Ugly Betty

Watching Ugly Betty would be one of my guiltiest pleasures if I believed in such a concept. Googling people in television programmes that I watch/bands that I like/who make clothes that I like also falls into the un-guilty pleasures category.

While Googling Betty herself, actress America Ferrera this evening, two out of the top ten Google Suggestions that came up were:

America Ferrera Weight Loss
America Ferrera Size

Both above, America Ferrera Movies, America Ferrera Golden Globes etc...

Oh what a world.

Obviously the concept of a programme that highlights the looks of a female character by dressing her up as a pantomime dame (pretty much) and calling her 'ugly' isn't really my flavour, but attempts by the writers to show how fickle and shallow the fashion world is and to give Betty some real warmth, depth and intelligence sweeten the pill. Or some other weak, justifying arguement.

Amanda Blank

Despite being the boring kind of feminist who thinks that young women's constant references to sexing, boozing and flagrant TMI don't do much for the advancement of our gender, I cannot help but love this woman and her dirty rhyming. Her MCing on Spank Rock's Bump (STILL one of my go to party tunes - despite all the 'bitches') was only the start. Her new single 'Might Like You Better' is against pretty much everything I stand for, but I just can't help it.



Anyway, I'm back. Marty Funkhouser suggested that I might find it easier to keep blogging if I switched focus a little bit. I found it so hard to write about politics this Summer because every single post was complex, negative and painful. I would lose the will to write before I came to a conclusion and I felt as though I wasn't qualified to talk about the things I was trying to. So here's my new plan: more stuff I like, less agonised ranting. There'll still be a 'political' bent and political posts but I'm going to throw more fun stuff into the mix to keep me sane.

Sorry

I haven't written anything for ages because I've been so angry with the world that I couldn't write anything sensible. Sorry. I'll be back.

BNP MEPs

Hmmmm, not much to say except 'This is the price of apathy and 'punishing'* a government you are annoyed with by NOT VOTING!"

Hopefully, next time those who didn't vote for whatever reason will, having realised that their actions have had an effect. We can only hope that the European far-right parties fall out over who gets to hold the fascio or something and don't gain too much sway.

*Who came up with this wrongheaded bollocks?

Oh Lord

This group of drunk Israeli young people are obviously not representative of all Israeli youth. But this abhorrent display has turned my stomach. How can we expect peace in the Middle East when this is what my generation feels that they have the right to say about the first western politician to make any real overtures to spread peace and unity? The racism, the ignorance* and unwillingness to move on the Israel Palestine problem is also worrisome. What really astounds me is the belief that Obama doesn't care about Israel is laughable when a central tenant of the Cairo speech was America's unbreakable bonds with Israel, which must have been unpalatable to more than just Palestinian man, who had been bombed out of his home by Israeli soldiers interviewed by Channel Four News last week.

All in all, yuk.

*How can a politics student think that Obama was born outside of the states (as though no one would have noticed) and not know who Benjamin Netanyahu is? For God's sake! I know I could have attended more lectures and read more books then I did at university, but that's a disgrace.

Things I Like

I'm trying very hard not to write about The Labour Party's implosion at the moment, I'm trying hard not to think about it either. It's beyond depressing (to me) that due to a catalogue of errors and nonsense I might find myself governed by a Conservative government after the next election, especially after being patronised and yelled at by a Conservative councillor at a party a couple of weeks ago, who was still hanging on to that old school 'Teenage girls get pregnant for council flats' bollocks.

Anyway, instead of that here are some things that I like:



I spotted this mural on Leigham Court Road last month when my mum stayed with my cousin in Streatham. I tried to take pictures with my bollocksy camera phone, but couldn't get a clear image. This one is from Google Streetview (hahaha! they've blurred Max's face!) and was posted on one of my new favourite blogs We Love You So which is a marketing blog for the upcoming film adaptation of Maurice Sendack's Where The Wild Things Are.



It was one of my favourite books as a kiddy and I'm really excited about the film, especially since Spike Jonze is in the director's chair and the trailer features music from Arcade Fire. Anyway, about three minutes walk from the mural is a primary school (the one my little sister attended in fact), I hope that once in a while one of the little ones looks up and gets excited.

I'm also getting into Neon Genesis Evangelion, the contraversial and hugely popular anime series by Hideaki Anno and Gainax that started in 1995. I have a ton of friends who have always been into anime and have tried to get me to watch Evangelion for years, I resisted for so long, but have finally given in. I wish I hadn't been so stubborn. Next thing you know I'll be at Comic Con dressed as the Major from Ghost In The Shell. A geek is born.

I saw this on another blog this morning and it made me wistful for the times I'm not having dancing on roofs with my friends in New York:



Oh..and this



Joan As Policewoman's Christobel. I know, I know, it came out in 2006 but I had a lot on that year..maybe. This isn't an official video, but the song is worth watching the Youtube tribute video.

When You Feel Good...

....You can wear your knickers in the street!

What the eff? Really!

Happy Belated One Year Terrorist Fist Bump Anniversary Barack And Michelle!

Here's a post I wish I had thought of from Gawker.

In honour of this auspicious anniversary Barack Obama shows us just what a Muslim-loving, terrorist, communist, socialist he is.

Violent, Cynical, Broken and Full Of Immigrants - Britain According To Andrew Flintoff

'I have no problems with a multicultural society, I think that is to the benefit of the country. But you have to be careful what levels you take it to.

'It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country and they don't understand what I am saying because they don't speak English.'

Hmmmm? Are you sure that they don't understand you because they don't speak English or could it be because you're wasted after being rescued from drunken night time pedallo ride or because you've won The Ashes and have celebrated too hard?

As an immigrant myself I obviously get wound up by ignorant pricks claiming that we're all benefit cheating scroungers who are too lazy to speak English. But this from a dude who doesn't respect his country enough to behave like a grown man when representing the national team at his beloved sport? Do me a lemon!*

I don't stay in as many hotels as Mr Flintoff, but I can bet that most English hotels choose receptionists for their communication skills, would it be in their interest to hire someone that guests complained about? It doesn't make good business sense you douche!

He continues:

"There are places I wouldn't go to now. You see these reports of stabbings, bottlings, shootings, and you think, "What is happening to this country?"

I think rap music has a lot to do with it. It makes it sound cool not to conform, and to be violent. That's why I think sport plays such an important role. Cricket kept me away from trouble."

ARGH!

If I have to hear one more wealthy person in the public eye bemoaning the state of the nation because there are places that they would no longer go I will scream. Of course there are places you would no longer go, (There are places places that I will no longer go now that I have a job, Matalan being one of them) you're rich! You don't have to go to Peckham (what's the Prestonion equivalent of Peckham any one?) or Camberwell. Just because you're living large doesn't mean that the world is any more violent than it was. British people have been bottling one another since the the cavemen fashioned bottles out of stone and filled them with water** I mean come on! Christopher Marlowe was stabbed in the eye in a drinking den in 1593! 

This is not to say that binge drinking and violence among teenagers is not a serious issue, it totally is, but I don't think it's caused by rap music (are we still pushing conformity and blaming music for complex societal issues?) or solved by sport (don't most schools force their students into PE anyway?)

Flintoff continues:

'Our reputation abroad is getting worse, we are seen as a violent country now.'  

Now? NOW? For as long as I can remember Brits Abroad have been getting pissed and nicking pedaloes, sorry, having fights. Nothing much has changed, except the fact that our highly visible sportsmen do it too. European football fans have always thought of England fans as a bunch of lairy thugs , because of the lairy thuggery they indulged in while watching England abroad or at home. When you look at pictures of people no longer allowed to travel and watch the national side on the news it's not a group of immigrants or hip hop loving teenagers is it? Are white English males being influenced by immigrants to ruck on the streets of Cologne and Croydon in the name of patriotism? No.

When I was a teenager I was banned from going on a trip to Aiya Napa (I didn't want to go anway - f'real!) with a group of friends because of all the violence, boozing and teenage shagging in the streets and it wasn't just the black kids or the immigrant kids, it was all of them and it still is.

To lay Britain's problems squarely at the feet of immigrants and immigration policy is a nonsense. A racist, ignorant and ill informed nonsense. How does he think his words make us immigrants feel? How does he think they make team mate Monty Panesar and his family feel? 

My favourite bit is this though:

'But when you go to somewhere like India you realise we're not in that bad a shape. We have a tendency in Britain to talk ourselves down.

'I wouldn't want to be American, but you have to admire the way they talk themselves up as a people, athletes and as a country. Our glass is always half empty.'

Thanks for talking down to us and talking us down Mr Flintoff. Looking to the most famous country of immigrants in history as an example of something to work towards is a blogger's dream. Thank you so much for making mine. I also love the reference to India, as though you can fairly compare the development of a country that was colonised to the country that did the colonising. Nice work there Freddie.

Link to article here, pinched from The Daily Mail's website, lots of amusing and distressing comments from the public as always.

*See! I know idioms and slang and everything!

** I have no evidence of this

World Of Lather

In recent years I have become an avid Eastenders viewer. I know, I know. It's rubbish, everyone is miserable and it's full of poor working class caricatures of the British working classes that don't and shouldn't really emotionally affect me or anyone else.

But for God's sake, will someone please save Dot Cotton?! My heart is breaking!

* I know she married Jim Branning, but she'll always be Dot Cotton to me.

Oh brother!

I may as well just call this blog 'I hate Jezebel. Why do I still read it?!'

Tropicana ad causes controversy

Now I know that often adverts play on stereotypes and use them to sell us stuff and this is what has been done here. It's an obvious play on the devil/angel dichotomy and while that is cliched, dull and a bit silly. What's maddenlingly dumb is the mention of undertones of sexuality in the article and the mind-bogglingly easy jump the commenters have made to sex faces, peadophilia and the idea that an advert like this would NEVER be made with boys. It's bullcrap, it's annoying and it's making me want to smash my own face in.

What A Woman - Update!

Kari Ferrell aka The Hipster Grifter has been arrested in Philadelphia. Ok, this happened about a week ago, but I've been lazy. She told everyone that her arrest was due to her finally taking herself down to the cop shop and telling the fuzz 'It's a fair cop guv, take me dahn' but it turns out she was shopped (boo! hiss!) by some dude in a band. 

Anyway, she's still lying all over the place, mainly in court though. She told the court that she has a degree, which she doesn't and has never been enrolled at the university she claims she graduated from.

I don't know, when she was running around New York fleecing hipsters and getting hotdogs thrown down her hallway she was more fun than when she's lying in court and sleeping in jail. It's kind of sad actually. 

Does anyone want to throw their bandanna in the ring and take her place in the Hipster hierarchy (purely for my entertainment)? Sleeves/front/back pieces - a must.

Gawker

Whoa! John Stewart Criticises The Obama Administration

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Moral Kombat
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

I think Stewart is right here. Blocking pictures of the American military torturing foreigners to me says 'Doing this is ok because we sometimes get information that we need from it, but um..don't look at us while we do it, because it's totally wrong and we know it really'. Former Governer of Minnesota Jesse Ventura (yes, Jesse 'The Body' Ventura) made some pretty good points of on Fox this week. He asked that if waterboarding is so incredibly central to information gathering and attack prevention then, why doesn't America do it to domestic criminals and even domestic terrorists like Tim McVeigh? It's a good question, with an obvious answer and if a former wrestler can work it out, then more fool Fox right? This guy was a Navy Seal in Vietnam and had his lungs fucked up by Agent Orange (this is irrelevant - but this this guy is double hard) and is probably the only talking head who has actually been waterboarded (apart from Christopher Hitchens), shouldn't we be listening to him when he says it's torturous? Hmmm.

Also the dismissal of Dan Choi and 53 other openly gay servicemen (Arabic translators no less) is beyond ridiculous. Don't Ask Don't Tell is hopelessly flawed, it doesn't protect gay servicemen and women from discrimination and doesn't make the military any safer for gay soldiers to work in. I mean, what are they expecting to happen? Widespread military gaybashings? Isn't that happening already? If so, then problems in the military go deeper than homosexuality. It also angers me that President Obama has changed his mind on the issue, which he was so vehemently against while campaigning. I don't mind 'flip flopping' in itself, I think it's good that politicians learn more about an issue and change their minds. (I hate the way the public and media act as though listening to protest and changing your mind is a sign of weakness when to me it's a sign of good government and representation - but what do I know?) But simply refusing to get involved when you promised that you would is a whole bunch of bullhockey.

I have a very biased view of servicemen, everyone I speak to who lives in a garrison town has had problems with squaddies or knows someone who has, a mate of mine was thrown through the window of a restaurant in the middle of Colchester at midday by a squaddie who thought that he was 'looking at his bird'. Shouldn't we picking the best of the best to serve our countries? Not the violent and bigoted ones who just happen  to graduate West Point and Sandhurst*. The left must be pretty airaited about this as John Stewart is a dyed in the wool Obama supporter and to criticise him on television must have been a difficult decision to make. This is the kind of media analysis I like to do, it's clear, transparent doesn't take unnecessary potshots

Following American politics is much more interesting than following our own, mainly because I don't feel as depressed because these douchebags don't look after my interests, unlike the people we elected.  I feel sorry that Michael Martin is taking the fall for the expenses scandal. He didn't take the cash and stuff it into the pockets of the MPs, he shouldn't be taking the rap alone. Obviously.

*I'm a liberal, of course I am pre-programmed to hate the military. But you know, all the rapes (like this one, this one, oh and this one), murders (and don't forget the rapes AND murders) and Deepcuts don't help matters.

It's Squeaky Bum Time For The Labour Party

Labour MPs Who Cheat On Expenses Will Be Deselected And Barred From Running In The Next General Election

Fuck. This could change the face of the Labour Party and politics in Britain. With The Guardian referring to the expenses bruhaha as a 'constitutional crisis' (I've been dying to use that phrase since lower sixth Government and Politics lessons), this is it. If this was the West Wing and I was Josh Lyman I'd be calling all the principled, small time local politicians I know and urging them to get their butts into the House of Commons. All I can say (and I've deliberately avoided talking about this, as I feel the media - who are the kings of fudging expenses claims - have whipped up the British public's ire despite the fact that no one I've spoken to is actually surprised) is that this could do us all some good. Labour probably wont win the next election, but at least the party will be cleansed of some of the most cynical members of Parliament who care the least about us and our interests. Maybe.

Yukyukyuk!

I was going to post something deep (a slightly larger than average puddle on a country lane, or about half a bath) about media intrusion into the lives of terminally ill celebrities (what I stole from Popbitch - Hmmm) but I nicked this instead:

Police have confirmed that two Premiership
footballers have had their houses burgled
on the same night last Tuesday.

Ryan Giggs had 70 welsh caps, 10 premiership
medals, 2 champions league medals, 5 FA cup
medals, 1 league cup medal, 2 world club
cup medals, 8 charity shield medals and 1
super cup medal stolen.

Emmanuel Adebayor lost a kettle and a toaster.


HAHAHAHAHAH!

Oh please.

Britain's Naughty It Girls.

Shut up.

It's Been A Long Time A Long Time, I Shouldn't Have Left You

I haven't posted in a while, not because I haven't had anything to rant about (please see friends and significant other for evidence) but because I am a lazy arse.

Anyway, The Incredible Human Journey - Out Of Africa with Dr Alice Roberts has forced me back to blog-moaning. I really excitedly watched this last night (after looking forward to it since I saw the adverts for it last week) but found myself disappointed. As with all history/anthropology/geography/archaeology television programmes at the moment (apart from Time Team) the host, Dr Alice Roberts, is beautiful, photogenic and engaging; presenting in a call and response style (that drove my history degree holding boyfriend mad) she began to explain how early human beings had travelled from the cradle of life in East Africa to populate the rest of the world, travelling through the harsh deserts of the Sahara and Arabia (which we find out weren't so desert-like for a few thousand years so those intrepid few could pass through a lush, green and fresh water filled oasis where the Sahara is now) to the Middle East, Europe, Asia, The Americas blah blah blah.

Through DNA analysis, clever boffins have worked out that if you're not African you are descended from the few Africans who made just ONE successful trip from the continent to everywhere else. Pretty cool huh? Yeah, well except if you're African. I felt SO inadequate! The whole rest of humanity come from these adventurers who got up, dusted themselves off and bloody walked across continents and shagged like mad and made new homes all over the place. But me? Pah, my lot couldn't be bothered. We walked from one coast to the other and no further. Booo! How crap.

Also crap was the buff, tattooed, motorcycle riding American archaeologist that they dug up (arf! geddit!) from somewhere to temper Dr Roberts' clear eyed, home counties charm and make archaeology seem somehow dangerous and rock and roll. Barf.

Not all bad though, I was quite touched by a discovery in Israel (I think) of 10 Stone Age graves containing skeletons buried with items, explaining this as an example of modern thinking, ritual and even evidence of a belief in some form of afterlife I got a bit teary. I wanted to be an archaeologist as a child, but gave it up when I decided that all the cool stuff had been discovered (natch!) how wrong I was. How life affirming it must be to find these things for the first time and revel in the wonder of human endeavour, exploration and discovery. Amazing. 

Anyway, to sum up Sunday night TV science programme makes me feel lectured, irritated, insecure and full of wonder in turns. Standard.

 

No surprises

G20 protest videos: Growing catalogue of evidence against police


See previous post.

What A Woman 2!

This Woman, Maureen Lipman, an actress with more than 40 years experience behind her has written to Daily Telegraph theatre critic, Charles Spencer, who described her as "a wildly unlikely grande horizontale who is supposed to have slept her way round most of the royal families of Europe" in his review of A Little Night Music at the Garrick because of her angular looks. Slagged of for not being fit enough by a man too gnome like to be a theatre critic (in my opinion)? Good grief.

Lipman wrote to Spencer is response to his review enclosing pictures of homely women in history who have won the hearts of kings and aristocrats including Wallis Simpson and The Countess of Wessex. I think the photographs uncessary (sure I get the point, but doesn't sending pictures of women often called ugly lend creedence to the idea that what you look like matters?), the letter too. I would have just picked up the phone and bellowed 'FUCK OFF'. I imagine my feelings would have been perfectly clear.

What A Woman!

All evening I've been reading stories about this woman. Kari Ferrell, a 21 year old from Salt Lake City who has managed to steal more than $60,000 from various people in her home town and a variety of hipsters in New York. She even managed to get a job at Vice Magazine on the back of her charm, wit, a fake job at GoldenVoice and a massive set of balls. Now I know I shouldn't idolise theives and liars who bring untold levels of pain to the people around them, but there's something a little bit sexy about being able to use your looks, wits and front to make a living. Right? Right? Anyway Utah have extradited her and she's bound to go to jail. Hopefully when she gets out she wont see this blogpost and think me a kindred spirit. I don't have enough cash to keep her in tattoos and 'cancer' treatments.

Read articles from
The New York Observer
Gawker Media

Amazon Fail Update

So Amazon are explaining away the removal of sales ranks from gay, lesbian and sex-related literature as a 'glitch' that they are trying to fix. The internet is ablaze with conspiracy theories More news below.

Publishers Weekly

Salon.Com

And yes, Jezebel

Amazon Rank

So it turns out that Amazon.com have been removing the sales rankings from Gay and Lesbian literature titles that they sell on their site. No big deal right? Well wrong, removing the sales ranks from a book keeps the book out of the best seller lists and off customer's minds. Their excuse is 'Please Think Of The Children!!!!!' or Amazon is used by everyone and that adult items need to be classified seperately. But as it stands, you can still see the sales rank on Rampant Rabbits, Clit Massagers and Ron Jeremy's Biography but not Heather Has Two Mommies, Queer Theory, Gender Theory; An Instant Primer or Ellen Degeneres' biography. This is bigoted, wrong-headed, illogical nonsense. It means that when you search for homosexuality on Amazon you get this list. A list that begins with 'A Parent's Guide To Preventing Homosexuality' and continues in pretty much the same vein (bar a few children's books - they'll be gone next as it's them we're thinking of, of course) is hardly representative and I don't want my reading and my moral viewpoint on homosexuality to be dictated to me by bloody Amazon!

It started with gay and lesbian books and now books containing sexual content are also gone, Delta of Venus - Bye, Lady Chatterly's Lover (Of course banned in the UK until 1960) - Later.

LiveJournal community MetaWriter are keeping a list of all the books affected. Peruse and wonder whether this is really 2009.

Oh and here's a link to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Google Bombing page. Amazon Rank. Link to it, if you feel the need.

BEHOLD! The coming of God.

Sorry. Dog.

BO!

Happy Easter.

More News

This stuff isn't as heavy as death...

I have a real love/hate relationship with Women's issue blog Jezebel. At first I loved it, loads and loads of female-centric news stories, articles about sexism in the US presidential elections, and an opportunity to talk to other women about the issues that are close to my womanly bosom (failures of the police to catch rape, attitudes to women in the West and everywhere else, the sexualisation of young girls). But good Lord I mostly hate it now. In their desperation to keep the blog as light as it is serious, they're clogging the pages up with daily (at least!) stories about Lindsay Lohan, clips from trashy exploitative reality television shows like Bad Girls Club and Rock Of Love, and posting mean comments about pretty inoffensive women that they don't like (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston, Nadya Suleman please stand up) while lecturing posters on Girl-On-Girl crime*. 

They also like to fly off the handle, take this for example. This Youtube vlogger Jesusophile posts a litany (arf!) of pro-Christian videos on Youtube and his latest video 'Why It Is Okay For Sex To Hurt The Vagina' got Jezebel editors and commenters really riled up. I watched about 2 minutes of the video and it was pretty clear to me (and most of the Youtube commenters) that this guy is a troll, posting outrageous things for attention. But most Jezebel commenters didn't look at it critically and just posted earnest messages about not caring what God thinks about their vaginas and punching him in the face. 

This is what I hate, hate, hate about Jezebel (along with the frankly unfunny and often mean Pot Psychology - A word of advice, sure you guys are stoned but if someone writes in with a serious worry and you can't give a serious answer, skip it). A lot of the commenters will dive in head first and write embarrassing comments without actually studying the evidence. 

I most definitely describe  myself as a feminist, I respect myself and other women, but unlike some Jezebel commenters I'm not blind to our faults. In order to be taken seriously, we need to be serious, (not all the time), but a blog that purports to reflect the views and interests of today's young feminists can not be posting videos of women in bikinis fighting over men and calling each other bitch when we know that these programmes denigrate and humiliate women for the benefit of the public, so why give them the oxygen of our attention? Why post pictures of cute cats all day so that everyone can comment with 'Awwww' and 'Nom Nom Nom' ad infinitum? Why are Barack Obama's abs more important than his policy, while they complain about Michelle Obama being reduced to mannequin? I mean, if Gawker Media commenters take the piss out of you, you know something is wrong.

Oh and of course there was Rape-gate last year. Moe Tkacik (who now solely works for Gawker) and Tracie Egan aka 'Slut Machine' (who has recently got engaged and funnily enough, now not so comfortable with being known by her former moniker). The two editors went on the Shoot The Messenger Show, got drunk and made some really questionable statements about women who  are raped ('they are like, not smart'), birth control ('pulling out is like, fun') and date rape. Forgive me, but I can't take birth control advice from anyone called Slut Machine/has herpes. 

Click for reportage by interviewer Lizz Winstead.

That may sound completely bitchy and Girl-On-Girl crimey** but I was and still am completely appalled by the things that these women said. Calling into question the intelligence of women who have been raped just because you have been lucky enough not to be is just not on, and then to continue to call yourself a feminist after that is just fucking stupid. But some women are of the opinion that what Tracie said was ok, and that the rest of us are hypocritical and stupid for being of any other opinion. I despair. You can't justify the fact that you've said some really stupid things by saying 'Oh I always stupid things, now chill out grandma!' It just makes you look like a douche. 

Anyway, if anyone can suggest a less hateable blog with a feminist slant, please do.

*Are we really referring to women as 'girls' on a feminist website? Really?

** Seriously. Really?

The News

As a member of the black community people often ask me if I trust the police, a catalogue of injustices, failures and out and out crimes perpetrated against people from ethnic minorities in Britain has eroded the trust that swathes of the community had in those we pay to protect us. So people ask me 'Do you trust the police?' and being the pretty traditional, straight laced liberal that I am I answer yes. I do trust the police. I still carry my house keys in my hand when walking home (to fight attackers with) just like PC Lady* taught me at 14, I still look for a policeman to help me if I get lost, just like Mummy taught me when I was 4. I have faith in them, I trust them to find the baddies and keep me safe from them. I trust the uniform, I trust the hat and badge and even the shit looking bikes. But the downright thuggery shown to Ian Tomlinson during last week's G20 protests has absolutely astounded and appalled me. Should I be astounded and appalled? Probably not. Should I even be surprised? With the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on my doorstep, the failure of the police to apprehend John Worboys who may have raped and sexually assaulted over 100 women in six years, their failure to catch rapist Kirk Reid despite him being a suspect with DNA on file for over four years (again in my neighbourhood), the BBC's The Secret Policeman documentary, The MacPherson Report, the fact that the men widely believed to be the killers of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 are still walking free etc..etc..etc... should have eroded my faith in the boys and girls in blue, but video evidence of a man in a passive stance merely walking along the street trying to get home and away from the protests being hit and pushed by a police officer has shocked and enraged me. 

This is probably because not catching a criminal is one thing, but attacking a defenceless man walking home from work is an entirely different kettle of shit. The police are paid to protect and serve not to attack anyone under any circumstances. Especially people who have made no violent or insolent overtures. I hate to think that there's no one but my own good self to protect me anymore. But it's finally dawned on me that I could be unlucky and come across that one violent, thuggish or racist police officer just when I need them the most. 

And this isn't solely a race or women's issue either, this could happen to any of us. Ian Tomlinson was an average looking white male wending his way home. Whether he should have moved out of the police officers' way (There's no evidence that they asked him to) is immaterial what happened to him was wrong and illegal. Even if he hadn't died it would still be wrong and illegal.

*This is not her real name.

The Britsh public, Don't you just love 'em?

The residents of the village of Broughton

Google Streetview may (or may not) be invasive, but describing it as an invitation for bad men to come and rob your affluent village because they can see it on the internet is probably the most idiotic reason for objecting to anything that I have ever heard*. Robbers are too busy studying fixture lists and robbing premiership footballers while they play away to bother with suburban towns who draw attention to their opulence in the national press when no one would bothered to look them up had they not.

Anyway, I'm surprised that the majority of the responses on The Daily Mail's website are actually sensible reasoned arguments** contradicting the facile, NIMBYism displayed by the residents of Broughton, Cambridgeshire. But there are, of course, plenty of 'THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!' comments to delight and amuse.

Enjoy!

*This is unlikely to be true.
** Yuk, I hope I never have to say this again. They're probably Guardian readers who have gone on a web holiday.

Sunday Morning

Articles I read in this morning's papers, (ok colour supplements).

From Here To Divinity - Tim Lott - The Sunday Times
I always enjoy (but rarely completely understand) reading articles about the Science vs. God debate. Like most of my generation, I am confused about the existance of God, I was brought up to beleive in Him, but science has tried to persuade me otherwise (Catholic schools don't teach you about The Big Bang...or contraception - what a strange bunch we must be). I admit that for the most part I no longer believe in an all-seeing, all-knowing deity, but there is nothing in His place and I'm not sure that this vacuum, this emptiness enriches me.

Michelle Obama - 'She Chose Us - Carole Cadwallr - The Observer
I love Michelle Obama. I admit it. She's a hero, a superstar, she is everything that I want to be: beautiful, intelligent, brilliant with class, verbose, erudite, and inspirational. Although it is probably too late for me, it is most definitely not too late for the young ladies of Elizabeth Garett Anderson Language College who were surprised by a visit from The First Lady this week. When discussing this article with my friend Jennifer Hodgson (an incredible young woman who has fled our shores to escape the inanity of the British press) the shine was taken off this article a little.

Of course Mrs Obama gave a fantastic speech, she is an incredible woman, why shouldn't she make an inspirational and touching speech? Should it be such a surprise that a Princeton and Harvard Law graduate should know how to speak well? I have a feeling that all the talk of her clothes and her guns (on both sides of the Atlantic) has made us forget that she is more than a first wife in lovely dresses. Regardless of whether we should be impressed by the speech itself is the effect she seemed to have on the pupils of this state school in the much maligned Islington school district (where numerous New Labour polititians have refused to school their children - not that this is not their choice).

For sixteen year old Brenda Mensah, the idea that being smart was cool was received loud and clear. I wish someone had told me that at 16. I was smart, but never cool (and I'm still not), I messed around and have squandered what potential I had on trying to keep up with my apathetic chums. I did ok, but I'm not what I could have been. I hope that Mrs Obama's words have penetrated the culture of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Language college and girl's schools all over the world. We need our young women, we need them to be more than the frankly pathetic image of feminism that pervades online blogs (yes I'm talking about you Jezebel). We need our young women to do better, to be better, especially those who have been for the most part forgotten.

Cinema's Best Kep Secret - Kelly Macdonald - Carole Cadwallr - The Observer
Another article about Kelly Macdonald being forgotten despite appearing in some of the best films of the 90s and 00s. Yawn.

This Much I Know - Damien Lewis - The Observer
Damien Lewis appears to be a self-obsessed knobber. I know that the article is about him, but yuk.

I also looked at the pictures in an article about The Return Of The Beefcake in The Observer Woman Monthly which as usual enraged me. I couldn't care less about Madonna, expensive beauty products, Scarlett Johansson's clothing and make up regimes. I'm not that sort of woman and don't know many who are. Who is this suplement for?

Oh and on a completely off topic note, how can my (soon to be ex) housemate be all about slamming doors in the middle of the night and early morning but not when having (loud completely ridiculous spanky) sex with his girlfriend in the middle of the afternoon? I have never wanted anyone out of my hair more.

West London = Bizzaro World

On Friday night I went to a friend's birthday party in Notting Hill. The party was at a small club called The Globe on Talbot Road, the bar is on two levels, with the upstairs bit serving rice and peas, old black doormen who lectured me about being too trusting when I had my phone stolen and kissed me as though I was their daughter. But when I went downstairs and found a sea of young, beautiful, visibly wealthy and privileged youngsters dancing to hip hop, ragga, grime, garage and braaaapping like there was no tomorrow. 

It reminded me a lot of the 2005  Kill Whitey scandal in which the Williamsburg hipster club night whose raison d'etre was to "kill the whiteness inside" by grinding and bumping to Miami Bootybass in some vulgar impression of what black clubs are like. My favourite part is Bianca Casady's (half of hipster favourites CoCoRosie) comments about Kill Whitey being a safe place to be sexual with your friends as there are no scary "hardcore" black men there to touch you up. Nice.

Luckily there was no "Free entry with a bucket of chicken" but there's something odd about a writhing group of poshos dancing to black music, who would probably never step foot in an actual factual black club. I'm not angry about it though, definitely not as angry as I was about Kill Whitey, because once I'd seen it I knew why (also because no one actually said anything that pissed me off), sure dudes called Alfred were dancing to Mr Vegas but there's nothing wrong with that in itself. If they had been saying that the only reason why they were there was because black people are too aggressive and they're scared of getting stabbed it would be a different story. I get that people gravitate to their own crowd, and that's fine but Kill Whitey's 'Tha Pumpsta' needs to appreciate that co-opting exaggerating the worst stereotypes of a race or culture and then refusing to admit that what you're doing could be seen as not funny (at best) or racist (at worst) is what really got my goat all the way back in 20o5 and still does now.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I was there too and I had a great time (until someone stole my phone) I was fully into the music and the sweaty writhing and I don't exactly go to many black clubs. However, this is not because I fear black men but mostly because I like my grime mixed in with a bit of Metronomy and The Whitest Boy Alive.

Humorous But Fluffy

Okay, that should be fluffy but humorous 

www.postcardsfromyomomma.com

Good Afternoon...

After two and a half months of dilly-dallying I have finally started my blog. It has taken so long because I wasn't sure that I have anything of interest to say to anyone. I'm still not sure, but workplace boredom has overtaken trepidation.

Anyway, I will probably be embarrassed by this soon. But let's see how long it lasts eh...

Things that I am reading

Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dr Faustus - Christopher Marlowe

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

This is not showing off. Instead of these things making me seem/feel clever, they make me feel dumber than I do every day at  my brain rotting meedja job. I'm struggling through the concrete of dense dialogue and throw each book over my shoulder and turn to The London Paper when stumped.

Things I want to read instead

From Hell - Alan Moore

Wetlands - Charlotte Roche

Oh dear, I'm embarrassed already.