'Climate Rush' we salute you!

the guardian

Bookbinder Achieves New Heights

John's new book press is just too darn BIG!

Warwick Words - Festival of Literature and Spoken Word

Hey you load of Book(ish) people - not only should you be enjoying the local music/comedy on your doorstep - you should also be taking the opportunity to add to your extensive literature knowledge by checking out Warwick Words and seeing if anything there takes your fancy. (nice website 'n' stuff too - apparently ;-)

Coming up at the Assembly

Great new Leamington venue, entering it's second year. Nice decor, good acoustics, friendly staff and it's within walking distance (much better than a trek to Birmingham.) Only problem is the queue for the bar, and the absence of proper beer!

Sunday 20 Sep: Wayward genius, Peter Doherty

Friday 25 Sep: Post punk noise and politics from the Gang of Four

Thursday 8 October: The Cribs (Johnny Marr on guitar and great songs)

Saturday 24 October: Lively folk/rockers Bellowhead

Tuesday 27 October: Brilliant blues guitarist Walter Trout

Wednesday 11 Nov: New Jersey mates of Broooce, 'Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes'

Monday 26 Nov: The Fall (need I say more?)

Tuesday 27 Nov: Coventry's best indie band in years, 'The Enemy'.

Just a smattering of what is available. Seeleamingtonassembly

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, Part 2

On the scale of things the latest budget from the party that used to be Labour was no great shakes. Indeed from some angles, no great anything. Put alongside lying through your teeth to trot alongside the US war machine, spinning all the honesty out of politics or turning the public sector into a semi-privatised, over-bureaucratised shambles, it was relatively harmless. In fact, it's desire to lessen child poverty, if we ignore the fact that the government has been in power since 1997, is a laudable aim.

However, what do they to raise the revenue? Tax drinkers with a promise to do the same over the next four years. Now excuse me being picky, but don't indirect taxes hit everyone regardless of income. So, a millionaire pays the extra, as does the parent(s)of children in poverty (if they can afford it.) So much for equality and each according to his means. Indirect taxes are a cowardly and reactionary move by a gutless government too scared to tax the better off. Let's be straight about this, if kids are in poverty,and we want to do something about it, let's act now and raise income tax. That way the rich pay more and the poor pay little or nothing.

And of course the tax issue is more complicated than this, because the party that used to be Labour are actually trying to tick us all off for drinking too much. This brings two things to mind. Firstly, what if we all DID cut back on drinking, does that mean theat kids stay in poverty? Secondly, don't we elect governments to run the country, avoid wars etc etc, not dictate how we live our personal lives?

It gets more complicated still. Putting up the tax on booze will not stop binge drinking, as supermarkets will still be selling their crap lager and alcopops at a cheap rate. If you live in the South East you can also hop across to France and load up much more cheaply there. What this really means is that, when combined with increasing prices of wheat and other agricultural commodities, beer will be heading over and well beyond the £3 a pint mark. So say bye bye to even more traditional pubs in Leamington and elsewhere, and feel sorry for those who have low incomes (including pensioners),who may not be able to drink in pubs any longer.

Great work then from the party that used to be Labour. They need to be careful though. Like other northern Europeans, the British have always drunk a lot, and the pragmatic British care more for their booze than 'Darling' realises, including his middle class favourites who he is afraid to tax.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, Part 1

Part of the fun in being British is that it doesn't mean very much, and we don't have to salute the flag/pledge allegiance to the head of state. So, in the age of globalisation, Europeanisation, Scottish and Welsh nationalism, what does the party that used to stand for something, but now is just spin, smart arse rich people and American lackeys, do? Pledges of allegiance and celebrating Britishness. I'm almost nostalgic for Saint Tony's sanctimonius self-justifications. More seriously, as a lifelong Labour voter, what do you do? Lib Dems - pathetic, Greens -powerless, potential puritans, Tories - enemies of the people, who I would rather shoot myself than vote for.

Quiz Night

Well it was a case of so near but so far. Not the hardest quiz, but we scored 100% on the music round and went into the (final) pictures 3 points ahead. Unfortunately our lack of knowledge of the actors/films in the 'romantic kisses' pictures were our undoing. Third was an improvement on last time, and bagged us the T-shirts, but what might have been!

Oh my God!!

I am now a father.
Born, much to numerologists delight, on 05/06/07
We also named her a palindromic Hannah.
Not had anyone throw up on me since Tim in a curry house in Birmingham. True. Ask him.
To keep perspective I look at this:
Things you should know

The loons in the army are still running things but compared to the rest of the troubled world, things are not too bad here.

zzzzzzzz

Lucky 070707 - Milan Airport 01:30am Saturday July 7th

Sometimes the compensations of this jet set life are too much to bear. A five hour delay on a cheap flight with no leg room on a friday night and a token for €4.50 at the bar. This is such a poor piece of compensation it is actually counter productive, better to give no compensation and let me recognise them as low cost scrape every last penny merchants than recognise their responsibility and then give me what they obviously believe will appease my frustration with then a paltry €4.50. Seven (check out the date) is obviously not my lucky number.

The issue of incentives and compensation is my new pet subject please see :

http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/

The book of the same name is very readable for what is basically economics, but it's the economics of what motivates people and the questions you need to ask to see the true correlations in our world of statistics, hence my blinding insight above as to the negative effect of giving compensation (when you dont give enough). Anyway be prepared to be bored on this subject on a Wednesday coming to you soon....

Tim Gane tired and emotional Malpensa Airport Italy

Don't go changing......

Turning aside a real life recreation of 'Things Fall Apart', Tim G, the coolest dancer in the area, creates yet another blog for us to air our currently absent thoughts. Good man, I say. Let's meet apathy head on with activity. However, the title of the blog then came to the fore, and in particular it's connection to a Billy Joel song. I have the feeling we have been bowled a bouncer, disguised as a full length delivery. The criminally unfashionable Billy J as the inspiration for our blog, when the Clash, Beatles, Miles Davis might have done? But then, thinking more deeply, ace cricketer, quiz legend, and unashamed fan of Billy J, our leader has created a blog to suit our ironic tendencies. I have Billy J on the Ipod, and have been known to sing along to piano man, so all hail (in a deeply ambivalent sense) Billy J, the new blog, and let's march forwards towards apathy...