I am a Diddy

Hey people
i thought this was a different blog and changed the quote, problem is i dunno Whit it was help!
get the BOOOO!s going

later

Debbie Purdy: the importance of legal certainty upheld

Quick post in response to the Lords ruling in Debbie Purdy's application for judicial review (see news report here, and judgment here).

Whatever side of the divide one falls on regarding the issue of legalising euthanasia, the clarification of the law which will now result from the DPP publishing guidance on the criteria which will be applied in exercising the discretion of whether or not to prosecute those who help a loved one travel to Switzerland to die with the Dignitas organisation can only be a good thing.

Legal certainty is a principle of core importance in all legal systems which hope to function effectively and in anything approaching a fair manner. To leave such an important matter unclarified and wholly contingent would be a situation befitting a 3rd world legal system, rather than an advanced one such as that of the United Kingdom.

So I, for one, am glad that the Lords ruled in this manner on this point of Purdy's judicial review.

Support this campaign in order to protect scientific journalism!

Simon Singh is being sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association for daring the question the methodology and benefits associated with their practices in an article published in the Guardian in April 2008, and subsequently mass reposted yesterday in a mark of support (including here).

The use of libel laws to stifle such debate is clearly contrary to scientific progress. Progress which may well be to the benefit of the human race as a whole (perhaps a tad hyperbolic to associate abolishing libel laws in this context with advancing human progress, but I'm guessing you get the gist now).

It is imperative that the huge costs associated with defending such actions cannot be used to cow scientific journalists into submission by self-interested parties who may fear what scrutiny of their area may reveal.

If you agree with any of the above sentiments, I urge you to visit Sense about Science's campaign website, and support their campaign by signing their statement in support of amending libel laws in this context.

Those amongst you who support free speech; a free press; freedom of scientific endeavour; and the support of scientific progress may well wish to do so.

I'm back....

... and the musings will resume soon!

Tony Blair's Involvement in torture.

General elections and ID cards: clouds and silver linings

This blogger is not a Tory voter nor a member of the Tory party. However, it seems that there will be one positive outcome when the near inevitable capitulation of the Labour party at the next general election arrives, and the Tory party (sadly) comes into power: the authoritarian, Kafka-esque ID card lunacy will be scrapped.

The BBC reports that shadow home secretary Chris Grayling has written to the firms bidding for the contract to supply the cards, warning them that any incoming Tory government will definitely scrap the cards.

Every cloud has a silver lining indeed.

ps. Let's just hope that the current Labour administration doesn't build in large penalty clauses to any contract which is signed in order to stifle any future attempt to ditch the scheme.

A response to UKIP and various assorted Eurosceptics

A brilliant post regarding the percentage of UK laws which stem from Europe, thorougly debunking the all too prevalent and easily-believed myth that the figure is either 84/75%, can be found here.

2060: Humvee-sized, bulletproof meat-eating spiders attack

hooray for global warming, now i have to prepare myself for giant flesh eating spiders, surely some movie or book has prepared me for that one, damn my geek brain!!!!!!

anyway you will be all glad to hear that after the flu gets us all, the spiders are gonna rip us a new one:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/07/armoured_spiders_out_of_greenland/

Dishonesty Undermines Democracy.

Members of Parliament present a very easy target at the moment. Perhaps too easy. Nonetheless it is difficult not to take a swipe at the shower of mugs after the recent revelations.

The expenses saga is the culmination of a gradual build up of very bad press for MPs. This has been coming for years. The culture surrounding the conduct of expenses at Westminster reveals an institution that is not only out of touch with the world outwith it's lauded 19th-century Gothic style walls but also portrays an arrogance that is inexcusable. 

Taking liberties in office has been part and parcel of British politics for generations - be it in Government or not. It was the same for say, a high up official in the East India Company in the 1700s, who engaged in black market activity to supplement his salary, as it is for a 21st century MP who uses the system to play on the property market.

Toilet seats, tennis courts, dog food, the list is endless. It is true, as has been cited by the PM, that the system is at fault. However, in no way is this an excuse. To blame the system for the selfish actions of elected representatives is a total cop out and ignores the truth. Official systems allowed Jews to persecuted in Nazi Germany, the Apartheid regime to segregate on the grounds of skin colour, or women to not enter chambers of government until the 1920s in Britain. This did not make such action correct, the practices these systems made possible were not right. Granted, these are extreme examples but they are of the same ilk of what we are seeing in Britain this week: democracy being insulted and trodden on. 

The MPs that exploit a ridiculous system for personal game run the risk of bringing into total disrepute an institution built by people such as Disraeli, Lloyd George and Attlee. Although permitted by a system their actions are dishonest. Sorry is not enough. Paying back is not enough. The system needs ripped apart and rebuilt. Trust and honesty must be restored.

Truth is democracy and dishonesty is hypocrisy.

Open Letter to the Lib Dems...

thanks to
http://openlettertothelibdems.net/

WHO THE HELL NEEDS AN ART GALLERY

http://www.ekosystem.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5657

Check out the creatvity going on in the streets around the world

THE HISTORY OF BROMANCE

http://timesonline.typepad.com/blockbuster_buzz/2009/04/i-love-you-man-the-history-of-bromance.html#c6a00d83451586c69e201156f79fad7970c

Anti-Culture

I found this on the Guardian's Joe Public Blog:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/may/05/chav-fighting-workout-gymbox

An anti-culture exists in Britain today. The existence of a ned-bashing gym program is the epitome of this. Fascination with bricks like Kerry Katona, Jade Goody, Peter Andre and that manky bloke who married Amy Winehouse. Widespread generic fashion and music. Apathy among the youth and especially the student bodies of the universities. 

Our time is the opposite of the enlightenment, technology has not brought us advance. In Britain today we only decline in morals, values and ethics. 

I fear that we are no longer interesting.

Robot...

Although I like the idea of a personal chopper, I found the resembelence to the above fella slightly too close for comfort...

supercool foldaway helicopter

Next year i will be mostly flying one of these:

http://www.danielkocyba.com/hummel.html

ILL PREPARED FOR FORTHCOMING GLOBAL PANEPIDEMIC

Well I'm on night duty so its a fair bet i am gonna write some stuff for this here blog. I have to be honest and say I am not prepared for the forthcoming human apocalypse that is H1N1........otherwise known as swine flu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1

Popular culture (popular culture I like any how) has ill prepared me for deal with death by mutated super flu............I know or the geek within me would like to think most of us have read Stephen King's "The Stand" where the world's population is wiped out by a super flu of sorts.......as great as read as it is, the novel however does not give you the basics on how to survive that particular worst case scenario bar being one of the chosen few survivors fated to be on the side of good or evil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand



"I am Legend" by Richard Mathason, where the world's population are turned into vampires of a sort, after some sort of biological attack........love that book, and film version of it "the omega man" with Charlton Heston.........nothing quite watching the former head of the national rifle association going gun crazy against vampires in 70's USA, but yet again apart from being tooled up all the time, living in swanky flat with a well stocked wine cabinet........your still screwed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend



Alien invasion, well this is an anomaly because this is the one area were our new super flu can help us out, "War Of The Worlds" by HG Well's, the world is looking pretty much like a 24/7 all you eat buffet to the invading aliens until they get a serious cold and are wiped out by a human virus. better start stock piling some swine flu for that particular worse case scenario.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds



nuclear Armageddon. Now when i was kid I was scared shitless by the BBC film "threads" basically BBC does a what if it really happened aftermath style movie, mid 80's BBC doing what it did best quality gritty drama, and i still have a hard time watching it today..........basically we are fucked, no rosy mad max style car crazy future for us, just the long slog of rebuilding and waiting for the sun to shine again. I dare one of you to watch the fucker! see I'm still traumatised! swine flu is a piece of cake compared to that one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads



Now, the only real global scale emergency I feel fully qualified to deal with 100% is......................the rise of the living dead! Zombies! I feel I can deal with that! "dawn of the dead" by George Romero (not the Zack Snyder remake), great movie.......basic zombie survival rule: head for the shopping mall. "28 days later", and "dead set" basic zombie survival rule: run like fuck!, "Shaun of the dead" basic zombie survival rule: always have your best bro by your side.........i know what your thinking, should the rule not be head to the pub and hide out........i have to point out who the hell you gonna get shit canned with at the pub , if it not with your best bro or girl!...........and the one rule they have in common stop by b and q for some quality blunt objects to smash zombie heads in. TV, movies and comic books have put me at ease about that particular global shit storm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_the_Dead

illustration: http://www.johnschwegel.com/portfolio.htm

We're stuffed full of flu, you swine.

The common pink, curly tailed, oinking piggie is a versatile producer of many things. Pork chops, bacon sandwiches, or pigs trotter (if Marco Pierre White is cooking for you).

As I write, I am currently being advised by the NHS to stay indoors and away from Joe public if I feel a sniffle. You see, pigs also seem to produce a nasty flu virus that has killed a number of people in Mexico over the last few days. It is lamentable that anyone dies of disease anywhere in the world and ye gods' know people are dieing of an exhausting array of horrible diseases. However, there is something about the whole swine flu scenario that I find hard to swallow. This has something to do with another product attributed to the humble pig...

Swine are also a provider of tripe -this pig I speak of is the sort of little blighter that just keeps giving and giving. Although I am more concerned with the steaming hot piles of tripe that the 24 hour party media people are serving. This tripe is a dish that's served just a little too often and is leaving a similar emotion in me that occurs when I have been frequenting my local baker's sausage roles a few times too many. In other words, it's leaving me tired, bloated and slightly sick. In fact, scrap that. It's making me quite angry ('Ahh Shite... not again...' I hear you sigh - I'm not always on the verge of manic displays of grammatically poor rage, it just seem that way).

Before I pursue this line any further I will offer you a disclaimer. Yes, I am fully aware that I am using a medium of the very thing I am going to be ranting against when I criticise the mass media . Blogs can be part of the problem or the solution and are a measure of the human traits I'm going to mull over. Thanks for pointing out my stinking and overwhelming hypocrisy, but sadly I'm going to do it regardless and I'm rather unapologetic about it in all reality.

The way I see it, is that we are being served a large amount of very stinky tripe at the hands of the mass media - or, if you like, technology savvy swine. Now, this is not a rant against the perception of an evil 'mass media machine' that is out to control us for the good of its own endeavour. It's more simplistic and realistic than that. The mass media is confined by its own seemingly infinite boundaries. It is the very fact that mass media operates over a relentless 24/7 existence - which could well be seen to bring unlimited scope - that actually serves as the scenario that restricts the media's substance and betrays it's purpose. The advent of twenty four hour mass media has brought about a culture that regards news not as fact for mass understanding or mass acknowledgement but rather more a case of mass consumption. The reporting of news is being taken so far out of context that it has become a produce than can be consumed via many sources: television, Internet or in print. There are no boundaries to this consumption, news can be accessed at anytime and subsequently digested, processed and eventually defecated out of the system by way of unconscious indifference. This path is subtlely walked and is exactly the same as the journey of consumption taken by a can of coke or a sausage role from the baker.

To take the consumer process taken by food a bit further in comparision, if I walk past a baker and spot a sign with two for one on the sausage roles you can make a very safe bet that I will grab the advertised product, digest, process and then consign it eventually into both the bottom of a toilet (hopefully) and to a fate of limbo. The sausage role, after it has been consumed, is disposed of and forgotten about. I am indifferent once it has served its role.

I've noticed that I have been consuming news stories in the same way. I am taken in by a headline, I digest the information (the product) and then discard - unlikely to not be thought about again too much, a fate of complete indifference and subsequently a total lack of importance. In order to make the product more appealing and sell more, the shop counter of news - the mass media - has to bring in its own type of deal. Just the same as a two for one offer on sausage roles. So, make the news story that little bit more interesting - like over hyping an obviously nasty disease that has yet to make a global pandemic impact. This is the sweetener, the billboard, the furniture sale. We go for it, we consume it and eventually, we once again shite it out and forget about it.

Swine flu is tripe. Believe me. If I'm wrong then may the good lord have mercy on my mucus-riven, sweaty soul. It is a product, no longer a reality. It has been stripped of all substance by the mass media and put out to tender in the swill trough for the piggies to munch on, get what they need and then forget about it. We are the pigs that create this swine and in turn we eat ourselves. It is cannibalistic in the sense that we are eating the parts of our existence that create notions of common-sense, senses of proportion and any idea of relevance. In other words, we eat our own brains.

Think of a very real pandemic, one that has been around for decades. It was consumed as a product at the time the shop counter was just being established. AIDS is killing people. It's killing people every single day, without fail. However, as a society we have forgotten about AIDS as its newsworthy status has been eroded. We consumed stories about AIDS, got our feelings of satisfaction that we knew about it and would do something and ultimately we forgot about it, moved on and consumed the next rave product - the next big news story.

Are we fucked ladies and gentlemen? Probably so, but we are certainly not being fucked by a bunch of snotty nosed piggies. Instead we are consuming everything that matters about ourselves.

Stu

The bro-shake....

We've all been in that position - the greeting of a bro going horribly wrong. You're fist pound becomes a palm sandwich, or you're bro-shake becomes a shaky slap. Fear not no longer Bros, for there is an answer....

http://www.anonymouscontent.com/integrated

Hillsborough.

I wanted to write a great deal about this. But sometimes things are better summed up in one sentence.

It should never have taken this long.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/19/hillsborough-documents

CRAZY

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/celebritynews/5152088/Phil-Spector-found-guilty-of-murdering-actress-Lana-Clarkson.html

The man who dismantles tanks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/5170686/The-man-who-dismantles-tanks.html

THOR

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-04/16/thor-creates-power-from-scrapped-cars-and-orange-peel.aspx

A trout called Jim

Day to day I tend to get annoyed about stuff and end up ranting. At twenty-two I'm pretty sure this isn't a good thing - my uncle does it and he's sixty-five. The main problem is that once I go off on one I end up very annoyed and loose all clarity of thought and logic. I hasten to add that I can do this sitting on my own and so blogging lets me vent. However when I try to channel my stream of disgust - for one thing or another - I can't coherently sum up my thoughts in such way as makes any sense. But not today. Food is something I like a lot and I have a keen interest in both eating and cooking it. Reading and watching anything involving food these days leaves me with a rather confused taste in the mouth. I'm so happy to see the organic movement getting a kicking in the recession because it makes me sick. To me it is no more than lifestyle conditioning. I feel our sense of where food comes from is so far removed from the source - not tesco - that we've ended coming full circle. I know that beef comes from cows, pork from pigs and chicken from chickens. I doubt that this was a closely guarded secret, but the crux of the matter is that knowing pork comes from a pig is different from thinking about a pig being killed to produce it. I personally have no qualms with animals being killed to produce food, but I do grudge the nonsense that has arisen recently to unnecessarily justify it. In the technologically advanced, globalised world we live in a great comfort seems to be derived from "knowing," where our food comes from. All produce is now branded as fair trade, freedom food, organic and - my favourite - responsibly sourced. What in the name Christ is freedom food? I don't condone cruelty to animals, but a chicken isn't really free if its bred to be eaten. No matter how much cotton wool and liberal niceties you wrap food in, it still doesn't get away from the fact that things are; slaughtered, gutted, skinned and butchered. As I said earlier, I don't have a issue with this, but it seems that everyone ought to feel damned guilty about animals dying in the name of food these days. I wouldn't give any of this a second glance, were it not for one factor; price. Restaurants have latched onto this movement in a big way and it justifies marking up prices. Fish in restaurants sums this up better than any other dish. You will pay more for "line caught," mackerel than you would for mackerel caught by a pelagic fishing vessel but in terms of quality and taste there is no difference. The Market Kitchen had a "yeah! that's so great," piece on Cornish fishermen tagging their fish so that when you order or buy it you can check the name of the fisherman who caught it. Pointless! Other than giving someone with more money than sense the glib satisfaction of telling their buddies that "Their," sea bass was caught by a nice looking chap called Terry. Obviously the deindustrialisedethod and quaint surroundings must improve the product! Rubbish, it just allows the price to go up. I can't understand why after decades of making food available for the masses, there now comes a move to make it unavailable through wanton snobbery. We live in a technologically advanced, globalised world and now everyone wants to pretend - with respect to food - that we're going back to basics and cutting out the big corporations in favour of locally sourced produce. The irony of the whole movement is that it misses the point and assumes that philosophical ramblings and childlike packaging equate to greater quality and thus justify higher prices. Butchers, bakers, grocers and fish mongers sell food of greater quality than that of supermarkets and have done - without the need for jargon and catch-phrases - for generations. If you want good quality local produce buy it from local shops not a massive supermarket chain. If you want to buy a sense of well being to paper over the cracks of unnecessary guilt then the organic movement is the ticket for you. Food is not a philosophy it's food, if its concepts your after then go to an art gallery.

THE POWER OF THE BLACK SUN

fuck me, its 2.30am cant sleep and i find this on utube, creepy movie about..................well u will see, happy viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qukzYFW1uww

UPDATE:

jesus i thought nazi ufos were the icing on the cake, this tops that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDF1Ux_1vwQ

Wonderful art!

http://www.kozyndan.

wee!

NUKES IN SPACE

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=689628960191060384

bugger the chugger?

I realise before writing what I have planned that I might be treading on a few toes in the next few paragraphs, I might even be 'crapping on my own doorstep' as it were. Please bear with me though, I promise there is a point to be found somewhere.

As I arguably frequent the the fine establishment that is the Prince of Wales perhaps a little too often, I often have to run the gauntlet of 'chuggers' (charity muggers) vying for my attention and money for a variety good and just causes - displayed on the very fetching vests that adorn their person. Now, my problem is not that they attempt to take the money I have already sectioned off to be wasted in the Prince, nor is this a rant against political correctness and I am certainly not in any way against fundraising for charity. Not by a long shot bucko.

Charities need to raise funds to survive, it's an undeniable fact. Rather, it's the nature of charity. I work for a charity and I'm aware of how hard funds are to come by, especially as people struggle financially. In a time of economic depressions, charities find it harder than ever to find the capital to carry out the essential work they do. It would be wrong to ever criticise legitimate fundraising. However, I have a real problem with charities hiring agencies to put out young men and women to actively and psuedo-aggressively fund raise from the general public on the streets.

Someone I know was stopped on their way to work today by a street fundraiser who promptly signed them up to give ten pounds a month to a well-known charity. The process was so quick that the chugger had the paper signed before the person had time to know what was happening. It was the patter of the chugger that won the day, he told the person he was 'only raising funds from good looking people that day' and hence they were stopped. Charm is hard to avoid, especially when starving children, the homeless, abuse victims or any other sort of issue is involved.

'Only raising funds from good looking people'? I am perhaps reading too much into innocent flirtation, but I find that statement slightly on sickening side of discomfort. If this fundraiser was indeed aiming to only raise funds from attractive people that day, apart from ignoring numerous ugly people with perfectly legal tender, was he also only aiming to help good looking landmine victims or homeless people who have time to adhere to a strict beauty regime every morning when they wake up on the street? I would really like the to put that question to him. Although I probably couldn't as I would likely be ignored for neither possessing a pair of tits or killer legs. Maybe my luck would be in and I'd catch him on a day where he had a drive to get some ugly cash but I doubt it.

Street fundraisers are most often contracted by the charity through a professional company. It is rare that they are ever volunteers and never should it be assumed that they are. Agreeing to donate by signing up to the charity muggers ('chuggers') does not actually guarantee that all of that ten pounds will go to aid the work of the charity plastered on their vest. According to charityfacts.org, around ninety pounds for each person that signs up on the street. The same website estimates that it actually takes around a year for the monthly contributions to break even and fully go to the charity and because up to 40% of people cease giving after a year, the maths begins to become interesting.

Yes, I find the people who do such work irritating, I really do. But it would be unfair to spew hate all over them. My real gripe is with the whole process. I had a look at some of the companies who recruit street fundraisers. Their adverts were modern, bright and quite attractive - just like the young people they hope to recruit I presume. One compelled me to 'fight desk job drudgery'. Sounds great, but fighting desk job drudgery? Is that really what these fundraisers should be doing? Shouldn't the primary concern be the charity themselves: fighting poverty, injustice and the like? The answer is no. This is business for these companies - charity comes second - and unfortunately (whether they realise it or not) street fundraisers are also putting charities second.

Charities need to fund raise, I understand that. I don't begrudge charities that bring in companies to recruit street fundraisers. However, I fail to see the point and at times find the practice bordering on illegitimate. The more I delve into trying to research this subject, the more it becomes harder to find facts and figures. It is altogether blurry and this only intensifies my suspicions of the process.

I'm an angry man ladies and gentlemen. The more I look, the more I see things that bring the rage...

Stu

http://www.charityfacts.org/

Pretty Self Explanatory

Could be worthy of a rant, but the video speaks for itself...



SJ :)

G20? had plenty...

The media is predicting a busy week for the metropolitan police. The G20 protests are looking like attracting a great deal of protest - and if the journos are right, violence.

Violence wouldn't really be that surprising. The anti-globalisation movement has always had a hard-line element. Just look at the last G8 summit in Britain, at Gleneagles. I find it hard to see the point of smashing starbucks' windows in order to express an opinion. In fact, I find it slightly tragic -  a hark back to the days of 'class war' or the miners' strike. 

The thing is, I understand the violence that surrounded the miners' strike. I don't understand the aggression that plagues anti-globalisation protest. The miners that fought police at Orgreave were attempting to save their livelihoods, culture and communities. I fear that the people who smash up London this week do so for the sake of it.

Ghandi didn't smash coffee shops or beat the police and the achievements and ethics of the movement he spearheaded eclipse 100 fold the actions of these 'anarchist' morons.

Stu

Taxpayers' porno

With all the hubub about Jaqui Smith's husband buying porno on taxpayers' money.... am I the only one wondering:

a) Where he found such cheap blue movies? (2 for a tenner is a bargain)

b) Why he didn't choose internet porn?

Silly man.

stu

Just Watch It 2

can only tell you that you are missing out on something special if you dont watch the wire!

also worth watching is "Dexter" new season starting on FX channel on sky in april, you can also catch him on ITV2. A show about a very likeable serial killer whose victims are other serial killers, basic premise sounds iffy.............but like the wire, the acting, writing and direction all put this show in a diffrent league from your average tv fodder.

great title sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4

The Pope Vs Science

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/28/pope-benedict-xvi-hiv

Just Watch It.

HBO's "The Wire" is starting on BBC 2 on Monday @ 23.20 and continuing every weeknight at pretty much the same time.
There are not enough superlatives in the whole world to describe just how magnificent this show is, if you haven't seen this yet, please watch it, give it a few episodes and you will be hooked for evermore. It is perfectly written, cast and acted. It is nicely shot, if not as beautifully and artistically shot and lit as Six Feet Under, it is still adeptly executed.

It is set around the Baltimore PD and some corner boys mostly in the west side of the city, it is less about the story and more about the characters and the relationships between them. Everybody in it is believably real and you even occasionally understand where the "bad" people are coming from. There are no cardboard cutouts or widely drawn archetypes in this show, they genuinely feel like real people.

Don't take my word for it, I can't express eloquently enough how good it is.
Just watch it.

Spiderman lives!

In Thailand...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7961208.stm

Difficulty with numbers?

If, like me, you have difficulty with numbers in general, you might find the figures in this Guardian article as unnerving...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/23/children-suicide-childline

What I found particularly shocking was the amount of young females who are phoning childline whilst contemplating notions of suicide. I had been led to believe that young males were a group particularly prone to suicidal tendencies, so to see so many girls experiencing such dilemma is distinctly depressing. It begs the question, that if previous study is true to form, many more young people and specifically males are going through such difficult issues alone?

Either way, the number of teenage people experiencing such difficulty makes really uneasy reading.

Stu

Grim up North.

I have almost no time for TV dramas. You might say that’s a little harsh and you’d probably be right, but I just don’t go for them. The BBC is churning out a costume drama with every passing season, slowly etching the spirit of Dickens in our eyeballs in half hour episodes. However, to give credit where credit is due – I’m not the biggest Dickens fan either – the BBC does put a bit of time, money and effort into making their Nineteenth Century dream. On the opposite side of the drama spectrum, I give you; STV. Never before have I seen such complete swill on a television. As a channel, STV is not particularly far evolved from what I imagine Albanian television was like in its teething infant years. STV dramas tend to provide stories that are puddle sized in their depth, with delivery that is so ersatz that it leaves you wondering whether they’ll have a whip-a round at the end to pay for the transmission. I move now to channel 4, and Red Riding. There has been a positive smorgasbord of advertising to promote this trilogy, and I think for the first time in a while it has all come good for channel four. There are so many adverts for shock tactic documentaries and freak show style real life stories that I was prepared for disappointment.
Red Riding is set in 1970’s and 80’s Yorkshire and tells a story of police corruption through a tangled paranoid web of characters. The costumes, locations and sets were utterly outstanding, providing a general mood of grim mistrust that complemented the story to perfection. Whilst the scene setting worked, there were points – especially in the first episode – where it began to get a little laboured. It radiated aspirations to be on the big screen and this is always dangerous when brought to television; the TV is not the cinema. The faults I have tried to tweeze out here are in some respects a little trivial and I really did enjoy the whole thing. They created what I imagined 1970’s Yorkshire would have been like – Grim up North!
I have to apologise for this post as I have been a little short on time recently and planned on writing a little more but, there will be more.

Fear.

My arse is burning already...

Shaving accident...

I am still working on my post on mental health stigma. There has, however, been a set back completley of my own fault. Whilst shaving in the shower last night I managed to cut my index finger. I have no recollection as to how this scenario came to being, but I like to think I may have noticed I had a hairy finger.....

Stu

superhuman slomo skaters

love unkle, and this video from spike jonze

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8pdue_heaven_music

what to say to an alien

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED20%20Mar%202009%2015%3A19%3A28%3A140

qoute of the day

"It looked like a great big coconut was inside it. I knew straight away that it had eaten Bindi" - Woman whose dog was swallowed by a python.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/16/snake-eats-pet-dog

to gin or not to gin?

I sit here, after spending my night in the student union, which, forgive me, is not something that I usually make effort to do (but actually it was a mega ace banter), and Sanders has fallen asleep... and im alone with the red red wine. Whilst at the union...some girl was tied to another guy, gotta love the goths!! some other guy made an absolute effort to tell us all his jokes about wanking and shagging mingers! yaaaay! I have an utter urge to listen to this song which I'm posting the below link to on repeat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ef2_YbFl0 classic! But my point was going to be... I can't wait until I'm a certified scientist looking back on all the silly things I've done beforehand. Without getting too personal, I've done pretty chuffing well, I'm going to have coffee with the head of molecular genetics (Kevin O'Dell) on Tuesday, He's the freaking boy like! Exciting tae fuck! Sandy's snoring is particularly loud! I wish I was still in Aberdeen a lot of the time, biochemistry is a loner degree! :( Here's the lyrics if you want to sing along to the above song....



Lyrics:Red, red wineGo to my headMake me forget that iStill need her soRed, red wineIt`s up to youAll I can do, i`ve doneBut mem`ries won`t goNo, mem`ries won`t goI`d have thoughtThat with timeThoughts of herWould leave my headI was wrongAnd I findJust one thing makes me forgetRed, red wineStay close to meDon`t let me be aloneIt`s tearin` apartMy blue, blue heart---red red wine rap section---Red red wine you make me feel so fineYou keep me rocking all of the timeRed red wine you make me feel so grandI feel a million dollars when your just in my handRed red wine you make me feel so sadAny time I see you go it makes me feel badRed red wine you make me feel so fineMonkey pack him rizla pon the sweet dep lineRed red wine you give me whole heap of zingWhole heap of zing mek me do me own thingRedred wine you really know how fi loveYour kind of loving like a blessing from aboveRed red wine I love you right from the startRight from the start with all of my heartRed red wine in a 80`s styleRed red wine in a modern beat style, yeah(chorus)Give me little time, help me clear up me mindGive me little time, help me clear up me mindGive me red wine because it make me feel fineMek me feel fine all of the timeRed red wine you make me feel so fineMonkey pack him rizla on the sweet dep lineThe line broke, the monkey get chokeBurn bad rizla pon him little rowing boatRed red wine i`m gonna hold to youHold on to you cause I know you love trueRed red wine i`m gonna love you till I dieLove you till I die and that`s no lieRed red wine can`t get you out my mindWhere ever you maybe i`ll surely findI`ll surely find make no fuss jus` stick with us.(chorus)Red red wine you really know how fi loveYour kind of loving like a blessing from aboveRed red wine I love you right from the startRight from the start with all of my heartRed red wine you really know how fi loveYour kind of loving like a blessing from aboveRed red wine you give me whole heap of zingWhole heap of zing mek me do me own thingRed red wine in a 80`s styleRed red wine in a modern beat style, yeah.

Art and mental illness

On the other hand, this makes me feel a lot better:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/18/mental-health-bobby-baker-exhibition

Mental health is something I feel exceptionally passionate about, especially the social stigma that surrounds it. Bobby Baker's exhibition of the art she created during an 11-year journey through severe depression can be held up as a pivotal tool in breaking down stigma. The idealist in me was rejuvenated reading that article.

Mental illness is widespread, varied and destructive. The more we see of how people with mental health issues convey their thoughts, then the more we as a society can release ourselves from stigma. We may not be able to fully understand as mental illness can be a very personal and individual experience, but without stigma we can be more inclusive. Attempting to understand risks patronising people. Inclusion - done the right way and with realistic expectations - can provide positive outcomes.

I will be writing a bigger, more in depth entry of my thoughts on mental health stigma in the next few days. If anyone has any thoughts please get in touch.

Stu

Grr.

My blood boils....

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.2496112.0.Condoms_not_the_answer_to_African_HIV_crisis_says_Pope.php

Such a statement from the pontiff exemplifies the very essence of my atheism. I cannot even begin to get my head around the logic of the Pope's argument against condoms. In fact, I'm too angry to even rant.......

Angry.

cease fire

this not the news story i originally wanted to post, it is about the same horrible thing though.

you cant speak English, you are traveling at night through bombed out streets, your car is a beaten up wreck, your family on the back seat, head lights smashed etc. you are approaching a group of men in uniform, armed with automatic weapons. they shout instructions at you, you don't understand. you keep going. the armed men open fire, the car is not armoured.

i will let the BBC do the rest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_shooting_in_tal_afar/html/1.stm

update, found the link: http://www.chrishondros.com/images.htm then click on "Iraq", then click on "the tal afar incident"

it will make you angry, sad and give a damn!

each to their own!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/5012165/Tokyo-International-Anime-Fair-2009.html

each to their own, a cosplayer at the tokoyo anime festivle, check the link out.

no blade of grass

the year 2030...............that's not too far away. struggling to survive on a planet on the brink of destruction where wars are waged over water and fertile soil. sounds like the plot to one of my xbox games.

jesus matt lighten up will ya! i know i am a doomsayer, it develops with age or more likely realising just what a future your children might have to face, and thats a tough one for the mind to process.

bbc posted the following today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7951838.stm

i would love to see how fox news would report that story, cue flashy graphic representing the planet, a music score of impending peril, a serious but ultimatly sexy female news reader (because if your going to be told your planet is screwed, why not.........i just realise it might be a new fetish to have a thing about sexy female news readers, reading you the news whilst.........ahha, lets not go there!), you should check out fox news on sky, those yanks sure know how to get the public panicking.

im a bit of a geek at times, the title of this post, no blade of grass comes from a novel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass

reading the book right now, but damn it's a bit of a bitch when one us humans goes and thinks / dreams something up.............and somehow it has a way coming true.

Sticking Plasters for Piss Artists

The epidemic, if you will, that is alcoholism is indeed rife in our country. That is not for debate, the binge drinking culture is a problem.

However, I don't believe that minimum alcohol pricing is the way forward, I think this is a much wider problem than that. And as such, it can't be solved with a sticking plaster policy. The Labour government, and indeed the SNP administration in Hollyrood, are big fans of sticking plasters. They like to try to solve problems quickly by playing the numbers game, as seems to happen all across the board these days, whether it be in policing, schools, or health in this instance.

People, the adminstrations believe, want to see the effects of policies right now. We do, we want to see less drunk people on the streets, less people being ill, clogging up the health service, by smoking, or in this case, drinking. Of course we want that, but we understand, or at least we should understand that these things take time. All of the big issues surrounding our health, teenage pregnancy, alcohol, drugs, smoking, need to be dealt with, but not by quick fixes, the only way these things are going to be solved is with the correct education and now is the time to start educating the next generation properly about these things, don't expect a quick fix to solve it, it might show a quick trough in figures, but it won't ultimately solve the problem.

Educating the next generation of our country to not be piss artists, or not be piss artists too often, is the only realistic way this can be solved. Things do need to be down now, but I don't believe making it more expensive is really going to change much, or indeed anything.

The governments need to be bold and not just think about tomorrow's poll ratings and stick to their guns and try to solve these issues in the long term, not just for right now and no amount of raising the age for buying alcohol from an off license to 21, or charging more for beer is going to change that.

We need to plan for the future, not try and cover up the problems we have already caused.

L

Piss Artist.

I have a million and one words for being drunk. Pished, pissed, steamboats, boozey or hammered, wasted, wankered and fucked. I could go on - I seem to come up with a new term every time I have a few too many. I enjoy a drink and on nights out at the weekend probably drink a wee bit more than I should. This usually results in a two-day hangover during which feelings of tremendous guilt and general suffering are the theme of the show. 

Now, although I enjoy a pint and probably 'binge', my reasons for doing so are different from that of an alcoholic. This is why I think Gordon Brown was wrong today, a minimum price on alcohol would not be an unfair punishment on occasional piss artists like myself. I can choose whether or not I wish to get myself into a heavily inebriated mess or have one pint, I don't drink everyday, I don't drink illegally in the street and my drinking hasn't effected my ability to function in a socially accepted way. In other words, I'm not alcohol dependent.

There is a difference between binge drinking and real alcohol abuse. The 'Daily Mail' might try and tell you otherwise but it's a terrible paper anyway and deep down you know it speaks an admirable amount of total bollocks. Alcoholism in the most destructive form takes place out with pubs and clubs on a Friday/Saturday night. Instead, walk to work / university / college on a Monday morning and look out for the chap with the tin of Special Brew or bottle of cheap white cider. Although he* might appear happy enough, unless you are too intimidated to walk near him, he represents alcoholism in its most dehumanising, self-destructive form.

Street drinkers do their drinking on the street as their alcohol consumption takes on such an intensity that pubs and clubs can't handle them. They are likely to exhibit behaviour that is liable to get them banned from drinking dens and instead the city centre becomes one big pub. The problem is that this big pub doesn't serve pints, instead its many bars (newsagents / off licences) serve disgusting beverages at a low-low price. Sounds great? Hold your horses Mr or Mrs 'mad for a session'. The cheaper the better? No, the cheaper the nastier, less pure and higher the chance of you headbutting your best mate. But if you are an alcoholic confined to street drinking, chances are the taste of tipple is second to getting heavily intoxicated.

Alcoholics who are street drinkers or similar destructive consumers drink cheap alcohol because they tend not to have the disposable income you or I do. They drink for different reasons and their behaviour isn't as manageable as we generally will be when we are drunk. People who drink with a serious reason - a vendetta - usually do so because they are escaping from something. Not the weekly grind that we escape, but past instances that most people don't have the misfortune to experience. This is the case whether they are escaping actions carried out by themselves or brought on by others. The wider the availability of cheap alcohol they can access, the more damage they can do and the harder it is for others to help them positively address their issues. 

Cheap alcohol is killing these people. If a minimum price on alcohol was introduced, we would still be able to go out to the pub on a Friday, get hammered and fall over. It really wouldn't affect us too adversely. But the serious drinkers of the nasty cheap stuff would find it much harder. Although that would be understandably difficult for them, a limit might be one of the only workable measures the government can introduce to aid services helping alcohol dependent people at the very bottom rungs of the social ladder. There is a thin line between draconian action and worthwhile intervention and in the case of the poor sods at the bottom, as much help as possible is needed.

Stu 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5916887.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7945357.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/16/gordon-brown-alcohol-pricing

* I don't mean to use 'he' in a sexist sense - proportionally it is more likely that a street drinker will be male.

Meerkats...

Do they meow?

Down and out in Aberdeen city...

I’ll be honest - I love a swipe at Aberdeen City Council and, it seems, I’m not alone in this sordid pursuit. Lots of people enjoy a good dig at ACC. Taxi drivers, local comedians, pished old blokes in pubs, people who write in letters to the Evening Express and Press and Journal. A ranting tear into the council is very much in vogue for all sorts of Aberdonians. However, the problem that the ACC have is that, through a seemingly unrivalled and exceptionally gifted ability to appear fantastically incompetent*, ammunition for such criticism is provided on a completely consistent basis. For instance, whilst bored waiting for a tumble dryer delivery this morning, I typed ‘Aberdeen City Council’ into the Press and Journal’s search engine. It took me about 5 minutes to find a few gems...

There is a bit of discontinuity between the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council regarding housing. The Scottish Government have just pledged £6.7 million to Aberdeen to build new affordable housing in the city (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1115777). This £6.7 million is taken out of an available £644 million plan to build 6,700 new houses in Scotland and a wider initiative to house all unintentionally homeless people by 2012. This initially sounds tip-top, but a bit below the surface there are some issues. My misgivings about the 2012 plan are pretty obvious and explained in an older post – the bar is set too high in what is such a complex issue. However, the real problems with the apparent attempts to address Aberdeen’s housing problem lie elsewhere. Considering the state of affordable housing in Aberdeen, the £6.7 million offered by the Scottish Government is an inadequate fraction of the entire figure allocated to Scottish housing – but when I think about putting such an amount of cash into the hands of Aberdeen City Council my knees begin to knock uncontrollably. ACC are not exactly helping Aberdeen’s housing situation in anything resembling an effective way. Despite more money coming in from above, the City Council is currently in the process of selling £100 million worth of sites previously earmarked for housing (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1106406). At the same time ACC policy aims to build 36,000 new houses in the city by 2030. Confused? Me too. Aberdeen is one of a minority of areas that has seen the number homelessness houses rise in recent years – up 3% in 2007/08 (http://www.aberdeen-cyrenians.org/assets/files/pdf/COMMS%20-%20Newsletter%20Issue%2059.pdf). Ask anyone presently trying to get a council flat, housing association accommodation or an affordable private let property and an its apparent how difficult it is to find a decent property in Aberdeen. The City Council isn’t exactly helping.

If you got that council property you wanted, then the P and J had more interesting reading for your lucky self... (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1110044). The statistics regarding ACC and council house evictions show a level of incompetence and wastage that is bordering on plain daft. In 2007/08 the City Council issued 718 eviction orders to be perused through the Scottish criminal justice system. Despite this, only 22 evictions were actually carried through by the Court. Overall, Citizens Advice representing approximately 20 more council housing cases, in January 2009, than they did in the same month last year. Comparing these numbers with the local authorities in Angus, the Highlands, Dundee and elsewhere and it becomes quite clear that something isn’t right. In fact, I get a headache trying to figure out what exactly the City Council is trying to achieve with such a high number of court cases against council tenants. Each case costs public money and considering the financial state that ACC is in and my lack of personal wealth, the waste of cash makes me choke a bit.

Aberdeen City Council's dire financial situation is well-documented. However, this doesn’t make it any less disgusting. Presently, the council is in the middle of a plan to bring about £60 million worth of budget cuts over a period of two years. Organisations such as Aberdeen Cyrenians felt the brunt of these cuts last year, with a number of front-line homelessness projects closing – in complete contrast to the council’s endorsement of the 2012 target. This year, the situation is much the same. The Aberdeen Learning and Disability Action Group are currently campaigning to halt the council’s planned closure of the Burnside Day Centre (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1112592). The City Council wish to amalgamate the Burnside and Rosehill day centres, where 80 adults with learning difficulties are presently catered for over the two sites. ACC cite a combination of cost-cutting and the restructuring of the city’s Social Work. However, with the issue of the City Council’s debt, it is questionable as to how much the latter of these two reasons actually accounts for anything. There is a similar situation regarding the city’s refuge collectors, whose budget is being cut by £800,000 (http://www.pressandjournal.co,uk/Article.aspx/1108261). Although recycling as well as debt is cited by the council as a reason, the true motives of ACC again have to be questioned.

While all this cutting of budgets is going on, the council is taking conflicting action. The Press and Journal also had an article regarding ACC writing off ‘bad debt’ (www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1107235). £3.5 million of debt is being written off by the council at the moment. Council Tax, business rate, housing benefit overpayments and council house arrears are all being defined as ‘bad’ and therefore written off. Surely, with how far Aberdeen City Council is in the red and with cuts taking place that effect the most vulnerable people in Aberdeen, the whole debt is ‘bad’. Defining some areas as 'bad', discounts the plight of the people affected in other sectors. Such a definition is counter-effective, insulting and pretentious.

I just can’t understand the method in the madness of the city council. There is no local authority in Scotland as completely useless and utterly incompetent. I worry about the psychological well-being of people who can sleep at night whilst spending the day acting in such a hypocritical, erratic and disgusting manner. It is never right that the chances of the least fortunate and most vulnerable are damaged by group of people who appear aloof and incapable of taking direct action. If I was as bad as this rogues gallery at my job – www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/xac_Councillor.asp - I’d be fired.

Get them out.

* I’ve replaced swear words with elaborate adverbs to convey my utter exasperation and dismay, don’t judge me on this...

Darwin...

... would have enjoyed a journey on the humanist bus.

But then he would probably have been a bit dismayed by these cases...

http://www.darwinawards.com/

Do Exactly What it Says on the Tin

Change of focus, or is that the gain of focus?

I started writing a blog out of a combination of boredom and mindless self-indulgence. Over the last few weeks I've been thinking of ways to try and make the whole thing a bit more interesting!

What I thought would be interesting is to have a number of contributors (a totally unspecified number) writing in 'Dear Prudence'. The idea being that any contributor can write about any particular subject they like. There is no editor, there is no set focus and every contributor is equal in publishing and administration rights. 

Because of the lack of focus there can be so many different directions that 'Dear Prudence' can take. It could become an interesting weblog, or a forum or a complete mess. The end product is not set in stone.

Get in touch with me if you fancy getting involved!

The point is, there is no point....

Stu

Is this for real?

http://scottishbritishandproud.blogspot.com/

I'm still trying to get to grips with this blogger thing and I've been searching for blogs that might interest me. I googled 'Aberdeen' and 'blogger' this morning - wanting to see If I could find any blogs based in Aberdeen that might be pretty interesting. I was pretty shocked with the first blog I found.

Scottishbritishandproud is a blog written by a man in Aberdeen, with quite clear cut far-right sentiment and a solid link with the BNP in Scotland. It is a well-written blog and is kept up to date - much better than my own and in places it is very articulate. However, this discounts the racism, xenophobia, ignorance and disturbing opinions displayed in Scottishbritishandproud. The vitriol and venom in the tone of the articles is nauseating, the grasp of historical fact is loose at best and the lines of arguments so overtly far-right that at times I wondered if this was for real.

The far-right can flourish in times of economic trouble. When the going is hard it is easy to blame the 'other'. Our history cannot be hijacked for the gain of racism and xenophobia. The threat of the BNP is very real and by hiding behind a banner of 'free speech' they spit venomous opinion and distorted world-view. Education, realisation, knowledge and ethics can show up these people for the very wrong and very dangerous individuals that they are.

When Scottishbritishandproud explains 'that our Fathers fought for Britain' it might do him well to remember what they fought against. Alongside people of many colours and ethnicity, they fought fascism.  Neo-nationalism is fascism. It is up to us to make sure that fascists such as Scottishbritishandproud don't discredit the sacrifice that so many men of different ethnicity made.

Golden Anniversary...

It is 50 years since the failed uprising that led to the Dalai Lama's exile from the country. 50 years Tibet has been subject to oppression, attack on it's culture, it's people and it's spiritual existence. 14 years since the Panchen Lama disappeared. 

This list could go on...

http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/

http://www.freetibet.org/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/10/dalai-lama-tibet-china

Hot sauce

My friend and I have got involved in a silly macho bet to see who can eat a burger covered 'in mega death hot sauce'. The date has been set as the 2nd of April, so I've got a bit of time to prepare.

It's very hot sauce so it is...

... I had a terrible experience once before with said sauce and I am going into this stupid male dare with some trepidation.

Breathing Earth

http://www.breathingearth.net/

Mental!

Suicide

I've spent the last two days at a suicide intervention course ran by the Living Works organisation's ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) program. I went into the course with a really open and laid back attitude - I was at the course due to work -  and had not really thought too much about it beforehand. Although it was only two days, I found the experience extremely intense, mentally exhausting and ultimately extremely important.

As I mentioned, I had not really thought too much about suicide prior to going on the ASIST course. Sure, I was aware of it and had a few opinions/views on suicide but I had never sat down to really think about the subject at all. I'm also still unaware how much a lot of people think about suicide. I learned a lot over the last two days and part of me getting grips of it is writing it down - so why not on this blog thingmy.

On average, two people a day die in Scotland through suicide. In a country of five million odd people that didn't seem too much to me at first. Young men appear to be particularly at risk and although statistically females attempt suicide in greater numbers, males tend to actually 'successfully' kill themselves more - I use the word 'successfully' really loosely. Men also seem to pick more violent and extroverted means of suicide, whereas females tend to attempt more subtle methods. This is not to say that every man and women operate in this way, these are just the conclusions of statistical trends. As I was told this and when I found out a few more facts and figures my initial lack of  feelings began to change. In 2007 there were 838 people in Scotland who definitely or were suspected as dieing through suicide. That's more than two a day. It's also unclear as to if this figure is close to the truth - in reality the number is likely much higher. Not all suicides are defined as such on death certificates. On top of this, these figures don't say how many people consider suicide on daily basis. It has been estimated that 1 in 7 of us will never think about taking our own lives at some point in our lives - leaving the other six to at least consider suicide at one point. That is a huge number, a frightening number and it scared the shit out of me. However, the numbers that carry through on these thoughts is lower. On top of the people who are driven (and I accept there are a variety of reasons, including euthanasia in terminally ill people) there is a great affect on the people around the person who dies through suicide: family members, friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, support workers and countless other people.

Now, my thoughts on euthanasia in terminally ill people remain pretty unchanged. I fully understand people who have taken their own life in Swiss clinics or at home because of terminal illness or the prospect of facing a life of extreme physical pain.  I think that because I don't know how I will react if I ever face such a prospect. However, my focus here is on other people who seek suicide but still have reasons that they identify themselves for living. These situations where such people seek suicide are an altogether different kettle of fish. Anything can bring questions of suicide, from loosing a job, a partner, financial worry, physical or sexual abuse, to mental illness, substance abuse and an almost unlimited amount of other things. No one is immune. Distressing, difficult and awful events can lead to a person considering suicide - they cause so much pain. However, it can often be the case that a person who thinks about suicide often only wants to escape the pain. Escaping pain does not necessarily mean death, it's just that other options other than suicide can be very hard to see. It is in cases such as these that intervention models like the ASIST method, can be used to put someone in a much safer place within themselves.

Although I've just spent two days learning about suicide and suicide intervention, I still can't fully put my mind in the scenario of people that jump of bridges, overdose, slit their wrists or shoot themselves. This is not to say I can't understand the pain and the reasons - and I can see why no other options could present themselves. People must get so low, so down and find themselves in such dark places. Totally and utterly dark, where people cannot see any positive, no way to go on, feel desperate, suffocated and completely alone. The idealist in me thinks that if someone ever seeks you out when they feel like this, somewhere they have a reason to live. However, it really affects me when I think that some people get to these dark places and end up killing themselves. 

I really have to praise projects like ASIST. They need deserve mad props! Their drive to educate more people with a positive model for intervening means that more people can help each other when any of us (and it really can be any of us) finds ourselves in a really shitey, low, dark place.

Check out organisations like these and find out a bit more. Although I may sound like a right cheesey sod, they do such an important job.

http://www.chooselife.net/home/Home.asp

http://www.livingworks.net/

Happy Birthday Robert Mugabe?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/22/robert-mugabe-birthday-banquet

             www.zimbabwetimes.com (Image 1) www.ladestra.info (image 2)

Robert Mugabe is 85 years old. From what I've read he is throwing a bit of a party. In fact, it seems he has thrown quite the party every year for over 20 years. However, this year there has been a bit of a problem this year regarding a lack of 'donations'. Every year the celebrations for Mr Mugabe's birthday are organised by the 21 February movement -  a sort of Zanu PF take on the scouting movement (you can probably imagine what that entails). There was a problem this year and it looks like times are hard for Robert. The 21 February movement accordingly downgraded its aim and only set out to raise half a million dollars of 'donations'. Now, I'm sure you agree, that leaves a real headache for the organisers who were used to a figure closer to the 1.2 million dollars spent on last year's shindig. 'Donation' is a bit like the word 'democracy' or 'freedom' in the Zanu PF dictionary. Lots of food and money is given to the 21 February movement every year under what would best be described as dubious circumstances. Mr Mugabe is definitely feeling the pinch it seems...

However, Mr Mugabe isn't the only one who is finding it tough in Zimbabwe these days. The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has not been dealt with in an effective way. Although specific details are hard to come by (Zanu PF are much better at organising birthday parties for Mr Mugabe than they are at telling the truth it seems) , the UN puts the figure of dead at close to 4,000 with Oxfam estimating that around 50,000 are suffering. As people sat down for a birthday feast in honour of Mr Mugabe on Wednesday - paying 100 dollars each for the privilege - more than half of Zimbabwe's population of 12 million are starving. 

At least Robert Mugabe can take a bit of comfort in the knowledge that he is not the only one in Zimbabwe who's belt is tightening at the moment...

http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/index.html

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/zimbabwe_cholera.html?ITO=1482

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/zimbabwe

And for those who enjoy being lied to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/zimbabwe

http://www.gta.gov.zw/

Targets

I was on the Guardian website today and came across this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/video/2009/feb/18/polly-toynbee-rowntree-report

Sometimes I think that governments can really shoot themselves in the foot when they set targets in certain areas. Tony Blair pledged to end child poverty by 2010, I've heard GB reiterate this ambition in the media on several occasions. Although it sounds great and I doubt you could find anyone who would be against ending child poverty - I think there is a problem with the setting of such targets.

Targets like this bring a timescale with them. The set time scale is probably the result of a number of factors and it could be argued that by setting a timescale it ensures that peoples' arses are in gear. However, as Polly Toynbee explains in the guardian article, Labour is likely to be a long way off in ending child poverty, in spite of the fact that they have done more than any previous government to end child poverty. So now, the Tories, who did considerably less for child poverty and actually intensified child poverty in the Thatcher years, have been handed a ready made dig at Labour. The scenario now is that Labour will have 'failed' in achieving this aim and the party that spent the 1980s creating the foundation of intensified child poverty will have gained a victory.

This is the problem with set targets. They are too one dimensional. There is always more to perceived 'failure' or 'success'

There is a similar problem with the Scottish Government's aim to end homelessness by 2012. Ive read a lot of the publications about this target (you can find them at  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/homeless_). However, I live in one of the few areas where homelessness is on the rise in Scotland. I work for a homeless charity that suffers from lack of funding and lack of help from the local council. Overall, there is no chance that homelessness will end in Aberdeen by 2012. In fact, I'd bet you a pint that it rises. Despite the very ambitious and idealistic plans of both the Scottish Government and the local authority, I have yet to see one shred of evidence that the situation is improving. In fact it seems to be getting worse.

Targets look wonderful, sound great but unless they are followed up with hard graft across the board or they are set realistically, they ultimately prove more negative than positive. When targets prove negative - and they regard the most vulnerable people in society - it is even more frustrating.