( June Setlists (anti-fascist/nationalist songs within) )

So the BNP got a seat in the Northwest. Here's how my local area voted:

BNP - 5.2
CON - 31.7
GREEN - 10.4
LIBDEM - 12.9
LABOUR - 18.2
UKIP - 13.1

Mostly Tory, but way more Green than BNP. Hmm. I didn't even hear about the results until I got back from Scotland almost a week later, which means (perhaps thankfully) I missed most of the commentary too. I am gutted though, and think this is a real problem. Although I am not against democracy, it really annoys me how people think it is the only thing of value. It is the BNP (or any party that does well) that will say they won fair and square in order to stifle any further conversation of what's going on: why should we play into that? The people who are going to suffer are not going to be interested in whether it was sanctioned by democracy.

On the plus side, the BNPs share of the votes barely moved from the 2004 EU elections (I am reading conflicting things about whether it is more or less), so we can at least take comfort in that, at a time when finger-pointing parties normally do well.

Scotland was brilliant. Some photos have showed up, but when everyone gets back next week I will probably post some from the larger selection then. We camped in 6 places over 7 nights, and drank on all of them. Then the very day we came back I was DJing. So after a record 8 nights on the booze (as far as I can recall) I am going to stay clean for at least a month. But right now, I must hamper my physical/mental health by going back to work. Where I will use my fingerprint to clock in (I'm not kidding. Maybe more on that next time).

In 2007 I completed the 10K in 51:15 with a rank of 4461/28000.
In 2009 I completed the 10K in 46:27 with a rank of 2306/33000.

You can read my detailed write-up of this successful race here at SomeRunning!

I raised some money for the womens group Object! They campaign against objectification particularly with regards to lads mags and lap dancing regulations. If you would like to donate you can do so at their site. If not it would be great if you (particularly blokes) would look at some of the things they have to say and let me know! Thanks!

I am tired after another day at work, so I'm not sure what to write. I guess it's been going okay lately. I have agreed to do Monday as an extra shift, which hopefully will sweeten things with regards to the week I have booked off in early June. I'm going to Northern Scotland with my old co-op friends again, and camping.

I am very worried about the EU elections next Wednesday. If the BNP gets the North West seat it is close to securing based on its increase in previous years, it will get EU taxpayer funding. The Manchester Evening News today had a front page story coming out against the BNP, which is great. I did my bit by taking the newspaper from the bottom shelf and putting it at the ideal shelf, in the middle (and moving the hate filled Daily Express down to the bottom, hah). I absolutely MUST get my lazy friends to vote this time round, or these "anti-Europe nationalists" are going to be linking up with fascists in France, Italy and beyond.

Here's a video from the Green Party saying voting for them is the best way to stop the BNP. Which is slightly misleading but they are by far the best choice for English voters, in any case.



I got my hair cut to a close shave after 14 months by the way, for the 10K. It's such a bloody relief.

Yesterday was one of those brilliant days.

First I got up earlier than I would have liked to go for a practice 10K run. The real race is a week today and I managed to do it in 44:06, almost a minute under my goal. So lets hope I can replicate that. Running down the canal is fun.

Then I went to a Fair Trade meeting organised by Lukes sister Lee and her wife. Not a whole lot of people turned up, and after I arrived a little late it was more of an informal chat, but I think they hammered some ideas out. For something spawned from a facebook group, its better than either of my groups have managed. The meeting took place in this café called Nexus, which is an art café. I stayed there for a few hours, got a really nice wrap and made Em a birthday card using things I had in my record case. I even used the red napkin from my meal. It turned out real good. On top of all that I found out this pleasant bohemian venue is open specifically from 2am to 6am on a Sat night/Sun morning - just when I am leaving clubs and waiting for early trams!

I went to Picadilly Records and after looking around a bit bought a double CD dub compilation. I went to Lush and got Alison some lip balm she wanted. And then I went to the gardens and basked in the strange sun for about an hour listening to my new CDs to see if any of them were suitable for Bomb Ibiza that night - right outside Rice, where I then got hopping John rice.

Then I walked over to the university where the Bomb Ibiza 5th anniversary gig was taking place in the Club Academy, which I've never been in. I decided to spare you all another gig review and actually enjoy it, although I still couldn't stop thinking of amusing observations and puns. Every band did really short sets and the fastest change overs of any gig ever in order to crowbar 6 bands in 3 and half hours. 300 people showed up. A surprise band came in the middle called Nylon, just to make things even harder for Em. Sonic Boom 6 played their new album in its entirety, and just a few old ones, but everyone still loved it. It sounded good. They told everyone to go with them to Bomb Ibiza.

The gig gave people free entry to the clubnight after at Satans, so a good 200 of them did. Which was great! We got a taxi over there where Mike was playing to a dozen people. Yesterday was not only the anniversary of the night but Ems birthday, so I did a lot of the music which was great. At the very last minute space at her house freed up, so I didnt have to use the café after all. Maybe in a few weeks after something else.

( Setlists )

Novelty songs kept getting added so we went on until about 2:45. I am sure some songs are missing from my sets, as usual (Edit: Yep, remembered I played No Comply - Silencio somewhere in there). Early in the evening after making about 20 requests one guy gave me a piece of paper with "PS. Best DJ Ever?!" written on it. Getting framed. We ended up playing 5 Op Ivy songs, which might be a record, and I bought a cool teal Bomb Ibiza 5th birthday shirt cause Em had too many she hadn't sold. Oh and ate BI cake.

Today we got up and went for breakfast in a Thai/Irish greasy spoon and then I came home and Chris came round to cut my hair. It is now super short. I wanted to go to the pub and buy him a beer but he left and never phoned me back like he was supposed to. He must have fallen asleep. Which is what I am going to do about now. Maybe you are too.

Classics of Love, Virgins, Mike Park, The Computers, Bears Bears
Retro Bar, Manchester
5th May 2009

Bears, Bears managed to spark my interest with just the one and a half songs I heard (I am stupid and thought they started later, so went to buy a Burrito, Burrito). The full, amusing song was called 'I am Horse,' and is about how horses are overrated. Presumably, their ability to bite your face off has been noted by the band. Wait for a hardcore band or quirky indie film to show up called Bears versus Horses. http://www.myspace.com/bearsbears

The Computers are a group of down on their luck painters from Devon - at least their gleaming white outfits suggest as much. Like any computer known to humankind they are prone to stopping and starting, during pretty much every song. Their sound is messy, shouty, loud, something like Kodan Armada and Refused, particularly the vocal style. The most sensible banter is when we are told a video has been recorded for a particular song, that involves a rabbit. Hearing the noise that follows, you imagine the rabbit in the video must be hopping away from a giant tank, with big fucking cannons and barb wire all over it and "Death to bunnies" painted on the side. http://www.myspace.com/thecomputersfromexeter

The acts tonight seem to slot together quite well, which is fortunate because it's actually the fusing of two seperate tours. This is not because the music is all similar. Mike Park of Asian Man Records puts a Plea for Peace banner up (the name of the non-profit organisation he founded to promote peace through music), and plays some acoustic songs about the love and hate in his life. It's not explosive, but if he felt this was a clearer way to get across his messages about racism, and his family, then fair play. Although the crowd reaction is positive, it seems the personal nature of the acoustic set requires Park to wish for more, as on his website he has said the gig was "one of the worst shows of [his] life". Bugger. http://www.mikeparkmusic.com/blog.php

Not to be confused with "that crappy disco band from New York" ('The' Virgins, I believe) are Virgins, ex-members of New Mexican Disaster Squad who play the kind of Dischord-esque, Hot Water Music-ish, grufty punk rock that buff Americans do best. They're from Florida and ask that we buy some of their merch so they can get back. They are the first of the two remaining bands to talk about how their only knowledge of Manchester growing up was the music coming from here, which considering there is a United match on in the bar upstairs is certainly better than yank punks thinking we all support those overpaid twonks. http://www.myspace.com/virginsofflorida

Even though few know what to expect, the room is packed for Classics of Love, the new band fronted by Jesse Michaels. Although not playing ska, it's hard not to feel the spirit of ska in this guys voice. Some loved musicians do their best to distance themselves from their former achievments, but Michaels is cool enough to acknowledge that people are there because they adore his older bands. Considering Classics of Love are named after a Common Rider song (his 1999 - 2003 project), he seems happy to draw the threads through his career. To this end, amongst the new punk n' rock stuff, they play a couple of Common Rider songs ('Carry On' being one) and finish with Operation Ivy's 'The Crowd,' which of course is can't-quite-believe-it amazing. http://www.myspace.com/classicsofloveband

James Lamont.

3 Minute Warning, Physical Jerks, Broken Nose, AWarAgainstSound, Kickback, Rasta4Eyes
Ska Bar @ The Retro Bar, Manchester
26th April 2009

Since the sun is teasing us into thinking it's nearly summer and even the obscenely uncool Eastenders is doing a storyline about the influx of Caribbean culture into Britain (via one about the Notting Hill riots), I thought it was about time to get down to a ska bar. And still not participate in the "bar" element - but baby steps.

Like a million people at a million gigs, I do not have a good excuse for missing the first band Rasta4Eyes. But their myspace site will tell you a few things. Neither noticably Rastafari or with coke-bottle glasses, they have a strong ska sound with some of those Sublime-style guitar riffs thrown in. Worth listening to: www.myspace.com/rastafoureyesuk

Kickback apparently aspire to be a sort of Rise Against with brass, and there is definitely an element of Epiphat to be heard, at least during their tuning. And during their set there is enough kickupthearse to make things interesting, as well as a selection of delightful shirts to enjoy, with statements such as "Brass not Bombs" and "Fuckers, England" (think Rockers). www.myspace.com/thisiskickback

AWarAgainstSound are essentially a punk band with enough intricate rock elements to justify the hair-shaking and shirtless elements of their line up. They honour the day though by playing a rather long ska song, then following it up with another that was actually more ska and more summery. Around this part of the set was a really unnecessary "gay" remark (as they usually are). I know I sometimes try to get away with playing Bad Brains at the Bomb Ibiza clubnight but that doesn't mean homophobia will make you seem more ska, come on now. www.myspace.com/awaragainstsound

Do you remember those skateboarder characters Justin and Vince from High Fidelity? The lead singer of Broken Nose, from Cymru, sounds a lot like their bands vocalist did in the film. It is surely one of the most interesting things I've heard in ages, because even though it is mixed with ska-punk and stuff, it works. As the singer seems to strip throughout the set, the most massive gentleman in the room dances his arse off, clearly enjoying it too. They make such an impression that I'm not even going to laugh at/comment on the large number of dreadlocks sprouting from white skulls on stage. Except I think I just did. Holy Zion. www.myspace.com/brokennose1

There is no pretentious wank going on in the music of the Physical Jerks despite the similiarity of their name to the wankily-titled Circle Jerks. These obviously skilled musicians don't take themselves too seriously, with bits of Tetris themes, amusing riffs and an ending song called "I'm a Big Fat Fucking Hypocrite and So Are You". Their relaxed reggae stylings wouldn't be out of place at the likes of Do The Dog and their singer looks quite like the actor Jamie Bell (soon to star in The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn). www.myspace.com/physicaljerksmusic

3 Minute Warning have a lengthy set in which for a while it feels like there is hardly any talking coming from them. There is, their songs are just such a blast of fun that you feel like it's nonstop. The keyboard adds to their sound and the frenzied movement onstage compliments it. It starts to wear a bit thin towards the end, but they inspire a weird version of the Macarena amongst the fired-up crowd and are a solid signiture act to the day. www.myspace.com/3minutewarning

James Lamont.

--

To be posted in a few zines and blogs, hence the Murdochspaces.

The other day I bought these CDs from Piccadilly Records. They were all on the cheap side and I listened to the first two before purchase - a far cry from the days of triple figure music spending:

Roots Manuva - Slime & Reason
Plantlife - The Return of Jack Splash
Propagandhi - Supporting Caste

The last one was a particulary lucky spot-on-the-rack because I went to see Propagandhi on Friday in Sheffield. But...

Black Magic?

Tonights show in Sheffield England ended half way through the set in a huge, huge, huge fire.
Clive from Black Widow joined us on stage bringing the dark aura with him. He will be joining us tomorrow as well. Come To The Sabbat, will you?

That is the extent of the information on the bands site. What the shit? We were sent out and never let back in. They stopped in the middle of Back to the Motor League too, the only song they had played off Today's Empires, Tomorrows Ashes so far.

I spent the rest of the weekend pretty busy too, down near Wales with Stig et al, enjoying the sun and having a barbecue. We met his new supermarket colleagues and we got along instantly as we are peers. We played Worms this afternoon. Tonight I went to Simons, drank tea and shat myself playing Resident Evil 5 and trying to decide if it was offensive bullshit or not.

On April 14th, a clear two months after my birthday I received a large box from Alison. She'd sent me other things that arrived more than before the date but for some reason this box floated around the atlantic for all that time. It has far too many things in for me to possibly even compute, let alone document, but let's just say it will rot my teeth, clean my hair, stimulate my mind, entertain my ears and provide hours of enjoyment. Excellent.

( Setlists for April. That were done without headphones of any kind. )

luketherunner has started a blog about running called Some Running, and has kindly invited Alison and I to log our runs there too. It's surprisingly fun and busy with a few of his other friends involved too, and is keeping me motivated to train for the Manchester 10K next month (next MONTH? Feck.) My entries have my name in the title, along with miles.

I should have known better than to praise the ease with which I got my money back from the government, for since my last entry they sent me a form to fill in, with the promise of perhaps more forms later (I also have 2 other forms to fill in about taxes/benefits that have arrived recently, ugh) . They claim it's because they don't have records of where and when I worked and was on welfare for the two financial years before the one I am claiming about. Part of the form is pretty stupid though. The government which has continued the process of casualisation with a special fervour for 12 years thinks that space for the details of 2 jobs since April 2005 is sufficient. A fact long time readers will know doesn't apply to me!

I have had two shifts at work so far and they've been alright. I am doing the exact same hours. Tuesday was made easier because it was 6 hours rather than the usual 8, my co-workers were welcoming more than I was expecting and it had a strange novelty. Friday was also alright because I found I had two decent new co-workers, one a really cool old national service veteran (which I didn't even know we apparently had here until 1960). But it started off bad that day! Supervisor Shelly greeted me not with a welcoming but with a mega-bad fucking attitude, along the lines of "I dont want you slacking/reading magazine/writing amusing statements around the shop like before." I told her I didn't realise there had been that much of a problem and that she was being out of order, and she said she and some others (other jerks) had taken offence at the fact that when I left in December I wrote "so long suckers" on a bag blockhead. Aside from the friendly innocuousness of this message, it's doubly absurd for her to be complaining, because on a couple of occasions since then I have been in the shop and made polite chit-chat with her, during which she even mentioned the message with a grin. So it's a triple stupid since it's an abuse of authority to not get mad until you're in a position to be a thorn in my side, you fucking Thatcherite wimp. She did apologise after the manager very reasonably spoke to her, but still. Woah.

Here are my setlists for Mikes birthday, last Sunday!

( Rock, Punk, Ska, Indie, Hip Hop! )

It was lots of fun to play a different variety of music, and plenty of oldies. The venue was intimidating, about the size of some of the indie clubs that my friends and I visit. But thankfully it did not fill up (the place is called The Zoo), perhaps because it was a private gig on a Sunday night. Different equipment was scary, especially since I had problems with the headphones and the faders didn't seem to work properly and stuff kept bleeding through. Between these two sets this guy played 2 hours of drum n bass. I didn't think I was going to go back on but the other DJs he had been hoping for didn't arrive, woop! I had been awake since 9:30am on 2 hours sleep (we went to Leicester to have lunch at Toms) so I was the picture of fucked.

A blog of Lukes, taxes, work, DJ setlists. Yes I did attempt to make this entry JUST like my last one.

(Okay, last weeks SchNEWS had some great stories, including stuff about the G20 summit, the debt of the bail-outs and a pretty funny "...and finally" story.)

I was looking at a blog belonging to luketherunner and something about it being just a single, articulate post made me think "it would be nice to have a blog." Uh?

It seems like all I ever talk about is working or not working for the Co-op on here, and I'm sorry that's so boring. But, today I did get my job back, at my previous shop. Uh, joy. I guess. The guy who replaced me got sacked for never showing up.

But! Today is a joy besides that, because I went to the job centre and because I wont be working till at least the weekend I get another payment on Friday. AND while I was there I went up to the tax office and with BREATHTAKING ease managed to get myself a cheque for emergency tax money which I never claimed from my pub job back at the end of 2007. It will arrive in a few weeks, although I don't know the exact amount. I was amazed I didn't need to fill in any forms or even have my P45. I am happy with the part of government which made it so easy for me to get my money back from the other, murderous parts of government. I doubt many people are as bone-idle as me to wait that long, but please, DON'T LET THEM HAVE YOUR MONEY. You can get it back as late as 6 years after, apparently.

I also talk about Bomb Ibiza even though it's something that only happens literally 9 times a year. This weekend I am DJing at one of stuarts friends 21st birthdays, so hopefully that will be fun. And Satans has a second room, which will hopefully open soon, which we are going to use as a punk room - I'm excited!

( Setlists for December and March. )

My friend Hazee lost his girlfriend, my friend Gary lost his job, my parents are away for 3 weeks and the afternoon they left I got really ill and am now recovering and my brother has been here since Saturday, working nights and lying under a sleeping bag on the settee.

Did I mention Alison got a job and we're going to be living in Gainesville?

I didn't update for all of February. I've been thinking about it for ages, as usual, but I've not felt I really had much to say.

On Saturday omgffswtf AKA WhatEvil AKA George was here, and we went out for the evening. I got along with both his friend and the friend of his friend, and we were talking like it hadn't been nearly 3 years. The pub was London-style expensive, but we got away with it (I hope it feels that way to you anyway George! Do you remember leaving your wallet on the table? Fnar).

The weekend of my birthday was really busy with activity and mostly good fun. Including a really good turnout for Bomb Ibiza. I was busy checking in with my parents (who didn't hate it!) and concentrating so I didn't write down my setlist. I am looking forward to the next one on the 14th, even though I had a nightmare last week about fucking up whilst DJing.

I have been listening to Radio 1 a bit since my new phone has a radio on it, and I have no other music device that really works. I can finally see why everyone says Zane Lowe is so annoying. He used to be so good on Brand: New though. I looked on youtube for evidence of it but maybe the BBC (or MTV) don't want anyone to remember.

I am about to go out and see this years Oscar-nominated Waltz With Bashir.

I guess I'll update next when I have too much to say. Hope you're all well!

Donald wept through the proceedings.
His tears soaked through the canvas that cloaked his twisted face and they stained his orange jumpsuit where with such rare distinction he once displayed the evidence of his outstanding contributions to the maintenance of a kingdom come.
But those days are gone.
He’s nothing more than a number on a docket thick with shareholders, engineers, PR firms, politicians: war-profiteers.
How the fuck did I end up here?
This just isn’t fair.
Ain’t no place for a millionaire.
He searches for the words to stop this table in mid-turn, like
“we are but old men” and
“we only did what we were told,”
but the laughter from the gallery drowns out these vestiges of a profession’s oldest defense.
The court will direct the record to reflect compliments from the bench; you sir, are central casting’s crowning achievement.
And for your outstanding performance in a comedic role, I’d like to dedicate the findings of the jury to the dead.
But how can one man ever repay a debt so appalling?
Can’t gouge 10,000 eyes from a single head so I think we should observe a sentence that will serve to satisfy both a sense of function and poetry: so you will spend the rest of your days drenched in sweat, with your face drawn in a rictus of terror as you remove another buried land mine fuse.
Meanwhile, 100 yards back behind the sandbags, a legless foreman pulls the trigger on a red megaphone.
Squelching feedback.
Drunken laughter.
Broken English.
His dead daughter’s picture.
Time and tide, no one can anticipate the inevitable waves of change.

---

In other words Propagandhi are doing a tour to promote their new album (with deserving North West Bomb Ibiza favourites Random Hand on the UK dates). Did I say UK? I mean "4 gigs in Southern England and 1 in the North, none anywhere else". Radical as fuck that is. But lucky for them I am willing to travel to that one Northern date (Sheffield) just as I went to Liverpool for them in 2006. Wankers. I love them! GLOBAL (kinda) TOUR DATES (thanks pikake.)

PS. In an action that would make Propagandhi proud (they're playing in the city), 6 people broke into weapons factory EDO a week and a half ago and caused £250K (at least) of damage, stating that with the attack on Gaza the time for talking with the company was over. There's video footage of them going in and statements they made to camera here. The story is here. Now that I think about it, I remember people singing Propagandhi at the Smash EDO camp I went to a year ago, hah.

Hello!

So what's new. 1) Well, the government approved a new runway at Heathrow - I am appalled at the idiocy and nerve more than anything, since a combination of even Conservative Party opposition and tightening oil supplies to POWER THE PLANES means it will never be built. And we will waste precious resources and time that could be put to better use.

2) I'm back on the dole and have my first welfare interview in about 9 hours. The small risk that Co-op wouldn't have a job opening for me turned out to be true. Roy said he would put me first in line if a job came up, which is nice incase I don't find anything, but now I realise that even the prospect of something unknown and new is more appealing than going back (hopes soon to be dashed whatever job it is, I'm sure). I have a good feeling about a job opening at a local ethical pub that I applied for though. Although it would be bittersweet if I got a job before getting a sniff of government money after jumping through so many hoops on the phone interview.

3) Prince Harry is a wanker.

4) I found a zine and record distro called Corndog. I ordered a bunch of stuff and got in touch to say I would like to distribute potluck and Tram Jumper through them. The guy emailed me back to say he was interested, but that it all would have to wait a while because he is in New England for the "big day". Bloody America. (Oh but congrats!)

5) Bomb Ibiza is moving from a Thursday to a Saturday with expected explosive results. The first Saturday will be February 14th, my birthday. I might have convinced all of my family to come. There is a hip hop night called Hip Hoperation on the Friday before that sounds awesome, so if I can think of someone who might want to go to that it might prove a brilliant birthday weekend.

6) Thanks to people who commented on my previous entry about population growth who I didn't respond to. I smartly approached that thorny issue when Alison was on her way over here, so was pretty busy afterwards. We had such a great time and the pain of her being gone is still fresh after almost two weeks. We watched lots, we visited tonnes of museums, we cooked well and ate at loads of nice places, we went to loads of clubs and gigs (including The Pogues). On the optimistic side, the pain it eased after such a long year still lingers, and we both know this year is going to be much better.

7) Oh and we WENT TO ITALY ON THE TRAIN. YES. It was brilliant! Why do such beautiful countries get captured by such ugly politics? I'll write a proper entry on this using the few notes I made soon. It was the best holiday I've been on and just defies words. We went to both Rome and Venice.

Computer is being a fuck-up now so you get to have a lucky/magnificent seven points.

It is impossible to discuss population growth responsibly without discussing race or class. This is because for hundreds of years people of certain groups (white, male, wealthy, Western) have discussed overpopulation in both overt and less obvious discriminatory ways. This is important, because these sorts of opinions have had an effect on how the present day looks, both physically and in our minds. If you're able to read this message from a computer screen, you are likely at the very least to be part of a class of people that is, relative to the global population, wealthy. This is not to say that you must bring up race and class within every element of a conversation about population growth, but that it must have absolutely influenced your commentary on the topic. To say that population growth is not intertwined with race and class and that the former can be discussed in isolation is at best insensitive, and at worst laying groundwork for an environmental suspension of democracy.

When you consider further that population growth is not actually that important, environmentally or from a world hunger perspective (economic growth, meat consumption and biofuels are vastly bigger players), you wonder what else is at play in the public mind to make this into such a big concern. It's not that most people who worry about the issue of population are fascists, but that they have spent more time learning about how advertising subconsciously encourages all of us to consume, than about the subconscious influence of racist and classist thoughts. This means they may unwittingly act in ways that are oppressive. One example is the way some talk about the intelligence of people in poor countries. Even peasants who are illiterate are aware that resources are finite, that they need them to survive, and that the number of people in their community impacts the strain on those resources. They know this because unlike a lot of us they are not insulated from the effects of over-using them. The reason then that they tend to have larger families than we do is because they are also aware that there is no shred of a welfare state to look after them when they get older, and that shagging is a good option when you aren't surrounded by a parade of electronic gadgets to entertain you. It is not just a lack of knowledge or access to condoms, or lack of knowledge in general.

This is not, as some people suggest, an argument against discussing population growth or against pursuing what are generally perceived to be the best solutions to it, namely fighting poverty and closing the educational gap between males and females. It's just that without taking a critical look at our actions and opinions we risk re-enforcing the prejudices that caused such vast differences in resource use in the first place.

Posted to environment, powerswitch and debunkingwhite.

Look at my post-election post from November 5th. Now imagine I have the technological know-how, artistic skill and articulate spoken-word ability to be a video-blogger. Also imagine I've liked hip-hop for a couple of decades and that influences the nature of my videos. If you see fit, imagine my post to sound a little less self-important!

Not to blow my own trumpet, or imply that I know anywhere near as much about the situation as this man due to not being black or American or having 15 years more thinking under my belt, but the similarity is quite striking. His title is even the EXACT title I gave my same post on Facebook! (And I'll find some way to brag about this there too.)



PS. If you've never seen Jay Smooth or his website http://illdoctrine.com/, nows the perfect time to do so. He is one incredibly cool, articulate, intelligent bloke. And a definite refreshing change from the likes of those peak oil guys talking on film who all seem to wear glasses.

Oh, and while he's blowing your mind with his words in this video, he pets his cute cat.

I made an effort to update more this month and with the one I made earlier today it comes to 5. How pathetic? I felt like I was pouring a lot in. Anyway I have more to write. My parents are in Spain for a week, checking out the area they are most likely to move to, and with both brothers having flown the nest I think this is the longest I've been in the house alone, unless I'm forgetting something monumental. On top of this Alison has gone home to minimal-phone-signal, minimal-computer-access USA for Thanksgiving. I've had work of course, and I've been fine, but I've noted a few things. At first I spent almost zero time online, since I normally jump online when my dad has already turned the laptop on, unless something needs doing. But I've spent almost every free minute since Monday at 2am on here (work yesterday for 9 hours). I've been on here since 4:30 today when it got too dark to read my book, aside from time off to make food and use the phone. I haven't snacked at all today, I've eaten 3 meals and not been hungry at any point before or after them. I wonder if it's because I've exerted so little energy. I just finished off 2 mini spicy bean burgers and am listening to a hardcore Circle-Jerks type band from the Netherlands, which convinced me somehow to just stay on here till sleep hits me, go down with the rat-infested ship. I've enjoyed the privacy, I just appreciate now how if there are small or medium size gaps in my days activities I can say hello to my parents.

Speaking of work, on Saturday I did an extra shift and I chased a shoplifter out of the door and round the block. He was carrying two cases of beer. I'm not sure why I did it, since my attitude to shoplifters has been generally "good for them," and I had no plan for what I'd do if I caught him. Perhaps it was because it felt like a personal insult, walking right past me near the door with two cases of beer. Also because Saturday was especially boring, and this entertained me for 5 minutes at least. I shouted "Oi!" and he started to run, so I ran after him shouting "fucking wanker!"(!) He went into the car park behind the building, and I assumed he was going to jump into one, but he wasn't, he went all the way round the block and the teens hanging there shouted in excitement, and I shouted "I can run faster than you!" to which he retorted "Yeah right," shortly before dropping all his beers in the road and carrying on running. I did a victory dance on the pavement and tried to clear up the cans quickly, but not before two stupid bastard motorists came and drove over them pointlessly, fucking most of them up. The kids came over and asked if they could have the unsellable cans, and I, on an adrenalin rush, said "you can do what the fuck you want, I'm off" and I ran back in the shop hoping for praise and smiles, which I got. I got a basket and went out to see what was there, but the kids had cleaned that road really fast. I asked them for one can so I could have a sort of trophy, and they said yes, treated me with respect (gee, I wonder why, huh cop-phoning supervisors?) and asked me what happened. I wish I had remembered to tell them I wouldn't pursue them with such vigour if and when they took sweets. I wasn't even trying to catch him, just keep up with him, just wanted to see where he would lead me. Apparently I didn't do it to save the stock - quelle surprise!

What were some of the headlines yesterday? They were about the proposed tax burden that is to be put on those poor souls (800,000 of them I think) who earn over £100 grand, and the "millions" who earn over £40 grand. Well cry me a fucking river. This stark data about wealth allocation makes me want to break into some of the mansions (with multiples SUVS, personal CCTV and spiked gates) that I walk past on my commute to work. Perhaps Labour have seen the enthusiasm for Obama and realised everyone who isn't in these categories support these, you know, old fashioned ideas like taxing the rich.

Move Into The Light?

For capital, limits are peculiar. Capital has an internal dynamic of expansion which must be satisfied, so limits must be ignored, subverted, side-stepped, or otherwise overcome. And the secret of capital’s longevity lies precisely in its ability to use limits and the crises they engender as a launch-pad for a new round of accumulation and expansion. A good example of this dynamism is the emergence of the so-called Keynesian/Fordist phase of capitalism. The high levels of organisation of the industrial working class in the first half of the 20th century – not only the Russian Revolution but intense struggle worldwide – appeared as a limit to the expansion of capitalism, threatening not only to halt accumulation but to destroy the system once and for all. The welfare state was a direct result of these struggles, but it was also a way of neutralising this threat. And capital’s greatest feat was to strike a productivity deal which actually transformed this limit into the engine of a new phase of capitalist growth.

I was reminded of this passage again when I thought the other day about how companies are using the credit crunch to keep their profits flowing. Every other advert now is flogging a prize or product that is "credit crunch busting". This is of course bollocks, as no amount of buying discounted goods will get you out of debt, or lower food prices, or increase the actual amount of wealth in the system that isn't magic credit made from thin air. But the astounding arrogance. It's as if people haven't analysed what the individual words in the term credit crunch are. Buying things you can't afford is both the prop-up and the inevitable downfall of this system. It's like I said in my entry earlier on about the Anglo-centric approach to dealing with climate change - why are we listening to the bastards who got us into this mess?

Something has been bothering me about climate change dialogue lately. Wherever people talk about government policy, whether it's the UK, EU, US or Australia, you hear this talk of "leadership position". I am not siding with the idiots who say we don't need to do anything or make big sweeping changes "because look at those greedy Asian countries," but something about this language really rubs me the wrong way. The "leadership" of energy policy from these countries is exactly what put us in this extreme mess. On top of that, sometimes it's even talk of reclaiming the leadership position - our past climate policies were no better than the present ones! (This is also common when it comes to discussing human rights, democracy, lots of things.) It's like even the people who want action are willing to do it only as long as it strengthens our position. We have to be the biggest and best. This might appear to be splitting hairs, but I think it's important: it IS possible to be doing more than anyone else on investing, research, implementing tactics to stop climate change whilst listening to the "leadership" of the people who throughout history have not had much say. We need to do both these things not because we are wonderful and benevolent, but because we ARE the problem. Justice, not egos.

Climate change Google bombing: Eon, E.ON, E.on. (See here for an explanation, and please pass it along.)

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The Trials of Youth

WE’VE all heard the myths. Gen Y-ers are lazy, stay-at-home and good-for-nothing. They don’t leave home until they’re in their late 20s or early 30s and then return only to dump the laundry at the door. Selfish, indulged, pampered, consumeristic and easily distracted, they seek only instant gratification and the latest phone.

And now, in the wake of the global financial crisis and faced with a possible recession, we have a whole new set of gen-Y stories to make the rest of us feel good about ourselves.

In fact, today’s young people are not only every bit as familiar with economic hardship as their elders, they’re arguably leading the way. For decades, young people have been at the bleeding edge of economic reform, almost in direct inverse proportion to the myths that have been manufactured about them.

Sardonic humour, bravery in the face of often heavy odds, an easy familiarity with economic uncertainty, crippling debt and the demands of extreme flexibility, young people are arguably better equipped to deal with the present hard times than anyone.

I keep forgetting to mention that we finally finished potluck issue 3! There are still some uh teething errors in printing though, all around, as well as putting it online.

I didn't bother to post my Bomb Ibiza setlist last month because I figured no-one was really interested. But now I don't care if you're interested cause I played this massive list all in one go last week. Em was drunk and wrecked on poppers so I had to take the helm. Woo!

12:20 - 1:35

Leftover Crack - One Dead Cop
Bad Religion - I Want To Conquer The World
Descendents - Myage
The Clash - London Calling
The Filaments - Punk Unity
Captain Everything! - My Girlfriends Dad Runs A Sweatshop
Sublime - Caress Me Down
Lightyear - 24 04
Howards Alias - Rob Wants You Dead
Random Hand - Play Some Ska
Reel Big Fish - Beer
The Slackers - Have The Time
NOFX - Radio
Operation Ivy - Yellin In My Ear
Sonic Boom Six - All In
Capdown - Cousin Cleotis
Flogging Molly - What's Left Of The Flag
Bouncing Souls - True Believers
Propagandhi - Middle Finger Response
Against Me! - Pints of Guinness Make You Stronger
Less Than Jake - Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts
No Comply - Stories
King Prawn - Loneliest Life (live)
APB - Advertising Is Vandalism
Smoke Like A Fish - Poison
Shootin Goon - Wootini
Rancid - Ruby Soho

I would have done another set, but at 2am a fire alarm in the same building went off and we weren't allowed back in. Shitty!

The other night I became a republican. Hah! I love scaring Americans. What I mean is I paid for a years membership of the anti-Monarchy group Republic (they have an offer right now, only £8). I've been getting emails and letters off them for several years but never joined up. I did this because, on top of the offer and Prince Charles' extravagant 60th birthday party last week, is the fact that if mass civil unrest is just around the corner (peak oil, economic depression, take your pick), the last thing we need is a "Presidential" style King:

You have probably heard by now about Jonathan Dimbleby's Sunday Times article, in which he claims that "members of Prince Charles's inner circle are preparing the ground for him to break the monarch's traditional vow of silence when he is king." As Dimbleby himself says, these plans have "the potential to be constitutionally and politically explosive".

Republic's line on this is very clear: if Charles wants to be involved in politics, he must stand for election. Charles clearly craves power and influence at the highest level, but wants to be spared the inconvenience of an election. These plans amount to turning the clock back 400 years and republicans will not stand for it.

This long-neglected issue looks like it's finally going to get the push it deserves, and we can throw these thieving bastards out on their arses. I know it's a bit teenage punk rock, but come on, sign up!

17th November 2008

Dear Roy,

I am writing to inform you of my resignation. I can't think of any easier way to start this than with an apology. I know that you just hired new people and Christmas time is when you need staff the most. Unfortunately the cards have fallen this way and there isn't really any other option. I hate to leave you in the lurch, but my girlfriend will be visiting me for about a month over the holidays and I know there's no way you could give me time off during that period even if you wanted to. So my last workday will be Tuesday December 9th. If you need any shifts covering between now and then, I'll see what I can manage.

Thanks for hiring me when I really needed it. Having seen my previous resignation letter, you had no reason to pick me over those other people. But you let me argue my desperate case about needing the job to get a visa, to see my girlfriend, and obviously you have a heart. Honestly, I never thought I would be working for you this long, but things didn't work out, as you know. I now haven't seen her in nearly a year, so I hope you can understand. You probably thought at the time that I was a hater of unjustified authority, who despised the unsustainable, robotic-work model of supermarkets, someone who was going to end up being a case of goodwill you regretted. And for the most part that's all still completely true! (Well, hopefully not the regret part.) I know it's hardly fitting to quit in return, but I am giving you 3 weeks notice rather than the 1 I'm required to give to say thanks for what you did for me.

Now for the part that will either make you really angry or really relieved. Or both. Given that you sometimes have trouble hiring new people, and that we're in a recession so finding new work is increasingly difficult (a customer last week told me she wasn't aware we were in a recession - obviously not living on a supermarket wage!), if you are short of people in the new year, I'll come back. I'll be free from mid-January. I know that's very cheeky, but I thought why not offer.

I like the idea of this letter sitting in my company file, alongside my other, more scathing one. I hope it counterbalances it.

Sincerely,


James Lamont.

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I made an envelope for the notice out of a letter I got off the Co-op in the summer. The whole letter was visible on the outside, with my name and address perfectly in the top left corner, the company logo on the flap, and the opening line of "Enjoy the full benefits of working for The Co-op" written prominently in bold.

I brought 6 CDs down from my bedroom earlier, and decided to make them all my icons. For some reason I thought I could have more than 6, but oh well. I thought this 1988 ALL EP cover was the most appropriate right now. They aren't meant to be representative of my music taste, although 3 punk, 2 indie and 1 hip-hop could be a lot less accurate. Judge my likes via the weird new profile pages. I also found my mums birthday present in amongst my mountain of CDs and gave it to her three months late. It is a book about ethical clothing, which she has been more interested in lately, and the same exact size almost as a CD, but fuck knows how it ended up in there.

Now that you can't get a new LJ without payment or advertising, I have made the momentous decision to finally stick with a name. I've never been good at letting habits like that one go, but LJ made it easy when they made that decision. It lifts some weight off me actually, because I have updated very few times this year, and I had felt like I was wasting the name of smashboredom. Seeing entries from May or so at the bottom of my front page is weird. It is funny (or not) how things converge. LJ, Facebook and IMDb have all started throwing more ads at us as just in the last few months. What the fuck is with IMDb putting adverts in the middle of every page?

The newspapers, in their scramble to get on the we-love-Obama-too bandwagon, still manage to be racist. How? Because they have never taken a critical look at themselves, like so many other fucking white people, who think they were just born magically above the social conditioning. The Sun had a headline under the Obama's kissing of "As Obama gets huge election, [next line] THE EARTH MOVES" and The Daily Hate Mail had a headline of "Yo-bama!" under a picture of him leaving the gym. They will, unconvincingly, try to argue that a white candidate would have gotten similar ribbing, so it's not racist. Except that, reducing the most powerful couple in the world, who have just made history against the odds, to a sexualised encounter, is at least insensitive to the fact that black people are stereotyped as sex crazed animals (additionally who gives a fuck about their achievements if they're hot, right?). Except that, putting the word Yo in a headline based on the fact that someone at The Mail remembers Public Enemy releasing an album called Yo! Bum Rush The Show back in 1987, when it has nothing to do with the "story" of him going to the gym, is tacitly admitting that you know fuck all about black people aside from their use of strange, exciting words. It is admitting that you see them as caricatures and not real people. It's going to be a long 4 years.

I had a weird night last night. Lucy AKA planetcaptain had a birthday party for her dear departed grandpa. I had a really good time. I won a Mr Potato-Head, Spiderman version, during pass the parcel, but none of that was the weird part of the evening. I later used the Mr Potato Head as a bargaining chip to get into a club for free to go and find my friends, one of whom was unconscious and one of whom was seemingly sober, even though all 3 had drunk the same amount. Then the bouncer who let me in was a wanker about giving me spidey back but a nice bouncer got it for me. There's more, but it's getting stupidly late, and I would probably make it sound dull anyway.

Last night I felt a euphoria that made me feel wary, but I enjoyed it. A lot of us, especially in the UK, have not known anything except Bush and New Labour, and we're not sure how to take this. In France the President is married to a young supermodel, in Italy they have recently re-elected a fascist who encourages people to burn down Roma camps, and in Canada another recently re-elected leader has just become more right wing than his Southern counterpart. The yanks have kicked us all in the arse.

I have been disappointed in the failure of some radicals to acknowledge the racial importance of this in the last few months. They say politicians are crooked, are in bed with corporations, and leave it at that. And they are right, but they are not in the right to leave it at that. Even if you don't know much about American social relations, Obama's rise has even given encouragement to Black British youth(1). Not to mention Kenya naming a national holiday to celebrate his victory. This is a perfect example of the worlds ethnic majorities seeing things a little differently to us, even if we profess to work in solidarity with them. We despise our leaders, but at least we knew that if they fucked us over, it wasn't because of our race. That's privilege, no matter how much of an anarchist you are.

They have pointed to the fact that Obama will continue to ignore Israels possession of nuclear weapons being the primary destabilising factor in the Middle East(2). That Obama has fallen in line with the rhetoric that America has a divine right to intervene overseas, that it is somehow an inherently special nation(3). They point out that he will continue the embargo on Cuba, he disowned a pastor who said September 11th was caused by US foreign policy, and that no matter how much you may feel the political momentum has shifted to the left, that he could not have been elected without supporting all of these things.

In fairness the commentators I have in mind have not issued remarks since yesterday, so the next week will be interesting. And even though they have not yet talked about the importance of Obama's race (or even mentioned it, a worrying case of liberal colourblindness), you can see them begrudgingly acknowledging some hope. Last week George Monbiot admitted that "Obama has a good deal to offer America"(4). SchNEWS wrote that "if you really want apocalyptic change, then Republican Senator John McCain is yer man," although they aren't "pro-Obama as such"(5). These are pretty amazing admissions.

With the exception of Ralph Nader(6), all these sources have been English, which perhaps shows how unseriously many progressives in this country consider race relations to be, preferring to deal with it's symptons rather than causes (racist asylum and immigration laws, racist wars, detention centres - all of which rely on white supremacy).

On the other hand if you consider where government politics are right now in Britain, their cynicism is understandable. Putting the race issue aside, all the USA has done is elect someone from the "liberal" major party. We did that, in 1997. Ever since we have been subjected to the most right-wing cabinet since Winston Churchill. Tony Blair is not black, but the level of faith in him and his comparative youth after 18 years of the Tories was huge. 6 years later he took a leading part in the biggest crime of the 21st century.

Leaving us where? Getting excited over the handover to Brown? No way. He wasn't a fresh face, he'd been privatising our entire lives as the chancellor, and he wasn't even elected (advanced democracy, fuck yeah). David Cameron, the Tory leader? The only happiness he brings me is that his being a centrist conservative will mean that when he inevitably wins the next election things are probably not going to change on the political landscape much. Which is a perverse comfort, rooted in wanting to be right about the meaninglessness of government politics, and perhaps one those of us on the radical left have become too accustomed too. The semi-majors, the Liberal Democrats? They're in a pathetic state of disorganisation and identity crisis. Is it any wonder we don't see any point to this pendulum swinging between the major parties? We're not going to see the kind of furor that Obama has seen in this country until someone new shows up.

In the meantime that means direct action, protesting and taking things into our own hands. Howard Zinn, as he was explaining his support for Obama, warned that a repeat of the Clinton years was not going to get us anywhere, where activism cooled off because people became complacent(7). As Obama himself said, this is not change, it is just the chance to make change, and he won't deliver "unless he is enveloped by a social movement". Make no mistake that we should expect whites to be wary of being on the wrong side of the racial divide. We can't bang on about the rich white man always running everything and then be afraid when things finally go the way we've been demanding because it will make our co-ordination of the terrain trickier. At 4:45am last night, not long after the result was confirmed, I sent a message to someone organising Ladyfest Manchester(8), who had sent out a request for people who know British Sign Language. The world is going to continue on its highway to hell for some months to come. John Pilger also wrote that "An Obama victory will bring intense pressure on the US anti-war and social justice movements to accept a Democratic administration for all its faults. If that happens, domestic resistance to rapacious America will fall silent."(9) For once I am willing to admit that those of us on the fringes of the spectrum need to be more balanced.

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/04/race-lewis-hamilton-barack-obama
2. http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/07/29/nuking-the-treaty
3. http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=489
4. http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/10/28/the-triumph-of-ignorance/
5. http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news6452.htm
6. http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212183850.shtml
7. http://current.com/items/89436711_zinn_vote_for_obama_but_direct_action_needed (5 part video interview)
8. http://www.ladyfestmanchester.com
9. http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=489

This video is really great, detailing how improving technological efficiency without decreasing the amount of time we spend at work actually adds to resource depletion, rather than slowing it. This goes hand-in-hand with talking about how we all wish we could work less - why don't we? There isn't really a downside to it. It bigs up the EU too much, but then it's made by Canadians and aimed at North Americans. It features George Monbiot, but I found it by chance, via a political party called The Work Less Party, who got a huge 423 votes in the recent Canada election. (If the video doesn't work, go here for it.)

Not been a personal update in a while. Mainly just accidental community posts that I decided to leave up some of the time. I've been busy elsewhere. I'll give this a stab.

Having a problem with my mum at the moment that I don't know how to deal with. Has anyone else noticed, that something about the email forward lends itself to incredibly offensive content and hard right-wing idiocy? Maybe it's because in a place like LJ you can build the sort of environment you want to see, but email is the preferred form of communication for a lot of people who aren't that into using the internet. Lately mum has been sending me lots more forwards, some of which are fun, but a shocking number of which are terrible. There's been ones about treating prisoners like subhumans, millionaire Saudis being the sole cause of your high bills, and a Bill Gates speech about young people shutting up with their politically correct school teachings. There is, as I've mentioned before, obviously racism and xenophobia, and, confusingly, plenty of jokes that are incredibly anti-women. I wish I could understand why my mum would send these on, especially to her male kid. Is she doing it because she is truly unaware that a joke with a pun based on the word "nagger" (yes, you're thinking right) is going to ruffle my feathers, to put it lightly? Or is it to try and tell me some of her opinions without having to deal with conversing about it with me? Maybe inbetween. She probably doesn't know so much about my opinions of prison labour. I mean, I doubt she'd send me an email saying climate change is all a myth, since she knows I am all about that.

I've considered asking her not to send me forwards, as I can't bring up every email with her individually. Whenever I do, she gets very defensive and dismissive. And I don't want to hurt her feelings, she seems to think it's good interaction between us as she isn't exactly an internet dab hand and I'm worried she would throw a hissyfit and never contact me online again. But this is straining my feelings about her, so the personal reasons for this are important. Any suggestions? I am not trying to just avoid pointing out discrimination, but my hope would be that asking her not to send me forwards or similar actions might make her think about why I have decided to take such seemingly drastic moves. My mum tends to be sympathetic to most of my political opinions, and is not particularly right-wing, I just really think something about email forwards brings out this stuff in people without solid opinions of their own (the seemingly natural lurch towards hateful solutions). Maybe its because most of her friends of her age communicate that way and plenty of them can be really mean people. I've thought about writing my own forwards that espouse my sort of opinions, but if what I think about them is true, it will die quickly, while badly-written mob mentality forwards will get sent on forever.

In retrofire style, here are some really, really cool photos my mum sent me.