Welcome to the Underground

Why recreational drugs should be legalised.

2012-10-25T23:42:42Z

If we banned everything that's bad for people or hard to give up, there'd be no cakes, no cola, no mountain climbing, no speedboats, no bike races, no horse riding...

Drugs may be bad for people. But in a free society, people should have the choice of what they do to themselves. Making drugs illegal does not stop people taking drugs. What it does do is hand a vast multinational industry lock, stock, and barrel to criminal gangs who pay no taxes, and lumber society with the costs and damage of gang wars, drugs cut with poisonous substances, people committing crime to buy drugs entirely because the gangs can charge whatever they like.

If they were legalised, something like half of all organised crime would be wiped out overnight, there'd be a massive drop in shootings and stabbings, and the tax revenue from the legal drugs would wipe out the deficit and provide billions of extra revenue to the government. There'd be no need for any further spending cuts, and there'd probably be enough coming in to allow tax cuts for the rest of us.

Keeping drugs illegal is totally and utterly insane, the only people who benefit are crime gangs, and the police who get massive budgets for fighting the "war on drugs". Every single one of the rest of us loses, we pay higher taxes to fund the "war" and suffer massively increased crime in society.

A very good BBC article on Asexuality

2012-01-17T13:22:57Z

A very good article on the BBC Magazine site about Asexuality: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16552173

Yay for being BBC visible! :)

Writer's Block: B.Y.O.B. Holidays

2011-12-12T13:12:28Z

Which December holidays do you celebrate, and why?

One random answer will win a $50 Amazon gift card. [Details here]

View 1248 Answers

I celebrate Midwinter's Night, the night of the Solstice, the longest night of the year. I'm neo-Pagan, Midwinter is one of the eight greater sabbats, and marks the start of the deepest part of Winter, the bitter cold from Midwinter to Imbolc, in distant February.

I also celebrate Commercial Christmas, the midwinter festival of money, food, and wealth, under the watchful eye of the great god Santa Claus, bringer of joy and material goods to people across the developed world.

On Neil Kinnock's "Speech of a lifetime"

2011-10-18T12:42:20Z

A friend linked to this: http://planetpmc.blogspot.com/2011/10/neil-kinnock-speech-of-lifetime.html - Neil Kinnock's 1983 "Speech of a lifetime".

Sorry, but that speech is balderddash. Had Labour won the 83 election, amongst other things they'd almost certainly have implemented the Serpell Report, just as Labour in 64 implemented Beeching with a frenzy that surprised the Tories who'd originally commissioned it. We would no longer have a railway network, and public transport would have more or less ceased to exist. London would be like LA.

Instead the Tories won, the economy boomed, Serpell was rejected and BR given funds to invest, which turned out to be just as well given what followed from both an environmental and oil-price perspective.

I know it's popular in Yorkshire to hate Thatcher, seemingly mainly because she is blamed for having killed the coal industry. Because of course it's very important that everyone should have an opportunity to spend their working lives digging coal far underground in an industry that is amongst the most dangerous on earth and which if it doesn't manage to kill you, will almost certainly give you a chronic lung disease that will in turn kill you not long after you retire, thus saving the pension funds a fortune.

All Kinnock's comments on credit and mortgages are nonsense too, the 80s saw a massive rise in home ownership as people swapped rent for mortgages and bought their council houses. This was taken to extremes in the 21st century housing bubble, but the 80s Tory policy was sound and sensible.

Labour in the 80s was a shambolic disaster. Electing them would have been national suicide.

Incoming!!!

2011-09-22T13:03:14Z

===[ FIRE AND FORGET ]===

Live for the moment. Dance because you can.
No regrets, no complications. Fire and forget.

This is not a Goth night. This is a one-off social night of music that Goths like.

DJs Sinister, Orange, and Pyromancer.

Sunday 9th October 2011, 7pm - Midnight.
Upstairs at Santiago's, The Grand Arcade, Leeds.

===[ FREE ENTRY! ]===

Useful and interesting stuff

2011-09-21T14:04:42Z

XKCD on Passwords:
http://xkcd.com/936/

Giant Squid are bisexual and promiscuous:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14986769

Hard Science - ILL sets ultra-cool neutron science record
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14991502

Why doesn't rioting happen all the time?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14985829

Angry bird in the sky ("Running Chicken Nebula"):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/21/angry_bird_in_the_sky/

How to be a rogue trader:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/20/rogue_trader_howto/

How the shipping container changed the world:
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/09/19/keith_tatlinger_shipping_container_inventor_dies/

Unofficial live-action Angry Birds theme park in China:
http://www.reghardware.com/2011/09/19/angry_birds_theme_park_in_china/

10 years from the birth of the superworms, 10 years since Nimda:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/17/nimda_anniversary/

"Flattening Ethernet" - interesting article on networking and the benefits of doing things at Layer 2 instead of having to traverse the stack at each node. Plus network fabrics vs traditional routing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/16/flattening_ethernet_expert_panel/

Take back your name

2011-08-05T12:37:35Z

There are many good reasons why someone might not want to go under their "real name" on the Internet, from the trivial, wanting a cool handle, to the massively important, victims of domestic violence not wanting to be tracked down by former abusers, people in witness protection programmes, political activists in repressive states who risk death if their real identity is discovered.

On top of which, under the ancient Common Law of this country, on which all our statute laws are based and on which the law as a whole still rests, we all have the right to use any name we choose, and to change our names at will, provided we do not do so for fradulent reasons.

So it's time to stand up to the tyrany of Facebook and Google.

Sign this petition, and lets get the matter debated in Parliament!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/197

Photo Review - Inkubus Sukkubus, The Eiger Studios, Leeds, Beltaine 2010!

2011-07-13T13:17:34Z

And here's the second part, Inkubus Sukkubus!

A full version of the review, including videos shot at the gig, can be seen at:
http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk/fs-live-leeds-2010.html

Inkubus Sukkubus

Despite the stifling heat, we'd all known almost from doors opening that this was going to be something special. Zeitgeist Zero had already played a blinding set, and right from the first track, the Inkies were on absolutely top form. Bob, the new/old bass player, fitted the band like, well, a classic bass guitar, Tony and Candia were clearly totally up for it, and coupled with the venue's top notch PA and superb lighting, the result was a truly electrifying performance!

I've not captioned many of the shots below, because they tell their own story. It was a night of passion, of power, and of rising Summer magic.

The crowd awaits....

The music starts...

The magic begins!

DJ Paul Sticks, front row, with a *very* nice camera! It was having a play with his D60 at this gig that persuaded me to buy a D50 a few months later.

Candia's Speech (40 seconds), in which she mourns the loss of The Subculture, and then turns me bright red in front of a whole gig full of people! :-)

Candia's Speech (40 seconds), in which she mourns the loss of The Subculture, and then turns me bright red in front of a whole gig full of people! :-)

Encore!

The Afterparty

Daz and Shuna

Looking stunning as ever despite the punishing heat of what proved to be the warmest night of the year!

After the gig the band spent quite a long time in the bar, chatting to people and posing for photos with friends old and new.

Meanwhile Friday Flock was in full swing in the main room, though due to the heat large numbers of the crowd spent a lot of time out at the front of the venue, it really was too hot to dance!

A few hardy souls kept the danecfloor going nevertheless, and the DJs played a brilliant set, as ever!

At the hotel

Dear God, NO!!!

Needless to say, once the band and a small entourage had made it back to the hotel, a very silly conversation indeed rapidly ensued!

Who's Jagermeister is this, again?

Mine! All mine!

Behold the chalice.

The Next Morning

Hello Leeds!

A Trans Pennine Express Class 185 threads its way east across the viaducts.

I have absolutely no idea why I took this photo!

A lift with a built-in ladder to the roof hatch. Not seen that before.

Camden, London

For reasons that have now entirely escaped my mind, after dropping the band off in Gloucester I wound up in Camden, and photographed the rather pretty garden beneath the railway arches just above the Regent's Canal.

And this pair of semi-detached houses...

And this railway bridge!

Photo Review - Zeitgeist Zero, The Eiger Studios, Leeds, Beltaine 2010!

2011-07-13T12:53:10Z

Splitting this into two posts, but I've finally got the photos from Beltaine 2010, The Final Friday Flock at The Eiger Studios, on-line. Here's Part 1: Zeitgeist Zero!

Inkubus Sukkubus were due to headline Flock! at The Subculture on the weekend after Beltaine, 2010, however sadly the venue closed down a few weeks before the gig, and so a new location had to be found at very short notice. Cancelling the gig was out of the question, as the promoters, Leeds' infamous 'Sheepish', knew that many fans had booked hotels and made long distance travel arrangements to see the band. At first the search seemed fruitless, as at such short notice every other music venue in the city was fully booked, until the totally wonderful Eiger Music Studios stepped in.

Technically the Eiger is a rehearsal and recording facility, but they do have a large and fully equipped gig room with bar, lighting, etc, and were available on the appointed date. The gig was on!

While the motorway lies just south of the venue, the North Midland railway was just to the north.

A slightly surreal location for a gig venue...

Miss Dead

Miss Bex

Zeitgeist Zero

Corin, left, with Teresa and Bex, right.

Teresa Dead and Bex Noir on bass.

James, on keyboards, is just visible at the back of the stage.

Now that's what I call an outfit!

A view from further back. The venue filled up very fast indeed!

This was already one of the hottest days of the year, and the heat was rising fast as even more people packed the venue.

Zeitgeist Zero played a brilliant set and really got the crowd going, this is a band who deserve a lot more recognition and airplay / club-play.

Intermission

Almost time...

Stuart and Sarah

Laura and a friend.

Cecile

Simon

Black Sheep Setlist, Bank Holiday Sunday May 29th 2011

2011-06-06T11:33:26Z

And here, as promised, is the Black Sheep Bank Holiday Setlist from last week!

If I'd played some of this anywhere else there'd have been a riot, but at Sheep it just works! :-)

Unusually we had customers from the doors opening (people usually arrive a bit later), hence the "good stuff" in the early set - folk were there to hear it. I'd also moved Sarah's guest sets back a bit so she'd have a full crowd to play to, and to break up my sets a bit.

DJ Pyromamncer, 7pm - 8:30

Rig Test: Sonata Arctica - Black Sheep

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead
Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Celebrate Your Mother
The Screaming Banshee Aircrew - Fishnet Messiah
Dark Sanctuary - Vie Ephémère
Dyonisis - Rainy Day

Siouxsie And The Banshees - Mirage (R)
Diary Of Dreams - Butterfly Dance
She Wants Revenge - Out Of Control
Cauda Pavonis - The Final Train
Rhombus - 4472

O.Children - Dead Disco Dancer
Rome Burns - Non Specific Ghost Story
Inkubus Sukkubus - We Belong With The Dead
Nightwish - The Islander
Rammstein - Stripped
New Order - True Faith 94

DJ Sarah, 8:30 - 9pm

Parralox - Isn't it strange
Depeche mode - Enjoy the silence
Patenbrigade:wolff - Das Kraftfeld

Lights of euphoria - True life
Solitary Experiments - Immortal
Neuroticfish - Wake me up
Alice moving under skies - Dear Faith

DJ Pyromancer, 9pm - 10pm

New Model Army - The Hunt
The Sisters Of Mercy - Some Kind Of Stranger
Fields Of The Nephilim - Moonchild
Gary Numan - Music For Chameleons
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

Marylin Manson - Tainted Love
Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
Within Temptation - Iron
Apoptygma Berzerk - Eclipse
Covenant - We Make Ritual Noise
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

DJ Sarah, 10pm - 10:30pm

Rotersand - War on Error
And One - Military Fashion show
Methodcell - Call it cutting
Necessary Response - Spilling Blood

Mesh - Crash
Wolfsheim - Once in a lifetime
VNV Nation - Beloved

DJ Pyromancer, 10:30 - 02:40

Nightwish - I Wish I Had An Angel (R)
The Cult - Rain
The Mission - Deliverance (R)
The Creatures - Exterminating Angel
Nick Cave - Red Right Hand

Mindless Self Indulgence - Shut Me Up (Phono Paul Vatican Broadside Mix)
Nine Inch Nails - Closer (R)
E-Nomine - Mitternacht
Blutengel - Adicted To The Night
Noisuf-X - Dance Of The Knights (R)

Bauhaus - In The Flat Field (R)
Alien Sex Fiend - I Walk The Line (r)
The Dead Kenedys - Holidays In Cambodia
Cramps - Bikini Girls With Machine Guns (R)
The Jesus And Mary Chain - April Skies

The House Of Love - Shine On (R)
Inkubus Sukkubus - Paint It Black
The Sisters Of Mercy - Amphetamine Logic
The Damned - Eloise
Mesh - Trust You

Orbital - The Doctor (R)
OMD - Maid Of Orleans
Lady Gaga - Telephone (R)
The Toy Dolls - Nellie The Elephant
Combichrist - Today I Awoke To The Reign Of Blood

Grendel - Soilbleed V3.0
The Cruxshadows - Marylin My Bitterness
Depeche Mode - It's No Good (R)
Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me (r)
The Chameleons - Swamp Thing (R)

The Virgin Prunes - Pagan Love Song (R)
Hot Butter - Popcorn
Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust (r)
Rammstien - Sonne (R)
Muse - Knights Of Cydonia

Epica - Pirates Of The Caribbean
The Cure - Love Cats
Visage - Fade To Grey
Therion - Summer Night City
The Sisters Of Mercy - Floorshow

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon
Queen Adreena - Jolene
Marilyn Manson - Dol Daga Buzz Buzz Zigety Zag (R)
Zeitgeist Zero - It Isn't Easy Being Strange
Christian Death - Romeo's Distress (r)

Gary Numan - Cars
The Teardrop Explodes - Reward
Iron Maiden - Run To The Hills (R)
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Fast Ood Rockers - I'm In Love With A Girl In A Time Machine

Carter USM - The Only Living Boy In New Cross
Rhombus - If You Haven't Been Shot (You Should Be)
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - Charlie (R)
Specimen - Hex (R)
The KLF - Last Train To Transcentral

The Butthole Surfers - Summer In The City
The Amateur Transplants - London Underground

Wasteland, Whitby, This Friday!

2011-03-21T13:51:17Z

Just a final reminder before everyone heads off to the seaside, after a successful first year Wasteland returns to the WGW for 2011, playing a wide mix of music from all across the Dark Alternative spectrum.

Hope to see some of you there!

Inkubus Sukkubus NOT playing Whitby Alt Fest

2010-12-31T00:50:52Z

For anyone not on Facebook, there's just been an official announcement from Inkubus Sukkubus HQ:

"For reasons I'm afraid we can't go into here, we shall not be playing the Alt Whitby event in April. Apologies if anyone had started making plans to go and see us, but we hope to see you at one of our other gigs in 2011. Here's to a wonderful year! Much love, Inkies xxx"

They will however be playing at Flock in Leeds in May.

Congratulations to the happy couple, long live the future king and queen!

2010-11-16T20:13:44Z

Nice to see some good news for a change - Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry in 2011!

Hip hip, Hurrah!!

BBC Special Report pages

The official announcement on the Prince Of Wales' official website

Congratulations to the happy couple, may they have a long and happy life together!

Alice Moving Under Skies - Live at Neverwhere

2010-07-11T10:53:36Z

Inkubus Sukkubus live at The Final Flock!

2010-06-08T12:01:10Z

Last Friday, 4th June 2010, was the last and final Friday Flock, featuring brilliant live performances from Pagan Gothic legends Inkubus Sukkubus and the brilliant Zeitgeist Zero.

Here are the Inkies, headlining, performing Messilina.

That was a good gig!

Go vote. It matters.

2010-05-06T12:18:35Z

Pyromancer isn't telling you who to vote for but has voted and would like to suggest everyone who can vote at least goes to vote even if you spoil your ballot.

Vote Purple!

2010-05-05T13:00:07Z

This is quite fun: A how you should vote flowchart decision maker from The Guardian. A bit worrying that it tried to get me to vote Labour at one point though!

And finally, an interesting Guardian article on Nick Clegg as leader of the LibDems and his quite amazing achievements on the campaign so far.

Decision time tomorrow!

2010-05-05T12:38:26Z

I know you're probably all waiting with baited breath for the European Adventure to continue, I'll get back to it soon, honest! But as tomorrow is election day it's probably time I addressed the political again.

My own viewpoint: I want Labour out. While Tony Blair's first term achieved some fantastic things, including the minimum wage (I remember working for just £1.70 an hour back in the late 1980s, before we had it). But ever since he took us into the illegal war in the Gulf (ignoring the biggest peacetime protest in British history to do so), things have gone steadily downhill - and Brown has been worse than Blair, with his return to Labour's old ultra-paternalistic, puritan-leaning "government knows best, we will regulate every aspect of your lives for you" approach.

So, while my ideal outcome is a hung parliament and the Liberal Democrats with enough seats to be able to force electoral reform through as a condition of coalition, I'm not going to be that upset if I go to Friday Flock the night after the election with David Cameron as PM.

However, there are a few stories floating about that do need to be addressed:

Tory plan to seize power in a 'British Coup' - The gist being that there is apparently a plan among senior Conservatives to attempt to more or less force their way into minority government, overturning the conventions and existing constitution, and possibly even dragging the monarchy into party politics - something the existing conventions are designed to protect against.

As a staunch royalist I have very major issues with anything any party might do that could harm or embarrass the monarchy. If the will of the people is indeed a hung parliament, then everyone, the Conservatives included, needs to respect that and work to form a proper coalition. The Tories would do well to remember that to us royalists, anyone who attempts to harm the monarchy is the enemy.

Even more worrying even than that: Phillipa Stroud. Philipa is seen as a rising star of the Conservative party, energetic and enthusiastic. She's involved in the Tory think-tank that has come up with quite a few of their 'family' policies. But she's also one of the founders of a fundamentalist Christian church that teaches that women should at all times be subservient to their husbands, and that gay people are possessed by demons and can be "cured" by having the demons cast out. The subservience thing raises some fairly serious constitutional questions - in a vote in parliament, would she really be voting for her own conscience and her constituents, or would she be obeying her husband's will regardless, as required by her faith? And what will happen in votes about gay rights, or transgender issues? The Tories claim to have cast out their own demons of homophobia and reaction, but how deep does the change or heart really run in the party?

Two articles on this: Jonathan Bartley, co-founder of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia has more important questions to put to the Conservative PPC Phillipa Stroud and her beliefs - this is the one that raises the subservience issue. And it's given all the more power because it's actually one of Ms Stroud's fellow Christians (though presumably from a different tradition) asking these questions.

And this is the original Observer article that broke the story: Rising Tory star Philippa Stroud ran prayer sessions to 'cure' gay people

My own position, living in what appears to be an ultr-safe Labour seat, is that I'm voting Liberal Democrat in the hope of a miracle (a pagan, or even secular one!) and unseating the Labour incumbent.

We need electoral reform. A year ago we had the European elections, held under a proportional system. I voted UKIP and the chap I voted for actually got elected - the first time in my life I'd ever had my vote actually counted for anything. Now I'd never want UKIP to form a government here, but being able to basically "touch the brake" on the EU, even just sligthly, as a way to remind the all-out federalists that they don't represent everyone, was an amazing experience. I want my Liberal Democrat votes to count in UK general elections too.

Happy voting tomorrow, to everyone else on my flist who's in the UK!

Writer's Block: Out of fashion

2010-03-15T13:14:31Z

If you could choose which fashions would go out of style permanently, what would you choose, and why?

First question listed was submitted by velvet_tigress. (Follow-up questions, if any, may have been added by LiveJournal.)

View 1896 Answers

Low-rise trousers and jeans. Possibly the most hideous fashion style since the painted cod-pieces of the middle-ages. They make even ultra-slim people look terrible, with mis-shapen bottoms, elongated bodies, and having to be constantly hitched-up. And when worn by anyone with normal or higher body mass, welcome to muffin-top city!

It burns, it burns, ban it forever!

:-)

Flockmonster Unleashed!

2010-03-12T15:24:14Z

Not many alternative events last a full decade, but the woolly monster that is Sheepish, with Phono Paul at the helm and sundry other helpers to do the shearing, has made it to ten years, and still going strong! Surviving even the wanton destruction of the legendary Bar Phono, our weekly Sunday night Goth night has never closed, and with Flock, Transmission, more gigs than you can shake a room full of glowsticks at, smoke machine antics that would make the most dedicated Sister proud, an ever-varying mix of memorable events.

Come to the 10th anniversary party, celebrate in style!

Baa!

Get Back! Get Back! I've seen one of these things explode!!!

2010-03-09T14:21:54Z

For once I can actually remember Friday - because it was Flock! With V2A and A-FX opening. While I'll leave detailed comment on the band to those more knowlegable about the EBM scene than me, I thought both bands were brilliant and really enjoyed both live sets. Yay for pounding bleep!

The clubnight that followed was its usual bouncy self, with lots of classic tuneage from both Paul and Howard. I'd planned to head off about midnight as I'd an early start the next day, but just after midnight they started to run low on ale, so as I'd the van outside I volunteered to do a run to Tesco for some more stock, and hence ended up getting back to the venue just after 1am with 48 bottles of ale, 6 litres of vodka and 3 of whiskey, plus assorted pear cider and random other drinks. Given the most booze I've ever bought at one time in my life before was a couple of litre bottles of Jaegermeister at the airport on the way back from Leipzig last year, having over 200 quids worth in the back was something of a bizarre feeling!

Headed home after that, to catch some sleep.

Saturday was meant to be a crack of dawn start, but in the event I left the house just short of lunch time, heading over to the East Lancs Railway to meet up with my mate Kenny for their spring diesel gala and Nightrider overnight event. Lots and lots of very silly operations with some seriously large locomotives and traveling in style in classic Mk1 and early Mk2 coaches. I'll eventually do a full and detailed write-up on my own site (once the on-going house-clearing is done, I plan to get to grips with the thousands of photos I've taken in the last few years, properly organising and providing detailed text for them in logical groups), but here's a taster:

Rolling stock:

Mark One Corridor Composite coach (CK), 1st class compartment.

Mk1 CK coach exterior.

Mk1 CK first class corridor (the standard class corridor and three compartments are beyond the siding door at the end). This is the coach and compartment we spent the night in. Absolute hedonistic luxury compared to anything running on National Rail today!

Locomotives (and a Diesel Multiple Unit)

Class 47, 2,580 horsepower, once the mainstay of Inter-City's diesel services, and all the Scottish main line internals. And this one made the coaches all lovely and toasty with properly working ETH (Electric Train Heating) too!

Class 37, 1,750 horsepower, mainstay of many secondary lines and the West-Highland, Kyle, and Far-North routes in the 1980s.

Class 50. Workhorses of the Western Main Line to Devon and Cornwall, and the Waterloo-Exeter route, in the 80s. In the 70s, before electrification north from Crewe, these locos in pairs worked the West Coast Main Line expresses to Glasgow.

"Hymek". Diesel-hydraulic locos used on the Western Region back in the 60s and 70s, eventually displaced by diesel-electrics like the 37 and 47 when standardisation wiped out the hydraulic classes in the early to mid 1970s.

"Bubble Car" single-unit DMU at Ramsbottom Station.

Various scenes:

Looking through the cab and out the front of the "Bubble Car"

Bury Bolton Street station at dusk, from the window of the overnight train awaiting departure with the green Class 47 up top.

Leaning out of the window of our compartment as the train heads into Brooksbottom Tunnels during the day.

Mark One Corridor First (FK) at Rawtenstall at Midnight.

Class 37 (front, pulling the train) and Class 33 (second, providing electric heat to the coaches) about to depart from Heywood at dawn. Unfortulately the 33 had problems, which meant that the heating cut out about 4am. It was rather chilly on board when I took this shot!

Class 50 (middle) and ex-Southern Region "Thumper" diesel-electric multiple unit No 1305, starting up with clouds of smoke at dawn on the second day.

We finally left the railway at half five on Sunday evening, driving back to Leeds for me to DJ Black Sheep, which though cold saw a decent turn-out, and thence to bed.

Monday, Kenny and I loaded a pile of redundant cardboard and some redundant wooden furniture into the van, we picked up Laura who also had some wooden stuff to get rid of, and headed up into the Dales for a bonfire. I know a few secluded locations, including one on a little-used dirt road right beside a stream, we built the fire there, and with shovels and a bucket of water handy to ensure there was no risk of the fire spreading, we managed a fairly spectacular hot and fast fire which rapidly consumed the lot! It's been too long since I last ran a fire, really must do that more often!

Once everything had burnt down to ash, we carefully raked through it all, retrieved various metal fittings (drawer runners and the like) which we took away again, then damped it all down with multiple buckets of water before leaving. Popped into the Blue Bell in Kettlewell for a swift half, then back to Keighly for a not terribly brilliant Chinese, but a brilliant location by the railway to eat it, where we watched 4 x 333s, a Pacer inbound from Carnforth, an HST up and back down again, and a 66-hauled freight. Not bad for 45 minutes of train-watching!

And so back to work. :-)

Wasteland Whitby - The Flyer!

2010-02-02T13:55:50Z

Aha, Whitby. Fishing boats. Wonderful chip shops. Sailing boats and harbour trips.

And Goths!

Pay up or the Orange gets it!

2010-01-22T18:22:07Z

Do you care about the future of alternative music in Leeds?

There's a lot wrong with the Subculture, but we'll all be a damn site culturally poorer if it folds.

Go on, bung 'em a tenner. It won't hurt, honest!

Click this button.

Defeat, or victory? Nick Griffin on Question Time

2009-10-22T23:05:15Z

Well, after all the hype and chaos, the censorious left trying to break into Television Centre, Peter Hain's desperate attempts to prevent it, I just watched Question Time.

How did Nick Griffin come out of it? Well, he's rather better spoken, and seemingly better educated, than I'd expected. And to be completely fair to him, he reacted with good humour to what must, for him, have been a horrendous experience. But it blew the BNP and their policies to kingdom come. He was absolutely savaged by both the audience and the other panelists.

He did make some valid points, but got thoroughly run down (as if by a train!) by the points others made against him. He tried to wriggle out of the holocaust denial accusations but got nailed firmly to the floor. The youtube video footage issue he absolutely couldn't answer.

One thing it did bring out - it forced all the main party representatives to back each other up as all being totally opposed to the BNP policies. When Labour ministers and Conservative spokesmen, who'd normally be tearing each other apart, are in complete agreement both with each other and the Liberal Democrats, it proves something, I think.

The (mixed-race, I think) guy who asked "where would you send me" scored massively - effectively he forced Griffin to change the BNP's policy there and then (unless they'd seen the writing and done it already?), from "all imigrants and children of immigrants must go" to "only the troublemakers should be ejected".

And 10/10 for style to the lesbian woman at the end who replied to Griffin's homophobic comments with "the abhorrence is mutual". Nice!

Who came out of it worst? The censorists. Closely followed by the BNP.

Well done to the BBC for staging it.

It's not just the Daily Wail that produces biased stories - the Guardian knows how to do it too.

2009-10-20T12:08:19Z

Found this article on the Guardian. At first it looks as if the Duchy of Cornwall (i.e. HRH Prince Charles' organisation) wants to destroy farmland to build houses, which is clearly bonkers given the Prince's green credentials. If you read it carefully, it turns out that it's Bath City Council, in attempting to meet government targets, that has actually suggested the land should be built on. So just why is HRH being blamed? Political bias, anyone?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/18/prince-charles-building-plans-somerset

Charles has annoyed quite a few influential people over the years, mainly by saying out loud what a vast percentage of the population had felt for years - modern architecture is almost universally crap.