Zig Zag Dec 1985 - The Pogues & The Jesus And Mary Chain

Frogs In The Pond

Here's a picture of a good sized frog that has taken up residence in our pond. We've called him Mr T.

But he is by no means alone.

Size Of An iPod 6

"Why can't we just look the other way?"




"People like you find it easy"




"I'd like to trip you up"

Terminal Power Company - Run Silent, Run Deep

No hope, no confidence, despondent, lonely, despairing, uncommunicative, isolated, irritable, frustrated, grim, gloomy, dejected, sombre, cheerless, mournful, miserable, melancholy, forlorn, woeful, sullen, wretched, apathetic, desolate, downcast, grumpy, sombre, taciturn, humourless, grouchy, surly, glum, resentful, morose, pessimistic, brooding...

Terminal Power Company - Run Silent Run Deep (Situation Two SITU38CD 1992) 320kbps The Hunger, The Heat Deeper Salvation Slow Motion Riot Burning Chrome Ice Blood, Flesh And Sand Fire Getting The Fear Wired II Urban Psycho Just Want To Sleep And Not Wake Up - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

What Is The Point?

Zig Zag Dec 1985 - Butthole Surfers, The Fall & The Wedding Present

Stupid, White, Oxbridge Educated Men Plus Dianne Abbott

Woopee! Dianne Abbott has made it onto the Labour leadership ballot. A black, woman challenging for the leadership of one of Britain's torpid political parties can only be a good thing.

End of good news.

Abbott went to Cambridge.
Balls - Oxford
Burnham - Cambridge
D & E Miliband - Oxford

With the exception of Abbott (another point in her favour) the four blokes have identikit CV's. All went straight into politics from university. Where is their experience of anything other than privileged further education and power?

The same is true of the Tories and Lib Dems education in many cases - it is overloaded with Oxbridge graduates - and with a cabinet containing 18 millionaires out of 23 positions it is impossible to see where this 'democracy' reflects, in any way, the social and economic make-up of the people it is supposed to represent.

And Abbott has no chance. As Orwell explains, the hegemony of the privileged white, male, Oxbridge-ocracy must, and will, be maintained.

Millionaire Dave & Baby P

On C4 this evening Dispatches brings you:

"Undercover Social Worker: An undercover reporter discovers evidence of a lack of resources, inadequate staff support and training, poor morale, excessive workloads and overwhelming amounts of red tape..."

But its OK because Millionaire Dave is prepared to make the "difficult decisions" on pay, pensions and benefits. Apparently dealing with the deficit, caused by the financial crisis and the banks remember, will affect "our whole way of life".

I can't imagine that any decision Millionaire Dave takes regarding funding in the public sector is ever going to affect his way of life. I'd be surprised if he ever needs social services in quite the same way as Baby P for instance but you never know...

Still, as long as he can blame public spending and the government budget inherited from Labour then he and his millionaire banking buddies will have a scapegoat. It's all you civil servants that have bought this country to its knees don't you know?

So, lots more government departments can look forward to a future of "a lack of resources, inadequate staff support and training, poor morale, excessive workloads and overwhelming amounts of red tape" whilst being told they are the problem with their unreasonable expectations of pay in line with inflation, pensions and other luxury perks. They should be coming to work for nothing and be grateful for it!

Government and public departments soon to resemble the private sector then.

Brown is Live, Blue is Neutral

It's Victorian Britain and the government has just announced a commitment to end poverty by 1890. Behold the rejoicing in the streets of the slums!

You know when you are trying to fix something, say an electric plug, and you keep methodically going through what you know - fuse OK? check, wires OK? check, power supply OK? check - and yet the problem of blown fuses keeps recurring? You sit and think about it for a bit and then you realise the problem isn't the plug anymore, oh no, it's just taken on a wider perspective - the problem is the appliance the plug is attached to. That is the root cause of the problem and that is why the fuse keeps going.

So, when it comes to governments and tackling poverty, well then the ruling class have a long and varied history of changing fuses, fiddling with wires and checking supplies. They will never look at the bigger picture because to do so would threaten their existence.

Capitalism doesn't just need a new plug. It needs to be overhauled and stripped out.

Children On Stun - Celebration

Today is a big day (in our house at least).

About 4 or 5 years ago I dug a fairly massive hole in a corner of our back garden with the full intention of building a pond. Mrs H likes fish and had a pond at her childhood home.

Progress was initially swift for 18 months. At one point the hole was even visible on Google Earth. Pipes were dug in. Bricks were laid and cement was applied.

But then came the pond paint problems, water ingress niggles and time dragged on. The project quickly turned into "The Never Ending Saga Of The Job Your Never Going To Finish."

It has been an epic but since the start of this year I have persevered through sweat, toil and much head scratching. I've found out that I should've made the initial pipes I laid for conduit bigger and that my planting shelf should've been wider. But these minor setbacks have not impeded my onward push for completion.

The pump now pumps, the filter filters, the fountain tinkles gloriously on the waters surface and the (recently-ish) purchased plants bring some nature into the mix.

And now, we have fish.


Children On Stun - Celebration (CD Single) (M&A Music Art MACD502 1995) 320kbps

1. Whiskey A-Go-Go
2. Celebration
3. Overland
4. The Hipster

Ogon Koi - pwd: c4ctusm0uth

Zig Zag Dec 1985 - The Pastels, The Shout, The Adult Net, Dave Howard Singers & Fur Bible

UK Bottom Again

The United Kingdom once again proved its undeniable lack of popularity in Europe at the weekend - this time through the medium of music.

The Eurovision Song contest in Oslo once again put paid to British hopes when Josh Dubovie came in last place with his song, "What the fuck am I doing here?"

The Stock/Watershed penned hit was apparently a bit of a 'duffer' (as they are known in the business) with nobody thinking to query lines such as, "We didn't join the Euro and we voted Tory, We won 2 World Wars and we ain't bleedin' sorry!" Although Stock/Watershed's proven ability to churn out bouncy, insipid fodder ideal for Eurovision was thought to be a winning edge, it turned out not to be the case. As Josh belted out the chorus, "I go off on me 'olidays, Same place every year, They all talk proper foreign, Can't understand a word I 'ear, Got pissed first night, In a skip first light, What the fuck am I doing here?" many were left wondering if a song about serial drunken holiday escapades and the resulting disorientation was suitable for a competition of this standing.

The gulf between the UK's entrant and the issues being tackled by other Nation's songs was none more apparent than in Greece's financial crisis inspired entry, "We don't want your fucking money." When diplomats protested at the burning of a German flag onstage during the Greek performance it appeared that politics was inevitably going to intercede. However, the Greeks managed to turn things around by assuring the Germans that the song was most definitely not aimed at them, that they had meant to burn a Belgian flag but got confused and that they most definitely did still want the money. As a gesture of goodwill the Germans awarded the Greeks 8 points with the Greeks reciprocating, albeit grudgingly, with 2 points.

Greece fared better with Cyprus however who did their usual trick with the song, "Greece! I wish I was your lover." and the standard 12 point exchange between them was inevitable. No additional tissues were required.

But which countries felt the need to push some Euro loving our way? Well, despite giving the Poles abuse for working hard we clearly haven't put our Eastern European neighbours off altogether as Albania, Azerbaijan and Georgia all gave us some points. And so did the Irish. But that's kind of expected.

Germany won with Lena singing, "Deutschland Uber Alles".