The Daily Mail song

Via Anton.

Copperblogging redux

Congratulations to Jack of Kent for being longlisted for this year's Orwell Prize. Take it from me comrade, those judges are a bunch of bastards who wouldn't know a good blog from a hole in the wall ;-)

One of the judges is Jack Night - the copper who won it last year. He caused a bit of a stir when he referred to the evil poor (his own site is gone now, probably because of this?). Most of the commentary I read at the time seemed to be a rehearsal and a re-run of older arguments, but there was one thing that I was sure of:

Its better that people who work in the public sector can showcase prejudices that they have and do it anonymously (without having to duck people trying to unmask them) than to keep them buttoned up. If lots of coppers think the way that Jack Night does, then it's something that needs challenging.

So it's a shame his site has been taken down.

Fine free mixes

Over here. That's Hintertainment.

Give up yer 'aul sins

This was on Desert Island Discs earlier...

The shape of the helmet

I'm sure you've seen it hundreds of times, but this surely must be the best British news photograph of the 20th century? As a piece of composition - the Christ-like streaker, the look on that copper's face, the bloke scurrying with the coat (and the look on his face) and the helmet (and the widely shared joke where people said "now we know why they're that shape!") - it's as articulate as any of Delaroche's historical tableaus (tableaux?).

It reminds me of the dialogue in Miller's Crossing - heavy and portentous - almost Shakespearean - in its form while actually carrying little more than an amusing yarn.

There's a better word than yarn, but I can't think what it is right now.

(I've not embedded the pic here because I'm not sure who has the copyright - but surely it should be donated to the nation anyway?)

Update: Just seen some other examples of good shutter timing

The halo effect

Shuggy is at his very best over here.

"Cyclists, not content with having lanes painted everywhere to accommodate their perversion, routinely feel free to jump lights or board the pavement whenever tedious interventions like the Highway Code interfere with their path of righteousness. My own view is that the lycra-wearing freaks should either pay road tax or face being hosed off the streets."

I've been worried for a long time about the way that cycle lanes lure flatulent vegetarians into particular areas. The hole in the Ozone Layer over Camden Town should come as no surprise to anyone.

Get Better

Post puritan positivity.



Will have to think about this one.

Moonage Daydream

Just stumbled across this remix - different, but quite good.

The Lib-Dems 'Cyberlock'

The Lib-Dems seem determined to impose a Cyberlock on themselves after the election.

I reckon it's a bit of a stoopid move. I've reckoned so over there and not here though.

Smash Hits archive

Over here.

A few of the covers are so familiar, it's amazing. At that age, I suppose, these artifacts burn themselves onto your retina. I even remember some of the letters that they published (one girl asking "does Paul Weller have a girlfriend, and if so, what is she allergic to?"

Within about six months, I'd graduated to the NME I think, but at this point Smash Hits covered a great bunch of bands. Forest were European Champions and The Jam, The Specials, Blondie and Dexys were in the charts.

On that site, if you click the front covers you get all of the inside pages as well.

"The 'we hate the punk' elite."

Update: Looking through it, I keep finding the pictures that I had on my bedroom wall. This one, for instance:



(Ta Astrid)

Wartime Consigliere

Not...

BBC cuts

Lots of others are saying the things that need to be said about the proposed BBC cuts and I'm a bit too busy to do one of my normal rants. Jon Worth has said things I'd agree with, but then so have dozens of others.

Here are my two observations - ones that I've not seen elsewhere:

1. The BBC needs a Wartime Consigliere at the moment. It shows how it has allowed itself to be strategically outmaneuvered that it has a drip like Sir Michael Lyons instead. Michael Grade would be parking his tanks on a few lawns at the moment, but Lyons is a disgrace and he needs to be moved on quickly. Don't suppose this will happen tho...

2. Mark Thompson and everyone who work in is outer office will probably be earning more in five years time working for one of the BBC's commercial rivals. There is no longer a caste of people who identify the BBC's survival with their own. Quite the reverse. If the BBC were led by less ambitious / careerist people, paradoxically, it would probably be better led than it is.

The BBC has caught this bug about highly paid management from the extortionate car-crash that is modern management. History may teach us that it probably shouldn't apply to the BBC even if it works elsewhere.

To hell with them

I've just posted something about Michael Foot over at Slugger O'Toole. This quote of his popped up in the comments (hat tip: DeargDoom) and I couldn't help nicking it:

“We are not here in this world to find elegant solutions, pregnant with initiative, or to serve the ways and modes of profitable progress. No, we are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than ourselves. That is our only certain good and great purpose on earth, and if you ask me about those insoluble economic problems that may arise if the top is deprived of their initiative, I would answer ‘To hell with them.’ The top is greedy and mean and will always find a way to take care of themselves. They always do.”

Google's response times

Was an Italian judge right to hold Google responsible for hosting a video showing a child with Downs Syndrome being bullied?

Tim Ireland has another view, as does Malcolm Coles.

Certainly, Google don't make it easy to flag dubious content to them - I've had a fairly obnoxious blog (newportcity [dot] blogspot [dot] com) link-spamming me via my trackbacks (fnaar fnaar) - he's found a way of getting half-a-dozen trackbacks to this vile rubbish under every one of my posts and he has somehow masked his 'report abuse' link at the top of his blog (see mine) - a violation of his terms of use.

Because of this, I can't report him without taking a PhD in routing around Google's communications barriers. I've taken the easy route out of this by disabling trackbacks

I'm inclined to agree with Tim and Malcolm but with one caveat: Like a lot of business, Google will go to great lengths to avoid making value judgements. If it becomes easy to get content removed as long as you are persistent in demanding it, then it will mainly be wealthy people with resources that can put the time and energy into overcoming lower barriers.

Take Freedom of Information as a parallel. It's undoubtedly a good thing in principle that government should disclose information that is reasonably demanded (and much of that information should be freely available in the first place).

But the main beneficiary of FOI has not been ordinary people wanting government to be more accountable. It's been shady, well-funded organisations like The Taxpayers Alliance who have the resources to use it promoting their own agenda.

I'm not disagreeing with Tim and Malcolm. I'm just saying that symmetry is important here.

A deal is a deal

News Corp's price for supporting the Tories

Time for the left to reclaim the 'transparency' debate

Not here - over there.

Basket weaving? I'll get you baskets weaving...

Surely there is no way that the late great Lionel Jeffries was only 83 when he died recently? That would make him only 34 when he played Mr Crout, or Inspector 'don't call me Nosey' Parker in Wrong Arm of the Law?



If you've ever met me, can I ask you this? Does Peter Sellers in Two Way Stretch remind you of anyone?

MyLabourPoster

In my heart I know I'm funny.

I'd widen the roads.....

Brendan Behan: "I'm not a politically minded person, which has been proved to me over and over again...."

Colin Ward

Via Peter, I'm very sad to see that Colin Ward has died. He was one of my favourite social commentators and someone that I'd urge anyone to read for the first time if they haven't already.

His columns in New Society and later in New Statesman & Society where I first found them, were the main reason to get those titles. They made the difference between the mags being 'nice to have' and 'must have' without ever straying into tedious speculation on court politics. I've mentioned him a few times here before. The Fabians have a good obit here as well.

Instead, Colin wrote about the little ways in which anarchist approaches were being quietly implemented in everyday life. His articles on informal mutuality, squatting and the ingenuity of ordinary people in adapting to difficult circumstances were a really positive and optimistic supplement to any week. For me, he transformed anarchism from being the pursuit of a bunch of slightly deranged idealists into being a perspective that could comfortably co-exist with, and inform lots of shades of political thought.

I met him a number of times, and he was always a fascinating summariser. The most annotated book on my shelves is his Anarchy in Action, and a 'A Decade of Anarchy' (a compilation of the better writing from the magazine that he edited in the 1960s) is enough to make anyone yearn for the launch of a title with an esoteric set of interests livened by fine writing.

His work on housing, architecture and education is worth tracking down as well (if you're ever at a loose end in Whitechapel, a lot of his hard-to-find work can be had here), and he was particularly strong in making the case for increasing the participation in environmental design.

Why should people live in places and use institutions if they've not been able to influence how they are designed and developed? Good old Colin. I wish there were more like him.

Here's a free sampler to start with.