[we]blog

This section is an unneccessary hybrid of what in my day were called 'diaries' and a section on a former incarnation of this site called 'rants'. Here you may marvel at the emptiness of my day-to-day life in the West Midlands and my increasingly pathetic attempts to make sense of it all.

press response 5/1/2008 You may recall last year’s state-censored news story about the ‘BNP Bombers’ and their bomb-factory in NW England.

I wrote to the Editors of Pendle Today, the only paper that reported the Police raid and arrest of the two neo-Nazis:

Message: http://www.pendletoday.co.uk/colnenews/Chemicals-Find-Two-In-Court.1806590.jp

Sirs -

I am very curious to know how it was that the above (fairly newsworthy) story was carried by Pendle Today but apparently ignored by the BBC, ITN, Reuters etc. I was wondering if you could furnish me with an explanation of this?

Regards,

Indra Sarkar

One of the Editors was good enough to write back to me:

Hello, Indra.

Thanks for your email. Obviously, we were the ones who initially ran the story, along with the Lancashire Telegraph. We felt it was a good story and it was lead in our edition. We expected the national press and TV to carry it, but we were surprised by the low-scale coverage at national level. I felt the police could have been more positive in putting out the story to the nationals via press releases, but they didn't certainly cover it up.

My feeling was that, had it been Asians, it would have been lead in the Daily Mail. But I also felt it was just a belief among the nationals that this was just a pair of ageing eccentrics who had explosives, and therefore they did not take it seriously.

I have to say that there was a fair amount of coverage at national level when the case went to court (twice, in fact, due to the first jury failing to agree a verdict).

We have an inter-community media group here and clearly this was a key issue which was discussed extensively - the thought there was that it would have been taken much more seriously if it was Muslims who had had explosives - the Bristol case, for instance.

Hope this is helpful, although, having run the story on a big scale ourselves as a local newspaper, we can't really express the thoughts of the national media. It might be worth asking their views on it.

Best wishes,

Peter.
-------------------------------------------------------
Peter Dewhurst
News Editor (Nelson Leader, Colne Times and Barnoldswick and Earby Times)
East Lancashire Newspapers Ltd
37 Scotland Road,
Nelson,
Lancashire,
BB9 7UT

Incidentally, I’m not the only one blogging on the subject, you can find further accounts of the continuing farce of the trial here.

yikes! i'm a father... 1/17/2008 It was really all supposed to happen on New Year's Eve. And by the time it got to halfway through January the Consultants said 'its time' and suddenly I was with M at the hospital having a baby...
Kobi Rudra Jean-Jacques Anderson was born in Birmingham at 1250am today. He is a cute but also very strong little guy with punchy fists and kicky legs. He weighed a healthy 8lbs 14oz at birth and I already love him in a way it is beyond the abilities of all currently known languages to express.
He can move his head about already and was heard hungrily smacking his lips about thirty seconds after being born. He’s also got a loud set of lungs on him too, as this clip will testify.
I have succumbed to an enormous weight of soppy, floppy, dopey tendency and have resolved to do my utmost to ensure these pages become neither:

messily cutesy/ family or baby-oriented, or...
a warts-and-all account of an increasing embittered, middle-aged man ranting at, variously, taxes, the cost of living, his awful boss, other, easier, targets in society, largely as a consequence of having a brace of children under twelve in his menage and never getting any time to relax, or indeed sleep, or
badly written descriptions of the awe, wonder and pure love that fills my heart almost to the point of bursting, everytime I look at M and my son. And also the profound sense of a new but strangely pleasant weight of responsibility on my unaccustomed shoulders.

Only time will tell if I go under completely and become the sort of person who has framed photos of his kids on his desk at work.

society matters: oap 12/18/2007 Sudden snowfall this evening in Birmingham. About nine o’ clock I went to the petrol station to fill up. And there, standing under the shelter of the covered forecourt, but still being blown with the snow that blew everywhere in the high winds, was an inadequately dressed woman of around seventy years of age. She was dressed in threadbare garments from a variety of recent decades, old worn gum-boots on her feet and she had no coat or hat. Her hair was white and thinning, scalp peeling horribly. She asked me for change as I walked back to my car from the hatch. I don’t know why.
She needed money for her pre-paid electricity meter, she had £1.22 and needed to take it up to two. I had noticed that motorists were studiously ignoring her and felt a slight frisson of goodness as I gave her the silver in my hand (a great deal less than a pound, probably). But there was another problem, she needed to get to another shop, about 3 miles away, in the blizzard, to actually charge her card and then, it slowly transpired minutes later when we were in my car, to her home, about two miles from there.
As one might expect she absolutely stank of all the usual odours. It is the only time I have used the auto-lower feature of all four electric windows in my Golf at the same time and I was forced to drive blind through the snowstorm, sucking icy air filled with flakes, from the open window by my face like a breast-stroke swimmer; breathing hard to ward off the retches.
On arrival at the shop she explained that I would have to go and buy the electricity as she had been barred entry to the shop for an earlier outburst and/or incident. She was as vague on this as on most subjects so after buying the electricity and dropping her off at her home I felt that, having assisted someone who also had some kind of mental illness on top of being old and poor, I had done something really selfless and good. On arriving home, I realised that I had also missed something, I forget now what, on TV and this compounded this not-unpleasant sense of my own goodness.
But of course Vanity is a short-lived delight and soon enough I found myself lying awake (M is quite heavily (i.e. nearly nine months) pregnant) wondering what the OAP would have done if no one had performed for her the minor act of kindness of a few pennies and a lift to the shops. She would surely have died of exposure had she attempted the journey on foot that evening. She mentioned a son and grandchildren and I wondered who would knowingly let their 70+ year old mother wander about dementedly late at night in the snow, lacking heat and light and obviously in a bad state of health and personal hygiene. Who indeed would let their 70+ year old neighbour do this?
I would like to wish you and your families and those you love, a happy, peaceful and love-filled Christmas/Winter Festival*, and urge you, as gaze bloatedly at your family, light a cigar and drink your port, to spare a thought for those everywhere who are less fortunate than you.

__________
* - reference to secular end-of-year celebrations included by Order of the Taliban-Dominated Birmingham City Council. [I would just like to point out that this footnote bit was an ill-advised and v.last-minute attempt at a joke. - ED]

bnp bomber jailed 7/31/2007 Robert Cottage gets two and a half years for possessing ‘the largest bomb-making factory ever discovered in Britain’.
Whilst I am obviously pleased, I can't help but ponder the unfairness of giving such a person a sentence more associated with defaulting on council tax or evading taxes, both of which seem fairly trivial compared to plotting to kill thousands of people with home-made bombs.

poor shambo 7/27/2007 They only went and did it didn't they? Fascists.

shambo the bull - stay of execution 7/16/2007 Delighted to hear that the cruel and unneccessary Government order to slaughter Shambo the Temple Bull at the Skanda Vale Hindu Temple in Wales was overturned by a High Court Judge today.
Its especially gratifying to see the rights of one of Britain’s peace-loving, non-violent communities being upheld for once; especially in these days of Jihadist appeasement.

bnp bombers in court 7/2/2007 Those two fine-looking fellows were up in court in Manchester today. You may recall that they’re the BNP Bombers from last year who are finally being tried for running a massive bomb-factory.
I’m glad that the BBC have now deemed the story worth reporting. Perhaps to give a little balance to the reporting of attacks on Glasgow airport and Tiger Tiger, that mecca for the terminally vacuous.

dead doggy doo 6/18/2007 I try, as far as is possible, to live my life by age-old Buddhist/Hindu ideals of peace and non-violence. Keeping my thoughts away from darkness does take superhuman effort sometimes, but I suppose this is largely the point, spiritual and mental discipline being a tool to be used on the journey to some kind of enlightenment or at least acceptance of one’s place in the universe.
I was turning f*cking cartwheels however on hearing of Manning’s waay too tardy demise. A man who regularly advised Black and Asian people at his gigs to take their pint glasses home with them "because no fucker here’ll drink out of it after you" - a man who knowingly and deliberately took delight in fanning the flames of racial tension in the towns and cities of Britain in the 1970s and 80s and no doubt in news of the consequent mindless and cowardly assaults carried out by his fans.
For the reasons presented earlier - and because its just not nice, I try not to speak ill of the dead as a matter of course. On this occasion however, not only is it an absolute f*cking pleasure to do so, its also impossible to speak anything else.
I could go on and on about my hatred for manning and (perhaps needlessly) recount the origins of my aversion. This would involve a long and prosaic account of my childhood in the Britain of the 1970s and I wouldn’t want to dignify the memory of Manning - corpulent, bloated, self-hating, scared, cowardly as he was, by expending any more effort on him. I’ll restrain myself to saying that I hope he ended his days suffering unreal torments and begging for a quick death, if only so he may more quickly have become accustomed to the eternity of agonies that is his due in Hell.
If only I could find out where his bloated corpse is buried... If only I wasn’t a Buddhist/Hindu... I would drink copious quantities of Cobra beer, gorge on Indian, Caribbean, Chinese, African food and then repeatedly and leisurely evacuate my bowels on his grave.

Editor’s Note: The author would like to point out that opinions expressed here are entirely those of indrasarkar.com

beware: squirrels bite 6/5/2007 I like squirrels a lot. Who can resist these bushy tailed, nut-nibbling scamps with their bright eyes and quick hyperactive intelligence?
So when, on my way out for lunch I found my car obstructed by Mr Nutkins (pictured) I had to do something. He didn’t appear injured, but clearly something was wrong with him as his breathing was laboured and he didn’t move when I approached or shoo’d him. Not wanting him to be crushed by cars I picked him up and took him to the trees. I was just putting him down when he bit down hard on my left index finger with preternatural speed and refused to let go. He eventually released his hold but not before puncturing my finger and nail and causing a minor infection.
Hurt like buggery too.
Note to animal lovers: Nutkins was still there on my return from A&E so I called the RSPCA who sent a very nice man over. A net was used to take the ungrateful but undeniably cute rodent to the local animal sanctuary. They will be keeping me notified of his progress. At present rat poison would seem to be the most likely explanation for his uncharacteristically lethargic demeanour.

diesel-related tomfoolery 3/20/2007 On the way to work on Friday when, metres from the potentially bone-crushing speed and momentum of the M42 motorway my car suddenly turned itself off and came to halt, blocking one lane of the sliproad at Junction 3 as a consequence.

Of course I assumed the sudden total shutdown was caused by a fault on my car, but after a bout of ranting I checked my wallet for the receipt and realised I'd filled the car with unleaded petrol (I drive a diesel golf tdi). Thanks go to JT Motors, Stirchley, Birmingham for rescuing me and sorting out my engine.

more censorship at the bbc 3/2/2007 More news bans - this time the BBC are prevented from reporting on developments in the ongoing ‘Cash for Honours’ investigation. So we had a bemused Nick Robinson standing outside N^o.10 delivering a bit of non-news about his being forbidden to report a (probably quite juicy) bit of news.
Lest we forget, Tony 'bLIAR' Blair himself has been questioned by the Police as part of this investigation and some fairly high-up New Labour vermin have even been bundled out of their homes, in 'War-on-Terror'-style dawn raids. So v.frustrating indeed not to be able to find out what Tony Blair and his 'Olive Oil Crew'¹ have been up to now.
Whilst CfH does suggest a degree of moral decay within the institutions of the United Kingdom and indeed also suggests commercially-driven hypocrisy and old school Toryism of the most grievous kind, I find myself unable to get overly excited about any of it. However, once again it seems the State is exercising an undemocratic hold over what used to be the Free Press and this causes me considerable distress.
If you’re a regular reader of this column you may recall my fairly recent experiences of BBC censorship - the case of the arrest of two BNP members from Pendle and the seizure of their record-breaking bomb-factory was only reported on a few obscure sites because some kind of news ban had been placed on the UK media. You can find further details of my attempts to find out what was going on below. Its seems that this kind of thing is getting all too frequent nowadays.
_______
1. Darcus Howe (Attrib.)

my new computer 2/23/2007 I haven’t bought a new desktop computer since 1999 preferring to stick to the portable (VAIO, Apple Powerbook Gs 3&4) for day to day use. I have desktop machines but I buy them secondhand and use them primarily as servers (file, print, application).
Needing a new machine to do .Net development on led me initially to various high-end Wintel laptops but following a demo of the ’Pro at the AppleStore in Birmingham I realised that even today, the sheer grunt of a desktop machine, especially one with four cpus, is impossible for any laptop to beat.
So I bought this 30kg beast and have galloped all over the web on it’s mighty frame. Powerful enough to run Windows Server 2003 AND OS X at the same time. Nothing more needs to be said.

university of birmingham open day 2/7/2007 Today I took part in a Q&A panel session with prospective Computer Science undergraduates and their parents at Birmingham University. This was part of my efforts to commit to living a fuller life, something which came about as a consequence of reading Richard Templar's v.excellent 'Rules of Life' (one hundred quick tips to doing stuff to improving one's quality of life using what my Dad would call 'Dharma Karma').
Normally I don't go in for the New Common Sense as applied to various aspects of life in bewilderingly specialised ways by the likes of Gillian McKeith, Trinny & Susannah, Nanny 911 and even, Colin & Justin (yes I'm working from home and watching too much tv). I remember this sort of thing being derided as 'stating the bleeding obvious' but now, with added New Agery and a dash of danger (would you let McKeith put a pipe up your poo-pipe?) it seems people can't get enough of it and the shelves of Tescos are piled high with the spin-off excreta that gets generated off the back of these atrocities. People all over the Nation gape in goggle-eyed idiot awe when someone on telly suggests that refraining from defaecating on one's own doorstep might help with the quality of life on 'the estate'.
Templar's book is aimed a little higher and is interesting both as an anthology of distilled Eastern philosophy, drawing heavily as it does on the canon of Hindu and Buddhist texts and also as a kind of suppressed autobiography. At various points there are hints at a traumatic upbringing and a sense of something like resignation or acceptance* of the final resolution these issues reached. It is undeniably alluring and I feel no shame in confessing to being a bit of a convert.
Some random section titles: (reproduced without the permission of the Author)

Have Dignity
Have a little respect and forgiveness for your parents
You'll get older, but not neccessarily wiser.
Have a plan

which are echoes the sorts of things I was repeatedly told as a child (Early to bed and early to rise ...) but they are actually pretty much on the nail.
I was a bit upset recently on finding that Templar has written a number of other The Rules of ... books so this isn't a special one-off thing after all, but as my living by The Rules involves me actively accepting negative outcomes etc. I can cope with what I previously might have regarded as whorish betrayal on the part of Templar, as being something not entirely terrible and certainly entirely outwith my control.
My helping out with the Open Day actually ticked about a dozen of the boxes re: rules and was a great way to spend the afternoon. I haven't been back since I graduated so it was a shock to see the plush, futuristic new home of the SoCS. Interesting too to see how involved the parents seem to be in the selection process nowadays - I don't think I saw any unaccompanied Sixth Formers (perhaps they were already in the Union bar) and it was the parents who asked questions rather than their offspring. Probably because they're the ones who'll be doing the funding.
* - This of course largely depends on how full your glass appears to be

channel 4 race row 1/19/2007 In which Bermondsey slag¹ Jade Goodie and her celebrity cronies shout & mutter various kinds of very mild racist abuse at Bollywood superstar Shilpa Shetty on ‘Big Brother’ and manage to cause a diplomatic incident.

Neither the plot of the latest Martin Amis novel or the feature of a fatuous journal article by Umberto Eco, this actually happened.

Some thoughts in no particular order:

Calling an Indian person a "Poppadom" is rather unimaginative and, in all honesty, pretty poor as far racist banter goes.
Lots of people who don’t normally, watched it because they thought it might come to blows.
Most of the Establishment media sources focussed their efforts on making the whole thing to be about class conflicts. The word ‘racist’ does make a good soundbite.
It wasn't until just before nominations night that Endemol people had a word with Jade Goodie.
The whole affair has been notable for the number of utterly vile people who have crawled out from under mountains of discarded eel pie and liquor cartons, Stella Artois empties and sovereign rings to support Jade Goodie in her right to racially abuse a foreigner in our country; it’s part of our culture innit?
It is unlikely that they would have allowed a member of the public taking part in BB to be racially bullied for the nation‘s entertainment over the period of about a week.

That Matthew Wright (of Channel 5‘s "The Wright Stuff" is a right c*nt isn't he?

I was astonished at the number of decent, hardworking, fair-minded white people who expressed shock and disbelief at the treatment of Shilpa Shetty. Do they walk around provincial Britain with their ears & eyes closed? One has to try pretty hard not to hear that sort of thing and much, much worse.

The other two slags with Jade said the more racist things, although thoughtfully only when out of earshot of the addressee. Jade shouted at Shilpa quite a lot.

The Sun newspaper actually didn’t take Jade’s side and in fact printed her eviction number on the front page on Friday.

__________
1 - Not my words! They were spoken by Edwina Currie, ‘Question Time’, BBC1, Jan 18^th 2007

worlds best [geek] keyboard 11/14/2006 No klunky number pad taking up an extra 36 sq inches of desktop means less left hand travel when moving to & fro between mouse and keyboard. This means less neck cricking and worrying RSI/carpal tunnel syndrome-like symptoms. Its has a built-in TrackPoint™ 'nipple' pointer & buttons for mouse-less mousing and is generally just ace. I heard about during the course of a Google mission during which I nearly did this but, thankfully found this just before I did.

Much as I love Apple hardware, I don't think much of their undeniably sexy but ultimately flat-feeling keyboards and am revelling in the delights of a proper springy keyboard action. It's about as far away from the 'dead flies' keyboard of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum it's possible to get and should've got billions of design awards by now. But don't just take my word for it.

As a consequence I have an Apple design keyboard (current as at Nov 2006) going spare if anyone wants one? Ideal for casual but design-conscious PC/Mac users...

Anyway, the SpaceSaver II has old skool PS/2 plugs and an additional built-in PS/2 mouse connector (an Apple/Sun idea - such cleverness is generally unheard of on Wintel hardware) so you can also use your own mouse with it if you want. I use an MS Intellipoint USB optical for detailed work.

The SpaceSaver II about nine years old, but works perfectly on both Windows 98/2K/XP/Server 2K3, OS X 10.4 and Solaris 10 with a generic PS/2 to USB converter cable (I got mine from Ebay for £3). USBOverdrive (OS X only) lets you program any USB-based controller, including the SpaceSaver II, for a mere $10.

Hard to believe a keyboard that's nearly a decade old can perform so well and make such a difference to my health and environment (I spend upwards of twelve hours a day at the helm of a Mac/Wintel/Solaris software development network so I know it's making a difference).

Harder still though, to believe that IBM discontinued them and no one bothered to make a clone. Even on environmental grounds (87 as opposed to 101+ keys on the standard PC keyboard means less plastic is required to manufacture them) the thing's a winner; if you factor in the usability and health advantages it's de rigeur, surely¹.

1. Yeah, if it is, if you think Star Trek is real and read your email on a green screen monochrome Unix terminal using pine or emacs or something - Ed.

official news of the bnp bombers 10/24/2006 You may remember the slightly arming case of the massive newsstory concering the BNP bomb-making factory. At the time they claimed they hadn't thought much of the story and had decided not to feature it on any of their TV/Radio/Web-based news media.
Today, strangely, they're reporting the trial. I wonder why the BBC have now decided the story is worth reporting?

bbc news blackout? 10/10/2006 Following my recent complaint about the BBCs failure to report a pretty massive story about BNP bombers and the UKs largest ever haul of bombmaking equipment from their homes, I got this response.
Needless to say I'm a bit concerned re: the totalitarian overtones coming through the bland corporate form-letter.
"Dear <insert name here>, thank you for your recent complaint..."
and I was particularly riled by the way he manages to strip away and avoid all mention of the more interesting elements of the story from his intro paragraph.
I have written back to him expressing my concerns.

missing news? 10/6/2006 I was doing a bit of research into the far-right political fringes this evening and came across a story about some BNP-types who'd been arrested for having a bomb-making factory (and a rocket launcher) in their home. You can read about it here.
After reading a bit of news like that, like most people I tend to immediately turn/surf to the BBC for intelligent, detailed coverage of whatever the story might be.
Imagine my surprise when I found no mention of the story anywhere on the BBC numerous TV/Radio/Internet channels. It is certainly a juicy story - why would it go unreported?
I've formally complained to the BBC and eagerly await a response.
My complaint to the BBC

anti-fascist action 5/4/2006 May 4th is local election day with a record number of ultra-right, openly fascist & rascist candidates standing all over the UK. I'm old enough to remember the rise of the National Front back in the late 70s and early 80s (indeed it's the reason why even now, in my dotage, I don't go to the football.) so alarm bells and deja vu are definitely the order of the day; especially when Billy Bragg goes on 'Red Wedge' style anti-fascist tour of the country and ordinary British people are openly admitting to supporting these sinister organisations.

If you are eligible to, please use your vote to help keep the skinheads, nazis, fascists and catholic/queer/wog/paki-bashers of the BNP and their associated satanic ilk out of local government on May 4.

india 2006 1/9/2006 Lordy it’s that time of year again. I’m orf to the motherland for a bit to chill, relax, catch up with relations, eat decent nosebag and not go anywhere near a computer (not really).
As you may be aware I’ve recently treated myself to a lovely camcorder and am planning, as far as circumstances permit, to film the whole thing.
This of course raises all sorts of existential and logistical questions about my roots, identity, the nature of globalisation and the best way to attach a small video camera to either the top or side of my head to enable me to film everything I see with my own eyes.
The fruits of my exertions will appear in an abridged form on this site in due course. Have a nice Spring! :)

new camcorder! 1/4/2006 Just about got through Christmas intact. This year's tip? Don’t try goose - you have to cook it twice (once to drive off the fat, once to actually cook the thing) and you end up trying to perform some kind of Biblical miracle by feeding 8 hungry drunk people a wizened skeleton of a bird that actually felt well heavy when you picked it up at the butcher's.But I digress.
In the January sales (for me the best of the whole Christmas experience these days) I went a bit mad and bought a lovely, tiny, shiny Sony™ digital camcorder. It has a touch screen LCD i.e. all the menus are worked by tapping at the screen with a finger (amazing) and stacks of features including night vision mode which enables filming in total darkness.
Needless to say I’m driving those around me mad by filming as much as the (speedily recharged) batteries will allow...

happy christmas! 12/18/2005 I’d like to wish all you surfers and friends of this site a very merry and peaceful Christmas and New Year.

bloc party live 10/13/2005 With the exception of stuff seen thru beer-goggles at Glastonbury, Bloc Party are the first new band I've seen live on purpose since an Oslo gig in Brighton c.1998.
I was initially drawn to BP after seeing them on Jools Holland earlier this year and remember being very impressed with the drumming skills displayed. I was also touched by the fact they reminded me of some of the great bands of yesteryear (Joy Division/early New Order, Wire etc.).
In the intervening months, Bloc Party became massive and the gig was sold out weeks before (thanks go to Dr Wilson of Hull University for sorting me).
They were truly awesome and despite the fact I was driving and therefore sober, I had a bit of a flashback to the eighties when pogo-ing and army boots were all the rage. Do go and see them if you get the chance.
Incidentally, the Bloc Party website offers selected tracks for free download. Checkit! [as we used to say about twenty years ago].
Photo Credit: Juliette Roberts. [I took rubbish pictures on my phone which couldn't handle the light conditions.]

god-daughter update 9/30/2005 New pics of my god-daughter Amelia and her new brother Jack who was born earlier this month.
We're all getting old. Well, older.

operation barcelona 8/10/2005 I've always had a yen to drive around lovely, stylish, sexy Barcelona in my own car. This year, in desperate need of a holiday and outraged by the sums charged by travel agents during ‘August Hi-Season’ I had a bit of a wobbler and booked cheap ferry crossings (Hull-Rotterdam on the outward, Calais-Dover on the flipflop) v.late one evening on t'internet and then went for it. Spent a couple of days loafing hard around Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam followed by a leisurely drive through France, Benelux etc. to Barcelona. I recommend it to anyone who withers at the prospect of a four hour flight on a plane crammed full of scummy, racist, drunken plebs.
Driving in Barcelona was every bit as ace as I'd imagined and it has taken all my efforts to resist the urge to post cheesy 80s photos of myself leaning on my car outside the Casa Mila, Gucci, Sagrada Famila etc., trousers pulled high to conceal the stomach.
Note:The nature of the journey involved quite a bit of sleeping rough in my car; to the left is me waking at an Aire just outside Lyon, on the way down.

broke my wrist (again) 5/18/2005 Last weekend I was out enjoying the unseasonal sunshine in Kings Heath park. On a skateboard. I attempted a few tricks with all the agility of an overweight man approaching middle age and took a bit of a tumble in front of a crowd of jeering teenagers. Of course I hid my pain and after casually picking myself and the board up I skated home and thought little more of it.
Later that evening my hand began swelling until it was too large to comfortably fit in the pocket of my combats but as a veteran of numerous such scenarios I assumed it was a sprain and took a few days off work to rest it.
Days passed with no let up in the pain and swelling so I returned to the excellent Selly Oak hospital's A&E department. "You've broken your wrist" said the doctor wearily, showing me the x-ray. "And it's a nasty break."
Despite the consequent lack of XBox, photography, driving, proper cooking et al in my life, it hasn't been all bad. Having only the crap, clumsy side of my body at my disposal has led to me discovering the delights of the Dvorak left handed keyboard layouts which I have found to be remarkably easy to use, intuitively so in fact. After only a few hours and no formal training, this QWERTY-head was outputting words at a staggering rate (in fact this entry was written in about 3.5mins with one). Dvorak is probably best known for his redesign of the two handed keyboard, but the one-handed layouts (originally designed to enable injured WW1 soldiers to use typewriters and thus secure non-military employment) are excellent. If you do a lot of letter-intensive word processing work, esp. editing, you may well fall in love with the way you can type and mouse seamlessly without having to lift a hand off the keyboard to move the pointer.
Great for people with court stenographer fantasies too...

my new laptop 4/10/2005 The weeks preceding the imminent release of OS X 10.4 (Tiger) saw the sudden demise of the screen on my VAIO laptop. Sony wanted over four hundred pounds to fit a new one so I assessed the options and plumped for a new 1.67Mhz G4 Powerbook which arrived today.
It's an astonishing bit of design on the hardware, software and aesthetic fronts and I love it because it looks the business, has increased my productivity by a factor of about five billion and because it‘s cuter than a boxfull of kittens.
For more rants and info about my new laptop and my home network please refer to the tech section.

abbots rd reunion 3/20/2005 Met up with some old friends from student days in London at the weekend.
Although initially peculiar, it was excellent to catch up with (from left to right) Dave & Alison (now officially a Mr & Mrs - congratulations once more)and Margo & Olivier (now of Marseille - lovely to see you again).
All were on fine form and I spent a pleasant evening remembering old times (thanks for bringing up the washing-up issue Alison) and the hazy days of youth (well, late twenties anyway).
The only downside was seeing the pics later. I seem to be the only one out of the five of us who has put weight on. And more than a little.
Photo: Birju P.

alt.london 3/5/2005 The same evening I attended a gathering in a basement underneath the Kingsland Rd in N London (or Dalston High St as we used to call it.) now rebranded as Barden's Boudoir.
Kraut Rock & 70s/80s electro were the order of the evening and I couldn't help but be reminded of my early teens and the goth/alternative culture of the early 80s. But that was twenty years ago and this is, erm... now.
Nevertheless there was something very familiar and strangely reassuring about knowing that despite the ubiquity of trashy, artless, council estate-based club "culture" there still exist in this world, dank, sweaty rooms filled with slightly pretentious kids watching bands like the one pictured (who may have been Stella Maris Drone Orchestra ) doing gigs dressed in ludicrous masks & costumes. They did sound pretty good too. Although it was late and I was feeling a little unwell.

hod-carrion 1/6/2005 After a full twelve months of trauma, upheaval, dust, builders, JCBs digging up the garden, wind blowing through great holes in the walls etc. etc., my parents' extension was finally finished.
You can see some pictures of the whole distressing episode here.

john peel dies 10/26/2004 I heard about lunchtime and am initially surprised at how surprised at how upset I am. After texts and emails and calls I make a cup of tea and get a box of C90 cassettes from a cupboard. They're recordings of Peel c.1985 - 1995 [after then I bought a minidisc to tape him] which I haven't heard in a decade or more. And in fact I had a cry. Because Peel was decent, honorable, stoic, self-effacing, straight-talking, clever, funny and cool. Number One in most peoples' Top Ten List of People You'd Choose To Have In Your Family. If you're one of the millions of peelites around the world you'll know what I mean.

finally got a new car 10/1/2004 Its probably not very appropriate for a man of my advanced years to start going on about cars and engines, especially after nearly four decades of being fairly uninterested in such things.
In fact, to this day I'm not a hundred percent sure how cars work.
However, I will say these few words on the subject: its a VW Golf TDi 130, its black and I've just finished running it in. It is fast as your favourite velocity-related metaphor, economical, and quite simply lovely and I have had to physically restrain myself from devoting an entire section of this website to it.
In my humble opinion, it is the perfect accompaniment to a mid-life crisis.
Very highly recommended.

lost work recovered 9/20/2004 Various bits and pieces turned up following building work at my parents' house this year.
A delight to glimpse an eighteen year old me amongst the drawings, jottings and photos that I'd stuffed into a bin bag sometime in the very early 1990s.
Some of the stuff I don't even remember doing, especially the stuff which I think was done in Ulster, but I kind of recognise the rage that underpins much of it.

my cousin got married 6/5/2004 My cousin Mithu got married in London at the weekend. Our kid flew over from Austrailia to be there.

rainbow over london 6/5/2004 On the way back from the wedding I noticed a double rainbow over London. You can just about make it out in the pic.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was probably feeling a bit loved-up or something, but I really did feel this powerful sense of some higher power, a feeling that it was a sign that perhaps things were going to get better generally.
UPDATE: that was over nine months ago and I'm afraid to say that I was clearly a little off-target with the positive celestial vibes thing, but my cousin is very happily married so perhaps it was a sign of some kind. - Ed.

twisted cyst-er 2/2/2004 What began as a zit on my eyebrow in 1997 ended up a horrid, spongy mass. It caused an infection in the skin around and between my eyes giving me the appearance of Odo the Shapeshifter from 'Star Trek', i.e. the swelling caused my face to take on a flat, one-dimensional appearance.
Anyway, I went to the excellent Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham today and had the thing removed with only a local anaesthetic (I was hoping for a general and a couple of days off work).
Unfortunately, due to the location of the cyst I wasn't able to see the procedure myself, not least because I spent the duration under a green sheet with a small hole cut in it to allow surgeons access to my forehead.
A quite good photo of the ensuing scar though.

edinburgh fringe festival 2003 8/26/2003 Up to Edinburgh for the ever-marvellous arts festival. Great to be up there lounging about, eating and drinking fine things and generally enjoying the city's perennially amiable and cultured atmos.
My friends Marina and Brandon took up a production of Ben Elton play Pop Corn and I relived Drama student days by giving out flyers for the show on the Royal Mile.
In my excitement I tried to foist a couple on Sir Ian McKellan and his friend. Needless to say they declined and I would have remained oblivious to the faux pas had it not been for the gaping mouths and gesticulations of most people there as the couple passed.

my god-daughter 8/5/2003 My God-daughter Amelia Paterson was born in Edinburgh to my friends John and Michelle in April this year. The birth of a baby is a strange and wonderful thing, especially when it happens to people you know.
Strange because often the people who are having them nowadays were, generally speaking hapless, nihilistic, self-obsessed and often addled by drink or drugs when you initially met them/ knew them, e.g. at school/ university.
Its quite difficult to reconcile such memories of these individuals with the absurdly cheerful, early-rising, non-smoking, conscientious, stay-at-home workhorses the average parent is these days. And having witnessed such sacrifices, I often find myself wondering if anything can ever be worth giving up one's freedom for.
Thankfully, my god-daughter appears to be a charming and well-mannered child.
Click here for a picture of wee Amelia & her Dad.

frank bruno meets my dad 7/19/2003 My dad was doing medical duties at a an amateur fight night, legendary Champion British boxer Frank Bruno was also there, doing a PA.
Dad insisted on a photo...

trains running on time 2/2/2003 As seen on the M42 just east of Birmingham. I was on my way to work in Milton Keynes. It made my day

india 2002 10/3/2002 Off to India for a bit of travel, food, culture and general r&r. See you at Christmas. Maybe...
;-p

radcox wedding 9/28/2002 Peckham Registry Office was the setting for the marriage of Clare 'Clarity-Bean' and Stu 'Slim' Simcox. A truly unusual but moving ceremony which featured Billy Bragg songs, a champagne-lubricated ride through the streets of South London on a red Routemaster bus (remember them?) and a novel 'seaside postcard' style evening do in a deeper, darker bit of South London later that day.
Also present was former Drama student colleague Rebecca 'Reb' Tow [pictured left, with red hair], now running Manchester United's publications department.

alice sarkar r.i.p 6/12/2002 Alice passed away in the early hours of the morning after a short illness from cancer.
She was the most intelligent, kind, loyal and lovable animal I ever encountered and my family and I will miss her terribly.
Please give donations to Dogs Trust if you remember Alice.

the fall at kentish town forum 4/11/2002 My sister gave me tickets to see that Fall for my last birthday. Hadn't seen them play for years and not entirely overwhelmed by affection for recent stuff (my favourite albums are still 'Hex Enduction Hour' and 'Live at the Witch Trials').
However they were ear-splittingly loud and pretty much on form. As I'm in my thirties I don't have time to keep abreast of the Fall's lineup, but I suspect there are new people in there. Well there must be, because MES looks like an old man next to them. In fact, he actually looks quite scary these days. Somewhat like the 'thats the hardest game in the world that...' character from the Fast Show.

two planes fly into the world trade centre 9/11/2001 There is a very strong possibility that world war III will start today. Feel like I could be writing this to provide future generations/aliens with another account of what happened today in case the world is nuked later today.
In fact the headline says it all really. The americans are blaming islamic fundamentalists. Whoever did it was nuts but also extremely cunning. Stealing a plane must be difficult enough. stealing three (another one was about to crash into the Pentagon) and then flying about in them takes some kind of skill.
However the fact remains that probably thousands of people lost their lives as a consequence, many in terrible, inconceivable ways (on one news broadcast the sound of people hitting the pavement after jumping from the nth floor of the buildings could clearly be heard.

solar eclipse (kind of) 8/11/1999 And it was off to Cornwall to see the much touted solar eclipse. A weird hysteria gripped the nation, heavily branded promotional sun visors were given away by just about everyone and by Friday the M4&5 were chock-full of vehicles laden with everyone from Scentists and parties of schoolchildren and teachers through to ravers and genuine Druids, Witches and Warlocks.

We ended up at a 3 day rave at some kind of holiday camp in Carlyon Bay where highlights included dancing with Bez (Happy Mondays played the best gig on Sunday night (along with Oakenfold & 808 Stage - monthter monthter!) and being dragged out of a Sacha set for a two hour grilling by Security (I'd unwittingly bought dodgy tickets from the guy on the main gate - took a bit of sorting out). Also a massive waterfight. And I managed to bury my car up to the passenger doors by racing around over sand dunes in pitch darkness (thanks to the gent who towed me out on Monday afternoon :)

The eclispe itself? Well there was eight oktas cloud cover on the day so the visible effect of the event was negligible.

And then the whole thing descended into scariness as the event organisers ran out of money and leather-clad people with guns started turning up in BMWs.

glastonbury 99 1/6/1999 yep, it was pretty much as expected. great line-up, quite reasonable weather, various distractions. Just the job after the worst excesses of a Saturn's return.
Here Lord Snot & Shayan enjoy the Friday early evening atmos just prior to the start of the carnage.
I can't really remember anything about the event itself but remember the drive there and back perfectly (I was driving).
A nice little jaunt that.
Photo credit: Our kid.