameron name calling AGAIN!

2012-02-01T14:05:00.005Z

What is wrong with David Cameron? Yes, yes, there are plenty of things, but it seems he just can't help himself with silly puerile quips and name calling.

We've had blatant sexism, we've had the "dinosaur" jibe, and today he decides to call Liam Byrne "Baldemort" (a reference to the baddie in Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, and Liam Byrne's lack of hair) just before he used a quote from Byrne to support his own argument!

And although Cameron wiped the floor, yet again, with Ed MajorFail, he had already been admonished by John Bercow, the Speaker of the House, for calling the Leader of the Opposition a hypocrite - this is considered unparliamentary.

Is it beyond our Prime Minister to behave in a civilised way? Does he need treatment for his addiction to insults and bad mouthing? Or should he just be spending a little more time with his family?

It's not even the first time he's referred to Liam Byrne "Baldemort" - he first used the insult in March 2010, and, even then, it was a line he in led from political blogger Guido Fawkes.

It's time to grow up, Mr. Cameron. Bullying might have been your social weapon at Eton, it may have been de rigeur in the Bullingdon Club during your time at Oxford, it may have got you to climb the Tory party ladder but I, for one, find it unacceptable in a Prime Minister.

366/32 - Can

2012-02-01T12:31:00.002Z

Today's Project 366 posting:

Can

E.T.

Gamp

REVIEW: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (15)

2012-01-31T20:39:00.000Z

Everyone over a certain age knows "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" - either from the John le Carré novel or the tremendous television adaptation in which Alec Guiness played George Smiley, the central character in TTSS.

On the surface, it is, of course, a Cold War spy movie, but, with its web of secrets, lies, trust, betrayals, friendship, pacts and paranoia, it could be seen to be a mirror to the complexities in our modern society.

Tomas Alfredson's takes John le Carré's novel and presents it in a very clear shade of stone grey - it oozes tension from start to finish.

Gary Oldman takes the lead as George Smiley, a somewhat mild-mannered MI6 agent who comes out of retirement to try to uncover a mole in the secret British agency known as the "Circus". Vital information is being leaked to the Soviets and Smiley is the man chosen to track him down.

Oldman is outstanding in a measured and underplayed performance rather at tangent to his recent movies. Smiley is unassuming and watchful - the opposite of the Bourne/Bond template of spy to which movie audiences have become accustomed. Oldman will get plenty of nods come awards time, but the ensemble acting is tremendous, as is the atmospheric soundtrack.

PHILIP GLASS - a celebration on his 75th birthday

2012-01-31T19:13:00.001Z

Today, Philip Glass turns 75 - a modern minimalist composer who is known beyond the insular, somewhat suffocating confines of "contemporary music" - he is known for operas, symphonies, compositions for his own "house band", and his many, many collaborations with artists that have included Allen Ginsberg, Woody Allen and David Bowie. Philip Glass' impact upon the musical and intellectual life of modern culture is undeniable.

Philip Glass was born January 31st 1937 and grew up in Baltimore (well, someone had to). He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with the French composer, Darius Milhaud. He moved to Europe, feeling disillusioned by the artistic life in the USA, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and worked with the sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. Hereturned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble which gave him a voice with which to experiment and present his musical ideas.

Glass, along with Terry Riley and Steve Reich, was evolving a new musical style which became known as “minimalism” - a phrase actually coined by Michael Nyman.

Many of Glass' early works were made up of densely interweaving textures of repeating ideas - a complex polyphony but for a new age.

Few contemprary composers get an opera into the repertoire but Glass has four – “Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,” which are regularly produced around the world, though, sadly, too infrequently in the UK.

Glass has written music for Oscar- winning movies such as “The Hours” and “Kundun,” and has also produced scores for experimental theatre. “Koyaanisqatsi" has been described as the "most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since Fantasia.”

In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than 20 operas; 9 symphonies (the 9th receives its premiere this week); concertos for violin, piano, timpani, and saxophone quartet; soundtracks for Hollywood movies and documentaries; string quartets; and an array of works for solo piano and organ.

Some criticise Glass for being too samey; a one-trick pony. I think they are. Issuing the point. Glass has evolved a distinctive, personal style that's instantly recognisable and has been able to use this to touch the hearts and minds of music lovers in just about every field possible.

Happy Birthday, Mr.Glass!

OPINION: BTECs and NVQs being downgraded

2012-01-31T18:25:00.001Z

Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Education, today announced that lots of vocational qualifications would lose their "GCSE equivalent" status.

The main reason is because many schools, perhaps more concerned about league tables than the education of their students, have been pushing the BTECs and NVQs because they have helped them rapidly climb league tables. Some schools offered virtually no GCSEs any more.

I always thought it odd that these vocational qualifications weren't allowed to stand on their own merits rather than have to be "equivalent" to GCSEs. Why, when they became popular in schools, wasn't an extra column not simply added to the league tables? One column to show their GCSE success rate, another column for their vocational qualification success rate? isn't that simple?

The other problem is that some of the "equivalent" statuses were generous, to put it lightly.

Now, I accept my experience is in the field of music and the performing arts but some BTECs were given the equivalent of 4 GCSEs for work at a lesser level academically and practically. It was a total nonsense and a misguided and badly thought through piece of politics by Blair's government, and, of course, David Blunkett, who were keen to promote vocational qualifications, so they put them on offer. Take one qualification and get 2, 3, 4 for free.

Vocational qualifications have their place but are limiting as, while some are prepared for a career, others find they have paths cut off because, haven done a BTEC, they are unable to go on to A-level or university. So the school benefits by harming the future prospects of their more academic students. Genius!

I'm glad to see the end of GCSE equivalents for vocational qualifications. Let's hope that those same vocational qualifications are now made more worthwhile and demanding - that is the way to sell them and give them credibility, not cheapening them and making them a laughing stock.

COMMENT: Fred Goodwin loses knighthood and 2 RBS bosses turn down bonuses. So what?

2012-01-31T18:02:00.000Z

Tabloid politics has its victory. In fact, it has had two in a matter of days.

Firstly, the boss of RBS, and one of his underlings, were forced to turn down bonuses and, second, Fred Goodwin has been stripped of his knighthood.

The tabloids can't claim sole responsibility for these great victories; they were aided and abetted by sound bite politicians who saw that the bankers were damaged antelope on the Serengeti plain, an easy target for the lions of Westminster.

It's all such a nonsense. It's tokenistic politics lead by tawdry journalists with little or no grasp of the bigger picture.

Why do I say that?

Because, while a bonus isnt paid out or a bauble is taken back, this does nothing to change the mechanisms, systems and culture of banking - institutions that, recent events have shown, control more governments than elected officials.

Two senior executives turn down bonuses totalling less than £2m. These bonuses were in the form of shares and required the bank's value to increase before they kicked in. Whoops! And saving £2m is less than a drop in the ocean when you remember the banks were bailed out to the tune of £70+ BILLION!

As for Fred Goodwin's knighthood... do what?! I'm sure he doesn't give a flying fig whether he has a silly title given to him by discredited politicians and a parasitical monarch who costs the nation more than £200m per year (on a normsl year, liads more on a jubilee year) with very little return (and yet gets her close family to say the nation should buy her a new £70m yacht as a pressie for having shaken hands so well).

Politicians need to do something to change the banking system and withholding bonuses and taking back baubles does nothing to achieve this.

Politicians need to take back control of economies and actually run their countries for the benefit of the people.

Cameron and Miliband (and probably Clegg, though nobody cares what he says any more) will celebrate and bask in the glory that the tabloids will bestow on them but anyone with a brain will see through the veil of spin and realise that they have achieved absolutely nothing.

Cameron, Miliband and the tabloids are like Oceania in 1984 - celebrating victories for which there is no evidence. They tilt at windmills but fail to address the real issues.

It's time for politicians to do something about the banking system - it needs a root and branch review and overhaul - and no amount of victories over pantomime villains will do anything to improve the world.

Sadly, too many see bankers as evil. They are not evil, but the system that they, and politicians, work in is corrupted beyond repair. A new system, with new purpose, a social awareness and conscience is needed.

Cameron may as well give the RBS execs their bonuses, and give Fred Goodwin his title back. These will make no difference to the all-pervading culture of greed and self in which the banks have been allowed to operate.

Any politician who suggests this week's events will make a difference are lying to the public and deserve to lose their seat.

People need to stop being fooled by superficial politicians, and manipulative newspapers trying to push the blame onto another sector of the establishment. Sadly, when the history of the last 20 years are written it may well be called the age of tokenism.

366/31 - River Derwent at Belper

2012-01-31T12:46:00.003Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

River Derwent at Belper

Psycho by Bernard Hermann

Word of the Day: idoneous

366/30 - calendar

2012-01-30T19:02:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366...

Calendar

Firebird

Neoterism

Fun things to do in Google!

2012-01-29T20:55:00.001Z

1. Search "askew"

2. Search "do a barrel roll"

3. Search "Once in a Blue Moon"

4. Search "the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything"

5. Search for "the Number of Horns on a Unicorn"

6. Type “french military victories” into search then click “I’m feeling lucky“

I'm not sure this still works... in Google Maps ask for directions from the White House to 10 Downing Street..... it used to include the instruction "swim the Atlantic Ocean"

Any others?

366/29 - Play

2012-01-29T17:14:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Play

Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Purlieu

366/28 - Goyt Valley, Derbyshire

2012-01-28T12:12:00.002Z

Click here for today's Project 366:

Goyt Valley in the snow

Berlioz' Roman Carnival

Gascon

366/27 - Red Squirrel

2012-01-27T09:30:00.001Z

Click here for today's Project 366 posting.

Red Squirrel

Things to Come

Arablest

366/26 - Rainbow

2012-01-26T15:03:00.000Z

Today's Project 366 posting:

Rainbow

Land of the Mountain and the Flood

Varlet

Ode to a Haggis - Robert Burns

2012-01-25T20:57:00.001Z

Ode to a Haggis
by
Robert Burns

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftan o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang’s my arm

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
You pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’need
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead

His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut you up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reeking, rich!

Then, horn for horn they stretch an’ strive,
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive
Bethankit hums

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi’ perfect sconner,
Looks down wi’ sneering, scornfu’ view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash
His spindle-shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro’ bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll mak it whissle;
An’ legs, an’ arms an’ heads will sned,
Like taps o’ thrissle

Ye pow’rs wha mak mankind your care,
An’ dish them out their bill o’fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu’ pray’r,
Gie her a Haggis!

My favourite Robert Burns poem: Ae Fond Kiss

2012-01-25T20:51:00.001Z

Ae Fond Kiss
by Robert Burns

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever
Ae farewell, and then forever
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and goans I'll wage thee.

Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him
Me nae cheerful twinkle lights me,
Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy:
Nothing could resist my Nancy
But to see her was to love her
Love but her, and love for ever.

Had we never loe'd sae kindly,
Had we never loe'd sae blindly,
Never met - nor never parted -
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

Fare thee weel, thou first and fairest
Fare thee weel, thou best and dearest
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever
Ae farewell, alas, for ever
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.

366/25 - it may be Burns' Night but...

2012-01-25T18:39:00.000Z

Click here for today's non-Scottish project 366 posting!

Romney's Kendal Mint Cake

Organ music by Buxtehude

Bleb

366/24 - shower head

2012-01-24T16:09:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 posting: a shower head, an old recording of Villa Lobos and the word/phrase "eye broccoli"!

366/23

2012-01-23T18:32:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 post:

Towels

Copland

Yegg

366/22

2012-01-22T20:06:00.003Z

Click here for today's Project 366, which features a cork, some Shostakovich and the word lurcher!

366/21 - Devonshire Dome

2012-01-21T15:22:00.002Z

Today 's Project 366 posting features the Devonshire Dome, Buxton, some orchestral music by Mike Oldfield and the word WELTSCHMERZ!

COMMENT: In exactly one year the U.S. President will be sworn in

2012-01-20T15:59:00.001Z

Yes, exactly one year today, the President of the United States of America will be sworn in at his inauguration ceremony.

Americans have a choice between right wing, religious lunatics, though the Republicans are still sorting out which lunatic they want.

Increasingly it looks like Newt Gingrich will be the candidate of the GOP who will attempt to depose Barack Obama, who hasn't had the best first three years in power, and has certainly lived up (or down) to many people's fears that he was more about style than substance.

Increasingly, in the UK, we have a similarly narrow choice of party - right wing, capitalist and, sadly, of faith.

It is time both the US and UK looked beyond the gormless, extremist numpties and voted on principle rather than habit. It is time to accept that capitalism has failed too may times and needs to be replaced as the economic system that controls world finances. It is time to realise that those "of faith" cannot be trusted to behave sanely - after all, they believe there are invisible superbeings for which there is absolutely no evidence. And it is time we rejected politicians who have warmongering attitudes.

It makes no difference whether, in twelve months time, it's Obama or Gingrich being sworn in. Or, for that matter, any other moron the Republican Party puts up. All if them are equally ridiculous, all of them are equally stupid and all of them will be dangerous with their finger on the nuclear button.
,

366/20 - de-icer

2012-01-20T15:42:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366.

De-icer

Malcolm Arnold

Deucedly

REVIEW: Midnight in Paris (12A)

2012-01-19T15:12:00.001Z

The past few months have seen some tremendous performances by actors being other, historical figures - Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, and Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe being, perhaps, the most noteworthy. In Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson plays Woody Allen. He's not billed as that, nor is he actually impersonating Woody Allen, who wrote and directed this movie, but every line that Wilson says you can imagine coming from Woody Allen's mouth. If he'd worn a pair of thick rimmed specs you'd think it was a good impersonation.

I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris, but then I do like Woody Allen movies. If you don't like Woody Allen you're probably best avoiding this. It has all the hallmarks you expect: a jazzy soundtrack; an awkward leading male; several attractive females; a witty script; and some beautifully shots of one of the world's greatest cities (this time Paris and not New York).

Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) is a Hollywood scriptwriter who is in Paris for a holiday with his fiancée and her parents. He is writing a novel and finds inspiration from walking the streets of Paris late at night or in the rain. His fiancée doesn't understand and lets him go off on his own. Gil gets lost and, as a church clock strikes midnight, an old fashioned car pulls up. The car is a portal back to the 1920s, where Pender meets many of his literary heroes.

It may not be Annie Hall or Manhattan but it is great fun, with many big laughs. The period detail is well observed and, although the movie is a lead role for Wilson, the ensemble acting is tremendous, as you'd expect in a Woody Allen movie.

There are tremendous performances from Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen and, even, Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Definitely worth going to see if you like Woody Allen or if you love Paris. I look forward to seeing it again, which has to be a good sign.

366/19 - Bradshaw's

2012-01-19T14:36:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 photograph.

Bradshaw's

Pacific 231

Shiv

OPINION: MPs and "being seen" to do the right thing

2012-01-19T13:28:00.002Z

Yesterday, Rachel Reeves, a Labour MP, tweeted that she had signed the Holocaust Educational Trust's Book of Commitment. I tweeted back that I thought this was tokenism and achieved nothing. She replied this morning that I should be careful about what I tweet and that it was important to remember the lessons of the holocaust.

Now I wholeheartedly agree that it is important that we remember the holocaust and learn lessons from it, as long as we put those lessons into action. Simply getting a warm glow, and using it to get some positive publicity is insufficient - that is why her tweeting about signing the book is tokenism.

Rachel Reeves, as I said, is a Labour MP. In the past decade, Labpur has taken us into two major wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, that have needlessly cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians: lives lost, families destroyed, women and children injured and maimed. Has she, or the Labour Party, learnt any lessons from the past, from the holocaust, from history?

As well as being a party of civilian bloodshed, she has shown herself to be signing the book to help her own publicity. Why else would she tweet about it? As Immanuel Kant said, good deeds should be done just because they ate good deeds and not because of any other reason. This would include using a good deed for publicity and even if you just got a warm glow out of it. Sure, if it makes you feel good that's fine, but that shouldn't be the reason to do good. Do good because that's the right thing to do, and encourage others to do likewise.

What Rachel Reeves, and various other MPs, should have done, if they genuinely think signing a book is a good thing and makes a difference, is to sign the book and encourage others to do so. What they did was sign it, then shout to the world, via Twitter, "Look at me! Look at me! Aren't I wonderful? I signed a book of commitment!"

I hope you get the difference. I guess it's the problem with our increasing personality/celeb-inclined politicians who aren't unit to do good but to promote themselves and help themselves up the greasy pole.

By all means do good and by all means encourage others to do good but please don't use it for personal gain. And, ultimately, actions speak louder than words. Do any of the "Me! Me! Me!" politicians act in a way to prevent further genocides and oppression, or will they just cash their pay cheques and not give a toss?

NEWS: Met Police spent £216k phoning directory enquiries & £35k on speaking clock

2012-01-18T17:48:00.000Z

It's absolutely shocking but, following a Freedom of Information request, it has been revealed that the Met Police spent £35,000 telephoning the speaking clock in the past two years. Do they not have watches? Or clocks? Or mobile phones? Or computers?

Additionally, in the same time, the Met Police spent £216,000 phoning directory enquiries!

At £216k it would have been cheaper to employ a team of people to internally look up numbers for them - or get them to use online directory services like most sane people do!

I wonder if all police forces around the country have similar extravagant telephone use and what other premium services they have been using.

With this information in mind, there can be no excuses for some drastic cuts being made to police budgets.... and some senior heads must roll.

366/18 - dragon

2012-01-18T16:06:00.000Z

Click here for today's project 366:

Dragon

Crouching Tiger

Persnickety

COMMENT: Cameron's dinosaur jibe

2012-01-18T14:38:00.000Z

I find it bizarre that so many have been outraged that David Cameron called Denis Skinner, often affectionately called the "Beast of Bolsover", a dinosaur during PMQs today.

Cameron said he saw no need for his children to go to the Natural History Museum when they could see a real dinosaur at 12.30 on Wednesdays during PMQs.

Those who are outraged at the slightest thing have leapt to Skinner's defence and have claimed that Cameron was ageist.

What nonsense!

It's fair to say that the absolutely gratuitous insult was ill-judged and peurile, but Cameron has a track record of silly, pathetic, childish and bullying insults in the house.

A dinosaur, as well as having been a giant lizard that became extinct millions of years ago, is a term also used to describe somebody who's views and opinions are out of date and out of touch with the modern world.

Yes, Cameron had another rush of blood to the head for which the Speaker should make him apologise, but there is no justification for claiming he was ageist.

OPINION: The Wikipedia Blackout

2012-01-18T09:44:00.004Z

Today, for 24 hours, the English-speaking version of Wikipedia has been blacked out by its founder, Jimmy Wales, in protest against SOPA, a bill to stop online piracy.

For me one day isn't enough - I'd like to see Wikipedia blacked out forever. It was an interesting social experiment but the information it publishes (they'd call it "facts" but, too often, that is stretching the definition of "fact") is unreliable, poorly written and subject to special interest groups and cabals who push their spin on a subject rather than deal with truth and evidence.

Alongside the many unreliable articles, Wikipedia us full of nonsense, fan cruft, entries which amount to little more than advertising and blatant lies. There's more detailed entries on minor fictional characters from Star Wars than of some truly notable and worthy real people. Wikipedia is a nonsense.

Sadly, Wikipedia has become the main reference source for many student essays, with chunks copied straight into their own work and rarely any cross-checking.

The main problem, once you get through the cabal controlled articles and the other nonsense, is that at any given moment all the facts on a subject can be changed by anyone to total nonsense or, worse still, to believable nonsense. Yes, such extreme editing and page vandalism would be corrected quickly but if you look something up on Wikipedia and happen to access a page in the minutes between vandalism and correction Wikipedia is publishing the vandalism as fact. Totally untrustworthy, totally unreliable.

A couple of years ago, as an experiment to prove how unreliable Wikipedia is, my wife and U changed a well known musician's entry to say he was a trained painter and decorator. This lie remained on his page for 6 weeks with the only check being someone asking for evidence. That, for an encyclopaedia, which Wikipedia classes itself as, is simply not good enough. I'm sure there are many other examples (I seem to recall that Wikipedia claimed that George Washington was gay at one point).

After the minefield that is the religious articles (unbelievably non-factual ut always pushing that particular religion's view) it is current news stories that are the worst. Editors are so overly keen to be the one that makes the edit, it's as if it scores them points, that facts appear on Wikipedua seconds after they have happened with limited context, no checking and , very often, pushing one particular opinion. When pages get too chaotic with changes editing is blocked. That, in itself, shows that the social experiment isn't working.

There are many questions which should be answered about the Wikimedia Foundation and its financing - supposedly a charity; Jimmy Wales; Jimmy Wales account if how Wikipedia was set up and why his own page is often blocked from editing and he has edited it himself (a serious no no); and why better checks of new facts and a greater quality control aren't in place.

Now Wikipedia is showing support for online piracy - the scourge of the music and movie industries. They are siding with the pirates, and showing their support by blacking out Wikipedia for 24 hours - but only the English-speaking version, which is an odd decision in itself.

I'd love to see Wikipedia remain blacked out and for them to be properly investigated by the IRS. I'd like to see Wikipedia die.

OPINION: Time to merge Best actor/Best actress

2012-01-17T14:43:00.001Z

I really like the whole award ceremony season that runs from mid-January to the end of February: the Golden Globes; BAFTAs; Brit Awards; etc. and, of course, the OSCARS. I know some see it all as meaningless baubles but I enjoy it and enjoy comparing my opinions with those of the judges.

What I find odd, anachronistic, is the fact that all the ceremonies have awards that divide the shortlisted by their gender.

Increasingly actresses call themselves actors, and this is right. Actors and actresses are all people who act. In the modern world there is no justification to give a separate award to men and women, unless you're saying there's no way that one group could win over the other - it's a consolation prize. That is a sexism which has no place in the 21st century.

No one would dare suggest having separate awards based on skin colour or sexuality would they? It's nearly 50 years since Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win the OSCAR for best actor. At the time it was revolutionary, but today, particularly in the music world, awards are won by people of all skin colours.

Why aren't women offended that they are being patronised by all these awards ceremonies? Or don't they realise the negativity in having separate awards based, for no good reason, on the genitalia of the recipient?

Surely Jodie Foster or Olivia Coleman or Hlenn Close or whoever would like to be the best actor, judged against all her peers? It's not as if there are separate awards for male and female director, or male and female record producer. It is only when it comes to the frontline talent.

I'd love a female who wins best actress to reject it publicly, highlight the nonsense. Maybe it will happen at this year's OSCARS?

I can dream.

It's time to stop this nonsense and eliminate the blatant sexism that is inherent in the current system.

366/17 - Cats and Snow

2012-01-17T12:48:00.002Z

Click here for today's posting to my Project 366:

A cat

Some cats

Snow

OPINION: Michael Gove and a new royal yacht

2012-01-16T19:48:00.003Z

Michael Gove gets a very bad press in education circles. This is, of course, nothing new. Teachers tend to mistrust and dislike most Secretaries of State for Education whether they are Labour, Tory or, potentially, while we have a coalition, Lib Dem.

Mchael Gove, however, doesn't help his case. He often takes things a step too far, or comes up with ideas which, quite frankly, are just plain dumb.

Yesterday evening a letter that he wrote was leaked to The Guardian. In it he argues the case for the nation giving a new royal yacht to the Queen to mark her diamond jubilee this year.

Gove is an enthusiastic monarchist. Like those who have religion, he has the same emptiness behind his eyes that all morons who support monarchy have.

Gove argues that a new royal yacht would be an appropriate gift to the monarch and would not only create much-needed work in our shipbuilding industry, but would give every man, woman and child a feel good feeling.

Really? Yep, he's that much of a moron.

Firstly, why should Liz Windsor get any "gift" from the nation. She's been taking millions and millions of pounds annually for oing little of merit or worth. Her year is pretty much non-stop holiday and yet this year she and hubby couldn't be arsed to attend the Royal Variety Performance, which is put on for her benefit, because it was in Salford. I don't see many fom the North West feeling they've had value ir money from the £200+ million spent on the monarchy every year.

Secondly, Gove argues that a new royal yacht would create jobs - well, it might have one had it been commissioned a couple of years ago. As it is, even the best, most efficient shipyards wouldn't be able to build a new royal yacht in the time between now and the Jubilee celebrations in the early summer. Additionally, by EU rules I suspect that such a process would have to be put out to render across Europe and, with the UK's run down, overpriced and increasingly inexperienced shipbuilding industry, the chances are that a non-UK shipyard would win the contract to build the new royal yacht.

Thirdly, Gove claims a new royal yacht would only cost about £60 million. Well, when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned in 1997, a decision made in equal parts by the dregs of John Major's government and the incoming, reforming government of Tony Blair, it was estimated a replacement would have cost between £60 - 70 million. The likelihood is that a new royal yacht, if the luxury ships owned by the likes of various wealthy Russian oligarchs is anything to go by, would be much nearer to £200 million.

Fourthly, Gove believes that, having had cutbacks, job losses, fuel price rises, inflation, wage freezes, pension turmoil, etc. we'll all feel a warm glow if happiness because our overpaid, underworked, privileged monarch had a new luxury toy for her holidays. Really? Is he really THAT demented? Apparently so.

Even Cameron, very often the Moron-in-Chief, thinks it's a bad idea - though he, it seems does think putting the idea out o public subscription might work and be a good idea. By the time the ship was ready, and all paid for, chances are we might have a new monarch who, I. It ice, has today said he supports the idea of a new royal yacht. Quelle Surprise! Charlie Windsor wants more from the public to support his worthless lifestyle.

The suggestion that the nation buys anything for Liz Windsor is, at best insulting to the public and, at worst, is an evil and deluded suggestion from someone who urgently needs to spend some time with his family - though I pity them if he does.

No to a royal yacht - and, while we're at it, time for a republic!

10 PREDICTIONS FOR 2112

2012-01-16T19:05:00.001Z

The other day the BBC website magazine carried an interesting article about John Elfreth Watkins, an American civil engineer, who made predictions in the year 1900 about what the world would be like in the year 2000, and how those predictions had turned out.

You can read the article here.

This is a gift to bloggers and columnists. What predictions can I see see coming true by the year 2112? Below are 10 things I genuinely think will have happened and/or be in place in 100 years time.

Chances are I won't be around to celebrate my success or commiserate with my failure to foresee the future. maybe someone, somewhere will find this and see how I did.

Here goes:

1. A single world currency

Yes, yes, a shared currency across Europe has proved to be very problematic over recent years and that has only been in existence for just over a decade, but, I foresee an increasingly global approach to fiscal policy and, consequently, a shared currency.

2. Colonisation of Mars

In 100 years I don't see this being a major colonisation, but I predict a colony to be established in an Eden Project-type bubble on the surface of Mars. It will be the start of the colonisation of other planets and moons in the solar system that will stretch on over coming centuries.

3. Farming of the world's oceans

As the world's population continues to grow, governments will need to find ways of producing more and more food. I suspect that red meat will become gradually less popular, probably due to health reasons, and the world will turn to the oceans and seas to produce a far greater quantity of food than ever before through large scale management and farming of the oceans. I wouldn't be surprised to see vegetarianism and pescetarianism becoming the norm.

4. Socialism

I'm not sure how many more times capitalism can continue to Be allowed to fail without a different system being adopted. As nations gradually work closer and closer and continental and world governments become more and more important, I suspect that the people will want a better system of government - socialism, at the very least, and, possibly, a Marxist communism.

5. Nuclear Power to expand

Yes, we have nuclear power now. It produces a sizeable chunk of our power but, following the Fukishima reactor problems in Japan, many countries are turning their back on nuclear power. At some point during the next century, the oil (and gas, and coal) will start to run out and alternatives will need to be found to replace the energy sources we've relied on for many a year. A newer, safer and greener nuclear power is, many argue, the only way ahead that will produce the quantity of energy that we demand. Nuclear powered cars, nuclear powered trains, etc. I've always been anti-nuclear but I can see this happening nonetheless.

6. Average life expectancy to rise to 150

Average life xoectancy varies even within the UK and, of course, in the Third World is much lower than in the developed world. I think my children can expect to live to about 85/90 but, with advances in medicine and healthier lifestyles, I see this rising dramatically. This, of course, will cause major problems for all governments.

7. Information technologies to be implanted into humans

Ways for bionicly accessing the Internet, or its eventual replacement, or using Augmented Reality-type technologies to be implanted in our brains so that information could be screened on the inside of our corneas. We would also be able to record video through our own eyes that we could instantly broadcast to other people.

8. Cars to run on grids with no driver control

The reason we have speed limits and accidents, etc. is because of human error and inadequancies to make judgements under pressure and at speed. Cars will be connected by a grid that will not onky control them, but enable them to drive much faster and never collide.

9. A cure for cancer

Many, many illnesses that we have today, fom cancer to the common cold will be cured. The end of cancer will make a significant difference to life expectancy, quality of life and mean that governments won't have to spend so much on health budgets.

10. Undersea cities

I think the seas and oceans have a lot of changes (see the point 3 above) and to help with overcrowding issues I can foresee major undersea cities in which people will live, work and shop!

So, what do you think? What do you predict? Do you agree with my predictions, or do they not go far enough?

OPINION: Waterstone's and their apostrophe

2012-01-16T17:33:00.002Z

Waterstone's, the UK chain of bookshops, has announced that it will be ditching its apostrophe and, in future, will be known as Waterstones.

Apparently, in the age of the internet, texting and mobile technologies the use of an apostrophe can't be justified.

What absolute rot!

Apostrophes, like all aspects of grammar, are there to assist comprehension and the loss of apostrophes, while it may save the odd half second of time, will lead to confusion and a lack of understanding in the written word.

I realise that, shockingly, lots of people misuse the apostrophe but should we really be lowering our language to the lowest common denominator? Should we try to educate these dullards who find it impossible to obey very simple rules?

Yes, dullards, or fucktards, or idiots, or remedials - there is no justification for the "greengrocer's apostrophe" - if you can't use it correctly, quite frankly, you shouldn't have been allowed to leave school - you are a retard.

Waterstone's is a book shop. They trade, and profit, through the written word. It is treachery of a very serious level for them to turn on the language that has made them money over the years. It is treasonous.

Waterstone's COULD have become Waterstone and nullified the need for any apostrophe. That would have made sense. That wouldn't have betrayed the hundreds of years of evolution through which the English language has developed but, oh no, they've dropped the apostrophe, abandoned the possessive and made themselves into a meaningless plural.

Waterstone's should hang their corporate head in shame and, if they fail to reverse this nonsensical decision, the public should continue to include an apostrophe within their name.

Even better, when they get round to changing their shop signage around the country, I hope the public go armed with bottles of Tippex to reinstate the lost and abandoned apostrophe.

366/16

2012-01-16T16:23:00.002Z

Click here for today's Project 366...

Denim

Vaughan Williams

Outrance

... and War Horse

REVIEW: War Horse (12A)

2012-01-16T16:18:00.000Z

I tend to be a blubber, I cry at movies - all sorts of movies. I always cry at the end of West Side Story and, however bizarre it may seem, Scott of the Antarctic. In the past year, have shed a tear or two at both Up! and Toy Story 3. So, having read reviews and notice tweets about War Horse I went prepared, expecting to sob at regular intervals. Sadly, though less embarrassingly, I didn't feel close to tears during the movie, not even a choking feel in my throat. Maybe I'm heartless, maybe I find it hard to empathise with a horse, or maybe the movie isn't quite as good, not emotionally manipulative, as has been made out in the publicity and reviews.

The movie looks amazing. The pre-First World War Devon village is completely believable, as are the conditions the soldiers have to endure in the trenches. Some have suggested that the war scenes are as graphic as Saving Private Ryan - maybe. Certainly it shows the squalor and suffering, something few today can truly imagine. (At least, on the First World War, soldiers generally killed other soldiers, unlike today).

The movie, for all its great cinematography, has its flaws. At the centre of the movie is what should have been a truly touching moment on No Man's Land but, briefly, Spielberg loses his touch and forgets that this is cinema - the script seems awkward and it feels more like second-rate theatre, just projected very tall.

I'm a big fan of John Williams' movie score and this score is always well-judged and does it best to tug at the heart-strings, but, unfortunately, seems to be more of an undergraduate exercise in composing in the style of Vaughan Williams. John Williams' best scores are when he embraces other styles and makes them his own, in War Horse he has become RVW and his originality has been almost entirely consumed, but for the big, emotional theme that sounds like an early sketch for his own "For the Fallen" from Saving Private Ryan.

War Horse is the ultimate Lassie movie, with a horse instead of a dog. It's story is bitty, sometimes too bitty, and that is why, I think, I didn't develop any emotional link to the characters. Perhaps at two and a half hours it actually needed more time and a television mini series would have suited the epicness better.

Some say that Steven Spielberg is the king of schmaltz, and it's true that the storytelling in his best movies always has a strong schmaltzy element but War Horse adds an extra layer of saccharine with the screenplay being co-written by Richard Curtis.

In the end, I found that I simply didn't care enough about the horse, or its various owners. I was suitably shocked by the horror of the trenches but wasn't surprised with how the movie ended. It's a good movie. and nearly two and a half hours flies by, but it's not, in my opinion, a great movie as many have suggested, and I have seen many better movies in my time.

366/15

2012-01-15T18:44:00.000Z

Click here for today's Project 366 photo...

Beetham Tower, Manchester

Life in a Northern Town

Brainchow

366/14

2012-01-14T13:21:00.000Z

Click here for today's instalment to my Project 366.

*Crane

*Respighi

*Desinence

366/13

2012-01-13T14:22:00.000Z

Click here for Day 13 of my Project 366.

REVIEW: The Iron Lady (12A)

2012-01-12T20:06:00.002Z

Everyone over the age of about 30 has an opinion about Margaret Thatcher. One of the most influential, and one of the most controversial, politicians ever to rise through the party ranks to become Prime Minister.

I was never a supporter of hers (the first General Election I could vote in was 1983 when she got re-elected, wiping away the more intelligent, but scruffier, Michael Foot). That was the only election I ever voted Labour, back when that party had principles but wasn't good at presentation. She became PM when I was 14 and stopped when I was 25. She was also the Education Secretary while I was in primary school - "Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher!" - so I guess I can be described as a "Child of Thatcher"!

"The Iron Lady" is an odd biopic as it takes one of the world's most powerful women and portrays her as old and frail and suffering from dementia. Her career is shown via flashbacks but, perhaps because of the constraints of being a commercially viable movie, the story of her political career is highly selective and omits many major and significant moments.

Meryl Streep is phenomenal as Margaret Thatcher as firmer grocer's daughter who wants to lead the Tories, as the strident leader who orders the sinking of the Belgrano, as the out of control, maniacal demon she became, and as the old and frail woman who imagines conversation with Dennis, who has been dead for 8 years. Streep has perfected every intonation and every mannerism. Finally, there is a better Thatcher impersonator than Steve Nallon!

Phyllida Lloyd, who directed Streep in "Mama Mia!" seems to want to skim over most of Thatcher's most divisive decisions. Sure, there's scenes if riots and strikes, and police armed with batons, but so much is left out it feels incomplete. For instance, Richard E. Grant looks good as Michael Heseltine, Thatcher's arch nemesis within the Tory party, but in this movie he's hardly seen - in one scene he's there being supportive, and then he's suddenly announcing he'll stand against her in the 1990 coup that saw Thatcher's fall from powe, and John Major becoming Prime Minister.

Maybe the selectiveness of the episodes from her life are meant to be symbolic of the Alzheimer's that she is suffering... Or maybe it's just a script that's not quite got the balance right.

The young Margaret Roberts is played, rather well, by Alexandra Roach. She gets in to Oxford, gets involved in politics, loses her first by-election, gets married and gets into parliament but, as a rather staid, middle-class woman who wears hats and pearls and, "does screech too much" - there are few hints of what is to come but, at the point Streep takes over, she suddenly becomes more focused and develops the beliefs that will dominate a nation for over a decade and still have an effect today. However, there is no signs of where these beliefs came from, beyond inspiration from her father.

It's also a shame that the soundtrack limits itself to Thatcher's personal likes (Rodgers & Hammerstein and Bellini operas apparently) and rather insipid original music and doesn't make use of, or explore, the music of the various eras through which the movie travels.

The movie has massively divided opinion. Some, including current Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, believe the movie has been made too soon and should have waited until Thatcher had passed to the great Grocer's shop in the sky. Others, from the other end of the political spectrum, find it objectionable that it shows Thatcher in a sympathetic light. I also know some staunch left wingers who have been impressed by Thatcher's drive and vision, even if they disagree with her politics, and some, who supported her at the time, who now have a different view with hindsight. What is great is that the movie has got people talking about movies and about politics.

It's fair to say that I did enjoy watching "The Iron Lady", as, it seemed, did the rest of the audience when I it. It is cinematically structured and presented, with some pleasing moments, and, well, Streep is fantastic and VERY likely to win the Best Actress OSCAR on February 26th.

366/12 - Occupy Nottingham

2012-01-12T16:07:00.000Z

Click here for day 12 of my Project 366 - Occupy Nottingham, Korngold and bonny!

366/11

2012-01-11T17:03:00.000Z

Today's Project 366 posting can be found by clicking here!

366/10

2012-01-10T16:33:00.000Z

Click here for today's instalment of my Project 366 - cuddlies, Philip Glass and paregmenon.

REVIEW: The Artist (PG)

2012-01-09T17:33:00.001Z

Everyone's heard about The Artist surely? It's one if the most discussed movies for many a year and, for a change, there seems to be general agreement that this movie is good very good, in fact. It's a sweet and simple comedy set in the Hollywood of the late 1920s and early 1930s and tells its story through the cinematic language of the time: in black and white and, mostly, silent, with an outstanding musical score.

For those who have a love for, or interest in, early cinema it's been a good couple of months for movies looking back and celebrating early cinema. First there was Martin Scorsese's brilliant Hugo, a movie which, better than any other has ever managed, utilises 3D as a genuine cinematic tool. Now we have The Artist, exploring the end of the silent era and the dawn of the talkies.

George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a matinee idol, in the mould of Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn - the romantic action hero who is the biggest name in Hollywood. Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), a young hopeful actress, bumps into Vslentin at the premiere of one of his movies and, as is the case in such silent movie romances, she’s cast as an extra in his next movie which he begins shooting the next day.

Valentin is unhappily married and Miller is considerably younger, so his relationship with Peppy never becomes more than flirtatious. Their attraction towards each other, however, is clear. With a little help from George, Peppy soon becomes a star in her own right but, as she becomes famous, his stardom begins to lose its shone. Peppy is ideally placed to benefit from the introduction of sound in movies but he is dropped by his studio as a has been of the silent era.

Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius references various screen classics including Citizen Kane, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Billy Wilder and even some music borrowed (stolen?) from Bernard Herrmann’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

It's fair to say that, in many ways, the film is slight - it isn't trying to reinvent anything or do anything new, but it is a tremendous pastiche of a significant era in movie history and manages a few twists that add to the style rather than merely seem gimmicky.

The main two stars are tremendous and carry off their roles with aplomb. The main strength of the movie is the love story between them - gentle, sweet and totaly believable within the context of the genre.

Definitely worth seeing - will it win the Oscar for Best Movie? I'm not sure - my guess is it'll either win everything or nothing depending on whether those voting get behind the pastiche. There are probably better movies that have been made this year, but they don't have the same hype and expectation that The Artist has developed.

366/9

2012-01-09T16:39:00.000Z

Click here for day 9 of my Project 366

OPINION: David Cameron and Scottish Independence

2012-01-09T15:39:00.002Z

I love Scotland. Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities and I love it when I get to the Festival of a summer. The highlands and islands are some of the most fantastic places anywhere on earth. The history is fascinating, if a bit blood thirsty. So it is that I find it very sad that after 300 years of union, David Cameron has offered Scotland the opportunity to hold a referendum for independence.

Scotland has a population of around 4 million. Independence would make it one of the smallest countries in Europe. It has limited industry beyond a successful drinks industry, oil and gas (the ownership of which would, I'm sure, be hotly debated and negotiated) and tourism that's hampered by the weather. London has a population of over double that of Scotland, major businesses and financial companies based there, a huge tourist industry that Scotland can only dream about, and connections to Europe and the rest of the world that make it the envy of many nations, but London isn't calling for independence.

The main problem with Scottish independence, as lovely and romantic an ideal that may appear, is that Scotland is not a viable country in the 21st century. Currently the rest of the UK subsidises every Scottish man, woman and child to the tune of £1,000 per year. Being proud in a long gone heritage isn't grounds for a modern state.

I would have expected the Scottish Nationalists would have thought think it will be better and less embarrassing going cap in hand to the EU than to Westminster, because the only way Scotland could possibly survive is to continue to receive substantial amounts of money from elsewhere.

Scottish Nationalists have often claimed that Scotland was a viable nation economically because of all the oil and natural gas that belongs to Scotland. Wait a moment. The oil "belongs" to Scotland? It was found by British and American multinational companies, funded by them and by the Westminster parliament. Its closer proximity to Scottish soil hardly compares to the millions (billions?) of pounds and dollars of investment put in by people and companies that aren't, when it comes down to it, Scottish.

The same argument is put forward about the fishing industry. Nationalists seem to think that "owning" their own waters, and therefore controlling localised fishing, would make Scotland financially stable. Wrong. It would give the Scottish government control over dwindling fish stocks and see them having to go to Europe for help to save this cruel industry rather than someone from Westminster doing it.

And what of the failed Scottish banking system that was heavily bailed out by the Westminster government and is still now substantially owned by the British government? Maybe Westminster should withdraw the bailout? Let Scotland sort out its own problems?

Of course, David Cameron can see a political benefit to ridding himself of Scotland. There are currently 59 MPs representing Scottish constituencies who are returned to Westminster. At the moment 41 of these are Labour seats. Only 1 is Healy by a Tory. If Cameron can lose that block of anti-Tory votes, plus the upcoming boundary changes which appear to benefit the Tories, I'm sure he can see Conservative governments for many decades to come.

But what right does the Scottish Parliament have to hold such a referendum? Absolutely none. And Cameron saying do it now (or at least within the next 18 months) makes no difference. The act of parliament that set up the Scottish Parliament makes it clear that the Scottish Parliament has no authority to hold such a referendum. That power lies in Westminster. Will Westminster support such a vote? It could be thee straw that breaks the coalition's back.

If Scotland is given the right to an independence referendum I think there are two other options that should be considered:

1) The Scots might want to vote for independence but surely the rest of the UK should be allowed a say in losing it. Maybe everyone in the UK should be allowed to vote?

2) Maybe other regions of the UK should be given the chance to become independent too? Not just Wales and Northern Ireland, the obvious places that could, perceivably, want independence but what about Cornwall? East Anglia? Northumbria? the West Midlands? the Isle of Wight? Any of them becoming independent makes as much sense as Scotland going it alone. The problem is that in Scotland there are a bunch of gobby Nationalists who, instead of being mocked as loony extremists, have been given credibility and powers by successive Westminster governments trying to keep them on side for their own political benefit.

Yes, Scottish Nationalists are loony extremists who have no real idea how they'd cope were they to achieve their goal of independence. They're, basically, attention seekers who haven't really thought through their policies. Maybe we should ca their bluff, give them independence and see how long it is before they're begging to rejoin the Union?

You'd expect that Scottish Nationslists on the news today would barely be able to contain their excitement - surely this is like all their Christmasses coming at once. Oddly, Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, isn't happy and thinks that a referendum in the next 18 months is "too soon" - excuse me? "Too soon"? Surely people either want it don't want independence. A full national general election can be held with only 5 weeks' notice. Surely the polling of the opinion of a tiny proportion of the United Kingdom needs less time?

What the SNP want to do, of course, is manipulate history to support their case. Their case is sufficiently weak that holding back and waiting for a referendum to coincide with the 700th anniversary of Bannockburn - that way they hope to scrape a few extra votes. Maybe television stations in Scotland should be compelled to show Braveheart on a loop too?

It has been astonishing how poor the various SNP supporters are at arguing their case on phone ins. As soon as they are questioned on specifics their enthusiasm is seen as a veneer of ill-prepared and badly thought through ideas. They're not even sure who should be able to vote in any referendum - one I heard on the radio thought it should only be Scots currently living in Scitland, so my Englush mother and sister, both of whom have lived in Scotland for a decade would be excluded, as would prominent Scottish Bationalist who hasn't lived in Scotland for many a year despite regularly interfering in Scottish politics. Maybe the Scottish Nationalists would like the vote restricted to members of the SNP?

There was a time when Alex Salmond and the SNP argued that an independent Scotland would be part of an economic grouping with Ireland and Iceland. Whoops! Strange how they've dropped that argument in recent times!

I genuinely fear an independence referendum if it is held in the next 18 months. Most opinion polls put Scottish independence at between 33% and 45% but, at a time when a Tory-lead government is putting in place extreme policies that are very unpopular I many circles, I can see a situation whereby the referendum is hijacked as an anti-Conservative, anti-Cameron vote. Independence could be achieved for the wrong reasons.

366/8

2012-01-08T19:33:00.001Z

Today has been a quiet day at home. Click here for my Project 366 photo, music and word!

366/7

2012-01-07T15:27:00.000Z

Click here for day 7 of my Project 366 - another photo of the sun, some electronic music and the word Cimmerian!

Stems: Oramix

2012-01-07T14:39:00.001Z

Stems-Oramix by robsteadman

The Oscars 2012 - the trailer

2012-01-07T13:07:00.000Z

And so the build up to the 2012 Oscars begins with this trailer for the February 26th ceremony.

US 2012 Presidential election: timetable of primaries

2012-01-07T09:39:00.000Z

Here's the timetable of the various primaries and caucuses in the US Presidental election.

January 3, 2012
Iowa (caucus)

January 10, 2012
New Hampshire (primary)

January 21, 2012
South Carolina (primary)

January 31, 2012
Florida (primary)

February 4, 2012
Nevada (caucus)

February 4–11, 2012
Maine (caucus)

February 7, 2012
Colorado (caucus)
Minnesota (caucus)
Missouri (primary)

February 28, 2012
Arizona (primary)
Michigan (primary)

March 3, 2012
Washington (caucus)

March 6, 2012 - Super Tuesday Alaska (caucus)
Georgia (primary)
Idaho (caucus)
Massachusetts (primary)
North Dakota (caucus)
Ohio (primary)
Oklahoma (primary)
Tennessee (primary)
Vermont (primary)
Virginia (primary)

March 6-10, 2012
Wyoming (caucus)

March 10, 2012
Kansas (caucus)
U.S. Virgin Islands (caucus)

March 13, 2012
Alabama (primary)
Hawaii (caucus)
Mississippi (primary)

March 17, 2012
Missouri
GOP caucus

March 20, 2012
Illinois (primary)

March 24, 2012
Louisiana (primary)

April 3, 2012
District of Columbia (primary)
Maryland (primary)
Wisconsin (primary)
Texas (primary)

April 24, 2012
Connecticut (primary)
Delaware (primary)
New York (primary)
Pennsylvania (primary)
Rhode Island (primary)

May 8, 2012
Indiana (primary)
North Carolina (primary)
West Virginia (primary)

May 15, 2012
Nebraska (primary)
Oregon (primary)

May 22, 2012
Arkansas (primary)
Kentucky (primary)

June 5, 2012
California (primary)
Montana (primary)
New Jersey (primary)
New Mexico (primary)
South Dakota (primary)

June 26, 2012
Utah (primary)

366/6

2012-01-06T20:09:00.000Z

Click here for today's instalment to my Project 366, which includes a photo of the sunrise, some music by Michael Tippett and the word Calaboose...

So you want to follow a religion...

2012-01-05T16:44:00.001Z

... but you're not sure which one?

Click here for a handy flow chart that makes it easy to decide!

366/5

2012-01-05T16:32:00.000Z

Click here for day 5 of my project 366

366/4

2012-01-04T20:57:00.000Z

Click here for day 4 of my project 366.

Stephen Lawrence, a poem

2012-01-03T18:08:00.000Z

Letters of outrage but

Words cannot bring him back and

Sentences can never be long enough.

Books will be written,

Television programmes made,

Documentaries and analysis on rolling news,

For a young life so needlessly lost.

Shed no tears for his loss

Nor mourn with his family,

It is done. He is gone.

Cry, instead, for a broken society, OUR broken society,

Producing bigots, nurturing their hate, fuelling their ignorance,

And harbouring them from justice for years.

Books will be written,

Television programmes made,

Documentaries and analysis on rolling news,

For a young life so needlessly lost.

Sentences can never be long enough,

Words cannot bring him back.

Robert Steadman
3rd January 2012
The day the murderers of Stephen Lawrence were eventually found guilty

366/3

2012-01-03T17:33:00.000Z

For most of today the news has been dominated by the weather.

Click here to see my rather appropriate 366/3

366/2

2012-01-02T18:02:00.000Z

Click here for Day Two of my Project 366.

366/1

2012-01-01T19:31:00.000Z

Today I started my Project 366

Click here to see 366/1

The Times Square 2012 New Year's Eve Ball

2011-12-30T19:29:00.000Z