The Current Outlook

A teenager who murdered a 15-year-old boy during a row over a bottle of Buckfast has been jailed for a minimum of 11 years.

This is a people problem, not an alcohol problem. I have enjoyed Buckfast before (and, in fact, still have a little bit lying around) but this is what happens when people who are irresponsible and dangerous scrotes get access to powerful drink. It could have been over anything but it was over a bottle of Buckie. Thankfully not too many places sell Buckie down here apart from ‘Bargain Booze’ chains because if it was more well-known we’d probably have more anti-social behaviour issues.

And after a very long hiatus, here I am. I am deciding to blog again. Well, at least until something else happens to distract me. My Flickr output is on my own page. Much of my new stuff is now there to look at and read. I only mention this as an opening post because… well, why not?

I went to see the film Brief Encounter last night. I must say that I quite enjoyed seeing it again. The one sticking point for me was that they couldn’t actually show the film properly! The film, being a pre-1950s affair, was shot at an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Most modern cinema screens can only handle widescreen films so a good quarter of the frame was missing from the screen. This did make compositions look rather awkward at times. Apart from that it was interesting enough. There is quite a bit of local relevance to the film as the station they used was actually in Carnforth. I have been to that station and you can look at a few of my shots here.

Quite a few things have happened in my life since I last edited this page. I have visited several different countries (those being Portugal, Spain and Gibraltar and soon, Malta too) and have taken many shots. Here’s my thoughts on these countries:

Portugal: We holidayed in Tavira, a small town in the Algarve. A nice enough place but there wasn’t really a lot to do there. After a day or so walking around the town we got bored. The food was OK (nothing at all special, really) and the beer was reasonably cheap. A large Super Bock cost about €2.00 (£1.40) at most of the places we stopped at. I visited Faro and quite liked it there. We drove through some of the smaller towns like Olhão en route. I must say that out of all the places that I saw while I was in Iberia, Faro would be the one place I’d like to go back to.

Spain: For some people (mainly British and German expats) a life in the Costa del Sol is a dream. A nice place in the sun? But why? I’m sorry to speak ill of a place but the majority of the south coast of Spain is a terrible hole with little to recommend it. There are mediocre Spanish restaurants, terrible ‘English’ restaurants (if there was one thing that had me wanting to go home and have a pint of mild in my local it wasn’t the Spanish but the British!) and all the rest. And there is one thing that I cannot understand about the Spanish and it is chorizo. Who on Earth thought it up? I’ve had some pretty appalling sausages in my time but Jesus Christ, that takes the flipping biscuit. The hotel we stopped at near Estepona was very nice though. All in all, I’m glad to say I’ve been to the Costa del Sol so I can pontificate about what it’s like to people who ask about it (which at last count was a grand total of 0). It’s like the touristy parts of Lanzarote but… worse. Methinks if I ever went to Benidorm or somewhere like that I’d implode in a molten fury. Or something like that. An easier way would be to just not go in the first place.

Gibraltar: Gibraltar was nice but that’s probably because it plays up to my pro-British sensibilities. It is Britain with a Mediterranean twist. Granted, there isn’t very much to do there. You go over the border, get on the bus at Winston Churchill Avenue (you know they’re proud of their British status when they have street names like that at their border!) and go the short distance into town. Main Street and el mono (the monkeys) are really the only two games in town. Main Street is OK if you want things like cheap cigarettes, aftershahve and spirits but for many other things the Gibraltarians go over the border into Spain to shop. The Rock tour is interesting and takes about 90 minutes to complete. The guide takes you around the Rock and shows you what there is to see. It’s unhurried so you have plenty of time to look at stuff. The taxi driver fills you in on the political situation on the Rock (Spain wants its greedy mitts on it, the Gibraltarians will never surrender to Spanish rule against their wishes, the British government vacillates). I would have liked to hear a bit about the Chief Minister and how government works there. Gibraltar is Britain’s smallest remaining overseas territory. I suspect it’s a bit like a town council and a country all into one. Anyway, we had a meal at The Angry Friar and rang home, then we left. Gibraltar seems to go quiet once most of the tourists leave as there seems little to do downtown. It seems that quite a few Gibraltarians go over the border to La Línea de la Concepción to enjoy a meal and a night out. Granted, we went on a day when most of the shops happened to be shut but it was an interesting place to go and to which I’d like to return someday.

Life goes on, even if this just sinks into all the other mud that the Internet has to offer. In truth, I’m only really posting on this old thing again because, well, I’m bored. Can you tell? I must start reading the old blogs that I used to read.

Currently I’m listening to The Lost Continent, a Bill Bryson book about his journeys through small-town America. It’s quite diverting.

Maybe in the next few days I shall come back here and relate some more of my life. Or, maybe I won’t. Watch this space, as they say.

Police are to demand new powers to arrest protesters for causing offence through the words they chant and the slogans on their placards and even headbands.

Yes, I know I haven’t updated this in ages. I couldn’t be bothered. Anyway, I’m back now.

As for this: No, no, no, no, no, no! This idea is about taking away the right to be offensive. I demand this right. It is the right of all free-born British subjects. If a band of intolerant bigots want to shout ‘no gays here’, ’send the Pakis home’ or even ‘fuck the Queen’ who should take that away from them? Freedom of speech is about the freedom to hear things you disagree with. I’d much rather have that than a government forcing its own stupid opinions down my throat and stifling dissent.

Take this away and you take the teeth out of popular protest - whether you agree with their cause or not. Next they’ll be making all demonstrations and protests illegal.

There is still a significant north-south health divide in England, government data has revealed.

Up north in Lancashire we have a fry-up with all the fat for breakfast, pie and peas for dinner and a large portion of fish and chips with about twelve slices of bread and butter for tea. Except on Fridays when we all order three grease-laden pizzas for ourselves after having fifteen pints of cider down the pub. The furthest we walk to is the end of our street to get us fags and us toffs and we all wear flat caps. Even the teenagers.

Jesus Christ - is there no end to this stereotyping? People will eat what they want in this country, no matter where they might live. Economic circumstances might well intervene but calling millions of people fat and trying to make them become slim does not help matters!

Now, where’s that triple serving of chocolate cake I left on the side…?

Prisoners from outside the European Economic Area will be offered packages worth up to £2,500 to leave Britain, it has emerged.

Is this supposed to be a serious suggestion from our Home Secretary? If so, he’s gone absolutely potty. Ye gads!

I can’t be the only person that finds this little idea of his abhorrent. Why, in the name of bloody hell, cannot the Government simply deport foreign criminals back to their home countries and have done with it?

This appalling excuse for a government has no balls whatsoever. They are a bunch of spineless toerags - indeed, much like the criminals they plan to bribe foreign countries into taking back their own citizens!

This stinks. Absolutely no question about it. It also means that the right time for this government to go has long since past. In the United States, they limit their Presidents to two terms (a total of eight years). I think it’s as good a time as any to start thinking about implementing something similar in this country, as prime ministers seem to start going mental after about five or six years in office.

Conservative leader David Cameron has launched his own video weblog to try to get his message across to young people.

The British Conservative Party really are a joke and Spam Cam is the best (worst) part of it. I could never, ever bring myself to vote for the set of despicable vermin that are currently occupying Downing Street (and ruining Britain while they’re at it) but this lot are meant to be the opposition? This country is in one hell of a state.

Mr. David Dave Cameron is supposed to be the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, is he? The Tory party might as well drag any bugger off the street for all the difference it makes. To put it more clearly: I don’t trust David Cameron one iota to tell the truth. The man has the warmth of a walk-in freezer and the trustworthiness of a used-car salesman.

Such frankly abysmal main parties that fail to deal with the problems faced by the general public is precisely the reason why people turn to extremists. If the three national political parties got their fucking act together none of that would happen. Next time I may vote for the UK Independence Party. UKIP need to get their fingers out in double-quick time, get some half-decent policies and set about becoming credible. Maybe then this United Kingdom can be brought back from the abyss.

As for that oily wretch Cameron and his buffoonish blog antics: I wouldn’t urinate him if he were on fire, screaming for water to put out the blaze. What a complete waste of space.

Another entry up on the Images of Lancashire - this time, of my home town of Longridge.

Home Secretary John Reid has said he has “no personal ambition to attain any other high office” when asked if he wanted to succeed Tony Blair.

There’s one word for Reid’s comments. Go on, I’ll give you a guess.

I watched this on five last night. It’s basically about people who have synthetic dolls as girlfriends. There was a bloke from southern England on it and about three or four from the United States. They were the most barking mad of the lot. Every last one of them need their heads seeing to.

Here’s a more in-depth synopsis (from DigiGuide):

Documentary about the men who use sophisticated life-size dolls for sexual satisfaction and more - such as dates, affection and lifelong companionship. Featuring a young American man who gives his doll daily massages in the home he shares with his disapproving Mum and Dad; a British man who takes his doll out on day trips to the coast where she watches him hang- glide; and two Americans who live with multiple dolls, one of whom shares his eight synthetic lovers with his human girlfriend.

Every single one of the men featured on this programme seemed to be seriously messed up in the head. The way they carefully mollycoddled and had sex with what are pieces of plastic. These guys were real loonies. Where does the production company find these people is what I want to know. With no exceptions, every single one of them scared the living daylights out of me… and I’m a bloke!

Guys and Dolls reminded me of parts of a very bleak (and violent) slasher film called Maniac, where the serial killer in that has dolls. In a dream sequence they evenually all rise up against him.

This programme made for seriously disturbing viewing. If you want television that makes you feel like a good shower afterwards, I nominate Guys and Dolls, for I found it to be a seriously disturbing piece of programming. The scene in which the American chap and his new girlfriend sitting round the table with five plastic dolls is one of the strangest (and creepiest) things I have seen on TV for a long while.

What did I learn tonight? I suddenly feel very normal indeed.

…entry is up on my Images of Lancashire photoblog.