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Live Ain't So, Live 8. The new Live Aid. I caught some of it, it looked ok, I'll have to admit. But the question always thrown at them is that the money given will not reach the normal people, that it'll just fund the evil dictators. To which I say, let's just cut the crap, and have a concert for them!! It'll be called Evil Aid. All the money raised will go towards arms deals and presidential palaces, and the music will be people like the Spice Girls or Ozzy Osbourne. The thing is, they talk about making poverty history, well I think that the G8 are trying to make 'poverty history' - making more people poor than ever before. Can't knock them for that, can you? Everyone's talking about 'changing history' - not possible, unless you are Marty McFly - and 'rewriting the future' - again, impossible without a flux capacitor. Looks like we're going back to 1985, though. But Queen without Freddie Mercury? Please. |
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3.7.05 00:56 |
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Frankly my dear, je m'en fous England and France. Britain and France. English and French. Will they ever make up? I'm researching the medieval antagonism between the two languages, focusing on the period of the Hundred Years War, when English once again became the language of English government. Yet despite a hundred years of the entente cordiale, it appears that this antagonism will never go away. The recent spat over Britain's rebate in the EU has had politicians and mediamen spitting venomous remarks across the Channel, the French accusing the British of 'stealing' the rebate money, the British accusing the French of having only one view of Europe. Last week there were celebrations in the Solent (involving British and French vessels, in harmony) marking the 200th anniversary of Nelson's victory over Napoleon at Trafalgar - how they love to remember beating the French, eh. And this week sees another chapter in the battle of two cities, and oh yes, the mudslinging has begun in earnest (well, in Singapore, actually). London and Paris are neck-and-neck in the race for the 2012 Olympics, and it's getting personal. And to top it all, Jacques Chirac has decided now is the right time to slag off British cooking, just before having dinner with the Queen at Gleneagles. "The only thing they have done for European agriculture," monsieur 'right-wing' Chirac said, "is mad cow disease." Nice to see racial stereotyping is alive and well in France. I would advise the French president to avoid the creamy white sauce likely to appear somewhere on his food - bearnaise it aint. Can't we all be friends? Or are we just faux amis? |
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4.7.05 17:01 |
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4th July - InDenial Day And another thing. It's the Fourth of July, Independence Day for the USA. I will shortly be living in the Land of the Free (with a free-thinking President, free of any rational thoughts whatsoever), and I realise that - especially given my British birth - my views on 'Independence Day' will not be appreciated, but so be it. I think it is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. It is supposedly a celebration of their Independence from Britain, when they gained their liberty by casting off the shackles of 'foreign' oppression. Now, when most countries gain independence, it is because a foreign power has invaded and occupied them, subjugating them for years until finally they rise up and reclaim their land. In America, this is not the case. It is not even the backpack. It is so far from the case that they are at separate airports. You see, the people who were subjugated were the natives. Not the colonists. America is an empire - not just commercially and globally, but within the country itself. Large parts of America - namely California - celebrate the 4th July, yet they were not even part of the United States during the War of Independence. They had yet to be conquered, at least by the English-speaking US. Where is the independence of the native American? A few breadline reservations here and there, with rights to build casinos amid the rage of neo-Con Christians if they wish to make a dishonest buck. Remind anybody of the medieval ghettoisation of the Jews, who were involved in money-lending, at that time forbidden by the zealots of the Church? No, the natives were systematically robbed of their rights and lands, first by British, Spanish, French colonists, but later, with a great deal more rigour, by the Americans. That's what freedom meant to the US - they could be free to conquer and destroy as much as they wished, and then keep all the spoils for themselves. Let's not forget that the call for indepedence was based on a resistance to paying taxes. It was, to be blunt, a liberty for the greedy. So now, the citizens of the US celebrate their independence, oblivious to the irony that their enviable position as the World's Only Superpower(TM) means that nobody else on the planet is independent from them or the actions of their government. And to top off the irony, Britain, far from being the liberty-hating tyrant, now acts like little more than a lap-dog to the Land of the Free(copyright US Government). Still, I'm looking forward to living there. I just hope the Land of the Free extends to my freedom to have this opinion; though to be honest, I doubt I'll bring it up much at many 4th July barbecues, because I might start seeing Stars, but not Stripes. |
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4.7.05 17:42 |
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'Then Conquer We Must' To continue my 'Independence' Day rant. I read a blog yesterday on the Star Wars Blogs site, written by someone who was, admittedly, a schoolboy. He compares the victory of the Rebels on Endor to the Revolutionary War. Now, Britain was an Empire, fair enough. George III was, effectively as far as colonies were concerned, an Emperor (though in reality, in Britain his powers were limited under the Constitutional Monarchy - it is Parliament that sets the laws; he was not an absolute monarch in the mould of France). Then he gets all sappy and pictures Yoda saying stupid stuff like 'at an end, your reign is'. Now look. As far as the Colonials go, ok, they wanted to make their own laws, and guarantee their own rights, and set their own taxes and trade tariffs. Fair enough. Now to me, that doesn't sound like the Rebel Alliance, but the Seperatists of the Prequels. Who exactly had freedom and rights after the Declaration of Independence? Women? Black people? Slaves? (And we mustn't forget that Slavery was abolished in the British Empire long before it was abolished in the US, not that the British should have gotten rich from slavery in the first place) And certainly not the native American peoples, who in the two centuries following Independence were wiped off the map. Can you imagine, after Endor, Luke Skywalker turning around and saying, "Well we destroyed the Death Star, but here's what's going to happen. Leia, Mon Mothma, thanks for the help, but you still don't get a vote. Lando, nice shooting, but get to the back of the bus and back to the cotton fields. As for you, Chewie, you can forget it. And murder all these Ewoks and Gungans while you're at it. Han, you and I are free to vote." I'm from Britain, but my ancestry is Irish. My Irish ancestors won their independence from the UK (at least in the South), because they actually were colonised, not colonists. I cannot defend the actions of the British in Ireland, any more than in India or anywhere else. And the British schools should teach all of this. It should be, as the Third Reich is to Germans, a period of shame. Britain was recognised within Europe as an example of good democracy, with its effectively powerless monarchy and strong public rule. It wasn't extended to those it subjugated; but Americans should also remember that they weren't the ones subjugated in the 13 colonies, it was the natives. Those people who, since the utterly ignorant Christopher Columbus landed, have been dismissively called 'Indians'. That shows a complete disregard of their identities. Never mind that there were thousands of ethnically different peoples, cultures and languages: they are dismissed by patronising colonisers as 'The Indian Nation'. I'm sorry, but I though India was the Indian nation. I think there should be another holiday in the US. The 'Day of Apologies' to the native peoples. They have Thanksgiving, well, how about universal mourning for what they stole from the natives. It doesn't matter what day; hell, have it every day. And don't get me started on what extra mourning days Britain should have - the year doesn't have enough days. But back to the point: the celebration of freedom. That star wars blogger said that 'freedom is priceless and should never be taken for granted'. This same freedom was never granted to native Americans. A little more humility at the beginning of July each year would not go amiss. |
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5.7.05 12:46 |
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And the winner is... I have one thing to say. YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on!!!!! (And Blair will really be grinning at Chirac tonight..)
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6.7.05 18:36 |
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Burnt Oak gets the Olympics!!! Erm... It'll mean nothing to anyone unfamiliar with the area, but now that London has the Olympics, I think it's a shame it's in Stratford and not my home area of Burnt Oak. Oh, man, that would've held a great Olympiad! Oh, yeah. Montrose Park would have had to be the venue, as it's the biggest flattest green space there (though Colindale may object at Burnt Oak's territorial claim). All the track and field events could be held there (sorry, Copthall, but you're just not Olympic material. You can have the swimming). The tennis could be held in the crappy little concrete courts me and Tel used to play in. Watling Park could hold the long jump events - over the stream, we used to do that as kids. Archery could take place outside the Stag. Gymnastics could take place in the library. Of course, new sports would have to come in as well. 'Swinging from the Tarzan Rope' down Silkstream Park would be in. 'Synchronised Phone-box Smashing'. 'Find Your Way Out Of Grahame Park Estate Without Being Mugged'. And the best one: 'High Jump Over the Ticket Barriers at Burnt Oak Station'. We all know that the Olympic Torch will be used to burn cars, though. Maybe it's not a good idea. |
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7.7.05 00:03 |
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evil cowards This morning, London was hit by terrorists. I'm still in a state of shock; one of the bombs went off on a bus just around the corner from where my wife Angela was at that very time, and she got the bus in. She is safe, thank heavens. I can't talk about the emotion I feel about that. Roshan was in Liverpool St just after the bomb on the tube there, he's ok too, thankfully. I nearly went into town this morning as well, to the library. I feel sick. I'm watching the news still, they still do not know how many have been killed. People right now are still trapped under ground. There were blasts on the tube at Aldgate, Edgware Road, Liverpool St, King's Cross and Russel Square; and a bus got blown apart in Tavistock Square. After yesterday's elation, today Londoners get this. But I tell you, this city will not give in to fear. Yesterday there were joyous faces of children in east London, mostly black and asian but multicultural nonetheless, and those children will not give in to those handful of malicious tossers who have done this. As Ken Livingstone said earlier (he's still in Singapore), this was not an attack against presidents or prime ministers, but against ordinary working-class people (it was a no.30 bus from Hackney), regardless of colour or religion, and it is cowardly. But we will not give in to fear. We shall remain as normal. Blair gave a speech at midday. Yesterday, I'd never seen him so elated. Today he looked distraught, and looked as though he was about to cry. I've never seen him so upset. He's on his way down to the capital now. I'm just going to wait for Angela to come home. She has to walk from Russell Sq to Highgate. I can't go into London to meet her because transport is out. This is a terrible day. I hope the fatalities are not high. |
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7.7.05 14:35 |
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They will not win The day after, and both A and I came into central London, she to go to work, I to go to the library to study. And everybody is still commuting, and getting on with their everyday lives, because fear should never get in our way. We should not give in just because some nutters commit mass-murder. And let us not forget that is was a crime, not war. These people who did this are criminals. Murderers. It is a criminal investigation, not a 'war on terror'. Terry says he will not come to the Devant gig in Highbury on saturday now, because he is worried about terrorists. He lives in Hertfordshire. I got quite annoyed with him about that. We all have to go to central London, we are not giving in to fear. We know the dangers, but if we give in, then basically the terrorist criminals have won. And I do not want them to win. Mayor Ken says they will never win; if we stop doing things we like to do, if we stop living our lives as normal, then win they have. If Terry stays in and never gets on a train or bus again, he has been defeated, and those faceless killers have succeeded. He doesn't see this. He says his wife and his mum don't want him to come to London. He is from London. I live here, and all I can think about is solidarity with my fellow citizens. And I know that most Londoners feel the same, judging by their reactions to the blasts yesterday. There are police all over London. Near Russell Square I saw a van full of police officers; it was a hire van, they actually had to hire more vans. Woburn Place, opposite where Angela works, is still completely sealed off while they investigate the bombed out bus. So far there are 38 confirmed dead from four explosions (three on the tube, one on that bus). And the city carries on as normal. An islamic website used by al qaeda says jubilantly that Britain is 'bloody with fear'. No, no, no; bloody, but not with fear. Bloody with defiance. |
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8.7.05 11:05 |
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Something to remember today:
'Bloody with Fear'? Not us.
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8.7.05 11:09 |
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Devant, David Saw David Devant & his Spirit Wife tonight (ie, Saturday) at the Buffalo Bar, my favourite band, and it was damn good, but I feel a little sad. Obviously, I'm still a little subdued after this week's events anyway, and very pissed off at Tel for his stay-away from London (I can't see how he can justify ever coming into London if he doesn't come now; what happened to solidarity?), but I'm afraid that tonight will be the last time I see the Devanti before I emigrate to California. And when I am there, will I ever get to see them again? I just don't know. But then, I didn't think I'd see them again, until last year, when they came back with the magnificent Power Words For Better Living. There weren't as many people there tonight as at the same fixture last year. The warm-ups were good; a top bearded feller with a countryesque/northern dylan/formbyesque solo set, followed by 'angry white new york female'. Then came Silvery, who were kinda fun. DD&HSW were great as usual, opening with a very acoustic Miscellaneous. Foz? went out of tune a few times, never to come back, but still rocked his sandals off. The Vessel kept it all together, and was faultless as usual - how that geezer isn't the biggest star in the UK is beyond me. And the Devantisti, the aunty mabel! chanting fans (of which angela and i are but two), exuded kindness & character as ever. What am I gonna do in the US?! It just brought it home to me a bit - I'm leaving this place, leaving things behind, signing off; a new life, in a new place, San Francisco... I know! I'll start a band!! I've got a few songs under me belt. I'll get me a new guitar, a Rickenbacker, and do it. The Bay Area better be ready. |
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10.7.05 02:51 |
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