Bottoms Up!

Last night I went to Colchesters 22nd real ale festival at the arts centre in town. Over the years Ive begun to realise that the best nights out are the ones when nothing is planned and considering that it rained for most of the day the evening turned out pretty well. I left work at 8 and by 9.30 i had tried all kinds of weird stuff, Blackadder, 1066, Sign of Spring (bright green) and Thomas Sykes (10%!). A few others came along and here's the result.

For some reason or another the world of politics likes to throw the unexpected in our faces and then were all left scratching our heads wondering how such a mad thing could have happened. A good example is the phenomenon that is Al Gore. Whenever i read about him, see him on telly or even when someone mentions his name I cant help but wonder to myself 'how' or 'why'? Non politically speaking he is the kind of neighbour that you would love to have, just look at his face! Weeding his back garden, taking his dog for a walk, what a nice chap. So then politically speaking why didnt he get in all those years ago. Its Almost 7 years ago when Gore was in the height of his presidency campaign, and now theres speculation that he will run again next year. The reason i have him in mind is that i read his article in the guardian today. It would be easy for anyone to attack the bush administration, but Gore is somewhat 'over' this sillyness and instead hopes to enlighten others with what he see as Americas last chance saloon to end its arrogant view of world power.

Its also easy to criticise Gore in that he never asserted himself as much as he could have. Nonetheless maybe it took 'that' defeat to take him where he is today. Outside of politics he has blossomed with 'Inconvenient Truth' documentary and tour, as well as the advocating the seriousness of global warming and climate change. Once again I think that its all too easy to criticize or under estimate the good that he has done for America (and the rest of the west) outside of politics. Although many see Inconvenient Truth is a too simple account of the facts, it still delivers a huge and important message to what he calls the last chance generation. We all love to be cynics but I really have faith in him, whether he runs for President or continues his quest to enlighten the world.

Where have all the good times gone?

I dropped by HMV the other day to have a look at the 45s which has become a bit of habit over the last year or so. Whilst there I started to flick through all latest singles but I managed to drift off into my own world which is what usually happens to me in a record store. I began to think about all the albums, all the singles, blank tapes, mini discs, headphones, walkmans and cd players I have bought over the years. The sad fact is that I have given so much money to music through purchasing other artists work. Sadly a lot of it has been stolen, lost or sold.

This blog update isn't going to be me waffling on about all the musical changes ive gone through or how i know this band or that solo artist or how easy it is to get free music these days. Oh no, I want to look talk about how much money I have wasted on music, how many hours Ive wasted trying to nail the new chords to the new blur or Supergrass song. I have wasted so much money on musical equipment, guitars, amplifiers, mics, mic stands, cables, P.A systems guitar stands, picks and of course hundreds of strings. I remember my teenage years consisted of me bashing out Oasis chords night after night on a tanglewood electric and an amplifier i borrowed from school. In fact I can remember my birth into the music world quite well... Ok this is turning into a hazy memory lane update. Nevermind. I remember how much i cared about looking cool. I was in my first band at the age of 15 which consisted of about 15 oasis covers and a few other indie hits. Then came the days of playing at University with a 'real' band. I was so enthralled. Playing real gigs, real songs, supporting real bands, practicing 4 times a week and generally believing i was a superstar.

Back in HMV I felt a huge rush flow over my body. I realised that music doesnt matter to me as much as it once did. I have a cheap red nylon acoustic and a 4-track that I dont even use. The rush continued to poor over me, i was in a music store and I didnt recognise half of the artists in front of me. The only band that I really listen to lately is the kinks. What has happened to me? My initial reaction was 'oh well, sod it, youve finally got old, new bands have come along and im stuck in the mud'. But this just isnt true. Im not saying that im refusing to grow up, its just that music doesnt mean as much to me as it once did. And thats ok, a lot of things dont matter to me as much as they did before.

Music is great and I will always of course listen to it. But the baggage that comes with it is nonsense.... trying to look cool, listening to the right bands, knowing the right facts, knowing the correct record labels, is it cool to listen to this band? is this band out of date? Isnt Bob Dylan fantastic? Ha! You havent heard 'Marque Moon' by television? You Loser. etc.

Theres no real conclusion to any of this, except that music is just music and going into HMV is sometimes scary.

Buffoonery: [noun]...a person who amuses others by tricks, jokes, odd gestures and postures, etc

Its become common to shun David Cameron a nob head and to be fair he is a 'nob head'. Everything that comes out of his mouth is absolute nonsense. I haven't really bothered to take the time to talk about his pathetic dribbling but today I was reading about his view on the European Union. Just like Thatcher he realistically believes he can create his own anti-EU party within the EU Parliament with allies such as Austria and er... Bulgaria to tackle 'things that really matter'. So lets take a few minutes and see what hes actually talking about.

Mr.C wants to push for 'national' targets like climate change, tackle world poverty and globalisation. Its worth noting that these three issues require supranational agreement and that no one government can combat them alone. Nonetheless lets give the plump choir boy a chance.

''Those who will succeed in the 21st century will be those who can adapt, who can respond quickly, who can innovate. The modern world places a premium on diversity over uniformity. It forces a focus on results over procedures''.


I think these two sentences sum up the exact opposite of what the conservative party represent. The UK is probably the least likeliest country in the EC who are ready for change. As for adapting, does removing your country out of the EC constitute progress? Surely it alienates the public more than what they already are?

Mr.C yet again doesn't really have a leg to stand on, its just another case of his innate buffoonery:dressing up old Thatcher twaddle hoping that a few Euro sceptics will vote for him.

Now the essays are over theres a real pressure to get the dissertation done. I havent really had time to think about the dissertation even though its been bubbling away in the back of my mind all year. I haven't really got any definite plans, however i have lots of ideas that i really should either be shot down or pursued. Im still really interested in the environmental law. I think that although there has been so many books written, so many articles, companies and speeches based on the green movement there are hardly any laws or policies to back this up. That's pretty much the long and short of it. Of course Europe or the EU can be viewed as an exceptional or special area as it can and will adopt polices based on subsidiarity. To clarify: if the EU can work together by achieving a consensus or unanimous agreement of all 27 member states then this will surely work better than countries working individually or even competing as to who can be the greenest. This is just a very very brief outline of how I think the EU or Europe should tackle global warming. Mark Leonard, a British foreign policy thinker at the Centre for European Reform goes further and claims that this approach would eventually push other countries to indeed adopt same or similar policies as failure to do so would complicate economic ties. When one of my lecturers put this idea forward I had trouble coming to grips with it as surely this constitutes bullying-one large institute bullying poorer countries or indeed continents. I look back now and I can see that Mark and my lecturers view is ringing true. For example on a micro level if a cheese maker in France produces her cheese and sells it to an American company with paper packaging rather than plastic then that American company then has to process that paper. If that American company then recycles that paper and then passes it on to another industry then the same process continues. If you then imagine all of Europe's cheese makers using paper packaging via EU law (or directive) the importers across the globe would then be forced to either understand the ethical or economical implications. This is as i always say a simplistic hypothetical scenario but it can be applied to quite a lot of the market (market being one thing that even Euro sceptics accept as a good thing).

Poland: Nil Points.

The last couple of days Ive been feeling quite shattered and generally feeling weird. After finally handing in my essays on tuesday I think my body has fallen into a lapse mode. I think ive shaken it off but its been a weird couple of almost daydream-like days.

Over the weekend I went out with a few of my friends to see a blues guitarist playing at the highly underrated arts centre in town. It was good, but the main point if this story is what happened towards the end of the night. We decided to go to an old pub called the Fox and Fiddle and all was going well until the landlords wife came over to tell us to drink up as it was last orders. Out of nowhere I asked her if she voted in the recent local elections, to which she replied in outburst of why the conservatives need to be brought back into power. I was half expecting this, hence the original question but what I didnt expect was the extent of her rant. It spanned from the 'faaking lazy polish' who come in and get drunk (yes thats right, pissed in a pub! how dare they!) to being taxed on her rubbish. To be fair, we were all gobsmacked and any retaliation was drowned by her barrage. The only thing I was interested in was the Poles. I havent seen any in Colchester. Im beginning to think that they dont exist, but apparently they do. So according to the Fox and Fiddlers land lady they come in and drink until theyre sick, live on benefits, children left right and centre and cant speak a word of English. Surely this is the average Essex muppet?

Tomorrow is the Eurovision song contest which is always good, Terry Wogan, dodgy German entrants and a string of poor ad libs from the host nation. Tomorrows is different though as it will be held in Helsinki. To commemorate this we're hosting our very own meatballs and mash party. I havent seen our entry but thats not the point as its all about cheese and strategic voting. Long live the Eurovision!

London Calling

That's a crap title but I couldn't think of any other. Yesterday I went to London yesterday for an interview. On the way up there i felt really good, in my suit, clean shaven, reading my guardian..'yeah this is the life' I thought to myself. I read a few good articles and all in all I imagined myself strolling into the big smoke on a daily basis. The weather was glorious and people were buzzing around Liverpool and Finsbury. I had an hour to kill so I looked around the Finsbury area. The best thing about London for me is that although you're right in the thick of it, theres always a little park or lane that takes you back to Victorian times. But yesterday I found a real gem. A 5 minute walk from Liverpool Street takes you to Bunhill Fields, a small graveyard where William Blake was buried. The small shed-like information desk told me that the non conformists of London were buried here in the field. The Cromwell's are there, Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) Thomas Foxwell Buxton (anti slavery protester) and various other liberals of the time. i had totally forgot about William Blake. Being there at his grave was creepy and great at the same time. Blake was a poet and illustrator who based his work on the Old testament but It was also a well known fact that he was also a rebel against the Catholic Church. I read his work at A level and although it was based on religion It was also based on the beauty of the Natural world and the innocence of children. Im not going to pretend to a fan or know all about him but I do remember thinking that his work was relatively good and strange.

I took a quick look at The Cromwells, De-Foe and John Bunyans grave before going to the interview. The interview went ok, i felt confident and said all the things that I could say. As soon as I left the interview and got the train home i had a slight feeling of disgust. I couldn't shake the feeling off for most of the day until I got home. I started to read for my essay and then it all hit me. I dont want to work for money and be rich and represent a ridiculous law companies. I dont belong to that patriarchal world where everyday is a constant competition. Ive seen a lot of that in the law department over the years. Young arrogant people who will do anything to get a training contract.

I wont say that it was a waste of time. It was a good experience. I was quite confident, and managed to make my work history look a lot better than it actually is. I learnt that I dont have to be in a job that i dont want to do. Theres millions of people out there doing jobs that they dont want to do, struggling day in day out. i dont want that, Id rather struggle a bit longer and be in something that I enjoy. Ive been told hundreds of times that I 'really should find a job' but why?
Its a highly simplistic statement but I know various people who are doing a job that they love, which was their choice and that they carry out everyday to the full.