Monthly Archives: August 2011

Demanding Travel As Pleasure

Posted on by

House prices in London are stupid, and so, too, are rent prices. The average wage in London is approximately £24k per annum, but to afford somewhere half decent in most places, you’re looking at paying at the very least a quarter of your monthly income on rent alone (nearer half depending on how below average you earn), excluding bills, internet, cider from a Samuel Smith bar on a Friday and the countless amount of birthday pots you have to fill in the office – not to mention your round of “Friday treats”.

For many, the option to live in London is just not there, and commuting to the capital to work is the only option available. Yet anybody watching BBC lunchtime news on Monday the 15th of August will have learnt – possibly for the first time – that they are rich anyway and so it is justified that train fares will be hiked up by on average 8% by January 2012.

Already the daily commute to work is, as Le Corbusier put it, a surplus labour, reducing one’s free time, but with rises, it gets worse than just being extra work. It should count as an increasing loss of earnings.

One commenter on the BBC website put it: “These ticket prices are already making me wonder whether I can afford to make all of my journeys without making sacrifices somewhere else.”

Guy Debord, the Situationist thinker and pissed map reader, said in his thesis on traffic: “We must replace travel as an adjunct to work with travel as a pleasure.” At the moment, the best we can ask for – and I myself commute a fair bit to my place of work – is half a sticky seat with an elbow in your ear and a laptop in your mouth. For travel as pleasure to be even close to being a tenable goal we need the following things as standard:

  • Air con
  • Leg room
  • A seat, or a partial refund if no seat is available
  • One sanitation booth per carriage
  • A request for all carriages to be “quiet”
  • An end to weird, screechy noises to tell you the doors can be opened

For train travel to be pure pleasure, and a joy to pay through the nose for, the following needs to be met (note to Philip Hammond, see this as your benchmark):

  • Luxury leather seats
  • A cap on the amount of people who can board, and a person available to write notes to employers explaining why you are so late
  • A string band
  • A mini-bar subsidised by way of an extra stealth tax on motorists – £1 on every time a motorist is a “dick” (criteria for this to be published at a later date)
  • Second-class travel to be outlawed
  • A button to exterminate mobile phone users or people with loud music

Until these demands are met, I for one will be joining the Campaign for Better Transport’s Fair Fares Now initiative. Join me!

Phone Hacking: Goodman Letter Reveals 'Everyone Knew”

Posted on by

Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Andy Coulson face fresh embarrassment after an explosive letter from former News of the World Royal Correspondent, Clive Goodman was published today.

The four-year-old letter was only published on Tuesday, and it claims that phone hacking was “widely discussed” at editorial meetings at the News of the World until Andy Coulson banned any future references to them.

Goodman went on to claim that Coulson said he could keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in court and that his hacking had “the full knowledge and support” of other senior journalists, who he named.

The Murdochs may now be recalled to parliament to give more evidence in the light of Goodman’s letter. Rupert Murdoch said that Andy Coulson knew nothing about the hacking during the hearing.

The letter was published by the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. One committee member, the Labour MP Tom Watson, said Goodman’s letter was “absolutely devastating.” He added: “Clive Goodman’s letter is the most significant piece of evidence that has been revealed so far. It completely removes News International’s defence. This is one of the largest cover-ups I have seen in my lifetime.”

Goodman’s letter is dated 2 March 2007, soon after he had served a four-month prison sentence. Addressed to News International’s Director of Human Resources, Daniel Cloke, Goodman writes: “This practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor.” He reveals that the paper’s then lawyer, Tom Crone, knew all the details of the case against him.

In another embarrassing allegation, he adds: “Tom Crone and the editor promised on many occasions that I could come back to a job at the newspaper if I did not implicate the paper or any of its staff in my mitigation plea. I did not, and I expect the paper to honour its promise to me.”

Anonymous: Damaging The Vital Cause Of Internet Freedom

Posted on by

Anonymous – the radical decentralised online community ostensibly associated with the goal of ‘free speech’ – has caused controversy by issuing a statement sympathising with the UK riots.

It is yet another example of action by the organisation that damages the vital cause of internet freedom. A cause which the organisation claims to defend.

The Anonymous collective has become increasingly prominent. It is most famous for its DDoS attacks which bombard a target webserver with so many requests that it is forced to shut down. The Mastercard and Visa websites have been victims.

Frost readers will know how much I believe in the freedom of the internet and it pains me to see the cause tarnished in this way. It was always wrong for Anonymous to take criminal action. Their actions only give governments further justification to clamp down on the internet further. This is now more the case than ever following their recent statement.

For a supposedly decentralised community, the comments on the UK riots were pretty categorical, worryingly and obviously so. There is an elite within Anonymous that has its own agenda. http://pastebin.com/V00tbr01

The comments can only be interpreted as seeking to incite a revolution, saying: ‘Your politicians mask the extent to which a significant section of society is stuck in an impoverished way of life with little hope for the future.

“It is time to take a stand and realise that solutions will not be found in today’s corrupt political landscape.”

Anonymous called for people to join them in a day of action on October 15th. Although Anonymous made clear it did not condone the violence, it was sympathetic to the rioters. It suggested the riots were as a result of political anger and resentment. Let’s get real here. These riots had no political point (save perhaps the initial riot in Tottenham), and everybody knows that. These riots were about self-gratifying violence and greedy opportunism.

Anonymous will point to the government response to the riots, potentially regulating and controlling social media sites. They will argue this makes it a legitimate target. Undoubtedly, the government is disgracefully jumping on the riots as an excuse for further regulation. No one truly blames twitter for the looting.

That doesn’t mean anarchy is the answer. It doesn’t make it right to incite a revolution. Internet regulation doesn’t have anything to do with anti-cuts protests or unions and it doesn’t mean ‘justice is only for the wealthy’. You have gone beyond your remit, Anonymous.

A revolution might sound romantic, but we only need to look back a few years to see the true horror they bring. They also never end in free speech.

A Hard STrainGE Gonna Call

Posted on by

Well folks, here’s a duo which just about sums up everything I’ve mentioned up to now while writing for this delightful magazine. Great songs, great playing and just about every style of rock and roll music on one album.

STrainGE (Strange Rain) are in fact two drummers from London who are both deeply absorbed in musicality from doo-wop, rock, pop, soul, garage, punk, progressive, freakbeat, psychedelic etc. etc.

All the tunes are recorded in lo-fi, which makes the songs stand up even more as there’s no room for overdubbing or production tricks. It’s just plain and simple soul-shattering music – written, played and sung by two musicians. Enjoy!

http://www.beggarsharvest.co.uk/page3.htm

First Supper Review – Theatre

Posted on by

The Expeditionary Force presents The First Supper @ The Etcetera Theatre, Camden as part of the Camden Fringe Festival.

Sketch shows, especially ones on the fringe, are often filled with either gurning comedians constantly winking knowingly at the audience or a bunch of students throwing catchphrases and ‘wacky’ characters against the wall in the hope that one of them sticks and they’ll become the next Fast Show or Little Britain.

The First Supper by The Expeditionary Force fortunately avoids both stereotypes by assuming something rare in comedy – that its audience is as intelligent as they are. However, even if the audience was as clever as Mike Shephard, Jack Baldwin and Luke Sutherland, they’re probably not as verbose.

This sketch show happily wallows in obscure historical references, literary puns and fast talking absurdity. And, fortunately, it’s well written enough that you don’t need to know, for example, that the people who lived in the ancient Greek city of Byzantium did not refer to themselves as Byzantium to get the joke.

The gags and sketches are not your typical set up, catchphrase, punchline. First Supper often has no distinct ‘gag’ but instead, finds humour in the situation and performances. When Baldwin’s Anubis, the jackal–headed god, is introduced to the parents of his new girlfriend, it is his stoney-faced delivery of lines like: “I held her bloody heart in my hand and judged her,” that get the laughs.

The quality of the sketches does rely heavily on the performances of the three actors. Shephard brings huge energy and verve, while Baldwin, often playing the group’s straight man, offers beautiful comedy timing. Sutherland, however, often feels misused. He has an innocence that fits perfectly in some sketches, but when called upon to provide energy, they feel a bit flat.

And this highlights one of the main problems, not with the show, but with fringe show audiences. If the energy is not in the room, comedy like this suffers. It works on the premise that, even if the audience doesn’t get every reference, the energy will carry them along. If the energy falls, so does the comedy.

But these are minor quibbles. The First Supper is brilliantly written, laugh out loud funny and intelligent comedy.

However, this means that no one will probably ever see it past the sell-out audiences at the Camden Fringe. It’s too clever for mainstream audiences and too absurd for the Radio 4 crowds. But we can hope that this does break out from the fringe and into the mainstream.

Passengers Outraged As Rail Fares Set To Rise Above Inflation Again

Posted on by

Rail commuters are outraged as the so called ‘green’ government backed an above-inflation rail fair rise for already overpriced, overcrowded trains. Fares are expected to rise at least 8%.

The formula for fare increases is usually RPI inflation plus 1%, but for the next three years it is RPI plus 3%.

Rail minister Theresa Villiers said passengers were being asked to pay more for the next three years so that the government could “deliver a massive programme of rail upgrades.” However, Villiers was less than impressive while trying to defend the shocking rise in a BBC interview.

Rail fares for Londoners are also set to rise by up to 13% from January 2012, thanks to government changes to the rules on annual fare rise.

“These massive fare rises will be a disaster for people already struggling with rising costs, and risk pricing those on lower incomes out of jobs,” said Alexandra Woodsworth of the Campaign for Better Transport, who was protesting against the fare rises at Waterloo station today.

It is feared that some people will be priced out of being able to work.

Every New Year, train companies are allowed to push up fares based on the inflation rate published the previous August. Today, that figure was 5%.

Previously, the rule was that companies could only increase fares by 1% more than inflation, which would have seen bad-enough rises of 6% next year. But the current government raised the fare-hike limit to inflation-plus-3%, allowing for rises of 8% in early 2012. It also allows for rises of up to 8% above inflation on some routes, giving the 13% figure.

A 13% hike would see the current cost – £3832 – of an annual season ticket from Brighton to London rise to £4291.

The government blamed its lack of finances for the rail fare hike. Rail companies are subsidised by the government, which means unhappy commuters pay for it both through their taxes and when they pay for their fares.

Rail travel is notoriously bad in the UK. Rail journeys from London to Glasgow cost from £100-170 before these rises with trains often so overcrowded, it is usually standing room only. London is not much better, with people paying more money than anywhere else in Europe to ride in a carriage with no air conditioning and in worse conditions than a sardine in a can. Trying to get anywhere on the weekend is worse, as most lines are having maintenance, causing huge service disruption.

The Coalition government has promised to be a ‘green’ government, but rail fares are now so expensive that it is cheaper to fly, I know a number of people who do. Not so green after all.

Rock & Roll 1954 – Alive & Kickin`

Posted on by

With popular rock and roll music rapidly running out of ideas for new twists and turns to which – let’s face it – was, and still is, a very basic American art form, I say, why bother changing something that’s not for changing anyway?

Great Rock and Roll music, if played and sung right from the soul, can – and indeed will – change the way we feel about almost any subject in life. But its basic function is to make us feel fabulous inside!

I have been a professional musician for over 30 years, working with some great artists. Most of them are huge music fans and it will surprise a few people to find how eclectic most working musicians are in taste and the ways you can find alternate routes into real established artists such as Dylan , Springsteen, and even Elvis himself.

The King alone has a recorded legacy bordering on over 900 sessions, all of which are now easy to access and show another world of rock and roll music – right back to its mid-50’s infancy. But I’m going to try to present some new contemporary bands / singers that still have that same depth or outburst from the soul that all great artists from the 50s , 60, 70s seemed to possess with sheer out the blue inspiration. We’ll call it  EARS TO HEAR`.

 

(Stratocaster pic by Vinicius de Carvalho Venâncio courtesy of http://www.publicdomainpictures.net)

New Band, Old Tricks

Posted on by

Our first trip will be to the Jim Jones Revue – http://www.jimjonesrevue.com/website/home

Here’s a band from the UK that have all the ingredients for the perfecto rock n roll cake. Formed in London around 2008, they are a good introduction if you want to hear just how rock music from the 50s would sound if invented today.

The vocals are ‘on it’, as is the fuzzed-up guitar and abandoned drumming. Very basic music that can give you goosebumps in much the same way Cochran, Vincent, Presley, and Little Richard all have done in the past. A big hunk o’ rock.