Archive For August, 2010
Yesterday I was on stage at Concorde2 for the first time. I opened At the Edge of the Sea Festival by reading my short story I’m from further North than you, which was inspired by a Wedding Present song with the same title.(The Short Story organisation…
Early adopters of technology must sometimes feel like hamsters, interminably stuck in the exercise wheel. Yesterday evening, having nothing much better to do, I decided to upgrade my HTC Hero to a newer version of the Android OS, my transparently ridiculous excuse being that location awareness in Twitter posts is obviously something I can’t live [...]
How can you not love Eels? The final episode of a frankly uneven trilogy sees Mark E returning to a mode that if not exactly sprightly, recalls a jauntiness last seen to full effect on the awesome Daisies of the Universe. While some tracks retain the melancholy that characterised the first few Eels albums, the 
On Saturday I am going to meet an old, old friend for a cup of tea and a catch up after at least four years of absence in each other’s lives. She is one of the rare people still in my life (just), that knew me when I was with The Dickhead. She knew him [...]
Blah blah blah blah blah Vivienne Westwood shoes – £110! Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah. I love my Mummy. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah! No new dress for me, I made a pact with myself, still have to shed four pounds before the [...]
I have so many thoughts bumping each other around inside my head, and only half a concentrated mind to get them out. If there were a safe way, I would bend a coathanger in such an angle as to hook them out through my ears and onto the screen. As it is, that doesn’t sound [...]
Hey ho, another story we go…It wasn’t the late appearances that were the problem. It wasn’t even his dishevelled clothing, unwashed hair or refusal to shave. Nor was it the sharp mood swings and barely contained caustic remarks. The problem wasn
Writers need to make it part of their routine. Yes, it’s more fun to write than to read submissions guidelines and check for the eleventh time that you have numbered your pages, not written your name anywhere in the document and made sure the word coun…
Timeless dub wickedness! While Lee “Scratch” Perry continues to draw breath, reggae will thrive. Here, with On-U maestro Adrian Sherwood at the controls, a righteous brew is concocted from last year’s “Mighty Upsetter” tracks. It is music as magic ritual and infused with the eccentricity that powered Perry to the forefront of the jamaican music 
I am moved to take issue with the machinations of the Adam Smith Institute, which you will remember is the right wing think tank advising on government policy. The latest proposal underpinning the ‘Big Society’ is that legal aid for civil compensation cases should be removed. The premise of legal aid is that anyone, no [...]
