Arrival
Alister and Sarah are very pleased to announce the arrival of Daniel, at 4.20 am on the 17th August.
Blogging may be suspended for a short while!
:: | 7:16 pm |Save This Page | |
| (6) comments
:: Friday, August 13, 2004 ::
Four Skinny Indie Kids
Half Man Half Biscuit
Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
Wednesday 11th August 2004
The biscuits must like Edinburgh 'cos they returned after last year for one more shot.
Nigel to persistent beer thrower (convincingly) "one more time mate and you're fucking dead".
Ken helps out Nigel by holding up the new lyrics to 'Paintball's Coming Home'
(a vicious attack on the middle class to the tune of 'they've got the whole world in their hands')
They didn't choose their cat. Their cat chose them.
They didn't choose their cat. Their cat chose them.
They didn't choose their cat. Their cat chose them.
And now it's got its own web-site.
They lost 4 stone on the Atkins diet
They lost 4 stone on the Atkins diet
They lost 4 stone on the Atkins diet
And...?
"He painted a St George cross on his face,
He painted a St George cross on his face,
He painted a St George cross on his face,
And he's 44 years old"
Used to be the guitarist in Evil Gazebo.
No pics of bass player Neil who played joy division songs (notably 'From Safety To Where...?' and 'Transmission') in the frequent gaps where the band squinted to read their set list which must have been printed in 6 point type.
:: | 3:24 pm |
:: Thursday, August 12, 2004 ::
Geordie Power
The Journal (Newcastle): Political Party for Assembly
The Journal (Newcastle) : MP slams plan for new party
The consequences of the proposed regional assemblies are becoming clear. Now a group in the North East of England are proposing setting up a left of centre 'north east' party to represent the interests of people in the region.
The Newcastle Journal calls it "a warning to Labour party schemers deep down in the South" and call the development "the latest sign that the debate surrounding the creation of a regional assembly has energised the political life of the region".
Could they win seats? Why aye man.
"But the key to the success of such a breakaway would depend on whether it succeeded in gaining an electoral foothold in the proposed assembly.
Under the hybrid system of PR to be used for the assembly elections, voters would elect 15 constituency members and 10 "additional" or "top-up" members.
The top-up seats would be used to ensure that each party had a share of Assembly Members (AMs) broadly proportional to its share of the vote.
Assuming it did not win any of constituency seats outright, A North-East Party would therefore need to secure around 10pc of the regional vote to gain at least one seat on the assembly.
Given the recent success of fringe parties such as the UKIP, that would appear a realistic aim, even if outright control of the new body would currently seem beyond it."
Calling this group a nationalist party is of course wrong. The North East of England isn't a nation, and there is no national question in the English regions. However there is a democratic deficit. Scotland and Wales have their parliament and assembly. Even London has its assembly. But there are many English regions who were just as badly hit by de-industrialisation and face social problems as bad as Scotland or Wales. Yet they have no say.
The politics of a North East Party remain to be seen. Nonetheless this development is interesting and reflects an increasingly regionalised political scene which has developed not only because of devolution but also because of the EU. Kilroy Silk must be having a fit.
:: | 2:41 pm |
:: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 ::
Oh, Sandy
SNP Leadership Watch
Scotsman.com News - Politics - Salmond wins support of an unlikely ally
Alex Neil has backed Alex Salmond for the leadership of the SNP. But he has also called for a vote for Christine Graham for deputy leader rather than Salmond's running mate Nicola Sturgeon.
This has surprised some, seemingly including Salmond himself, as Neil and Salmond have been somewhat bitter rivals in the past.
What it demonstrates is that Mr Neil knows that Mr Salmond will win (everyone knows this) and therefore wants to gain as much influence as he can and also wants to try to ensure that his choice of deputy, the 'fundamentalist' left-of-centre Christine Graham, wins.
:: | 11:20 am |
Sovereign Succotash
Dubya once again demonstrates why he is leader of the world's most powerful nation. Via Backword. (It's an mp3 file)
:: | 10:42 am |
:: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 ::
UK Political Blog Feeds
UK Political Blog Feeds Includes yours truly. A nice service which uses the rss feeds from blogs. If you don't have this switched on in Blogger go to your settings and do it now. Blogger call it atom and there are different versions available. See also the feedburner link on my toolbar. Anyway, this service also has handy buttons enabling you to check your posts on technorati, google, google news and feedster. Useful.
:: | 11:27 am |
Fest of Fun
But it's not all corporate comics and mega-bucks Nokia sponsored ad campaigns at the fest. The Edinburgh People's Festival has begun.
You can check out pictures of the opening night at the Jack Kane Centre Craigmillar here and the folk night here.
Thanks to Gerry McGarvey for the pics. The one above is folk legend Leo Thomson.
:: | 10:56 am |
:: Monday, August 09, 2004 ::
Bit of Politics
Not sure what this new thing from The Office creator Ricky Gervais is all about. It's only on for one night but is one of the most hyped shows in Edinburgh as far as I can see. Even has a cab decked out as a mobile advert. It's not as if he needs the publicity.
The picture did remind me a bit of another Edinburgh comic (our own dear John Scott).
:: | 11:15 am |
Tell An American to Vote
Guerrilla marketing obviously has some effect, as I spotted this and checked out the website even in the information overload of festival time Edinburgh.
Information on voting for US citizens abroad, tellanamericantovote.com with a view to regime change in the white house.
:: | 11:08 am |
:: Friday, August 06, 2004 ::
You said it Dubya
BBC NEWS | Americas | President gaffes in terror speech: "'Our enemies are innovative and resourceful - and so are we,' the US president told a high-level meeting of Pentagon officials.
'They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people - and neither do we.'"
:: | 2:12 pm |
The Radical Postman
I've just discovered The Radical Postman, an SSP member from Irvine in Ayrshire. A better class of Scottish lefty blog (than this!) Welcome, bienvenue, wilcommen.
:: | 10:22 am |
:: Thursday, August 05, 2004 ::
Are you local?
Welsh Secretary Peter Hain was on Today this morning outlining the changes he wants to see to devolution in Wales.
He wants to do away with the top up list section of the vote for the Welsh Assembly. In other words he wants to ensure that diversity in the Assembly is minimised and that Labour stands a better chance of forming a majority government. In Scotland the top up list system has meant the arrival of genuine diversity in the parliament with independents, pensioners, hospital campaigners, socialists and greens all gaining a voice.
In discussing the additional powers he would like to see the Assembly have, Peter Hain also celebrated some of the achievements that the Assembly has gained before England such as bus passes, student learning grants before England. What he didn't mention was those which are opposed by his Labour colleagues in England and Scotland such as the abolition of prescription charges.
What struck me was that the interviewer did not challenge him on these points. Many national journalists just don't seem to follow or understand what is happening in the devolved areas of government. They are failing to keep up with the increasingly divergent political scene in Britain. A political scene which will only become more divergent with the arrival of regional assembly's in England.
:: | 2:13 pm |
Game On
Having recently got a new imac that is actually capable of playing games, I have been wasting hours of valuable time playing various strategy games. So it is very nice to see The Guardian Gamesblog who note "This is the Guardian gamesblog, so excuse the cliché, but we need more leftie video games. At the moment the right is having all the fun." They also bring news of the Edinburgh International Games Festival. Is there anything that there isn't a festival about in August here in Embra?
:: | 12:27 pm |
:: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 ::
Culture Kampf
Now this is a definite first. I'm in Socialist Worker and the BBC Comedy pages. All in the interests of the Edinburgh People's Festival. Promises to be a brilliant EPF this year.
:: | 5:31 pm |
Starting Point
No sooner had I mentioned Red Pepper yesterday than I read this.
Red Pepper August 2004: "Any guide to the cyber-left is necessarily flawed, however: the best advice with the web is simply to surf, and get sucked under the tide. Check out the blogspots blossoming everywhere, which offer distinct and challenging views a mile away from the mainstream media. Good start-off points include The Yorkshire Ranter (http://yorkshireranter.blogspot.com) and Alister Black (http://alister.blogspot.com)."
Aww shucks.
:: | 4:58 pm |
:: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 ::
Take down the Union Jack
Slaying the Racist Dragon
Returning to a theme that this blog discussed during the Euro 2004 tournament, Billy Bragg has an article on England, nationalism and the reclamation of the St.Georges Cross in Red Pepper this month. Well worth reading.
I am well aware that this is a difficult subject. Over the years the left has declined to contest this ground with the far right. Unfortunately, this has had the effect of allowing the racists to define who is and who is not English. Our approach to this issue needs to change because, whether we like it or not, the rise of Ukip has put nationalism on the agenda. When the working classes raise the flag of St George to express their identity, have we nothing to say to them except to condemn them as bigots?
Over the next few years, as Ukip continues to define its idea of society in terms of what it doesn’t like, a space will open up in which to create an alternative identity that exemplifies the things that we do like about ourselves. Just as our Scottish and Welsh neighbours have always defined themselves against the negative aspects of their big neighbour, we now have an opportunity to do something similar.
In Scotland minority political parties have already embraced a new sense of nationalism to draw voters away from the big three parties in support of progressive ideas. The Scottish Socialist Party sees no contradiction in being both nationalist and internationalist. Compare the anti-racist nationalism of the Scottish National Party to the very different position taken by the BNP.
Could a similar transformation occur in England? Obviously, it is a larger country than Scotland and has a far higher degree of multi-ethnicity. On purely demographic terms, the English identity is highly diverse; this is a historical fact that gives us something to build on.
Because of our diversity, it is impossible to imagine a contemporary vision of England that does not reflect the multicultural nature of our society. Equally, we have to accept that multiculturalism, by its very nature, must make room for everyone to express their culture, including the English.
:: | 3:20 pm |
:: Monday, August 02, 2004 ::
Fringe Politics
An event worth attending if you are in Edinburgh or might be up for the fest and get the chance:
Professor Gregor Gall and Colin Fox MSP will speak on
'20 Years Since the Miners Strike: The Future of Trade Unions in the Struggle for Social Change'
at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Date 26 Aug 2004
Start time 7:00 PM
Venue: The Roxy Art House, 2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU
Organiser Word Power Books
:: | 12:26 pm |
Forth International
On the day that staff move in to the new Scottish Parliament, let us hope that it lives up to its
price tagpromise. Let us compare it with this work of engineering genius, the Forth Rail Bridge, still functional and aesthetically pleasing. And this is a good excuse to test out photoblogging using flickr
forthbridge
Originally uploaded by alisterblack.
EDIT: So flickr plonks a hideous table into your blog. Just as blogger were getting all standards friendly.
:: | 12:10 pm |